#horatio is definitely the better pirate

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Fall Countdown Day 2: Midas

Not what I'd expected in that I had expected he'd present as Good or more Everish. Again, a potential Rhian love-interest candidate.

Ok, I really appreciate the likely intentional Hamlet reference! Love it. The skull that he looks at, so morbid. All related to the brevity of human life, the fleeting nature of life, that old memento mori theme. I bet he will be a strong carrier of that mortality theme in the book.

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times."

This reminds me of how Rafal figuratively supports Rhian. Alas, poor Yorick! But really, in this context: Alas, poor Rhian and Rafal!

Even the greatest, most powerful people one day die and are buried beneath the earth, to be feasted upon by the worms. Hamlet has the best wit. I loved his “mad” dialogue when I read the play. Anyway, for the purposes of Fall, we all end up in the same place. Physically interred, underground.

And, of course, we're getting imperial Roman vibes from this picture. Midas also has the potential to single-handedly shoulder the themes of greed or avarice in Fall, according to the original myth of King Midas.

Then, there’s the use of purple, a color only worn by the rich in ancient times because it was such a painstaking process to collect the dye and dye the fabric. Also, there’s some version of a laurel wreath at his brow, which is more fitting than a regular crown. The cravat is a good masquerading-as-an-Everboy detail though. Like, it’s definitely believable that Rhian will fall for it. Also, the swash-buckling, pirate-esque boots are the perfect disguise.

Then, there’s the idea of another boy-king. Oh great. He’ll probably be a bit like Tedros but worse. I expect some immaturity in his characterization if the plot goes in this direction. But, he’ll probably be unstable. Definitely emotionally unstable. Yeah, emotionally unstable boys in positions of power are exactly what this duology is all about. So, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did turn out like this.

Also, I expected Midas to have more of a ridiculous, pompous, Everish personality, but he looks so brooding, so maybe, he'll be more Never-like than I expected. I mean, he's holding a skull, and looks kind of morose.

The mist looks similar to the mist that surrounds the Schools on the cover of Fall. I wonder if it’s significant?

The cage is definitely present and more obvious in this picture as well. Must be some kind of symbolism, or hinting at the actual plot and possible themes of confusion and tainted judgment in war. Actually, I've had ideas about this before.

⸻

The way I could see it playing out is this:

Before they enter Midas' court, Rhian tells Rafal to be polite, if he's capable of it. However, Rafal refuses to bow before a man with less power than he has.

Rhian tells him they are not in the best position to argue, and he'd better keep quiet, submit, and not mouth off to the royalty in the room because they need support to win against Hook. Also, they are in a weakened state because they’ve lost their immortality.

Rafal: And who caused that problem by letting Hook in?

Rhian stops talking. They are not playing the blame game again. Hell knows they've been doing it since the end of Rise, since their students disappeared.

So, Rafal and Rhian enter Midas' court.

Then, Rafal eventually reaches a point where he doesn't respect Midas as a Never. He treats Midas with condescension.

That strikes a nerve in Midas, and Midas doesn't take Rafal's comments in kind.

Rafal says true Nevers like himself take no prisoners, and that Midas is too merciful to have lived this long, and to not have been overthrown. If he didn't have a battalion of advisors and lord-regents to rule for him, since he was a boy, it surely would have happened by now.

And, Midas also reacts with contempt, saying that he'll be merciful, all right!

Rhian is startled, and Midas has him dragged away. And, Midas either encases him in gold to put him in a sculpture garden, or imprisons him in a giant bird cage, likely a golden, gilded one.

Now, Rafal is absolutely gobsmacked, flabbergasted, at how his own plan backfired. He’d only intended to threaten Midas to get what he wanted, an army or support or something else along those lines. But, not for the first time lately, he's underestimated his new foe.

And then, Rafal is dragged away to the dungeons probably, and has to solve this new problem.

⸻

Or, alternatively, this hypothetical could involve Rafal turning into a bird, maybe to infiltrate Midas’ palace, being caged, and Rhian humiliating himself by pleading with Midas to release his brother.

Midas probably agrees to it on one condition: Rhian stays with him. And, in response, Rhian says something like "Never! I must remain loyal to my brother!"

Midas doesn't budge. And, neither does Rhian. After some time passes, and is wasted, Rhian decides to agree, pretends to come around to it, and pretends to fall in love.

Rhian does it so convincingly that Rafal thinks Rhian has abandoned him, and is going mad and lovesick again.

And, this is doing serious damage to their trust.

Until, Rhian gears up to have his heroic moment. The moment Rafal is released, he plans to escape, get both of them away from Midas.

So, Rhian pretends to be seduced, promptly stabs Midas in the back, deserts Midas, and takes Rafal with him.

Rafal is in shock, and is simultaneously so relieved, but still can't fully relax.

