Shore up above

CINDERELLA (1950)

and

'Kurtis being devastated and grief-stricken when his father died because he realized they never got to have a real relationship all because of a bullshit shadow war.'

When Kurtis was an infant baby Marie had to ward off a pack of the armed to the teeth Cabal members who wanted to kill baby Kurtis, gun in one hand and the baby in another. Adult Kurtis, per the Bloodline script (where Morton and Smith did magnificent job tackling Konstantin's toxicity and letting Kurtis vocalize how he felt about it), had to travel back in time to save his mother and his baby self, as Konstantin was not doing his basic duties as a husband and father.

Also according to Bloodline, in the rare event Konstantin was around he sought to brainwash Kurtis, a kid growing up, with the LV fanatical ideology. To the point where it almost ruined his mental health. In Kurtis's own words - "sent him half crazy".

According to Murti's bio on Kurtis, the latter, still a kid, had been locked up with other LV adepts when Konstantin yet again was not around to supervise him (like a parent should) and forced to use his powers in that stressful situation. Resulting in Kurtis nearly inadvertently killing one of said Adepts.

Also according to Murti, Konstantin was not even present when Kurtis underwent his final initiation stages. At sixteen.

This not even counting Murti's unofficial notes where Konstantin's dangerous and toxic behaviors reach a whole new level. Where he, still perpetually absent and neglectful, leaves "cute" notes for the son who misses and craves his love and thinks that's A+ parenting. In one of those notes Konstantin tells Kurtis - still either a young kid or before age 16 and the aforementioned initiation ritual - to polish the Chirugai for Sunday. A lethal meat chopper weapon.

Likewise in Murti's official bio on Kurtis it is stated he only left the LV cult at 19, a whole year after reaching legal adulthood, and only because he and his mother yet again presumed Konstantin dead, as they had not heard from him for years. Again.

Konstantin wasn't dead though, he was just busy really training a mentally disturbed teenage girl (Morgau) who, unbeknownst to him, was the daughter of a man whose life he and his cult had destroyed. She ended up being his undoing deservedly.

I mean, apart from being Morton's intention, the game definitely introduces and serves you enough evidence it was gonna end that way.

From some years to now it's like this is some fangirls invention and fanfiction elaborating what the game actually introduced is dismissed as low writing or girly illusion. The nerve.

There's also this attitude that strong female characters cannot ever have love interests because that somehow makes them weak, or takes away their independence. Because that's what almost every horribly written romantic media shows, people started assuming that's a fact.

While I don't doubt that Murti is a sweet person, his dismissal of Lara's and Kurtis's romance stems from the same attitude. Two decades later, and the romance is what fans still discuss extensively, not the lore he created for the game. I kinda get why it peeves him in a way, but dismissing or making subtle jabs at it is doing a massive disservice to his own writing, the characters he created and the dynamic between them.

Not to mention fans who have done massive work to keep AoD relevant.

Core timeline was clear on the fact that in any scenario and version of the story where Kurtis exists he is Lara's only potential endgame love interest. The scenarios where he does not exist within the Classic timeline - the movies - are the ones where Lara ends up alone.

People took the text and the explicit statements from those who wrote said text (including but not limited to Murti) and worked from there, even after the AoD trilogy was permanently discontinued. But precisely because the focus on romantic relationships and shipping is traditionally associated with women and female audiences any romance content or even romantic storylines within the non-romance content is dismissed as inferior and shallow. Not even because of the romance and shipping itself but because in and out of universe romantic storylines are supposed to center women and female needs and power fantasies. Even if the power fantasy is an attractive guy a woman meets on her journey who sacrifices for her on the same day, instead of her being expected to do all the sacrificing for the good of mankind.

This is also precisely why romance is treated as something that makes a female character "weak". Female strength and "depth" are still defined by her doing all the emotional and physical labor alone and providing a constant resource, until it depletes and/or until she dies.

Lara and Kurtis played directly into that female power fantasy and that's what made them an especially desirable target for men and Not Like Other Girls types. Who believe that female power fantasies are less "meaningful and profound" than female suffering and female sacrifice. Most of the pseudo-feminist (read: male "feminist") narratives in the media invariably have a female lead give and never receive, have her on a High Mission TM that she never wanted and have her sacrifice for something or someone. Even if she had other plans and other ideas initially as to what to do with her life.

Female suffering and female sacrifice is treated as empowering and purifying whilst a woman going for what she wants and for who she wants and following her passion is treated as shallow and as her being a "work in progress". That is, before she realizes the only way she can be "deep and mature" is if she forfeits her needs for others. This is a conservative religious propaganda disguised as feminist, a cornerstone of both patriarchy in a whole and most of the mainstream "girlpower" narratives, old and new.

