#but I felt it had to be said

[a-book-of-creatures]

One of the notes on the sea serpent post had this to say and I think it’s a very good point!

I’d say it’s all in how you frame it. It’s the age-old question. Like, what is a dragon? Is it “any large mythical reptile”? Or is it “a mythical serpent from European folklore that originated in the Greek drakōn, itself almost certainly an exaggerated description of a python or other large snake”? The first description could include the Chinese long, the North American horned serpent, the South American boiúna, the Australian rainbow serpent… the second, meanwhile, is a lot more restrictive.

So, in this case, what is “the sea serpent”? If the description is “a serpent that lives in the sea”, then yes, Leviathan could indeed be one of the older versions.

However!

The legend of Leviathan is that of the chaos battle, the defeat of an older water or water-adjacent deity to create order out of chaos. This is derived from the likes of Lotan and Tiamat, and there’s a clear degradation of the concept, from chthonic deities gradually being demoted to dragons/serpents of chaos and eventually great beasts that inhabit our world. It’s complicated. Leviathan also sometimes has multiple heads, something which I don’t associate with sea serpents. Tangential but worth mentioning.

Serpents that live in the sea have existed for a long time. Laocoon and his sons were killed by them. Aelian mentions them. Jormungandr is a big serpent that lives in the sea.

But it was the Scandinavian sea serpent that created the modern conception of the sea serpent as a serpent that lives in the sea which exists, and can be seen. It precipitated the whole sea serpent craze. Sober eyewitnesses reported sea serpents from all over the world.

Also it is literally called “sea serpent”. Not Jormundandr or Leviathan or Tiamat or whathaveyou, but “sea serpent”, not a proper name but the name of an animal. The great Scandinavian sea serpent is, indeed, referred to as such (sjøorm).

It was Olaus Magnus’ account that created a mythic landscape in which just about every unfamiliar thing in the sea became a sea serpent, from decomposed whales to long strands of kelp

to large sea life towing marine debris

to skim feeding sei whales

to whale penises

to stranded oarfishes

to whales tangled in debris (or maybe just another whale penis)

So yes, Leviathan (and Jormungandr) precede the sea serpent, and could be considered the origins of the myth, I agree! But for a more restrictive definition, I would say the sea serpent as we know it was born with Olaus Magnus’ account.

#sea serpent #leviathan #dragon #dragons #discourse #whew #that took way longer to write than it should have #but I felt it had to be said #both povs are equally valid #and there’s a lot to be said for lumping or splitting #thanks for commenting that and making me think about it! #whale penis

[serialunaliver]

another thing I hate is when people say engaging with a persons delusions is bad because it validates the illness.

i'm not sure how to tell you this, but psychosis validates itself. delusions involve a lack of awareness that you're experiencing a delusion and others referring to the delusion as a delusion can create distrust. if someone is more content having others engage in symptoms like this in a positive way there's nothing wrong with it and it may make it easier to cope.

#literally fuuuuck that group therapy program that said I can't attend when I reject antipsychotics to get rid of my world #ITS BEEN DONE BEFORE AND I FELT SO MISERABLE I HAD NO DESIRE TO LIVE #I don't even think my world is a delusion this is justwhat doctors say #but i'm glad if people engage with it..Why does this make me bad?

[justanotherignot]

Letter from Isobel (AND AYLIN!)

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #aylin x isobel #dame aylin #aylin #bg3 aylin #isobel thorm #isobel #bg3 isobel #justanotherignot #has anyone actually gotten this? #because i had to do some tiny brain gymnastics to make it appear in my game #anyway this is fucking adorable #they sound married #i love that aylin felt the need to add the postscript even if it's just to repeat what isobel already said #aylin talks in all caps and she writes in all caps #and apparently she and isobel are doing a spinoff #the moon lesbians are detectives now

[wasyago]

the kind of chemistry these two have is very entertaining

#again. relistening to the black sea arc and these two were so fun from the very beginning. i love their conversations and bickering hehehe #that's the problem i have with watching something in ongoing. i forget literally everything that happens in the previous episode #i need to take notes or something i don't know.... #because chip and igneous had a lot of fun moments that i totally forgot about and i was so confused when chip proposed to him #bc to me it felt 'out of nowhere'. they still do only know each other for 2 days so that point stands. but they're not complete strangers #jrwi riptide #jrwi chip #jrwi igneous #jrwi flint and steel #my art #sketch #also igneous is👏big👏 #grizzly said he was around 6ft and in my mind it immediately translates to 'a lot bigger than 6ft'

