Types Of Dark Academia

types of dark academia

classic academia: beige trench coats, wool sweaters. plaid skirts. think femme fatale, but educated. sobbing in bed late at night over the secret history or dead poets society. tea with milk and sugar. subsequent tea stains.

darkest academia: running through the rain, dimly lit by streetlights. brown tweed jackets, dress shoes. cold fingers and colder gazes. french-pressed black coffee, piping hot. dark, candlelit rooms with ancient wood floors/walls. 

light academia: white cable-knit sweaters, sparkly eyes and foggy glasses. going to art museums and falling in love with every portrait, every sculpture. caressing the petals of a rose, hearing the crinkle of leaves underfoot.

witchy academia: burning candles while reading or doing homework. black turtlenecks, velvet skirts. walking through the forest in autumn. passing a graveyard and feeling a greyish presence. waiting anxiously for samhain.

romantic academia: writing flowery poetry about someone you’ll never speak to (guilty oops). a cozy alizarin sweater, pleated skirts. slow dancing around your room to the beatles. curling up with warm, pallid cups of tea and a book.

scholarly academia: impeccable notes in class. leather bound bags crammed with textbooks and pens. lots of coffee with scones, and even more late nights. a wide vocabulary (that people constantly comment on). lives in the library.

theatre academia: shakespeare, all the time - quoting, reading, praying for a school production of a midsummer nights dream. or the crucible. memorizing lines in the wings. taking on your character’s traits, even outside the theater.

Such a good analysis, I’m on board.

One thing I rarely see mentioned in Brooken, is that Rook is older. Not by much - at most 3 years - but enough that it matters, considering they’re both teenagers. There’s a lot of difference between 16 and 19.

Yet Rook is the one who grew up looking up to Ben to the point of hero worship. Rook modeled his life after the legends of The Great Ben 10. He studied Ben in school and learned about the Highbreed War and The Dagon and Vilgax’ defeat(s). He built up this image in his head of Ben being like Deefus Veeblepister - a perfect superman who just oozes ‘heroness’.

So when Rook finally gets assigned Ben as a partner, he’s prepared himself for a champion of justice who easily takes his duty 100% seriously, and is instead met with a child who was given too much power by destiny and is just trying to cope however he can. He expects someone who saves people out of a sense of morality, and gets someone who more wants to be a superhero than anything else.

And this isn’t a slight against Ben’s character - I don’t think any 10 year old would do anything less than try to be a comic book superhero, and I think any 16 year old who grew up with that mindset would struggle to get rid of it. It’s not a slight against Rook either. He’s a from a planet that’s even more backwater than Earth and was never given the tools to develop realistic expectations of his hero.

Rook has had a lot more time and a much better environment in which to mature. Rook hasn’t been through half the traumatic events that Ben has. You’d expect Rook to realize that

Ben is 16, Rook is 17-19

Ben was a child when he was first thrown into all this, Rook was almost an adult

Ben was forced into the limelight against his will, Rook knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up to become Ben’s partner

Ben was never given the opportunity to develop healthy coping mechanisms because he always had to hide the Omnitrix, Rook grew up with a loving family/community that he could be open with and that supported him (more or less) in becoming a plumber.

Ben never signed up for all this, Rook has actively chosen and worked towards it

And I know the show would never address any of these thoughts of course. I guess I just wish I saw more of it in the fandom. They aren’t on entirely equal footing, and I wish I saw that reflected in fanfics and comics and art. I want to see Rook’s thoughts on his hero being a scared kid, and I want to see Ben’s thoughts on his partner being so much more mature than him.

I think I’m better than you!!

A little self portrait because it’s fall and I can finally wear my sweaters

Random Snufmin doodle haha

And thus it begins anew.

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(I know I’m a day late, but I didn’t open Tumblr yesterday) All of mine are going to be Over the Garden Wall inspired because it’s October. Whaddya expect hahaha