Classic Lara was treated as "superficial and undeveloped" for centering her passion even before Kurtis was anywhere in the picture. Him entering the picture just gave men and Not Like Other Girls a convenient excuse to project their misogyny onto the story and the female dominant shipping space. That is, so they could prop up the "higher content" created by the problematic male creators of girlboss shows and anime that they personally favor (most of whom are being increasingly outed as predatory abusers).

This is why they resort to tried and true sexism by claiming any "other girl" who responds to what's in the text with passion and emotion and centers a female power fantasy in the form of a romantic plot is "inferior" to their "intellectual" selves. Who center their preferred problematic male creators and their overrated pseudo-feminist content (often filled with its own, problematic romances, to boot) whereas any woman who prefers a different content has supposedly never read a "higher literature than hetslop" (this is an actual encounter I had with one such person recently who accused me of that; and of "skimming Wikipedia" for Bulgakov's Master and Margarita which I read several times in the original language).

Murti chose to associate with that crowd when he no longer had either creative power OR creative restrictions regarding TR and AoD. Originally, in its canon form, AoD was a team effort where Murti's focus was on the lore but where most of the emotional depth, particularly when it comes to Lara's relationship with her late mentor Werner and her romantic chemistry with Kurtis, came from Morton and other team members. Murti back then treated the story precisely as a team effort and did not deny the intent of Lara/Kurtis being set up as a romantic couple by said team effort.

AoD being discontinued and franchise taken away from Core gave him the freedom to cleave himself off the Core team and center not the cohesive product in the form of existing canon but only his own contributions, namely the lore. Which he kept changing through the years with numerous scenarios contradicting each other. To build the audience for that he had to pander to male, male centric and/or not like other girls crowd because his "freelance" version centers his own vision and not the preexisting lore of Classic games and Classic Lara (originally written by a woman, Vicky Arnold).

Murti had been doing that ever since he dismissed KTEB and the immense effort they had exerted, the massive archives they had built studying the AoD lore and the consistent contributions they made to keep the interest in it alive as a bunch of fangirls lusting over Kurtis. What he is doing now with retracting his own confirmation of what was obviously in the text when AoD was a team effort is trying to singlehandedly claim the power over the story which was only partially his to begin with.

In fact, Murti's "freelance" version is but a glorified "what if" fanfiction. Which is not even authorized by IP rights holders. Thus, his current statements not only don't override the existing canon, they do not even represent the canon "what if" scenario, the intentions of other Core team members or his own intentions back when he still treated it as a team effort.

When I watch his plot in btvs I do not feel that I watch just a story, I watch his revenge on someone he feels threatened by, how his personal issues are inserted into the story and handled in such a way so I often disagree with the message. And I often feel irritated by it.

That's why if it wasn't for Spike and Spuffy I see that I would not be able to watch this show because I just do not agree with many things there and do not agree with what the main guy and his team want me to think. Even if you want to watch it just for Buffy you still see all this shit that was written in relation to her. She is the main character and they act like it's a woman centered show but she's so easily used by jw self-inserts in any time they want. And yes, she should be always available for such men, of course, she should dream about them. Even though they choose to marry another woman or leave and have a child with someone and just live their own life. But as soon as they show up for 10 minutes she should abandon everything and run to them. Of course, joss.

And the funniest part is that so called nice guys of jw are full of sht. They are nice on the surface. But when you start looking at them and see what they do and who they really are they are just another average jerk you can meet around often.

It didn't help that asking questions or calling out some of those twisted ideas resulted in Whedon's cultist defenders piling up to argue that, actually, Buffy "growing TM" into someone who eventually stated she would let her own sister die/be sacrificed for the good of mankind was a true "character development". Or that Buffy herself, depressed, traumatized by her mother's recent demise, her estranged father not even calling after that, her own sister being revealed to be a ball of energy a vain goddess wanted to destroy permanently to return home and set off the Apocalypse in the process and her ex boyfriend Riley cheating on her and then blaming Buffy for his own actions because she dared to "ignore" him back when said mother was still alive and undergoing treatment for terminal illness - THAT Buffy, in that kind of state sacrificing herself was somehow a "higher note to go out on" than her being in charge of her romantic and sexual agency and dating Spike in season 6.

