#character interpretation

[scritzar]

[builderlife]

[princesssarisa]

In the comments section on a recent YouTube video about Pride and Prejudice, I accidentally got into a small debate with someone about just why Elizabeth is so upset by Charlotte's choice to marry Mr. Collins.

I made some remarks based on this post, about how marriage for a woman in that era wasn't just about choosing a partner, but about choosing the master of your life, both legally and spiritually, whom you would be expected to obey. So choosing a man whom you didn't respect, and who obviously wasn't worthy of respect, was a much bigger deal than just "He'll never make you happy."

But another commentator disagreed with me, pointing out that mercenary marriages with no thought of love or respect took place all the time in the Regency era. In their point of view, Elizabeth is just upset that her best friend doesn't find Mr. Collins as repulsive as she does herself.

That made me think of how @bethanydelleman has complained that the adaptations almost always portray Mr. Collins as older and more physically off-putting than the character in the book, who is a young man (younger than Charlotte, in fact) and who is only ridiculous in personality, not in looks. This creates the sense that Elizabeth's objection to marrying him, and to Charlotte marrying him, is more visceral and less objective than Austen meant it to be.

I wonder if that other commentator on YouTube was thinking mainly of the adaptations, because "Elizabeth is upset that Charlotte doesn't find Mr. Collins as repulsive as she does" sounds like a very visceral interpretation of her feelings.

But either way, I still don't think I agree. To me, it seems that what upsets Elizabeth is that Charlotte does find Mr. Collins just as obnoxious, stupid, and unworthy of respect as Elizabeth does, but chooses to marry him anyway.

[katherinetheok]

Parentification in Austen

So many people reading my post about Fanny Price having rickets and i love to see people talking about the idea. One of the people who reposted it (@gcballet) got to talking in the tags about disability which is obviously a major theme in Mansfield Park (which makes sense given the number of chronically ill relatives Jane Austen herself had) but also mentioned Fanny's parentification in that book. Which then got me thinking about parentification more broadly in Austen's works. And to be clear, I know some people think "Parentification" is a buzzword for "children being expected to help out" or "children being expected to be mature" or anything like that. It most certainly isn't, especially when used in a professional context, and it's not what I mean. Parentification is extremely unhealthy to a young person, and it can really screw with their sense of self, among other aspects of mental health it can do a number on.

Children forced to take care of their sick or mentally ill parents. Very young children being forced to take care of younger siblings before they have the knowledge and skills to do so. That is parentification and it shows up a LOT in Austen if you go looking. It was definitely a phenomena Austen was aware of and paints negatively, and whether she condemned it or not, I think she found it wrong just based on how she paints it.

Starting with Mansfield Park. Before moving to Mansfield, Fanny was helping her mother with the care of the house and all her siblings, despite being a small child herself (I've even seen speculation that part of the reason Mrs Norris might have suggested that they take in Fanny instead of any of the others is because it would be depriving Mrs Norris's hated sister of her most helpful/able child and and forcing her to take on all that extra responsibility herself). Then, when she gets to Mansfield, the physical labor may be less, but she's still a full-time babysitter to Lady Bertram: fetching and carrying and running errands and messages; arranging her sewing work so it will be easier to do; and just generally keeping her entertained, happy, and calm. The way others see her is so strongly tied up in those duties that even her favorite (and most loving) brother William is convinced that her return to Portsmouth will magically make life in the Price household quieter and more orderly and comfortable than it has been since her departure a decade ago. Lady Bertram's desire to have Fanny back after Tommy's injury isn't about Fanny or Tom, but about her ladyship's personal comfort and peace of mind.

Fanny's not the only character to get that treatment to a greater or lesser degree, either. Susan Price becomes Fanny 2.0 both at Portsmouth and then later at Mansfield. She probably considers Mansfield a lucky escape, but she's still a child babysitting a grown woman (I am deliberately not getting into whether Lady Bertram was in any way disabled because an adult who needs a caregiver needs an ADULT one).

