Hey! I decided to start taking ART COMMISSIONS through Instagram, to win some money. I use pencil and papper so, If you want one, make sure to contact me through DM there.
En Instagram soy @gramajoarevalo.eleonora.
Some examples:
Three days work.
Wort it.
For Halloween: Dhampir Shen Yuan AU.
Papa-Shen is the oldest demon alive, being born before the Endless Abyss became the Endless Abyss, a
Can I just say that Chloe’s video message to Adrian in Felix is one of the strangest things I’ve seen in the show? It’s heartwarming, don’t get me wrong, but the mere fact it’s so unadulterated in that is what makes it so odd.
Chloe was most likely contacted by her classmates to do this, or did this of her own volition coincidentally.
Chloe compares her’s and Adrian’s situations to one another to say she knows a bit of how he feels, and even says their situations aren’t of equal measure and placed his as more distressing overall while stating how lucky SHE is.
It’s lacking her usual bravado in a way that paints it as completely sincere. It even ends with Felix mocking her for her sincerity.
It’s the biggest indicator that despite of her parasocial objectification of her childhood friend, she does genuinely care about him deep down.
One more thing on the pile of moments canon pretends hever happened.
(Warning: I talk about season 6 but I don’t think this spoils the episode that much)
I genuinely think “Queen of the Dreadzone” perfectly exposes one of the biggest problems with how Miraculous has handled Chloé Bourgeois for years now: the show no longer treats her like a real character. She’s a caricature.
Not a person with motivations, contradictions, emotional damage, or even coherent villainy. Just a walking billboard screaming “THIS GIRL IS IRREDEEMABLE BTW.” And the episode repeats it over and over and over again like the writers are terrified the audience might still have sympathy for her.
What makes it frustrating is that the episode itself accidentally highlights why people *do* still care about Chloé. Because underneath all the exaggerated evil nonsense, the actual situation she’s in is deeply sad. Her mother and this weird new older brother figure are both adults who are blatantly exploiting this CHILD for attention, influence, and power. Audrey literally treats her own daughter like an object whose only value is finally being “useful.” Chloé is a child being emotionally manipulated by every adult around her, yet the framing of the episode expects us to hate her instead of recognizing how horrific that dynamic actually is.
The episode constantly pauses to remind viewers that Chloé is hated, unwanted, pathetic, stupid, irredeemable, alone. It’s excessive to the point where it becomes uncomfortable because it stops feeling organic. We already understood her downfall seasons ago. Why does the show keep insisting on humiliating her?
Especially because Miraculous already made its decision about Chloé back in season 5. They made her a political caricature, turned her into an absurd dictator figure, and completely burned down any realistic path toward redemption. Fine. That ship has sailed. But if the writers were going to commit to making her a villain permanently, why strip away every interesting part of her character in the process?
That’s the thing that bothers me most: Chloé is not allowed complexity anymore.
Early Chloé worked because she was cruel *and* insecure. Entitled *and* desperate for affection. She was emotionally stunted, deeply lonely, obsessed with validation, and constantly trying to imitate the toxic behavior modeled by Audrey. None of this excused her actions, but it made her understandable. Her dynamic with Ladybug, her desperate need to feel special, and her moments of genuine vulnerability gave the audience something compelling to latch onto. Even people who didn’t want a redemption arc could still acknowledge that there was an actual person there.
Now she’s written like a parody of herself.
Every scene in “Queen of the Dreadzone” goes out of its way to make her not just evil, but ridiculous. She can’t simply be manipulative or dangerous; she also has to be stupid, loud, incompetent, emotionally flat, and constantly mocked by the narrative itself. Compare that to someone like Lila, who the show treats with actual narrative respect. Lila gets to be calculating, composed, intimidating, and intelligent. Chloé, meanwhile, is reduced to comic relief evil. The writers seem determined to erase the possibility that she was ever nuanced in the first place.
And honestly? That’s a way less interesting direction.
A failed redemption arc could have been fascinating if the show had actually committed to exploring the complexity of that. Imagine if Chloé becoming someone genuinely dangerous and important to the overarching narrative after her failed redemption arc. That would have been tragic. That would have preserved the emotional themes tied to her character while still allowing her to become a villain.
Instead, the show treats her like a joke.
