broken-nosed gods

There's this thing in fiction that makes me see absolutely blinding red. That one where writers are like 'how can I show my main character is growing up and becoming a man? oh, I know! have him separate himself off from the women in his life, to show he is a real man who no longer needs mother figures to protect him!'

Which is bullshit in about 837591736 ways.

I mean, entirely apart from the sexism angle, there's this idea in those bildungsroman lone hero stories that he, the hero, must be the one to protect everyone (and if anyone else does it, they don't count). Which is just the most patriarchal harmful nonsense.

One of the reasons I love stories like Fullmetal Alchemist (the manga) and Sailor Moon, is because those say: everyone needs to be protected sometimes, from something. Yes, even you.


(This post brought to you by an FMA:B fic that so fundamentally misreads the character types and the overall ideals of the series I actually begin to understand why people throw books across the room.) (A very popular fic I have previously read in its entirety.) (it has not improved over time.)

"O Ishvala," he sings as he works, "let this foundation last for seven generations. Let it keep steady for every death and birth. Let it shelter your people through desert storms. Let this foundation remain after every fight and reconciliation."

I think this fic (warning: spoilers for the end of FMA) will always make me cry happy tears.


Obligatory ask-the-rlist-right-before-bedtime-question: what's a fic that always makes you cry with happy?