#yeah he committed several war crimes but its okay
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These guys are so Kitty core, Gulus is just angry wet cat but its okay hes sillt guy
#gulusgammamon#gammamon#digimon#digimon ghost game#silly billies#cats#cats arent real#yeah he committed several war crimes but its okay#because he is angry wet cat#just give him some champions and he'll calm down#hinkity dinky dinky
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i’m so in love with your AU, especially the parts where Gimli is being influenced / hearing the whispers of his ring!! i love hearing Gimli’s inner workings and thoughts as he’s further being corrupted. im not sure where I got the idea that dwarves are more resilient to the influence of the ring (not sure if this is from canon or fanon or just vibes ach) but it’s really fascinating to read your story with the thought that dwarves are resilient (ESPECIALLY GIMLI!!! the knight in shining armour who in the movies literally immediately tried to destroy the ring) and seeing just how far gone Gimli has gone to justify the corruption to himself. its like Gimli is an unmoveable rock and his ring Knows This, so it has chipped away at him slowly, until he withered away and has become something unrecognisable. given what it took for legolas to recognise gimli fully and completely (him taking off his ring) it seems this is already in effect!! but somehow though despite the corruption and the pain going on here i still Trust gimli, isn’t that insane? 😅 it’s like yeah he’s definitely being influenced by evil energy and yeah he’s committed war crimes but also he’s Gimli so that’s okay 🫶 no but in all honesty i feel like how legolas did first seeing him, couldn’t recognise him at first but once i did i flinched back in fear at the dark lord of erebor i saw!! (but also i just feel like when it comes to gimli i cant lose hope!) maybe he snaps out of the evil influence, maybe he falls further into its hold!! who knows what’s gonna happen in this AU? cant wait to read more! <3 (also many apologies for the HUGE chunk of text 😅)
Oh my gods don’t APOLOGIZE for this, I am flailing over it. I am writhing on the floor making happy screams. Thank you ahhhh I am so glad you like it, thank you! And I’m going to respond by rambling my ass off at you, so I hope you don’t regret it too much ahaha. But like. yes! Gimli IS the knight in shining armor! The unmovable rock! The incorruptible pillar! But now...
Well, now I have to justify a dark take on him in this weird-ass AU idea that bopped me on the head out of nowhere lmao. So I’m going to just gush my thoughts out at you incoherently, and see if I can A: get them a little more concrete in my head and B: see what you think! (This is what you get for engaging with me I’m so sorry. You stuck your finger through the cage and now I’m gnawing on it excitedly lol.)
You’re right about Dwarves and the Rings btw, the original Seven Rings couldn’t corrupt the Dwarves the way they did Men (no Ringwraithdwarves lol) they basically just gave them Severe Goldsickness, iirc. But! it’s not gold that Gimli wants! Over him gold shall have no dominion. So that wouldn’t be a very viable way of getting to his heart, silly Ring. So basically where my head went was, the Rings work by corrupting a person’s goodness not by just like. mustache twirling mwa-ha-ha evilness, right? They get to you by offering you what you want, not what the Dark Lord wants; that’s how they hook you, anyway, and then it shifts and drags you down with it into what It wants...but that’s how it starts.
With Frodo, the way the Ring got to him was through him showing Gollum mercy, basically: the whole “I won’t kill you, but if you attack me again you’ll be thrown into fire!” thing. Sure it was wearing him down all along in little ways, but that was where the Ring got its final major defining “in” with him. With Boromir, it was “hey do you want strength to defend your city?” and yeah, of course he does! Who wouldn’t? That’s a viable desire!
So with Gimli, Durin’s Ring has really been working with not a lot so far, tbh.
It’s certainly been enacting influence! Twisting, corrupting, cajoling; chipping away, as you said. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to bring himself to do X...but a year ago, he had to do Y. And doing Y makes doing X easier to bear; that’s how corruption works. And the Ring has certainly been working hard. But it just hasn’t been able to get much of a grip.
Because Gimli is compromising his sense of right and wrong for the sake of the greater good, sure; but that was less about the Ring on his hand luring him in than it was about the fact that all of Middle-earth has been conquered by a Dark Lord, so there are no good choices left. Do you defy Gondor and watch your people be slaughtered on the altar of your pride? Or do you bend your knee and try to keep them alive as best you can? Gimli chose the latter, and that’s led to a terrible (and slowly corrupting) struggle, because he has to side with evil “for the sake of his people” and accept, allow, and sometimes even order evil things done, and there’s no good way off that road to hell once you start walking it (especially in Tolkien) — but he hasn’t really needed (or wanted) the power of the Ring. Yet.
Now all of a sudden here’s Legolas in chains before him, and elves are the one thing in Middle-earth who don’t get the option of “bend your knee to the bad guy and live, or defy him and die” — for them, it’s just die. And of course Gimli doesn’t want to stand back and watch Legolas die. But maybe Gimli can save him! He’s the Lord of Erebor! He has a Ring of Power! He should be able to do something to save him...right!?
And that’s how the Ring is (finally!) getting its big “in” with him here.
He’s already compromised himself so much, he thinks; he’s already got so much blood on his hands, spilt to save his people. He’s watched children in Dale starve, because he doesn’t dare give them food the Dark Lord doesn’t think their people have earned. He’s watched Mirkwood burn and stood behind his walls and done nothing. He’s let elves be worked to death in his mines. He’s accepted a Ring of Power, and all it’s done has been to leave him even more powerless than before. He’s stood back while good people were executed, because nothing he said could have saved them and daring to try would have only made more trouble for the people depending on him. He’s pledged his allegiance, and that of his people, to a monster for the sake of making sure the dwarves who rely on him live to see another day. He’s already damned. So what else does he have to lose?
Well. Legolas’s life, as it turns out. And if the Ring can save him...well.
Gimli is such a good, strong person. He’s never wanted power for himself, or lordship, or anything like that. He just wants to save people, to protect them. And just like with Boromir, the Ring is going to offer him the power to do that, and that might be what pushes him over the edge from slowly damning himself by making the best of increasingly bad choices...to falling off the edge into total darkness.
But we’ll see! I have no idea where this story is going to go, so maybe it’ll be a story of salvation! Or maybe it won’t. We get to find out together. Yay?
#you have the best insights into gimli#i am gnawing on my fingers to know what you think ahhh#galadrielspeaks#gimli#gimli dark lord of erebor au#lotr#lotr au#my writing#gimleaf
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Okay, so following the Gloryanus/Cringefuck post, I have...STRONG FEELINGS about League of Legends and their portrayal of this trope.
League of Legends started out in 2009 as a DotA clone, and the two big factions, Demacia and Noxus, were supposed to be analoges for the Alliance and the Horde, respectively. The lore was purposely underdeveloped, as it wasn't really the point of the game, and so it was mainly "good guy vs bad guy", and the most in depth reasoning behind it was a blue/white color scheme vs a red/black color scheme. All well and good, if basic.
Since then, the lore of Demacia has expanded, along with the rest of the factions. There are all sorts of bits and pieces, political intrigue, this and that. The single most malicious piece of lore, however, was added to the Demacians in the form of Mageseekers. What are Mageseekers, you ask?
In League Lore, there were a set of wars called the Rune Wars, wherein big powerful artifacts called World Runes were used to fight amongst nations. This led to several nations being completely obliterated, and much of the history from before this point is gone. Since then, similar to our reaction to the dropping of the nuclear bomb, a fear of magic and its consequences has been instilled in a great many people. In Piltover and Zaun, for example, magic is completely outlawed until VERY recently, when the advent of Hextech (magical technology) made it profitable and so they allowed it. In Demacia, however, they established the Mageseekers.
Now, before I tell you this, keep in mind that you don't learn to become a mage in League Lore, you are born one. So when I tell you that the Mageseekers hunted down men, women, and CHILDREN because they MAY at some point possess magical powers, imprisoning/torturing/murdering them in cold blood before they even had a chance to commit any crimes, you can see how people saying "Demacia is literally Nazi Germany" isn't far off at all. This is of course made worse when you realize that Demacia's got magic all around, like EVERYWHERE, and several high ranking officials are magical too, including Lux, the daughter of the King's BFF.
The worst part of all of this, however, is Sylas. Sylas is a Demacian who was sold out to the cops by his own parents for being a mage. Under threat of permanent imprisonment or death, they forced a child to act as a human drug dog to rat out other mages. The one time Sylas tries to protect someone from being captured, things get hairy and 3 people end up dying. So then they decide he's not worth the trouble and lock him up for 15 years. A child. He starts talking to Lux during his imprisonment, gets her to help him, and at his EXECUTION he escapes and begins to lead a violent rebellion against Demacia for their treatment of mages. Sounds like a pretty typical edgy Robin Hood Chaotic Good character, right?
For much of the time since he's been out, and even still partially now, Sylas is treated as the villain.
The fact that the queer-coded child-prisoner-turned-slave-turned-vigilante is somehow too radical but the actual nazis that enslaved him, tortured him, took him away from his family, locked him in a cage for 15 years, and then tried to kill him for talking to his friend AREN'T...yeah that fuckin drives me wild.
#theoposting#rant#league#league of legends#demacia#sylas#mageseekers#demacians are nazis#like actually#opinion piece
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I keep seeing people calling Terry and Kreese “war criminals.” I don’t see any evidence of this. Do you think that applies to them or do you think some people don’t know what that phrase actually means/what war crimes actually are? If there’s anything in the series or movies that proves they’ve committed actual war crimes, please point it out to me, but it seems more like they’re the ones who had war crimes committed against them…? Don’t mean to stir anything up, just wanted to get your opinion.
Okay, but people also call Daniel Larusso a 'slut baby girl' on the regular when he merely wears the color pink or red, so I wouldn't expect too much over here, sadly.
Well, I am not going to woobify the military, but yeah, on screen, we never actually see them commit war crimes per se (Maybe they never wanted to show us? Probably. The demographic of this show isn't exactly the same one that would watch Apocalypse Now, although we do see glimpses of some really messed up stuff in Terry's brief flashbacks over breakfast), and in fact, you get the impression that a lot could've happened in that cage during their POW captivity in context; anything ranging from torture, starvation to random executions to kill the morale of the captives. We don't know how long they could've been there. Could've been months, realistically. At the time same time, Terry, John and co. didn't go to war because it was a picnic or a fun vacation. Does anyone? Not even the hallowed likes of Mr. Miyagi. Also, wasn't Johnny Lawrence himself in the military at one point? Seldom mentioned fact. They were victims as much as they victimized. Someone's enemies as much as young soldiers with pain inflicted upon them. Tools in an imperialist overseas war as much as its very human consequences spat back out into the system and we see those consequences staring back at us in the very storyline ranging well over half a century. The answer is often never as clear as one thing or the other. What and how much they done was left vastly to interpretation because hey, annoyingly enough, it is Netflix. All that we know is that they returned home irrevocably broken and mentally scared. Changed, in Terry's own words, bringing back everything from psychological damage, bipolar disorders, PTSD, split identities and some very messed up worldviews. I prefer to see them as (severely untreated) causalities of war, if anything, even with therapy involved. I just generally think it is slightly kinder and nobody has to agree with me.
I mean, the other extreme is that podcaster calling a teenage Twig a 'sniveling coward' for being rightfully scared during, get a load of this, his time spent in a prison camp with people around him being tortured and executed one by one, so ---😬
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pirate for the ask game. gregorius vs lucius FIGHT
for this ask game.
PIRATE - Which of your OCs is most evil?
okay so i know you know who gregorius is, but i've been kind of dithering on making an intro post for one of the iron crown's two main villains
(mostly because, like several other important characters in TIC, he's based on two Real People Who Actually Existed. and it feels kinda weird to make an oc post about someone with a wikipedia article yaknow?)
and, yeah, he's a pretty awful person. crimes include kidnapping the 13-year-old king in order to rule as regent, tricking people into really unfair magically-binding contracts, canonically being responsible for the destruction of much of sappho's poetry (because writing hist fic means i can make highly unlikely historical hearsay canon), and committing arguable Pope Election Fraud. among other things.
but at the end of the day he doesn't really stack up compared to lucius, who (is highly implied to have) killed his family, was responsible for the massacre and later expulsion of a sizable religious minority in his country, assassinated the emperor of the neighboring country, declared a war that caused a massive death toll, committed at least one war crime, made use of torture, and worst of all was a really shitty boyfriend.
plus, at least greg has some fairly understandable goals he's working towards, like the separation of church and state! and taking power away from kings and putting it into the hands of himself elected officials! lucius on the other hand is just a religious extremist, even if he's far more earnest in his beliefs than gregorius is.
ultimately, TIC can have its net evil spread out between two opposing villains, each with their points and losses. when you only have one main villain (as in BOG), you kinda gotta make him count.
#ahjkdashdk this was so long aya ilySM#the real answer for most evil oc is the protag of a currently unnamed series that i want to write after i'm done with TIC#but it's too early to talk about that#ask#writeblr#oc: lucius caelus#oc: ildebrando/gregorius#wip: the iron crown#wip: blood of gods
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i can't remember which house of anubis characters ive sent you for ask game bingos so far so it's your choice. LMFAO
Patricia and Eddie (bc somehow its the same for both of them)
i want to kill them with a gun: I want to tie them to a string and make a yoyo with them, see what happens 🤔 (affectionate)
their relationship to specific other characters makes me feral: Alfie and Patricia (laundry room scene) and Jerome and Eddie. and also we were robbed I want to see what crazy shit would happen with the chosen one and the osirian in sibuna - would nina get a paper cut and Eddie beat the paper up?
im taking them from the narrative: angsty peddie coffeeshop au WHEN
headpats for character: this, but Patricia is a cat methinks
my little meow meow: maybe they don't commit war crimes but all the shit they pulled as sibuna (or just in general) like... also bad boy eddie, do you think he writes swear words with a sharpie on the school desks orrrrrrrrr
squishes the character: *squish squish*
the flavour is stored in the character: I'm cooking a nice little spicy broth with all the flavour stored in them, who's served 👨🍳
Nina because she was my fav growing up and I wanted to marry her
Robert Frobby
fucking sexy: 😳 it's the unhinged goddess summoning okay
most interesting character: all the adults are pretty interesting but I want to know moreeeeeeee, also I want to take look inside his brain like you would open the back of a pocket watch to see what makes it move you know
who let this dipshit behave like this: yeah like who let him steal all that stuff from egypt
I want to kill them: I haven't decided which yet but I want several tragedies to befall him.
my little meow meow. my sopping wet pathetic bastard who summons Amut the goddess destroyer of worlds :3
*squishes* the wax figure in the secret room, I want to squeeze it like a toy to see if his head pops off. also imagine taking the time to make a speaking wax figure just in case he wakes up evil.
