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skystonedclouds · 4 years

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Changes in Covenant.

For context please visit Cherry Picking.

This is written to show different ways Jesus has changed the covenant in the New testament from the Old testament. For all those who wonder the reason us Christians do not follow Jewish law (like mixed fabrics/pork). Comes down to NEW COVENANT theology.

1. New Vs Old Covenant.

So what fundamentally changed?

I will give some examples of what fundamentally changed in the new covenant with Christians. Keep in mind that when I have spoken to Jewish people they say that not every one of the Old Testament 613 commands are for Christians but for their covenant with God. We have our own covenant which has a lot of overlap but it’s still different.

A) Removing the requirement for the Sabbath Day to favor mercy.

Matthew 12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Mark 2:27-28 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Luke 14:3-6 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.

Matthew 12:10-13 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? – so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.

Is the Sabbath completely gone?

Matthew 11:28-29 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

In Hebrews there is talk of a symbolic Sabbath where we rest in God. A rest for our souls. Many people when they are saved talk about feeling like they are finally at peace. The war inside has ceased and they have found rest for their souls in the promises of God. The Sabbath day is technically ~today~ if you hear God`s voice.

Hebrews 4:1-3,7-11. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.Again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

B) Removing the dietary restrictions in favor of symbolic inward purity.

Matthew 15:11-12,15-19 “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said,“Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

First of all it doesn’t seem to be that strict of a law since in the Old Testament there appears to be a few places of exceptions. This is because this is not a moral law. The worst consequence for violating eating something unclean in the Old covenant was to be “unclean until evening”.

Deuteronomy 12:15,22 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

So if these verses weren’t clear enough there are many verses in the new covenant about all foods becoming clean more explicitly.

Acts 10:13-15 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

Romans 14:6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Romans 14:20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

1 Corinthians 10:25-26 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

Mark 7:19 “Since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”(Thus he declared all foods clean.)

Is the clean law completely gone?

As we have seen the law of cleanliness is about what comes out of our mouths now (our words and actions) rather than what goes in (food). It’s not symbolic cleanliness of what we expel from our mouths.

C) Removing circumcision for symbolic inward heart circumcision.

1 Corinthians 7:19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

Kind of strange since circumcision was a command right? Well it’s not part of the new commands in the new covenant.

Is circumcision completely removed?

It was just an outward demonstration of the inward change. It has now become symbolic to mean the circumcision of the heart.

Romans 2:28-29 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Galatians 6:14-15 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

It’s not even a new concept as it was foretold and prophecies in the Old Testament. The symbolic meaning is to love God and cut away any idols in our heart. It hasn’t come out of thin air.

Deuteronomy 30:6 Andthe Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

What does all of this mean?

So I haven’t mentioned everything that changed. I think you get the point that things are becoming “more symbolic” to inward change rather than outward change. This removes all of the Jewish cultural laws that were not moral laws to favor mercy and inward transformation of the heart.

I know I have been saying that the laws have now become symbolic to the heart. In a way it can be said the other way around and that’s actually how the bible describes it. The bible says Old Testament laws were merely symbolic of the important laws of the new covenant laws. The true purpose of the law was to be a place holder until Christ (as described in my initial post).

Hebrews 10:1-2 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

2. Slavery.

I have actually spoke on this one before so if you want the full post you can check it out. I still will reiterate the immediately relevant parts just to have it all in one place.

This is not a call to enslave anyone just that if you are enslaved by an evil person it is better to obey if you are a Christian.

This is only talking about Christians taken by force by someone sinful who have are ready to suffer on this earth for God. It is basically the idea that obeying your master because it will make your time with that master easier. It mentions that even if it doesn’t make things smoother then you will be rewarded and avenged. It is the calling of every believer o suffer in this life for the name of Jesus Christ.

Many Jewish people think Jesus Christ came to change the status quo and create revels to Rome. Jesus Christ did not come to change the state but to change the individual. We aren’t here to rebel but to submit to our fates as He submitted to the cross. There are other verses about submitting to the government. By the way one can disobey a master or the government if they command you to do something evil. Christians are not here to rebel though we are here to be servants. God considers great people to be those in humble service of others.

Mark 10:42-44 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

I’m not ignoring it actually. Every day I wonder how I may serve someone kind of like those fast food people who say “how may I serve you today?”. I can’t say I do it perfectly but I try every day to see in which way I may be a servant to all so that I may grow in humility and love. In fact the demands of Christians go far beyond servitude to our earthly masters but to even be sacrificially slaughtered.

Romans 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Furthermore this is all more explicitly clarified with a few more verses that explicitly literally explain that enslaving someone is against the doctrine of Christianity. It explains there is only laws concerning slaves for sinners who insist on having there own way as a way to minimize the problem. In a believer there is no need for these laws for truth is written on our hearts just like that skeptic probably to some degree feels on their heart.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality,**enslavers**, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

It is like a good quote I saw in doctor who “good men don’t need rules” because they are really good changed in their heart not needing any restraint. In the moment of conversion there is a strong renewing of the heart and spirit. Jesus Christ justified us through his blood and saves us more and more from the power of sin.

3. Women.

I am a woman. I don’t feel treated like cattle I feel honored. I see so many passages that are there for the benefit of women. God the Father and God the son are equal but have different roles. They are equally God and equally valuable but they have different positions.

Men and women are equal heirs.

Hurting women hinders prayers.

1 Peter 3:7 In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life.Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

The only only restriction is that women can’t be spiritual leaders (pastors). This is a good thing because they are judged more harshly on judgment day. God wants to protect women from the fierce anger and judgment that comes with spiritual leadership.

James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Feel free to ask more about it if you have questions.

Inconsistent?

The only thing inconsistent is the way people don’t understand the bible. As I mentioned before I asked Jewish people if God intends those Old Testament commands to be for Christians. They says it`s only for the Jews not for Christians. God made a covenant with one country (Israel). He made another one with the world through Christ. The old covenant has passed away now that the new covenant has come. It’s as I said a car dealer can make two different contracts with two different individuals. Why would I obey the covenant that was given to someone else? It’s like the parent who gives their different children two different curfews. Why would I take the curfew of my other sibling when my parents gave me a different curfew? Say the younger child has a curfew of eight and the older child has a curfew of midnight. The parents did not intend for the younger child to have the later curfew nor the older child to have the earlier curfew. It can even be more severe like if the child thought he had the same chores as the older child such as lawn mowing. Imagine even if your landlord updated your terms of contract of residency. It’s still a new contract even if there’s overlap. This is not a new concept to get your head around.

God has established a whole new covenant through Christ. A covenant that did not come through thin air but was prophecies in the prophets. The old covenant was a mere placeholder or guardian until Christ. It’s really not that hard to understand that a new contract has come between man and God. We make contracts all the time in our lives and they aren’t all the same.

And most of all… Here we are commanded to understand the word of God through the lens our renewed born again hearts.

Matthew 13:15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

So now you know the only way to understand to bible is to understand it with the heart. Give the benefit of the doubt to God.

#pork #sabbath #new testament #old testament #new covenant #covenant #mixed fabric

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peachymess · 4 years

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Narration in SNK

Strap in for my longest and most magnificently boring meta yet.

TL;DR at the end.

After the unnerving thought struck me a few days ago, that Armin’s days as narrator may be over, I decided to do some further digging into the narration of SNK over all – to see if my initial theory had any reason to continue haunting me or not (thanks to @holly-wee for putting me on the track on this not being as clear-cut as I thought). While I can’t say I have a clear yes or no for you even now, what I found is still surprisingly interesting. So I’m going to give an overview of the narration, and from there, you can all make your own guesses. I’m gonna give mine at the end. I can spoil as much as to say I lean clearly towards one certain answer, even if it’s still very up in the air.

To start with, there are several narrative stories going on throughout SNK, not just the overarching exposition narrative; aside from several voices, there are also several degrees/types of voices throughout the entire work! And I might just be slow, but to me, this all… sort of surprised me; I hadn’t put much energy into giving narration an attentive eye past “it’s probably Armin”, and appreciating whenever his soothing, overlapping voice would grace the anime episodes now and again. It’s on me that it took me this long to realize the rules around narration were as lenient as they are. So,… different types? Yes. So far, I’ve counted 7 types of explicit narration (a voice relaying information, versus contextual narrative):

1. The formal informant This is the narrator we’re all aware of. It’s the one that opened the story with “On that day-“, voiced by Armin in the anime. Presented in square speech bubbles*.

2. The emotional informant This narrator is also presented in square speech bubbles, and is thus the second of only two “standard” narrator types. Type 2 is different from type 1 in the way that it’s used by several characters (Armin, Eren, Ymir, Reiner, Mikasa), whereas type 1 is so far only done by one entity (Armin’s voice in the anime, but not necessarily him). Type 2, as opposed to 1, address smaller matters, gives more personalized reflections, has shorter running time, and uses “I” more liberally (an informal narrator, in other words; I’ve chosen to call it emotional, because this version is largely driven by emotion and/or has clearer indication of personality). Used by: Mikasa, Hanji, Kenny, Eren, Armin, Reiner

3. Extra information Additional information presented in form of dry text. Mostly the kind of information that in the anime has been turned into half-time text cards, because it seems to be voice-less; “by the way, you should know this”. Other times it’s woven into the monologues of Type 1.

4. Speech overlapping This is a verbal speech given by someone in the present time (or present time of a flashback), often done to drop smaller doses of information/exposition, or to retell a past event. It’s presented in round speech bubbles that overlap panels depicting something pertaining to the theme of the speech. It differs from regular speech-giving in that it 1. Is more informative, and 2. Is more frequently detached from the point in time or physical place it’s spoken from; the speech may start, middle or end with shots of the speaker, but will waver in time by visiting panels of events from the past and/or time-neutral symbols and scenery shots. This is a very liberally used method by Isayama, and sometimes it’s hard to separate this as narration from just larger spans of info-dump monologues. I’ve mapped some of the instances I feel it’s used as narration, but there are many more instances in there that’s on the fence and thus left out. Identify them yourself, if you want. Used by, among others: Teacher, Armin, unnamed soldier, Erwin, Mike, Ymir, Reiner, Hanji, Pixis, MP man, Rod Reiss, grandpa Ackerman, Kenny, Historia, Floch, Grisha’s dad, Krueger, Zeke, Willy, Pieck.

5. Retelling This is a mix between type 2 and type 4: it’s an informal standard narration (2), but being spoken by a character in present time within the story (thus narration inside the narrated story). It’s similar to type 4 in that it’s verbally shared in the present, and is majorly detached from the speaker. Unlike type 4, however, type 5 is usually situated within the mentioned flashback; the speaker is talking in real time, but the scene is set to the past. It’s presented through hovering black text (same as type 6), to symbolize that it’s narration given to in-verse listeners as opposed to type 1 and 2’s time-suspended audience.

6. Internal monologue This is internal thoughts presented in the same way as type 5: with hovering black text (or, for the first third of the story, interchangeably with rounded speech bubbles with fuzzy/spiked edges, as per type7). This borders on non-narration, as it’s unintentional as such. However, it’s often used for exposition and contextualizing drive, and thus serves largely the same purpose as narration. Used by, among others: Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Ian, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Mike, Gelgar, Reiner, Ymir, Sannes, Levi, Nile, Pixis, Historia, Traute, Keith, Marco, Marlowe, Zeke, Falco, Magath, Gabi.

7. Echo dialogue This is also unintentional narration: it’s dialogue from the past, echoing half- or fully detached from the speaker, (usually) over shaded flashback panels to indicate it coming from the past. It’s narration in the sense that the author – Isayama – has chosen to do callbacks to them in order to further contextualize the present time scene (in other words, it has the same function as type 6). Echo dialogue is presented in rounded speech bubbles with fuzzy/spiked edges.

Despite these categories, several instances of hybrids have occurred – or places where one type leads into another. The provided categories will help map narration for the sake of this analysis, but are a quickly thrown together attempt at such, and will unbeatably be flawed. Take them for the general overview they are.

Narrating voice Now, that’s a lot of different types of narration, isn’t it? Yeah... But while they all have some significance, 4-7 are a lot less important for this analysis than the first three. Though, here’s some foreshadowing for you: get yourself acquainted with type 5.

Before I move on to 1,2 and 3, I want to say a few things:

a) The reason 1-3 are more relevant than 4-7, is that 1-3 are narrating voices directed (on purpose or indirectly) at the reader (or a reader/listener that is situated outside the ongoing story narrative; if not a real life reader, then someone in-verse being told the story after the fact) – while 4-7 are narrative voices inside the story itself. “Maria told Benjamin ‘I love you’ yesterday”: Maria is the 4-7 voice that said “I love you” yesterday, while the person telling the entire story of Maria telling Benjamin, is the narrator – the 1-3 voice… I hope I’m making sense, haha.

b) When we look at the chart (provided below), we’ll see that while 1-3 thus are the only official narrative ROLES in SNK, we’ll see that for the majority of the story, the in-verse voices, are the ones carrying the story. This way, we can say that SNK is – without a doubt – told from an array of POVs; while there are few narrating roles, the story does not want to be strict with who can talk, have focus, etc. The 4-7 voices jump back and forth between players very liberally; SNK is in a way a story about people, told by people. The 1-3 seem to serve as the wrapping that keeps it all together within a structured frame, on top of this.

But not only the in-verse (4-7) voices are many… Also the type 2 narrator role has been shared by several people. Among those: Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Kenny and Reiner. There’s also Hanji – when talking about Sawny and Bean, Ilse Lagnar, and Ymir’s letter to Historia. The latter three are hybrids that, while not directed at the same listener as 1 and the aforementioned 2’s, are still presented in square speech bubbles, to indicate written and/or verbal distinct narrating role. (Although, I’m using the scans provided on the website kissmanga, which provides varying quality, chapter to chapter. Thus, it looks like Ilse’s chapter and the second part of Reiner’s story might be type 5s, drawn over in white squares by the translator. Either way, included or not, there’s enough material without this that the above reflections still stand).

