just a non-binary demi-girl witch trying to survive in this capitalist hellscape... 18+ Minors DNI 🍉 Deny. Defend. Depose. 🏴☠️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇵🇸🏴⚖️ devotee to Hades, Persephone, Morpheus, and Jareth - The Goblin King / okay... okay... if there is any Tom worship still happening here, it is for Dream, François, Jake, and my beloved Will Donner. I am working on my Waiting For Forever fanfic again, so...
I am doing an Ultimate Master List of all my posts that I deem important, if anyone cares. I know some of the Tom Sturridge gurlies will care, I have not forgotten about Willie, don't worry.
I want to be able to write more rants and maybe actually get my fanfic ideas out there.
My Current Interests Are:
Will Donner from Waiting for Forever/Jake from Sweetbitter - fanfic
Lewis McCartney/Rikki Chadwick from H2O: Just Add Water - fanfic
The Chronicles of Narnia in general - rants, fanfics
Whatever Else I Wanna Post About
ULTIMATE POST MASTER LIST
The Chronicles of Narnia - TBA
H2O: Just Add Water - TBA
Waiting For Forever
The FIRST DRAFT DISCONTINUED MASTER LIST
Spotify Playlist that keeps getting added to
WfF Research and Review
Smut FanFic by another Willie lover
Virtual Doll of Jules
Writing Update from almost 2 years ago... with some old Photos from the film
Guilt Post - 1 Year
Waiting For Forever FanFic Planning - Willie's Full Name, Travel Details
AI Jules and Willie Reveal
ADHD Rant/ AI Jules and Willie Reveal
Character Fleshing Out Plans
More Timeline Fleshing Out... and Willie Has A Dog
Adding Jake from Sweetbitter to the Story
Benny and Joon Parallel
Sweetbitter
Jake Sweetbitter Roleplay Request
Dream
Dream and Sleep Token 2
Even In Arcadia and the Death of Orpheus
Sleep Token Cross-Over Art
Dream and Sleep Token 1
Like Minds
Alex is an Unreliable Narrator
Detailed Notes of the Film that took 5 FUCKING HOURS
Response to a Theory
Evidence as Summed Up as I Can Get It... Not very summed up...
So... I am creating an in-depth timeline of the "what really happened" Waiting for Forever fanfic I am writing... and idk if all of it is gonna be in the fanfic, like beat for beat... but it is helping me understand where these characters are coming from and where they are going and why.
I have mentioned in some of my updates about some of the changes I am making... like Will's full name being Willoughby Finn Donner... but I am making other changes too. Will is an artist now... Emma is also a dancer... and Emma is a lesbian. Instead of Aaron, it's Erin... also, at some point Will has a dog; a Australian Shepherd named Molly... I am really fleshing things out. Making both the characters feel more grounded and realistic.
Doesn't he look like he'd have an Australian Shepherd named Molly? 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
The timeline is being worked on slowly. I still need to work on Jules and the music her band makes, what it sounds like, what the influences are. I have also tried to root the world in reality more, having issues like Columbine come up and have affects on Jules and her crew... and 9/11... or the housing crisis that started in 2007 and didn't end until 2010... There is also Y2K that happened. Idk... just having some ideas to help root the story in reality more.
Also, I looked at the budget of the film... and the how much it grossed... yikes... that shit is insane if you look into it. Like career ending insane... Budget of 5 million.... made 25 thousand back... like ouch. Crazy how it got interviews of cast and crew and a red carpet premiere... and did that bad in theaters. I have plans on how I am making the film canon in my fanfic, and all this about when it came out and how bad it did and all that is in the plan.
I am mostly just getting my thoughts out there... who knows if anyone is interested... ya'll are more into Dream, Nigel and Jake as far as Tom Sturridge characters go... but maybe ya'll care about Will Donner too and want to see him get the story he always deserved.
If ya'll are interested, let me know. If any of you want to see the monstrosity that is my timeline that I have so far on Google Spreadsheets, let me know.
💬 0 🔁 10 ❤️ 15 · Forever Waiting Chapters Master List · Note from Tarot:
This is a WIP. It will be more mature, more explicit and more an
Check out the reposts on the MasterList too... I have reblogged it with updates and such a lot... lolz
Okay... I have been thinking... what if Jake from Sweetbitter is Will Donner's cousin? If Will's story was suppose to be a sort of autobiography of the writer Steve Adams, who moved to Cape Cod after his parents died, which is in Massachusetts, and is exactly where Jake lives too, then why could they not be cousins?
I have ways to make it work. Like maybe Will and Jim's mother has an older brother who moved to Cape Cod with his wife... and Jake was born June 8th 1976... meaning Jake is 6 years older than Will in my story as I am having Will be born in 1982... and 26 in the Waiting for Forever story.
I love the idea of Jake being more protective of Will than even Jim is... though I see both Jim and Will hating Simone. Or maybe Jim hates Simone, but Will is confused by her.
My idea is that Jake's dad walks out on his mom... or maybe dies... which leads to his mom's mental, likely bipolar, break, and then suicide. So, then Jake gets taken in by Simone's family... which I think Simone's mom remarried because her own father died when she was a little girl if I am not mistaken... as far as the book goes... so, the aunt and uncle that take in Will and Jim are actually Simone's mother and step-father, who also took in Jake.
I plan on taking more from the show than the book, but might take some lore about Jake and Simone from the book to inform their story in my story and their connections with Will.
Yes... I know Sweetbitter has a Will... it is an annoyingly fucking common name... which thankfully I am renaming our beloved Will Donner to Willoughby.
As far as my WfF fanfic goes, I will have mentions of Jake and Simone and such in the story... but it won't be until make story with Jules and Will is concluded that I will go into Jake's story... and I want it to be a story of healing... Jules herself will have a connection to being groomed... and with Will being his cousin... well, I think Jules and Will could be forces of good for Jake.
I don't know yet if Jake's story would start right after Waiting for Forever's story in 2008 since Sweetbitter takes place in 2006... but I don't know if Jules and Will would be in the place they need to be in to be of any help to Jake when he needs it in 2006/2008... I am working on the Waiting for Forever timeline and then I will go back in and add Sweetbitter and Jake stuff so it all fits in nicely.
Will Donner, Jake and François Clicquot are my sweet baby boys when it comes to Tom Sturridge characters. They all deserved better. So, if I can seamlessly blend Will's story with Jake's so they both get to good places that is both realistic and grounded and healthy... still likely with romance and smut in there too... then I am gonna see what I can do.
Let me know what ya'll think about this idea. @sweetoneiros I would love to know your thoughts specifically 🥰
So... I am creating an in-depth timeline of the "what really happened" Waiting for Forever fanfic I am writing... and idk if all of it is gonna be in the fanfic, like beat for beat... but it is helping me understand where these characters are coming from and where they are going and why.
I have mentioned in some of my updates about some of the changes I am making... like Will's full name being Willoughby Finn Donner... but I am making other changes too. Will is an artist now... Emma is also a dancer... and Emma is a lesbian. Instead of Aaron, it's Erin... also, at some point Will has a dog; a Australian Shepherd named Molly... I am really fleshing things out. Making both the characters feel more grounded and realistic.