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Dream SMP Recap (March 3/2021) - The Burger is a Lie
Tubbo moves past the denial stage of grief into anger. After creating a grave for Tommy, he decides that someone needs to be held accountable.
It’s time for some good old-fashioned detective work.
---
VOD LINKS:
[Ponk’s VOD was deleted so unfortunately I can’t recap it since I didn’t see it :( ]
Tubbo
Foolish
Awesamdude
Captain Puffy
Ranboo
---
- Tubbo walks down the Prime Path with plans to build Tommy a grave in Snowchester.
- He doesn’t even know why or how it happened. Why was Tommy in prison?
“I want to blame someone -- I’m angry! Who’s to blame?”
- He wonders who set off the TNT to trap Tommy in there.
- Tubbo reaches Snowchester and finds a small ice island just outside the border to set up a gravesite. He makes a patch of grass, a wooden bench, puts down some flowers. He makes the gravestone out of wood.
“Tommy’s favorite block was literally oak wood. (laughs) He was a simple person, chat. He was a simple person.”
- He places a sign.
“In the Memory of Tommy. He was taken from us too soon.”
- He puts cobblestone around, and puts down a jukebox.
“This was meant to give closure, chat. This was meant to just give closure, but instead I’m just feeling more and more mad."
- Tubbo places down some lanterns and a Prime Log. He has a moment on the bench.
“Alright...so...what now? I’m pissed, dude. I don’t know how this was allowed to happen. I don’t know how this was allowed to happen. Receive his stuff from the prison -- no, I’m not going in that thing for a very long time.”
- He decides he needs someone to be held accountable. He wants to launch an investigation.
- He goes under the McPuffy’s and plans to make a little room to gather all the information in one place, and also a place to go in an emergency. Like a panic room or a bunker. No one should know about it until they have enough information to convict someone.
Tubbo starts building.
- He doesn’t even want to go into Tommy’s house, not even for supplies.
- He grabs a lectern for the room and starts writing. A storyline is needed.
The Crime:
- Murder
The Timeline:
- Tommy Visits Dream.
- Bomb gets set off.
- Tommy was Trapped with Dream.
- Tommy is The Crime is committed.
- Start with number two...where? Where were the bombs set off? Because if it was all a ploy, then Sam is the one to be held accountable.
- Tubbo goes to the prison to check around the perimeter. The sound of the bombs came from above, but Tubbo remains skeptical. That could have been a ploy to cover up the tracks.
- Tubbo finds a patch of the shoreline where a water level is missing. He assumes that someone was just gathering sand there, not that it’s explosion damage.
- Tubbo flies onto the top of the prison and notices that there’s snow missing where the snow biome should encompass. A small area of a few blocks -- they must have been tampered with. Tubbo documents the evidence.
Evidence:
Tommy was trapped inside because of an explosion “outside” ..
Around the outside of “Pandora’s Vault” there was no evidence of explosion damage.
However on the roof of the Vault there is evidence of an explosion. We can tell this because of the snow pattern on the roof of the prison.
However snow can be broken by TNT from inside the Vault. But I suspect that the TNT was detonated outside.
- Now, Tubbo needs to go and find out who has access to stocks of TNT. Who has the majority of the world’s TNT? Well, there was a country that used to exist on this server. And who was responsible for its destruction?
Tubbo visits L’manhole.
“Technoblade, Dream, and Philza. Suspects number two. We’ve moved on from Sam. Suspects number two and three, sorry -- Technoblade and Phil.”
“Everyone’s a suspect, chat. Guilty until proven innocent, I’ve always said.”
- And doesn’t Technoblade owe Dream a favor? Tubbo declares him suspect two.
- Tubbo runs to Technoblade’s house. There’s not much of anything out of the ordinary.
- He goes inside and looks through the chest, finding one with plenty of gunpowder, about half full. What looks off about it, though? What is missing here?
“Chat, where is the rest of the gunpowder, chat? Where is the rest of the gunpowder? It’s a fair question...Techno uses it for potions? No, no, hear me out. If chest was at least filled up to here, okay, that is four stacks and a half of gunpowder, okay? Each gunpowder is three splash potions. Three splash potions. So that’s over twelve stacks of potions! Potions that are not stackable! And in this establishment, there are not enough chests to hold twelve lots of sixty-four un-stackable potions. Rockets? Yeah, that’s another good call. What else is a good call? TNT. Let’s keep looking.”
- He continues to look through the chests, then exits. Suspect two has all of the materials to commit the crime.
- Suspect three? No sand, not enough gunpowder.
- He starts to leave.
“‘Check Ranboo?’ I mean it’s not gonna be Ranboo, is it? It’s not gonna be Ranboo. Yeah, he has access to all the stuff, but I doubt he even remembers it’s there..."
- He does a quick search anyway. The person who committed the crime must have not been prepared. They gathered the sand outside of the prison -- that’s what the missing shoreline must have meant.
- He notices Ranboo’s plan signs and reads them. He goes down into the basement but the vault door is shut, so he doesn’t find it. He assumes chat is talking about Pandora’s Vault.
“There is sand that has been mined outside the prison. The TNT was crafted rash. Technoblade doesn’t do rash, he does planned and calculated. Suspect two, three and four. I’m gonna presume they’re innocent right now, except for suspect two.”
- Technoblade could’ve supplied someone else with gunpowder. He wasn’t online during the explosion, but who was? Foolish and Ranboo.
“‘Big Law?’ Yeah, I’m back. I’m back in it again. I suppose you could say that...I’m on my A game right now.”
- Was Jack Manifold online at the time? No. Just Ranboo, Foolish, Dream, Tommy and Sam. Foolish lives in a desert. There’s a vast supply of sand in a desert...but was he streaming at the time?
- This does not look good for suspect number four...
- He returns to the bunker to get his evidence straight and places down signs.
Who Caused the Explosion?
Techno Owes Dream A Favor
Techno Has Gunpowder Missing
Sand Disturbed Outside The Vault
Techno Was Not Online @ The Time Of Explosion
Ranboo & Foolish Were Online @ TOM [time of explosion]
Foolish has access to sand
Ranboo has access to gunpowder
Sam lock Tommy In The Vault
Dream is in the Vault
TO DO:
Find out who visited Dream
Interview more players to get big picture
- Who visited Dream? So far, Tubbo only knows Tommy. Who else would ever want to visit Dream except for Tommy?
- A dono leads Tubbo to realize that TNT can be planted beforehand with a timer. Sam could have planted the TNT with a timer. It could have all been Sam. It could have even been Dream with a contingency plan...but how could he have known Tommy would visit? Because of the favor? Did Techno convince Tommy to visit?
Why did Tommy visit Dream? Closure? Did anyone give him that idea?
- Tubbo decides he just needs more information.
- He sees the McPuffy’s...is it a coincidence that, as soon as Tommy got put in prison...burger shops started popping up on the Dream SMP?
- Maybe this happened because of the BURGERS.
- Could it have been Jack Manifold, wanting the hotel for himself?
“Nah, Jack’s way too dumb for that.”
“The burger is a lie!”
- Maybe the Egg has something to do with it? Tubbo goes down into the Egg Room and shouts at the Egg to ask for answers. He leaves the Egg Room with no more answers, wondering if he’s about to leave the anger phase and head into bargaining instead.
- Ranboo works on his Conflict Resolution Pit after months, planning to finally finish it at long last.
- Ranboo looks at the chest by the pit and finds...a Manberg war shield? Whose is that? He isn’t sure what the shield means.
[Fun Fact: According to Karl about the banner’s design, the black represents all the colors combined, meaning “Unity.” The red is “the blood of our enemies.”
“It’s unity unless you go against us.”]
- Ranboo continues resource-gathering and building.
- Sam works on his creeper farm! He also answers several questions. Here are a few!:
* Are Sam Nook, warden Sam and Awesamdude all different people?
Sam Nook and warden Sam are different people, but the warden is not a separate character from normal Awesamdude. They are the same person. Sam Nook is the only separate character. This will be explained more in the future!
* Why is Sam’s pickaxe named “Warden’s Will Breaker?” Does it have anything to do with breaking the prisoner’s will?
“Mayhaps, mayhaps...”
* Isn’t it a little strange that he’s building a creeper farm?
“Well, I’m the king of creepers so they should be excited to die for me.”
- Ranboo asks if he can shoot Sam. Sam says yes (in game)
- Ranboo shoots Sam in the face. Sam turns majestically and stops moving. Ranboo is confused and is worried that Sam might not be alive. Sam’s computer is suffering.
- Ranboo tries to get Sam to move.
“Oh my god he’s been completely paralyzationizitated.”
- By Sam’s request, Ranboo tries to push him to safety.
- Sam has been bound to the y-axis! He starts seeing through Ranboo’s stream.
- Ranboo tries to drive Sam in a boat but he starts seeing colors.
- Sam dies on the Prime Path. Ranboo makes a marker sign in remembrance of where he died by paralyzationizitation.
---
Upcoming events remain the same.
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Specs and the Flyboy (Chapter Ten)
Summary: Jack realizes just how convoluted his off-the-books investigation is after compiling all their evidence, but a foiled assassination attempt ends up shedding new light on the case.
Pairing: Jack Thompson X Reader
Word Count: 4k
Warnings/Disclaimers: Brief scene containing talk of drug addictions
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I hope that you enjoy!
Chapter Ten
Stark Mansion, Los Angeles
(Previous Chapter)
Just as Jack pinned the last photograph to the board and stepped back to admire his work, there was a loud knock on the door. “It’s open!”
“Ana went searching through her knitting supplies and found what you…what’s all this?”
“This, Jarvis, is an evidence board; I used to force the boys do ‘em back in New York for certain cases, mostly so they could keep track of evidence and discover new leads.” Jack took the spool of red yarn from Jarvis and grabbed a pair of scissors before measuring and cutting off strings. “We’ve got a lot of evidence that doesn’t match up, so I thought it’d be a good idea to lay it all out and see how everything connects.”
Jarvis made an impressed sound as he examined the board on the wall. “Several months ago, Ana joined a book club and we found that it was easier for her to understand the novels if she read them aloud to me. Why don’t you try the same thing with your evidence?”
Looking up from his work, Jack gave the butler a look of suspicion. “I thought you didn’t approve of our investigation.”
“I never said that, I merely pointed out that keeping your investigation from Miss Carter was morally wrong.” Jarvis retorted as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Go on, then. If it makes you more comfortable, you can always pretend you’re talking to Miss (Y/L/N) instead.”
Something about the butler’s suggestive tone and the knowing gleam in his eyes caused Jack’s face to warm, and he hastily turned back towards the board with his red strings in hand. “Um, okay then. In 1917, Michael Carter was born in Hampstead, England to Harrison and Amanda Carter, and Peggy was born four years later.” Jack wrapped one end of a string around the thumbtack above Michael’s photograph and secured the other end to the one above Peggy’s SSR profile. “He kept his nose clean, made good grades in school and in ‘34, he was accepted into Cambridge University, where he studied Philosophy and Literature. He shared an apartment-sorry, a flat…” He glanced at Jarvis just as the butler gave him an eye-roll. “…with Adam Fieldman and William Attwell, two other students at Cambridge.”
“And this Adam Fieldman is the one with the connection to the orangery Miss (Y/L/N) infiltrated?”
Jack nodded, using another string to connect Michael’s photograph to one of Adam Fieldman. “Yep, his old man owns it. According to one of the codes, the orangery was a front for the manufacturing and distribution of devices based on one of Stark’s stolen blueprints…at least, it was up until the other week. Anyways, I did a little digging and found out that Attwell joined the Royal Air Force in ’39 but was shot down during the Battle of Berlin; since his body was recovered from the wreck and identified by his family, we’ve ruled him out as an associate of Michael’s. Fieldman tried enlisting in the U.S. Army right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in ’41 but when he was declared 4F on account of his scoliosis, he officially moved back to the States to work for his old man.” He pointed to a sheet of paper pinned beneath Michael’s photograph. “According to both an official British Royal Army report and a copy of an SOE file, Michael was declared missing in action in ’40; there was no body recovered, but it was assumed that he died on the battlefield and was buried in a mass grave.”
Moving forward, Jarvis gestured to a document pinned onto the lower half of the board. “And what’s this?”
“That’s a summary of all the information (Y/N) and I pulled from ‘M. Carter’s’ file. During the whole Zero Matter thing back in July, Vernon Masters sent me to London to get dirt on Peggy; a buddy of mine in MI5 gave me that file documenting her alleged war crimes, but I realized pretty quick that there’s no way Peggy could’ve done those things. I decided I’d take it back to New York with me once the Zero Matter case got closed, but not before making a copy and hiding it at the SSR; good thing I did, too, ‘cause I was shot and the original file was stolen…but anyways, yeah, that’s everything we’ve gotten from the file so far.”
“You haven’t said anything about this man,” The butler pointed to another photograph attached to a handwritten address. “Is he the one who shot you?”
“Nope, that’s Aaron Templeton and his last known address; we think he’s a hired hand who helped carry out the bank robbery downtown a few weeks back.” Jack connected his photograph to Michael’s with another string. “Based on the intel (Y/N) gathered from the orangery, Templeton was bumped off for leaving the device behind after the robbery, so that proves he wasn’t that integral to their plans. They made off with forty thousand dollars in gold, so we’ve theorized that they’re using the gold to fund their operation.” He looked back at Jarvis and frowned at his befuddled expression. “What?”
Jarvis gave him a small shrug and forced smile. “Oh, it’s nothing.” But as Jack continued to stare him down, he hastily added, “Well, this may very well be my inner Agatha Christie fan speaking, but there appears to be quite a few gaps in your investigation. Who was your shooter? What exactly is Mr. Carter’s so-called operation and why does it need funding? And why did Mr. Carter supposedly write down valuable information in the file and risk possible exposure?”