1,2,3 Now to the narrator ROLES. Let’s be unconventional and start with type 2. Type 2 chapters are the digression-esque narrations that add an emotionally important piece to the greater story puzzle. They’re told by an identifiable in-verse character, and have both a clear beginning and end; whether abrupt or phased out, we can always tell when it’s over and slips back into general story mode. These narrations are not all told to the same receiver – and sometimes they seem to be mere musings with no direct recipient at all. But all of them are elevated as voices that transcend the reach of in-verse. Kenny’s piece is a perfect example of this. After the cave collapses on him and he’s sunken down against a tree to die, his backstory with Uri starts. Nobody is around, and he’s not casually type 6’ing it by just thinking about it to himself; he starts to muse. Cue the magical wavy “back then” segue into a flashback. Perhaps the difference between type 6 and type 2 here is that, while 6 is internal thoughts popping up while the story progresses, type 2 musings take over the drive; in Kenny’s case, the rest of the story goes on hiatus as we delve into his digression. Kenny proceeds to think his way closer to present time, where he eventually wraps it up by wondering if he finally had his answer “or what”.

The story then uses this newfound context, to wrap up the theme, and find its way back to a more general POV. Kenny’s type 2 starts and ends here, at chapter 69. (Here’s my own digression: since he ends up asking Uri this, one could argue that he’s addressing his type 2 to Uri, but since the man is dead, I’m more inclined to believe it’s a general musing, where relevant players are sometimes brought to the forefront because they’re the ones they would talk with if anyone. Standard “deadman talking”).

The purpose of the type 2 narrator role may be debatable, but here’s my take on the matter: the purpose of there being a type 2 narrator popping into the story from time to time, on top of type 1 and in-verse narration, is that of a theme and relevancy compass. Sure, there are many more ways theme is stated, and MPVs highlighted, but these digressions oftentimes seem to enter at times where the story events are very broad– where the current timeline can be seen in many different lights, through many different POVs. The story can at these (though also many other) point(s) develop in a heap of directions, all equally plausible and logically relevant – especially with such a big cast. With these narrative digressions, a theme and temporary MVP can be naturally presented. With this compass, we’ll see which of the many plausible paths ahead, we’re meant to focus on and pay extra attention to. Like in Kenny’s case, we’re invited to put aside any “what if there was some additional spinal fluid left on the floor and a wounded MP licked it”, “are we gonna flip out about Eren’s new titan skills right now” or “Annie when”s; right now, we’re supposed to indulge in Levi and Kenny’s dynamic, and how Levi is about to develop as a character (which later will have an effect on the serumbowl). Now… up until now, Armin has explicitly only had one such type 2 piece (chapter 106). He has had four smaller origin dumps: one in chapter 5 on how he was bullied, one in chapter 11 on how he was always a burden to Eren and Mikasa, a flashback through Eren in chapter 4 on how they bonded over the book, and a flashback through Eren in chapter 83 on how they first met – but none of these were told through a time-suspended type 2 narration. There are a lot of things pointing to Armin being the type 1 narrator, or in the very least someone whose POV we’re meant to keep in mind – and I’ll get to that when I talk about type 1 – but for the time being, can we be sure he’ll be type 2 narrator again? … It can only be speculated on, but to me, the odds are 50/50. Mikasa had a hybrid turned type 2 early on in the story (chapter 6), and another one in the newest chapter (123), so we know repeat narrators is possible. Armin is thus eligible for a type 2, a prominent character who’ll undoubtedly have something relevant to provide, but there is no guarantee that it will be necessary. Thus, we can only speculate.

But I’ll tell you this: even though Armin’s origin pieces weren’t type 2, I think they were meant to parallel Mikasa’s origin pieces going on at the same time. See, after Eren “died”, the POV toggled quite evenly between Armin and Mikasa, back and forth: we got Armin’s origin story pt1, then Mikasa’s. We were in Armin’s head, then Mikasa’s. Then Armin’s head again – then we were served a small continuation of Mikasa’s origin – because yes, she had a pt2 that was in the same style as Armin’s (type 6) – then Armin’s pt2. Over all, at the beginning of the story, Isayama’s use of the types was a lot less polished (something I’ll have to do a callback to later) than they eventually became; looking away from type rules, it’s in other words quite clear that we were being introduced to the two friends Eren left behind in equal tandem, priming them to take on roles as mains alongside him: we got to know their backstories, and how their internal voice sounds. I’m saying this because I think this kind of paralleling happened again: I believe Armin’s type 2 in chapter 106, is meant to parallel Mikasa’s type 2 in chapter 123. Just like the first round was about both their origins, this time, it’s about their reflections around Eren’s actions from chapter 90 until present time. Let’s have a look at their pieces:

Armin’s type 2: “I know that… you wont like it… But I need you to hear this. At that time, three years ago… It might have still been possible… To change something. I liked it, back then. We Eldians were hated and feared by the rest of the world, by people from way across the sea who had never seen our faces. But… not only enemies came from across the sea. The world was a complicated place. And there were many things we didn’t know about. I’m just saying… that maybe… there is another way… I can’t get that thought out of my head.”

As his type 2 is a direct verbal narration to Annie, his type 2 turns into type 4 as his narration catches up with real time, where he goes on to say:

“[...] I want to understand Eren more than anybody… Even more than Mikasa does… But… I just don’t understand him anymore… Eren was going to go through with his plan, with our help or without it. Whether we decided to cooperate, or turn our backs, was a terrible decision we had to make[…]”

Mikasa’s type 2: “Everyone ssays Eren has changed. I thought the same. But maybe that was wrong… Eren has never changed from the start. If that was Eren’s true form… I wonder… what part of Eren I had been seeing. We… didn’t notice. Or… perhaps we didn’t want to notice. Since that day… Eren disappeared from us. Afterwards, he wrote that he would entrust everything to Zeke. Next time our faces met, it was already too late. I wonder… if there ever really was a better choice. Perhaps everything was decided from the start. Regardless… I can’t help but think, if back then, I had… chosen a different path.”

Do you see the similarities?

a) They both present us with what’s on the line for them: their heartfelt connection to Eren. For Armin, it’s their shared dream that faded, for Mikasa it’s her romantic feelings that never came to fruition.

b) Both of them express a reluctant re-evaluation of their view on him.

c) Both chapters cover the same storyline of an emotional separation and Eren’s eventual run-away, albeit with different personalized backdrops; they both directly parallel each other about Eren writing home.

d) Both narrations feature Sasha as a symbol for how they feel like the path they took, felt “not right” to them.

e) They both express feeling like they had no say in the matter; that they had no choice...

f) .. and yet, they both express a nagging, lingering thought that maybe... just maybe, there could have been a different path.

If we agree that these similarities point to the chapters paralleling each other, it would stand to reason that they’d both need the same kind of treatment going forward. Both chapters put something on the line, and both open up the theme of “was this inevitable, or was there another path we could have taken?” They’ve presented a problem, which in fiction needs solving. The problem belongs to both chapters, and thus the answer also does. Now, perhaps the upcoming chapters will show us in convincing details how there was indeed no way to avoid this, because Eren was always headed down this bleak, hate filled spiral. In that case, neither chapter might need a follow-up, as Eren can indirectly answer that through theme and we’ll have our answer in his actions. But! If the coming events will provide us with this elusive “other path”, and the conclusion becomes complex to the degree that these chapters need a follow-up, I believe they’ll both have one.

So, is Armin an eligible type 2′er? Yes. Is he likely to have another type 2? ... It’s 50/50. Personally, I believe we’ll see another type 2 from him. But as type 2 isn’t the over-arching narrator, and the story can end properly without another type 2 of any kind, it’s not a given that we’ll see another one. If the narrator of type 1 is nobody - just a voice without a body - then it may indeed be true that Armin has narrated his last chapter. I don’t think he has. But it’s possible. ... If he’s not also the type 1 narrator.

Type 1: THE narrator. I said at the start of this that my aim was to find out whether Armin would narrate again or not. My initial worry was that since Mikasa was narrating the newest chapter, this meant she was the new narrator. It caught me off guard; I hadn’t been paying attention to the fact that there had been several type 2 voices – even less so that the type 2 voices were different narrators from the type 1 voice; I wrongfully assumed that the overarching story narrator, and these personalized digressions, were the same voice. Now that I know that type 1 and type 2 are separate roles, should that not answer – without a doubt – that type 1, remains the same: Armin? Well… With the narration discourse flaming back up, I’ve taken notice of some claims that Armin isn’t conformed as the type 1 narrator to begin with. As a matter of fact, @suniuz – someone I know to be a well informed and reliably source critical gift to our fandom – recently mentioned having remembered an interview with Araki, where the man gave an explanation for why he had chosen Marina Inoue for the voice of narrator. In other words, it may seem as though the identity of the narrator hadn’t been decided by Isayama, until the anime adaptation needed someone to voice the text. And even then, a) does this mean the choice of voice actor doesn’t have anything to do with the identity of the narrator; aka, the narrator is Marina Inoue, not Armin? And b) even if Araki’s choice influenced Isayama to decide it was Armin, does the fact that Isayama hadn’t already decided on this, mean that the identity of the narrator isn’t meant to play an important part to the story?

Now, I don’t have time to dig for this interview myself (if anyone knows of it, I’d love a source), but I want to address these arguments all the same. Because while “Armin voices type 1, hence Armin is narrator confirmed” could easily settle my question of “will he narrate again” (now that I see that type 1 and type 2 are separate, and that the type 1 narrator never did - nor likely ever will - pass hands), I still want to combat the obviously relevant argument that the type 1 doesn’t belong to anyone. Obviously, as Marina is cast to give voice to the type 1 text, we will at the very least, indirectly, hear Armin’s voice narrate again. However, I both want and believe that it’s not only Marina, but Armin, who is this voice. Here starts my analysis of why.

Armin as THE narrator: In SNK, there is a distinct “I”; a person, as type 1. The narrator, despite being mostly formal, does have a distinct emotional presence ala type 2: on several occasions, the narration includes unnecessary and/or subjective observations, such as “… the flowers had begun to bloom as the butterflies danced” (ch. 90), and poses questions (indicating a consciousness capable of wondering and/or rhetorical thinking), such as: “how did the humans who saw that sight feel?” (ch. 73).

Not to mention, there are explicit pronouns used: “we’d have four people ready with enough horses for everyone” (ch. 58), “the precise location was the Shiganshina district, south of wall Maria, where the titans broke through five years ago, and where the three of us had lived” (ch.12).

The instances where pronouns are used, the narration borders on type 2. Especially in chapter 50 (“…we didn’t know what Ymir’s actions meant”) and 58. It borders on type 2 to the degree that it’s questionable whether this is still the type 1 narrator at all. However, these instances stick out like a sore thumb, if they were to be placed in the type 2 category: unlike all the other type 2s, these are not explicitly attributed to one character, they don’t digress from the ongoing story drive, and nor do they have concrete beginnings and ends. In other words, they are injected into the story in the same kind of hovering, sparse POV as the type 1 narrator. Given that this happens several times throughout the story, I feel confident stating that this does not come across as unrefined narration that fell between two types before Isayama knew how he wanted type 2 digressions to work – but instead seems to be the type 1 narrator. After all, it cannot be explicitly attributed to any other role, nor would it have a strong place or point, if serving as anyone’s momentary additional voice NEXT TO the narrator.

This appearance of a personal “I” in narration, happens as early on as in chapter 12. SNK started its serialization in the monthly Bessatsu Shounen magazine in Semptember of 2009. If we consider SNK from then on being published monthly, this means that chapter 12 would have been published during fall of 2010 – almost two whole years before WIT studios was founded (June 1st 2012, according to Wikipedia). See where I’m going with this? Well: to me, this is a strong argument in favor of the narrator having been a specific person long before Araki decided whom to cast for the voice. Thus, him giving an explanation for casting Marina, other than “Armin is the narrator”, seems obsolete. My guess would be that it was an intentional avoidance of spoiling the fact that Armin is the narrator, without technically lying; for example: if his argument was that her voice was soothing for such a role, it wouldn’t be wrong – she does, after all, make for a comfortable narrating voice, generally speaking – it’s just not the only reason/whole truth.

Saying this, I believe that there has been a concrete identity for the narrator from the start. Furthermore, I believe that the identity of this periodical “I” speaker, is the identity of the narrator. So, who is the “I”? If it’s indeed an unchanged “I”, it’s either Armin or Mikasa: knowing from chapter 12 that the narrator is one of the EMAs (“where the three of us had lived”), it can be narrowed down to the two of them thanks to chapter 58, where the narrator expresses being part of a plan that only Armin and Mikasa from EMA, took part in. Other arguments aside, Araki’s own casting, will in this moment be reversed from an argument against Armin, to one in favor of him: why cast Armin’s voice actor, if the “I” is Mikasa? He wouldn’t.

I feel like I could close my little analysis here and sit comfortably on my beliefs – at least for the time being – but I want to keep going with some less concrete, more circumstantial evidence that, without being hard proof, perhaps still helps to swing the pendulum further in the favor of my above conclusion:

1. Armin phases in/out like a narrator. This is perhaps the least waterproof of my observations, but nonetheless the one I’ve been leaning on the most: Armin gives off the “feel” of a narrator – or more precisely: the one whose POV we’re meant to take. You may find everywhere, what you look for, but consider these:

a) Unlike in the anime, the manga doesn’t show the 104 bootcamp years until after the battle for Trost is won. The trainee years are a sudden re-winding in time – a big positional move in the story. So far, the story has been linear. Chapter 14 closes with the narrator taking over (the “end scene” being one where Armin is present) wrapping up how the battle for Trost was humanity’s first win against the titans… and the next thing we know, we’re sent back in time, to a scene where EMA are working in the fields. The scene’s main purpose seems to be that of showing how Armin’s upset with the MP’s population management. In other words, the scene is entirely Armin centric. It furthers his drive, his POV. From this scene, we’re segued into a wide shot of Armin presenting at bootcamp. In addition to this contextualizing why specifically HE (of all people) took the path of joining the military, this is also our introduction into this 4 chapter long bootcamp side-story; Armin’s the one we’re entering it through. If there is indeed a conscious narrator, it would make sense that the narrator is the one deciding where, how and when to jump in time, story-wise. They are the one telling it, after all; they’ll know when a jump in time and additional digressions is necessary for the context. Even more: would it not make sense that, with such a jump – given that it’s chosen by the narrator – the starting point of such a reposition, would be through the POV of said narrator (if not a type 2, which this wasn’t)? There is nothing concrete, like I said, but… it FEELS like Armin is the one whose eyes we’re seeing this transition and opening through. Aside from Eren opening several of the bootcamp scenes that follow, Armin is the only other lead who does this: in chapter 18, he’s the one who opens the last flashback scene: the jog-scene. Here, he’s the first one to be monologued about by Keith, and is thus furthered as an MVP.

b) Perhaps the most remarkable of these transitions, though, is the one in chapter 73: EMA are making their way back to Shiganshina – RTS to follow. At the end of Armin and Eren’s talk (the one about his eyes), Mikasa joins in about how she recognized the area, and Armin makes a comment about how “We’re back here…” Right here, the speech bubbles do something interesting: they go from regular dialogue, move into type 4, and then end on a type 5. This is yet another “feels to me like” example, but if you’ve gotten yourself acquainted with the types, perhaps you see it too: the way Armin talks, starts to sound a little synthetic if it’s supposed to be seen as regular dialogue, when he says “for the first time… since we ran away that day.” Eren and Mikasa both know it's the first time they’re back and that it’s the first time “since that day” specifically; telling them this in the way he does, feels redundant. This could be the mark of meaning lost in translation, but reading the entire work translated, Isayama isn’t USUALLY this synthetic, in my opinion. What more, this isn’t all there is to it: the redundancy is expressed in a scenery panel, removed from the speaker and carried away to a bird’s eye view. In other words, despite this initially seeming like regular dialogue spoken to two people right next time him, Armin’s words start to detach from him, and turn into type 4: informative monologue. This isn’t necessary, nor natural, unless the audience broadens; he’s talking to Eren and Mikasa, but we get the feeling that the words are starting to transcend into narration that we, as readers, also are hearing. We could still be on the fence about that, however, until the wide shot of Shiganshina, and the words “back to our home town” is presented as a clear type 5, in big letters, over it. Type 5 is a style Isayama has used explicitly for conscious narration. Thus, as these words - in this example - are either spoken by Armin or by the narrator, this cannot be type 6, which looks the same, but is subconscious thought. No, this is a clear indicator that Armin’s words turned into narration. Whether the narrator of the story chose to highlight what Armin said, for the sake of his (the narrator’s) own use or not, can be debated, however, the fact that this is supposed to be a narrating technique, is clear.

