How much phenethylamine does the Symbiote need to stay healthy?
Let me set the scene for you: It’s 4 am on a Friday, late October. I’m sitting in my Homestuck pajamas (derse dreamer, for all the fans), drinking hot chocolate, and reading Venom: The Hunger. During the series, it is revealed that the reason Venom had a brain craving was because they need the neurotransmitter phenethylamine (often referred to as PEA or phenylethylamine), which is also commonly found in chocolate. So flipping through the pages, I had to wonder: exactly how much phenethylamine is needed for Mr. Symbiote to be happy and healthy?
Throughout my reading of Venom: The Hunger in class, the Symbiote goes around eating brains for the specific purpose of getting the phenethylamine they need. It’s a bit difficult to tell exactly how many brains are eaten, as the story follows Eddie Brock, the best and most popular host for the Venom Symbiote, instead of the Symbiote themself. The only way to figure out how many brains are eaten is to go off of Mr. Brock’s glimpses of where the Symbiote is, which may not capture the whole story.
If we do go off of Eddie Brock’s glimpses of his Symbiote, we see them eat 15 people (one was PEA deficient - I factored that in), and drained another of their phenethylamine. In total, the human consumption added up to 19.3632 ml of phenethylamine - basically nothing. However, in the third issue, Eddie brings the Symbiote what appears to be a 16 oz. container of pure PEA. This gives them a massive boost - in fact, the boost is so massive that they are completely sated. It takes 474.5392 grams before the Symbiote isn’t hungry anymore.
But what’s the best way to get the phenethylamine they need? At the end of Venom: The Hunger, Mr. Brock states that chocolate might be a good substitute for brains. In the final issue, Venom eats what appears to be a standard heart-shaped chocolate box. But proportionally, it looks larger than your standard Valentine’s Day gift. If we remember that Venom is canonically 7’ 6” tall and Eddie Brock is 5’ 9”, every object that looks normal-sized in comparison to Venom is actually 30% larger than normal. The closest to the measurements of Venom’s box is an arrangement I found on Li-Lac Chocolates for $95. (How Eddie afforded this, I’m not sure. He’s literally living in the sewers.) This chocolate box has 63 pieces - 29 dark chocolate, 29 milk chocolate, 3 unknown pieces of wrapped, heart-shaped chocolate, and assumably 2 pieces covered by the aforementioned heart-shaped chocolates.
Chocolate normally has little phenethylamine - each cacao bean has 0.7% PEA, but you’re not eating pure cacao beans. Milk chocolate has about 10% cacao, while dark chocolate is about 70% cacao. Running all the numbers very quickly, that would mean that milk chocolate is .07% phenethylamine, and dark chocolate is .49% phenethylamine. That’s less than one percent - so you won’t get any significant amount of phenethylamine from chocolate.
If we remember the chocolate box has (assumably) 30 dark and 30 milk, and that each piece weighs roughly one ounce, then you would have 460 grams of phenethylamine - which is a lot. It’s almost enough to sate the Symbiote completely.
But is chocolate the best source outside of supplements? Sources say otherwise. Livestrong.com says that peanuts may be a good substitute. A human body normally has about 96 mg of phenethylamine, or roughly the same amount one and a half peanuts have. If you ever needed any evidence that the human body is super weak, there’s the proof in clear print: peanuts are superior.
So if you do the math, peanuts have 19100% more phenethylamine than milk chocolate, and 2700% more than dark chocolate. Not only would this be one of the best food sources, but peanuts are easy to buy, a lot cheaper than chocolate, and most importantly, it’s not suspicious. In order to get that 475 grams needed, though, you would need a staggering 13,732 peanuts - hopefully not all at once.
So what’s the ideal meal plan for somebody with a Symbiote? Well, we don’t have a set timeframe in the comics for how long Eddie Brock’s symbiote went without being fed properly, and I don’t personally know anyone who has a Symbiote, so it’s difficult to get an exact measure. However, if we go off the comics, we can guess.