Doesn't he look like he'd have an Australian Shepherd named Molly? 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
The timeline is being worked on slowly. I still need to work on Jules and the music her band makes, what it sounds like, what the influences are. I have also tried to root the world in reality more, having issues like Columbine come up and have affects on Jules and her crew... and 9/11... or the housing crisis that started in 2007 and didn't end until 2010... There is also Y2K that happened. Idk... just having some ideas to help root the story in reality more.
Also, I looked at the budget of the film... and the how much it grossed... yikes... that shit is insane if you look into it. Like career ending insane... Budget of 5 million.... made 25 thousand back... like ouch. Crazy how it got interviews of cast and crew and a red carpet premiere... and did that bad in theaters. I have plans on how I am making the film canon in my fanfic, and all this about when it came out and how bad it did and all that is in the plan.
I am mostly just getting my thoughts out there... who knows if anyone is interested... ya'll are more into Dream, Nigel and Jake as far as Tom Sturridge characters go... but maybe ya'll care about Will Donner too and want to see him get the story he always deserved.
If ya'll are interested, let me know. If any of you want to see the monstrosity that is my timeline that I have so far on Google Spreadsheets, let me know.
💬 0 🔁 10 ❤️ 15 · Forever Waiting Chapters Master List · Note from Tarot:
This is a WIP. It will be more mature, more explicit and more an
Check out the reposts on the MasterList too... I have reblogged it with updates and such a lot... lolz
This is a WIP. It will be more mature, more explicit and more angsty than the film but I am planning to keep everything fairly within the continuity of the film. Our beloved Willie will be portrayed as accurately to being in character as possible. This is 18+, minors DNI/DNR.
Brief Starting Summary:
Willie has come back into town because Emma has returned to their hometown of Taft, PA. He is faced with connecting with another old friend first, Jules, Joey's twin sister.
Jules has been in love with Willie for as long as she can remember. But Willie's love for Emma has always stopped Jules from telling him her true feelings.
Will Jules finally admit to her feelings and completely derail Willie's plans to tell Emma everything? Or will Willie finally start to see what was right in front of him the whole time? How long will Jules be stubborn and how long will Willie be dense, clueless and confused?
Read to find out.
Warnings/Tags:
Angst. N S F W. Self - Harm. Original Character Self - Unaliving (later on in the fic). Swearing. Pining. Unrequited Love. Slow Burn. Slow Build. Mental Health Issues. Emotional Health Issues. Dated Mental Health Terms (to fit in the with time period we are in). Ableism. Possible Political Climate at the Time (Gay Rights, BIPOC Rights).
Chapter One: Don't You (Forget About Me)
Chapter Two: No One Hurts Me Like I Hurt Myself
Chapter Three: Bitter Sweet Symphony
Chapter Four: The Promise
Chapter Five: TBD
I will list more chapters as they get done.
Helpful Blog Posts:
Waiting for Forever FanFic Spotify Playlist
Jules Visualization
Waiting For Forever, Research, Review, Character Analysis... + FanFic Talk
Beta Reader Call/Some FanFic Details to Keep in Mind
@dragon-kazansky's One-Shot Unrelated N S F W Willie Fanfic Reblog
@thoughtsfromlayla and @dragon-kazansky are wonderful folks that have helped me so much with this fanfic, give them love.
Okay, I am getting my timeline put together for this fanfic... however, after doing some research into reviews for this film, which consisted of what feels like paid positive reviews and then very negative reviews, the latter really calls out the stalking.
I want to flesh out everyone more... my OC yes, but also her brother Joey... his wife Dolores... and then Emma most definitely... but also Will.
Will, summed up is a hopeless (hopeful) romantic autistic man with PTSD that trauma-bonded into a hyperfixation of unrequited love... or limerence. If the film is to be believed, he really did not mean any harm. Though it has a hard time deciding if he really even knew better or didn't. Like he acts like it is both news to him at certain parts in the film, and then he shows that he does know what reality is in others... so... for a more real fleshed out version of Will that still feels in Character, but also might feel out of character because I want him to feel like a real fucking person, how would I flesh him out? Film Will comes off as if sex is the last thing he would ever think about, not that he is asexual, but I would guess he is a virgin because of his loyalty to Emma... but he is a 26 year old man that hitchhikes and lives on the road... folks like that do what they need to survive... so FanFic Will might be different...
I even have plans to have the film be a real thing that was made in the story... Emma being an actress and all that... I have a plan to make the film "canon" per say in my fanfic... so, seeing differences as well as similarities in Film Will and we'll as "Real Life" FanFic Will might need to be a thing.
Idk... what do ya'll think? Please let me know in a comment or private dm...
Yo, anonymous person who wanted to do a Jake Sweetbitter roleplay on Discord, I am very much interested in playing Jake for ya'll in a story we create together 🥰 hmu
It sucks having ADHD sometimes. I have the vision in my head, like a movie, but getting that written down in creative prose and not like a summed up pos? That's hard... also all my visions are out of order... I need to figure out how they work and why before I can just write what I have in my head.
Like... spoilers... but my OC gets shot and I need to work backwards to figure out the why and the how. I am thinking of starting my story close the the end of it and have the characters recall what happened in the past, as per parts they were there for... like talking to the cops and or a journalist... or maybe the judge for the court case cuz my OC got shot and someone may be dead... idk, dead might be too dramatic... maybe it is for a prison sentence, idk. I am working it out though.
In case you didn't see it, here is my current visuals of Will Donner and my OC Jules. Yes, I used ai... yes, I know I know. When I have money for an artist, I will go to them, but until then...
💬 0 🔁 8 ❤️ 13 · Forever Waiting Chapters Master List · Note from Tarot:
This is a WIP. It will be more mature, more explicit and more ang
💬 0 🔁 3 ❤️ 12 · Post by @tarotoftheendless · 1 audio track · I know to read this you have to go a long way down... but I played with Googl
Waiting For Forever, Research, Review, Character Analysis... + FanFic Talk
In the past 6+ months I have probably seen the 2010/2011 indie "romance" drama film Waiting for Forever at least 20+ times. To say I am obsessed with Tom Sturridge is an understatement, but this film, mainly the character of Will Donner/Willie Pajamas, has completely won my heart.
Disclaimer: I have ADHD and I suck at planning out what I write, so, this may be all over the place, so I will try to stick to the points as much as possible. No promises though, lolz.
This film is a lot of things, but good is not exactly one of them. There are many reviews of this film from over the years that yes, cover how clunky this film is. And I might bring up some of the same points but I think it's deeper that everyone first thought it was.
Firstly, this film was written by a man named Steve Adams. Yes, a man wrote the story, which explains why Will's character is the only fleshed out character in the film, even though they tried to go back and forth between Will's POV and then Emma's POV. But if the past reviewers had done their research on the writer, maybe it would make more sense why that is the case.
