Fucking Damn Candela Obscura Is Gonna Be My New Obsession Curse You Critical Role.

brilliant analysis! i’m taking notes for when i get to them in my rewrite because i really wanna do all of w.i.t.c.h. justice

Orube and Cedric is the "i can fix him" trope done right, and that's why this is one of the best romances I've ever seen in media.

The point is, that actually, Orube never intended to fix Cedric. She did it by knowing her truth and living it, even if that meant going against the one she fell in love with.

Orube showed a great trust and intuition when she turned to a person with a dark reputation loathed by her friends. That was quite a reckless thing, but intuitive things like that fit her somewhat feral nature. Throughout her character arc she had learnt how to be patient and resilient, had learnt the struggles of being a stranger in a foreign world and of staying true to herself no matter the circumstances. And the results of her growth have shown greatly in the Book arc.

But!!! As soon as Cedric showed the slightest suspicious signs, her mercy was over and she would never let her guard down after that. Orube wasn't trying to force anything towards Cedric, wasn't trying to be kinder and softer to him hoping to melt his rotten heart. As soon as he crossed a certain line, she knew she couldn't trust him anymore, although she had been ready to give him a chance. And this was a marvelous writing. After all, how often do we see a female character prioritizing her own values over a man? How often do we see a girl giving up on "fixing" someone who is clearly not ready for that yet?

And Cedric, as one of the main villains of the ceries, was also done justice here. He didn't have a face-heel turn and didn' really become 'good'. Yes, he couldn't think of hurting Orube and even aknowledged his feelings towards her, but this was a possessive and immature kind of feeling. All he wanted was just to have her by his side, without even taking her feelings and values into conscideration. His suggestion to join him in a fight against the Guardians was the PEAK of emotional blindness, and this basically sums up the nature of his feelings and his own character.

And the final change tbat Cedric has aknowledged at his deathbed didn't happen because of Orube's love and devotion to him. It was her resilience, honor and truthness that moved him. Unlike him, she knew exacly who she was and what she was fighting for, and she taught Cedric by example, not by becoming his allforgiving ally.

Conscidering all said above I don't know how to feel about fan versions about their romance rebound after Cedric miraculously survived. Is he really capable of getting over his power-seeking and villain-serving behavior? Would simple life on earth without superpowers and world-conquering ambitions satisfy him? And most importantly, would Orube, who knows her moral code and follows it religiously be able to forgive him? These are the questions left unanswered. And although I would love to believe in a happily ever after for these two, my outlook on their perspective as a healthy couple is not that positive.

Is this a healthy ship? Nope. Is it a good writing and character development? Absolutely! Is happy ending for these two even possible? This is a question I can't answer. It would be nice to see them as a power couple, but that would mean one of them completely abandon their old ways. Would any of them be able to do that? It's really hard for me to tell.

However, despite all above, these two have the sickest chemistry in the entire series without a single kiss. I've been obsessed with them for 10 years and can't get enough.

if I had a nickel for every time a silly goofy Latino boy named Oscar had a fantastic chemistry with a chaotic gremlin named Ruby, I would have two nickels. It’s not a lot, but it’s awfully weird that it’s happened twice.

and also when nya smith said “save me, jay walker. there’s gonna be a wedding and i want you to do something about it.”

remember when kai smith became the first enemies-to-lovers booktok boyfriend by saying “was it his idea to make me fall for you or yours? because it worked.”

THE TSARITSA AND A SILLY THEORY

So I've recently gotten into Genshin Impact. Go ahead and cringe if you wish I'll give you a moment.

Anyway, I started having a growing fascination with Snezhnaya and the Tsaritsa, the latter who is definitely a calculating character right? So of course she knows that there will be those outside of Snezhnaya who will oppose her mission and try to stop her right? Hence I got the silly idea that she names an heir to her title and her duties not just as the next Tsaritsa but as the next Cryo Archon.

This is also just an excuse to introduce you all to my OC, the Tsarevna Snezhana Morosov:

(i used picrew because i am no artist guys)

Snezhana is a 5-star Cryo sword wielder born and raised in Snezhnayan aristocracy.

As a child, Zhana was able to escape the brutal murder of her noble family and flee to Zapolyarny palace with her father's dying vision. The Tsaritsa heard her cries to the Fatui and decided to take her in and name her as her heir.

Zhana grows up to become a version of Snow White, holding an air of innocence and naivete, but she's actually been observing silently and plotting the Tsaritsa's downfall because she know how outlandish her plans of revenge really are. Zhana has grown to learn from her adoptive mother and even become a lot like her despite not sharing blood, which is why she creates the Adventurer's Guild under the guise of uniting Teyvat's adventurers -- her various nannies Katheryne acting as her informants in secret while Zhana roots out the Harbingers.

It's very convoluted and there are some kinks I need to work out, but at the end of the day the Tsaritsa is like "I knew you were doing this all along -- that's why I think you'll make a better archon than me" and somehow the Tsaritsa dies and her power is somehow transferred to Zhana, becoming the new archon.