What makes it worse is how every adult in her life contributes to her destruction while escaping accountability themselves. Audrey emotionally abuses and humiliates her daughter for years. André consistently fails to parent her, enables her behavior, then eventually abandons her emotionally and publicly denounces her. And somehow he still gets framed as sympathetic because he redirects all his care and emotional stability toward Zoé, a child who essentially functions as a narrative replacement for the daughter he gave up on.
That dynamic is honestly one of the bleakest parts of Chloé’s storyline.
The show keeps insisting Chloé was “born bad,” but almost every aspect of her behavior can be traced back to neglect, emotional abandonment, toxic role models, and conditional love. Again, that doesn’t excuse what she’s done. But the series refusing to engage with that reality while simultaneously showcasing it onscreen creates this bizarre disconnect where the narrative wants us to condemn her without actually thinking critically about how she became this way.
And that’s why episodes like “Queen of the Dreadzone” feel so frustrating for a lot of fans. Not because people desperately need Chloé redeemed, but because the show itself refuses to treat her with narrative honesty anymore. She isn’t written like a human being allowed to fail. She’s written like a target.
Which is ironic, because the harder the show tries to convince the audience that Chloé is nothing more than an evil caricature, the more obvious it becomes that there was once a genuinely compelling character underneath all of this.
With all of this said, please writers if you’re not gonna do anything interesting with Chloe, just let her go 💀
I very much enjoyed you deep dives into Marinette and Adrien. I come at this from a lot of self-teaching and school of hard knocks, so hearing from someone in the field about it is a look into a world of wizards. 🤣
Do you have thoughts/analysis about Chloé and her upbringing(or lack thereof) the pampering/isolation/how she ended up a a mini version of her father's estranged wife/etc?
I know I've seen replies on other posts, but not a full on breakdown I don't think.
Don't knock on the school of hard knocks! Most of my psychology knowledge was self-taught before I started my degree and it was really useful in putting everything from class in context and understanding how it manifests in practice. Classes were better at teaching me the proper terms for things, though. As well as teaching the theories themselves and placing them in their historical context.
Chloe isn't a character I spent a lot of time thinking about so I don't have that many fully formed thoughts about her. I might have more to say if you have a more specific question (in general I work better with more specific questions).
Well, I guess there's the bit about her having the controlling-punitive attachment, like I noted in my analysis of Marinette's attachment style.
We know from Maledictator that deep down Chloe doesn't think highly of herself, and she obviously doesn't think highly of others in general, so the disorganized attachment definitely fits.
The controlling-punitive subtype is characterized by a role-reversal between parent and child, where the child tries to manage the parent through hostile, coercive, commanding, or humiliating behaviours. It's really easy to see how this applies to Chloe's relationship with her father.
Calling Andre's parenting style "absent" would be a compliment. While we don't know how things were like exactly when Chloe was a baby, assuming Audrey demanded Andre deal with it ("it" being baby Chloe) seems pretty reasonable. However, I can't imagine Andre was enthused at dealing with all the difficulties that raising a baby involves considering he can't even be bothered to deal with a teenager. So the most likely possibility is that he dumped Chloe on his employees (possibly Armand) for most difficult things and didn't interact much with her.
While a frightening or frightened caretaker is a very common root issue to cause disorganized attachment, it's not the only one. Another possibility is neglect or emotional unavailability on the part of the caretaker, which Andre definitely fits.
So as a kid Chloe learned that the way to gain the attention and care of her caretaker is by being controlling, throwing tantrums humiliating her father and making demands of him.
It's not hard to see why. Imagine for a moment Chloe had Zoe's personality as a kid, if she was sweet, supportive and didn't like making a fuss. The outcome of that would be a father who only rarely pays attention to her or her needs. Who would act as caretaker for her even less than we see in canon, because such a sweet and unproblematic child makes it easy to put her out of his mind and focus on more pressing matters.
Although, if we go by the relationship we see between Andre and Zoe in Grendiaper, then he would pay more attention to her when he could use her as emotional support. So in this route Chloe would probably develop to be her father's emotional caretaker, as that would be the strategy that gets her more of his care and attention. Of course, that would also earn her Audrey's scorn.
She had literally zero incentive to act that way, especially when her mother modeled for her that the way to get what you want (and attention) is by being forceful and domineering and putting everyone down.