As you can see, Steve's early life surprisingly mirrors Willie's own early life. Waiting for Forever is almost auto-biographical. That both explains why Willie's character is the most fleshed out and why the script stayed fairly the same without many rewrites, as both Sturridge and Bilson have stated in interviews for this film. Willie is Steve and Steve is Willie.
Rachel Bilson and Tom Sturridge Interview WAITING FOR FOREVER. WAITING FOR FOREVER movie stars Rachel Bilson, Tom Sturridge and Blythe Danne
One of the biggest complaints of this film is the casual acceptance of stalking... though the film both calls it out and then rewards it, seemingly. Though I have many thoughts on the ending, how both Sturridge and Bilson talk about the ending doesn't make me think it is rewarded completely, just open-ended. I don't think Emma chose Willie in the end purely based on what Sturridge and Bilson have to say about it:
My personal opinion of this is that I am glad that Emma likely did not return Willie's affections as that would make me dislike Emma even more than I already do. If she chose Willie, the message would be clear; stalking unrequited love is rewarded by getting the girl you want even though Emma was right; he does not know her, but also Emma would be choosing Willie as a last resort after her father died and her fiancé finally got arrested for murder. If I was Willie (which I will actually talk about later), I would feel pretty insulted by that, but that's just me.
But the thing is that I think what the author intended and how the actors portrayed their characters and story don't exactly match up.
I believe that Adams very much intended for Emma to choose Willie in the end, and the proof of his life mirroring Willie's in the story he wrote is proof of that.
There is not much out there about Adams, trust me, I tried to look for even more than just his Wikipedia page, but other than a Twitter account and his penname and couple novels out there, there isn't much about Adams that is known.
Adams did move to Massachusetts after both his parents died 2 days apart from one another; father died in a train wreck and then his mother died of cancer. And him and his siblings moved to MA after.
Now, I couldn't find where Adams grew up before that, but it is likely Pennsylvania.
It's funny, when doing research for Fan Fiction plans, I found that this film was mostly filmed in Utah. Main proof of that is the name of the appliance store that Willie's friends Joey and Dolores work at/own; Smith-Crown Co. which is a real place... in Utah... and there is only one, so...
And it struck me a strange; why be insistent that the film takes place in Pennsylvania? Why not just have it take place in Utah if that is where it was filmed? Answer is likely I am correct and Waiting For Forever is auto-biographical of the writer of the story; Steve Adams.
I am going to make many assumptions going forward though I have already with assuming based on the limited evidence that this film is auto-biographical.
I do think Adams meant for Emma to choose Willie in the end. If the story is auto-biographical, and Adams was born in 1947, which means he's in his 80's now, was in his 60's around the time the film came out. But I suspect the criticism of stalking was added only for 2008/2011 sensibilities to the topic. I say that because of a recent trend of TikTok, yes, Tiktok, I know, of many folks coming forward with stories about their grandmother's "love stories" and the amount of stalking that was acceptable in the 1960's-1980's when Adams would have been in his 20's to 40's. So, I think this was Adams' way of normalizing the cuteness of his own love story with his own wife.
I am purely talking about Adams and not Willie as I do think how Sturridge portrayed Willie is different than how Adams intended the character to be.
During the 1990's and early 2000's stories about The Manic Pixie Dream Girl was rampant in indie rom com dramas. I have made a playlist with videos that I think really go over the trope in it's entirety and I will list it below, but the main take away is that characters that are autistic coded, often portrayed as quirky, weird and a bit wild get paired with characters that are bland and have lost a love for life but only through the pairing with the MPDG will that bland character find their love for life again, usually at the expense of the MPDG. This is of course an oversimplification and I will list my playlist below:
Willie firmly falls into being a Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Emma is the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl.
A few clues into this is that Willie is very much neurodivergent, likely was before his parents' accident, but the accident traumatized Willie more than I think even Willie knows. His whole thing with Emma isn't even love, it's a trauma bond. Even Sturridge confirms this to an extent:
Willie enjoys the feelings that Emma has given him and he is chasing that high again because he doesn't want to feel the pain of his reality.
And Emma even says in the film that Willie doesn't know her, and that is true, he doesn't. Even his "good love letter" he still shows that he doesn't know her at all. He is content with the version of her that he has in his head.
Now I have said that Willie is the Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Emma is the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl, but something that is key with the original trope (Manic Pixie Dream Girl, etc) is that the guy never fully sees the MPDG as human, hence the pixie-ification. But the problem with Waiting for Forever is that neither Willie or Emma see each other as human. Willie has put Emma on such a pedestal that even when she admits to being a cheater that he makes excuses for her actions and then Emma infantilizes Willie, calling him a little boy at least once if not a couple times in the film.
Mental health is such a big deal in this film it isn't even funny. And it sucks that it came out in 2010/2011 and was filmed in 2008 be cause the stigma towards mental health issues is riddled throughout this film. When it came out the biggest trend was the "Don't Label It" trend cuz people thought that was somehow limiting and put people in boxes and as such giving folks excuses for being mentally ill. This trend was and is ultimately very harmful because it gave people, and Jimbo in the film, the right and excuse to call folks crazy without feeling the need to understand and research what was actually going on.
As someone that has ADHD and autism, labels are so helpful. It explains so much of our experiences, both similar and not as it is all a spectrum. I have learned so much about my own experience and the experiences of others because of the labels we have. And I wish that Waiting for Forever was not so afraid at the time to really give Willie's mental health issues a name. Many of us, me included, do relate to him so intensely it's not funny. Representation is such a big deal, especially when it is very close to real experiences that folks have gone through.
Before I get back to some of my more critical critiques of the film, I do want to share a bit of why I deeply relate to Willie.
As I have stated, I have ADHD and autism as well, and I will be honest, I have done very similar things that Willie has done. I have had unrequited love, gone to the places that that person would likely be just for the off chance of seeing them and or trying to catch up with them to talk to them. And I did not exactly know what I was doing was likely stalking. The reason why I think Sturridge's portrayal and Adams' original vison differ is because Sturridge's Willie genuinely does not understand what he is doing is harmful. I didn't either. I had no emotional regulation to be able to handle the rejection that inevitably happened later on too. That does not excuse my or Willie's behavior, but it does give it some understanding and clarity.
Now, I have never traveled across the country to follow someone, but I do get where Willie is coming from. He meant no harm, he truly did not understand what he was doing would hurt Emma.
But I do think Adams knew better, hence the adding into the story that stalking is seen as a bad thing. And if he intended that the story be read as Emma choosing Willie in the end, and the story is auto-biographical, then that puts of a bit of a more sinister twist on the story.
Willie is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy that is autistic/has ADHD and likely PSTD induced talking to people that aren't there to cope with his trauma. Willie was written by a man that was seemingly trying to self insert, and so all other characters and story beats suffered from that. Not only is Emma the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl, but she just is unlikeable and is basically a piece of carboard for Willie to put all his hopes and dreams onto. And if after everything, if Adams vison is what is more true than Sturridge's and Bilson's portrayals, Emma chooses Willie, that is basically rewarding Willie for his efforts that were toxic through the lens of not understanding his mental health issues (though even with understanding them they should not be rewarded). That rewards Willie's fantasies about Emma, it rewards him not really knowing her. And that my friends, is the pipeline to Incel culture.
