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#my analysis
mayxo-hxh · 1 day
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Love how in hisoillu's relationship, illumi's boundary is his family & hisoka's boundary is his toys. both boundaries had been openly threatened before but both purposefully backed off solely bcs its the red line that'd end the relationship. they both value what they have so much
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yes, hisoka's was a joke but he'd done the same thing a few scenes later and meant it seriously only to back off again the moment he confirmed illumi was going to live, aka; As long as Illumi's alive, their relationship is not worth ruining over a possible fight.
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which is quite interesting considering he was willing to sacrifice 2 of his most important toys, and one of them being the boundary he even set for illumi, just to get to fight him. Like Illumis fight IS WORTH TWO WHOLE FAVORITE TOYS. but his relationship with illumi is worth MORE. MAN. I CANT WITH THESE TWOOOOOOOO
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midnight-in-town · 2 days
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Hello! Been following your blog for years now and your insights on Kuroshitsuji have never failed to enhance my enjoyment of the series! I have a bunch of questions and theories that I've collected from here and there that I'd love to get your take on:
1) What exactly is this game that Ciel and Seb are playing against each other? Ciel successfully tamed the demon, alright, but what is Seb doing besides making sure that Ciel sticks to the contract (which is completely within his rights)?
2) About the possibility that, by devouring R!Ciel's soul, Sebastian not only knows that he's involved in the phantomhive raid but also who the mastermind is (providing that the mastermind and r!ciel interacted directly). This can be backed by the fact that Seb knew from the get-go that O!Ciel was the younger brother, that he has been "humiliated", also how Seb reconstcted the manor to be an exact replica of what it was without prior knowledge.
3) About Sebastian's lack of inquisitiveness when John Brown appeared out of thin air in the GW arc and how he was unaffected by the "curse". Is it perhaps related to point number 2?
Hey Anon ! Thank you for reading and for the kind words ! (˶◕‿◕˶✿)
About your first question, Ciel and Seb have actually been playing a chess match since ch138.
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Sure, Ciel can believe in the 3 "wishes" he made when they were bound 4 years ago, but not in much else, as the Green Witch arc confirmed.
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Meanwhile Seb is having fun playing the perfect butler our!Ciel wishes him to act as, while he waits for Ciel to find the targets of his revenge, but he's also terribly unforgiving if our!Ciel strays from their contract, because he's hungry.
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That's why it's such an interesting dynamic. To quote this post : "Kuroshitsuji wouldn’t be as compelling and enjoyable as a story if our!Ciel’s lack of self-worth and faith wasn’t supported by Seb acting as a catalystic abyss."
It's also interesting because I believe that the big bad is another human/demon duo that have been bound for a much longer time and that probably "works" in a very different way, considering that Victoria may not have "tamed" John Brown the same way (if at all) :
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Speaking of which, this is probably also why, to directly answer your third question, Seb barely reacted when Brown showed up in Germany, despite the poisonous gas in the forest.
The thing is, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Seb and Brown recognize each other as demons, but have no reason to fight and get in each other’s way, as long as their respective masters don't order it.
In the words of Jane, whom I believe is John, when Mey offered her to work at the household, I think demons might see each other as “coworkers”...
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After all, nothing is more important for demons than having a good meal so, as long as their contracts assure them delicious souls, Seb and Brown will work on "cultivating" the souls they're bound to eat. To quote Seb himself :
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All that to say, I do believe that Jane/John is the type of greedy and gluttonous demons that Seb finds not elegant (from ch138) whereas Jane/John seems him as troublesome, since Ciel and Victoria are building to become enemies.
Lastly, this on-going distrustful chess game between Ciel and Seb will probably at some point lead our!Ciel to reconsider whether or not losing his future, life and soul for revenge is truly something he wants, thus leading to a possible conflict arising between Seb and Ciel (similar to what happened when Ciel had PTSD during the Green Witch arc), since the story thematically presents revenge as the wrong choice to make (or, rather, as the choice to make for the wrong reasons).
That's all part of why their dynamic is such a compelling plot point, in my opinion. :)
Finally, about your second question, no one really knows if this scene...
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...meant that Seb devoured real!Ciel's soul 4 years ago. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Some fans say yes, some fans say no, I think it's definitely left ambiguous by Yana, but it could also just be that real!Ciel's soul was cursed to rot in Hell forever. I don't know, Yana doesn't give us enough about demonology lore in the series to be sure for now.
Either way, I don't think it matters that much. Maybe it can explain things such as how Seb rebuilt the manor as an exact replica from before the massacre, but I don't think it means Seb knows who the targets of Ciel's revenge are.
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And even if it did, the contract vouches that Ciel finds out the truth by himself...
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...so again, the only guarantee we have from Seb's words is 1) that real!Ciel has no soul and 2) that, unlike most people who die, the Shinigamis probably didn't collect it when he was killed, because it was used/eaten as "fee for Seb's crossing" (unlike our!Ciel who still has a soul, but a doomed one, bound by a contract as payment to a demon).
Finally, real!Ciel's soul not being collected by the Shinigamis, but being eaten by Seb or rotting in Hell, will probably become relevant once we figure out what the BD project is currently trying to pull…
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…with the “shape of the soul” new concept.
I hope it answered your questions ? Thank you again for your nice words ! I wish you a nice day, Anon. :))
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silvermoon424 · 6 months
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The scene where Homura mercy-kills Madoka in one of her timelines is artistic perfection for a lot of reasons, but the way the two of them express different philosophies in it drives me insane with how amazing it is.