That didn't change as she grew up. Andre folds like a napkin whenever Chloe throws a tantrum, and if the tantrum doesn't work then a few threats do the job. The hotel employees are all obligated to take the abuse quietly and do what Chloe wants on pain of being fired. If anyone external tried to tell her no, she could just threaten them with her father's power.
While there's a lot wrong with Behaviorism, it's true that on a basic level people act in ways that are rewarded while avoiding acts that would be punished. Chloe is constantly rewarded for acting the way she does by getting what she wants. Why would she ever stop?
Sure, some people may not like her, but they're just losers she can ignore. What do they even know? They're not rich or powerful or important in any way, shape or form.
Or at least that's what Chloe tells in an attempt to minimize the hurt she feels over it.
Because her real core desire is to get attention. She wants people to acknowledge her, and not just in any way, but acknowledge her as exceptional.
Except... she doesn't know how to do that. Not in the way she truly wants. She's aware enough to realize that her current behaviour isn't getting her that, but she doesn't know what to do so she does get that. And in the meanwhile her current attitude is getting her pretty far in giving her an approximation of what she wants, so why change?
Her father's neglect isn't the only thing incentivizing this behaviour. Andre had shown multiple times that he wants to be seen as a Manly Man In Charge. A Provider for whom his wife and daughter depend on and adore for all that he does. Of course, he doesn't actually want to do anything difficult to achieve that, like providing actual care or emotional support. It's an ego thing. He wants to gain all the praise without actually doing anything.
This is what Chloe's controlling behaviour towards him plays on. She constantly undermines that self-image, and the only way for him to repair it is by giving her what she wants. If he tries telling her "no" or placing a boundary, she doubles down on attacking that-self image and keeps escalating until he gives in. And of course, there are times she rewards him by playing into his ago, such as hiding behind him or praising him for doing what she wants or giving her gifts.
(Of course, that's not some conscious malicious manipulation on Chloe's part, as she was a little kid when she learned to behave like that. It's more that she picked up on that kind of behaviour working to get her what she wants and kept on doing that.)
Andre shows that he feels helpless against Chloe, which is actually something that often happens in parents to kids with this attachment. When looking at the facts that feeling is blatantly absurd, considering that Andre is the one who gives Chloe any power she has.
The reason he keeps bending to her whims despite feeling helpless is because the only power she has is her capability to hurt his ego. By taking the path of least resistance and giving in to her demands, he gets an immediate fix to the ego wound as well as an inconsistent reward (and as any gambling addict could tell you, that unpredictability makes the dopamine rush from the reward all the stronger). Standing up to Chloe is not only hard, but makes the ego wound worse and deprives him from getting that reward at all.
The emotional math here is heavily skewed in favor of giving in, at least for someone who cares more about his ego than his daughter.
This creates a (nash) equilibrium where both feel miserable and helpless to change it, because their situation may suck, but any other option sucks even worse.
it's a situation where neither Andre nor Chloe have a reason to change unless some external factor gets involved.
Which is exactly what we see in the show. Chloe starts to change when she get some positive acknowledgement from an authority figure, and Andre starts to shut down Chloe's behavior once he gets a new daughter to act as a better source of ego boosts.
I think the biggest mistake this statement displays is the rushed process they expect the character to go through. Like unlearning a lifetime of selfish behavior can be done on a dime and where her senses of guilt can turn on like a switch is flipped.
This explains not only Chloe’s writing until her downfall, but also the many other redeemed characters in this show. Andre flips on a dime for Zoe, and Felix flips on a dime for Kagami. With neither having to face consequences for their actions because they’ve grown past it… Even if we don’t see said growth play out in any productive way.
To say there’s no reason is to say you haven’t written one. Felix had no reason to change and yet he… “did” for the sake of those he cares about. You have written a reason somewhere in there, you just need to tap into it.
Chloe, in this hypothetical, is just supposed to be completely stop being mean as a character, and naturally that felt completely unnatural to the writers. Not only is this not how an arc works, but I think having redeemed characters be squeaky clean takes away from her’s and other character’s depth and development in changing that they should have. They’ll never be complete paragons and that’s ok. No one really is, but they’re continuing to work towards it and through their flaws. That’s what makes a redemption arc.
@mrskywarp99 asked me what about Chloe's 'redemption arc' was better than Felix's. Sadly I accidently posted the answer incomplete, then deleted it to have time to finish it, so now it's not in ask format. The answer got LONG, so I'm going to put it under a read more. It dives into how both are handled in the narrative.
