Danny Not Confronting Lisa's Authority Really Sells How Little Confidence He Has On Himself As A Parent.

Musings on Haladriel/Saurondriel after the season finale fight. I thought the fight itself was excellent! This more clearly matched my expectations for how Sauron and Galadriel would interact after the reveal. Adrenaline filled combat, with unresolved tensions that could be cut with a sword. Clark and Vickers were both amazing and despite the expected direction, I found myself at the edge of my seat!

Sauron clearly has a peculiar relationship with pain, as he described to Celebrimbor. His closest model for intimacy, Morgoth, made him see pain as a game, to prove whose will is greater. In that context, it's interesting how the closest emotional bonds he is shown to have are with those who push through the pain, and continue to defy him.

Both Galadriel and Celebrimbor score victories in their "contest of wills", Galadriel through turning him down again, and Celebrimbor resisting until his death. All this to say, Sauron has a type, and playing hard to get seems to work on him!

I don't think Sauron hurting Galadriel in that sense means he is unable to love her or it was purely deception. People can hurt the ones they love all the time, after all. :) What struck out to me was that after Galadriel is wounded, he doesn't try to stab her hand or otherwise take away Nenya by force. Even through their game, even though he is twisted, he wants Galadriel to choose him, to hand over her ring of her own free will. And that both leads to her escape and is agonizingly sweet!

i don't understand why it's even a question whether sauron was reaching for galadriel or nenya.

i think it's obvious that sauron's desire to possess nenya is a metaphor for his desire to have galadriel. nenya = galadriel.

if nenya just represented a ring and all sauron wanted was that ring, he would have snatched that thing away from galadriel the moment he saw it, and he had many opportunities to take it away. he wanted galadriel to give him nenya herself, bc that meant her giving in to him as well.

he was so desperate and teary while asking galadriel to give him nenya after stabbing her bc he hurt her far worse than he wanted to, trying to bring her to the point where she would give in, but she kept resisting and i believe he just didn't want to keep on hurting her. yet he would continue until she willingly gave him what he wanted. that is why he was so relieved and the most overjoyed we have seen him when he thought she finally believed he wanted to heal the middle-earth (+her) and was about to give him nenya (=herself).

the whole thing was so obviously a psychological game sprinkled with morgoth tactics sauron played on galadriel in a desperate hope of breaking her defenses down till she willingly gave herself to him.

and he changed the position of his hand to reach for her wrist, that way he would have been able to pull her back. if he had just reached for the ring, he would have tried to reach from below of her hand (where his hand was already positioned) to open her palm and quickly snatch the ring.

This kind of in-universe material would probably work really well in getting across the sort of piece-meal way a lot of superhero media works best in. You could tether it in the reactions of people and the world and have the feeling of there being a larger history in the background of the character, without having to go through the enormous backlog of comic-book history.

Superman is the character this would be the smoothest to pull off with, due to his global influence in-world, and wide-spread imaginery in real life. But it could likely work with others too. A documentary showing the effects of Batman on Gotham, or the evolving public perspection of the Hulk would be so cool to watch too.

The news montage sequence from Batman Vs Superman remains, to this day, one of my favorite three minutes of superhero fiction

Honestly this is one of the reasons Bloodborne's rally mechanic works so well. Oh, you hit me cause I got greedy. Fuck that, I'm going to hit you again and keep hitting you after you fall dead to the ground. Wonderful combination of game mechanics and in-lore flavour.

the only mistake I make in elden ring and other soulslike games is not being unable to dodge or block in time, it is quite simply that I got fucking greedy.

i want that bitch dead and I can't help trying to get an extra hit in even though they rock my shit and punish me every time.

I will not apologize nor will I ever stop.

🎶you will remember me…remember me for centuries🎶

A lot of Thoughts about Enver Gortash and the text of Richard III

Ok so William Shakespeare's character of Richard of Gloucester is very much the archetype for the Tyrant in western literature and I just have SO MANY THOUGHTS about the way Enver Gortash wears that particular crown... (Not to mention how the fangirl in me just loves some of Richard's dialogue and could easily see it coming out of Gortash's mouth, and I'm trying so hard NOT to write a whole ass fic just so I can get Gortash to say, "I am not made of stone.")

WHO IS RICHARD III?

In real life, he was the last Plantagenet king of England, and a controversial figure, but I'm just talking about how he's depicted as a character in William Shakespeare's play Richard III (and to a lesser degree in Henry VI) . In Shakespeare's plays he is written as the quintessential scheming, backstabbing, duplicitous tyrant who will stop at nothing to gain and keep power. He concocts a massive plan in which he will manipulate the whole of the English aristocracy into crowning him king, by creating a situation in which they will be so desperate and angry at an imagined enemy that they will beg him to assume power over them. Sound familiar?