Incels have a need for the fantasies to be fulfilled by their idea of the ideal woman. They don't care who she is, the less personality the better, as long as she is hot to them and they want her, it does not matter. What the Incel fantasizes about a woman in his head is all that matters.
Do I think Willie is an incel? No, I don't. But I think Adams may be and or intended for Willie to be...
So, with the perpetuation of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope while also having Willie put Emma on a pedestal as if she was actually interesting when she isn't (men should stop trying to write women, I swear), I don't think this is as cute of a story as Adams intended it to seem. It almost feels like he was looking for validation for his own real life choices if this film was indeed auto-biographical.
There are many interviews, video and written, as well as reviews that go over actual story points and all that, but that was not my main focus for this review of mine. I will list all the resources below so ya'll can check them out.
What would you do if you found out that a dear friend from your childhood that you haven’t seen in years has been silently following y
I told you I’m pretty outdated. Actually, I wasn’t meaning to write anything about this movie at all. But I met a friend one day, and as we
Belated film reviews: Waiting For Forever
So, I have covered my speculations on the writer of the story, what I think the writer was trying to convey, Willie's possible mental health diagnosis, the perpetuation of the Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope while still having the male character treat the fem character as if she is more than human while not really knowing who she is at all.... That makes it sound like I don't like Willie. That can't be further from the truth. I love Willie. I firmly believe Sturridge's portrayal is different than what Adams wanted to put out there.
Yes, Willie has autism and ADHD as well as PTSD with the possibility of trauma coping induced talking to people that aren't there. Willie genuinely does not understand why what he is doing is wrong, and it isn't incompetence, like he really doesn't know.
Strangely, Emma's mother Miranda and Willie have a lot in common when it comes to their characterizations; neither one can, or wants to, admit the harshness of reality. Now, Willie may or may not be doing that on purpose, because both in the beginning of the film with the couple that pick him up and then in the car with his brother at the end of the film, Willie does show that he knows what happened to his and Jimbo's parents. But I don't think Willie is playing stupid, I really don't think he can cope with the reality of it, hence the talking to his parents off to the side and his trauma bond with Emma.
Willie also struggles with anxiety/panic attacks, which I really wish had been correctly identified in the film, but oh well.
He is also very nostalgic and sentimental; the tree house scene and then the scene at the soda shop turned bar where he gets excited to see that they kept the same stools.
As for his pajamas, Tom puts it best:
That leads me to sexuality. Willie is a hopeful romantic. I do think that Willie is a sexual person, but I really think he is more focused on romance that it takes up more of his thoughts and energy than sex does. Also, with how long Willie has carried this infatuation with Emma for, I speculate that he is a virgin. Which I think both fits him well and is very sweet, as far as Sturridge portrayed.
I have written about Willie and Waiting For Forever in the past on past posts, so I will post those snippets and links below.
CW/TW: 'R' word, 'S' word, self-un-aliving, drug5, a1c0h01, s3x, gr00m1ng, murd3r, neurodivergent diagnosis speculation, swearing, character
Disclaimer: I have ADHD, so, please forgive me if I jump around and go on tangents... I have lots of thoughts about this man and his project
Personally, I do plan on writing a bit of a fix-it/add a character to the story fanfic as well as lead into a sequel story.
I don't think Emma chose Will at the end, not with how Bilson and Sturridge talk about it in interviews. It took me a while to come to that conclusion, but it is the only one that makes sense with the film we got.
Willie's first love was also unrequited. It is my hope that I, or even others cuz hell I am only gonna write what I wish I could read instead, can write Willie both an epic love that is his true love.
He needs someone that matches his energy. The only time The Manic Pixie Dream Person trope works is if the couple has both folks fit the Manic Pixie Dream Person trope, aka they are both neurodivergent as fuck.
The one film that comes to mind that fits this idea to a T is Watching The Detectives with Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu as the couple. If you haven't seen the film, please watch it, it is worth it. But both Murphy's character in the film and Liu's character match each other's energy throughout the film and that is why their characters work.
So, if Willie is going to find his true love it is someone that is going to understand him and get him completely and vice versa. And they both should challenge one another positively to encourage growth. Willie would have never gotten that with Emma. Not only does Willie not know Emma, but she would have never been able to live up to his fantasy of her.
So, Willie needs a partner that is his match in every way.
I will say that if folks are trying to place the timeline of when the film takes place, likely between end of September 2008 and then a screen shot I took has the date set October 8th 2008, the day Willie finally talked to Emma.
But that is purely for folks that would like to write fanfics that are accurate for when it takes/took place.
Films that I take inspiration with the idea of Willie finding his match is the 2007 film Stardust, specifically Yvaine's confession and then Tristan later confessing he heard everything and that his "true love was right in front of him the whole time".
And then the other film that I would say kind of fit the idea of both characters being MPDP would be Drew Barrymore's Ever After. Yes, Danielle as a character is more of a MPDG than Prince Henry being a MPDB, but I do think that Prince Henry is not exactly a Stale White Wonder Bread Boy either as he does match Danielle's energy more than not. Though if I am wrong about this, let me know.
In the meantime, here is a link to the first fanfic that has ever been written for this film, and it is smutty, so if you are under 18, don't read it.
In fact, I am not sure if I was able to get more points fully across cuz of ADHD and yeah, I never plan out what I am gonna write, so if there are flaws or things I missed, please let me know. I would love to discuss this with ya'll.
just a non-binary demi-girl witch trying to survive in this capitalist hellscape... with Tom Sturridge filth
And I have made a playlist of music that remind me of Willie, Waiting For Forever and just some music that are likely going to fit story beats in the fanfic I want to write. Also, the film itself needed better music. Some of the 1980's and 1990's music in my playlist should have been in the film instead, in my opinion.
Well, I think I said I want to say for now. If I need to go back and clarify some talking points, let me know in the comments and we can discuss.
Personally, I would marry Willie in a heartbeat, I mean look at him and just the way Tom Sturridge portrayed this character? Regardless of Adams intentions, though important to keep in mind, Tom made Willie his own deserving of love cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs.
I might finally be restarting my writing for my Waiting For Forever Fan Fiction. And like any crazed fanfic writer... I researched the fuck out of everything...
So film timeline-wise, Willie tells his brother Jim that he didn't find out until 4 days before showing back up in the fictional town of Taft, Pennsylvania. And when Willie gets picked up by the cops, he gets asked where he was on October 1st. Then later on Willie sends a letter to Emma telling her to call that couple he hitchhiked with, saying he was with them when her friend was killed... so, when Willie shows up in Taft, it is October 3rd, 2008, five days before he finally talks to Emma.
By the time Willie gets picked up by the cops on the highway, the film wants us to think he is in Arizona... though the landmark he is actually at the the filming crew scouted out is in Utah... this whole damn film was made in Utah for the most part. But the license plates on the cops car and a taxi is stating that he is in Arizona... so, maybe 3 to 5 days have gone by from the day he talked to Emma to the day he got picked up by the cops.
