Being A Fan Of Umineko Is Also Hard Because Like. You Have To Warn People That Hey Its Gothic Horror

Being a fan of Umineko is also hard because like. You have to warn people that hey it’s gothic horror it does feature incest and sexual violence but it’s handled respectfully. But also you have to contend with the creator’s leotard fetish. And if you choose to read the manga instead of the visual novel (which I did) some of the drawings are really eyebrow raising including those of a character who is an ageless nonhuman who stopped maturing when her creator died and thus looks like a child. And there’s this other supposedly adult character who looks like a child and she’s a sadist who jokes about “mind rape” and it’s really tasteless. And the main character jokes about groping his cousins’ boobs. More than once. But no I swear the actual incest and sexual violence is treated with respect I swear you have to trust me hey listen plEA

But like actually it’s so strange to me that this man wrote a story that treats sexual violence with appropriate respect and gravity but at the same time threw in a thousand year old little girl who wears a leotard

Actually I’m making a separate post about this. Before you read, please understand that when I use the words “feminine” and “femininity” I am exclusively talking about the patriarchal stereotypes, aesthetics, gender roles, and other expectations ascribed to the female sex in a given culture. I do not mean “the intrinsic aspect of being female/a girl/a woman/however you wanna phrase it.” The concept of femininity is a construct. It’s a set of traits and roles and expectations and aesthetics that anyone can have. So when I say that some female characters are more or less feminine, I am not commenting on identity, I am commenting on presence or absence of traits ascribed to girls and women and conformity to sexist expectations. I am making this distinction because in the past it has been assumed that when I said that a girl was less feminine, I was saying she was less of a girl, which isn’t at all what I was saying. Anyway.

I have a knee-jerk reaction to the idea that the only reason Arya didn’t like “ladylike” activities is that she had bad experiences with them with Sansa, the septa, and her mother. Like the one exception to this is that I love the idea that she’d be good at embroidery if she was able to use her left hand. But otherwise I think it risks treading into gender essentialism. Like “the only reason a girl wouldn’t like and be good at “feminine” things is if she had bad experiences.” I know that’s not what most people mean to imply but I dunno I just think it would be really boring if it was like oh turns out Arya loved dresses all along like it gives Allison getting a makeover in Breakfast Club.

Like oh the girl who was insecure about not quite conforming? Well turns out that the answer to her insecurity is to conform! She just needed people to be nicer to her so she could become a feminine girl just like everyone else! No. There’s no power in that. The answer should be that social acceptance allows her to embrace who she is and have confidence in that! I want Arya to wear pants that allow her to run and play with children and a long cloak she’s embroidered with wildflowers. I feel like people generally understand that it’s sexist to have the resolution to the “I’m insecure because I’m not as feminine as other girls and have been mistreated for it” be “now that people have been kind to me I have become as feminine as other girls.” Like Chie in Persona 3. 

It undermines the criticism of the people who were doing said mistreatment. Like “You were right to be insecure! The answer is to change yourself! People bullying you for being different? Never fear! If you simply experience true kindness and acceptance, you can stop being different! No more insecurity because you can be just like everyone wants you to be and society itself doesn’t have to change!” There’s this dissonance in some fans where they can recognize that the way Arya was judged was wrong, but they still want Arya to end up being traditionally “ladylike.” And for me it’s just like. Why. That’s so boring. I don’t hate it as much as Arya growing up to be a ruthless killer but it seems like a betrayal of themes. My ideal end for Arya is that she’s home, she’s loved, she gets to be who she is. She has a family. She’s beloved by all the children in the Winterfell, not just her own. She teaches them about the wildlife and gives water dancing lessons to girls AND boys who want to learn. She braids her hair against her head to keep it out of the way and decorates the braids with flowers. It’s a very “happily ever after” sort of ending of course and not exactly what I think WILL happen (I do not have any idea what her endgame will be, to be clear, I’m just clarifying that I’m not theorizing I’m just imagining the best happiest ending for her I can think of that fits her character).

I just think that Arya doesn’t need to actually like dresses and be good at all the “feminine” activities and hobbies in order for her to be a beloved Lady, and it feels like that’s the undercurrent to the notion that Arya only dislikes traditionally “ladylike” pursuits as a result of trauma

House Dayne

-Words Unknown-

Sigil: White Sword Crossed with a Falling Star

Colors: White/Lilac

Seat: Starfall

"Sword of the Morning"

House Dayne in Dorne is sworn to House Martell. They are owners of the greatsword Dawn which is said to be forged from the heart of a falling star.

A simple piece that's been sitting in my WIPs for way too long that I finally decided to go and finish.

Used influence from Mongolian and Kyrgyz traditional clothing and yurts.

Real talk I don’t necessarily think the warrior princess/willowy creature bit has literally anything to do with Jon’s type. I don’t think it’s him saying he wants a warrior princess or denying some secret desire for a damsel in a tower I think he’s literally just thinking about Val and who she is. “A warrior princess, he decided,” he is not deciding that’s what he wants he’s deciding that’s what Val is. Like the entire passage is:

“Let me help.”

