Xuebing Du
Mike Driver
Cosimo Galluzzi
pixel skylines
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
@theartofmadeline
shark vs the universe
JBB: An Artblog!
JVL
ellievsbear
Cosmic Funnies
Peter Solarz
art blog(derogatory)
Show & Tell
Sade Olutola
Acquired Stardust
roma★
Keni
Misplaced Lens Cap
Kiana Khansmith
seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Chile
seen from Argentina
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
@phantom-thiefx
💝
“When you care for someone, isn’t it often the same emotion? Maybe there’s different natures to the interactions you have with them, but the core of it is the same. You care. You cared about people before me, you care about me now, and you’ll care about people long after me.
So why do you say i am the only one you will ever love when humanity in its essence is an existence that loves?"
Major spoilers
Things that altered my brain chemistry in the Infinity Castle movie - "Akaza returns"
- Gyomei carrying the responsibility for the Master's plan alone because no other Hashira would have accepted it.
- Muichiro remembering Kagaya staying next to him when he was hurt and calling him his father with tears in his eyes (he s only a child)
- How clearly we could hear Shinobu's bones break and her lungs filling up with blood.
- Kanae's voice when she ordered her to get up.
- Zenitsu waiting just a bit before using his 7th form, hoping that Kaigaku would at least regret what he did. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the brother he respected in him before killing him.
- Zenitsu calling him "Aniki" (older brother) and apologizing before taking his head.
- "Zenitsu, you are my pride and joy"
- Kanao's bloodcurdling scream when she saw Shinobu dead, limp in Douma's arms.
- Akaza's entrance and Tanjiro sensing his presence before actually seeing him.
- Giyuu managing to catch Tanjiro just before he hit the floor and died.
- "you'll have to get through me first before you kill Tanjiro !"
- Shinobu showing how angry she actually was after so much time wearing the same smile on her face
- Muichiro and Gyomei cutting through entire buildings of the Infinity Castle together.
- the lower ranked demon slayers grouping around the Hashira to clear their path to Uppermoon demons and Muzan himself.
- Kiriya taking charge of the Corps, and Kagaya guiding him gently with his spirit
- Kiriya not allowing his sister not even one second of grieving when her eyes filled with tears. There was no time for it then.
- everyone having a role to play together - even the crows, the retired Hashira and the Kakushi.
- Giyuu dragging Akaza through multiple buildings of the Infinity Castle even before awakening his mark
- Giyuu immediately forcing himself up to his feet again, after being dragged to hell and back, when Akaza tried to turn to Tanjiro and kill him.
- Even while Tanjiro was passed out, Giyuu using the last of his strength to attack and take full on hits from Akaza so he didn't have the chance to step closer to him.
- "Don't die, Giyuu..." (his crow pleading with him at the end messed me up the worst)
- Tanjiro tearing up when he heard the news of Shinobu's death.
- Muichiro asking Gyomei about the Master first thing after falling into the castle.
- Obanai immediately telling Mitsuri to calm down and to hold hands so they don't separate when they fall.
- Hakuji's scream when he saw Keizo and Koyuki dead.
- His promise to protect Koyuki and then the next frame being him hugging her dead body to his chest while crying.
- Akaza saying "i have to kill that useless person" , then killing himself and refusing to let his body regenerate. He was begging for death by that point.
- Koyuki choosing to go to hell with him. Calling him "my dear" the way a wife calls her husband.
- Giyuu immediately trying to reach Tanjiro after the battle, but finally collapsing next to him perched on his sword.
- Tanjiro's father using the Hinokami Kagura (his version of it) to kill the bear before it got to their family.
- Tanjiro's eyes lighting up like Yoriichi's when he finally unlocked the See-through world.
- Obanai telling Mitsuri they were going to do the same after hearing Giyuu and Tanjiro defeated Uppermoon 3, both of them not knowing what was actually next.
- even if he hated him, Obanai thinking "congratulations, Tomioka," after hearing he survived and won the battle.
- Murata actually insisting that Yushiro take good care of Zenitsu, even while being spooked by him being a demon.
- seeing the difference between the rudimentary Water Breathing tehnique used by Murata and the actual mastered tehnique used by Giyuu (and Tanjiro).
- Giyuu taking the full hits for Tanjiro when not even "Dead Calm" could fully work anymore.
- Tanjiro saving Giyuu just as he almost died the same way Rengoku did - with Akaza's fist through his torso.
- Giyuu, who didn't think he was worthy before, being called the strongest Water Hashira he has ever encountered by Akaza. (He was fully locked in)
- even if Tanjiro was as strong as a Hashira by that point, the way they depicted how Giyuu was still more experienced and syncronized to Tanjiro's attacks perfectly, like guiding him.
- the way they also depicted the difference between lower ranked slayers, who needed groups of 4-5 to defeat regular demons, and Hashira-level slayers, who could oneshot higher ranked ones.
- Shinobu's sobs when Kanae finally died in her arms.
- "Why couldn't I be taller ?"
- Douma toying with Shinobu before her final attack (that took even him by surprise.)
