#metaish

[whumpbby]

One of the things I like about MXTX's writing is that she seems to be paying close attention to the way her characters are informed by their backgrounds - in good and bad ways, but always uncompromisingly.

No one is just BAD for the sake of it - every character that has more than two lines of dialogue was formed by their circumstances.

And that includes the good characters - good people in her works are good, because they had the opportunity to be good. Which is not something that is comfortable to realise and admit, but still is there.

Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang represent it in a good way, but Xie Lian and Qi Rong are imho the best example of that narrative technique.

People act as if XL is this inherently good and kind person who just is choosing to be good against all odds and is just better than anyone else because of that... When, in truth, Xie Lian formed his kind personality in insanely supportive environment - he was never lacking, he was loved by his parents, lauded by everyone, pretty much considered to be a superior being from the moment he could walk. He had everything going for him and in that environment it wasn't really hard for him to decide he wants to naively dedicate himself to help "commone people" even if he had absolutely no idea what these "common people's" lives were like. Growing up kind and generous was easy for him.

Qi Rong also came from wealth, technically he had the same opportunities XL had - except his life and formative years were full of horrific abuse. He could have been another Xie Lian, if his journey didn't start with the full knowledge of humanity's worst side and no naivety left.

Being good person against all odds - choosing good even against your own good - is an admirable trait and XL is a solidly an interesting character for being written this way. But a few times recently I've seen people saying that his Masked Era was such a win because "he had all the excuses to become evil and didn't take them!" and it kinda rubs me the wrong way. Because yeah, XL didn't choose the road of resentment and personal revenge and short-lived gratification...

But neither did Qi Rong. Neither did Xue Yang. How can you make a choice when you don't know that other options exist? When they are not open for you? When "believing that people are inherently good" isn't a question because in your most hard-baked experience they never were?

I dunno where I want to go with this, but I've been thinking recently on how the novel characters are written and how the readers seem to be experiencing them, and it's an interesting way of discovering cultural and personal biases in others and myself🤔

[0xjuro]

wot s3e8 melindhra and dark oaths vs soul worldbuilding

I tried searching for it and found nothing at all, so maybe someone can explain to me:

Exactly how / from what did Melindhra die? Was Lan wrong with what he said? It seemed not, because we saw the soul-leaving-cgi with her just like with Moghis Grey Man creation.

Lan said that she dies and infers that her soul will forever be kept outside the pattern / with the dark one / destroyed. But I very much don't understand how this is supposed to work. Because not only does this mean that the whole "noone walks so long in the shadow that they cannot turn back into the light" thing is almost entirely bullshit, unless you count the 5 seconds before their soul is obliterated (or you see it as a general statement of fact which makes it a bit infuriating) and not only odes it beg the question why the hell Elan/Ishy hasn't yet broken his dark oaths. Finally dying and never being reborn is all he wants. If it is that easy: why hasn't he?? (was saying that also bullshit and part of his father of lies persona which he denies?) but also this implies that the dark one has direct influence over the pattern and/or the souls of his sworn even while they're part of the pattern.

Even if she is a channeler and swore an oath: it's almost definitely not on the oath rod, because we saw with Moiraine - and how the modern aes sedai oaths work in general - that they just prevent you from doing / force you to do something straight out; there doesn't seem to be an option to break them in exchange for your soul. So it's not an oath rod. What else is it? Why does it bind so holistically? And how is it supposed to fit into the rest of the worldbuilding? Does the dark one have some kind of sovereignty over the souls of his followers? And if it goes as far as to pluck their souls out, is he not also able to do a D&D god-like and give them more powers? (edit: I meant here besides true power - or also for non-channelers, though that again goes into how channeling works exactly and this is already way too long) Is this some kind of agreement between the creator and the dark one? Are they somehow close to shayol ghul (even then though ... the same questions still remain)?

Don't get me wrong: I'm really really really looking forward to soul worldbuilding - I love ittt!!!! ... but I also really don't understand it atm.

[angelsandtheirdisasterbbyloves]

I enjoy the idea that everyone in the Good Omens fandom - old, new, etc - has come to very specific conclusions regarding post-Ragna-naw-naw it didn't.

1) Book!Aziraphale and Book!Crowley are living together happily in a cottage in the South Downs

2) Series!Aziraphale and Series!Crowley maaaaay be in the cottage eventually

2a) but if they're not there, they're DEFINITELY living together above the bookshop.

2b) and they DEFINITELY do not live at the Mayfair flat. Like... Crowley sometimes sulks there but that's it. (Unless it's just where he keeps his plants)

[still-not-king]

Aziraphale appreciation post

Like, Aziraphale is the definition of The Company Man. But... like... just only slightly canted to the side.

