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argentdandelion · 3 years

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How to Board the Infinity Train

Summary

For a character to qualify for boarding by the Infinity Train, it seems the character needs to:

Have big problems, whether caused directly or indirectly by a single traumatic event or from long-simmering issues

Have a problem that require emotional growth to solve, such as by altering desires or approaches to meet those desires

Since the Train’s purpose is “emotional growth", it’s probable that people don’t get on the Train if their problems are largely or entirely system-wide, not personal, though system-wide problems might still be a minor factor

Be at a “crossroads” (according to series creator Owen Dennis), probably due to their turmoil leading them into dangerous situations that could have killed them, or their problems seriously harming or risking harming very important relationships

Possibly no ability to “help themselves”, probably by having a very limited or absent support system to help them with their problems

Even if the character qualifies for boarding, it is possible the character’s problem can be “unsolvable” by the Train or opportunities within it.

In Depth

According to One-One, the Conductor of the Infinity Train, and Amelia Hughes, who usurped One-One and took over the train for 33 years, the train is for sorting out or fixing problems. It seems it’s intended to do so by giving Passengers opportunities for emotional growth, suggesting Passengers that get on need emotional growth and not, say, advice on matters of technique or altering an unfair world. Passengers’ problems seem to be a mix of desires and approaches to meet those desires, and potentially desires that are unachievable (e.g., the impossibility of being real friends with absolutely everyone) or harmful.

The Infinity Train doesn’t show up just when people are experiencing a lot of turmoil, but when their turmoil or boarding issue has developed into a crossroads in their lives. The crossroads could be a point where their turmoil leads them to get into dangerous situations that could have killed them (Tulip, possibly Amelia, arguably Ryan, since he’s going to a faraway location of uncertain financial stability) or seriously harms or risks harming very important relationships (Tulip and her parents, Jesse and his brother Nate, Min-Gi and Ryan with themselves).

Problems They Can’t Resolve Themselves

Lake (then called M.T.) tells Jesse, “You can't even help yourself! That's why passengers get on the train in the first place!" If she is correct about that, the train only picks up people if they can’t resolve their problems on their own.

It’s possible Passengers being unable to resolve their problems on their own is related to a limited number of close relationships, as that seems true of all Passengers with known backgrounds. It is unclear if Tulip has friends other than Mikayla, and she’s been ignoring her communications lately. Amelia grieving alone may suggest social isolation or perceived social isolation.

Jesse may have no strong relationships other than with his brother; he doesn’t mention his parents. Grace felt left out of her ballet group recital: they didn’t know her and so didn’t invite her to get ice cream with them afterwards, and so she sowed discord among them as revenge.

Min-Gi and Ryan seem to have only each other, given Ryan’s streak of failed romantic relationships and apparently indifferent siblings. Although Min-Gi’s parents seem supportive (when he was six, his father’s outright reading a book whose title translates to “How to be a Supportive Parent”)[1], they’re part of the problem, like how Tulip’s parents are part of the problem.

Number Assignment & Boarding Issues

Numbers seem to relate to complexity, intensity, likelihood of resolving with the next action, or length spent avoiding a Passenger’s problems. Passengers can board with fairly small numbers: Jesse’s number was just 31, relative to Amelia’s 337. Their issues don’t need to relate, at least not directly, to one intensely traumatic event or death, but can instead be a seemingly minor issue that’s all-consuming and long-simmering. For example, Min-Gi and Ryan had been hoping to reconnect for months and felt unhappy and unfulfilled with their lives.

Emotional Growth Requirement and Limits

As the Train’s purpose is helping Passengers solve problems through emotional growth, systemic society-wide issues and other things that can’t be resolved by emotional growth would probably be insufficient for boarding. It seems systemic issues can, however, be minor, indirect, or amplifying factors in their turmoil or collection of “boarding problems”.

For example, judging by how her mother criticizes her new fashion look before her parents host an ambassador, it’s possible Grace had to be “respectable” from a young age. It would be a likely problem for any upper-crust family like Grace’s, but perhaps especially so for her family, given they’re a wealthy Black family in the U.S., with its racism. Min-Gi plans to study finance at university to be an accountant, though he hates finance, and accounting is apparently one of the jobs East Asian parents most want for their children.[1]Min-Gi also only briefly alludes to how it may be difficult for two Canadian progressive rock musicians (in the 1980s) to be successful when they’re Asian, and he furthermore quickly cheers up when learning about another music band with Asians. Therefore, it seems other factors are more important to his boarding problems.

It may be the case that, for two people with identical or nigh-identical collections of problems, only the one whose boarding problems are amplified or added onto from systemic issues gets over the threshold for boarding, even if getting on the Train can’t fix the systemic issues.

Responses and Loopholes to Systemic Issues

Jesse getting on the Train again illustrates the limits of how the Train deals with systemic problems. Lake’s problem on the Train directly relates to the cruel laws of the Mirror World: that reflection-people must always reflect their “primes” (specific people) for the ill-defined purpose of “preserving the balance”, and that if they try to have their own identities and lives, the Reflection Police will kill them.

However, Jesse probably didn’t get back on the Train specifically because his friend was stuck on a train (a system-wide problem), or his own desire to save her, but, rather, due to the turmoil he felt about it. He promised to leave with her, and the last time he saw her, the enforcers of mirror law had caught up with her and intended to kill her. His guilt at being unable to save his friend, as he promised, would likely haunt him indefinitely, giving him serious turmoil and probably a “crossroads moment”. To the Train, guilt at being unable to save Lake on the Train would likely work just as well as an equivalent situation outside the Train.

Indeed, Jesse’s return issue of guilt is similar to Jeremy Bradford’s (Kez’s roommate’s) issue: Jeremy was driving one foggy night, a car came at him head-on because the driver couldn’t see, he swerved to avoid the car and crashed, and his mother and sister were in the car with him and died. He later had a comfortable life in The Castle Car with two denizens who cared about him and, initially, a few passengers, it took five years for Jeremy to resolve his turmoil of blaming himself for his deaths, whether it was being unable to save them or putting them in the situation that killed them.

Jesse wanting to save his friend who’s trapped in an unhappy life also has a little overlap with Ryan impulsively “persuading” Min-Gi to follow his music dreams with him, although Ryan’s impulsivity and need to resolve his relationship problems with Min-Gi was likely a bigger factor.

Jesse’s number reached 0 again not specifically because he got what he wanted, but because he got something that resolved his feelings of guilt or helplessness. Otherwise, Tulip and Jesse would surely board again to visit Atticus and Alan Dracula.

Paradoxes

As Jesse’s return proves, it is possible for a Passenger to board with an issue that requires emotional growth that opportunities provided by Train cars or the Train itself cannot solve. When an impossible scenario happens, the number turns to non-number symbols. It took tricking One-One into thinking Lake had a number and agreeing to give her an exit for Jesse’s glitched-out number to switch to 0, which caused not only Jesse’s exit to return, but also gave Lake her own exit.

[1]https://www.reddit.com/r/InfinityTrain/comments/n7cq9q/so_i_found_a_storyboard_of_this_scene_and_i/</p>

[2] See Mymajors.com's "The Typical Asian Parent's Mindset" and Quora.com's "Why Do Many Chinese Parents Consider Doctor Lawyer and Accountant to be the Default Career for their Children".</p>

#Infinity Train #Meta #Analysis #Jesse Cosay #Lake (Infinity Train)#M.T. (Infinity Train)#Min-Gi Park #Grace Monroe

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brunnismemorybank · 2 years

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I’m baffled by why there isn’t more overlap between SPN and You fandoms. Maybe Netflix just hasn’t marketed You as horror, but it is. The unquestionable humanity of the monster that stalks women, the way people serve up their private lives on a social-media platter in a desperate bid for comments from strangers, the feeling we ourselves get that maybe this time Joe should get a pass for playing God-- all that makes your average episode scarier than all the Dabb-era monsters put together.

Maybe SPN fans are shy because they didn’t like Sera Gamble’s tenure as showrunner, and she’s now in charge of You. I could understand their skepticism. (Gamble-era things that annoy me: Humans being able to walk around without souls; the lack of compressed time in S6 to make up for the expanded time between seasons 5 and 6; crossroads demons being able to weasel out of their deals; Balthazar enjoying booze and sex; and Dick “Not Much Good Until You Dip ‘Em in Garlic Sauce” Roman fawning over human Charlie Bradbury.) That said, I’m glad I gave Gamble’s new show a chance. Whether she just needed more experience, or was dealing with interference from Singer/Ostroff/somebody during her SPN era, the plot in You is an order of magnitude better. The mundane details that writers like to gloss over actually come back to affect the story! Even when they throw in flashbacks, the chronology makes sense! Add in the rock-solid cast & the black-comedy gold of Joe’s narration, and it’s easily the best series I’ve started in the last 2 years.

#you #you netflix #spn #sera gamble #whatever you say about her work on spn #this is the best project i've seen an alum go on to #highly recommended if you want to watch something scary that also has interesting character dynamics #show about being the bad thing that you should have killed

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theowlandthekey · 4 years

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Embracing Hel

Three roots standon three ways under Yggdrasil’s ash: Hel under one abides, under the second the Hrimthursar, under the third mankind. -Poetic Edda, Grímnismál, Stanza 31

Who is Hel? In the vastness of Norse mythology, she is rarely given much due. She does not go on adventures for glory and fame as many of the other gods do. She does not seem to bother overmuch about the future of the world like Odin, nor does she stir up trouble like her father, Loki. She’s content in her dominion of the death, Niflheim, and seems well placed out of the troubles of men and gods. So much so that it often feels she is neglected when compared to the rest of the pantheon.

Hel is featured as a character only once in the Prose Edda, when the god Hermoor rides to Hel on behalf of Frigg and offers her a ransom for the return of the god Baldr. Hel agrees, stating: “If all things in the world, alive or dead, weep for him, then he will be allowed to return to the Æsir. If anyone speaks against him or refuses to cry, then he will remain with Hel.” Baldr was well loved and so it was thought this would be easy to accomplish. But when the jotunn Þökk refuses to weep, Baldr is consigned to remain in Niflheim in service of Hel.

