#Asks Answered | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

saintsenara · 1 day

Note

wait how bougie was Tom Riddle Sr.? How nice would his Manor have been? Was he like an actually Lord with a title and stuff?

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

in half-blood prince, dumbledore refers to tom riddle sr. as "the squire's son" - which allows us to state with certainty that he was a minor aristocrat.

however, the word minor is important here.

there are - historically - two levels of aristocracy in britain. the first are the peers of the realm - which refers to families which hold one or more of the titles of duke, marquess, earl, or viscount. these are the elite of the elite - these gradations of nobility were created in the middle ages as a way of distinguishing those who held the titles from other noblemen, usually because of a close relationship [often one of blood or marriage or both] to the king.

the titles are hereditary by male primogeniture, and the holders - while this is no longer the case - used to have political power [such as the right to sit in the house of lords], simply by virtue of their birth.

[this is why they're called "peers" - it refers to them historically being close in status to royalty, and therefore expected to serve as royal advisors.]

there is another class of peer - a baronet - whose title is similarly hereditary, but whose position doesn't come historically with the right to sit in the lords or advise the king by virtue of birth. [baronets may - of course - have been members of parliament, or royal advisors selected at the king's discretion, but this would be separate from their title. a duke, in contrast, could historically expect to request a meeting with the king simply because he was a duke.]

while some families have historically been ennobled at the king's discretion, access to any of these titles is pretty much restricted to the small group of families who've held them for centuries.

but below the peers of the realm, there is a second, more minor class of aristocracy, the landed gentry - of which a village squire is a textbook example.

historically, what is meant by "landed" is an ability to live off of the rental income of one's country holdings, which would be leased to tenant farmers. that is, they are landlords in the original sense of the term - lords of the land. this is what tom sr. tells us his family does in half-blood prince:

“It’s not ours,” said a young man’s voice. “Everything on the other side of the valley belongs to us, but that cottage belongs to an old tramp called Gaunt, and his children. The son’s quite mad, you should hear some of the stories they tell in the village - ”

what is also meant by "landed" is that the family in question is of the upper-classes, but that they are still "commoners" - which in this context doesn't imply a value judgement, but which is a socio-legal term which simply indicates that they don't hold an aristocratic title such as duke, earl etc.

[and gentry families certainly aren't common in terms of financial standing... the most famous member of this class in literature? fitzwilliam darcy, whose ten thousand a year is something like thirteen million quid in today's money...]

gentry families might be very old - they might have received their lands from the king in the middle ages as a reward for knightly service, and it's interesting to imagine generations of gaunts and riddles brought up alongside each other in little hangleton - or they might be comparatively newer - tom sr.'s great-grandfather [feasibly born c.1810] could have been a self-made victorian industrialist who bought the lands from the original holder and established himself as gentry.

by 1900, it was becoming much harder for the gentry to live on rental income alone, and many would also have had jobs. these would have been elite, and very frequently were in politics, the civil service, the military, or the law. tom sr's father - whom the films call thomas, so let's go with that - might, for example, have served as a high-ranking officer in the army [including during the first world war], be the local magistrate, or be the local member of parliament.

in terms of titles, thomas riddle would almost undoubtedly be sir thomas - and this is how it would be correct to address him. but this title would be a courtesy, and it wouldn't be hereditary unless the riddles were also baronets [which it's entirely plausible that they were].

which is to say, tom sr. would not have a title while his father was alive - although he would have the right to be referred to formally in writing as mr thomas riddle esq. [esquire]. the correct form of verbal address for anyone other than friends and family would be to call him mr riddle, although the riddles' servants would probably refer to him as mister tom.

tom jr. would not have a title while his father or grandfather was alive. if the riddles were baronets, he would technically inherit the title after he kills the rest of the male line... but given that tom sr. never acknowledged him and his existence was presumably unknown to the riddles' lawyers this wouldn't be something which happened in reality. the estate's executors clearly took control of the riddles' property, the land was portioned off and sold, and the house became a standalone property for sale.

the riddle house - which is a name used informally for it in little hangleton, it would have a different "proper" name - is described in canon in ways which show that it's a typical manor house, which means it would look something like this:

these houses are obviously very impressive, but they're tiny in size in comparison to the magnificent stately homes - places like blenheim palace, chatsworth, burghley house, holkham hall - lived in by the titled aristocracy. the riddles would entertain - for example - by giving house parties, dinner parties, hunting parties, etc., but they wouldn't have a ballroom or a dining hall capable of seating hundreds.

