I'm just ranting

[leuke-rants]

Rising of the Shield Hero rewrite master list:

1)Motoyasu's backstory

2)Villains rewrite

3) Queen Mirellia and queendom rewrite

4)Four heroes fun facts

5) Motoyasu in canon, rewrite and AU

6) Naofumi in canon, rewrite and AU

7) Ren in canon, rewrite and AU

8) Itsuki in canon, rewrite and AU

9) AU and rewrite differences

[leuke-rants]

I won't be answering questions or post anything for a while since I am busy with exams. Once exam season is over I'll open the asks again and continue posting but for now I'll take a break to focus on studying

[leuke-rants]

What makes For My Derelict Favorite’s misogyny even more egregious (and this going to be rant mb) is both Diana and Cael are ‘flawed’ characters, but the story is only interested in treating one of them like a human being. (Which is objectively generous for Cael considering his depression only lasted for 2.5 seconds.)

we all know Diana was abused by the Orchus family, kidnapped, raised by a corrupt church, thrown into impossible political circumstances, and spent her entire life being shaped by systems that failed her. but somehow all of that immediately stops mattering the second the story needs you to feel bad for Cael.

we all know Diana was abused by the Orchus family, kidnapped, raised by a corrupt church (which is mostly used to show how much of a hypocrite she is rather than how thoroughly they groomed and conditioned her), thrown into impossible political circumstances (which is the Orchus family targeting her and literally threatening international conflict because of her), and relentlessly dehumanized by Hestia. but none of that is actually allowed to matter beyond how it affects other characters, two of which are men.

even if Diana grew up in circumstances that made her whatever the story needs for her in the current moment, the story doesn't seem interested in exploring those circumstances.

the abuse isn't there to explore abuse. the church isn't there to explore religious conditioning. the political pressure or the social pressure isn't there to explore how impossible expectations can break a person.

not to mention that, just like Cael, Diana has emotional baggage equal if than more than Cael’s that should logically shape every aspect of how she sees the world. except when Cael's baggage affects him it's characterization, and when Diana's baggage affects her it's proof that she's wrong.

plus, the entire plot literally starts because she was being abused.

so yeah, like I said, they're both ‘ flawed’ characters, and that's exactly why the writing feels so dishonest.

because whenever Cael suffers, the narrative slows down and asks you to understand him.

whenever Diana suffers, the narrative speeds up and asks you to move on.

Cael murders an entire noble family and the story practically throws itself on the floor begging you to understand his feelings.

Diana gets abused, kidnapped, politically targeted, religiously conditioned, publicly humiliated, and dehumanized for dozens of chapters, and the story barely seems interested unless one of those things can be turned into sympathy for Cael or justification for Hestia.

To the point where you can literally see the author's hand reaching into the story.

Diana gets abused? don't focus on Diana. focus on how much Cael suffered because of it.

Diana gets kidnapped? don't focus on Diana. focus on what Cael did afterwards.

Diana is raised by a corrupt church? don't focus on how that shaped groomed her. focus on how hypocritical she is.

Diana gets targeted by one of the most powerful families in the setting? don't focus on what that pressure would do to a person. focus on how inconvenient her reactions are.

Hestia spends the entire story reducing Diana into an object of resentment rather than a human being? don't focus on the dehumanization. focus on how satisfying Hestia's revenge feels.

and that's why the misogyny angle is impossible to ignore.

because the story keeps giving Diana experiences that should make her one of the most psychologically interesting characters in the cast, then immediately redirects all of that emotional weight toward the people judging her.

her abuse becomes Cael's tragedy.her trauma becomes Hestia's justification. her humanity straight up doesn’t exist in a story literally built on humanity.

Yet it calls itself a fucking deconstruction.

it wants the fallen saint.it wants the morally gray FL.it wants the tragic 2nd male lead.it wants all the ingredients of a deconstruction.

but it doesn't actually want to engage with any of them.

