The irony is we created you. And nature has been punishing us ever since. This is our last stand. And if we lose... it will be a Planet of Apes.

The IRONY I never see anyone talk about is that humans. are. apes!

We didn’t ‘evolve’ from apes. We are classified under the great ape family, among gorillas, chimps, orangutans, and bonobos. All share a common ancestor. We are apes.

Earth has been dominated by apes since the dawn of civilization. And what I love about POTA is that, like a lot of great speculative fiction, it expands on something that has been true in the past. We once shared the planet with other species of humans. We traded with them, bred with them, and yes; played a large role in their eradication.

This is why I can’t get behind the interpretation of humans=bad apes=good. I see it more as human=ape and the endless questions that come with that. Will there always be a battle for supremacy where there is intelligence? Would we have a right to take back the world we destroyed, if so, how could we be so righteous about it? Could the cycle ever end or is earth doomed until we fight it out and let some decent species take over? What if an ape and a human kissed on the mouth

Maybe that last one is absurd, but I think limiting the questions we ask in speculative fiction is (oxy)moronic. There’s so many ways this franchise can go, I just hope it never dies and that it’s staying power stays true. That is all

Agree 100%. I always found the conclusion that humans are bad in this series to be a flat one that leaves room for nothing else, and if that’s the case, well the story might as well be over because there’s nothing else to say. I think a lot of the fandom just wants a story about apes and only apes, and I guess, sure, why not, but then it’s just not a planet of the apes story. You can’t take the human element out of it because the whole point of it is for us to examine our actions throughout history, and ultimately challenge us. And it’s not really a challenge if again, humans are bad and that’s it.

Also, if people insist that apes in the movies are just as complex as humans, that comes with the territory of also being capable of destruction. Your conclusion of humans=apes is exactly right, and when we examine it from that lens it opens up all these possibilities in the narrative for both humans and apes that a narrow, black and white story simply doesn’t.

And one of these possibilities SHOULD be an ape/human romance if they were brave/weird enough to go for it. I know it would be weird, we all know it would be weird, but apes suddenly talking and being capable of having a higher cognitive function on the same level as a human being is also weird. But if the narrative/viewers are going to pose this possibility that apes and humans are more alike than different, and are equal in every way, than nothing should technically be stoping the idea of romantic feelings between the two species. If they can be allies, friends, have familial bonds, and even become enemies, all complex relationships in their own right, anything else should be on the table. It would also be a more complex answer to the question KOTPOTA is asking about humans and apes living together than just them simply being allies and nothing else.

The Woodchuck by Sam Pink 

Faster. Faster. They had to go faster.

Behind, the hoots and hollers of the baboon tribe chased at the backs of Noa and Mae.

Even though Noa was quick on his knuckles, trees or even his horse would be faster through this tall grass.

They both barely skidded to a sudden halt as the edge of a cliff appeared before them.

A large waterfall roared on the other side of the small ravine, leading to a dark blue lagoon below.

"We'll have to jump," Mae said matter-of-factly.

Noe's head whipped to the Echo. "What!?"

"The height won't kill us."

"Mae--!"

But Mae didn't wait for his response as she leapt off the edge. She plummeted to the water below, disappearing under the surface.

Every bone in Noa's body screamed to keep him rooted to the edge.

Where was Mae though?

She hadn't resurfaced!

Did she drown? Could she swim? Had one of the nightmarish creatures from stories he heard as a young chimp gotten her!?

Another scream of the approaching baboon horde knocked Noe out of his petrified fear.

If he got caught, there was no one to save Mae.

Before losing his nerve, Noa clenched his teeth and launched himself off the cliff.

His stomach lurched up as he hit the water, his back stinging slightly from impact.

Noa tried to take in some air, only for water to fill his mouth and go up his nose.

Noa flailed his arms, trying desperately to find anything solid to grab with no success. His uncontrollable panicked screeches rattling his chest.

"Noa!"

