#ambitious witch

People were so mad about The Demon in the Woods not being adapted even when they said that it was because practical choices. But I found the rage hilarious because... How does it affect the show? As many things that LB does. That short story shows Aleksander thinking he will create a safe place... But he does nothing that affects the plot of the trilogy yet. The flashback was better because not only showed his past... But also kept him as the most active character.

We definitely needed this, imagine the Impact™. I love the intimacy of it. And if it was during the last break-up scene for the first time, ohhhhh boy. Yup, yuppp, the angst would’ve been off the charts🙈

and then just patiently wait until he comes back crawling begin for her company. I love pining but every m/f fandom doing this same thing is really annoying (2/2)

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The reason I need dark!rey so much is not exactly for plot reasons but for Rey’s role as a protagonist. I mean, if this is a story only about Ben Solo’s conflicts (because her conflicts were pretty easily solved) then she’s not really a protagonist, only an active viewer, important but secondary. I can’t deal with the fandom’s wank about how misogynistic it is for a female character to feel attracted to the dark.

If you look at the subdiscourses and probably have a bias for detecting correlations, there's a clear tendency that those who are most appalled at Rey being attracted to darkness/having to face her darkness in more than a purely metaphorical way and any suggestion of Ben not having a completely straightforward humiliating idc how much you think it can be executed non-humiliatingly it will be humiliation redemption... absolutely don't think of the sequels as Rey's story. Her status of a protagonist serves as a circular logic argument for why she's right/won't kill Ben (ironically, in other parts of the fandom it's an argument for why she will kill him)/is 100% light/any criticism of the sequels is misogyny but any deeper implications of her trauma or structural heroine's journey seem to be completely forgotten. It's a coming of age story but why should the main character have a proper confrontation with the shadow, a key element in individuation process? A tragedy is from harmony to discord, a comedy is from discord to harmony, so the protagonist absolutely should be utterly wrong about something in the beginning of their journey, otherwise there isn't a need for a journey in the first place. I know some try to argue that Well, Rey has found out she was wrong about Ben and that this is somehow dramatic progress but ffs, nothing in her picture of the world changed, she just pushed Ben into a not entirely right place in the puzzle and then got confused when the picture proved wrong. Others suggest that she needed to learn to believe in herself in which case a) Ben's redemption makes very little dramatic sense in her story and b) she already achieved that, never was very inconfident about herself in the first placd and TROS trailer only shows she's still as self assured if not more. So wtf is the point of her story having a third act, because getting celebrated isn't a story.

And then there was a glimpse of hope that maybe while we won'f get Rey falling to darkness, we'll at least have her pining and actually needing Ben, the chances of which daisygate really did diminish. So it's just going to be him longing for her while she goes on an epic side quest with the Alliance of Good. Which, again, is fine, if we actually agree Rey is a plain ol' anima with little subvertion in Ben's story. Buut no, DLF will continue to push her as an epic protagonist which is starting to look really grotesque at this point.

Honestly! GRRM, the cast and the writers have been repeating ‘till they’re blue in the face (h a) that the worst thing about Night King & Co. trying to take over is that they’re mindless zombies who only want to destroy. They have no emotions, no motivation, no ambition; what they want is to wipe out light and all of mankind along with its history. That’s it. And that’s why it’s so terrible - it’s not a force you can reason or bargain with because nothing means anything to it. And everyone was still looking for this guy’s identity or reasons for doing what he did when he has none of those things. He’s Death. Feeling cheated when it’s literally that simple after people have been saying it for years is just amazing.

How does any of that compare to supposed bad guys who already have the history, motivations, identity/clear cut place in the world that they fought for and want to protect? Come on. It makes perfect sense that it was always going to be human versus human in the end because the show in particular (much more so than the books) has been about what personal desires and the sheer determination to keep going, keep living anyway (a very human thing and, in one way or another, the drive behind all the current main characters, good or bad) can do and undo. It was always the story the show meant to tell and I can’t wait to see it unfold. Not entirely sure why it’s suddenly a scandal.

