this is the light of autumn, it has turned on us

I do not presume that all evil is rooted in a history of trauma survival. Most trauma survivors do not become perpetrators. But most perpetrators have a history of malignant trauma, that is, an experience of psychic or physical torture, or both, inflicted by another. I propose that this traumatic history finds a singular articulation in the interpersonal and intrapsychic operations of evil.

(SUE GRAND, from The Reproduction of Evil: A Clinical & Cultural Perspective)

My big late summer media focus has been diving back into Hunter x Hunter. I watched the 2011 series in 2014 or so, though I never watched Chimera Ant arc or beyond. Recently, I've gotten back into it as part of the HXH renaissance kicked off by the Media Club Plus podcast watchthrough. I've been watching the 2011 with some friends (+ also my housemate, separately), listening to MCP, as well as watching the 1999 adaptation and reading the manga roughly in parallel with our progress on 2011. We're just kicking off Heaven's Arena arc now, and I remember what is to come with inconsistent levels of accuracy. With that in mind, it's possible I'll confidently assert something below that will get jossed as I continue, but for the time being...

I. Love. Illumi Zoldyck. And I will explain my passions.

(Content note: this whole post is about child abuse. No spoilers past Zoldyck family arc.)

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