The Senju Kekkai Genkai

The Senju Kekkai Genkai

I'm pretty sure the senju kekkai genkai isn't actually mokuton, that's just a by product of their actual kekkai genkai which was proably a genetic predisposition to nature chakra.

I believe the mokuton is a specific alignment of factors that correlate to create the perfect circumstances for it to present. Namely, a water and earth nature affinity, VERY good chakra control (which is clearly a trait of the main family senju line, if hashirama, tobirama, and tsunade are any indication), AND a predisposition, or at least a learned ability, to passively absorb nature chakra (which even Naruto couldn't do, he absorbed it actively).

That would explain why the mokoton is so rare despite kekkai genkai usually being dominant genetic traits in large blood-related family groups (Uchiha, Hyuuga, Hoshigaki, etc) because even if all the senju family could passively absorb nature chakra, few of them hit the rest of the necessary factors.

Take for example Tobirama, hypothetically he hit 3 of the 4 required factors to create mokuton (water affinity, chakra control, nature chakra) but because he was missing that 1 single factor (earth affinity) his kekkai genkai presented as an incredibly powerful water affinity and skill over healing and seals*, but no mokuton.

As well as that, despite being much smaller than the Uchiha, the Senju as a whole were able to compete with them on the battlefield. If we assume the disparity caused by the Uchiha's size and kekkai genkai was being bridged by a boost from nature chakra to each individual Senju, the Senju's ability to keep up is much more feasible.

It is also generally agreed within the fandom (never officially confirmed), that when the mokuton becomes too strong, the user gets turned into a tree. Now, that sounds VERY similar to nature chakra imbalance which Naruto was threatened with when he was was learning Toad Sage Mode, adjusted to suit a Tree Sage of course.

It would also explain why so many Shinobi (Orochimaru, Madara/Zetsu) throughout the Narutoverse struggled to recreate mokuton despite having direct access to Hashirama's cells. Unfortunately, I'm not overly familiar with cellular biology, but at least with kidney transplants (with modern science) the rejection rate is about 15% (correct me if I'm wrong, I googled it), not the ridiculous 99% we see when Orochimaru attempted to recreate it under Danzo's orders. Even accounting for the likely uptick in deaths due to adjusting genetic code being considerably riskier then a simple kidney transplant, it is not unreasonable to assume that most of the transfers were probably successful. Therefore, it is possible that the 99% fatality rate was due to the sudden and overwhelming influx of nature chakra into small bodies and minds that did not know how to handle or balance the sudden intrusion. In fact, we even see this when Tenzou's neighbour eventually succumbed to the experiment, and roots and branches grew out of her. Much like the cost that is described for those that wield mokuton, and also an imbalance of nature chakra.

Finally, that would explain why Sakura doesn't have mokuton when, if the show's description of the kekkai genkai is too be believed, she definitely should. Kishimoto's explanation for mokuton is that it is a perfect balance of earth and water nature affinities which, when combined, can cause plant life and vegetation to be manipulated and grow at extraordinary rates*°. However, if this explanation is to be believed, then there is no reason why Sakura should not have mokuton. It is generally agreed (again, never confirmed) that Sakura has earth and water affinities, and her chakra control is considered one of the greatest in the history of the Shinobi nations (canonically the greatest during her time). Therefore, if we're going by kishimoto's explanation, logically, Sakura should be able to use her chakra control to balance her water and earth affinities. However, if we rather consider it with the theory that the Senju kekkai genkai is nature chakra, then Sakura suddenly needs 4 prerequisites, not just 3. And Sakura has never shown any proclivity to nature chakra, so she does not hit the last requirement.

So. Yeah. The Senju had a genetic green thumb that gave them superpowers, not just trees. I think I had more points somewhere rattling around but I've forgotten them lol. I was also going to do a TL;LD but ehhhhhhh too hard. Do with this information as you like, thank you for coming to my TED talk.

*it is generally believed that one must have a certain mental predisposition towards healing and seals to be able to fully master them. Hence why the Uzumaki were so feared, because it was quite literally impossible for any other Shinobi (even other seal masters) to master some of their work because the logical progression (seals work somewhat like code, except WHERE you put each line of code mattered almost as much as WHAT it said) was incomprehensible

*weirdly enough, hashirama's mokuton generally uses pre-existing plants and seeds to create his constructs whereas Tenzou most often creates them from himself. Perhaps less control/balance over the nature chakra? Rather then using it in the traditional sense, he has weaponised the nature chakra's own side effect? Would also explain why his mokuton is weaker and why he's never shown to have Tree Sage Mode. Could also simply be because neither had formal training and simple made the mokuton entirely their own in how they used it lol

°according to kishimoto's explanation, mokuton is more akin to a release, like D's storm release (water and wind) or Mei's lava release (earth and fire), not a true kekkai genkai which CANNOT be recreated without the necessary genetic code, much like most dojutsus', the hoshigaki's sharklike appearances and skills (although that is often argued to be more as a result of their summons), and the hozuki's naturally transformative cellular structure (which is BONKERS by the way)

