Where I keep all my TMNT stuff..

[nightwingmyboi]

What’s Dick’s relationship with his family rn in canon?

Dick’s relationship with his family at the moment is frankly depressing as hell for me to think about. The gist of it is that...everything is terrible. I really am not a fan of the current dynamic, and you are going to be sorry you asked, lmao. Get ready to hear me complain! So, I know that we are technically in Rebirth, but Nu52 relationships have bled into the current continuity; I’m just going to start at the very beginning and run through what a disaster this all is.  

I think the beginning of the end for Dick’s relationship with most of the Batfam was the end of Forever Evil. Dick faked his death and went undercover with Spyral. When he returned, people were understandably upset that they’d been tricked. The Batfam had been very sad that Dick was dead...though, despite their apparent grief over Dick’s death, no one (with the exception of Alfred and Damian) really acts like they are happy to see that Dick is alive lmao. Barbara goes right to being pissed; she acts like it is a disappointment that one of her oldest childhood friends is alive and tries to ditch him. Tim lectures Dick and stands back as Jason punches Dick hard enough to knock him to the ground. Like, yes people should be upset that Dick tricked them like this, but I really couldn’t believe how harsh they were being: 

Grayson #12

There are a couple reasons why I find it really hard to stomach Dick getting this kind of treatment...a lot of those reasons center on how Dick “accepted” going undercover. After Dick was captured and tortured by the Crime Syndicate...after he was unmasked in front of the whole world and attached to a bomb and killed and brought back...instead of providing any sort of support or comfort or anything after such a traumatic experience, Batman tells Dick that everything that happened was his fault, beats the crap out of him, and forces him undercover. 

 Nightwing (2011) #30

Before Dick had even woken up from his ordeal, Bruce had already told the family he was dead. He literally had no say in the matter. And the entire time Dick is asking why Bruce is doing this and begging Bruce to let him tell everyone that he is alive, until it becomes too much and he finally caves. People are yelling at Dick for his “choice” to leave his family in the dark, but look at how brutal that fight was--he didn’t get a choice!!! 

And Dick is the one to bear the entirety of the blame for Spyral, while Batman gets off scot free because “we expect this kind of thing from him.” And I understand that no one in the family knew about the circumstances, but that was because they never let Dick explain and went straight to hating him for some reason. When Bruce gets his memory back, he doesn’t try to take any of the blame off Dick either. He just lets his siblings keep thinking he is at fault. In fact, once Bruce gets his memory back, Dick sets aside his feelings and comforts Bruce!! And tries to make him feel better!!!! Even though Bruce has left him to the wolves!!!

Batman and Robin Eternal #26

Yet, despite the fact that Dick was seen on TV being unmasked and tortured, and everyone had to have known that that wasn’t just part of his cover, no one in his family has put aside their issues in return. No one cared to understand what he’d been through and why. (In fact, I think the only person I’ve seen actually ask him what happened was Stephanie Brown in Batman and Robin Eternal #2. And that is when she is just a stranger and they are meeting for the first time. So, kudos to her, lmao.) 

Another thing: Jason yells at Dick that he attended his funeral...and I was like, what funeral. We didn’t get to see any funeral as readers. Hell, there were times I was reading comics, and I was wondering if people already knew that Dick was alive and well, because nobody really mourned or acted like he was dead lmao. It was pretty much business as usual for everyone. That was another reason that I felt very disconnected from everyone who was getting all self-righteous; everyone was talking about how Dick had hurt them with his deception, but we saw none of that. But hey, DC can’t have people being affected and depressed because of Dick’s death for consecutive issues, but they sure as hell can have everyone pissed off at Dick for pretty much a whole comic series! Have you read Batman and Robin Eternal? Because oh boy do I have a lot to say about that!!!! 

Before I get too salty, let me just say: there were sections of the comic that were alright. But on the whole? Especially from issue #4 to #22, every freaking time Dick opened his mouth, somebody seemed to be there to take a shot at him.

Batman and Robin Eternal #3

Batman and Robin Eternal #4

Everyone pretty much treats Dick like garbage: devaluing his skills, questioning his plans, snapping at him. Tim actually freaking punches him!! 

Batman and Robin Eternal #5

For context...Tim’s pissed that Dick investigated behind his back and found out where he’d secretly had his parents living for their safety. Unintentionally, Dick put his family in danger. But a) they were dealing with Mother, a villain known for brainwashing and a villain who Batman specifically said that “anyone could be under her control, Dick. They could be people you know. People you love...they probably will be” (Batman and Robin Eternal #1). And Tim is acting suspiciously, so uhh...duh, Dick is going to freaking investigate, b) why did Tim even have to keep his family a secret from the Batfam (the very thing he told Dick off for doing with the Spyral thing), and c) even if Tim was pissed off or in the absolute right in this argument, that still does not give him the right to punch Dick out of the blue when Dick is just trying to talk to him!! But instead of getting Tim saying sorry for flying off the handle, we get Jason joking about how great it is to punch Dick in the face when he is not even fighting back. Awesome. 

Batman and Robin Eternal #7

And even though Dick’s concerns are valid, he just takes Tim’s punch, along with all the crap he gets afterwards from everyone else as well. 

Batman and Robin Eternal #7

Batman and Robin Eternal #6

Batman and Robin Eternal #7

Ughhhhhhhhhhh. Dick does the guilt trips?? Really? I wish, lmao. So far, he has let everyone walk all over him with zero consequences or retaliation!!! Is Mr. “How can I bring up the fact that I died and was replaced every five seconds” talking about guilt trips? Sure. And then later, Dick is feeling discouraged (maybe because everyone is constantly shitting on him idk) and now Damian just freaking punches him, once again with no warning. 

Batman and Robin Eternal #22

And Jason and Tim just stand there. How dare Dick be depressed…? But let’s not offer him encouragement, let's just knock out a couple of teeth. Just, wow. And all of this bad treatment Dick received was especially ironic, because I got the impression that one of the goals of the series was to show how important the Robin mantle is. And they treated the original Robin, the one who started all of this, like absolute garbage. It is just too much lmao. Have I mentioned how much I hate this? Because I hate this. 

Now with Rebirth, his relationships remain pretty much butchered, and we only see him really having positive interactions with Damian, Barbara, and Bruce for the most part. And then he was shot in the head and is now even more isolated. And we all give Ric a lot of crap, but the idea that, even when Dick is shot in the head and gets amnesia, his family is still so demanding? To the extent that he feels the need to run away from them?? That’s heartbreaking. 

Nightwing (2016) #50

Why, when Dick is shot in the head, is his recovery about how other people need him? He’s the one who just got shot in the head, shouldn’t it be about what he needs? And what he needs is unconditional love and support...and yet his family seems more concerned with the fact that they need Dick around to the point that Dick has to get support from strangers like that Bea girl. 

Barbara tries to go after Dick a couple times once he leaves the manor, but then that’s it. That’s the best his family can do. No check-ins, nothing. Everyone just leaves Dick in this amnesiac, vulnerable state, all on his own. And now, he’s left to people like the Joker and the Court of Owls and no one is there to help him!! 