In nearly all other mythos, Hel is mentioned only in passing, referenced rather than focused on. Every other god gets a myth where they are the protagonist of their own story. So why is Hel overlooked? Because of the fear she inspires at the prospect of a life lived without note or valor? Because her appearance was considered so repulsive that, while acknowledged as a goddess, she was put as far away from Asgard as physically possible so as to avoid offending the others with the sight of her?

As much as I love Norse paganism and link myself to it, I find plenty of people who speak with Odin and Frigg, Loki and Thor. Never once have I met someone who says with a smile that they speak to Hel. That’s fair. How many people do you know talk to Hades or Osiris or Mictlantecuhtli on a regular basis, even among the gothiest of pagans? Why even bring this up at all? Last December (2019), I was doing a Krampus Walk with a bunch of women from the International Wenches Guild. (That’s a whole other story.) At the end of the walk we gathered up in a local alternative religion shop to warm up and grab a few things for the pre-Yule rush. Up on the shelf, something naughty my attention. It was something I'd never seen before in all my years of goblin-like hoarding of witchy stuff. A statue of Hel looked back at me, sitting on a throne with a knife in one hand and a bowl in the other. By her side was a wolf, and her skull seemed to be grinning at me with interest. I went back to that statue three times, telling myself I didn't have the money to be spending on things right now. But when I picked her up to examine her, I knew I wasn't walking out of the store without this statue. I brought her home, placed her on my altar, put a few coins in her bowl, and there she stayed.

And then Covid-19 hit.

I've never been one to rely on religion in times of trouble. It's never done much for me one way or the other. I've long held the belief that witchcraft involves handling your own shit before calling on anything else to help out. But this? This is one of those things that is well beyond the control of most humans to handle alone. It's emotionally exhausting, mentally taxing, and physically dangerous. We're all doing the best we can, wearing masks, sanitizing, washing, distancing, doing all we can to prevent things getting worse despite the best efforts of the world to remind us that we are inevitably only human and the risks are infinite. It's humbling to say the least. So, it's in this time of stress and disorientation that I find myself drawn to Hel.

Family Ties

“The following night the goddess of death appeared to him in a dream standing at his side, and declared that in three days’ time she would clasp him in her arms. It was no idle vision, for after three days the acute pain of his injury brought his end.”

-Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus (12th century)

Hel's name means 'to hide/to conceal', giving it a cruel humor. She was, after all, respectfully banished from Asgard due to her physical appearance, or perhaps because Odin foresaw her part in future events. She is described as being half blue and half flesh colored, though the depiction has altered over the years to mean half flesh and half corpse. Hel is said to be gloomy, dour, and even fierce looking, which suggests a woman with little time for nonsense within her realm. Despite all this, she is said to have a vast hall called Éljúðnir and many servants as befits her station. Everything that surrounds her seems to speak to the fears of the people who believed in her. She has a bowl called 'Hunger,' a knife called 'Famine,' curtains called 'Misfortune,' and a bed named 'Disease'.

On the plus side, she does have a dog named Garmr, said to be the 'goodest of boys'.

The best of trees | must Yggdrasil be, Skíðblaðnir best of boats; Of all the gods | is Óðinn the greatest, And Sleipnir the best of steeds; Bifröst of bridges, | Bragi of skalds, Hábrók of hawks, | and Garm of hounds.

-Poetic Edda, Grímnismál

Her father, Loki, is well known for his mischief and chaos. But her mother, Angrboda, remains largely overlooked beyond being acknowledged as the mother of Loki's three 'darling' offpsring. Angrboda, being a jotunn, is not well looked upon as the Aesir seemed to find themselves constantly at odds with the jötnar. The Aesir and the Vanir form the two principal tribes of gods within the Norse pantheon, the forces which held the world together and brought forth order in which life could thrive. While the Jotunn were more elemental, primordial beings who were born from chaos and presented challenges to the structured order of the world.

It's important to note that Hel is not the only goddess who fits within the overlap of Norse mythos complex Venn diagram between the Aesir, Vanir, and Jotunn. Loki himself is Jotunn as is Skaði, while Freyr and Frejya are Vanir. However, Hel's connection to Angrboda as her mother and Loki as her father seem to be enough to condemn her in the eyes of the ruling Aesir, as well as make her a subject of fearful respect.

Her brother, Jormungandr, is the infamous Midgard Serpent. The middle child of the brood, Jormungandr was tossed from Asgard by Odinn into the ocean where he was said to grow so large he encircled the earth and bit his own tail. If you're familiar with gnosticism (or Full Metal Alchemist) you would recognize the ouroboros symbolism inherent in the mythos as connecting Jormungandr to the cycle of life, death and rebirth, another primordial concept. At Ragnarok, the serpent will be said to release its own tail and fight Thor, both of them doomed from inception. Thus, the old world will end, and a new cycle will begin.

Fenrir, Hel's younger brother, is likewise doom driven, foretold to devour Odinn at the end of the world only to be killed in turn by Odinn's son Víðarr. The theme of the bound monster, I believe, is connected to the concept of man trying and failing to forestall his own fate. Another primordial concept of change as an inevitability.

And yet there is Hel. Out of all her family she seems to stand alone as the most consistent of her bloodline. The black sheep in a family of black sheep. No sagas recounting her heroic adventures, no epics building to the rise and fall of greatness. Only a goddess fulfilling her function to take in those who died of sickness or old age. It is not known for certain whether she survives or dies during the events of Ragnarok, only that Loki will have 'all Hel's people with him' during the final confrontation.

Symbolism

Throughout my research into Hel's mythos, it's clear she was viewed with begrudging respect by her own people. As a goddess, one couldn't afford to be less than deferential when dealing with her (assuming of course that they dealt with her at all). But how they felt about her can be discerned from the associations given to her through her items and surroundings. I began to collect a series of symbols associated with her. Each one tells us something about how she was perceived among the Norse people, and gives us some interesting modern-day interpretations when applied.

50/50 – In all the descriptions of Hel, she is said to be half flesh and half either discolored or corpse-like. Like most cthonic deities, she has a liminal quality to her, being representative of a transitional state of being. Balancing neatly between life and death, Hel is a crossroads deity, guarding over the boundary lines (though not traditionally associated as such). She has the ability to release those sheltered under her threshold, although she demands a price as is her right. This also puts her squarely in the category of a liminal being, one whose mere existence challenges the social classifications of the time. Liminal beings are often described as both immensely powerful and dangerous, depending upon the situation and perception of society. They are undeniably eerie, and yet inspire awe for the way in which they transcend limitations of the self.

Hel's Hall – Éljúðnir is the hall of Hel, located within Niflheim and aptly named as her realm is said to be barren and cold. It's said to be a mansion, and it would have to be considering that she is responsible for sheltering everyone who didn't die gloriously in battle. Her hall then becomes a symbol of her status, a recognition of her as a goddess with her own realm and duties. With hospitality being such an important social factor to the Norse people, I find myself hard pressed to believe Hel is needlessly cruel to her guests. Like any mead hall, it is a center for social activity as well as her residence, if a somewhat foreboding one.

Hunger, Famine, Misfortune, Disease – It seems Hel is often deemed responsible for all of the troubles that plague humanity. A rather dire proposition, but isn't it better for someone to oversee these things rather than letting them run amok? Given her connection to the primordial forces of chaos, it seems fitting that Hel, the stable one in her family, is relied upon to control the disorder that society faces from time to time. The objects deemed as a part of her entourage are significant to her personality. Even in the modern times, these troubles are never far from humanity’s mind, with much of the world facing them on a daily basis. *A bowl (Hunger) is often symbolic of receptiveness, or of fertility, neither of which seem to fit Hel herself. For many the bowl represents a scrying tool, portending to the future. It's not unusual for cthonic deities to be connected to omens and portends. So, it may well be that the 'Hunger' her bowl represents has less to do with wanting food and more to do with our hunger to know our own fates. An empty bowl representing the unknown fate of humanity as a whole may present as a bit nihilistic, but it does seem to fit. *The knife (Famine) as a tool which represents the ability to defend or attack. A knife can help fix a meal or it can protect a family. In this case, 'Famine' represents not only the absence of plenty, but the seeming inability to provide for one another, thus weakening everyone as a result. Famine is not just about food, it's about the failure to provide. For a society that was heavily reliant upon all of its people to survive day to day, this would have been a terrifying concept.

*The curtains (Misfortune) are used to draw over the windows and shut out the light. This is what 'Misfortune' does. It clouds reason and empathy and makes it difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Curtains can also be symbolic of one’s desire to hide from the world, to shelter themselves or to keep others from finding out something they find shameful. It may feel safe, as if we are only protecting ourselves. But Hel's curtains are, I believe, named Misfortune for the sake of choosing whether or not we draw them closed or open them up.

*The bed (Disease) is often used as a symbol of intimacy or rest. A bed named Disease could also easily be a colorful metaphor for STIs, though in this case I believe it was meant to represent the fear of dying in ones bed of old age or disease, thus missing out on Valhalla. For Hel to have a bed named Disease suggests an unexpected nurturing aspect to the goddess, as the sickbed is often where we find ourselves the recipient of the most care from others.

In this way, I believe Hel's tools exist as a reminder to society that these things will always exist, and that in order to combat them, people must constantly struggle against them to better survive together.

Garmr – Another in the long list of ferocious subterranean hounds associated with cthonic deities, Garmr was said to be her guard dog, standing bloodstained by her side. He is her faithful protector, as well as the guardian to the underworld. The hound is often a symbol of loyalty and ferocity, but in this aspect I believe it relates more to the black dog associations with death and ill omens. Again, I've yet to see anything relating to Hel being a seeress or an oracle of any sort, but there always seems to be some connection between death gods and omens of the future.

Hel in Practice

Change is uncomfortable. Humans have always preferred stability, even if it's inequitable, because we'd rather function in practice than succeed in theory. Hel is a paragon of balance within chaos, affording the opportunity to change and progress through the inherent suffering of life as it is. And yes, I'm aware of how nihilistic that comes off. But here within the instability of our current world, I find a kind of comfort in that rational. Change is eternal. Tomorrow is an unknown. Control what you can and stay by the people you care about. Keep moving. You are not dead yet.