[soymikki]

Espers in Ekubo🔴Land

Honestly when I first saw the Oshitoame collab art I couldn't help thinking the rollercoaster looked a bit emptier than it should. They've been leaving poor Sho out of official art for a bit so i drew up a comic to compensate

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #suzuki sho #kageyama ritsu #kageyama shigeo #mob #teruki hanazawa #reigen arataka #serizawa katsuya #I drew this with ships in mind but you can read them as platonic #shoritsu #Reigen and Serizawa were debating whether or not to go onto a Tunnel of Love ride. Reigen said it's weird #Serizawa still really wanted to try though so they agree to go after the coaster #Sho did NOT pay for his way in he teleported and Security almost catch him #Serizawa bought Sho his swag. He felt especially bad bc he Had planned to ask Sho but forgot after studying for class #Ritsu has no excuse though #I spent literally all day on this wow #soymikki art #soymikki fanart #comic #soymikki comic #ritshou

[haunted-xander]

What's there to be afraid of?

#i think her 3 years w thancred were a special kind of hell but i think thry had good moments too #i mean ryne very clearly admires and looks up to him even when hes fucking everything up #and shes never shown being scared of him #at most shes nervous or anxious #the closest to her being scared of him weve seen is right after we save her from capture #and shes nervous when she admits she ran off bc she didnt think thancred would let her go #but thats just being worried about ur parents scolding u which everything has felt at some point #that said i do think she recognises that thancred COULD be scary #and probably is to some people #but shes never seen him that way #tho tbf her point of reference is ran'jit who is far more intimidating than thancred could ever be #so really i think her scale of whats scary or not is kinda skewed #ryne waters #thancred waters #final fantasy #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ff14 #ffxiv #art #my art #xanders art #digital art #fan art #xander being insane about ryne

[rithmeres]

bait / hook / line / sinker

#the hunger games #finnick odair #thg #the hunger games fanart #this was a very very weird painting for me. #like i have painted decapitated heads and severed arms and shattered ribs and guts falling out and gallons of blood #and not once have i ever looked up from my work and been disgusted or disturbed by what i’ve painted #but the first day i was working on this one i looked at it and just felt so sick i had to get up and take a shower to get away from it #HE WAS 14 WTF WTF WTF WTF #that is a baby. that is a little kid. turned into a killer and paraded around like a novelty and used like a toy. #but on the whole i am very satisfied with this propaganda piece it's just as beautiful and unsettling as i wanted it to be #ugh my mind. nothing in the composition is overt but all the implications are there #not just the capitol's sexualization and brutalization of children but the fetishization of the districts' labor as well #as my good friend and mutual theworldiswhispering said. #'the hard labor you do is not safe from being romanticized by the people who benefit from it at your expense' #and i think about that every day #wherefore art thou #thg reread #why he so smooth.. just like a shark #[katniss voice] mfs took all my body hair cant have shit in the capitol #i just know tumblr's gonna crunch the quality of these images but i worked on a canvas 4 times larger than the usual size #so a lot of the detail gets lost when i post it. oh well. click for quality i guess #his expression changes when you're far away #far away he looks kind of vacant #close up he's smiling. like the photographer wanted a specific cocky emotion from him and it was there #but when you zoom out there's just a thousand yard stare #i did think about turning these into prints or actual posters but um. i don't think i should do that

[patrickztump]

patrick stump appreciation post: feat. pete – 13/∞

#i hate (love) the way the looks directly into the camera (my eyes) #i am BLUSHING that felt too personal #patrick stump #fall out boy #patrick stump appreciation post #my gifs #used ariel rounded because the banter + the way i positioned the captions gave buzzfeed unsolved vibes lol #// i've had this in my drafts since april because i wasn't happy with how they came out #so i recently went back to remake them and you know what? you get the originals. i'm not doing that again lol #anyways my last appreciation post was in september and i haven't stopped appreciating (adoring) him i've just stop gifing it appears #as i've said 47290 times: i've had videos lined up to gif for months now. just no motivation. #i'll get back at it eventually

[vi-visected]

in my head after the events of camlann merlin returns to camelot and, still riddled with terrible guilt and grief, confesses to leon about everything that had happened and everything he had done, magic and all. and instead of outrage or betrayal or scorn or judgement (or even death, as he had briefly considered) leon shatters him with a deeply apologetic expression and a whispered “my friend… you must have been so afraid, and so tired.” and merlin collapses into heaving sobs against him and doesn’t get back up for a long time.