- Giyuu refusing to talk to Akaza and refusing to give him his name - contrast from Rengoku who presented himself from the beginning and stated his position and name. Giyuu ain't playing with those demons (he's so shady)
- Genya searching for his brother the moment he fell into the castle.
- how small Muichiro looked next to Gyomei.
- how horrifying and dire the situation looks throughout the castle, and how all the Hashira put their life on the line to try and keep the other slayers from dying as much as they could.
The next two movies are gonna be 10x worse and i m not ready.
This was the best movie i have ever seen, the best animation i have ever encountered and the hardest cry i ve ever had in a cinema before. Thank you, Ufotable, thank you to the author.
I love when OgCale is written like one of those 'ara ara~' characters.
Like, yeah, that's him. He's the elegant beauty whose usual shocked reaction is put a hand in his cheek and say 'oh dear' (or 'ara ara'). He's that character anyone else has trouble telling when he's being for real and when he is pulling their legs, because it could be either. He'd be perfectly in place drinking a cup of tea in a greenhouse while looking at the sky pondering after learning the most recent news at the end of an anime episode.
At the same time, I wouldn't find it strange if he was written making that thing anime bullies do where they kinda do a kabedon with their leg to scare someone shitless.
And at the same time, I can clearly picture him sitting in a couch, with a expensive wristwatch, formal clothes and a very-not-friendly smile, imitating a mafious to intimidate someone.
He's versatile like that.
Lemme add on to this.
OgCale flirting with someone to ragebait them and then turning around and acting like he didnt just do that while the other person breaks down because one of the prettiest people theyve ever seen flirted with them but its also the guy they can barely tolerate.
Or,
OgCale lowkey being a pseudo-nonchalant caring uncle to the kids and then turning around and speaking like a street thug with all the gangster lingo in his clearly very expensive attire.
Real versatility.
a prayer
Hiya friend! What do you like about og!Cale and your headcanons for him (+Alveru too)? (Sorry for this ask I just want to read more about og!Cale like his personality, abilities, etc I just miss him when I tried and didn't not find much info about him)
The following is a mixture of canon characterization notes for og!Cale and Alver alongside headcanons and conjectures. The headcanons and conjectures are all marked as such and they are based on the limited information we have about the canon dispositions of these characters. We focused mainly on the TBOAH timeline, referencing the LCF timeline in places to support a supposition made.
We apologize for the delay in replying, we were trying to provide you with as detailed an explanation as possible. We eventually realized that we were taking too long to answer so this isn't as detailed an answer as we would like to give you but we hope this helps you get an idea of his personality. If we have time, we'll try to provide a more detailed resource for their characterizations.
Original Cale Henituse
Pre-War
It is observed by Ron that Cale acted like Ohn when he was younger, before he started to act like trash. Extrapolating from that, it is likely that from a young age until around the age of ten, Cale was a precocious and cautious child who is protective of his loved ones. In the specific scene where Ohn reminded Ron of Cale, she was in the middle of receiving her favorite candies because she was worried about her loved ones.Specifically, she was hiding her own worries and fears by acting mature, she struggled specifically because of her own perceptiveness. It is reasonable to extrapolate that as a child, Cale tended to worry about others a lot and he was too perceptive for his own good. It’s also reasonable to assume that Cale may have spent time seeking comfort for servants like Ron.
Due to the nature of nobility in the timeline that the Rowoon Kingdom is loosely based upon, it is also likely that Cale was primarily raised by servants and nannies. There is nothing to back this up in canon aside from Ron being the only character to reflect on Cale’s childhood years. Since there is no mentioned nanny in the current LCF timeline it is likely that Cale chased away the nanny during his trash years (or that the nanny theory is false). If it is true that Cale chased away his own nanny (nannies are frequently something like a surrogate mother to small children), then there is a likelihood that either a) there was an issue with the nanny, possibly related to the vassal families because Cale shows a leeriness toward them when he warned Bassen against showing weakness toward them. Or b) Cale has even more mommy issues than just Jour and Violan and there’s potentially a third mother-figure in his life that he lost. If he chose to chase her away to preserve his trash act, that could result in abandonment issues. There’s also a possibility that she passed away.
While Cale is shown to be a precocious and compassionate child prior to his father’s remarriage, but there is a sharp shift in his behavior afterward. While it is possible that Cale resented his step-family, it feels unlikely in conjunction with his other’s actions. The following has some conjecture to fill the gaps but the majority is based entirely on canon facts. From the bits we get in canon it paints the picture that Cale was worried that Bassen would be too weak to endure the pressure of the vassal family placed upon him, especially as he doesn’t have any Henituse blood in him, and strictly told Bassen to assert himself as a part of the family. However, when it became clear that Bassen would be unable to do so, Cale took drastic measures into his own hands. We speculate that Deruth’s remarriage to Violan happened when Cale was at least ten years old (because 8 years later, Lilly is seven years old) and shortly after Cale began to act like trash. His purpose in acting like a lout was to redirect all negative attention away from his step family (Violan, Bassen, and Lilly) and become a lightning rod for the criticism of the vassal families. He was so successful in this endeavor that at some point, the rest of the family needed to fight against those who would rather he be disowned or at least disinherited.