"Since I cannot prove a lover (...) I am determined to prove a villain." They have different backgrounds, but with both Richard of Gloucester and Enver Gortash there's a driving current of otherness compared to the ranks of the nobility that they're manipulating. Gortash is from a working class family but clawed his way up to join the ranks of the well-bred elite through cunning and ingenuity (and lots of crime). Richard was born into a noble family, but is physically disabled and is often mocked or insulted for it. In context, Richard uses the phrase 'since I cannot prove a lover' less as a complaint about his love life and more as a general example of how he has doesn't fit in with his peers. Basically, "You don't accept me? I'll make that everyone's problem."

"How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown..." Both of them survived trauma and violence, which was directed at them by people against whom they were powerless at the time. Gortash was sold to Raphael as a child and spent years as a target of every kind of abuse his master deigned to throw at him. Richard saw his father and brother brutally tortured, then murdered by the queen of their country, while he could do nothing to stop it. In both cases they internalized at a young age that violence = power = safety.

"Was ever woman in this humour won? (...) I, that kill'd her husband and his father, to take her in her heart's extremest hate (...) and yet to win her, all the world to nothing!" Both Richard and Gortash are platinum-tier smooth-talkers, who are skilled at getting other people to act the way they want through use of charming words. Richard shoots his shot with Anne despite the fact that she knows full well he murdered her last husband and she literally spent the first half of the scene wishing death on him. But by the end of the scene he's convinced her to marry him. Gortash, similarly, can talk the player character around to siding with him against the Elder Brain in spite of having just spent the first 2 act of the games trying to unravel his evil plots. Why? Because they're both just. that. smooth. They both have a way of manipulating others with a smile and good cheer - they sound so reasonable, even when you KNOW you shouldn't listen to them.

"Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider, whose deadly web ensnareth thee about? Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself." Both of them have are underestimated partly because of their ability to be charming, and partly because of their status as outsiders. Gortash because of his working class background, and Richard because of his disabilities. In both cases, there are people who find them repulsive but generally toothless (Queen Elizabeth and Ulder Ravengard respectively) who live to regret it. In both cases there are also people who ring the alarm bell that this creep is up to no good, but who aren't heeded soon enough.

"And thou unfit for any place but hell." "Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it." "Some dungeon." "Your bed-chamber." They both have a little bit of that freak in them and seem to get off on trying to fuck people who want them dead. See: Richard with Anne. Durgetash in general.

"I'll be at charges for a looking-glass, and entertain some score or two of tailors." Gortash and Richard are both exceptionally well-dressed, to the point of vanity. Gortash is described as handsome in the game, but even fans who dig him can admit that he has a very unconventional style of attractiveness. His teeth are discolored, his skin is blotchy, he's pushing late middle age, and he's got the sort of flat features that other fans have pointed out are typical of boxers and other people who've gotten punched in the face a lot. Similarly, Richard is described as hunchbacked and with features so deformed that 'dogs bark at (him) as (he) passes by'. Yet, despite not being conventionally pretty, both of them seem to spend a lot of money on their clothes. ... this is getting long, so I'm going to end this here. Might do a part 2 later if the brainrot is still upon me.

Why You should Read "A Little Wicked"

(if you like villains, BG3, smut, and Enver "Slithering Wet Malice" Gortash)

A Halfling Cleric (least played race and class combo!) main character with nuanced morality, a layered backstory, and who engages in sincere, messy non-monogamy

Humor in conversations, from puns to jokes to Enver Gortash deadpan snarking at the Morninglord Lathander himself

A serious, nuanced look at how an ascension-chasing Astarion would be in a relationship

A Tavtash pairing that makes sense with the underlying character motivations while still respecting a historical (and future) Durgetash pairing

Melting hot smut in multiple pairings and scenarios that fit into the story as a whole

A full chapter dedicated to the Temple of Bhaal and the emotional Descent to the Underworld experience of a Reject-intending Dark Urge

An ending where we don't have to choose between the Emperor and Orpheus!

Roah Moonglow enjoying milk tea. Yes, that's an entire bullet point on its own. Y'all don't give enough love to her

Lots of DnD lore shout-outs, from the MC's deity to Barovian implications to reminding everyone that their favorite new-beginnings god has a cataclysm named for him

I talk up A Little Wicked a lot, and that's because it deserves it. It's a longer fic, 57,000 words in eleven easy-to-split-up chapters. It's an act 3 rewrite, with no copied scenes, but with new spins on many in-game events (let's just blow a hole in the Szarr Palace lmao,) and it's written by someone who genuinely likes and understands all the characters they write about. It's my first novel-length fic, and anyone who drops in my DMs about it raves about how emotionally invested they become, how true the characters are to the game, how this little fellow Zefira Shadebrook is someone they come to love!

I know, maybe people are like "eh, a halfling having sex" - but give me a chance, please! If you love Durgetash, if you love the bastard Enver Gortash, if you can just try one Tavtash story (that ends in Durgetash!) and give me a chance to impress you, please try reading A Little Wicked. It will be worth your time.

