u/BattleFries86

This is a thought I've had long before I knew anything about Seven Havens (and I still don't know much, and I don't know if this post applies to it at all), but I've been thinking about how the supposed wise and noble sages of the world tell us that respecting the spirits is of paramount importance.

And from a certain point of view, I get that. The Mother of Faces, for example, is extremely old and has been performing a service for humanity for who knows how many eons. Someone so old and so powerful is prone to be proud and to expect to be acknowledged and respected for what they have been doing for so long.

But spirits in general... On the whole, they generally seem (at best) not to care about humans either way, or (at worse) to be outright hostile.

During Avatar Wan's time, he fought against humans to protect the spirits. But the Spirit World is where the spirits are from, and they had pretty much invaded and conquered the physical world at that time. They kill and mutilate humans with little to no remorse.

Wan Shi Tong doesn't seem to care that the Avatar is a different person when they reincarante and let his grudge with Aang carry over to Korra. Even Koh the Face Stealer recognized that different avatars are different people.

And the spirits who dwelled in the wilds of Republic City equated Korra's desire to defend their mutual home to a would be conqueror's desire to destroy and control. And then they disappeared until the battle was over, only for Tenzin to celebrate their return, when all they had done was neglect Korra, who was one of the few humans actually trying to bridge the differences between humans and spirits without *being* the bridge herself.

So, I suppose I'll just let the title of this post speak for itself: Do the spirits truly deserve respect? What have they done to earn it?

I get that a few spirits are supportive of humans, but those tend to be unique individuals rather than groups. Before the cute little spirits who gathered in the Tree Of Time at the start of Book Four, I don't think I've ever seen that many spirits before or since who were truly friendly and just offered unconditional acceptance and help.

And when we get to the more powerful spirits... Tui and La seem to respect the humans who respect them and rage against some random guest character nobody remembers who hurt them. Ensign Zu or something? The Mother Of Faces seems proud, but not violent. Koh is happy to steal the face of anyone he encounters, it seems. Wan Shi Tong is arrogant and holds unreasonable grudges. Father Glowworm is just bad news. I recall a mountain spirit that Korra and Asami didn't realize they were climbing who - if I recall correctly (and I might not be) - did not care to listen to their arguments and tossed them a long way and would have probably killed them both if not for Korra's bending.

And spirits on the whole tend to expect a certain level of respect from humans but generally don't feel any obligation to respect show their own respect to humans in turn.

To put things in terms for a proper Avatar... Is it just me, or does the whole dynamic seem fundamentally Out Of Balance?

Before my review, SO MANY SPOILERS for the Supergirl movie and the Woman Of Tomorrow comic, as well as some references to New 52, the CW Supergirl TV show, the Injustice video game series, and a few recent issues of Supergirl comics.

This is mostly my thoughts of the movie as an adaptation of that particular comic. If I had not read the Woman of Tomorrow comic, then I would probably feel entirely different about the movie. But knowing the source material really informed how I feel.

Also, this is going to be a very critical review of the movie, but all of this is just my personal perspective. If you love the movie, then that is great! More joy in the world is always a good thing, and no matter who you are, your opinions on any media you experience are entirely valid, and I am not trying to say that anyone is wrong. I am just sharing my own perspective, nothing more.

My background with Supergirl is limited. I first really got into the character with Melissa Benoist's portrayal of the character in the Arrowverse, though I understand that while this was its own version of Supergirl, it was more like a gender-swapped version of Superman in many ways.

I read Woman of Tomorrow, and I loved it. I don't read a lot of comics, but I tried to read some of the New 52, and Kara was certainly different there. Not bad at all. Different and compelling and so very interesting!

I read a recent comic that saw the return of what I understand is one of Supergirl's first comic villains in the form of Lesla-Lar, and that was a really fun adventure. I was hoping for Kara and Lena to hook up in this comic, but the author was very understanding when she told us that she knew what many fans wanted, especially after the insane chemistry (and really, the queerbaiting) from the TV show, but it was still Kara Zor-El.

I absolutely loved Kara in Injustice 2. It wasn't a huge role, but I loved the dynamic and her unique perspective and just the tragedy of coming so far to find her cousin, only to realize that this Kal-El is not the one that most of us know and love.

So, that's where I'm coming from going into the movie. Now, then...