I would love it if Kylo had more screentime, but I also think JJ can’t leave any main character behind, so he’s gotta distribute the screentime fairly equally between the main characters. Sure, Poe is in no way as important as Kylo Ren in the narrative, but he’s still a main character, and it was JJ’s choice to keep him alive, so he has to live with that and do Poe’s journey justice as well as the other characters. I think we can settle our expectations on Kylo having roughly the same amount of screentime he had in TLJ, perhaps slightly bigger. The best we can hope for is that IX isn’t split into 2 separate plot arcs like TLJ was, so each main character’s screentime can happen simultaneously to the others’ and they all can develop organically in the context of the same plot, without “stealing” from one another. If the movie doesn’t have to cut back and forth to two or more separate storylines, if they’re all in the same storyline, then each character’s screentime increases exponentially, including Kylo’s.

I don't have doubts with Reylo, but I am afraid that his redemption would come sloppy if he has just some minutes of screentime/dialog

I’m seeing a lot of concern about the handling of Kylo’s redemption as if it would need an ENORMOUS narrative arc to happen in a believable way. I don’t think it does. The bulk of the build up has already been done—we already have the devastating internal conflict, the tragic backstory, the *meaningful* relationship with the main hero, the basic incompatibility with the “real” embodiment of the First Order (Hux), all already in place and ready to detonate. TBH, all Kylo needs is a revelation—an epiphany. It doesn’t have to take a long journey to get there. It could be as simple as another force vision, this time easier to read. Or a situation in which Ben immediately identifies what he saw in the first force vision, realizing he misinterpreted it the first time. Make this happen simultaneously to Hux’s betrayal and maybe Kylo witnessing what a Hux-shaped First Order would actually do to people like him (*), and your job is done here.

I think that 100 had a bigger wank during seasons 2-3 where fans where fighting over Clexa and Bellarke. Nowadays, the fandom is quieter. That doesn’t mean that is wank free, but it’s easier to avoid it.

At first, Rason Rothenberg (the show-runner) had said that the series will run for five seasons. However, recently it was confirmed that he planned beyond season five. Since, it was CW president the one who let us know about it,  I doubt that the channel will cancel the series. 

Thank you! ^^

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

For this particular story? ‘Meeting in spite of everything’ is probably a big one here, in a ‘meant to be’ way. Just, you know... the thought of them affecting each other’s lives in pretty much the same way regardless of the circumstances is what always gets me. The idea of their fates - mostly through the TARDIS and, along with it, Time itself - is fascinating to me and that’s pretty much the reason why this fic is taking so long; it’s one of the bigger, deeper fanfic projects I’ve tried to delve into.

Telepathy/mind links are also a big thing in it (and also a big thing for me in general, honestly), in the sense that there’s a looot of focus on looking into each other’s thought processes (especially since I want River to essentially be close enough/intertwined enough with the TARDIS to be her daughter in an even more literal sense towards the end).

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

Big fan. I’ve written it plenty of times and it’s mostly for the sake of writing the reaction from the people left behind, so no, I wouldn’t say there’s anyone untouchable for me. In fact, I’ve killed off the majority of my favourite characters the most times in fic, regardless of fandom. ;D As for reading... Less so. It’s not a limit for me or anything, but I’m very sensitive about character deaths and the way they’re carried out - I prefer ‘em the specific ways in which I imagine them and sort of try to ignore the rest.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

I like them! They’re a bit tricky, considering that my writing schedule (when mixing with work and uni) is hectic at best, but I do love doing them when I have more free time/am sure that I’ll be able to do my part in time.

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

This one is long as hеll, but I really do love it. It’s from yet another Jonerys Parental Reveal (TM) fic from last summer:

Her gaze darted towards him again. “Does the fire bother you?”

“No.” It was rather warm, now that she’d mentioned it, but not enough to distract him from the swift change of topic. “What does it matter?”