He thinks he might be able to trust Rhian now, but is still unsure, because, well, the acting came so easily to Rhian. And, Rafal thinks like a Never, of course, and probably projects intentional Evil intentions onto Rhian (not the accidental: Oops, I went too far and extremist for the sake of Good, and was led astray and manipulated. Not Rhian's somewhat justified victim complex either, no, but real Evil. Or, that’s what Rafal thinks.)

Because, just look at how good Rhian is at acting! What if this was Rhian's plan all along? What if Rhian was pretending this whole time? Because, Rafal’s Rafal and he's paranoid.

So now, Rafal is forever on the lookout, and is observing Rhian more closely than ever before because who knows if he can trust Rhian? Just because Rhian saved him once before doesn't mean he won't try to kill him (again). Then, this could lead Rafal to thinking he has to make the first move, to betray first, so he isn't the one betrayed, who ends up in the losing position.

Meanwhile, Rhian is wondering what is going on in Rafal's head because his brother keeps looking at him strangely. And, not as covertly as Rafal thought. And besides, you can read a person exceptionally well after living with them and knowing them for over a century.

Rhian worries that Rafal doesn't trust him, and only tries harder to make it up to him. But, the continual efforts of "This is why you should trust me" only serve to make Rafal more suspicious as time passes because Rhian is trying too hard to repair their relationship and smooth things over artificially. It certainly doesn't look right, but he's mostly sincere. Rafal just isn't perceiving things correctly because his judgment is clouded by Rhian's earlier display of acting.

Like, how in the world can Rhian switch so quickly? Appear so real. But not be? It's all an act. But still. How? Just how? It's like he's flicked a switch. That's how easily the acting comes. And, it’s unnerving to Rafal.

Rhian is probably innocent though. And, he starts to feel hurt that Rafal won't believe in him or trust him, like ever again, and he starts to become depressed. And, that depression causes him to act unlike himself. Or rather, unlike his usual self, the self that Rafal knows and trusts and is familiar with.

And because Rhian is different and quieter than usual, this only reinforces Rafal's misperception that Rhian is untrustworthy and has something up his sleeve to doom Rafal or be the death of him. Rafal fully believes the betrayal will come from Rhian. That it’ll be dealt by the one person he used to trust. So, he's hurt too, but his pain is in response to his own anticipations, his dread, and his negative, held expectations. Rafal’s not hurt by reality. And, the fact that he's hurt by this, the unreal, and what lives in the realm of possibility, means that Rafal is hurting himself. Sure, there are external factors involved, reinforcing his misperceptions. But, his own mind is working against him. To cause these errors in perception. And, it's just sad.

And, Rhian doesn't know about the prophecy from the Sader who planted the seed in Rafal's mind, to start all this havoc and chaos and unrest. And, that Sader is partly, heavily responsible for the brothers' unraveling.

But, Rhian still worries more than ever because he sees something off or broken in his brother and wants to try to fix it. Yet, the more Rhian does, the more he tries to talk to Rafal or broach the subject of Rafal's mental state, the more Rafal utterly shuts down. And, all this continues to reinforce the problem. But, Rhian is doing it unknowingly, because he's really only trying to put his best foot forward. However, Rafal feels like he has zero people he can be vulnerable with, even if that isn't true.

Basically, each brother acting out-of-character, or revealing other sides of themselves that the other hasn't seen, is what causes them to act out-of-character. It's a vicious cycle, tearing them further and further apart.

Also, keep in mind that I'm thinking about this through a bit of a psychological lens and so, maybe, the plot will be more action-based yet still complex in terms of the brothers' relationship and their characterization. I don't know. But probably, there’ll be more action than this.

It (their downfall) could also be a more simple misunderstanding. It (the eventual ending/fratricide and/or betrayal) could be the result of such a thing, like a real argument, or anything really, no matter how small.

The tipping-point is often the smallest act, the thing that throws everything off balance, to trigger all the rest of the catastrophe, because just jostling something fragile can throw it off balance, in terms of physical objects. And, naturally, this can apply to a relationship too—if it even turns out to be a single, little moment that is possible to pinpoint and identify and define.

This is just one idea. That I somehow feel is likely? Because, at least, I believe in it. The fact that Rafal’s (or Rhian’s) descent into insanity could potentially be paranoia-driven.

I could be completely wrong or off the mark here, but I feel like this makes sense at the very least, and I could be partially right in the end. Partly, because this is based on my "It's not who we are. It's what we do" theory from my post, “Why Rafal Might Still Be a Never and Rhian Might Still Be an Ever.” And, I'm biased toward that theory. In fact, Rafal’s thought patterns in this hypothetical are based off of that other post, discussing his self-inflicted isolation and paranoia.

And, if Rafal’s characterization here seems exaggerated, it could be. But consider: instead of focusing on the positive, on how Rhian rescued him, and appreciating his brother’s heroics and skills as a diplomatic and maybe, more-shrewd-than-he-looks-Ever, Rafal fixates on the negative. Which is understandable. Humans dwell on the negative. We are wired to do so. And, Rafal is probably a pessimist by default.

