"undoing This Character's Death Would Take Away His Sacrifice And Character Arc" Girl I Don't Give A

Thank you for putting this into such eloquent words! I also like how you present your takes on this @murtagh-thorn and @thearunadragon.

! I made an interesting realization just now in the shower! On a couple of occasions, Eragon and Nasuada suggest that Murtagh should act in the way Tornac would have as a way to change for the better and, ultimately, change his true name to free himself from Galbatorix and fight for them instead. Eragon insinuates this without directly mentioning Tornac: "Look at someone whom you admire but who has chosen paths other than your own through life and model your actions upon his." But in the context of Murtagh's backstory, this advice strongly evokes Tornac. And Nasuada outright names him: "Ask yourself: what would Tornac have wanted you to do?"

But that's a very curious demand for them to make because Murtagh is already emulating Tornac. Consider what we know about him. Tornac served Galbatorix, he would have had to for the king to entrust him with Murtagh's care. They lived in Uru'baen together as Murtagh grew up with Tornac raising him and he would have had to be in Galbatorix's service for all that time. Yet, he had no love for the king given that, when Murtagh wanted to abandon the Empire and flee, he was immediately ready to join him and help him leave that very same night. So he served the Empire for many years even though he had no true desire to be support them or the king, in order to provide the care and protection that Murtagh needed, until Murtagh was ready to make his own choice and take his own risk and Tornac turned his back on the king for him without hesitation.

That's exactly what Murtagh is doing. By yielding to Galbatorix and complying with his commands, Murtagh is doing the same thing for Thorn. He's bowed to this broad, great evil so he can look after the needs of an individual when no one else is willing nor able to. He does what he does to prevent Thorn from being tortured, to keep him from being broken, helpless against the king were Murtagh to abandon him. So he doesn't, the same way Tornac never abandoned him. And in the end, they rebel in a very similar way too. When Thorn is ready to carve his own path and fight for the right to claim his own life for the first time, and Murtagh wants to reclaim the life he desired but thought lost, they stand by each other and break free from Galbatorix.

For him to act the way that Tornac would requires that period of reluctant subservience so he can save the one he loves most. They ask Murtagh to follow Tornac's example, ignorant to the fact that the actions they so disapprove of are doing exactly that. And I wonder if this is a root of Murtagh's defining anger, an anger at Eragon and Nasuada's implication that the compromises that saved his own life and provided him much needed love and support through his childhood- the compromises that saved Thorn, the partner of his heart, when no one else (certainly no one from the Varden) would have helped him- were wrong. That they were immoral, they were not worth while, they were not enough, they fell short, they were wrong. Because such an implication is really a dismissal of Murtagh and Thorn's wellbeing- arguably of their lives.

Hopping on to this game! I think of my dad's music preferences when it comes to normal music, so I'll list some of his favorites.

Pipeline by The Chantays

Rubber Band Man by The Spinners

Young Blood by The Coasters

I Can't Drive 55 by Sammy Hagar

You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive

Land of Confusion by Genesis

No-pressure tags! @galaxythreads , @eek-a-tron , and anyone else who wants to join!

If you had to, what would be some songs you’d put on a playlist titled ‘normal person playlist’?

And for fun let’s make this a tag game (no pressure!)

@5nakeb4it @everythingloveandanimated

@the-lavender-clown @thearunadragon @t-the-ring-master and anyone else who wants to join!

How it feels when I reblog memes I like:

So I’m singing “Diggy Diggy Hole” in the shower because I had it stuck in my head all day. I end up playing with the lyrics to make it female-centric (making the first line “Daughters of the mine, rejoice” and changing “brothers” to “sisters”) because I’m imagining myself as a soprano opera singer with a female choir/metal band in the background. Now I’m suddenly homesick for some made up Erebor-like realm where me and the dwarrowdams (and elf maidens if they want to join- we don’t discriminate!) are digging holes, forging elaborate tools, weapons, and trinkets, cutting gems, cultivating rock formations (because we’d totally have a version of the Glittering Caves), toasting to our glorious Queen Under the Mountain, and feasting to our heart’s content without judgement far below any outside threats. 🥲

This scene completely blew my mind when I first saw it. It was SO FREAKING COOL!!! Like, Marvel basically turned these Norse mythology characters into outer space Vikings who fly SPACESHIPS???

Dream Plane and I have soooooo many headcanons and plot bunnies revolving around Thor and Loki being pilots. It's such a cool concept to explore! Like, they would obviously have had flight training. How many flight hours do they have? Did they ever get into crazy scrapes during their cross-country (cross-realm?) solos? Did they have to learn stalls while flying within Asgard's atmosphere? Did they ever get to experience microgravity? How long does it take Thor (in normal circumstances) to familiarize himself with new spacecraft?? (dramatic gasp) What if Loki was a test pilot at some point??? (incoherent squeeing)

Loki in the Dark Elf Ship Appreciation Post

Hi! I found your post describing how Odin abused Thor differently than Loki, and my goodness, everything you mentioned is spot on! I especially found your analysis about the brothers’ mindsets after being pitted against each other since they were kids so detailed and fascinating (what is LWML by the way? It sounds interesting). There was an Avengers Assemble episode or two that touches upon their forced rivalry. In them, Thor is upset about how they had to compete, and he struggles with insecurity about his academic performance despite being the stronger and favored brother (Odin actually pulled him out of school to go on advanced quests, which sounds cool at the surface level but really isn’t).

