“Before You Embark On A Journey Of Revenge, Dig Two Graves”. What A Stupid Fucking Quote. I’m Killing

WOW beautiful. The outfit is everythingggg!

hi minecrft roleplay fans here is my design for the one and only

my favorite genre of of villain is man who lost his wife and became evil about it immediately. like that’s a sensible response to me idk

I love that the seeds of the count are already in edmond long before the château d'if. edmond wasn't a sweet, innocent, naive boy. he was a hothead who challenged danglars to a duel over a disagreement on their journey, he's catty with carderousse who he knows is a greedy liar and he is angry and mean towards fernand whose feelings for mercédès he immediately recognises. the only thing that saves him is his love and unwavering belief in that love being returned. without the love of his father and mercédès, without the goodwill of morrel, edmond would already be a different person, a meaner person. edmond wasn't fundamentally changed during his time in prison- the foundation of the count was long there. but only once he was truly, undeniably wronged by these people, once he lost the love he had, only with the tools he was given by abbé faria, only then did he build the count on that foundation. but the foundation was already there.

it's always love that saves in tcomc, and a lack of love that destroys. valentine is saved through maximilen's love, albert through his mother's, haydée through the count's and the count through haydée's. it's a lack of love, an absence of loved ones, a failure to love that kills fernand, that drives villefort to madness, that nearly kills danglars, that kills caderousse.

It really is nice how obviously fond Elphaba is of Glinda right off the bat in the movie, with What Is This Feeling showcasing how much Elphaba enjoys their little feud. For the first time in her life, someone's judging her for her, rather than her skin or her magic. Glinda doesn't give a shit that she's green, she's mad that Elphaba's taste in clothes and decor clash so severely with her own! She doesn't care that Elphaba could accidentally kill her if she got too angry, she's too busy being upset that Elphaba keeps minorly inconveniencing her! How refreshing that would be, to meet the most annoying person in the world and discover that her own narcissism has caused her to be the only person who sees you for who you really are. Of course Elphaba would take the hat seriously as a gift -- has anyone other than Dulciebear ever gifted her anything? Of course she would gamble her own self-confidence at the Ozdust -- at worst, Glinda's ego is so massive that she would never allow her mortal enemy to be the butt of someone else's joke. And in the best case, well, Glinda recognizes how important she is to the one person that she knows has no one. The only one who gets her, the only one who has ever understood her, standoffish and rude the way a stray cat is before it finally follows you indoors.

It's a real shame this story couldn't be anything other than a tragedy, huh?

"This story is a tragedy because it didn't have to end this way."

vs

"This story is a tragedy because it was always going to end this way."

A word on Benedetto’s father figures

Because I’ve been thinking about it all week. Have some parallels and contrasts, my friends:

Villefort:

Starts off Benedetto’s story extremely strongly by literally burying him alive within minutes of his birth. No one has ever failed their son harder.

Might have been onto something when he said crime spread around him and from him like a disease. Seriously, look at this family! It’s so dysfunctional in so many ways!!! If you’re a nature-over-nurture person, it’s not that far-fetched to suppose Benedetto got the Criminal Gene™ from him.

Literally changed his name to hide his compromising origins (as much as humanly possible in the spheres he frequents).

Burnt Edmond’s denunciation letter. Guess who else likes to burn things?

Is brought down by the literal unearthing of his biggest secret, which in turn concludes Benedetto’s arc.

Bertuccio:

Is, literally, the one who gave Benedetto life, and the emissary of Providence™ who shows up to bestow blessings upon him at semi-regular intervals.

Unfortunately, those gifts are always cursed. Surprise salvation from the grave in the garden? Only happens because Bertuccio tried to murder the kid’s father first, and results in what is functionally a kidnapping. Surprise adoption? Results in Benedetto being raised by a literal criminal, who is #shocked when his protege starts hanging out with ill-intentioned older boys and disciplines him with what we can reasonably assume from the unreliable narration is the good old belt. Surprise life-changing information about his origins that Bertuccio held onto all these years? Only revealed to cement Benedetto’s status as Monte-Cristo’s puppet.

Crumbled the second Benedetto questioned his ascendance, therefore drawing a clear link between authority and paternity and reinforcing the kid’s desire to defy both.

“Major Cavalcanti”:

Is just Some Guy™.

And yet, they have so much in common: both are impostors trapped in Monte-Cristo’s web, both are passionate about scamming rich people. There’s a quasi-instantaneous recognition between the two and, because they share the same goal, they develop a strangely wholesome understanding…? It’s forced coexistence as much as it is respect, but it’s not deprived of a weird sort of warmth, and Monte-Cristo himself comments on how much it looks like actual familial love. The contrast with Caderousse could not be harsher.