Getting to the point that they did took time - time that isn’t easily measured due to the way comics work. However, it’s safe to assume that the Symbiote had not been completely cut off from all nutrients, and that the health decline happened over time. If they were to get their needed amount of phenethylamine, say, gradually every two weeks, then it’s safe to assume that the starvation-driven state we see in Venom: The Hunger never would have happened.
So every day, you would need 34 grams of phenethylamine, which equates to 1,717 pieces of milk chocolate, 354 humans, 246 pieces of dark chocolate, or one peanut.
Yes, you read that correctly. A singular peanut a day. I didn’t take the news very well - in fact, I’m still recovering from the sheer hilarity of the fact that Eddie Brock, investigative journalist, never thought about peanuts as a source of phenethylamine.
OKAY BUCKLE UP MOTHERFUCKERS IM ABOUT TO LEARN YOU SOME SHIT
A king size reese’s peanut butter cup is 53.96% peanut butter. According to nationalpeanutboard.org, “By law, any product labeled ‘peanut butter’ in the United States must be at least 90 percent peanuts.” So any given king size cup could be approx. 48.6% actual peanut.
A king size reese’s weighs about 3.306 grams (.1166 ounces.) Only 53.96% of that is actual peanut, making the total ~.0613 grams (.0021621 ounces) of peanut. Every peanut is about 9.359% phenethylamine, and an average peanut weighs 0.45 grams (.0159 ounces) so a single gram of peanut would be .207977 grams of phenethylamine.
So, in total, the .0613 grams of peanut in a king size reese’s cup would have about 0.12749 grams of phenethylamine - which means Symby would have to eat 267 (rounded up from 266.68 and change) king size reese’s cups every day if they wanted to subsist on only that.
For your “drunk on PEA” question - This one’s a bit trickier. On the one hand, I would assume its like eating too much. On the other hand, phenethylamine makes dopamine and seratonin, which make you feel good, and an excess amount would probably leave you feeling overly giddy.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I can answer this one, as I have no clue how Symby’s biology works. For the purpose of fanfiction, I would say its definitely possible, and somewhat likely, that symbiotes experience a sort of “high” after eating too much - kind of like the feeling you get when you eat too much.
Also - never apologise for asking questions, I love answering them ^^
those gay firefighters are making me realise what it must have been like to be a non-supernatural watcher on tumblr in 2014 like brother i don't know which one of these men is which but for all your sakes i hope they kiss
JJK 270 being titled Dream’s End is so fudging ominous. That’s some Umineko type beat. I’m not sure if I should even judge this chapter as presented because of this. In fact, I'm holding off on posting the other analysis I had for today since I no longer am certain of what JJK 268–270 are.
There's two lines of thought I have:
1) Gege suffering from burnout and bad working conditions plus rushing has caused the writing to decline.
2) Gege still has a hidden ace saved for the final chapter and the weird writing is deliberate.
I'm going to humor Option 2, but only because the title of this chapter is called Dream's End.
(The most 'hear me out' discussion under the cut. Using TCB scans and leaks. Click images for captions/citations.)
Preface
"Without love it cannot be seen."
This is a phrase and philosophy I have borrowed from Umineko since I've started these JJK yapfests. It essentially boils down to 'discard your negative biases and try to examine things in good faith.'
JJK 268 & 269 have fudging tested that for me. I've been giving Gege and the characters a pretty hard time with the caveat of knowing how exploitative the manga industry is. I initially rejected the idea that these chapters were to be taken at anything other than face-value because of this. In fact, I cited the JJK 268 chapter title of Finale as a reason I've accepted things as is.
And with that same logic, I'm now doing the opposite... So hear me out! I've got some pretty good reasons to be doing this.
What's wrong with JJK 268–270?
There's a lot of things in these chapters that are fundamentally inconsistent with what's been established in throughout the manga. If we use Option 1 to explain these contradictions, these are last second retcons because Gege forgor.
Option 2? We're about to have the rug pulled the hell out from under us because the last 3 chapters have been delusions.
What first tipped me off to something possibly being wrong on purpose was the fate of the incarnated culling game players in JJK 270. Not too long ago it was established that the souls of non-sorcerers in vessels were unsavable.
