Simmer since '02, first-time Simblr. Somehow, my temporary TS3 break morphed into major Dragon Age fangirlism. Will return with more TS stuff soon, but will blog about both from now on.
Hot take: Rook reminds Solas of Felassan and that’s part of the reason why he’s got a soft spot for them. Just as Felassan challenged his beliefs and methods not too long ago, Rook has filled in that place and THUS
I've been thinking about this too! Felassan was the one who kept Solas's ego in check - and now in DA:V, he has Rook to do the same. (That "(Chuckles) And I suppose I had you." lives rent-free in my brain, istg.)
Rook's humor is also kind of Felassan-coded, lol. I was rereading The Masked Empire and thinking about how much Felassan would vibe with a purple Rook.
so it’s officially been 1,000 days since the annoying white haired guy with the blindfold got sealed!!! everyone clapped!!! in honor of this anniversary i come to you with a serious post (don’t hate me).
since jjk0 came out on crunchyroll i’ve seen some old discussions happening all over again. some people are still shocked that gojo only knew geto for less than 3 years, but even after 10 years he was still mentally stuck in the past that they’d shared. really, it’s not surprising at all.
as we know, gojo has spent his entire life being treated as a commodity; i think his inability to make new friends has little to do with him being cocky/annoying, and a lot to do with the fact that NOBODY in canon perceives him as an actual person. other characters who have very strong personalities (maki, nobara, maybe hakari, etc.) are still able to form meaningful bonds with the rest of the characters because within the universe of jjk, they are perceived as real people with reasonable flaws/attitude problems that don’t define them. similarly, the characters understand that nanami’s serious demeanor and rigidity are a result of his unlucky experiences as a sorcerer, yet none of them are able to see past gojo’s childish attitude. nobody tries to understand him or cut him some slack, because after all, he’s the strongest. “what are we supposed to do? feel sad for him? feel pity? please”. this is why i think the scene with geto in okinawa is so important: geto asks gojo if he’s exhausted and needs to rest, and it’s possibly the only time in jjk when someone considers that gojo might experience actual human sensations. so it is not surprising at all that he will never get over the three years of his life when he had someone who indulged him with even the slightest sense of understanding and vulnerability
Why Rezaren’s portrayal was a waste of potential imo
I'm not saying he deserved any better, but the way he just immediately became a mustache-twirling villain killed any nuance or discussion that could've been had about the real evil at the root of his behavior: the way slavery, power abuse, and systemic inequality are accepted as the natural order to things in Tevinter society.
Historically speaking, few slave owners likely considered themselves evil. Putting aside the people responsible for large-scale atrocities, those who passively participated in the system and had grown up with it - like Rezaren - simply accepted it as a way of life. Many might have even considered themselves benevolent by virtue of not "mistreating" their slaves, or considering their slaves as "part of the family" - ignoring the massive incongruity of how the slaves are always at the mercy of their owners and are never treated as equals.
The same incongruity is evident in the set-up of Rezaren's relationship with Miri and Neb. "We were raised as siblings," he says in the same breath as he admits his mother owned them. He reminisces about their "happy" childhood, but conveniently glosses over the abuse they faced or how Miri would again be completely at his mercy to control or dispose of as he wishes if she "returned home".
IMO, I think it would've been way more interesting if he had been forced to tackle this incongruity. By pushing him to realize that as much as he misses Neb and Miri, the two are still objects to him more than real family, he could've had a crisis of faith for his world-views. If they wanted to keep him a villain, he could still choose to be wilfully ignorant and stick to his ways, refusing to admit that he was wrong and thinking he knows what's better for them as their master. We see bits of this in his confrontation with Miri in ep 4, but it's glossed over in favor of painting Rezaren as your typical callous and power-hungry magister instead.
I think that in turn kind of oversimplifies the whole narrative theme of how evil slavery is. Slavery isn't just evil because all slave owners are villainous sociopaths who think of people as tools by default, but because it's a system that facilitates and promotes such behavior in every level of the society in which it exists. By pinning it on a single individual character's moral compass, we ignore that the real evil is how terrifyingly easy it is for anybody born to Rezaren's amount of privilege to do the same without ever questioning how messed up that is. How normalized dehumanization and oppression become as part of everyday life, and how difficult it is to challenge those benefiting from it to see what they do as evil.
Idk, I'm likely overthinking this given the length and the budget of the show, but I just thought it had such potential when they first presented us with how he sees Miri as a sister, only to more or less trash the implications of it within half an episode. I think it would've been more compelling if they had just stuck to Rezaren wanting the circulum to revive Neb and have his "family" back rather than weave it into his ambitions.
The narrative primarily signals "Rezaren is evil, that's why he's a slave owner" after the Divine reveal, when we could have focused on "Rezaren wants to stay a slave owner even after knowing how it harms the people he claims to love, and that makes him evil" -- the latter which could've been a far more powerful commentary on how awful slavery is, at least in my view.
yay now that the PDF’s have gone out i can share my full piece for fortitudo @dorianartbook :D I got to meet some many incredible people and artists through this wonderful project, i’m so thankful to have been a part of it <3
The moment you all have been waiting for is here! Here are the winners for our first contest.
Congratulations!
You can check out the winning entries HERE!
Thanks again to everyone who participated! We were absolutely amazed by the quantity of entries we had coming in, despite the busy time of year. Though it was a difficult task, we truly enjoyed reviewing everyones’ entries and are grateful for your participation.
titsay
snowghoul
pixelskylines
discoholicmusic
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
baratheonpilled
kianamaiart