Rune: Hagalaz “Hail”

- The rune of Hagalaz is practically unanimous with misery. Which makes it's appearance less than desirable during a reading or when found in the day to day. That being said, some degree of unfortunate occurrence is unavoidable in life. It is unalterable. However I find it's distinction kind of like finding a crack in a dam. You now know there is a problem. Maybe you can't 'fix' the problem, but you can stem the damage and keep the outcome from being worse than it absolutely has to be. Hagalaz is about weathering the storm and coming out the other side of it knowing the work that must be done.

Realm: Niflheim

- Niflheim is one of the nine realms of Norse Mythology. A world of coldness, fog, and the primordial darkness. Ymir was born here. Hvergelmir, the source from which many rivers flow, begins here. Níðhöggr the dragon/serpent dwells here, gnawing at the roots of the World tree Yggdrasil. So it would seem Niflheim is a a place of beginnings, endings, and ultimately change. According to the mythology this is where those who died too old, too young, or on the sickbed end up. And yet for all it's forbidding geography and weather, Hel is said to be put in charge of caring for those who arrive. Hall: Éljúðnir

- If Hel is meant to care for those who did not die in the glory of battle. Many times we see this as crowds of dead souls wandering endlessly in the freezing mists. But when I think of Hel's hall of Éljúðnir, I think of a place which is a respite from the cold. It is said to be sprayed with snowstorms, meaning that it stands against the raging storms of the realm, providing shelter to those who dwell within. What if her hall stands alongside Valhalla and Fólkvangr? What if she is the world-weary and cunning inn-keeper who offers bread and mead to those brave enough to find their way to her doors?

Appearance: Dour and fierce looking in expression. Half flesh and half dead.

Tools: knife (Famine) bowl (hunger) curtains (Misfortune) bed (Disease)

Color: black white grey/silver blue dark purple

Animals: wolves/hounds serpents ravens worms

Plants: yew/ash wormwood rosemary mistletoe mustard seed blackthorn

Offerings: tobacco garlic figs mushrooms rye bread black cherries dark chocolate mead coffee, black espresso

#hel #norse paganism #norse mythology #norse gods #worship #orrferings #plants #witchcraft #witch #Éljúðnir #runes #Hagalaz #niflheim #world tree #yggdrasil

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brightbeautifulthings · 3 years

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Angel of the Overpass by Seanan McGuire

"'Can I have a ride?' I say. The sacred phrase of the road, at least where girls like me are concerned. 'I think I've been waiting to drive you since I got my license,' he says, and smiles, and somehow his words aren't cheesy at all. They're just right."

Year Read: 2021

Rating: 3/5

About: There are spoilers ahead for Sparrow Hill Road, The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, and That Ain't Witchcraft. The crossroads are dead, and no one knows what that means for the ghosts who were tied to them or for Bobby Cross, still alive but dependent on his soul-sucking car to stay that way. Rose has been blessed by Persephone herself, and the Ocean Lady has now tasked her with hunting Bobby down and putting an end to his reign of terror. As she navigates through the ghost roads, trusting the twilight to take her where she needs to be, Rose gradually uncovers everything she needs to avenge her own death and stop a killer once and for all. Trigger warnings: death, child death, decapitation, car accidents, fires, captivity, threats.

Thoughts: Much as I love Rose and the Ghost Roads, this is probably the weakest in the trilogy. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown was more tightly plotted to great effect, but Angel of the Overpass returns to the somewhat meandering storytelling of Sparrow Hill Road. It feels more like a series of short stories strung together than a novel, and although Rose is presented with a clear problem at the beginning of the book, it takes its time getting there, and not all of the detours feel all that relevant. (Many of them end up being relevant, but there's no way to know that when Rose is running from a conglomerate of dinosaur ghosts instead of hunting Bobby Cross.) I struggled to stay invested in the story. A lot of the beginning chapters are mere rehashes of Rose connecting with old and powerful friends, without adding much of anything new to her situation.

It doesn't help that one of the major past plot events doesn't take place in this series. I get that there has always been crossover between Ghost Roads and InCryptid, but it's off-putting to have something as significant as the death of the crossroads happen in a book I haven't yet read. It's not a very seamless overlap if you're not familiar with InCryptid, and I'm sensing it's part of the reason for my lack of investment. (Being told something happens isn't the same as being along for the ride, is it?) Overall, I like that Rose's character development takes her to some unexpected places and she deserves her final confrontation with Bobby Cross, but I'm not sure there's really enough story here for its own book. I'll always love this world and its characters, but this feels like a good place to leave it for now.

P.S. Did anyone else get a Middlegame vibe from this line?

"'Nothing that can hurt you now, little dead girl, and nothing that can hurt me. A species of pan-dimensional mathematicians trying to do some great work of impossible calculus. They still walk the world, but they have no spirit to throw over me like a blanket, and they belong to this reality now, as much as they can be said to belong to any.'"

#book review #angel of the overpass #seanan mcguire #ghost roads #urban fantasy #ghost stories #adult fiction #3/5 #rating: 3/5 #2021

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 4 years

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How Far Down the QAnon Rabbit Hole Did Your Loved One Fall?

What to do when someone you love becomes obsessed with QAnon, part 2.

Psychology Today

Joe Pierre M.D. August 21, 2020

“Who knows what this means, but it sounds good to me.”

—President Trump, retweeting a QAnon-related meme

This is part 2 of a series on “What to do When Someone You Love Becomes Obsessed with QAnon.”

In the first installment, "The Psychological Needs That QAnon Feeds," I discussed the psychological needs that QAnon may fulfill for its followers. Understanding those needs is a vital first step in order to understand why those who have fallen down the QAnon rabbit hole may be loathe to climb out. In this installment, I’ll set the stage to understand how the chances of rescuing our loved ones from the QAnon rabbit hole—and how to go about trying—may depend on just how far they’ve fallen.

Are Conspiracy Theorists “Crazy?”

To begin with, let’s differentiate belief in conspiracy theories like QAnon from the kind of delusional beliefs that are used to define mental illness and psychosis. Generally speaking, delusions are false and unshared beliefs that are often based on subjective “inner” experience and whose content is often “self-referential,” involving the believer. In contrast, conspiracy theories are usually shared beliefs that don’t explicitly involve the believer and are based on external evidence that one finds “out there,” such as on the internet. Unlike delusions, conspiracy theories may or may not turn out to be true. After all, they’re “theories.”

Based on this distinction, people who believe in conspiracy theories, however “crazy” they might sound, are no more delusional than those who believe in literal interpretations of religious texts like the Bible or the Quran. And so QAnon—the increasingly popular “right-wing” belief about the secret nefarious machinations of the Satan-worshipping, child-trafficking “Deep State” and President Trump’s destiny to thwart them—is a classic conspiracy theory, not a delusion. Now, if someone were to believe not only in QAnon dogma, but also in the false and unshared belief that they are Q, that would suggest a delusion. Note that it’s possible to believe in both conspiracy theories and delusions at the same time, with some overlap.

Conspiracy Theory Belief: Particle and Wave

Another way to understand whether beliefs might be considered “pathological” is to model them quantitatively as a continuous phenomenon—in other words, within a kind of scale that measures intensity or severity. For example, a cognitive model of delusional beliefs quantifies them along “dimensions” that include strength of conviction (how strongly one believes a delusion), preoccupation (how much one thinks about the delusion), extension (how much the delusion “bleeds into” or affects one's life), and distress (how much one is upset by the belief). Applying this model to non-delusional beliefs like conspiracy theories can help to understand when a belief is likely to disrupt people’s lives with a negative impact on their jobs, relationships, and mental well-being.1

Moving along a continuum of conspiracy theory belief, dimensions like conviction, preoccupation, extension, and distress would be expected to increase across it, along with mistrust in authoritative and mainstream sources of information.2 As believers go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, more and more time is spent “researching” conspiracy theories and immersing oneself in online discussions with other conspiracy theory believers, with less and less time spent on work, relationships, or other recreational pursuits. As this happens, believers increasingly turn their back on previous friends and family who don’t agree with their beliefs and don’t “inhabit” their new world.

Similar to how physicists understand light as both “particle” and “wave,” it can also be helpful to conceptualize belief intensity as discrete points along a continuum, like colors in the visible light “spectrum.” Conspiracy theory researcher Dr. Bradley Franks and his colleagues have proposed just such a spectrum model, with 5 “types” or stages of conspiracy theory belief.3 Their model goes something like this (with additional comments added by me):

Type/stage 1: People feel like “something isn’t right,” but keep an open mind as they seek answers to questions.

Type/stage 2: People feel as if “there’s more to reality than meets the eye,” are skeptical about official explanations, and start to seek out alternative sources of information.

Type/stage 3: Mistrust of authoritative sources of information increases to the point of definitive belief that some official narratives are untrue. As a result, people continue to seek information and engage with like-minded people from whom they gain a sense of belonging and group membership. They’re also more likely to get involved in “political action.”

Type/stage 4: At this point, nearly all official and mainstream accounts are rejected so that people turn away from the mainstream in favor of affiliation with an “enlightened” community of conspiracy theory believers. Non-believers are dismissed as “sheep” who are “asleep.”

Type/stage 5: In the final stage, authoritative and mainstream accounts are rejected to such an extent as to embrace belief in not only improbable, but frankly supernatural explanations for events (e.g. aliens, lizard people, etc.). At this stage, conspiracy theories and delusions may begin to overlap with self-referential aspects.

Dr. Franks’ proposed spectrum of conspiracy theory believers is a novel framework to help understand just how far down the rabbit hole conspiracy theory believers have gone. But for the purpose of deciding how to intervene within that continuum, it may be more useful to more simply divide conspiracy theory believers into two stages: “fence-sitters” and “true believers.”

Fence-Sitters and True Believers

The mentally healthy way to hold most of our beliefs is with “cognitive flexibility,” acknowledging that we might be wrong and remaining open to other people’s perspectives. It’s likewise a good idea to maintain a healthy level of skepticism about new information that we encounter lest we succumb to our cognitive biases and merely reinforce preexisting beliefs. This is especially true when we’re talking about theories where supporting evidence is modest or preliminary, and in the case of religious or political beliefs, where a lack of objective evidence often leads to many equivocal perspectives, such that faith becomes necessary to sustain belief.