We speculate that Cale’s reasons for taking such drastic measures to protect his step family might lie in those two years between Jour’s death and Violan’s marriage. Deruth is canonically described as a “buffoon” by Jour (in a loving way) and within LCF canon, he has shown himself to be a bit dense when it comes to politics. Deruth excels in economics but he doesn’t appear to have a tactical mind (from what we have seen of him in canon thus far). He was also shown to have been very distraught by Jour’s sudden death (reasonably so). While we would not go so far as to accuse Deruth of being neglectful of Cale during those two years, it is possible that he trusted the wrong people. If he were to entrust Cale’s education to a seemingly loyal vassal family who had the desire to use Cale rather than teach him, it could result in Cale’s mistrust for his father’s ability to protect his step family from the vassal family. This aspect is purely speculation but it would explain Cale’s rather dramatic decision to take matters into his own hands. This is also another potential juncture in his timeline that could explain the missing nanny, if she was sent away or fired by vassals, he could feel an even stronger desire to protect those that he perceived as “weak” (such as Bassen) in order not to lose them.
For whatever reason, Cale chose the dramatic path of pretending to be trash for eight years straight. A foolish decision of a child carried into early adulthood. At the age of fifteen, he started to drink heavily and get into bar fights. In one of his thoughts while drinking, kim!Cale reflected that Cale’s body had a high alcohol tolerance but his face flushed quickly. This leads to the supposition that despite all of his “drunken” antics, Cale was only faking because of his alcohol tolerance. A strong alcohol tolerance can often also relate to tolerance against medicine and drugs, so it is possible that Cale has a certain level of endurance against being drugged or poisoned. While Cale was “drunk”, he would frequently pick fights at bars but it is noted that while he would destroy furniture and bottles, he never hit anyone. And the only people he would pick fights with would be gangsters and other lowlives. Cale is shown to have a disdain for people like that, possibly out of an internal sense of justice or simply because he finds them annoying.
In one such bar fight, Cale picks on a suspicious vagrant from Harris Village. He bullies Choi Han on multiple occasions before Choi Han cracks and beats the shit out of Cale, leaving him with a noticeable scar and significant injuries. It isn’t stated outright whether Cale would normally shit-talk people like Choi Han, the survivor of a horrific tragedy, in such horrible ways but we have some speculation as to why he did it. To be clear, we do not endorse any of the things that Cale said to Choi Han. One of the reasons that canon directs us to believe Cale had such a volatile reaction to Choi Han is the mention of “Harris Village”. His mother’s sudden death was after a visit to Harris Village. Cale was only eight at the time and his understanding of the situation was that his perfectly healthy mother left to visit the village and then came back at death’s door. Since Jour died from cracking her own plate, there wouldn’t be any clear understanding of how she died for Cale to latch onto. Considering Cale’s disdain for gangsters, it’s possible that he believed his mother was attacked in the village and died from her injuries. Since no one in the village helped her, to his knowledge, it’s possible that he wrote off the entire village as “bad people”. That said, Cale is 18 years old when he picks a fight with Choi Han and in the 10 years since Jour died, he should have reconsidered the situation. We offer a secondary explanation for Cale’s behavior toward Choi Han. While we believe that a portion of it was because Cale’s trauma was triggered, we speculate that the upcoming nobles meeting had a lot to do with it.
In the LCF timeline, kim!Cale spent a few days in Cale’s body while pretending to be a lout (badly) before Deruth told Cale that he would be going to the capital as the heir apparent, in Bassen’s place. As Cale is still acting like trash at the age of 18, it is likely that Cale wants Bassen to be the heir to the Henituse family and he is purposefully attempting to get disinherited. Since Deruth was so quick to change his mind, literally giving Cale the role of heir after a very short amount of time spent behaving well after literal years of misbehavior, it is very likely that Deruth wanted to send Cale to the capital the entire time. As stated before, Cale is a perceptive person so it is very possible that he knew that Deruth still wanted to send him instead of Bassen so Cale was searching for something to do that would force his father to give up on him, or at bare minimum clear the path for Bassen, thus when the violent and traumatized Choi Han crossed his path, he was a convenient entity. If Cale got beat up bad enough, he wouldn’t be able to travel to the capital. And as a fringe bonus, due to his issues with Harris Village, he would probably feel justified in his cruel words. As an addition, we have a headcanon that Bassen was caught up in the terror attack on the capital and he was either injured or killed. Either would result in Cale being really fucked up with guilt over sending Bassen to the capital.
After successfully getting his ass handed to him, Cale would wake up to learn that Ron and Vicross had left with Choi Han. While it is unclear whether Cale had any attachment at all to Vicross (the few times Vicross mentions information about the young master prior to his possession, Vicross’s accounts are distant as though they didn’t interact much and he didn’t have any interest in interacting with Cale before Cale was possessed by Kim Roksu), it is clear that there is some sort of relationship between Ron and Cale. Ron is shown to have been one of the servants responsible for caring for Cale as he grew up and one of the few characters who never show fear to Cale, only suppressed amusement. It’s clear that Ron has some attachment to Cale, with the number of times in LCF that he thinks fondly about Cale pre-possession, and he appears to be one of the few characters to show any actual suspicion about Cale’s sudden change in behavior when Kim Roksu possessed his body. He’s also the only character we see rationalize the change by comparing the similarities between Kim Roksu’s personality and Cale’s personality (recognizing that Cale has always had a compassionate side, even while he was trash). While it is also clear that Ron prefers kim!Cale to og!Cale, there’s definitely a bond there. Ron’s sudden disappearance from Cale’s life was likely a blow. Although, it is debatable whether he would resent Ron for this or not.