⸻

An extension to this line of thought:

This is just speculation, but maybe, in TLEA, Rafal projects Rhian onto Sophie, in how Rafal perceives her. See the: “No one will ever love you but me” line. This is given the fact that every time Rhian has fallen in love, it has gone tremendously wrong, and that the only reliable person Rhian has ever loved is Rafal.

In Fall, Rafal could treat Rhian the way everyone treated Sophie in AWWP. Like a ticking time bomb, an inevitability that will only end in disaster because he can’t be trusted. Like he could go off any minute.Because, honestly, Rafal is shocked and astounded at Rhian’s capacity to act and betray others. What dictates that he won’t be Rhian’s next victim? Their love, I suppose, if it's still there. But, I’m sure Rafal will forget about his love for Rhian at some point.

#school for good and evil #rise of the school for good and evil #rafal #rafal mistral #rhian #rhian mistral #king midas #sge #sfgae #the school for good and evil #tsfgae #rotsge #rotsfgae #my post #my predictions #my theories #my analysis #fall countdown #shakespeare #hamlet #bird motif

[queerasfact]

Episodes on pirates: YES I love the lit reviews and the shade and yes its definitely one of the best bits of queer as fact because your wonderful personalities. I also wanted to know whether you intend on doing an episode, either a short or longer one on black sails. In other matters of naval queer stuff, I was wondering if anyone has suggested perhaps looking into Horatio Nelson and whether he was more than "best friends" with his lover's husband whom he lived with whilst having said affair?

Thank you so much for this very kind praise - I'm glad that you enjoyed the pirate episodes!

We did originally intend to talk about Black Sails in our episode on Our Flag Means Death but ultimately decided that just talking about the one show more thoroughly was a better option. We don't have any immediate plans to talk about Black Sails now, but I have watched some of it and enjoyed it, so we might come back to it one day.

No one has suggested Horatio Nelson before - I have put him in our spreadsheet and we'll look into it one of these days. :)

- Eli

#ask

[mistressaccost]

hamlet pirate au where after the pirates capture him they actually adopt hamlet and teach him how to sail and shit and horatio is also there

#okay who wants to write this fanfiction for me please!! #please!!! #horatio is definitely the better pirate #hamlet will be tying the ropes and just stop and be like you know what this rope reminds me of? *insert hamlet reciting an entire play* #horatio is just like... oh my god hand it to me i’ll do it #bless #hamratio #hamlet x horatio #hamlet

[flewtothewinds]

id apologize for the shakespearean vagueposting but. im not sorry in the slightest so heres me ranking the shakespeare plays ive starred in:

macbeth: 10/10 my breakthrough role!! i fucking love macbeth man. i got to commit murder and call my rival a coward on stage? immaculate. my favorite shakespeare play t this day, however the year after we did it some ppl from britain came to our school and did macbeth. they did a lot of making out o stage and my rival (who had played my husband) leaned over ot me in the dark theater and said he’d wished our version had more of that. overall that play awoke an even stronger love for the macabre in me and also the flirting with my rival definitely awoke things in me

much ado about nothing: 5/10 it was alright!! not the most memorable or fun. was quite sexy of me to play claudio with bright green hair though. i got to call my friend (hero) a rotten orange!! 

hamlet: -1000000/10 get this rat bastard off my stage. playing an emotional unstable chaotic bisexual man did NUMBERS on my mental health. on top of that i had to memorize 122 lines in 4 days which did NOT help my declining mental health. however i enjoy the absolute chaos of hamlet, especially the pirates interlude. sadly this role left me permanently scarred in 2 places because of a “”””””””dulled””””””” stage knife

hamlet 2 electric boogaloo: -100/10 fuck being hammy. i kin him a little too hard for it to be healthy. however i am a VERY sexy hamlet. number two was much better han number one because it was only the last scene where everyone died. i got to my fun sexy swordfight all over again!! horatio didnt cry over my body either time so like. couldve been gayer but still. sexy sword fight

romeo and juliet: 6.7/10 okay so this shouldnt count but. i played tybalt but i was actually playing a demonic bullfrog playing tybalt in a play war between shakespeare and jane austen. basically i just ran on stage and got stabbed and died. very fun but i fell in a weird postition and it made my bones hurt after a while

#hamlet #shakespeare #romeo and juliet #much ado about nothing #tybalt #macbeth #lady macbeth #claudio #musings of the damned #acting #actingblr #im coming out as a theater kid </3

[heysmalltownboy]

How Ophelia by the Lumineers relates to the story of Hamlet in regards to Ophelia, a quarantine essay

Because you guys (7 people) wanted it and I am insanely bored.

Also I’m aware that I contradict myself.

