#twst rant

meanwhile: /jkjk

MY OPINION ON WHY FLORID ISN'T A BAD SHIP, AND PEOPLE SHOULDN'T HARRASS OTHERS FOR SHIPPING IT.

TW: opinions because people just hate to be a hater.

And yes I know it's all preference based at the end of the day but also then what is book 7 to you.

Like I have to wonder if they played through book 7 cuz like Malleus literally Overblotted because Lilia, the person he pretty much views as a father was leaving. The man who hatched him, who was there in his very first moments and who looked far and wide for a way to hatch him.

His flashbacks literally involve him.

The reason he wasn't his primary caretaker is because HE WASN'T ALLOWED TO. The Senate banished him, they disregarded Meleanor's wishes who clearly intended Malleus to be raised by Lilia (,,If you love us then how could you not love our child"). You don't think had he was able to, he wouldn't have been raising that boy from infancy to today? He clearly loves him like his own son. But Malleus has an image to uphold and a political standing and again Lilia is an exile. He probably cannot call him father publicly.

At the end of the day yes you view it how you wish but also there are things you can't really brush over.

honestly I think the fact that Malleus Has Wings and we rarely see them is a travesty, like

this would've been the perfect moment to show us his Grown Wings

AND DON'T GIVE THAT "BUT HE DOESN'T HAVE WINGS" SHNICK HE HAS WINGS LOOK AT BABY HIM

HE HAS WINGS, they can't just Fall off!! Like Bro! Bro!

Overblot Malleus has the Claws, Spikes, Horns (he always has those I know that) AND his Tail but No wings??

And NO that Cape ain't his wings!! His wings are membranous!

Like Seriously?? His Dragon form HAS WINGS!! Y'all gonna tell me He can show them?

I know in Lore it's stated that He hides his tail because normal clothes are not made for Dragons but Groovy Lord of malevolence has an OPEN BACK his wings 1000% should have been on display there!

Like I know people are gonna say But if Malleus shows his Wings how is he gonna keep

Have y'all watch Gargoyles? (Hilarious considering Malleus) But he COULD use his wings as a wrap/Cape

Like-

Y'all SEE THE VISION?

Idk this has been bothering me for a bit what's y'all's opinion on this?

Let me clarify: The popular opinion of their dynamic is Kalim, the sunshine boy, and Jamil, the calm moon. I hate those.

Kalim is not an innocent, naive, sunshine, always happy, always lucky, nepo baby. He's emotionally intelligent. He's not stupid, he just believes in second chances, and is just so kind, amongst more shrewd people to the point that he's SEEN as stupid.

Kalim's generosity is often overlooked as his "stupidity", and the fact that he grew up by being praised for average things, and somehow still grew up to be kind is also overlooked.

It doesn't take a lot for anyone to be traumatized after seeing their best friend get poisoned by food they were supposed to eat, you know.

He has gotten kidnapped. He has gotten poisoned. He has trauma, and it's seen in the game. He hates curry for a reason.

Something like this, that should be seen as resilience, is often seen by the fandom as just another thing Jamil had to deal with (the fact that he got poisoned for Kalim, and all the stuff he did in order to keep him safe, along with him not being able to eat curry becuase Kalim hates it). And yes, it is true. Jamil has to technically do all that but Kalim is still a victim of a traumatic series of events. Jamil is also a victim but Kalim's sunshine like personality stops the fandom from looking too deep into his trauma.

His guilt is also highlighted toward his friend, Jamil, not sadness over his own situation.

Jamil is not a silenced slave that never fights back. He might be silenced and enslaved but he's definitely fighting every step of the way and screaming curse words at someone or planning to gaslight them. He is scheming a hundred different plans to overthrow the government. He's Jamil "burn down the corrupt government and build a new, better one" Viper.

Jamil being a quiet, tired, parent figure (which he technically is), is not the full version of his character.

If we are specifically using the famous lyric "I shine only with the light you give me", a reference to the sun and moon trope, yes, both of them can be the sun and the moon, with the Kalim as the sun, and Jamil as the moon trope being more popular. Jamil shines only with the light that Kalim, and his family allows him to have, as his status as a servant holds him back. Yet, Kalim is also the moon. He also only shines with the light that Jamil gives him. He's not been given a proper chance to fight freely for the number one spot without Jamil helping him by stepping back into the shadows.