So yeah, in conclusion, the fact that I could make a compilation of almost all of Dick’s siblings punching him? The fact that Bruce has punched Dick so many times that I actually have seen compilations of it floating around? Not a great sign for family relations. Right now, as Ric, he is pretty much all alone. Considering how much Dick has cared for his family in the past and how much crap he has gone through recently, it is pretty heartbreaking to see him so solitary. 

[brawaha]

This actually is a very goof post.

[allovesthings]

I'm gonna continue to be mad about the whole "Dick was the angry Robin" thing that has been happening in the fandom, because:

a) i'm very annoyed when characters in general and all of the Robins in particular are reduced to one single characteristic (and considering I'm on a Dick read through, I'm going to talk about Dick but also... Feral!Damian my beloathed).

B) it's so easy to check it out for yourself. You truly don't need to go that deep into older comics to find out what Dick was like as Robin. DC are still producing content with Dick as Robin today with world finest: superman/batman and its spin off where he is teenager who goes on a terrible date with Kara and also is very funny, goofy and kind.

And if you don't want to go that deep and stay on the funnier more lighthearted side, just check that flashback chapter in the Wayne family adventure where Dick tells Damian about the Poison Ivy incident. This teeny tiny child is making puns and touching plants he really shouldn't just because it's fun. He is happy.

There is also one bad day: Mr Freeze where he is the one who suggests giving Mr Freeze a second chance because he is an optimist who wants to see one of the Rogue getting rehabilitated.

All of those were published in the last four years.

He is literally the light to Batman's darkness as Robin. The whole point of Bruce taking him was because he didn't want another child like him, with no closure, staying in that anger and darkness and he did succeed in that. Was he angsty/angry/upset because his parents died ? Yes. Did that last through his entire run as Robin ? Absolutely not. He had years after that.

Dick as Robin and superman have a similar role in their relationship with Batman.

If you are going to reduce him to one trait, at least pick a trait he actually has as Robin ?

[brawaha]

I hate this too. I really don't like when they try to make Dick Grayson excessively angsty, and broody.

[allovesthings]

You know what's interesting about the idea that Dick wanted to kill Zucco and that's why he went after him on his own ? I think He didn't.

I reread Dark victory and he never mentions killing Zucco, he goes after him and he wants him caught but he never explicitly says he wants him dead and when Zucco has his heart attack and is whizzing, the reason why Dick doesn't help him immediately is because he thinks he is faking... Which is not the thought process of someone who wants that person dead.

In Batman Year Three which is the first post-crisis flashbacks of his origin story, he does say he wants him dead.... When his parents' corpses are right in front of him and Batman swoops in from the ceiling... And when he isn't in front of his parents' corpses and has time to calm down and has a moment to think, Batman asks him again if he wants Zucco dead and Dick says no. He says that he won't change anything. His parents are still dead. He explicitly says he wants him in prison.

In Robin Annual again, he never explicitly says he wants him dead either, he wants him caught. And then when his accomplice in the circus dies accidentally, Dick tries to stop him.

Dick went after him by himself in all of those but...it's never to kill him really. Bruce doesn't accept Dick as Robin because this is a way to stop Robin from going after Zucco to kills him, he accepts it because Dick wants to help and he would be safer to help with Batman..

[northoftheroad]

This is why I'm so tired of “murderous tiny Dick” that parts of the fandom have got into their heads. He wasn't out to murder Zucco on older comics either, he wanted him to be caught by the police (which in some of the older comics did lead to Zucco being executed fir murder).

Detective Comics # 38

"The return of the Flying Graysons." Detective Comics # 484,

Sure, the word “avenge” has popped up in some versions, but that doesn't have to equal murder. (And I'd wager most fans aren't old enough to have read these older comics, anyway.)

The best summary, from Batgirl vol 3 # 15 😎:

[northoftheroad]

Dick Grayson – the Bat family punching bag

The New Titans # 55. By Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, art George Pérez and Romeo Tanghal.  

Nightwing vol 4 # 29. By Tim Seely, art Paul Pelletier and Andrew Hennessy.

You know one thing that I find puzzling? How Dick is the Batfamily’s very own punching bag.

There are so many times when Dick’s family or close friends have knocked him down because they are angry or frustrated or disappointed. Bruce after Jason’s death and during the affair of the Court of Owls. Donna when he was depressed after the break-up with Kory. Jason when he learned that Dick’s death was faked (or at least, that his death only lasted seconds, since Dick indeed was indeed killed by Lex Luthor). Tim when Dick checked up on Tim’s parents (who were alive at the time but I think that has been retconned again?). Damian, Huntress…

I’m sure there are examples out there that I’ve missed.

And this is the guy who has been training to fight since he was, like, nine. He has faced the likes of Bane and Deathstroke, he regularly fights several thugs at the same time and he can dodge a starbolt from a pissed Starfire. And he took on Bruce with superpowers, that time when he accidentally acquired Superman’s powers in Superman/Batman # 55. I’m not saying Dick always wins, but he won’t make it easy for them. But when Damian or someone close to him takes a swing, he doesn’t even try to sidestep.

Keep reading

[brawaha]

Sad.

[pokeberry5]

the classic body builder physique jiménez gives dick is SO funny to me because it makes him look so female love interest coded, complete with unreasonable hour glass figure and booty-out poses

like ok i'm gonna start with a comparison between how he draws dick vs how he draws selina

there's that same!! exaggerated curve at the waist

the rest under the cut bc this is gonna be long—i'm pulling mostly from batman (2016) #137-138 (i've been keeping up with gotham war lmao)

he gives them the same sort of broad shoulders that taper down into a tiny waist

FURTHER, this is technically where dick's pecs are in comparison to selina's curves:

HOWEVER something about the way jiménez draws dick's lats also creates a curve lower down his torso that mimics the shape of selina's tits:

this exaggerated tiny waist is even more striking in comparison to how he draws other male characters

like don't get me wrong, he definitely favors a broad shoulder to slimmer waist sort of build, but never to the extent he goes with dick

take bruce and tim from the same chapters:

their shoulder to waist to hip ration is a lot more equal, they've got much more of an rectangular build, the curve in at the waist/hips is gentle

and i swear jiménez chooses poses to exaggerate dick's tiny waist (not quite booty-out poses but the same sort of vibe)

like????

SIR??????

this sort of twisted side pose to show off the tiny waist is extremely reminiscent of the contorted poses comic artists put female love interests in

take this side by side comparison with a panel from nightwing (1995) #1 (i read it recently so it was on my mind):

there's even!!! the drawn back arm highlighting that inward curve!!

AND THEN

the booty out poses!!!

rip his back honestly

like i'm pretty sure the design choice was actually to emphasize he broad shoulders and show off his nightwing symbol, but imo all it does is makes his waist look tiny

tldr: strong female character dick grayson ig

Ok as thanks for getting to the end, gratuitous batcooch:

and a tiny dick sketch

[highlysusceptibletodisaster]

This actually makes a lot of sense if you consider Dick's training historic

He has been training trapeze since he was a child, which is a sport that really develops these muscles.