“I can see why Stark keeps you around.” Jack grumbled, his good mood slowly dampening at the butler’s words; their case wasn’t simple as he presumed it was, and it was clearer than ever that if he wanted to return to New York, they had a lot more work to do. And they said life after the war would be easy, Jack thought with an inward eye-roll. “Well, thanks for your honesty, Jarvis. I guess I’ll have to-”
The ringing of the telephone interrupted his words, and he watched as Jarvis strode across the room to answer it. “Mr. Stark’s residence.” His face brightened. “Miss Carter! How are you?” After a moment, his smile fell. “Chief Thompson? He’s, um, he’s sunbathing by the pool, of course; he mentioned this morning that he wished to work on his tan.” Jack rolled his eyes at the lie. “Would you like me to give him a message? Splendid, we shall see you soon.” He set the handset back down on its receiver and turned to face Jack. “That was Miss Carter. She was calling to inform you that she’ll be here shortly with some paperwork for you to sign regarding a routine prisoner transfer.”
“All right, I’m gonna give (Y/L/N) a call to let her know.” Once Jarvis left the room, Jack went over to the phone and picked up the handset before dialing the telephone number he’d unintentionally committed to memory.
“Hello?”
The obvious exhaustion in the codebreaker’s voice caused Jack to frown in concern. “Geez, Specs, you sound like shit. I didn’t wake you up, did I? It’s almost noon!”
He could barely make out (Y/N)’s familiar sigh of exasperation. “You’re a real charmer, you know? And yes, in fact, you did wake me up; I was up late working on a code and finally called it quits around four in the morning.”
“(Y/L/N)...”
“I know, I know, I should get more sleep but that damn code…” She let out frustrated huff. “I take it you didn’t call just to scold me about my terrible sleep patterns, though. What’s up?”
“Peggy’s coming over in a bit with paperwork for me to sign, so we’re not gonna be able to meet up until later. I’ll give you a ring to let you know when it’s okay to come over.”
“Okay, that’ll give me a chance to look over that code with fresh eyes. Oh, and that reminds me, when I come over I want to see what sort of progress you’re making on the code I gave you to practice with the other day.”
“Sure, just as soon as you cough up those two bucks you owe me.”
Jack could practically hear her rolling her eyes, and it took all he had not to laugh out loud. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah, you bet me two bucks that the Dodgers were gonna win the World Series and last I checked, they got their asses handed to ‘em last Monday by the Yankees. Got anything smart to say to that, Specs?”
“…Nope, have a good day!”
There was a soft click before the line went silent, and Jack didn’t even bother suppressing his chuckle of amusement that time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You’re in an uncharacteristically good mood today, Jack; could it be that you’re finally beginning to enjoy Los Angeles?”
Jack shrugged noncommittally as he scribbled his signature on the bottom of a document. “More like beginning to tolerate it.” He glanced up just in time to catch Peggy’s smirk. “What?”
Her smile widened. “Nothing, it’s just that I didn’t think very highly of Los Angeles when I first arrived out here either, but I’ve slowly grown to appreciate the…unique charms that the West Coast has to offer.”
“Unique charms, huh? Is that a new nickname you’ve given to Sousa, and can I start calling him that too?”
“Sod off, Thompson.” Jack chuckled as Peggy shot him a glare; once he finished his work, she gathered up the newly-signed documents and tucked them neatly into her briefcase. “Well, that’s all I have for you. Naturally, I would’ve waited until Monday to have you sign these but the FBI was rather agitated that they hadn’t received them yet. Their charm knows no bounds, doesn’t it?”
“No kidding. They’re probably still pissed off about the whole Vernon Masters thing; it’s not the SSR’s fault he got blown to hell by Whitney Frost, but I guess they don’t see it like that.” Standing up from the dining room table, Jack faked a yawn as he stretched his arms. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Marge, I’ve gotta get some more tanning in before my afternoon nap.”
Rolling her eyes, Peggy stood and put her hat back on before grabbing her briefcase. “Well, don’t let me stop you, I’m just going to have a quick word with Mr. Jarvis before I leave.”
To keep Peggy from becoming suspicious, Jack made his way into Stark’s sprawling backyard and made himself comfortable on one of the chaise lounges beside the pool; he stretched his legs out, crossed his ankles and, with his hands resting behind his head, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, maybe I could get used to this…”
Although Jack would never publicly admit it, Peggy’s speculation had been correct; the longer he’d stayed in Los Angeles, the more he’d been enjoying himself. The endless sunshine and glitzy Hollywood scene couldn’t take all the credit for his feelings, as that honor belonged to a certain snarky codebreaker. Since the end of the war, he hadn’t exactly had friends. He’d had many great coworkers and a couple of brief romantic flings, sure, but he’d never truly felt comfortable enough around any of them to open up in any sort of meaningful way. With (Y/N), however, it was a different story and he’d found himself appreciating her more and more for that as their partnership grew. You’d better not get too comfortable, he once again warned himself, as soon as you solve this case you’re headed back to New York, hopefully to bigger and better things if you’re lucky, and she’ll still be here…
The nearby sound of a dry leaf being stepped on startled Jack out of his silent contemplation; snapping his eyes open, he looked over just in time to see a large, black-clad man lunging towards him with a knife in hand. Acting on instinct, Jack rolled himself off the lounge chair and sprang to his feet in time to dodge another swipe of his knife. Jack caught the man’s wrist and twisted it sharply so that the knife slipped out of his grasp; he kicked it into the pool just before the man landed a hard punch on his jaw that sent him reeling. The man kicked his stomach and his back hit the wall of the pool house hard; before Jack could react, the man punched him again before wrapping his hands around his neck and squeezing. Struggling for air, Jack slammed his arms down on the man’s and used the distraction to head-butt him before landing a couple of punches to his face, the last one causing the man to drop unconscious to the ground.
Panting, Jack wiped away a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and took the opportunity to get a good look at his attacker; he was light-haired, muscular and definitely familiar, but Jack couldn’t think of where he might’ve seen him before.
“I’ll see you on Monday, Thompson! Thompson?”
Peggy’s faint call made Jack spring into action; he picked his attacker up in a fireman’s hold and staggered into the pool house, throwing the unconscious man onto the ground and slamming the door closed behind him. He peeked through the curtains just as Peggy came into view; she glanced around the backyard for a moment before shrugging and going back into the house, much to Jack’s relief. He glanced back down at the man on the floor with a deepening frown. “Now, who the hell are you?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Almost as soon as (Y/N) laid eyes on Jack, her easy-going smile was replaced with a look of concern; when she gently touched his chin and moved his head to get a better look at his swollen cheek and neck, Jack was grateful that his blush was masked by the rapidly-forming bruises. “He really did a number on you, Flyboy. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Well, I’m definitely doing better than he is.” Jack tried to grin but only ended up wincing in pain. “Not by much, though. C’mon, I’ve got him tied up in the pool house; let’s wake him up and find out who he is.” He led her into the backyard and to the pool house, holding the door open for (Y/N) to enter. “There’s something about him that seems familiar, but-”
“I know who he is.” Jack turned towards her and watched as she stared down at the unconscious man tied to a chair. “He’s one of the guards from Fieldman Family Orangery; I knocked him out with my compact mirror.” She looked back up at him, her brow furrowed in concern. “It looks like you just foiled another one of their assassination attempts.”
He nodded. “And this time I’m getting a few answers for my troubles.” Striding over to the man, Jack kicked the leg of the chair and stepped back when the man jolted awake. “Had a good nap, Sleeping Beauty? Now, my partner and I are gonna need you to answer a few questions for us, so how ‘bout we start with a name.”
The man spat onto the ground and growled, “Screw you.”
“Well, that’s not very polite.” Jack quipped, grabbing the man’s blonde hair and wrenching his head up before punching him in the face; the man groaned and Jack stepped back to look at the rapidly-swelling welt on his cheek. “How ‘bout we try that again; who are you?”
“You’re gonna…you’re gonna have to try harder than that, Chief Thompson.”
Jack raised his fist to strike him again just as (Y/N) latched onto his arm. “Thompson, wait! We’re never going to get him to talk this way-”
“Sure we are, every suspect I interrogated for the SSR started singin’ like a bird after only five minutes alone in a room with me.” He gave the man a hard glare over (Y/N)’s shoulder before looking back down at her. “This mook won’t be a problem.”
(Y/N) huffed with impatience. “I don’t doubt that you’re a skilled interrogator, Flyboy, but I’m telling you that he’s on a whole other level. If we’re going to get information out of him, we need to try another way and I think I’ve got one.” Her (Y/E/C) eyes pleaded with him to trust her and after a long moment, Jack sighed and took a step back; her gaze softened as she gave him a brief nod. “Thank you.”
The man let out a snort of amusement when (Y/N) approached him, her arms crossed over her chest. “Hey there, sweet-cheeks. What’s a pretty thing like you gonna do to me? Teach me to crochet?”
Jack’s hands clenched into fists but he forced himself to stay calm and let (Y/N) continue the interrogation herself; she smiled easily at the man and began pacing before him. “No, but we can always get to that later on if you’re not feeling too sick.” Both Jack and the man frowned in confusion. “Oh, I recognized it the moment I stepped into this room; you’re an opiate addict. As I’m sure you know, it can be very uncomfortable for an addict to be without their chosen drug for too long and judging by the way you look right now, it’s been quite a while since you’ve had a fix.”
“I…I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about…” The man’s face had lost all color and his hands were twitching against the arms of the chair.
“Right now, you’re experiencing some heavy sweating and anxiety, but you’re most likely used to those symptoms at this point in your addiction.” (Y/N) sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Unfortunately for you, though, what you’re feeling now is nothing compared to how you’re going to feel later tonight. Abdominal cramping, tremors, vomiting…yes, it’s going to be a very uncomfortable time for you, especially since no one but the two of us knows you’re here.” How the hell does she know so much about dope addictions, Jack silently pondered, adding it to the ever-expanding list of questions he’d been dying to ask his partner. She turned back to face the man, her mouth set in a hard line. “So if you want to avoid all that unpleasantness, then I suggest you answer my partner’s question; who are you?”
The man immediately stammered out, “P-Peter Hanson.”
Jack moved to stand beside (Y/N). “Good, that wasn’t so hard. Why were you trying to kill me?”
“I was hired to, okay? The boss of my boss thought you were onto him so I was hired to bump you off in your hotel room! Once the main boss heard you were still alive, I was hired again and told that if I fail this time, he’d cut off my supply.” Jack and (Y/N) exchanged looks of confusion, and Hanson added impatiently, “My dope supply, he knows that I need it!”
(Y/N) crossed her arms once again. “All right, then. Now, tell us the names of your bosses, what they were up to at Fieldman Family Orangery and where they are now.”
Hanson let out a frustrated growl and bit his lip before answering, “The guy who hired me, his name’s Thomas, Thomas Attwell, but I don’t know the main boss’ name or what they do. I haven’t seen any of ‘em in weeks, either.”
“You hungry, Specs? How ‘bout we go grab a bite to eat and come back later?” Jack suggested. “I’m sure our new friend here wouldn’t mind waiting for us…”
“I’m not lyin’! I’m just a hired hitman, my boss never talked serious business ‘round me!” Hanson frowned, as if he was trying to recall something. “I remember one time, though, Attwell was talkin’ to another guy at the orangery – son of the guy who owned the place, I think – and he kept callin’ their work a ‘Secret Empire’ or somethin’ like that, like it was a code.” (Y/N)’s eyes widened at his words, but before Jack could react, Hanson shakily continued. “Look, these guys are nuts; I saw them torture and kill a guy just ‘cause they said he lost somethin’ important to ‘em, and that’s not even the worst thing I’ve seen. I just wanna get away from ‘em before I get in too deep…”
“Well, we need to verify the information you’ve given us before there’s any talk of what to do with you, so if you’ll excuse us…” (Y/N) ushered Jack out of the pool house and closed the door before hurrying alongside him into the mansion and to his room, where their evidence board was still hanging on the wall; she quickly made a bee-line to the board and, after putting on her reading glasses, looked over the documents and photographs pinned onto it. “Where’s the-ah, here! Yep, Thomas Attwell is the younger brother of William Attwell, Michael’s former roommate in college; I’d bet my Fleetmaster that he’s the mystery man I heard talking in the orangery.”
Standing beside her, Jack pointed to the photograph of Adam Fieldman. “And you were right about what you said the other week, Fieldman’s definitely the second guy you heard in the orangery.” He grabbed his red yarn strings and a pen, working on amending the board as he talked. “From the sound of it, Fieldman’s in charge of the manufacturing and distribution aspect of their little operation while Attwell’s there to keep their guys in check for Michael. But we still don’t know why the hell they’re robbing banks with stolen Stark tech-”
“I do.” With a weary look, (Y/N) took of her reading glasses and set them on the desk beside them. “The Secret Empire isn’t code for anything, it’s the name of an organization that existed within Hydra during the war. Originally, it started out as a criminal enterprise that generated financial support for Hydra after they broke away from Hitler and the Nazis; they also worked to secretly distract the SSR from Hydra’s activities whenever they could so needless to say, they were a massive pain in our asses throughout the war.”
Jack furrowed his brow in confusion. “If they only existed during the war, then why’s there a chucklehead in the pool house saying they’re still around?”
“Before Steve Rogers took down Hydra in ‘45, there were some rumors going around that the Secret Empire wanted to break away and form their own independent group. It was just here-say, though, and when Hydra fell we all assumed that the Secret Empire went down with them; thinking back on it now, it was a little weird that there was complete and total radio-silence on their end…” (Y/N) bit her lip as her gaze danced between Jack and the evidence board. “What if a new iteration of the Secret Empire got a hold of Howard’s blueprints, used them to manufacture weapons and began committing bank robberies as a way to build their organization back up?”
“That explains why the bank robbers ignored the cash and only went after the gold; that’s a universal currency if I’ve ever seen one.” With a sigh, Jack stepped forward and tapped a finger against the photograph of a smiling Michael Carter. “So, I guess Michael really was Hydra the whole time, and now he’s a member of this new Secret Empire. There’s one question Hanson didn’t answer, though: What’s their next move?”
