なに わたしが

Day 27 - Species/Race

Well if I had to put a face to Master Kohga it would be this!

In my way of seeing the character I think he would look like this, a bit of a braggart and not even a evil face (personally he doesn't look evil at all in the game, even if he tries)

I hope you like it!

Remember the sixpencee child slave thing? What happened there, exactly? Was the kid freed? No? They were just run off the website? OK so what good exactly did that do?

Remember the bone stealing witch? What exactly did that witchhunt accomplish? The person got arrested, oh that's great, the american justice system surely rectified the situation

And again, those are instances where the accusations were true and involved real substantive harm to another person. We used to joke on here how callout posts were shit like "receipts below: [several paragraphs of petty fandom drama] [three paragraphs of petty interpersonal drama involving cheating on partners or stealing food out of the fridge or something] [fabricated evidence that the person is responsible for the murder of JonBenét Ramsey]"

And that was back in the 2010s. The meta has changed. Callouts used to be a tool people used to point out actual harm a person had done, rarely, and more commonly were used as a means of bullying somebody over petty drama. Nowadays they're used to manufacture outrage and harassment against marginalized populations. They are a weapon bigots use to turn us against each other. A few manufactured accusations here, some out of context or clipped screenshots there, and people who should be standing in solidarity with each other against white supremacy, patriarchy, cisheteronormativity, are instead devouring each other.

It's sinister as shit, dude, and people will still share these accusations without a second thought. So, why? What is the point? What's the best case scenario here? Raising "awareness?" what the fuck is that supposed to accomplish? Will we get the oh-so-trustworthy authorities involved? Are we hoping for an arrest? A conviction? Throwing a queer or poc person in prison so they can be abused and assaulted and humiliated behind bars? Is that who we are?

Callouts and the like don't serve any real good in the world. At a macro scale they divide us when we should be standing together, and at a micro scale they result in deeply traumatic never-ending harassment and threats and doxxing and worse to a person who almost definitely does not deserve it. And again, for what? A sense of "justice?" this is not justice. This is retribution. It is punishment.

I have trouble reading fics where Rhoam is basically just the secondary villain of the story.

Especially when he's turned into someone who physically abuses Zelda!

Like... it is, quite possibly, the most incorrect characterization for him. Because everything about him says, albeit quietly, that he loves his daughter & that he's only pushing her so much because he feels that he has to.

Do I think he did it absolutely wrong? Yes. Do I think that he should've made it absolutely clear to her that he loved her & that if they weren't in such a dire situation that he would never behave in such a way? Abso-freaking-lutely!

But do I think that he'd beat her??? Hell the fuck NO!!

I think he'd sooner kill himself! And if he ever heard that someone else was hurting his daughter, I think they'd either be executed on the spot, no trial. Possibly by Rhoam's own hands. Or they'd be tortured in the most gruesome ways imaginable for an indeterminate amount of time before then being executed. Once again, by Rhoam's own hands.

Because he loves his daughter & he detested how he treated her.

Heck, keep in mind that those memories are from Link's perspective. Who, logically speaking, wouldn't be privy to how the 2 interact behind closed doors. He is, in many ways, an unreliable narrator of the Naif type. So, for all we know, Rhoam did tell Zelda he loved her quite often. Perhaps he did make it clear that he was pushing her because of the Calamity's swift approach & that, if not for that, he'd let her enjoy her life & her passions & her hobbies.

Which makes reading otherwise well-written fics where he's portrayed as some hateful, rotten abuser very difficult.

Definitely not the best dad, nor even a good dad by a long shot, but he's also not just a dad. He's also a king who is responsible for the lives of everyone in his kingdom.

Including his beloved daughter.