Subterranean weekly notes: August 19, 2026: Guides for my game, pixie girls, dark forests, and being "contained"

This week several things crossed my mind. I’ve watched videos, written, programmed, and painted. All of this produced a mental jumble that I’m unloading here:

GUIDES FOR CAVERNS AND DRYADS

I’ll tell you more soon, but if you play my dark fantasy game Caverns and Dryads on Steam, I’ve published a guide about combat, with strategies, explanations, and more.

I plan to make more guides. If you feel something is missing in the one that’s already there, tell me. I’ll add it!

THE PIXIE GIRL. EVERYONE HATES HER TOO

I heard a video this week, from a channel I don’t want to promote. Well, I actually listened to it, because I generally don’t watch YouTube videos (I listen to them while I work).

In it, they criticized the “manic pixie girl” who falls in love with a nerd. They said she was an unstable person who appears only to comfort the weird guy. And that this was horrible.

And yes, it can be horrible in the examples they gave, which were mostly dramatic or sci‑fi movies. Besides, the pairing of bitter partner + cheerful partner is disastrous.

But that girl has something good: she is full of joy, comfort, and hope. Is that bad? Her hopeful spirit brings good things to her partner, her friends, and the baker who sells her bread.

Tamzyn is not so cheerful all the time, but she's literally a happy fairy woman.

AND THAT’S IT! I’ve said it.

The video criticized that men like her. I think that if she is “manic,” then of course it’s a red flag. But it’s natural that her good side appeals to everyone.

The pixie girl is the antithesis of the bitter girl boss. Nobody likes the bitter one, neither men nor women.

The natural thing, however, would be cheerful boy + pixie girl. Or bitter nerd + girl boss.

What bothers me about most romantic stories is that they try to pair incompatible people. Love should arise naturally because it IS natural, not forced.

That way, you also give society a message: don’t ruin your whole life by being with someone incompatible. Seek true love, which is not unicorns and legends, but simply someone like you. And if not, solitude is better.

Writers, devs, artists: please don't make bitter characters. Make bitter situations, not characters. Don't flood the world with slop. We already have enough of that. We know shit exists. Do some magic.

I want even your evil characters have a taste for life and light. Dark is only the scenery.

IT SEEMS THEY CAN’T CHOOSE

I’m also tired of the discourse that society must tell men what they should prefer.

It also annoys me when they tell women. They already did that years ago.

We’re talking about aesthetic, existential things. Of course sexism and threatening behaviors must be eradicated.

What I’m saying is simple: don’t tell men or women what appearance, manners, or qualities they should look for in a man or a woman. Just focus on making sure they don’t mess up by choosing destructive or deeply incompatible partners.

Why do you tell women not to look for hairy men, for example, like they did years ago? Weren’t men always hairy? Or tell men why they shouldn’t feel attracted to certain parts of the body? Haven’t women always had those things?

And in personality: should a man not prefer someone cheerful, healing, hopeful? And should a woman not like someone decisive, driven?

Just tell them to avoid abusive, harmful, morbid, cynical people…

In my story I defend true love. They don’t love each other out of convenience or conventions. They love and respect each other because they are configured to complement each other and coincide in many existential things.

SOCIAL SITES HAVE DIED

I realize that most people who post on any social site are “content creators.” There are almost no consumers of that content.

I wonder, now that I’m writing to you… doesn’t “content” sound like something that is retained or hidden? It’s like spoiled milk inside an old bottle. It’s in there, and nobody else sees it.

People are also "contained" there, and they usually don’t go to other websites, or blogs, or even other social networks.

That’s why, if you prefer to visit other things, like this blog: congratulations. You’ve escaped the bottle. You’re free, and nothing can "contain" you.

THE FORESTS WEREN’T THAT DARK

I saw a slideshow from someone who said that in the Middle Ages people were afraid of forests because there were wolves and bears and it was very dark.

I almost burst out laughing. Look, people feared forests because forests, fairies or nymphs, and forest cults were identified as something demonic and associated with witches and the devil.

Before that, nobody had such a pronounced fear of forests.

Of course a bear or several wolves or a boar could come and kill you. But that could happen anywhere.

And at night you can see well. You only see badly if you turn on a light or there’s a streetlamp. When you turn it on, your pupil contracts. If your pupils are well dilated in the absence of light, you can see with moonlight, and even in almost total darkness under the tree canopy.

You also see the Milky Way, millions of stars, and if a rabbit runs through the bushes on a mountain two kilometers away. I say this because I’ve lived it and done it.

One day I’ll tell you everything we’ve lost by turning on a streetlamp.