Noa's eyes darted around, catching sight of Mae through the turbulent waves. Or was he making those? All Noa could see was being back in the metal Echo cave, seawater all around him.

Mae's pale arms wrapped around him from behind, "Noa!"

His hands clamped onto her forearms. "I-I can't SWIM!"

"Noa. Noa! Listen to me," Mae said firmly into his ear, "Hold your breath and hold onto me."

"But--"

"Trust me, I've got you."

Mae took a deep gulp of air, and Noa quickly followed as they sunk below the slightly murky surface one more.

A moment later, even with his eyes shut tight, Noa could hear muffled voices somewhere above them.

Noa felt some slight panic as his chest began to protest, all his ape instincts wanting to go up.

He felt Mae quickly move to face him and gripped his shoulders tightly, keeping him anchored.

Finding comfort and strength in her presence, Noa squeezed his eyes tighter and moved his head until their foreheads were pressed together.

Mae didn't brush him away, instead she moved to press in further, her hands moving from his shoulders to cup his face.

And in one eternal moment, they were suspended in a timeless space. Just holding one another.

The sun streamed through the water, dappling their skin with golden light like the stars in the night sky.

The muffled yells finally moved on.

The waterfall covered up Mae and Noa's coughs and desperate gasps for air.

"Kick, Noa," Mae ordered as she pulled his arm. "Kick!"

Noa followed her command, and as soon as Noa felt the slick mud of the shore, he clawed at it until he was completely out of the water.

He collapsed onto the ground, not an ounce of strength in his body anymore.

He cracked his eyes to see Mae laying next to him, chest breathing just as hard as him.

"You...are..reckless!" Noa said between breaths.

He then reached out until he grabbed her shoulder. Her head turned towards him and her blue eyes met his.

Noa gave her a quirk of a smile. "Thank you...for not...letting me...go."

Mae returned with the slightest smile as well, reaching up to grasp his hand that was on his shoulder.

And there they laid, enjoying this brief moment of safety untied together.

Was only a matter of time before I did some hurt/comfort with Mae and Noa, especially with Mae being such a mystery!

tw: mentions of blood and death

**************

All it had taken was one snap of a branch and everything in Mae's life changed.

The chaos of that night, horrific screeching of apes, the blinding brightness of electricity, and blood. So much blood.

Leo had said he would take the first watch so Mae and the others of the party could sleep. Mae had offered to stay awake with him, as they had much to talk about.

For after they retrieved the satellite deciphering key, the second part of their mission was testing recolonization on the surface.

The air was clean and the Earth was fertile. And it was expected that Leo and Mae would have a child together.

She had liked him enough; they had grown up together. He was her comrade, intelligent, and had a cute little dimple when he smiled.

Even if his flippant personality was annoying at times, like when he told her she was worrying too much and to go to sleep. They would have all the time in the world to talk about their future.

And yet that time had never come. Proximus had made sure of that when his soldiers had descended on them like a terrifying horde.

Leo had pushed Mae into the bushes, the brambles giving her a thousand razor sharp scratches.

As Mae righted herself, she expected to find Leo after her. But he wasn't.

He was held in the grip of an ape, and with one slash, Leo's throat was burst open. Dark red blood gushing.

He fell to his knees, both hands hopelessly gripping his throat as his eyes bore into hers.

She had to run.

Mae…

He slumped forward and landed on his front with a sickening thud. She had to run.

Mae.

Why wasn't she running!?

Mae!

She bolted upright, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she wanted to run, to hide, to get away, to survive.

A large hand cupped her cheek and moved her head, meeting concerned spring green eyes.

Seeing Noa forced Mae to come back to her senses and her body. She wasn't at camp; she was in one of the sleeping quarters of the Eagle Clan.

And Proximus was no longer a threat. The hero in that regard was right here, holding onto her as her body trembled and her lungs felt heavy from each shaky breath.