The souls are suppressed in a way that distorts them permanently or their consciousness is outright destroyed. They were gambling on Megumi's survival due to him being a sorcerer and Sukuna's incarnation method being unique. 99% of them will die and those who survive will likely be vegetables, so why is there a sudden gamble on their survival in JJK 270?
It's such a neat and fine bow to tie this mess up that goes directly against existing lore. It's so ideal that it has me suspicious.
Brain damage from sorcery on non-sorcerers has been established as extremely taxing. I think about Gojo's Unlimited Void (UV) the most when it comes to this. Non-sorcerers were hit by it for 0.2 seconds and required medical intervention for 2 months to fully heal from it. Sukuna, the absolute strongest, tanked some of it and it affected him for the rest of the battle. ...And then we have Megumi who was under it for about 6 minutes and seems to have very little problems from it.
This is bizarre. Someone who underwent the month long bath and UV without Reverse Curse Technique (RCT) should be struggling to even stand after waking up. Sukuna had RCT and the Gojo brain damage still took him out. This screams of inconsistent writing unless...this is a deliberate hint that something is amiss.
I want to draw attention to the panel Megumi's UV damage is addressed. Just about everyone has been seemingly waiting around in the same spot for him to wake up. It's a bit weird given that sorcerers don't usually do that. They usually get a move on asap. And after the destruction of Shinjuku and the Culling Game Players still running about, why would they take a breather to discuss their plans that worked?
But that's not what started bothering me about that panel after reading JJK 270. It's that characters who aren't in the room, start appearing without warning. Look who is behind Maki and to the left. It's Kusakabe. And to her and Yuta's right? Inumaki. So why is it that Hakari, Kiara, and Ino are in Kusakabe's place while Todo spawns where Inumaki is? (And Yuta is facing the wrong direction too.)
That's pretty fudging weird right? You can chalk it up to Gege forgor but it doesn't stop there. Higuruma enters the discussion in a way that causes Yuji to pause.
Why is Yuji surprised to see him? (And where the fudge did he come from?) Shouldn't he know of his survival by now? And why is he in a cast? Higuruma had learned RCT and fully restored his arms before leaving the battlefield. If he's conscious, then he should be able to heal himself fully no problems.
And that got me thinking... Why is Yuji still missing his fingers?
It was established that he kept his fingers unhealed to help with Yuta's plan. This means that if he won, he has no need to keep them missing. Yuji has fully regenerated missing chunks of his face, including his eye, and stomach. He has RCT just like Higuruma. But it doesn't end there either. Yuji's number of fingers on his left hand keeps changing.
4 fingers, 3 fingers, dubious amount of fingers, 5 fingers. Once again, you can chalk it up to Gege forgor, but JJK 270 came out and the same problem started happening with Megumi's scars.
The same mistake is made within the same set of panels and very big page. That's weird.
ONCE AGAIN, you can chalk it up to Gege forgor, but when these errors occur, like with Yuta mistakenly having his ring on in JJK 251, Gege will note the mistake outright. Gege has made no such comments for Yuji's fingers or the scars. This many “errors” in row when Gege has otherwise been careful with these features could indicate it really is on purpose. (Kind of like Sukuna's everchanging mask. The thing was just moving around and pulsing. That was deliberate not inconsistency.)
What does this mean?
I think it means what we are seeing isn't reality. After all, the most common way to tell if you're dreaming is being unable to count the number of fingers on your hands. Another way to tell is the distortion of faces.
Readers have noticed that something is wrong. The weird timeskips, the lack of lasting consequences, design inconsistencies, characters behaving like similes of themselves, death and pain being glossed over like it's nothing. It all feels so off. But it's still close enough to the original to be somewhat believable. ...Is that not what it's like to dream and not know you are dreaming?
Why is it that the chapter titled Dream's End ends with the hunt for a curse user whose ability is to distort the perception of reality?
