it's so interesting to me that in roll call and the cypher, they're set up to be a pair, both questioning cleon, both being fighters. but as soon as cleon is removed from the dynamic, they start fighting. it makes sense, though. as second-in-command and enforcer, they would be the highest ranking in the group, below cleon. ajax's use of the term "warchief" is also interesting to me, because ajax obviously considers fighting to be her specialty. so if they're going to "war", she thinks she should be in charge. however, it seems to be an ares vs athena situation, the first (ajax) being the brutality of war, the second (swan) being the strategy of it. they are both necessary and work better together, but both think they can win without the other.
they really seem to be two sides of the same coin. both are hostile, aggressive, protective, loyal. but one is quiet and strategic, the other loud and impulsive. the difference between a soldier and a fighter, a trained dog and a feral one. if it weren't for swan, they would've had their asses handed to them by the orphans, if it weren't for ajax, they would've had their asses handed to them by the furies. one required skill and thought, the other sheer determination and brute strength.
I think one of the reasons ajax bristles from mercy so much is mercy is playing a role that ajax has already filled. both in the group at large, but also specifically as a foil to swan. whether there's anything romantic between them or not (or if there ever was at one point), ajax and swan are connected in a way that makes them unable to exist without the other. they need each other to play off of and to keep each other in check. when swan thinks too much, ajax forces her hand. when ajax doesn't think enough, swan holds her back. only when they fail to do this, does shit go south (see: park at night).
Note: I listened to all of Frankenstein: A New Musical before my English class started, so these are the notes I posted in a Discord server I’m in :)
Enjoy (Apologies for the formatting, I dunno how to post stuff that isn’t art--)
"I am the innocent, I am the damned. The fount of illusion, the father of dreams." Hits SO FUCKING HARD "I can hear my name blackened by my crime. Haunting me and taunting as it echoes through all time!" FUCK /POS
The leitmotifs in this musical make me CRY The way that Alphonse sings his leitmotif in a solo, and then at the very end, Victor echoes that melody while singing to his creation, begging for forgiveness, calling himself a "foolish father" And the fact that Victor echoes it once or twice while singing to someone he loves, just like his father sang it while talking about his pride and joy (Victor) GOD FUCKING DAMN
The way that Elizabeth and Victor's vows are sung so desperately, and Victor sings about something dark in the future, fully believing he would die on his own wedding night, not realizing that it would be his wife who would die instead
AND THE WAY IN "FIND YOUR WAY HOME" ELIZABETH SINGS "YOU'VE ALREADY MADE ME SO PROUD" AND VICTOR'S DYING MOTHER ECHOES IT IN THE BACK
CRIES SO HARD
And the fact that all of this started because his mother died before he started college
AND I wonder when Hollywood and other big-name studios will realize that the creation is fucking BEAUTIFUL. Like, Victor fully admitted that he would have adored his own creation if his eyes weren't so creepy because he used the best limbs and parts he could find as a victorian college student.
"Life everlasting, reanimation, a flawless new design. The finest human in all creation, body, bone, and mind!" Victor loved his creation before it came to life!!! He was desperate!! He had worked hard on this project!!! He just didn't know it would actually work
Also, "Birth to My Creation" is the perfect song to describe Victor
In "The Proposition", the way that Victor and the creature harmonize is so fucking pretty The guy who plays the creature has such an amazing voice and it fits the character so fucking good
VICTOR CALLS HIS CREATION THE "BIRTH OF MAN'S SALVATION" He LOVED his creation before it came to life
The first song that Henry really has a part to play in is literally a song begging Victor to come home, praying that if he could stop the hands of time he would to save his dearest friend
And when the creature ends up giving himself a name because Victor didn't (he was scared shitless of his own work) and decides that he "ought to be thine Adam" AND WHEN WILLIAM (Victor's little brother) GETS MURDERED BY THE CREATURE, IT WAS ONLY MONTHS AFTER HE WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE
God, I fucking love this story/musical
"The Waking Nightmare" is such a good song for the creature it shows his pain, his suffering, his outcasting and fear that Victor left him in that night "What have I done to deserve such a sentence in hell?! Born as a demon, a ghoul from a nightmare, yet one who still suffers and scars like a human as well. Now here I stand, a half of a man, wondering why I draw breath! I'm here in the waking nightmare and every moment tastes of death!" FUCK I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM
"And I hear, like a ghost in my mind Echoes and fragments of memory, without word or a sound Was I alive once before? Was I once human like them? And could I again walk in the light and good graces of women and men?" He doesn't deserve this :(
OH AND AND AND The way that the creature harmonizes with the blind man and Agatha is so fucking heartwrenching. He hears this man and his daughter singing to her baby, talking about how they will protect him with all their hearts, that their song will bring him peace, that they'll keep him safe and warm, and the creature so desperately wants that Being a newly made creature, cast away by his creator, he so desperately wants that safety he hadn't felt before
And the ending notes of "The Music of Love" literally wouldn't sound right if the creature wasn't singing along with them, which makes it so much sadder when he reveals he accidentally killed the blind man
"What kind of monster kills a soul of kindness, by embracing it with love? Speak to me my only friend, do not abandon me. Don't leave me in this heartless world alone."