To me this is, therefor, another indication, that Armin is the narrator. 2. Armin journals We’ve all seen the picture. Armin taking notes in Eren’s cell. What, exactly, is he writing? The only time Eren type 2s, is when he’s talking about his father’s journals, at the end of chapter 85. It’s brief, and then the next chapter opens with Grisha’s journals narrating. The way Grisha’s type 2 phases out, is by the story returning to present time, where Eren is discussing Gisha’s memories with Armin, who’s writing something down. It’s clear to me that, in the very least, Armin is taking notes on Eren’s memories and how they correlate with what’s written in Grisha’s journals. Eren type 2ing in chapter 85, is apparently, the opening of him talking to Armin about all this, in his cell.

So what? Well, seeing as Grisha’s journals are already written, there is no need for Armin to re-write all of the information they already have gathered in Mr. Yeager’s notes. Armin is thus - like I already mentioned - AT LEAST, making original notes on Eren’s memories; how they support the claims of the journals, and expanding on the knowledge where Eren’s able to see more. A more creative take would be to say Armin’s writing his SNK narration right now, but even without that take, there is definitely something to take away from this: we’re being explicitly shown that Armin is either appointed, or voluntarily record-keeping. That’s a role he’s now explicitly shown to have. Let me reiterate: he is canonized as someone who naturally fits the role of re-teller.

3. Is this story oral or written? *It’s time for me to make a callback to this very early asterisk: “Type 1 [...] Presented in square speech bubbles*”. Above, I talked about how Armin’s words turned into a type 5 in chapter 73. So what? Well, aside from it being one of the types that are unmistakably conscious narration - making this an instance of narration, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this is THE narrator, because: at the beginning of SNK, the narrating voice, was not presented in its now iconic square bubbles: the beginning was, like the instance in 73, type 5:

This will have to be a wild guess - especially since Isayama’s narration types were a lot less refined in the beginning (though type 5 has been the most unwavering of the types), but I believe that the story of SNK is narrated, specifically, orally. The narration starts out being told in the type that throughout the story has been specifically spoken narration. More so - if connected - it has another instance of this use late into the story (73), which at this point means Isayama knows his types too well for it to be a mistake. This does, however, not discredit the argument above that Armin keeping records is a point towards him, because you’d likely need to keep things on record in order to remember the kinds of details that the narrator has been able to pull up anyway (not to mention that Armin still, with that chapter, is pointed out as a natural narrator type person). So while irrelevant to my initial question, I find it interesting to theorize that the story is being told verbally. I’m looking forward to see if it’s right or not. A second narrator? “God, will it never end? We get it, Armin’s the narrator”. Yes, yes, at this point, I don’t have much more to add. I’ve given my musings and then some. But I wanted to bring up one last point of interest before giving you some rest from this long ass meta: type 3. Thought I forgot? You see, type 3 is the dry information bit. I believe that in certain instances, where all the narrator says, is “Stohess district” or the likes, might actually be type 3 instead of type 1; especially when the narrator doesn’t add anything else. But in this case, where does this type 3 information come from? Is this a second, identity-less narrator (more like the author himself)? If so, what does that mean for the personalized type 1er? I don’t know... it’s worth comment on the varying degrees of personality the type 1-presenting pieces have. Especially when chapter 73 and chapter 90 are concerned; while the narrator becomes more personal in chapters such as 12, 50 and 58 - in 73 and 90, he becomes... more linguistically embellished. So while the first bunch can be challenged as perhaps type 2ers and not the main narrator, the second two (73/90), can - with their strangeness - perhaps point towards further proof that Armin is the narrator. namely, 73 is the chapter that opens up the Return arc - the arc in which Armin plays a big role and eventually gives his life. it would not be surprising if the narrator - if Armin - would have a more personally emotionally affected approach to this part of the story. The same goes for chapter 90 - the chapter in which Armin reaches his life long dream of seeing the ocean. In this chapter, the narrator remarks on things like how the snow falls and melts, and how the flowers bloom and butterflies flutter. In other words, the narrator seems more sentimental, or even enamored with the upcoming segment. What this has to do with type 3 is that, looking closely, we’ll see just how varying the type 1 narration is. So... is it possible that the instances of the narrator being more flat, is a different narrator altogether? If so, that opens up the can of worms that is: “the overarching narrative isn’t tired to one single entity at all, and is just a culmination of important contextual information, small clarifying comments, musings to spark curiosity, etc. Because there’s also this:

As well as:

... which almost seems to indicate Erwin and PIxis narrating these particular instances of the narration. It’s all up for debate - although, given all the evidence I’ve provided in Armin’s favor, I personally wager that these are casein in which the narrator summarizes information that Erwin and Pixis are talking about in such detail that it’s better to have a summary and jump in at the end of said speech, rather than having to sit through half a chapter worth of unnecessary details. There’s a couple more points of interest what type 1 is concerned, but at this point, there’s nothing concrete in either camp, and this thing is getting entirely too long. So I’ll leave you with this:

TL;DR: Will Armin narrate again? As an emotional narrator, not necessarily, yet it’s plausible. As the overarching narrator? If he is the narrator, yes, but... is he? I still don’t know. In conclusion, I don’t god damn know. I think so, but I don’t know.

#Armin Arlert #snk #snk 123 #snk meta #loooooooooong post #I had so much more to say but I'm so fed up with this now *sob*#If anyone actually reads this all the way through please time it and tell me how long it took you to read because holy hell

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billxharry · 6 years

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In which I write the majority of Mamma Mia! 3

@nilo2207 had sent a wonderful question about unused Abba songs that made me think of Bill and Harry, and mentioned liking to re-imagine them singing previous songs that didn’t belong to their characters, which I also love to do. I love this question, because I have actually given this some thought before (*way* more than I should have, admittedly, as you’ll see) and because I can’t just associate the songs with them, I have to imagine them being relevant to a plot with them singing them, so because of that I have *large* parts of the third movie all planned out in my little mind. Someone hire me immediately. 🤣

I will put a song list here, and if you’d like, under the read more cut, I will painstakingly explain the context I imagine them in.

(Firstly, apologies to Colin and Stellan, the second movie didn’t give them anything to really sing, so in my lovely imaginary movie, I do the exact opposite.😁 They get more songs than they would ever want.)

Songs we haven’t seen (technically, I am aware two appear on the soundtrack of the second movie, but were cut from the film, so if the scenes are released, I suppose those will get moved to songs I would like re-imagined.)

I Wonder (Departure)- Harry

Head Over Heels- Bill (this song would be reworked pronoun wise and a few lyric adjustments to fit with Bill)

I Know Him So Well (it’s technically from Chess but it can count, right?) Harry and Rosie

The Day Before You Came- Harry (and a new verse at the end written for Bill)

Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)- Bill and Rosie

The Way That Old Friends Do- Bill, Harry, Sam, Tanya, Rosie and Donna (in spirit, the same vein the second movie used her)

As for the songs I like to imagine Harry and Bill signing that went to other characters, I’ve fit them into my narrative, as a medley of sorts, calling back to the first movie-

Take A Chance On Me- Bill

Honey, Honey- Harry (one of my biggest needs is Harry singing this song about Bill, okay.)

Mamma Mia!- Bill,Harry,Sam,Tanya,Rosie and Donna

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do-Bill,Harry,Sam,Tanya,Rosie and Donna

Waterloo- Bill and Harry, Rosie and Tanya

When All is Said And Done- Bill,Harry,Sam,Tanya,Rosie and Donna

Dancing Queen- The entire cast

Songs that aren’t theirs, that I like to imagine them singing that I didn’t fit it to my narrative- Um, almost every song because everything revolves around Bill and Harry at this point in my mind😆

The original version of I’ve Been Waiting For You (I still really want this one, but the second movie made the reworked version so personal for Donna and Sophie that I can’t actually use it in my never to exist movie. )

The Winner Takes It All if I am feeling particularly angsty

I think that’s the songs, now on to plot. This post is already so long, this read more is going to make it ridiculous. Feel free to skip this. It’s literally fanfiction written in synopsis form? It’s odd.

Sophie needs help running the hotel. It’s become a stellar success after the re-opening, and new offers have come her and Sky’s way. She is finally at a place of peace with the hotel, knowing Donna would be proud, and is ready to take on new opportunities of her own, but with her having Donnie (I am not sure which way they spell it, Donnie or Donny?)she struggles to travel, take on new endeavors, run the hotel and raise a family. She asks Sam for a little extra help at the hotel, and when Sam mentions it, of course Bill and Harry vow to join him.(Dad hi-jinks with the three of them abound, of course, but I also like to think there’d be some depth to this plot, too.)

Yes, it’s your basic cheesy plot, but its Mamma Mia!, okay. I feel that’s acceptable. In this horrendously thought out summary, I will focus mainly on Bill and Harry’s plots, since this blog is focused on them and that’s what the question was in regaurds too. And let’s be honest, I’ve given them the majority of thought.

To actually get on to answering the questions, re: songs, if you’re still with me...

Harry has yet again gone back to his hum drum business world, but as we have seen in the first movie, and even more so in the second, he’s feeling more and more disconnected from that world, and as he ponders going to the island to help with the hotel, which he originally only planned to do for a week or so, he thinks of Sophie, and Donnie (Donny?) and Sam, and an extra emphasis on Bill (and here we’re clued in that Bill and Harry have indeed been together numerous times through out the years, but they’ve never broken up, because they’ve never officially been together) and after giving everything serious thought, Harry decides he doesn’t plan on coming back to London, to his lifestyle, for a good while this time, he wants to be where his family is. This is his spontaneous adventure. He is of course apprehensive, it’s Harry, but he decides it’s a risk worth taking, and he sings I Wonder (Departure) as he prepares to leave.

When we see Bill, also preparing to go to the island, we see he is in the opposite mind set of Harry. He’s not looking at this trip as a risk or an adventure, but rather the opposite, a chance to actually be grounded for a time. We discover he and Rosie have broken up yet again, but this time without Bill being at fault. He has no regrets about how their relationship went this time around, and thinks they can still be great friends. However, he sings a re-imagined version of Head Over Heels, subtly voicing his growing weariness of his lifestyle, and how he’s treated Harry. (His man is one I admire, He's so courageous, but he's constantly tired. Each time that he speaks his mind, He pats his head and says that's all very fine, Exert that will of your own, When we're alone, Now we better hurry. And with no trace of hesitation he keeps going.) Bill vows he will stay at the island longer than the week he had planned.

(Rosie and Tanya will certainly factor into this story too, of course. Sophie and Sky who are in New York, meet Tanya at Rosie’s launch of her new cook book, and after hearing some of the things Sophie had left in charge of the men (deciding how to a crucial suite would be remodeled, being in charge of food for a very prestigious event, the design plan of a new expansion, etc.) Tanya and Rosie decide it’s crucial to join them. Sophie argues in her dads’ favour, “But Harry has great taste.” “Bill is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to food!” “Sam literally designed the hotel in the first place!” But ultimately she realizes that Tanya and Rosie just want to be included, the hotel means a lot to everyone, and Rosie is obviously tired from the book tour, and Tanya occasionally shows the occasional crack in her usual demeanor. Sophie concludes that it would be best if they joined them, knowing they could all use the some of the magical atmosphere the island seems to offer.)

Things, despite getting off to a bumpy and highly amusing start, are actually going pretty well now for the Dads. There’s plenty of moments that showcase that instant friendship the three of them had, as they work through the mishaps, it’s obvious to see, especially in Bill and Harry, the contrasting and yet somehow complimentary way they work together. Harry’s particular ways of solving problems come into play during this time, much to everyone’s confounded amusement. After a particularly good day of being together, Bill decides to confide in Sam, who has somewhat of an idea as to what’s going on, that he wants to give a relationship with Harry a serious go.

As it happens, Harry of course overhears a part of the conversation, but misunderstands, as Harry and Bill so often do, knowing each other so well but somehow being so wrong, he falsely assumes Bill is certainly talking about the newly arrived Rosie. Rosie, who initially did think her and Bill would reunite, also manages to hear parts of the conversation, and concludes Bill is talking about someone else, and Harry and Rosie sing I Know Him So Well about Bill.

When Bill later tries to talk to Harry, he is uncharacteristically nervous, and is having a hard time saying everything he wants to say. Harry further misinterprets it to be about Rosie, and hurt, he confesses how much Bill means to him by singing The Day Before You Came, which Bill sings his own verse of to explain Harry had changed his life too, but Harry doesn’t hear it, as he’s already walked away.

Bill, who is now certain this is what he wants, berates himself for being a coward, when he and Harry had obviously wanted the same things. Now more determined and excited than ever to embark on this brand new adventure, he asks to talk to Rosie to clear the air once and for all. She confronts him about being in love with someone else, and when he confesses, she surprises him by asking if it’s Harry. He admits it is, and she admits she’s always thought there was something between them. Bill never opened up to her as easily and quickly as he had Harry, and never looked at her, or any of the girls she had seen Bill with, quite the same way as he had Harry.