(under the break because I am kind and considerate)

[Verse 1]

Ah, ah, when I was younger

I, I should've known better

Ok this part makes me think of Hamlet reflecting on his past mistakes--trusting his uncle, not being able to save his father, taking so long to avenge his dad, and, of course, killing Polonius. 

And I can't feel no remorse

And you don't feel nothing back

In my opinion, Hamlet doesn't feel that much remorse for killing Polonius. Then he goes and wrecks his relationship with Ophelia farther in the nunn’ry scene. So she falls out of love with his crazy new persona.

[Verse 2]

I, I got a new girlfriend here

Feels like he's on top

Hi this is about Horatio. Like why say he? Because he replaced Ophelia with Horatio. I feel like they always had feelings for each other, even at Wittenburg, but whatever. Also “feels like he’s on top”, when we bypass the obvious sexual meaning, can come to represent Horatio’s feeling that he is in control and he can actually help Hamlet in this tragedy. But really, it’s all up to Hamlet.

And I don't feel no remorse

And you can't see past my blindness

I’ve always wondered Ophelia’s opinion on Horatio. Does she know? Also this lyric comes back to the nunn’ry scene. Hamlet really is blinded in this part of the play by his rage and love (excuse the Green Day reference).

[Chorus]

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, since the flood

So this brings us to the chorus. This whole song, to me, is Hamlet’s thought processes as he learns of Ophelia’s death. This is his grieving period before he steps right in to “fight Laertes” mode at the funeral. Also the flood is her drowning herself.

Oh, Ophelia

Heaven help the fool who falls in love

I think Hamlet didn’t actually want to fall in love with Ophelia, maybe thought that he couldn’t, after his father’s death. Maybe this part is actually after the grave jumping because he believes his love for her becomes a liability that makes him rash.

[Verse 3]

I, I got a little paycheck

You got big plans and you gotta move (Whoo!)

The “paycheck” to me is Hamlet getting kidnapped by pirates, because it’s a part of the show where we don’t really know what happened to him. The “pirate letter” scene is just one scene before Gertrude breaks the news in her willow speech, so the suicide is her “big plans”.

And I don't feel nothing at all

And you can't feel nothing small

“Can’t feel nothing small”, to me, represents the fact that he thinks she feels everything very largely, possibly even thinking she overreacted to her father’s death (personal opinion).

[Pre-Chorus]

Honey, I love you

That's all she wrote

My favorite line!! Suicide note!! Yes! I definitely think she wrote a note that Gertrude didn’t see that was addressed to Hamlet, perhaps even trying to say that she isn’t mad at him after all this. Maybe the romanticizing of her death is finally getting to my head. I don’t know.

[Chorus] (x2)

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, like a drug

Oh, Ophelia

Heaven help the fool who falls in love

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, since the flood (x2)

Hamlet is definitely addicted to this revenge plot, even if it takes him a super long time to actually do it. I think Ophelia’s death is a further motivator because it reminds him he’s lost more than his dad in this tragedy. In that way, it is a drug for him; especially in the grave jumping scene where we finally see his sadness.

------------------------------------------------------

That’s that, fellas!! I hope you enjoyed. This started as very weak concepts in my mind every time I listened to the song.

#literature #shakespeare #hamlet #ophelia #ophelia hamlet #horatio #horatio hamlet #hamratio #shakespeare hamlet #hamlet memes #analysis #literary analysis #this has been done #the lumineers

[suits-of-woe]

im shaking.. would you do fluffy hamratio?? maybe like a fix it or something... i love them!!

Thanks for the prompt and sorry for taking ages to write it! There’s honestly so many good options for alternate Hamlet endings that I had trouble choosing, but I went with one where Laertes ends up getting second thoughts about killing Hamlet and ultimately becomes king bc I honestly feel like Hamlet’s ideal life involves him being as far from the crown as possible.

Laertes is the kind of man whois far quicker to forgive than to actually admit he’s forgiven. All thingsconsidered, in Horatio’s mind, this isn’t the best of the new king’s qualities,but, in light of his other virtues, can be overlooked easily enough. Because whileLaertes might not be able to match wits with Hamlet, he’s certainly not stupidenough to think banishment is actually an undesirable punishment for the formerheir. If anything, though he’d never admit it, he’s done him a favor.

The coach is far from fit for aking, but it’s small enough that it’s only natural for its inhabitants to betouching, a fact that Hamlet has thoroughly taken advantage of. He lies withhis head against Horatio’s chest and Horatio’s hands combing through his hairas Horatio murmurs his way through an account of Nero’s early reign. He putdown the book he’d been reading from about an hour ago when his arm started tocramp. Hamlet seems to like his version better anyway.

It’s only when Horatio pausesfor a long moment, stumbling over some half-forgotten detail, that Hamlet openshis mouth.

“You’re a born scholar,” hesays reverently. Then his brow creases. “Of course, you’re going to stay atWittenberg. It’s as good as made for you.”