Before it released, I saw some negative reviews - released almost right before the release date - made me decide not to see Supergirl in theaters. Some of the bad reviews were just plain hatred from misogynistic idiots who just wanted this movie to fail and tried to help it to do so. Some reviews were mixed about things that worked and things that didn't work.

More than the content of the reviews however, was the added fact that they lifted the review embargo so close to the release date. I've seen media lift their review embargos early when they have confidence that the reviews will be positive enough to generate enough hype for more people to pre-order tickets and get excited for the movie. The late lifting of the embargo gave me pause.

But I saw a lot of people on this Reddit say that they liked it, and that gave me hope.

Some of what I heard about the movie gave me further pause. And when I watched it on digital, I saw a lot of changes, some of which I'd heard about, some of which I hadn't.

And a lot of those things, I could have let go if they occurred in isolation or a bit more scarcity. But to my mind, there was just so much deviation from the source material that it barely felt like Woman Of Tomorrow at all.

I understand that adaptations require a lot of things to be changed so it can fit into the length of one movie and fit into a certain budget.

So, there were some things that diverged wildly from the comics - a lot of things - that I could have been fine with if it they didn't come along with so many other things.

A lot of the iconic scenes from the comic weren't here. No Kara VS Space Dragon was disappointing, but I get that costumes and makeup for a few aliens is probably less expensive than the CGI that would be needed to really do that scene justice.

I was REALLY upset that they had Krypto in real danger. That one thing felt like it changed the entire meaning - the entire foundation - of Kara's role in the story.

But it's an adaptation, so I waited to see how they'd do handle this twist. I was really skeptical about the timetable of three days. The comic adventure was a real journey shared between Kara and Ruthye, and the forced compression of that journey cut short so many possibilities.

Krem Of The Yellow Hills was very different. In the movie, Kara beats him up severely, which would have killed the comic version, who as I recall was just as ordinary as Ruthye. And making Krem a brigand from the start...

Changing Krem's origin AND changing Ruthye's family basically removed the dynamic they had in the comics. Changing the origin of the sword also cut deep, no pun intended.

All of these little things were adding up in the back of my mind, but I kept waiting to see how it would all culminate.

And the climax, where it's just Kara, Ruthye, and Krem...

In the comics, Rutyhe's journey with Kara had helped her to learn and grow. She had become a person who, in the end, could not kill the man who had hurt her so terribly. She didn't forgive him, but she couldn't kill him.

But instead, Kara had to plead with her on the spot, and it hurt. I know from the comic what could have been, and to see how it unfolded here... It felt like Ruthye was cheapened by having Kara basically tell her "Don't do this" rather than coming to that conclusion on her own, without Kara present to sway her decision, even if Kara said she wouldn't judge.

But then Kara killed Krem in cold blood, and that made me so angry!

That was what felt like a complete betrayal of the spirit of the comic.

Two small bits of dialogue from the comic...

Alura's final words to her daughter, Kara:

"Be good."

And at the start of the comic, when Kara thinks she is saying goodbye to Ruthye, who at this point was just a girl she met very briefly...

"Best of luck. Don't kill people. It's bad."

And then the woman in this movie does what she does to Krem at the end of the movie.

I get that this is a different take on Supergirl. But it felt like a direct perversion of the spirit of the comic. All of the other stuff before that were just mildly annoying things that were each on their own small in the grand scheme of the film.

But take all of those little things and combine them with the end - at least the end as I see it - and this movie made me so angry.

And on a separate note.... Who wants to be parent whose kid asks them why the audience was so horrified at the Brigands' MO in this movie? Who wants to be the one to explain to a movie they maybe took their kids to see that there's a group of evil men who are almost entirely known for the most horrible of things, on an ongoing basis and on a massive scale?

So yeah. Those are my thoughts on the movie. I wanted to love this movie, I really did. I would have been okay just liking it. But I can't deny how it made me feel.

If you haven't read Woman Of Tomorrow, I highly recommend it! It may not be the action-packed box of thrills that the movie was, but it shows us a Kara that is somewhat like this movie's Kara while also quite different. And I have to say that the acting was good all around. No bad things to say against any of the actors.

Take care, everyone. Be well. Be good.

So, I created a few comic book-style images that use characters owned by DC comics. But I did make sure that each of these creations has a disclaimer in the corner saying that it was made with AI and is not a licensed product.

Would such creations be okay to post here on Reddit? Or on Night Cafe in general?