Honestly, I couldn't have said it any better. FMDF is the perfect example of how misogynistic the manhwa industry really is.

The story, just like any other Otome Isekai story, focuses on male pain and suffering while ignoring the pain and suffering of any female character that isn't the fl. Diana's trauma is never addressed, instead we must care about Cael's trauma and his suffering while condemning Diana for not being the perfect saintess.

Diana isn't treated like a human being, she is instead treated as the reason for Cael's suffering and an object for Hestia's hatred. She isn't allowed to be complex because any negative personality trait she has or bad a decision she makes is seen as her being a failure instead of being seen as traits of a complicated character.

Anyway, I don't feel like adding anything else since you pretty much covered everything wrong with FMDF

[leuke-rants]

Have you read ‘the devil is part timer’?

If you are talking about the manga, then no. I knew the anime existed but it never really caught my eye so I never watched it.

[leuke-rants]

Hestia is a character I feel so iffy about because she’s the biggest mouthpiece for the story’s misogyny while also being a victim of it.

I couldn't agree more. Hestia would have been an interesting character if the story actually addressed the misogyny of the world Hestia lives in and Hestia's own internalised misogyny.

If the story was an actual deconstruction of manhwa tropes then the men wouldn't get away with their crimes, the blame wouldn't fall on one woman and Hestia herself would start to question the system. It would be really interesting to see Hestia starting off as she did in the original story only for her to slowly start to realise that she supports a system meant to opress her and turn her against other woman so that the men can stay on top.

That would require good writing and an original idead but sadly manhwa authors just want a fantasy fulfilment slop story and don't actually want to write anything unique or go against the status quo

[hounneybuonney]

When talking about FMDF to fans of it, you first gotta ask them what defines “good writing” and “deconstruction” because for a lot of them a deconstruction is just when a story says it’s subversive and gives the FL trauma or moral ambiguity. To them, a character is just a collection of traits, aesthetics, and sad backstory details they can use for edits, memes, and fanfic. The idea of complexity matters more than whether the story actually explores it in the text.

I notice they don’t actually define or value Diana based on how she’s written in the actual story. They value the concept of Diana. “The saintly FL who was secretly flawed.” “The woman who rejected the 2nd ML.” “The fake saint.” But good character writing is when a writer says “a character is XYZ” and then actually shows that through the events, reactions, relationships, and emotional logic of the story itself.

And a major key to that is consistent emotional logic.

If a woman was raised by a corrupt church and then abused and kidnapped by a powerful noble family, good writing is showing how that affects the way she thinks, reacts, trusts people, handles pressure, interprets morality, and emotionally processes violence done in her name. Even if she reacts badly or unfairly, the story should still center the fact that those experiences shaped her.

But FMDF’s problem is that it says Diana is traumatized and shaped by abuse like once or twice and then writes like that information no longer matters because the plot needs her to function as Hestia’s punching bag and Cael’s source of heartbreak. The story just keeps moving mechanically from event to event while expecting YOU to insert the characterization yourself 💀

Diana gets abused by the Orchus family? Okay cool, now move on because the story cares more about Cael being sad he murdered them. Diana gets raised by a corrupt church? Nice aesthetic detail, now ignore that because the narrative would rather frame her as cold and hypocritical than seriously explore how religious conditioning shaped her worldview. Hestia constantly dehumanizes Diana and projects all her emotional instability onto her? The story says thats bad for like two seconds and then goes right back to validating it because the plot still needs Diana reduced into an object of revenge and discarded when no longer needed.

And that’s why the “deconstruction” falls apart for me.

A real deconstruction would interrogate the saintly FL archetype and ask WHY women are forced into impossible moral standards in the first place. FMDF doesn’t really do that. It just swaps one idealized woman out for another. Diana gets flattened into “the wrong kind of woman” so Hestia can become the “correct” one. The one who wins. The story says Diana is complicated, traumatized, and human but then consistently refuses to write her with the same emotional depth, sympathy, or psychological attention it gives Cael and Hestia. Cael massacres an entire family and gets endless emotional depth, guilt, sympathy, and psychological exploration while Diana’s victimhood gets treated like a footnote in HIS tragedy.

