Concept: After The Battle Of Mount Othrys Camp Jupiter Grew Afraid Of Jason.

On that cowboy shit again (pls click for better resolution probably ♡)

John and Arthur’s Established Dynamics With Dutch And How This Impacts Redemption: An Analysis

What makes Dutch Van Der Linde such a compelling antagonist is his extreme narcissism, both covert and apparent. Red Dead Redemption 2 is particularly keen on showcasing this, as players get to experience Dutch’s charisma and mental decline through the eyes of Arthur Morgan, who loves Dutch dearly. On the contrary, Red Dead Redemption 1 displays John Marston grappling with the order to eradicate his former gang members, including Dutch. Through John’s perspective, players get to understand the complexities that come with having to confront a path that has both benefited and destroyed you. Yet, both protagonists serve the same purpose: the complex relationship one may have with a narcissistic “parent” figure. While both John and Arthur appear to have conflicting personalities with one another, they find a common understanding with one another through their sibling-like bond that has arisen from both being raised by Dutch.

.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆

Arthur was only fourteen when he was taken in by Dutch. After a childhood filled with death, brutality, abuse, and homelessness, Dutch was able to swoop in, take Arthur off the streets, and give him a sense of security. This meant everything to Arthur, and with Dutch, Arthur was able to finally have a stable, present, and attentive father figure in his life. However, what Arthur consistently struggled to pick up on was Dutch’s true intentions, which were not as loving and fatherly as Dutch wanted them to seem. By recognizing Arthur’s underlying anger and need for validation, Dutch was able to condition Arthur into being the perfect bodyguard: violent, strong, and eager to do the job right.

Arthur is heavily reliant on Dutch to the point that he sacrifices self-autonomy for Dutch’s sake. The storyline with Mary Linton is a prime example of this. In actuality, Arthur could have chosen to protect himself and run away with his former lover, but Arthur’s entire life has been centered around Dutch’s gang. When Mary says that there is a good man inside of him wrestling with a “giant,” there is a reason why she does not claim that this “giant” is evil or inherently bad; it is only larger than Arthur is. This internal struggle centered around remaining loyal to himself or to the people he calls his family is central to Arthur’s redemption arc, especially through the use of the honor system. Both low and high honor result from a series of cations that allow Arthur to redeem himself, but high honor means that Arthur’s time concludes with the acceptance that he was able to fight for what felt true to himself, while low honor is Arthur getting killed fighting against the very thing that caused the gang’s destruction.

Either way, Arthur redeems himself by fully embracing the notion that Dutch is a flawed and selfish individual who has proven his own safety to appear more vital than protecting the gang as a whole. Yet, it takes the duration of Red Dead Redemption 2 for this truth to be fully embraced by Arthur, who continues to base his actions and existence around pleasing Dutch. Getting called “son” or “my boy” by the man Arthur has been conditioned to rely on is what pushes Arthur to continuously combat his own moral code. Additionally, Arthur cannot fathom the idea of being disappointing to Dutch in any sort of way, even if it causes him to abandon his own sense of right or wrong. By beating up Thomas Downes despite feeling wrong about it, Arthur contracts tuberculosis and is forced to run on dwindling time as a result of his vile actions. Yet, this extreme realization that self-betrayal is equally as harmful as rejecting the expectations of somebody you love is what ultimately catalyzes Arthur’s journey of change.

Arthur’s conflict with John also tells a lot about Arthur's life and for other people. When John turns his back on both Abigail and the gang as a whole, Arthur struggles to find the reason for this. Rather than recognizing the deep-rooted fear and self-doubt that John has been facing, especially when it comes to continuing to live for the gang, Arthur berates John because John is doing something Arthur himself has done and regretted: making the wrong choice when it comes to standing by a loved one. While Arthur chose to “love” the gang more than Mary and then had to endure the consequences for such a choice, John, who is both terrified of disappointing Abigail and conflicted about his changing perspective on the gang, is choosing to avoid both entirely and run away for an entire year. Upon John’s return, Arthur is furious that the gang, especially Dutch, is willing to welcome John back with open arms. This makes Arthur resent John for the choices John has made, but at the same time, have a deep-rooted jealousy over the fact that Dutch treated John well for being disloyal, while the expectation from Arthur is that he will never act in such a way, and thus, Arthur feels John is receiving blind loyalty from Dutch. However, Arthur is misunderstanding a much more complicated relationship dynamic.