(Y/N) opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them. They both whirled around to see Howard Stark standing in their doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and his signature smirk on his face. “I think I can answer that one for you, Chief Thompson. But first, could you two do somethin’ about the guy in the pool house? I’ve got a pool party scheduled for later tonight and I can’t have him ruining the mood for everyone…”
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A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! If you haven’t checked it out yet, I created a Spotify playlist for this series and I’ll be updating it every time I upload a new chapter.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/21pWY7OiMFj8LaYpxhtVtW
Chapter Eleven
“Specs and the Flyboy” Masterlist
Tagging: @nnon-it-up @fluffymadamina @remmyswritings @ourstarsailor @darkusangelus @josis-teacup @marvel-jackt-loki-buck @yeetyeetchickenmeat @sameoldbaby @theserenityspace @seeing-but-not-observing @supervoldejaygent @momc95 @brooke0297 @kinda-c0nfused @outoftheregular @mads-weasley
#jack thompson x reader#agent carter#jack thompson#edwin jarvis#peggy carter#howard stark#michael carter#marvel cinematic universe#strategic scientific reserve
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Tommy’s (and Tubbo’s) Character /rp /dSMP
This is a bit of a rant so like be warned. I have nothing against any CCs mentioned in this, this is all roleplay, lighthearted, and just a bit of fun analysis. Mostly this is a ramble about how I see certain people analysing Tommy’s character on tumblr and twt, and why I think they’re wrong. This isn’t directed at anyone specific, just a trend I’ve been seeing that kinda irks me. I don’t dislike the fandom, just a few ‘takes’ have been really weird for me.
TW for everything below: analysing the effects of trauma, abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, and lack of therapy.
I’m not really liking how victim-blamey everyone is getting currently in the dSMP, both in fandom and canon. In canon with certain characters but especially in fan analysis posts and especially about Tommy and Tubbo. People legitimately celebrating that Tommy might start ‘apologising’ for his actions more and 'growing as a person' somehow don’t realise that hes been made this way through a tonne of negative reinforcement. abuse, and gaslighting. And people blaming Tubbo for actions he had no choice in, rather than the actions he did choose.
Currently, as I see it, Tommy is so scared that anyone would find a reason to be pissed off at him that his fighting spirit has been completely crushed. He was exiled and abused when he should have been helped and given an understanding figure to guide him and teach him how to deal with things non-violently. In everyone’s eyes, the problem was that Tommy was creating violence with no real reason, acting recklessly and commiting crimes. Tubbo, having made him a part of his cabinet, knew that this would only harm the country. So instead of talking to him reasonably, he got angry, put him on trial, and punished him with the logbook (humiliating him by making him report back to Fundy, which he obviously hated). Tommy’s actions were, of course, bad, but did he deserve everyone ganging up on him? No. Especially when Tubbo was supposed to be in his corner, helping him out like he always said he would (”It’s me and you vs Dream” etc). This is the first betrayal of trust from Tommy’s POV. He doesn’t understand what he did wrong to its full extent, and no one can explain it to him.
However, Tubbo was under a lot of pressure from Dream and George, and he’s a literal child President, so his ‘safety over friendship’ actions are understandable. I don’t believe Tubbo is solely to blame for anything he’s done in season 2, but it can’t all be excused. If you are to blame Tommy for his recklessness, you have to blame Tubbo, at least partially, for his disregard for Tommy’s feelings and mental state. There were other ways to go about the entire thing, including the trial, which was just horrible to watch, and agreeing to give Dream the disc, something Tommy gave him in pure confidence that it would be safe with Tubbo. Yikes moment.
At that time, Tubbo knew a lot of things about Tommy. In fact, he probably knew the most about Tommy out of anyone on the server. He knew the discs were incredibly important and a comfort item for Tommy. He knew Tommy had trauma from being exiled in the past. He knew Tommy was abused, or at least manipulated by Wilbur, in addition to growing up in war. Wilbur once told Tommy to stop being reckless, and Tommy listened, changing his attitude because he looked up to Wilbur so much. Then Wilbur said ‘let’s be the bad guys’ and stopped trying to mentor Tommy. There’s a conflict here, because Tommy was told by Wilbur that he wasn’t good enough to be President (links to the idea of ‘not being strong enough’) but he knows that Wilbur was a bad person. But Tommy is never given the chance to reconsile his feelings surrounding Wilbur, both because of Ghostbur and because of the conflict he starts with George. So he is harbouring a mixture of emotions about his mentor and brother, not understanding how to untangle the ‘real Tommy’ from the manipulated boy he became.
What was going through his head when he stole from George and griefed him? Perhaps the thought that he needed to show he was still the same old Tommy. Maybe the need to ‘prove himself’ as a strong person? It could have just been an outlet for his trauma. He’s grown up in a world where everyone is either a friend or an enemy. George isn’t a friend. How was he supposed to know that hurting him was bad?
Tubbo was pressured into the actions he took against Tommy, but he was pressured far too easily. There is no moment where Tubbo turns to Tommy and makes sure he’s okay, he views him as ‘selfish’ and overdramatic, and sees his actions that way. This makes sense from Tubbo’s POV, he’s struggling to be President in ways that Wilbur *knew* he would, but in Tommy’s eyes this is the worst betrayal he’s ever known. The moment Tubbo (rightfully, but poorly executed) defies Tommy’s plan to hire Technoblade (ahem, seeing Techno as a weapon again) and exiles Tommy is the moment their friendship shatters. They’re two people who don’t understand each other anymore. Two people who are technically in the right, but only hurt each other.
What Tommy needed was a therapist, instead he had Dream, who put out the fire of rebellion that made him so strong, and Techno, who was trying to help but doing it in the wrong way.
People see tommy's change post-exile as a good thing because he's not as rebellious anymore and he’s thinking things through a lot before he does them, but they will soon realise that his rebellion was one of his best traits and the fact that no one saw it as anything but a problem really shows. He now second-guesses himself so much and is so scared of being wrong that everything seems too difficult and too dangerous. Every trait can have a positive and negative side. Tommy's defiant nature would have made him the perfect negotiator with a little practise. In fact, he had plenty of good ideas before he was exiled (using spirit against Dream, though it didnt work in the end, for example). The negative side of this was recklessness and the desire to cause problems on purpose, but what he needed was a friend (looking at you Tubbo) who understood that hes been through several wars, was manipulated by Wilbur, and hasnt known a time of peace where everyone who wasnt on his side was out to kill him. Now that ‘fight’ is gone he's just become easier to manipulate.
He may be getting better (see: telling Dream to go fuck himself) but there hasn't been any long-term growth because he was never told what kind of rebellion was good and what was bad. He was just told it was all bad. By Dream (and by Tubbo). Who he doesn't trust. So he's just going to revert back to his old ways because no one told him what was bad in a way that didn't make him feel like everyone was against him. Dream is the enemy (though Tommy’s feelings towards him are complicated, they make his brain go all ‘flippy floppy’) and Dream told him that rebellion was bad, so rebellion must be good always, right?
And then there's Techno. Techno did nothing wrong except for when he did. Techno is 100% right except for when he isn’t. He doesn't understand Tommy because Tommy was never fully open about what Dream had done and how it affected him. That's not Tommys fault though, because who the fuck openly talks about their trauma? So neither of them are to blame for pretty much anything up until the confrontation at the community house.
However, Techno's methods and ideology were not what Tommy needed. He was thrown from one extreme to another over and over again, from complete subservience to total rebellion. Neither of these inforce good attitudes in Tommy. One, as stated before, makes it so that he will regain his negative traits again. The other reinforces those violent traits as good, just like Wilbur did. The only difference is that Techno had good intentions, he wasnt trying to use Tommy, which is why he feels so used when Tommy 'betrays' him (Techno doesnt realise that he himself betrayed Tommy by teaming with Dream, he sees it more as a transaction than a personal thing). Techno feels so hurt by Tommy ‘viewing him as a weapon’ that he goes on with his no-mercy attack, completely dropping Tommy at his lowest point.
Tommy says he doesn't want to be like everyone he's hated. In fact, he say's he is 'worse' than all the villains. This is very obviously untrue, though he was clearly going down a dangerous path with Techno's influence (see: bullying Fundy, spawning wither, kidnapping Connor, and saying that the discs are more important than Tubbo, more on that later). He's not a villain but who exactly has said he's not a villain. Dream? Techno? Neither of them can be trusted in his eyes. They say he's a good guy, Wilbur wanted to be the bad guy, who's right? He doesn't know. He has a crisis of morality.
And? Some people want to point at that and say 'aha! Character development! He's finally realising his actions have a negative affect on others!' OH GOD NO??? He's a *child* who thinks that he is worse than his abuser. Does that sound like positive character growth to you?
Lastly, the discs. We know theyre a comfort item blahblahblah. He hates himself for valuing them more than he values Tubbo. He's literally innocent in this. He’s been horribly manipulated by Dream to believe that the discs are worth anything. Theyre really not worth anything if they are being used as tools rather than, yknow, discs. My poor boy. He doesnt trust people, so what can he trust? The discs. But then he says it out loud and realises he misses Tubbo and he wants to be with his best friend again and and and WAHHHH. This also isnt really character growth its just fucking sad leave me alone.
Anyways what the fuck guys. @ Niki and Jack what the fuck. Yeah we get it it’s miscommunication but wtf. Kinda worried that the actual lore will make Niki and Jack’s hatred of Tommy justified in some way and take on a big victim-blamey vibe, but I’m hoping that everyone is smart enough to not do that. I cannot praise Tommy enough for how he’s portrayed his character. I’m currently hoping that he himself understands the true complexity of it all. I’m sure he does.
Mostly though im actually pissed off at all the people praising tommy's character for 'maturing' when hes literally just got trauma. Nice one, tumblr and twt users. Thanks. Great job. He hasnt 'learnt his lesson', he’s traumatised. What the fuck.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk, leave your responses in the reblogs and comments.
#dreamsmp#dream smp#character analysis#dreamsmp analysis#analysis#critical#tommyinnit#tubbo#dream#technoblade#wilbur soot#tw trauma#tw abuse#tw gaslighting#tw manipulation
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Marion reads “The Darkest Hour”
This post was brought to you by: the dread I feel before opening this book knowing it is the first time I’m opening a warriors book since starting this years nanowrimo project
-It hits me that like, its really ironic to specify “Toms and She-cats without kits” like there are 100% some fathers in there
-Like all of shadowclan is ex rogues now huh
- BLOODCLAN??????????????
-I get why the names of bloodclan aren’t all listed, I knew about scourge but nothing could have prepared me for what actually reading him would be like this is not what I expected his entrance to be okay
-Bluestar :(
-The recaps, Good God, the recaps, I know, I KNOW it makes the emotional moments hit less when you recape everything, if it was just Fireheart remembering the big shit it’d hit so much harder despite how early in the book it is
-Getting the word out about their mistyfoot and stonefur’s lineage really does make the most sense as a defense against any plan Tigerstar may have but it still does feel weird huh
-Uh oh!
-”You’re young” yeah no shit,
-Fireheart being scared by the dog and Cinderpelt by the road, these cats are so traumatized :(
-I wonder if windclan is more likely to visit the moonstone with regularity given how close to it they are
-I complain about these books a lot and with good reason, but I do think some of the rituals and traditions are interesting
-LIONHEART.......
-How can having a partner prove unfaithfulnes to a cat you had a crush on, fireheart, c’mon,
-FIRESTAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Love the visuals that show up in the dreams, am not very found of vague prophecy trope
-it was interrupted??? by who the fuck?
-I love Barley, he’s got this shit figured out, good for him
-MORE FUCKING RECAPS I KNOW WHO RAVENPAW IS!!! I KNOW HIM!!!!! I KNOW THIS CAT ALREADY
-Finally whitestorm as deputy, I stand by he should be leader right now
-Okay....Okay this conversation with bramblepaw is cute, I want Bramblepaw to be a good cat, please, let him be good.
-DID THEY GIVE A KITTEN FUCKING RABIES????
-NOOOOOO THATS ALMOST WORSE
-WHO THE FUCK POISONS A KITTEN WHY WAS THIS SCENE NECESSARY
-THANK FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK
-Okay I know why the scene is here now but s t i l l
-Thornclaw!!!
-Brightheart!!!
-storytime
-Bastard Darkstripe, there really was a part of me that hoped he’d be innocent, I wanted to see how that would be handled
-if Sandstorm gets mad again that it wasnt her ill lose my mind, it hasnt happened but im worried
-recaps. all the recaps.
-”Of course I’m loyal! as I give another leader the ins and outs of our politics”
-I mean it tracks she wouldn't trust Tigerstar but still, there's a hint of irony here
-I get where he’s coming from but does it not occur to him or Whitestorm to ask Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw what they’d like
-The bastard man has arrived to yell about his war crimes
-”MAKE IT GREAT AGAIN” IM LOSING MY FUCKING MIND I know this book is several years old but still that fucking strikes a nerve of COURSE it comes from Tigerstar!
-Cloudtail continues to be resident cat atheist
-He’s an apprentice asking a question Firestar :(
-I would commit Arson for Brightheart
-Is he asleep now??
-no okay just a special occasion
-Poor Tawnypaw
-So he’ll let Featherpaw and Stormpaw choose but not Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw
-Hi Ravenpaw!
-well shit
-stonefur nooo
-please tell me its fight time don’t let these cats die here
-There is something that feels almost too convenient about them choosing now to investigate but still please don’t let them die if we’re getting convoluted at least let the cats live
-Convenient time for a speech, perfect for drowning out a scuffle
-”We can’t tolerate half clan cats but merging the clans is the perfect thing to do”
-Stonefur I love you so much
-NOOOO
-This is a children’s book huh, children’s books get away with so much violence when it’s animals
-no lie if Ravenpaw rejoins the clan after this I’ll be kinda mad, like its cool that he’s helping but some cat should be able to just vibe in a safe place damn
-Ravenpaw I love you
-”The prisoners have escaped” is not a yowl you freeze to, fucking run
-TAWNYPAW NO
-OKAY I will give these books that, the set up and eventual hit of making at least Firestar focus his distrust towards Bramblepaw and then have Tawnypaw be the one that leaves, interesting but also :(
-Genuinely taking notes, there’s a lot I can say against these books but there is something to be said for the balance in this particular book of maintaining tension by means of offering brief moments of respite from the action, and taking the time to do simple things like Stormpaw’s ritual becoming Graystripe’s apprentice, and the talk about the smaller things like Sandstorm helping Mistyfoot mentor.