Thank you for your time. ^_^

I have ideas swirling around in my head for a Supergirl fanfic, and while we know a LOT about her father's side of the family, I'm curious as to what is known about her mother's side. Alura In-Ze probably belongs to the House of Ze, I would imagine.

I have looked online, but I cannot find an image of their family crest. I've found a few minor allusions to what it might symbolize, but nothing concrete.

If anyone has a link to an image of the family crest of the House of Ze, or any information about the history of the House or what it stands for, what types of citizens it produces, is it a noble house like the House of El, and other stuff like that.

Apologies if this is the wrong place for this question. Thank you all for your time, and best wishes~!

I'm replaying Knights Of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, and I'm trying to understand something that I feel was never spelled out explicitly enough for me, personally, to comprehend.

The question is about the natures of the Jedi Exile/Meetra Surik and Darth Nihilus. Both of them are 'wounds in the force,' but I'm not entirely sure as to the definition of a 'wound in the Force,' and I'm not sure whether or not all such wounds have the same properties.

From what I understand, Nihilus is a void that cannot be filled no matter how hard he tries. And every time he tries to fill the void within him by consuming life, his condition grows worse. But he can still use the Force in the typical ways a Sith normally can.

The Exile - as I understand it - had a natural predilection for forming Force bonds with other people. And at Malachor V, the simultaneous deaths of so many people that she had formed bonds with would have killed her had she not subconsciously cut herself off from the Force.

I'm not quite sure what 'cut off from the Force' means. The Force is created by all living things, and it binds all things on some level. Does Meetra being cut off from the Force mean that the Force doesn't touch her at all, or simply that she cannot use the Force like a Jedi can, and is now effectively just a 'mundane' being whose ability to tap into the Force has been taken away? Or is it something else?

And Nihilus tries to feed on Meetra, but he can't, because there's nothing there. But if there's nothing there, then how can she use the Force at all?

I have a theory, but I have no idea how accurate it is. I THINK that Meetra never regained her connection to the Force, but Kreia was able to form a Force bond with her, and thus reawakened that ability within Meetra. She doesn't call upon the Force directly, but rather through the bonds she forms with the various party members in the game.

But then she is sometimes alone - in the tomb on Korriban and again on Malachor at the end. Is this lore part of the reason why her Force Points don't regenerate in the tomb on Korriban? And what about Malachor V, a wound in the force itself? Does Meetra have a bond with Malachor V in some strange way? Or was she still drawing from Kreia and the other Sith on the planet at the time? Or from her squadmates back on the ship or captured in the Trayus Academy?

My apologies for the length of this post and the number of questions. I am thinking of writing a fanfic with Meetra as a focus, and I want to make sure I understand her as much as I can before I do so (as well as Nihilus, given their parallels).

Thank you all so very much. May the Force be with you all~! ^_^

WARNING: This may come across as a bit rambly or rant-ish, with a question at the end. MY apologies if this puts you off at all.

~ ~ ~

So, I'm an agnostic secular Jew, but I don't hate Judaism or anything. But just watching people discuss things online... I had this one very pointed moment that changed my mindset of the Jewish god completely.

It was when I finally read the actual text of the parts of Exodus about the Ten Plagues, ending with the angel of death killing every firstborn in Egypt while passing over the homes of Jews who marked their homes with the blood of a sacrificial lamb, IIRC, and the entire holiday of Passover that's typically a big gathering of friends and family.

And I actually read the passages, and God tells Moses to tell Pharaohs to let his people go, or else the next plague will come.

But every time this happens, God hardens Pharaoh's heart beforehand, thus ensuring that he will never give into God's demands because God has hardened his heart so he cannot agree.

Every victim of every plague, every firstborn in every Egyptian family - from royalty to slaves, innocent or guilty - is murdered by this so-called 'god' for no other reason I can discern save pure cruelty.

And Judaism has an entire holiday devoted to the Passover of the Jews and the mass murderer of so many others alongside that Passover.

That was the moment when I could no longer look back at Judaism as just the religion I grew up with and left on amicable terms, and was forced to look at it as the tales of a whimsical being of power who kills humans, gives humans cruel tests for no reason, and orders humans to slaughter other humans.

It's when I realized that the 'god" of Judaism is like a child playing cruel games with his toys.

And that's my story.

I'm curious if anyone else has That One Moment when their entire view of any religion and/or secular set of viewpoints changed completely, for better or for worse.

Thank you all for listening. Wishing everyone all the very best~!