He apologizes to Rosie for never being able to give her the life that she deserved, and she she admits she thinks she forced their relationship on Bill. They sing Dance (While the Music Still Goes On), and after they dance, Rosie chides him, Bill Anderson, of being afraid of anything, let alone Harry Bright of all people. Bill remarks he sees something in Tanya and Rosie that’s perhaps similar to Harry and himself. Rosie agrees that Tanya would be preferable to carbs and they laugh, this time parting amicably, as good friends with a kiss on the cheek.

As well as things have been going at the hotel, things suddenly seem to crash all at once, causing strain on all of the relationships. Bill is upset as Harry is now avoiding him, and as he snaps at Sam over something completely unrelated, somewhere in evolves into an argument with Bill stating Sam wasted most of his lifetime with Donna, something that Sam still struggles with. Tanya, who also knows about Bill and Harry (she told Harry she had seen the sexual chemistry from the beginning, and Harry, feeling she was a close friend, hadn’t felt the need to lie to her) makes a comment to Harry along the lines about there being other lays in the sea for him, and Harry chastises her about there being more to life than sex, especially at their age, something Tanya has secretly been acknowledging herself. Upset, she turns to Rosie and criticizes her for wanting to get back with Bill, not knowing they had broken up for good. The fights come to a head when Harry, once again having awful timing, had witnessed Bill kiss Rosie’s cheek, affirming everything he had thought to be true, at least in his mind, and his frustration at never being a factor in Bill’s life culminates in a huge disagreement between the two, despite Bill trying to tell him otherwise.

The usual magical feel of the island suddenly feels void, it feels no different than the reality all of them had been coming to Kalokairi to escape. Sophie and family return to find low spirits and everyone, despite their promises, planning to leave. Sophie pleads for them to reconsider, reminding them that they had all come to the island for something, and they needed to remember what it was. She leaves with the parting words that the magic never was the island itself, it was all of them finding each other and forming the family that they had. Her mom had brought all of them together, and she didn’t want to have that change just because Donna was no longer there to hold them together.

As they sit and look at one another across the room, they know that Sophie is right. Together they sing The Way That Old Friends Do. During the song Bill and Harry entwine their fingers, Rosie lays her head on Tanya’s shoulder, and Sam sings to the spirit of Donna.

As the song ends, and they all share quiet smiles, Rosie catches Bill’s eye and nods, encouraging him to go on. Bill takes a breath and begins to sing Take A Chance On Me. Despite reluctance at the very beginning from Harry, Bill can see the smile forming and Bill’s confidence grows as he continues to sing, knowing Harry is about to let loose. As as Bill sings, Harry transitions to taking over singing Honey, Honey with gusto, with Rosie and Tanya (and even Sam) joyfully jumping in as his back up girls. The group transitions to Mamma Mia!, the previous feel good feeling back in full force. Bill takes the transition again, changing the tune to I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, with their friends encouraging Harry to say yes to Bill’s proposal. Harry doesn’t need any encouragement at all, he is just trying to get his I do! in but the chorus and Bill keep interrupting him. He eventually grabs Bill and silences him with a very telling kiss, which leads to the transition of Waterloo, as they’ve finally surrendered to their fears and couldn’t be happier. As the joyous notes end, we get a final, touching moment of the beloved group singing the reprise of When All Is Said and Done, the song mimicking where all of the characters now stand. Sam sings to and with the spirit of Donna, who may be gone but the love, and the family, she gave to Sam remains strong, despite their short time of getting to be together and he doesn’t regret any of it. Rosie is no longer in a hurry to force a relationship, and she smiles at Tanya, knowing her best relationship will always be the one with her. Tanya, slightly worn but always dignified, acknowledges she can have her rousing lifestyle but have actual love as well. (And of course she is not too old for sex. She gets a whoop from Rosie, a suggestive eyebrow movement from Bill directed at Harry, and a bright blush and chuckle of acknowledgement from Harry.) Harry, ever the anxious man, is for once calm, and Bill, ever the man on the move, has no desire to run.

The end comes with the entire cast singing an encore of Dancing Queen, as it’s being danced to at Bill and Harry’s wedding, and a comment about how they are going to need to change the lyric of “only seventeen” to “only seventy” if they plan to continue singing that song is uttered.

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deitiesofduat · 6 years

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I was wondering if u can do a bunch of random facts/headcannons for the main cast?

Oh man, I mean, I’m happy to try, but I’m not sure where to start for the entire cast of 10… well, now 11 gods. I know have some that are scattered around the blog’s tags, and also in places other than tumblr, but It’ll take me a bit to find them or think of new ones without revealing spoilers, hmm…

So here’s what I’ll try that’s similar to the 1 Like 1 Fact meme I did on twitter a while ago: for every note this post receives, I’ll add a DEITIES-related headcanon or fact about the main cast. The main cast includes Set, Horus, Anubis, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Bastet, Sekhmet, Thoth, Ra, and nowwwww Sobek – and maybe the Set Spawn and the big bad serpent too, if relevant. You can add a note by +liking this post, and if you’re interested in learning about a particular deity, you can mention their name in a comment (and it’s not necessary to reblog this, unless you want to!).

This should help give me a bit more focus and time to think of some decent non-spoiler headcanons/facts to share. I’ll come back to this post in a few hours and add any many as I can, depending on the amount of notes it receives, and I’ll bump and place them under the cut for easy access. So yeah, go for it /o/!!

[1] Been playing with a headcanon where Horus’s Eye can see an object’s or person’s weak spots – though only for like, a moment once it’s activated, cuz I’ve wanted to avoid him being OP (but then again… he’s a literal god… so >>)

Also a related-headcanon where he can see a person’s past injuries thru his Eye too, including the hidden ones that have long-ago healed and left no visible scar. I’d like to draw the ones he “sees” on others one day if I keep it…

[2] Set is the only one of his siblings that doesn’t have an avian sacred animal, and for a while I wanted to keep it that way and literally keep him “grounded” compared to his family (sans Anubis). But I found that he’s sometimes also associated with crows (and falcons??? interestingly enough), and even though I haven’t found solid evidence of this yet, I also like the idea of him being associated with bats even before I read about it in Kane Chronicles I swear– So those 2-3 animals are probably some alternate animal form that he has but just rarely takes.

[3] Actually while I’m at it– aside from the Sha Animal, here’s a list of 30-ish animals that I keep as Set’s canon forms in DEITIES verse (based on a combination of historical speculation, recorded myths, and personal headcanons), and would love to eventually draw him as one day:

Aardvark, African Wild Ass (and Donkey), Giant Anteater, Baboon, Bat, Boar/Pig, Bull, Camel, Crocodile, Crow/Raven, Dog (some sort of sighthound?), Fennec Fox, Fish (Eel?), Gazelle/Antelope, Giraffe, Goat, Goose, Hare/Rabbit, Hippopotamus, [Spotted] Hyena, Jackal, Jerboa, Okapi, Oryx, Panther, Rat, Scorpion, Shark, Snake (Viper), and Zebra/Quagga.

[4] RELATEDLY… I REALLY REALLY like the idea of Set somehow acquiring a Thylacine form even tho it’s in no realistic way in the current timeline because thylacines weren’t native to Africa let alone Egypt. BUT… I JUST… THEY REMIND ME OF SHA ANIMALS SO MUCH o)——–

[5] When I was considering the color schemes for the main cast, I once briefly envisioned a purple/violet scheme for Nephthys, but decided to scrap it because (1) I wanted her colors to contrast with her sister’s and match a bit more with her husband’s and son’s and (2) I found that purple was nigh impossible to find in AE wall art and admittedly worried “maybe it won’t look authentic if I use those colors;;;”

Even though I’m happy with her orange/black/red scheme now, I’ve recently found that purple is a common association / kemetic UPG (or doxa?) with her?? SO THAT WAS INTERESTING… I don’t think I’ll change her color scheme for DEITIES, but maybe I’ll draw her in an alternate purple outfit one day to see how it looks on her >>

[6] One of the reasons why I like Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as their own casual friend group in DEITIES verse is that, because they’re all relatively young gods, they all share the experience/pressure of being measured up against their older royal relatives – Horus being seen as both his father and mother’s legacy and feeling the pressure to restore his family’s throne; Anubis being know for his infamous father, and even having his paternity questioned (via rumors and “myths”); and Bastet being the youngest of Ra’s daughter, sometimes being compared to her sister’s roles and achievements.

They’re all really good at masking any pressure they feel, but they also probably confide in each other about it more than with others, cuz they’ve all “been there.”

[7] Relatedly, one of the earliest version of DEITIES Project, before it was known as “Deities Project,” had Horus, Anubis, and Bastet as the main trio. That’s been changed “for reasons” since then, and their characters were quite different back then, but it might be fun to explore a story that focused on the 3 of them someday.

[8] Okay ya’ll know the part during The Contendings where Horus and Set are racing in stone boats and Horus “wins” by painting his wooden boat to look like stone? I have ideas for how that entire race happens in DEITIES verse that would be fun to explore as a side story, but in order for me to give Horus a “legit” way to win without outright cheating, he covers his boat with stone casing/accents, and after he wins and is confronted about it… well…

HORUS: “The rules we agreed on were to sail a boat made with stone. They said nothing about it needing to be made entirely out of stone.”SET: “…”HORUS: “ :)c ”SET: “…” *Internally raging*

[9] I’ve headcanon’d that Nephthys has her own set of ~7 Shabti who act as her personal assistants while she’s conducting her nightly duties, or working around her home, but I haven’t decided much more past that (still debating on how she acquired them, and if she more-than-likely named them…).

The concept and number were loosely based on how many of the other goddesses had their own sets of 7 as extensions of their power and/or control (7 Ribbons of Hathor, 7 Arrows of Sekhmet, Isis’s 7 Scorpions), and I thought it’d be neat if the Goddess of Service had her own Shabti that exemplified that part of her domain.

[10] Thoth is an avid lover of puzzles, trivia, and strategy games, and he’s also exceptionally skilled at games of chance. He doesn’t gamble or make bets often because he understands the risks, but when he does he tries to be calculative about it… and also has a natural knack for luck going his way (EX: That one game of senet that he won to help assist Nut with having her children… which is another story for another day)

[11] Ummmmm Isis is the only one of the main cast who I haven’t drawn a ref of her sacred animal form yet… or at least, not digitally. Her animal is the kite, but I’ve been debating on a while for what species to base her design on. I like the idea of her kite form looking like the Black-winged Kite, although those species aren’t native to Egypt… but some are native to Africa… and they’re so fricken pretty and they fit her colors so well so I might cave on this ffffffffffff–

[12] While we’re on the subject of sacred animals (and to help me get somewhat closer to the note count lmao I’m trying guys–), Horus’s falcon form is based on both the Peregrine falcon and the Lanner falcon, with more simplified markings for my own sanity when I draw him in dozens of panels.

At one point, I considered making his falcon form leucistic to contrast more with Anubis and Set, buuuuuut I also liked the brown colors on the falcons’ normal coloration, so I kept it. (That and more leucistic birds of prey are hawks, so… maybe for Khonsu tho if I don’t change him to an owl, hmmmm…)

[13] Okay continuing thoughts on animal forms, Bastet is able to shift her cat form into nearly any coloration or breed she desires (aside from her eyes, which remain green), but for the purposes of DEITIES I draw her as a brown cat with light gradation markings. I knew of the Egyptian Mau but also realized the spots would take a lot of effort to redraw in the panels where she appears as a cat (much like the spots on falcons for Horus). I also personally really like solid-colored coats on cats, and in particular I liked the coloration of the Havana Brown, so it may be a little less authentic but it did factor into her colors as well.

[14] I'm still debating on Sekhmet's main hairstyle and want to play with it a bit more -- not the arrangement per se but whether to keep it as locks or to make them more obvious twists -- or perhaps a combination -- since I can see her with both style at certain points in time. Either way, at full length Sekhmet's hair is very long: if she were to loosen her tie and let it fall, her longest locks would reach past her hips.

[15] I initially gave Set yellow eyes because even though he's often depicted with red eyes, I didn't want to over saturate his design with just... well, red -- especially in his animal form where his entire body is covered in red fur (red eyes + red sclera would have been, a lot). I like how his yellow eyes provide some contrast, and I've since found some story-related reasons where his eyes might play some role in the plot… but anything further might be spoilery 8')c

[16] It took me a while to settle on Osiris's "resurrected" skin tone because there were a lot of sources that describe his skin as being green, or blue, or black in coloration. I even tried them out in an earlier color test that I shared on patreon, but I eventually went with black since the color has had various meanings in Ancient Egypt that include both life and death. (It also gave me some opportunity to give green skin to Ptah and blue skin to Hapi to help vary the designs for each of those gods).

[17] Relatedly, Osiris's mortal form is a naturally dark skin tone, but following this death he can no longer appear in that form. He is also unable to travel to the overworld / realm of the living, though I'm still debating on how restrictive this is (if it's limited to his physical body or if he can split his soul under special circumstances, or with assistance). Regardless, most of his correspondence with other deities have to be arranged within Duat for this reason.

[18] I haven't made any plans to designate a spouse or romantic partner for Ra. I understand that there were a number of goddesses that were associated with him in the myths and often said to be his wife, but for that reason it was hard to settle on choosing one -- or multiple, and I realized that for the purpose of the main story it might not be necessary. I also kinda like exploring the idea of this high king and powerful creator deity who's also a happily single father, and where it's not for tragic reasons like the separation from or death of his spouse (not to knock that trope at all tho sdjfdsf). I'm not opposed to him being shipped with anyone though, I just don't think I've been inclined to do it myself lmAO;;

[19] RELATEDLY, while Ra's daughters (Sekhmet, Mafdet, Hathor, Serqet, Bastet) don't have a biological mother, I like to think that they were raised in an environment with a lot of parental figures and mentors to go around, aside from just their father. I haven't quite settled on how it was organized though, but I know that the daughters regard Thoth as something of an uncle/secondary dad (tho their dynamic with Thoth is can vary a lot from the one the have with Ra), as well as their teacher and mentor. I can also see where other gods like Khnum, Khepri, and Bes, and goddesses like Neith, Seshat, Taweret, Ma'at, and Mut, might also have played some direct mentor role in the daughters' upbringing and sense of self.