“You have. You brought me Tormund.”

“I can do more.”

Why not? thought Jon. They are all convinced she is a princess. Val looked the part and rode as if she had been born on horseback. A warrior princess, he decided, not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her.

—Jon XI, ADwD

I usually don’t see it with the first part, the, “they are all convinced she is a princess,” part. He’s deciding that yes, she is a princess, a warrior princess. I can see why people think this is GRRM cuing the reader into Jon’s type but I just do not get that impression. I think it’s a description of Val. When put in the full context of the chapter, I really think it’s just characterization of Val and the way Jon understands her and who she is.

@heroisagirlsname right like you get me. People will be like “wanting to run and play outside is normal kid things and doesn’t make her a tomboy” and they’re SO CLOSE to getting it. Yes, those are perfectly normal things for kids to want but yet being more interested in roughhousing and getting muddy and catching frogs than in tea parties and dolls and dress-up is enough to get a girl labeled as a tomboy (or at least it was when I was a little girl) BECAUSE the socially constructed notion of what girls should do and be like is so narrow and doesn’t ALLOW little girls to act like normal kids. Freedom to just exist as humans is robbed from girls starting at an early age and that is an intentional feature of the patriarchy. So like saying Arya isn’t a tomboy isn’t really accurate because the concept of the tomboy only exists because of patriarchal constructs about gender roles and according to these constructs, yes she is. We use the language created by these constructs so we have means to talk about it, not to validate it. Arguing that Arya is just a normal little girl and not a tomboy is to say that well yes tomboys do exist and they aren’t normal little girls but Arya isn’t like that. Which just isn’t constructive and still is othering little girls whom are more nonconforming than Arya. I am realizing this is a bit tangential to your comment but anyway you’re right and you should say it

Actually I’m making a separate post about this. Before you read, please understand that when I use the words “feminine” and “femininity” I am exclusively talking about the patriarchal stereotypes, aesthetics, gender roles, and other expectations ascribed to the female sex in a given culture. I do not mean “the intrinsic aspect of being female/a girl/a woman/however you wanna phrase it.” The concept of femininity is a construct. It’s a set of traits and roles and expectations and aesthetics that anyone can have. So when I say that some female characters are more or less feminine, I am not commenting on identity, I am commenting on presence or absence of traits ascribed to girls and women and conformity to sexist expectations. I am making this distinction because in the past it has been assumed that when I said that a girl was less feminine, I was saying she was less of a girl, which isn’t at all what I was saying. Anyway.

I have a knee-jerk reaction to the idea that the only reason Arya didn’t like “ladylike” activities is that she had bad experiences with them with Sansa, the septa, and her mother. Like the one exception to this is that I love the idea that she’d be good at embroidery if she was able to use her left hand. But otherwise I think it risks treading into gender essentialism. Like “the only reason a girl wouldn’t like and be good at “feminine” things is if she had bad experiences.” I know that’s not what most people mean to imply but I dunno I just think it would be really boring if it was like oh turns out Arya loved dresses all along like it gives Allison getting a makeover in Breakfast Club.

Like oh the girl who was insecure about not quite conforming? Well turns out that the answer to her insecurity is to conform! She just needed people to be nicer to her so she could become a feminine girl just like everyone else! No. There’s no power in that. The answer should be that social acceptance allows her to embrace who she is and have confidence in that! I want Arya to wear pants that allow her to run and play with children and a long cloak she’s embroidered with wildflowers. I feel like people generally understand that it’s sexist to have the resolution to the “I’m insecure because I’m not as feminine as other girls and have been mistreated for it” be “now that people have been kind to me I have become as feminine as other girls.” Like Chie in Persona 3. 

It undermines the criticism of the people who were doing said mistreatment. Like “You were right to be insecure! The answer is to change yourself! People bullying you for being different? Never fear! If you simply experience true kindness and acceptance, you can stop being different! No more insecurity because you can be just like everyone wants you to be and society itself doesn’t have to change!” There’s this dissonance in some fans where they can recognize that the way Arya was judged was wrong, but they still want Arya to end up being traditionally “ladylike.” And for me it’s just like. Why. That’s so boring. I don’t hate it as much as Arya growing up to be a ruthless killer but it seems like a betrayal of themes. My ideal end for Arya is that she’s home, she’s loved, she gets to be who she is. She has a family. She’s beloved by all the children in the Winterfell, not just her own. She teaches them about the wildlife and gives water dancing lessons to girls AND boys who want to learn. She braids her hair against her head to keep it out of the way and decorates the braids with flowers. It’s a very “happily ever after” sort of ending of course and not exactly what I think WILL happen (I do not have any idea what her endgame will be, to be clear, I’m just clarifying that I’m not theorizing I’m just imagining the best happiest ending for her I can think of that fits her character).

I just think that Arya doesn’t need to actually like dresses and be good at all the “feminine” activities and hobbies in order for her to be a beloved Lady, and it feels like that’s the undercurrent to the notion that Arya only dislikes traditionally “ladylike” pursuits as a result of trauma