With the help of my awesome partner, we mapped his likely route from LA to Taft, PA. Though I mapped it to Pittsburgh because that is where Jim gets plane tickets to. Taft is likely a small outskirts town outside of Pittsburgh.
I also have decided on Willie's full name: Willoughby Finn Donner. His brother's full name is James Robert Donner. Willie introduces himself as Will, but because everyone infantizes him, everyone else calls him Willie. (I know I have been calling him Willie... I am not infantizing him, I am just trying to make it obvious who I am talking about...) I am gonna have my OC Jules nickname him Willow, and only she calls him that... though... during a dramatic scene that I may keep in my rewrite, Jules may call him Willie in those instances.
I have a lot of planning, writing, and yeah... more will come out, hopefully sooner, rather than later. Please have patience and please let me know that ya'll are interested in what I have planned for our boy Willie.
I know to read this you have to go a long way down... but I played with Google Gemini... I know ai... blah blah blah... I'm poor and can't afford an artist right now... it isn't perfect, there may be changes, especially to Jules... but here is an idea of the visuals of Will and Jules together. I hope ya'll like them.
It's just an idea, a helpful tool to get the vision in my head for my writing. I am planning on writing my own shit, btw. But yeah, here is my idea so far visually.
💬 0 🔁 8 ❤️ 13 · Forever Waiting Chapters Master List · Note from Tarot:
This is a WIP. It will be more mature, more explicit and more ang
Um.... maybe I am just reading into it... and maybe I don't follow Sleep Token as closely as others, ie knowing the tattoos under the body paint, body types blah blah blah.... but um... from this review... why does this musical experience mirror everything Sleep Token as done? The rituals? The offerings? The gods? The lyrics having multiple meanings and being a form of worship... Vessel being addicted to the stage and yet being trapped on stage?
Now, I don't think Joey is Vessel... Joey's voice is too recognizable. But what if he is one of the other ones? He is multi-talented in many instruments... and The Amazing Devil's have taken a backseat... and we hardly hear from Joey... besides The Witcher... what if it's cuz he is in Sleep Token...
I also don't follow Joey too closely... idk if he is showing his face at premieres or events... or if he is working on something other than The Witcher... or that TAD album that was announced a year ago... but could it be possible?
Am I crazy? Is it all just a weird, relatable coincidence that Joey and Sleep Token have had the same gripes about fans? Or is there something to this?
I have never seen them in the same room, so... lolz...
Waiting For Forever, Research, Review, Character Analysis... + FanFic Talk
In the past 6+ months I have probably seen the 2010/2011 indie "romance" drama film Waiting for Forever at least 20+ times. To say I am obsessed with Tom Sturridge is an understatement, but this film, mainly the character of Will Donner/Willie Pajamas, has completely won my heart.
Disclaimer: I have ADHD and I suck at planning out what I write, so, this may be all over the place, so I will try to stick to the points as much as possible. No promises though, lolz.
This film is a lot of things, but good is not exactly one of them. There are many reviews of this film from over the years that yes, cover how clunky this film is. And I might bring up some of the same points but I think it's deeper that everyone first thought it was.
Firstly, this film was written by a man named Steve Adams. Yes, a man wrote the story, which explains why Will's character is the only fleshed out character in the film, even though they tried to go back and forth between Will's POV and then Emma's POV. But if the past reviewers had done their research on the writer, maybe it would make more sense why that is the case.
As you can see, Steve's early life surprisingly mirrors Willie's own early life. Waiting for Forever is almost auto-biographical. That both explains why Willie's character is the most fleshed out and why the script stayed fairly the same without many rewrites, as both Sturridge and Bilson have stated in interviews for this film. Willie is Steve and Steve is Willie.
Rachel Bilson and Tom Sturridge Interview WAITING FOR FOREVER. WAITING FOR FOREVER movie stars Rachel Bilson, Tom Sturridge and Blythe Danne
One of the biggest complaints of this film is the casual acceptance of stalking... though the film both calls it out and then rewards it, seemingly. Though I have many thoughts on the ending, how both Sturridge and Bilson talk about the ending doesn't make me think it is rewarded completely, just open-ended. I don't think Emma chose Willie in the end purely based on what Sturridge and Bilson have to say about it:
My personal opinion of this is that I am glad that Emma likely did not return Willie's affections as that would make me dislike Emma even more than I already do. If she chose Willie, the message would be clear; stalking unrequited love is rewarded by getting the girl you want even though Emma was right; he does not know her, but also Emma would be choosing Willie as a last resort after her father died and her fiancé finally got arrested for murder. If I was Willie (which I will actually talk about later), I would feel pretty insulted by that, but that's just me.
But the thing is that I think what the author intended and how the actors portrayed their characters and story don't exactly match up.
I believe that Adams very much intended for Emma to choose Willie in the end, and the proof of his life mirroring Willie's in the story he wrote is proof of that.
There is not much out there about Adams, trust me, I tried to look for even more than just his Wikipedia page, but other than a Twitter account and his penname and couple novels out there, there isn't much about Adams that is known.
Adams did move to Massachusetts after both his parents died 2 days apart from one another; father died in a train wreck and then his mother died of cancer. And him and his siblings moved to MA after.
Now, I couldn't find where Adams grew up before that, but it is likely Pennsylvania.
It's funny, when doing research for Fan Fiction plans, I found that this film was mostly filmed in Utah. Main proof of that is the name of the appliance store that Willie's friends Joey and Dolores work at/own; Smith-Crown Co. which is a real place... in Utah... and there is only one, so...
And it struck me a strange; why be insistent that the film takes place in Pennsylvania? Why not just have it take place in Utah if that is where it was filmed? Answer is likely I am correct and Waiting For Forever is auto-biographical of the writer of the story; Steve Adams.
I am going to make many assumptions going forward though I have already with assuming based on the limited evidence that this film is auto-biographical.
I do think Adams meant for Emma to choose Willie in the end. If the story is auto-biographical, and Adams was born in 1947, which means he's in his 80's now, was in his 60's around the time the film came out. But I suspect the criticism of stalking was added only for 2008/2011 sensibilities to the topic. I say that because of a recent trend of TikTok, yes, Tiktok, I know, of many folks coming forward with stories about their grandmother's "love stories" and the amount of stalking that was acceptable in the 1960's-1980's when Adams would have been in his 20's to 40's. So, I think this was Adams' way of normalizing the cuteness of his own love story with his own wife.
I am purely talking about Adams and not Willie as I do think how Sturridge portrayed Willie is different than how Adams intended the character to be.
During the 1990's and early 2000's stories about The Manic Pixie Dream Girl was rampant in indie rom com dramas. I have made a playlist with videos that I think really go over the trope in it's entirety and I will list it below, but the main take away is that characters that are autistic coded, often portrayed as quirky, weird and a bit wild get paired with characters that are bland and have lost a love for life but only through the pairing with the MPDG will that bland character find their love for life again, usually at the expense of the MPDG. This is of course an oversimplification and I will list my playlist below:
Willie firmly falls into being a Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Emma is the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl.
