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Enchantment

 Enchantment
type
TVTItem
 Enchantment
label
Enchantment
 Enchantment
page
Enchantment
 Enchantment
comment
A novel by Orson Scott Card, re-staging the "Sleeping Beauty" myth in a new setting.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Ivan Smetski is a Russian Jew who isn't going to be Russian anymore: as soon as possible, his parents are emigrating to America, specifically a suburb in New York State, where Ivan will eventually grow up. Before they leave, though, his family sojourns at Cousin Marek's house, where Ivan, exploring in the woods, comes across an incredible tableau: a beautiful woman, sleeping on a bier, amidst a lake of leaves in which lives a giant bear. He doesn't get a chance to explore this until 1991, more than a decade later, when he returns to what was once the USSR but is now Ukraine to do a dissertation on Russian Mythology and Tales and whether they conform to Propp's Functions of Folktales. While there, he visits Cousin Marek's farm and re-discovers the beautiful woman, who—after the bear has been subdued—needs to be awoken with a kiss...Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })"...And then they lived Happily Ever After?" Nope.First off: Our maiden? Princess Katerina of Taina, a 9th-century Slavic kingdom growing in the shadow of proto-Kievan Rus' and unremembered by history, which tells you what its long-term fate will be. Ivan has promised to marry Katerina, and that marriage promise is all that is keeping the evil witch Baba Yaga from using Loophole Abuse to claim rulership of Taina. She's already enslaved Bear—The Bear, the god of winter—to be her Dragon and do her bidding, so keeping her at bay is not an idle concern for the citizens of Taina. Especially since their most-loved deity, Mikola Mozhaiski (a version of Saint Nikolaus), hasn't been seen in years. Second: Ivan? Not a Knight in Shining Armor. A man of good heart, yes, and a decathlete, fit by the standards of The '90s... But this is The Low Middle Ages, Russia in 890 AD, and manhood involves being able to sling around five pounds of sword for hours at a stretch. Oh, and he's engaged to a girl named Ruth, back home in 20th-century America—and he's a Jew. And Taina? An outpost of Christianity, many years before (20th-century) scholars believed it had gotten that far east. Even better, the local priest was an apprentice to Kirill—Saint Cyril, after whom the Cyrillic Alphabet is named—and has some of Kirill's manuscripts. Ivan, a linguist, came to (modern-day) Russia in part to answer how the Russian tongue evolved from Old Church Slavonic. In 9th-century Taina, he literally holds the answers in his hand.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })So now Ivan is stuck in Taina, and has has to figure out what to do with Katerina (as opposed to Ruth), figure out how to win the respect of the townsfolk, avoid Baba Yaga as much as possible... and, preferably, get back to his own time and his own life and his actual fiancée so that he can go on with all that, instead of being trapped in a 9th-century backwater where magic, rather obviously, exists. And, uncomfortably, he is in fact attracted to Katerina, and she to him. Oh, and, Baba Yaga's out to get both of them. And so we have our adventure: a fun fairy tale, a workable Romance Novel, and speculations on just how Baba Yaga got her reputation for having a house on chicken legs.No relations to the Disney film Enchanted, though both are affectionate Deconstructions in which fairy tales collide head-first with modern-day New York citizens. OSC's novel, however, lacks Crowd Songs.
 Enchantment
fetched
2023-01-03T08:14:14Z
 Enchantment
parsed
2023-01-03T08:14:14Z
 Enchantment
processingComment
Dropped link to BabaYaga: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Enchantment
processingComment
Dropped link to MassTeleportation: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Enchantment
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Enchantment / int_1edfa2c7
type
Royals Who Actually Do Something
 Enchantment / int_1edfa2c7
comment
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Katerina, and her father Matfei as well. (Primogeniture is a new idea in Taina; previously, they elected their kings to serve as war leaders whenever one was needed. Matfei adheres to it largely because it's the rule that keeps Baba Yaga out.)
 Enchantment / int_1edfa2c7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_1edfa2c7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_1edfa2c7
 Enchantment / int_1f88a426
type
Psycho Ex-Girlfriend
 Enchantment / int_1f88a426
comment
Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Ruth. Although she didn't intend to kill him, and isn't entirely unsympathetic.
 Enchantment / int_1f88a426
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_1f88a426
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1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_1f88a426
 Enchantment / int_22cf536c
type
Chekhov's Gun
 Enchantment / int_22cf536c
comment
Chekhov's Gun: The message on Baba Tila's windowsill.