.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆

Like Arthur, John also has an underlying incapability of living apart from the gang. Despite his issues with Dutch, John will always have a complicated sense of reliance on Dutch whilst resenting the life John believes was given to him. However, while Arthur falls into the role of being Dutch’s “golden child,” being Dutch’s trusted right-hand man and gang enforcer, John gets a much more complicated role. John is Dutch’s scapegoat child who is heavily criticized and berated no matter how hard he may try to prove himself worthy; however, if John tries to reject Dutch following this treatment, Dutch knows how to masterfully reel John back in. For example, even though Dutch welcomed John back into the gang, it is something that gets used against John in his weaker moments for his guilt to corrupt him into obeying Dutch. Additionally, Dutch making John say “yes, Dutch” out loud is a way to force John into a position of submission and lower status in the instances where he dares to challenge Dutch. John tends to be much more direct when it comes to critiquing Dutch as opposed to Arthur’s display, which comes across as concerned rather than combative. Thus, John and Dutch kind of have this established dynamic where John acts as a defiant child whom Dutch must remind to be loyal and obedient, consistently forcing John to align with an outlaw lifestyle that he is contemplating the morality of.

John is more independent than Arthur in the sense that he is deciding who he wishes to be dependent on. Throughout both stories, it is evident that John resents authority figures, and this is where his childishness shines through. While Arthur will respect authority if Dutch tells him to or if Arthur feels that person is worthy of respect, while John is much more weary and combative from the start. This is simply part of his nature, and Dutch understands and fuels this so that John can serve him. However, Abigail offers a stark comparison to Dutch. While Dutch ultimately demands blind obedience, Abigail demands change in John because she wants John to be less afraid of himself. Abigail understands John’s internal struggle with power, loyalty, and abuse cycles, and she directly combats it. She is somebody who challenges John to do better, which is something he has lacked his entire life. In a world where he is expected to serve for the sake of others, Abigail pushes him to serve himself, which will ultimately allow John to serve her, too.

It could be argued that John’s sense of “redemption” is vastly different from Arthur’s. The very fact that John ran away for a year following Jack’s birth is very telling of the internal conflict eating him alive; John knows he cannot exist on his own, and he must now decide who to be loyal to. While in his heart, he wants to dedicate his life to Abigail and Jack, John does not know how to live a life independently from the world he was brought up in. John wants to be a good dad but never had a good father himself, and John wants to leave the gang, but this would isolate him from both Abigail and the only community he knows. This endless feeling of servitude is something John understands he cannot escape. In Red Dead Redemption 1, this sense of being used by others is crushing John, especially because the United States government has kidnapped John’s family and will only release them if John vows to kill former members of the now-disbanded gang. John wants to protect his family more than anything, but he still struggles with obliterating people from his past who once meant everything to him. As a result, John’s avoidance is displayed through his acceptance of impending death. Throughout both games, John acts in reckless, death-seeking manners, putting himself in high-risk situations where death is a possible reality, such as straight up walking to Bill Williamson, essentially setting himself up to be shot. Yet, to John, being rescued from death serves him as a sign that his purpose on this Earth has not yet been completed, and there is more work to be done for those he loves before death can finally greet him. Ultimately, this shapes John’s redemption arc; John has to keep pushing forward so that he does not die at the hands of the gang and, instead, can conclude his life protecting the people at the core of his heart, which is why his death at the hands of the government following John’s completion of taking down his former gang members is both tragic and beautiful.