His intonation doesn’t suggesta question, but Horatio knows him well enough to understand that it is one. Hetries to phrase his answer carefully.

“I didn’t have other plans,” hesays mildly. “And my scholarship still applies as far as I know. It’s probablythe most obvious place.”

“Probably,” Hamlet echoes. “Andthat’s not to say that – I’ll be wherever you are, I mean, if you’ll have me.”

“Of course, my lord—”

“Not your lord,” Hamletinterrupts, a little too sharply. He raises his head and looks Horatio straightin the eyes. “Not anymore.”

Horatio cringes inwardly.

“Right. Yes. I’m sorry. I’msorry, Hamlet.” He can feel color rising to his cheeks. It’s ridiculous that he’sspent more hours naked with Hamlet than he can count, and yet using his realname still feels intimate enough to make him blush. “Force of habit.”

“I know.”

Hamlet smiles, relaxing alittle, but doesn’t lay his head back down.

“That’s the problem with Wittenberg,”he says after a brief silence. “Everyone there only knows me as the prince. Evenyou. Well, no, not you. But you’re the only one who doesn’t.”

“That’s true,” Horatio agreesevenly. He’s been trying not to think about it, waiting for Hamlet to bring itup first. Throwing away that kind of money feels beyond irresponsible, but evenso, it’s complicated.

“And it would be odd, too,without...” Hamlet trails off.

Without Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Horatio mentally finishes thesentence for him. And it’s true. It’s hard enough to imagine returning withoutthem at all, but considering the fact that Hamlet was the one to have themkilled, he can’t imagine looking their mutual friends in the face. Too manyghosts there now, just like Elsinore.

“Let’s not go then,” Horatiosuggests, and he can tell it was the right thing to say by the way Hamlet’sbrow instantly unknits. “I mean, I’ll need to get my things. And we need toleave the country somehow anyway. But after that, we’ll go somewhere else.”

“Alright,” Hamlet agrees, barelypausing for breath. “We will.”

Horatio presses a kiss intoHamlet’s hair and lets out his own silent sigh of relief. It’s all so differentfrom how he imagined things ending. Hamlet isn’t happy, exactly, but then,after losing both his mother and Ophelia within the week, he can’t imagineanyone would be. But he doesn’t seem to be breaking either, no more than he hasbeen for the past few months. He’s startling...okay.

“Do you mind this?” Horatioasks. “Really?”

“I...” Hamlet pauses,thoughtful, but still steady. “I wish someone would visit my mother’s grave.”

Of everything that’s happened,Horatio knows, the queen’s death hit him the hardest. Of course, if she hadn’tdrank from the poisoned goblet, god knows Hamlet might have been the one tofall for it, and Laertes might not have been moved to expose the king and put astop to his revenge. She as good as died for him. That’s probably why it upsetsHamlet so much, because he didn’t know she loved him enough to do it until shewas already gone.

“She’s with my father nowthough,” Hamlet continues. “That’s...how it always should have been, I think. Notthat I wanted her dead, but they should have been together. And I know Laerteswill look after Ophelia. And I think...I think I’ve honestly had my fair shareof ghosts for a lifetime.”

“Definitely.”

“And I finally have an excuseto force you to use my real name,” Hamlet laughs, and Horatio can see most ofthe clouds over his expression clearing away. “So it could be worse, don’t youthink?”

“I’m just glad you’re alive,”Horatio says softly.

“I am too,” Hamlet agrees. He laughsa little. “Imagine that.”

Yes, Horatio thinks. It’sastonishing how okay they really are after all this.

Hamlet’s eyes light upsuddenly. “Horatio, what do you say we buy a boat?”

“A boat? Do you...know how tosail?”

“Well enough. Pirates aresurprisingly good teachers. You’d pick it up faster than I did, I bet.”

“I suppose if we have the moneyfor it.”

“Perfect. We’re buying a boat.We can take it somewhere warm.” He grins. “We could go to Rome. You’d likethat, Horatio, wouldn’t you?”

“I’d love it, my—Hamlet.”

Hamlet reaches a hand aroundHoratio’s neck and smashes their lips together with a vigor that speaks of bothpain yet to fade and joy yet to come. In a second he’s trailing kisses downHoratio’s jawline, running his hands all over his chest, and by the timeHoratio can make himself pull away he’s already dizzy.

“The driver,” he manages to getout. “It’s not exactly private—”

“So?” Hamlet counters. “We’rejust two common men. Why would he care about us?”

#also feel free to send me more prompts y'all! #hamlet #horatio #tragic danish boyfriends #fic #shakespeare #my writing #mine

[shakespeareheadcanons]

prime numbers??

Shakespeare asks:

Making me do some math, anon? That’s all right; we’ll see how I do.