It is noted by Ron that Cale was never aggressive toward his family, even when he was drunk as hell. And the manhwa even provides us with an image of Cale sitting next to his siblings peacefully. So while Cale’s behavior was definitely cruel, aggressive, and trashy, he was never abusive to his siblings or parents. It’s also stated that Cale never defied his father directly and that Cale comforted Deruth after Jour’s death.
We can definitely speculate that Cale’s behavior is significantly more extreme than kim!Cale’s. Whenever kim!Cale would do something rude and trashy, people would heave a sigh of relief because it lacked the extreme measures that Cale would go to. From this information, we speculate that Cale yelled a lot more than kim!Cale and broke things more often, especially since people flinched away from him so much. We also speculate that Cale has superb aim because while he threw things at people a lot, he never hit them. This shows that he has enough control to avoid hitting them, even when intoxicated.
Further speculation about Cale’s influences at a young age. Cale is described as “elegant” multiple times during his brief appearances in canon. While it is likely that this description is meant to allude to his nobility, there aren’t many other noble characters who are described as elegant. Since Jour died when he was still very young and her personality from the diary is bouncy and playful, it is unlikely her influence. Since Deruth is never described as elegant, rather as a “buffoon”, it’s also unlikely to be his influence. This leaves three candidates for Cale’s elegance: Ron, Violan, and the potential nanny that we speculated about existing. Ron is graceful but we lean toward Violan in this case because of one other piece of slim evidence. Kim!Cale’s clothes throughout the LCF manhwa are excessive and fashionable, but everything we know about Kim Roksu directs to an interest in simple and black clothes. Whenever he chooses his own clothes, such as when he was investigating the capital before the terror attack and when he chose his uniform as a commander, kim!Cale always leaned toward “simple and black”. However he has an extensive wardrobe of beautiful clothes. We speculate that those clothes belonged to Cale (obviously) and kim!Cale is merely wearing what the servants dress him in. We see something like this happen in the early chapters, with kim!Cale privately disapproving of the loud clothes but surmising that he could pull it off because of Cale’s handsome face. Moving into our speculations regarding Violan, she has a passion for the arts and fashion is an art. She’s also an ex-merchant so she would know the value of fine fabrics and fine clothes. In the flashback we see of eight year old Cale, he does not appear to have any sort of excessive tastes in fashion. Thus, we are of the opinion that Cale was influenced by Violan in both elegance and fashion due to her close proximity to him growing up. Violan is shown to be the only person in the household that is remotely strict to Cale (and even that is pushing it) by insisting that kim!Cale has an entourage for his own safety. As the only parental figure left in his life who is willing to tell him “no”, we think that Violan would have a specific impact on him. All of that said, it is also possible that Cale was influenced elsewhere or merely had innate elegance, we just find that this explanation creates a lot of room for Cale to bond with his step family and grow attached to them, thus making the tragedy of losing them all the worse. Also it’s just a more compelling explanation to us than “he’s just elegant, don’t question it” lol.
On the note of speculated relationships, we speculate that Cale’s relationship with Eric was stronger when they were younger and became strained when Cale began to act like trash. Eric, being a bullheaded person, never gave up on “fixing” Cale’s misbehavior which led to Cale distancing himself further. We headcanon that the pair of them got into funny little antics together, because of Cale’s precocious nature and Eric’s strong personality. Perhaps they studied together. We also speculate that Cale had some sort of frenemy relationship with Neo Tolz, simply because Neo seemed to have a personally beef with Cale when he attempted to pick a fight with kim!Cale. On that note, we believe that Cale would have had a largely negative feeling toward Raon because his only knowledge of the tragic baby dragon was that he had a mana explosion and murdered a bunch of people relatively close to his own territory, perhaps crossing the border depending on how long it took Choi Han to subdue him. And on a purely speculative note with no canon basis, we have a headcanon that Cale would sneak into Lilly’s nursery and play with her when she was a baby/toddler. Purely because it would be really cute and we love Cale treasuring his baby sister. It’s possible that Cale helped with Lilly’s sword training, since he was in good shape when Kim Roksu possessed his body. We like to headcanon that he also helped Bassen with his studies sometimes, albeit behind a mask of strictness.
(On a side note, Cale appears to have a lot of pride in being a Henituse from the few scenes we see him in and he seems concerned about the family he left behind in order to save the world)
An unspecified amount of time later, Cale was the only survivor of the Henituse territory being destroyed and joined the army in order to fight against the White Star and avenge his family.