Making a comparison with artistic gymnastics rings - which is not the same as a trapeze, but is easier to find studies on it - You will notice that the most developed muscles are the muscles in the pectoral and arms.

This video shows the development of muscles in this part and in the butt to maintain stability.

Also, these are photos of a brazilian athlete Arthur Zanetti, olympic rings champion in 2012, and you can see his muscle development.

I chose him because he is the athlete I am most familiar with and I think of him as a good example in this case. But if you want to see another example, this is Igor Radivilov, a Ukrainian artistic gymnastics athlete specializing in rings and vault.

The first image is from the 2023 artistic gymnastics world championship, in which he came fourth in the vault.

But do you know what the two have in common? Both are considered "old" for their sports. Zanetti is 33, and Radivilov is 30. If you look at the most recent prominent athletes, you will notice that their musculature tends to be more balanced because their training has evolved and changed.

But if you take a Dick Grayson, who has trained trapeze since he was a child and probably maintains most of his habits - because, if you are an athlete, you know how difficult it is to change your technique - it is natural for him to have greater development in these specific muscles.

Look I didn't review this and this isn't an absurdly detailed analysis, there are thousands of articles that can explain this better than I can but I like talking about sports and Dick Grayson.

[brawaha]

Love this.

[mabychan]

Outfit remake for all the Robins :D 

- Dick Grayson (Nightwing) 

- Jason Todd (Red Hood) 

-Tim Drake (Red Robin)

- Damian Wayne (Robin) 

[brawaha]

Perfect.

[disco-troy]

DC: Look! Owlman murdered all of Dicks friends so Dick would have no support system and blackmailed him into changing himself for a mission, isn’t that insane! He’s so evil lol DC 2 minutes later: Bruce is isolating Dick from his friends again and forcing him to change himself for a mission. It’s hard but he’s a good father.

[disco-troy]

I actually really want to follow up on this, because Owlman is supposed to be a “Dark Reflection” of Batman, but he’s literally just a Bruce that went farther in the same direction. It drives me unhinged how DC literally shows this in Justice League (2011) 25 and Nightwing 30 are basically the same issue if you just switch the father figure. Both issues involve Bruce/Thomas fighting Dick in order to make him complete a mission for them (the Spyral mission, and pretending to be Talon respectively). 

“I’m here for you”

First, both men want total secrecy for their “talk” with Dick 

[Alfred: Master Bruce, my apologies, but there appears to be a malfunction in the lift. The door simply will not open. Bruce: The cave’s been having problems, Alfred. We’ve lost the cameras as well. I’m working on it. Get back to the mansion. It’ll be fine soon.]

Owlman: I want the cameras off when I go inside to talk to Grayson, Grid. I want to be alone. Make sure he obeys me Alfred” Alfred: “Yes, master Thomas”

Then, they both begin the fight by setting the stage: the world is in trouble. Things are dire. Owlman implies Dick’s culpability, Bruce goes farther and explicitly confirms it. He wasn’t enough. Nothing he does is enough. Being captured, being killed, the world nearly ending, he didn’t do enough to stop it.

Panel 1- Owlman: Everyone knows your real name, Richard. The society has already leved your apartment in Chicago. Your friends have been hunted Panel 2 - Owlman: His goal is nothing less than to enslave your earth and amass its power for himself, driven by his paranoia and fear. Panel 3 - [Bruce: “You let the crime syndicate capture you. You let them torture you. You let them give your secrets to the world. Dick: You weren’t there. Bruce: You let them turn you into a bomb. You let them kill you. Before Luthor rescued you, you let everyone watch you die”]

Then, they turn the situation over to Dick, he’s the only one who can help them, he’s the only one who can fix this. He is needed. This time, Owlman is explicit in explaining that Dick doesn’t have a choice. Bruce explains Dick is the only person who can do this. And if he doesn’t, it’s his friends and family who will pay the price.

Panel 1- Owlman: I don’t want your help destroying your world Richard. I need you help saving it from the crime syndicate. Panel 2 - Bruce: If you know our secrets, we won’t be able to fight. Dick: How can you ask me to do this Bruce? Bruce: Do you know how many people will die if we can’t fight? Panel 3 -  and for that I need your help Richard Panel 4 - Batman: We need a man inside, fight out what Spyral knows. What they want to know. We need you. They’ll come for you know. They’ll want someone like you. Someone who knows our secrets Panel 5 - Owlman: These are your only options Richard.

Dick says no. He says no to both men, a million different times in a million different ways. But it doesn’t matter. It was never going to matter. No matter the amount of times he said no, no matter if he won or lost the physical fight, they would not stop until the answer was a yes, and his life was decided.

Panel 1 -  Dick (to Owlman): No, thanks. Panel 2 -  Dick(to Bruce): … I just can’t Panel 3 -  Dick(to Bruce): No. I won’t do this. I can’t stay dead. I can’t do it to them! Panel 4 - *Dick kicks Bruce* NO! Panel 5 - Owlman: Until we’re ready, I have to chain you back up. Dick: No… Owlman: You’re in no shape to fight me any futher Richard. And if the syndicate find you free, they’ll kill you.

So to recap: Dick wakes up in an unfamiliar place, has to fight a man who “raised” him, who gives him an illusion of a choice, and forces him to change an identity and sacrifice his life, because everything depends on Dick. Then Dick wakes up in a bomb, almost dies, and then wakes up in an familar place, has to fight a man who raised him, who gives him an illusion of a choice, and forces him to change an identity and sacrifice his life, because everything depends on Dick.

It gets even worse when you look at the differences between the two fights, because Bruce was wearing his gauntlets the entire time they were fighting while Dick only had his hands wrapped up. Both Owlman and Batman had their cowl on. In both of the fights, Batman and Owlman are masked the entire time. Dick does not have the luxury of a mask during his fight with Thomas, and during his fight with Bruce, he loses it through the fight.

The fight with Bruce is also a lot longer and a lot bloodier. I mean just look at some of Dick’s body language. With Bruce, Dick is more ready to fight, he says no more, but it does nothing to change the outcome of the fight, except make it more painful for him.

Bruce: Everyone think you’re dead. I need you to stay dead.

Someone from a literal evil parallel universe hurts Dick less than the man who raised him? Every step of the way, the fight with Bruce is worse - he says Dick is at fault instead of implying it, he hits Dick harder and for longer, and the fight is in a familiar space, now weaponized.

Do you think Dick woke up in the batcave, finally feeling safe after a horrifying ordeal, only to be subjected to the same nightmare he thought he was saved from? Only to have it be even longer and even bloodier?

I genuinely can’t tell if these parallels were planned or not. Both issues are from different writers; Jl 25 (2011) was written by Geoff Johns and Nightwing 3 by King and Seeley, in preparation for Grayson. 

The parallels are so explicit, it’s difficult to imagine them not being planned. But on the other hand I can’t imagine them wanting to explicitly portray Bruce as an abuser to the same level as Owlman - a character who killed anyone Dick got close to in order to keep him dependent. If the parallels are on purpose dc is explicitly saying Bruce is manipulative and abusive. But it’s not what DC says in any official capacity and even if it was, it is never addressed again; Bruce is never seen realizing how horrible and abusive and isolating his actions are.  Dick says that if he goes on the mission, things can never be the same again, and then they just are?!? And a part of it is the circular notion of comics, things need to go back to the way things were, but it’s no excuse for why DC runs right up to the line, alludes to a horrifying conclusion, and then pretends nothing happened??

