Laaniska

Because, in the original book, Daniel heard the whole story. He knew, at least from Louis' POV, what happened in Paris with Armand.

More to the point, Daniel knew of Armand's role in Claudia's death (or, at least, the broad details that Louis knew about it).

But in the show? Daniel didn't hear one damn thing about it. Which means that, when the whole Devil's Minion love afair between them happened? Daniel didn't know ANYTHING about Armand beforehand, outside of what he maybe rememberd again about what happened between them during those days in San Francisco.

So, in the show, Daniel did not have any knowledge about Armand or the things he's done outside of the present day when they first fell in love. Which is going to make for some interesting conflict once Daniel does remember their past love affair, while now, in the present, knowing everything Armand did in the past.

But even more than that? I think it could make for even more heartbreaking angst when Daniel learns Armand's backstory in Season 4, which will finally help Daniel understand why Armand is who he is, too. (And why I am adamant that Armand has to tell his backstory to Daniel, btw, unlike what happened in the books. Even when I was reading TVA back in the day, when it was first published, I always felt that Armand should have told everything to Daniel, not David.)

But yeah, the above clip. Yeah, IMO, Armand probably told Daniel nothing about his past when they were together. Daniel knew nothing because Armand didn't tell him anything. Which probably left Daniel rather frustrated, I'm sure.

And then, in Dubai, Armand was very much trying to keep it that way, with Daniel never learning the worst about Armand, if Armand could help it. Even with a Daniel who didn't remember their past together.

And I really do think this goes into what Assad said about Armand wanting someone to love him for himself. I very much think that Armand probably thinks and feels that if Daniel did know everything Armand has actually done, even the things that only happened to him, that he was a victim of, Daniel just might not love him anymore.

Don’t you get it? I love you

A monk based on a European Christian archetype. They have sworn a sacred oath to defeat the giant snail plaguing the countryside.

A dragonborn desperately trying to convince the party that they’re really an aarakocra with a skin condition that made their feathers fall out.

Your standard horny bard, but they play a washboard. 

A sentient hat piloting a mannequin.

A dark elf who’s afraid of the dark, and terrified of spiders.

A peasant farmer who joined the adventure because they’re going through a midlife crisis and want to ~find themself.~

A druid who got involved because they’re the party’s weed dealer.

So far I’ve got

ladder letters: A, E, F, H, T

humpback B’s and P’s get as many bumps as you think they need

circle O’s, you just keep spiraling in til you feel like you’ve made your point

tree letters branch into smaller versions of themselves ad nauseum: X, Y

spider Q’s, so many legs

New alphabet dropped!

But I think i’ve taken a real shine to it! 

And like, I know they mean well, and it’s not always bad advice, but like,

No.

Don’t rely on your gut.

Your gut is gonna think these people are safety and your gut is gonna tell you that leaving is scary.

Sure, you might be picking up on something suspicious. Or! You might be experiencing cognitive dissonance when confronted with the truth, in which case you actually need to lean into and examine the bad feelings to see if they make sense.

The whole way cults operate is by making themselves the primary source of your good feelings and sense of security and correctness. By making everything else feel unsafe and scary.

Yes, you need to be aware of your emotional reactions to things, but not in a trust your gut way.

When TERFs are transphobic, they are trusting their instincts. Their instincts, whether born of trauma related to sexual violence or just born of living in a cisnormative society, tells them men are scary, men are inherently predatory, and women and men are different on a fundamental incompatible level. Their gut is a fucking liar. Having that initial reaction when learning about new people or new ideas is normal, but you have to push back against it - instead TERFs tell people something that feels good, that they want to hear. Their first feeling was right. They should never be asked to question it. They are special for knowing the truth about men and trans people. When TERFs spread the shit that reinforces their world view? It feels good. It feels right. When people present meaningful evidence that they are causing harm, and don’t know what they’re talking about? That feels bad.

If they trust their gut, they’ll keep doing what they’re doing forever.

Being Mormon felt good. Hearing things that made being Mormon feel special and seem right? Felt good! Leaving Mormonism? Felt bad! Felt confusing and disorienting! There was grief in what I was losing, and uncertainty about who I even was or what world I lived in. When I was Mormon coffee was frightening to me, and normal happy people outside the church living normal moral lives while not following its rules was upsetting to examine, and being at a youth service felt good and safe and right.

One of the most important ways to avoid cults, conspiracies, high demand groups, radicalization, and even just spreading false political memes online, is to question your gut. These things live and breathe on manipulating your initial instinctive reaction to them - to feel validation, righteous anger, superiority, safety, certainty.

Question your initial reaction. If something immediately gives you a hit of “so true”, or “a perfect example” or “see???” or makes you feel self satisfied or vindicated? Step back and ask if it was specifically designed to get you to feel that way - and if it was, was it actually right?

If something makes you feel accepted, safe, a sanctuary- what is it keeping you safe from? Is it actually a threat? Do you have other places or people elsewhere that also make you feel safe?

If something makes you feel scared, isolated, misunderstood, threatened, angry, uncomfortable, ashamed - Step back and ask if it actually should, if the feeling is based in fact, if it’s actually proportional to the threat, how common or trivial the trigger is. This makes you scared or uncomfortable, but should it? Are you making enemies out of the benign? Are you vilifying normality? Even if it’s genuinely something bad, is your reaction proportional?This made you so angry you wanted to share it immediately- was it designed to make you angry? Is it a fair representation? Does it have an agenda?

Every single religion in the world, regular or cult, makes people feel good. That’s why the people are there. Every single conspiracy manipulates people’s fears, making normalcy and reason feel bad. Every single high demand group and radicalized group and predatory group does what it does specifically by targeting your feelings.

Don’t listen to your gut unexamined. This applies to cults, but honestly? Also to forming opinions, forging relationships, and more. Abusers know how to play with your emotions, while simultaneously your trauma can lie to you. You have been raised in a bigoted society that might poison you against kind people and allies. Politicians play on your fears and your insecurities to get votes.

Also, some preferred terms for things will change and evolve, and terms we prefer now might eventually be considered gauche or even offensive, and that doesn’t mean you were a bigot at the time for using them. It means we evolved as a society and chose new terminology to reflect that change.

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