[20] (squick + implied nsfw) I uh… have this minor gag headcanon where Horus, Isis, and Osiris just don't eat fish. They just… don't. And it's entirely based on that one part of the myths after Osiris's death, where a certain part of Osiris's desecrated body ended up in the river and was swallowed by a fish 8')c (should be noted that I'm not saying that event did happened in DEITIES canon, but I'm also not disputing it either >>).

Apparently that was considered a bad omen, and I still find conflicting information on whether consumption of fish was taboo for some or all in Ancient Egypt (I think "for some" makes better sense, cuz why would an entire society that resides near the Nile river pass up on a perfectly available food source?? But I digress, I might need to review this again so take my thoughts with a grain of salt--). I also admit that I've seen it mentioned that fish are not ideal food offerings for Isis and Osiris?? and I can imagine that maybe Horus adopts the distaste for them as well. Either way, I go with the DEITIES canon that while most people and deities happily consume fish, Horus and his parents will not, and they don't enjoy it as offerings either.

I’MMMMMM gonna end it here for now cuz my headcanons have run dry for the time being, thank you guys!!

#// I'M SRSLY JUST blanking on new facts right now o)-----< but I wanna give this a try later after I make dinner in a bit #// I will… also see if I can make a tag for the headcanon-type replies since it seems that people are interested in them!#DEITIES asks #general asks #meme #Horus #Set #Anubis #Bastet #Nephthys #Ra #Thoth #Isis #Osiris #Sekhmet #headcanons

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radramblog · 3 years

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Album Discussion: ANThology (or: A return to my roots)

Those who have been with this blog for the long haul, or who’ve scrolled down all the way to the first couple posts, may recall that there is exactly one “album discussion” that existed before the daily postings you now know and love. That was the original intent for Me Blogging Online: to do weekly reviews of albums I had on CD. Like, if I got one done a week, it’d only take….four years… to get through all of them. Of course, the only one that actually got uploaded was for Hard-Fi’s Stars of CCTV, which is still a pretty good album.

That is not the first one I wrote, however. The first I wrote is a post that never made it beyond my own eyes. Actually I think I sent it to like one person, but it wasn’t in a completed form. I don’t have convenient access to that review anymore- I’m certain I only saved it as a sticky note on a laptop that may or may not still work- but I sure do have access to the album.

The fact that I haven’t listened to it since might indicate how I feel about it. Because this week, we’re getting a blast from the past in more ways than one- it’s Alien Ant Farm’s ANThology.

God help us all.

I will give AAF credit for one thing- naming the first album Greatest Hits and second one Anthology is exactly the meta shit I like when it comes to album names. I’ve said for a while that if I was ever a musician, I’d name my first album “Self-titled Debut” and the second “Underwhelming Followup”. When I was younger and disliked electronic music as a whole (because I was an edgy teenager) I also thought having an electronic instrumental named “Oxymoron” would be quite funny.

I wouldn’t expect much more praise for them, I’m afraid. Because this album is painfully mediocre early 00s nu-metal, and this is coming from someone who likes that stuff. Our first track, Courage, feels like an offcut from a mid-level Limp Bizkit album- the instrumental is fine, but nothing outstanding, and…look, I don’t know if Dryden Mitchell is a nice guy in real life or not, but it’s kind of hard not to come for his ass here. Because he’s really not a great vocalist. A lot of nu-metal was kind of about being ugly and whiny, and my mans just doesn’t hit either angle. Too clean for the genre but not good enough to succeed despite that.

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Our second track on the album is Movies, one of its three singles and by far AAF’s second most popular song. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the first one. This song feels much more like something you would hear on the radio back in the day- a cleaner version of the kind of sound these bands were known for, that’s acceptable enough for pop/hit stations to play. Because that was relevant in 2001, and I mean that without sarcasm. Honestly, I remember being kinda harsh on this song when I last listened to the album, but it’s mostly just…inoffensive. The lyrics are romantic in a painfully cheesy way, and the performance and instrumental are both functional at the level of a 00s rock track. It’s just…really forgettable. Its blandness is kind of its downfall, I’m afraid.

Speaking of blandness, I kinda have to skip the next few tracks. Because there is just so little to take from them. Flesh and Bone (Track 3) is at least trying to do something a bit more interesting in the instrumentation in the verses, with this staggered, staccato bit which isn’t bad, but lets it all go in the verse/bridge. Much like Courage felt like an unreleased LB track, Whisper (Track 4) has a bit of a Deftones vibe, but it just makes me want to listen to Around the Fur again Or just loop My Own Summer, because that song fucks, much unlike this album’s 5th track, Summer. And I have actual nothing to say about Sticks and Stones (Track 6). I always feel bad when I’m jumping through songs like this, but this is a genre I actively like, and yet these songs still manage to blend together into a generic sludge.

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So we’re going to reach the second single, Attitude. I actually really like the guitar melody this song opens up on, and the way it cuts back into just drums to begin the first verse. Genuinely, the instrumentation on this song is simple, trying to suit the more low-mood of the track, and it actually works. Unfortunately, considering it’s trying to be a more lyrics-driven, emotional track, this is where Dryden’s delivery really lets the whole thing down. If you don’t mind me ruining this entire album: he does a thing where he ends a lot of lines with a little “-ah”, and it’s really noticeable in this track’s chorus. And it gets extremely grating when you notice it. I’d genuinely like to hear a cover of this song, because I do think the non-vocal aspects are solid (well maybe the lyrics are a bit shite), but as it is, I can’t say I give this one a pass.

My plan was to cut ahead to the third and final single on this album, but there’s another song on here that randomly has more listens than Attitude despite not being a single- Track 9, Wish. You weren’t missing much on Track 8. Wish is at least an excuse to say another nice thing about this album and band- they’re clearly trying to do a bunch of different things within the space of the album. The guitarwork on Wish’s verses has that chugging tone reminiscent of System of a Down, and the track as a whole is definitely one of the better ones. The…bridge? I think? Is kind of godawful, though, if I’m honest. This is a track that I think needed a couple extra passes, and could have been great if it got them, but as it is is just kind of eh.

So all of this begs the question. Why the fuck am I talking about this album? I mean, it’s because it’s the first album I really ever wrote about, but beyond that- why did I write about it all that time ago? I think it actually might have been two years ago, when I decided to do that, and since then I’ve learned a lot about how I like to write about music, what music I like to write about, et cetera. But when I first started, I didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing, I was basically doing things on a whim. So why this album? Why Anthology?

Well, that’s because of Track 12, which I guarantee you’ve heard before. And if you haven’t, then I’m so, so fucking glad I get to introduce you to this.

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That’s right, these guys are the ones who did the Smooth Criminal cover. And they own that shit. It’s the most popular song they’ve ever done by an order of magnitude, two orders more popular than the album as a whole, and the one-hit-wonder that brought them up and brought them low.

The difference between this cover and the rest of the album is utterly jarring. Smooth Criminal was always a very good, very funky song, but this translation has such an incredible bouncy energy that it’s hard not to get into it. And I can tell you right now that nothing else on the album sounds like this. It’s kind of surprising- like you’d think a band’s one cover would be roughly in the same style as the rest of their work, but while this is undoubtedly a Nu Metal Smooth Criminal, it just has a power and swagger about it that would have been lovely to see for the rest of it.

I guarantee if you’ve heard of this band it’s because of this cover. It’s how I knew about them. If you want a more big-brain analysis of the whole thing, probably check out Todd in the Shadows’s video about the track, because it’s better researched and more nuanced from someone with more music knowledge than I. But what I can tell you is that it’s clearly the best track on the album, and it’s not particularly close.

And that’s the album. Well, no it isn’t, there’s still Universe and the bonus track, one of the few I can remember where Spotify doesn’t just separate it out from the last song. Universe is actually pretty okay, surprisingly grim-sounding which I do like, and the hidden song (“Orange Appeal”) kinda sounds like a remix of something from the Left 4 Dead 2 soundtrack. But It might as well be the end of the album. Like, Smooth Criminal is why we’re all here, right? I suppose putting it so close to the end was a good move to make people actually listen to the album, but you do risk people zoning out through the album’s dregs.

Anthology is kind of the ur-example of a one hit wonder band’s album that…kind of deserved it. A lot of the time, you find a one hit wonder, and it’s like dang, they’ve actually got some really good stuff that deserves time in the spotlight (e.g. The Veronicas, The Raconteurs arguably Franz Ferdinand), but Alien Ant Farm…kind of aren’t one of them, based on this. I think it is extremely telling that the most recent output by the band- a 2020 single that’s the first new music from them since a 2015 album that isn’t even on Spotify- is another cover, of Wham!’s Everything She Wants. It’s decent? Like, better than most of Anthology easily.

The long and short is, you can probably miss this album completely with the exception of Smooth Criminal and be completely fine. Even if you are into this genre, you can probably miss it, unless you’re really hunting for new material. It’s a forgettable album, unfortunately, which isn’t great when it contains your one hit track.

And yet I think this is still less harsh than I was the last time I wrote about this record. I remember jumping around a lot more, and going in way harder on the vocals. I remember slagging off the actual album cover and lyrics booklet (it’s real bad!), because the idea was I was talking about the whole CD package as well as the music. But I also remember not having as much to compliment, so I suppose maybe I’ve matured a bit. I’d like to think that. Maybe at some point I’ll try and dig up the old original ramble, but for now, I’m happy for this to be my final word on Alien Ant Farm.

#ramble #music #nu metal #alien ant farm #anthology #its fine?

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orionsangel86 · 7 years

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13x01 - Episode Review - Part 2

"Nougat Winchester” and narrative mirrors in 13x01

It has taken me forever to finish this part of my review to the extent that we have already had another episode before I finished it! But rather than curse my inability to focus I’m gonna press on and complete this before I start my 13x02 review.

Ah Jack, Jack our little nougat Jack. The way the fandom has embraced you is very touching. The internet screams of “PROTECT HIM” certainly show that Alexander Calvert has done an exceptional job of “pulling a Misha” and making us fall in love with him by the end of his first scene. I was not expecting that one bit.

I’ll be honest and say that over the hiatus I haven’t paid too much attention to him. I did read some of the meta and speculation that @tinkdw and others put out there, but it was never really something I focused my thoughts on. I figured he would be another character that would test the team free will dynamic and would be a good avenue for the writers to comment on the concepts of nature vs nurture. I remember reading some speculation once the episode titles first came out about “The Scorpion and the Frog” and anyone who knows that story knows very well that the title itself foreshadows Jack going darkside – to his own potential destruction. (The scorpion, in carrying out its own “nature” and stinging the frog that carried it – not only doomed the frog, but doomed itself as well.)

Jack has officially won me over though. He was a charming innocent and funny character, and I think his interactions with Clark brought a lot of light to an otherwise terribly angsty and painfully heart breaking episode. (#bringbackClark2k17)

But what really blew me away was how both Jack AND Clark were such OBVIOUS mirrors for Dean and Cas and to a lesser extent to Sam. It amused me to no end. Therefore this review will focus on those mirrors, and what they mean.

Long post under the cut

Jack is a narrative mirror of Team Free Will

This is the important thing to remember. He is all of them, and will have aspects of all them characterised into his personality as we continue to get to know the character in the coming episodes.

I am sure that there are already thousands of words of meta on this topic (since I’m over a week late to the game) but I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring anyway.

The most obvious mirror we get from Jack is for Castiel. I have said already that Castiel was all over every single scene of 13x01. That Dabb didn’t want the audience forgetting him for a second. (thank you Dabb you wonderful man). I have already seen the many gifsets floating around comparing all of Jack’s “Cas” moments to the original famous Cas moments in the show - and we know that this carries over into episode 2 as well.

Firstly, we can see immediately in the way Jack is dressed that he is coded as a Cas mirror:

Look at the tan jacket, the pale blue shirt, visually he is already a mini Cas. Remember they could have dressed him in ANYTHING. They chose a tan Jacket and pale blues. They chose these colours because this show has a visual library and certain things always mean certain things. Put someone in a tan coat or jacket and they are a Cas mirror. This is how these things work.

(the bulls horns hand symbol does however have Lucifer connotations which ties him to his biological father whether he likes it or not - but more on that when I go on about signs and symbols).

Probably the most “Cas” like moment in this episode was this one:

(x)

Poor baby is just as literal as his dad:

(x)

But there are many more. The constant confused expression for starts:

(I’m still waiting for the moment he actually does the head tilt as we all know it’s coming)

The scene with the candy was delightful - and gave him the fandom pet name of “Nougat Winchester” which I have stolen from Lizzy as my new tag for him because its so fitting.

(and we like you sweetheart)

(on that note - I did find it interesting that Jack isn’t able to answer the Sheriff when she asks him for a last name. Surely he knows his mother’s name was Kline? Why didn’t he give her that? We were all calling him “Jack Kline” over hiatus, but now it doesn’t seem like its the case - personally I think this is because he will indeed get “adopted” as a Winchester and will use the surname at some point in future - probably in front of Lucifer causing a hell of a lot of anger. God knows the show has pointed out enough times over the past season that Castiel is a Winchester - leading to mainstream media giving him the last name:

Why yes I did add my destiel adjacent quiz results to meta about Jack. I have no regrets. :P

Anyway, as I was saying Jack is a huge Cas mirror, and his adorably gluttonous love of candy was a call back to:

Perhaps we can once again talk about angels and addiction and how this may affect Jack? Because they really don’t have the self control that human’s do (even though Cas was affected by famine at this particular moment).

So why is Jack a mirror for Cas? Well this is probably the first clue:

I screamed the first time I watched this moment. I think we all expected it to remain subtextual. We all know that this season will explore the role of fatherhood and how it affects each character, but this was so much more than we were expecting. Jack is a Cas mirror because he has majorly imprinted on Cas from the womb. He is first and foremost a Cas mirror because Cas is on his mind from the moment of his birth, and this reveal confirms it. Every question of “Father?” that he says so ominously in the first part of the episode is directed at Castiel. It is Castiel he was looking for, not Lucifer.

I did say that Castiel was in every second of this episode, forcing the audience to continuously remember him and his importance - and this moment made me jump for joy.

The way the episode continuously plays with the audiences expectations is really interesting. They want us to assume the worst of Jack, but each time he surprises us by delighting us with some adorable Cas like thing. Jack says “I’m hungry” and we are supposed to feel uneasy about that because just 2 seasons ago we had another very hungry powerful child who fulfilled her hunger by eating human souls. We are supposed to worry about Clark in that moment, and to follow the Sheriff down the darkened halls and flickering lights terrified of what Jack has done - but he is sitting there cross legged on the floor with Clarke surrounded by candy wrappers and proclaiming how much he likes nougat. Its a lovely moment and it forces the audience to change their minds completely.