.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆

One other major element of Dutch’s manipulation is how he treats John and Arthur like they are too dumb to understand nuanced topics. Yet, this is far from the truth. While John and Arthur are not the most well-read or academically savvy, the two display a deep level of thoughtfulness and insight about the world around them. John is hyper-aware of both himself and the world around him, and he is even one of the first people who recognized something deeply troubling about Dutch’s increasingly erratic behavior. This allows John to read people and situations based on intention rather than bias or false judgment. Even in Mexico, when John is being manipulated by multiple people, he understands that the people he is involving himself with are untrustworthy, but since he has no other options, he must wearily follow through with the situations he gets put into. While John often appears highly pessimistic, this is just a portrayal of his awareness of the harsh realities of the world he exists in, and there are just menial means for him to express this. Even if he did, Dutch would likely berate him until John regretted speaking up in the first place. On the contrary, Arthur appears to be more sheltered than John is, likely because Arthur grew up knowing fewer people and crimes. Yet, Arthur has a much more artistic soul than he lets others see, taking a lot of time to analyze and sketch what he encounters in this world that he finds interesting. His journal displays introspective writing that highlights the faults of both himself and the world around him that he prefers to pretend do not exist, and Arthur gets along very well with people who are atypical thinkers or live alternative, authentic lifestyles. Yet, because neither John nor Arthur read philosophy or desire “high-society,” Dutch demeans the two into believing they are unintelligent and incapable of complexity. Thus, if either one questions what Dutch is doing, he knows that he has the power to make John and Arthur believe that they are too stupid to do so. Yet, John is much more combative to this perspective than Arthur is, and John frequently makes comments to Dutch that question his decisions. In these moments, Dutch feels the most challenged and resorts to harsh insults that directly call out a personal struggle either John or Arthur have, reestablishing that they must remain loyal to Dutch because otherwise they are “worthless.”

Red Dead Redemption is beautiful in many ways. The intricate world design, multitude of storylines, and raw portrayal of complex realities make for a story that is compelling, relatable, and thought-provoking. Yet, one aspect that I think sets the Red Dead Redemption franchise apart from other stories is its hopeful and honest representation of the struggle to find a meaningful conclusion for a life filled with violence, abuse, and uncertainty. Neither John nor Arthur displays a sense of dreading their mortality. Instead, death in Red Dead Redemption serves as a reminder that the future is never promised, so it is important to make the most of the present because what is happening now is the only inherent truth of life. For a multitude of years, Dutch prevented the acceptance of such a reality for John and Arthur, and Dutch sold the false truth that he is the only truth in either man’s life, and as their “God” and “father,” both must worship him above all else. Yet, as fate closes in more and more on both John and Arthur, the realization that Dutch is dangerous not only gets embraced, but it allows for the opportunity to spend the time both have left doing what feels right rather than remaining with what is familiar. While the past can never be altered and the reality of death cannot be evaded, there is a sense of power in the realization that life cannot be foreseen or controlled, and thus, one must live each day remaining loyal to oneself. You are the only thing guaranteed to be both born and ended with you, so why betray the very being that allows you to exist at all?

.°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆ .°˖⋆ ℧ 𓃗 .°˖⋆

by the way ☝️ the other thropple thing i dont see people talking about enough is the inherent hysterical comedy of elphaba (magical powerhouse and radical), glinda (social linchpin and queen manipulator), and fiyero (guy with a gun)

Mostly familiar stuff, but I'm doing my best to keep it interesting ! Dorothy was surprisingly hard to draw at first, but really fun and cute once I figured her out :3

[Prev][Next]

Wanted to do a sketch for art, ended up with series of gifs, so there's Jason (rip his scar 'cause I forgor)

I've been thinking about rdr2 atla au and just mkay hear me out:

RDR2 AS THE PLOT OF ATLA (+ A ROUGH PLOT)

John: The fucking Avatar, left the temple when he realised, walked the land, when he realised war was about to start he wanted to fly back to the air temple, the storm caught him on his way. Very mad that he is the avatar but also really wants to kick firelords ass, just doesn't know if he is capable enough.

