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aboveallarescuer · 3 years

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Parallels between Aerys II Targaryen and Cersei Lannister (and why they are both foils to Dany)

In this post, I gathered all the parallels I could find between Cersei and Aerys II after recently rereading Cersei’s chapters and Aerys’s section in TWOIAF. While a lot of people have made good points criticizing how Cersei was written (namely, as incompetent, misogynistic and irredeemable, at least in the canon timeline where her fate is already sealed) considering her special place in the narrative (namely, as arguably the female character who most frequently and openly questions and challenges the validity of Westerosi patriarchy, as well as the only major female villain of the story and the only woman among the three Lannister siblings), it’s also true that GRRM intended her to be paralleled with Aerys II in many ways, which will be laid out here.

Recognizing how Aerys II and Cersei are alike is particularly important for emphasizing that both characters were written as foils to Daenerys, so I will also explain how Dany doesn’t share their similarities.

Both believe they are destined for greatness

Aerys II:

Aerys II did not lack for ambition. Upon his coronation, he declared that it was his wish to be the greatest king in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, a conceit certain of his friends encouraged by suggesting that one day he might be remembered as Aerys the Wise or even Aerys the Great. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

The Lord of Casterly Rock deserved rainbows. He had been a great man. I shall be greater, though. A thousand years from now, when the maesters write about this time, you shall be remembered only as Queen Cersei’s sire. (AFFC Cersei II)

That’s not the case with Dany. Her titles (the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Mhysa, Azor Ahai, etc) were given to her by other people, she doesn’t think she’s special despite birthing dragons and receiving multiple prophecies and she’s incredibly hard on herself for every mistake she makes. She simply doesn’t have an exaggerated sense of her importance or abilities like Cersei and Aerys II do.

Both are cut by the Iron Throne

Aerys II:

Yet still the blades tormented him, the ones he could never escape, the blades of the Iron Throne. His arms and legs were always covered with scabs and half-healed cuts. (AFFC Jaime II)

Cersei:

The barbs and blades of the Iron Throne bit into her flesh as she crouched to hide her shame. Blood ran red down her legs, as steel teeth gnawed at her buttocks. When she tried to stand, her foot slipped through a gap in the twisted metal. The more she struggled the more the throne engulfed her, tearing chunks of flesh from her breasts and belly, slicing at her arms and legs until they were slick and red, glistening. (AFFC Cersei I)

While Cersei was only cut in a dream, this moment is still significant because the Iron Throne is infamous for only harming and ‘rejecting’ the bad rulers. GRRM could have written a similar dream for Dany if he wanted to make her and Cersei follow the same direction, specially in AFFC/ADWD where he noted multiple times that they’re meant to be paralleled and contrasted. Instead, while Cersei’s first chapter in AFFC begins with her dreaming of being on the Iron Throne and being cut by it, Dany’s first chapter in ADWD begins with her dreaming of a house with a red door. Also, while Cersei wishes she could sit on the Iron Throne but is unable to because only the King and the Hand can sit on it, Dany willingly gives up on the privilege to sit on an elaborate throne and chooses an ebony bench that "did not befit a queen" in Meereen. So, not only the author emphasized that Dany doesn’t want power for its own sake (but rather to help people) and that she wants to be at the level of her people, he also didn’t take the chance to portray her as a bad ruler (because she is a good one) like he did with Cersei and Aerys II.

Both feel excitement and pleasure at the sight of wildfire

Aerys II:

Frustrated, Aerys turned to the Wisdoms of the ancient Guild of Alchemists, who knew the secret of producing the volatile jade green substance known as wildfire, said to be a close cousin to dragonflame. The pyromancers became a regular fixture at his court as the king's fascination with fire grew. By 280 AC, Aerys II had taken to burning traitors, murderers, and plotters, rather than hanging or beheading them. The king seemed to take great pleasure in these fiery executions, which were presided over by Wisdom Rossart, the grand master of the Guild of Alchemists...so much so that he granted Rossart the title of Lord and gave him a seat upon the small council. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

The sight had filled him with disquiet, reminding him of Aerys Targaryen and the way a burning would arouse him. A king has no secrets from his Kingsguard. Relations between Aerys and his queen had been strained during the last years of his reign. They slept apart and did their best to avoid each other during the waking hours. But whenever Aerys gave a man to the flames, Queen Rhaella would have a visitor in the night. (AFFC Jaime II)

Cersei:

Cersei thought of all the King’s Hands that she had known through the years: Owen Merryweather, Jon Connington, Qarlton Chelsted, Jon Arryn, Eddard Stark, her brother Tyrion. And her father, Lord Tywin Lannister, her father most of all. All of them are burning now, she told herself, savoring the thought. They are dead and burning, every one, with all their plots and schemes and betrayals. It is my day now. It is my castle and my kingdom. (AFFC Cersei III)

Cersei felt too alive for sleep. The wildfire was cleansing her, burning away all her rage and fear, filling her with resolve. “The flames are so pretty. I want to watch them for a while.” (AFFC Cersei III)

Jaime knew the look in his sister's eyes. He had seen it before, most recently on the night of Tommen's wedding, when she burned the Tower of the Hand. The green light of the wildfire had bathed the face of the watchers, so they looked like nothing so much as rotting corpses, a pack of gleeful ghouls, but some of the corpses were prettier than others. Even in the baleful glow, Cersei had been beautiful to look upon. She'd stood with one hand on her breast, her lips parted, her green eyes shining. She is crying, Jaime had realized, but whether it was from grief or ecstasy he could not have said.

The sight had filled him with disquiet, reminding him of Aerys Targaryen and the way a burning would arouse him. (AFFC Jaime II)

That never happens with Dany. She does describe the flames positively during the ritual to hatch the dragon eggs, but so does Jon Snow and GRRM himself. She does claim the fire as hers, but it has to do with her magical intuition as she puts two and two to birth her children and is ultimately validated. Most importantly, unlike Aerys II and Cersei, Dany a) never feels excitement while watching things burn for their own sake, b) never takes pleasure viewing or imagining her enemies burning and c) is never compared to Aerys II to highlight any disturbing behavior from her part. She is called the Mad King’s daughter by her enemies (the slavers and Mace Tyrell), but the characters around her and the ones who have nothing to gain by defaming her (Barristan, Tyrion, Illyrio, Quentyn) reiterate that she’s nothing like him. Meanwhile, two of the people who have known Cersei the longest (Jaime on the quotes above, Tyrion) compare her to Aerys II.

Both grow paranoid with time; they imagine implausible scenarios in which their perceived enemies are working (often together) against them, accept their baseless fears as truth and make hasty decisions based on them

Aerys II:

The march of the king's madness seemed to abate for a time in 274 AC, when Queen Rhaella gave birth to a son. So profound was His Grace's joy that it seemed to restore him to his old self once again...but Prince Jaehaerys died later that same year, plunging Aerys into despair. In his black rage, he decided the babe's wet nurse was to blame and had the woman beheaded. Not long after, in a change of heart, Aerys announced that Jaehaerys had been poisoned by his own mistress, the pretty young daughter of one of his household knights. The king had the girl and all her kin tortured to death. During the course of their torment, it is recorded, all confessed to the murder, though the details of their confessions were greatly at odds. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

The birth of Prince Viserys only seemed to make Aerys II more fearful and obsessive, however. Though the new young princeling seemed healthy enough, the king was terrified lest he suffer the same fate as his brothers. Kingsguard knights were commanded to stand over him night and day to see that no one touched the boy without the king's leave. Even the queen herself was forbidden to be alone with the infant. When her milk dried up, Aerys insisted on having his own food taster suckle at the teats of the prince's wet nurse, to ascertain that the woman had not smeared poison on her nipples. As gifts for the young prince arrived from all the lords of the Seven Kingdoms, the king had them piled in the yard and burned, for fear that some of them might have been ensorcelled or cursed. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Captivity at Duskendale had shattered whatever sanity had remained to Aerys II Targaryen. From that day forth, the king's madness reigned unchecked, growing worse with every passing year. The Darklyns had dared lay hands upon his person, shoving him roughly, stripping him of his royal raiment, even daring to strike him. After his release, King Aerys would no longer allow himself to be touched, even by his own servants. Uncut and unwashed, his hair grew ever longer and more tangled, whilst his fingernails lengthened and thickened into grotesque yellow talons. He forbade any blade in his presence save for the swords carried by the knights of his Kingsguard, sworn to protect him. His judgments became ever harsher and crueler. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Once safely returned to King's Landing, His Grace refused to leave the Red Keep for any cause and remained a virtual prisoner in his own castle for the next four years, during which time he grew ever more wary of those around him, Tywin Lannister in particular. His suspicions extended even to his own son and heir. Prince Rhaegar, he was convinced, had conspired with Tywin Lannister to have him slain at Duskendale. They had planned to storm the town walls so that Lord Darklyn would put him to death, opening the way for Rhaegar to mount the Iron Throne and marry Lord Tywin's daughter. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

And when the triumphant Prince of Dragonstone named Lyanna Stark, daughter of the Lord of Winterfell, the queen of love and beauty, placing a garland of blue roses in her lap with the tip of his lance, the lickspittle lords gathered around the king declared that further proof of his perfidy. Why would the prince have thus given insult to his own wife, the Princess Elia Martell of Dorne (who was present), unless it was to help him gain the Iron Throne? The crowning of the Stark girl, who was by all reports a wild and boyish young thing with none of the Princess Elia's delicate beauty, could only have been meant to win the allegiance of Winterfell to Prince Rhaegar's cause, Symond Staunton suggested to the king. (TWOIAF The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring)

When the news reached the Red Keep, it was said that Aerys cursed the Dornish, certain that Lewyn had betrayed Rhaegar. He sent his pregnant queen, Rhaella, and his younger son and new heir, Viserys, away to Dragonstone, but Princess Elia was forced to remain in King's Landing with Rhaegar's children as a hostage against Dorne. (TWOIAF The Fall of the Dragons: The End)

Cersei:

“I am counseling you. If you will not yield the regency to me, name me your castellan for Casterly Rock and make either Mathis Rowan or Randyll Tarly the Hand of the King.”

Tyrell bannermen, both of them. The suggestion left her speechless. Is he bought? she wondered. Has he taken Tyrell gold to betray House Lannister? (AFFC Cersei II)

“Lord Manderly hacked the head and hands off the onion knight, we have that from the Freys, and half a dozen other northern lords have rallied to Lord Bolton. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Where else can Stannis turn, but to the ironmen and the wildlings, the enemies of the north? But if he thinks that I am going to walk into his trap, he is a bigger fool than you.” (AFFC Cersei VII)

“No doubt. Tell me, was it our little queen who commanded you to kill Lord Gyles?”

“K-kill?” Grand Maester Pycelle’s eyes grew as big as boiled eggs. “Your Grace cannot believe ... it was his cough, by all the gods, I ... Her Grace would not ... she bore Lord Gyles no ill will, why would Queen Margaery want him ...”

“... dead? Why, to plant another rose on Tommen’s council. Are you blind or bought? Rosby stood in her way, so she put him in his grave. With your connivance.” (AFFC Cersei IX)

She knew Joff was too strong for her, Cersei thought, remembering the gold coin Qyburn had found. For House Tyrell to hope to rule, he had to be removed. It came back to her that Margaery and her hideous grandmother had once plotted to marry Sansa Stark to the little queen’s crippled brother Willas. Lord Tywin had forestalled that by stealing a march on them and wedding Sansa to Tyrion, but the link had been there. They are all in it together, she realized with a start. The Tyrells bribed the gaolers to free Tyrion, and whisked him down the roseroad to join his vile bride. By now the both of them are safe in Highgarden, hidden away behind a wall of roses. (AFFC Cersei VI)

Cersei’s case is complicated in that she has valid reasons to be anxious: prophecies come true in her world, the Tyrells did kill Joffrey (she’s right in that regard, at least) and the coin found in the cell could be evidence that the Tyrells were involved in Tyrion’s escape. The problem is how she deals with her suspicions. To defeat Margaery, she projected her experiences on her (every widow definitely has sexual appetites, so Margaery definitely has lovers), held on to the few dubious signs that she was cheating on the king (Margaery asking Pycelle for moon tea or having a lively court), tortured an innocent man to confirm the story she needs to incriminate Margaery and arrested several innocent people. Besides that, Cersei also: alienates Kevan by avoiding his recommendations and giving important titles to other cousins based on her hunch that he was bought by the Tyrells (quote above); avoids giving the Tyrells help when the ironmen attack the Shield Islands based on her baseless suspicion that Stannis made an alliance with the ironmen and was, therefore, behind the attack on the Shield Islands with the intention to turn Cersei’s eyes away from the Storm’s End and Dragonstone (quote above); forces Pycelle to "confirm" what she wants to believe because of her guess that he helped the Tyrells kill Gyles Rosby (quote above). And these are just some of the major examples.

Dany has moments when she is unsure of whether the people around her are reliable or not. She questions if Reznak is trustworthy or if he, Hizdahr and the Green Grace joined forces against her or if Groleo could be one of the three prophesied treasons, but she remains willing to listen to their advice and never undermines or punishes them solely based on her suspicions because, unlike her father or Cersei, she has a healthy distrust of others.

Both choose to be excessively and needlessly brutal against their enemies and the people who offend them (even when their offenses are relatively minor and/or not supported by facts)

Aerys II:

When one such reported that the captain of the Hand's personal guard, a knight named Ser Ilyn Payne, had been heard boasting it was Lord Tywin who truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms, His Grace sent the Kingsguard to arrest the man and had his tongue ripped out with red-hot pincers. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

By 280 AC, Aerys II had taken to burning traitors, murderers, and plotters, rather than hanging or beheading them. The king seemed to take great pleasure in these fiery executions, which were presided over by Wisdom Rossart, the grand master of the Guild of Alchemists...so much so that he granted Rossart the title of Lord and gave him a seat upon the small council. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

When Darklyn and his family were presented to him in chains, Aerys demanded their deaths—and not only Darklyn's immediate kin but his uncles and aunts and even distant kinsmen in Duskendale. Even his goodkin, the Hollards, were attainted and destroyed. Only Ser Symon's young nephew, Dontos Hollard, was spared—and only then because Ser Barristan begged that mercy as a boon, and the king he had saved could not refuse him. As to Lady Serala, hers was a crueler death. Aerys had the Lace Serpent's tongue and her womanly parts torn out before she was burned alive (yet her enemies say that she should have suffered more and worse for the ruin she brought down upon the town). (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

"M'lord, begging your pardon, Her Grace said those as didn't meet their numbers would have their hands crushed," the anxious smith persisted. "Smashed on their own anvils, she said."

Sweet Cersei, always striving to make the smallfolk love us. (ACOK Tyrion III)

"Y'Grace," he said quietly, "the boys caught a groom and two maidservants trying to sneak out a postern with three of the king's horses."

"The night's first traitors," the queen said, "but not the last, I fear. Have Ser Ilyn see to them, and put their heads on pikes outside the stables as a warning." (ACOK Sansa VI)

“I hope you did not wake them, Ser Boros. Let them sleep.”

“Sleep?” He looked up, jowly and confused. “Aye, Your Grace. How long shall—”

“Forever. See that they sleep forever, ser. I will not suffer guards to sleep on watch.” (AFFC Cersei I)

“His Grace should send the Wall a hundred men. To take the black, ostensibly, but in truth …”

“... to remove Jon Snow from the command,” Cersei finished, delighted. I knew I was right to want him on my council. “That is just what we shall do.” She laughed. If this bastard boy is truly his father's son, he will not suspect a thing. Perhaps he will even thank me, before the blade slides between his ribs. “It will need to be done carefully, to be sure. Leave the rest to me, my lords.” This was how an enemy should be dealt with: with a dagger, not a declaration. (AFFC Cersei IV)

“Send some of your whisperers to these shows and make note of who attends. If any of them should be men of note, I would know their names.”

“What will be done with them, if I may be so bold?”

“Any men of substance shall be fined. Half their worth should be sufficient to teach them a sharp lesson and refill our coffers, without quite ruining them. Those too poor to pay can lose an eye, for watching treason. For the puppeteers, the axe.”

“There are four. Perhaps Your Grace might allow me two of them for mine own purposes. A woman would be especially ...”

“I gave you Senelle,” the queen said sharply.

“Alas. The poor girl is quite ... exhausted.”

[...] “Yes, you may take a woman. Two, if it please you. But first I will have names. (AFFC Cersei V)

“I cannot have Falyse spreading tales about the city. Her grief has made her witless. Do you still need women for your ... work?”

“I do, Your Grace. The puppeteers are quite used up.”

“Take her and do with her as you will, then. But once she goes down into the black cells ... need I say more?” (AFFC Cersei VII)

Dany doesn’t act like this. She burned the masters in Astapor to protect her retinue and punished the Meereenese leaders who ordered the crucifixion of the slave children, but she also spared all the Yunkish masters and most of the Meereenese masters. Her leniency is the root of her problems in ADWD, since it allowed them to retaliate against the abolition of slavery. Additionally, Dany doesn’t punish Ghael for spitting on her, she doesn’t punish a boy for trying to attack her, she doesn't punish Xaro for threatening her to her face, she chooses not to follow her councillors' advice to punish the former slavers indiscriminately and so on. You can read more about how Dany's tendency is to avoid using violence in this meta.

Both use torture to get people to confirm what they believe or what's convenient for them

Aerys II:

Cersei:

“Tell us how you pleasured the little queen. [...] How many of them did you have carnal knowledge of?”

“None of them. I’m just a singer. Please.”

[...] Lord Qyburn ran a hand up the Blue Bard’s chest. “Does she take your nipples in her mouth during your love play?” He took one between his thumb and forefinger, and twisted. “Some men enjoy that. Their nipples are as sensitive as a woman’s.” The razor flashed, the singer shrieked. On his chest a wet red eye wept blood. [...]

By dawn the singer’s high blue boots were full of blood, and he had told them how Margaery would fondle herself as she watched her cousins pleasuring him with their mouths. At other times he would sing for her whilst she sated her lusts with other lovers. “Who were they?” the queen demanded, and the wretched Wat named Ser Tallad the Tall, Lambert Turnberry, Jalabhar Xho, the Redwyne twins, Osney Kettleblack, Hugh Clifton, and the Knight of Flowers.

That displeased her. She dare not besmirch the name of the hero of Dragonstone. [...] The Redwynes could not be a part of it either. [...] “All you are doing is spitting up the names of men you saw about her chambers. We want the truth! [...] Horas and Hobber had no part of this, did they?”

“No,” he admitted. “Not them.”