FUCK HE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS
And the way that he responds to everything with violence and death is literally a learned thing. He wouldn't do all this if Victor hadn't cast him away so violently. It's nurture, not nature
V "Why did you do it? Kill a child?"
C "Why did you leave me there to die?!"
V "So full of promise, full of wonder."
C "Have you forgotten so was I?!"
I love how, in "The Proposition", Victor was so against creating another creature for his first creation to marry because he was so damn afraid of his own work and how much power it held. But at the end he gives in because he now believes that his family and those he loves will be left alone if he does this. The creature literally promises that he and his wife will disappear if Victor does this one thing for him. Ofc, Victor decides to kill her right after she comes to life, causing the creature to swear to be with Victor on his wedding night, which is why he believed he was going to die, leaving Elizabeth alone so she wouldn't have to witness his death (leaving her completely defenseless against the creature, who, she shows sympathy for and actually begs to help him, but he refuses and kills her instead)
The fact that Henry knows Victor so well that, even after not seeing him for months, he knows exactly what's going on in his mind
They were such good friends :(
"Do not delay Victor... You may be my creator, but I am your master - Obey." GOD DAMN
The panic and desperation you can hear in Victor's voice compared to Henry's is so fucking hfenfeahfha And the way the creature isn't even phased, just calm and demanding, vaguely threatening the man making his wife
God, I love how the creature has notes that go high up when he's upset and truly in pain Also
V "You are the children of hell!"
C "Your children as well!"
V "You're a fiend!"
C "That you made!"
V "A mistake!"
C "That you planned!"
V "You must die!"
C "It is you who will feel this icy hand!"
The fact that even if he didn't really love Elizabeth like a wife, the grief he felt when he found her dead is heartwrenching
And when the creature sings "These Hands" shows just how much he yearns for a different life, one where he is loved and cared for. He wonders if he, when he was a human, was loved and showed affection toward others
And "The Coming of the Dawn"???? IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD It shows just how much Victor has changed from the beginning of the musical. He finds how "a man is truly created", and that the new day only brings unknown promises, and that if he continues to live in his dreams, he will never live to his fullest and this is the song where you can really feel the way he's changed (you could kinda see in in "The Workings of the Heart" when he sang with Elizabeth) AND THE KEY CHANGE AT THE END IS SO FUCKING AMAZING It really shows the hope that Victor is finally grasping, the way he's yearning to find his creation to finally end things properly "Maybe with the coming of the dawn, there comes another day." Is just so :(
And now it's "Amen (Reprise)" which is literally the first song that the creature and Victor sang together in the beginning of the show.
V "I cannot die, and nor can you."
C "Our time has come."
V "One final task remains."
C "The game is done."
V "Yes it's true, I've hunted you, but I've come not out of vengеnce but of shame. I have followed you, to seek your grace, to fall upon your mercy and accept the blame. Damn the man who does not give his all to help his son to live. Forgive this foolish father. I can hear my name blackened by my crime, haunting me and taunting as it echoes through all time!"
C "What have I done? How can this be? How cruel the hand of fate to take two souls too blind to see and give them sight too late. Your peace has come, you'll search no more. Soon I shall follow where you go. Go to sleep, you're safe with me. May the darkness set us free"
I'm broken
Alright, it's class time now, hope you enjoyed my ted talk :)
While I totally agree that episode 10 pushed Shinwoo into the lead and I think he's who Tae will date in the end I haven't completely given up on Daon. There was no way Daon was going to come out on his own terms for exactly the reasons you laid out, this was the only chance he was going to have to come out in the show. Thus, I think if he sees how hurt Tae gets by the end of episode 11 (and that it pushes him into Shinwoo's arms) it might get Daon's head out of his ass enough to pursue him
OOOOOOO
Well that would be exciting and add more action into the final 5 eps and less wallow. I'd prefer this. Bit more of a battle for the boy's heart.
Korea loves a romantic wallow, tho.
The argument against:
I don't think DaOn is a seme, which means I don't think he's gonna fight. The fact that he's hurting TaeKyung is going to be less important to him than making absolutely certain the maximum number of people still like him. (And sacrificing Tae to do so.) Especially if he sees ShinWoo step up to the plate and take over the burden of care. DaOn might feel a relief at having one less person with expectations for him to live up to - as opposed to getting jealous. (Again, because, not really a seme.)
The old: well ShinWoo is better for Tae anyway. And it's so much easier not to fight. More people will like me this way.
I think DaOn might choose to stay forcibly in the closet, probably by publicly dating The Girl (rewarding her for her bad behavior but also risking hurting her ultimately, too). That would be deliciously painful for everyone.
Narrative is gunning for pain now.
Also it depends on how sympathetic they want to keep DaOn, how challenged they want to make Tae's shift in affection and loyalty, and how much they intend to force ShinWoo out of his character's established comfort zone.