Faced with becoming a Witch, Homura tells Madoka that they should become monsters together and destroy the world until nothing bad or sad remains. But Madoka uses her very last Grief Seed to prevent Homura's transformation, telling her that even though there are a lot of awful things in the world, there's so much worth protecting too.
Madoka has seen the best the world has to offer and wants to sacrifice herself to protect it. Homura has seen the worst and her main priority is protecting the one person who gave her hope and warmth, even if that screws over other people. I fucking love these two so much.
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barrel-crow-n · 2 months
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The "Wylan should learn how to read" thing irks me because a huge part of his arc was learning to accept that this was just something that he couldn't do, and that it can't be fixed and that he shouldn't live in shame over it.
Wylan just can't read. Van Eck tried everything. And true, at one point it would get stressful but Van Eck was a kind father at first. It's not about getting a new teacher, it's just something Wylan can't do.
A big part of his growth was learning to accept that. And Kaz is a big part of this.
Kaz is the first person not to scorn Wylan for his dyslexia. Kaz is the first person to just genuinely not care.
Kaz was the one that told Wylan that his weakness was never his disability but his shame surrounding it. He normalised the disability for Wylan, made it a small deal. It's still a part of Wylan, but not as life shattering as his father had always made it out to be.
It can be inconvenient (taking double the time to read the papers at Smeet's office) but it can be worked around. In fact, I believe taking Wylan to Smeets office was for Wylan's benefit. "I knew how long this was going to take" - dismissing Wylan's shame that Wylan is slowing him down. Reassuring him, in his own way, that it's okay. That it's not that big of a deal. It's not even really a problem.
"I didn't hire you to read." Wylan doesn't need to have the ability to read to get on well in life, despite Van Eck's opinions, and Kaz decides to show Wylan that. He decides so because that's what people said about his limp. That a disabled boy with a bad leg will die in the Barrel.
Kaz could get a healer for his leg, hell, Genya offered. But he declined. Why? Because he refuses to be ashamed. Because this is what he is and he won't change that. "It had become a declaration. There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken."
He becomes a boy to be dreaded despite the limp, no, with it. His cane is his weapon. It's not a weakness, it's also a strength. It's not fear the boy despite the limp it's fear the boy with the limp.
And I believe Kaz was truly one of the most important people in Wylan's life because he did that. He showed Wylan not to be ashamed. That he can be powerful not despite the disability, but with it. That what Wylan can do is more important than what he can't and I don't think Wylan will ever forget that.
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destiel-wings · 8 months
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Dean Winchester & hug dynamic analysis
I was thinking about how whenever Dean hugs someone he's almost always the one hugging the other and how this links to his psychological trauma of always being the caretaker of people, making himself bigger to protect them.
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Because that's how Dean sees himself, as a shield for others, and then I thought about how Cas actually is the shield, and he's HIS SHIELD, specifically, the only one who's really there to protect HIM, which is why it hits so much when we see this:
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The way Cas wraps his arms around him, trying to protect him with his whole body--that he'd use as a shield and give up in a second if he could spare him from any pain and save him.
(for context: Dean was about to go use the soul bomb on Amara there, it was a suicide mission)
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Bobby is another one that hits, he hugs him as the big hugger because he's his father, he loves him and he's actually here to protect him (and Dean LETS him -barely, but he lets him *and Cas* - in a way that he doesn't let Sam)
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I watched a compilation of Sam & Dean hugs to check if i was right about it, but it's almost always Dean the big hugger with Sam, except when he's about to die or Sam sees him alive again after losing him.
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Even then, Dean mostly tries to hug Sam as the big hugger anyway, with at least one arm, like a way to comfort him, making him feel protected, like his body language is saying "I'm here, I'm okay, I'm still strong, i can still protect you" (because their real father failed and Dean thinks it's his job).
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He rarely lets himself be the little one hugged with Sam, unless he's barely conscious. Which is why it kills me so much more now that in this moment (s14, when Dean was going to lock himself in the Ma'lak box cause he was possessed by Michael) and Sam has a desperate breakdown and punches him (to stop him) he forcefully hugs him as the little hugger, the way Dean always kept him, like a way of saying "I still need you to protect me, please don't do this to yourself".
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In the scene below he gives Sam his blessing to do a dangerous (possibly suicidal) mission, and one of his arms is down, but the other one tries to stay up--he's forcing himself to do it and he struggles because he still wants to protect him, but (as the seasons progress) he slowly becomes more prone to let go.
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So in this view the hug dynamic becomes an indicator of how Dean sees Sam (and himself) and his protector role, how adult and self sufficient he considers Sam, and how much he lets people around him take care of him, lowering his walls and letting himself be hugged.
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This is also why i think hugs from characters like Garth or Charlie are so special, because they're just like us: they see Dean and they just know that he needs to be hugged a lot, and that he's not used to it, so they just go for it-- and it's so normal and kind and spontaneous that Dean's just not used to it-- he doesn't know how to respond (especially with Garth, at the beginning, but as the seasons progress, he learns to, and he even initiates the hug eventually).