Dreams and Delusions in JJK
We already know Gege weaves Buddhist symbolism and ideas heavily into JJK. I'm not an expert in Buddhism at all, so there's a lot of it that goes over my head. I decided to look into if dreams are significant in Buddhism and boy howdy are they. Quoted directly from the source:
"Dreams can be a message from a Bodhisattva, an ancestor, or a god, The intent of the dream may be to test the dreamer’s resolve: is he non-retreating (avaivartika) from Bodhi (enlightenment) even when sleeping? The purpose of the dream visit may be to communicate information vital to the dreamer’s well-being. The Buddha himself had five dreams of catastrophes, falling stars and worlds in collision just before his enlightenment. The dreams were sent to him not by a benevolent Dharma-protector, but by an malevolent sorcerer, intent on disrupting the Buddha’s samadhi and preventing his awakening."
In summary, (correct me if I'm wrong) dreams appear to be seen as another state of being just as valuable and impermanent as reality.
There's also this other bit I'll quote directly.
"The most common use of dreams in the literature of the Mahayana, or “Northern School” of Buddhism in China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam is to see dreams as a simile for sunyata, (emptiness) the hollow core at the heart of all component dharmas (things). For example, in the well-known Vajra (Diamond) Sutra, the Buddha taught that:
“All conditioned dharmas, are like a dream, like an illusion, like a bubble, like a shadow, like a dewdrop, like a lightening flash; you should contemplate them thus.”"
That's starting to sound like what Yuji's Domain does, right? He projects memories that did happen and mixes them with delusions and dreams. Sukuna and Megumi both experience this in full.
It's incredibly suspicious that it hasn't been named yet. Yuji is the son of Kenjaku who has a domain based on the Womb Sutra/Realm...which is paired with the aforementioned Diamond Realm to encompass the entire Dharma. It's very likely this is what Yuji's domain is—a realm of dreams and reality combined as one.
Unreality Runs in the Family
When Sasaki Setsuko "wakes up" as the Culling Games begin, Kenjaku explains her situation with this:
What follows is a sequence that cannot be described as a dream. It seems to be a blend of reality and hallucinations. But that's not anything strange, Sukuna does it too with Kashimo in reverse.
As you can see, both the positions of the characters and even the backgrounds change suddenly from reality to ??? and from sequence to sequence. It's all incredibly dream like.
Another strange thing about this space is Kenjaku creating it as a part of an escape route Binding Vow. You know, the kind Sukuna uses for Malevolent Shrine.
What I want to draw attention to here is this reality-dream state somewhat requires consent (in the loosest possible definition) to appear. The person entering this state has to desire it themself. We see this with Jogo and Gojo who are mutually interested in having a relationship of somekind with Sukuna. (Same with Kashimo.)
(It's also very hard to tell if they are dead or still in the process of dying during this.)
This is where the delusions Yuji projects differ. They are forced onto others when he is near death or severely injured, seemingly as a defense mechanism.
And would you look at that...the syntax is identical for Todo and Choso's Brother Yuji Delusions. "At that moment, a memory was born inside X's brain...of a past event that never happened." It's kind of like how Yuji replaces Gojo in Megumi's memory to reach him. It's also very strange that Sukuna, Choso, and Jogo go "What is this?" to this in-between space.
My point here is that Yuji having access to this space has been hinted at since the start of this manga and that it was inherited it by blood. (Totally Not Kenjaku showing up with Takaba Mr. Reality Warping CT in JJK 270 supports my case too I think.)
What does this mean for JJK 268–270?
The battle ended in JJK 268. Of that I'm certain. What I no longer know is if anyone survived.
A common complaint about Sukuna's death is his lack of an afterlife scene. Everything ended so abruptly. And then Megumi wakes up.
It's so jarring in out of place. ...But that's how all scenes involving the space between dreams and reality begin. Sasaki Setsuko "wakes up" once and then again. Most of us have experienced those kind of dreams right? (They made a whole movie about it called Inception which is based on the movie Paprika.)
There's one other thing I need to draw attention to. Yuji's Domain shattered after Sukuna cast Domain Expansion (DE).
When a sorcerer withdraws their domain voluntarily, it does not shatter. Gojo has demonstrated this for us in quite clearly.