In the early stages of conspiracy theory belief, people are “fence-sitters” who are looking for answers and haven’t yet made up their minds. Cognitive flexibility and open-mindedness may be intact, but skepticism is already closely linked with mistrust of authoritative sources of information. At this stage, conspiracy theories are appealing as expressions of, or even metaphors for, that mistrust—for the idea that both information and informants are unreliable—without necessarily having a significant degree of belief conviction. This preliminary stage explains why some people might endorse Flat Earth conspiracy theories without actually believing the Earth is flat.

Farther down the rabbit hole, conspiracy theories are embraced with greater belief conviction and become entwined with a new group affiliation and personal identity (e.g. within QAnon, adherents identify as “anons,” “bakers,” and “Q-patriots”) that makes it increasingly difficult to maintain previously established social ties. As such “true believers” move away from the mainstream and in turn are estranged because of their fringe beliefs, they often feel increasingly marginalized and under threat.

In order to protect themselves and resolve cognitive dissonance, they often “double down,” ramping up belief conviction further and diving even farther into a new ideological world. Many will increasingly feel the need to take action, whether spending more time posting on social media in order to “spread the word” or at the extreme, through more drastic and potentially dangerous measures like arming themselves in order to “self-investigate” a child pornography ring at a pizza parlor.

When people’s beliefs become so enmeshed with their identities, giving them up can be viewed as an existential threat akin to death. Needless to say, that's a bad prognostic sign.

In Part 3 of this series on “What to do when someone you love becomes obsessed with QAnon,” we’ll conclude by discussing what kind of interventions might be helpful, depending on just how far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theory belief someone has gone.

References

1. Pierre JM. Faith or delusion? At the crossroads of religion and psychosis. Journal of Psychiatric Practice 2001; 7:163-172.

2. Pierre JM. Mistrust and misinformation: a two-component, socio-epistemic model of belief in conspiracy theories. Journal of Social and Political Psychology 2020 (in press). [Available as a PsyArXic preprint at https://psyarxiv.com/xhw52]

3. Franks B, Bangerter A, Bauer MW, Hall M, Noort MC. Beyond “monologicality”? Exploring conspiracist worldviews. Frontiers in Psychology 2017; 8, 861.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/psych-unseen/202008/how-far-down-the-qanon-rabbit-hole-did-your-loved-one-fall

____________________________________________

part 1 Psychology Today

The Psychological Needs That QAnon Feeds

Joe Pierre M.D. August 12, 2020

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/psych-unseen/202008/the-psychological-needs-qanon-feeds

____________________________________________

part 3 Psychology Today

What to do when someone you love becomes obsessed with QAnon

4 Keys to Help Someone Climb Out of the QAnon Rabbit Hole

Joe Pierre M.D. September 1, 2020

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/psych-unseen/202009/4-keys-help-someone-climb-out-the-qanon-rabbit-hole

____________________________________________

Rolling Stone

It took years for the cracks to emerge for Jadeja, who slowly started to realize that Q drops were laden with logical inconsistencies. A turning point for him was a follower asking Q to get Trump to say the term “tippy top” as proof of Trump’s knowledge of the conspiracy; when Trump did say the phrase during a 2018 Easter egg roll speech, Q believers rejoiced, believing it to be confirmation that Q was real. Jadeja did some research and saw that Trump had said the phrase many times before. “That’s when I realized this was all a very slick con,” he says.

Former QAnon Followers Explain What Drew Them In — And Got Them Out

Like those leaving cults, some people who believe in conspiracy theories like QAnon and Pizzagate can break free from their beliefs

by EJ Dickson September 23, 2020 9:00AM ET

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ex-qanon-followers-cult-conspiracy-theory-pizzagate-1064076/

____________________________________________

West Point

The QAnon Conspiracy Theory: A Security Threat in the Making?

July 2020

https://ctc.usma.edu/the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-a-security-threat-in-the-making/

____________________________________________

Why it’s important to see QAnon as a ‘hyper-real’ religion

May 28, 2020

https://religiondispatches.org/in-the-name-of-the-father-son-and-q-why-its-important-to-see-qanon-as-a-hyper-real-religion/

____________________________________________

The Birth of QAmom

Parenting influencers have embraced sex-trafficking conspiracy theories — and it’s taking QAnon from the internet into the streets

by EJ Dickson

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-mom-conspiracy-theory-parents-sex-trafficking-qamom-1048921/

____________________________________________

CNN: Born on the dark fringes of the internet, QAnon is now infiltrating mainstream American life and politics

CNN July 3, 2020

by Paul P. Murphy

____________________________________________

The thin line between conspiracy theories and cult worship is dissolving

An information war is being waged.

bigthink.com May 18, 2020

by Derek Beres

____________________________________________

The Prophecies of Q American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.

The Atlantic June 2020

The Women Making Conspiracy Theories Beautiful

The Atlantic August 18, 2020

I Was a Teenage Conspiracy Theorist

The Atlantic May 13, 2020

______________________________________

I’m dating a conspiracy theorist. But it feels like I’m the one going crazy.

Washington Post August 16, 2020

By Trent Kay Maverick

______________________________________

Coronavirus: How do I recognize a conspiracy theory?

DW Deutsche Welle May 19, 2020

______________________________________

Reddit community QAnon Casualties share stories of conspiracy cult

Herald Sun August 11, 2020

by Jack Gramenz, news.com.au

______________________________________

Christian Groups That Resist Public-Health Guidelines Are Forgetting a Key Part of the Religion’s History

TIME April 20, 2020

by Matthew Gabriele

______________________________________

Childcare in the Unification Church of Oakland

Sun Myung Moon’s Sex-based Adam and Eve story is just another conspiracy theory

#Joe Pierre M.D.#QAnon #Conspiracy Theories #Psychology Today

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sparklingsammy · 4 years

Text

One Day | Prologue

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Summary: You meet Sam in a hunt gone wrong on February 14th, 2002. And every year on that date, something happens that reminds you of that first encounter.

Words: 2k

Warnings: Fluff, I guess. Wounds, fighting with monsters, I don’t even know.

Check out my Masterlist!

Beta: @ruined-by-destiel

A/N: Here we go again... A new beginning! Hope you like this, and let me know if you want to be tagged in future parts. This is a prologue to the series, so part one is yet to come xx

Feedback is always appreciated. Enjoy! xx

February 14th, 2002

The gun was steady in your hand, as you tried to keep the sweat of your palms from interfering with your plan.

Werewolves. You hated werewolves. They were dirty, messy and not the most polite monsters you’d met. However, killing them was easier than killing others, which caused you some relief at the moment of hunting them.

You entered the old barn, turning on a flashlight and positioning it next to your gun, which had begun to shake in fear a little bit. Next thing you know, you’re being attacked.

You fought back and the flashlight in your hand flew through the air, landing somewhere away from you.

The werewolf looked at you in the eye, as you struggled to keep your balance and pushed him away with your arms. Unconsciously, you pull the trigger, scaring the werewolf away. He ducked, in fear, covering his ears, and you took the chance to gain some distance, turning to point your gun at him.

“Where are the others?” You yelled, the werewolf now looking at you from the floor, clearly not in the mood to answer your question. You pushed him. “I know you’re not alone in here.”

He stared back at you with a blank gaze. Suddenly, his eyes fixated on something past your shoulder and a sinister smile grew on his face. Before you could turn around, you felt claws sinking in your back, causing you to drop to the floor, unconscious.

***

“Hey, hey, wake up.”

The deep voice rang loudly in your head as you opened your eyes. In front of you was a young man, kneeling and looking at you worried. “You okay there?”

You took a deep breath before replying. “My back hurts.”

He looked over his shoulder, and you did too. An older man and another 20-something-year-old were behind him, the younger one nodding at him as he kept his focus, aiming his gun at the back of the barn, just like the other man was doing. You thought they looked alike, even in their moves.

The pain didn’t let you concentrate on them much, your back was badly hurt — but you didn’t know how bad; All you could feel was a burning sensation. The man next to you asked if he could check on you, which you replied with a soft moan. And by the look in his eye when he got back to your front, you knew you wouldn’t be able to skip around through a field of flowers. Let alone continue hunting.

“I’m Sam,” the man said, looking at you with compassion. “You a hunter?”

You nodded, trying not to cry from the pain. He told you they were hunters, too, and that you were apparently following the same case. They took care of it.

You tried to nod with what little strength you still had before you let your name out in a whisper.

“Y/N…”

The man looked up at you, “That’s your name?” You nodded, again, slower this time. “Nice to meet you, Y/N. Now, let’s get you safe.”

***

You weren’t normally a person who let yourself get in a car with three strangers. Three male strangers. But you were hurt, and alone. If you were promised any type of help, you’d take it. Behind the wheel was the oldest man, introduced to you as John, and next to him was Dean, riding shotgun. He assisted Sam as he held your hand and tried to take care of your wounds.

It hurt. A lot.

But you didn’t scream, you were still scared of what was happening to you in the situation you found yourself in. Sam could sense this in your pulse, in how tight you grabbed his hand, even if he wasn’t touching your back. He begged his dad, John — you figured, as he called him Dad multiple times — to go faster. He did as his son requested and stepped harder on the pedal, earning a few bad looks from Dean, who, you guessed, was more concerned for the car than your health.

***

You woke up in a motel room, laying in a bed. The fact that you weren’t hurting got you a sort of relief, since you didn’t know if you could trust the men, yet.

You furrowed your brow. You weren’t hurting. At all, really.

In disbelief, you arched your back a bit. It was bandaged. They actually took care of you.

When you looked around the room you found you were completely alone, except for Sam, sleeping on a chair next to you. He looked tired, so you decided not to wake him up when you tried to stand up from the bed.

It’s not that you wanted to leave unannounced, but you didn't want to be a burden for these people. They were hunters, too, and you knew that life all too well to know when to leave.

You groaned when you stood up, the sound waking Sam up.

“No, no, no,” he ushered you, standing up and reaching for you. His legs were so long that in a few steps he was next to your hurting body. He grabbed your arms softly as he took you back to bed. “You need to rest, you’re safe.”

You didn’t fight back. You knew this man could tackle you in a heartbeat if he wanted to, and you weren’t in the best shape to defend yourself.

Instead, you decided to trust him.

“Thank you,” you whispered, once you were back in bed, trying to make your vocal cords work again. “For saving me back there.”

He looked at you, surprised to hear you talk so soon. “Uh- It’s nothing,” he admitted as he sat down in the same place he was asleep. “Really. It’s kind of our thing.”