In Mansfield, it's not just the girls being parentified, either. I'm going to leave aside William Price being sent at 12 to undertake the life of a sailor (a very dangerous and uncomfortable life that left his father disabled and bitter). Children in hard, dangerous jobs is a different discussion to parentification. At that time, I doubt anyone saw that as anything other than an apprenticeship he was lucky to have landed, and there was no taking care of adults involved for him. If anything, he was (HOPEFULLY!) being taken care of and educated by the other adults on ship. At the very least, he doesn't seem to have been required to support his parents and siblings to any great degree (he probably does give some money to his parents, but he feels no guilty about using some of his money to buy Fanny what was probably a rather expensive amber cross.

But Edmund, despite living a much safer, easier life than Willian, does seem to have been stuck with more of a paternal role. When Sir Thomas leaves for Antigua, not only is it Edmund who is relied on to keep his siblings in check (including his elder brother who by the standards of the time should have been the de facto head of house and who got zero pushback for being an irresponsible wastrel instead), but he is the one his mother relies on to, among other things, deal with the servants (which may even mean he's directing his fathers stewards and by extension all the incoming and outgoing cash and possibly even some of his father's tenants as well). As silly as it seems for him to try to stop the others from having their play, he is the one who was left in charge. And, with everything else he would have had on his plate, he probably wished his aunt or mother would have put their foot down and saved him the hassle. All this is part of the reason I've always said that one of the major themes of Mansfield Park is neglect. The younger generation are either left to run wild or forced to be the adults in the room. There is no in-between. ~~~~~ But parentification shows up in other Austen books, too. Although i won't go on about them in quite as much length, I do just want to point out some obviously examples of it that occur to me off the top of my head. And I also want to point out that none of these make the parents in question bad people. I quite like some of the parents mentioned. Sense and Sensibility: No hate for Mrs Dashwood because child parentification is not always the result of evil or neglectful children, but because Mrs Dashwood seems to think she lives in a romantic novel, 19 Elinor does most of the intellectual heavy lifting for the family, including reminding her mother that they live on a budget now, and trying to keep Marianne from setting her life on fire. When Marianne and Willoughby are making spectacles of themselves in front of the whole neighborhood and Mrs Dashwood finds it very sweet and harmless, it's Elinor who needs to remind her the risk to Marianne's reputation, trying to protect her sister in a way their mother should be. When Marianne wants to chase Willoughby to London, Elinor warns her mother against it. Her mother ignores her and things go to shit almost immediately. And it's Elinor there in London to pick up the pieces for her sister.