[they would probably also own a property - probably a flat or small house - in london.]

they would have servants, but not colossal numbers - they would undoubtedly have a butler but not footmen, and the upstairs maids would report to the butler since they probably wouldn't have a housekeeper. they canonically have a cook, who probably had one or two kitchen maids assisting, and they canonically have a gardener - frank bryce - who probably doesn't have any assistants. they may, depending on the size of the estate, have a gamekeeper. sir thomas undoubtedly had a secretary and a chauffeur, and his wife might have a lady's maid. tom sr. would have had a nanny and then been educated until at least the age of eight by a governess, but would then have attended a prep school [either day or boarding] until the age of thirteen, and then gone to a boarding school, from which he likely went on [on the basis of social class rather than talent] to oxford or cambridge.

the family would have enormous social influence locally. most people - and also businesses - in little hangleton would be their tenants, and they would also probably have a say over the appointment of the local clergyman [an important figure in the community in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries], since the parish church is likely to have been something called a "living" - the thing which turns up again and again in jane austen - which means that the church and its parsonage technically belongs to the landowner, but is granted to the vicar as a freehold while he's in post.

gossip about the riddles' doings would also be the main source of local interest - the servants were dining out for months on tom sr.'s elopement and return.

so they're something resembling celebrities - but they're local celebrities. nobody in london - and even nobody in cities we can imagine are nearer to little hangleton, such as liverpool - would particularly know or care who they were. tom sr. might have made it into the london gossip columns if he was part of a particularly scandalous "set" [a group of friends] who socialised in the capital, but these mentions would have been fleeting - and the press would have been much more concerned by the doings of members of his set who were genuinely titled or who were legitimately famous.

[this is the reason why mrs cole doesn't recognise the name. if merope had said her son was to be named cecil beaton after his father, she may well have been prompted to hunt him down...]

so tom sr. is elite - but he's elite in a way which is extremely culturally-specific, and which is [just like the portrayal of aristocracy in the wizarding world - the blacks, for example, are far less aristocratic than the riddles in terms of canonical vibe] often exaggerated into the sort of pseudo-royal grand aristocracy which the british period-drama-industrial-complex makes such a big deal of.

and tom jr.'s character is affected by this in a series of extremely interesting ways.

by which i mean that, in terms of blood, he's probably the most aristocratic character in the series - the absence of grand aristocracy in the wizarding world would mean that [were he raised by his father] he would come from a social background which was equivalent [even as it was divided from them by virtue of being muggle] to any of his fellow slytherins, and would help him easily blend into their society because the manners, genre of socio-cultural reference points [he would recognise, for example, that quidditch heavily resembles both rugby and polo], accent and way of speaking etc. that he would possess would be broadly indistinguishable from those of his pureblood peers.

[this is why justin finch-fletchley and draco malfoy speak in essentially the same way.]

but he would then be given the enormous boost in cachet - one which would genuinely elevate him above the rest of his cohort - of his maternal line.

and we see in canon that this does bestow some privilege on him among his peers while he's in school:

Tom Riddle merely smiled as the others laughed again. Harry noticed that he was by no means the eldest of the group of boys, but that they all seemed to look to him as their leader. “I don’t know that politics would suit me, sir,” he said when the laughter had died away. “I don’t have the right kind of background, for one thing.” A couple of the boys around him smirked at each other. Harry was sure they were enjoying a private joke, undoubtedly about what they knew, or suspected, regarding their gang leader’s famous ancestor.

where he's let down socially is that people like slughorn - to whom he can't reveal his slytherin ancestry and hope to maintain cover for his wrongdoing - don't think he's come from anywhere particularly special. this is because he has a muggle father - absolutely - but it's even more that he has a muggle father who, since he left him to be raised in an orphanage, was presumably working-class.

what the young voldemort lacks is any socio-cultural familiarity with the muggle class performance which the class performance of the wizarding world parallels. abraxas malfoy boasting about how important his father is would be something a tom jr. raised by the riddles could match - "oh yes, my father gives to all sorts of causes too. in fact, he was invited to buckingham palace because of it." - establishing himself as an equal in terms of class and social influence even if he isn't an equal in blood.

what actually happens in canon is that the orphaned tom - with his uncouth manners and his working-class accent - has no hope of gaining any sort of social equality with his posh peers.

so he becomes determined to outrank - and humiliate and control - them.