“As for Ser Loras, I am certain Margaery took pains to hide what she was doing from her brother.”

“She did. I remember now. Once I had to hide under the bed when Ser Loras came to see her. He must never know, she said.”

“I prefer this song to the other.” (AFFC Cersei IX)

Dany doesn't act like her father or Cersei in that regard either. She allows the use of torture (which is normalized in her world) to question people regarding the murders of former slaves, but she stops it once she realizes that the results are unreliable because, unlike her foils, she cares about punishing the actual perpetrators, not about having her beliefs confirmed at any cost.

Both are often cruel, rude and disrespectful to others

Aerys II:

At the great Anniversary Tourney of 272 AC, held to commemorate Aerys's tenth year upon the Iron Throne, Joanna Lannister brought her six-year-old twins Jaime and Cersei from Casterly Rock to present before the court. The king (very much in his cups) asked her if giving suck to them had "ruined your breasts, which were so high and proud." (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Over his Hand's strenuous objections, the king doubled the port fees at King's Landing and Oldtown, and tripled them for Lannisport and the realm's other ports and harbors. When a delegation of small lords and rich merchants came before the Iron Throne to complain, however, Aerys blamed the Hand for the exactions, saying, "Lord Tywin shits gold, but of late he has been constipated and had to find some other way to fill our coffers." (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Tyrion, as the babe was named, was a malformed, dwarfish babe born with stunted legs, an oversized head, and mismatched, demonic eyes (some reports also suggested he had a tail, which was lopped off at his lord father's command). Lord Tywin's Doom, the smallfolk called this ill-made creature, and Lord Tywin's Bane. Upon hearing of his birth, King Aerys infamously said, "The gods cannot abide such arrogance. They have plucked a fair flower from his hand and given him a monster in her place, to teach him some humility at last." (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

Cersei stared at her, aghast. “Your lackwit sister gets herself raped by half of King’s Landing, and Tanda thinks to honor the bastard with my lord father’s name? I think not.” (AFFC Cersei II)

She wanted a storm to match her rage. To Jocelyn she said, “Tighter. Cinch it tighter, you simpering little fool.”

It was the wedding that enraged her, though the slow-witted Swyft girl made a safer target. (AFFC Cersei III)

“Would Your Grace honor her white knight with a dance?”

She gave him a withering look. “And have you fumbling at me with that stump? No. I will let you fill my wine cup for me, though. If you think you can manage it without spilling.” (AFFC Cersei III)

“Very well. Get off those saggy knees and try to remember what it was to be a man.” Pycelle struggled to rise, but took so long about it that she had to tell Osmund Kettleblack to give him another yank. (AFFC Cersei IX)

For the vast majority of the time, Dany is kind and courteous. Her detractors tend to question that fact with two main arguments: a) she laughed at Quentyn; b) she is intolerant about Meereenese culture. Their first argument is very weak. Dany didn't laugh at Quentyn, she laughed about the reason why Quentyn is called frog and then forgot to explain why she did so in the Common Tongue. Even then, though, Quentyn is so overwhelmed by her kindness that he only remembers that "the queen had always spoken to him gently". Their second argument is also unconvincing because Dany's dislike of several aspects of Meereenese culture has to do with their ties to slavery (case in point: the fighting pits) and, even then, she makes several concessions to culturally adapt. Additionally, unlike Aerys II or Cersei, she doesn't express her critical thoughts (which are way less common and way less derogatory than Cersei's) verbally.

Both give rewards and promotions to those who blindly obey and agree with them, regardless of whether they’re experienced, competent or trustworthy

Aerys II:

He was also vain, proud, and changeable, traits that made him easy prey for flatterers and lickspittles, but these flaws were not immediately apparent to most at the time of his ascension. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

His father's court had been made up largely of older, seasoned men, many of whom had also served during the reign of King Aegon V. Aerys II dismissed them one and all, replacing them with lords of his own generation. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

The king replaced him as Hand with Lord Owen Merryweather, an aged and amiable lickspittle famed for laughing loudest at every jape and witticism uttered by the king, no matter how feeble. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

The Mad King could be savagely cruel, as seen most plainly when he burned those he perceived to be his enemies, but he could also be extravagant, showering men who pleased him with honors, offices, and lands. The lickspittle lords who surrounded Aerys II had gained much and more from the king's madness and eagerly seized upon any opportunity to speak ill of Prince Rhaegar and inflame the father's suspicions of the son. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

"A weak ruler needs a strong Hand, as Aerys needed Father. A strong ruler requires only a diligent servant to carry out his orders." (AFFC Jaime II)

The Kettleblacks would charm her, take her coin, and promise her anything she asked, and why not, when Bronn was matching every copper penny, coin for coin? Amiable rogues all three, the brothers were in truth much more skilled at deceit than they'd ever been at bloodletting. Cersei had managed to buy herself three hollow drums; they would make all the fierce booming sounds she required, but there was nothing inside. (ACOK Tyrion IX)

My councillors. Cersei had uprooted every rose, and all those beholden to her uncle and her brothers. In their places were men whose loyalty would be to her. She had even given them new styles, borrowed from the Free Cities; the queen would have no “masters” at court beside herself. (AFFC Cersei IV)

Grand Maester Pycelle had wanted an older man “more seasoned in the ways of war” to command the gold cloaks, and several of her other councillors had agreed with him. “Ser Osfryd is seasoned quite sufficiently,” she had told them, but even that did not shut them up. They yap at me like a pack of small, annoying dogs. (AFFC Cersei V)

"She would have done better to leave the tower and burn her Hand. Harys Swyft? If ever a man deserved his arms, it is Ser Harys. And Gyles Rosby, Seven save us, I thought he died years ago. Merryweather ... your father used to call his grandsire 'the Chuckler,' I'll have you know. Tywin claimed the only thing Merryweather was good for was chuckling at the king's witticisms. His lordship chuckled himself right into exile, as I recall. Cersei has put some bastard on the council too, and a kettle in the Kingsguard. (AFFC Jaime V)

Besides the Kettleblacks (as shown above), Cersei rewards many other people that are rarely, if ever, willing to question her - Harys Swyft, Orton Merryweather, Aurane Waters, Gyles Rosby, Meryn Trant, Qyburn (the only one who doesn't turn his back on Cersei after she falls from power), etc. The only one that disagrees with her decisions regularly is Pycelle, which is why she rebukes him quite a few times throughout AFFC. Also, while Cersei considers Aerys a weak ruler, they both believe that their Hands should be servants that know their place and follow them blindly.

Dany doesn't restrict herself to only listening to the people she agrees with. She welcomes dissent multiple times throughout the books and so, consequently, her council gives voice to multiple groups (from the Unsullied to the freedmen to the former slavers to the Dothraki).

Both alienate and undermine important allies because of disagreements that could have been mended and fears that lead both rulers to perceive these potential allies as enemies

Aerys II:

The growing rift between the king and the King's Hand was also apparent in the matter of appointments. Whereas previously His Grace had always heeded his Hand's counsel, bestowing offices, honors, and inheritances as Lord Tywin recommended, after 270 AC he began to disregard the men put forward by his lordship in favor of his own choices. Many westermen found themselves dismissed from the king's service for no better cause than the suspicion that they might be "Hand's men." In their places, King Aerys appointed his own favorites...but the king's favor had become a chancy thing, his mistrust easy to awaken. Even the Hand's own kin were not exempt from royal displeasure. When Lord Tywin wished to name his brother Ser Tygett Lannister as the Red Keep's master-at-arms, King Aerys gave the post to Ser Willem Darry instead. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Perhaps seeking to gain advantage of His Grace's high spirits, Lord Tywin chose that very night to suggest that it was past time the king's heir wed and produced an heir of his own; he proposed his own daughter, Cersei, as wife for the crown prince. Aerys II rejected this proposal brusquely, informing Lord Tywin that he was a good and valuable servant, yet a servant nonetheless. Nor did His Grace agree to appoint Lord Tywin's son Jaime as squire to Prince Rhaegar; that honor he granted instead to the sons of several of his own favorites, men known to be no friends of House Lannister or the Hand. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Lord Denys, seeing that Aerys's erratic behavior had begun to strain his relations with Lord Tywin, refused to pay the taxes expected of him and instead invited the king to come to Duskendale and hear his petition. It seems most unlikely that King Aerys would ever have considered accepting this invitation...until Lord Tywin advised him to refuse in the strongest possible terms, whereupon the king decided to accept, informing Grand Maester Pycelle and the small council that he meant to settle this matter himself and bring the defiant Darklyn to heel. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

Garth the Gross on the small council and his two bastards in the gold cloaks ... do the Tyrells think I will just serve the realm up to them on a gilded platter? The arrogance of it took her breath away.

“Garth has served me well as Lord Seneschal, as he served my father before me,” Tyrell was going on. “Littlefinger had a nose for gold, I grant you, but Garth—”

“My lord,” Cersei broke in, “I fear there has been some misunderstanding. I have asked Lord Gyles Rosby to serve as our new master of coin, and he has done me the honor of accepting.”

Mace gaped at her. “Rosby? That ... cougher? But ... the matter was agreed, Your Grace. Garth is on his way to Oldtown.”

“Best send a raven to Lord Hightower and ask him to make certain your uncle does not take ship. We would hate for Garth to brave an autumn sea for nought.” She smiled pleasantly.

A flush crept up Tyrell’s thick neck. “This ... your lord father assured me ...” (AFFC Cersei II)

Cersei had named her cousin Damion Lannister her castellan for the Rock, and another cousin, Ser Daven Lannister, the Warden of the West. Insolence has its price, Uncle. (AFFC Cersei III)

“I have been remiss. With a realm to rule, a war to fight, and a father to mourn, somehow I overlooked the crucial matter of naming a new master-at-arms. I shall rectify that error at once.”

Ser Loras pushed back a brown curl that had fallen across his forehead. “Your Grace will not find any man half so skilled with sword and lance as I.”

Humble, aren’t we? “Tommen is your king, not your squire. You are to fight for him and die for him, if need be. No more.”

She left him on the drawbridge that spanned the dry moat with its bed of iron spikes and entered Maegor’s Holdfast alone. Where am I to find a master-at-arms? she wondered as she climbed to her apartments. [...]

Aron Santagar was Dornish, Cersei recalled. I could send to Dorne. Centuries of blood and war lay between Sunspear and Highgarden. Yes, a Dornishman might suit my needs admirably. There must be some good swords in Dorne. (AFFC Cersei V)

He had even had the temerity to object to her sending to Dorne for a master-at-arms, on the grounds that it might offend the Tyrells. “Why do you think I’m doing it?” she had asked him scornfully. (AFFC Cersei VI)

“Your Grace, let me take Dragonstone.”

[...] No one had given Cersei such a lovely gift since Sansa Stark had run to her to divulge Lord Eddard’s plans. She was pleased to see that Margaery had gone pale. “Your courage takes my breath away, Ser Loras. [...] Swear to me that you shall not return until Dragonstone is Tommen’s.”

“I shall, Your Grace.” He rose.

[...] Pycelle had to struggle to keep up. “If it please Your Grace,” he puffed, “young men are overbold, and think only of the glory of battle and never of its dangers. Ser Loras ... this plan of his is fraught with peril. To storm the very walls of Dragonstone ...”

“... is very brave. [...] I have no doubt that our Knight of Flowers will be the first man to gain the battlements.” And perhaps the first to fall. (AFFC Cersei VII)

Dany doesn't do this; instead, she makes plenty of concessions to appease her influential allies, from wearing the tokar to marrying Hizdahr by Ghiscari rites if he gives her ninety days of peace to allowing Hizdahr to reopen the fighting pits to accepting a deal between Meereen and Yunkai that allows the latter to reinstall slavery. All of these decisions are ultimately mistakes since they unwittingly prioritize the privileges of the former masters over the rights of the former slaves, but they still show that Dany is capable of making alliances in a way that Aerys II and Cersei aren't due to their black and white thinking.

Both are extravagant rulers who plan grand schemes that are never realized

Aerys II:

His Grace was full of grand schemes as well. Not long after his coronation, he announced his intent to conquer the Stepstones and make them a part of his realm for all time. In 264 AC, a visit to King's Landing by Lord Rickard Stark of Winterfell awakened his interest in the North, and he hatched a plan to build a new Wall a hundred leagues north of the existing one and claim all the lands between. In 265 AC, offended by "the stink of King's Landing," he spoke of building a "white city" entirely of marble on the south bank of the Blackwater Rush. In 267 AC, after a dispute with the Iron Bank of Braavos regarding certain monies borrowed by his father, he announced that he would build the largest war fleet in the history of the world "to bring the Titan to his knees." In 270 AC, during a visit to Sunspear, he told the Princess of Dorne that he would "make the Dornish deserts bloom" by digging a great underground canal beneath the mountains to bring water down from the rainwood.

None of these grandiose plans ever came to fruition; most, indeed, were forgotten within a moon's turn, for Aerys II seemed to grow bored with his royal enthusiasms as quickly as he did his royal paramours. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

“Would that we could do the same to the rest of this foul castle,” said Cersei. “After the war I mean to build a new palace beyond the river.” She had dreamed of it the night before last, a magnificent white castle surrounded by woods and gardens, long leagues from the stinks and noise of King’s Landing. “This city is a cesspit. For half a groat I would move the court to Lannisport and rule the realm from Casterly Rock.” (AFFC Cersei III)

A group of merchants appeared before her to beg the throne to intercede for them with the Iron Bank of Braavos. The Braavosi were demanding repayment of their outstanding debts, it seemed, and refusing all new loans. We need our own bank, Cersei decided, the Golden Bank of Lannisport. (AFFC Cersei VIII)

That's not the case with Dany either. Throughout her reign, she only makes reasonable and attainable decisions to improve Meereen's economy, such as planting grapes, beans and wheat, replanting olive trees, making an alliance with the Lhazareen and freeing the slaves of the hinterlands to bring crops to the city.

Both are unpopular with the common people

Aerys II: (note that Tywin himself is unpopular with the smallfolk)

They cheered Father twice as loudly as they cheered the king, the queen recalled, but only half as loudly as they cheered Prince Rhaegar. (AFFC Cersei V)

Cersei:

As she made her way through the ragged throng, past their cookfires, wagons, and crude shelters, the queen found herself remembering another crowd that had once gathered on this plaza. The day she wed Robert Baratheon, thousands had turned out to cheer for them. [...]

No one was smiling now. The looks the sparrows gave her were dull, sullen, hostile. They made way but reluctantly. (AFFC Cersei VI)

Thrice that day she heard the sound of distant shouting drifting up from the plaza, but it was Margaery’s name that the mob was calling, not hers. (AFFC Cersei X)

We have yet to see how the common people in Westeros will view Dany, but she is very popular among freedmen and slaves from all over Essos, so she doesn't fit this either.

Both feel threatened by the shadow of Tywin Lannister

Aerys II:

By this time, King Aerys had become aware of the widespread belief that he himself was but a hollow figurehead and Tywin Lannister the true master of the Seven Kingdoms. These sentiments greatly angered the king, and His Grace became determined to disprove them and to humble his "overmighty servant" and "put him back into his place." (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

“Lord Tywin was a great man, an extraordinary man,” he declared ponderously after he had kissed both her cheeks. “We shall never see his like again, I fear.”

You are looking at his like, fool, Cersei thought. It is his daughter standing here before you. (AFFC Cersei II)

She was tired of Jaime balking her. No one had ever balked her lord father. When Tywin Lannister spoke, men obeyed. When Cersei spoke, they felt free to counsel her, to contradict her, even refuse her. (AFFC Cersei V)

This is not a perfect parallel because Cersei alternates between hero-worshiping and drawing inspiration and strength from Tywin to resenting the control he had over her, so much so that she lists her father alongside her enemies and takes pleasure in the fact that he's now dead. Even so, both Aerys II and Cersei feel that they were owed the treatment that people gave Tywin.

This doesn't happen with Dany because she doesn't feel threatened by anyone nor does Tywin play an important role in her story.

Both feel threatened by a younger, more beautiful, more popular would-be king/queen

Aerys II:

The cheers of the crowd were said to be deafening, but King Aerys did not join them. Far from being proud and pleased by his heir's skill at arms, His Grace saw it as a threat. Lords Chelsted and Staunton inflamed his suspicions further, declaring that Prince Rhaegar had entered the lists to curry favor with the commons and remind the assembled lords that he was a puissant warrior, a true heir to Aegon the Conqueror. (TWOIAF The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring)

The lickspittle lords who surrounded Aerys II had gained much and more from the king's madness and eagerly seized upon any opportunity to speak ill of Prince Rhaegar and inflame the father's suspicions of the son. (TWOIAF The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring)

Meanwhile, King Aerys was becoming ever more estranged from his own son and heir. Early in the year 279 AC, Rhaegar Targaryen, Prince of Dragonstone, was formally betrothed to Princess Elia Martell, the delicate young sister of Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne. They were wed the following year, in a lavish ceremony at the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, but Aerys II did not attend. He told the small council that he feared an attempt upon his life if he left the confines of the Red Keep, even with his Kingsguard to protect him. Nor would he allow his younger son, Viserys, to attend his brother's wedding. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

The memory was still bitter. Old Lord Whent had announced the tourney shortly after a visit from his brother, Ser Oswell Whent of the Kingsguard. With Varys whispering in his ear, King Aerys became convinced that his son was conspiring to depose him, that Whent's tourney was but a ploy to give Rhaegar a pretext for meeting with as many great lords as could be brought together. Aerys had not set foot outside the Red Keep since Duskendale, yet suddenly he announced that he would accompany Prince Rhaegar to Harrenhal, and everything had gone awry from there. (ADWD The Kingbreaker)

Cersei:

Her mood was not improved when Mace Tyrell arose to lead the toasts. He raised a golden goblet high, smiling at his pretty little daughter, and in a booming voice said, “To the king and queen!” The other sheep all baaaaaaed along with him. “The king and queen!” they cried, smashing their cups together. “The king and queen!” She had no choice but to drink along with them, all the time wishing that the guests had but a single face, so she could throw her wine into their eyes and remind them that she was the true queen. (AFFC Cersei III)

“Your Grace, she ... she is the queen ...”

“I am the queen. (AFFC Cersei IX)

It was a pity that Maggy the Frog was dead. Piss on your prophecy, old woman. The little queen may be younger than I, but she has never been more beautiful, and soon she will be dead. (AFFC Cersei IX)

Cersei's case is more justified in that she believes that, by defeating the YMBQ, she'll also prevent her children from dying and the valonqar from killing her.