#bbc merlin #merlin #bbc leon #sir leon #sir leon the long suffering #i know arthur forgave him #in his own way #but i don’t want merlin to be forgiven #i want someone to tell him he had nothing to be sorry for #i want someone to be proud of him #‘you always looked so small then’ leon tells him several centuries later #‘i never could figure out what great burden could weigh you down so much’ #‘destiny is one of the heaviest things i’ve ever felt’ merlin says #‘heavier than despair?’ leon asks him ‘heavier than grief?’ #‘the only thing heavier’ merlin replies ‘was being left without purpose.’ #merlin writers really said merry christmas!! your gift is trauma

[yridenergyridenergy]

Vicious August 1998

#I know! #a rare post of old visual kei stuff from me! #the context for this is that on one of my trips after COVID-19 #I tried to find a substitute store for Trio2 which had shut down in Nakano Broadway #I had read that there were some magazine shops at least in Ochanomizu #I didn't have data and tried to navigate with my geolocation skills but ended up asking a sort of old officer just to be sure #he said something along the lines of 'but I'm just an old man...' #so a younger man came to his and my rescue and offered to help me #he understood little English and used Google Translate to communicate with me for the most #turned out he was a magazine enthusiast himself and he took me to a couple of stores #they all had only antique magazines like nothing past 2005 #he found everything that had Dir en grey at each of those stores #I felt bad after a while because it was not at all what I was looking for #so I ended up buying the Xth magazine that he showed me #see above hah #just so you know I was really close to the store just with my skills #Dir en grey #young #scans #magazine #visual kei #vkei #Kyo #Kaoru #Die #Shinya #Toshiya #makeup #I'm not sure why I'm such a fan of that middle finger nail paint

[jamstreak]

based off an actual thing that happened to me

#my art #stardew #stardew valley #stardew sebastian #so the story is #i was in this antique store because I wanted to browse the place #and i eyed this jar of seashells that was labelled 1998 #it looked cool #the lady at the counter saw me and said oh those were handpicked from #some beach on the east coast #and i #The idiot stick riddled with social illness #said oh haha nice #and then we had a painfully one sided conversation on said jar of shells #I was the only person in that store #so i felt stupidly obligated to buy them #and I did #now they sit on my desk and I don’t know what to do with them

[torturedpoetdean]

imagine one day you’re on your third flight of the day doing your silly little flight attendant job and you’re exhausted, and ready to be home, and you’re smiling and dissociating as your greet passengers as they come on board and suddenly in walks jensen ackles, dean winchester himself, and he smiles and says “thanks” as you hand him a silly little disinfectant wipe. You proceed to hand the basket of wipes to your coworker as you rush to the bathroom to have a full blown panic attack because DEAN FUCKING WINCHESTER is on your flight and you are going to have to talk to him and interact with him and be professional and pretend you aren’t having a meltdown cause you would know those eye crinkles ANYWHERE. Imagine you’re taking dinner orders and you’re repeating to yourself in your head “be profesional, smile and ask for his order, just breathe” and he proceeds to order the cheeseburger and a whiskey neat and your brain short circuits and in your most sarcastic tone out of your mouth comes “yeah sure thing dean” AND THEN YOUR BRAIN EXPLODES CAUSE YOU JUST SAID THAT OUT LOUD TO JENSEN FUCKING ACKLES!!!!! Anyways he laughs and says “my wife says that all the time” then you proceed to die and blackout and work the rest of the flight on autopilot yeah imagine if that happened 😅

#we had an entire conversation after that and he was so nice truly #he let me ramble for 10 whole minutes and then said he didn’t mind he said I was funny #im not gonna recount everything cause that’s just for me #i wanted to ask for a pic but felt like that would ruin the vibe after we started talking and he didn’t offer so oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️ #but please know that i deal with assholes and truly vile humans in first class daily and he was just so…. nice? #idk i was just really overwhelmed and i did cry in the bathroom afterwards #anyways there it is #just another day at work #ana’s silly little thoughts