A few clues into this is that Willie is very much neurodivergent, likely was before his parents' accident, but the accident traumatized Willie more than I think even Willie knows. His whole thing with Emma isn't even love, it's a trauma bond. Even Sturridge confirms this to an extent:
Willie enjoys the feelings that Emma has given him and he is chasing that high again because he doesn't want to feel the pain of his reality.
And Emma even says in the film that Willie doesn't know her, and that is true, he doesn't. Even his "good love letter" he still shows that he doesn't know her at all. He is content with the version of her that he has in his head.
Now I have said that Willie is the Manic Pixie Dream Boy and Emma is the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl, but something that is key with the original trope (Manic Pixie Dream Girl, etc) is that the guy never fully sees the MPDG as human, hence the pixie-ification. But the problem with Waiting for Forever is that neither Willie or Emma see each other as human. Willie has put Emma on such a pedestal that even when she admits to being a cheater that he makes excuses for her actions and then Emma infantilizes Willie, calling him a little boy at least once if not a couple times in the film.
Mental health is such a big deal in this film it isn't even funny. And it sucks that it came out in 2010/2011 and was filmed in 2008 be cause the stigma towards mental health issues is riddled throughout this film. When it came out the biggest trend was the "Don't Label It" trend cuz people thought that was somehow limiting and put people in boxes and as such giving folks excuses for being mentally ill. This trend was and is ultimately very harmful because it gave people, and Jimbo in the film, the right and excuse to call folks crazy without feeling the need to understand and research what was actually going on.
As someone that has ADHD and autism, labels are so helpful. It explains so much of our experiences, both similar and not as it is all a spectrum. I have learned so much about my own experience and the experiences of others because of the labels we have. And I wish that Waiting for Forever was not so afraid at the time to really give Willie's mental health issues a name. Many of us, me included, do relate to him so intensely it's not funny. Representation is such a big deal, especially when it is very close to real experiences that folks have gone through.
Before I get back to some of my more critical critiques of the film, I do want to share a bit of why I deeply relate to Willie.
As I have stated, I have ADHD and autism as well, and I will be honest, I have done very similar things that Willie has done. I have had unrequited love, gone to the places that that person would likely be just for the off chance of seeing them and or trying to catch up with them to talk to them. And I did not exactly know what I was doing was likely stalking. The reason why I think Sturridge's portrayal and Adams' original vison differ is because Sturridge's Willie genuinely does not understand what he is doing is harmful. I didn't either. I had no emotional regulation to be able to handle the rejection that inevitably happened later on too. That does not excuse my or Willie's behavior, but it does give it some understanding and clarity.
Now, I have never traveled across the country to follow someone, but I do get where Willie is coming from. He meant no harm, he truly did not understand what he was doing would hurt Emma.
But I do think Adams knew better, hence the adding into the story that stalking is seen as a bad thing. And if he intended that the story be read as Emma choosing Willie in the end, and the story is auto-biographical, then that puts of a bit of a more sinister twist on the story.
Willie is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy that is autistic/has ADHD and likely PSTD induced talking to people that aren't there to cope with his trauma. Willie was written by a man that was seemingly trying to self insert, and so all other characters and story beats suffered from that. Not only is Emma the Stale White Wonder Bread Girl, but she just is unlikeable and is basically a piece of carboard for Willie to put all his hopes and dreams onto. And if after everything, if Adams vison is what is more true than Sturridge's and Bilson's portrayals, Emma chooses Willie, that is basically rewarding Willie for his efforts that were toxic through the lens of not understanding his mental health issues (though even with understanding them they should not be rewarded). That rewards Willie's fantasies about Emma, it rewards him not really knowing her. And that my friends, is the pipeline to Incel culture.
Incels have a need for the fantasies to be fulfilled by their idea of the ideal woman. They don't care who she is, the less personality the better, as long as she is hot to them and they want her, it does not matter. What the Incel fantasizes about a woman in his head is all that matters.
Do I think Willie is an incel? No, I don't. But I think Adams may be and or intended for Willie to be...
So, with the perpetuation of The Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope while also having Willie put Emma on a pedestal as if she was actually interesting when she isn't (men should stop trying to write women, I swear), I don't think this is as cute of a story as Adams intended it to seem. It almost feels like he was looking for validation for his own real life choices if this film was indeed auto-biographical.
There are many interviews, video and written, as well as reviews that go over actual story points and all that, but that was not my main focus for this review of mine. I will list all the resources below so ya'll can check them out.
What would you do if you found out that a dear friend from your childhood that you haven’t seen in years has been silently following y
I told you I’m pretty outdated. Actually, I wasn’t meaning to write anything about this movie at all. But I met a friend one day, and as we
Belated film reviews: Waiting For Forever
So, I have covered my speculations on the writer of the story, what I think the writer was trying to convey, Willie's possible mental health diagnosis, the perpetuation of the Manic Pixie Dream Boy trope while still having the male character treat the fem character as if she is more than human while not really knowing who she is at all.... That makes it sound like I don't like Willie. That can't be further from the truth. I love Willie. I firmly believe Sturridge's portrayal is different than what Adams wanted to put out there.
Yes, Willie has autism and ADHD as well as PTSD with the possibility of trauma coping induced talking to people that aren't there. Willie genuinely does not understand why what he is doing is wrong, and it isn't incompetence, like he really doesn't know.
Strangely, Emma's mother Miranda and Willie have a lot in common when it comes to their characterizations; neither one can, or wants to, admit the harshness of reality. Now, Willie may or may not be doing that on purpose, because both in the beginning of the film with the couple that pick him up and then in the car with his brother at the end of the film, Willie does show that he knows what happened to his and Jimbo's parents. But I don't think Willie is playing stupid, I really don't think he can cope with the reality of it, hence the talking to his parents off to the side and his trauma bond with Emma.
Willie also struggles with anxiety/panic attacks, which I really wish had been correctly identified in the film, but oh well.
He is also very nostalgic and sentimental; the tree house scene and then the scene at the soda shop turned bar where he gets excited to see that they kept the same stools.
As for his pajamas, Tom puts it best:
That leads me to sexuality. Willie is a hopeful romantic. I do think that Willie is a sexual person, but I really think he is more focused on romance that it takes up more of his thoughts and energy than sex does. Also, with how long Willie has carried this infatuation with Emma for, I speculate that he is a virgin. Which I think both fits him well and is very sweet, as far as Sturridge portrayed.
I have written about Willie and Waiting For Forever in the past on past posts, so I will post those snippets and links below.
CW/TW: 'R' word, 'S' word, self-un-aliving, drug5, a1c0h01, s3x, gr00m1ng, murd3r, neurodivergent diagnosis speculation, swearing, character
Disclaimer: I have ADHD, so, please forgive me if I jump around and go on tangents... I have lots of thoughts about this man and his project
Personally, I do plan on writing a bit of a fix-it/add a character to the story fanfic as well as lead into a sequel story.
I don't think Emma chose Will at the end, not with how Bilson and Sturridge talk about it in interviews. It took me a while to come to that conclusion, but it is the only one that makes sense with the film we got.