People tend to defend Bruce by saying that even if what he does is abusive, his intentions are good - which is absolutely not a valid reason to excuse abuse, although it’s very common. But Owlman loves his Dick Grayson too - his intentions are the exact same as Bruce’s. And there is no conceivable way to excuse Owlman’s overt manipulation and isolation of his Dick Grayson. What DC is saying, or what DC should be saying by presenting these parallels, is that what Bruce does to Dick is not okay. That even though he loves Dick, he still hurts him because of the actions he chooses to take. DC will literally walk all the way up to explicitly saying so and then just turn around and pretend this entire story arc doesn’t exist?????????

The other option, and maybe even worse than the first one, is that dc doesn’t even properly realize the parallels they are drawing. And if it was an accident, What does that mean about how DC sees Dick and Bruce’s relationship, that they can accidentally parallel Bruce to his evil self? That a writer writing a villain manipulating Dick when he’s at a low point will structure a story in the exact same way a writer writing Bruce sending Dick on a mission?

But maybe the most chilling question of all,  if the Dick Grayson of Earth-3 had to die to get away from his Owlman, what does that mean for our Dick Grayson?

[brawaha]

I actually quite agree with this analysis. People like to say that Dick is Batman's favorite. XD

[opal-inna]

Alhaitham is King Deshret megapost

Genshin Impact Lore / Speculation

I’m fairly certain that Alhaitham is either King Deshret reincarnated or is related to him in another way. There’s plenty of visual and lore evidence to back this up, hence I decided to compile it into this post. Note that I didn't include the latest content from 3.4 as I didn't familiarize myself with the new lore. This is a copy of my twitter thread.

This post is by no means 100% complete, since I couldn’t find all of it myself and I will be adding more once other evidence is presented. Feel free to send me more lore and visual hints via DMs and replies and I will add them to the thread. And if you have your own theories, please discuss them in the replies or rb with your own thoughts.

Part 1: Visual Evidence

A bit of storytime.

I’ve been familiar with the King Deshret theory a while back, but I wasn’t 100% convinced back then. However, during my time exploring the Mausoleum of King Deshret I encountered this. Notice the symbol on the ceiling, looking like the symbol on Alhaitham’s chest.

That’s when I stopped having doubts.

After looking closer, I’ve noticed many other design choices from Alhaitham’s appearance to motives of King Deshret’s civilization. I will list them below, note however, that this isn’t all of them, because I’ve only selected the most important ones, despite there being dozens of smaller ones, for the sake of making this post as concise as possible.

Motive of a blue eye

Symbol on Alhaitham's chest, motive of feathers

Motive on his boots

Motive oh a hawk

There were many statues of hawk like creatures, possibly being the statues of Deshret himself. It's also notable that Alhaitham means "young hawk" or "young eagle" in arabic. There's also a lot of other bird motives which I might list later, if you'd like.

Okay, but all of the above is just clothing and coincidences, isn’t it? These things could be attributed to him being a Haravatat member, and his interest in ancient scripts (so history and culture too) of King Deshret, no?

Ignoring the fact that Haravatat mainly focuses on linguistics, whereas it’s Vahumana that focuses on history and culture, there are other visual clues to suggest that Alhaitham isn’t who he seems.

This gem, however weird it might be, doesn’t seem to be a part of his clothing, given that it’s detached from it. Instead, it looks like it’s a part of his body. Despite the color change (more on that later) it’s suspiciously similar to these symbols.

This likeness of King Deshret also conspicuously has a gem in the chest area. The gem also is highlighted, meaning it’s probably important.

This isn’t even subtle.

While weird pupils are not uncommon for Sumeru’s playable characters, Alhaitham’s eyes are a direct copy of King Deshret’s likeness from the cutscene. The choice of blue/green iris combined with an orange pupil is peculiar, because nowhere in the game do we see such different colors just clash with each other. This choice was deliberate and I believe it’s hyv giving us a hint.

Part 2: Lore evidence

There is also some evidence in the lore of both characters.

But first, a little bit of Honkai lore.

This won’t be long, because I’m not as familiar with Honkai lore. Most of my research here is based on what I found from the internet and wiki and not the original source material. However, it’s important to mention it, because Alhaitham is a Su expy and some more concrete evidence is found in Su’s lore.

Su, in Honkai universe, is a leader of Project Valuka. This name doesn’t sound familiar at first, until you remember the Aranara questline. 

“Valuka” is Aranara speech for the desert, and the ruler of Valuka is none other than King Deshret.

If Alhaitham is a Su expy and Su has a lot in common with King Deshret, then the parallel between these characters seem more than just neat design choices.

However, it gets even more interesting. Because Su from Honkai prior to the game’s events “had imprisoned himself in the Seed of Sumeru as an act of redemption” - (direct quote from the wiki).

Which smoothly brings me to my next point, which is:

Part 3: The why - how is it even relevant?

Okay, so they are similar in their design. But does that mean they’re actually the same person? And how is it relevant?

Well, it brings the personality of both in another perspective.

If you’re unfamiliar with King Deshret’s lore, here’s a quick recap of the most relevant points.

King Deshret was one of the three rulers of Sumeru with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and Goddess of Flowers. He was also deeply in love with the Goddess of Flowers and she was aware of his affections. He was proud and foolish. After the archon war ended was offered a gnosis by the Celestia, but he declined.

One day, he told her what his greatest dream was. Though unspecified, his dream involved rebelling against the divine. Despite her warning, he insisted she showed him “all there is to know about the skies and the abyss”. As a result of this ritual she perished, though King Deshret was unaware she did it intentionally.

After her passing, King Deshret was unable to move on and his sorrow drove him to madness. He created an utopia, which was supposed to be “free of worry, schemes and slavery”. He either created it to eradicate forbidden knowledge, but failed, or he tried to create an utopia and caused the forbidden knowledge to spread (more likely according to “The Lay of Al-Ahmar. Note that the validity of this book isn’t determined). Whatever the case might be, the result was that countless of his people died that very night.

After the leakage of forbidden knowledge, King Deshret and Rukkhadevata joined efforts to get rid of it. In order to do that King Deshret sacrificed himself and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata used most of her powers.

You might have noticed that these two characters, despite few similarities, are completely different from one another. One is cautious and reserved, and another is foolish, ignorant and sentimental. So, here’s my theory.

I believe that Alhaitham is King Deshret’s reincarnation, but without his memories. Not only that, but in my opinion the difference in their personalities seems intentional. Whether it was King Deshret’s reflection upon himself or Alhaitham’s own choices, it looks like Alhaitham purposely avoids acting like Deshret.

Deshret doesn’t think before he acts - Alhaitham’s demo trailer is literally called “Think before you act”. Deshret becomes a king and destroys his own kingdom - Alhaitham avoids situations in which he’d be placed as a leader, saying he’s not good in this role.