Arthur: The adoptive son of the southern water tribe chief, a firebender but keeps it a secret bcs FUCK FIRE NATION. Knows the ways of the water tribe and is pretty mad the chief left him and Charles here. At the beginning of the series he only knows basic firebending- his technique is very much akin to waterbending (WHICH ALSO MEANS eventually mf will have no problem with lightning bending wink wink) Finds John with Charles while fishing.

Charles: Biological son of the southern water tribe chief and will soon be the new one, with Arthur they are true brothers ALSO he knows Arthur is a firebender. Takes him out to fish regularly to calm both their minds, is also frustrated their father didn't take them with but also understands someone has to protect their tribe. Waterbender, knows basic healing. (The idea is that their father had Charles quite young therefore while he is old, that man is STRONG AF like yes grey hair but also just an incredible water bender, he took in Arthur as a young child/toddler).

Dutch: Zuko and Azula in one. A firebender and a firenation ex-general, kicked out because he spoke out of line. His punishment is looking for the avatar because the firelord knows it's a goose chase. At this point he wants to find an avatar AND overthrow the firelord. (Don't worry Hosea I have a plan).

Hosea: You know he is the uncle Iroh, firebender ofc. Dutchs bestfriend, goes to look for avatar with him, because of that he is no longer a general. Did attack Ba Sing Se, failed and his wife died during. Conflicted on the war, connected with spirit world, taught Dutch his techniques, protective over his and Dutchs soldiers.

Mary Linton: Princess of the northern water tribe, TURNS INTO THE MOON, poor Arthur.

Sadie Adler: Firenation killed her husband, earthbender and is the one to teach John earthbending.

Javier Esquella and Bill Williamson: Send after avatar by firelord, their tactic is to befriend John, end up being conflicted if they want to turn him in or let him kill the firelord

Micah: the firelord- no, I'm kidding, but the guy that got appointed into Dutchs place. When the word spreads that avatar is back and the firelord realises Javier and Bill aren't as efficient as he thought, he hires Micah to find and catch the avatar. At some point teams up with Dutch.

THE ROUGH STORY (i choose to age down the rdr2 characters and subsequently age up their character forms in atla)

Young John is raised at the temple by the air nomads. He is pretty fiesty and overall not a great student, but the monks know he is the avatar. When John finds out, he is very conflicted and unsure of himself. He gets intense airbending training, but because he is not a very well mannered student, they decide to send him away to continue his training (they know war is in the air). John, overwhelmed, runs away and walks the land for few years, somehow managing to never be found. As a young adult, he realises how bad everything is and goes back. He finds his sky bison still waiting, surviving in a cave. Guilt sets in and he flies off, but gets caught in a storm AND FROZEN.

100 years later, Arthur and Charles are the only two men who didn't go with the others to war. They go out fishing and because Arthur is frustrated (they didn't get a message from their father for a long time), Charles suggest him trying some firebending to "blow out steam". It gets out of hand and their ship burns, melting some of the ice. And so they see John and get him and his bison out of the ice. The explosion alerts nearby Dutch and Hosea. But worry not, John kicks their asses.

John, Charles and Arthur start their way to the northern water tribe. Arthur tags along because he thinks that when John finds a firebending master, he could finally learn something new. In the north, Arthur has a romance with Mary, but who turns into the moon while saving the moon spirit. Dutch and Hosea do catch John for a while, but he gets saved by the others. In the end, he and Charles learn new waterbending from the waterbending master.

In a village near Omashu they find Sadie, a strong earthbender and a widow whose husband was killed by the firenation. She agrees to teach John earthbending. They also find the kyoshi island, where Susan, Karen, Tilly and Mary-Beth promise to help if the avatar ever needs it.