This doesn't happen with Dany.

Both lost a child (children, in Aerys’s case) and fear for the safety of their remaining child (children, in Cersei’s case) to the point that these concerns become intertwined with their fears that someone is out to get them

Aerys II:

Cersei:

I am dreaming still, Cersei thought. I have not woken, nor has my nightmare ended. Tyrion will creep out from under the bed soon and begin to laugh at me.

[...] A dream, that’s all it was, a dream. I drank too much last night, these fears are only humors born of wine. I will be the one laughing, come dusk. My children will be safe, Tommen’s throne will be secure, and my twisted little valonqar will be short a head and rotting. (AFFC Cersei I)

Cersei had a sudden vision of the dwarf crawling out from behind a tapestry in Tommen’s bedchamber with blade in hand. Tommen is well guarded, she told herself. But Lord Tywin had been well guarded too. (AFFC Cersei I)

The younger queen whose coming she’d foretold was finished, and if that prophecy could fail, so could the rest. No golden shrouds, no valonqar, I am free of your croaking malice at last. (AFFC Cersei X)

Like in the previous parallel, Cersei's bad reactions are more justified due to the fact that prophecies come true in her world and due to her understandable sense of self-preservation.

This doesn't happen with Dany.

Both had unhappy marriages and believed that their spouses weren’t the right ones for them

Aerys II:

What Tywin Lannister made of this is not recorded, but in 266 AC, at Casterly Rock, Lady Joanna gave birth to a pair of twins, a girl and a boy, "healthy and beautiful, with hair like beaten gold." This birth only exacerbated the tension between Aerys II Targaryen and his Hand. "I appear to have married the wrong woman," His Grace was reported to have said, when informed of the happy event. (TWOIAF The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II)

Cersei:

“...Your father will find another man for you, a better man than Rhaegar.”

Her aunt had lied, though, and her father had failed her, just as Jaime was failing her now. Father found no better man. Instead he gave me Robert, and Maggy’s curse bloomed like some poisonous flower. If she had only married Rhaegar as the gods intended, he would never have looked twice at the wolf girl. Rhaegar would be our king today and I would be his queen, the mother of his sons.

She had never forgiven Robert for killing him. (AFFC Cersei V)

The major difference in this parallel, of course, is that Aerys raped his wife and Cersei was raped by her husband.

This doesn't happen with Dany.

Comparisons in the text between Aerys II and Cersei

"Let all of King's Landing see the flames. It will be a lesson to our enemies."

"Now you sound like Aerys."

Her nostrils flared. "Guard your tongue, ser." (AFFC Cersei III)

The sight had filled him with disquiet, reminding him of Aerys Targaryen and the way a burning would arouse him. (AFFC Jaime II)

"Westeros is torn and bleeding, and I do not doubt that even now my sweet sister is binding up the wounds … with salt. Cersei is as gentle as King Maegor, as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys. She never forgets a slight, real or imagined. She takes caution for cowardice and dissent for defiance. And she is greedy. Greedy for power, for honor, for love. Tommen's rule is bolstered by all of the alliances that my lord father built so carefully, but soon enough she will destroy them, every one.” (ADWD Tyrion VI)

Again, as I said above, the comparisons between Cersei and Aerys II come from two of the people who have known Cersei the longest (Jaime, Tyrion).

Meanwhile, Dany is only called the Mad King’s daughter by her enemies (the slavers and Mace Tyrell). The characters who actually know her and the characters who have nothing to gain by defaming her (Barristan, Tyrion, Illyrio, Quentyn) reiterate that she’s nothing like him.

#aerys ii targaryen #cersei lannister #daenerys targaryen #asoiaf meta

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therealsaintscully · 3 years

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Mary and butterflies - the inevitability of death, murderous calling cards and collectors

Some ramblings with links to other people’s excellent meta, in which I suggest that butterflies (and/or moths) symbolize Mary as Moriarty’s reincarnation and or calling card, while also hint at her inevitable death.

Disclaimers: credits are below the cut. I’m not an expert in any of these topics. Thank you, @thewatsonbeekeepers for the beta. In this post I’ll be using moths and butterflies interchangeably, apologies to any entomologists.

Mary’s appearance in the show brings with it new imagery we haven’t seen prior to The Empty Hearse - butterflies. Once Mary’s in the picture, there are butterflies in some very strategic locations, all are either visually or subtextually leading to her. The show has done that previous to season 3; Moriarty is connected to some well established symbols like magpies, apples and IOUs.

When I first started reading meta I used to think these themes were a bit of a stretch, but I’ve since accepted that this is a show that puts barely noticeable phoenixes in a restaurant scene that shows us Sherlock rising from his death.

Here are some of the butterflies I spotted so far:

Butterflies (and in the case of this piece of meta, moth) symbolize most commonly resurrection, change and renewal. Behind the symbolism stands the transformation of a small, ungainly creature into something full-grown and unbound. In that case, in the simplest way, one could argue that butterflies were chosen to symbolize her because the ‘Mary Morstan’ persona was a stillborn’s identity that was stolen and used ‘reborn’ to create a new person.

But more than this simplistic idea; butterflies carry multiple symbolisms. When it comes to Sherlock, I and many others tend to look at Victorian symbolism, considering the detective’s Victorian roots.

I find the appearance of butterflies interesting in Mary’s context, much like I find the skull interesting in Sherlock’s. The skulls, in Sherlock’s case, serve plenty of purposes, but one of them is the idea of memento mori.

Memento mori (Latin for 'remember that you [have to] die') is an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. These are representations that can appear in any form of art such as paintings, literature, poetry etc. It’s a concept that existed in many ancient cultures but is also deeply rooted in early Christianity. It serves to remind people of the inevitable; that even if we choose to ignore it, not think about it, it’s always there lurking, and the purpose is not to scare us but to encourage us to make good use of our time when we’re alive. Memento mori was the philosophy of reflecting on your own death as a form of spiritual improvement, and rejecting earthly vanities.

Victorians were obsessed with the concept (weren’t Victorians obsessed with everything?). They would take photographs of the dead and keep locks of hair of those who died in mourning brooches. It is said that they found these practices comforting.

Another expression of the ‘remember that you must die’ concept was vanitas art; vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. The Latin noun vanitas (from the Latin adjective vanus 'empty') means 'emptiness', 'futility', or 'worthlessness', the traditional Christian view being that earthly goods and pursuits are transient and worthless. It alludes to Ecclesiastes 1:2; 12:8, where vanitas translates the Hebrew word hevel (הבל), which also includes the concept of transitoriness.

This concept reminds me, most especially, of the skull used in The Abominable Bride, which is actually Charles Allen Gilbert's 'All is Vanity' Illusion art.

Back to butterflies - butterflies are a staple component of vanitas art - paintings executed in the vanitas style were meant to remind viewers of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. They also provided a moral justification for painting attractive objects - in a way, it’s a justification for the vanity, or the human need of enjoyment of beautiful things. Below is a vanitas by Jan Sanders van Hemessen:

But butterflies are also considered an omen of death:

“Butterflies and moths were associated with death, sometimes merely as omens, sometimes as the soul or ghost.” These butterfly omens came in many ways. For example, in the nineteenth century United States, some people thought that a trio of butterflies was an omen of death.” [x]

Oh.

But I also think there’s more to the butterfly symbolism than Mary’s imminent death; I suggest that, in keeping with @loudest-subtext-in-tv M-Theory (suggesting that Mary was planted in John’s life by Moriarty), they symbolize Mary as Moriarty reincarnated following his death in TRF. That Moriarty had indeed not disappointed Sherlock - there was a posthumous game after all! That Sherlock was supposed to understand that while one form of Moriarty died on that roof, another had emerged, continuing the mission of burning Sherlock’s heart. Mary is Moriarty’s calling card, left behind in the crime scene. They’re different, but not separate, which is why Sherlock is so obsessed with Moriarty between HLV-T6T; he’s both wrong and correct at the same time.

So far, what I’ve suggested is that in Sherlock, skulls are Sherlock’s symbolic memento mori - the skulls are associated with Sherlock in some very significant ways.

However, Mary’s character was doomed from the start - she dies during Sherlock’s hiatus in ACD canon. I believe many fans assumed Sherlock’s Mary expected the same fate when she was introduced to the show. Although the story of Samarra is told by Sherlock, who expects his own death in T6T, Mary is the one who ends up dying.

Butterflies in ACD canon

Searching for the significance of butterflies in the ACD and BBC canon led me to a number of interesting directions in meta written by others.

The first and probably the best place to start is this meta post by @tendergingergirl, which I strongly suggest you read in full: Butterflies, Sexual Deviancy & The Bloodline Theory in The Hound of The Baskervilles.

Stapleton also has a hobby. He collects bugs…Butterflies, to be exact. This can often be seen as purely academic, but depending on the actions of the hobbyist, they can indicate more disturbing things. That of holding something vulnerable captive, treating it as your hostage, pinning it down. The torture of animals has come to be a good indicator of someone who would do this to a human. He had already shown callousness by laughing as he recounts to Holmes of ponies wandering onto the Moor, becoming trapped, and dying. In 1974, there was a release of a new edition of Sherlock Holmes stories, with the forward of The Hound of The Baskervilles written by British author, John Fowles. He is responsible for several well-known works, including The French Lieutenant’s Wife. Another, was a novel that Mason finds himself wondering why Fowles doesn’t mention in his introduction, since the villain is such a close parallel to Stapleton.(but as we have learned through the study of ACD, most writers will not come right out and say where they got their inspiration. They like for you to guess!)

A lonely young man, works as a clerk, and collects butterflies, becomes obsessed with a pretty young girl, Miranda, an art student. He chloroforms, and kidnaps her, taking her to his cellar basement, to add Miranda to his collection. That book was called The Collector. But what else does it sound like?

“So yes, I googled. From an article on the release of the movie’s Documentary. "The docu proves a poor reference point for anyone who wants to understand the literary and movie links for “Lambs.” There’s no mention, for example, of how Harris partly based the butterfly-loving Bill on John Fowles’ kidnapper in “The Collector” …And here I thought Mofftiss added allusions to Silence of The Lambs into Sherlock just for fun. SMH.”

@tendergingergirl also added this photo to their post:

So what we have here is a chain of metatextualities/inspiration, starting with ACD’s THOB, where Jack Stapelton inspires a book about a disturbed butterfly collector (The Collector by John Fowles), which inspires a the author of Silence of the Lambs in creation of his character Buffalo Bill, a serial murderer who inserts a death's head moth into the victim's throat because he is fascinated by the insect's metamorphosis. Silence of the Lambs served as inspiration for Sherlock as analyzed by @garkgatiss in Bond, Hannibal, and Holmes (I suggest you read the whole Hannibal section) .

Let’s look again at some imagery from His Last Vow. Mary shoots Sherlock’s heart, essentially burning his heart out, and who does Sherlock meet in his Mind Palace in a very cocoon-like straightjacket? Yes, the dead dude who encourages him to die already (“one more push, and off you pop”).

What’s the next thing we as an audience see once Sherlock opens his eyes? Mary coming to the hospital to hear that Sherlock had, in fact, survived. And what is she wearing? Her butterfly scarf, one which will another appearance later in the episode, during the tarmac scene.

I also find it interesting that in the context of Sherlock and Silence of the Lamb, there’s an element of gender-switching between Moriarty and Mary. Buffalo Bill, the murderer from Silence of the Lambs, skins bodies of women to create himself a woman’s 'suit’; in Sherlock, Moriarty is a man-villain who transforms into a female-villain in the form of a bride and/or Mary.

By the way, who else is obsessed with his suits?

Also, let’s not forget the worms, maggots and other such crawlers in the grave scene:

Now, let’s go over some of the photos I included in the beginning of this post a bit further.

Mrs. Hudson’s butterfly tea set is first shown in TEH - she uses it to serve John tea when he comes visiting her and tellis her about Mary. We also see it near John’s chair on the day of the wedding. This isn’t Sherlock’s set - his set is different, featuring the British Isles. Moriarty drinks from it in TRF. The next tea set we see, now that Moriarty is dead, is the butterflies one. In TLD, Mrs. Hudson uses Sherlock’s tea set - the butterflies are gone.

Mary’s bedroom wallpaper is very feminine, with flowers and butterflies, both complementing symbols while also very common in vanitas art. Much like Mrs. Hudson’s wallpaper in Baker Street, Mary’s wallpaper is supposed to show the contrast between Mary’s flat/Mary and Sherlock’s flat/Sherlock.

There’s an interesting moth reference in The Empty Hearse, which in my opinion, is Mary & Moriarty related. In short, in a previous piece of meta I wrote, I suggested that the Jack the Ripper case in TEH is subtext alluding to Mary’s skeletons, which Sherlock ignores because he’s upset by his reception by John. And what’s one of the first things Sherlock notices about the skeleton? New mothballs smell, hinting at an attempt to get rid of moth/butterflies - maybe a hint to the fact that Sherlock has a chance to discover the truth about Mary but misses it. Also, in the context of Mary and the Jack the Ripper case, notice this transition:

Transitions are important on Sherlock - they’re nearly always there to draw our attention.

This, I think, is perhaps the most telling about a possible connection between Mary and Moriarty: we have both magpies (a Moriarty hint) and butterflies together here. This isn’t the only hint of Mary’s past we get in the wedding; there is, after all, the telegram from CAM.

Mary’s scarf is colorful, and it appears by the time Sherlock’s subconscious suspects Mary. Mary’s black butterfly dress - an ominous dress, I’d say - is the one she wears during the labour scene in the car. The third photo is a behind the scenes photo uploaded by Amanda Abbington, although I’m unsure whether this necklace is AA’s or Mary’s (but I couldn’t pass on including this).

Interestingly, the butterflies do not appear in Rosie’s context - either because it’s a telling sign that Mary won’t be with us much longer, or because Rosie is spared being considered a part of the ‘burning Sherlock’s heart’ plan. Sherlock, on the surface, seems to love Rosie and accepts her.

Also, another BTS photograph I came across during my research which I’ve never seen before and ties nicely to the vanity topic is this one (found here):

The Death's-head hawkmoth and ‘Death with Interruptions’

You’ll recall that I referenced The Collector and Silence of the Lambs, both featuring butterflies on their cover art.

The Silence of the Lambs cover features Acherontia atropos, otherwise known as the death's-head hawkmoth. It gets its name from the sinister-looking skull shape on its back. In many cultures it is thought to be an omen of death. In a bit of another coincidental but stunning piece of symbolism, all three species of the Death's-head hawkmoth are commonly observed raiding beehives of different species of honey bee; A. atropos only invades colonies of the well-known western honey bee, Apis mellifera, and feeds on both nectar and honey. They can move about in hives without being disturbed because they mimic the scent of the bees and are not recognised as intruders.

Anyway, the use of Acherontia atropos reminded me of the book ‘Death with Interruptions’ by Jose Saramago. Interestingly, this is another book about a deathly collector with a butterfly on the cover:

In Death with Interruptions death is a woman, and she falls in love with one of her future victims. She decides to spare his life: Every time death sends him his letter [notifying him of his imminent death], it gets returned. death discovers that, without reason, this man has mistakenly not been killed. Although originally intending merely to analyse this man and discover why he is unique, death eventually becomes infatuated with him, so much so that she takes on human form to meet him. Upon visiting the cellist, she plans to personally give him the letter; instead, she falls in love with him, and, by doing so, she becomes even more human-like.

It’s pretty common to read theories about Mary who maybe was one of the assassins due to kill John both at the pool and in front of Barts. So we have a death harbinger trying to kill someone twice and failing. She then falls in love with him.

But how does the butterfly fit in?

Well, at some point in the story, death (that’s her name, sans a capital d), contemplates that using the death head butterfly, instead of a violet piece of paper, would have sent a much stronger message to those whose death is coming for.

And here’s another last bit of coincidental reference to Sherlock: I’d argue shades of purple, among them shades of violet, are associated with Mary and her secrets. There’s the purple dress she wears in TEH, her bridesmaids’ dresses include various shades of purple (including what I would argue was a violet sash) and let’s not forget:

Oh and, by the way, remember the song Donde Estas, Yolanda from TEH, about a woman called Yolanda? Always thought it was a bit of an odd choice for a song?

Yolanda is a female given name, of Greek origin, meaning Violet.

Thoughts?

Credits: thank you @lukessense for directing me to @tendergingergirl meta about butterflies. Episode screenshots are from kissthemgoodbye.net.

@sarahthecoat @tjlcisthenewsexy @devoursjohnlock @inevitably-johnlocked @shylockgnomes @possiblyimbiassed @raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @gosherlocked @waitedforgarridebs @helloliriels

#mary mosrtan #butterflies #silence of the lambs #the collector #meta #sherlock meta #tjlc #johnlockendgame #jim moriarty

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thetypedwriter · 3 years

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The Captive Prince Trilogy

The Captive Prince Trilogy Book Review by C.S. Pacat

Now, one of my absolute favorite things to do is to re-read.

Many people find this strange.

How do you enjoy a book you’ve already read? They say. You already know what happens, isn’t it boring?

In short, the very simple, very concise answer is: no.

I adore re-reading my favorite books for several reasons.

One, it’s comfortable. I love slipping back into a world flush full of characters I cherish. It’s like slipping back into a warm bed on a cold morning. Re-reading the Harry Potter series for me, for example, is the same sort of reasoning people watch Friends over and over again or whatever amenable show of their choice.

It’s easy, it's familiar, and it’s beloved.

Second, often with re-reads you are able to pick up on things that you missed the first time you read through, or even the second. There is symbolism, foreshadowing, and minute details that become glaringly obvious in retrospect and whenever I discover one of these tidbits I become overwhelmingly jubilant.

Third, sometimes nothing else sounds good. If I’m having a book lull and nothing seems to catch my attention, I know I can return to a treasured novel or series and that it’ll satiate whatever reading needs I have at the time.

This happened to me very recently. As my to-read pile dwindled down to books given to me by others that I held trivial interest in, I resorted to re-reading a book series that I love to death: All for the Game trilogy. You can find my review of this series here.

More commonly known as the first book in the series, The Foxhole Court, these books have continually given me merriment and joy every time I’ve read them, including this time. I read all three novels in about four days and I enjoyed every single second of it, even though this is the third time I’ve read the series start to finish.

After finishing The King’s Men, I was once again bereft of reading material and woefully bored. Hence, as any normal person does, I resorted to fanfiction and to looking up books that people found were similar to The Foxhole Court.

To my surprise, on every list was a trilogy I had never heard of called The Captive Prince. Scoffing in skepticism-how could something even compare to my beloved foxes? I decided with circumspect that I would “try” out this series.