It could be King Deshret’s or Rukkhadevata’s design (more on that later) or Alhaitham’s conclusion based on his research in King Deshret’s legacy. It’s possible he’s even aware or suspects his own relation to him, as he’s very intelligent. 

Part 4: The how- Is it even possible?

In short, yes. There are many hints towards the possibilities of reincarnation in the story. This might be simply another samsara or a more direct intervention, for example of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.

Nahida, being Rukkhadevata in the next samsara is just the beginning. In the Aranara questline, the Aranara say that death is just a loss of memories. Next we have Flower of Paradise Lost artifact set, in which it is said "Those who bloom like flowers, die like flowers, and rise again with the seasons like flowers can never be troubled by the likes of 'death.’” (these are the words of the Goddess of Flowers, perhaps about herself, but I can’t say that for sure).

Staff of the Scarlet Sands polearm description says: “Fear and grief must be torn down, and so the barrier between life and death must be removed”. (This is about him building his own utopia, mentioned previously).

Even if those interpreted individually mean different things, having so many mentions of rebirth is certainly worth taking into account. But how did King Deshret in particular get reincarnated?

Notice, how in this cutscene, King Deshret is removed to a single crystal, before disappearing. It appears as purple at first, but then changes color to a greenish blue.

Very similar in fact, to another gem.

In my opinion, this is Deshret’s soul - an empty husk without his memories. Why does it appear green in Alhaitham’s chest? Well, I think it was the Greater Lord who rescued him. Using her power of life she gave him another chance. It could have happend in another way, but I find it the most plausible.

Either way, regardless of the means, we can’t rule out reincarnation as a possibility.

Part 5: Conclusion

Keep in mind that this evidence isn’t directly stating that Alhaitham is King Deshret. Other than his eyes being the exact copy of King Deshret’s image (which usually would imply the same soul/identity), all this evidence is pointing out to them having a relation, not necessarily being the same person.

With that said, I am fairly convinced on that being the case. I encourage you to discuss it in the reblogs and share any interesting evidence you’ve found.

[opal-inna]

Alhaitham is King Deshret megapost

Genshin Impact Lore / Speculation

I’m fairly certain that Alhaitham is either King Deshret reincarnated or is related to him in another way. There’s plenty of visual and lore evidence to back this up, hence I decided to compile it into this post. Note that I didn't include the latest content from 3.4 as I didn't familiarize myself with the new lore. This is a copy of my twitter thread.

This post is by no means 100% complete, since I couldn’t find all of it myself and I will be adding more once other evidence is presented. Feel free to send me more lore and visual hints via DMs and replies and I will add them to the thread. And if you have your own theories, please discuss them in the replies or rb with your own thoughts.

Part 1: Visual Evidence

A bit of storytime.

I’ve been familiar with the King Deshret theory a while back, but I wasn’t 100% convinced back then. However, during my time exploring the Mausoleum of King Deshret I encountered this. Notice the symbol on the ceiling, looking like the symbol on Alhaitham’s chest.

That’s when I stopped having doubts.

After looking closer, I’ve noticed many other design choices from Alhaitham’s appearance to motives of King Deshret’s civilization. I will list them below, note however, that this isn’t all of them, because I’ve only selected the most important ones, despite there being dozens of smaller ones, for the sake of making this post as concise as possible.

Motive of a blue eye

Symbol on Alhaitham's chest, motive of feathers

Motive on his boots

Motive oh a hawk

There were many statues of hawk like creatures, possibly being the statues of Deshret himself. It's also notable that Alhaitham means "young hawk" or "young eagle" in arabic. There's also a lot of other bird motives which I might list later, if you'd like.

Okay, but all of the above is just clothing and coincidences, isn’t it? These things could be attributed to him being a Haravatat member, and his interest in ancient scripts (so history and culture too) of King Deshret, no?

Ignoring the fact that Haravatat mainly focuses on linguistics, whereas it’s Vahumana that focuses on history and culture, there are other visual clues to suggest that Alhaitham isn’t who he seems.

This gem, however weird it might be, doesn’t seem to be a part of his clothing, given that it’s detached from it. Instead, it looks like it’s a part of his body. Despite the color change (more on that later) it’s suspiciously similar to these symbols.

This likeness of King Deshret also conspicuously has a gem in the chest area. The gem also is highlighted, meaning it’s probably important.

This isn’t even subtle.

While weird pupils are not uncommon for Sumeru’s playable characters, Alhaitham’s eyes are a direct copy of King Deshret’s likeness from the cutscene. The choice of blue/green iris combined with an orange pupil is peculiar, because nowhere in the game do we see such different colors just clash with each other. This choice was deliberate and I believe it’s hyv giving us a hint.

Part 2: Lore evidence

There is also some evidence in the lore of both characters.

But first, a little bit of Honkai lore.

This won’t be long, because I’m not as familiar with Honkai lore. Most of my research here is based on what I found from the internet and wiki and not the original source material. However, it’s important to mention it, because Alhaitham is a Su expy and some more concrete evidence is found in Su’s lore.

Su, in Honkai universe, is a leader of Project Valuka. This name doesn’t sound familiar at first, until you remember the Aranara questline. 

“Valuka” is Aranara speech for the desert, and the ruler of Valuka is none other than King Deshret.

If Alhaitham is a Su expy and Su has a lot in common with King Deshret, then the parallel between these characters seem more than just neat design choices.

However, it gets even more interesting. Because Su from Honkai prior to the game’s events “had imprisoned himself in the Seed of Sumeru as an act of redemption” - (direct quote from the wiki).

Which smoothly brings me to my next point, which is:

Part 3: The why - how is it even relevant?

Okay, so they are similar in their design. But does that mean they’re actually the same person? And how is it relevant?

Well, it brings the personality of both in another perspective.

If you’re unfamiliar with King Deshret’s lore, here’s a quick recap of the most relevant points.

King Deshret was one of the three rulers of Sumeru with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and Goddess of Flowers. He was also deeply in love with the Goddess of Flowers and she was aware of his affections. He was proud and foolish. After the archon war ended was offered a gnosis by the Celestia, but he declined.

One day, he told her what his greatest dream was. Though unspecified, his dream involved rebelling against the divine. Despite her warning, he insisted she showed him “all there is to know about the skies and the abyss”. As a result of this ritual she perished, though King Deshret was unaware she did it intentionally.

After her passing, King Deshret was unable to move on and his sorrow drove him to madness. He created an utopia, which was supposed to be “free of worry, schemes and slavery”. He either created it to eradicate forbidden knowledge, but failed, or he tried to create an utopia and caused the forbidden knowledge to spread (more likely according to “The Lay of Al-Ahmar. Note that the validity of this book isn’t determined). Whatever the case might be, the result was that countless of his people died that very night.

After the leakage of forbidden knowledge, King Deshret and Rukkhadevata joined efforts to get rid of it. In order to do that King Deshret sacrificed himself and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata used most of her powers.

You might have noticed that these two characters, despite few similarities, are completely different from one another. One is cautious and reserved, and another is foolish, ignorant and sentimental. So, here’s my theory.

