I dont understand how people think “but they killed people!” Is everrrr going to convince me to hate a fictional character. I actually like them more because they killed people. In fact, its the main thing I like about them. I would cheer with pom-poms at the mere implication of them killing again.
Milana TABRIS !!! EVERYONE CLAP !!!! 👏👏👏 I’m playing Mila as Rook in her early 40s because honestly the idea of the HoF running into Weisshaupt drama with the First Warden while she’s chasing for the cure before it all goes astray and leads to saving the world AGAIN sounds accurate.
in a worldstate where the HOF survived slaying the archdemon, the extent of davrin’s horror that he failed to die killing razikale, and his suggestion that it might mean he isn’t a real warden somehow, imply a MASSIVE dispute between weisshaupt and the HOF, right? it implies that the HOF’s achievement and whether or not they’re even a true warden is so regularly questioned and criticised that the idea has pervaded the wardens’ ranks to get to someone as level-headed and quick to question authority as davrin. things must be pretty fucked! which is probably to be expected, given that the HOF was a fresh recruit whose continued existence completely undercuts warden history and poses a threat to all warden authority, but still wild to think about
This is the ENTIRE PREMISE of me making my Rook the HoF and why it ended up working so goddamn well with the Warden story arc I am jumping up and down and shaking your hand OP.
It was my first playthrough and while there were several moments that made me forget entirely that HoF Rook isn’t canon, THAT ONE LINE WITH DAVRIN
TO HIS FACE
MY JAW DROPPED
I needed a Shepard “I Should Go” right then.
Even the Warden!Rook origin - saving a whole town from a massive horde of darkspawn and getting benched bc the First Warden was mad they ignored rank and defied orders to wait for reinforcements (which would have been too late) - seems a bit unreasonable even by First Warden standards of delulu, UNLESS you also factor in two decades of animosity and attempts to keep them out of power.
Like the First Warden has been actively working to shut them up, defame them, and strip them of rank (how else do you go from Warden-Commander of Vigil’s Keep to Junior Warden of Weisshaupt) bc they shouldn’t exist, it shouldn’t work this way, they undermine the Wardens’ entire power hierarchy and tradition and even “In Death, Sacrifice”, and still this obstinate fucker WILL NOT QUIT DOING HERO SHIT.
It adds so much to why the First Warden is the way he is lol.
i guess if you learned about half life exclusively through tumblr posts you WOULD think that barney is significantly more important than he is because eli gets mentioned once every ten thousand years. even though he is extremely important to the plot, and im pretty sure shows up an equal amount or more than barney does..
It looks like Eli has at least 10 minutes of voice lines vs. Barney’s 7-ish, and Eli is both featured and frequently mentioned in all the games, whereas Barney appears briefly in two of them.
But yeah, you wouldn’t know it from scrolling through the Half Life tag on this website.
The dearth of Eli content becomes especially brow-raising when you remember his capture represents a pivotal turning of the tides in instigating the Uprising.
Breen calls Eli’s capture “an event of major significance” and hopes it will damage the Resistance’s morale, or at least discourage them from helping Gordon Freeman:
Alyx might be the “heart” of the series, but Eli is the emotional and narrative linchpin on which it rests. To pretend he doesn’t exist is to essentially downplay the entire crux of the games. That’s why his death was such a hardhitting moment at the end of Episode Two, and why it represents a shift in stakes now that it’s been reversed.
I don’t think folks are intentionally leaving him out out of active malice, per se, but the fact that they do unintentionally omit him despite him having an extremely important role to play in canon says some unflattering things about this fanbase’s unexamined racism. The issue, it seems to me, isn’t necessarily that folks are ignoring him; it’s more so that they don’t even have him in mind to begin with.
Unlike Barney, a character the games give us little information about, Eli’s significance as a character cannot be overlooked. He’s the leader of the Resistance: the one who first established a peaceful rapport with the Vortigaunts, established Black Mesa East, and, if Breen’s insinuations are to be believed, possibly has the power to end the war just by speaking a few words.
All of this put together naturally leads you to ask… Where are the Eli angst fics? Where is the meta, the character studies peering into his psyche? Why are we avoiding examining his interiority, as opposed to the interiority of a much more minor white character?
Barney jokingly alludes to a beating quota once and it spawns tons of character studies dedicated to the concept. Eli, on the other hand, confesses guilt over his role in the Resonance Cascade, and there’s very little in the way of fanfic fleshing out that idea.
We all know what erectile dysfunction is but literally no one is ever taught what vaginismus is and it can cause people to feel extremely lost, broken, and cause people to take their own lives.
Raise. Awareness.
For the uninformed, vaginismus is when the vagina painfully tightens and spasms when faced with pressure, usually from anything trying to insert into the vagina. It’s the reason I can’t wear tampons, and why many people can’t have vaginal sex without severe pain.
There’s not a lot of treatments, and there isn’t a single one that is for vaginismus exclusively - they’re all medications or treatments to treat symptoms, but not the causes. In fact, for a long time doctors waved off vaginismus as a purely psychological disorder in cis women.
Seriously, this is so unaddressed and uncared for in medical circles. Please spread awareness, even if all it’s for is to let those who have it but don’t have a name for it finally be able to understand what’s happening to their bodies.
Certified Sex Ed Post!
Hi hello! This post is almost 10 years old and there ARE treatments for this. Vaginismus is otherwise known as pelvic hypertonia and it is a MUSCULAR condition that can be caused by many different factors including endometriosis, trauma, chronic UTIs, and connective tissue disorders.
It’s incredibly common! And it can be treated by physiotherapy.
I know this because I’m currently undergoing physio and although it can take months to recover, I’m already seeing improvement. A lot of the pelvic floor exercises are available online, but if you have these symptoms please TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR and see if you can get a physio referral (or investigation for underlying causes like endometriosis).
Also, my additions to posts never get reblogged so a note to my followers: this is SUPER IMPORTANT ISSUE that affects many people and is rarely talked about. Please reblog, and please share this info with as many people as possible.
Pelvic hypertonia/vaginismus is incredibly debilitating and psychologically damaging but it CAN BE TREATED. Spread the word, and you never know who you’ll be throwing a lifeline to.
You should be able to say “don’t touch me” to anyone ever in any context and not have it be considered in the realm of surprising or insulting imho if we ever needed to normalize something it’s this
