One thing I am waiting for the most in hxh is spiders/kurapika/massacre resolution because I am not sure how to feel about some things regarding it. These are the questions that bug me: Do you think it is in character for Kurapika to forgive spiders? I mean not just letting go of grudge (bittersweat, cold relationship) but normal friendship. I would like to see their friendly interaction but then I am reminded of massacre.Would it be realistic if they had close friendship,not just with chrollo

I mean… I don’t expect that necessarily in canon, though I do think it’s quite likely they will have to become allies which couuuuld help Kurapika forgive them? I don’t think I really expect that in canon, though I do think he’ll absolutely let go of his grudge and like I said, quite possibly ally with Chrollo at some point, because Chrollo’s his shadow and to deal with his shadow Kurapika should reconcile/come to terms with it, not destroy it. There would have to kind of be the right circumstances imo for any kind of forgiveness (and by ‘right’ I mean ‘dire’ and also time).

do you think the dragon part of yut-lung’s name matters to his personality/character? i mean, that part was kind of passed down as a family thing so it’s not the same as the moon part, but do you think it still resonates with him?

I think so. He sees the Lees as powerful, but also as monsters, and vows to destroy them all, and that includes himself. A dragon in Chinese culture is linked to power symbolically and is literally inked on his skin and he’s only 16 (not that he would have had a choice). When Wang-Lung yells at him that he’s a Lee too so he can’t destroy them all, he’s not realizing that that is exactly what Yut-Lung plans to do, because he’s suicidal and really wants to die if he can’t be loved. 

Hi Hamliet! Can I ask something about writing? I remember you said something like how you didn’t really like how things like abuse and bullying was framed in BNHA, and since I want to write problematic characters in my own story, do you have any advices on how to frame problematic behaviors (bullying, abuse, etc.) as negative but still give room for people to empathize with the characters? Sorry if this is kind of weird. Thank you and have a nice day!

Problematic characters are the best! I mean, lol, my favorite characters of all time are like… Illumi Zoldyck, Yut-Lung Lee, Mutsuki Tooru, the holy trinity 😛 Also throw in Dabi and Nora and you’ve got My Type lol. 

I’d say what I like about them especially is that their behaviors are always framed as wrong. The narrative isn’t seeking to justify their wrong actions, not even when it gives you horrific details of their past which helps you understand them, but you’re still like honey stop. And the reason it does this is because either the character has little choice and the victim is largely a monster (Mutsuki, the framing started to go wonky after the Touka thing which I still maintain had no narrative purpose whatsoever except La Drama, Yut-Lung going after his brothers, etc), or the story focuses on the victim’s pain and/or consequences for the villain (Killua’s pain after Illumi’s manipulation, Alluka’s innocence, etc stand in sharp contrast to Illumi, Yato’s struggles, etc). Focusing on the perpetrator’s suffering in disproportion to the victim’s suffering without framing it so that the perpetrator is called out appropriately can be kind of off-putting. 

Setting up good foils can help (Killua and Alluka are excellent foils for Illumi; so are Milluki and Kalluto; Ash is a perfect foil for Yut-Lung, Kaneki for Mutsuki was a good idea, Yato and Yukine for Nora, Shouto for Dabi). The point of a foil is almost never, as people like to say about these kinds of characters, to be like “Good victim bad victim oh well.” That very rarely works and to get it to work you’ve gotta be able to show the character is making their own choices (Azula vs Zuko is like the only time I can think of it kiiiinda working and I’m still going to complain about how the adults were framed in terms of their interactions with Azula). The point of a foil is to be like “look at their potential.” If they’re all dynamic characters capable of change in the narrative, they should all be capable of growth and need to grow, and the problematic character should be able to offer something to a character who isn’t or who is as well. 

What I dislike about BNHA’s framing is that Endeavor’s abuse focuses on Endeavor, not on Rei or his kids. Chapter 192, though, is actually really excellent framing on its own, so I do think Horikoshi is trying but is in a little over his head. I think it’s important a character understands what their actions have done at some point.

And as always, remember this quote by Dostoyevsky, which goes for characters as well as humanity in general:

“Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.”

remeber when you did a meta on ash’s name? can you do one of yut lung name? it has a lot of meanings in it like you said about him being the moon while ash is the sun i think it has a lot of facinateing meanings to it

Well, I don’t read or speak Chinese, so I can’t go very in depth with what his name means, but it does literally mean “moon.” And of course, Yut-Lung is associated with the moon, a shadow of Ash in many respects, the yin to his yang, amethyst to his jade (in the anime). So I can talk about his character in relation to Ash, if that helps, since I’ve been wanting to explore their foiling a bit more, and also Yut-Lung’s foiling with Eiji, and with Blanca.