“Give me your hand.” He did. Daenerys intertwined their fingers and brought them closer to herself, her hold light and casual as always even as Jon’s grip tightened around her reflexively at the sudden influx of heat. “Does it burn now?”

“It’s—.” This was important to her, but figuring out how exactly was a struggle. It wasn’t unbearable, but it wasn’t far from it either; just the worse side of ‘unpleasant’. “It is really hot.”

“But you’re never cold.” The statement was stuck somewhere between an accusation and a question.

“I told you; I’m just used to it. I lived on the Wall for years.” Jon didn’t move away, eager to get as close to the bottom of this as possible. “What—”

It was too late – she’d let him go and had recoiled once again, somehow even more distant than before. Her hand was inching closer to the crackling fire at the edge almost absently. Jon forced himself to look away. “It’s nothing.”

Jon suppressed a sigh. He loved her, he knew that much by now, but it was so much easier when she wasn’t holding back so much; when they could be open in their questions to one another.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said at last, voice oddly uncertain.

“It doesn’t?”

“No.” Her smile was much more genuine now. “It doesn’t.”

“How come?”

Daenerys shifted around in the limited space between them until they were pressed closer to each other and Jon could feel the warmth of her washing over him when she leant in, hair cascading over her shoulders and brushing his chest. This he loved far too much already – the occasional playfulness and all the life that poured out of every gesture she made. “Because you’re never cold.”

Her enthusiasm was infectious. Jon wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her, but made no move to get either of them in a more comfortable position. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does,” she assured him; a promise as tinged with sadness as it was with hope. Her fingers were tracing over his cheeks, down his jawline, as if she was trying to map out his features to remember later. “It will.”

I love it because it was my best case scenario for this plotline - I wanted Dany to learn it first, somehow, and get the chance to get used to the idea of what it means as far as her idea of family and belonging and Jon goes. Obviously it was never going to happen - the ball had to be dropped on Jon first, since it’s his ball - but it was fun while it could still count as potential canon.

Also, can’t resist, I’m going to add another one under this question because I’ve been going through the outline of the sequel of this fic for literally over a year now and the canon happenings mostly solidified my Lannister-related thoughts on this matter. It’s Jaime and Cersei, in a conversation about kid #4.

“By the time she was born, I had already realised what the outcome of the war might be. If I were to run—” A pause. “She would become a target too. For all I know, she already has.”

“Tyrion wouldn’t allow it,” Jaime protests immediately. “He loves the children, and since you spared his life—”

“I didn’t spare his life because of this,” Cersei says, irritated. “It’s just—Father said it himself: it’s the family name that matters and we’re the last of us.”

Father. Jaime isn’t sure why his siblings keep squabbling between each other when they’re so much alike; trying to defy their family and follow its words to the smallest detail at the same time. For a quick, fleeting moment, he hates them all, but then his sister speaks again. “And I was not referring to Tyrion.”

“The remaining Targaryens could feel threatened by a Lannister heir,” Jaime nods and the mere possibility of that sends a cold frisson of fear down his spine – he doesn’t know either of them well enough to be able to tell what they would do.

“They won’t ever find us again either way,” Cersei shrugs, “but threatened suits me just fine.”

Ah, there she is. This is what Jaime had been trying to coax out of her on their first night on the ship, because it’s what she is, for better or for worse; irrational and frustrating and unpredictable, and the return of it all is only made better by the sailor coming back, this time not alone.

Just... I love character study seen through the eyes of people conflicted about their identity, future, and place in the world, what can I say.

Not gonna lie, this is the level of pettiness I can't help but approve of.

Like, there's just something frustrating about the confidence that IX a) won't introduce any new themes b) there's only one way to interpret the existing themes c) there's only one narrative possibility of executing the existing themes d) those themes aren't riddled woth logical holes which would do well to get discussed in this trilogy and e) somehow essentially reiterating what RotJ already told us, even though RotJ was an exact opposite of RotS, will result in interesting and satisfying epic cinema or else you don't get SW.