2. A line that gets stuck in your head:

There’s a specific line in Hamlet that I get stuck in my head whenever I reread the play, but I can’t think of it right now, it might be something from the “How all occasions do inform against me” monologue, but I’m not sure.

Also, I occasionally get this lovely arrangement of “Under the greenwood tree” from the National Theatre’s 2016 production of AYLI stuck in my head, if that counts. 

3. A production you’d fantasize about directing:

I would love to do a Twelfth Night where everyone is played by women and femmes. 

 I would also love a Cold War-era Winter’s Tale set somewhere in Latin America and in New York City. (Leontes is a dictator installed because of imperialist US policies. Polixenes is a Kennedy the wealthy scion of a family of career politicians with mob connections. Leontes and Polixenes went to college together. The shepherd owns a covert (and illegal) gay bar where Perdita and Florizel meet because Florizel is trans and lesbian. Anyway this is complicated enough that it would probably work better as a fic, huh?

5. A character you’d fantasize about dating:

I love Paulina so much that her portrayal on the stage and screen inspired my undergraduate thesis (which has been turned in and graded, btw!), so I’m probably going to have to say her. 

7. A Shakespearean scholar, actor, or director you would fight:

Any anti-Stratfordian, tbh. I did drag Peter D. Usher in a footnote for an essay I wrote about Hamlet once. (He’s decided that Hamlet is an allegory for the Copernican Revolution, and so therefore, Shakespeare *obviously* couldn’t have enough knowledge to have written it.) 

And does Roland Emmerich count as a Shakespearean director? Because if so I’d fight him twice: once for spreading anti-Stratfordian bs, and again for the the travesty that is Stonewall.

11. Your least favorite film version:

I haven’t seen enough film versions to have a definitive all-time worst, but I am not at all a fan of Roman Polanski’s Macbeth. I’m profoundly uncomfortable with watching anything of his, and to me it just lacked anything that made it interesting. If I hadn’t had to watch it for a class, I would have shut it off part way through.

13. An underrepresented/underrated character:

Marina from Pericles. She’s pretty amazing, but since no one knows Pericles, no one knows about the badass fourteen year-old princess who gets kidnapped by pirates and *talks* her way out of some pretty horrific stuff. She’s clever, determined, and has a real strength of character.

17. The scene that consistently makes you laugh out loud or the scene that makes you cry:

I have literally cried in the library over the thought of Hamlet dying in Horatio’s arms. And that was just reading it from the page! (Coincidentally, at the time I was working on the essay where I dragged Peter Usher.)

#woo! i remembered that 1 isn't prime #ask #anon anon sir #cee's personal things #death cw

[lostallblue]

OCs #1 + #2

in other news, i have way too many ocs. i can’t even. i hate myself. but these two dorks are two of my favourites and also they come as a pair so i have to post them together. it just can’t be otherwise, mate.

so here we’ve got actual murder child celia and soft, book-nerd horatio. me? have a problem naming characters so i just name them after shakespeare’s characters? would i do that? it’s more likely than you think. incidentally, i hate epithets so much. how do you come up with them? i don’t have a clue.

@hundredsunny enjoy my nerd ocs (i’m thepinkfluffyunicorn btw, this is just my one piece blog). they’re both idiots but i love them.