Of course, the moon only shines because the sun’s light reflects on it. To an extent you could say this is symbolic of how Yut-Lung is kind of desperately scrambling for a new purpose in life post-revenge. 

This is kind of true but also kind of a lie as we know. He wants to destroy the Lee conglomerate and himself with it because, like Ash, he’s suicidal.

So after he succeeds at this, and to succeed at this as well, he decides to make Ash his enemy because he’s petty and is mad Ash has someone to love and love him, while he thinks he has no one. He’s living for Ash, a reflection of Ash, but not in a healthy way because what happens if he actually won against Ash? Would he be happy? (The answer is no.) 

Because Yut-Lung wants to be loved, deep down, and he truly believes he has no one, but that’s not true. He has Sing (again I’m not arguing this is romantic textually, but their relationship does in some ways parallel Ash and Eiji’s). But he can’t see that because he’s too blinded by focusing on the sun/Ash/Eiji/trying to be both Ash and Eiji. Like, he literally in the above scene walks off in Eiji’s direction after Eiji leaves, while Sing is right there asking him why he wants to die, and Sing says that he can’t just leave him.

And like, in the most recent episode, Yut-Lung clearly feels betrayed when he realizes Blanca only took the contract to protect Ash, and Sing helped him escape. He lacks the self-awareness to realizes Sing does care about him, and honestly so does Blanca in whatever broken way Blanca cares, but he’s pushing them away because of his obsessive focus on Ash. And in the latest episode as well, in the end he just says that he’s still focusing on Ash and wanting revenge on Ash now–and cue me screaming REALLY DUDE REALLY someone sit this child down and tell him to focus on himself and not on his failings. 

Seeing himself as the moon could also be reinforcing that he sees himself as inferior to Ash, but also the same as Ash at the same time. It’s the same light, but it doesn’t emanate from him, or maybe this is overthinking but it does work so. 

Despite seeking to destroy the Lees, Yut-Lung’s also still ironically putting a lot of weight on the name given to him, instead of seeking to create his own destiny and fate. It’s tragic. Ash is fighting tooth and nail to escape the system; Yut-Lung has already given up on that. 

As another piece related to that and to Ash’s middle name… Ash does not want to be seen as an object. He hates that he’s treated like a commodity. Yut-Lung, on the other hand, true to his philosophy of taking things down from the inside, commodifies himself to an extent. Dino punches a hole through Ash’s ear unwillingly, and Ash gives up the jade as quickly as he can. Yut-Lung willingly adorns himself in amethysts or some kind of purple stone (which match his eyes, a la how Ash’s jade matches his eyes). 

Again this speaks to Yut-Lung’s extremely low sense of self-worth (which is ironic because he puts on a haughty facade), and how he sees himself inherently as inferior, not just to Ash. He hates that his brothers treat him as inferior for having a different mother, but he also seems to believe that, and like Ash, is more than willing to become what he hates to destroy everything he hates and punish himself. 

However, Ash isn’t the only one associated with the sun. So is Eiji. 

And we’re also pretty clearly supposed to be comparing Eiji and Yut-Lung given his utter hatred of Eiji and determination to kill him because… he loves Ash and Ash loves him, or because Yut-Lung is jealous of Eiji getting to live how he always wanted to live.

He pretty clearly despises Eiji for precisely that reason: Eiji is a helpless little kid, and so is Yut-Lung. Like, he’s throwing actual tantrums. He can’t defend himself worth anything. But Yut-Lung doesn’t want to be seen as a helpless little kid in some ways (and yet paradoxically I’d argue he does in other senses, given how he behaves). He wants to be seen like Ash in many ways.

So let’s talk Blanca, who is the reason Yut-Lung’s dastardly scheme worked and Ash was taken back to Dino, and Ash and Eiji were separated. Given both characters’ association with the sun, this line of Sing’s is interesting: 

Sing’s the adult in the room again, calling people out without even meaning to 😛 But going forward, Blanca is already kind of standing between Ash and Yut-Lung. He joined Yut-Lung to protect Ash, which hurts Yut-Lung, but he also does take his duty to Yut-Lung seriously and does care about him like he cares about Ash. I’d wager Yut-Lung isn’t entirely correct here: I think Blanca joined him to protect both of them.