Willie's first love was also unrequited. It is my hope that I, or even others cuz hell I am only gonna write what I wish I could read instead, can write Willie both an epic love that is his true love.
He needs someone that matches his energy. The only time The Manic Pixie Dream Person trope works is if the couple has both folks fit the Manic Pixie Dream Person trope, aka they are both neurodivergent as fuck.
The one film that comes to mind that fits this idea to a T is Watching The Detectives with Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu as the couple. If you haven't seen the film, please watch it, it is worth it. But both Murphy's character in the film and Liu's character match each other's energy throughout the film and that is why their characters work.
So, if Willie is going to find his true love it is someone that is going to understand him and get him completely and vice versa. And they both should challenge one another positively to encourage growth. Willie would have never gotten that with Emma. Not only does Willie not know Emma, but she would have never been able to live up to his fantasy of her.
So, Willie needs a partner that is his match in every way.
I will say that if folks are trying to place the timeline of when the film takes place, likely between end of September 2008 and then a screen shot I took has the date set October 8th 2008, the day Willie finally talked to Emma.
But that is purely for folks that would like to write fanfics that are accurate for when it takes/took place.
Films that I take inspiration with the idea of Willie finding his match is the 2007 film Stardust, specifically Yvaine's confession and then Tristan later confessing he heard everything and that his "true love was right in front of him the whole time".
And then the other film that I would say kind of fit the idea of both characters being MPDP would be Drew Barrymore's Ever After. Yes, Danielle as a character is more of a MPDG than Prince Henry being a MPDB, but I do think that Prince Henry is not exactly a Stale White Wonder Bread Boy either as he does match Danielle's energy more than not. Though if I am wrong about this, let me know.
In the meantime, here is a link to the first fanfic that has ever been written for this film, and it is smutty, so if you are under 18, don't read it.
In fact, I am not sure if I was able to get more points fully across cuz of ADHD and yeah, I never plan out what I am gonna write, so if there are flaws or things I missed, please let me know. I would love to discuss this with ya'll.
just a non-binary demi-girl witch trying to survive in this capitalist hellscape... with Tom Sturridge filth
And I have made a playlist of music that remind me of Willie, Waiting For Forever and just some music that are likely going to fit story beats in the fanfic I want to write. Also, the film itself needed better music. Some of the 1980's and 1990's music in my playlist should have been in the film instead, in my opinion.
Well, I think I said I want to say for now. If I need to go back and clarify some talking points, let me know in the comments and we can discuss.
Personally, I would marry Willie in a heartbeat, I mean look at him and just the way Tom Sturridge portrayed this character? Regardless of Adams intentions, though important to keep in mind, Tom made Willie his own deserving of love cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs.
I might finally be restarting my writing for my Waiting For Forever Fan Fiction. And like any crazed fanfic writer... I researched the fuck out of everything...
So film timeline-wise, Willie tells his brother Jim that he didn't find out until 4 days before showing back up in the fictional town of Taft, Pennsylvania. And when Willie gets picked up by the cops, he gets asked where he was on October 1st. Then later on Willie sends a letter to Emma telling her to call that couple he hitchhiked with, saying he was with them when her friend was killed... so, when Willie shows up in Taft, it is October 3rd, 2008, five days before he finally talks to Emma.
By the time Willie gets picked up by the cops on the highway, the film wants us to think he is in Arizona... though the landmark he is actually at the the filming crew scouted out is in Utah... this whole damn film was made in Utah for the most part. But the license plates on the cops car and a taxi is stating that he is in Arizona... so, maybe 3 to 5 days have gone by from the day he talked to Emma to the day he got picked up by the cops.
With the help of my awesome partner, we mapped his likely route from LA to Taft, PA. Though I mapped it to Pittsburgh because that is where Jim gets plane tickets to. Taft is likely a small outskirts town outside of Pittsburgh.
I also have decided on Willie's full name: Willoughby Finn Donner. His brother's full name is James Robert Donner. Willie introduces himself as Will, but because everyone infantizes him, everyone else calls him Willie. (I know I have been calling him Willie... I am not infantizing him, I am just trying to make it obvious who I am talking about...) I am gonna have my OC Jules nickname him Willow, and only she calls him that... though... during a dramatic scene that I may keep in my rewrite, Jules may call him Willie in those instances.
I have a lot of planning, writing, and yeah... more will come out, hopefully sooner, rather than later. Please have patience and please let me know that ya'll are interested in what I have planned for our boy Willie.
This is a WIP. It will be more mature, more explicit and more angsty than the film but I am planning to keep everything fairly within the continuity of the film. Our beloved Willie will be portrayed as accurately to being in character as possible. This is 18+, minors DNI/DNR.
Brief Starting Summary:
Willie has come back into town because Emma has returned to their hometown of Taft, PA. He is faced with connecting with another old friend first, Jules, Joey's twin sister.
Jules has been in love with Willie for as long as she can remember. But Willie's love for Emma has always stopped Jules from telling him her true feelings.
Will Jules finally admit to her feelings and completely derail Willie's plans to tell Emma everything? Or will Willie finally start to see what was right in front of him the whole time? How long will Jules be stubborn and how long will Willie be dense, clueless and confused?
Read to find out.
Warnings/Tags:
Angst. N S F W. Self - Harm. Original Character Self - Unaliving (later on in the fic). Swearing. Pining. Unrequited Love. Slow Burn. Slow Build. Mental Health Issues. Emotional Health Issues. Dated Mental Health Terms (to fit in the with time period we are in). Ableism. Possible Political Climate at the Time (Gay Rights, BIPOC Rights).
Chapter One: Don't You (Forget About Me)
Chapter Two: No One Hurts Me Like I Hurt Myself
Chapter Three: Bitter Sweet Symphony
Chapter Four: The Promise
Chapter Five: TBD
I will list more chapters as they get done.
Helpful Blog Posts:
Waiting for Forever FanFic Spotify Playlist
Jules Visualization
Waiting For Forever, Research, Review, Character Analysis... + FanFic Talk
Beta Reader Call/Some FanFic Details to Keep in Mind
@dragon-kazansky's One-Shot Unrelated N S F W Willie Fanfic Reblog
@thoughtsfromlayla and @dragon-kazansky are wonderful folks that have helped me so much with this fanfic, give them love.
It's been a year... I know... this fanfic is always on my mind... some things may change if I come back to it... like the nickname thing feels too contrived... I am thinking of a different idea that shows the closeness between Will and Jules... like maybe, Will's full first name isn't William but Willoughby.... yes... I got that idea from Ethel Cain's new album... but hear me out: Willoughby Donner and his brother is James Robert Donner, hence the Jimbo nickname. Not sure what would sound nice for Will's middle name, but maybe ya'll have ideas... cuz I was thinking Jules' personal private nickname for Will is Willow... that way she is not infantizing him like everyone else who calls him Willie, and then she has a cute, sweet, genuine nickname for him that is personal to the both of them. Jules calls him Will to everyone else, but when she thinks of him or speaks to him, he is her Willow.