He shows up and does an ostensibly okay job but he only ever gets there exactly on time, and you know that bitch is outta there at 5 on the nose (earlier if he can swing it) and GOD HELP YOU, MIRANDA if you step on his lunch break again he gets a FULL HOUR. He sits and reads on his breaks and has approximately zero work friends, talks to nobody about anything but work, and is perfectly friendly but every once in a while you hear him sigh in a staff meeting in that way that communicates that he’d burn the place to the ground and dance on the ashes if only he could guarantee his 401k would roll over. He’s gotten in trouble a couple of times for trying to update the computers or talk to HR about more flexibility with parental leave policies, so he just doesn’t try anymore. He uses all his vacation time but never more than he’s accrued, all his sick days are used like clockwork every quarter. He did something to piss someone off at some point, so he’ll never be promoted, but he won’t get fired either. He just shows up, does what’s expected, and leaves. But on Fridays…

On Fridays, he picks up all his stuff at lunch and it’s a coin-flip whether he’ll come back or “work from home” and it usually has to do with whether he’s getting picked up by that giant, beautiful, vintage car that tends to tear up to the curb and park in the fire lane. It’s driven by some lunatic whose self-awareness about how cool he looks leaning against the car is practically palpable until Aziraphale shows up and he relaxes into actually looking cool. That’s the only time anyone in the building ever (ever) sees Aziraphele smile like that. Like, everyone kinda figures he has an absolutely insane private life - who shows up hung over on Wednesdays that often?? - but nobody really knows for sure. The tosser w/ the shades and the occasional cutting, whip-smart, under-his-breath remark are the only clues anyone has as to what he gets up to in his “real” life. But he’s a company man and tows the line 9-5(ish) M-F so nobody’s up his ass about it.

Well, until he finds out about the merger. The merger everyone’s been talking about, but apparently he wasn’t aware of because he doesn’t talk to anyone at the office. Nobody’s really sure how he found out, but he comes in with a purpose that Monday morning and walks direct to the VP’s office to give him a piece of his mind (because really who needs to build another skyscraper when there are plenty just hanging around, and you know what that’ll do to the neighborhood, and it’s one of the only reasonably affordable school districts near downtown as it is, and really now aren’t we using some rather flexible logic to skirt those anti-trust laws with this?) Of course he gets shut down completely, and leaves the reaming everyone can hear from down the hall like he’s just popped back from the vending machine. Heads straight to maintenance, as polite as usual, and asks for a box, then heads back to his desk. Because he’s spent years absolutely not caring about this job, and he’s just been explicitly told how little The Job cares about him. He’s purposeful and possibly more pleasant than anyone’s ever seen him as he cleans out his desk to a chorus entitled “Variations of what do you think you’re doing” byThe Managers, gives a baby spider plant to Miranda (because, heavens, I’d give you the Mama but god knows Crowley gave it to me and he’d be even more furious than he is now if I came home without it, he’s really very upset. His community garden’s over there, you know.) and simply walks down to HR to hand in his badge and an itemized list of all his passwords and access codes.

And that’s when everyone finds out exactly how good at math Aziraphale from accounting was. How very precise his record keeping was. And how learning all the rules so you can bend them is VERY handy when you need to turn around and use them to Fucking ANNIHILATE your enemies. (They’d also find out exactly how good a lawyer you have to be for a company like the one they’re merging with to keep you on staff when you insist on wearing sunglasses in client meetings and refuse to wear a tie).

[abidos]

Season 2 first impresions

This is heavy in spoilers for season 2 of the Dragon Prince.

Overall I think the season was great. I loved Sarai, the queens and all the flashbacks, Claudia and Soren’s evolution as characters, Viren being forced into a Faustian pact with Aaravos due to the selfishness of the 4 rulers of the other countries and Opeli’s short-sightedness, everything about Corvus and Lujanne,...  Aaravos.I could keep going.

But there are two things that bug me.

The morality of Dark Magic. Most characters see dark magic as evil, clearly, we as an audience are supposed to agree with them since even Soren, who loves his dad and sister, describes dark magic as wrong for killing innocent creatures. But we are only given two reasons for this. 1. Dark magic is bad for the user. This doesn’t make it evil, just like you are not evil for overeating, not exercising or smoking privately. 2. Killing animals. It doesn’t make sense for the characters to hold this point of view unless everyone is a vegan or at least a strict vegetarian. But even if this were the case, they should try to sell this notion better to the audience. With some exceptions, we as a species have decided that it is ok to kill animals for better tasting food. Yet our understanding and empathy for Callum's conflict relies on us agreeing that killing animals is wrong. It seems as if the writers are hoping we the audience will just go with the bad PR and not use any form of critical thinking. Not giving us a proper reason to consider dark magic evil also makes Sarai a much less sympathetic character, who now is presented as a queen who is willing to let thousands of her people die because ‘it seems too easy’.