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I love the hugs where they're 50/50 (one arm up, one arm down both), feels like they're equals, both taking care of each other. I feel like with Sam and Dean, this indicates a healthier dynamic, because Dean lets go a little of the role that was imposed to him and manages to see Sam as the strong individual that he is. But the same applies to 50/50 hugs with other characters, like with Cas, where I feel like it testifies how equals they feel in terms of being fighters, there's a show of respect of each other's strength that transpires by the gesture (which is even more astounding considering that Cas is literally a powerful angel).
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And just to end on a destiel note, I'd like to note the possessiveness and protectiveness of Dean (rightfully so) whenever he finds Cas after he thought he had lost him, and how that translates into his body/hug language:
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akkpipitphattana · 2 months
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i cant listen to anyone on tiktok analyze too sweet by hozier bc no she’s not too young for him and it’s not that he’s trying to protect her. like yes it’s a rejection song but it’s MORE than that - it’s a breakup song and they’re breaking up because they’re fundamentally incompatible as people. he’s not listing things about him that are bad, he’s listing his personal preferences and talking about how they don’t line up with hers - and how they’ve both tried to change things about each other. “oh you wake up early and i sleep in but you always tell me i should go to bed earlier and i keep telling you that you should try staying up late.” and then he says hey it’s not because you’re not wonderful, you are, but who you are just does not work with who i am - i like bitter things but you’re incredibly sweet. basically hozier took the cliche “it’s not you, it’s me” and made it a beautiful poetic song
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elementroar · 2 months
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Analysis of Paracelsus' initial bloodlust and its longlasting effects on A.B.A (Part 2)
Analysis behind the backstory and personal story arcs of A.B.A. and Paracelsus (part 1)
So this actually started out more of a 'funny' post, but I realized that it really is a very important insight into how A.B.A. and Paracelsus function and interact, especially for his earlier days in XX/Accent Core +R
And I wasn't joking about the vore. It's not in the erotic sense...but it certainly is in the 'literally eating parts of your partner ' sense...
Also apologies for the long word dumps, it got wordier and longer than I expected.
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Paracelsus (used to) REALLY love blood
It goes without saying, Paracelsus really loves blood. Well he used to anyway.
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By STRIVE, he says he felt he lost his sanity whenever he gets hyped on blood in the past. To the point, he has sworn off blood (and violence) as if it was an addiction. Basically, he has managed to go clean sometime between their last appearance and STRIVE.
To not go too far into his backstory again (which you can read here), Paracelsus is a magical axe that fed on blood and increased his own power with blood; and would use warriors as hosts to cause more bloodshed and thus gain more blood and power for himself. Paracelsus doesn't need to 'eat' blood to survive (he was left host-less for about 20 years, and now abstains in STRIVE and is just fine), making the addiction metaphor seem to be accurate.
Back in XX/ACCENT CORE, he needed to drink fresh blood to transform into his superpowered Moroha mode (this is mechanically replaced by Jealous Rage mode now). Similar to his current gameplay, he could get blood and transform by A.B.A. piercing someone with his bladed end; or if A.B.A. fed him one of three blood packs she'd have on her.
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He reacts pretty much like a dog getting a treat, anticipating it when she reaches into her pockets for a pack too. And he truly didn't care where the blood comes from, even if it's from A.B.A. herself.
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A.B.A. coughs up blood and all Paracelsus wants to do is have a taste. Note that he barely actually reacts to her or himself getting hit or fighting in the old games. It's kind of a stark contrast to his many reactions and concern for her wellbeing now.
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Make no mistake, despite being "kinder and gentler" than how he treated his previous hosts - by not completely mind controlling her into a frenzy and caring enough that he doesn't want her to die - Paracelsus was truly obsessed with drinking blood still, and all the fighting skills and power he imparted on A.B.A. was to make her strong enough to defeat opponents and gather blood for him too. Hence the 'manipulation' he felt guilty of in STRIVE.
And he gets even more bloodthirsty in Moroha mode aka what Paracelsus is without his 'sanity'.
You're the worse you when on blood
Prior to STRIVE and Paracelsus' current sludgy form, his powered-up form gave him a goat's head and his persona changes into that of his old berserker self.
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This increase in aggression and bloodlust also affected A.B.A. through their empathetic bond, making her also take joy in violence and also clearly hyperventilating and tweaking out in some animations, like she's high.
Not to mention that to fight in this mode, every time Paracelsus makes a successful attack, A.B.A. also gets damaged (hence 'Moroha' mode as it means 'double-edged'). In-universe, this could mean that Paracelsus is sapping both the blood of an opponent and A.B.A. at the same time, indiscriminately as he says.
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And he seems somewhat crueler in this form, as he has an even more violent and vicious state above Moroha mode called Goku Moroha mode. He enters it by consuming another blood pack, but he also seems to bite down on A.B.A.'s hand without a care and holds onto it while he transforms.
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The impact of all this on A.B.A
Picking up Paracelsus was truly a double-edged sword/axe for A.B.A. On one hand, he was older and savvier about the outside world (even though he spent like 20 years just rusting away on the ground somewhere) and having him as her emotional support key and literal weapon led her to actually daring to explore the outside world, and he provided and (attempted to) advised her on things she didn't know about.
On the other hand, Paracelsus' satiating his bloodthirst was still his main objective, and it was also hurting A.B.A. Although Paracelsus was making some effort to not outright get her killed, A.B.A's additional resilience as a homunculus probably also helped her survive take being Paracelsus' host as long as she did.
