merina thropp

Like, generally speaking, and I say this as a big Cass fan -- I think this direction for Cass might be hard for some fans to envision or accept? And I only say this because I've noticed, probably now more than ever, when fans like or dislike a character, they insist on putting them in 1 of 2 buckets: they're either a "good" or "bad" person. But I don't think that's the best framework to use. It's shallow, and arguably unfair to a character and their writer(s).

Exploring characters' capacity for good or harm is fun. There are 2 perspectives that float around: (A) "This character would not [say/do] that," and (B) "Okay, but what would make them [say/do] that?" And I think both ideas can coexist (within reason, I guess? IDK, I can relate with both lol).

And with that said -- people are fallible, and so no one is truly a "good" person. Like we all (I hope) and Cass, at her core, strive to be good. We see it from her constantly throughout the show. She's ambitious and seeks glory, sure, (and those aren't inherently negative qualities at all, though I feel people perceive them as such) but that doesn't negate her pursuit of justice etc etc.

This darker track's intrigued me for years because I love Cass, and her anger and capacity for contempt is part of why I love her. I've been drafting a separate post talking about how people try to position her different traits as a reason why she's a bad person and therefore a bad character (and I would say those are 2 distinct things that people conflate/fail to acknowledge in meta), but her Moonstone era/villain arc/whatever-you-want-to-call-it is her breaking point.

first of all, she's a "living weapon" type of character which!!! yes!!! she's not on the extreme end of that spectrum, i'd say she's like in the middle of living weapon if it's juxtaposed against a Normal Person (no idea if that makes sense). still, the obedience and devotion so deeply ingrained in her is beautiful. it's horrifying but beautiful. you feel her grief and rage in every scene. you feel how much she genuinely believes that what she's doing is right, which makes her stand out so starkly against the rest of the cast that does bad things, because you know that many of them are doing it knowing they're bad. but lute thinks she's doing it all for the good of heaven and the good of the cause she believes in. and you can just tell that she is completely loyal to that idea.

i want to see her worldview shatter. this is why i love the idea of lute falling to hell. i want to see lute face such serious consequences for her actions that, instead of vindicating her, making her rethink everything she's ever known. i want to see her pick herself up and put herself back together. i honestly want to see her make up with vaggie, too, who would be the only person who truly understands what her life and trauma is like.

lute could never be a villain to me. she's one of the most tragic characters. raised to be a weapon, fell in love with the an unobtainable person, that person dies when you can't even attempt to save them, and you live knowing that someone you left for dead and their mercy is the only reason you keep standing. but honestly, i can't help but think that lute probably wishes vaggie had just killed her, so she wouldn't have to live with the grief, at the same time as she channels all of that energy into repaying what she experienced at any cost.

seeing lute's grief supersede her allegiance to the executioner's cause was sooo satisfying. we're seeing the cracks in her worldview already, because if the cause doesn't mean as much as adam did, then can the cause really mean anything at all?

🌑 trying to live but feeling so damaged 🌑

Cassandra ,, for the everybodys.