Pride and Prejudice: I won't be going in detail into my opinion on Mr Bennet (it is not high), but the one thing we can all agree, I hope, is that he didn't do much to take care of his kids. When his wife didn't bother to educate the kids, he didn't try to force her, and he didn't hire a governess or tutor. He actively encouraged his kids (and everyone else) not to respect his wife, and the result is that none of the kids listened to a thing Mrs Bennet said unless it was something they wanted to hear. This left the only two children he actually likes (Jane and Lizzie) to try to keep their younger sisters in check (Jane by example and advise, Lizzie by cajoling, and by trying to make her sisters and parents see reason). They do their best, bless them, but it is seldom enough. When Lydia wants to go to Brighton, Lizzie begs her father not to allow it. She knows Lydia will make a fool out of herself AT BEST and tells her father so. And Mr Bennet, contender for Father of the Year, flat out responds with "look, she's going to make an ass of herself at SOME point, at least this way she's doing it on someone else's dime where I don't have to watch" ... Cue Lydia running away with a serial seducer who fully intends to leave her ruined and alone and facing a life of prostitution. And when Lizzie tries to comfort her father over it later, his response was "yeah, you were right. i should have restrained her. but don't worry, i'll get over it" 🤦 Whatever you think about Mr and Mrs Bennet, Lizzie and Jane were the parents in that family. Emma: So, in Emma's case, it's not a sibling she's taking care of, it's her own father. He's a sweet, loving old man without a mean or pushy bone in his body. And he is needy like a fretful toddler. I won't even get into whether there's actually anything wrong with his health or not because that's not really the point. The point is that for much of Emma's life, she's lived with a father who needs constant reassuring and cheering up, and the fact that she doesn't MIND consciously doesn't change the fact that that responsibility of hers has gotten so far into her head that she can never imagine leaving him, not even to marry. Her own sister thinks she'll never marry while their father is alive. By the end of the story, there's a compromise. Emma is allowed to get married, but the condition is that she stays at home and continues to be her father's fulltime caregiver while her husband moves in with them. Persuasion: Much more subtle than the others (especially given her older age), and I know some people will argue that Anne Elliot isn't parentified. To that, I can only point out that after her mother dies, she spends literal years trying to remind her father to behave well and not overspend, all while trying to cope with her own heartbreak and the complicated business of growing up into her own person. When the family gets too far in debt, she once again leads the efforts to economize, even if she's ignored at every turn. When her adult sister, with a husband and servants gets sick, it's Anne who is expected to drop everything and look after her. She is always forced to be the voice of reason (a voice which is seldom heeded) and is always expected to look after everyone else, even an injured child whose parents are Right There. She has all the responsibilities of motherhood and none of the respect, (to borrow and heavily modify a line from another of Austen's novels).

Northanger Abbey & Lady Susan: None. Wait! None at all? In the two books featuring overtly evil parents? omfg 🤯

[spr1ngpvrinbwunnie]

My thoughts of Coat Guy and The Hole... Just rambling stupid thing because I overthinking of him sm💭

The Hole doesn’t simply kill, it absorbs. It’s not just a physical absence of flesh, but an absence of energy. Like a small gravitational singularity that consumes heat, life, and even emotion. So the cold around him isn’t environmental, it’s radiating outward from the Hole itself. It pulls warmth inward, leaving his body and surroundings colder than normal. His internal temperature can’t stabilize, because no matter how much heat his body generates, it’s immediately drained into the void. That’s why he wears layers not because they help much, but because psychologically, they make him feel like he’s keeping something in.

This is important: other Visitors might be pale, strange, or unstable, but his condition is unique. His temperature problem isn’t because of his transformation, it’s because The Hole is alive, reactive, and constantly hungry.

Even when he stands in light, his skin never warms.

When he breathes, you can see the vapor no matter the weather.

He doesn’t shiver like a normal person would, it’s as if his nerves have given up trying to correct it.

The cold isn’t just temperature, it’s the manifestation of loneliness. (Like I said in my first post: "What he calls cold is actually the sensation of emptiness, a metaphysical absence of self. Every time someone leaves, lies to him, or looks at him with fear, it gets colder. When someone is kind to him, he swears the air warms by a few degrees.")

The Hole drains warmth the same way his fear of closeness drains joy. Every time he pushes someone away to protect them, he grows colder inside. So the physical phenomenon mirrors his emotional state:

The Hole consumes warmth.

His isolation consumes hope.

Both leave him frozen inside and out.

How he experiences it daily? His fingertips maybe are always numb. He has to watch carefully when handling fragile objects, because he can’t feel their texture well.

He can’t eat or drink warm things comfortably, the contrast burns, not because of heat, but because his body rejects warmth as unnatural now.

He might sometimes zones out, staring at his own breath misting in the air, a quiet reminder that he’s still “alive” even if only technically.

How the cold shapes his personality?

The constant chill seeps into everything: his movements, his voice, his relationships. He would move slowly, conserving energy. His voice is could be soft, low partly because he doesn’t have the warmth to sustain emotion for long. He rarely shows anger, instead, it freezes into quiet disappointment or bitterness. But when he does feel warmth.. kindness, trust, compassion; it hits him like sunlight on frost. His body can’t physically heat up, but his expression shifts. His eyes will soften. The ice cracks, if only for a heartbeat.