Paracelsus was the original toxic element in their relationship, and it's likely over the years he's come to realize and regrets the harm he was doing to A.B.A. constantly, and why he has completely sworn off blood and violence entirely by STRIVE.
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However, his bloodlust fueled and amplified the worse tendencies of A.B.A. from early on, and this seems to have stuck with her till the present in STRIVE. Her current extremely violent reaction when feeling jealousy or anxiety is likely how she's been conditioned to do so by Paracelsus, even when he himself is no longer the source of that bloodlust.
The difference now is that A.B.A.'s new powered-up state of Jealous Rage is mainly fueled by her wrath and fear instead of Paracelsus' bloodlust. Paracelsus becomes sludge now, affected by the toxicity of her unstable emotions going haywire and her will becoming decidedly dominant over his. The one who is toxic has become inverted.
What's more, it seems that the skills Paracelsus imparted on her before also carried over and stuck with her, allowing her to fight independently since Paracelsus isn't trying to encourage her to violence this time. She's become so dominant that she now can even force a new form/transformation onto Paracelsus when she does her Overdrive The Law is Key, Key is King while in Jealous Rage.
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In the game files, this red form is called the "Hyoui" form, meaning 'possession'. It being red is interesting because it seems to be a callback to Paracelsus' moniker of being the Sanguine Gale. The concept art also shows the pretty disturbing way he's being morphed into it by A.B.A. when she does the Overdrive.
When in her Jealous Rage mode, the bottom half Paracelsus' where his axe blade is, somehow becomes more axe-like than it ever has been in the games. In the earlier games, his blade half didn't change, only his head does into the goat-head. What's more disturbing is that eyes already started appearing on the axe half even while Paracelsus tries to maintain his original face as much as possible.
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When executing the Overdrive, A.B.A. swings with the axe half as the sludge pulls from Paracelsus' face to form this new toothed red axe head. Is it a new persona? Is Paracelsus still conscious in his face half or in the axe half at all? Does 'possession' have double meaning where A.B.A. is possessed by her own wrath, but also Paracelsus is now the one being possessed by A.B.A.'s will into forming the red axe form?
The interesting thing too is that A.B.A. executes the Overdrive with precise strikes, liked a skilled warrior. IMO, at this moment A.B.A. ironically became the exact kind of warrior that berserker Paracelsus would have wanted and caused him to even revert back into that primal early form of his that was barely sentient. They gained perfect synergy for the attack, but both are literally out of their minds.
What started this post
Just a funny thing but the reason why I even thought of, and then looked into all this, was because of A.B.A.'s biting of Paracelsus at the top of the post. I was wondering why Paracelsus doesn't say a word of protest when she does this to him, then remembered that he used to kinda drink her blood (and turns out he too has bitten her before), and I think he's prolly thinking "I deserve this".
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therainscene · 1 year
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It’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but the Alan Turing poster really tells us so much about Will that I consider it to be a significant piece of foreshadowing for S5.
First, let’s dissuade ourselves of the notion that Will chose Turing for his hero project for nerd reasons -- Will’s preferred flavour of nerdery is escapist fantasy, not computer science. He doesn’t know what an IP address is and the first thing he thinks of when he hears modem noises is a movie he likes.
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No, he chose Turing because he admires him for being a gay man who accomplished so much in his short life.
On one hand, that’s pretty heart-warming -- the fact he’s willing to identify with other gay men and look up to them as role models shows us he’s making good progress in accepting his identity. On the other hand, it’s heart-breaking, because Turing’s story is not a happy one -- he was caught having a sexual relationship with a man and forced to choose between jail or chemical castration. He chose castration.
I remind you: Will identifies with this guy.
Will is growing up under the twin specters of AIDS and homophobia and likely assumes he’s destined to die young too. He’s been abused and bullied so much, I imagine he’s heard and internalized it all: that he deserves to die, that he’s disgusting, that he’ll never be fulfilled in life.
So when puberty begins crawling its way inside him and implants those shameful desires that make gay men so worthy of abuse... he chooses castration.
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For all the sad pining he does in S4, we never really see Will express desire for Mike -- he never checks him out or shows signs of nervousness when they touch. He behaves with perfect platonic decorum at all times...
...unless we consider That One Scene With The Hose.
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Sexual interpretations of this scene are controversial, and I can understand why; we’re so used to seeing Will as this innocent, immature little boy that it's shocking to catch him fantasizing so lustfully, even though these sorts of thoughts are pretty normal for a 15 year-old. But I think that’s the point. We’re supposed to feel uncomfortable about this, because Will feels uncomfortable about it too.
He’s done well in accepting his identity, but he’s an absolute repressed mess when it comes to accepting his sexuality.
So, that’s what the Turing poster tells us about Will. Here’s where the foreshadowing comes in: Will is not the only queer-coded character to have been metaphorically castrated.
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Henry’s experience bears striking similarities to Turing’s: he too was caught engaging in a natural but forbidden behaviour and forced by his government to undergo a medical procedure to suppress that behaviour.
His villain speech to El in 4x07, which is ostensibly about his powers, also reads very strongly as a scathing criticism of heteronormativity, and it’s covered in rainbow motifs.
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The metaphor here is obvious: Henry’s powers are a manifestation of his homosexuality.
Which implies that Will’s homosexuality can also manifest as powers. They’re repressed because he’s repressed.
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It’s not a coincidence that the sexual tension was through the fucking roof in the infamous sauna scene. Every time Will’s supernatural ability to sense the Mind Flayer triggers in S3, Mike is also nearby.