I was very much right. The Captive Prince trilogy almost had nothing in common with Nora Sakavics’s The Foxhole Court other than the hate-to-love trope (but it’s not like Nora invented that by any means) and slow-burn romance.

That being said, I very much enjoyed the series.

The trilogy was first self-published by author C.S. Pacat in 2013, the same year that Nora Sakavic self-published The Foxhole Court. What a good year for literature. In all candor, the authors and their backgrounds seem to have more in common then their series do.

The Captive Prince revolves around Damen, the true and rightful heir to the throne of Akielos, being sold as a slave to the prince of Vere, Laurent, by his own brother who has usurped the throne after the untimely death of their father.

Thus unfolds a truly complex and intriguing series involving intricate world-building, political machinations, Damen’s lofty goal of trying to go back home and take his rightful place on the throne, Laurent’s ongoing war with his uncle, the current Regent of Vere until Laurent comes of age, and some truly surprising twists and turns.

This trilogy took me blissfully by surprise.

Is this trilogy a romance? Yes, it is. Very slow burn and with the aforementioned enemies-to friends-to lovers trope that we’re all enamored with (don’t even pretend otherwise). I saw the synopsis, caught wind of the word “slave” and almost gave in and tossed this book away permanently.

I don’t like relationships with unbalanced hierarchies of power. In truth, it makes me uncomfortable because I truly think the relationship can’t be mutual, equal, or consensual when one person in the relationship inherently has more influence and control over the other.

I thought Captive Prince was going to be another smutty, cheesy, poorly written rendition of a “slave” being given to a prince and low and behold, they fall in love anyway despite the numerous and lengthy immoral implications within that framework.

Much to my surprise, the Captive Prince took its own turn.

Number one, while Damen is sold as a slave to Laurent, there is nothing explicitly sexual in nature that occurs between them (much) until further later on in the series. This is mostly because of Laurent himself, who loathes Damen for reasons that I won’t get into.

The society they live in, however, does not have the same chaste control that the Prince of Vere does, but instead of coming across as lascivious and self-serving, the gratuitous display of sex and sex slaves in the novel actually serves more of a commentary of being toxic and something that Laurent wants to change once he is properly king. I appreciated this commentary.

Secondly, Damen and Laurent’s relationship was genuinely good to me. Often with books of this romantic and superfluous nature, the relationship seems fake, forced, or like I said before, inherently unbalanced and therefore coerced.

However, Pacat does a very good job of insisting that while Damen is technically Laurent’s slave in status, he is never actually Laurent’s slave in action, belief, or treatment. It was very refreshing to see how much power Damen amassed, even with his slave status, and the control he was able to wield and hone.

Laurent and Damen also authentically compliment each other. Where Laurent is cold and calculating, Damen is warm and trusting. Where one is manipulative with mind games another is strategic on the battlefield. They meshed well together. A fact that Pacat showed time and time again. They made each other better. And in the end, they both realized this as well.

Thirdly, this series was truly well written and didn’t focus solely on the romance. For a trilogy found under the romance section at Barnes & Noble, I was chagrined to find that for the most part, politics, war, scheming, and an overall plot heavy series dominated most of the pages.

While Laurent and Damen’s relationship does have focus, it wasn’t the only focus, and if anything, their relationship played well and clearly into the events that were going on around them.

That being said, similar to The Foxhole Court, please be warned that there are triggering aspects of this book. Namely rape, slavery, prostitution, drugs, violence, torture, etc. If this is something that is concerning to you, please research the warnings and risks attributed to this novel before diving head first.

Lastly, people, the sheer vocabulary of this series was astonishing. I had to look up so many words that I didn’t know. Instead of being annoying, I loved this. I love learning new words.

However, reading YA most of the time does not stretch my vocabulary limits. This book certainly did and I wholeheartedly appreciated it. Some words included: chamois, dishabille, chicanery, sobriquet, nascent and damascened. I will be very impressed if you know all these words without having to google them like I did.

I know I should have probably written separate reviews for all three books in the trilogy, but because I read them one after another and in such a short amount of time, the whole series kind of blended together for me in one gargantuan novel.

I can’t say that I hated that. Lengthy books are an absolute prize when you’re enjoying them. In addition, Pacat released short stories with differing material, one is an epilogue type of deal and most of the others show insights into side characters from throughout the series. They’re all very fun to read if you needed something more like I did once I was finished.

Recommendation: The trilogy as a whole was really fun and surprisingly well-written. Damen, Laurent and other characters were continuously fleshed out and the writing itself was nuanced, symbolic, and just fun to read. The world-building, while not the most incredibly original thing that’s ever surfaced, was still gripping and entertaining.

It was almost like a fantasy take on Ancient Rome or Greece, which is very much up my alley anyway. The romance wasn’t cheesy, but was instead fluid, dynamic, and situated well within the plot as a whole. It wasn’t the Foxhole Court, but that’s okay, because what can be? Better off to be something new and distinct than trying to copy something or someone else.

As Oscar Wilde once said, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

Indeed, Mr. Wilde.

Score: 8/10

#the captive prince #princes gambit #kings rising #cs pacat #laurent and damen #the foxhole court #all for the game #nora sakavic #book blog #books #book review #book rec #Book Recommendations #booknerd #book reccs #YA Book Review #romance fiction #mm romance #LGBTQ fiction

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blackgirlempowermentbylahart · 3 years

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Don't Get Caught Up | In this final passage, I’m going to talk about online dating websites, chat rooms, dating apps, sex trafficking, and MORE. | Let’s talk about online dating websites! If you’re thinking about giving it a try, I want you to be aware and safe. Keep in mind that just because you come across a profile with a handsome picture and a captivating about me section doesn’t make this guy a great catch. You hear all the time how some women lucked up and found their boyfriend or husband, but that’s not the case for everyone. Please be mindful that not all men on there are genuine. You have some men that try to scam women. You have some men that are secretly married claiming that they’re single. You have some men that are dating another woman, but they’re going through a rough patch and are trying to see what’s out there. You have some men that are predators. And you also have some men searching for women that they can pimp out. Also, please be mindful that fake profiles are VERY real. Anybody can sit behind a computer, search the computer, download attractive images, and write a great bio for themselves. Don’t be so easily flattered by what you see, because it can all be bogus. Until you speak with them on the phone or meet up with them in person… that’s if you feel comfortable enough to meet up, then you really don’t have a full picture of what this person is like. That’s why I strongly suggest that you not be in a rush! Take your time to feel him out over the phone before you meet him in person. And I’m not just talking about after one or two conversations, either. Remember: At the end of the day, he’s a stranger! Yes, he might come off as a great guy, but you just never know. Converse with him about various topics to get a good feel for who he is. I encourage you to be an attentive listener, too. People will often say things without realizing it. TIP! Really pay attention to what he likes to talk about? What do you hear? Be mindful not to overtalk… What I mean by this is don’t be so eager to overshare too soon. Again, you don’t know just yet who you’re dealing with. Not to scare you… but serial killers, rapists, stalkers, and all other sorts of whack jobs are on dating websites, too. Don’t be afraid to ask questions that are important to you. If they try to avoid your questions, get irritated with the questions that you’re asking, or if you detect any kind of attitude: Please do NOT ignore the signs. Meet up in a public place! Do not go to his home, nor should you invite him to your home for the first time meeting up. I don’t recommend that! Do not ignore your gut… Allow it to lead, guide, and PROTECT you. Please be mindful of all I’ve talked about when it comes to dating apps, too… The same goes! Let’s talk briefly about chat rooms! Many people of all ages log into chat rooms for all sorts of reasons… To make new friends, build relationships, to vent, and of course, you guessed it, predators are on here, too. So, with that being said, be mindful of what kind and how much information you’re giving out. People from all over the world create these accounts, so you don’t know who you’re really chatting with. You may think you’re talking to this really awesome guy but, in actuality, he’s nothing that he’s portraying online. And please listen to me carefully if you’re a young adult woman reading this book… I don’t care how cool some of these guys or girls may seem, keep in mind that you’re on the internet, and it’s filled with people that want nothing more than to manipulate. They come off as nice, fun, outgoing, down-to-earth, trustworthy, great listeners, and everything else under the sun; but at the end of the day, underneath it all, some people are VERY deceitful. Don’t be manipulated by giving out your address or other personal information, period! I know a lot of young adults go on here to vent and get things off of their chest, but again, you don’t really know who you’re venting to. You could be offering up too much information that’ll put you in a vulnerable position. If you’re chatting with somebody and they’re asking you detailed questions about yourself, your family, what school you go to, etc… STOP and think! If they ask you to sneak out and meet them, STOP and think! If they ask you to come to their home, but don’t let anybody else know… STOP and think! Being a young adult can be tough, but nothing will be worse than you never being seen or heard from again. Everybody online is NOT your friend. Let’s talk about sex trafficking! Young girls and women ALL over the world are forced into sex trafficking every day. Please don’t think that it could never happen to you, because it could. That’s why I’m writing this passage to help keep you safe and aware! There’s nothing wrong with going out having a good time, but if you enjoy going to clubs, bars, house parties, hanging out, etc… Keep in mind that everybody is NOT who they may seem to be. Even if your friends introduce you to somebody, don’t be so quick to take their word. Get to know people for yourself. Sex traffickers are EVERYWHERE… Both men and women. They blend in just like everybody else, because they are just like everybody else. They are fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, students, coworkers, friends… And even people that hold very high positions. I know some of you are shocked to hear that women do this too, but they do. If you’re a runaway, you’re at-risk. If you’re in a group home or in the foster care system, you’re at-risk. If you’re a prostitute, you’re at-risk. If you have low self-esteem, you’re an easy target. They know you want to feel loved and wanted, so they’ll start the grooming process to gain your trust and respect. They know that most likely you’ve already suffered sexual, physical, and/or mental abuse. They know that a lot of girls and women have abandonment issues and no real support system. They know all of this! That’s why at first, they make you feel loved, special, and wanted, but it’s all a part of their plan. And please understand this… It doesn’t just happen to the kind of girls and women that I’ve mentioned above! It happens to girls and women that just somehow got caught up and didn’t see or pay attention to the signs. It could also happen to any girl or woman who’s going about their daily activities. The mall, school, movie theaters, and other popular establishments are easy hunting grounds, too. It doesn’t matter what kind of family you come from, the type of life you’ve lived, or the choices you did or didn’t make. You could become a victim as well. Sex trafficking doesn’t discriminate! Keep your eyes WIDE open… The internet is flooded with sex traffickers, too! It’s easy to hide behind a screen and search for their next victims. Again, don’t be so easily flattered! That “like” that you just got on your picture could be from a sex trafficker. That comment that just made you smile from ear to ear could be from a sex trafficker. That beautiful direct message that you just read could be from a sex trafficker. That friend request that you just accepted could be from a sex trafficker. That person you barely know who just invited you to a party could be a sex trafficker. That event that you’re SO excited to attend could be connected to a sex trafficker. That person that just followed you on all of your social media accounts could be a sex trafficker. The possibilities are endless! Be mindful of men who seem too good to be true. Be mindful of girls or women that try to lure you into doing things that just don’t seem right. Be careful when you’re out and about having a good time; NEVER drink something that you didn’t see being made or didn’t open yourself. Be mindful of males and females that promise you a better life by going off with them. In this day and time, it pays to be mindful of every damn thing! Sex trafficking is evil… No one should have to ever endure this kind of wickedness! I’m about to get graphic for a moment, but I need you to get it! I want you to understand the horrible things that people go through, and there’s nothing that they can do about once they’re taken. Note: Don’t forget that sex trafficking is a horrible thing that happens to boys and men as well, however, for the sake of consistency in this passage, I’ll be focusing on girls and women. Girls and women are being beaten, drugged, and tortured if they don’t comply or if they don’t meet their so-called quota. Their bodies are no longer their own! They are made to do any and everything with their bodies, all for their trafficker’s love for money and power. There is plenty of money to be made, and by any means necessary, those girls’ and women’s bodies will be used and abused over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Their vagina, anus, and mouth are abused daily for other people’s pleasure. Could you imagine this being YOUR truth? Lured or taken away just to be abused daily. Your every move is controlled. Imagine the cries and screams of other girls and women. Imagine listening to other girls and women being tortured. Imagine your body feeling exhausted and tired, but you’re still forced to perform. Imagine being on your period and still being forced to do the unthinkable. Imagine your body being tattooed with a name, slogan, saying, and/or design to show that you are someone’s property. That’s a way of showing their ownership of you… You’re branded like slaves. What do you think they’ll do to your body should you overdose, die of natural causes, or they decided to kill you? They’d get rid of your body like you’re trash! Sex trafficking is real, and girls and women get lured, taken, or caught up all over the world. Please do your best to keep yourself safe! If you’re someone with young daughters, nieces, cousins, etc… Please talk to them about this, too… It’s imperative to educate them! Sex trafficking is a VERY lucrative business, so you will always have predators on the lookout for fresh girls and women. With that being said, pay attention! If something doesn’t feel right, believe what you’re feeling. Be protective of yourself like your life depends on it, because it does! Look after yourself! Educate yourself! Be vigilant for yourself! For the females reading this that may battling with low self-esteem, abuse issues, the feeling of emptiness, and yearning for love and attention… Don’t fall victim to these predators! You’ve been warned… No, they don’t really love you! No, they don’t really care for you! No, they’re NOT going to take care of you and give you a better life with all of the glitz and glam that they promised you! No, they’re NOT going to give you the world! No, they’re NOT going to help you get on your feet or get you an amazing job! The only traveling you’re going to be doing is to places where they can make money off of YOU. That’s right! Selling your body and doing whatever else they demand you to do. They will make all kinds of promises to get you to go off with them… DON’T DO IT… It’s a trap! I’m going to bring this passage to an end by saying, “Encourage yourself, believe in yourself, and LOVE yourself. Never doubt who you are.” No matter how hopeless you may be feeling, YOU matter. I encourage you to reach out for help instead of going off with pimps and sex traffickers. There’s nothing good in this for you. Please believe that YOU count. Search the internet for legitimate help for people in your circumstances; search for shelters, programs, and organizations in your area. Speak up, and let someone you trust know what’s going on and that you need help. There is help… don’t be afraid to utilize it. You don’t have to be embarrassed or ashamed. Just get the help that you need! There are people who genuinely care for you, and their passion is to help you. Living a street life does NOT have to be your reality… Fight for YOU. Written by Stephanie Lahart: Author & Poet | TIP! Share this post with other women and girls, too! Did you get value out of this passage? Buy my book: BEFORE YOU COMMIT. This is one of the passages from that book. Available on Amazon: eBook and Paperback. NOTE! I’m on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Want to know more about me? Google my name.

#black women #black girls #black tumblr #black love #black couples #black people #melanin #black relationships #black dating #stephanie lahart

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bopinion · 3 years

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Album of the month / 2020 / 10 October

I like listening to music - gladly, all the time, everywhere. That's why I would like to share which music (or which album, after all I'm still from the vinyl generation ;-) I enjoy, accompanies me, slides up my playlists again and again...

Klavier Kaiser

Various

Classical Piano / 2004 / Süddeutsche Zeitung (Leading newspaper in Munich)

While with modern music I like to tap my foot to the beat, nod my head rhythmically, or amuse my children with something that you certainly can't call dancing (yes, this prejudice about German men is true!), it's completely different with classical music. Out of the sound carpet, which often lasts for hours - thanks to Apple Music and HomePods - it happens that I just look ecstatically into the nowhere and mentally escape from the here and now. It's good when I have only read and don't burn anything while cooking.

Because, apart from a few concept albums by contemporary musicians and rare exceptional pieces such as The Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", only classical music can do that: take you by the hand and carry you off into another world, captivate you with a musical dramaturgy, inspire you to abstract head cinema, simply grab you in the right way. That's why I never listen to classical music while driving a car, but on a rainy Sunday at home I like it even more.

Carl Orff reigned musically in my elementary school music lessons, and like all other children I had to learn the flute and torture the parents with unspeakable school performances. This did not make me feel like making music. Today I say unfortunately, because what I would give to be able to play the piano. Because it is by far my favorite instrument in classical music - and with Billy Joel or Elton John, it also spills over into modern times. So it is primarily piano concertos, with or without symphonic accompaniment, that are among my favorite musical works.

In a time before streaming, music came from CDs - and that was already something modern at the time. One of the favorites in my collection was a large dark blue box, the "Klavier-Kaiser" of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. What, a newspaper? Exactly, a newspaper. Because this newspaper published various cultural editions starting in 2004. More about this in my "Book of the Month". How, a piano "Kaiser"? Exactly, a Kaiser. Joachim Kaiser, to be precise. He was one of the most influential German-speaking music, literature and theater critics of his generation. He was professor of music history at the University for Music and Performing Arts and since 1959 has worked as a senior editor for the feature section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. And he was - not to be forgotten - a gifted pianist. His expertise was undisputed, his vote could decide on musical careers.

The piano was also his favorite instrument. So it was only logical that he put together a personal, but due to his competence practically also objective compilation of great piano music for his publishing house: the "Klavier-Kaiser", THE great anthology of the genre. Behind "Various", of course, the interpreters here are the greats of the guild. On 20 CDs they are all united: Arthur Rubinstein, Edwin Fischer, Martha Argerich, Artur Schnabel, Alfred Brendel, Dinu Lipatti, etc., but also Glenn Gould and Daniel Barenboim and, last but not least, Vladimir Horowitz. The spectrum of pieces ranges from the classical piano concerto to fugues, ballads and sonatas. Practically all relevant composers of the piano are considered: Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Handel etc. - and of course the Russians: Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky...

Each CD is thus dedicated to a great pianist personality. Ideal to get to know the qualities and characteristics of these great performers. An excellent introduction for the interested newcomer and a feast for the connoisseur. In addition to modern studio productions, there are also recordings from the 1930s which have been digitally restored - and yet have retained their own charm before stereo. Presented in a box, each in a pretty slipcase that can be opened (there have been reviewers who spoke of a "high altar"), which explains details of the recording, among other things.

Rounded off by a specific commentary by Kaiser as a separate audio track in each case, which helps to place the work and the interpretation in context. Comments that testify not only to expert knowledge, but above all to the passion he felt for piano music. And which incidentally attest to his eloquence and wit. By the way: after the great success of this edition, Kaiser added a second one. It was rumored that the protest not to have taken into account performers like Friedrich Gulda or Emil Gilels was immense.