Because get this, a woman dying for the good of mankind is more "profound and meaningful" than a woman being in an imperfect relationship with an imperfect man but the one who truly wanted her. Who made sure that for the first time in her life she wasn't merely a resource for others, that she wasn't only giving and never receiving (especially when all Buffy had been receiving from her so-called friends and Nice Guys like Xander and Riley was judgment, gaslighting and guilt tripping) but that she was receiving more than she gave. Spike measured her value as a person and as a woman not by how much Buffy could sacrifice for others but by her individual qualities. Which he could either love or hate at different points but he still viewed her as a person rather than a self sacrificing girlboss who only deserves to exist as long as she is useful.

And of course women enjoyed watching that and of course Whedon - and media culture in general - did not let women keep that. Because pseudo-progressive, male feminist media, from the magical girl anime to girlboss shows, is telling women their worth is defined by usefulness. If a man values a woman for who she is something HAS to be wrong with him.

Whedon sure reinforced that misogynistic stereotype in Seeing Red by punishing not just Buffy but the female audience in general by declaring that indeed, if a woman is valued for her individuality it is just because the Bad Boy TM views her as a sexual object. And if she stops being available as such an object he will take her by force.

Too bad she did not appreciate the Nice Guys enough, right?

Too bad she did not listen to Xander well enough and did not arrive in time to stop Riley from leaving. Too bad she told Xander about her "moral failing" of having been with Spike and of him trying to assault her. Xander would make sure she loses her "female purity" some more and loses the authority in the eyes of her own sister and he would tell Dawn's underage self about that event against Buffy's wishes. Even though it was not even remotely his place to do so.

Now the only way Buffy can repent and "heal" from the misogynistic cautionary tale twist in Seeing Red is to make sure she is constantly available to Angel. Now "reformed" into one of Whedon's Nice Guy self inserts even though he did not start out that way. Angel did start out as the Bad Boy type, the type Whedon felt threatened by because such men "steal" women's attention from the sidelined geeks like him.

Season 1-2 Angel was the "tall, dark and handsome" type. Whom Buffy, then a "dumb and hormonal teenage girl", fell head over heels in love with because teenage girls are dumb and hormonal (you can read it in Joss's voice too). She of course was punished for loving the Bad Boy version of Angel, ALSO through violence from him (a scenario later repeated with Spike). Buffy faced her first retribution for the very first time she exercised her sexual agency. She was punished for sleeping with Angel when she was an underage lovesick girl, resulting in him losing his soul. Even though as a 200+ years old adult it was his responsibility to know better and to resist it. But this event was blamed, by the narrative and all of her family and friends (save for Giles), on Buffy and her being lovesick, hormonal and dumb.

What would a Whedon-esque girlboss do in the situation, when she has been victim blamed, humiliated and punished for her sexuality? Of course deliver a corny comeback about female empowerment and how she needs no one but herself and stab her Bad Boy boyfriend through the heart and send him to hell.

See? It is feminist (!!!111!!). It is "equal". They were "both wrong" and they both paid the price. Even though Buffy was not wrong at all. Even though Angel did not even need to die for his soul to return and the Apocalypse to be prevented and it was Xander's Nice Guy self who lied about it out of spite.

Then the show continued on its anime path, the classic pseudo-feminist narrative about forced destiny that a young wide eyed girl has to embrace even if she never chose it, never wanted it and it made her life and the lives of her family and friends miserable. Where her Rejection of the Calling is framed as immaturity whilst her uncritical acceptance of the Forced Great Mission TM and the potential fatal consequences and sacrificial girlboss death that comes with it is framed as Growth TM. We saw it in every anime ever and we saw it in Buffy but Whedon went further: he had to punish Buffy and other women on his shows every step of the way whenever they had ANY kind of goals and emotions outside of that forced mission.

This is why he kept propping up Angel and making Buffy available 24/7 to him after HE chose to leave and break up with her (and it was the only right thing to do in his situation and I don't hold that against him; he should have done it much earlier). When Angel was actually her official boyfriend prior to that their relationship was scorned, judged and punished - or rather Buffy was punished for said relationship. Whedon spoke of post season 3 Angel who, after breaking up with Buffy, led his own life, slept with other women, fell for other women and had a child with another woman as Buffy's only "true love". He claimed that the nasty Bad Boy Spike never had a chance (even when Buffy was actually dating and sleeping with HIM and not with Angel but who cares about Buffy's agency in this). All the while, Joss was disparaging and mocking Bangel love story when they were actually together, calling it Romeo and Juliet (derogatory) and Twilight (a romance that, however flawed, was written by a woman and FOR women, not by a bitter abusive misogynist).