Please keep in mind it isn't about 'who deserves it and who doesn't' It's about how the narrative presented things, and how that does or doesn't work, narratively.
Nearly everything 🤣
Okay, I'm going to assume you mean as presented on screen and in terms of 'why one has a better narrative'. I'll just run through how each one was done first.
Chloé is presented as a nuisance out the gate. First season and even in origins which was the end of the season but chronologically the first episode.(We don't count Derision because cramming backstory in 8yrs later that retcons/ignores established dynamic doesn't work.) She was a nuisance but importantly a *failure*. It is important that she was a failure. It does two things:
1)It robs her of any bite. I've said before that Chloé picking on someone is often the best thing that ever happened to them. It ends up drawing attention to something that had previously been overlooked. I know this is due to how the episodes work but it still establishes an overall vibe. The worst impact Chloé had was... The school kids had to clean up the courtyard once. So, despite her being 'mean' most viewers are still not inclined to hate her.
2)It establishes that her behavior is part of a pattern and *not* self serving. If Chloé were doong what she does out of self interest/gain/calculations she would stop. She loses relentlessly. She is embarrassed repeatedly. We are already primed to accept that there has to be something more than satisfaction going on, because she is denied it.
Along the way we are given little humanizing moments. She looks up to Ladybug. She makes the sacrifice play at the end of Zombisu. She saves LB in Despair Bear(while surrounded by the class of future heroes who are standing gormless). None of these moments fundamentally alter her character, instead they deepen it. She's not something *instead* of what we thought. She is something *in addiction* to what we thought.
Then we meet her mother. We get the context. The context doesn't change who she is, but it explains it. It sheds new light on past actions. We get to go back through 1 1/2 seasons of interactions and we get *more* out of what we saw.
Her first outting with a Miraculous is a screw up, but it is one so obviously rooted in the damage we have just learned about. It's impulsive, it's seeking approval, and it isn't meant to cause lasting harm. She fully intended to stop the train and 'save' everyone. She had no reason to believe it wouldn't work. She didn't give up when it didn't work. It's important to remember here that if things had gone according to plan, it would have been no more than a thrill ride at an amusement park for the passengers.
After this first time though, as a hero, she performs exemplary. She saves people, even her classmates. She fights villains. She works to defend her teammates. As Queen Bee, she shows us who she *can* 'Bee'.
As a civilian she is still far from perfect. Behavior doesn't change on a dime (foreshadowing!) We see heroic impulses and moments sprinkled into her usual meanness though. It's worth mentioning that her mother is still present in her civilian life and (not litigating blame here) the one time she got her mother's approval it was Marinette talking about how mean Chloé was. What exactly did you expect a child desperately seeking approval to do after that?
Chloé was the very first person to reject an akuma, and notably she did it alone. She also rejected Mayura's offer. It took physically isolating her, akumatizing her parents, Ladybug explicitly not letting her save her parents(which we are shown was motivated out of jealousy of Kagami), and further cajoling by Hawkmoth while he held the Bee Miraculous to make her buy in. Even then 'release my parents' was the price she demanded for her help.
See how all this, the ups and downs are all interconnected around a core that we as the audience have been shown over time? Even as we push past S3. Being isolated post Miracle Queen would make nearly anyone resentful. Then Zoé shows up, seems to be a single person on her 'side', 'betrays' her, and is instantly accepted by her enemies. So Chloé withdrawing and becoming more grumpy continues to make sense. The girl has had no one care about her in forever. Then S5 she's manipulated by Lila&Gabe&Co. She's isolated just like st the end of S3, even moreso. Multiple times she doesn't go along with their plans and has to be *actively told what to do via an earpiece no one noticed* in order to do wrong.
Even now, Chloé shifting to a more positive person wouldn't be unreasonable. Heck, being away from Paris might be good for her, especially with her mother away from her too.
Now, let's swap to Felix-
First off, before S6 there were all of seven episodes with him in them. So 7/130 or ~5% of the runtime. That's a bad start in itself. A redemption arc needs time to bake. This isn't even time enough to cook in a microwave.