“What, saving girls in the middle of the night and taking them to cheap motel rooms?” You asked, teasingly. Sam blushed at the assumption, and you chuckled lightly. “I’m just teasing.”

He giggled, giving you a side-smile, “I know, it’s weird… But you looked like you needed a hand.”

“Yeah, I did.” You adjusted yourself to be sitting down instead of laying. “Thanks for saving me.”

He shrugged, shaking his head. “It’s nothing. For real.” You smiled thankfully before he continued. “To be honest, it’s nice that you’re here. I mean,” he began to explain, “I still don’t know you that well, but having a girl around… It’s a different vibe.”

“That man… John, is he your dad?” You asked. Sam tensioned his shoulders when his dad’s name left your lips.

“Yes, he is. And Dean is my brother. They’re supposed to be bringing us some dinner.”

“So,” you began, trying to get to know him better. “No girl vibes around, I guess?”

His eyes shifted, wondering if he should tell the truth. “Uhm, no. Our mom died when I was just a baby. Her leaving us was the reason why we started hunting.”

You nodded. The tension in the room was building up slowly, so you tried to even the field. “Well, I started hunting when my parents died. My uncle did this for a living and he took me in. I like to believe he never wanted this for me but… he died a few months ago.”

“Hunting?” He asked, his eyes fixed on you.

“I wish,” you scoffed. “He made a deal with a crossroad demon. It was way before I ended up with him.”

Sam’s eyes showed compassion, and you could tell he was sorry without him even saying anything.

“It’s okay, I can manage on my own.”

Sam smiled in return. “I bet.”

You weren’t a people person. You didn’t always want to chat and, even if you did, you never opened yourself up. At least, not quickly. But Sam made you feel safe. He made you feel secure, around a cocoon where you knew you could open up, be yourself. But still, you needed to be sure of who you were talking with, who he really was. So, you decided to keep digging.

“Do you like-”

“Do you want some-”

You both laughed at the overlapping of your questions. He was a bit nervous, you could tell, but so were you.

“Go ahead,” you granted the space, “tell me.”

Sam nodded, adding a sweet smile to his offer. “I was going to ask if you wanted some water.”

You smiled, how considerate. “Yes, thank you.” As he stood up to get you a water bottle, you continued with your question. “Do you like this life? I mean -- hunting?”

He turned around to see you, dumbfounded, water bottle in hand. “Why you ask?”

“It’s a question I always ask myself,” you opened your heart to him, surprising yourself, as he walked back to you and gave you the bottle. “I thought I was the only hunter asking that to myself, but there’s something in you that makes me wonder…”

He sat down in your bed, this time, next to your feet, facing you. He kept looking down at his hands as if you tried to open a door that was meant to stay locked.

“I’m sorry, I-” you began to apologize before he cut you off.

“It’s okay, I just... I feel the same way.” You furrowed your brows, but let him continue. “I want to live a normal life. Go to school, have a wife, kids. Hunting is… It’s just not the best night job, know what I mean?”

You nodded, sadly. You understood what he felt. The feeling of needing to belong somewhere else than in a cheap motel room with a bag full of guns, bullets, and salt for ghosts. Not being able to form a relationship, too scared to be hurt, or worse, to see the people you love get hurt.

“In fact,” he kept going, looking behind him, over his broad shoulders to see if his family was approaching. When he saw the coast was clear, he opened up. “I’m thinking of leaving… Law school.”

Your eyes widened at the revelation. “Wow, impressive. Does your family—”

“No, no,” he stopped you. “They have no clue. Please don’t tell them.”

You smiled, easing him. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

He looked at you, smiling softly. You knew now he didn’t like this. He was doing it for whatever reason, probably his family. And he knew -- rather, you thought he knew -- that he could trust you. It looked like both of you needed to talk about your lives. As hunters and as young people. This life was no good for you, but both had your reasons to keep hunting.

Your eyes broke their connection when the door opened up and Dean walked in with two bags full of what seemed to be diner food. “Dig in, kiddos.”

***

You ate in silence. John and Dean were eating on the small table in the room, chatting about the next day, while Sam ate sitting beside you on the bed. You’d steal glances at one another, but you didn’t say a word, and neither did him. When it was time for you to sleep, they let you sleep in the same room and bed, claiming that you still needed some rest to get better. However, the room was shared, so John asked his younger son to spend the night on the other bed, because, according to him, you’d remember his face better, whatever that meant.

John and Dean left the room, and you weren’t in the mood to prepare yourself to sleep. You just needed to rest. So, as Sam was getting ready, you shifted to be comfortable, bandage taken into account, and you closed your eyes. You could sense Sam near you when the words he was about to say died in his mouth at the sight of you seemingly asleep.

He sighed. Ruffling a hand through his hair and walking towards his bed. He sat down, looking at you. When he got into bed and turned off the night light, you spoke.

“Sam?”

He opened his eyes and turned to you, worried, “Yes?”

You didn’t move, you just spoke into the darkness, your eyes still closed. “I think you should go to college.”

Sam didn’t say anything, but you kept talking.

“If that’s what you want and what you think you need, then do it.”

He smiled, the thought of going away didn’t seem so crazy now. “You won’t stop, though, won’t ya?”

You sighed. “It’s not my call. I have to keep doing this.”

Sam nodded, even though you couldn’t see him. “I understand.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow,” you added, you had that decision already made. “I think your Dad doesn’t like the idea of me being around y’all.”

You could hear Sam chuckling in the darkness, but it sounded forced and almost sad. “He doesn’t like the idea of me around, either.”

If you want to be tagged, send me an ask. (Only tagging mutuals and friends atm)

@ruined-by-destiel @teamfreewill-imagine @pada-ackles @bovaria @spnashley @theashhole @mysupernaturalfics @abaddonwithyall @the-mrs-deanwinchester @unadulteratedstorycollector @mrswhozeewhatsis, @manawhaat, @withoutaplease @sam-winchester-admiration-league (If you don’t wanna be tagged, let me know!)

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raayllum · 5 years

Note

2 questions if you will please. 1.Have you ever considered doing a meta on links between camera shots and/or music with "Rayllum" scenes? I know there is a few people around who claim a lot of shots that feature them have "Romantic coding". While some your meta's dip into that a little bit, it would be cool to see your perspective on that. 2. With your Kataang/ Rayllum meta, i THINK i found a flaw. Do you even know if Aran Ehaz wrote those particular scenes? (can't go on, word limit)

1. I do love framing and would be happy to go into why something is considered to be romantic framing (even if “romantic coded” can often be a slippery slope) if people are interested. I think, regardless though, there’s overt signs pointing to Rayllum being romantic from the start of S1 that S2 merely expanded on, regardless of coding. And thank you! I’m always here for parallel searching.

2. Aaron Ehasz was the head writer on ATLA and for TDP. The head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. They also help to conceive and outline the long-term story of a scripted television or radio series. So regardless of whether each scene had to be written by him doesn’t matter; each one whether on ATLA or TDP had to get his go-ahead (as well as his and the ATLA co-creators, and his TDP co-creator, Justin Richmond).

A few of the episodes that parallel one another the most with TDP were written by Aaron though, like “The Avatar State,” with its TDP correspondence being “Fire and Fury,” written by Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry. The most obvious one to me is both shows season finales, both written by Ehasz, that feature Aang and Callum’s unlocking of the abilities they’ve fought for all season (the Avatar State and sky magic) although Aang’s ends in tragedy and Callum’s does not. Each also has a “beloved holds the body and cries for them to come back, ending with them doing so” scene in it. Which is just *chef’s kiss*

Aaron also has some of the most Kataang heavy episodes in the series under his belt as well:

The Winter Solstice Part I has Katara declare, “The world can’t afford to lose you [Aang] to the Fire Nation, and neither can I,” which is a similar statement to Rayla’s confession to Callum in Breathe: “I can’t lose you like this. You mean too much to me.”

“The Siege of the North Part II” has the Kataang hug interrupted by Momo that greatly parallels the “Breathe” Rayllum hug that’s interrupted by Zym.

“Day of Black Sun Part II” has a scene of Katara comforting Aang while he mourns the loss of the battle, whereas “Smoke and Mirrors” (once again by Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry, but again, would’ve been overseen by Aaron) has Rayla comforting a mourning Callum after the loss of his father.

Again, there are the parallels between “Breathe” and “The Crossroads of Destiny” as each Book Two’s finale.

Aaron Ehasz also wrote “The Fortuneteller,” and worked on all four parts of Sozin’s Comet alongside the ATLA co-creators. I mention “the Fortuneteller” because the framing of when Katara first begins to see Aang in a romantic light is directly paralleled in the finale in the scene before they begin their romantic relationship.

While I joke about the Ehasz Formula, as stated on my meta: “his doesn’t mean I think Rayllum is going to be canon (I have other reasons for thinking that, since S1). I don’t necessarily think this means that Aaron Ehasz is a Kataang shipper; I take him by his word that he doesn’t tend to ship things at all. If Rayllum doesn’t become canon, I don’t think it means that Aaron doesn’t support/like Kataang either. This is just a series of cool parallels and overlapping arcs that are already common with romantic plots, some that aren’t, and some fun general dynamic things as well.”

That said the sheer amount of parallels between them, in both singular episodic arcs, the consistencies between Callum-Katara and Rayla-Aang in parallels, is something I raise an eyebrow at from time to time, though.

#samwisethe3rd #thanks for asking #cast and crew #aaron ehasz #kataang x rayllum #atla #parallels

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thekaijudude · 5 years

Note

I understand about Taiga now. I was not expecting Titus to be from U-40 either. I was expecting him to be from L77 since it’s Leo’s 45th anniversary.

Hi!

This is more unlikely due to the fact that L77 was essentially destroyed, so having another survivor would entail more interactions between said survivor and the Leo Brothers, which would be more or a hassle to handle than say U40 or O-50. Not to mention the Taiga universe seems to be unlikely within the main M78 universe (as its further elaborated in my part 5 of my ‘First Thoughts’ post series)

But that’s not to say that having another survivor of the L77 destruction would be impossible. But just going based on the already numerous amount of plot-heavy material that this series already has (If you’ve been following my posts recently), itll be very taxing to include another plot-heavy character into the mix.