—
During War
Actions:
Recruited as a soldier, joins the army with the intent to get revenge against the White Star. He said he just wants to leave a scratch on the WS, or he can’t die in peace.
Fought in a war for twenty years, in enough battles to get a body covered in scars.
During the great battle in puzzle city, where the fallen nation’s survivors banded together, he almost died after hearing the White Star mention that Choi Han’s time was warped.
He then made a deal with the god of death, to switch with a person who could save his family and territory. By rewinding time back to Choi Han’s meeting with Cale. His other condition was to find out the truth about his mother’s death, and be reunited with her (i think)
HC: His options to make an impact in any other way probably seemed realistically limited. A little suicidal. He would have been reckless, wanting to fight in the vanguard for the most part. Choosing jobs that can bring him closer to the Generals and other people in power in the White Star’s army to kill them. He would want to kill as many of the enemy as possible, partially because he may not know who exactly killed his family. Anyone in that Army could’ve been one of the people responsible.
Motivations:
HC: Revenge, Existential Crisis, Survivor’s guilt, Suicidal feelings/thoughts, love for his family and territory, wanting justice, loyalty. Extreme anger. Hopelessness, trying to find hope.
Relationships:
HC: Not sure about this one. We don’t know who he was close to during the war. But he does mention Alver, Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Lark. Doesn’t mean he came into contact with them much if at all, or spoke to them and such. They may have lead him during battles at some points. He could have taken direct orders, but I feel like a commander lower on the food chain would be leading him since he was a foot soldier.
Opinions:
HC: Cale was only living at that point to get revenge, it is what kept him alive, and prevented him from falling into despair and ending everything. He has survivor’s guilt, and couldn’t just die for several reasons. Avenging the family, trying to make sure their deaths aren’t meaningless etc;
—
Post War
(We'll try to add more detail later, such as his relationships with his coworkers, bosses, and Choi Jungsoo. Alongside the characterization we see of him in canon. We weren't able to get to this. This section is largely incomplete. However, we do recommend reading the side story "Team Leader has become Trash!" or anything written by @asterefflores for a good idea on how to characterize Heniroksu properly.)
Relationships
Jour Henituse (reincarnation):
The reincarnation of Cale’s mother Jour. She has no memory of her previous life and currently lives in an orphanage. She calls Cale her uncle.
Headcanon: Cale has a lot of issues raising his own mother as a daughter in an unfamiliar world. He loves her and cares about her but damn, fate is fucked up. He finds comfort in having her nearby though, as the only family that he has left. And it's an interesting experience for him to get to know his mother for the first time. She died when he was only eight years old so he really didn't know her very well back then. Now he's able to get to know her and love her like a daughter. It's a strange and awkward relationship but it's the only familial one he has left.
Opinions
HC: Cale as KRS is a hard worker but hates it. He doesn’t want to work the night shift. He is always threatening to quit to keep people in line. He wants to be the CEO of the company so he doesn’t have to work so hard. He talks about drinking at work. People find his smile strange. His elegance strange. They say he radiates class. He has a nickname ‘i want to quit kim rok soo.’ He was supplied with information about KRS and records of his memories i think lmao he also inherited all of KRS’ abilities. He works on building a relationship with his reincarnated mother
—
Alver Crossman
During War
Actions:
Ascended to king after Zed Crossman was killed in puzzle city. Made sure the Roan Kingdom survived for twenty whole years through a worldwide war. Worked with fallen Kingdoms, gathered them to fight in a great battle toward the very end. It is implied he was the brain behind the army. He raised people like Choi Han to be heroes. Recruited soldiers from across the Roan Kingdom. There is also information about Robbit, that after Alver died in the war in TBOAH original timeline, Robbit was the one to take over. If Alver died, it was before time was reset.
Motivations:
HC: Alver wants to win the war. Period. Liberate the freaking kingdom, defeat the white star, recover all the lost areas, protect his people and ensure as many survive as possible, and drive the enemy out of his kingdom, defeat them, and live. Because Alver is someone who has a very strong will to live. This should never be underestimated or ignored. He is the opposite of suicidal. In the case of if Tasha died during the war, he would be even more determined to win it. In this aspect, he and og!Cale are alike. Alver can survive any amount of pain, not undamaged, or unbroken, but he will go on. He won’t stop fighting until there is nothing left to fight for or he is dead and this is what makes him truly terrifying when combined with his intelligence and how far he is willing to go. He is an excellent leader because he never stops moving forward. He knows how to inspire people, raise them up as heroes, and is an extremely powerful orator. He’s one bad bitch.
Relationships
Zed Crossman:
HC & Canon?: Died in a battle of puzzle city early on in the war? Which makes it seem like there were two puzzle city battles. I haven’t been able to figure out what happened there to this day.
Tasha:
HC: I imagine she and Shawn were by Alver’s side for a majority of everything. Likely both Commander Shawn and Tasha were commanders, leading the dark elves, and other races alike. Or, she could have died, and this is something I contemplate a lot unfortunately. How many people actually survived this war? Anyway –
Northeastern Nobles:
The Eastern lands were among the first to be attacked and burnt to the ground, this is why the Roan Kingdom was desperately trying to recover the eastern areas of the Kingdom.