During their time they have Dutch and Hosea on their tails but also Javier and Bill. Their tactic on befriending them ends up causing Javier (because he is a way stronger firebender than Bill) to teach John firebending. But the learning is not finished when a huge fight happens between them all AND Micah, who starts it. Javier and Bill show their true colours, so it's Dutch, Micah, Bill and Javier againts Arthur, Charles, John and Sadie. Hosea (at that point againts firelord), gets killed by John when he is in the avatr state. It ends with John being hurt while in avatar state.

Now on the run, John, Charles, Arthur and Sadie end up on a small island in the sea around the north. There he gets healed by a waterbender aka Abigail.

Sozins commet is close and so the final fight comes. John againts the firelord, Arthur and Charles againts Dutch (agni kai, Arthur is able to send back Dutchs lightning), Sadie and Charles againts Micah (they find out Javier and Bill never came back to the firenation, instead they deserted).

In the end John comes back to the island and finds out Abigail is pregnant (cough cough they had a one night stand) and so he spends most of his time there. ALSO PLOT TWIST WHY WAS ARTHUR SUCH A POWERFUL FIREBENDER WELL HE IS RELATED TO THE ROYAL FAMILY and so by some paperwork lies he becomes the new king (during their travels they find more firebenders who helo him with ruling + his father helps). Sadie stays with Arthur mainly just to look for excuses to kill- I mean be mean to ex-firenation soldiers. Charles is now the chief of the southern water tribe and when he and John have time, they look for any airbenders that could leave the temples and survive in hiding.

I have this headcanon that Daring and Briar are that one purely platonic duo where they bond over being too pretty for this world. They’ll never admit it or say it out loud cause they know its rude but every now and then they’ll go to a coffee shop together and silently judge people together. Like they’ll be eyeing someone’s outfit and silently eye each other as if to say “we’re in agreement when I say that skirt and pair boots are just not it together right?” “Oh yeah absolutely!” They 100% help each other take pictures for each other’s instagram too.

Also, you CANNOT convince me that they dont bond over being the oldest sibling. Look, it seem like siblings in the world of ever after are pretty rare in general (let alone having more than one sibling), so you know damn well that when someone brings up the topic of siblings and almost everyone in the room is like “can’t relate”, the two will simultaneously be like “lol I can” and then just go off about how as the oldest sibling, its easy to love your younger sibling and yet find them the most annoying person in the world at the same time.

And to top it off I absolutely love the idea that after the events of Epic winter, Briar started giving Daring advice on how to inpress Rosabella. Like the day before Daring went to meet Rosabella’s parents, he was relentlessly freaking out. Being Rosabella’s cousin, Briar was just there like “Dude…Relax! Everyone in my family is super chill. Look, I know your parents expect alot from you, but My Aunt and Uncle are not like that. They dont care who Rosabella is dating so as long as they’re a good person. You dont have to try so hard to impress them….If anything they’re gonna find it awkward when they catch you trying too hard to impress them”.

My friends and I used to do this thing where we'd dress up on a theme and go do something totally normal.

We dressed up as pirates and went bowling.

We dressed as vikings and went to the grocery store. The security guard told us we had to move our longship because it was illegally parked.

We dressed as Romans and went to Blockbuster. The staff chanted, "toga! Toga! Toga!" at us.

We dressed up all steampunk and went to the museum. Tourists kept taking our picture.

Okay, so:

I’ve seen a few posts that are pitching, like, Fiyerboq equivalents of Gelphie moments (What Is This Feeling, the Popular makeover scene, etc) and it made me realize something:

In this hypothetical Fiyerboq-centric AU, Fiyero and Boq would have the Glinda and Elphaba dynamic up until Defying Gravity, at which point, they would switch roles.

If Fiyero and Boq were the ones to discover the truth about the Wizard, Boq would absolutely not be willing to give up the popularity and acceptance that he’d yearned for his whole life like Elphaba did.

In contrast, Fiyero would have learned to do the right thing, no matter the personal cost. He would make the same decision as Elphaba, leaving Boq behind.