What’s interesting about Mike is that his queer acceptance issues mirror Will’s: Mike has a healthy relationship with his sexuality (he casually checks guys out and plasters his bedroom walls with posters of buff dudes) but he just can’t bring himself to accept what this implies about his identity.
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Always with the symmetry, these two. They complement each other perfectly; one’s hang-up is the other’s strength. They have a lot to teach each other about being queer.
And as repressed as they are, I think they want to learn from each other -- Will lets himself get flustered when Mike flirts with him in his bedroom, and Mike hangs on to every word of wisdom Will shares with him in their heart-to-hearts.
Internalized homophobia is a powerful force, but their bond is so strong that it empowers them to fight back.
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Henry’s powers symbolize his anger at being mistreated and his desire to take that anger out on the world... but Will’s powers symbolize self-acceptance and love.
So he isn’t just going to defeat Vecna with his powers, and he isn’t just going to get the boy: these two things are one and the same.
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One thing I’m seeing on this re-read of Dracula Daily that I’m already really enjoying, it’s all the little details we didn’t catch before
When we first started we didn’t know who Jonathan Harker was and to us he was just a silly little British man who was ignoring the obvious warning signs, so there was a comedic element to the dramatic irony of him going to Castle Dracula
But now that we know who Jonathan is and we care about him, it hits much harder all the subtle horror elements we missed while focusing on this good friend telling us about his travels
From the first entry, people picking up on the dog barking under his window and being like “is that Dracula? Does it start this early?” Being skeeved out by Dracula’s overly familiar letter to Jonathan, which at first seemed perfectly reasonable except for the name attached at the end, and picking up on all the terrible foreshadowing for what will be Jonathan’s living hell over the next month in his Castle.
And people this time picking up on the bravery of the wife of the innkeeper who gave him a crucifix, begging him to stay or wait, to not go to the castle, of the terror of knowing that Dracula was in correspondence with her husband to get the letter to Jonathan and the sort of subtle threat they must be under at all times, of the significance of “for your mother’s sake” knowing what Dracula does to children. She is no longer perceived as a random background character, but an active player forced to be a bystander who is trying desperately to help this ignorant soul in any way she can even if she knows it might be useless.
I love people realizing Jonathan is skeptical and off-put, but not enough to deter his mission. He’s not oblivious, just making an effort to remain open-minded to the culture and superstitions and beliefs he is not familiar with, since he’s aware it will be wildly different from his own (to the best of his ability for being an Englishman from the 1890s) and pointedly dismissing the things that might be red flags as an attempt to rationalize because nothing truly concerning has happened yet to provoke him to leave, and he doesn’t want to be deterred by something he’s getting worked up for for no reason yet, he couldn’t do his job otherwise and people are depending on him
Idk, I just like this deeper analysis and thought now that people are already familiar and attached to his character, and now know what happens, so they can properly point out when something is foreshadowing later events or themes in the novel, and they can pick up on it quicker
Even something as simple as people noticing the other meals mentioned in the first entry because of all the focus on Paprika Hendl last year makes me happy :)
I like that they are giving our protagonist more credit now, knowing the character he turns into later in the novel (a badass)
It is satisfying :)))
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kyouka-supremacy · 7 months
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I know I've talked about this plenty already but I literally can't take off my mind how despite being objectively horrible towards her, Akutagawa praising Kyouka is such a frequent, heartbreaking occurrence. Like THE ISSUE with bsd's generational trauma is that every mentor trains their student according to how they'd treat themselves. Mori repeatedly says he sees himself in Dazai; he allowed Oda to be killed because he didn't think it would have effected Dazai that much, but that's only because it wouldn't have effected Mori that much in his place, because it was just the most rational thing to do; but of course it wasn't the same for Dazai, who was left utterly destroyed by Oda's death. Dazai never offered Akutagawa the validation for his life he so desperately needs because for Dazai that sentiment is just incomprehensible– how could the suicidal maniac understand the need to be allowed to live, when living is so fundamentally meaningless for him? And Akutagawa constantly praised Kyouka– constantly, but that's never been something Kyouka, quite confident by her own nature, ever needed; she needed to be loved, cherished, protected, overall to be treated like a child, but Akutagawa never gave her that, because - again differently from Kyouka, who had a relatively normal early childhood and would know what being loved is like - he himself was never a child.
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queerxqueen · 5 months
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saltburn rambles but. the scene where oliver carefully wraps his hand before punching the mirror is so emblematic of his character and decision-making. the way he can simultaneously seem so calculated and intentional and premeditated, while also being incredibly emotional and impulsive and reactive.
as much as oliver likes to convince himself his decisions are logical, he is fueled by his emotions. punching the mirror is purely a rage response; there's no masterminded ulterior motive to breaking the mirror. it's a destructive impulse that he can't control.
he can take the time to wrap his hand, to return to his room, to direct his anger. he can be smart about it and mitigate the damage. but it's still an emotional reaction. it's still impulsive. he's still not in control.
in the same way, he takes the time to poison the bottle of champagne, but that doesn't make him killing felix any less of an impulsive response to felix's rejection.
he isn't logical. he isn't a mastermind. he's a heartbroken kid, lashing out because he's feeling scary feelings, and lying to himself. because admitting he was in love with felix means admitting that he lost what he really wanted. and admitting he's not in control means that it was completely and utterly his own damn fault.