Joachim Kaiser died in Munich in 2017. Here is a short obituary of one of the last "universal scholars" by German television:

https://youtu.be/OZFmrmtGq4o

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mutantsrisingrpg · 4 years

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Congratulations SARA! You’ve been accepted as HYPERION.

From start to finish, your application truly captivated me, Sara! I loved every bit of Gerrard- sorry, Bermudez’s (since we’re not friends and all) story, because you truly made him your own and brought him to life. It felt as if he could be his own stand-alone character, a protagonist of his own show or movie or something, and I am eager to tune in! He brings such a unique element that I can’t wait to see shared on the dash.

Welcome to Mutants Rising! Please read the checklist and submit your account within 24 hours.

Out of Character Information:

NAME/ALIAS: sara

PRONOUNS: she/her

AGE: 18+

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL: gmt – active every 2 days-ish? about ¾ days a week

In Character Information:

DESIRED ROLE: hyperion

GENDER/PRONOUNS: cis-male, he/him

DETAILS & ANALYSIS:

La Tormenta – His ring name couldn’t be more accurate to the person that he is. Unpredictable, dangerous, destructive. Growing up, he had learned to fear people outside of his family for most of his childhood. When this fear came true, it was replaced with anger and hatred. They were the things that fuelled him and became a large part of who he was. An angry, hateful boy in unimaginable pain, but the pain kept him alive and it made him grow. With pain came power for him, and after he left the place that hurt him so much, there was no getting rid of it. It became deep rooted in him. He was always angry and always looking for something to hate, and most of all he was out of control. A storm destroying anything in his path. After being taken in by the Jem Family bruiser, however, he learned more about who he was than he ever had before. His mentor taught him how to control those overwhelming feelings, and with that control he became the most powerful version of himself. Inflicting pain was somewhat fun for him, especially when he was getting paid to do it. He’s learned the ways of words and business. He’s particularly savvy when it comes to recruiting fighters and seeking information. He controls the storm, letting it out when he wants and onto whom he wishes. He controls the underground, and he controls his fighters. Sometimes his abilities can get away from him, but his fighters fear his power sometimes, and he loves how that feels. With a silver-tongue and an eye for business, being a bruiser for the Jem Family really is his happy place. Even so, the man endured horrors over his lifetime and he still holds a lot of pain and trauma. The doctors call it PTSD, but he’s sure he’ll get over it. He can do anything. Or so he tells himself. Trust is still hard for him. His smart mouth and cocky attitude make it easy for him to push people away, especially those that might even care. He’s married to the business, he tells himself. And he likes it… he tells himself.

BIO:

Tw; torture, murder

Chaos was part of him. Chaos was always by his side, haunting his memories and influencing his dreams. He seemed to be running first, running so fast in the beginning, adrenaline in his veins and blood in his ears. They were running from their life, from their homes. No, not home anymore. They were running to their new home, a place full of glamour and life. It offered so much more than their previous home. His parents dreamed of jobs, and friends, and a life they had always wanted for their son. But they were always running from something. From their home first, then from the people that wanted to send them back there. America wasn’t all smiles and open arms like they had thought. America was full of hate and death. Rather here than home. It was years of chaos, school was dangerous, so lessons were at home; neighbours could report them, so they kept our heads down; the law was always behind them, so they ran as fast as they could. One day, they didn’t run fast enough. He remembered his screams, his mother’s cries, his father’s pleas as each one was taken into strong hands, too strong for his feeble mother and his ageing father, but not too strong for the power he held. The power he didn’t know he had. He knew something was always different about him, but he needed something special to pull it out of him. He needed fear, and he needed anger. And in this moment, he had never felt those emotions so strongly, and it burst out of him in a storm of fury. The city went dark. His fingertips buzzed. His parents looked at him like they had no idea who he was. The lifeless bodies on the floor were still hot with electricity. He felt his own body fall, weak in the aftermath of his own outburst, and darkness consumed him, too.

He awoke to white. Just white. Walls, sheets, clothes, lights. White-hot rage. White knuckles. Where are my parents? Where am I? What’s happening? None of his questions made it out of his mind, but they were shortly answered. Your parents are gone. You’re in a government facility. You are going to be tested and prodded and cut open and tortured for our own benefit and pleasure. Yes, he learned that all too quickly. Fear, he knew. Anger, he knew. Hate, he learned. Ten years in this place, and his uncontainable amount of hate was all he had to show for it. That, and several hundred scars. After a while in his lonely rubber cell, the days blurred together and the torturous experiments became a mundane chore. He was thankful for the pain, as it was the only thing that kept him strong. He wondered if it was the only thing keeping him alive. Then he felt it, building in him like a storm again. Thunder was crashing in his mind and soon his body would do the damage. The echo of chaos was swirling in him once again, and again, the city went dark. He saw his opportunity, and he ran. He ran like he always remembered running. Ten years of practicing his powers, learning his way around the facility, building up enough power to take it all down. Ten years and he was finally free. With nowhere to go.

It seemed like he never stopped running. Another enemy behind him, but how many enemies were ahead? He learned not to trust anyone, to keep his head down and deter anyone he met from wanting to know more. He became bitter and hateful, and it worked. For months, he remained lost. Living on scraps he stole and sleeping under bridges seemed like the best it would get. Should have just let them kill me, he thought. But, he kept running, just like his parents taught him. He ran from one city to the next, never in the same place for too long. Until he stumbled across a community in Chicago; the first group of people he ever felt like he belonged to. The Jem Family. Their hate for humans and their experiments were as deep-routed as his, and they knew as their eyes traced his scar-littered body and the tremble of trauma in his fingers that he belonged there. He still refused to ever trust anyone, but the one person that came close was the ‘bruiser’ of the Jem Family, who turned him into somewhat of a protégé. He fought for years in that underground. La Tormenta, they called him. The Storm. Unpredictable and powerful and electric. He learned a lot during his time in the facility, but his mentor taught him something he had never been shown before; control. Chaos was enough to cause damage, but controlled chaos meant causing whatever damage you wanted. He liked that. For years, he was the undefeated champion of the underground, earning a room and a place in the gang when he was ready in return.

And when it came for his mentor to retire, Gerrard was more than ready to take up to role. He knew this was his place in the world. He knew he no longer had to run.

EXPANDED CONNECTIONS:

Kiara was certainly a challenge for Gerrard. It wasn’t often he was faced with a challenge, but his ego did love the chase of one and the victory of completing it. He had yet to complete this one, however. Kiara was slippery, and she was strong, and he knew that she would keep away from him as long as she wanted to. It angered him,a nd frustrated him, and yet still he could never pull away. It was a strange obsession of his, though he would never admit it was for any reason other than to recruit her. It wasn’t her he wanted, just her power. Knowing the Kings Collective had someone as powerful as she and yet the Jem Family couldn’t even get their hands on her was… annoying? No, exciting. The thought of pursuing her and turning her to them was exciting. He feels like a lion trying to catch the fastest gazelle there is. Plenty of others to go around that would be easier to catch, but nothing compared to the ultimate prize. He couldn’t deny that she enticed him, so much so that the thought of her ate at him almost daily. He would get her, one way or another.

EXTRA: This section is completely optional.

I don’t have any edits or anything ~yet~ but I have a few headcannons!

- He prefers that people call him by his last name as it feels far more business-y. his first name is too friendly, and he doesn’t do friends

- He’s a lil bit of a hound-dog if you know what I mean

- His body is quite literally covered in scars and marks from his facility days, and some even from his fighting days

- He has lighting-shaped burn scared on his fingertips from his power use

- Diagnosed PTSD but believes he’s better than that psychological bullshit so rarely takes his meds and then gets triggered by things like drill noises, white rooms etc.

- Has amazing control over his powers until certain instances when he gets too emotional then all hell breaks loose

- La Tormenta is his ring name meaning the storm, it’s also his ‘bruiser’ name for those who have heard of him

- His parents are alive, they got deported back to their country (Guatemala), but he hasn’t sought them out and doesn’t intend to. He’s pretty much pushed them to the back of his mind

- Fluent in Spanish and English

- He’s not very academically smart. He was homeschooled until fourteen and then went to the facility so he does struggle with things like academia and reading

- Huge chain smoker, honestly his lungs aren’t okay

- Sexually very fluid but honestly will just sleep with anyone that shows interest

ANYTHING ELSE: nope!

#accepted #accepted: hyperion

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outofangband · 2 years

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Maedhros in Angband thought that’s been on my mind lately

Angband World Building and Aftermath of Captivity Masterlist

@theoppositeofprofound and @undercat-overdog have a fantastic post about the almost bureaucratic nature of Angband and I think about that a lot . Much of the daily life and runnings of the fortress is under the domain of Sauron who values order and precision. Repetition, paperwork, depersonalization and dehumanization of the ‘workers’ and systematics are all important aspects of Angband. A high percentage of suffering in the fortress is the result of apathy and said depersonalization as well as the physical and psychological consequences of seemingly unending labor as well as the hell that it is for creatures, whether human or elven, who should be in forests and under clean skies and running through open spaces are instead confined in a polluted wasteland where the air and water are poisonous in a thousand different ways (though most won’t kill you), and you never see or feel the stars and where the slightest defiance or even unintentional stepping out of line leads to even more extreme isolation, deprivation (sensory, movement, food, etc) and the disdain of your fellow prisoners

I talk about certain sections of the work of Angband on my masterlist linked above (mines, forges, kitchens, upper levels, etc) but yeah I’ve been thinking about this too and I talk about this on my routine and hierarchies posts and when I talk about the record keeping too but yeah

The fortress functions in a machine like fashion and relies on a small number of people to control masses of others who perform labor

Maedhros is shuffled around a lot when Morgoth is bored of him. He spends some time doing busywork and cleaning in the forges, a few weeks in the kitchens, and even as an (unwilling) personal assistant to a few of Sauron’s Maiar. This provides him insight into a number of things

-the scale of production of the fortress and all that is needed to keep it in motion, some of which he can later use to his advantage though the distinct lack of real trade Angband engages in in order to get supplies makes it difficult to cut them off.

-the sheer mundanity of much of it. Make no mistake, him and others are subjected to bad conditions and sometimes random abuses but much of the population of thralls are used not for elaborate torture or experimentation but simply because they are needed for the vast amounts of labor required.

I got sort of excited writing this and I worry I didn’t explain myself well enough or articulate what I want to

I made some sample Angband paperwork if anyone wants to see :)

As always please feel free to ask more, Angband World Building is one of my favorite things

#the silmarillion #maedhros #morgoth #melkor #Mairon #Sauron #Angband #in the Iron hell #musing and meta

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wargwhatisitgoodfor · 5 years

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GRRM’s Much Ado about Mirrors - An Introduction

NOTE: The following is entirely speculation. Also in the latter portion of this meta, I will be introducing the possibility that a specific character has been tortured and sexually assaulted since season seven.

Within a story’s framework, mirrors can draw connections amongst characters and events and can convey conscious/subconscious thoughts, truth vs lies, etc. In a reference to the practice of hydromancy, The Lord of the Rings contains a basin of water, Galadriel’s mirror, that provides visions of the past, present, and possible future. Inspired by Tolkien’s device, GRRM uses mirrors not only in an allegorical manner in his series A Song of Ice and Fire (e.g. Sansa Stark as the positive mirror image to Cersei Lannister) but also to consistently foreshadow major events with water as well as to allude to previous scenes that haven’t yet been revealed to the reader (this will later compare to Melisandre’s pyromancy).

Of particular note, both Arya Stark’s confrontation with Joffrey Lannister alongside the waters of the Trident and Dæny’s clash with her brother Viserys in the midst of the “Dothraki Sea” serve to FORESHADOW THE CLIMAX OF THE ENTIRE SERIES.

GRRM successfully misdirects his readers and builds suspense though by also utilizing inversions, parallels, and consistently and purposefully leaving out scenes. Just as GRRM emulates and references multiple primary sources in his narrative, the show writers have looked at the most successful adaptations of the material that inspired him in their creation of the television show. In fact, this upcoming season will be tying together narrative threads in a major plot point that was seemingly inspired by Peter Jackson’s adaptation of LoTR.

Examining GRRM’s narrative techniques within the text itself and to his literary/historical sources reveals a great deal about Game of Thrones Season Eight, such as “The Kidnapping Plot”, “The Parentage Reveal”, “Will Dæny get her house with the red door?”

MIRRORS:

1. In the Series - Lady Crane is to Bianca as Sansa is to Cersei… AKA “THE KIDNAPPING PLOT”:

Jaquen H’ghar assigning Arya to rewatch her father’s death is certainly a reference to Hamlet testing Claudius; however it is also a mirror of the threats that Sansa and the Stark siblings/cousins will face in season eight. On stage, Bianca’s feelings and murderous plans for Lady Crane foreshadow Cersei’s targeting of Sansa. When the action moves back-stage as the actors remove costumes and wigs in front of mirrors, most of the doubles change but Lady Crane remains the stand-in for Sansa (e.g. the other actors’ comments that the crowd loves Lady Crane references book!Sansa’s pledge in A Clash of Kings: “... IF I AM EVER A QUEEN, I WILL MAKE THEM LOVE ME”).

The writers make this point irrefutable when they both acknowledge the criticism levied against them (Lady Crane: “The writing’s no good”) at the same time as they foreshadow how they plan on elevating the series from everything else that has come before it with Arya’s response: “(this story) would all just be (more of the same) without (Sansa the subversive heroine).”

Just as the threats to Lady Crane shifts, Sansa/the Starks will be targeted by a different force mid-way through the season when ALL of the Stark siblings/cousins will be involved in a violent stand-off, which will center on the FATE OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF STARKS.

2. To a Primary Source - Howland Reed and Petyr Baelish are the reconstruction/deconstruction of a trope and historical character:

Yes, just as Petyr Baelish has been ushered out of the action, the show will finally deliver Howland Reed!

Early on in season eight, Jon Snow will meet Howland Reed after trouble has ensued in the North.

(Leo Woodruff was cast as Howland as he had been on set for several years and wouldn’t attract any attention with his presence on set.) The show, as well as the book series, has quietly but consistently foreshadowed the ironic “event” in which Howland will enter the present narrative beginning with several comments from Robert Baratheon in season one and continuing on through Jaime and Cersei’s last argument in season seven. In fact just as some fans have noted that “The Spoils of War” mirrors “Hardhome”, Howland’s arrival should flip another notable scene (and reference an important moment in Westerosi history).

Given the nature and atmosphere of his appearance, Howland will not only privately discuss Jon’s parentage (the show’s opportunity to do a weirwood tree vision/flashback of the Tournament of Harrenhal) but will also reveal Ned Stark’s contingency plans

(the means by which this story will starts to conclude its theme of the futility of war… for more details, see the section on parallels between Ned and Doran Martell). NOTE: This meta on Howland Reed and Petyr Baelish will be part one in this series.

INVERSION:

1. In Show/Series - Jon Snow and Jaime Lannister:

There are many metas on the connections between the two; however I haven’t seen one yet explore the respective secrets that both characters have NEVER disclosed to anyone; it is those secrets that have largely dictated their individual characters arcs and are the main reason the show has the two having a conversation with each other in season one. To be sure, Cersei’s line about Jaime being the “stupidest Lannister” in the last episode of season seven will in retrospect be ironic. These narrative threads should be exposed with all the action and fallout surrounding “SANSA’S GIFTS” early on in season eight.

2. To a Source - Dæny and her character’s main inspiration:

Dæny was not only partially inspired by a Shakespearean MALE CHARACTER (there are very few, if any, one-to-one correlations) but her narrative will ultimately contain elements from one of the most well-known and subversive adaptations of that particular character. Coincidentally, as Dæny is the inverse of the main male character, Jon Snow is the positive mirror of one of the main supporting characters in the same play. GRRM’s purposeful lack of additional POVs in Essos can make it difficult to recognize that her narrative arc not only takes her full-circle but has her regress; however it should be irrefutable upon her final conflict, which has her face the same question as many of her predecessors: “What do you do with the children of those who threaten your power?”

Dæny’s clash with the Starks over this question is the MOST VISUALLY REFERENCED SCENE in the whole tv series.

(THE COLOR OF THE EGG IS IMPORTANT.)

PARALLELS:

1. In the Show/Series - The Plans of Ned Stark and Those of Doran Martell:

Due to the trauma that they both experienced during Robert’s Rebellion and their steadfast love for their sisters, both Ned Stark and Doran Martell worked steadily and inconspicuously towards shoring up separate plans for their respective families. Besides recruiting their younger brothers’ help and their focus on strengthening political alliances in their respective regions,

THE CORE OF EACH OF THEIR PLANS RESTS ON A SECRET MARRIAGE BETROTHAL.

Unfortunately, their differences (Ned is for protection/reactionary and Doran is about vengeance/aggression) may lead to entirely different ends for their houses (I’m still holding out hope regarding Sarella’s future collaborative efforts with Samwell Tarly and Marwyn and her eventual governance of Dorne). Ned’s contingency plans should not only hint at an ironic ending but at the theme of the futility of war.

2. To a Source - Varys and his character’s inspiration:

Despite the substantial differences between show!Varys’s plot and his counterpart in the book series, his ties to his character’s main inspiration remain intact - his secret identity and his visits to political prisoners. These core characteristics will lead him to be an active participant in his death, similar to his narrative source; in an ironic twist, Varys will end up aligning with the Starks and will save the life of one of their most important allies with the help of Melisandre. Varys is another testament to GRRM’s belief that anyone can make the choice to be heroic.

MISSING SCENES -

GRRM intentionally leaves out critical scenes throughout his series as it enables him to surprise his reader. Because it would be too obvious to leave out the most important scenes, GRRM does it in MANY instances. “Why don’t we have more insight on Sansa’s female relationships?” “Why don’t we have a chapter with Catelyn saying goodbye to all of her children?” “Why don’t we have a Dothraki POV?” The writers for the show have successfully used this device since season one. It isn’t until season seven though that the show makes it evident that some of the most important scenes are not always shown to the audience.

It may seem like the writers are cheating the audience with leaving out scenes, but they have always provided us with ALTERNATE VERSIONS OF WHAT IS MISSING.

1. In Show/Series - Ramsey is to Theon as Yara is to Euron:

Once Yara is taken captive and paraded through King’s Landing, the audience doesn’t get to view another scene with her nor learn second-hand what is happening to her. Theon does express two beliefs about his sister’s fate: 1.) Yara is still alive, and 2.) Euron is holding her captive rather than Cersei. However, Euron’s comment to Yara in season seven about the King’s Landing crowd (“... THIS IS MAKING ME HARD”) along with book!Aeron’s terrifying memories of Euron visiting his bedroom at night (”No mortal man could frighten him, no more than the darkness could... nor memories, the honest of the soul. The sound of a door opening, the scream of a rusted iron hings. Euron has come again.” A Feast for Crows, “The Prophet”) indicate that

Euron not only commits gratuitous violence against his ship’s captives but that he enjoys sexually assaulting his family members.