When a domain is broken by force, it will shatter and shards will scatter. When a domain is withdrawn, no shards are left behind. Yuta uses these facts as a part of his plan. In JJK 252, it's revealed by Kusakabe that Yuta shatters his own domain on purpose to trick Sukuna into thinking he won.
What this means is that some kind of violent action needs to be taken to shatter a domain. Yuji's domain is massive and his attacks only targeted Sukuna. What could've shattered his domain all at once? He's not had the time to practice shattering parts of it like Yuta.
Gojo has shown us what a uniform domain shattering looks like—it happens when Malevolent Shrine activates. (Please note that the sfx used for Sukuna breaking Gojo's domain is カシャア. It's the same one used for Yuji's domain shattering.)
I'm proposing that we've been in unreality since the end of JJK 266. Sukuna and Yuji are both severely injured, on the verge of death, and have a connection with each other. These are all conditions that trigger the space between dreams and reality.
And I must remind you that Yuji first triggers this event with Todo after a severe head injury. Right before Sukuna casts his domain, they do this to each other.
Everything that has come after has been perfect for Yuji to a unbelievable degree. Everyone whose death was uncertain is alive and the living are getting exactly what they wanted. The effort behind it and the logistics are all missing. And yes a rushed ending can explain that, but that too can be part of the ruse.
Another massive complaint is that mourning has not occurred. Not for Gojo or Choso despite how much Yuji cherished them. It's like they're being willfully forgotten by the cast despite being crucial to their success in Shinjuku. It feels out of character, especially since Yuji is of the few that showed concern for them no matter what.
But if this is a delusion on the brink of death designed to bring happiness, why would Yuji think of the dead? He's always been so avoidant with it. When his grandpa is dying and trying to talk about his parents, Yuji tells him to shut up. When Nanami dies, he thinks of him then and then never again directly leading up to his talk with Sukuna. When Megumi tries to discuss Nobara's fate, Yuji ends the conversation as quickly as possible.
The only people in this world are the ones who may or may not be dead. He saw Yuta in Gojo's corpse. The only way that can happen is if Gojo is dead. Yuji has no choice but to believe it. Choso burned away before his eyes. Yuji has no choice but to believe it. He went through some of Megumi's memories and saw Tsumiki's corpse. Yuji has no choice but to believe it.
And since Tsumiki is the only person Yuji wasn't close with, she's the only death that has been outright acknowledged. But not for too long! That would make Megumi sad.
Another complaint is that Sukuna really didn't kill anyone in the final battle outside of those two and Kashimo. The dudebros call it Disney Kaisen. But the fairytale-like idea that everyone is ok? Todo was the one who put that idea in Yuji's head.
And Yuji has always been one to fall to story-like logic when things look like they're finally wrapping up.
"And then everything will be just fine." (Yuji before the worst possible outcome for both him and Megumi happens.)
This is similar to the line Gakuganji uses in JJK 270. "Everything is fine." This line is the whole reason I sat down and wrote this all out without stopping. I know Gakuganji. He'd never say that. This man has been in a state of worry over Jujutsu Society since his first appearance. He doesn't even fully believe in Gojo's cause as someone who values tradition. He's a stickler for details and will do everything in his power to ensure stability. For him to toss Sukuna and Tengen's remains in a shrine and call it a day? Who is that? He's changed but not that much.
And so I compared the raws.
It is very much the same 大丈夫 (Daijoubu). These are Yuji's words.
What I'm proposing is that JJK 267–270 are Yuji's delusions of the happiest possible ending. It's a picture perfect little end where all the trauma and death has no effect on the living and people move on like nothing happened. I don't know if this means he's dead or if Megumi's dead or if they're all dead. But what I'm seeing now? I don't think it's real.
Reexamining JJK 269
CW: Brief discussion of suicide.
Even if this turns out to be a part of the smokescreen, I'm always going to hate JJK 269. But I do want to give it some grace under the assumption this chapter titled Examination (which can also be translated as Reflection) is about Yuji's guilt. Both him and Megumi's tbh. I think their feelings for each other and their situations are driving these delusions. That's one thing about this space that's real—the feelings behind them.
