An Iron Butler fanblog

ROUND 2 — Match 131 of 143

Thomas Barrow (Downton Abbey)

Identity: Gay, explicit Notes: Directly referred to as gay on-screen, and has multiple romantic relationships with other men. Propaganda: 1. "thomas is such an annoying character to love because he’ll do something genuinely kind and then immediately ruin it by being petty on purpose. like he’s constantly fighting himself. he wants security and respect and to not be disposable, and the only way he knows how to protect that is by staying sharp and defensive and sometimes just plain cruel first so nobody can get there before him. but that’s also why he works. he’s not written as “the villain servant” forever - you can see the loneliness under it, and the way being gay in that world boxes him into constant fear and self-protection. he’s observant, he’s intelligent, he’s capable, and half the time he’s the only one in the room who’s actually clocking what’s going on, but he can’t just be open about wanting connection the way other characters can. so he lashes out. he schemes. he self-sabotages. and then you get these moments where he’s trying, actually trying, and it hits harder because it’s not easy for him. also: rob james-collier plays him like a real person, not a cartoon, which helps a lot. i don’t excuse half the stuff he does, but i get why he is the way he is, and when he finally gets a bit of peace it feels deserved." 2. "Thinking about that scene after Thomas has spent the ENTIRE series struggling with internalised homophobia (and everyone ELSE'S homophobia), and how cathartic it felt when Mr. Carson found out he was gay and called him foul and Thomas straightened up and said "I am not foul, Mr. Carson. I'm not the same as you, but I am not foul."

vs. Asra Alnazar (The Arcana)

Identity: Bisexual, explicit; Nonbinary, Word of God Notes: Is in love with the protagonist and can enter a relationship with them regardless of gender, and can also end up in a relationship with Muriel or Julian (both men) in certain routes. Explicitly referred to as bisexual by the developers, as well as nonbinary, and described as using he/they pronouns. Propaganda: 1. "Asra’s route works because he’s consistently protective and consistently evasive, and the story doesn’t pretend those traits don’t clash. He clearly cares a lot, he shows up when it matters, and he’s good at reading what you need in the moment - but he also keeps information back, deflects when things get too personal, and tries to handle problems alone. I like that the game lets him be affectionate without making him emotionally simple. If you want a love interest who feels like he has an actual pattern of behavior (good and bad), he’s one of the best-written in the cast." 2. "he’s gentle, mysterious, a little evasive, deeply devoted, and has that whole soft-spoken magical sadness thing going on that the arcana absolutely knows people go crazy for. there’s always this sense with him that he feels everything very deeply and just doesn’t say all of it out loud. a lot of what makes him stick, too, is how central love is to his character without it making him feel flat or one-note. he’s romantic in this very sincere, aching way, and it gives him a lot of emotional weight. he feels intimate as a character - like someone built around longing, care, memory, and the fear of losing people. that makes him really hard not to care about."

[ Link to survey ]

The 12th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 30th August 2025.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

If you can't wait for survey numbers, you can click here for a public spreadsheet of non-secret info with graphs as it comes in, updated manually a few times per day.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

The 12th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 30th August 2025.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

If you can't wait for survey numbers, you can click here for a public spreadsheet of non-secret info with graphs as it comes in, updated manually a few times per day.

Thank you so much!

Dudes who are entralled by the idea of being some sort of glorious war hero are making WWII history half their personalities by watching countless movies and documentaries, falling down wikipedia rabbit holes, and going to museums.

A bunch of middleaged women who enjoy watching a Masterpiece Classic series on their regional public broadcaster saw this evil queen who was just one among a massive ensamble cast and decided that they were going to make his story better by rewriting it with obscene levels of research done casually in their downtime. The ladies are obtaining copies of the RAMC handbook from 1914, reading countless eyewitness accounts of several naval battles from both sides, learning not just how a certain regiments uniform went together, but the most common mistakes their wearer might make in donning it. These diabolical fic writers are setting aside time to go to physical archives, reading period medical journals, and meteorological reports, then citing their sources in the chapter end notes. Just wait until you get smacked in the face with the chapter end note apologising for the historical inaccuracy when a timeline was altered just slightly for the sake of plot, with a detailed description of what actually would have happened. They're SO into it, and all the while doing everything they can to let the reader know that there is no glory in war, only horrors and bodies thrown carelessly into a meat grinder by powerful men. They show you this loss through characters you love, then give you a list of resources where you can see the records of the countless real people that it all actually happened to, lest you be lulled into thinking this was just a story.

Is anyone noticing that Thomas is no longer wearing his glove in this film?

I don’t know what to say, really. I’m just so happy for him.

Downton Abbey DVD Commentaries → S1E1 (Julian Fellowes, Gareth Neame, and Brian Percival)

[1:01:26]

Julian: We’re headed off for funny territory.

Gareth: Probably the bare chest was a bit of a giveaway.

Brian: I always remember the time we rehearsed this scene…was two extremely heterosexual men sitting as far apart as possible on opposite sides of the room. And by the end of the session, they were kissing.

Julian: I want it on record that they requested the kiss.

Brian: They did, yes!

Julian: It wasn’t in the script because I just felt it was a little bit pushy to put one in the script. But no, they were up for it.

Brian: They were up for it, definitely.

Julian: Presumably, if any of them go into politics, this is the only bit of film that will be shown on British television.

Clockmaking is a rather rare and highly skilled profession. Clocks are highly sought after and expensive. Owning a clock shop would mean money. Not riches, but money. And I'm assuming Mr Barrow Senior would be the owner, considering it was said he was "a clockmaker" not "working in a clock shop" or similar and Thomas "grew up around clocks" learning his father's skills.

The Barrows would be in the upper stratum of working class, maybe even lower middle class, not industrial proletariat. A certain standard of living. Probably living in a small but nice and tidy flat above the shop, not a draughty, mouldy, vermin-infested tenement flat. The mother would be a housewife and mother, probably helping her husband with keeping the books and other shop-related tasks, not a factory worker or domestic. They might even have had a domestic themselves – not full staff of course, but a charwoman coming in to help out or something.

Does that mean he had a good childhood? Yes. Not happy and loving, that much we know from canon, but stable, in the sense of having all the basic necessities met, not struggling from day to day. Thomas would've grown up fed, clothed, shod, clean, warm. Which, for a working class kid in Victorian times, already means a lot.

Thomas is well-read, educated, even knows a bit of Latin. Unlikely that came from nothing but basic schooling in a rough part of town, or a hobby while working gruelling 14 hour days in service. I'd like to think he would've gone to grammar school eventually, maybe on a scholarship, or at least gotten a solid education while apprenticing as a clockmaker with his father, as sons of craftsmen and tradesmen used to do these days.

And that's the difference between Thomas Barrow and someone like Daisy. The Barrows wouldn't be the kind of people, not from the sort of background where it'd be normal, and an opportunity, to send a barely adolescent son away to work. So to Thomas, a position in service doesn't necessarily mean an upgrade in class and status, he's not escaping abject poverty and some Dickensian hellscape.