Is that enough foreshadowing for the tv show’s general audience? Perhaps it isn’t, which may be part of the reason why the show writers decided to repeatedly show graphic scenes of Ramsey torturing Theon... those scenes also serve as a stand-in to what Euron is doing to Yara.

What would be the purpose of delaying this revelation about Yara? The most obvious answer lies in a conversation that Theon has with Ramsey about his father during season three: “Those men, they said that my father knew what they were doing to me.” As the audience knows, Balon Greyjoy does learn what is happening to his son and still refuses to him him.

If Ramsey and Theon are a stand-in for Euron and Yara, then the audience can extrapolate that THEON IS AWARE OF WHAT EURON DOES TO FEMALE CAPTIVES (EVEN THOSE RELATED TO HIM) AND EXPLAINS TO DAENY WHAT YARA IS EXPERIENCING. We also know from the Dragon pit meeting that Dæny does not ask for Yara to be returned.

This possible narrative may lead the audience to unexpected topics: Will an abortion be part of the plot in season eight of Game of Thrones? If Yara has been the subject of Euron’s heinous, violent acts, what does this mean for the other familial pairing - Jon and Dæny? Jon’s arrival at Dragonstone and his departure for Winterfell does roughly correspond to the same time frame as Euron taking Yara hostage and Theon heading off to rescue her.

Thus, are Jon and Dæny a MIRROR of Yara and Euron, or are they the INVERSE of one another? Was Jon summoned to Dæny‘s room? Or did he come of his accord? Is the show exploring the topic of “submission vs consent” with two of its most popular characters?

2. To a Source - “Sansa’s Gifts” and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy:

Similar to Dæny and Cersei respectively in seasons five and seven, Sansa will receive “gifts” from someone who is trying to convince her of his/her loyalty towards the end of episode one or towards the beginning of episode two. Not only will this complete the “rule of three” for all of the queens in the last season, but this plot point was inspired by a narrative device that Peter Jackson created in adapting The Lord of the Rings.

To maintain the surprise of this plot twist, the show left out TWO CRITICAL SCENES that happened early on in the series. Just as Theon and Ramsey are a stand-in for Yara/Euron, there are two scenes that serve as a double for the ones that the audience will never see; however those scenes have been alluded to, and the audience has witnessed evidence that they occurred.

This show’s writers have been planning this since the beginning, and “Sansa’s gifts” actually fits ALL of the narrative devices mentioned in this meta:

Mirror (In Show AND Source Material)

Inversion (In Show AND Source Material)

Parallel (In Show AND Source Material)

It also INSPIRED ALL OF THE “GIFTS” THAT WERE CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR THE SHOW, including the thimble Sam gave Gilly, Ellyria sending Myrcella’s necklace to Cersei, Davos giving his carvings to Shireen, Littlefinger bringing a falcon to Robyn Arryn, etc.

Truly, the narrative impact that this will have on the outcome of the entire series cannot be overstated. Just as Ned’s death overturned the audience’s expectations as it also impacted the trajectory of the entire narrative, so will “Sansa’s gifts”.

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crimsonrevolt · 5 years

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Congratulations Angela you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Amelia Bones.

↳ please refer to our character checklist

Angela! Amelia is a character that we’ve been anxiously awaiting to see for quite some time, and now it’s clear that we’ve been waiting for you! Your application blew us away, from your passion for her as a person to the explanations on how she becomes the person we know her to be in canon to how the horrors she experienced in war has impacted her. It’s clear to us that you have a strong connection and understanding of Amelia, and we can’t wait to see where you take her going forward. Welcome to the group! *Your faceclaim change to Summer Glau has been accepted.

application beneath the cut (tw: mentions of PTSD)

OUT OF CHARACTER

Introduction: Angela, 25+, she/her, CST but I work night shift which puts me more on par with GMT+11

Activity: As previously stated, I work nights and my shifts are 12 hours. On nights I work I’m usually not as active but on my days off I tend to catch up.

How did you find us? Amelia Bones tag

Anything else? n/a

IN CHARACTER

Desired character: Amelia Susan Bones

Birthday / star sign: December 29, 1957; Capricorn

Occupation: Before the kidnapping, Amelia was working for the DMLE as an Auror. Technically, she’s probably still employed. Unless someone had her officially declared dead, she hadn’t actually bothered to check that. Somehow she doubted Edgar would have given up, despite the length of her absence. That being said, there was absolutely now way the department would allow her to return to active duty, not yet anyway. Which means she’d probably shunted off into an investigation department or worse, some sort of clerical work.

Faceclaim: FC change to Summer Glau, Shelley Hennig, or Alicia Vikander

Reason for chosen character: Amelia was the first character I fell in love with writing years ago when I started RPing. Since then I’ve always had a soft spot for her, but often times the way I view Amelia and the way she is described in RP bios don’t match up. Amelia is a character driven by, but not broken by, loss. Her parents and her brother, along with his family, are canonically murdered. The things she goes through personally are not stated in canon, but for her family to be targeted the way it is, you can assume she was not passive. Especially given that she rises to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and eventually murdered by Voldemort himself. I love strong women. She is clearly a threat to the Death Eaters and their cause and I just cannot believe that only happens after the demise of her family. She was just lucky enough to escape their fate during the first war. No one escapes war unscathed, however, and yet she continues on, becoming known as fair and a great witch. I really want to explore the path that gets her there. The struggles she goes through, the times she loses herself in trying to achieve her goals. How justice and vengeance become blurred and how she finds balance again. It’s honestly fascinating to me, especially given her circumstances in this RP.

Prior to her kidnapping, I think she probably had a lot more faith in the system. She believed that the Ministry, while not without its issues, would ultimately prevail. It was a naive viewpoint. For a year she’s been missing, tortured and brutalized, and it’s changed her. She’s struggling with a range of things including PTSD and rage and a need to regain control. She can no longer wait and hope that the Ministry or even the Order will figure out how to make things right, she has to do it herself. She KNOWS what happens to those who get captured. The lucky ones are killed, those like her who might have information…they’re not lucky. Survival is not the gift that some might thing it to be. It’s a burden. One she will do anything to make sure no one else has to carry, including things that she would not have considered before.

Preferred ships // Character sexuality // Gender & Pronouns: Right now the last thing Amelia is interested in is romance. Though, that doesn’t mean she’s against the idea of blowing off steam with someone. She is damaged, that’s how she views herself now. Just…fucked up. There is a part of her that was broken during her captivity, a part of her that almost craves to be subjugated, so long as she maintains some control of the situation. It’s not a thing she likes to talk about or would acknowledge in the light of day. But when it comes to sex, she’s discovered she likes it rougher than she ever would have guessed previously. No attachments, no commitments, just… physical gratification. She has nothing outside of that to give to anyone. And honestly, she’s not that picky when it comes to gender. It’s less about who and more about the feeling she gets when she’s with them. As far as her own gender identity goes, she’s cis-female, she/her pronouns

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER

https://weheartit.com/thebutlerdidit/collections/95404130-amelia-bones

Headcanons: – You don’t survive a year of captivity without scars. Physical, mental, emotional, etc. Amelia has all of them. She refused just about all of the treatments the Healers offered, preferring not to be touched or poked or prodded any further. Potions were provided and she takes them on occasion, but she prefers to self-medicate with alcohol and/or a good duel. Hell, even a good fist fight provides a decent catharsis. Never again will she place herself under someone’s thumb. Yes, she’s learned to enjoy being subjected to roughness in love-play, but it never goes anywhere she doesn’t expressly allow. The people she was close to before being taken are now held at arm’s length, especially if they try to discover what happened while she was gone. She’s not exactly proud of the things she had to do to survive, the things she had to allow, but in the end all that matters is that she did survive. She got out. And she’ll get revenge. – People tend to underestimate Hufflepuffs and there are probably many who believe her current state of vengeance is out of character for one of her former house. They’re wrong. Hufflepuffs are gentle until pushed to their limit, at which point they fight like hell. Beware the wrath of a person who is usually kind and gentle, because they did not become that way by accident. Kindness is not a default, it’s not a naive choice. Not always, at least. Often times it is earned out of hard fought battles and discovered when tested by fire. But when pushed beyond those limits of kindness, there are few limits to what they will do in order to survive. People who think them weak are fools. When you push a kind person beyond their limits, you won’t find brokenness on the other side, you’ll find steel and rage and power. – Amelia hasn’t talked to anyone about what she went through during the year she was missing. She tells people that she doesn’t really remember, that there were memory spells and it’s all a blur. That’s true for parts of it, but it’s not all gone. She remembers the way it felt to have the cruciatus curse rip through her body, every nerve ending screaming as the unforgivable curse burned through her. She remembers bones broken only to be reknit and broken again. Her dreams are haunted by silver masks and laughter as she was tortured for their enjoyment. There are pieces of what happened that are burned in her mind, never to be forgotten. She might not be able to name names for sure, at least not in a way that would hold up in court, but she believes she’ll recognize her captors if she’s faced with them again. Whether or not that’s true is yet to be determined. – Everything in Amelia’s life since her return is about control. She was without it for so long that now she’s not likely to give it up without a fight. It’s why she won’t take a sleeping potion. Why she won’t submit to the healers exams or the questions of the Ministry. Things will happen on her terms or they won’t fucking happen at all. Anyone who has a problem with that can get the hell out of her way.

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

The following section should be looked at like a survey or interview for your character. The questions may be answered in character or out of character, with or without gifs. (using gifs of a few different FCs I listed, hope that’s okay)

Do you think it is more important to be feared or loved? Which would you rather be? Honestly, I don’t give a shit. Fear me, love me, whatever. It’s of little consequence as long as you do what needs to be done. If I had to be one or the other, I guess I’d rather people love me? But honestly, I don’t need it. I’d rather people just left me alone.

What is one thing you would never want said about you? She gave up. I have not come this far, struggled so hard just to quit. I have not given up, I don’t intend to give up. I’m not going to let myself be broken. I don’t care what it takes, I’m determined to win. I am not a quitter.

If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it! I’d like to be able to read people’s thoughts and intentions. Not like veritaserum, where the person is forced to tell you what they’re thinking and feeling…I want to experience it. I want to know why and how in the moment. I suppose that some might consider that to be legilimency, and maybe that’s what I mean, but it feels different to me. I guess I don’t just want to know, I want to be able to influence what I discover. To be able to push or pull on someone’s emotions and intentions, but more subtly than the imperius curse. A nudge rather than a shove. Fuck. I don’t know. Just… control. A measure of control over what happens because of the people around you.

What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make? Ones that involve trusting someone else. Things get complicated when you leave things up to other people and often times they let you down. I would rather do it myself than have to rely on someone else. There’s a reason people say if you want something done right, do it yourself, and it’s because other people let you down. They fail when you’re counting on them and everyone ends up paying the price. Better to just rely on yourself.

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

Not for nothing was Amelia one of the best chasers Hufflepuff ever saw. The World Cup was a foolish endeavor, but even she could understand the reasoning behind it. People needed to blow off steam, fine. But honestly, if they were going to put an opportunity like this in front of her, she wasn’t about to ignore it. She might not play anymore, but she can still fly and god knows she can scream louder than anyone thought. (A trait she is fairly certain kept her alive during the year she was held captive. She’d screamed until her throat bled, a sound one particular captor compared to a symphony because he was a sick bastard.) The people need to know. Ignorance will get them killed. She’s been shut down, kept out of the search for her brother, but this was something she could do. The more people that knew the truth, the weaker the other side had to become. The easier it would be to find Edgar. They’d barely gotten a chance to speak, let alone reconnect before he’d been taken and no one was doing a goddamned thing about it. Amelia had to fight hard against her own guilt – a Bones set free, another taken…was it her fault? She tried not to think about it that way but it was hard. Worse is the knowledge that comes with having been in his position before. Amelia doesn’t have to imagine what he’s going through, she experienced it first hand.

WRITING SAMPLE

She awoke slowly, arms tied above her head and her feet barely scraping the floor of the dimly lit room. She shifted to stand on her tip toes to relieve the ache in her arms; they’d been supporting her weight while she was unconscious. Before she could truly survey her surroundings a whispered curse hit her in the back, shocking her into crying out. The stinging hex spread angry welts over her skin.

“Welcome back, Ms. Bones.”

Amelia turned, trying to look over her shoulder to see who was speaking, but her assailant remained in the shadows. She didn’t recognize his voice, though there were clearly spells in place to disguise it. She grit her teeth and didn’t respond.

“Nothing to say?” the unknown person asked. “You’re usually so vocal. Standing up and shouting for anyone who’ll listen how you plan to bring justice to the wizarding world. You and I both know true justice isn’t an option.”

It took every ounce of her will power to stay still and silent. Whoever had grabbed her was clearly baiting her. She couldn’t remember how long it’d been, but surely the aurors were looking for her. She was hardly the most important member of the department, but they watched out for her own. She couldn’t remember the specifics of the attack but it had been her own damn fault for letting herself get distracted. There was a rustling behind her as the figure moved closer. She could feel him behind her, wishing more than anything for a chance to get the drop on him.

“Your brother was louder. Begged. Said we could do whatever we wanted to him, so long as we spared his wife and children."

Her blood ran cold. Edgar. "You don’t have him.”

“Don’t I? Perhaps not. Maybe he’s dead. Shall I tell you how we laid them out? Presented each of their bodies in a perfect tableau for you to find. I wanted to kill the dog, too. Little shit wouldn’t stop barking.”

She was shaking now and despite all her scolding, all her training at hiding her emotions she couldn’t stop herself from reacting. “I’ll kill you,” she promised in a low voice.

He laughed.

Amelia thrashed in her restraints, wild with hatred. She was only hurting herself, he was too far away for her to reach and she didn’t have her wand. Despite her efforts, she’d never mastered a wandless attack. She could do simple spells, but nothing more.

“Calm down, Ms. Bones. You’ll snap your little wrists and I won’t mend them.”

He moved behind her again until she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She threw her head back, barely clipping his chin with the top of her head as he moved away. Probably hurt her a lot more than it hurt him.

“Do you enjoy hurting people?” she growled.

He finally moved in front of her, silver mask gleaming as it reflected the single lamp. His wand was raised, pointed directly at her. Even without being able to see his face, she was certain he was smiling at her.

“Yes.”

—

Another example from a previous blog, but it fits along with the theme (though another talented writer contributed quite a bit.) TW for torture - Amelia was kidnapped briefly and tortured by Evan Rosier - http://hardasbones.tumblr.com/tagged/mister-sandman/chrono

#accepted app #amelia bones

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pastlechips · 6 years

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Chips List of Horror

Hi I’m Chips and I adore horror, so this is going to be a huge and I do mean huge, list of my favourite horror manga, anime and Asian horror movies. If you enjoy the genre but could do with something more to read/watch then look to this list as it include lesser known series. Right at the end I’ll add in all the popular/well known ones without detailing, just assume I think they’re decent series since I’ve added them in. I will be doing a western version of this: TV series, comics and movies etc in the future. Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions on this, so don’t get stroppy because I like something if you found it to be bad.

Manga:

Anything by Itou Junji-

He’s well know in the horror sector, a lot of short story collections and they’re always fantastic. I don’t want to ruin anything so just go and check him out, his most well know works include Tomie, Yami no Koe and Uzumaki. A lot of his stuff is really surreal or contains body horror, you’ve probably seen a couple of his horror panels floating around tumblr from time to time.

I am Hero- It’s brilliant, yes it’s about zombies however goes down a slightly different route and has some genuinely interesting characterisation. Ousama Game (Renda Hitori)- Not to be mistaken for the other manga with the same name...I love this one and it will be appearing later in another section, it’s got a lot of gore and some mystery thrown in. It’s a survival horror than involves and classroom of students that need to follow the kings orders and play his games, or death. Gantz- Honestly I adore this, it’s so different and the plot...oh boy be prepared to be taken on a ride. Fair amount of gore but reasonably used and has a nice cast of characters... I’d describe it as Sci-fi horror but very unique.

American Ghost Jack- It has horror, supernatural elements and even a little bit of romance. It was very intriguing, I quite liked it actually and it’s an easy read. I’m sure I read that there was going to be a sequel but don’t quote me on that. Real Account/Real Account 2: They’re parallel stories, gosh darn I enjoyed this one. I just really love survival horror type scenarios, it’s kind of crazy with lots of gore and I really like the main cast.

Apocalypse no Toride- It starts off in a prison and then everything goes to shit, it’s got zombie elements and sci-fi elements (think hive minds) and honestly it’s fantastic. I adore all the characters and to be honest I keep praying this will one day be made into an anime.

Online-The Comic- Another one that’s interesting, to do with video games but with horror/gore and mystery thrown in. It’s actually really good, let’s just say I’d hate to be thrown in to this kind of scenario. Wouldn’t you hate a game that could kill you?

Bio Meat- So basically the usual, humanity is stupid. They use science to make creatures that eat rubbish and then is killed off for meat. Let’s just say it’s a terrible idea and most of the blood on the pages is from humans.

Tenkuu Shinpan- This has gone under the radar and it really shouldn’t of, it’s brilliant. Skyscrapers, murders in masks and a person deemed ‘god’ of that world. It’s fantastic with some awesome characters and gore.

Hakaijuu- Oh look another one about creatures trying to kill humanity with lots of gore in, is it the end of the world? Maybe... What can I say I’m a sucker for apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic horror. Torikago no Tsugai- A group of people trapped in a place, solve puzzles or die. They’ve got to solve the mystery of the birdcage or die trying to get out, very simple but nicely delivered.

Dolly Kill Kill- Alien insects, dolls....murder of a large amount of the human race...people getting abilities and a fight for the survival of the human race. It’s very interesting, very gory and very fun to read. Nemuri No Fuchi- It’s surreal and supernatural, it’s very good with a very different plot. It involves and labyrinth, a little girl and some people looking for answers.

Green Worldz- What if the apocalypse was actually plants? Not seriously, this sounds stupid but is actually fantastic...The creatures, the plant structures are incredible, the gore is on point and the plot is fairly good This is a really nice read. Dolls Code- Guy wakes up, memories gone in a school of criminals, six other boys have each had a body part taken. They have to figure out who the puppet is to get them back and graduate. It’s really short and sweet but good none the less.