Otherwise there was no need to take down an assassin and try to keep said assassin alive to interrogate. I think Blanca’s genuinely wanting to protect both of them, but he’s unwilling to fight the system to do it, which means he’s inherently bad at it. Like, honestly, Blanca. But again Yut-Lung can’t see it because not only is Blanca bad at it, but he focuses too much on Ash. 

Blanca is of course an Ash foil, and exactly what Ash fears becoming: someone who has completely given up fighting the system, and thinks it’s pointless to do so. Blanca is blocking the sun because his lifestyle is literally something that would kill Ash and Eiji…

But at the same time, together with Sing, he’s one of two people who actually do care about Yut-Lung and therefore has the potential to help Yut-Lung realize his own worth doesn’t come from opposing Ash or killing Eiji or anything of the sort. So he could block the sun in a good sense, too. 

In the end of this scene, symbolically, Mr. Helpless Child lands in a fetal position at Blanca’s feet. I know in the manga Blanca catches him. I honestly think it’s fitting he didn’t here, because Blanca is failing to protect Yut-Lung from himself, which is where he really needs the protection, just like Blanca failed Ash. Hence it’s fitting and also sad that Ash is the one throwing Yut-Lung at Blanca’s feet, because the narrative therefore challenges Blanca to do something, but he doesn’t act in time to prevent immediate pain. 

Anyways both these boys are walking basket cases and I need someone to give Ash and Yut-Lung a hug and therapy stat. I volunteer. 

What do you think about the views of the Bible abt women? A lot times women were commanded to submit themselves to men. A verse in 1 Corinthians mentioned that women aren’t allowed to preach the Word. It’s unfair no matter how i look at it, or is it just teaching women humility? Im srry for asking you too much religious questions, i just realllyy love your answers.

It’s okay! For anyone who doesn’t want to see it, I am tagging my answers, so feel free to block the tag. 

Suffice to say, I’m an ardent feminist, and I remember getting in trouble in the cult school I grew up in for arguing with people about this. #futureheretic

Context is my answer here 😉 I don’t want to delve really deep into the theology (though I did study it in one of my classes in college) but interpreting someone’s letter to their friends as being a proclamation for all women at all times is like… not good reading comprehension lol. It was a suggestion for a specific group at a specific time, and there are a lot of really wonderful articles written by woman theologians and scholars out there specifically looking at the context the writer of Corinthians was referring to, and it’s not quite as misogynistic as it sounds. 

Which isn’t to say there aren’t misogynistic perspectives in the Bible because there sure are, but it’s also fairly on par for the norm for the time period in which it was written. You can believe the bible is inspired of God while still acknowledging the intent behind certain books (in this case, a letter to friends) and the time period and the fact that it was written by humans. 

I think a lot of white American evangelicalism is inclined to say that the word of God is the bible, but they’re actually wrong according to scripture itself. The word is Jesus (John 1:1), not the bible. Which of course doesn’t downplay its importance since it tells us the story of the faith, but all that to say, sure, the word of God is inerrant because it’s Christ. The bible, imo, is inspired, but not inerrant, and saying it is downplays the whole point of the Christ story–Immanuel, God with us, coming to earth as a human and working with humans–and makes the bible out to be a god. When you have people taking 1 Corinthians and being like SHUT UP WOMEN and then you also have, in contrast, the very first proclaimer that Christ rose from the dead being a woman (Mary Magdalene) and they put weight on the first but not the second (because #power), I’m comfortable criticizing that interpretation of scripture. 

Maybe I should rephrase my Annie question better. It has come off as awkward to me that Annie sort of just became what amounts to dead in the narrative, and then for her to reintroduced so late into the game sort of rubs me the wrong way. It’s entirely my subjective opinion and perhaps it’s my bias for hoping for more for her, but I always felt it could’ve been handled better. Thoughts, I’m by no means a good writer?

Oh no worries! I understand what you mean (and I hope for more for her too, she’s such a good character). But I actually think it could really work well for the narrative, in that her coming back for the final arc fits with a kind of chiastic structure of story, which SnK doesn’t entirely have but does have some elements of. In other words, in a lot of stories (Tokyo Ghoul, various books int he Bible, Harry Potter, Star Wars) elements that are introduced at the beginning vanish until the end, forming a neat chiasm in terms of story structure. I’ve done a few posts on chiastic structure before (like this one on Tokyo Ghoul), so you can search on my blog for it, but in short having Annie play a major role at the beginning and a major role in the ending would be textbook good writing in my opinion! Having her play a major role and then come back and not really play a role at all, or just linger as a crystal, would not be good writing imo.