still can’t get over that when arthur was busying being a dick and using marc’s mental illness against him, it was khonshu that was trying to stick up for him. it was his voice booming through marc’s body, telling the gods that marc is not sick, not to him. and if khonshu had control of marc’s body, he must’ve been the one to attack arthur, with only divine interference stopping him from finishing what he started.
khonshu doesn’t see marc as broken. he’s never spoken ill about his mental state. he respects marc, and tolerates the other alters, but he never belittles them, never patronizes them the way arthur does. he trusts his avatar, and arthur could never understand that because trust is something he lacks.
steven being on the ‘inside’ for the first time and realizing that this is what marc’s been feeling for a long time
marc shattering the mirrors because he can’t bear to listen to steven tell him the truth about himself even if ‘he doesn’t know what he’s talking about’ (but he does)
khonshu using layla as leverage to keep marc chained to him as his avatar for as long as he lives because he’s “worth protecting”
well, see y’all in a week, i’m off to bury my face in a pillow and scream my emotions away
arthur’s back on his bullshit again. i was with him on that whole “khonshu’s unhinged af” thing cause, i mean, it’s true. but once again, him using marc’s illness against him has me riled up.
“this is a man who literally does not know his own name.”
“i have no idea how many personalities he must possess.”
“the man is clearly insane.”
hell, i’d wanna take a swing at him too! mental illness is not something you can control. if marc was physically disabled, i’m sure it wouldn’t be held against him (or maybe it would, ableism is real and out there y’all) but because his illness is not one that you can run a test on or put under the microscope, it’s treated like this. it’s treated with this … disgust. arthur put on this whole show of understanding steven and acting like he cared about what marc wants, but the truth is, arthur sees the mentally ill as defective, just like a lot of other people do. he’s saying that marc is not capable of being an avatar because he’s mentally ill, but last i checked, he wasn’t killing people (and children apparently) as punishments for sins they haven’t even committed yet. so really arthur, what are truly trying to do here? because it seems like you’re trying to cast light on marc’s mental illness in an effort to hide your true (supremely fucked up) intentions.
p.s.: who’s tryna help me finish what marc was unable to, and beat the shit out of arthur harrow
like yes, my man looks absolutely scrumptious here and that’s one reason i love this scene
but also? this is my routine every night. i have to distract my brain away from intrusive thoughts and the way this scene was presented was everything to me:
- steven trying to solve the puzzle before tossing it up in the air like a ball
- reading to occupy his mind
- listening to a video that’ll “help”
- the audio restarting over and over until it just becomes a overlap of sound that you can’t really make out anymore
this is how i deal with my mental illness(es) and the portrayal in this scene of how mental illness can affect simple aspects of our lives like sleep is important to me, especially since people think i’m being ‘quirky’ when i talk about my insomnia, despite it being a side effect of my mental illness. neuro-typical people take simple things that neuro-divergent people struggle with for granted, and i think this scene is a really good portrayal of that.
not me just realizing that there is blood on steven’s hand in this shot, and it made me think of when marc said his servitude to khonshu leaves him with blood on his hands and steven said
“yeah, well, that blood is on my hands,”
and then we see this. the blood is literally on steven’s hands, reflecting blood that is truly on marc’s hands.
and the shattered mirror? much like the wall that marc said was once up between them, that is broken, fractured. it also represents their relationship. steven doesn’t know if he should trust marc, especially after all the things he’s heard about him (abandoning layla, the murder of the archeologists, etc), and marc can’t just give into steven and give him back the body (because layla is who khonshu wants as marc’s successor, him doing as khonshu says ensures steven’s safety, etc). whatever little trust they had between them is broken, and who knows how they’ll repair if, if they do at all?
What’s your opinion on Arthur being super ableist towards the boys? I’m curious 👀 have a wonderful day friend!!!
hello anon! this is gonna be a bit long, so i am gonna add a cut!
(disclaimer: i do not have DID, but i do have other mental illnesses and i am neuro-divergent, and i am going to draw from my own personal experiences with ableism.)
cw: depression, panic attacks, ableism, the whole nine yards, and moon knight spoilers for episodes two and three
i'm gonna answer this seriously. as a mentally ill person myself, i have experienced ableism, whether it be someone dismissing my mental illness(es) by telling me that i don't "look" like i'm mentally ill, being incredibly invasive in the sense that they don't want to learn more about the illness(es) i struggle with, but want to entertain themselves with the information, calling me psycho when they find out i have mental illness (which has actually happened), telling me to 'just be happy/get better' and the list goes on. a lot of the rest of this ask is gonna relate back to my personal experiences with ableism, i do not speak for anyone else.
the first time that i recall us seeing arthur be ableist is to steven in 'summon the suit' where he actually says to steven
"I'm curious, do you think that Khonshu chose you as his Avatar because your mind would be so easy to break or because it was broken already?"