In virtue of his fake wealth and fake fatherhood, the Major becomes the Ultimate Authority™ ‘Andrea’ name-drops every time he wants to advance in society.

Caderousse:

Outwardly, he adopts all the attributes of a good father. He taught Benedetto most of his tricks! He feeds him! He talks of all the hardships they’ve been through together, like a family would!

But, of course, what he’s really doing is blackmailing Benedetto. Caderousse wants money, and it’s taken him a while to actually get his hands dirty, but he’s finally graduating to murder! And his silly young friend should help him if he doesn’t want his blood spilled on Place de Grève.

Anyway Benedetto stabs that guy real bad. I thought it was hilarious of him.

Danglars:

As Andrea’s future father-in-law, Danglars is his ticket towards the life of luxury without effort he has always wanted.

Of course, Danglars is using Andrea for the same reason Caderousse uses Benedetto: for money. Both of them lie about what they own, ergo about who they are, to get their hands on what they think the other has. This is especially interesting when put in perspective with the brutal honesty Danglars employs when talking to Eugénie, who he treats like a son and almost business partner rather than like a daughter (Transmasc Eugénie Truthers, rise up!).

… But of course, he still wants people to think of he and Andrea as family to strengthen his own nobility: if his son (in-law) is a prince, a title Danglars repeats ad nauseam, doesn’t that make him a king?

All things considered, despite losing their freedom (temporarily in Danglars’ case), money and status, both of them get a relatively happy ending compared to most of the cast.

Monte-Cristo:

BUCKLE UP THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING.

Twice Benedetto raises the possibility of Monte-Cristo being his biological father, a perfectly logical conclusion in light of what he has done for him; in turn, Monte-Cristo recognises Benedetto as one of God’s punishers, a title he otherwise only attributes to himself.

Both of them went through a symbolic rebirth after being buried alive.

Both of them were wrongly accused of being evil incarnate, but eventually graduated to Full-On Criminals. Talk about self-fulfilling prophecies.

Escape Artists™

Both had to completely reinvent themselves, down to their names and origins, to achieve their ambitions.

Ruined engagement ceremony!!! This also draws parallels to Villefort and, interestingly, to Valentine and Franz.

THIS:

🇫🇷 « Ce calme, cette parfaite aisance firent comprendre à Andrea qu’il était pour le moment étreint par une main plus musculeuse que la sienne, et que l’étreinte n’en pouvait être facilement brisée. »

🇬🇧 « This calm, this perfect poise told Andrea that he was presently held by a hand far stronger than his, whose grip could not be escaped easily. »

Both Edmond and Benedetto know they are prisoners of people more powerful than they are, of the narrative, of a superior power that wields them like knives; both Monte-Cristo and Andrea accept their role as knives in the hope of eventually slicing through their ties. Whether or not they succeeded in the end is up to the reader’s interpretation.

Aphtober Day 31: Free Day!

I’ve been reading Dracula for the first time, im about halfway through, here’s my take on it so far

The polycule learns about monster hunting

Elisabeth Das Musical x MLP

集齐土豆召唤阴霾

请选择您心爱的土豆开始收割豆腐（bushi

Today's observation is The Disabled in Monte Cristo.

La Carconte has some chronic illness that gives her frequent fevers and prevents her from waking up or doing things. Her mariage is not happy but overall it works. She is shown as a materialist and not a good person but her husband does not disrespect her and even listens to her at times. Her actions help develop a key point of the plot.

Ali is mute but he is essential for the Count's plans and he communicates with the Count with just some effort on the Count's part. He is proven to be agile and intelligent, he is very expressive and we know how he feels and what opinions he has on things. For being a slave, he has more space and importance than the hired servants. His disability is useful to the Count, which is not something positive per se but it is unusual.

M. Noirtier is severely disabled and we spend a whole chapter on him, on how he communicates and how his grand daughter found a way to speak with him. He can only move his eyes, so there is a family agreement to ask him what he wants and he can give basic answers winking or pointing with them. With his granddaughter, she eventually pulls out a dictionary to help him find the word he wants after he made her go through the whole alphabet looking for the letter he needed. Thanks to her, he can communicate with people who don't know him.

This man was first described as a lost cause. His own son looked at him with pity (or worse) and used him as an example of something more terrible than death, barely more than a plant. When he is given his own chapter (2 chapters actually) he is also given his own voice and someone who listens. And then, he also does something that affects the world around him and probably the plot of the book.

There is a great respect about these characters. They have dignity and flaws, they are as active as their disability allows them.