-Damn.
-I knew Thunderclan and Windclan would join, it was pretty obvious but, hey its a kids book, I wasn’t expecting this much blood behind it
-it worries me how deep into this I am and I haven’t seen anything of bloodclan yet
-It’s weird knowing a sparse handful of spoilers, there’s only a couple cats I’m relatively confident will survive this
-speaking of which, if Whitestorm dosen’t survive to retirement I’m suing
-Tawnypaw :(
-Bramblepaw should get to commit patricide I think
-aaaaand there’s bloodclan!
-BYE TIGERSTAR
-Of course it couldn’t be that easy, see I knew Scourge was a villain, but I didn’t know what he wanted
-Okay it is very much so a power move to spend several books building up an antagonist and building towards his fight with the main character only to have said antagonist brutally murdered in an instant leaving the lead to face off with said murderer. It seems like the kind of thing that can easily feel cheap if done wrong but I think it works here, not sure how much that stance is skewed by the fact I knew the murder was coming but not the aftermath.
-Bramblepaw.....
-the people who own that farm just kinda have barn cats show up huh
-I adore Barley
-Princess!!
-”It can’t be what starclan wants” hey maybe talk to Cinderpelt, hey maybe remember that whole “blood will rule the forest” thing, hey maybe don’t pretend you didn’t see Tigerstar get cut down so brutally
-y’know the way to save the absolute most members of your clan? fucking booking it, Bluestar said it herself, you got the choices.
-Bramblepaw is going to leave to be with his sister isn’t he
-Yeah it sucks but you can also just fucking leave
-if you think you can form a fighting force surely you have enough strength to help kittens and elders through a journey to safety
-Now would be a good time to console your apprentice
-”Bloodclan has no respect for the Geneva convention healing out in the open puts not only you but your patients at risk hiding where only our side knows you are will be better for every cat” might be more effective than that Firestar.
-If brightheart dies I’m suing
-Whitestorm is gonna fucking die and im not ready
-”If you’ll have us” as though he didn’t already agree to accept their help earlier
-They are putting a lot of trust in the youngest leader there
-Prediction: Firestar is gonna lose the first of his lives here
-Darkstripe you fucking indiot
-WHITESTORM :(
-There it is, the first death, I knew it
-Title drop
-”YOU KILLED ME BUT I GOT BETTER”
-Victory
-I THOUGHT SHE MEANT MORE BLOODCLAN CATS FUCK
-”No longer Allies” ok but what if you were though. you can be separate clans and like...be friends about it
-Another book done.
#warrior cats#Marion Reads Warriors#the darkest hour#book reaction#I kinda wanted to see them go home and see the elders and the kits again but oh well#I'm gonna have to make another library trip soon
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MY TOUGHTS ON PART TWO OF RED HOOD BY CHIP ZDARSKY :)
A DC BOOK THAT TASTES LIKE MARVEL.
You know when you are reading a book and you feel like the story you are reading seems familiar but not really within the context you are reading it at the moment? If you can’t shake the wrong sense of familiarity you search for what it probably the biggest give away, the author.
Here it’s something like that; I have read other pieces of Chip Zdarsky’s work, namely Daredevil. While I could tell you the familiarity is there, in the subject of guilt after taking the life of another person, the reality is that this book doesn’t taste like Daredevil, it tastes like Marvel.
That can be either an excellent thing (because Marvel has amazing books) or something terrible (because DC isn’t Marvel and they don’t work the same way).
As of now I can’t really tell if this Red Hood story is going to be one or the other, but I can tell you that it feels out of place in the DC universe, or at least that’s how I see it. I will explore this particular thought later, I just thought this was a nice way to open this post.
If you would like to read the first post I made about this book I will leave the link here!
Now…let’s begin.
Part two picks up exactly where part one left off, we see Jason calling Oracle so she can bring the police to the place where Jason killed Andy a.ka. that gigantic piece of shit.
Jason is having some thoughts, ones that I think are important.
“I have taken lives before, a lot of them. I have killed guys knowing nothing about them except that they had guns and murder in their hearts. Those ones are easy; I don’t have to think of their mothers getting the news or of kids being...”
Jason is troubled. He is now in front of a reality that he never truly thought about but to be honest with you I strongly believe that nobody in the DC universe thinks beyond what happens in front of them, that’s just how fictional comic worlds are designed.
Anyway, there is a little something that bothers me in this inner monologue of his, like since when have “murderers” been Jason’s actual target? Like Joker was his target but he didn’t kill him, the base of Jason’s morals when it comes to killing has always been drugs, most importantly if you sell drugs to kids. So unless he is saying “murderers” because they were selling drugs that caused people (especially kids) to overdose then I don’t really get what is going on.
Another thing that I also talked about in the first post is that Jason hasn’t killed in a very long time, this man has been sticking to the Bats rule for so long that it’s actually unreal. Even when he shot the penguin and Batman proceeded to almost beat Jason to death the penguin hadn’t died. So once again I am thinking that Zdarsky has some info that he is not sharing right now or maybe he just didn’t read Lobdell's run (in which case, can you really blame him?)
Now let me talk about the other part of his monologue “…I don’t have to think of their mothers getting the news or of kids being...” This is something that I haven’t seen in DC, direct consequences after a hero/vigilante does something, and let me tell you it feels out of place. Is it a good or bad thing? I don’t really know but I have some thoughts on the subject.
I think it's unfair to put a comic character in that situation or dilemma. Jason has basically three reactions to the same situation and they are all valid, but can this situation be handled by a fictional person in a fictional world? Because to be fair I could also ask about the criminals that are put in hospitals after they are beat up by heroes, what if they die in the hospital? Is the hero a killer or does it fall on the hospital? If a criminal cannot pay for the attention given to them in hospitals and they immediately go back to criminal activity to pay for those things, are heroes a good thing? If the Joker bombs a hospital for the third time in four months and Batman does the same thing (take joker to Arkham) only for Joker to escape and do it again, is Batman as guilty as the Joker for the deaths of innocent people or not?
As I wrote it and as I read it again I see that it is a crazy thought because you can simply add more depth to the characters decisions and the consequences that would ensue because of them, but Gotham is a fictional city created to establish that crime is off the charts and that they need Batman because no amount of resources will be able to fix this city’s problems. So putting Jason in this position is new to me…but only in DC (more of this particular thought below).
Going back to the comic in question, I feel like Jason had the answers and the ideas all in his head. In this issue alone he basically says that if the mother does not pull through the boy will be alone, but alone means going into the system (a horrible system that Jason does not trust and needs improvement), but also, Jason recognizes that if the mother died and the father was left alive then that man would have done horrendous stuff. I just simply wouldn't believe that a man that gave drugs to both his wife and son so they wouldn't bother him is just going to change after realizing that his wife died because of him. Even less believable is him becoming an amazing father.
In the big scheme of things, Jason has killed people who fitted very certain characteristics, never innocents (bye, Morrison). What happens after the killing is done? We don’t know because past stories have never focused on that (criminals in comics are by default one dimensional, villains are not)
But here is the thing, Zdarsky is a Marvel writer and Marvel has gone in depth within those situations (like what happens after heroes commit mistakes or kill someone) mostly with Civil War by Mark Millar and more recently in Daredevil written by Chip Zdarsky, but DC hasn't and DC has been plain for a long time, DC doesn't really explain how batman hurts people severely and nothing happens beyond that.
What I am trying to say is that Zdarsky is going for a different and unique route for Jason here but I think the story is out of place in the DC universe.
I promise I am done with those thoughts, they were really difficult to put on paper and to make them make sense, so I apologize if I only confused you, sorry!
Anyway! After the monologue is done we have a flashback where little Jason is being told by his mother to go buy bread (the only thing they can afford) but she is also making him leave so he doesn’t have to be present when Robby (a friend if you ask Jason’s mom, a drug dealer if you ask Jason) comes to the apartment to help her.
Sadly as Jason is leaving Robby is walking up the stairs, now not to copy little Jason but fuck Robby. Jason’s issues with drugs, drug dealing and overdosing is once again shown here but what is also shown is the violence that comes with it. Jason being terrified for himself (and his mother) as Robby pulls a knife on him broke my heart and as he is left there in the corridor to his apartment all we can see is a defeated little boy and that shit hurts a lot.
After that we jump back to the future with none other than Batgod…I mean Batman. Batman is following a man called Sydney and apparently he disappointed Batman because B told him to stop being a criminal, like come on man if I ask nicely or if I break both of your arms you will surely stop, right? Yeah, no.
I feel like I mentioned something about this while my brain decided that DC never usually explains what happens with criminals after they get caught or killed and now here we are. Consequences. Batman scares a man off of working for Scarecrow but the man still needs to work (does he have a family to provide for? We don’t know. Does he do it because it’s the only job he can get? We don’t know.)
This Batman intermission ends up with Oracle telling him that Jason might be in trouble.
So we find ourselves back with Jason and Tyler in his safe house, Zdarsky does not hesitate and first thing he does is give us a couple of very angsty panels.
I love the way it hurts.
Jason honey, my sweet chonky boy…what are you doing?
Well at least I am not the only one asking that because Jason is having a moment to reflect about what has happened, what is happening and what could happen in the future. In this monologue he says the following:
“Dammit, Jason, what the hell are you doing? You can’t take care of this kid! But you can’t put him in the system either! Just waiting for some obsessed militaristic billionaire to adopt him? Dammit. His dad was scum, he hurt Tyler, he hurt his mom. But if Tyler’s mom doesn’t pull through…I just made this kid an orphan. He is my responsibility, he is too young to really see what he’s gone through, he can still be saved…unlike…”
Yeah that’s some really angsty thoughts, he is really going through it and I understand it. He lost his cool after what that horrible human being said he did and killed him and now he has to face the consequences of his actions, he recognizes that if the boy is left truly alone he will have to step up…but here is the thing, does Jason really want that? It seems to me like Jason is deeply against the idea of children working as heroes, and here he is as an adult that is a vigilante with an impressionable child that sees the Red Hood as his hero, I don’t know, it looks like the perfect recipe for a disaster.
But we don’t get to see what Jason does right away because its flashback time.
Jason only moved from his spot in the corridor of his apartment door to get the bread but as Robby comes out of said door Jason is there waiting. Robby teases that he and Jason’s mom ended up sharing the “medicine” and that she will be sleeping for a long time, and that seems to be it for Jason because next thing you know Robby is falling down the stairs.
Aw, shit.
Jason from the future continues his monologue while he remembers what happened on those stairs.
“I never had a chance, not for one second. But he does, Tyler has a chance. I can help him, help him be okay. This doesn’t…what I did…what his parents did, it doesn’t have to define him.”
So Jason wants to make things right for Tyler so he doesn’t become like Jason. Now I don’t truly know what Zdarsky is going for but I will go for the unconscious route, little Jason pushed Robby (that fucker) down the stairs and he was left unconscious there.
In Jason’s eyes Tyler is still a good kid that deserves only the best (like you Jason, please don’t think so low about yourself) and that can be saved from a life of vengeance, justice and trauma. But whatever Jason was going to actually say to Tyler we don’t know because Tyler informs Jason that through the Red Hood mask there is someone telling him that Batman is coming.
Batman appears out of nowhere as he does and starts talking shit.
Honestly Batman what is with that “not my town” bullshit? Baby this isn’t the medieval times, you are not a king and as far as I know not only is Lucius Fox richer than you but so is Dick so sit your ass down and shut the fuck up.
Luckily Jason is giving the outstanding amount of zero fucks and tells Batman exactly what he needs to be told, sadly Jason’s big brain time doesn’t last long because he absolutely loses his cool and starts a fight. So you know what that means, monologue time!
“This was a mistake, but I can’t help myself, he gets under my skin. His sanctimony, he acts like he’s God, all knowing, all seeing when really…he’s just another failed parent.”
Amen. Jason knows many languages but he chose to speak facts.
As the monologue ends Batman is standing over Jason like he is about to murder him but no such thing happens because Tyler, who was quietly watching them fight, jumps in to protect Jason. Yep, there goes my heart, goodbye.
And this is it. The issue ends with Tyler putting an end to the fight and telling batman that he has to leave the Red Hood alone because he is a good guy. Jason of course is thankful and promises that everything is fine.
I don’t know about you guys but so far I can’t say if I like the book or not. Both parts left me with mixed feelings. I obviously want to see how it ends but I honestly think that there is only one way this story can end with a happy ending, which I think it would be Tyler going back to his mom and Jason somehow working to help her with her drug addiction, maybe even have Dick involved so he can help them economically.
Things that I surely do not want to see are Jason backing down again and limiting himself to the Bats rules. I also absolutely don’t want Zdarsky to go all Geoff Johns on us and make Jason think that he should give up the Red Hood mantle.
Jason really needs to gain his confidence back, he was smart, calculated and strategic and now they have taken those things away to accentuate his “daddy issues” and “inferiority complex”. Why the quotation marks you ask? Oh, because those things are bullshit and there is no room for those things in Jason’s characterization other than to add more angst to the plot.
Let me know how you felt about the issue and my review! Are you excited about what the four next issues are going to bring to the story?
Also if you read Marvel, did this issue taste like Marvel to you too or am I going crazy?
#Jason Todd#red hood#red hood outlaw#batman: urban legends#batman urban legends#infinite frontier#DC comics#robin
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the many faces of tom riddle, part 5
- more myth than man... or not? the mortality of tom riddle and the anatomy of a villain-
That leaves us with Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of adult Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort in movies 4-8.
I generally find adult Tom Riddle disappointing, even in the books, in terms of character depth. Instead of delving into his motivations and the inner psychology of a villain, we get... slight body horror? And in the movies, it’s even more egregious.
If a story is as good as its villain, adult Tom Riddle is a bit of a let-down, especially on-screen.
“I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost . . . but still, I was alive.”
Perhaps the very first time I watched it, I found this scary, but I must confess that nowadays, Voldemort’s resurrection is more funny to me than anything else. The forked tongue and the nose slits, yes, are supposed to allude to Tom Riddle’s loss of humanity, but I don’t think it...worked out that way in practice.