 Enchantment / int_22cf536c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_22cf536c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
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Enchantment / int_22cf536c
 Enchantment / int_22e5329e
type
Ordinary High-School Student
 Enchantment / int_22e5329e
comment
Ordinary Grad Student
 Enchantment / int_22e5329e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_22e5329e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_22e5329e
 Enchantment / int_2af6bbeb
type
Break the Haughty
 Enchantment / int_2af6bbeb
comment
Break the Haughty
 Enchantment / int_2af6bbeb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_2af6bbeb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_2af6bbeb
 Enchantment / int_373e2b9f
type
Murder the Hypotenuse
 Enchantment / int_373e2b9f
comment
Murder the Hypotenuse: Ivan is the frequent target of these attempts, since he is the linchpin of Taina's defense against Yaga.
 Enchantment / int_373e2b9f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_373e2b9f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_373e2b9f
 Enchantment / int_40cc0c7e
type
Bittersweet Ending
 Enchantment / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: Everyone is happy, all the main characters are alive, but Ivan and Katerina are still the only people who can use the bridges, so one day their children will have to decide which world they want to stay in, or have that decision made for them when one of their parents dies. Also magic is fading from the world.
 Enchantment / int_40cc0c7e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_40cc0c7e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_40cc0c7e
 Enchantment / int_434d893c
type
Funny Foreigner
 Enchantment / int_434d893c
comment
Funny Foreigner: In Taina, Ivan and his skills are widely considered a joke.
 Enchantment / int_434d893c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_434d893c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_434d893c
 Enchantment / int_43b6fb56
type
Vain Sorceress
 Enchantment / int_43b6fb56
comment
Vain Sorceress: Baba Yaga is an old woman, but almost never wears the appearance of one unless she is deliberately trying to manipulate someone.
 Enchantment / int_43b6fb56
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_43b6fb56
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_43b6fb56
 Enchantment / int_4a852458
type
Big Good
 Enchantment / int_4a852458
comment
Big Good: Implied only, but the suggestion remains that Esther's teacher Baba Tila was one of Katerina's aunts, and that she set everything in motion.
 Enchantment / int_4a852458
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_4a852458
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_4a852458
 Enchantment / int_4c782fb9
type
Gods Need Prayer Badly
 Enchantment / int_4c782fb9
comment
Gods Need Prayer Badly: The pagan gods of the world depend on prayer from people in order to maintain power. As Christianity spreads and they become irrelevant, they fade into obscurity.
 Enchantment / int_4c782fb9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_4c782fb9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_4c782fb9
 Enchantment / int_4de0f392
type
Your Normal Is Our Taboo
 Enchantment / int_4de0f392
comment
Your Normal Is Our Taboo
 Enchantment / int_4de0f392
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_4de0f392
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_4de0f392
 Enchantment / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 Enchantment / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: Ivan has the name of the everyman of Russian folklore. Turns out, he might BE that everyman.
 Enchantment / int_6bda9a30
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_6bda9a30
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1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_6bda9a30
 Enchantment / int_6d7026fa
type
Punny Name
 Enchantment / int_6d7026fa
comment
Punny Name: Coupled with Bilingual Bonus. Taina is a kingdom located in a magical world, unknown to the real world's history - and indeed, its very name literally means "secret" ("тайна") in Russian.
 Enchantment / int_6d7026fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_6d7026fa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_6d7026fa
 Enchantment / int_6d9bc945
type
Babies Ever After
 Enchantment / int_6d9bc945
comment
Babies Ever After: In the Distant Finale.
 Enchantment / int_6d9bc945
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_6d9bc945
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_6d9bc945
 Enchantment / int_70ade2c4
type
Culture Clash
 Enchantment / int_70ade2c4
comment
Culture Clash: Ivan and Katerina constantly misunderstand each other because of their cultural differences. Ivan had studied Katerina's culture, allowing him to anticipate things, but Katerina had never so much as imagined Ivan's culture, so for a long time she had no means of understanding him.
 Enchantment / int_70ade2c4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_70ade2c4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_70ade2c4
 Enchantment / int_7241785e
type
You Can't Fight Fate
 Enchantment / int_7241785e
comment
You Can't Fight Fate
 Enchantment / int_7241785e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_7241785e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_7241785e
 Enchantment / int_75d6bf40
type
Belligerent Sexual Tension
 Enchantment / int_75d6bf40
comment
Belligerent Sexual Tension
 Enchantment / int_75d6bf40
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_75d6bf40
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_75d6bf40
 Enchantment / int_76d233f9
type
Straw Feminist
 Enchantment / int_76d233f9
comment
Straw Feminist: Ruth's feminist beliefs are mocked and described as hypocritical by multiple characters.