[elvispresley]

The Beatles - New York press conference (1965)

#they were so done with the press at that point #it stills amazes me how he would say jokes like this so publicly #it’s the kind of joke that i would think in my head but i wouldn’t say it out loud so easily #and he just did it. he really insisted that it was a joke so i assume that he felt a bit bad to have said that #but i admire him for saying this during a PRESS CONFERENCE !! couldn’t be me! #he definitely had guts. and of course back then he was considered the rude beatle but the press was still so fascinated by him #he was really special #also he looked so good that day. they all did. 1965 is a powerful year #john lennon #the beatles #george harrison #paul mccartney #ringo starr #1960s #1965 #press conference #classic rock #beatlesedit #edit

[dubiousdisco]

Johnny's ass keeps pushing Sento away from the support on his back because it's too big btw, do you think Sento knows. Is Sento aware that johnny's cheeks are constantly pushing it. And if so, do you think Sento cares at all, being a sword and all. Is that mundane for a sword. Does Sento compare whose backs or waists or butts or hands felt nicer. Does Kenshi know. Would it tell Kenshi that his hands are the most caring but Johnny's ass is the biggest.

#maybe that's just how it works. being a sword. even if you're sentient. #johnshi #<- target audience #I'm assuming that all the souls in that sword (or most of them) held it before and some kept it on their backs #so now i'm wondering if they get there agter they die and start thinking they should have kept sento in a different position #or if they mind the climate or where the sword is kept #like do they feel it? they are in it but do they feel it #do they ever think 'if I knew it felt this way i would have cared for Sento in a different manner' #i know im anthropomorphizing the sword but the sword has people in it #sento: hey descendent can you light a fire we're cold #kenshi: Oh of course! #sento: thank you. do you want us to give you the grace of vision so you can see the white boy's ass btw #kenshi: what #sento: its a really nice ass. who said that. #kenshi: #mortal kombat #im sorry i juat wanted to talk about the souls in there feeling thinfs through the sword but that implies they felt johnnys ass #and i wanted to make a joke about it #inside sento: #- Akira Taiga-sama had the nicest hands but Hayao-sama had the greatest butt. #both of them also inside the sword hearing this: thank you ascendent you honor us #no but really i kike the idea the sento feels that kenshi is caring for it 🥲

[chrollohearttags]

this whole Drake situation is the equivalent to when the popular kid got exposed for sum and everybody starts to turn on him like ‘I always knew he was weird’ after enabling their shitty behavior for years lmao. Grown ass niggas acting like high school.

#cherry chats 🍒 #I ain’t really care too much abt none of em tbh #just thought it was funny #like how long has he been sucking the culture dry and being a diet kite syrupy misogynist #and nobody said shit? Including kenny boy #where was that ‘you stole my culture’ bullshit for him? #or was that reserved for cardi bc his lil fellow bestie couldn’t make a hit anymore #this is why I only listen to independent artists outside of the women #they all make my coochie itch lmao #so y’all knew he was propositioning new female artsis for sex and stealing from them #y’all knew he was texting 15 year olds and attending high school bball games #but nobody said shit until *check notes* he dared call himself the top dog and y’all felt threatened? #unserious ass genre and unserious ass race of ppl I can’t dhkshdj #woke up in a haterrific mood today #as you can tell #anyways Meg I love you #you started this and had a better diss than all of them

[stil-lindigo]

floor _

a short comic about struggling to find yourself.

#for a lot of 2022 i felt so lost #i felt i was slipping from my identity as an artist #and outside of that i had no idea what the hell else i had to offer #also having a crisis over officially being /in/ my 20s #i feel somewhat obligated to mention i dont feel this way anymore #and making comics and poems out of my feelings feels cathartic #maybe this resonates on some level #maybe it doesnt #just know you have time #and its okay to just live mundanely #so long as youre happy #thats enough #btw i sincerely hope i dont come off as self congratulatory or like bossy with these under the cut analyses #i started them off a whim and ppl said they liked seeing them so i include them #but if its annoying i can stop #comic art #illustration #thank you for reading #as always #stillindigo art #stillindigo comics #its 10pm