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midnight-in-town · 1 year
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About Yor: she isn’t dense, but most likely indoctrinated by Garden
So I wanted to address this for a long while now, because I’ve seen one too many posts talking about Yor like she’s just an aloof assassin who doesn’t care about things outside her direct environment, which is why sometimes she says dense things. 
I’m well aware that she’s a fan favorite so people don’t mean her harm, yet I think the whole story actually hints at way more than her being dense, especially considering her background and who she still works for. 
In other words, since Yor was trained but also half raised by Garden’s leader, the Shopkeeper, it’s likely that, considering how they operate and what they’re about, they instilled in her a conditioned dependency since childhood or teenage years that would make her unable to learn things on her own without asking for their opinion, making it very hard for her to turn against them ever. 
Want a striking example? Her encounter with Melinda Desmond. 
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Not only did she not know who Melinda was (but I mean, that at least could be understandable)...
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...but she also didn’t know what a First Lady is. 
Sure, it’s funny on first glance, but after thinking about it, what does it betray? That Garden probably made sure over years Yor would never get the slightest basic info and understanding on what politics of this country are all about. Because if their strong soldiers start to get opinions of their own, then they could start disagreeing with Garden and turning on them. So, “let’s prohibit people having free thinking, so that they can remain good little pawns” as we “fight for peace in our country”.
In fact, for Yor, until a short time ago (when she met Loid and Anya), all she did was thought and decided for her by Garden and, to this day, she still voluntarily asks them for their agreement when she opens up her close circle little by little: she asked them if it was okay to marry Loid and then she asked them if it was okay to befriend Melinda. 
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To be honest, that’s a scary ass thought process to envision, when Yor’s an independent working lady well into her 20s, but this shows how deep Garden’s indoctrination runs in Yor, since they got hold of her as a child/young teen. 
Another striking example is the way she always describes her job, in an almost childish way. Her nickname “thorn princess” aside, I always found it interesting that Yor’s aware she’s an assassin but she isn’t morally anguished at all about killing people and never mentions or distinguishes any grey area in her missions. In fact...
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... it’s all in black and white and she clearly thinks that the people she kills are all evildoers (which as we saw in the recent arc with the Red Circus isn’t always the case and begs the rhetorical question “why does Garden get to decide who’s evil?”), therefore “she’s not doing anything wrong”, which also pretty much betrays how she was pushed into it. 
Long ago, Garden probably baited Yor with Yuri’s protection and told her that, since they’re “about peace”, Yor’s work would just help them to “fight against evil”. As a child, she wasn’t mentally fit to understand the deeper implications and then she was mentally conditioned to always do and think like Garden tells her to, which promotes this systematic childish description of her assassin’s job. 
Finally, please take notice of the Shopkeeper’s reaction the first time she tries to argue about her work, in the ship arc: 
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Enough said, Garden’s awful. I’m sure there are more examples throughout the story, but I now want to talk about future character development. 
After all, since the story obviously calls for Yor to ditch Garden, to protect what’s actually important to her (Yuri, Loid and Anya), we actually do see her changing little by little so far, thanks to her living with Loid and Anya. Her coworkers quickly mentioned that she’s more lively ever since she got married and the ship arc overall emphasizes that her family is starting to become more important to her than her job, so there is high hope for Yor. :D
Additionally, while she’s still far away from noticing that Garden mentally drove her into a corner, she now openly voices her concerns that “she’s not normal” but that she wants to understand why in order to learn how to change. 
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To be fair, fighting against indoctrination is tough and takes time so I’m very proud of her for slowly realizing that she ought to decide for herself from now on. :D 
TL;DR Yor is not dense. She was indoctrinated as a child by Garden and can only (for now) see the world through the filters they taught her. 
Ironically enough, the only character who knows about her real job and could, thus, notice that Yor isn’t being critical about Garden...... actually can’t because she’s a four year old who is too young to understand that Mama’s job is wrong. Well done, Endo-sensei!
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kideaternomnom · 7 days
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JJK’s god forsaken fandom has done lots of characters dirty. Whether it be downplaying Nobara’s backstory, some calling Maki a “Toji copy,” you get it. However literally no other JJK character has been done as dirty or bad in the fandom than Megumi:
His trauma and his damn FATHER leaving him gets downplayed by the fandom, saying how “he said he didn’t care.”
He gets called bland, yet if his insecurities are explored along with his inferiority complex it either gets ignored or he STILL gets slandered.
When he is appreciated he either gets sexualized or watered down to his long eyelashes.
Good fights that show his INCREDIBLE smartness along with fighting the curse, Reggie, Kirara, etc get ignored or get credibility taken away.
The scene where he literally gets Yuji back up at the campfire is ALSO ignored. (Without Megumi or Todo Itadori would’ve given up. It’s no debate.)
Gets sexism from toxic masculine wannabe “alpha” boys who are butthurt he isn’t your typical “cool powerful badass.”
(MANGA SPOILERS) His body when taken over by Sukuna gets touched inappropriately by Yorozu, which can practically count as SA. However literally NOBODY notices this.
His dynamic with Tsumiki and how much he cares for her is undermined.
Literally almost all scenes that show his mind and depth gets undermined.
Some people say his backstory “wasn’t that bad” just because he had Gojo take him in. ☠️
He gets victim blamed for what happened with Sukuna in the manga.