I believe that Alhaitham is King Deshret’s reincarnation, but without his memories. Not only that, but in my opinion the difference in their personalities seems intentional. Whether it was King Deshret’s reflection upon himself or Alhaitham’s own choices, it looks like Alhaitham purposely avoids acting like Deshret.

Deshret doesn’t think before he acts - Alhaitham’s demo trailer is literally called “Think before you act”. Deshret becomes a king and destroys his own kingdom - Alhaitham avoids situations in which he’d be placed as a leader, saying he’s not good in this role.

It could be King Deshret’s or Rukkhadevata’s design (more on that later) or Alhaitham’s conclusion based on his research in King Deshret’s legacy. It’s possible he’s even aware or suspects his own relation to him, as he’s very intelligent. 

Part 4: The how- Is it even possible?

In short, yes. There are many hints towards the possibilities of reincarnation in the story. This might be simply another samsara or a more direct intervention, for example of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.

Nahida, being Rukkhadevata in the next samsara is just the beginning. In the Aranara questline, the Aranara say that death is just a loss of memories. Next we have Flower of Paradise Lost artifact set, in which it is said "Those who bloom like flowers, die like flowers, and rise again with the seasons like flowers can never be troubled by the likes of 'death.’” (these are the words of the Goddess of Flowers, perhaps about herself, but I can’t say that for sure).

Staff of the Scarlet Sands polearm description says: “Fear and grief must be torn down, and so the barrier between life and death must be removed”. (This is about him building his own utopia, mentioned previously).

Even if those interpreted individually mean different things, having so many mentions of rebirth is certainly worth taking into account. But how did King Deshret in particular get reincarnated?

Notice, how in this cutscene, King Deshret is removed to a single crystal, before disappearing. It appears as purple at first, but then changes color to a greenish blue.

Very similar in fact, to another gem.

In my opinion, this is Deshret’s soul - an empty husk without his memories. Why does it appear green in Alhaitham’s chest? Well, I think it was the Greater Lord who rescued him. Using her power of life she gave him another chance. It could have happend in another way, but I find it the most plausible.

Either way, regardless of the means, we can’t rule out reincarnation as a possibility.

Part 5: Conclusion

Keep in mind that this evidence isn’t directly stating that Alhaitham is King Deshret. Other than his eyes being the exact copy of King Deshret’s image (which usually would imply the same soul/identity), all this evidence is pointing out to them having a relation, not necessarily being the same person.

With that said, I am fairly convinced on that being the case. I encourage you to discuss it in the reblogs and share any interesting evidence you’ve found.

[brawaha]

Interesting

[current-comix]

Nightwing #87 (Jamal Campbell)

[moonfox281]

Batboys profile: Body

DICK GRAYSON

Often enough when writting, I think of Dick’s body, all I can imagine is a ballerina. A male ballerina.

Male ballerinas are all limbs and muscles, and that’s how Dick is usually painted in my mind. He’s not big, not tall, but his 5 feet 10 body is on a golden ratio.

Keep reading

[nightwing-ing-it]

Dick shouldering the burden:

Dick always blames himself for things that aren’t his fault.

[The New Titans (1988) #57]

Dick even goes to therapy (pre52) to help himself but maybe Dick continues to think everything is his fault because whenever he saves anyone from impossible circumstances he’s always told things like:

[Nightwing (2016) Vol:4 #8]

“I jumped because I knew you’d catch me”.

[Red Robin #12]

“You’re my brother Dick.  You’ll always be there for me”.

Even though they clearly didn’t really know if Dick could have made it in time.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m so glad people put their faith in Dick and his abilities but this sort of compliment really diminishes how hard he works to help.  ‘I knew you would be there’ when he couldn’t have puts a lot of pressure on Dick and Dick never corrects anyone from having that belief and so it keeps going in a vicious cycle of higher and higher expectations when the truth is Dick can’t always be there so when the time comes when he’s not there (because he’s only human and can only be in one place at a time) it’s automatically a guilt trip for him.

Sometimes he doesn’t get a thank you, lots of times he gets blamed for not helping out fast enough and no acknowledgement for his hard work.

[Teen Titans: Year One #3]

So even if he becomes aware of it himself he’s always still falling back into the mindset where he thinks he should have the ability to save everyone even in impossible circumstances and that’s why he always blames himself for things he couldn’t have helped even though he knows he couldn’t do anything.  

For Dick failure is his biggest fear.  Failure to help people, failure to live up to the incredibly high standards Bruce put on him and then the even higher standards he put on himself. (This issue was a scenario in which he had to face his biggest fear.  Failure and admitting failure.)

[Teen Titans (1966) #38]

But that’s why it’s also important to note that Dick does his best to acknowledge his failures and even shoulders blame for things that weren’t his fault or he couldn’t have helped.

[Grayson #15]

Everyone expects to be saved by him or expects him to be there for them so when he comes up short of their expectations and/or makes mistakes they lash out at him.  The thing is it seems like he lets them because he feels guilty.

That’s another thing that irks me. The Batfamily may not do it intentionally but along with enabling Dick to believe he can save everyone when he can’t they also lash out at him and he let’s them hurt him.  Personally it’s happened too many times for me to think that Dick doesn’t allow them to hit him sometimes.  Even when he doesn’t let them do it on purpose he thinks he deserves it either way and/or he tells himself and everyone else that it’s not his family’s fault but his own.  Dick will even defend his family members right after they hit him and none of them ever acknowledge this as a problem Dick has. You’re not supposed to be able to bounce back that quickly after someone you love and trust punches you that hard.

Dick Grayson – the Bat family punching bag

[Grayson #12]

Dick isn’t as put together as he lets them believe and people shouldn’t condemn him for every time he couldn’t be there for someone or does something wrong.  There are even times when he’s really trying his best but still comes up short and he realizes and gets frustrated at himself as well even though he couldn’t possibly have made everyone happy in the situation he was in.  

He also admits his failures, many times seemingly very easily, and that makes others feel like it’s not a big deal when really the hardest thing for Dick is failing and having people know he’s failed.

Overall I just want to emphasize that Dick carries too much baggage and the expectations for him are too high.  He is also always being blamed and blaming himself for things that aren’t his fault. 

[nightwingmyboi]

Man, you have done an amazing job of breaking down this whole vicious cycle. A lot of people have commented on Dick’s hyperactive guilt complex, and really, Dick does blame himself for everything. But I’ve only occasionally seen people touch on the fact that Dick’s tendency to blame himself, the immense pressure Dick feels to be perfect…it didn’t just spring out of nowhere. So much of it is rooted in the Bat-family’s behavior towards him. Bruce’s behavior especially. 

You’ve got me all fired up about it, so I hope you don’t mind if I just expand on what you’ve said here? 

Keep reading

[fantastic-nonsense]

oh god re: dick supposedly being a womanizer. That interpretation had an uptick lately because of the whole TTA/Nightwing miscommunication fiasco and GOD. Also, correct me if I'm wrong as I've not read the relevant comics super recently, but people seem to think Dick has commitment issues but personally to me he seems like he has the opposite problem in relationships. He tries to make them work long after he should let them go (and indeed its usually his girlfriends who break up with him).