Felix shows up and is immediately mean. We're told his dad died and he resents Adrien for not showing up. Important: we are told, not shown. This will be a pattern. Felix procedes to be mean because ??? We don't know why. In the end... He succeeds. He steals Gabe's ring *and* he wipes out Marinette's confession. That's more lasting harm in a single appearance than all of Chloé combined.
This isn't to measure the harm specifically, but to examine how they are set up. By presenting Chloe as a low-stakes low-impact character over time vs Felix’s sudden, high stakes, high impact introduction the audience is tuned to take his harm as deliberate and self generated. This means any consequent redemption needs to tackle that setup (Spoiler: It doesn’t)
Half a season later he returns, and continues to be a jerk, though this time it’s (mostly) focused on Gabriel. Once more he shows he is cunning and ‘wins’ in the episode, getting info and looking ‘cool’ the whole time. What this episode does is reinforce two things 1)Felix is doing things deliberately. He WANTS something and is taking steps to achieve his goals, contrast this with Chloe’s impulsive/reactive actions. 2)Felix is a liar. We saw this in his first outing, but it’s very clearly doubled down on here. He lies coolly, calmly, both for the fun of it and to achieve his ends.
Next up is the S4 finale. Ignoring the nonsensical elements of this plan, we see he is willing to trade all the Miraculous to a guy he knows is a villain and personally hates, in order to get what he(Felix) personally wants. He’d rather work with Gabriel than Ladybug. He had options and did not take them. He was in complete control once more, unlike Chloe. This pushes things farther into the ‘deliberate evil’ category. There’s no hint of a setup for redemption here. There’s no indication Felix is doing anything other than what he wants. They prioritized ‘twist’ over setting up a good redemption arc. His ‘I’m sorry’ to the sentimonster Strikeback at least gives a hint of a motivation.
Emotion- He stuffs Adrien in a Ring rather than tell him anything, then proceeds to commit some genocide on the human race. There’s no akumatization, no manipulation. This is what Felix does when he has full control and is doing *exactly* what he wants. The fact that others(Adrien and now Kagami) don’t want him to do it isn’t a factor here. A smarter narrative setup would have had him wipe out the diamond adults and maybe hare off ot target *specific* other people. How does slaughtering random bystanders while singing a little tune factor into his (eventually claimed) motivation, or any redemption? He’s not a narratively motivated act, it’s a grand gesture written for shock value. Yay they got shock value, but it undercuts the narrative they want. In the end Felix freaks out, not because he did evil but because he *lost control of the situation*. That’s the defeat of a villain, not someone you expect to be redeemed. His solution to losing control? Kill the Sentibeing he created, just like all the people he hated have done. But he is sad about it so it doesn’t count I guess? The scene is dramatic, but it doesn’t FIT with the story they’re NOW showing us they want to tell. Even if we buy in, why doesn’t he try to work with the sentimonster instead of slaughtering it?
Pretension- Okay so he’s now just a good guy, poof. Switch made. Look he’s a widdle guy trying to be good and lovey dovey! Kagami says he’s good now, so it must be true! I need a neck brace for the whiplash. Kagami’s ‘he’s just like me, he dean’t know how to express himself’ is so off kilter. Felix knows just how to express himself! Being competent in social interactions is a hallmark of his character. He’s a liar and a manipulator. We’ve SEEN him be good at these things. Claiming he isn’t now isn’t an arc, it’s just lying to the audience via the characters. If he were legitimately bad at self expression that might be an arc on it’s own but we don’t get that. By the end of the Episode Ladybug’s fine with him having the peacock then he and his sentigirlfriend hold hands at the movies. Like, what?
Representation- We see him and Kagami being the perfect little lovey dovey couple (No problems expressing themselves apparently!) Does Felix help Ladybug? He had a Miraculous! One of the THREE not in Gabriel’s hands… Gabriel’s hands where FELIX put them. Nope! Instead he tricks Ladybug *again* and makes a Sentimonster(which he kills, again!) to infodump backstory via interpretive dance. (And Kagami is just following along because she has lost all her forthright character traits somewhere). Then he and Kagami skip town. (Kagami is kidnapped, sure)
So let’s examine:
Felix is a champion of Sentirights! Except no, he’ll kill them off without concern. HE only cares if you’re the right *kind* of Sentimonster. That’s not a great narrative to unpack.
Felix cares about Adrien!- Really? He doesn’t seem to consider his cousin much of a person. He gambles with and trades Adrien’s autonomy with impunity.