#asks answered #asenora meta #tom riddle sr #tom riddle #lord voldemort #surprise! it's the class system!

70 notes · View notes

niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian · 14 hours

Note

Sonic jamming, Tails tinkering, and Knuckles exercising in the same room together is my now my favorite image ever

I love this shot since it's the one moment where all 3 of them are in the same room as one another, for like the entire show.

#knuckles spoilers #asks answered #anonymous

41 notes · View notes

homoqueerjewhobbit · 3 days

Note

what do you mean that guys page isn’t about mpreg, that caption is so mpreg

I think from context, OP was trying to imply that was a photo of an Alpha who is going to get a bunch of (confusion and shock) cis women pregnant because he's such a Reddit Red-pilled macho Jordan Peterson Alpha Male who doesn't need consent because he goes to the gym and is descended from Western European Christians but now is all American hamburger truck sports man.

Meanwhile, we intellectuals know that that's an omega on the verge of heat presenting themself self to an Alpha whose pheremones they smelled.

It's just basic science. I saw it on Bill Nye.

(please note the original caption clearly indicates this omega uses they/them pronouns).

[edit: I always get Eastern and Western Europe mixed up whoops]

#Their gender presentation is about to get so confusing. I don't think mpreg fics talk about that enough.#I'm sorry I'm like this #I'm sorry I have the brain rot #I really won't be offended if you unfollow me.#Asks answered #post o' mine #Idiot-isotope #Omegaverse #alpha beta omega #Mpreg #sm ut

50 notes · View notes

fiona-fififi · 15 hours

Note

have seen some people claim that that buck didn't want to/had no plans of calling tommy after their first date went wrong and only did it because eddie told him to and was wondering about your thoughts on that? (for the honesty hour thing, lol)

Hi, anon! This is an interesting question. To be honest, I haven't really seen any specific conversations about this, so I don't really know the context.

But just, personally, I think this is an interesting point to think about. I mean, first, I think the question of whether Buck wanted to call Tommy and the question of whether he planned to call Tommy are two very different questions.

In terms of wanted to, I absolutely think he wanted to call Tommy again. That boy was so smitten, even after their date disaster.

But while I think he wanted to call Tommy again, I don't know that I think he would have without Eddie encouraging him.

Because I think he had kind of resigned himself to the idea that he fucked up too badly and Tommy wasn't interested anymore and maybe he really wasn't ready. I think Buck struggles a lot with contending with his own feelings and sometimes feeling guilty for them, and I also think he probably didn't want to push Tommy’s boundaries, either, especially after the date had gone so bad when they'd run into Eddie.

So I do think Buck needed that push and encouragement to take that step to call Tommy again. And Eddie was probably the one he needed it from. Because Eddie has always provided a unique type of support for Buck. Because Eddie's primary concern when Buck is in his head about something is to make sure that Buck not only takes into account his own feelings, but also allows himself to feel them. Eddie asking Buck what he thinks? Asking him to consider his own feelings amid this new discovery about himself he's still working through? I think that was something Buck really needed to try to process what he was feeling and examining it probably helped him decide that it was worth at least trying by making that call.

So, yes, I do think Buck wanted to make that call. But no, I don't think he would have without Eddie's encouragement.

Honesty Hour, Ask me anything!

#i don't know if this is what you were looking for in an answer or if it really says much at all but this is where i stand on it #sorry for the delay i accidentally slept all day 🙃#anon #asks answered #ask games #honesty hour #bucktommy #buddie #911

32 notes · View notes

vasilissadragomir · 2 days

Note

How about…

🐑 summer camp AU, camp counselors, meet cute

i’m obsessed w this one!! sorry it took me a while but i hope you like it <3

Though the last few summers have been the best of her life, Prim can’t help but think how much better her last year at Camp Mockingjay would be if her older sister were there with her. It’s been four summers since Rue came to camp, and Prim thinks that with her sister’s presence, she might be able to work up the courage to talk to her crush. Or, maybe even take her to the art shed, where everyone goes for their first kiss at camp.