Like gassing up a movie for being “psychological” because one character stared sadly out a window once 😭 meanwhile the actual writing refuses to meaningfully engage with her trauma, worldview, or humanity beyond how it affects everyone else around her. She’s a damn sticky note in a story that literally starts with her being abused.

I say all that to say Diana is a genuinely interesting concept trapped inside a story that mostly treats her like a narrative tool instead of a person.

[leuke-rants]

Hestia is a character I feel so iffy about because she’s the biggest mouthpiece for the story’s misogyny while also being a victim of it.

I couldn't agree more. Hestia would have been an interesting character if the story actually addressed the misogyny of the world Hestia lives in and Hestia's own internalised misogyny.

If the story was an actual deconstruction of manhwa tropes then the men wouldn't get away with their crimes, the blame wouldn't fall on one woman and Hestia herself would start to question the system. It would be really interesting to see Hestia starting off as she did in the original story only for her to slowly start to realise that she supports a system meant to opress her and turn her against other woman so that the men can stay on top.

That would require good writing and an original idead but sadly manhwa authors just want a fantasy fulfilment slop story and don't actually want to write anything unique or go against the status quo

[leuke-rants]

I was scrolling through ao3 for Dottore fics and I found an absolute gem of Dottore pouring his heart out to the Tsaritsa and calling out the other Harbingers on their hypocrisy

This was so good to read. People love to praise Tartaglia and Arlecchino as morally superior to Dottore but both of them have done awful things that get completely ignored. Arlecchino especially, as much as I love her I hate the fact that her fans completely ignore her wrongdoings.

That's so real. Dottore is actually doing his job as a Harbinger and even managed to secure two gnoses and the rest of the Harbingers get mad at him for being competent and serving the Tsaritsa. They themselves have done unforgivable things but they love to act as if they're innocent.

Columbina herself is not as innocent as she seems. She had absolutely no problem with the Fatui committing crimes and harming others but the moment she got wronged suddenly the Fatui were evil and she just decided to leave. And her people weren't even mad that she abandoned them, they welcomed her with open arms so no consequences for her actions.

I felt so validated after reading this! Sandrone pissed me the fuck off during the archon quest. She was colonizing Nod Krai and we are told that she tortures people and yet she faced no consequences for her actions. She literally ripped out a man's tongue but she send an apology letter so I guess her mutilating someone is ok. Just like the rest of the Harbingers her crimes are being ignored and she is a huge hypocrite. Not to mention that she mocked Signora's death and she was being hella nasty at her funeral but people love to ignore all of Sandrone's wrongdoings because she took the Traveller's side.

Another reason why I hate Columbina. She had the audacity to be mad at Dottore for trying to steal her people's homes but had absolutely no problem when Sandrone was literally colonizing Nod Krai and tried to chase away the Frostmoon Scions, even going as far as to call their resistance "laughable" and "futile". Don't get me wrong, she doesn't own Dottore anything especially after the way he treated her but her talking about family while Dottore genuinely saw her as a sister and wanted to have a bond with her.....only for Columbina to not even bother to understand him, she just cast him aside like everyone else in his life. She has no problems befriending a colonizer and a groomer (Arlecchino) but she draws the line at a mad scientist apparently.

Anyway that's the fanfiction if anyone is interested. It has only one chapter with the second one being a retelling of the first one but I recommend reading both of them. Bonus points for wholesome Dottore and Tsaritsa mother-son moment.

[leuke-rants]

Am I the only one who isn't excited for Snezhnaya anymore? Hoyo's writing has been getting worse and worse over the years, the lore has lost its footing and the character designs (especially the female ones) have downgraded so bad.