Felix has trouble expressing himself! When? The guy’s slick and before the very end of emotion he got everything he wanted. Heck, after that one moment in emotion he has continued to get everything he wanted. The only thing he DIDN’T get he wanted was murdering all humans and having Adrien be happy about it.
Felix makes amends! … how? He doesn’t help get the Miraculous back. *in the narrative* his little play didn’t inform Marinette that Gabriel was Hawkmoth. He took no active part at all in anything.
Felix was just abused!- Okay, first I need to preface this that *in the real world you take all claims of abuse seriously.* okay? Okay. Now, in the *narrative* the only thing we have to validate Felix’s claims of abuse are…. His own words. *and the show has explicitly set him up to be an extremely good liar* his abuse narrative doesn’t impact him negatively at all, it *only* benefits him by giving him a ‘get out of consequences free’ card. Felix could be telling the truth, but if he were lying he would say exactly the same thing and *we the audience don’t have any way of knowing which it is*. THAT IS BAD. That is the entire crux of his motivation! You need to *show* it, the impact it had, and how his struggle relates to it for there to be an arc!
In short- Felix’s ‘redemption arc’ ended without a redemption. He just switched teams and all his bad actions were relegated to ‘oopsies’ despite contributing to all of the bad events that followed. None of that ever comes up. It’s just ‘ooo look at these two all schmoopy and cute’ now?
Chloe hasn't even completely a redemption arc, and yet where she is NOW still has the makings of a better redemption arc than the one they gave to Felix.
Felix can take some solace in the fact that he’s not alone if having an ‘arc’ that isn’t an arc. The best Arc ML ever came up with(Chloe’s) and it was apparently an accident? Instead of arcs ML just flips switches then retroactively claims that’s how it always was. There are several characters who fall into this pit.
Can asstruc just accept the fact that so many of us will still like Chloé, no matter how much he tries to ruin her character?
Just because he is the creator of the series, it doesn't mean he has the right to command to fans which characters they can or can't like. Just because he hates Chloé, it doesn't mean we have to as well.
The fans are more than free to like the characters they want to like, and he needs to accept this and shut up forever.
That's one of the main problems here, TA's inability to accept the fact people can like Chloe BECAUSE she's "evil".
I mean, a lot of this discourse definitely stems from Chloe's ruined redemption, which at the end of the day happened, because her character was acitvely being redeemed.
Even TA admitted it was someone's else's doing, because he wasn't as actively involved with s2-3, that he had to backtrack on. Like sure, whatever, so it wasn't the original plan, but he doesn't have to gaslight us like it didn't happen at all.
Like, wheter you look at Chloe as a misunderstood character who deserved better or a "root of all evil" character, she's badly written and poorly handled either way. THAT is the core problem here.
There's a reason why villains made by writers who understand how enjoyable they can be to watch BECAUSE they're bad people are generally much better written.
The more TA wants me to hate Chloe, the more I like her. Sure, nothing will top redeemable Chloe for me, but even if it's out of pure pettiness (don't underestimate how petty I can be) I will enjoy the "irredeemable" Chloe if TA wants her to be like that so bad.
And my hot take is that even at Chloe's worst, she's still been redeemable. I mean, if this show can "redeem" characters commiting genocide and corrupt politicians, then a school bully is child's play.
Ok but actually not over Queen of the Dreadzone. You're telling me out of all the potential superpowers for an attention seeker to get it's the power to force people to fear her? She doesn't want everyone to love her and be glad she's back in Paris, she just wants to be dreaded again because it's at least better than dealing with the realization that nobody cares about her anymore? Her victim isn't afraid of her, her sister isn't holding out hope for her anymore, and her underling isn't mourning her, and it turns out even though she's the one that left town she's actually the only one who hasn't moved on? And all of this was just a setup by her family to use her as a tool to get a magic charm from Ladybug, they never even intended to let her stay in Paris because even her mom and brother don't actually care about her? Like what the heck sure let the episode clearly intended to put to rest the idea of developing her any further also be the one that makes me want to see it the most because there's so much here.
Thinking about the Nyx Avatar Reload fight and how his voice is much more similar to Ryoji's than the OG... Ik a lot of people prefer the og because of how well it gets across the point of "abstract cosmic horror of death", but I feel like this is THE most personal fight for Makoto himself in the entire game.