Yuji has a lot of guilt surrounding his existence after ingesting Sukuna, Megumi does too. Straight up Yuji has been seeking death over it since JJK 9.
He struggles to forgive himself for being the centerpiece to violence he had little to no control over. The only thing that upsets him more than that is knowing that his death will break Megumi's heart. He doesn't want Megumi to feel any guilt for it whatsoever.
The kicker is, Megumi already knows Yuji is planning to die. And he wants to do everything to rid him of that guilt. Up until they connect inside of Yuji's domain, they were unaware they shared the same goal for each other.
And that's what JJK 269 is. It's a very cold and harsh breakdown that allows them to forgive themselves. Blame is passed around and ultimately pinned on a combination of Gojo and Kenjaku. (It's really weird Sukuna isn't blamed either, but that's not the point of this for now.)
Kusakabe's comment is especially harsh. Telling Yuji point blank he should've died and that both sides on the issue were valid? He may have believed that to an extent, but he made a point of not telling it to his face. Why have a whole chapter discussing how kind he is only to turn around and do this?
If this is all a delusion, a manifestation of Yuji's guilt and trying to absolve himself of it for Megumi's sake, that makes sense. This version of Kusakabe is what Yuji feels guilt over the most—Everyone's lives being better if he died.
In the same breath Kusakabe tells them to solely blame the adults. It's very reminiscent of Nanami telling Yuji that being a child is not a sin.
It should also be noted that every single time Megumi tries to apologize for being possessed, he's stopped. Maki tears into Yuta without checking in on him, but she asks if Megumi is ok and tells him to not blame himself. JJK 270 is full of this too. He tries to apologize to Tsumiki at her grave and Shoko tells him not to sweat it. He tries to apologize to Hana and she hits on him instead.
This delusion is crafted out of love. It allows Megumi to live in a world where he can move on from the guilt surrounding his possession and saving Yuji. It's all Yuji has ever wanted for him. And now that Yuji knows Megumi wants him to forgive himself, he has no choice but to do that too.
It's a perfect ending for Megumi that's too good to be true.
It must be a dream...
There's another thing I can't reconcile about JJK 269 unless it's a delusion—Todo's explanation for Yuta's plan. It's another one of those glaring contradictions.
In JJK 269 Todo claims Boogie Woogie can't target Maki. But in JJK 259? Todo makes plans with Mei Mei knowing that it works with her.
Either Todo lied...or Yuji never fully knew the plan and that Boogie Woogie could target Maki. Otherwise she would be dead. Her surviving Sukuna's flames would be impossible.
I've already talked about how Yuji believing those who may or may not be dead are alive is Todo's doing. He's always been the one to save Yuji from his breakdowns. But let's talk about his speech in Shibuya.
"Looking for meaning or logic in death...can at times defile the memories of those we've lost!"
Everyone who has read these past 3 chapters has really felt the defiling of Gojo's memory. And it was all in service to a strange logic that helped them cope with all this death. Acknowledging how massive Gojo's sacrifice was would riddle both Yuji and Megumi with immense guilt, so it's best to ignore it for Megumi's sake. (And perhaps that's why Yuji replaces Gojo in that memory.)
"What have you been entrusted with? You don't need to answer right now. However... Until you find your answer, never stop moving."
In a way, JJK 269 is an answer to the question Todo proposed. Yuji was entrusted with saving Megumi. Saving Megumi requires Megumi and Yuji forgiving themselves. And Yuji won't stop moving until it's done. All these time jumps and rushed developments are Yuji moving Megumi forward. He's getting that happy ending even if it's to the detriment of everything else.
What about Sukuna?
When Sukuna respects his opponents and they have a connection, he gives others these dreams before they pass. He's been very impressed by Megumi since JJK 9. It's not out of the ballpark for him to allow Megumi to die satisfied in the way Gojo did. Yuji also seems to understand that Sukuna was manipulated by others just as much as he was. I think that's why Sukuna is spared of the blame for the most part.