Odin’s behavior in the MCU reminds me so much of how he treats Thor in the comics, particularly the Journey Into Mystery comics from 1963 and the Thor comic run from 1966. I’ve probably squeaked about it here before, so apologies if I have. Also, feel free to not continue reading if you would prefer not to see comic spoilers or triggering topics. :)

In these comics, Odin absolutely does not tolerate any disobedience or perceived “threats” to his orders to the point of irrationality. I think the examples that stuck out the most to me the most are Journey Into Mystery #125-127, where Thor tells Jane that he is Donald Blake. Odin pretty much throws a hissy fit over that and forces everyone in Asgard to fight and try to kill him. Then when Thor escapes that, the jerk goes and tells his magician/vizier to halve Thor’s powers (because he “loves” Thor so much that he can’t bring himself to do it himself, ugh) while Thor’s in the middle of a fight with Hercules. At least it backfires, but Thor comes back to save Odin’s sorry butt (and nearly dies again!) despite being hurt by him. Odin shows remorse whenever he pulls nonsense like that, but he keeps doing similar stuff over and over again despite apologizing.

Another comic that was very upsetting was a brief narration in King Thor #4 that mentions how Odin got mad at baby Thor because he was crying about a storm (as you read on, it explains that Thor was causing the storm and implies that maybe something else made him cry). So what does he do? Put the poor little thing outside in the storm for a while and forbid everyone to comfort or help him! Thor is seemingly traumatized by this ordeal because when Odin goes to get him, he’s soaking wet but dry-eyed. I couldn’t help but compare that to Laufey abandoning baby Loki in the first Thor movie.

At least Thor calls out some of Odin’s awful parenting in the newer comics, like in Thor (2018). But he still is very forgiving of him.

Anyway, that’s my little rant that your analysis spawned. Odin’s A+ Parenting is far from being a new concept, and I find it to be great fanfic inspiration. :)

Thank you! Glad you liked my thoughts on the topic.

LWML is Loki: Where Mischief Lies book, it's supposed to be MCU-based but is as canon as any book about a popular movie franchise can be. It's from Loki's pov and he is being manipulated by literally (and I mean LITERALLY) everyone in the book while struggling with the choice between being who he wants to be (a decent person and a beloved political figure, not necessarily a king, but at least a prince) vs giving up and being who he is perceived to be (aka almost everyone treats him like a potential threat & not good enough, and there is sort of a "prophecy" of him becoming the god of evil), and because of that the book gives us a lot of odinsfam dynamic.

Thank you so much for all of this information, that's new to me, I don't read many old comics. I knew that comic book Odin was a horrendous straight-up abusive father, because, as you said, in the newer issues Thor mentions it on multiple occasions, but I never knew what exactly did this mf do, and the story about the storm made me tear up a little bit.

I think that while I do agree with the op of the post I responded to that Thor putting Odin on a pedestal and brushing off his abusive behavior as Loki's "imagined slights" is incredibly unfair towards Loki, I just have to point out that it seems like if MCU Thor recognizes Odin for who he was, he will break. Because that would mean Thor is the favorite child of a monster. That Thor spend centuries proud of and afraid of losing the approval and love of someone cruel. That he should've stood up for Loki. TDW mentions that Frigga was distant towards Thor and he took pride in the fact that his father loved him, if he had to recognize that the love was conditional and abusive, he would have nothing left. He was defined worthy by Odin's spell. He was named heir by Odin. He was fighting battles defending Odin's name. And if Odin's a monster, what does it say about Thor?

Municipal Airport Aesthetic

Tiny municipal airports with family-owned FBOs (Fixed Base Operators) are our favorite kind to visit. They usually have a perfect mix of small town vibes and a sense of adventure. Plus the airspace is usually a breeze to get into. You never know who you'll meet or what crazy flying stories you'll hear. If there's an airport restaurant, you can be sure that it'll be serving comfort food like burgers and cheesesteaks.

Bucky Barnes according to fan fiction:

Original artwork by XanderPMaxwell on Reddit

Hi! I just discovered this blog, and I love it! The banter is hilarious.

What does Loki have to say about Thor riding on a rocket to save the day à la the vintage Thor comic "Chaos at Canaveral"?

What I'm referencing lol: Thor (1966) #317 | Comic Issues | Marvel

//Thank you! I think it’s fun

Loki: What in the nine realms are you doing there anyways??

Thor: …saving the day

Loki: You look stupid.

Thor: No I don’t. You look stupid.

Loki: I’m not even in that picture? And I’m smarter than you.

Thor: That’s not true.

Loki: It entirely is, but okay.

What they don't tell you about writing is that as you write, you discover scenes and entire plots that you hadn't accounted for that need to be written. So you can spend two hours writing and editing only to realise you're further away from the finish line than you thought you were when you started