The way I see it, Death is not a stranger to humanity; one is always aware of it, even if they deny it. It's a universal constant, almost like an old friend. And this holds ESPECIALLY true for Makoto. Death has literally always followed him around, and in his depression and apathy, he taught Death that life is not worth living, and that it should just answer to humanity's call for it since it's just the ultimate truth of the universe that death is the only way.
Ofc, Makoto grows out of this as he becomes determined to fight to the very end for the sake of what he holds dear, but there's still someone he needs to spread that will to live to. Someone who, in a way, is his *other* other self; Ryoji. He does want to save the world, Yes, but this fight is also extremely personal. He's fighting a part of himself, the part that whispers that life is not worth living and that death is the only truth.
And Ryoji himself feels as personally about this fight as Makoto, seeing as how, every time he talks about the Arcana, it is not in a detached manner, he truly means everything he says. To celebrate life's grandeur, to rise above uncertainty and suffering, to live with courage in the face of doubt... He subconsciously wishes he could allow himself to believe in his other self's determination, the part of him that wants to teach him to live in spite of death. But he refuses, he refuses...
Until, at the very end, When Makoto awakens to the Universe, he performs the ultimate sacrifice of his own free will, the ultimate proof that life is worth living. And what does Makoto do when he summons the Universe? The very same hand sign that Nyx Avatar uses to summon each of the Major Arcana. Maybe I'm reading too far into that specific detail, but it's almost like a message from Makoto to Ryoji.
Because without even knowing it, Death taught him the meaning of life.
I want more Shen Yuan + Liu siblings interactions where it becomes increasingly more obvious that Shen Yuan thinks Liu Mingyan is cooler than her brother (she was his blorbo too!) and both the Liu siblings are utterly baffled by it. Liu Mingyan ends up using this adoration to push Shen Yuan in the direction of ships she approves (ie AWAY FROM HER BROTHER). Liu Qingge becomes extremely jealous of the attention Shen Yuan gives his baby sister, and begins the mortifying ordeal of showing off to his crush, often adjacent to his sister who knows what he’s doing and is actively trying to make him look like an idiot so he stays out of her yaoi.
When I say I want a clone rebellion show, I of course mean that I want to see Rex, Echo, Gregor, Howzer, and Cody (WHERE IS HE??), but I also want to see Riyo Chuchi, Avi Singh, Bail Organa, Lux Bonteri, and Korkie Kryze.
Obviously Chuchi’s spearheading clone rights, we know that, and Bail has been helping the rebellion from day one (for that matter, Mon Mothma might be someone to include in this). But I just think it’s a waste to introduce Singh for two episodes of tbb and not do anything else with him. And Lux is Onderon’s senator. Where is he in all this? Does he know they went after Saw? Did he try to stop them? I need answers. And you’re telling me Korkie and his band of merry friends aren’t immediately clocking the government corruption in the Empire? Please. Like, is that why we don’t see him in Mandelorian? Why Bo-Katan doesn’t mention him?
I know it would be tough to make a really good story out of because they have to lose for the next fifteen years until the rebels get organized as we see in Rebels and no one likes to see our heroes lose, but I also love a good tragedy.
Qui-Gon not acknowledging Feemor as his first Padawan
What y'all made it sound like: Qui-Gon wanted NOTHING to do with Feemor, thought he was going to fall, dismissed him constantly-
What the old line in the Star Wars Databank made it sound like: Qui-Gon thinking that Feemor is too good of a Jedi to have been trained by someone who had a Padawan Fall and leave the Order
Watching some of the "Kenobi" show reminded me of some thoughts I had on the timeline of Qui-Gon's three apprentices (Feemor, Xanatos, and Obi-Wan). Either Qui-Gon is older than he looks in "The Phantom Menace" or Feemor and Xanatos had unconventional (shorter) apprenticeships.
The problem: Obi-Wan's apprenticeship under Qui-Gon lasted 12 years, from the ages of 13 to 25, and Qui-Gon took a 9-year teaching break between Obi-Wan and Xanatos. If Qui-Gon was also Knighted at 25 and took Feemor as a padawan immediately, then Xanatos immediately after that, and those apprenticeships also lasted roughly 12 years, then Qui-Gon would have been about 70 years old by the time of "The Phantom Menace".