I thought it would be cool to see the crowning of a new archon in the world of Genshin Impact and figured with the court intrigue and mystery and calculation that went along with the frozen Cryo kingdom, it would only add to the convolution that was Snezhnaya (and yes, Zhana was named after her homeland).

and maybe there's some complicated history between Zhana and Childe.

Thoughts? Opinions? It's going to be a story on my Wattpad so I'll post a link if and when that's up. :)

i wanna see the origins of candela obscura. how was it founded? who founded it? what made them want to do this? i am seriously this close 🤏 to writing a series focusing on the first ever circle of candela obscura that inspired the creation of the secret society with a duty carried out for generations in the fairelands.

can someone please explain phowill to me? like what’s the appeal? like the closest they get is in the season 2 episodes where they have to work together but even then they’re using each other for their advantages, the only exception being when matt is disguised as phobos and vice versa and again, that’s still matt. i guess i just want to understand if it’s just something about moral ambiguity or the hero x villain trope or if there’s something of more substance that i’m not seeing.

continuing from this post, i think i’ve figured out why i ship talisto and i blame it all on holly black: jude duarte and cardan greenbriar are talia and mephisto coded.

lemme try to explain the dynamics.

Jude & Talia

What’s there to say? They’re both badass strategists and natural-born leaders. They will make themselves heard and will not take nor tolerate bullshit. They are both clever with their plans and also don’t trust easily. Their guards are up constantly and they don’t tell their allies/friends everything (ie Jude’s coup and the whole Princess Brenda thing). They have also adapted to the rapid and traumatic changes in their lives — Jude with the murder of her parents and Talia with the fall of Xeris — and of course the adapting to a new world.

Sure, Jude takes things to an extreme by pursuing murder on occasion, but you can’t tell me that Talia wouldn’t do the same in her shoes (albeit with some hesitancy, but none the less will do so as a last resort). These two girls are a force to be reckoned with, and do all the research necessary to make sure they know all the facts and know all the plays to win.

Cardan & Mephisto

I don’t need to explain this. It’s so obvious that Holly went so far as to basically make Mephisto Cardan’s faceclaim.

Cardan and Mephisto are both younger siblings, so they are familiar with the shadow of their older — and better, in the eyes of their father figures or something — siblings. They also both have no shame in being the villain of their stories while also being sorta carefree and charismatic I MEAN LOOK AT THEM!! But they also, deep in the core of their soul, have goodness and love inside, and a strong urge to protect and sacrifice everything for those closest to them (Jude and Praxina respectively). They grow over the duration of their screentime/booktime into lovable and openly more caring characters.

Seriously guys the parallels between them are right fucking there.

Jurdan & Talisto

What else can I say? Enemies-to-lovers is the superior trope and if the Jurdan dynamic — while slightly questionable bc ✨bully romance✨ and just general canonical confusion — doesn’t give you tingles, imagine the applied to Talisto’s already current dynamic. I can already see Talia’s fuming face ready to absolutely destroy Mephisto and his obnoxious, degrading laughter as he walks away in Faerieland during their lessons. I can also see how the turns have tabled with Talia holding a knife to Mephisto’s neck and Talia’s grinning face as she pulls of the greatest coup in history…

I guess what I’m saying is that I would not be opposed to a Talisto Cruel Prince AU because it just makes sense.

silly concept where this one muggle-born kid whose last name — out of literal, pure coincidence — happens to be black (or any other of the noble house names bc god forbid people share the same last name and aren’t at all related). this is finds out they’re a wizard and goes to hogwarts and the whole wizard community is all like “omg a resurgence of the noble house of black!” and is absolutely freaking out over it meanwhile this kid is like “wtf is happening i just found this shit out two hours ago—”

i made another genshin oc lol

This is Esperanza, Esper for short. She's a 4-star Dendro polearm from Natlan, a curious girl full of wonder and questions for the world beyond what she's known. She would act as the Traveler's initial guide to Natlan from Sumeru, as she was given the opportunity to study at the Akademiya for her innate curiosity.

Of course, we know practically nothing about Natlan, so everything about Natlan and its story arc is purely speculation, but from what the wikifandom says, Natlan is divide by tribes - and as a nation of War, it's safe to assume that these divide tribes are on the verge of fighting each other. There would probably be some sort of intertribal tournament for the Pyro Archon's amusement or something in 5.0 but again, all speculation.

However, if this is a little bit true, then Esper has some strong feelings on it. She doesn't like all the division and fighting between the tribes - if the tribes of Natlan continue to fight each other unnecessarily, there will be no victors and the volcanic sands would turn red. She's had a chance to see what practically no one else in Natlan has seen: people united and at peace with one another. It's a refreshing sight.

Esper knows that War will inevitably reign supreme in Natlan, she's not stupid. But she also knows that peace is just as important, something the rest of Natlan seems to ignore.

When she's not spewing random facts about niche subjects and asking the Traveler an impossible number of questions, she's a loving older sister to her younger siblings and an amateur flamenco-dancer-equivalent. Bc I made her after meeting and falling for Gaming. And she would be in complete awe of his Woshou dancing if she ever got the chance to see it in Liyue.

i want her hair so bad. the cut?? the fringe?? the WAVES?!?! oh i love it so!