(MANGA SPOILERS) He gets blamed for being depressed and giving up when his LITERAL REASON for becoming a Jujutsu sorcerer and living is gone, along with his body being used to kill his own mentor and taking billions of hits.
There’s literally so much more but I’ll stop there. The way Megumi aka a literal TEENAGER is treated in this god awful fandom is actually so disgusting, and reeks of major apologism along with victim blaming. It’s sad because Megumi is easily VERY well written and complex. He just had to be in this illiterate fandom. Seriously, f this fandom. 😭
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malinthebodyguard · 2 months
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I know that it may not seem super realistic that the queen just accepts Wilhelm's decision at the end of ep 6. But honestly, I think Kristina had always known that Wilhelm was going to do this.
He said almost exactly the same thing in E1S2 to both her and the court:
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Of course, in this scene he's angry and upset. But the fact that he's being an angry teen about it doesn't necessarily make his words untrue. Even before he's CP, Wilhelm begins the story at odds with his roles and the expectations it put on him.
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She recognises, of course, that he's being an overdramatic teen. She was probably a bit more dismissive of these comments before Erik died. But after everything that happened, I don't think Kristina has that luxury. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knows that Wilhelm is hanging on by a thread. I think this is why she tries to change the dynamic with him in season 2 and tries to negotiate with him. We can probably also see that reflected through Farima in S3, who's taken over as the person who tries to both appease and direct Wilhelm.
But in the car scene, Wilhelm no longer seems like an emotional teenager, being carried away by his emotions. This is Wilhelm growing up.
Kristina sees this too, sees that this isn' t the tantrum of an angry teen, but the realization of a young man who knows who he is and what he wants.
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We're seeing her accept something that she's known, instinctively, was going to happen from the second Wilhelm became the Crown Prince. What can she do but let him go? As neglectful and unfair of a parent as she may be, I do genuinely believe she loves him. Closing that door would have meant losing him forever.
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barrel-crow-n · 2 months
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I was just thinking about how Kaz built this heartless persona for himself and how everyone falls for it to varying degrees: He's widely regarded as a monster and as "not made right"; Inej thought he wouldn't come for her and that once she was useless to him that he would discard her; Jesper never knows where exactly he stands with him; Nina "doesn't want to know what dark hole he crawled out of"; Wylan calls him "the most vengeful creature he had ever met"; Matthias believes he's a demon. But in reality his true motives for most things are love and grief and loss of family.
Kaz only wanted money for revenge, he didn't want to try and build a meaningful connection with Imogen because she would distract him from pursuing his vengeance, he only mentions how Pekka conned them out of money to explain how they ended up on the streets, how it was never about the money but about Jordie.
Kaz says that he and Jordie were such easy marks because they missed their dad. Kaz's biggest gripe was not just the loss of Jordie but the illusion of a home and family that Pekka had snatched away before the plague snatched Jordie away too.
It all always leads back to Jordie and his loss and avenging him and about never wanting to be that vulnerable again. Kaz created Kaz Brekker to protect himself, to hide his vulnerabilities. His grief is hidden behind a fake name, his naivety is hidden behind violence, his touch aversion is hidden behind the gloves.
Kaz pushes people away because he fears what will happen if he lets them in. He gets mean when he's vulnerable to hide said vulnerability. He did it in the clocktower, he did it in the bathroom. After he accidently calls Jesper Jordie he lashes out verbally and physically, when Inej asks about Jordie and Pekka's involvement in what happened he recounts how he tortured someone. In both incidents it's again Jordie that he's hiding, that is causing him to be vulnerable. It always leads back to Jordie. Even with Van Eck! He's again angry that he fell for what he fell for before, the thing that made him lose Jordie making him temporarily lose Inej.
In both the Jesper and Inej examples he hides behind violence - by brawling with Jesper and recounting a time when he tortured a young boy. He does this because he loves Inej and Jesper, and it scares him, and he doesn't know what to do with it. Because everyone he's ever loved has died in horrible ways (his father was torn apart by a plough, his brother died from a horrible sickness) and he doesn't want to go through it again - especially since he still hasn't let go of Jordie, although it has been eight years.
Kaz is a person who loves so deeply. Who is mainly motivated by love. Who, when Pekka asks him what he wants, replies "Bring my brother back from the dead." because he never cared about money, nor power, nor anything else. He just wants his brother. All he wanted this whole time is his brother, and since he no longer has him he lashes out, all hurt and grieving. He's hurting so badly that he destroys everyone even mildly involved in what took Jordie away from him. But he only did that because he loved Jordie. It wasn't revenge for the sake of money it was for the sake of love. It was for the sake of Jordie.
Kaz loved Jordie so much that he became the most feared person in Ketterdam, that he took down the King of the Barrel and a merchant from one of the oldest families in Ketterdam (because even if his gripe with Van Eck was unrelated, it's because of Jordie's loss that life snowballed into their interactions and the consequent betrayal and destruction of everything Van Eck held dear). Kaz loved Jordie so much that it changed the entire course of the narrative.
