Holstin Is A Stylish Pixel Art Survival Horror Adventure Where twisted Monsters And A Wretched Slime

i feel like being in a fandom long-term has a very specific repetitive cycle that kind of looks like this

ARE U HAPPY. R U FUCKING HAPPY. LEAVE ME ALONE NOW

falin must’ve been so confused to see chilchuck there like why is the world’s most expensive halfling on an unpaid rescue mission to resurrect me from a pile of digested bones. laios and marcille were obviously going to be there but chilchuck was a wildcard pick that only made sense when he had his “learning to tell his friends he loves them” arc

Agatha's protection squad at Tagatha wedding lol. Base on this post by @pumpkinpaperweight

SOPHIE'S TRAUMA (Or lack thereof)

Something that's always irked me about TCY is how flippant Sophie is toward references to Rafal. This old ass bitch groomed and took advantage of her, manipulated and brainwashed her with the Swan Gold, and by the Ever-Never Handbook she's talking about him like he’s an unfortunate ex and not, you know, a fucking monster.

In TLEA it is specifically stated that Sophie is terrified of Rafal before he gives her his ring. Even after that, she makes numerous comments on feeling unsafe around him. There's no denying that she was affected by Rafal's behavior during the time they were together, so why is he written off as another guy Sophie couldn't keep? Why does Rafal become a punchline from the Handbook forward, not even a year after his death?

To put it simply: Sophie was taken advantage of by an older man. She showed obvious signs of how this was negatively affecting her in TLEA. It's safe to assume that she would gain some sort of trauma from this, but such is never exploited in QFG onwards.

Sure, Sophie is a very frivolous person, so her making a joke at the expense of an ex or commenting on how he's “still hot” doesn't come unexpected. But Rafal isn’t a Tedros or a Hort or even a Rhian. Sophie was never actually in love with Rafal—she thought he was hot as a teenager, yeah, but her romantic feelings for him were made up by the ring, and the rest was about her desire to become Evil’s queen and her jealousy toward Tagatha.

It’s like… shouldn’t the memory of Rafal affect Sophie in some way outside of, “yeah he was evil but at least he was hot”, or whatever? Isn’t there a chance that maybe the reason she was happy on her own at the end of TLEA was because being with Rafal had scared the concept of having a prince out of her? And that her lunging for the first cute boy she sees in QFG is completely out of character?

Trauma and grief affect people differently. I’m not going to pretend to be a psychology major when I’m not. I can’t speak from personal experience, but I can confidently say that Sophie “getting over” Rafal as quickly as she did felt shallow and lazy.

The closest thing to a reaction at the mention of Rafal that we see from Sophie is her comparing theSnake to him in QFG and getting a little unnerved. I find it bizarre that Sophie’s pretty much moved on from the whole ordeal not even a year later.

The argument that displaying a character suffering from trauma in a children’s book is inappropriate doesn’t work here, either, because Soman’s already written the toxic relationship she would be suffering trauma from into the damn book. That’s not to mention Tedros getting tortured in book 2, Callis getting burnt at the stake, Sophie being brutalized and left to die by the Elders—seriously, I could go on for years about the things that aren’t “suitable for a M.G. novel” in this series.

In fact, I believe it would be important to show Sophie having nervous or negative reactions toward references to Rafal. It would display the damage a relationship like theirs can have on a person, and then maybe less 12 y/o’s would find Rafal and Raphie less hot.

This can be applied to more than just Sophie, too. Literally every character in this series has lost a parent or guardian. Tedros was tortured, Sophie died in book 1, Agatha watched these horrible things happen to her friends… the list goes on. It amazes me that not one character has mourned or shown grief for a dead character or has had a breakdown over the immense amount of shit they’ve been through. Callis is mentioned maybe three times over the course of TCY. It’s insane.

Is this comprehensible? I’m not sure. It’s vvv late but I need to get these thoughts out.

Bottom line: I don’t think the Sophie/Rafal situation was handled well post-TLEA, and the representation of the trauma these kids undoubtedly should have is nonexistent.

OK I REALLY LIKE HOW IT TURNED OUT-

OT3

What did you say? They’re sisters?!?!? Not in this household. I’ve disregarded the thought as soon as i read it.

OT3 is superior. i cant believe yall be sleeping on it!! Do you know how powerful the three of them would be?!!! and less putting up with sophie’s bullshit?

Never mess with Sophie.

Everyone loves Agatha

Camelot’s King and Queens

Thank you for listening to my ted talk.

@pumpkinpaperweight had a dream and now im suffering with brainrot. The "only sophie got taken so agatha went after her" post, and im not ok, im not ok. I have this plot in my head now, ideas and dialouges, but will i actually do it? idk so here's a couple sketches i did, what i imagined what happens at the aftermath of the kidnapping

aaaarrghh i want this to be a full blown au so bad you have no idea i am not okkk aaaaaaaahh

What if the switch in the bridge was successful?