Not to mention that the best thing about Snezhnaya that we've been waiting for, for years, aka the Harbingers, has been ruined. Everything that made them interesting has been stripped away and now they're either dead or friends with the Traveller. Like, who are we even going to see in Snezhnaya? Can the Fatui be called an organisation anymore?

I think I might just completely give up on the game considering that there's nothing to keep me interested anymore

[leuke-rants]

GENSHIN SPOILERS AND SANDRONE LEAKS BELOW!!!!!

I don't even like or care about Sandrone, but man, I feel sorry for her and her fans. She had one of the worst downgrades in genshin.

Her first design was absolutely gorgeous!! It was elegant, pretty and fit her perfectly. Sandrone looked just like a doll and I still mourn the design we could have had.

Her second design wasn't the best but it wasn't bad either. It still looked elegant and pretty and I love the yellow in her dress, it made sure that the red didn't dominate her design. Sandrone still looked like a doll and they kept details from her original design.

And then we have this monstrosity

What the actual fuck am I looking at? What is this? All the elegance of the previous designs is gone and we are left with ....this.

Of course genshin shorten her skirt, how else are they going to attract the gooners? And don't give me the shit "but shorter skirts are easier to animate". For one thing, her skirt literally clips through her thighs so the short skirt isn't even well animated and I know for a fact that genshin can animate longer skirts. Ayaka is a perfect example of that. I also noticed that they made her chest bigger, what a suprise 🙄

This design is absolute ass, Sandrone doesn't even look like a doll anymore, she looks like a maid! Genshin make a good female character design level impossible!!

[leuke-rants]

It is disappointed to witness the downfall of some of the characters and the story, especially when it comes to the Fatui. They are one of the people that I like to learn more about, more specifically their lore, read character analysis, and observe people's interpretations and discourse (I hope I use the correct term). But I stopped playing genshin after the Natlan controversy, plus being burned out while I was studying in university.

And I am disappointed but (unfortunately) not surprised to what happened to both Colombina and Dottore.

People had waited for years and then we get...this. Of course it is understandable why people get upset and frustrated.

I wonder what happens next, I am worried about the next Archon Quest.

I don't blame you. The Fatui had been one of the most interesting part about genshin but now everyone is either dead or redeemed. Any complexity they had has been stripped away and their characters have been watered down in order to make them more appealing.

About Dottore and Columbina:

I am disappointed with what happened to Dottore but at least he got the ending that he wanted. I am still mad that we didn't get to see his full story or the fact that no one, not his archon, not the girl he saw a sister no one ever bothered to truly make an effort to understand him or get close to him. The closest thing to a friend Zandik had was Pantalone and even then we didn't get to see their relationship in detail. I also hate the way genshin treats Dottore as pure evil and see him as a lost cause. They don't even allow us to hear him out in the Nod Krai quest even though he brings up some great points.

As for Columbina she was probably one of the most disappointing characters in genshin. I didn't expect her to be pure evil or anything I just wanted a well written and complex character. Instead we got a pure and innocent girl who jas never done anything wrong with the complexity of an empty ketchup bottle. Her design is absolute ass and you can tell what kind of people genshin was trying to attract with Columbina.

I wouldn't be excited for the new archon quest if I were you. Genshin's writing has been going downhill for a while now along with their character designs. I wouldn't be excited for Snezhnaya either considering that the most interesting part about it (aka the Harbingers) has been ruined

[leuke-rants]

Spoilers for 6.6 ahead!!!!

Damn sir you're looking fine 😜

[leuke-rants]

It's been few years since I played genshin. What happened to Dottore?

The question should be what didn't happen to Dottore. I'm assuming you haven't played the Nod Krai archon quest do I'll start from there.

WARNING: Massive spoilers for Nod Krai and the most recent 6.6 story

During the Nod Krai archon quest we find out that Columbina is a moon goddess and the god of Nod Krai. We also find out that Dottore saw Columbina as a sister and actually wanted them to become family but because he "demanded too much of Columbina" (aka he asked her to actually put effort into the project The Tsaritsa assigned to them instead of doing the bare minimum) she felt sad because 'no one understands her' and left The Fatui.

