Oh, Mother, why do you spin these false stories? You are no better than the rest of our family. Your grief for me is misplaced and selfish. I was not going to be a child forever, not with this ichor in my veins. I am not Kore, not your maiden. I chose this, do you know why?
My teeth are as unforgiving as your claws in the earth and Hades knew that the moment he saw me. I bite and tear and he surrenders to me completely, pleading if there’s anything else he can give me. Those pomengranates were sweeter than anything the heavens or the earth could offer. But I don’t remember if the red permanently stained on my lips is their juice or if it’s blood.
My heart is colder than your damned winter and you can destroy the earth for all I care. Every soul you send to this place makes us stronger and makes you weaker. Praxidike, they whisper as they kneel before me, subterranean queen. Tell me, who will worship you when you’ve killed them all? You will wither just like your earth.
He carved out his heart when I asked for it and he trembles when I clutch it in my hands. He calls me queen, Aristi Cthonia, the best chthonic, tells me I’m his salvation because I have known the light. When I laughed and told him it means nothing compared to the feel of his skin on mine, he whispered Persephone, destroyer of light.
I do not write this to plead my case, but the opposite. Do not claim your grief is because of me, do not claim that I am to blame for the earth dying. I know nothing of weakness and yours is not mine to bear. Twist your tales, paint my husband as evil, we do not care. The mortals all come to beg before us eventually.
but realtalk can we put an end to the ‘michiru only cares about haruka and would literally set the whole world on fire for her’ school of thinking
like, here’s some shit michiru has done:
let usagi, a girl who’s known her for maybe two hours total, tag along with her for a day despite her making a total mess everywhere she goes, because usagi said she looks up to her and wants to learn from her
comforted usagi and seemed genuinely indignant upon hearing about her boyfriend’s (supposed) mistreatment of her
was genuinely concerned when she accidentally hurt ami’s feelings, and arranged for them to meet again to work things out
repeatedly tried to get haruka to consider a path that doesn’t require hurting anybody, tried to stop her from taking usagi’s heart, was overall very obviously upset and remorseful every time they had to take someone’s heart and visibly relieved when they were able to return it – even complete strangers
‘take care in returning it – an artist’s heart is delicate’
sacrificed her dream and future to fight against the end of the world, completely on her own
upon being met with the sight of a baby who is orphaned/with a temporarily incapacitated parent, immediately picked her up and cared for her as if she were her own child
went on a suicide mission that included killing her adopted daughter and third partner, knowing full well it may lead to her AND haruka’s death, for the slim chance of protecting the world. like, wow, do you think she would’ve signed up for that if haruka’s wellbeing was all that she cared about?
‘but listen,’ you may say, ‘she said a world without haruka isn’t worth saving!’ yes, but consider
it was an asspulled piece of fiction by a bullshit puppet that was very clearly on the verge on defeat and needed to secure a way out. do you really think michiru, the undefeatable master of reading people, considered that magic jar story to be a legitimate possibility for more than 0.03 seconds
by this point, she and haruka have made it through the end of the world once already. even if that story were true, i have no doubt michiru is confident in their ability to defeat any enemy, as long as they’re together. either way, she certainly has no intention of just letting the whole world go to hell.
in closing: michiru kaioh is an incredibly empathic and caring person and people who claim those traits only extend so far as haruka must’ve been watching the show out of their left nostril, thanks
Frollo and Mother Gothel convince Quasimodo and Rapunzel that their lives are dependent on them. The two villains claim the outside world is a terrible place even though they know this is not true. They also constantly emotionally abuse their victims by implying their worthlessness and destroying their self-esteems. Quasimodo and Rapunzel sympathize with their captors and even believe their captors are protecting them and treating them with kindness. However, both captors are merely using and manipulating their victims for their own selfish purposes.
Belle does not sympathize with the Beast when she is treated poorly. She becomes angry and leaves the castle, only returning by her own wish so that the Beast (who saves her) does not freeze to death. She does not respond nicely towards the Beast until he treats her with respect. In this situation, Belle has control and is not manipulated into feeling for the Beast, nor does the Beast treat her disrespectfully after the first night. While the Beast does have an underlying motive as to keeping Belle in his castle, he abandons this idea and sets her free to make her happy. If anything, this story is a case of Lima Syndrome where the captor starts to sympathize with the victim.
Check out this post which refocuses the purpose of Beauty and the Beast from merely (and wrongly) being about Stockholm Syndrome to it’s original purpose.
FUCKING FINALLY
THANK YOU
This was actually pretty informative for me. I’ve never studied or researched Stockholm Syndrome and assumed it simply referred to cases of captive falling in love with captor. I didn’t know about the manipulation and psychological abuse involved. Huge thanks for this post; knowing that I’ve used the term erroneously in the past, I appreciate having the perspective.
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