I don't think Sukuna won. He's probably dead. But he did warn Yuji not to underestimate him. I think the worst absolute last fudge you to Yuji he could give is this happy ending dream before ripping it all away as he dies.
In Conclusion...
I'm not sure that we're going to get that happy ending. Reggie Star warned us not too long ago.
"...it all comes down to a sorcerer's lies."
Reggie is a lot like Sukuna here, outwitted by modern sorcerers and dying to someone he loathes. Sukuna is good at tricking people. He let Gojo think he won before tearing it all away. Yuta did the exact same thing to him. Or did he?
"Can you do me a favor? After all, you've killed me. Let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die."
If the last 3 chapters are delusions...Megumi will be playing the part of a clown.
Gege said the manga would end with either 1/4 or 3/4 of Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo surviving. This of course, could be changed throughout its development, but Gege said the manga is ending in its original vision. There's a real chance that it's only Yuji or Nobara surviving.
Remember, Gege is a troll first and foremost. Somehow Gojo was revived, but in the worst way possible (Yujo). Somehow Gojo did tell Megumi about Toji, but in the worst way possible (dead man's final letter).
Gege also said this about the final chapter:
"I am working hard to create a final chapter that will (hopefully) satisfy as many people as possible who have supported Jujutsu Kaisen. So everyone, please bear with me!"
I can't think of a better way to appease everyone than by making the last 3 chapters nothing more than dream.
Possessive Arthur is something that is actually so personal to me
I think he wouldn't even be aware of it at first: Small things like constantly calling merlin “my manservant”, or pulling on merlin's arm while they walk because merlin walks too slow and definitely not because he just wants to.
He then slowly notices this urge to always keep merlin around, and his inability to function without him. Whenever merlin is gone he feels this emptiness that is almost akin to fear, like someone is about to snatch and steal merlin away from him.
After he realizes this (and subsequently his feelings), Arthur begins to show his possessiveness more in the open in fear of the aforementioned stealing happening.
He'd keep Merlin at his side during every single event or trip (“Tell me again why I must go hunting with you?” “Shut up, Merlin.”), take any chance to wrap him in anything Pendragon red (“It's literally just a scratch, I don't need your entire cape-” “Do you ever shut up, Merlin?”), and glares at anyone who even dares to cross Merlin's path (“Why do you keep glaring at that poor nobleman? He's literally shaking from fear.” “Be quiet, Merlin.”)
It gets even worse after they get together and Arthur becomes king, because without his father's constant judgement and surveillance, Arthur is finally free to declare to the whole kingdom that Merlin is his.
He immediately takes Merlin as his royal consort (“I'M NOT YOUR QUEEN.” “Anything you say, my love.”), starts kissing Merlin at the end of his speeches, and despite being the literal king of one of the most powerful kingdoms in Albion, chooses to spend his time putting red flowers in Merlin's hair like a love sick teenager.
Merlin, as always, complains a lot about being embarrassed or the constant smell of grass in his hair, but Arthur knows that he secretly loves it since only him and Merlin are allowed entry into their chambers, and he's not the one taking care of the vase of red flowers by their bed.
when HANNIBAL LECTER said 'what we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others lives beyond us' that gave me irl therapy..............thank you king idk abt the murder and desecration tho
He comes out of the chamber and theyre all just like 'aw man it didnt work' and send him home and he FULLY doesnt even realise he's become 800× more powerful until he trudges back to his apartment and accidentally puts his fist straight through the solid oak door as he's pushing it open. And hes just like..........hm. okay. I'm kinda pooped tho so I'll deal with that in the morning.
He eventually does still manage to become cap, he wears the same uniform, carries the same shield, but... Everyone involved just has no idea how this skinny bastard man works like WHERE IS THE MUSCLE???? WHAT ARE THE PHYSICS????? Every single villain that sees him for the first time underestimates him to an embarrassing degree and they laugh at him when they see his ruler-thin ass for the first time or wonder whether the 'real' Cap that everyone fears is out of commission or smthn but then Steve just. Idk pulls a helicopter out of the sky and throws it at them and theyre like????? I BEG YOUR PARDON??????