It seems like fate when the archery instructor position opens up, and, at 18 years old, Katniss is eligible to apply. Even though she’s hesitant at first, Katniss is pleasantly surprised by just how much she enjoys camp, particularly with the excellent hunting grounds nearby. She’s even more delighted to see her sister holding hands with the girl she’s been talking about ever since they were bunkmates in Cabin 11.

Everything is perfect until Finn, a camper from Cabin 4, disappears from the archery range mid-lesson. Katniss tracks the mop of red hair to the arts and crafts building, and even works up the courage to enlist the help of the blond painting instructor she sometimes watches in the mess hall.

She’s convinced her lapse in camper security is moments from being resolved when Finn lures his two counselors into the creaky, leaky art shed…and locks the door. It gets even worse when she hears the thunderclap and the instant onslaught of rain in the rapidly cooling night. At 18, will Katniss finally get her quintessential summer camp experience with the cute boy in the art shed?

#i’m def gonna write this #i swear it’ll be better than the description #the hunger games #thg #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #everlark #everlark fic #everlark fanfiction #ask game #fake fic ask game #asks answered

21 notes · View notes

fuckyeahisawthat · 2 days

Note

It is literally from years ago now but I am still obsessed with your reads on Andy and Quynh and cannot wait for old guard 2.

thank you and god it feels like it's been 87 years since i made those posts. 2 OLD 2 GUARD WHEN WILL YOU RETURN FROM WAR

#the old guard #tog #2 old 2 guard #honestly given up hope on getting a release date at this point #just hope charlize is powerful enough to keep it from being trapped in netflix exec fuckery tax writeoff purgatory forever #asks answered

17 notes · View notes

destiel-wings · 1 month

Note

Are you incapable of making your own post? Why did you add on to that poor persons Merlin post when they dont care about Destiel? And youre too lazy to make your own gifs lol okay. Please dont add on to posts that arent yours. So fucking lazy and annoying.

Hey, if you're the op who made the post, I sincerely apologize. If you don't want that kind of addition i can delete it, no problem.

I love merthur and i love destiel too, and I added that scene from spn to make a comparison between the two ships. It wasn't meant to take anything away from the original post, but my intention was to give it a new light in addition (as people do on this site) by drawing a parallel with another piece of media. A lot of destiel fans love merthur too and i thought the op could get more reblogs and likes on their gif this way (reaching another fandom too).

I know how to make my own posts, I did plenty of them, actually.

What i don't know how to do is gifs, and i have deep appreciation for people who make them, and it is my understanding that they like exposure for their posts, so that their hard work can reach more people.

This is why i reblogged it.

My tags on the reblog were about both ships, i didn't deviate from the original post ignoring it to only talk about another ship (which would've been rude), so i didn't think it could be offensive in any way.

#asks #asks answered #anon ask #gifs #gif makers #if you're the op just send me a dm and I'll take the post down #but anyway no harm meant #i mean am i wrong to think that???#honestly asking #i don't even know what to think at this point #tumblr reblog

3K notes · View notes

reds-skull · 7 days

Note

Could we possibly get Soap yelling at a recruit for trying to steal Ghosts mask, with Ghost in the background like that’s my mans.

Or something you want to do for shits and gigs because you can and it’s fun

Sorry this took a while, I kinda made a mini comic because, as you said, I can and it's fun lol

Thank you for the ask! This was quite fun to make haha

#asks answered #ty for the ask <3 #call of duty modern warfare 2 #cod mw2 #cod soap #cod ghost #cod gaz #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #kyle gaz garrick #ghostsoap #soapghost #ghoap #cod fanart #call of duty modern warfare #gaz is aware for exactly what's going on and he's done with their shit #I love drawing Soap angry and Ghost absolutely whipped for the man

1K notes · View notes

venomous-qwille · 2 days

Note

I am so so sorry if the answer to this ask is really obvious, but where can I find the character playlists? I see the main playlist for GITM as a whole, but I can’t find a playlist for, like, Sol, for example.