HC: if any of the northeastern nobles survived, I imagine they went into hiding or fought like Cale, or did what a lot of people in war do, evacuate the mothereffing country. But where would they go when all their neighbors were being conquered, defeated and subjugated, some sacrificed most likely? It’s uncertain.
----
((We will attempt to finish this overview of characterization for both og!Cale and Alver when we have the time to do so! We apologize for the incomplete notes provided.))
Everyone always talks about how baddie White Star is if not for our Cale, as WS destroyed the tboah timeline.
But no one talks about how baddie Choi Han, Alberu, Rosalyn, Lock and ogCale are for surviving 20 years in that very timeline.
THIS! Give tboah timeline due credit.
All those fics which crosses tboah and tcf timelines always make tcf characters stronger when i believe it to be the opposite. Tboah!WS was definitely overpowered and most of his plans succeeded, starting from the plaza incident to the attack on henituse territory and until the rain city war. Because there was no pior information and everything was scattered and rebel forces like the jungle, roan & breck kingdom and even the whales werent allied. Tboah cast didnt even know WHO their actual enemy was and i bet they had to learn it the hard way in a series of events from arm to northern alliance to the empire+Church of sun God To Eastern continent to WS.
KRS!Cale had record and information on arm ahead of time so he had some space to pre-prepare. I headcanon that most of the information in tboah novel was what og!cale's group learned overtime through the war that the goD shares with KRS to help him adjust to tcf world. This is not to discredit KRS!Cale but to bring attention to the fact that tboah timeline survived 22 years of active war despite half of the tcf cast being dead or unavailable or living a truly awful life. The original cast had to have been insanely strong and cunning and resourceful and absolutely desperate to be able to survive. I bet they had to do inhumane shit just to have a fighting chance against WS. Even in the final battle where og!Cale dies, its implied that he took a blow for choi han(i think) which means even the mc's survival was dire and on the edge of a blade always.
I think the capital or roan probably fell and Zed Crossman stayed back as a last ditch effort at defense. Alberu definitely ascended during the early years of war and very likely ended up becoming the figurehead of the opposition to WS. And his forces were outnumbered, under-resoured, and outpowered so he had to scramble to survive. He's a decent equal to KRS!Cale so i believe he very likely did assume more of a strategist approach to war and only went out to battle as a symbolic act. Like using his mother's developed dead mana dots? That explodes for large-scale enemy massacre to make a statement. Rosalyn was the master of the magic tower and definitely at the level of a dragon. Lock COULD go toe to toe with dorph because he was far more aggressive and bloodthirsty in the original timeline. Choi han had despair as his attribute and people kept dying under his position as the commander, he truly was going through misery and way more feral than tcf!choi han.
As for og!cale, we have so little information on him but i am certain theres more to him that canon is letting on. He mightve called himself a mere soldier who joined the army for revenge but he definitely was a key figurehead in the war and terrific at it too. If a man can pretend to be trash for nearly a decade to protect his family and fool even his butler who essentially raised him then he has complete control over his mask. That is such an interesting point to delve into for fic writers, cale's ability to act the way he wants to be perceived and manipulate his reputation exactly how he wants it to be while making sure it doesnt harm his family seriously. My glorious king has so much potential to be a spy or undercover agent or even Alberu's right hand man during the war and its all untapped. The Henituse family is a martial arts family; he can so have a traditional family style of weapon/sword fighting. Plus why do we not explore the thames bloodline? And their connection to hunters as well as time itself?? "Cursed redbloods"? HELLO FIC WRITERS BEGGING YOU TO USE THIS
Ps. I headcanon og!cale to have a blood manipulation ability specific to certain individuals of the thames bloodline. Also his insane alcohol tolerance opens up avenues for poison tolerance due to an insane metabolism, an effect of thames bloodline because they were killed through poison alot.
Man i hope ao3 writers utilise this idea more 😕
no, the underrated gem is the “sheep and a dying wolf” trope where the sheep finds a wounded wolf and decides to help nurse it back to health, out of sympathy, despite all the horror and the violence the sheep knows the wolf has done and is capable of once it’s healed. but deep down, the sheep also knows the wolf hunts and maims and kills only to survive. for the sheep’s friends, the wolf is a monster who deserves to die a slow and painful death. but for the wolf — and maybe for the kind sheep too — the wolf’s violence is only a means to survive in this world that has deemed it a cruel, mindless monster. the wolf, despite its pride, accepts the sheep’s help. and slowly the wolf finds itself unable to kill the sheep who saves its life, despite having regained its full health and strength. for some reason the wolf wants to protect and shelter the sheep the way the sheep has protected and sheltered it when it was left to die from the wounds it sustained from the fight it’s lost. maybe it really does take so much violence to be this gentle.
when I say enemies to lovers, this will always be one of the things I think about besides the homoerotic tension.
also, yes, I dedicate this post to seong gi-hun and hwang in-ho
OH WAIT THERE IS A FIC WITH THIS TROPE
You know, I've been thinking about OG!Cale's deal with GoD for a while now. And the more I think about it, the more unfair it is to me?
