#because lbr

[cacodemum]

☕ + 🥚 = 💜🖤♥️

When the credits of Sonic 3 basically gave us a version of Agent Stone with Adventure Uekawa stylings I just knew what I had to do.

I very much designed this with this art of Eggman by Yuji Uekawa in mind to go as a set, and added some flourishes that aren't on the paramount Sonic Fighters/Jam style modelling since they're deliberately 32-bit lowpoly.

[Commission Info] | [Commssion Form]

[croquettish]

A Hans Capon Character Analysis

Part 3: Hans and Agency

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.

"What agency??" I know, I hear you. That's what we're here to talk about. Because that too shaped him as a character in a massive way.

Essentially from day one in this world Hans had his agency stripped away from him. What he wants doesn't really matter. Growing up as lonely as he is, his life is comprised of two things: being bored and lonely and learning how to govern. No wonder he tries to make the most of his noble position. He loses all the fun he could be having by being a normal kid and makes up for that by boozing and hunting and whoring and fighting. There is agency in those things.

In one of our first interactions with Hans, we play witness to him being told the following:

And Hans instantly fires back with irreverence. He is going to go up against Henry even if it gets him in trouble

You couldn't ask for a better demonstration of him clawing at reality for some amount of agency. Later on Henry learns that he's far from the exception here:

Who is Hans to himself? Very little, as we've already found in part 1. In many ways, Hans only knows himself in comparison to others. Whether that's comparing himself to Hanush specifically (as per part 2), other nobles in general (as per part 1), or even his subjects. If all he needs to do to stop feeling so damn insecure is beat little upstarts like Henry then great! He can do that and prove he's his own person all in one go!

Shame that it doesn't work that way.

It's unfortunate that the things in which Hans sees his own agency are precisely those that Hanush takes away from him when he steps out of line. His attempts to reclaim agency are often precisely those things that result in him being punished.

Which is where we need to pull Henry in.

As Hans tells him, he's a bit of everything—Laborator, Orator, Bellator— and that has lent him a fair amount of social mobility. In a lot of ways, Henry always lives on the fringes of society, able to flit back and forth over the boundary freely in all the ways that Hans deeply envies. He can have a Jewish brother and a nobleman for a father. He goes against direct orders from his liege lord and not only gets away with it, he gets promoted. Like, of course he hates this little shit who gets to have all the things he ever wanted and gets praised for every misstep to boot.

But then, something interesting happens.

I know we make fun of Hans for being a damsel in distress, but I think there's actually a narrative purpose to this besides showing us that he's the narrative's favorite. As Hanush tells him after his fight with Henry, Hans was supposed to go settle a dispute between some landowner. But then, Henry is the reason that he gets to go out hunting after all.

And then, while they're on their hunt, Henry rescues him again, this time from the Cumans. Henry rescues him when Arse-n-balls tries to drown him and then later when he gets shot in the ass. Throughout KCD1 (and you'll find that this theme carries on in KCD2!) Henry ensures and represents freedom for Hans. A return of some manner of agency.

It's no great surprise then that separations from Henry generally lead to a loss of freedom as well. When he rides off to go after the boar, he's captured. The noose tightens around his neck as soon as Henry was removed from the prison cell with him. Henry fights Zizka in order to try and keep Hans safe and out of captivity. His entire time imprisoned in Maleshov resulted from him being forcibly parted from Henry. Right after, they're forced apart once more, only for Hans' freedom and agency to be torn from him in the most acute way, by being betrothed against his will.

This is a crucial turning point. It's almost as if Hans catches on to the fact that being apart from Henry is a threat to his freedom and does everything in his power to prevent it.

Only to be stopped at every. fucking. turn.

Exhibit A, at Raborsch before the pogrom:

Exhibit B, at Ruthard Palace before they go after the legate:

Exhibit C, at Suchdol before the suicide mission:

He's shot down at every possible turn. Everyone treats him as some precious porcelain doll that has to be handled with tremendous care. If something happens to him, it could be costly, either on account of a ransom or because Hanush won't get the money from Hans marrying Jitka. Hans isn't his own person. What fucking agency does he have over his own body? Kissing Henry is one of the most agency-affirming things that boy could possibly do.

And it's interesting that even if you don't romance him, Hans expresses his frustration with exactly this lack of agency:

There is so much freedom to be found in accompanying Henry here, in being given the chance to not only protect Henry, but to die by his side on his own terms.

The end conversations with Hanush feel like a final fuck you to his attempts at cementing any amount of agency for himself. And it's here that you really see him fight tooth and nail against what his uncle is trying to push on him (some excerpts included here and here). His opponent just happens to be, well... his uncle, most stubborn man alive. Hans knows this, and inevitably gives in knowing that arguing any longer would lead nowhere.

Does that mean he's given up, as this anon fears? Definitely not (and certainly not if he's been romanced; he seems a lot more eager to fight in that case). Hans is a mimic. I have lost count of the number of times that conversations between him and Henry have gone as follows:

Hans: What would you do about [thing]?

Henry: I would do [option].

Hans: Are you sure? But what about [counterargument]?

Henry: I still think it's the right way to go because of [reason].

Hans: You're right, I'll go with your decision.

The exchange that sticks out to me most in recent memory is what happens to Arse-n-balls. The conversation starts as follows (and you'll have to forgive my crude photoshopping their names on to help here):

You then are given two options. You tell him to punish him or let him off the hook. Here's what happens if you tell Hans to punish him:

And here's what happens if you tell him to go easy on him:

This boy is so moldable. So easily influenced and always looking to Henry for guidance. Why? Because the lack of agency means that he's never really had to make his own decisions ever before, they were always made for him. And when he did make decisions, they were often punished.