Dottore went to Nod Krai to contact and experiment by kidnapping Columbina (who had returned to Nod Krai) and stealing her powers and making himself a god. He also kidnapped the Traveller and asked them for help for his experiment. Despite Dottore showing his more human side and having good arguments about the experiment the Traveller and the story itself completely disregards him and just says "no, you are pure evil so fuck you"!

Dottore gets defeated with the power of friendship with his last words being "this cursed world".

The reason why this pissed me off so much is because the whole archon quest Columbina was bitching and crying about how lonely she is and even refers to herself as "an unwanted child at a party" which isn't true at all. Columbina was welcomed everywhere she went and pretty much everyone wanted her around (for the wrong reasons mostly but she was still wanted). She had friends when she was part of the Fatui and got more friends once she went back to Nod Krai.

Dottore on the other hand is the complete opposite. He was the one who was truly unwanted, he was the one who got named "heretic" since he was born, he is the one who got chased away from his hometown, he was the one who got exiled and was left to die in the dessert, he is the one who was an outcast even among his fellow harbingers. He is the "unwanted child at a party" but apparently Hoyo doesn't see it that way and the story won't even allow us to hear him out.

Having Columbina's story being about feeling alone and unwanted when Dottore was right there and actually suffered loneliness and scorn bis entire life pissed me off.

Then we have the most recent archon quest. I don't know much about it but I have seen some leaks.

Basically the original Dottore aka Zandik had been dead for a long time. He died at 85 on his birthday. His clones could have helped him but they didn't because apparently Zandik was "too selfish". Then the final segment died in the most boring and Disney way possible right in frond of Pantalone who didn't seem too bothered by Dottore's death.

Dottore died with no one truly loving or understanding him not even himself. A lot of people have been waiting for years for Dottore to get a satisfying ending or be playable but none of these things happened. You can understand why we are angry.

[leuke-rants]

Let's be honest here, realistically speaking everyone would hate Heinrey and Navier.

The slaves and the poor would absolutely hate Navier. They would 100% scoff at the idea of Navier being a kind and benevolent empress who cares about everyone in her empire when she can't be bothered to actually help the poor unless it benefits her. The slaves would also hate her, because what kind of benevolent and kind empress allows slavery in her empire and is friends with slave owners?

Even if you ignore the slaves and the poor the rest of her people would start to hate her after she abandoned them to marry the enemy king. Her new people would also dislike her, not only because she used to be the empress of the enemy empire but because she replaced their beloved queen. And after Krista's death? People would despise Navier and think that she had something to do with it. Let's not forget the fact that she is willing to pardon any criminal as long as said criminal worships the ground she walks on and their crimes benefit her. The victims of said criminals who never got justice would absolutely loath her.

And then we have Heinrey. This guy would realistically be the most despised man in the world.

His own people would hate him for a variety of reasons such as: Changing the kingdom's status to an empire so that his precious wife wouldn't lose the title of empress. Such move would realistically put a huge target on the kingdom especially on a landlocked country.

Then we have the fact that Heinrey threatens, kills, tortures and imprisons anyone who dares criticise his wife even if the people who do so have very valid reasons to do so. People have every right to be skeptical and suspicious about the enemy empress becoming their new queen especially since that foreign woman replaced their beloved queen.

Let's not forget Heinrey's other crimes aka the Zemensia massacre and the fact that he kidnapped children and stole their magic to give it to his wife. The families and friends of the people Heinrey killed and kidnapped would be devastated and demand justice and of course they'd be furious when justice isn't served and Heinrey got away with his crimes.

The fact that Navier and Heinrey thought it was a good idea to merge the two empires together, empires who have been enemies for years, just so their daughter could become empress is the cherry on top!