I know that’s how it is in the books, but ugly equals evil (and vice versa) is a tired trope. not only that, but under the CGI, Lord Voldemort is so difficult to relate to, so inhuman, that it’s hard to (1) see his true depravity (2) connect with him emotionally (3) at least for me, not laugh at him flapping around the graveyard in GOF like an oversized crow.
Now, the reason I’m going on about this is not (just) me being petty. Lord Voldemort is the Boggart for most of the characters in the HP universe, meaning their greatest fear is Lord Voldemort. He represents Fear; as such, he should be utterly terrifying. Now, I don’t mean horrifying in that sense, but Voldemort’s grand entrance should at least feel somewhat unsettling, have some sort of a Gothic atmosphere...
"But then, through the mist in front of him, he saw, with an icy surge of terror, the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, rising slowly from inside the cauldron."
Visually, this looks great. But it’s not scary. And I’m not a purist by any means, but the words are scarier than the book. Darkness induces fear.
“The lack of any kind of visual stimuli increases anxiety, uncertainty, and tension.”
So, having Voldemort’s pale body materialize isn’t as scary as it could be.
Furthermore, I think Fiennes’ overexaggerated expressions would actually come across as properly horrifying/threatening rather than funny if they just left his face alone. Yes, Fiennes does manage to emote the fear and the anger through the CGI, but it’s like he’s too alien to be scary, at least to me. The amount of memes with Voldemort suggest I’m not the only one this way inclined.
I think there’s probably a problem going on with the uncanny valley. (Images from the Mori essay linked).
[When things are still]
[Creepy things are creepier when moving]
Now, I assume Voldemort is meant to be zombie-creepy, or at least that how Harry describes him in the books.
"The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry...and Harry stared back into the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's but with slits for nostrils...."
Now, we can’t get Harry’s experience of being haunted by Voldemort in his dreams, because what I think makes Voldemort’s countenance so truly frightening to the other characters isn’t his snake-like nose or his red eyes, but the potential. Voldemort is, in essence, the Grim Reaper. You are at his mercy, and you’re probably going to be dead.
“This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour.“
And yes, Voldemort can be quite funny and witty, but..
“I will allow you to perform an essential task for me, one that many of my followers will give their right hands to perform.” (To Peter Pettigrew)
...it’s still incredibly dark, sadistic humour. Whereas the teenage Tom Riddle we’ve been discussing has just barely dipped his toes into evil, Voldemort is, well... swimming in it. At this point, he think he undeniably enjoys causing pain.
And much of what makes Voldemort scary is subtle.
For example, what I personally consider haunting is the fact that he’s got a cave full of Inferi. A cave full of reanimated dead bodies.
Either he dug them up, which is unlikely... or perhaps, a twenty-seven-or-so-year-old Tom Riddle would lie in wait like a bird of prey, very quietly and patiently, perhaps reading a book, waiting for an unsuspecting Muggle to wander past. Maybe killing is a game to him at this point, when it’s not so personal as killing Harry Potter. Maybe it’s a whispered Avada Kedavra, and then he carries the dead body away to his cave. Maybe he Imperiuses them to walk off the cliff. Maybe he tortures them first.
Shudder.
And I don’t think you can show that kind of horror through any CGI or make-up, so...
You know what is terrifying? Revolting? True crime; real-life people who do unspeakably horrible things. And I think a lot was missed out on, in stripping Tom Riddle physically of his humanity. Yes, Riddle is a monster...
But, as we’ve seen, he’s a human monster, not some eldritch horror from the seventh level of hell or something.
I just think it would be interesting to have this perfectly normal-looking human do all the horrific things Voldemort does. I want to see that sick joy in a human face and feel disgusted. I want to see fear make his bottom lip tremble, and feel a misplaced sense of empathy. (Think President Snow from the Hunger Games -- now, that’s a sick, twisted villain who we can relate to as a human being, but still love to hate -- or what about The Joker?).
And out of everything they chose to CGI, why on earth did they not make his eyes scarlet? That might have made him look at least somewhat menacing, rather than a failed lab experiment.
(Don’t even get me started on his and Bellatrix’s death scenes in the movies-)
Here’s President Snow. He’s got a cute little granddaughter, he sends kiddies to kill each other Battle Royale-style every year, and he poisons all his political opponents. He’s also a master manipulator and has a penchant for white roses. They cover up the smell of the sores in his mouth from eating the poison too, to conceal his treachery.
Heath Ledger as the Joker in Dark Knight (2008), who is, according to NYT (which I totally agree with), the best Joker. Now this is a villain done right, with many Voldemort-like traits. On a scale of one-to-ten, he’s absolutely terrifying. Why? He’s (unlike Voldemort in the movies) incredibly intelligent, shows young-Tom-Riddle-like skills for charm and manipulation, plays with humans like they’re his own personal psychology experiment (and to hell with the Institutional Review Board), and has one, single, very clear goal -- chaos. Like Voldemort, he wears an inhuman mask that’s not horrifying in its own right; but unlike Voldemort, the human is all there -- terrifying, real, and with a bottomless, obsessive desire to destroy. His disordered thinking is all out there for the audience to see. The Joker’s motivation is to enjoy himself; whereas Voldemort seems to lack drive. Why does he want to take over the world -- who knows, with Voldemort? The Joker wants to see it burn.
Let’s try to do the same with Lord Voldemort:
[SLIGHT FLASH WARNING]
I had to go with this because Voldemort isn’t legitimately terrifying in many scenes. And yes, this unrefined anger somewhat speaks to Tom’s immaturity
By this point, seventy-one year old Tom Riddle is a hollowed-out shell of a human being. After decades of building his power, he was defeated by a one-year-old, and ended up slumming it as a spirit for a decade, got defeated again, was a shrivelled-up baby for a year, then finally got his body back.
He’s angry, okay! And Fiennes does a great job of portraying the sheer, destructive, unbridled rage of this character.
The body language. again, since his face is inhuman, this is super important. and Fiennes’ body language is great. Voldemort/Riddle commits to his actions. He is very emotionally-driven.
But yet, he doesn’t feel capable, in the way that the Joker or President Snow do. Yeah, we know anecdotally that he’s incredibly evil, sadistic, and second only to Dumbledore in terms of power, but he loses to a baby, and then that same baby as a teenager. So, we really could have done with seeing Voldemort’s power, cruelty, and evil firsthand a lot more often.
Voldemort is not well-characterized. I don’t understand his motives, and the ones that I do understand are not compelling.
Not to die? Well, he’s already made several Horcruxes. Why not sit back and relax? Why start a war and risk himself?
JKR said that Voldemort’s great desire was to become all-powerful and eternal. But that’s... boring! It does little to tell us about Voldemort, other than that he’s a villain and a wannabe dictator.
Furthermore, the charm, manipulation, and cunning that are hallmarks of younger Tom Riddle’s personality are gone.
Is Voldemort (to return to Jungian terms) all shadow? An empty creature of simple creation and destruction, perhaps? We’ll discuss this further down...
And this isn’t a problem of having a fantastical world with magic and the like. Grindelwald’s quiet, self-possessed, almost coy “So you think you can hold me?” was infinitely scarier than anything that has ever come out of Voldemort’s mouth. It was chilling.
OOTP is my favorite book, and the Ministry sequence is one of my favourite in the films.
This scene where he psyches out Harry, talking so quietly that he could just be a little voice inside his head (and again, during the possession scene)? Absolute perfection.
Why? Because this showcases what’s truly scary about him. Voldemort can get into your head. He can make you do things. And perhaps, if we had seen that more often, we’d understand how scary he is.
I wish this had been his grand entrance, and not whatever that scene in GOF was. Somehow, him screeching “I WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT LEAVE YOUR EYES!” is not menacing. At all.
But, I can’t help but think how much greater the emotional affect would be if he had more human features (think the burned-and-blurred, waxy features from Dumbledore’s memory).
Just imagine these scenes if Voldemort looked human, and spoke as quietly as he did in this one.
Because of the reason that I have little to go on in terms of characterization that I haven’t already covered, we’ll discuss the myth and legend of Lord Voldemort.
I can’t decide if the statue in the films is supposed to be the Angel of Death or the Grim Reaper. He has a skeleton and carries a scythe, but he also has wings. There are so many different interpretations, attitudes towards, and personifications of Death across the world that I don’t want to draw any one conclusion. But I must wonder if Lord Voldemort, with his yew-and-phoenix wand (which carries heavy symbolism of immortality and rebirth) and almost deified figure is meant to be a personification of Death himself? His name, Lord Voldemort, is a shade close to Lord Death.
For years, it has stumped me that wizards and witches are afraid to utter Voldemort’s name, especially since we only see the Taboo in the middle of the last book. It didn’t make sense just based on fear; in the real world, we don’t circumvent Hitler’s name, for example.
Perhaps this may have been obvious to others, but it wasn’t to me.
Here’s a counterargument to myself; why Voldemort shouldn’t look human.
Voldemort, in the Wizarding World, is seen as a literal deity.
I promised to attempt to answer this question in Part 3:
And so, I can’t help but wonder if the opposite is true… if Tom Riddle creates Horcruxes, would that grant him additional magic powers?
In Part 3, I likened Tom Riddle to a sorcerer in Russian folklore, Koschei the Deathless, also famous for sequestering his soul in objects. This source suggests that Koschei was considered not an ordinary magician, but a representative of the ‘other’ world, the world of death.
So, what if... creating Horcruxes makes you... more than human? Now, I could definitely see god-like status being appealing to sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle. Perhaps, even appealing enough to kill for. Now, his proclivity for Avada Kedavra makes sense. We know it’s an incredibly sinister spell, but at the same time, it’s a very humane way to kill. Why might it be so horrifying?
Here’s a weird theory.
To the best of my knowledge, no one but Voldemort is seen using the Killing Curse more than once or twice.
Perhaps, ordinary mortals can only cast Avada Kedavra a few times, but Tom, having split his soul and having become in some way a non-human instrument of Death, can cast it however many times as he likes, and that is part of what serves to make him so terrifying.
This makes the idea of Voldemort tossing around Avada Kedavras actually incredibly terrifying, if you take into account what that might mean.
The collective cultural fear of speaking Voldemort’s name supports this theory.
Take the chthonic (underworld) deities of Greek mythology; most notably, Hades and Persephone, the king and queen of the underworld.
Hades, the god of the dead, was feared.
So feared that the word ‘Hades’ (”the unseen one”) was so frightening, that people came up with all sorts of euphemisms to circumvent actually saying it and he was rarely even depicted in art. For example, they would refer to him as Pluto (”the rich one”), Clymenus ("notorious"), Polydegmon ("who receives many"), and perhaps Eubuleus ("good counsel" or "well-intentioned"), amongst many other names.
However, he was not seen as evil; just stern, cruel, and fair. Like most Greek gods, he had an associated cult (the Death Eaters, anyone?)
Another interesting connection between Hades and Voldemort is that Hades was associated with snakes.
Persephone (suggested to have a pre-Greek origin and probably pre-dates Hades), who was also a vegetation/fertility/spring goddess, similarly, was referred to as Despoina (”the mistress”), Kore (”the maiden”), etc, because as the terrible Queen of the Dead, it was considered unsafe to speak her name aloud. In mythology and literature, she is sometimes referred to as ‘dread Persephone.’
--Just like how Lord Voldemort is referred to as The Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who... (and if you’re Dumbledore, ‘Tom’.)
Her central myth served as the context for the secret rites of regeneration at Eleusis (which was basically a mystery cult devoted to her and her mother, Demeter), which promised immortality to initiates.
We don’t know for certain what exactly went on, because, mystery cult -- the members were sworn to secrecy -- but it revolved around immortality and rebirth and possibly psychoactive drugs.
Perhaps ironically, in comparison to the Death Eaters, anyone could join, as long as they could speak Greek and had never committed murder.
And that concludes my assessment!
#tom riddle#the many faces of#tom marvolo riddle#character analysis#lord voldemort#character study#tw: murder#the body horror was 1/10#don't make your character design hilarious if you want him to be scary#i'm not saying voldemort is a vegetation deity#but i'm not-not saying it either
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Snk ending: first impressions with tons of salt.
Please don't read this if you liked the ending. And if you wanna fight don't read it either because I won't answer shit.
Before I move on from this hellhole, I want to elaborate a simple opinion post (it took longer than I expected lol mb), my first thoughts and rambling as I read the chapter. I been a fan of this series since 2013 tho I never done this before. Be hold.
"It was all to push us away from you, and make us into heroes who saved humanity" So this is the so called Lelouch ending? I’ve never watched Code Geass so I don't have idea. Sounds fair tho.
EIGHTY PERCENT?!?!??? JESUS. Honey this is not okey, there's no room for a redemption at this point, 80% of the wolrd died by your hand how can you ever atone your sins— anyways let's take a walk Armin! there's more to talk about than the almost humanity extintion!
I'm happy that Eren got to see the landscapes they promised to explore one day with Armin, even in this tricky way. About that, everything can be explained by P A T H S, right? even this fake scenearios? Anyways, let's keep walking Armin.
Aha, people came to roast me because I said that maybe Ymir had Stockholm syndrome with Karl Fritz. I was right. This is awful, tragic and degrading as fuck. How is this a parallel to Eren and Mikasa’s relationship? are they trying to romantize a SA and pedo? Hmmmm whatever
You have to excuse me but I laughed out loud bc of this. HOW— HOW HIS ASS KNOWS THAT?? I'm sorry but I would like know this first hand, Ymir has a lot to explain to us, please. Mikasa saved her by showing her selfless-true love to Eren? I get it, but how that does shit to all the massacre and hell site we been reading this past months? One's true love resolves... the circle of hatred and the eldian vs marley issue?!
Eren knew that Mikasa would kill him at the end? That's fucked up.
"My head's gotten all messed up" I feel for him, for the first time he's showing how emotional and psychologically affected the Attack Titan's powers to his mind. I’m happy with this crumbs.
OKAY THIS IS HARD. I'M SHITTING MY PANTS AND I AM ON THE FLOOR RIGHT NOW. THIS. DOES. NOT. MAKE. ANY. SENSE. The dumbest and most unnecessary plot twist of the whole show. "Isayama... why" the only thing I can think about this, I'm out of words. And then Eren has the audacity to guilt trip Reiner lmfao.