They are all pinned in the music recs and discussion channels in the Misutamojis discord!

I will try at some point to make a list on tumblr but it will be a little time consuming (there are a lot of playlists) so I've been avoiding it!

#asks answered #gitm au #ghost in the machine au #ghost in the machine

61 notes · View notes

flowerysubmissive · 7 hours

Note

It's a crime my cock is not between your titties rn 😩

I agree it is a crime, my tits shouldn’t go this long without someone’s touch and pre-cum ૮꒰⸝⸝o̴̶̷᷄ _ o̴̶̷̥᷅⸝⸝꒱ྀིა !

27 notes · View notes

hopepunk-humanity · 9 months

Note

Today while at [big box retailer], an older couple approached me and my very punk-looking partner, and said "you two look like you know about video games." My partner proceeded to walk the folks around the store getting them what they needed to buy their grandkid a Switch.

Later, when I was buying sunflowers for my partner, I was struggling to break off part of the stems so they'd be short enough to fit in my backpack. A stranger waved me down and offered me scissors.

Also while I was out, a person was walking down the road putting quarters in every parking meter they passed.

As I biked home, the sunflowers sticking out of my backpack seemed to make a few people's day.

When I got home, it turned out my partner had snuck out while I was away and bought me chocolate as a surprise.

When we try to be good to each other, life can be a series of small joys.

Yes! Small joys are equally about our connections with others, as they are about the world around us.

#joy #connection #hopepunk #asks answered #anonymous ask

4K notes · View notes

niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian · 2 days

Note

Omega is really asking these kids to cover for her if she isn't back. They all looked so stressed as hell and don't even know what to do 😭

I know! I felt so bad for them. They all looked so scared and were trying their best, even though they managed to save her a few seconds before the doctor came back.

Meanwhile, Bayrn is napping away in his room being all "y'all hear something?" XD

#tbb spoilers #tbb #tbb jax #tbb eva #tbb sami #tbb bayrn #tbb omega #the bad batch #asks answered #anonymous

23 notes · View notes

brawltogethernow · 4 months

Note

is it okay if i ask what the issue with ring doorbell cameras are? i was under the impression that they were helpful for stuff like potential crimes/lawsuits, safety from police misconduct, and protection from people who are there to harass/cause harm to a home owner. what downsides could they have that outweighs the potential good they can do?

(x) Sometimes the people with the cameras...are the ones harassing people. They're a tool: They don't have a moral alignment. I'm sure people with good reasons to surveil their neighborhoods exist, but I have only personally encountered people who really really want an excuse to call the cops on one of their neighbors.

That said, I didn't say it was amoral to have a ring camera. I said it was creep behavior. It's creepy. I just dislike it. I don't like that if I take my coffee out on the front stoop without a bra on at six a.m. three different wealthy older couples I have literally never spoken to are recording it. I don't like that an increasing number of people consider it acceptable behavior to introduce themselves by saying they've noticed while reviewing their RING CAMERA(tm) that you walk your dog every morning at 10:45 but stopped recently. I don't like being flagged down by strangers who are like, "Yesterday someone stole the change out of my car cupholders, and I notice you walked past my driveway yesterday evening.... Why is that?" and having to laugh charmingly and explain my schedule to them because if I don't they're going to try to send police to my house. I did not enjoy humoring the across the street neighbor as she scrubbed through one of her multiple exterior camera feeds on her phone trying to find the culprit who moved her doormat and discovering that it captured my ENTIRE deck until she landed on a frame that finally had some suspicious figures in it and started to get excited until I pointed out that they were us at the beginning of the conversation we were still having.

It just makes me uncomfortable. I have no obligation to think kindly about people who haven't been personally been weird at me yet who ~may or may not~ be deleting most of their surveillance footage without watching it. It's my opinion that recording everybody who walks down your street is a dick move; it's not neutral behavior to degrade people's privacy in shared spaces, and the cons of doing this don't go away if the pros outweigh them.

It's like watching loud videos on your phone on the bus--you don't have to be doing something evil to make some of the people around you passionately hate your guts. If I made anybody feel uncomfortable about having a ring camera that was on purpose. Really just not a fun luxury item people get their grandparents for Christmas I'm a fan of.

#asks answered #anonymous

1K notes · View notes