So I believe if TsuPro intends to include another layer of intricacy with this aspect, it would either have to be an independent series or they will just include the dude and blatantly ignore to address the implications within said series at first. And he will have a follow up series/ side story after said series for him (Or they could just retcon the Taiga Universe which L77 planet was NOT destroyed) which is also possible due to the constraints of the ‘New Gen’ premise (A gentle reminder that Taiga is the 7th New Gen Series)

However, as you said, considering that this year IS Leo’s 45th anniversary, we MIGHT see a character like that pop up somewhere along Taiga (As per mentioned when I cited a possibility of a New 6 Ultra Brothers in a post recently), as many would know, this speculation has been making its round through the fandom due to the fact that TsuPro is busting out Photon Earth so early in ep 8. But in order for a new member to come in, and assuming Taiga is at the most 35-ish episodes, we would have to take away a possible Titus and Fuma super forms. (Or else expect sloppily-handled plot progression which is even more unlikely for obvious reasons)

(Unless of course some would make the point that due to Taiga being the first entry of the Reiwa series, TsuPro would want to continuously up the ante by accommodating this inclusion with an extension to a 50+ episode series like a conventional Heisei Era series)

But personally, I just feel that TsuPro has made enough radical headways with this series thus far and its widely agreed that they’ll stick to the modus operandi from here on out with Titus and Fuma getting their super forms followed by a Trinity Fusion/ Taiga Ultimate Form/ Super Ultraman Taiga via Ultra Overlapping/ All three ultras fighting together with a combination of the aforementioned in the final episode and/or in the movie

(The movie itself is a whole different story altogether which I will discuss in a separate post as the movie date nears in eventually, or if someone else sends an ask before that lol)

With that being said, a survivor from L77 may or may not be possible, it all depends on how ballsy TsuPro intends to be for Taiga which either way could be very plausible as they certainly have taken enough ballsy moves already with Taiga, but beyond that lies the critical crossroads of personal opinion as to how ballsy they intend to be as of now until we progress further into the series to get a better idea of where they intend to take this series to.

Thanks for the question!

#ultraman #ultraman taiga #asks

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sladewilsonisanantihero · 6 years

Text

1980-2011 (Before the New 52 took place)

Comics that Deathstroke had physically appeared in, but not listed in narrative order due to the stories overlapping each other or not connecting at all. No annuals except one is included. Also no series similar to Teen Titans go!, the newest Teen Titans go!, and Tiny Titans.

Also if you might notice a comic missing in the list, please tell me!

1980: New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #2 (December 1980): "Today... the Terminator"

1981: New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #9 (July 1981): "Like Puppets on a String" New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #10 (August 1981): "Promethium: Unbound"

1982: Uncanny X-men and the New teen Titans #1 (January 1982): ""

1983: New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #34 (August 1983): "Endings... and Beginnings!"

1984: New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #39 (February 1984): "Crossroads" Tales of the Teen Titans #42 (May 1984): "The Judas Contract, Book One: The Eyes of Tara Markov" Tales of the Teen Titans #43 (June 1984): "The Judas Contract, Book Two: Betrayal!" Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984): "The Judas Contract, Book Three: There Shall Come a Titan" Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3 (1984): "The Judas Contract, Part 4: The Finale"

1985: Tales of the Teen Titans #53 (May 1985): "Devil on the Wing!" Tales of the Teen Titans #54 (June 1985): "Blind Justice!" Tales of the Teen Titans #55 (July 1985): "Shades of Gray" Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 (August 1985): "Worlds in Limbo" Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 (December 1985): "War Zone"

1986: 1987: 1988: 1989:

1990: New Titans #62 (January 1990): "Titan Plague" New Titans #63 (February 1990): "Into the Darkness" New Titans #64 (March 1990): "Scourge!" New Titans #65 (April 1990): "Dejavu" New Titans #70 (October 1990): "Clay Pigeons" New Titans #71 (November 1990): "Beginnings... Endings... and (We Promise) New Beginnings!"

1991: New Titans #72 (January 1991): "Death of a Hero!" New Titans #73 (February 1991): "Paradise Lost" New Titans #74 (March 1991): "When Pantha Strikes" New Titans #75 (April 1991): "Countdown to Doomsday!" New Titans #76 (June 1991): "Tower of the Damned!" New Titans #77 (July 1991): "Red Star Rising" New Titans #78 (August 1991): "Mind Over Machine" New Titans #79 (September 1991): "Prelude..." New Titans #81 (December 1991): [No Title] Deathstroke, the Terminator #1 (August 1991): "Full Cycle, Chapter One: Assault!" Deathstroke, the Terminator #2 (September 1991): "Full Cycle, Chapter Two: Kidnapped" Deathstroke, the Terminator #3 (October 1991): [No Title] Deathstroke, the Terminator #4 (November 1991): "Full Cycle, Chapter Four: ...Bombs Bursting in Air!" Deathstroke, the Terminator #5 (December 1991): "Revelations and Revolutions" War of the Gods #4 (December 1991): "In the beginning...there was the end"

1992: Wonderwoman Vol. 2 #61 (January 1992): "To avenge an Amazon" Wonderwoman Vol. 2 #63 (June 1992): "operation: cheetah part 2" New Titans #82 (January 1992): "The Jericho Gambit, Part 1: The Saviors!" New Titans #83 (February 1992): "The Jericho Gambit, Part 2: A Thousand Souls!" New Titans #84 (March 1992): "The Jericho Gambit, Part 3: Endings... and Beginnings!" New Titans #85 (April 1992): "Dirge" Superman Vol. 2 #65 (March 1992): [10] "Panic In the Sky! Second Strike: Head Man" Adventures of Superman #488 (March 1992): [11] "Panic In the Sky! Third Strike: Counter Strike!" Action Comics #675 (March 1992): [12] "Panic In the Sky! Fourth Strike: Divide and Conquer" Superman: The Man of Steel #10 (April 1992): [13] "Panic In the Sky! Fifth Strike: Tidal Wave!" Superman Vol. 2 #66 (April 1992): [14] "Panic In the Sky! Final Strike: Our Army At War" Adventures of Superman #489 (April 1992): [15] "Panic In the Sky! Epilogue: Hail the Conquering Heroes" New Titans #86 (May 1992): "If This Be Chaos!" Superman Vol. 2 #68 (June 1992): [22] "Sins of the Father" New Titans #90 (September 1992): "That Which Lurks Within A Star!" Team Titans #1/2 (September 1992): "Childhood's End" Eclipso: the darkness within #2 (October 1992): "" Deathstroke, the Terminator #6 (January 1992): "City of Assassins, Episode One: The Offer" Deathstroke, the Terminator #7 (February 1992): "City of Assassins, Episode Two: The Rival" Deathstroke, the Terminator #8 (March 1992): "City of Assassins, Episode Three: The Allies" Deathstroke, the Terminator #9 (April 1992): "City of Assassins, Episode Four: The Resurrection" Deathstroke, the Terminator #10 (May 1992): "The Loneliest Number, Part One: " Deathstroke, the Terminator #11 (June 1992): "The Loneliest Number, Part Two: Crimes and Commitments!" Deathstroke, the Terminator #12 (July 1992): "Sympathy for the Devil" Deathstroke, the Terminator #13 (August 1992): "Terminator Hunt: The Powers That Be!" Deathstroke, the Terminator #14 (September 1992): "Child's Play" Deathstroke, the Terminator #15 (October 1992): "Escape From New York!" Deathstroke, the Terminator #16 (November 1992): "Terminated: The Death of Slade Wilson (Part Seven of Total Chaos)" Deathstroke, the Terminator #17 (December 1992): "The Nuclear Winter Chapter One: DNA"

1993: Deathstroke, the Terminator #18 (January 1993): "The Nuclear Winter Part Two: A Question of Brotherhood" Deathstroke, the Terminator #19 (February 1993): "The Nuclear Winter Part Three: Invasion" Deathstroke, the Terminator #20 (March 1993): "The Nuclear Winter Part Four: Heatwave" Deathstroke, the Terminator #21 (April 1993): "Love and Death" Deathstroke, the Terminator #22 (early May 1993): "The Quality of Mercy, Part One: Fire and Blood" Deathstroke, the Terminator #23 (late May 1993): "The Quality of Mercy, Part Two: The Cold Game" Deathstroke, the Terminator #24 (early June 1993): "Into the Black Dome" Deathstroke, the Terminator #25 (late June 1993): "Escape From the Black Dome" Deathstroke, the Terminator #26 (July 1993): "Gauntlet" Deathstroke, the Terminator #27 (August 1993): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter One: England" Deathstroke, the Terminator #28 (September 1993): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Two: Versailles" Deathstroke, the Terminator #29 (October 1993): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Three: Hong Kong" Deathstroke, the Terminator #30 (November 1993): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Four: China" Deathstroke, the Terminator #31 (December 1993): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Five: India" Showcase '93 #6/3 (June 1993): "Village Green Preservation Society" Showcase '93 #7/2 (July 1993): "The Kobra Kronicles, Part 2: Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" Showcase '93 #8/2 (August 1993): "The Kobra Kronicles, Part 3: Brainwashed" Showcase '93 #9/2 (September 1993): "The Kobra Kronicles, Part 4: Get Back in Line" Showcase '93 #10/2 (October 1993): "The Kobra Kronicles, Part 5: Big Black Smoke" Showcase '93 #11/2 (November 1993): "The Kobra Kronicles, Part 6: I'm On An Island" Bloodbath #1 (December 1993): "" Bloodbath #2 (December 1993): ""

1994: Deathstroke, the Terminator #32 (January 1994): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Six: Paris" Deathstroke, the Terminator #33 (February 1994): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Seven: Dallas" Deathstroke, the Terminator #34 (March 1994): "Deathstroke's World Tour, Chapter Eight: Egypt" Deathstroke, the Terminator #35 (April 1994): "To Thine Own Self..." Deathstroke, the Terminator #36 (May 1994): "War Crimes" Deathstroke, the Terminator #37 (June 1994): "Sins of the Father" Deathstroke, the Terminator #38 (July 1994): "Land of Milk and Blood" Deathstroke, the Terminator #39 (August 1994): "The Death Doctor" Deathstroke, the Terminator #40 (September 1994): "Wedding in Red" Deathstroke, the Hunted #0 (October 1994): "The Hunted, Prologue" Deathstroke, the Hunted #41 (November 1994): "Deathstroke, the Hunted: Killers" Deathstroke, the Hunted #42 (December 1994): "Deathstroke, the Hunted, Part 3: Warriors!" Green Arrow #84 (March 1994): "Strange attractions" Green Arrow #85 (April 1994): "Chaos Theory"