However, that is not what I was trying to mention.

I mean their personalities. Jamil may seem calm, yes, he's tired. He's composed. He's quiet, he seems like the moon. However, he's more ambitious than anyone. About as ambitious as Azul, though Azul’s greed/ambition is divided into many aspects, with Riddle claiming he had a finger in too many pies. He, during Book 6 firmly believes that if he wasn't holding back due to his status and situation, he'd be able to do as much as others, which Leona points out. His belief holds him back more than anything. Not to forget that his entire Overblot was based on his desire to be free, a show of his ambition.

Yes, Jamil can be seen as the moon: being forced into the background while Kalim shines brightly.

However, Jamil burns. He burns bright, he would burn himself into destruction if it meant tasting freedom before he died. He would burn in the most bright, and dangerous way, grabbing everyone's attention. Jamil burns with potential and self destruction in his core. Jamil isn't just lacking in ambition, he's just containing it, and hiding it.

He can be the moon, but that's only if Kalim is seen as the sun.

In my eyes:

Jamil is the sun, or, he can be considered a star. After all, a sun is a star. If we simply talk about Jamil himself, without involving Kalim into anything, he is a star. Because stars don't just exist to be seen, they burn regardless. Some may just disappear without even being acknowledged, but they are still bright, and massive, and overall: burning.

Kalim, is the moon. The moon can shine even when it is dark, during the night, mirroring his ability to remain positive even when things are bad. However, his light is artificial, since his light is based off how much he is given. Even without Jamil being the sun, he can still be the moon as he is often controlled.

Although, the thing about Jamil being the sun and Kalim being the moon is that I feel like then the sun should shine more than the moon.

However, I think if Jamil wasn't forcefully hidden he would burn brighter than Kalim in some shape or form. So, more likely the sun is forced to be "eclipsed" and the moon suddenly has a spotlight on them.

Either way, both of them are severely mischaracterized or oversimplified.

I'm just saying, if Jamil was the type to easily give up he would have never Overblotted and attempted to make a cult.

If Kalim was just a naive, sunshine character, he would have not offered to become Jamil's real rival, nor would he have punched him.

They have so much more depth than what the fandom sees.

Comment what you think.

So, I’m gonna explain Riddle as a character in my own words and all the mischaracterization I saw (underneath the picture)

One thing for sure, Riddle is a product of his environment.

• His mother controlled every aspect of his life, she wouldn’t allow him to be a kid. It’s clear that Riddle doesn’t want to disappointed his mother as it is stated in his backstory that he begged his mom to forgive him after she found out he ate a strawberry tart (he was just a kid begging and crying for his mother to forgive him for eating a treat!!)

• To add on, Riddle was isolated from other kids growing up. He only had his mother to guide him how to go through life. Therefore he picked up traits from her. He was taught to believe everything HAVE to be PERFECT.

• In Book 1, he thought his actions to be right because his mother taught him it’s was.

• It’s was said, in the wiki, that “While his strictness seems to come from a place of entitlement at first, it’s later revealed Riddle feels like he must act this way out of obligation. Deep down, he wouldn’t mind breaking the rules now and again, but was taught the hard way as a child that rebelling against the status quo will only make things worse for himself and others.”

• Labeling him as ‘a selfish, self-centered, cruel, disrespectful bastard’ (their exact words 😭) is just a complete misconception. Especially when Riddle does want to have real connections with his dorm members.

• His character has layers. On the outside he might seem like that. But in the inside he is just a 17-year-old who is scared to go against his mother and his upbringing, he wants to build a connection with others, but perfection and rules is the only thing he knew and he don’t know how to go against that.

• They also label him as a horrible house-warden who doesn’t care about his dorm-mates…when he clearly does. He is described to be a kind-hearted person under his strictness.