Tim is the fandoms sad white boi fav, which is why there's so many ppl rushing to defend him over every other character😂. Like idk if you read fic but I can't look thru any batfam character tag w/out tripping over 500+ ~uwu sad boy tim~ fic's abt how the entire family is SO mean to him, everyone ABANDONED him, +a weird focus on how insecure he is, how much he ~doubts his place~ when like. . . He was pretty full of himself in Canon??? Idk but Tim stans r wild 😖

lmao…i really don’t want this blog turning into a tim drake hate blog i promise! Because there are things that I like about his original character, like how he wasn’t really naturally athletically gifted so he had to train a ton and work really hard and use trickery/cunning to even out the battlefield for himself, and he really holds his own. (Not that I’m trying to say he is incompetent, just compared to the superhuman level of the batfam and the hero community, he doesn’t really have a natural aptitude and I like how his hardwork has paid off). 

But. I’ve seen so many posts talking about Dick, Jason, and Damian’s flaws (people are constantly harping on Dick’s temper, etc. and everyone acknowledges that Damian was/is a brat and that Jason goes around killing people sometimes and isn’t exactly stable, but we all love these characters anyway) but I have seen like. Practically no one criticizing Tim, and even on the posts that I see taking Tim down a peg or two, the majority of the notes are just people explaining his flaws away (there are of course exceptions to this I assume, I’m just talking about what I’ve seen in my little corner of tumblr dot com). 

So yeah, what I’m saying is that Tim is very condescending (and with that condescension pretty sexist [x]) and sometimes, he sees people more as chess pieces for him to use and disregards the fact that they are people with feelings and emotions (like Bruce in this way). He spends a lot of his time as Robin trashing Jason in his head for being reckless as Robin (to be fair, DC really had an agenda to try to take the blame for Jason’s death off Bruce and put it onto the victim for some reason and Tim was a convenient mouthpiece, but still. Tim was very consistent in his thoughts towards Jason) and saying that he’ll do better. Which doesn’t exactly scream insecurity. He goes around having a girlfriend while also kissing Spoiler/Stephanie multiple times, which is a pretty freakin messy situation that no one talks about huh? (yet neither of these girls find out so once again Tim escapes any actual canon punishment). 

And with the Damian stuff, people like to act like Tim is totally in the right, but I can’t get over the initial stuff with them. Like, Bruce tells Tim that Damian was brutalized and brainwashed in the League and deserves compassion and love and Tim flat out says ‘he should earn it’. (This is just meeting Damian, before any physical confrontation). Damian is like 10 in his first appearances and I just can’t get over how much Tim lacked any sense of empathy for Damian here. A lot of their rivalry is Damian instigating, true. But he is a ten year old who doesn’t know any other way of life. Tim is freaking college age and he always seems to scoff at Damian’s progress and disregard his feelings (like with the whole putting him on a contingency list in Red Robin). 

Look, sorry to really go into Tim like this, I know he has good qualities and his own traumas too. You could make a list of bad choices/decisions for any character (and people have for all the other people in the Batfam). But it is frustrating how fanon and even canon don’t hold Tim accountable for any of his mistakes or flaws. Like, Dick acts like Batman and everyone is calling him out for it. The Titans, Batfam, and even Tim explicitly tell Dick to stop acting like Bruce/Batman a ton. But Tim acts like Batman and everyone gives him a pat on the back. Why. I think that Tim is and would be a much more interesting character if we took his flaws into account and let him struggle with them, like we do with Damian’s superiority complex. Like, the reason that Tim can sometimes come off as a bland Gary Stu is because they don’t let him have any flaws or let him make any mistakes. So yeah anon, those are my two cents on the situation. 

Stuck on the idea of vampires as a kind of reverse fae, or like someone's twisted, perverse attempt at moulding humans into fae.

They're repelled by liminal spaces.

A vampire could never enter fairyland, not just because they'd never be welcomed, but because most of the usual entry-ways are naturally barred to them.

They can't cross running water. They can't be seen in mirrors. They will wait forever at a crossroads, unable to pick a direction to go in. They can't even step over a thresh-hold unless there is absolutely no ambiguity about whether they are welcome inside.

They crave human blood, iron and salt, but are repelled by herbs and plants. They are supernaturally prevented from harming you unless the rules of hospitality have been invoked.

A fairy may replace your newborn child with something unnatural and ever-hungry. A vampire will do the same, but with your grandmother's corpse.

The fae are typically associated, even in stories where they're the bad guys, with flourishing and purity. Vampires, even in stories where they're the good guys, are typically associated with decay and corruption.

The fae turn ancient human burial mounds into fancy halls for their courts. Vampires take ancient human castles and let them grow mildewed and cobwebbed, exchanging the beds for coffins, turning them into burial places.

Fae don't tend to live among humans, but can generally pass for them with relative ease if they so choose. Vampires nearly always live among humans, but tend to find not revealing themselves a huge struggle.

I can't think of many stories I've read where fae and vampires even exist in the same universe, let alone ones where they actively interact. I feel like their enmity is almost more inevitable than that between vampires and werewolves, however.