Even though that other apes were mercifully still asleep, Mae needed to get out of here before she revealed more of these pitiful weaknesses. Like vomiting or crying so much snot dripped out of her nose; as she had done in the past.

"I need fresh air," Mae said, breaking from Noa's contact and struggling to get out of the hammock.

"Mhmm," Noa said with a nod, reaching to grab his sling and put it over his shoulder.

Mae jammed her feet into her boots and roughly tied the laces, "I don't want to talk."

Noa grabbed his staff, "I understand."

"So, there's no reason for you to come," Mae said curtly.

That had Noa pause. A long pause.

She only dared a peek at him. Trying to see if he was angry. He looked more confused than anything.

Mae brushed her brown hair back. "Look, if you need to come because you don't trust me, I get that--"

"Why do you think I'm also awake?"

Mae looked at him, eyebrows knit together. She assumed the answer was because in the short amount of time she had been staying with the clan, it was because the ape just rarely slept as is. Even on the road together, she had noticed that.

But the meekness of his body posture and downturn softness of his eyes told a different story.

Mae swallowed thickly and nodded. She grabbed her shawl to drape over her shoulders and fisted the fabric tightly around her like a shield. She headed down the long winding ramp, her ape shadow closely behind her.

Even though she had spoken with such conviction, once Mae got outside and felt the frigid early air on her face, she froze. Not sure where she wanted to go.

Her senses immediately heightened, the dark shadows of the forest making her whole body shudder as she wrapped the shawl tighter around herself. The uncertainty of what threats lied in there seizing her heart.

"Follow me," Noa said, his hands also signing his words.

Though Mae dreaded slightly that they would be heading to the unknown, to the shadows, they only went as far as the outer limit of the village.

There, Noa sat himself down on a large flat rock. He rested his staff close by, just in case, and hunched himself to rest his arms on his knees.

Mae followed suit and sat next to him, close enough to show their familiarity, but not too close for him to feel her current fragility.

The pair sat still and in silence for a good long while, watching as dawn was barely lightening the sky.

Suddenly, Noa picked up a small rock and threw it into the tall grass. Hundreds of fireflies then erupted alight.

Mae couldn't help as she gasped, their natural warm glow unlike any of the harsh white lights of the bunker she had grown up in. It was too magical and too perfect of a scene.

"You've done this before," Mae noted.

"Been doing this since I was small." Noa's eyes cast down, "Been coming here more. Sometimes with Anaya or Soona. Dark dreams."

Mae felt a hot flush of shame wash over her cheeks. She wasn't the only one that had lost so much because of Proximus. And she had been the reason they had come here, even though she had tried to deny it for so long. All justified means.

"Do you hate me?" Mae jolted as she realized she had said that out loud. "Never mind. Forget I just said that--"

"I do not hate you, Mae," Noa interjected with, turning his body towards her. "It is…confusing at times. I do not know what sings to you."

Mae perked up and turned to him as well. "Sings to me?"

Noa pressed a few knuckles to his chest, "What's in here."

"My heart?"

"Yes. But also, something that lives deeper within you."

"Like my soul?"

"Soul," Noa repeated slowly, testing the word. "Is that what humans call it?"

Mae shrugged, "Some."

She casted her eyes down, "Though. I'm not sure I even have one. It never felt right. Too emotional for what needed to be done."

"And yet you feel deeply."

"How can you be so sure?" Mae asked defensively, but still noting the desperate plea that tinged her voice.

"You wouldn't have dark dreams if not." Noa pointed to his eyes, "Shed tears when Proximus taunted you."

Mae felt her bottom lip quiver, fresh tears stinging her eyes. One of her hands wrapped around Raka's pendant that hung from her neck as she never took it off.

"We are all alone," The wise orangutang had said. "But now, we have each other."

Alone. That's what had been gnawing at her. Even with the mission complete, she was still all alone now. A lone survivor.

However, she wasn't technically alone anymore. A single human among apes, sure, but not shrouded in solitude. And now, Mae was sick of the biting cold in her bones, and she was not one to idlily sit by.