Yeah, we're not going to talk about the TTA/Nightwing miscommunication, which is happening entirely because the writers didn't bother to talk to each other and clear up timelines to ensure that Dick wasn't cheating on either Kory or Babs with the other.

Anyway, you're right and you should say it! Dick's single biggest issue re: romantic relationships is that he takes every single relationship super seriously to the point where he stays in them far after he should have initiated a breakup. Dick has the opposite of commitment issues; he has over-commitment issues and I'm pretty sure that you're right in saying that basically every time he's broken up with a love interest (at least...pre-reboot), they initiated it.

It's true for Kory and Babs, at least: Kory decided to return to Tamaran for awhile after her and Dick's failed wedding and the Evil!Raven arc, initating the breakup there, and Babs initated both breakups that happened between her and Dick (the first time breaking up with him during the entire Blockbuster-Tarantula nonsense because...well, there was a lot of shit happening there and it would take a lot of time to explain, and the second time she returned her engagement ring to Dick during the acursed Nightwing Annual #2 that literally everyone wants to pretend doesn't exist, because she thought he wasn't ready to get married and needed to "figure himself out" first).

There's also a ton of panels where he's pretty explicitly laid his mentality about sex and relationships out on the table, which I find fascinating since his mentality is basically "I take my relationships super seriously and commit whole-heartedly to every single one, I need genuine time in-between each one to get over the last one, and I'm not about to have sex with someone I don't genuinely love." Here's a couple from the 80s Teen Titans run:

"You also have to understand that I just came out of a romance with someone I thought I cared for. That's why I've been putting you off....You see, I only think I may love you. I mean...not just as a friend. I mean...in a romantic way. Lord, I don't know what I mean. I really need time to sort out my emotions."

"My morality makes me a one-woman man. And you're that woman. you always will be."

"I gotta be honest, Roy--I couldn't make love to someone I didn't really love." "Different strokes, pal. You'll probably go to heaven while I'll sport a perpetual tan!"

So....yeah: Dick is not a womanizer, and in fact if you were going to categorize him, you'd probably sort him into the "hopeless romantic" category because of how seriously he takes the whole concept of "being romantically involved with someone."

Granted, these over-commitment issues do create some extremely funny situations, like that time Dick and Helena Bertinelli had a one night stand (super uncharacteristic of him, it was a whole thing) and Dick tried to like....legitimately take her out afterwards:

"There is no 'us,' Nightwing. There was just one night when you were feeling lonely and I was feeling alone. Let's call it an agreeable indiscretion and leave it at that." "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. I don't do things on a casual-"

Dick is legit like "okay so are we dating now or something?" out of sheer obligation and Helena's just like "we fucked, Boy Wonder. It was fun. Let's move on." I hated everything about that one-night stand except this conversation, because it was both a) objectively hilarious and b) extremely in-character for Dick to try and make the whole thing mean something other than a fun night. A for effort, Dick. You tried and I love you for it.

[nightwingthebooty]

Here are some of my favorite Dick and Damian moments:

1. Damian being shocked that Dick saved his life early in their partnership (Batman and Robin vol 1 #3)

2. Damian being sad that they won’t be Batman and Robin anymore when Bruce comes back (Batman and Robin vol 1 #10)

3. Dick waiting with Damian while Talia and Bruce fought (Batman #34)

4. “We were the best, Richard.” (Batman Incorporated #8)

5. Dick taking Damian to the arcade (Nightwing #4)

6. Damian trying to wake Dick up when he was in a coma after getting shot (Nightwing Annual #2)

7. Damian being afraid that Dick is gonna replace him by having a kid of his own (Nightwing #17)

8. Dick comforting Damian while he cries (Batman #33)

9. Dick teasing Damian about having a crush (Superman/Batman #77)

10. The reunion hug! (Grayson #12)

[bombasticfantasticjaded]

Dick Grayson and Tim Drake: Intuitive vs. Logical Intelligence

I’ve been thinking a lot about Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, and their skills as detectives. Now, for the most part, Tim Drake is shown to be a better detective (or at least, the potential to become a better detective) than Dick, and that’s fine. But this sadly seems to come with a lack of emphasis on Dick’s considerable intellect in more modern characterizations. I think it’s very possible that you can portray two people as being smart, while at the same time showing one to be the smarter.

So, in order to set the record straight, I thought I would compare and contrast Dick and Tim’s distinctive approaches to detective work, and how their approaches to detection reveal much about how their intelligences function.

Tim Drake, of course, is highly logical. Like his mentor, he can gather clues from a crime scene, and using logical deduction (and his considerable scientific skills) to analyze, deduce, and discover the most likely scenario. After all, this is the kid who managed to deduce Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne were Robin and Batman, and that Helena was Huntress

Dick, unlike Tim, is not depicted as possessing these same forensic skills, or at least, not on the same level. However, Dick posses a great deal more intuitive intelligence — in this case, the ability to figure out what makes people work, and what motives they could have, with little “logical” evidence to go on. It’s this kind of intuitive thinking that lets Dick solve four cases just by watching the stories on TV.

So, we can see that both styles of thinking have their merits. Tim may not thrive at discovering motive and getting inside a criminal’s head, like Dick can, but his logical, deductive process does enable him to go further than Dick as a detective.

[omolara-oolong]

It certainly doesn’t help that Dick himself is so taken with Tim’s abilities that he often says that Tim is smarter. That’s something I don’t necessarily agree with, because it tends to posit just one type of intelligence as being the only legitimate intelligence. It discounts the fact that as stated above, Dick is intuitive. He is also very emotionally intelligent. There really is no “smarter than” here where they exist in completely different categories. They outpace each other in their own respective categories. While Tim can do all of the standard forensic work and research and excels where he has prep time and Dick isn’t necessarily the best at that, Dick can do his preliminary work and jump right in, adapting to whatever comes up. As he has said before, he thinks best on his feet. He and Tim are tactics (Dick) vs. strategy (Tim). 

One good, early example comes from A Lonely Place of Dying where Tim, based on all of his observations and the most logical outcome was completely wrong about the circus sabotage. It was Dick who solved it, not only by looking at the evidence, but also because he understands people.

Another way to think about this is that Dick may also shirk the research because he’s okay with depending on others to back him up, and he’s not nearly as insecure about his own abilities to get himself out of a jam as he is in failing others. He knows that he can count on everyone else and himself to think quickly.

It really is bothersome that a lot of writing has interpreted this as Dick just not being as good of a detective as Tim, as if he were not also trained by the best. Tim may be the genius, more cerebral one, but Dick’s no fool. 

Dick’s still a great detective, even if Tim has the potential to be greater. 

[bombasticfantasticjaded]

Reblogging this because the excellent commentary is totally worth having. As an intuitive thinker myself, I’ve come to understand that there are many benefits to intuitive intelligence. The main one is the ability to come to (accurate) conclusions that a logical thinker could never arrive at because logical thinking is a very step by step process, where as intuition is very much about making leaps. One solid, non-Batman example is seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry, an intuitive thinker, is able to conclude that the Deathly Hallows are in fact real much more quickly than his more logical ally, Hermoine. The other is the ability to predict what others will do, which I think is Dick’s main strength over Tim in terms of intellect. Intuitive intelligence, while less dogged and less precise, is also much warmer and more people oriented.