i had to actually pause the episode because of the surge of emotion i felt. i have had people tell me that i am 'broken' because of my mental illness, i have been told that i am weak. and most of the time, i react like steven, i think, 'i'm not broken. i am a whole person. i might need help, but i am not a vase that needs to be superglued back together. i am a person who is trying my best everyday, and that's all that matters.' but there have been times, far and few but still nonetheless, that i think, 'maybe they're right. maybe i am broken. maybe i'm just pretending that i'm ok. maybe i am weak, and i don't deserve to be happy, and my best isn't enough.'
i am not broken because i am mentally ill. i am not defective simply just because i was born with something i cannot control. we don't tell people they are broken because they are blind or deaf or have speech disabilities (or at least we shouldn't). we say, "i see you have a disability. how can i help make things more accessible to/for you?" or at least we should.
on top of that, in ‘the friendly type’, arthur using marc's DID to discredit him in front of the ennead hit a nerve for me. i have trusted people and confided in them about my struggles with mental illness, only from them to throw it back in my face during an argument or when they are mad. i have had people use my own struggles to discredit me and make me look unreliable and 'unstable.' arthur tells the ennead:
“This is a man who literally does not know his own name.”
“I have no idea how many personalities he must possess.”
“The man is clearly insane.”
"...this man is a deeply troubled man."
i have heard most of these things in some way, shape, or form, i.e:
'you're two-faced (while i was in the midst of a period of depression and struggled to be as energetic as i usually was while hanging out with a so called 'friend')'
'you're a fucking psycho! (from a relative when i revealed that i was seeing a therapist)'
'have you ever been admitted to an asylum? (believe it or not, that is a real question i was asked. and the person asking it was a person who had proven themselves to be incredible cruel when it came to other people's struggles and experiences)'
and my personal favorite, 'wow, you really are fucked up (said to me while i was in the middle of a panic attack).'
people have taken advantage of my mental illnesses to dismiss and discredit me, and watching that situation that i've lived through many times play out with marc because of arthur resonated with me. much like marc, i am not in denial about my mental illnesses. i know that i am 'unwell'. i am aware of my mental illness and how it impacts my life. what it shouldn't impact is how people see me. it should not impact my credibility. my mental illness should not impact whether or not someone believes me. i should not be dismissed simply because my brain is wired differently than someone who is neurotypical.
i will be completely honest and i've said this before, but ethan is doing an incredible job playing arthur harrow, and yes i may make jokes about arthur in my posts and asks, but do not forget that he is an ableist cult leader. he is manipulative and he views mentally ill and neuro-divergent people as defective and broken as evidenced by his own words. i love the person playing the character, and i love the way the character is being approached and played, but in no way do i like or support the ableist views that arthur harrow has nor do i actually like arthur as a character himself. please realize that my jokes are just that. i dislike arthur as much as marc and steven do, not only because of how his remarks put down people like me simply because of something we have absolutely no control over, but because any decent human being would not and should not stand for the belittlement of disabled people, whether it be mental, physical, or any other capacity.
i apologize for the length of this ask, and in no way do i expect anyone to read this entire thing, but i felt compelled to be as honest and as forthcoming about my feelings as possible. i may have unintentionally repeated myself a few times but i hope this made sense! thank you so much for this thought provoking ask anon! i hope this didn't depress you too much, and i hope you have a lovely day as well!
i don’t know if it’s just me and i’m overthinking this, but did anyone else see the parallels here when they watched this scene? steven’s stance subconsciously represents the scale, and he is holding the bloody scarab (which almost resembles a heart here) in his hand. his scales have already been weighed, which could be one of the many factors into why the scales were confused at the museum (besides the whole ‘steven is marc’s shield against ammet’ which i love). well, catch me thinking about this until episode two drops, laters gators!
What are your feelings on Khonshu? You seem to be all over the place?
hey anon!
ngl, this feels a little hostile but it could be genuine curiosity. either way, i'm answering your ask.
i think that characters are complex and your feelings on them can be just as complex. personally, i'm not quite sure how i feel about him yet to be honest. his nonchalance about that kid falling to his death was fucked up (in this context. media-wise i've seen worse), but i love his flair for ✨drama✨, and i love that sick trick he pulled at the end of episode three. also, him being genuinely kind to steven and the sadness in his voice made me feel soft. and finally, seeing him be locked in a stone prison actually made me feel sad (partially because it affected my beloved boys since they passed tf out).
plus, he's really funny, and i can relate to his disdain for shitty authority (but don't tell the ennead i said that, i'm not tryna end up next to him for all eternity). so to answer your question anon, my feelings on khonshu are complicated. i think he is simply fulfilling his purpose as a god, and that has taken a toll on him. does that excuse the shitty stuff he's done? no. does that mean he does not have the capacity to grow? personally, i think he does. conclusively, i'd have to keep watching to see if he grows on me or if i begin to dislike him (like i don't already have numerous tags about how much i don't like him already lmao). anyway, thank you for this ask anon, and have a lovely day!