1995: Deathstroke, the Hunted #43 (January 1995): "Bird of Prey" Deathstroke, the Hunted #44 (February 1995): "Deathstroke, the Hunted, Part V: Roses are Blodd Red" Deathstroke, the Hunted #45 (March 1995): "Deathstroke, the Hunted, Part VI: The Road to Salvation..." Darkstars #32 (March 1995): "The Night They Burned Ol' Dixie Down" Deathstroke, the Hunted #46 (April 1995): "Connections" Deathstroke, the Hunted #47 (May 1995): "Conversion" Deathstroke #48 (June 1995): "Third Strike" New Titans #122 (June 1995): "" Deathstroke #49 (July 1995): "All the King's Men" Deathstroke #50 (August 1995): "Revelations" Deathstroke #51 (September 1995): "" Deathstroke #52 (October 1995): "" Deathstroke #53 (November 1995): "" Deathstroke #54 (December 1995): ""

1996: Deathstroke #55 (January 1996): "" Deathstroke #56 (February 1996): "" Deathstroke #57 (March 1996): "" Deathstroke #58 (April 1996): "" Deathstroke #59 (May 1996): "" Deathstroke #60 (June 1996): ""

1997: Detective Comics #708 (April 1997): "The Death Lottery, Part One: Heart of Glass" Detective Comics #709 (May 1997): "The Death Lottery, Part II: Heart of Stone" Detective Comics #710 (June 1997): "The Death Lottery, Part Three: Heart of Ice"

1998: Nightwing Vol. 2 #17 (February 1998): "The Stalking Skies" Nightwing Vol. 2 #18 (March 1998): "The Hunting Moon" Teen Titans Vol. 2 #22 (July 1998): "Titans Hunt, Part 2: Shades of Glory" Robin Vol. 4 #55 (July 1998): "Brotherhood of the Fist, Part Three: Monkey Fist" Nightwing Vol. 2 #23 (August 1998): "Brotherhood of the Fist, Part Four: Paper Revelations" Green Arrow Vol. 2 #135 (August 1998): "Brotherhood of the Fist, Part 5" Azrael #45 (September 1998): "Angel and the Beast: Deathstroke!" Azrael #46 (October 1998): "Guardian Angel"

1999: JLA vs Titans #2 (January 1999): "The Generation Gap" Titans #9 (November 1999): "Limbo" Titans #10 (December 1999): "The Immortal Coil, Part One"

2000: Titans #11 (January 2000): "The Immortal Coil, Part Two" Titans #12 (February 2000): "The Immortal Coil, Part Three" Action Comics #767 (July 2000): "Critical Condition, part 4: Death's door" Adventures of superman #580 (July 2000): "Critical condition, Part 2 of 4: green universe" Superman: man of steel #102 (July 2000): "The enemy within! Critical condition, part 3 of 4" JLA 80-Page Giant #3 (October 2000): "The Century War II" Birds of Prey #22 (October 2000): "The Hostage Heart, Part One" Birds of Prey #23 (November 2000): "The Hostage Heart, Part Two" Birds of Prey #24 (December 2000): "The Hostage Heart, Part Three: Conclusion" Titans #21 (November 2000): "The Trial of Cheshire, Part One: The Eva Brown Complex" Titans #22 (December 2000): "The Trial of Cheshire, Part Two: Know When to Quit"

2001: Birds of Prey #25 (January 2001): "Old Habits" Catwoman Vol. 2 #94 (July 2001): "" JSA #28 (November 2001): "Face-Off" Wonderwoman Vol. 2 #174 (November 2001): "The witch & the warrior - part 1" Wonderwoman Vol. 2 #175 (December 2001): "The witch & the warrior - part 2: Girl frenzy"

2002: Birds of Prey #43 (July 2002): "Blind Spot" Birds of Prey #44 (August 2002): "Deadly Convergence" Birds of Prey #45 (September 2002): "The Killing Ground" Birds of Prey #46 (October 2002): "Cretaceous Picnic"

2003: Nightwing Vol. 2 #79 (May 2003): "No Son of Mine" Nightwing Vol. 2 #80 (June 2003): "Venn Diagram, Part 1: Close Encounters" Nightwing Vol. 2 #81 (July 2003): "Venn Diagram, Part 2: Friends under fire" Nightwing Vol. 2 #82 (August 2003): "Venn Diagram, Part 3: That and a buck fifty" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #2 (October 2003): "Child's Play" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #3 (November 2003): "A Kid's Game" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #4 (December 2003): "Breaking the Rules" Avengers/JLA #4 (December 2003): "The Brave and The Bold"

2004: Teen Titans Vol. 3 #1/2 (Janurary 2004): "The Ravager" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #5 (January 2004): "Clash of the Teen Titans!" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #7 (March 2004): "Wednesday" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #8 (April 2004): "Family Lost" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #9 (May 2004): "First Blood" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #10 (June 2004): "Raven Rising" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #11 (July 2004): "Raven Rising" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #12 (August 2004): "Raven Rising" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #17 (December 2004): "Titans Tomorrow (Part I of III) - Big Brothers and Sisters" [Ten year future Deathstroke] Identity Crisis #2 (September 2004): "House of Lies" Identity Crisis #3 (October 2004): "Serial Killer"

2005: Teen Titans Vol. 3 #18 (January 2005): "Titans Tomorrow (Part I of III) - Tales of the Titans" [Ten year future Deathstroke] Identity Crisis #6 (January 2005): "Husbands and Wives" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #22 (May 2005): "Lights Out, Part Two: War and Peace" [Disguised as Batman] Teen Titans Vol. 3 #23 (June 2005): "Lights Out, Part Three: Secrets and Lies" [Disguised as Batman] The Outsiders #21 (April 2005): "Silent Partner" The Outsiders #22 (May 2005): "Deep throat" JSA #70 (April 2005): "JSA/JSA, Chapter III: High Societies" Batgirl Vol. 1 #62 (May 2005): "The Hood (Part III of III)" Batgirl Vol. 1 #63 (June 2005): "Sex, thugs and rock n' roll" Batgirl Vol. 1 #64 (July 2005): "Blade of the Ravager" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #50 (July 2005): "New Business Part All Together Now" Batgirl Vol. 1 #69 (December 2005): "" Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1 (2005): "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" Villains United #1 (July 2005): "Villains United, One: And Empires In Their Purpose" Villains United #3 (September 2005): "Privileged To Spill Her Blood" Batman, Gotham Knights #66 (August 2005): "Job Termination" Batman #646 (December 2005): "Franchise, Part 1: Supply Side Economics" Villains United #5 (November 2005): "Villains United, Part Five: Victims of Aggression" Villains United #6 (December 2005): "Villains United, Part Six: At the End of All Things" Nightwing Vol. 2 #111 (October 2005): "Signed, Sophia" Nightwing Vol. 2 #112 (November 2005): "The Devil you know" Nightwing Vol. 2 #113 (December 2005): "The Scorpion and the frog" Birds of Prey #87 (December 2005): "Perfect Pitch, Part 1" Infinite Crisis #1 (December 2005): "DC Comics Presents Infinite Crisis"

2006: Nightwing Vol. 2 #114 (January 2006): "Cowboys and Indias" Nightwing Vol. 2 #115 (February 2006): "No-fly zone" Nightwing Vol. 2 #116 (March 2006): "Marathon" Nightwing Vol. 2 #117 (April 2006): "Fix you" Batman #647 (January 2006): "Franchise, Part 2: The Away Team" Infinite Crisis #2 (January 2006): "The Survivors" Infinite Crisis #7 (June 2006): "Finale" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #57 (February 2006): "Heading into the light part 4: House warming" Birds of Prey #89 (February 2006): "Perfect Pitch, Part 3" Birds of Prey #90 (March 2006): "Perfect Pitch, Part 5" Adventures of superman (April 2006): "Superman, this is your life, part 3" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #60 (May 2006): "Crawling Through the Wreckage, Part One: New Sheriff in Town!" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #61 (June 2006): "Crawling Through the Wreckage, Part Two: Green Party Agenda" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #62 (July 2006): "Crawling Through the Wreckage, Part Three: An Eye For An Eye" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #63 (August 2006): "Wild, Part One: Busted!" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #64 (September 2006): "Wild, Part Two: Odd Pairings" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #65 (October 2006): "A Kick to the Front, then a Kick to the Back, the a Good Side Kick"

2007: Green Arrow Vol. 3 #69 (February 2007): "Seeing Red, Part One: Out of Town Guests" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #71 (April 2007): "Seeing Red, Part Three: Change Partners" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #74 (July 2007): "Jericho, Part Two: Seems Like Old Times" Green Arrow Vol. 3 #75 (August 2007): "Jericho, Conclusion: And the Walls Came Tumbling Down" The Flash: The fastest man alive #7 (February 2007): "Speedquest, Chapter 1: Angel City" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #43 (March 2007): "Titans Easts (Part I of IV)" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #44 (April 2007): "Titans East (Part II of IV)" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #45 (May 2007): "Titans East (Part III of IV)" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #46 (June 2007): "Titans East (Part IV of IV)" Justice League of America Vol. 2 #12 (October 2007): ""

2008: Justice League of America Vol. 2 #15 (January 2008): "Unlimited, chapter 4: Unleashed" Trinity #14 (September 2008): "So what now?; Let the burning begin" Batgirl Vol. 2 #3 (November 2008): "Redemption road, chapter 3: daughters" Batgirl Vol. 2 #4 (December 2008): "Redemption road, chapter 4: daddy issues"

2009: Trinity #38 (February 2009): "Who are you?; the last stand" Trinity #39 (February 2009): "Metropolis; the power you deserve" Faces of Evil: Deathstroke #1 (March 2009) The Outsiders #15 (April 2009): "The deep, part 1: origins & omens" The Outsiders #17 (June 2009): "The deep, part 3" The Outsiders #18 (July 2009): "The deep, part 4" The Outsiders #19 (August 2009): "the deep, part 5" Final Crisis #2 (June 2009): "" Booster Gold #22 (September 2009): "Day of Death, Part 2 of 4; armor-plated; part 2: silver spoon" Booster Gold #24 (November 2009): "Day of Death, Epilogue; black and blue, part 1 of 2" Booster Gold #25 (December 2009): "Day of Death, Aftermath; Black and blue, part 2 of 2" Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #6 (December 2009): "Footprints"