Mouryou no Yurikago- What’s worse than zombies? Being stuck on a slowly sinking cruise ship and zombies. Oh yeah this ones a ride, some ecchi in it but over all a good read with some decent characters.

Kichikujima- They land on a island where there are some very horrific things going on, a messed up family and a lot of gore. They people...will they survive? I suggest anyone who’s not into the darker side of things not to read. Hideout- I don’t even know how to describe this one, let’s say it’s a captive horror with some mystery. It managed to unsettle me but that’s a good thing. A bit of gore, a fair amount of horror and it’s worth checking out. Kyochuu Rettou- So it’s an island full of giant insects that view humans as prey and an airplane full of students who have crash landed there. It’s survival horror with some ecchi thrown in, if you can look over a lot of nudity/perverted shots then it’s a good read. I honestly don’t mind some ecchi as long as the plot is good. Gyo- I’m sure a lot of people have heard of this, the one with fish in it. You know, fish taking over...fish with scuttling little legs.... No? Read it...I don’t think there’s anything worse than a land shark.

Kangoku Jikken- You want dark? This is for you, take someone of your choice captive and do anything bar killing them that you want in a month. However if they guess your name, they win and will get the 10 million yen at the end of the month. This is a psychological gore fest with some very dark themes and it’s gone going, pretty good stuff.

Some quick fire horror collections: 2001 + 5 , Hyaku Monogatari, 8.1 Yamada Yuusuke Gekijou and Kouishou Rajio

Anime:

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress- I freaking love this so much, it has a flesh eating virus and a badass protagonist who is far too lovable. I won’t say too much as honestly it’s just worth watching.

King of Thorn- This is an anime movie adaptation of manga but it’s perfect, they couldn’t of done better and flows the manga so closely. I’d say watch this, then read the manga. They’re both amazing, anyway it’s about medusa virus which causes people to turn to stone and people ‘frozen in sleep’ to try and save humanity but they wake up when they’re not supposed to, it follows the story of a twin.

Shiki- A deadly disease that eventually kills sweeps a small village but the real lesson in this anime is that the real horror lies in humans. It revolves mainly around a group of teenagers.

Mayoiga- A village that can’t be found where you can live a perfect life and a bus full of people looking for it but when they get there, is this urban legend true or was the reason it couldn’t be found more sinister? It’s alright, a great lead up and ends up a little under whelming but a good casual watch.

Kowabon- It’s got ghosts and techonology, so there’s no escape from the horror and I think that’s the true terror. It’s got some nail biting moments and is a short enough series to binge. (There aren’t many anime series that are really decent in the horror section aside from the more well known series which a will be putting at the end of these lists.)

Movies/TV Series (Live action not animated unless stated otherwise):

Anything by Takashi Miike- He’s been named a master of horror and for a good reason, his movies are disturbing, interesting and strange. Usually full to the brim with unique characters, the tales he weave are horrific but you won’t want to look away. My favourites include Ichi the Killer and Imprint. Though here are some more special mentions:

As the Gods will- If you don’t want to read the Ousama manga then the live action is fantastic, it’s nothing special plot or special effects wise but it’s very good for a watch and I hope there will be sequel to follow the manga plot further. It’s got gore and it’s got bizarre

Terra Formarz- It’s actually both a manga and anime series but honestly I didn’t like either, however watching Miike’s live action of it was enjoyable. A bit zaney but good none the less, an easy and interesting watch

Others- Audition, Three Extremes(The Box), Visitor Q, Gozu, One Missed Call and Over my Dead Body

Train to Busan- I’m adding it in because it’s one of the best zombie based movies I’ve watched in a long time along with a protagonist you really route for, these movie has become fairly well known.

Old Boy- This is a classic and fairly well known but how could I not put it here, it’s got everything. Beautiful cinematography, a really intriguing plot and really is a thriller that glues me to the screen every time with some nice plot twists. Hansel and Gretel- A surreal but disturbing psychological horror with fantasy thrown in surround a man who crashes his car and stumbles upon a cottage with 3 children. A very unique take on the Grim’s tale and it kept me invested till the end.

Kuchisake-Onna- I’m sure a few of you will know of the slit mouth woman who carries around huge scissors. A live action movies about this legend and it’s pretty good, they sure made her look eerie. Suicide Club- Also a manga, it’s a good watch. Quite disturbing for some pepole with obviously dark themes/tones. Just... watch it if you wish. Guinea Pig Series- Watch at your own risk. Highly disturbing when they first aired, to the point where people thought there were actual snuff films. Obviously they’ve ages quite a bit but other the watch for any gore lovers.

Grotesque- Another one to watch at your own risk, this is what some people would describe as torture porn. A couple get kidnapped and tortured by a doctor to see how much pain they can for through for the sake of love. Nothing to spoil, just some outrageous gore... the ending ruined it a bit though. Noiroi- The Curse- Very bizarre and the old style of filming as a ‘documentary’ was so effective in delivering that creepy tone. This is one meant to make your skin crawl. Dumplings- I really can’t say much about this movie without spoiling it, it’s about dumplings that are said to keep you youthful but obviously there’s a lot more to it. Some disturbing themes.

More popular Asian horror to see(This includes a mix of all three media forms):

There are well known or popular, be aware that some of them may just have horror some themes or gore in them and won’t be purely linked to that genre alone. This will also be a mixture of movies, manga and anime in no order.

Akira, Beserk, Battle Royal, Ju-On, D.Gray Man, Another, Hellsing, Corpse Party, Gakkougurashi!, Elven Lied, Ajin, Ringu, Tokyo Ghoul, Highschool of the Dead, The Chasing World, Deadman Wonderland, Death Note Vampire Hunter D, Shinsekai Yori, Kukurenbo, Attack on Titan, Cello, The Tale of Two Sisters, 3x3 Eyes, Jojos Bizarre Adventure, Whispering Corridors, I Saw the Devil, Boogiepop Phantom, Violence Jack, Cindrella, The Wig and many more, please ask me if you need any suggestions for horror to watch.

#horror media #asian horror #about chips #horror movies #horror manga #horror anime #tw:horror

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hxhbb18 · 6 years

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HxHbb18 summary list

Categories

Killugon (18)

Leopika (4)

Troupe misc (3)

General Misc (8)

Killugon

Killugon 1

Warnings: Violence, language Rating: T Pairing: KilluGon [School AU]

The Zoldyck Family Company struck either fear or awe into the hearts of all who heard it. All except its heir. To Killua Zoldyck, his family business was nothing more than a burden he’d been saddled with. But he couldn’t get away. Not now. They were in the middle of a mafia war. That didn’t mean he couldn’t rebel just a little. Enter Gon Freecss: The perfect catalyst. Gon could help him break his shackles. Gon could be his friend. Gon could free - Gon didn’t deserve to be dragged into a war. Gon needed to be kept safe. Killua needed to stay away. Gon didn’t share his sympathies.

Killugon 2

Pairing: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck; Kurapika and Leorio will make an appearance as a couple, briefly; Alluka Zoldyck/OC Rating: M Warnings: Post canon/canon compliant; Killua and Gon aged up to 19; some killugon angst (but a happy ending!); equal parts killigon fluff; probably some canon-typical violence; emotional abuse involving Illumi/Alluka, again canon-typical; some killugon sex It’s been five years since Gon and Killua said good-bye at the World Tree, with promises to write and meet again. But for the past two and a half of those years, Killua has dropped out of contact with Gon, without warning or explanation. A quietly heartbroken Gon has come to believe that he’ll never see his childhood friend again, and settled back into his quiet life on Whale Island: until the day when he opens the front door to find Killua on the doorstep, emotionally shattered and on the verge of physical collapse. Over the course of the next hour, Gon learns that Killua’s father is recently dead, leaving a power vacuum in the family business that his brother Illumi is all too willing to fill. Worse, his sister, Alluka, has been kidnapped from the home he’s been sharing with her in Lukso Province. He has evidence that Illumi is behind her disappearance, wanting to use her to cement his status as head of the family. Killua believes that Gon is the only person who can help him find her before this happens, and convinces him to leave his quiet life behind once again to help rescue her. This story is told in alternating sections, from Gon/Killua’s and Alluka’s points of view. It follows the former best friends across continents on their quest to save Alluka. But Gon and Killua also have both past hurt and betrayal and new feelings to come to terms with, plus the re-awakening of Gon’s lost nen. Alluka, meanwhile, is no longer a child, but a young woman growing into independence and impressive powers of her own. Illumi may have locked her in a tower, but this bad-ass Rapunzel might just be the one to save them all.

Killugon 3

Rating: M Warnings/Triggers: Emotional abuse and manipulation and mild to moderate physical abuse. All by Illumi against Killua. Mild nsfw, nothing explicit planned. Pairings: killugon with leopika on the side [Medieval, Aged Up AU. Gon and Killua are 20 and the rest of the characters are aged up respectively i.e. Kurapika is 25, Leorio is 27, etc.] King Killua and Sir Gon have known each other since childhood and are very close, some might say inappropriately so for two people of such widely different social standings. When things start to develop between them, Prince Illumi, chief advisor to the king, is determined to quash such nonsense, leaving Killua to feel he has no choice but to put his duties as king before his personal feelings. Illumi has Killua believing he’s isolated and powerless, but he’ll come to find he’s not alone.

Killugon 4 Pairing: Killugon (Killua Zoldyck/Gon Freecss)

Rated T Warnings: Swearing, some angst Killua Zoldyck doesn’t expect the world to give him very much. Being disowned and completely ridiculed by his family only seems a little much for one day. Now, though, he’s trying to find his little sister Alluka, who’s escaped the other Zoldycks to the otherworldly realm of Masadora, where time stands still. Masadora, the afterlife of this world. Masadora, the ultimate goal-the catch is that he has to break his curse in this life before passing on to the next one, and no witch doctor or soothsayer can do that for him. Killua needs another person who’s willing to stick with him not just in the remainder of his own life, but in Masadora as well. Gon Freecss is perfectly content in his own way. He’s a part of the Hunter Association, which defends and protects their corner of the world. He has a predictable way of life that he can count on. He doesn’t, however, count on a strange silver-haired man showing up and asking for his help grudgingly. He definitely doesn’t count on the rollercoaster that follows, nor the newfound feelings that come with it. A retelling of the Irish fairytale of Tír na nÓg.

Killugon 5

Pairing: Killugon Rating: T Notes: Not AU. Pre-canon leading into the events of the Hunter Exam. Warnings for torture but not overly explicit. On Whale Island: Gon chases a boy through the trees. They jump from branch to branch and he catches a glimpse of white hair before he blinks and then—nothing. On Kukuro Mountain: A boy who stepped out of Killua’s dreams. He has brown eyes, green clothing, and is very, very real. “I know you,” Killua whispers to the dark, to the emptiness, to the universe and anyone who is willing to listen, and feels the truth of his words skin deep, bone deep, heart deep.

Killugon 6

Rating: M or E Pairing: Killua Zoldyck/Gon Freecss (Aged-up - mid-twenties) Warnings: swearing, nudity, sex, violence, blood, canon-compliant transphobia (Illumi towards Alluka), likely character death (Illumi). Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Romance with a happy ending. Killua Zoldyck has been cursed for helping his sister Alluka flee execution after his brother Illumi, the guardian mage of their village, found her guilty of forbidden magic. If Killua tries to cross the sea and join her, abandoning his people, the curse will raise a storm and he’ll drown. Disgusted by their treatment of her, Killua has left his village to live alone. That is, until he’s confronted by a shamelessly naked Gon Freecss, a handsome young warrior from a race who live beneath the ocean. Killua’s captivated by Gon’s amber-flecked eyes, beautiful trailing fins, long hair and decorations, and his playfulness, strength and bright smile. They fall in love and marry, though Gon can only spend half his life on land—as long as he never eats cooked food. For a time they build a happy life along the shore, sharing their evenings and nights. However, Killua’s family still have unfulfilled plans for their lost heir. One morning, Killua wakes to find Gon missing. He searches everywhere, but in the end finds only a cooked pipi shell that shouldn’t be inside their hut. He realises someone has tried to break the taboo and his lover is lost to him, returned to the ocean forever. Unwilling to contemplate a life without Gon, Killua continues to hunt for him on land and as far as he can reach out to sea. He doesn’t know if he can find a way for them to be together again and his only hope is in magic he doesn’t understand. He still has a promise to fulfill: to tear his brother Illumi down from his position as guardian mage and clear the way for Alluka’s return. He faces Nanika, the true guardian spirit of his people, in her sea-serpent form to plead for help. Finally he comes up with a desperate plan. He’ll travel beyond his limits at sea and face drowning to reunite with Gon and try to turn the cursed storm back on Illumi. If Killua can deliver his evil brother to Nanika, maybe he can create a balance so he and Gon can stay together. But even her magic isn’t as powerful as that which keeps him and Gon apart—the force of an entire ocean. (Note: Inspired by the Maori legend of Pania, a sea-maiden who lived half her life with her lover ashore until he secretly tried to feed her cooked food. She fled to the ocean and he never saw her again.)

Killugon 7

Pairing: Gon/ Killua, side Leorio/Kurapika Rating: T Warnings: Language, implied past child abuse Tags: Aged up characters, Magic College AU Padokea’s college for Wizardry is Killua’s first and only taste of the outside world without strict and constant supervision. No parents, no butlers, no giant locked house; just him and his freakishly large familiar Mike. In school, he would make his own name for himself. Not Killua Zoldyck, just Killua. He’d learn magic with methods that didn’t require torture, and maybe make friends along the way. They wouldn’t need to know where he came from, or what his family business consisted of. After all, the Zoldyck trade revolved around stealth and subtlety. It wouldn’t be hard for him right? … Right?

Killugon 8

In x My x Dreams Pairing: Killugon, mild Leopika Rating: T (for violence, language, and Hisoka being a pervy creep- nothing nsfw) Soulmate AU Koibito no yume, Lover’s Dream- The phrase coined for the phenomenon where you are plagued with dreams from birth of a faceless individual who is your soulmate. You can dream of their lives, their family, their personality, but you will never see their face or know their name until the day that you see them in real life. For some who meet during childhood, the dreams are like second nature. They don’t even know that there’s anything significant about them because they were so young when their soulmate was faceless. For others, they’re haunted by those dreams for years.

For Killua Zoldyck and Gon Freecss, this was the case, the dreams lasted for eighteen years. Killua dreamed of a boy living with his aunt after his father left him, homeschooled and sheltered from the world. Gon dreamed of a boy raised in an abusive household who was forced to do things and forced to grow up too quickly. One has all the love in the world from only one person, the other lacks any genuine love while constantly surrounded by others. Neither has a clear goal in life. Neither having a friend. Both searching for love and acceptance. Both enrolling in the first semester of their freshman year at The University of Yorknew- as roommates. Then the dreams change.

Killugon 9

Pairing: Killua/Gon

Rated T Warnings: Angst, canon-typical violence Killua turns 18 and refuses to take up his role as head of the family. Silva wants him brought home for a reminder of his true nature, and orders Illumi to hunt him down. But Illumi believes Killua has been manipulated by outsiders, and is secretly in need of rescue. He scrambles Gon’s memory, freeing Killua to embrace his destiny. Gon awakens, confused and disorientated, to a wall between himself and his memories. Mito finds Gon and word finds Killua. When he visits, Gon doesn’t recognize him. They travel to Alluka with hope Nanika can help. Gon relearns the boy who seems to know everything about him, and Killua tries to keep from falling apart.

Killugon 10

Pairing: Killua/Gon Rating: T Notes: Canon world minus nen, aged up, post marriage, fluff (so much fluff), hurt and comfort, domesticity on whale island

Time passes and adventures end but that doesn’t mean a new one can’t take its place. Years go by but everyday is special when you spend it with someone you love. Killua and gon have been married for 19 years now but that doesn’t mean they don’t still play, laugh and yell in the forests and ore the hills of whale island. Though it appears that even quaint life can’t seem to hold them down.

Killugon 11

Pairing: Killugon with some other pairings mentioned but not explored in detail

Rating: M

Warnings: aged-up characters; frequent swearing; frequent and explicit sexual references; mild internalised homophobia; casual homophobia and transphobia including slurs; toxic/dysfunctional family with reference to some abusive behaviours; mild violence

Other notes: modern AU; I’m taking certain liberties with Gon’s family set up for plot purposes, and with Ging’s character; the whole fic is from Killua’s point of view; Hisoka does stuff

As far as Killua is concerned, being the child of someone who is running for office definitely has major downsides, including but not limited to having to interact with his father’s sleazy campaign manager or being showcased at various public functions. Though it also means seeing his family finally accept his sister for who she is, if for all the wrong reasons. And publicity events are not always a total waste of time. One of them did result in meeting a sweet dreamboat of a teen wrestling champion, after all. Whom Killua can hang with and guiltily fantasise about… and hopelessly fall for. Wait.. how is that not a downside?

Killugon 12

Pairing: Gon & Killua (Flower shop au)

A few years after the main storyline, while Kurapika and Leorio are off to the Dark Continent, Killua and Gon have lost contact over the years due to their travels. Gon eventually decides to move away from Whale Island as a break from his studies, to open a flower shop right in Yorkshin City. Unbeknownst to Gon, Killua has found a woman he feels dearly for during his travels with Alluka, to one day be finding himself within Yorkshin City in search of an elegant bouquet as a symbol of his affection to his beloved. As they reunite, Gon invites Killua out to the local firework festival being held in the city’s center that weekend. Killua, confronted with the sudden meeting of his long lost childhood friend, incessant affectionate feelings arise within Killua causing doubt within Killua’s one-side relationship with his significant other. Tossing aside his inner conflictions, he decides to spend his evening with Gon only for his best friend to give flourishing hydrangea with an unexpected confession.

Killugon 13

Pairings: Gon Freecss/Killua Zoldyck Warnings: swearing, violence Rated T Gon Freecss, Summer-born Bounty Hunter, has always been known across the Summer Tropic for his prodigy and odd behavior. The bizarre Hunter becomes the center of Tropic gossip once more when he brings his too pale, blue-eyed, and silver-haired Winter-born fiancé, Killua Zoldyck, to the Summer Solstice Celebration. It would be scandalous to invite a Winter-born to the Summer Solstice on any given year. But to completely ignore the increasingly tense political frictions between the Summer and Winter Tropics after the disappearance of Winter Tropic Prince is a new level of blind ignorance that only Ging Freecss’ son seems capable of bearing. Little do they know, faking an engagement to sneak a runway Prince into the Summer Tropic Palace and steal the kingdom’s legendary Looking Glass is exactly the kind of thing Gon would do. The arrangement would prove lucrative to Killua and Gon both if successful. And luckily for Gon, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to pretend being engaged to someone he’s half in love with already. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

Killugon 14

Pairing: Killua/Gon

Rating: T

Additional notes: as canon as I can make it, reunion au, about 4 years, aged up kiddos, light fluffy reunion fluff. Gon has a sporting scar down his eye. Fluff

Killua and Gon haven’t seen each other since the world tree. While they tried to keep up with each other in the first few months of separation, their communications teetered off until it was nonexistent.