And how the fuck Armin can be like "what did you say? oh, that's rough budd" ? uh? h...he..hello?? Ok, you know what, even Armin takes it like nothing, so I will. What the fuck, you can drop a bomb like that and then yeah let's keep walking Armin/Eren my dearest friend! there a loooooooot of more important things to talk about.
Seems like even Isayama can't explain his own character. GUYS c'mon— who cares if Eren manipulated his own predecessors memories, if he's the one who orquestated his parents death, if he killed the royal family and mass murdered his compatriots in Liberio just to use his half-brother for his plan! or if he almost extinted the whole humanity w his friends in between!!!!!!!!!! or if he commited war crimes in all forms and countries at once!! everyone has a day like that?? whatever man take it easy.
I know now why they said that Isayama killed Eren's character, I truly don't get it, my dissapointment is immeasurable, second time the chapter got me speechless for its dumb shit. The champion of the world comedy: Eren "I forgot" Yeager.
Haha! Armin get his ass! I never expect the ending to be this funny.
... it's a bad sigh that your finale feels out of tone like this?
Fr Isayama spend several pages to show Eren being sad horny about Mikasa after dropping TWO BOMBS like nothing? we’ve been here years reading a story about the moral in war, themes as complex as freedom, free will and destiny, for the last chapter taking into the spotlight this; after all that, Mikasa’s love was the most important thing of the story and no one noticed. Listen, I'm okey with Eren being a crybaby he never been this fanon chad, he's still 19, HE'S HUMAN, and like everyone else has his own selfish wishes too and this reaction is in character I know, but this moment feel out of place, not something you should put on your finale.
This is Isayama's logic:
Eren's feelings for Mikasa >>>>>>>>>>>>> Ymir's decision and POV > Eren killing his mother > 80% humanity's extintion.
Showing Armin more concerned about Mikasa than the whole fucking world and Carla's death plot twist is surreal I swear.
It’s getting hard to keep reading this shit bruh.
"I didn't expect something that pathetic" Yeah the "10 years, at least" this is pathetic as fuck.
Hey guys! there it is! the final panel with Eren holding his child with Historia— oh nvm, is just Grisha and Eren, how could we tell this outcome. Damn you Yams, you tricked us!
For real Armin is apologizing Eren's mass murder ass? Thrice this chapter got me speechless. I do not understand, I hope I could, maybe I'm just being hurtful, uhhh... it just got me by surprise. Anyways, I am just gonna drop this here and leave.
"Humanity will be saved by you, Armin" uhm, yeah. Make Erwin’s death worth it Armin.
So the power of the titans dissapeared once Mikasa killed Eren/The Founder, and the hallucigenia is now vanishing as well, ehhh... I guess? I guess it makes sense bc it was some kind of parasyte and its host (the founder) is already dead so, yeah.
What will happen with the Path Realm tho
I knew the crew wouldn't fuck up at the end, and now they're free of the 13 years course! Finally, Reiner can commit suicide without those annoying regenerative abilities.
So Eren created a mini-world/vision/memory for every person who was important to him? as a way to say them goodbye? ouch. I cried hard bout this. Still kinda hard to comprehend if you don’t have a close hold of the storytelling and chronological events.
I'm happy to confirm that Annie was dear to him as well. I knew it.
Even Eren confirmed that Connie's mom turned back into human! Aw, oh my god... Annie and Connie's panel caught me flying low. I'm so glad.
Sasha’s last goodbye to Jean and Connie? man.
Speaking about hugs, look at them!! My little wiwis, they're well and safe. Falco's hug was so powerful full of emotion and terderness that Gabi couldn't stand in two feet. Beautiful, I am so happy for them plus Connie and Jean's hug in the background, gives me 10+ years of lifespan.
The veterans got the best clousure of the entire cast, without doubt. Levi's conclusion is really satisfactory, even when I had my issues with his role post-timeskip. I'm okey with it, 50/50.
How in the fuck Mikasa gonna arrive to Paradis if the rumbling flattened all the cities and land transport? when she get there Eren's head will already got eaten by worms.
They paralled Trost arc — Armin's speech to the garrison officer. You could at least been more original, refrito.
Armin is gonna proclaim himself Eren's death? when in fact it was a woman who did it?? Hmmm if it means protecting Mikasa’s safety I can do that.
Historia's pregnancy subplot didn't make any sense more than the opportunity to keep Zeke alive. This feels so out of character, the audacity of the woman celebrating in the same day the wolrd almost ended the birthday of her daughter like nothing. The fact that she's holding her child right now is proof she was an accomplice of this genocide, idk how she can even... live with that, after knowing that she could have prevented this, but she chose to shut tf up and put that gloomy ass face of hers in the damn rocking chair this whole time. This portion of the story only served to rot the fanbase into ship wars and be a coccun of hidden neo-nazis. I don’t want to be part of that.
At least Historia got a good malewife, that's very girlboss of her.
I hope his daughter is named Ymir, let me headcannon (cope) in peace.
Look at those ugly ass uniforms. Floch would have loved them.
RICO??!!
I hope Sasha's family + Niccolo are packing out of Paradis, I would refuse to share the same air with yeagerist rambling and screaming imperialism nonesense.
Kiyomi is living in Paradis now? Good! Now Mikasa has more relatives to be with than Eren's severed head.
Isayama, are you fr? this is how you put at end of your favorite character's arc? with a lame ass joke? AGAIN, are you fr? cmon, the last chapters Reiner was shown as a feral fighting 20 titan shifters at once, to end up sniffing Historia's letter, what is this. I hope this is part of the treatment for his PTSD. Reiner, my beloved, you deserve better.
Eren, now Reiner, basically the entire cast except for... maybe Annie, Gabi, Falso, Jean and Connie, to the trashcan.
Not Annie’s karen new haircut...
Connie looking good with long hair!
So Levi is living in the continent now, nice! the wheelchair pushed by teen!Falco and Gabi warms my heart.
Falco is a cuter version of Colt. I wanna kiss his forehead.
Onyanko looking fresh as always, king. Btw his homeland got caught by the rumbling???
Then Isayama said: Mikasa's life ended with Eren's life, bc it seems that since Eren died she's been all ALONE, WITHOUT THE COMPANY OF HER FRIENDS. IS IT NECESSARY TO LEAVE HER LIKE THAT FOR THREE YEARS AND WHO KNOWS MANY MORE? Why should Mikasa be alone, separated from the rest of the world who are also important to her? I hope that she has contact with Kiyomi at least! Mikasa deserves a life too, ugh. Love female characters in shonen manga, they represent us 300% accurately.
I hate to see it, her crying without no ones emotional support, no one is there for her. What the fuck.
COPPING REALLY HARD HERE but, I love the symbolism that Eren, the kid who dreamed to be the most free person in the world, is now a bird who flies free for the sky. You're free now. Tho the symbolism was already too in the face to reinforce it with Mikasa’s “Eren, thank you blahblah”. Anyways.
And the place where all started with Eren and Mikasa, this story ended. Sobbing.
Conclusions:
This finale does not answer shit. I ended up more confused than anything.
The series ended for me in ch 123. Then when Zeke died.
I laughed way more than I expected. Laughing for not crying.
Years of "Eren is the best anime protagonist of all time" jinxed it. Thanks.
Mikasa has depression now. She needs her friends to be with her more than ever. As you wanted Eren! she's definitely not thinking bout you every second of her life! 10 years AT-LEAST!
Armin has functional brain cells when its only convenient for the moment.
Reiner sniffing Historia's letter killed my grandma.
The world is still fucked up but they all trying their best.
I really loved Ymir's quality panels this last chapter. She, the founder, the person who made this universe possible, getting to see her complex and fundamental POV and decisions who lead us to this point? amazing. I hope she's doing good wherever she is rn... what happened with the path realm? oh, who cares.
Gabi, Falco and Connie are the only ones with a good/satisfactory ending.
Armin’s behavior toward Eren’s doings and Carla’s death plot-twist were my last straw.
Levi 👍
#i would rate it with a 6.5/10#snk 139#aot 139#aot spoilers#snk spoilers#attack on titan#snk#i'm free#gotta see what berserk has to offer me
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Golden Kamuy chapters 269-270. The cliff notes meta edition.
This will be a less detailed meta as I’ve just been spread too thin recently and the current events of the manga have been underwhelming to me, making it harder to engage with the content.
Having an online presence has been a double-edged sword for me and as we mark 1 year of pandemic life, it is hard for me to invest as much time in it since I have to do so many more things online for work. Sitting down to write meta isn’t as fun and relaxing as it once was when you have 7 zoom meetings over the course of several days. Add on the fact that I have not left the county were I live since February 2020 nor I have a seen any of my family or friends . . . yeah writing meta isn’t a much of a priority. As an aside, I think more people need to be stating that being ‘productive’ and ‘leveling up’ during these times is either unrealistic and even more damaging by creating completely unrealistic expectations of how we should respond to things.
[steps off of soapbox]
Chapter 269, quickly shows us how the chaos that Tsurumi unleashed on the divided Ainu resulted in a tragedy and Wilk is the only one who managed to survive the massacre.
Tsurumi is able to sort out that there were eight Ainu, and that Wilk staged his own death by working quickly to conceal the identity of the dead partially by removing the eyes.
Kikuta is the first one to find the man who dies soon after discovery and Tsurumi seems to be in awe of Wilk’s escape plan.
KIkuta also shows he’s a more empathetic individual worried about how they contributed to the death of Ariko’s father. Did Tsurumi push Kikuta away after the war since he knew Kikuta would feel bad about doing the ‘things’ needed to be done for the gold?
It further highlights that Usami and Kikuta were never on the same page. I do like how the following page shows both Kikuta and Ariko continuing to tie the narrative that Kikuta feels a connection with the younger man. Shiraishi and Sugimoto spot Ariko, calling him Ariko Ipopte, which is an interesting choice to use a hybrid name for him. Kikuta uses his full Japanese name, while these men use a mix.
The final panel showing a reflective looking Kikuta walking alone in the rain really emotional connects with the grief surrounding all of this unnecessary death. Tsurumi sought to be a leader of men by giving them love and being the stand in father for them. I think that Kikuta is the character who is the natural and honest father figure - we know he has a deep relationship with Ariko and we also know he has some sort of connection to Sugimoto.
Tsurumi continues his ‘discussion’ of events with Asirpa and Sofia. Tsurumi has such a complicated relationship with Wilk. He’s both in awe of the man’s determination to survive but at the same time he wanted him destroyed at such a great cost.
Tsurumi really lays on the guilt to Asirpa that Wilk did everything to protect her - under the assumption that she’d be unfairly treated if her father had killed all of those men. Perhaps that is the case, perhaps not. It seems contradictory to his own actions where he gave Ogin and the Lighting Bandit’s child to Huci to care for it. He has this weird approach to the impact of the ‘sins of the parents’ on the child . . .
Tsurumi doggedly pursues Wilk and they immediately recognize each other and he flees onto the lake with his canoe. By shooting at Wilk, he forces him to capsize the canoe and items sink down into the lake. Honestly, I’m not sure what Tsurumi was hoping to achieve by this - make him swim so that he could capture him more easily. We don’t know how skilled Tsurumi is with a rifle and I’d be more concerned about killing Wilk and loosing the information. It seems reckless in my opinion since the ultimate outcome was Wilk appealing to Inudou thus achieving protection from the 7th.
I think Tsurumi was fueled and blinded by his emotions which only made things more complicated and drew the hunt for the gold out even longer (to the present time).
The rest of the chapter explains how Kiro felt. First, the grief at the loss of Wilk, trying to move on my having a family, but ultimately coming back to realize that Wilk was still alive after the war. Really, Wilk underestimated Kiro’s intelligence since he figured out that Kimuspu was the seventh man, not Wilk. As a Kiro fan, I of course favor him, but he really showed he’s a good leader and actually willing to take risks. What is most important is that having a family only lead him to want to fight for them - even more.
Kiro sees the flaw in Wilk’s plan of Hokkaido as an independent unit as a place for various native peoples, while ignoring all of the logistical issues that Kiro already pointed out to him previously. The Far Eastern Federation has the flaw that it is connected by land to Russia, but would me much harder to lay siege to. But Hokkaido as an island could easily be cut off - and with not much industry within itself, you still can’t do a whole lot with all of those raw materials if you can get industrial technologies from elsewhere. If it were blockaded they’d be screwed. Sure, you wouldn’t starve, but you wouldn’t be able to advance quickly. All that gold and nowhere to spend it.
Thus, Kiro believed he was acting in regard to their original goals and had no choice but to remove Wilk from the equation. As Wilk had become the very wolf that he had observed as a child and played with its pelt. That is some next level foreshadowing by Noda, if I do say so.
In the end, Kiro remained much more committed to their fight as partisans than Wilk did. You have to give it to him, he stuck to his original plans and he died believing he did the right thing. Now, looking back at how upset Sofia was when she first saw Kiro, we know why she slapped him in the first place. I’ll take it to mean that she was upset by Kiro’s actions but at the same time understood what he did. But then Sofia let it go, as she would soon go on to also speak fondly of Wilk and his desire to be like the wolves. Therefore, I don’t think Sofia was completely angry with Kiro, instead she knew the decision that was made and perhaps, she too, would have understood that there were divided in their goals once they moved on with their lives.
The next chapter starts off with the bottle mobile boys and Ariko on horseback as they determine what to do next. Sugimoto is amazingly still not rushing in like a maniac which is out of character for him. Are you okay Sugimoto? Or have your encounters with Kikuta and Boutarou begun to have an impact on you without being aware of it?
The settle on letting Ariko go ahead, even though he doesn’t answer their question. I’d say he doesn’t have a clue what side he is on. He likely cares about Kikuta. But he wants to see Asirpa succeed since he feels ashamed by his own approach towards life in Hokkaido as an Ainu.
Off he goes alone to figure out how to rescue Asirpa. Really, a terrible idea since sure he’s a tough guy, but we don’t know what his fighting skills are like in the first place. . . . At least he isn’t a hothead, so sending him in alone will be less of a disaster than Sugimoto.