 Enchantment / int_76d233f9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_76d233f9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_76d233f9
 Enchantment / int_79fa704c
type
Training the Peaceful Villagers
 Enchantment / int_79fa704c
comment
Training the Peaceful Villagers: Deconstructed when Ivan tries to learn European swordwork. Played straight later when he brings back the secret of Molotov Cocktails.
 Enchantment / int_79fa704c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_79fa704c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_79fa704c
 Enchantment / int_7d89315b
type
"The Reason You Suck" Speech
 Enchantment / int_7d89315b
comment
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Katerina gets a well-meaning one from Sophia regarding her views and her treatment of Ivan, because while Ivan has history and a multicultural background to help him sort out their relationship, Katerina has only what she learned in the one very small community where she has lived her whole life.
 Enchantment / int_7d89315b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_7d89315b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_7d89315b
 Enchantment / int_80621707
type
Arranged Marriage
 Enchantment / int_80621707
comment
Arranged Marriage: While the two were put together by fate instead of parents, and consented from their own lips, there is still a lot of the traditional (Western) angst associated with this trope.
 Enchantment / int_80621707
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_80621707
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_80621707
 Enchantment / int_89d694cc
type
Place of Power
 Enchantment / int_89d694cc
comment
Place of Power: The clearing where Katerina lay enchanted is so powerful that even gods can't see what happens there.
 Enchantment / int_89d694cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_89d694cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_89d694cc
 Enchantment / int_8d718b9e
type
Bears Are Bad News
 Enchantment / int_8d718b9e
comment
Bears Are Bad News: Depending on how you look at it, this is either played straight or averted. Ensorcelled by Baba Yaga's magic, Bear can now talk, and serves as her Dragon, but his dialogue and attitude make it clear that he's not the malicious sort.
 Enchantment / int_8d718b9e
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Enchantment / int_8d718b9e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_8d718b9e
 Enchantment / int_921cdca8
type
Nothing Personal
 Enchantment / int_921cdca8
comment
Nothing Personal: Bear wants to kill Ivan because "it's not right for a mortal to put out the eye of a god and live," but for no other reason. And indeed, when Ivan is later able to do him a favor, all is forgiven.
 Enchantment / int_921cdca8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_921cdca8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_921cdca8
 Enchantment / int_95b7c400
type
Faux Affably Evil
 Enchantment / int_95b7c400
comment
Faux Affably Evil: The book is interspersed with short(er) chapters from Baba Yaga's point of view. She does horrific things, but she's very friendly (and funny) about it.
 Enchantment / int_95b7c400
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_95b7c400
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_95b7c400
 Enchantment / int_970c790a
type
Big Bad
 Enchantment / int_970c790a
comment
Big Bad: Baba Yaga
 Enchantment / int_970c790a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_970c790a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_970c790a
 Enchantment / int_99c49c21
type
Villains Blend in Better
 Enchantment / int_99c49c21
comment
Villains Blend in Better
 Enchantment / int_99c49c21
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_99c49c21
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_99c49c21
 Enchantment / int_a2b38d3b
type
Eye Scream
 Enchantment / int_a2b38d3b
comment
Eye Scream: Ivan subdues Bear by throwing a rock at his eye.
 Enchantment / int_a2b38d3b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_a2b38d3b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_a2b38d3b
 Enchantment / int_a8371e84
type
Giving Radio to the Romans
 Enchantment / int_a8371e84
comment
Giving Radio to the Romans: Part of Ivan's (eventual) plot to defeat Baba Yaga.
 Enchantment / int_a8371e84
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_a8371e84
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_a8371e84
 Enchantment / int_aabe2fb
type
Deliberate Values Dissonance
 Enchantment / int_aabe2fb
comment
Deliberate Values Dissonance: To the point that good ol' Values Dissonance is a Discussed Trope.
 Enchantment / int_aabe2fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_aabe2fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_aabe2fb
 Enchantment / int_acecb17d
type
Chekhov's Skill
 Enchantment / int_acecb17d
comment
Chekhov's Skill: Ivan's ability to speak Old Church Slavonic is the reason the "Summon Everyman Hero" spell targets him.
 Enchantment / int_acecb17d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_acecb17d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_acecb17d
 Enchantment / int_b5b57ef8
type
They Do
 Enchantment / int_b5b57ef8
comment
They Do
 Enchantment / int_b5b57ef8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_b5b57ef8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_b5b57ef8
 Enchantment / int_b7e0c5ff
type
Love Triangle
 Enchantment / int_b7e0c5ff
comment
Love Triangle: Both Ivan and Katerina had people they had been matched with already. Katerina's is Dmitri, her father's head knight.