When Jack reveals that he thinks Cas is his father, our reaction is much the same as Sam’s, but we fall for him just like Sam does, and it sets the season up nicely because for once the audience is NOT supposed to be on Dean’s side here. (I’ll talk about this more in my review of episode 2 where it is more relevant but basically, we are supposed to feel sorry for Dean because we know that he isn’t seeing things clearly. We are supposed to root for Jack and be on Sam’s side in all this, and to see Dean as a character shrouded in a deep grief and anger)

I love that they made it textual that Cas is the father. (major flashbacks to 11x06 right now though)

“Jenny, he is not ready to be a father!”

I’ll continue jumping for joy over this as the season goes forward, but for now I want to talk about how Jack is also a mirror for Dean. Because he is and it again, wasn’t subtle.

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A young boy on a quest to find his father, to have to accept the death of his mother right at the start, and who is forced to grow up far quicker than he should? Yeah that sounds about right.

Whilst Dean and Jack seem at odds with each other from the start, they are both set up as mirrors in their joint grief for Castiel. That heart wrenching moment at the end of the episode where Dean is wrapping Castiel’s body for the pyre comes only moments after we get to see Jack’s own grief for his mother so touchingly portrayed as a grip to her covered foot. Both Dean and Jack are only shown touching the feet of those they lost, there is probably some deep symbolic meaning to that linked to Christ and washing the feet of his disciples or something but I’ll leave that meta to someone far more versed in bible lore than me.

We know that in episode 2 the Dean parallels get much stronger, with Dean being the second Winchester (after Cas) that he imprints upon. I’ll talk about this in my episode 2 review, and instead leave this here. Jack is Dean for his grief, and his ties to humanity, and how he has been robbed of his childhood. I am interested to see how they go about keeping Jack innocent. He is in the body of a man, but his mind is still so childlike. I hope that he becomes a symbol for Dean’s own innocence in a theme started in 12x11.

Finally, the one touched on the least in episode 1 but probably the most significant to Jack’s own arc going forward - Jack as a mirror for Sam.

What so far is probably the least obvious in terms of mirror’s is actually the most obvious in terms of story lines. There is a reason Sam so desperately wants to believe in Jack, believe that he is good and can do good things. Because Sam has been in this situation himself.

Sam’s entire early series arc was about fighting the darkness inside himself, fighting against his own dark powers that came from a place of evil, and resisting Lucifer’s pull. Sam’s been there. So of course Sam is rooting for the kid. Sam and Jack have the biggest connection in terms of their connection to Lucifer. Sam immediately tries to see things through Jack’s point of view. Yes, he’s not as tied down with grief and anger as Dean is - Sam hasn’t just lost the love of his life (though the deancas parallels to SamJess are very strong throughout 12x23 and 13x01 as well).

Sam still has hope, because he see’s himself in Jack. He knows he managed to resist that dark power, and he has faith that Jack can to. I expect the Sam/Jack mirrors to come through far more strongly in episode 3 when we see them interacting together without Dean there to cause conflict, so it will be interesting if we get to delve more into Sam’s past and trauma this season, as it’s about time the show focused on his issues around Lucifer.

Clark as the exposition for Cas’s return... among other things

I could talk for hours about Jack and everything he stands for, but right now I just need to add this about Clark, because boy did he pull focus. In an episode so heavy with grief and full of reminders of Castiel as well as establishing Jack into the audiences mind, Clark comes out of no where and almost steals the show (almost).

When we are introduced to Clark only 5 minutes into the episode, he is mucking around with the menu changing every item into something ‘butt’ related. I could meta on this but tbh its so very on the nose that I don’t think it’s needed. You all know exactly what Burgers and Butts are making us think of. Its juvenile but its hilarious (my personal favourite is the salty butt combo - a bit of salt is a good thing especially in destiel fandom!).

So skipping past those obvious jokes, what interests me most about Clark is this:

“He’s fired me like seven times... and I keep coming back.”

Look at this face! Dark hair, Blue eyes, extremely charming? Hello Cas mirror!

also:

4x22 - Killed by Raphael

5x22 - Killed by Lucifer

7x01 - Killed by returning the souls (Dean thought he was dead before he healed himself)

7x02 - Killed by Leviathan

8x02 - Left for dead in Purgatory

9x03 - Killed by April

12x23 - Killed by Lucifer

At this point in the show, Dean has watched Cas “die” seven times. I don’t think the above was an accident.

The fact that Clark then says “Around here, I’m untouchable” is kind of hilarious. Since Clark later gets stabbed with an angel blade - AND SURVIVES.

However for the rest of the episode, Clark is so much more of a Dean mirror, to Jack’s Cas mirror. Clark shows Jack his humanity. He makes Jack happy enough for his powers to make the lights flicker (honestly if this doesn’t make the whole grace orgasm blowing out the lights head canon real I don’t know what does). He feeds him candy, jokes around with him, and is generally such a playful and charming character that we can’t quite help but associate him with Dean.

I love how Clark’s mum the Sheriff tells the police officer that “There’s no such thing as weird, everyone is normal in their own way” because isn’t that just a massive shout out to anyone who is slightly ‘different’? All of us who identify with this show about the ‘weird’ things because we are a little bit weird ourselves? Whose to say what is normal and whats not?

What I love about this line is that it backs up my claim that the show is trying to prepare the audience in a way for things they may not expect... especially the part of the audience that watches for macho men, guns and death - the Republicans, the dudebros, the right wingers, the assholes who think that to fit in in this world you have to fit into some idealistic little box. Well, believe me this show has a few surprises in line for those people. I can’t wait for it to all come to a head.

Team Free Will

Ultimately, what 13x01 has shown us is that Jack is a combination of ALL of team free will. He is his own person of course, but he shares elements and traits with all of them. I think it’s so fitting that so soon after Dean’s memorable speech to Cas in 12x19:

“You, Me, and Sam, We’re just better together. So now that you’re back, lets go Team Free Will”

In which Dean brought this term back for the first time in canon since it was used in 5x13, do we now have a character who is the embodiment of all three of them. For me, it seems that this was intentional and that Dean’s words really were the truth - that once Cas comes back, all three of them will be able to save Jack from himself, along with any other nastiness that comes their way. It is my absolute belief that the moral of season 13 will be that Dean, Sam and Cas need each other, and need to work together in order to defeat whatever evil comes their way. Jack is proof of that. How he mirrors all three of them, and is at this point in time, internally divided:

He has Cas’s innocence, naivety and endearing curious nature, as well as his angelic power.

He has Dean’s humanity, his desire to be good, and a need to reach out to people and bond with them.

He has Sam’s inner darkness, linked to his emotions and leading him to question his own monstrous nature. His struggle between his own inner good and evil.

When these three sides of him conflict, it will cause problems. Just like how conflict between Dean, Sam and Cas is usually the primary cause of disaster in the supernatural universe. Jack’s fate, and his ability to control himself and his opposing sides, is intrinsically tied to Team Free Will themselves coming together and actually working as a team once again.

And I bloody well can’t wait to watch this story play out.

#supernatural #spn meta #jack the nephilim #nougat winchester #episode review #13x01 #season 13 #spn spoilers #dean winchester #castiel #sam winchester #destiel #mirrors and parallels

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seraphicwiing · 4 years

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is: canon / oc / au (I have one AU which can be read here!) / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated? YES / NO.

Were they relevant to the main story? YES / NO.

Were they relevant to the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. (He’s a damn HERO!)

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. (ALL OF THE ABOVE >:D)

How strictly do you follow canon?

For me it’s a little weird since I originally intended this blog to be just about Sephiroth from Crisis Core to FF7 and Remake. But as I grew around the blog and began writing with more people, I felt the need to just fill in all of the blank canvas that was Sephiroth’s past. So I guess you could say I do follow canon to a certain extent? But 55% of my stuff is not considered canon and are just things I’ve added to add a little spice to my son! But yeah, canon wise I follow Remake as my main verse which considering the theories may just be the same Sephiroth we’ve known for the last 20 years.

(Placing under a cut from here on out, I don’t want to make your dash messy)

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutual.

Okay, I don’t know how long this is gonna be but I hope I can get through all of the topics I wanna talk about without looking like I’m waffling. Firstly, a lot of people seem to forget that Sephiroth wasn’t just a monster, Messiah Complex psycho. Before his downfall, he is shown to be a kind hearted and gentle warrior, he had a heart and had support from his friends throughout the entirety of his military career. He was genuinely happy.

If you’ve seen the clips of him in Crisis Core, I want you to pay close attention to Sephiroth’s facial expressions before Nibelheim. He has a natural smile, he’s calmer and more relaxed, his face is clean and no bags at all underneath his eyes and his hair is more well kept and tidy compared to his more deranged and haggard look in Remake. He tells Zack to take care and genuinely treats him as if he’s known him for years once they get close. Sephiroth clings onto his allies as if they were his own family.

There are so many factors to consider when it comes to Sephiroth’s eventual descent into madness, it wasn’t just the books and reports underneath ShinRa Manor that drove him insane. While it played the biggest major factor in it all, other events still have to be considered.

Genesis who became an actual IDIOT of a person tells Sephiroth that he was a monster. A man that he saw as his older brother, a close friend and comrade swooping in with the intention of using Sephiroth just to heal his degrading body asks for his help but not before legitimately TEARING into Sephiroth’s birth. It was insulting and incredibly disrespectful seeming as at that point Seph had already seen the failed experiements and JENOVA’s chamber. It all came in a huge wave all at once, and the ShinRa Manor discovery only served to be the final nail in the coffin. His entire life, a mere lie.

When he goes insane, he’s ruthless. He’s scathing. What remains of the old Sephiroth can only be seen from his brute strength and his skills with a blade. He will end you if you even so thought about trying to stop or question his ideals but not before toying with you mentally. He will break you, one way or another and he won’t stop until you are either.

It is honestly one of the most heartbreaking things watching a good man who appeared to be fine physically, but mentally was so incredibly fragile. Deep down, he always felt detached from people even with the friends that he made. He tried so hard, but his mind was weaker than his body. He was consumed by Rage and an eldritch monstrosity whispering things in his ear.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).

Maybe the tragic villain is something that’s played out too often? It’s definitely a trope that’s used quite a lot in media and Final Fantasy is no stranger in using it a lot in most of the main line games. Maybe people wanted more from Sephiroth that he just didn’t have character wise.

I don’t know, I just feel as if some people might not like his motivations. I put it down as his mental state being so damaged from all the wars, the loss of his friends, and the cold hearted reality of his origins drove him insane but surely his rage could’ve been diverted to the true culprits which was just ShinRa? For someone so strong why did he succumb so easily? Did Nibelheim really have to be burnt down? Could he have been sensible about it? Probably. But his mental psyche was utterly destroyed.

What inspired you to rp your muse?

My inspiration to play this muse honestly stems from my love for roleplaying villains. Sephiroth in this case was quite a unique specimen because of how many paths you could take your portrayal in. This character is easily one of the most complex I’ve written mainly because he’s two characters in one and both Sephiroth’s before and after Nibelheim are completely different. I honestly love the contrast. Like I’ve always wanted to muse him, but anxiety and worry that I wouldn’t be good at portraying him really took a dampener on my wish. Until now.

I love Sephiroth so much, everything about him just gels well with me. I get to write a hero and a villain. A kind hearted man and a psychopath. I get the best of both worlds. He’s such a flawed and tragic character and I just love exploring his psyche.

What keeps your inspiration going?

I have a playlist dedicated to Sephiroth that I smetimes listen too when I’m writing, I always try to rewatch particular scenes from specific games that he’s involved in to get into the muse. For example, pre Nibelheim I watch the Genesis vs Sephiroth vs Angeal fight and post Nibelheim I watch scenes from Remake. I also like to look up art and musings for Sephiroth, it definitely keeps the muse chuggin’!

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO. (According to my mutuals and friends ;u;)

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO.

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO.

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO. (Sometimes I doubt myself, it honestly depends. These feelings can be pretty sporadic)

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO. (Same reason as above)

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

I always accept criticism if it’s constructive, I will always ask for it when needed because I really do want to improve and make sure that my portrayal is as perfect as possible, but if you come to me spouting hate about the way I portay the character please don’t. Respect my portrayal, critique where applicable.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?

100% yes. Send development questions at me, I love them.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

You are entitled to your opinion. I don’t care if you disagree with my headcanons, I don’t care if you disagree with my ships. I am here to have fun, and my intentions are for you to have fun with me. But if said person disagrees, why bother following me or reading my stuff? The door is open for you to leave, you can find another Sephiroth that appeases you.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

A similar answer to the one above. My portrayal is my own, and I am proud of what I have achieved so far and the interactions I’ve had, and the ships that I have planned out on here. I love it so much and if they disagree with that, then they can unfollow me. Hell, if they want too, block me. They’re entitled to their opinion as long as they don’t flaunt it around. Just don’t be a dick about it tbh?

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it

More power to them, hate Sephiroth all you want I won’t indulge these petty arguments about how Kefka was a better villain. I’m just gonna slurp on the salty tears and relax while writing about my favourite heartless boy.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

I am always okay. I have a habit of never proof reading my stuff before I send it so my grammar is all wnky and over the place. I always want to improve as a writer and continue to grow as one, we can do this together should you wish <3

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?

I like to think I’m very easy going, I’m quite a shitlord when talking OOC. If you don’t mind me thirsting over my muse than we’ll get along just fine. I’m perfectly open for chats and whatnot, I’m a good listener. Sometimes I do end up being pretty clingy though, soooo... Let me give you hugs all the time.

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

#;— WITHIN THE LIFESTREAM (ooc)#(im tired now after this)#(i rewrote this multiple times to make sure it looked good but idk)#(i feel like i've poorly conveyed myself in this hahaha!)

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firecoloredwater · 6 years

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Where would Tarma fit in in a HP/Valdemar crossover?

Oh wow I have no idea. So uh… I’ll ramble through my logic until I have an idea, I guess?

(This got... longer than planned. So, under the cut.)

I’m assuming this is a Valdemar characters in the Harry Potter setting crossover, which I’m honestly not that great for because I stopped reading Harry Potter after about the fifth book. I do however know that everything JK Rowling said about magic outside of Europe is best ignored, and I should not be making up headcanons about Native American magic any more than JK Rowling should, so… I guess we’ll assume that Tarma is in England for whatever reason because that’s the best I can do.