2010: Teen Titans Vol. 3 #77 (January 2010): "A family Affair" Teen Titans Vol. 3 #78 (February 2010): "Tortured Souls" Justice League of America Vol. 2 #44 (June 2010): "Devil in the details" Batman and Robin #11 (June 2010): "Batman Vs. Robin, Part 2: Boneyard" Batman and Robin #12 (July 2010): "Batman Vs. Robin, Part 3: Mexican Train" Titans #24 (August 2010): "Rude Awakenings" Titans #25 (September 2010): "Darkness Falls" Titans #26 (October 2010): "Suffer the Children" Titans #27 (November 2010): "Lost and Found" Titans #28 (December 2010): "Family Reunion, Part 1: Past Sins" Action comics #891 (September 2010): "The black ring, part 2" Action comics #892 (October 2010): "The black right, part 3; a look at things to come in...superboy" Secret Six #24 (October 2010): "The Six-Guns Blazing"

2011: Titans #29 (January 2011): "Family Reunions, Part 2: Clear and present danger" Titans #30 (February 2011): "Family Reunions, Part 3: The future's so dark..." Titans #31 (March 2011): "Family Reunions, Part 4: The fate we make" Titans #32 (April 2011): "Family Reunions, Part 5: Inheritance" Titans #33 (May 2011): "Broken Promises, Part 1: An eye for an eye" Titans #34 (June 2011): "Broke Promises, Part 2: Divided we fall" Action Comics #900 (June 2011): "The black ring, final: reigh of doomsday; life support; autobiography; friday night in the 21st century; the incident; only human; the evolution of the man of tomorrow" Titans #35 (July 2011): "Broken Promises, Part 3: Under Siege" Titans #36 (August 2011): "Broken Promises, Part 4: No way out" Titans #37 (September 2011): "The Methuselah Imperative, Part 2 of 3" Titans #38 (October 2011): "The Methuselah Imperative, Part 3 of 3" DC Universe Online Legends #1 (April 2011): "Legendary"

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tipsycad147 · 3 years

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Artemis – The Greek Goddess of Hunting

Artemis (Roman counterpart Diana) is the Greek goddess associated with the moon, chastity, the hunt, childbirth, and the wilderness. Daughter of Leto and Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo, Artemis is considered the patron and protector of young children and the patron of women in childbirth. Let’s take a closer look at the life and symbolism of Artemis.

The Story of Artemis

The story goes that Artemis was born on Delos or Ortygia. Some accounts say that she was born a day before Apollo. At three years old, she asked her powerful father Zeus to grant her six wishes, which were:

That she could remain unmarried and a virgin

That she would be given more names than her brother Apollo

That she could bring light to the world

That she would be given a special bow and arrow like her brother and have the freedom to dress up in a tunic when out hunting

That she would have 60 nymphs as friends who would keep her company and look after her hunting dogs

That she would have rule over all mountains

Zeus was amused by Artemis and granted her wishes. It’s clear that from an early age on, Artemis valued independence and freedom over everything else. She felt that marriage and love would be distractions and would take away her liberty.

Artemis swore never to marry, and like Athena and Hestia, Artemis remained a virgin for eternity. She was very protective of her chastity and guarded it with ferocity against any man who attempted to dishonor her. There are many myths that outline how Artemis punished men for violating her privacy:

Artemis and Actaeon: Artemis and her nymphs were bathing naked in a pool when Acaeon chanced by and fell to gazing at the group of beautiful women bathing in the nude. When Artemis saw him, she was furious. She turned him into a stag and set his pack of fifty hounds upon him. He faced a painful and tortured death and was torn to pieces.

Artemis and Orion: Orion was an old companion of Artemis, who would often go hunting with her. Some accounts suggest that Orion was the only love interest that Artemis had. In any case, it didn’t end well for him. Fascinated and attracted by Artemis, he tried to take off her robes and rape her, but she killed him with her bow and arrow. Variations to this story say that Gaia or Apollo intervened and killed Orion, to protect the purity of Artemis.

Like many Greek gods, Artemis was quick to respond to perceived slights. If she felt she was disobeyed or in some way dishonored, she retaliated swiftly. Frequently, her legends include her turning enemies and denigrators into animals for her to hunt. In addition to this, however, she was seen as a protector to young girls and a goddess of childbirth, demonstrating her capacity for caring as well as retribution.

Temple of Artemis, Jerash

Artemis was worshipped throughout ancient Greece and many artistic renderings have her standing in a forest with her bow and arrows, a deer by her side. She was frequently given special worship by those expecting children. As a goddess of childbirth, people would donate clothing to her sanctuaries after the successful birth of a child as a way of thanking Artemis for her favour.

The oldest art of Artemis depicts her as Potnia Teron, or Queen of the Beasts. She stands as a winged goddess, holding a stag and lioness in opposite hands. In Classical Greek art, however, Artemis is shown as a young huntress, a quiver on her back and bow in her hand. Sometimes, she is shown accompanied by one of her hunting dogs or a stag.

In Roman mythology, Artemis’ equivalent is known as Diana. Diana was believed to be the patron goddess of the countryside, hunters, crossroads, and the moon. While Artemis and Diana have quite a lot of overlap, they could be characterized very differently and are therefore not the same.

Symbols and Characteristics of Artemis

Artemis is depicted or associated with numerous symbols, including:

Bow and Arrow – As the goddess of the hunt, the bow and arrow was Artemis’ primary weapon. She was known for her accurate aim and would strike down anyone who had irked her.

Quiver – Like the bow and arrow, Artemis is often shown reaching for an arrow from her quiver. This is one of her most prevalent symbols and strengthens her associations with archery, hunting and the outdoors.

Deer – The deer is considered sacred to Artemis, and she is often depicted standing with a deer beside her.

Hunting Dog – Again, a symbol of hunting, Artemis would hunt with seven of her hunting dogs at any given time. The dogs signified her love of the hunt.

Moon – Artemis was associated with the moon and her worshippers revered the moon as a symbol of the goddess

Artemis was powerful and is a symbol of a strong woman. She symbolizes:

Chastity and virginity

Independence

Childbirth

Healing

Freedom

There’s no doubt that Artemis was one of the most powerful goddesses of Ancient Greek myth. But her personality often showcased contradictions, making her appear as an unpredictable, often wrathful, figure. For example:

She was the protector of young girls and the patron of women in childbirth but would bring sudden death and disease to girls and women.

The deer is a sacred symbol of Artemis and yet she transformed Actaeon into a stag to be killed by dogs.

She was worshipped for her virginity and known for remaining chaste, and yet it is she who is one of the most famous goddesses associated with childbirth and fertility.

She was fiercely protective of her mother, and together with Apollo, killed the children of Niobe just because she had boasted that she had given birth to more children than Leto.

Artemis is considered compassionate and kind, and yet was often ruthless and exacted revenge for seemingly small slights on her honor.

She had Aura raped by Dionysus for doubting Artemis’ virginity

She killed Chione for boasting that she was prettier than her

Some accounts say she killed Adonis for boasting that he was better at hunting than she was

Festival of Brauron for Artemis

Many events and festivals were held in Artemis’ honor, such as the Festival of Artemis in Brauron. For the festival, girls between five and ten years old would dress in gold and run around pretending to be bears.

It’s believed that this festival came about in response to the legend in which Artemis sent a tamed bear to her temple in Brauron. A girl antagonized the bear by poking it with a stick and it attacked her, prompting one of her brothers to kill it. This enraged Artemis and she retaliated by sending a plague to the town. After consulting with the Oracle, a person thought to have a link to the gods and the ability to foretell the future, they were told that no virgin should marry until she had served Artemis in her temple. Hence, the Festival of Artemis in Brauron was born.

Artemis In Modern Times

The Artemis Program is a project by NASA committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and next man, on the moon by 2024. It is named after Artemis in honor of her role in Greek mythology as the goddess of the moon.

Artemis continues to inspire writers, singers and poets. She continues to inspire pop culture. The Artemis archetype, a young withdrawn young girl, facing many challenges and bravely and fiercely rising to face them, is very popular today, giving rise to characters such as Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games, who also is seen with a bow and arrow as her symbols. She was also depicted as a character in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Artemis Goddess Facts

1- Who were Artemis’ parents?

Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto.

2- Did Artemis have any siblings?

As Zeus daughter, Artemis had many half-siblings, but she was closest to her twin brother Apollo, often serving as a guardian to him.

3- Did Artemis ever marry?

No, she remained a virgin for eternity.

4- What were Artemis’ powers?

She had impeccable aim with her bow and arrow, could turn herself and others into animals and was also able to heal and control nature to some extent.

5- Did Artemis ever fall in love?

Despite drawing a lot of attention from other gods as well as mortal men, the only person believed to have truly won Artemis’ heart was her hunting companion Orion. Orion was unfortunately believed to be killed by either Artemis herself or Gaia (goddess of the earth).

6- Why did Artemis kill Adonis?

In a version of the story of Adonis, Adonis boasts that he is a better hunter than Artemis. In revenge, Artemis sends a wild boar (one of her prized animals) which kills him for his hubris.

7- Who created Artemis’ bow?

Artemis’ bow was believed to have been created in the forges of Hephaestus and the Cyclops. In later cultures, her bow became a symbol of the crescent moon.

8- Does Artemis have a temple?

Artemis’ temple at Ephesus in Ionia, Turkey, is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There she is worshipped primarily as a mother goddess and it is one of the most well-known places of worship to Artemis.

9- How many hunting dogs did Artemis have?

Artemis was given seven female and six male hunting dogs by Pan the nature god. Two were said to have been black and white, three were red, and one with spots.

10- How did Artemis get around?

Artemis had a special chariot, pulled by six golden-horned deer that she captured.

In Conclusion

Artemis continues to be one of the most popular of the pantheon of Greek gods. People continue to take inspiration from the legends of Artemis, intrigued by her contradictions, love of freedom, independence and power.

https://symbolsage.com/hunting-greek-goddess-artemis/

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