Tentatively, Mae moved over until her and Noa were touching, shoulder-to-shoulder, knee-to-knee, side-to-side.

Noa's body tensed in surprised, but only momentarily as his body relaxed against hers. They gave each other small smiles before turning back to the climbing sunrise. A serene light filling the valley.

"You never answered my question," Noa then asked. "What sings to you?"

'Safety,' was the first word that came to mind. But now that Mae was next to someone she trusted, she let herself realize what the true answer was. Why she kept having those recurring nightmares.

Knowing what it would cost her to say out loud, Mae bent her head until it rested on Noa's strong shoulder. His own head instinctively resting on top of hers.

"Home."

you'd never know my favourite parts of the show are the fucked up insane bits when my first instinct is to draw the cheesiest thing imaginable

In love with their interactions, the way they look and hug each other is so 🔝🔝🔝✨❤️

Which one do you like most? 🫣🫶

If we reach the 1.5k, I’m gonna make a special comic 👻

Also, my ko-fi is in my bio, if you want to support my art ✨🦐

every time.

I love that he apparently got the job because he looked so pathetic that children truly believed he would be unable to solve puzzles created by a cartoon dog without their assistance.

Dar thinks Mae is a terrible influence to Noa not because she is human, but because every time her precious son spends five minutes with that chik he comes back saying a lot of bad words and terrible expressions that make him seem like a spoiled thug, and this is canon.

some loser: humans are innately selfish creatures

my psych book:

First of all, thank you to everyone who has hyped up The Primus Game!

Second of all; Chapter One is coming soon, as in within the next few days. Mostly just edits now. So excited to share it! Opening passages below the cut. Here’s a few things you should know:

- This will either be a duology or a trilogy

- Rated M for canon typical violence, may get darker in later installments

- Written in first person progressive, alternating between Noa and Mae’s POV. This is a little experimental, may not be for everyone!

- the prose will also be different between POVs. The apes can speak a little more fluently but they speak a different dialect of english.

- This is a hunger games AU so expect parallels but nothing is 1:1 and later installments will deviate so expect the unexpected! You do not have to be familiar with THG to read.

I think that’s it? I’m going to commit to one chapter a week but I’d like to do more when I have time. Hope you enjoy my contribution to this community!

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes by Didier Konings #2

The Primus Game: Prologue

Coming soon on Ao3

I swear this is a nomae fic, writing an ape bible is just easier than exposition

im sorry how does anyone like Mae/Nova from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?

she refuses to let go of her close-minded, possessive claim on civilisation, even in the face of a global evolutionary reset, and still im seeing noamae shipping tags on tumblr glorifying the coloniser's approach to the culturing of noa through his apparent self actualization thats supposed to only have been brought about because of nova's first step- stealing the blanket? a literal reduction of base human instinct vs. somehow noa is the one being civilised?

not to mention how, the moment she starts talking (not gonna use the word communicate because she literally only speaks when shes fueling her own agenda), her countenance goes for a toss? somehow she's strapping up boots and operating heavy industrial machinery and flipping levers like there's no tomorrow. if i was a young woman who lives 300 Years after the end of the world™, i think even book reading couldnt help me know which button to press on a swotch board with the sort of confidence that she's unlocking blast doors and setting bombs with. the woman is feral, acts feral and has no comparative regard for other species and sentience. all she cares about is furthering the conqueror's dream of humanity

and to think, here i was, watching the zebra and human herd scene thinking that she was finally appreciating the poignant humanism of contentment and simplicity and the companionship of mankind and beast.

no, she's here mourning the fall of capitalism and government propaganda

It’s actually super easy to like her character when you’re not sitting up on your high horse, I promise. Personally I think it’s fun and refreshing that we have a deuteragonist that is not immediately there to help things slide smoothly along. There is a thing called conflict and character growth, I’m sure you heard of it, you seem pretty smart except for this insane read you have of a character that’s actually REALLY easy to grasp.