If we’re paralleling her Valdemar backstory, I guess Tarma was the only survivor of a massacre by the Death Eaters? She and her family (at minimum; extended family? Tribe? I really don’t know what would be the best equivalent of Shin’a’in clans, especially when including the ‘literally everyone was traveling together’ part in necessary, but certainly everyone Tarma knows well) were visiting Britain, Death Eaters found them, massacre happens. I’m not sure how she survived exactly, but it probably was not because the Death Eaters wanted her to.

To fit into the Harry Potter verse, I’d say she’s 9 or 10 when this happens, and… I have no idea what magical Britain does with orphaned magical kids with no known family. She… probably isn’t sent to a muggle orphanage? If nothing else she can’t be, because then she’d probably be sent back to the US and also the wizards would have to explain why she’s in Britain to begin with to the muggles, so I guess I’m going to assume there’s a magical orphanage that she goes to.

(Probably she should go back to the US and… I don’t know any more specifically than that. But there’s at least five different levels on which I don’t know what would happen and definitely should not try to guess. So for whatever probably bad reason, she stays in Britain.)

And… well, the thing is, she doesn’t go to Hogwarts. I’ve seen stuff about a Quill and a Book and I think the point of that post was actually about wands somehow but the relevant bit that I remember is: you have to have a certain amount of magical power to go to Hogwarts, but you also have to be born in Britain. The decision about whether a kid goes to Hogwarts is made when that kid is born, and only kids in Britain are considered. Tarma was not born in Britain, so while she may well have the power for it, she’s not going to Hogwarts.

The other thing is, Tarma in the Harry Potter verse doesn’t have quite as obvious a path and goal as she did in Valdemar verse. If there’s an equivalent to Swordsworn (again: things I don’t have the knowledge to guess at), she’s physically separated from it. (The same applies for whatever would be equivalent to reviving Clan Tale’sedrin, if there is one.) Her target for revenge would be Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but before Tarma can grow up enough to do anything about them Harry Potter happens, Voldemort is presumed dead, some Death Eaters are sent to Azkaban and the rest vanish quietly back into society. No target.

So Tarma has a whole lot of rage and nowhere to really direct it, is what I’m saying.

I think she eventually settles on being an auror, largely for lack of a better option. And she doesn’t get a Hogwarts education, but, well, the impression I get of Tarma is that she has never precisely been the sort to let reality tell her no. She takes whatever education witches who don’t go to Hogwarts get (another school? Tutoring? Doesn’t matter), learns everything she can, and is a bit… intense. She has at least a few casual friends, I’m sure. But her studies are the priority and honestly she probably freaks people out a bit, especially when it comes to dueling.

Tarma is absolutely the witch who will A: punch you in the face in a wizard’s duel if that’s the most efficient way to win, and B: always know if that’s the most efficient way to win. The other kids are… not interested in dueling Tarma, as a general rule.

Does this wizarding orphanage have access to martial arts training? I suspect not, which is a shame. If it does, Tarma is definitely studying that too.

“Tarma and Hermione would get along great” is not what I planned to say, but it’s apparently what I am saying, so if or when they meet there’s that.

Anyway, Tarma grows up and graduates and… well, once again I’m limited to Tarma in magical Britain, so we’re going to handwave the whole citizenship thing. Maybe magical Britain is much more willing to give citizenship to kids who grew up there, or maybe Tarma had multiple citizenships to begin with, or maybe wizards don’t even bother with legal citizenship and passports to begin with. Handwave, handwave.

Point is: Tarma grows up and goes into the auror training program. This is probably not easy if you did not attend Hogwarts, but that is not going to stop Tarma. Moody loves her. She’s probably not as cautious as he’d like, though. If she did not have access to martial arts training growing up, she starts seeking it out now.

It’s also somewhere around this time that Harry Potter enters his first year at Hogwarts.

And, well, Tarma doesn’t really have a connection to Hogwarts. She probably doesn’t hear about the Quirrel thing, unless it’s through vague third-hand rumors. She probably does hear a bit about the Chamber of Secrets, but that’s still second hand rumors.

She pays attention when Sirius Black escapes Azkaban. She probably tries to hunt him down, although of course she doesn’t succeed.

She’s furious about the Death Eaters at the quidditch world cup, but probably wasn’t present on account of she would’ve killed a Death Eater and that might’ve derailed some things. She is one of the people who believes Harry Potter when he claims that Voldemort is back after the Triwizard Tournament, although it’s about 50% based on evidence and 50% because she really wants to kill some Death Eaters.

All that undirected rage is… uh. Well. She’s better at handling it now. She’s not constantly angry or anything. If a Death Eater chooses to put himself in front of Tarma’s wand and/or fist, though, there is not going to be a lot left, I think. Letting vengeance stew for a decade or so and then giving it a righteous target that’s threatening children will do that.

I have a fuzzier idea of exactly what happened in the next few books, but: Voldemort becomes more active. The Ministry tries to deny and/or hide this, while also becoming… well, we all know about Umbridge. Tarma’s not happy with any of this. She was always a dedicated-by-which-we-mean-obsessive worker anyway, Tarma tracking everything the aurors do and looking for patterns and things being hidden isn’t new.

I’m not sure at what point exactly she starts sabotaging the Ministry, but that’s a thing. It’s not a thing that lasts long, because Tarma was never going to be on the Voldemort Ministry’s list of favorite people. But there is some sabotage for a short time.

There is also a witch named Kethry who might be an Unspeakable, and also a rather explosive escape from the Ministry. Explosions… probably count as sabotage. Tarma and Kethry certainly disrupt some things on the way out.

And then there’s a war to fight, and then the war ends. Tarma and Hermione meet at some point, after the war if not during.

And from there, who knows. Tarma’s I think in her late 20s now; she probably goes back to being an auror. She’s good at it, and aurors are needed, and even if protecting people wouldn’t have been her life dream in another life it’s important to her in this one. She stays friends with Kethry. Eventually she starts teaching auror trainees; one of these is eventually Kerowyn, although in this world Tarma probably helped raise Kerowyn and taught her self defense as a toddler.

(Kerowyn will also punch you in the face in a wizard’s duel. To be honest by the time Kero gets there it probably counts as a family tradition. There’s no way Tarma didn’t at least try to teach Kethry to punch.)

I’m not sure what happens exactly. Maybe Tarma has her own family, since there’s no Swordsworn magical ace celibacy thing going on in this verse, but if so her family and Kethry’s family are basically the same extended family anyway, because you can’t pry my implied badass women with polyamorous relationships out of my cold dead hands. Possibly Tarma goes back to the orphanage she grew up in and adopts kids. Possibly both. Possibly she takes over the orphanage. Possibly she talks eventual Minister of Magic Hermione Granger into reexamining and improving the laws surrounding magical orphans (assuming of course that Harry didn’t do that first… or Hermione didn’t decide on her own to fix those laws on Harry’s behalf first, which is probably the most likely of the three).

And, well, I don’t know how it happens, but life goes on, and it’s not perfect but it’s still pretty good, whatever it turns out to be.

#Valdemar #Harry Potter #crossover #Tarma

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doycetopia · 7 years

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Masks Actual Play (Sessions 0 to 5)

There’s so much in my head with the weekly Masks game, every time I try to figure out what to say about it, I’m overwhelmed a bit, so this miiiight be a little random. I’ll try to keep a rein on things.

This is NOT going to be a blow-by-blow summary. I’m aiming for a 10-thousand foot view of how things are going.

Session 0

The players (five) came up with a lovely mix of traditional heroes (a speedster Legacy, a green-lantern-ish Nova), and some stuff that really turned the playbook concepts on their heads (a power-armor-and-AI-designing Bull, a nanite-infused Doomed inspired by Johnny Quest, an Outsider who is a ghost from the civil war era, marveling at the modern world).

One of the big things you do as a group in chargen is come up with answers to the “when we first met” questions, and this series of answers (here) presented us with a showdown against “Hannibal Lectric,” an older blue-blood sort of villain that really informed a lot of initial play, especially after some things that came out at the start of Session 1.

Of note: we’re using Roll20 for a play space (and Discord for voice chat), and during our last game (Dungeon World), we’d started making more use of the embedded forums Roll20 provides for each game. This took off in a BIG way for Masks, even before Session 0, with a lot of player pre-planning, and shows no sign of slowing down. I only wish the forum posts could be grouped more, but it’s still great.

If you’re interested, the (basically audio with a slideshow) recording of Session 0 is here.

Session 1 Prep

I made up love letters for everyone in the intervening week and dropped them on the players at the start of session 1. I am quite proud of all of them. They are collected here: Jason Quill: Doomed, Concord: the Nova, Mercury: the Legacy, Link: the Bull, Ghost Girl: the Outsider.

One of the things that came out of the love letters in play was the fact that the whole fight with Hannibal Lectric was a diversion so that something more important could be acquired while everyone was distracted. (This is/was tied to our Doomed in some way.)

Following the love letters, we cut into a tense “first team fight” kind of thing… which turned out to be four of the five heroes getting interviewed on “The Morning Starr” by nigh-plasticine host Tasha Starr.

When sonic-based villain Iconoclast interrupted the broadcast, the Bull was heard to comment “Thank Christ.”

The fight immediately moved to the street outside the studio, and we stopped the session in mid-brawl, with both the Nova and Legacy rocking pretty hefty piles of Conditions.

One of the players later posted a bunch of mocked-up live-tweets of both the interview and fight, which did a great job setting the tone and feel of the city and the world. Those posts are collected here.

Session 2

The street brawl continued, immediately complicated by the arrival of Troll, a meme-spewing bruiser whose strength and power increases in direct proportion to the strength of nearby Wifi signals.

Like Tasha Starr’s excruciatingly awkward interview questions, I put some effort into prepping bits of Troll’s dialogue, which I shared with the Masks community over here.

After this session, I posted a Plotagon-created video of some super-fan’s thoughts on the interview/fight. Plotagon quickly became a fun tool for the players to create their own virtual diaries and the like, so I’m happy I introduced it.

We had some technical problems that shortened the session, which unfortunately meant we were rolling into Session 3 with the ‘introductory fight’ still happening. Eh. We play for two to two-and-a-half hours, online, so we don’t get as much covered as I might like every session, but we’re having fun.

Session 3

I’d prepped a few other villains, ready to jump in to the brawl and get their faces on the news, but the complications didn’t head that direction, so they’re still waiting for their chance.

The (speedster) Legacy raced a self-destructing Iconoclast out of the city, but a decision to “give the villains an opening” introduced the Doomed’s nemesis to the scene (looking for the Doomed, whose energy signal was all over the speedster for fiction-reasons), which in turn led to a roll that resulted in the Legacy’s powers “going horribly out of control.”

I didn’t have anything prepped for that, but a few minutes of pondering and checking some notes got me to a classic speedster complication: getting unstuck in reality/time by overloading one’s powers, leading to foreshadowing – so Mercury was flung into a sepia-toned alternate earth in which a few Big Clues were dropped.

Meanwhile, the Bull’s “Assess the Situation: How Do We End This Quickly?” question from last session was finally answered when one of the Tweeting NPCs from post-session-one let the team know Troll’s weakness with regards to Wifi signal, which lead to a nice team moment with the Bull and the Nova.

And back at the point of the original fight, the Doomed and the ghostly Outsider had a moment of Comforting and Support – the first in the game, but definitely not the last: once that move was on the table, it quickly became one of the group’s favorites.

Mercury rejoined the team (and their reality) back in the city center, and before the authorities (or more bad guys) could show up, were ushered out of sight by Jaguar, the protege of Hyena, a vigilante superhero who’d become interested in the team after their first fight. (Thank you, session 0 team questions!)

By this point in the game, the players were starting to really get into the between-session stuff. The Doomed’s player started doing video diaries with plotagon, and he and the Bull also did a few play-by-post conversations on the forum. Other players were also sharing their thoughts and creations: art, pictures, and even a collection of relevant NPCs. (Here and here.)

Session 4

Most of this session was dealing with fall-out and developments from the first big public team fight. The most ironic thing was that we didn’t do any combat in this session, and our heroes ended up with more Conditions than they’d gotten in the fight.

Highlights included the Legacy’s dad telling him what a great job he’d done (and leaving him Insecure), and the Nova getting so scared of screwing up that he forgets how to fly at the end of the session.

I believe this also marks the point where the Bull changed his “Love” to the Nova character, in a “little brother” sense. His love up to this point had been his own NPC creation, so I liked seeing that, no matter how cool the NPC is. 🙂 (His rival remains the Doomed, which is all good.)

Session 5

The events of this session encompass something like… 3 hours. Maybe four. And no combat. And still chock-a-block with STUFF HAPPENING.

I reintroduced an NPC (@powerpony) as both a contact point for the Bull and the Outsider (gotta love those PC-NPC-PC triangles), which led to some good scenes and exchanges.

The Doomed got to reveal WHY he didn’t like interfacing with the AI in his “sanctum” – its holographic interface is modeled on his dead genius father.

AEGIS makes an appearance.

More CLUES about the “Sepia-verse” come out, linking the Legacy’s walkabout to the Doomed’s backstory.

And we wrapped up with a cutscene following the @powerpony NPC as she’s grabbed by… someone. Probably the start of an Arc. Duh duh dunnnn.

And that’s where we are.

Thoughts

Man there’s a lot going on! I’ve got Hooks set up for all the players (mostly), a main arc as well as several others impatiently waiting in the wings, and I can’t wait to get to ALL of it.

I’ve said this before, but PBTA-type games really feel like running Amber Diceless in a lot of good ways. (Hard to quantify ways, but good ways.) It’s got that same sense of freedom of narration, but the dice resolution injects and asks for a wonderful amount of unexpected plot twisting that takes any prep and dials it up to the point where it simply can’t be contained in the box I’d built. Good, good stuff.

Other Thoughts

There are a lot of different kinds of PBTA games.

Some focus more on genre-emulation and the dice mechanics, less on pushing for a certain kind of story experience (Dungeon World, IMO; also the Star Wars Rebel Ops game I ran).

Some focus more on mechanics that push play hard towards certain kinds of play or story events or whatever. Urban Shadows. Monsterhearts. Stuff like that.

Masks is definitely one of those games, focused on that superhero teen drama from stuff like Young Justice, New Mutants, Teen Titans, Avengers Academy, and so forth. That’s all to the good.