GoD literally reached out to Og!Cale when he was the most vulnerable, after he had lost everything and quite casually put the faith of the world on his shoulders.
GoD literally swept in in his time of need and went 'give up your life and I will save your world' like a total fraudulent bastard
For real tho, GoD literally put Og!Cale between a rock and a hard place. It was one of these instances in which the other side was presented with the illusion of freedom, because let's be real: Og!Cale was basically coerced into taking the deal.
It is presented to us as if Og!Cale really just threw away his world and life at the opportunity of reuniting with his mother, but that's not really what happened, is it? His mother's reincarnation was just an incentive to take said deal, but he only took the deal after being reassured that his world would be saved
Now, let's say Og!Cale still refused the deal. Then what?
Realistically speaking, what could've Og!Cale done by just regressing? GoD never offered him the same help he handed over KRS (aka the awfully descriptive and full of 'useless details' novel that set Cale's initial course of action) and thus that was never a path open for Og!Cale
Of course, I am by no means discrediting KRS, because the novel was just a guide and the results he got is all his own merit. He efficiently used the information provided, instead of doing a total redo like many other MCs do, and I love him for that
But that's the thing, it was never a matter of which soul was more competent to handle the task in the first place. It not that Og!Cale wasn't competent enough to save his own world
It was always about what would work best for GoD's own agenda and fix his own problems
Because, allow me to recap but:
Og!Cale got reverse isekaied, which is like ten times harder to pull off if you ask me.
We're talking about a literal fantasy boomer being thrown in the modern apocalyptic age, and worse, bro is in the body of someone pretty important (no matter how hard KRS tried to downplay it). If he half-asses his new job, it's gonna be a problem for sure
He has incomplete information on his hands. The impressive part is that, regardless, HeniRoksoo still manages to do KRS' work properly. Jang Sejong says so in the side stories
So it was never an issue of Og!Cale not being competent. The GoD definitely could have arranged a deal that didn't involve KRS at all, he just didn't do it that way because it wasn't convenient for him
I guess GoD did it this way to fix the problem with the White Star's curse affecting KRS, which I get, but idk
I'd like more people to acknowledge that Og!Cale didn't willingly screw KRS over, but was put in a difficult position himself
I know Og!Cale would take all the blame and paint himself as the selfish bastard who stole KRS!Cale's body, if asked, bc is very on brand on him, but I need more ppl to see through his bullshit and beat into Og!Cale skull that he got taken advantage of, too
been thinking about Alberu Crossman lately and how he really is just the guy of all time. he's a magic swordsman prince and a quarter Dark Elf, but his main weapon is a gun. and not just any gun, but an alien gun that came pre-installed with AI. he spent half a chapter on hold with customer service once. his alias of choice when going undercover is "Bob." he's white-passing, but only when he wants to be. his main catchphrase is "This is driving me nuts." he uses this catchphrase so much, the fandom has started associating him with squirrel imagery. he's the only person to call Cale an immature brat to his face. he was assigned a fursona by God. he's genuinely upset that the main villain makes better cookies than he does. he fought the final boss in his pajamas - and won. he averted a TPK for Cale's allies by taking a video call as his fursona. he once shot the main villain while he was monologuing. he's even a gamer. what did we do to deserve him
And that's why he's my second favorite character.
I need one chance with Alberu Crossman. JUST ONE FUCKING CHANCE!
so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god
okay so i just got my dream job??? a week after applying to it?? and now i’m thinking….maybe this is the good luck post
…..not even six hours later i got an offer of a well paying full time long-term job with free room and board in queens in nyc, allowing me independence and a way to escape an abusive situation and an unhealthy environment
likes charge reblogs cast, folks, this is the good luck post
i need all the help i can get for finals
Hey so
the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like.
So you know.
This might be the real one, y’all.
what the hell? i could use some luck *hits reblog*
World Heritage Post
reblogging again… need it bad lol
Exam reults coming up. 🙏
reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something
Atp i have read more ff than actual novels
Things the Thames/Hunters will (probably) be surprised by Cale:
Cale being surrounded by dragons that basically adopted him
Cale being friendly with elves and the World Tree
Cale not only have a grip on political influence in the west, but also basically owns the mercenary and underworld of the east
Cale having his own personal oceanic trade route
Cale having talking ancient powers that can give him firsthand account of the ancient times
Cale casually carrying around multiple divine items
Cale being acquaintance with saints/holy maidens and probably almost kinda not really a saint himself (we'll see)
Encountering gods is not a weird thing for Cale
Cale has travelled dimensions, multiple times
Cale had fought hunters despite never personally meeting one
Cale can talk with his dead mom (or at least a piece of her)
...Honestly i never really consider how absurd his life is until I'm making this post.
▪︎Or the fact that Cale is basically loved by everyone and the public firmly believes he can do no wrong.
▪︎Cale casually committing crimes such as stealing, scamming, extorting, forging history and kidnapping.
▪︎Cale's basically friends with every race like dragons? ✔. Elves? ✔. Dark elves? ✔ Whales? ✔. Cats? ✔. Wolves? ✔. Lions? ✔. Vampires? ✔.