Xanatos is Qui-Gon's evil former padawan introduced in the "Jedi Apprentice" book series starring adolescent Obi-Wan Kenobi. In my opinion, the books intended Xanatos to be Qui-Gon's only former apprentice. In these books, Qui-Gon is even apparently the one who brought a young Xanatos to the Temple to become a Jedi.
The comic supposedly depicting Xanatos' fall to the Dark Side ("Jedi: The Dark Side") makes some weird choices, in my opinion, and ends up contradicting the books pretty noticeably. Xanatos looks and acts too much like Anakin (19-year-old "Attack of the Clones" Anakin or younger), not matching Qui-Gon's description of him as a slicker and more collected young man, and the mission details are very different. Master Tahl and a master-less padawan named Orykan Tamarik join them on this fateful mission in the comic, for one thing.
This comic is also the source of Feemor, Qui-Gon's apprentice before Xanatos, who appears only for a few pages at the very beginning and then basically never appears in any other "Star Wars" material. (Obi-Wan apparently never meets Feemor.) The easiest solution here is just to ignore Feemor's existence completely.
Another solution: Feemor was an orphaned padawan, like Orykan Tamarik.
This Twi'lek padawan invented by the same comic has within the story recently lost her master, and is being paired with Master Tahl, in the hopes that a reluctant Master Tahl will take Orykan on to finish her training. (In this comic, Yoda also suggests that Orykan could replace Xanatos as Qui-Gon's student if a distressed, compromised, and unwilling Xanatos doesn't go on this mission to Telos IV; it's really uncomfortable how obviously unready and unhappy Xanatos is. It feels at odds with Qui-Gon's recollections of Xanatos in the books.) We could suppose that the Jedi want Orykan and Tahl to spend time around Qui-Gon because Qui-Gon has taken on an orphaned padawan before (Feemor).
I also think Qui-Gon was probably Knighted earlier than 25. I think that Dooku would have been a very demanding master, such that the famously stubborn Qui-Gon would have been very well-trained and eager for independence sooner than most.
To make this work, I think Qui-Gon will need to have initially met young child Xanatos when he was still just a padawan himself. With how proud Xanatos' father Crion and Telos IV seem to be, it makes more sense to me to send Master Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon together there on a diplomatic mission rather than young Knight Qui-Gon alone, anyway.
Anyway, continuing: young Knight Qui-Gon has a few years of exciting freedom before realizing that he should get some teaching experience before young Xanatos becomes a padawan. (It is known that Qui-Gon has dibs there.) Feemor's training is nearly complete when his first master dies and Qui-Gon volunteers to oversee the end of this orphaned padawan's training.
(Maybe the Jedi Council is like, "Weeeell, Feemor is pretty steady and already almost a Knight, albeit not as talented as Qui-Gon himself was, and Qui-Gon COULD REALLY USE some more teaching experience before he takes on that Xanatos kid. Sure. Why not? How bad could it be?")
Feemor and Qui-Gon are more like partners than master and apprentice, and their partnership actually works out fairly well. They're only together for maybe a couple to a few years before Feemor finally passes his Trials and becomes a Jedi Knight.
Qui-Gon then takes 12-13-year-old Xanatos on as a padawan immediately. He considers Xanatos his first "real" padawan. It doesn't really help Xanatos that the first student Qui-Gon ever had (Feemor) was a nearly fully-trained and 20+ adult, but Qui-Gon does love Xanatos dearly.
Between Qui-Gon's own padawan experience chafing under Dooku's demands, Feemor's short apprenticeship, and Qui-Gon's pride and joy in Xanatos' skills, Qui-Gon assumes far too soon that Xanatos is ready for his Knighthood Trials. Let's lean more towards the comic and say that Xanatos is between the ages of 17-19 on that disastrous Telos IV mission, giving him only around 5-7 years with Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon spends the next 9 years grieving Xanatos' fall. Until Yoda throws 12.9-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi at Qui-Gon Jinn until he sticks, beginning an apprenticeship that lasts 12 long years, which is longer than Feemor and Xanatos' apprenticeships with Qui-Gon combined.
When Qui-Gon comes before the Council asking to take Anakin on as a padawan, the Council is trying to figure out how to delicately bring up his uninspiring track record. 1) Feemor: mostly trained by someone else. 2) Xanatos: fell to the Dark Side. 3) Obi-Wan: not actually finished yet.