Callum using primal magic. The first issue aside, I really liked the conflict between having to choose to do something evil or not having certain powers. I love these kinds of conflicts in fiction and it really made me interested in Callum as a character. So having the authors pull a deus ex machina by almost effortlessly giving him access to primal magic was quite disappointing, to say the least.  Furthermore, it makes no sense in this world. Given the physical cost of using dark magic, I’m certain every single dark mage in humanity’s history would have loved to be able to do that. And apparently, all that is needed is to really want it for a couple of days and have a weird dream. I’m hoping they at least address this by revealing that Callum’s dad was a sky elf or something.

[vasaregemvarus]

Because Gray’s family is shit. So if anyone wants to adopt her as their daughter or younger sister is welcome to.

Only condition is that you give her lots of love, sweets, and reaffirm that she’s her. And if her family tries to enact their “let’s erase Gray’s personality and supplement our own to bring back King Arthur” plan...just kill them.

Just don’t tell Gray.

[fedonciadale]

Tidbits from Fire and Blood

"That is how the singers tell the tale, certainly; the swift and sudden marriage of Jaehaerys and Alysanne was a romance unequaled since the days of Florian the Fool and his Jonquil, to hear them sing of it." (F&B, A Surfeit of Rulers)

Here Jaehaerys and Alysanne are direclty parraleld with Florian and Jonquil just like later in the book, when Aegon III searches for a bride:

“Whichever girl King Aegon weds shall be the Alysanne to his Jaehaerys, the Jonquil to his Florian.” (F&B, Under the Regents)

And in Jaehaerys’ reign there is also a mention of Maidenpool, although Maidenpool proves to be dangerous to Alysanne. Maidenpool as the place where Florian and Jonquil met has a special significance in the books, as @rose-of-red-lake and @lostlittlesatellites have argued (x).

“The town of Maidenpool was far famed for the sweetwater pool where legend had it that Florian the Fool had first glimpsed Jonquil bathing during the Age of Heroes. Like thousands of other women before her, Queen Alysanne wished to bathe in Jonquil’s pool, whose waters were said to have amazing healing properties....  and amongst the sisters who tended Jonquil’s pool were three such women, whose hearts were hard with hate. They told one another that their holy waters would be polluted forever where the queen allowed to bathe in them whilst carrying the king’s “abomination” in her belly. Queen Alysanny had only slipped out of her clothing when they fell upon her with daggers they had concealed within their robes.

Blessedly, the attackers were no warriors, and they had not taken the courage of the queen’s companions into account....

A raven flew to Duskendale that very night, commanding the new Lord Darklyn to send to court his bastard half-sister, Jonquil Darke, who had thrilled the smallfolk during the War for the White Cloaks as the mystery knight known as the Serpent in Scarlet. Still in scarlet, she arrived at King’s Landing a few days later, and gladly accepted appointment at the queen’s own sworn shield....” (F&B, Birth, death and betrayal under King Jaehaerys I)

I am not quite sure what to make of this attack on Alysanne, but I already love Jonquil Darke as a foreshadowing of Brienne who made quite a fuss, when she participated in a fight to get a place in the kingsguard!

Fire and Blood yields some nice tidbits, and I’ll share some of them with you as I make my way through the book. Some are just allusions to the ASOIAF books, like Aerea, the wilfull daughter of Aegon the Uncrowned and his wife/sister Rhaena, some might foreshadow what will happen in ADWD, some might be both. I guess there might be quite a lot to be found.

@lady-in-a-song

[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

Some thoughts

as I rewatch Empty Child/Doctor Dances in prep for starting my series rewrite (yay!).

I do NOT like Moffat’s version of Rose Tyler.  I get that Jack’s handsome and all, but she acts like a total airhead the whole time (so far, at least).  She hasn’t done a single smart, even half-smart thing yet and I’m 2/3 of the way through the first ep.  Update now that I’m finished: she’s much better in the Doctor Dances.

Technically, doesn’t this make Jack a Moffat character?  How come we never see him during Moffat’s run?  He’d of been completed justified to bring him back, right?  Especially during the stuff with Lady Me?  (though he was mentioned then, wasn’t he?)

I love the way Nancy takes down Mr. Lloyd, so calm and cool and vicious *heart eyes*  you’re the one messing with the butcher...

Is there a better line than ‘my leg’s grown back.  When I came to the hospital, I had one leg.’ ‘Well, there’s a war on.  Is it possible you miscounted?’

I love the end - whole thing.  The mother/son relationship between Nancy and Jamie, Jack’s soliloquy, the dancing.  In the Mood.  We all know who was In the Mood...