Finally, an exuse to fuse some of my favorite pieces of media. I would drop Taylor, Blake and Sylvester in to Slay the princess. It's a visual novel dealing with both body and cosmic horror. Of course, it is also a love story. To save time, the gang will enter the story all at once, taking on differnt roles. Heavy spoilers will follow.

In the story of Stp, a man desperate to save the world from ending imprisons the consept/god of change and splits it in two pieces. One of these pieces is the player character, a bird-man like creature, and one is a princess. The man, known as the Narrator, will attempt to persuade the player into killing the princess, to stop the end of the world.

Taylor will take the role of the Narrator. She is comfortable with "the ends justify the means" rhetoric and will complain constantly about how this all would be so much easier if everyone just worked together. As the Narrator, she can lightly change the environment or at times take control of the player, wich is very fitting for our dear queen administrator.

Blake is the player character. Not only is it his nature to be active and force the world to react, he is once again in conflict with a piece of himself, that is nearly doomed to end in violence. At least he is in a bird themed body from the start. Although Blake is canonically hot, his drive to move forward, slay the bigger monsters and bad Karma will make it easier fir Taylor to push him into a fight with the Princess. They struggle and both die in their first encounter.

The princess herself is an eldritch being, whose form and personality change based on the watcher's perspection of her. Very Stranger. In the base game, when you die, you awake in a new world, with a new voice in your head, and the princess has changed based on your actions. Enter Sylvester!

This time, Blake wakes up with Sylvester's voice in his head. A devastating time for Taylor as well. In this version, as Blake struggles and fights with the Princess, Sylvester tries to shake the box, possibly flirting with the Princess in the process. Sy's dynamic with her resembles either his relationship with Mary or Mauer, depending on Blake and Taylor's reactions.

In the end, when all is revealed, Blake' s empathy and Sy's desire for freedom will win out, and the two will escape Taylor's prison with the Princess, who possibly joins the Lambs in a faraway universe. Thank you for anyone who has read this far, clearly I have fanfiction I need to write. This was a fun prompt and I highly recommend anyone curious to give Slay the Princess a try, it is a wonderful story. Each of Wildbow's protagonists fit the game like a glove filled with glass shards.

Since people liked the last question I asked, here's round 2 for y'all

Each Wildbow Protag is dumped into the last romantic-comedy you've watched/read/played (visual novels are allowed).

How badly do they ruin the romance?

Introducing The Domains of Dread is a super interesting way to continue the story after the events of the game! Lots of cool ways to yes-and existing storylines. Astarion obviously has potential connections to Barovia, but so might Sentry if the theory that Bhaal created Strahd holds true.

Sentry and Gortash seem wonderfully tragic! Such a good concept too.

One thing that needs to be understood about Sentry is that he is never really good aligned. He can be a kind person and very likeable, he can be considered a hero and helpful to his friends, some of whom may be good people, but his heart will always belong mostly to Gortash.

Of course as a polyamorous person, he still has deep feelings for Astarion and Halsin, of course he cares for his children and his friends, but if there is a chance he can elevate or worship Enver in any way, that he can help him or protect him, he is going to.

No one has ever loved him for who he is in the same way Enver has. His Bhaalist family accepted his urges but never his trans-ness, his new partners accept his trans-ness, but there's an expectation to "recover " from his urges. Enver accepts both at face value and beyond and even encourages and marvels at Sentry's brutality and macabre creativity.

Sentry is the first person Sentry allowed to impregnate him and did not get rid of the child immediately. He was the first person Sentry saw any semblance of future with, whether it ended in him devouring Enver's flesh or not.

Following the events of the game, he does retrieve as much of Enver's remains as he can, bury them, and begin the process of resurrecting Enver even at the cost of his own safety and freedom. He does everything and anything to begin to turn Enver into an immortal and powerful lich whom Sentry would willingly serve.

When this comes to fruition, he then sets about freeing Enver from Bane's grasp. He claims to his friends and lovers that this is redemptive, but really Sentry doesn't care if Enver repents or not as long as they are together and in love.

Ultimately, this leads to Sentry's enslavement by either a powerful devil or demon lord and Enver's transformation into a Dark Lord in his own Domain of Dread out if despair for losing Sentry and being unable to share his final rise to power with him.

I am nothing if not deeply obsessed with tragedy and dark romances.

Contessa/Eidolon where Eidolon is hyperparanoid the entire time because what if her path to victory really does work on me and this has all been a setup lasting decades and Contessa is hyperparanoid the entire time because her path to victory really doesn't work on him and what if he's gone crazy like Manton did and he's luring me in to kill me and ruin humanity's chance of survival. It would be incomprehensibly bad for both of them. I would read 1.6 million words of it.