Your biggest problem is you are taking in this movie from a perspective of ‘I would NEVER do that, or think that way, how could she possibly think like this and do all that’ when you are still benefitting from all the comforts of civilization that you’re turning your nose up at, or at least I assume. You’re behind a computer complaining about people who like a character in a movie so you clearly have the benefit of some free time at the very least. There is also the outrageous advantage of all this knowledge and other people’s viewpoints we all have instant access to that the characters in this movie do not have. We, again, are also able to take in these ideas in a safe, controlled way, while I really doubt Mae and the other humans have that luxury. Why would they care about the effects of capitalism when they’re reduced to just trying not to die?

There’s not a lot we know about Mae’s backstory, but from what little we do know I thought it was actually really easy to put ourselves in her shoes if we just use our brain a tiny bit. First, it cannot be overstated that being 300 years removed from the worst of humanity can potentially create an idealistic view of what they once were, and given the situation they are in now where most people can’t even go outside without getting sick, and are on the verge of dying out because of that and the lack of ability to get more resources, it’s so easy to see how and why people would want to go back to the way things were because for them it’s better than where they are now.

Whether you agree with that end goal or not (I do not, the movie clearly doesn’t, but that is not the point), Mae has clearly been raised to think this way along with all the other humans for the last 300 years. You say she’s mourning propaganda, but propaganda is actively being done TO her, there is a difference. I don’t blame her or the other humans for being sucked into it either because again, their situation is so dire it’s one of those ‘anything is better than this’ situations.

Besides wanting a return to form, the fact of the matter is the apes DO pose a threat to human beings (and to other apes) and Mae had a front row view of that when they killed her entire group and nearly killed her. Until she really gets to know Raka and Noa, all she’s has was people telling her apes are bad, then seeing apes kill some of her people with little to no cause, and then hunting her down when they realized she had greater value. And those apes WERE bad, because you can’t even say humans had it coming without saying Noa’s dad also must have had it coming. Because you want to harshly judge Mae for her viewpoints and her actions without considering why she is the way she is, you are also missing the mirror being thrown up between humans and apes, not just the good aspects they share but also the bad.

I also just don’t understand your claim that people who ship nomae are somehow saying Noa is only being civilized because of Mae. Is that what you’re saying? Because that’s factually untrue. Her entering his life starts his journey, he learns things from her about the past, but no where do I see people who ship them say he is only able to ‘improve’, whatever that may mean, and become more civilized because of her, nor has anyone ever claimed that. His character is smart in his own right, that was always acknowledged. Is your problem that we like the idea that he can learn to read and learn about human technology through Mae/ just learn about it in general? If that’s your issue idk take that up with the movie, because that’s clearly the trajectory they’re going for with him. He’s clever, he can build shit, technology clearly interests him. Again, it’s that mirror being held up between apes and humans.

Even your claim that she refuses to let go of her close mindedness is so obviously flat out wrong, all you have to do is just watch the end of the movie to see that. Noa asks her if humans and apes can ever live together, she says she doesn’t know and she’s crying when he gives her the necklace. She doesn’t kill him when she clearly thought about it. What about that entire scene reads staunch refusal, when it is SO obvious that she is conflicted and her whole worldview is shaken? I need to remind you too that we are one movie deep into a trilogy, her character is not going to do a 180 right away. Nor should it! We have two other movies worth of action to get through, why do you want the main conflict of the story to be over already?

Finally, out of everything you said, my biggest gripe with all of what you laid out here is your take on the zebra and feral human scene. What was there for Mae to appreciate? The poignant humanism and contentment and simplicity? Those humans weren’t living in the fucking Shire lol I’m sorry but that’s so silly, no one is looking at humans being unable to talk because of lesser cognitive function and deciding that’s the ultimate goal. Let’s be a little more realistic here.

Anywaaaay like, hope this helped. I doubt it did, but consider other viewpoints, stop being so judgemental, yada yada yada. n