 Enchantment / int_b7e0c5ff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_b7e0c5ff
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1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_b7e0c5ff
 Enchantment / int_cd3ebc8e
type
What Year Is This?
 Enchantment / int_cd3ebc8e
comment
What Year Is This?
 Enchantment / int_cd3ebc8e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_cd3ebc8e
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1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_cd3ebc8e
 Enchantment / int_dfc3e10a
type
The Dung Ages
 Enchantment / int_dfc3e10a
comment
The Dung Ages
 Enchantment / int_dfc3e10a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_dfc3e10a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_dfc3e10a
 Enchantment / int_dfe120e5
type
Functional Magic
 Enchantment / int_dfe120e5
comment
Functional Magic: Very much so. Some of the witches protecting Katerina cast protective spells on her. Yaga cursed her to eternal sleep and specified that only someone from a time extremely removed from hers, who could not speak her language and thus could not break the curse by asking her to marry him, could possibly stumble upon her. These clashing spells create the sleeping-beauty scenario Ivan stumbles upon.
 Enchantment / int_dfe120e5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_dfe120e5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_dfe120e5
 Enchantment / int_e0d0fb13
type
Please Put Some Clothes On
 Enchantment / int_e0d0fb13
comment
Please Put Some Clothes On: One of the rules of the magic "bridge" linking Ivan's and Katerina's times is that you emerge wearing only what you had the last time you were then. First-time visitors, in other words... (Gains extra momentum when you learn that Taina doesn't have a nudity taboo, but does obey the Biblical stricture against wearing clothes belonging to members the other gender. Which is all you're going to have available, the first time you cross.)
 Enchantment / int_e0d0fb13
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_e0d0fb13
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1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_e0d0fb13
 Enchantment / int_e5421161
type
Expy
 Enchantment / int_e5421161
comment
Expy: Father Lukas, the Christian priest of Taina, is basically a reskinned Bishop Peregrino from Lusitania.
 Enchantment / int_e5421161
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_e5421161
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1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_e5421161
 Enchantment / int_ea8168f
type
Crossover Cosmology
 Enchantment / int_ea8168f
comment
Crossover Cosmology: There is mention of Greek and Norse deities in this world as well, as Mikola Mozhaiski remembers squaring off with Zeus and that Loki ran off with one of his wives.
 Enchantment / int_ea8168f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_ea8168f
featureConfidence
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 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_ea8168f
 Enchantment / int_fdc1e848
type
Will They or Won't They?
 Enchantment / int_fdc1e848
comment
Will They or Won't They?: Dragged out a fair deal. First there's the question of whether Ivan will duck out of the betrothal. Then there's the question of whether he and Katerina have consummated. And, of course, one can always wonder whether they actually love each other... In an interesting twist, Ivan doesn't believe in sex before marriage (mirroring Card's own beliefs), however, the two main characters are forced to marry early in the story, but it wasn't consummated. This has the rare effect of dangling the open question of sex, without violating any chastity taboos.
 Enchantment / int_fdc1e848
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1.0
 Enchantment / int_fdc1e848
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 Enchantment
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Enchantment / int_fdc1e848
 Enchantment / int_fe614133
type
Beauty Is Never Tarnished
 Enchantment / int_fe614133
comment
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Lying in the woods for either several months or a thousand years doesn't so much as leave Katerina a little rumpled.
 Enchantment / int_fe614133
featureApplicability
1.0
 Enchantment / int_fe614133
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Enchantment / int_fe614133
 Enchantment / int_ffad4e9f
type
Shown Their Work
 Enchantment / int_ffad4e9f
comment
Shown Their Work: Part of the fun of the story is just how neatly OSC fits it into Real Life and extant scholarship.
 Enchantment / int_ffad4e9f
featureApplicability
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 Enchantment / int_ffad4e9f
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 Enchantment
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Enchantment / int_ffad4e9f
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ItemName
 Enchantment / int_name
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 Enchantment / int_name
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Enchantment / int_name
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Enchantment

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 TheFaith
seeAlso
Enchantment
 Enchantment
hasFeature
American Literature (E to I) / int_63515d0a
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Automobiles Are Alien / int_63515d0a
 BabaYaga
seeAlso
Enchantment
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Please Put Some Clothes On / int_63515d0a
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Summon Everyman Hero / int_63515d0a
 Enchantment
hasFeature
The Chosen Zero / int_63515d0a
 Enchantment
hasFeature
The Low Middle Ages / int_63515d0a
 Enchantment
hasFeature
Villains Blend in Better / int_63515d0a