▪︎He has a crazy ally who worships him (aka Clopeh)
▪︎Cale dying for his slacker life and instead getting involved in messes and somehow making it a bigger mess.
▪︎His intelligence
the ‘awkward villain roommate’ trope
okay let me explain. the villain has been mostly redeemed. or is at the very least, trying. they’ve given up their evil lifestyle, gone to live with the hero team, started to see the error of their ways and reflect on their past mistakes, but...it’s still awkward for them to be around everyone.
These are people they’ve hurt before. These are people the villain knows don’t trust them. Villain is pretty sure the team doesn’t even want them there.
Villain tip-toes around the house, trying to be as quiet as possible. Don’t scare anyone. Don’t be a nuisance.
The team watches their every move, waiting for the moment they’ll snap. As if they could revert back to their old ways, as if they could possibly harm the people who took them in at their lowest point when they could have killed them.
They walk into a room and the conversation comes to a dead halt. Laughter dies down. The light fades from their eyes.
Villain takes their meals and eats privately in their room from then on, not wanting to disturb the pleasant atmosphere the team has with each other. Not wanting to stand under the withering glares and wary eyes of suspicion and fear.
Villain wants to be a part of their world. Wants to be accepted. To not be seen as a ticking time bomb.
They’re trying. They just don’t know when it will ever be enough.
I think sometimes about the ease of cruelty. How simple it is to lash out while feeling hurt, or small, or slighted. How dangerously minute those moments can be—how we can wield a knife without thought and move on from the bloodshed just as quickly. How that scar sits in another person, rotting beneath the bandages. We can do that to one another in a moment of lowered guard. In a blink. We can, and we do.
I think sometimes about how many people I’ve known to prove this point. Not always bad people, either; it’s so tempting to believe cruelty beats only in the breast of “bad people”. It’s a balm, a reassuring boogeyman in the dark, believing that. So many people I’ve known to think of kindness as their primary trait—as having no tolerance for vicious words—default to the ease of cruelty. When they’ve slept poorly. Had a bad day at work. Have spent weeks in the grips of their own demons. Always a reason. They could always explain it away. Because they’re good people, at heart. Because good people don’t just do that sort of thing.
Except they do. Every day. All the time. It’s so easy to be unkind. To scorn someone’s attempt to put themselves out there because their method of doing so grates on us. To punch down at someone’s hard work because their victory makes our own battles feel bigger in comparison. To dig in that knife, just a little, just so we don’t feel like we’re bleeding alone. It’s so deceptively, unpleasantly easy. The work is in catching those moments before they land. In deleting the text before anyone else can see it. In chaining up the monster before it can bite. Because we all have it. We all have those teeth, primed for a shit morning in traffic, a piece of art that bombed, a fight with an uninvolved third party. We’re all capable. Even the kindest. Especially the kindest.
I think about the ease of cruelty. How it doesn’t make you malicious at heart, to hold those weapons. How it isn’t reserved only for the villains of our stories. And how, if we don’t recognize that much—and call it out—in ourselves, in our loved ones, in the kindest among us, we’re going to leave so many more scars than we could possibly imagine.
I'm thinking about how KDJ's acts of love towards YJH are also reflections of his own desires - in part because YJH is intrinsically such a big part of who KDJ is, and in part because their mindsets surrounding what constitutes love are so similar that the lessons he tries to impart on him will naturally apply to him as well. The most prevalent mindset, imo, comes up in both the 1863rd chapters and the epilogue:
Sometimes when somebody wants to be saved, the ones fighting the hardest against their own salvation will be themselves. 1863!YJH wanted nothing more to die, but KDJ knew - not just because he could read his mind, but because he had felt it in himself too - that he also really really wanted to live.
KDJ sees love not as a mutual act, but rather something you do to others - he will put himself through hell for others even if they don't want him to. And it's not that he doesn't know that his actions traumatize his friends - he knows very well, and he keeps doing it as an act of self harm. If he sacrifices himself just one more time, he thinks, they'll hate him so much that they'll abandon him, and then they cannot give back. It's a twisted logic, but it's borne out of this idea he's built up in his mind that he is a person inherently unworthy of love. To avoid confronting the possibility of reciprocal, unconditional love, he throws himself away from others instead.
And when he's finally forced to face an act of unconditional mercy directed towards him - when SP abandons his goal of vengeance after finally meeting the Most Ancient Dream - his entire worldview crumbles away. KDJ snaps and tries to kill OD himself, because he can't handle witnessing the destruction of the mantra he'd been living his whole life. And even after this he still hasn't fully accepted the possibility of reciprocal, unconditional love. His act of pushing Jonghyuk and Sooyoung out of the train - and leaving half of himself behind - was his last act of violence against a truth that shattered the wall he'd built up around him. And then they came back to break it down again anyway.
KDJ keeps finding impossible ways to save people who shouldn't be saved over and over again because - yes - he has a good heart. But there's another reason, too. There's a really small child in him - one you can just barely hear - whispering "please save me, too."
Sometimes, the loneliness is suffocating. He feels so detached from everything that all he longs is for someone to see him. To understand what he has gone through. No one does.