The only problem would be... what is Will's nickname for Jules? Jules is already short for Julia/Julie and or Julianna/Julianne... but if i don't go with the Sun/Moon thing with Will and Jules (I will have to rewrite that whole explanation in the fanfic... though I do like it...), what do I go with?
Just some thoughts... I want to rewrite some stuff... and then continue the story... but some things need to get reworked...
If you liked what I have so far, let me know. If you have ideas or suggestions, let me know too. Engagement and interest are good motivation for getting the ball rolling again.
@tarotoftheendless (i hope you like it!) had the amazing idea of a Sleep Token x The Sandman crossover, where Vessel is a dream created by Dream of the Endless (who is Sleep in Sleep Token lore in this crossover) and i am here to deliver
i like to think that the Dreaming is Eden/Arcadia and Vessel left with other dreams after Dream was captured and then lost his connection with the land and now he longs to go back (Take Me Back To Eden).
this is my first time doing digital art and i think it turned out quite well and i had a lot of fun doing this!
excuse the tiny strange looking matthew, i couldn't leave him out of this
The cool thing about head-canons is that no one is wrong, it is a head-canon. It is looking at what is there and running with it and... just having fucking fun with it. Because joy is something we all owe ourselves and no one can take that from us.
My personal head-canon, if we are strictly looking at the Sleep Token lore with some of the bare-bones of Sandman lore/story, is that Vessel is a mortal man, given the gift, or curse rather, of immortality.
My idea is that Dream attached himself, toxically, to another mortal man after his spat with Hob in 1889. Vessel agreed, but then not long after the relationship with Dream, or rather Sleep, started, Dream was captured... but a dark aspect of Dream, known as Sleep, attached themselves to Vessel, possessing him, taking over. And then the Sleep Token lore is as it is in the lyrics of the songs... but then Dream escapes imprisonment... and Sleep is released from Vessel, leaving Vessel empty. Arcadia is The Dreaming... and there Vessel is coming for Sleep, who is now re-emerged with Dream, whole ago. Is Vessel coming to take vengeance on Dream for the torture and torment inflicted upon them in the codependent relationship... or is Vessel coming back to Sleep to rededicate themselves in worship? What of the houses? The divide? And the other gods that are in Sleep Token lore... are they the other Endless?...
That is just my head-canon though.
I also think Dream fits so many of the songs too, like Apparition is from Hob's perspective... and then Even in Arcadia is Dream's perspective during the Orpheus death and aftermath scene in season 2... I will say that Hob being Vessel works in a head-canon too, but yeah... just seeing all the convergences and parallels between Sleep Token and The Sandman in general.
Thank you, @shobolanya for making this beautiful art 🥰 maybe more folks will see.the different ways they fit together too and we will have so many stories and head-canons to choose from 🥰
I have shifted a lot on this page. And yes, could I make a new blog? Yes, yes, I could. But I have enjoyed the evolution since I started to blog here. I plan on shifting more towards my pagan, witchy, and tarot interests. Yes, I do want to like, post, and reblog some Tom Sturridge works posts, but that is not my main focus anymore. Maybe I will write more fan fiction, but we will see.
I want to see if I can start some devotee blog posts to Hades, Persephone, Morpheus, and Jareth - The Goblin King. My experience with them, resources, and how you could work with them if you so choose to.
If you want to follow me on Instagram or Spotify, I always am making posts and playlists. All under tarotoftheendless.
I should make a Master Post here soon to consolidate things for easy searching on my page.
Thank you to those who have stayed even though I am no longer making Tom Sturridge posts on the regular. I needed to shift. Thank you for understanding.
Okay, I have watched Sandman S2 part 1 a couple times now, and Dream is so Sleep Token coded... but not only that... maybe it is my headcanon, but I believe Sleep is Dream as per the Sleep Token lore. Or at least the Nightmare aspect of him. Though I would say that in the perspective of S2 of Sandman, Vessel's POV is Dream's. Both headcanons work, Sandman lore Vessel is Dream, Sleep Token lore Sleep is Dream in his Nightmare aspect.
Please, please, please, I am dying for fan artists out there to draw, paint, all of the above with Dream as Sleep with Vessel as himself. But also for the Sandman fans I see Hob Gadling as Vessel too... so maybe some fan artists could do Hob as Vessel with Dream as Sleep? And then if ya'll wanna go super niche, the Like Minds fandom with Nigel Colbie as Dream/Sleep and Alex Forbes as Vessel... like the fan art ideas are endless... lolz, Endless... I would draw it except I am not that good of a visual artist.
Also, fan fiction writers? Please please. Sleep Token × Sandman crossover? Or Sleep Token x Like Minds? I'd read it.
Yes, I have shifted my profile, a lot... I can't go into why, but just know it is for proven valid reasons.
I still have my Instagram that has the same name if you wanna follow me there.
I still will post, like, and repost about the fandoms and characters that he is in, just not about him.
I have playlists on Spotify that I have made for some of the characters I feel very strongly about and or I just was able to find enough music that just fits them. I will link them below.
I also am unpinning my Master Post for my Waiting for Forever fanfic I had been writing, but I will add a link to the Master Post to this post so ya'll can access it more easily.
Who knows what this Tumblr will be; a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But know that I am still a silly little geeky nerd that feels very strongly about most things I do and love. It's the autism and ADHD in me, I can't help it 🥰
Here is my character playlists I think ya'll will love. I add to them all the time.
So, I had a thought... what if Sleep is the dark part of Dream of the Endless that maybe got severed when he got captured by Rodrick... what if Vessel is Hob Gadling... yeah, yeah, I know how much of a big ol' fluffy teddy bear Hob is and how shaven Vessel is... but fan fic gurlies... come on, it's in the music...
Yes, I know there is a clear lore to Sleep Token, I get that. But what if it is even more in line with the deity of Hyponos, the Onerios, the King of Nightmares? Femme, or not, as we all know that Dream shapeshifts, I feel like it works. I would love to see Dreamling fan fiction gurlies to get on the Sleep Token bandwagon and just write some deep dark sexy shit with it.
Fan art would be amazing too, please! I want Hob/Vessel x Dream/Sleep art so bad 😫🫠
EDIT: I realize that the toxicity fits more with maybe Alex and Nigel from Like Minds... so like Nigel as Dream as Sleep? And the Alex as Hob as Vessel? Like it fits...
I also see Jake from Sweetbitter as Vessel... and maybe Simone as Sleep but like a siren? Idk...
I can't go into details as to why, but I am shifting away from Tom Sturridge content and promoting his work. I have my reasons, though I will not be sharing them publicly, and likely I will not privately either, so don't ask.
I may every once and a while post or repost something about Willie, or Jake or François as they are my favorite of the characters he has portrayed, the ones I feel so strongly about that I have tattoo tributes to them. I may also mention Dream from time to time, and maybe Nigel or Young Carl... but I really doubt I will be engaging in Tom content much at all for the most part.
I want to thank everyone who has connected with me over the past few years because of our mutual love for Tom. I do still love him... but it is much more complicated now and I need to step away.
I will keep my pinned post as my Willie fanfic master post so people can easily find it.
I am shifting and I need to figure out what that looks like.