Then Angel left for LA, which, again, was the only right thing to do and that's where the story could have been actually interesting and healthy if ONLY it was not a part of Whedon's twisted and sexist cautionary tale all along. But it was. Because in addition to Angel there was also Cordelia moving to LA, another "fallen woman", a stereotypical, perpetually slut-shamed (by the narrative, Whedon and his Nice Guy self insert Xander) Queen B. Who needed to "redeem" herself for being popular and sexually active. Those are totally greater flaws than murder and sexual predatory that most of the men on his shows were guilty of.

Cordy did move on but her "mistake" was that she didn't just move on from her hometown - she dared to move on from Whedon's self insert Xander. And THAT was something Whedon had to use as another justification for another cautionary tale and another "retribution for dumb women for discarding Nice Guys in favor of the Bad Boys" scenario.

So Whedon went on to smack two birds with one stone: to punish Cordelia for not appreciating Xander enough and to give Angel "redemption". Not from murder, assault, predatory and socipathy exhibited by his soulless self and sometimes even by his soulful self but from being the Bad Boy TM that young girls dared to fall for. It was all accomplished when Cordelia and Angel met Doyle. Someone who loved Cordelia completely and unconditionally, who noticed little things that mattered to her like the new shoes and did so in an affectionate and adoring way. Instead of a judgmental, "stupid shallow bimbo is so annoying but hot enough to be lusting over" way which was how Xander's "love" for her (and all of the women he dated) went.

Angel for his part found a first real friend and confidant who did not judge him by his past, who had his back in spite of it. Not because Powers that Be had told Doyle that Angel was slated to do great things but because Doyle knew it and had faith in him. It was the first healthy friendship on Whedon's shows which miraculously did not veer into the toxic "bros over hos" bonding either. It was SO close to being an improvement of the Whedonverse, a stark contrast to Buffy's toxic and one sided relationship with her so-called "friends" who eventually kicked her out of her own home (something Doyle and Cordelia circa season 1 of ATS would never do to Angel even in their wildest dreams).

And then Whedon had to weaponize this one singular healthy dynamic on both shows against the "dumb women" and Bad Boys TM. It sure did not help that the late Glenn Quinn portraying Doyle was a million times more talented and charismatic than Whedon could ever be and I'm sure it got under Whedon's skin and contributed to his vicious man-child hatred of his character (based on Whedon's interviews he hated Doyle even more than Spike).

Thus, he had to kill off Doyle in some of the most violent, brutal, graphic ways imaginable, in front of Angel and Cordelia, having him literally dissolve into atoms with his skin peeling off of his face in real time. Leaving devastated not just Cordelia who created their trio and formed the Angel Investigation on her own effort (it was her idea, her logo, her insisting they should run it like a business). But also leaving Angel with the permanent sense of guilt because Doyle's sacrifice was not just to save others, it was to save Angel specifically, who was initially intended to be the one to sacrifice himself.

There where Buffy was expected to remain a self sacrificing girlboss and die time and again for the good of others, where her 16 year old self was shamed for saying she did NOT want to die for the good of mankind Angel got the benefit of someone sacrificing instead of him and FOR him. Not too long after his own girlfriend killed him and sent him to hell to save the world because the world was more important. Angel did not get to keep a friend who loved him this much but he got the "male lead privilege" of having said friend sacrifice for him.

This was Whedon's final act of revenge on Angel's Bad Boy self before he turned him into one of his self insert Nice Guy selves.

But Whedon was not done with Cordelia.

Doyle's sacrifice for Angel remained an act of beautiful and powerful friendship but Cordelia did not get to keep his sacrifice or his memory and love for her untainted. Doyle's love for Cordelia and his sacrifice for her were reframed in the very NEXT episode as a literal plot device to transfer the deathly visions to her. The ones she explicitly SAID in the earlier episodes she would never want.

To add insult to injury, Whedon had Doyle transfer them through the first and last kiss he gave Cordelia. Another punishing of a woman for daring to return "bad boy's" feelings and having a romantic interaction with him. Something that was meant to be man's act of love for the woman he cherished was twisted almost immediately into the act of pain and suffering for her. Into a yet another Forced Girlboss mission that was meant to culminate in her sacrificial death for the good of mankind (read: men). "You are Welcome" (c).

But not before Cordy endured TWO deathly pregnancies, first one being in the immediate aftermath of Doyle's death where Whedon paired her with another demon to drive the point home: Demons aka Bad Boys are Bad.

Silly little woman, should have never considered that demonic drunkard an option or let him kiss her.

It would have never happened if she stayed with Xander, right?

Except when Cordelia was with Xander he cheated on her and caused her to be impaled and almost die and the narrative continued to frame her as a shallow Queen B who needed redemption through forced girlboss missions and forced powers in order to be worthy of respect.

Hm. Teenagers. They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you.