If not for Jordie's loss the heist wouldn't of happened, all of the Crows lives would've been different, some of the Crows would even most likely be dead, and this extends even further to much more major things. The King of Ravka managed to steal the titanium because of his help which will aid Ravka in wars, the path to jurda parem is no longer in the hands of the Fjerdans and a cure is being safely developed in Ravka because Kaz rescued Kuwei, Wylan took over the Van Eck empire because Kaz tampered with Van Eck's will and papers, Inej is working on taking down the slave trade which is only possible because Kaz freed her from her indenture, Nina became the queen of Fjerda because of things that Kaz started (her joining the Dregs instead of being indebted to the Dime Lions, him freeing Matthias, him organising the heist, Matthias dying in the aftermath, her going to Fjerda to bury Matthias and the results which ended up being her and her new lover on the Fjerdan throne trying to fix prejudice against grisha, and women, in the most conservative country).
All of it leads back to Kaz. And he did all of it for Jordie. It all always leads back to Jordie. Jordie and Kaz's love for his big brother and his grief over having him snatched away from him.
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percheduphere · 4 months
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LET'S TALK ABOUT "HE'LL MAKE IT BACK"
Special thank you to @mmobiuses, @starrose17, and @stevenrogered whose gifs make-up the lion's share of this post. Thank you to all the other amazing gif artists as well, without you, my metas won't be possible.
This might come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I actually wasn't big on Lokius until Season 2. I thought Loki and Mobius made a cute ship in Season 1, but that was the extent of it. In truth, I lost interest in the Loki series by the S1 finale and had 0 interest in watching S2. I didn't give the series another try until I saw positive reviews on Tumblr. I therefore started watching S2 when S2E4 dropped.
LOKI SEASON 1
Enjoying the potential love story between two characters is a deeply personal and subjective experience. So take what I say as my personal experience observing Loki and Mobius's relationship.
I fully believed Mobius loved Loki in S1 in the platonic sense. Tom Hiddleston has given a few interviews on Loki's and Mobius's relationship and seems to believe in this sentiment as well [see 5:30-7:30 and 10:57-11:00]).
That is to say, in S1, I didn't feel, "Oh, my god ... he loves him." It was more, "Yes, he loves him", there is no question, his actions prove it.
There is wiggle-room for unrequited love in the S1E4 interrogation scene, but the jealousy Mobius exhibited could have just as easily been a combination of anger on behalf of his murdered colleagues and platonic jealousy.
However, I felt the first hint of unrequited love from Mobius occurred during his goodbye scene with Loki in S1E5. Specifically, this look:
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I had no expectations for that look to pay off in any way. Season 2 surprised me.
LOKI SEASON 2
S2E1 is amazing episode because, through subtext, it reframes how Mobius's S1 emotions may be interpreted with stronger evidence for romantic motivation. In this episode, there appears to be a subtle, gradual build-up to the moment that Mobius's love for Loki may be viewed as fully romantic. Let's break down the episode and look at the progression:
First, learning that Loki is at the TVA: *sigh* I can't find the "Loki's here?" gif.
Second, and perhaps the most infamous, the reunion and whole-body support Mobius provides Loki in the TVA War Room (physical comfort):
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Third, Mobius bringing Loki somewhere safe and quiet, assuring him that "it's okay" (emotional comfort):
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Fourth, Mobius insisting that Loki's condition must be fixed, not once but twice, in two different scenes. A third (writer's magic 3s!) instance occurs in the Heart of the TVA, just before the gangway scene (prioritizing the other):
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Fifth, Mobius's admission that Loki's timeslipping looks horrible, and he can't look at it anymore. He repeatedly stresses to Loki how serious this is (emotional and physical empathy):
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Sixth, Mobius taking Loki to exact right person who can help. This is particularly significant, because Mobius is the only person in MCU canon who has verbally expressed concern for Loki's physical well-being and took immediate action to stop the pain (act of service):
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Seventh, the third time Mobius prioritizes Loki's wellbeing. He scolds Loki and reminds him they have only one shot at getting his timeslipping corrected before the temporal radiation becomes too high (prioritizing the other):
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Eighth, Mobius interrupting Loki, insisting that he will make it back. The subtext here is that no other outcome is acceptable or thinkable for Mobius (emotional comfort):
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Finally, Ninth, the clincher: "He'll make it back." (self-comfort)
This scene is everything to me. Moments 1 through 8 build-up to this singular moment. Let's do a micro-analysis on it.
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After Loki timeslips, the camera stays on Mobius. It tracks him as he kneels down to pick-up the time sick, the last thing Loki touched. The camera then pans up as Mobius rises.
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@stevenrogered, THANK YOU for this gifset. It's literally the only one I could find that captures the camera tracking Mobius after Loki disappears, and this is my all-time favorite Mobius scene.
Mobius stands for a moment, motionless, and the camera holds on his facial expression. He's staring at where Loki WAS for extended period of time (keep this in mind for later). He's holding his breath. He's worried, scared, and hopeful, not for himself and the danger he faces on the gangway, but for Loki.
Finally, he exhales as he says to himself, "He'll make it back".
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This entire sequence--particularly the moment when Mobius picks-up the time stick and holds it in silence--made me feel, "Oh ... Oh ... he loves him."
The camera stays with Mobius, capturing his reaction to this high-stakes situation for a significant amount of time (@loki-us, maybe you can get this timed starting from the moment Loki disappears and Mobius starts to kneel to pick-up the time stick?). Cinematographers don't do this type of hold unless they want to illicit a strong emotion from the audience regarding the character we are focusing on in the moment.
My insides swooped, which rarely ever happens when I view film or television.
And this camera hold, this pregnant pause, is mirrored by Loki's stare in S2E5:
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