[hir-nin-thranduil]

Why aren't more people upset about this? Especially my fellow Non-binary fans.

For so long, we have had an entire race of characters in popular culture, who do not feel the need to embrace conventional gender norms.

Tolkien's Elves are notoriously androgynous....the males are effeminate while also remaining a badass example of gentle masculine (aka: without the toxicity). The females are just as badass as the males while embracing a powerful version of the feminine.

Image credit: https://jyannamarcus.tumblr.com/post/109699297772/elves-elrond-galadriel-arwen-thranduil/amp

The new Amazon Lord of The Rings Series, The Rings of Power, clearly seeks to draw very defined lines between which characters are male, and which ones are female. They're basically erasing any less-than-binary features by taking on conventional standards for gender....such as cutting the male's hair short, while only the females have long flowing hair. This is NOT true to Tolkien lore! Oh, but the male humans and dwarves can have long hair. Probably because they also have beards. So, I guess that's okay, because they're still adhering to gender norms. But the race of Elves, who traditionally do not grow beards....well, I guess they decided that they need to make their hair short to make absolutely sure everyone knows who's male and who's female....because defining a binary is what they obviously value.

This show claims to be embracing progressive values....but when it comes to LGBTQIA representation, they're so obviously backsliding.

I mean, I love the diverse cast. Yes please, let’s have more of this. But why do we simultaneously have to undermine another marginalized community in the process?

I know, a lot of people will say "it's only hair"....but it's more than that. If they're willing to overlook such a fundamental aspect of The Elves and the way they're meant to be presented, what else are they going to change? Plus, as I've already stated...but I can't state enough: this is clearly erasure of anything remotely non-binary.

....and I haven't even started on the fact that Dwarvish Females were meant to have facial hair. Again, they are taking away what little non-binary symbolism there is, because they don't like the asthetic, or whatever their reasons are. They’re basically saying it’s NOT okay for people not to adhere to the current societal expectations of the gender norms, so they won’t support it.

Oh, and let's not forget....Galadriel. A character who is so powerful, she's one of the only beings in Middle Earth to single handedly defeat Sauron (albeit temporarily, but it's more than anyone else can say). She is formidable in her own right, and needs no conventional weapons. But we can't possibly have a powerful character, be it clearly defined as male or female, unless they're wielding a pointy phallic symbol that they get to stick inside their enemies. It's so clearly symbolic. Besides, these are Elves, not humans. No character should have to embrace society's outmoded idea of masculine prowess in order to be perceived as powerful.

Image found: https://pin.it/2eQ4n8d

I'll give them a little credit in taking SOME care in casting and costuming Morfydd Clark to look somewhat like Cate Blanchett's Galadriel...the Galadriel we have all come to know and love. Why couldn't they do this with Elrond too? Why do we get stuck with this subpar version of our beloved Lord of Imladris? And for clarification, I have no issue with the actor...and I don't agree with making fun of him or his looks. Hugo Weaving has a very unique face that is probably hard to match. But literally all they had to do was (at the very least) give Robert Aramayo long black hair. Why is that so difficult?

I’m not sure who created this. If anyone wants to let me know I will gladly edit and give credit.

...but I digress.

The Non-binary community doesn't have much representation in the media as it is....and this series seems as though they're seeking to erase what little we have. I'm furious. I'm actually sick over this. Why isn't anyone else? Where are my fellow Non-binary Tolkien fans?

[latent-thoughts]

On the nature of Loki & Mobius' relationship...

I keep seeing a myriad posts where people either make it into a father-son relationship, or an elder-younger sibling relationship, or friends, or even a romantic ship. (I do understand that most of these are in good fun and I like them. 😁👍)

I don't think it's either of those, but there are certain moments where one can see them both temporarily morphing into the above mentioned dynamics.

IMO, their relationship isn't something so simple. It can't be fully pinned. At least, not yet. It's still in its nascent stages, shifting form based on how they both respond to each other and their circumstances.

Loki is in a truly tight situation, where he is still a hostage of the TVA. He knows that his life depends on his compliance to TVA's demands. He also knows that the moment he fulfills all these demands, the TVA is going to disintegrate him, because he's a variant. So he's playing along, going undercover as a nonthreatening temp agent who is willing to work for the TVA.

Mobius is the representative of the TVA who is given the charge of Loki. He is essentially Loki's handler. It's his job to make Loki comply in order to find the rogue variant messing with the TVA. Along with that, he has to keep Loki in line too. It's shown that Mobius is very dedicated to his job. It's the most important thing to him. So we've seen that he is willing to take some drastic, even risky measures to do it. These measures include him stopping the pruning of Loki, him (in his perspective) deradicalising Loki in order to use him to find the other variant, him going to 79AD Pompeii with Loki in order to test his theory, etc.

Mobius doesn't trust Loki... but he trusts him enough to go to Pompeii with him alone, without an official sanction for this little trip. He understands that Loki wants to escape the TVA, or even influence the Time Keepers to get them to change his destiny. He also seems to understand Loki's inherent vulnerabilities, though not completely.

Mobius' feelings regarding Loki are also changing as the series progresses. In the first episode he clearly tells Loki that his role in the Sacred Timeline is to lose and cause pain and destruction all the time. But when we see him talking to Renslayer privately, he tries to convince her that Loki wants this pattern to change, that he wants to mix it up, that perhaps he doesn't wish to be put in that box of a villain. He asks her if that can happen. That's most important clue to Mobius' progressive change of heart regarding Loki. He is trying, within the limitations of his job, to save Loki from the ultimate pruning. Even though he mentions it in passing that he'd delete Loki himself if he creates more problems for the TVA, we can see that he's basically saying that to appease Renslayer.

Similarly, Loki doesn't trust Mobius, but he trusts him enough to fall asleep in his presence. He very deliberately annoys the hell out of him, tests his patience, ruins his salad, etc. Peak irritant mode.

He knows that Mobius isn't going to actively be hostile towards him, because he needs him. Loki genuinely likes it when Mobius is impressed with his knowledge and intelligence; it's that sweet sweet taste of approval that he never really received from either his family or his people. It's especially enjoyable to work with someone when they appreciate your skills and brains. Loki knows that Mobius is loyal to the TVA, but he also sees him sticking his neck out for him, so he recognizes that little soft spot Mobius has for him.

So, it's a tenuous relationship, where both of them may recognize each other as possible allies, but ultimately are stranded on opposing sides. They're trying meet each other midway, but it's a herculean task to do so.

Theirs is not really a friendship, nor is it a parent-child dynamic. There's no romance there, but plenty of bickering, taunting and teasing. There's an element of conspiratorial joy between them, but it never reaches that of a fraternal relationship. Mobius is hung up on doing his job, and Loki desperately needs a way out.

However, what this relationship certainly is is interesting. It's not static or boring; it keeps us on our toes, leaving us wondering what they'll both do next. As the series progresses, I do think that they'll see-saw their way to a more friendly relationship, and I think it's going to be a narratively fun ride.