The action returns to Tsurumi trying to turn up the heat on Asirpa. She asks him about Kiro’s fingerprints at the crime scene - a lie that Tsurumi fed to Inkarmat to get her to help him. He writes it off as him doing a good thing for her - she closed a chapter of her life - then again - he doesn’t know that Koito let Tanigaki and Inkarmat escape. The next several pages are a slow psychological technique that builds up to Tsurumi reveling that the bullet that killed Fina and Olga had been from Wilk’s pistol. Dum da duuum!
So, according to Tsurumi it is Wilk’s fault all those Ainu died. That he should have never left Russia for Japan. That even his time in Russia resulted in Fina and Olga’s deaths. Everything is Wilk’s fault!
This page ends with how Tsukishima let go of the woman he had loved and his memory of her - yet Tsurumi kept the bullet and the finger bones of his family! We can see that Tsukishima is barely holding it together, so upset by this knowledge!
As a master manipulator of people, Tsurumi thanks Sofia for what she has contributed to the story - he can help her feel better by telling her that she did not kill his wife and child. . . . on no, he only uses it as a way to add even more pressure on Asirpa!
To Tsurumi, Asirpa is no child, she is the direct tie to all of his anger and pain and his twisted soul.
I mean, he kept Wilk’s skinned face and he’s using it to get her to break! What is more interesting is after the initial shock, Sofia quickly regains her calm while Asirpa - well she’s clearly buying into Tsurumi’s explanation of things.
She is thinking about how her father ‘turned’ Tsurumi into the person he is before her . . . . I’d be willing to say that Wilk influenced Tsurumi - as much as Tsurumi influenced Wilk. Yet, Tsurumi as a human being is responsible for his decisions and he alone can respond to them in a constructive or destructive way. It is clear Tsurumi went for the latter.
Sofia’s calm in this pressure situation is clear as she asks him if it was for revenge. She’s a smart woman and has lived long enough to see these types of things through.
Tsukishima is ready to kill Tsurumi - it would make him a hypocritical leader - having him let go of his own earthly attachments only to serve a man bent on revenge. Koito is listening closely as well, unsure of how he’s going to respond.
Tsurumi makes it clear he could have killed Asirpa any number of times. I think this is another case of Tsurumi playing a verbal slight of hand. He’s asked if he’s doing this out of revenge, and his answer is - I haven’t killed her yet. Gee, based on how messed up you are Tsurumi, we both know that there is more than one way to take revenge. Killing someone in retribution is one way to take revenge or the worse way - make their life a living hell. It is clear that Tsurumi is going for the second one to break Asirpa.
There is a dramatic two page spread as he explains that he is doing this for Japan - and the implied increasing militaristic activities of the late Meiji government to expand their domain.
If feels - like a performance to me as a reader. The pages are remarkably light in tone giving it an optimistic and feeling of purity. Yet, Tsurumi is a broken and corrupt man . . . cruel in his intentions. He only says this as a way to combat anyone who were to contradict him . . . .
It is too perfect - too convenient - too good for Koito and Tsukishima to believe in my own opinion. As both of the men seem relived to have heard these very words as a type of closing statement.
Tsukishima looks relived that Tsurumi is continuing on the behalf of all of their fallen comrades and families. Again, this sounds too perfect like Tsurumi’s speech isn’t for Asirpa nor Sofia, it is for Koito and Tsukishima who are eavesdropping. Since Tsurumi is a next level planner/manipulator he likely came up with this well rehearsed speech to placate all issues around his inability to move on from his family’s death. It makes him look mature and that he’d moved on from his more basic human needs.
Koito looks like he’s trying really hard to believe Tsurumi and how Tsurumi’s words would comfort Tsukishima. But is that how you really feel Koito? That face looks - so - fake. Like Koito is overdoing it again and is actually unsure how to react. So, he he looks elated, Tsukishima will feel better - or something.
What I really want to know is why they are just there hiding and watching Tsurumi? If they are wanting to think independently and beyond Tsurumi why do it while hiding? It seems no matter what either man may think, they are still under Tsurumi’s thumb as far as how they react to his behavior and the current events.
And I’m gonna have to hold things here while I find a way to read the more recent chapters with non-shady software to decompress the files since I’ve been using Mangadex the entire time I’ve been reading GK (in addition to the english versions of previous chapters).
#golden kamuy#golden kamuy meta#asirpa#tsukishima hajime#koito otonoshin#kiroranke#tsurumi tokushirou#sofia#wilk#sugimoto saichi#Shiraishi Yoshitake#warrant officer kikuta#ariko rikimatsu
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I watched midnight mass a few days ago! I liked it! But Pruitt, buddy. How can you look at that thing and see angel and not vampire????
It killed me when I realized Pruitt was always looking at Sarah not because he knew she was gay but because she was his daughter!
There were def a few parts I liked about it!! And a lot of others that really grated on me XD father Pruitt is both a poor little meow meow and he’s also committed several war crimes. Like in the subject of fiction? i think he’s funny and neat. If he was my priest? 🙅♀️🙅♀️🙅♀️
i thought the Scarlet Letter twist was interesting. Ngl it was also cute. (but again it also made me lose my mind a lil bit!!)
the ending def made me cry. tho tbh a good deal of them all went with Bev's 'God thinks murder is ok :D' shtick for an embarrassingly long time. did no one read their Bible in this town???
i really liked how they tied around the sunrise scene for Riley. i felt like that was really well done.
I liked Pruitt a lot more than I thought I would considering he sent me into conniptions more than a few times over his theology. I’m glad he got a redemption arc (or I mean redemption ten minutes). They did a good job of making him a sympathetic villain. I thought Mildred was fantastic. Or at least, she seemed the most sensible. I thought the growing younger and vampire aspect was really neat.
basically. i thought it was okay. don’t pay attention to any of its theology and then yeah. It’s pretty interesting and it was enough to hold my attention for four out of the seven episodes. It was good enough compared to some of the horror stuff I’ve seen recently. again tho, the theology is a major part of the show. i guess it really depends on if it’s executed well and if you like that stuff? me personally tho? naw
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@cameoamalthea made a post about Bo-Katan and I have Many Thoughts, but for ease of reading I’ve put my response here under the read more! (warning: spoilers for the whole of season 2 of The Mandalorian)
Why Ahsoka still supports Bo-Katan is a GREAT question (that I actually started thinking about earlier today), but first, I want to talk about the rest of Bo's past - she is NOT a good person. She's definitely a Yasha Greyjoy, believing in the conquering, predatory supremacy of the Mandalorians, and something I'm exploring in a fic series I'm currently writing is how she came to be that way.
I think it was mentioned somewhere that Satine's father was Duke of Mandalore before she was Duchess, and it was him who started the pacifist New Mandalorian government. I don't know if this is a hereditary-monarchy kinda situation or more democratic, but my interpretation is "there are sort of royal families and even though there technically are elections, it's always Clan Kryze or Vizsla or similar who get elected". My headcanon is that Satine was the eldest child and so groomed to take the throne, while Bo was sort of pushed to the side in very typical second-child fashion. So she grew up with a fair amount of internalised resentment towards her family, and then at some point fell in with some more traditional Mandalorians, and from there it was all too easy to oppose her father and sister and everything they stood for.
So, she believes Mandalorians are top-of-the-food-chain warriors, and that it's perfectly okay to burn villages, kill helpless people, and smack the butt of any skinny torgruta kid who shows up unannounced. She's a Bad Person. She’s also so committed to this ideology that she’s willing to team up with a former Sith and a bunch of criminals to get what she wants. But then Maul kills Vizsla, and declares himself leader of Death Watch and Mandalore, and this is her limit - as you said, not because he's bad, but because he's not Mandalorian. (It was at this point that I, as an audience member, really started to like her - the cool female lieutennant is standing up to a bad guy! And it's for a reason that isn't "this is morally wrong and I have developed a conscience"! I love that, because after a while that does get a bit boring.) So now she's fighting Maul, and we know the Jedi are also fighting Maul, so it makes perfect sense for them to team up against their common enemy who is far stronger than each of them.
I then think that during the Siege of Mandalore she has a bit of an internal crisis. Before, when the Shadow Collective were pretending to invade so Death Watch could save the day, yes there were Mandalorians being hurt, but it was all under control, it was just a pretend invasion, after all. Now, however, everything is much more real - the war is now on Mandalore, her home, and it's hurting her people, and there's nothing she can do to stop it without more fighting. It's actually partly her fault, because she was part of Death Watch, and they set this whole thing in motion. So she then sees Ahsoka, who is committed to peace, take out Maul with no casualties (up until this point, most if not all of the Maul fights she's seen either involve decapitation or lots of explosions - if she'd tried to take him, a lot of people would have died in the fight, both soldiers and innocents). She's also been part of the desperate fighting in the streets, and I think she's finally starting to realise that maybe Satine was right - their people can't take much more of this, because they're going to destroy themselves. Maybe they should think about less combative ways to rule themselves? She says “I wish I was good at something other than war” and then “My sister tried that. I never understood her idealism” and I always thought there was an unsaid “until now” at the end of that second one - she wants to be what Mandalore needs, and she’s realising that might not be a warrior.
But for now, they need to get through this, and that means fighting off the crime syndicates that are literally in their streets, that means accepting the help of the Republic and its soldiers, and it eventually means Bo-Katan herself taking up the position of ruler of Mandalore. We know that doesn’t last long, because Saxon and the Empire rise up to take it from her, but then Sabine finds the Darksaber and unifies the clans. Bo says “I had my chance to rule, and I failed. I am not my sister. I am not the leader you seek” - she’s definitely done some reflecting on maybe-Satine-was-right-after-all, and starting to realise how badly she’s messed up. But as you say, Sabine and the other clans push her into accepting the Darksaber and the throne.
Now I (finally) come to Ahsoka. Ahsoka saw Death Watch Bo - she directly saw her burning the village, and she also saw the effects Death Watch’s attempts at taking over had on Mandalore when she went to help weed out corruption in Sundari. Yes, a lot of it was due to the war, but a lot of those problems were definitely exacerbated by Death Watch’s actions and presence. Ahsoka then teamed up with her to fight Maul - ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ - and on my first watch I didn’t think much of her saying “I’ve learned from the best, including you.” I was too busy thinking “yeah, Bo-Katan IS the best!” but on my second watch - why does Ahsoka think she’s ‘the best’? Did she see something that we, the audience, did not? The Clone Wars didn’t show us any scenes with just Ahsoka and Bo before the fighting started - perhaps they had a conversation where Ahsoka confronted Bo about the terrible things in her past, and Bo explained that she was misguided and regretted it and was trying to do what was best for her people now. That would make sense.
Because then, in The Mandalorian, Bo directs Din to Ahsoka (edit: and she does it very specifically, too - usually in Star Wars you get a system, maybe a planet, but Bo knows the exact city). Why would she even know where Ahsoka is? They didn’t interact in the Rebels arc. From what we see of Ahsoka, Tython Corvus isn’t even her permanent residence, she’s just there to help one village tiny city and get information out of someone. So why does Bo have very recent information on her location? The only answer is that they must be allies who share that information willingly. And since the character of Ahsoka is Good, her allies must also be - unless they’ve made another temporary arrangement to team up and defeat a common enemy. But Bo is hunting Gideon and Ahsoka is hunting Thrawn (I am unbelievably excited) so they’re apparently on different quests. Which means... they must be friends.
In the episode The Heiress, Bo acts pretty okay. Yeah, she calls Din’s way of life a cult and is kinda rude about it, but it’s in response to him literally telling her she’s not a Mandalorian as, like, the first thing he says to her, and there are a lot of people out there who are rude and dismissive of someone’s way of life/upbringing without being Inherently Evil and Bad. Her motivations in that episode are: save a fellow Mandalorian, who might also be able to help her find and fight Gideon, and find and fight Gideon. She’s not interested in helping Din on his side-quest to reunite a child with his people - she feels the struggle for Mandalore is more important than one child.
In the episode The Rescue, however, she definitely goes out of her way to insult Boba and Jango completely unneccessary. Maybe she has a valid reason to dislike clones? I don’t think it would have anything to do with the Republic/Empire’s takeover of Mandalore - that wasn’t the clones’ fault*. She asked for Republic help, and then it was Palpatine and Saxon who kept them there. However, other than that, I don’t think she did much wrong? She still has the single-minded determination to duel Gideon and retake the Darksaber, which she might feel a need to do this time around because she has to prove - to herself, to Mandalore, to everyone - that she’s worthy of it. But for her, even though she’s accepted that maybe pacifism is okay, Mandalore is still pretty high up on her priority list, so it comes ahead of Din, Grogu and the New Republic.
So future seasons have a lot to answer for:
Why is Ahsoka willingly allied with Bo-Katan, given that Bo has never done anything objectively good/anything that wasn’t motivated by a need to see Mandalore ruled by Mandalorians wearing beskar?
Why does Bo hate the Fetts so much?
How will Bo handle Din having possession of the Darksaber now?
(edit: the below was added after posting)
* Why I don’t think it’s the clones’ fault: Bo knew what she was doing when she invited the Republic to help her retake Mandalore. Obi-Wan specifically asked her about it, and she said she would deal with it later. She knew that by using Republic gunships and clones the Senate would take an interest in Mandalore, and it would be seen as Mandalore allying itself with the Republic. When the Republic then became the Empire, the clones would either have simply continued serving the Senate - formerly Republic, now Imperial - or been decommissioned, in which case the Senate would have sent an alternative force to represent its interests. Unless there’s a specific mention of this in canon that I’m missing, the clones would only have been following orders from the Senate, and that would have been very clear to the Mandalorians. Any betrayal of Mandalore came from the Empire not leaving after Maul was defeated, not the clones spontaneously deciding that now the Republic was gone, they’re free men, they can choose between Mandalore and the Empire, and they choose the Empire.
Bo specifically has it out for Jango and Boba for some reason. I think she knows who Boba is, and that he’s not just any clone - I’ve seen several posts on this but the most obvious is that Boba was a pretty high-profile bounty hunter in the OT who she must have heard of. I think it’s something around how she percieves Jango’s Mandalorian-ness, his status as Boba’s father and the process of cloning in general, and therefore Boba’s claim to any Mandalorian armour, heritage and identity.
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