What the Hole truly means? Well in my interpretation, The Hole is not simply a curse, it’s literally a breach in his being. A void that constantly leaks warmth, life, and humanity. The ultimate punishment for someone who tried too hard to connect, and lost everything. He’s stuck between worlds, human enough to feel the cold, but inhuman enough to never escape it. The Hole isn’t something he uses, it’s something he endures. It’s not just a wound; it’s a cruel metaphor for the way he affects others even when he tries not to. He can’t turn it off, can’t remove it — it’s always there, lurking beneath his layers of clothing. The more emotional or desperate he becomes, the more the Hole stirs like a living hunger responding to his loneliness.

Even after becoming a Visitor (he could be a human once I believe), the human in him never completely dies. It lingers in the way he looks at people: cautious, longing, apologetic. He never have intention to hurt anybody at all. He doesn’t remember everything about his past life, but he remembers the feeling of wanting to be good. Wanting to be kind. He would still holds doors open out of habit, apologizes when he bumps into something, lowers his voice when speaking to fragile people - small, human gestures that hint at who he once was. When others call him dangerous or he getting threat at, he doesn’t argue. He just looks away silently, because part of him believes it’s true, even though it tears him apart.

The more he wants closeness, the more dangerous he becomes. He keeps his distance, not out of disdain, but mercy. The loneliness is unbearable, but it’s the only way to keep others safe. When someone tries to get close, he’ll back away with a quiet apology. He might even sound irritated, but it’s just fear in disguise. His hands tremble when someone reaches for him. He wants to hold, to be held — but he can’t. He can only wish.

(bro is aura framing fr)

[demiseproject]

this scene always made me think that Gortash is the one looking through the eye in thise moment, especially playing as the dark urge. Imagine gortash jsut keeping watch all over the sword coast, and then seeing something he recognises, and then, he sees it... his long lost lover, who was claimed to be dead.

"confusion. alarm." it feels very in character for gortash, noticing durge just there, staring, as if he could see him.

[teo8622]

wanted to post a ramble i wrote to myself in my notes app in like late 2024-early 2025 (i can't remember) when i first got into THH via Therm playthrough:

does anyone wanna talk about how gut wrenching it would have been for taka to beg mondo not to leave him rather than to make him understand. yeah i know why he asked the latter, but the words "don't leave me" are just so fucking raw and imo more impactful

this poor fucking dude CANNOT catch a break. first his grandpa royally fucks up so he's brought up in a financially struggling family (which i'm sure had dire effects on him mentally. i like to imagine the reason he became so obsessed with studying and succeeding in school in the first place was to be able to graduate and get a good job to support his family financially). then, he can't make a single friend for his entire young life. then gets put into a fucking killing game (which sucks if you're literally the embodiment of good morals), but plot twist he makes a friend! yippee finally! and then the friend dies lol

bro fought the autistic-making-friends battle for YEARS just for his first friend to be ripped away from him

i like to imagine the loneliness is eating him up inside

when he was younger and he would feel loneliness creeping in, he'd shove it aside to focus on his studies. but eventually this led to MAJOR burnout and social isolation that was slowly driving him mad. it's totally understandable to me why he completely crashed out after chapter 2. like the universe was playing cruel tricks on him, teasing him with his first real taste of friendship (🏳️‍🌈) only to shatter it

he tries not to let the loneliness bother him or to show that it bothers him but it does. he's spent hours of his life literally studying from like books and stuff how to make friends and he just can't understand why it isn't working. i mean, he knows he's off-putting to some degree, but he believes with enough effort anything is possible. so why isn't it possible for him to make friends despite all the effort he's putting in? maybe it drives him to an identity crisis

all of that to say i think it would have been insanely emotionally impactful to have taka scream "please don't leave me" at the end of the trial. maybe something like that was said? i cant remember. begging for his very first and only friend not to make him lonely again

god i hate gay people