The drama can go many ways with DaOn and Tae staying true to their characters as established, but ShinWoo has to change no matter what. So I think it's likely to be his character's arc that guides the final third of the narrative.
Also since he's being codified as the seme, it's on him to take on the lion's share of narrative-driving action at this point.
littleoceanwhispers replied to your post “I just passed 2.5k followers on this blog a little while ago and I...”
ahh this is such a cute idea and i think it could be tons of fun!!
I’m glad you like it! Anyone with favorite fics should send them my way (especially any that include Obi-Wan, gen or ship idc) so I can do a test-run of this idea. Plus we should all share the love! sw fic writers are the best <3
I’m still struggling with the idea that Rey’s going to want to kill Kylo/fight him. Like, I’m fine with it for the angst (and not criticizing anyone who does want it to happen or thinks it will/enjoy head canoning it myself), but I just really have a hard time believing that two people, who both had multiple opportunities to kill each other are going to go hard in that regard when the evidence shows otherwise. On SKB, Kylo actually says, “I don’t want to kill you” in the novelization, then Rey on STB when she’s looming over him and that insidious voice is telling her to do it, and Rey on the Supremacy when the book states:
“Rey had stood over Kylo, lying unconscious on the floor of the throne room after the detonation of Luke’s lightsaber, and she had seen very clearly what she could do. It would be so easy (my note” HMMMMM SO EASY, the dark side is quick and easy, isn’t it?) to take up his blade, ignite it, and end his life. How many lives would the work of a few moments save? How much darkness would be prevented?
She had stood in the throne room and seen herself doing it--and yet she had immediately known that she wouldn’t.
Luke’s error had been to assume that Ben Solo’s future was predetermined--that his choice had been made. Her error had been to assume that Kylo Ren’s choice was simple--that turning on Snoke was the same as rejecting the pull of the darkness.
The future, she saw now, was a range of possibilities, which were constantly reshaped by the outcome of events that seemed minor and decisions that seemed small. It was very hard not to see the future that dominated your hopes or fears as fixed and immutable, when in fact it was just one of many. And more often than not, awareness of the Force wouldn’t help you find the path through those branching, twisting possibilities.
The Force could show you the future, certainly--but which future? The one that was to be? Or the one that you yourself would bring about, drawn to it helplessly? Even if that was the future you most hoped to avoid (my note: COUGH sounds familiar COUGH)?
Rey had learned that the Force was not her instrument--that, in fact, it was the other way around.
Just as Kylo was its intrument, despite his determination to bend it to his will/ He would learn that one day, she sensed--The Force wasn’t finished with him. And that meant Kylo’s life was not hers to take, whatever future she thought she saw ahead of him.
Rey would wait, however difficult that would be to do as the First Order warships descendedon Crait. She would wait, and the future would unfold as the Force willed.
That had always been true. The difference was that now she understood it.” (TLJ Novelization p. 260-261).
OKAY. So after all of that, the fact that she had a clear chance to kill him, several times, and didn’t says a lot to me. Of course, JJ will do whatever he thinks is best for the story, but I think there’s a hell of a lot more going on than “Rey and Kylo are hurt and want to fight each other to the death,” because I don’t really think that’s the case at all.
I think they’re ideologically separated and both looking for the other to join their cause when what they should be doing is looking for the other to join themselves, and not the Resistance or some new galactic order (the Force plot is its own separate thing, literally and figuratively). When they are able to find that balance between themselves, and join up for the right reasons, or the right cause (or against the right enemy), then I think the Force will “bless” this union (as it definitely did when they were in synch during the Praetorian guard fight) and that peace in the galaxy will be brought about as a result of their reactions and finding that balance between the dark and the light.
Anyway, no judgement if you think differently, but this is where I’m at and why I have a hard time following the “she wants to kill him/he wants to kill her” line of thinking.
Let’s actually go into a bit of CotL analysis here. Still linked to the Homestuck universe and its themes.
Okay here's my comprehension of it:
It's an elite group that want to gather knowledge (and keep it possessively) from the "regular" wizards.
They share this knowledge by bits periodically to their apprentices.
But it's this very system and knowledge that will lead them to their own doom.
Ruin is bond to Doom and Time. Like how Aradia found the Ruins and work on the glyphs with Sollux's help. But maybe I'm going astray there.
HOLY SHIT THERE'S NEW CONTENT! I don't remember that part! Let's read and analyse it.
Zazzerpan knew he would face his apprentice again. And there's the chessboard symbolism, duality, confrontation of two opposites poles, yet complimentary. Ying and yang, space and time, and…
…light and void. Known informations versus mysteries shrouded in darkness.
Calmasis is now empty, full with obscure magic I suppose. As Light is bound to Skaia, Void is linked to the Noble Circle of the Horror Terrors.
Damn it's a small tidbit but I'm so into it! They are here to reclaim something… but what? Recognition? The title of best wizard perhaps? Like with the all powerful wand?
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