The rivalry between vampires and werewolves is, essentially, the rivalry between two apex predator species who share a territory. (Even in stories where the werewolves aren't actually hunting humans.)

The vampires hate the werewolves because the werewolves interfere with their access to prey. The werewolves hate the vampires either because they consider themselves aligned with humans (the prey species), or because they are also predators and the vampires are competing with them.

By comparison, I think there's some story potential in the fae finding something genuinely creepy and uncanny valley about vampires.

They're immortal, like them, but also dead. They can be beautiful, like them, but that beauty is something they actively require humans to sustain. They like to inhabit beautiful and ancient ex-human dwellings, like them, but they actively work to make those places dark, damp and empty.

Fairies who are unflappable in the face of all sorts of Otherworldly monsters, can look an eldritch horror in the eye(s) without blinking, and have never been phased yet by any human, but will recoil from even the weakest vampire.

Vampires who hate fairies just as much, but in a more envious way. The way that the creature for whom immortality is a curse is bound to hate the creatures for whom immortality is an eternity of sunlight and laughter.

Maybe their touches burn each other. Maybe vampires can't stand physical contact with anything so alive and vital. Maybe immortal fairies become ill from too much exposure to the undead.

Maybe they fight over the human population when their territories overlap. The fairy need for servants and people to make deals with, competing with the vampire need for thralls and blood to drink.

Just… fairies and vampires. We need more stories about them interacting.

Ian Rider Was Not Training a Spy, He Was Protecting His Remaining Family the Only Way He Knew How

Ian Rider loved his nephew. It’s a given with the way he is remembered in the books and yet again with how he is portrayed in the recent show. He took every safety precaution with his nephew, the beginning of Stormbreaker meticulously goes over how Ian was a stickler for safety. Even though he was quiet and self-contained, he kept up with Alex’s schoolwork and hired Jack so he wouldn’t be alone while Ian was gone (a huge move, considering most kids whose parents are always gone for work just leave takeout in the fridge, or some microwaveable meals)

It was said Alex was a handful growing up, and suggested that the best way for him and Ian to connect was through sports. Ian, whose job was very physical, could give Alex’s energy a run for its money.

Considering the languages Ian had Alex learn is interesting in itself. Ian had the means and opportunity to teach his kid useful life skills. Children who grow up knowing more than one language tend to do better and have greater opportunities. Ian was always traveling, so having Alex learn local languages and customs makes sense on many levels. Ian making Alex argue only in certain languages, or ask for permission in others was most likely thrown in as a funny throwaway line. Examining it more, it’s a useful way to ensure Alex retained his ability to use that language when there was no one else around who could speak it.

Now, Alex’s parents were killed by Scorpia as direct retaliation for John being an MI6 spy. Both Helen and John were killed because of his job. Little Alex was saved because of an ear infection that meant he was unable to fly.

Picture this: You are Ian Rider, a single man whose brother and sister-in-law were just assassinated, and have been given guardianship over your only remaining family. A baby, your baby.

You are Ian Rider. You are also a spy, you carry the same title that got your brother and your nephew’s mother killed. You look to your last remaining family and realize that you’re all he’s got left, as much as he’s all you’ve got.

You are Ian Rider and most of your family was killed by a man they trusted.

Ian wanted Alex to always be safe, and maybe that means teaching him advanced self defense in case Ian’s job or the Rider surname ever compromised them. Maybe that means making sure he’s prepared for any situation, so that when time catches up to Ian, Alex won’t be so unprepared to save himself.

Yes, the skill sets are similar. When you fight fire with fire, you begin to notice similarities.

Finally, let’s examine who says what. It is stated by Jones that Ian was training Alex for this. Consider the source. MI6 was making plans to use Alex before Ian’s body was even cool. They wanted him bad. What better way to pull at the heartstrings of a child than to insist that this is was his recently deceased parent would have wanted. MI6 are unreliable narrators. In fact, most adult characters in the book series are shown to be unreliable narrators. Blunt and Jones play the field. They are, after all, master spies. Anything they say that is supposed to look like the truth should be taken with a whole box of salt.

A parting question: Why would Ian train his nephew for something he worked so hard to keep him away from? Ian never once let his cover story slip. Even when Alex was old enough to understand, he kept it from him. Why? Perhaps because he wanted Alex to grow up and have a normal life, and to choose a normal career. If Ian had really wanted this for Alex, there most likely would have been more career-tailored ways of going for it.

TL;DR Ian Rider love him nephew.

calling all authors!!

i have just stumbled upon the most beautiful public document i have ever laid eyes on. this also goes for anyone whose pastimes include any sort of character creation. may i present, the HOLY GRAIL:

https://www.fbiic.gov/public/2008/nov/Naming_practice_guide_UK_2006.pdf

this wonderful 88-page piece has step by step breakdowns of how names work in different cultures! i needed to know how to name a Muslim character it has already helped me SO MUCH and i’ve known about it for all of 15 minutes!! i am thoroughly amazed and i just needed to share with you guys 

god please take every traumatic incident i had as a younger sibling and give it to tim drake