Killua enjoyed being with Alluka and Nanika, it was amazing seeing the world with them. But every day without Gon weighed heavy on his heart. And maybe Killua was just ignoring how he really felt about it all.

Gon had been travelling the world with his fellow hunters, trying to relearn nen and getting into his usual trouble. But Gon knew it was at best a distraction; to run from his fears and worries- and most of all to distract himself from Killua.

Killua finally plucked the courage (through Alluka forcing him) to meet up with Gon again after almost 4 years. He’s nervous though; will Gon be upset they haven’t spoken in forever? Will Gon have new friends and be far gone from being Killua’s friend? He honestly didn’t know what to expect. He wasn’t expecting a scar on Gon’s eye, among other things.

Killugon 15

Pairing: Killua/Gon Rating: M Warnings: canon-typical violence and light gore, major character death, references to canonical child abuse and canonical csa (read: hisoka). Dark continent arc spoilers. Medieval fantasy AU. Aged up killugon. It’s a legend, told and retold through countless songs, countless stories: of how the humans and the faeries waged a war, great and terrible as all wars are; of how the noblest of knights slew both the Faerie King and himself with a rose of flame. And of how, on that night, a young hero lost himself to darkness. Swearing a terrible oath, he grew from a boy into a man in one night- and thence into a savage, tempestuous giant who stalks long-hidden forests, crushing all who dare oppose him. It’s only a legend- but when the rebellious young nobleman Killua Zoldyck is sentenced to kill that giant, he soon discovers that old legend is more real- and more human- than he could ever have dreamed.

Killugon 16 Pairing: Background KilluGon. Warnings: Canon typical violence, mentions blood, possible graphic depictions

Rated T Gon practices black magic in a city beyond time. Alluka is one of the best tennis players in the world.

Killua is… between jobs.

Gon kicks in their door and says hello by eating fistfuls of salt from their kitchen.

Things get weirder from there. Highlights include: The death of an Elder God, Alluka playing tennis with a demon, Killua going missing Alluka suffering because of her gay brother.

Killugon 17

Title: The Life of Death Pairings: Killugon Rating: T for Teen Tags: Major Character Death, Killugon, Fluff, Angst The life as death is a lonely one for the small nonamed spirit. Every moment spent with another; a fleeting last moment. One often filled with hopelessness and sorrow, but also comfort and release; all things death is used to. All things death has come to expect from those whose pain and life he’s come to take away.

That is until death finds himself face to face with a village boy, named Gon, who appears at the edge of the forest. Surprised by the lack of fear and no trace of pain on that smile plastered face, death ventures closer and an unlikely friendship begins. With a new name and an energetic friend, Killua finds that maybe his life as death isn’t as lonely as he thought it would be. But all of that could fall apart with just a simple touch.

Killugon 18

Rating: G

Pairing: Gon/Killua

Warnings: brief depictions of violence/blood, disembodied pain

There are two types of magic, Aunt Mito tells Gon: the world magic, the things wizards and mages use to shape the world. It’s real, because it’s founded on laws and rationality. It builds bridges and creates cities, tears down walls and destroys mountains. It’s the sort of magic that makes sense.

The Freecss family doesn’t do sensible. Never has. Theirs is the second magic, magic made from dreams. Magicians pull from their imaginations and their dreams to spin stories and grow gardens, to give a moment’s peace to those who can’t sleep or inspire fire and fear in the hearts of the cruel. Dream magic can be quiet, or it can be as awe-inspiring as any rune. But dreams don’t make sense. As much as they can understand about the rules of dreams, there are so many more that defy even the most sensible worlds.

Maybe dreams are the key to understanding Ging. Something he left behind for his son before he vanished, something he understood better than anyone else, so much that he finally got lost in them. Gon’s not sure.

What he is sure of is the impossible boy that drops in his dreams, haunting his waking hours with magic that isn’t only of the world and isn’t only of dreams, a dreamwalker named Killua that claims he doesn’t dream at all.

And how can there be magic without dreams?

Leopika

Leopika 1

Rating: Mature/ Explicit

Warnings/Triggers: Violence, Explicit Sex/NSFW Content, Self-Destructive Tendencies

Pairings: Leopika, probably some mentioned killugon at some point in there

(Modern AU)

When push comes to shove and rumors come to an irritating boiling point, Kurapika makes an impulsive decision to hire Leorio, a broke college student moonlighting as an escort, to help him take care of them. That part of his plan works just fine. It’s just that Leorio never took into account actually liking the guy.

“So wait, you’re hiring me to-“

“You know exactly what I’m hiring you for,” Kurapika says, short and to the point. Leorio politely refrains from opening his mouth, even though it’s probably the second time he’s been polite in his whole life. “You are sexually experienced. I am not. I am tired of my competence being questioned for something I have little interest in, so I’m handling it.”

Handling it by hiring an escort? Leorio opens his mouth, closes it, unsure of how or even why he’s trying to argue with this guy. As long as Leorio gets paid, what does he care?

And then, clearly unimpressed with Leorio’s silence, Kurapika raises an eyebrow. Fuck, Leorio is done for. He’s a goner. The condescension alone could cut glass. “Your… agency told me you were professional. Are you going to be able to live up to that? Or should I leave now and save myself the inevitable disappointment?”

Well, Leorio does have to pay for college somehow.

Leopika 2

Pairing: leopika

Rating: M

Warnings: mentioning of sexual harassment and physical abuse (choking in particular), implied emotional abuse, potential adult themes

Becoming the stylist of one of America’s currently most discussed solo artists isn’t quite how Leorio hoped to start his own career in the music industry, but it will have to do. He has a foot in the door now, and he knows this job can earn him some sorely needed connections. And the work’s not so bad either, even if it sometimes leaves his head spinning and his body struggling to catch a breath. It has quiet moments like these, when it’s just them and their little inside jokes and Kurapika’s dark eyes settle on him with a twinkle of amusement.

In which Leorio is an aspiring singer and songwriter and Kurapika is a musical prodigy with the temper of a rockstar. Together they face the dark aspects of the business and an utter lack of privacy while they pine for each other fiercely, either man unaware of the feelings of the other. Yet, when their first tour comes up, their patience and restraint is put to a new test. A small shared living space. Drunk impromptu karaoke sessions. A childish lovesong, written years ago, that Kurapika rather wants to forget about and that might easily give him away.

One of them is bound to slip up.

Leopika 3

Pairings: Leorio/Kurapika

Rating: T

“I wish we had more time,” Leorio said, voice uncharacteristically fragile. “God, I wish we had more time.”

Kurapika couldn’t bear the pain in the other’s words; couldn’t bear the terrible truth. He felt his eyes close, and he took a shaky breath. Me too, me too.

Kurapika’s mission to retrieve the Scarlet Eyes from the Fourth Prince is a success, but at a steep price. Instead of feeling accomplishment at his deeds, however, he only holds regret. So he is given another chance, a segment of borrowed time to right the wrongs and to actually live. Still, borrowed time is time that must run out, and Kurapika battles with the knowledge that everything that he does, everyone that he loves, are bound to be lost.

Leopika 4

Pairing(s): Leopika Warnings: swearing (kind of a lot), relationship angst. Rating: T Leorio is thinking too much. About Gon and Killua, their brushes with death. About how much they’ve overcome in their young lives. About how inadequate he feels next to his friends, who have both suffered and accomplished so much. Leorio is left alone with these thoughts eating away at him after the Chairman Election and Killua and Gon’s departure - that is until Kurapika calls, saying he wants to meet up with him. In his emotionally fragile state, Leorio agrees, in spite of the knowledge that his reunion with Kurapika will dredge up even more difficult feelings - ones that he’s been trying to ignore since they were last together in Yorkshin. When Kurapika finally arrives, he sees a more vulnerable side of Leorio than he ever has before, and he finds himself in the unusual position of comforting the friend who up until now has always played the support role.

Phantom troupe misc

Troupe misc 1

Pairing: phinkuro (Phinks/Chrollo) Rating: M Warnings: Violence, trauma, physical abuse, forced captivity, descriptions of injuries and body trauma. Minor character death. Bruised and broken and shackled liked a dog in a cage, Phinks lived his life as if every day might be his last. He had no reason to hope for better; he had nothing beyond the steel of the ring, the glare of the lights, the jeers of the hungry crowds eager for blood– And even then, he only had that until he lost. Angels didn’t fly in this place… But one still came regardless.

Troupe misc 2

Warnings: Mentions of Violence, Language

Rating: T

Pairing: Shizuku/Franklin, Mentions of Uvogin/Shalnark and Pakunoda/Machi

In this world, romance is no mystery. Whatever is written on one individual will always appear on their soulmate’s skin, leaving no confusion as to who is destined to be together. It is a novel concept, a blessing meant to ensure that love is found and celebrated. To know you have a soulmate is to live knowing that some part of you is made for another.

Franklin, however, is not convinced that he has anything in common with whoever keeps scribbling constant, ridiculous reminders all over themself.

Troupe misc 3

Pairing: Kurokura

Warnings: swearing, violence, injuries, T rating There are a few perks to holding a grudge. Some enjoy the anger that boils under their skin, while others appreciate the fine art of vendettas. The best perk, however, are the clocks that seemingly appear out of thin air, as if they were tangible proof of one’s hatred. The clocks, simple in body and purpose, ranging from digital timers to hourglasses, have only one sole purpose: to show how long someone has to exact their revenge. Getting revenge within the time limit is top priority. Any action done within the time limit is overlooked by society and the law. Gossip has it that people call this the Grudge Rule, and that anything done out of spite past the time limit set is illegal. In this world, Kurapika was able to encounter and quickly befriend Chrollo. Though unbeknownst to the both of them, because of their meeting, the unfortunate of event of someone’s death was put into action, forcing them to deal with their pasts’ and relationships’, all while trying to find the person responsible for their suffering.

Misc fics

Misc 1

Pairing: meruemkomugi Warnings: (angst, violence)

Rated T

She was the owner of a small bar in the middle of a city that no one really knew. She was also one of the towns core protectors, guarding the streets from outsiders and embracing the fact she was a bit of a rebel at heart. He was a handsome traveller, and a collector of games, searching the world with nothing but a bag full of mysteries to his name. That, and the thought that he had to be somewhere, and meet someone, for a reason he just couldn’t recall. On a dreary, stormy afternoon, as the traveller enters her bar to escape the rain, he finds himself challenging her to a game. “My name is Meruem,” the traveller introduces, his smile one that could capture any heart in an instant. “My name is Komugi, and I hope you don’t think I’m going to let you stay here for free just because you might have a nice face. You’re still gonna have to pay for that drink if ya don’t want me to kick you out of this bar and back into that storm, because trust me, I will.” It’ll take some time, but star crossed lovers always manage to find their way back together again. Even if that means being in another city…both in slightly different, but very human forms…not able to remember who they were a lifetime ago.

[Merukumugi reincarnation au.]

Misc 2

Pairings: Killua and Kurapika Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Violence, canon triggers from both Btoom! and HxH, angst, drama, implicated relations, slight time travel play.

Following a game ad developed by the Phantom Troupe, Kurapika finally has a lead on the monsters who took everything away from him. The game was called Btoom! The same one Kurapika was so disinterested in when he first saw it advertised. Now, however, he was going to hunt down the company and kill the developers. That was the plan, until he wakes the next night to discover himself trapped on an island. With only a pack of explosives and a sensor chip implanted in his hand to protect himself against people who wanted to kill each other! Shocking as that was, Kurapika quickly learns that he is in the game of Btoom! The same one that was taking up the crazed nation of his world, only this time it was undeniably real. As he continues to progress in the strange game of survival, his carefully cultivated hate over the years start to crack after he meets Gon, Killua, and Leorio, other survivors on the island, but so full of prospect for him that Kurapika began to develop feelings for them. But the game is more than trying for Kurapika, for he has to battle the demons inside his head as well, and figure out his ultimate decision: survive in this new place and win the game with his newfound friends, or risk everyone’s brittle safety to find a way to get off the island and defeat the troupe. Yet, what if he died in the game before getting his revenge? If he could get vengeance in the first place?

[Btoom! AU] a crossover *Btoom! is a manga/anime series about a survival game on a remote island. A supposedly harmless video game called Btoom! is recreated in real life. Known to the people in the anime as an rpg game where you take out players with bombs called bims and a tracking device in one’s hand, the recreation of the game to real life is kept secret from the public. So the players, random civilians disowned by their loved ones through the btoom developers, have to kill one another by a set of rules to win the game and go home without help from the outside world.

Misc 3

Pairings: Hisoka/Senritsu, Kurapika/Senritsu, Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic violence, graphic sexual content, mentions of abuse, mentions of PTSD, mentions of survivor’s guilt, body horror, gore, horrorfest from hell taking place on a ship from hell

Additional notes: canon-compliant through Chimera Ant Arc. Dark Continent Expedition Arc AU. Not for the faint of heart. Spooky.

A scrap of paper with a single line of notes from the Dark Sonata has appeared deep within the treasure trove of the Kakin Royal Family. When Senritsu learns of the Dark Continent expedition, she realizes she has one more chance to make things right before it all falls to pieces. Compelled by its lure, she rejects Kurapika’s offer to join the expedition as a bodyguard, and instead sneaks into the ship under the guise of a peasant searching for a better life. Hidden in the subaltern, she shadows the princes as she pieces together the reasons behind the Royal Family’s possession of the notes. Meanwhile, a clown stalks a cluster of spiders, but catches a hint of a melody in the wind. Putting his initial quest on hold, he offers a helping hand to the woman with the wide-brimmed hat. Following close behind is Kurapika, who knows his friend is stalking the princes, but can’t bring himself to question her motives when the Kurta eyes beckon him towards them. Maybe it’s fate, or maybe it’s the evil seeping out of every corner of the ship, but either way, a song haunts the hallways. It’s a song Senritsu knows well. It may be the last song she ever hears- and the last song she ever plays.

Misc 4

Rating : T

Characters : Bisky, Feitan, Chrollo

The Opal and the Obsidian

No one can fool Bisky Krueger, and certainly not this young Nostrade man, an obscure stone trafficker that no one had ever heard about yet. But he surprised her when he vanished with the precious Moire, a gem of crystalised nen, extremely rare, expensive and powerful.

The motives of this mysterious man are unclear, and can’t be explained by greed only. But only greed pushed the two Nostrade mercenaries to try to rob her. Greed and stupidity : they are young, inexperienced and don’t even master their nen.

Their names are Chrollo and Feitan and it’s the very first time they go out of Meteor City. They have the informations she needs, but they won’t give ‘them away for free. They’ll help her take back the Moire if she trains them.

Her? A trainer? She is not a teacher and she hates kids anyway, but she has no choice. She has to earn their trust and respect. There’s a long way to go…

Misc 5

Rating: T Warnings: Violence, some mentions of gore Pairing: Gen

Up the mountain, surrounded by dense woods and an ever-looming fog, is a house known to all around. No one dares venture near it. No one human, that is — until Gon Freecs wanders into the gloom without a second thought. They say herbs that heal all illness grow under that strange moonlight… He’s sure the Zoldycks — kitsune, mischief-makers and purveyors of miracles — have something that can help his gravely ill great-grandmother. He crosses the boundary between the woods and the deeper forest — and fortunately, doesn’t meet the same fate others have suffered. A strange white-haired boy has found him instead.

Misc 6

Pairings: Mizai/Zepile, Leopika

Warnings: mild gore and horror associated with flesh collecting and mafia dealings, some violence

Rating: T

As the reputed “conscience of the Zodiacs”, the black-and-white print of Mizaistom’s daily ensemble reflects not only his bovine aesthetic, but also his judicial manner of thinking in painstakingly defined terms of right and wrong before taking action. Although he bears no special ill will towards prospective new Boar Leorio, when Cheadle assigns Mizaistom the mission to locate the nigh impossible to reach Kurapika and invite him to join the Zodiacs at Leorio’s personal request, Mizaistom finds himself tempted to conduct his own investigation into who Rookie Hunter Leorio really is in order to uncover the true nature of Leorio’s connection to a flesh collector’s lackey turned mafia boss.

In a serendipitous encounter that promises to accomplish both Cheadle’s mission as well as his own, Mizaistom meets Leorio’s friend Zepile, an auction-savvy antiques trader with aspirations of becoming a Hunter himself one day. Mizaistom employs Zepile to serve as his undercover agent within the flesh collectors’ market, where he hopes to attract the attention of Kurapika’s henchmen and secure a meeting with their elusive boss face-to-face. However, the case demands a high level of continuous cooperation between the moralistic Ox and ex-counterfeiter Zepile, and over time, Zepile’s criminal past and what Mizaistom considers an insufficient effort to redeem himself test Mizaistom’s strict sense of justice and his belief that no criminal has truly repented a crime if they haven’t allowed themselves to be tried and held accountable by the law.

Misc 7

Pairing: Cluck/Kanzai

Rating: T

Warnings: canon-typical violence

ORCHiDELiRiUM: the name given to a period of time where the acquisition and discovery of rare orchid plants reached a fever pitch among the collectors and enthusiasts of the wealthy and titled. None were prized more highly than the rare Black Orchid, native to a small republic whose only access point was severed by a tremendous rockslide during the plant’s last cyclic bloom nearly seven years ago. Professional Botanical Hunter Cluck is contracted to not only recover a specimen of the rare flower, but protect it from any and all intruders. She is more than up for the first task, but for the second, she enlists the help of her colleague Kanzai, and the two find themselves battling mafia legions, the strangely misanthropic people of the once-isolated nation, and a living forest in pursuit of their prize.

Misc 8

Rating: M

Pairing: (Slight)HisoIllu

“Caught in the midst of an impromptu fight, Hisoka’s phone slips from his pocket.

Gon and Killua, drawn in by the powerful bursts of Nen, are the first to pick it up.

Just what exactly does Hisoka have on his phone? How many snapchats can they send before they’re found out? How many bizarre texts can they flood Illumi and others with before they get angry?

And what will happen when Hisoka comes to get his phone back?”

#hxhbb18 #do not reblog

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