It doesn't surprise me one bit that talking to Hanush left Hans feeling extremely hopeless. His conversation with Henry afterward has Henry asking what they're going to do about the wedding, and Hans, understandably, says that they can't do anything, not in the face of the browbeating he was just treated to. He's trying to make the best of a shit situation (promising to name his son after Henry), and anyone watching this could easily assume that he's fully resigned himself. But he hasn't.

As Henry talks to him, not only does he realize that he does actually have two options and not just one...

... he starts brainstorming ways out with Henry:

I think this is especially relevant here because it feels like a pretty clear and deliberate callback to the romance-exclusive dialogue:

This is the answer. Trying to figure out ways in which to at least put off the wedding is part of waiting and seeing how things turn out. Seems like he actually is sure of what he wants to do. He's just had his agency taken from him so many times that he second-guesses himself at every turn and ends up looking to those most important to him for guidance, Henry and Hanush. Devastated as he seems after his/their conversation with Hanush, he seems equally uplifted and hopeful after talking to Henry about the whole thing.

Hans spends the whole second game discovering his agency (that it exists at all in concept!) only to watch it be repeatedly torn from him over and over again. Loving Henry is the one thing he chooses for himself. And after that, it's on Henry to remind him that that's okay.

Henry knows full well that this is a shit situation and naturally commiserates. But if it was all gray clouds from here on out, there would be nothing for Hans to stay strong for.

[writerxwren]

Nobody:

Scully trying to contact Mulder on a sidequest:

[forzafinally]

I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm not mad

[ghostcupdraws]

30′s Tales Trough Time Joe, but make it Marwan flavoured

[itsclydebitches]

Holy shit I'm not ready for another Ted Lasso episode. It's been two weeks? Yeah, that's nice and everything but I'm still mentally bluescreening over "Sunflowers." Honestly, how do they expect us to function if they keep throwing the most insane shit at us on a weekly basis?? Give a girl time to process!

[elizabethan-memes]

Review: Sky History's Royal Bastards: Rise of the Tudors, episode 1

-A show called Royal Bastards and we have a whole episode and they DON'T explain the origins of the Beauforts- ie. the bastards of John of Gaunt. Smh. Why call it Royal Bastards if you don't explain the title?!

-Unless they meant Royal Bastards as in "he's a right royal bastard, that horrible man" in which case.... lmao.

-Please, cameraman, back up a little. I do not need to see the historians' pores.

-the DJ was going crazy for this episode with that dubstep beat. I kept expecting the Sardaukar throat singer to show up.

-the Duke of York is described as "crude" and "violent". I...don't remember any evidence of him being a patron of the arts, but I also don't know of any evidence of him being unsophisticated or more crude or violent than his contemporaries.

-Me keeping a tally of every time the f word is said in this documentary

8 times, although some of those were Edward IV's. The rest were all the Duke of York.

-Me keeping a tally of every time the word c*** was said in this documentary

3 times, two of which were Edward IV.

- I definitely think the writer watched Game of Thrones and assumed coarse language was how you make your medieval world 'gritty'.

-they called Margaret Beaufort "minor nobility"... I can't even. She was the daughter and only child of a DUKE. She was one of the wealthiest heiresses in England. That's WHY she was married to Edmund Tudor. That's WHY she married so young. She was a direct descendant of John of Gaunt! She was cousin to the king!

-Henry VI described as having "a mental breakdown"... wasn't he unconscious? So unconscious that he didn't acknowledge the infant son in his arms? That sounds more like a coma than a mental breakdown.

-Margaret of Anjou's headgear...

-good use of graphics. Not sure if better or equal to the graphics in The Boleyns:A Scandalous Family.

-MPs 'the most powerful men in the country' are they tho? I wouldn't say Parliament gets really powerful until Henry VIII. Feel free to correct me.

-"she's terrified the plague will kill her unborn baby" ...don't you think she'd be terrified the plague would kill HER? Since if she dies they BOTH die? You think plague only harms foetuses? Idk that line was weird.

-Teenage Margaret sassing Jasper Tudor we love to see it.

-they mess around with the chronology at first. The episode begins with the date 1453 but then we are shown Margaret already pregnant. Then we have backstory on 1453, then Edmund dies, then we have the battles of 1455, then it's 1457 and Margaret is giving birth. Why. You'll only confuse the casual viewer.

-one lady is in an excellent dress... if this were a documentary about the 1520s.

-this documentary is very pro Margaret of Anjou.

-I'm going to be a pedant: Richard Duke of York had his head on a spike not IN the city of York but ON its walls. Above a city gate IIRC.

-historians in this documentary, rather than examining the original sources in manuscript as they usually do, hold up photocopies of the sources. Which I find rather funny. Like:

-Edward Earl of March is described as a "brutal killer"... I'm not saying "war crimes aren't war crimes if you're cultured" but reducing him to his military prowess and implying he's a thug ignores key parts of his life, his legacy and his reign: his sponsorship of the arts, his talent for diplomacy, his charisma, his ability to charm people to his side. Making him a sweary bloodthirsty guy is a distortion of his character IMHO.

[with-my-murder-flute]

I respect modern Kaysanova AUs with Italian Nicky leaving the priesthood as much as the next queer ex-Catholic, but can I also just say:

American AUs where Nicky is a very sheltered Fundie kid who has to transfer to a four-year university in junior year because his Bible School isn’t actually accredited to grant degrees,

who gets his mind Absolutely Blown by his first authentic unmediated encounters with non-Christians and the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour who weren’t adopted by white people as babies.

And Yusuf. Particularly Yusuf.