If Remarried Empress was an actual historical manhwa then Navier and Heinrey wouldn't be able to get away with the things they did. The story would realistically end like the French Revolution with Navier, Heinrey and their allies losing their heads because the people would absolutely loath them for the atrocities they committed

[leuke-rants]

I just saw the 6.6 spoilers about Dottore and I am not ok!!!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME HOYO, WHY???????

[leuke-rants]

I see people talk about how Navier and Heinrey are bad people all the time but I never see anyone talk about how they're also bad rulers.

Even if you ignore the fact that Navier doesn't seem to care about slaves and the poor she still doesn't care about her people. She had no problem abandoning her people for bird dick and when she found out that her new hubby was kidnapping children from her previous empire (aka the people she claims she cares about) she didn't do anything, she just scolded him for a few minutes and then went back to being lovely dovey with him.

She has absolutely no problem with pardoning criminals as long as the atrocities they commit benefit her. She doesn't care that the ice magic she got was stolen from children, she's just glad she got it somehow. She also decided to just appoint her daughter as the empress of her ex husband's empire without caring if they people even wanted Lari as their empress.

And Heinrey is even worse. This mf has been preparing for war for years, he wasted so much time, money and resources on a war that never happened. Imagine being a soldier, training day and night and preparing for a war that will benefit your kingdom, you can't see your family because of how busy you are but you're doing it in order to give them a better life, only for the king to cancel the war and halt all the preparations because he fell in love. All these recourses and money went to waste when they could have been used to help the people.

Heinrey also has no problem murdering, torturing, threatening and imprisoning anyone to dares to criticise his precious wifey. Even if the people bring up good points and are rightfully skeptical of a new queen, who used to be the empress of the enemy btw, he just shuts everyone down and threatens them. He doesn't care what his people think or feel, all that matters is Navier and her only.

He also changed his kingdom's status to an empire putting a target on the whole nation. But of course he doesn't care, as long as his wifey is satisfied he is good.

Both Navier and Heinrey are selfish, self absorbed and classist assholes who only care about themselves and no one else. The only people "they care about" are sycophants who kiss their asses and everyone else can die for all they care.

[leuke-rants]

As wanderer liker - you are correct. I want the narrative to get his ass, it has such good potential (i am only afraid that they will squander it away like they love doing so much)

It's nice to see a Wanderer fan that doesn't want to crucify me for hating him, lol.

I actually used to like Wanderer, back when he was Scaramouche, because he was, at least in my opinion, way more interesting than he is now. Then Hoyo just blamed everything bad Scaramouche did in Dottore and gave him a shitty and rushed redemption arc when he didn't even face the consequences of his actions, he just erased himself from everyone's memories and got to live a happy new life.

I want to see him suffer the consequences of his actions even just a little bit but knowing Hoyo they'll just blame everything on Dottore again

[leuke-rants]

I'm genuinely happy that Rashta made it into the top 50 best female manhwa characters on Twitter, even though she only came in at number 46. BUT! She received over 14,000+ votes, which is a lot considering she was hated before—and still is. (By the way, I'm one of those who voted for her.) Now she's very well-liked, and she has a lot of fans who voted for her. Unfortunately, it was different with Navier. She didn't even make it into the top 50. She only placed 128th with over 900+ votes. Look at the gap between them. It's so jarring, considering she was one of the most popular rofan FLs during the pandemic, and now she seems to have faded into the background, while other rofan FLs who were also popular like her during the pandemic remained popular and thrived.

https://x.com/i/status/2052788334444073384

https://x.com/i/status/2052788361623163121

I am so happy to see that Rashta is becoming more and more popular, with people realising just how classist, elitist and misogynistic TRE is, especially when it comes to Rashta. Seeing her getting so many votes warms my heart.

As for Navier, I am not surprised that she scored so low. She is an extremely boring protagonist and a perfect Mary Sue, it is only natural that people will gravitate towards more interesting fls who are actually well written.