NAME: jernigan celia EPITHET: the nightwalker -  because she murders people at night, truly an imaginative name. NICKNAMES: lee (literally only horatio gets away with this), most people just call her by jernigan unless they’re close friends. AGE: 21 (pre) 23 (post) BDAY: 1st of december BIRTHPLACE: arden island in the grand line - a foresty spring island with lots of big, terrifying monsters. heck yeah. GENDER: female HEIGHT:  5.8 WEIGHT: 69kg HAIR: black, v straight. EYES: dark. APPEARANCE: celia is this tol girl with kind of medium-brown skin? she looks vaguely arabian? she tends to tie her hair back with complex plaits that mean things in her culture. she has one that means honour, another that means something overcome and three for each member of her family that were killed or went missing. the rest tend to vary depending on the situation. her style is very casual when she's not in assassin-mode. jeans and a graphic t-shirt are her sort of thing. with strong boots that can handle lots of work. she also has a leather jacket that she pinched from a shop in loguetown once. she loves it. she does, however, love the chance to dress up. she goes for really gorgeous dresses that are all long and shiny. but she only rarely gets the chance. when in assassin mode, she wears tight, dark clothes with a hood and light shoes with a good grip. and knives. lots of knives. SMELL: the blood of her enemies. FAVE FOOD: lasagne FAVE DRINK: berry cider (and by that, i mean the sort we have over here that's alcoholic) FAVE SEASON: summer REPRESENTATIVE NATIONALITY: welsh BOUNTY: 100 000 000 - but not for celia the person, just for the nightwalker the assassin. they don't know who she is. because she’s a snek. DEVIL FRUIT: none! PROFESSION: private assassin CREW: none PERSONALITY: celia is an angry bean who wants to fight you. she's pretty good at concealing her feelings, but is pretty much at ease with them. she's fine with being a pretty emotional person. she's also hecka oblivious. she doesn't notice when people flirt with her. it just goes right over her head. horatio thinks it's hilarious. she would 10/10 flirt back if she realised - not that she's actually any good at flirting. her version of flirting usually involves knives in some way. she loves her knives. a lot. never leaves home without them. has named all of them and can actually tell them all apart, even the ones that look identical to literally anyone else. she loves horatio a whole lot. would literally tear the world to shreds for him. he's basically her brother in every way that actually matters. he makes her laugh when nobody else can and is the only person who can draw her out of her own head when she gets lost in her thoughts. he's also basically the only person she cares about. she hates slavers and murders them. she also appreciates money a lot. would definitely rip you off if you gave her the chance. she has a big thing about being able to make her own choices and having control over her own life - a consequence of being a former slave. she's also illiterate, so that's a problem. she doesn't deal well with being reminded of it. horatio's tried to teach her, but she's probs dyslexic so she struggles a lot with it and doesn't have the patience to actually commit to learning it. anyone who calls her stupid will face her knives. LIKES: her knives, horatio, generally pasta, tomatoes, alcohol, murdering evil people who own slaves, pretty dresses, make-up. DISLIKES: slavers, feeling stupid, spring because she has a pollen allergy WEAPONS: celia has knives. celia's life is made up of knives. she loves her knives. she would marry her knives. she's also very good with her knives. HISTORY: celia was born on arden island which is a pretty cool place. mostly forest with a few villages and a few bigger towns. no big cities. celia's home village was on the edge, looking out onto a beach and the ocean but with a forest at its back. it had one of the only three docks on the island so they saw a lot of business from both marines and pirates. anyway, a couple of years later, celia's little sister - rosalind - was born. celia and rosalind were really close as kids, they both loved to explore the forest outside their home. but when celia was nine, slavers raided their village and a bunch of people were killed, including celia's parents. both celia and rosalind were taken as slaves. they managed to stay together at first, but when they were sold at sabaody, they were seperated and celia never saw her sister again. she became a celestial dragon slave and everything was pretty bad for a while. when she was fourteen, yuji - a former marine who'd started his own group of rebels separate to the revolutionary army because he didn't think dragon was doing enough - freed a bunch of slaves of which celia was one. celia joined up with his group because she didn't have anywhere else to go and yuji taught her how to fight and kill. he basically used her as his assassin, sending her out to kill his enemies. celia adored him though, he had saved her and yuji was pretty good at making people like him. when celia was eighteen, yuji brought horatio back severely injured and celia watched horatio get better and then - in her eyes - steal her place at yuji's side. see, that was kind of yuji's shtick, manipulate people into caring about him and then pit them against each other so that they didn't band together and turn against him. so at first, celia was super jealous and that meant that she and horatio did not get along. at all. they fought constantly. but because celia was no longer quite so focused on by yuji, she started noticing how...awful and manipulative he was toward horatio. she noticed how often he'd emotionally abuse and manipulate him and make him feel like he owed yuji the world. which, she realised part way through, was pretty much exactly what he'd done to her. so she started trying to befriend horatio. at first, horatio didn't trust her. but they did slowly become friends. and celia started trying to convince horatio to leave with her. because she could see how much damage yuji was doing to him and she was Not Okay with it. horatio completely ignored her at first, but bit by bit she managed to convince him that yuji wasn't as good as he thought. and eventually, they managed to run away and headed for the grand line together. this would be when celia's about twenty. they basically set themselves up as slaver-hunters. they assassinate big people in the slave-trading business and, along the way, celia looks for her little sister.

and the next dork.