• Some examples of him caring are: When Trey was sick, Riddle made soup for him even though he doesn’t like to cook. Riddle made an account on Magicam solely to post study material on it to help Cater memorize them easier. He offers Deuce his old math workbooks with annotations written into them. He tutors Kalim sometimes. He tried to calm Leona down and mention it pains him to see Leona in his current state (leading up to overblot)

• Not only that but they said Riddle never changes…*sigh*...Riddle is in fact TRYING to change. It’s hard to change when you’re a product of your environment. But he took accountability and apologized, he now see his way of going about things is wrong. His change not gonna be overnight, but he is working towards it.

• Leona gotten punished, (this person didn’t like how Leona gotten published while Riddle got off ‘scot free’), because he harm players from other dorm to ensure Savanaclaw could win. If he didn’t did that, then he wouldn’t be punished. However, to think about it, all of the overblots students did gotten punished in a way (Azul suffered material lost, Vil ego and his reputation took a blow, Malleus have to deal with the emotional consequences of the fact he hurted his friends, and etc)

• Not to mention, Riddle is a perfect fit for housewarden for Heartslabyul. He ensures all the members of the dorm stay on track with his strictness.

you can like eric venue and still find it extremely questionable how he exposed vil to celebrity life at such a young age, something that was ultimately the foundation for his most prominent internalized struggles currently (feeling inferior to people like neige, being placed on a pedestal and treated as beyond reach just for the way he presents himself, etc) AND led to him constantly feeling unsecured, insecure, and made him become the target of harassment so young just for playing villain roles

you can find people like maleficia interesting and still criticize the way she treats malleus (especially in book 8, where she literally told him he has to cover up his missing horn because keeping it uncovered and showing off the missing part would be a dishonor to the family💔like WHAT plus im pretty sure the entire world saw the horn get chopped off already anyway dude)

even extending this to lilia. i wanna preface this by saying i ADORE lilia, he's worked through tremendous amounts of loss, hardship and trauma and genuinely loves his son SO much. but you guys also can't be acting like he's perfect either. there's several times where lilia is described acting in ways that could (AND HAS) seriously endangered and affected silver, both physically and emotionally/mentally, even without intending to.

etc etc. this discussion is something that could be said for a quite large amount of the mentioned twst relatives (rook's parents are a MAJOR example that come to mind too, im actually gonna save them for a later separate post)

Kalim, who actively forgives anyone who wants to or has hurt him because his life doesn't matter to him. Who only hopes to survive being poisoned because the perpetrator might feel guilty. He doesn't care if he lives because he WANTS to, only because he doesn't want ithers to suffer as a result. Then he actively encourages others to talk to him about their issues, but nobody does the same to him (Jamil might, but not with a very high level of care). He hardly shares any of his struggles, keeping up that bright smile until he hits a breaking point (as seen in Book 4).

And Jamil, who hates his life, would risk throwing it all away just for the chance of freedom. A prisoner forced to live inside a guided cage alongside Kalim just because his family is expected to uphold their status as servants. Jamil, who only tries his best to serve the Asims and stays a prisoner because his little sister would be next. He lives because while death may offer the freedom he so desperately wants, Najma would just end up taking his place.

Jamil is ready to risk his life, his entire family for a shot at freedom with his plan in Book 4. But dying, ending it all, would only end up giving his chains to his sister, so he stays, and serves, and schemes in search of a better way to be free, to keep both him and Najma free.

Kalim forgives him, though, after that plan fails. They both almost died, Kalim's future would have suffered had Jamil succeeded. But Kalim just smiles, and forgives, because he doesn't want Jamil to be punished as a result of Kalim's pain.

He doesn't value his own life, he actively sets it to the side in favor of others, even those who have betrayed him. How much pain did he go through during and after Book 4, just to put that smile back on and pretend he was fine? I can't imagine someone as empathetic as him wouldn't feel guilty over the pain other people have gone through, which he thinks is a result of him specifically. He seems like the kind of person to blame himself in such scenarios, trying to push against the pain and guilt to still seem happy and be there for others. Even if he's all alone in his pain.

Jamil is also in pain, such pain that he overblots as a result of his plan for freedom failing. The only reason he kept on living in his prison is because of his sister.

In my mind, both of them are suicidal, neither one better or more perfect than the other. They're both in pain, but they keep living, because they need to in their minds. Because, even if their own freedom would come with death, others would suffer in their stead.