The only downside-like thing I’ve run into so far has been doing the post-session analysis on our shorter sessions has led to a LOT of co-mutual Influence sharing in the group (damn near everyone has Influence on everyone right now, though maybe that’s as it should be), and a lot of Label-shifting that sometimes doesn’t feel as punchy as it could – it feels like the label-shifting could be reduced by about 20%. I’m not sure if that’s just fallout from the shorter sessions.

Other Other Thoughts

Man I don’t know what kind of alchemy is firing off, but the player engagement in this game is through the roof. We’ve been playing together for well over a year and something just hit the gas on this game, hard. I suspect it’s a mix of the mechanics and (to a great degree) the genre.

Final Thought

This one’s from Kaylee, who’s been lurking on the voice channel during games, listening in during her homework like it’s a radioplay. Her thought:

“I wish this really was a comic book, or a superhero show. It would be SO GOOD.”

And it would. It is.

Great stuff.

original post

#masks #masks rpg #pbta #roll20 #randomaverage

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beboldinthetruth-blog · 7 years

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What is the Gospel? Pt 2

In Part 1 we saw that Jesus was commissioned by the Father to announce a gospel of salvation, which encompassed the kingdom of God, along with ‘the things concerning himself’ (revealing the Father, providing reconciliation etc).

In this study we will focus on the gospel of the kingdom of God and in a future study concentrate on ‘the things concerning Jesus Christ’.

In order to properly understand the gospel message that Jesus was preaching we need to have some appreciation of the importance and context of certain events in the Hebrew scriptures, which are constantly used as reference points. The people of Jesus’ day knew the import of these and needed no explanation, however in this day and age we need this background context explaining.

As an example, why is Abraham referenced 73 times in the New Testament scriptures by most of the writers, and how is that relevant to us today? For instance Jesus himself said ‘Abraham looked forward to his day’ (John 8:56), Paul said ‘Abraham is father of us all’ (Romans 4:16-17), ‘the gospel was preached to Abraham’ (Galatians 3:8) and also ‘God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you’ (Galatians 3:29).

Did Paul describe the whole ministry of Jesus as a confirmation of “the promises made to the patriarchs” ?

Romans 15:8 ESV For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,

So first of all we will get a little background before looking at the gospel message itself.

Did Yahweh start working with Abraham (Abram, before his name change) by instructing him to leave his native land and to go where He would lead him, and He would bless him and make him to be a blessing to the whole population of the earth?

Genesis 12:1-4 WEB Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran

Did Yahweh promise by covenant to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants?

Genesis 13: 14-15 WEB Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever.

Genesis 15:18 WEB In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Genesis 17:7-8 WEB I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.8 I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”

Psalms 105:7-15 WEB He is Yahweh, our God. His judgments are in all the earth. 8 He has remembered his covenant forever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations, 9 The covenant which he made with Abraham, His oath to Isaac, 10 And confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute; To Israel for an everlasting covenant, 11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance;” 12 When they were but a few men in number, Yes, very few, and sojourners in it. 13 They went about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. 14 He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, 15 “Don’t touch my anointed ones. Do my prophets no harm.”

Did God reiterate His ongoing covenant promise of the land to Abraham’s descendants long after his death – some six times in Psalms 37

Psalms 37:9 WEB For evildoers shall be cut off, But those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land.

Psalms 37:11 WEB But the humble shall inherit the land, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

(Remember Christ’s sermon on the mount “the meek will inherit the land (or earth)” Matthew 5:5)

Psalms 37:18 WEB Yahweh knows the days of the perfect. Their inheritance shall be forever.

Psalms 37:22 WEB For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land. Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.

Psalms 37:29 WEB The righteous shall inherit the land, And live in it forever.

Psalms 37:34 WEB Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way, And he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

In our previous study ‘What kind of Messiah did the people expect?’ we looked into various Messianic scriptures which promised a descendant of Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob and David would come as the Messiah, son of Yahweh God, king to rule over the land – even all the nations, the whole earth – ruling on the throne of David, over the kingdom of God on earth. (Please take time to review that study again in ‘Category – Jesus’ and ‘Archive – May 2017’).

When Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God, the people were familiar with the covenant promises of ‘the land’, the Messiah on the throne of David, and a restoration of the kingdom.However, there were a few things that had to be explained and clarified to fully understand the good news message he was bringing from God. It would be realised properly at his second coming.

Did Paul clarify that the covenant promises made to Abraham were also made to Christ as his offspring/descendent? Christ is the heir!

Galatians 3:16 WEB Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He doesn’t say, “To seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “To your seed,” which is Christ.

The good news for us is in verse 29

Galatians 3:29 WEB If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

If we are Christ’s we are Abraham’s offspring too – we are heirs too, we inherit according to the promise, with Christ. We inherit the kingdom, the land, the earth.

To recap, what did Jesus come preaching? Mark 1:14-15 NASB Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

What did Jesus say the meek would inherit?

Matthew 5:5 NRSV “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Did Paul confirm this in his letter to the Romans?

Romans 4:13 NRSV For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Did Paul point out that the saints will judge (rule) the world?

1 Corinthians 6:2 NRSV Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

2 Timothy 2:12 NRSV if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;

Did Jesus say he was to rule the kingdom and his followers would rule with him?

Matthew 19:28 NRSV Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Luke 22:28-30 NRSV “You are those who have stood by me in my trials; 29 and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

In the book of Revelation, where did John say we would reign? On earth?

Revelation 5:10 NRSV you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.”

Did James also confirm this good news that we can be heirs of the kingdom?

James 2:5 NRSV Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

Jesus preached many parables about inheriting the kingdom, for example:

Matthew 25:34 CJB “Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world.

Matthew 21:38 CJB But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, `This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’

Jesus was telling the people (and us today) that at his return to earth (his second coming) he will usher in the kingdom of God, and be given rulership over the whole earth, administering Yahweh God’s government. And that his true followers, those who believe him, repent and accept God’s gracious offer, can be forgiven, reconciled to our Father God and share the rule of this earth in righteousness with Jesus Messiah, son of God.

This can be our inheritance along with Jesus, the first born of many brethren (Romans 8:29).

This worldwide Messianic rule is the fulfilment of the covenant promises made by Yahweh to Abraham – who will himself be a part of this Kingdom of God when he is resurrected at Christ’s return (I Thessalonians . 4:13-17, I Corinthians. 15:23, 50-52).

Paul says that Christ confirmed the promises given to the patriarchs:

Romans 15:8 NRSV For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,

Does Daniel 7:27 paint a wonderful picture of this kingdom of God on earth?

Daniel 7:27 WEB The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole the sky, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Please review Psalms 2:2-9, Psalms 45:2-7, Psalms 72:9-14, Isaiah 9:6-7 & Isaiah 11:1-16 for further descriptions of the kingdom of God on earth under the rulership of Jesus Messiah.

And yet Jesus made an amazing statement in Mark chapter 4 just after he had told the parable of the sower – quoting Isaiah 6:9-10 – he said that many would not see, hear or understand, for if they did they would repent (turn to God) and He would forgive them:

Mark 4:10-12 NRSV When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12 in order that “they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’ “

In the parable of the sower in Mark 4:3-20, Jesus is explaining how important comprehending or not comprehending the ‘word’ (the gospel message) is, and how Satan hates it and will snatch it away if he possibly can:

Mark 4:15 NRSV These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

We saw earlier that Jesus said it was necessary to repent and believe the message regarding the kingdom of God:

Mark 1:14-15 NRSV Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

So we must pay attention, listen and believe what Jesus taught, if we want to enter into the kingdom at his return.

Summary We have seen that Jesus came preaching the good news message from Yahweh God regarding the setting up of God’s government on earth, under his rulership as Messiah King, at his return. That we who believe and are saved can have a part in this kingdom of God, as co-inheritors with Messiah – this is Yahweh fulfilling His covenant promises to Abraham and the patriarchs from the Hebrew scriptures. This is marvellous news of a wonderful future in a perfect world, according to our Father’s perfect plan.

This isn’t the complete message though, there remains the all important aspects of how we are saved, reconciled to our Father God and made ready to inherit this kingdom – so great a salvation (Hebrews 2:3). These things we will study next time in Part 3.

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senakoo-blog · 7 years

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How to Live a Life of Victory Years ago, a young member of our congregation at HTB had a job working in the library of a major national newspaper. This newspaper kept files of old cuttings about every well-known person. The files were kept in rows of long shelves and were separated into ‘living people’ and ‘dead people’. One day, the young man was looking through the files of dead people and came across a large file marked ‘Jesus Christ’. He glanced over his shoulder to check that no one was looking and quickly moved the file from the ‘dead people’ section to the ‘living people’ section. Jesus Christ is alive. He is risen from the dead. To anyone looking for him among files of dead people, the angels would say, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’ (Luke 24:5–6). Victory is not a dirty word. Jesus is the great victor. As Bishop Lesslie Newbigin often said, ‘The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat but the manifestation of a victory.’ The cross was not a defeat. On the cross, Jesus won a great victory for us over sin, death and the powers of evil. PSALM 51:10-19 Receive the benefits of his victory I love this prayer of David and have often prayed it myself. David, like us all, had messed up. He had cried out for forgiveness and now he cries out for victory. When we sin we do not lose our salvation but we may lose the joy of our salvation (v.12a). David does not want to be defeated by sin again. All this starts with ‘a broken and contrite heart’ (v.17b). You can be absolutely certain that if you come to God in this way you will not be rejected: ‘A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise’ (v.17b). David prays that he might live a life of victory. It is worth noting that David’s prayer is not purely personal. He prays that he might also have an impact on the city (v.18). Lord, I pray for a pure heart (v.10a), a persevering spirit (v.10b), the presence of God (v.11a), the power of the Spirit (v.11b) and the pleasure of salvation to be restored to me (v.12a). I pray for a trusting spirit (v.12b) and that I would be able to teach the ways of God (v.13a), turning people back to God (v.13b). I pray for a tongue that worships you. ‘O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise’ (vv.14b–15). I pray for the transformation of our society (v.18). LUKE 24:1-35 Recognise Jesus and his victory How can you and I encounter Jesus today? The resurrection of Jesus is a historical event. It actually happened. But it is not just a historical event. As people experienced the risen Jesus at the time, you too can experience his presence today. This passage tells you how. This was the day the world changed forever. Jesus was raised on ‘the first day of the week’ (v.1). Thereafter, the first day of the week (Sunday) was to become the day of rest and worship. In this passage we see two key pieces of evidence of Jesus’ victory over death: Jesus’ body was absent ‘They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus’ (vv.2–3). The angels said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’ (vv.5–6). Indeed, as he predicted, on the third day he would be ‘raised again’ (v.7). (Sometimes the New Testament states that Jesus ‘rose’ from the dead. More often it is in the passive; ‘he was raised’.) When the disciples are told by the women ‘they did not believe’ (v.11). However, we can picture Peter’s excitement – he ‘got up and ran to the tomb’ (v.12). He too saw that the body of Jesus was gone. He ‘saw the strips of linen lying by themselves’ (v.12b) – the tomb itself was not empty but the body of Jesus was absent. Peter must have begun to realise at that moment that Jesus had won a great victory. Jesus had died, but death was not the end. Death is not cancelled but it is definitively conquered. Jesus himself was present Jesus himself was seen. This was not just a ‘spiritual’ presence. His physical, resurrected, transformed body was present with his disciples. The first appearance we read of in Luke’s Gospel is on the road to Emmaus. Jesus reveals himself to the two disciples in two ways. First, he reveals himself through the Scriptures: ‘And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (v.27). This must have been the most amazing Bible study in the history of the world. Jesus went through the Bible explaining that it was all about him. Have you ever had a sense of your heart ‘burning within’ as you have been listening to the Bible being explained, or as you have been reading it yourself? Sometimes, when I am reading the Bible or listening to a talk explaining the Bible, the words suddenly seem so relevant to me and to my life that it feels as if God is speaking directly to me. At that moment it seems like my heart is burning within me. A young woman who was in our Alpha small group recently had just started reading the Bible for the first time in her life. She said it is as if the words were jumping off the page towards her. The disciples said, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’ (v.32). We get a taste of this every time we hear the Bible explained in such a way as to reveal Jesus. Second, he reveals himself through the bread: ‘When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him’ (vv.30–31). Later on they explained ‘how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread’ (v.35). Luke’s description of this encounter is probably deliberately told in a way that echoes the account of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. It is supposed to encourage us that we too can encounter Jesus in the ‘breaking of bread’ when we celebrate Communion together. The Scriptures and the sacraments are two of the ways in which we can encounter Jesus today. Jesus will continue to reveal himself to us as we study the Scriptures and as we break bread together. If you want to experience the presence of Jesus – make sure that you do these things on a regular basis. Father, thank you that Jesus is alive right now. As I study the Scriptures, may my heart burn within me as I encounter Jesus through them. As I receive the bread and the wine, may my eyes be opened to recognise Jesus. JOSHUA 11:1-12:24 Reflect the victory of Jesus I would love to know what Jesus said about this passage when he was going through all the Scriptures and explaining what they said ‘concerning himself’ (Luke 24:27). This passage continues the theme of Joshua’s victories (‘great victory’, Joshua 10:10). Here we read of how the kings joined forces to fight against Israel (11:5). But the Lord says, ‘Do not be afraid of them’ (v.6). The Lord ‘gave them into the hand of Israel’ (v.8). God gives them victory wherever they go: ‘So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel’ (v.23). I imagine that Jesus would have explained that Joshua’s military tactics are not the model for anyone today. Nevertheless, one aspect, the victory itself, prefigured and foreshadowed the great and very different type of victory that God was to bring about through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Joshua was a ‘type’ of Christ; indeed, Jesus is actually the Greek form of the name Joshua, meaning ‘the Lord saves’. As we will read tomorrow, the victory of Joshua was never complete. The Lord said to him, ‘You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over’ (13:1). It is Jesus alone who brings a complete victory. He is the one to whom all the Scriptures point. He is the great victor and the source of every possible victory in our own lives. Lord, thank you for your great victory over sin and death and all the powers of evil. May my life today reflect this great victory. May I see it more, not only in my own personal life but also in our community, city and nation. Pippa Adds Luke 24:1–12 I love the combination of bravery and practicality in these women. The moment the Sabbath is over they are on their way to the tomb. Where were the men? In total disarray?! We mustn’t stay away from Jesus, even if things aren’t going well. Verse of the Day ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!’ (Luke 24:5–6)

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