NAME: tveit horatio (not that he uses his surname) EPITHET: NICKNAMES: AGE: 18 (pre), 20 (post) BDAY: 4th of january BIRTHPLACE: icthus island in the north blue GENDER: male HEIGHT: 5.6 WEIGHT: 55kg HAIR: horatio has floppy, straight white hair. and yes, that is natural, he hasn't gone white because of stress. although he 10/10 probably would have done, if that was possible. EYES: blue APPEARANCE: horatio is actually? pretty good-looking which makes celia hiss because then people start trying to flirt with him. he's mega lanky, noodle arms all over the place. a smol boy who is just...v short, for a guy. he was tol once, back when he was like eleven, but he hasn't grown since, so......concerning. for added shortness appreciation, he's shorter than nami. chopper is the only straw hat he's taller than. this is hilarious to me. he also appreciates looking good, so most of his clothes are pretty well-made. he likes the woollen top-coat over jumper and shirt Look because he thinks he looks distinguished. celia think it makes him look like a nerd.   he has a lot of pretty horrible scars all over his body, so he tries to stay as covered up as physically possible. he likes the coat because it covers his neck when he keeps the collar up. and whenever he can get away with it without looking weird (read, whenever it's not too hot for it) he likes to wear a dark red wool scarf that he knitted himself. he likes a good pair of oxford shoes, but he tends to wear boots more because they're easier to run and fight in. he also carries throwing knives, but they're normally under his coat. he uses a long, black cane to walk - because his hip is really badly damaged and he has a bad limp. but! at least he has a cane with which to look cool and also to break the bones of his enemies. SMELL: butterscotch FAVE FOOD: banoffee pie FAVE DRINK: hot chocolate FAVE SEASON: autumn - he likes the colours and anything pumpkin/pumpkin-spice flavoured. REPRESENTATIVE NATIONALITY: norwegian BOUNTY: currently none and they're desperately trying to keep it that way. DEVIL FRUIT: none! PROFESSION: spy - as in, he spies and finds information about targets for celia, who then kills them. CREW: none PERSONALITY: horatio is an anxious nerd, okay? he's such a nerd. he's actually on the autistic spectrum so he has Special Interests such as astronomy and history. he also fixated on linguistics years ago and has never let go. he tends to feel emotions really strongly and cares a whole lot, but struggles a lot with both processing and actually showing his emotions. feelings in general are very confusing to him. he tends to do his absolute best to ignore his feelings until they become overwhelming and cause him to shut down. he sometimes loses his language when that happens. he also has OCD. so that's a fun time. he's pretty charming when he needs to be though. v flirtatious, which is hilarious considering he's hecka aro-ace. he knows how to make people do what he wants them to do. an important skill considering his job. but don't let any of that fool you, horatio is actually an idiot. sometimes he does stuff and he doesn't even know why he did the thing. he just did it. when he isn't on a job, he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions. he just acts on impulse. he's a dumbo. LIKES: books, history, linguistics, astronomy, dancing, pumpkins, stimming and also the ocean in general - horatio loves the ocean a lot. DISLIKES: potatoes, his family, slavery + slave owners, having Feelings(tm), lilies because he's allergic, bad rulers/monarchs, the marines as a whole annoy him a lot because he thinks they're all idiots which, i mean, in all fairness.... WEAPONS: like i said, he uses throwing knives a lot and also his cane which he can swing around with deadly efficiency. not to mention, nobody ever takes it away from him when he's going into places where weapons aren't allowed. you know that scene in lord of the rings: the two towers where the rohirrim are trying to take gandalf's staff away from him but gandalf's like 'you wouldn't take an old man's stick away from him, would you?' and they let him keep it. that's horatio. horatio is not above using his disability to manipulate people. HISTORY: okay so horatio was born on icthus island. but he wasn't just a random person. he was born into the royal family! specifically the tveit family. he had five brothers and a sister. all of them hated him. the tveit family is awful. in general. they're cruel rulers. so pretty much from day one, his family were terrible to him. see, they picked up pretty quickly that he was Weird because it took him like four years to talk for the first time and then it was in full sentences. and from then on, he was just...odd? from their point-of-view. they were really stiff and formal and, also, they owned slaves. because why not? at first horatio wasn't against what they did both to others and also to him, because he didn't know any better, but then. a thing happened. his nurse - aurora - who helped him to speak and taught him to handle his anxiety and sensory issues when his family would just dismiss or punish him for his bad moments, was blamed for a theft when he was nine. it was actually horatio's older sister who broke the thing that was 'stolen' then lied about it and...everybody knew. but that didn't really matter to the king and queen, so they executed aurora for theft. and horatio lost the one person who actually cared about him. it was this that really jarred him out of the whole 'this is okay' thing and he realised how awful everything they did really was. and he started trying to protect the slaves in their palace. but that just made his family more annoyed with him. and so it carried on for, like, five years in pretty much the same way. horatio did something that upset them, they beat him for it or locked him up or starved him. everything sucked. and then everything really went wrong. when he was fifteen, he made the terrible mistake of befriending a slave called antonio. antonio was from the grand line - specifically alabasta! - and told him stories about the nefertari family who are amazing rulers and so kind. horatio low-key didn't believe him, but he still has a vague dream of going to alabasta and meeting nefertari vivi and her father. but then horatio's brother found out about his friendship with antonio. before then, horatio had mostly just tried to protect the slaves, but had never actually befriended them before. his brother was disgusted at the idea of his younger brother actually befriending a slave and 'disgracing their family' in such a way. his brother told their parents and... they had both horatio and antonio brought before them. after confirming that what horatio's brother had said was true, they executed antonio. but they didn't stop there. instead, they cheerfully went on to sentence horatio to death for disgracing the family name. they basically had him tortured for days. his siblings went to town on him. and after like two weeks, they left him outside the palace to die on his own. and it was here that old yuji found him. horatio was barely alive, but yuji took him back to his nearest base and managed to save his life. this whole fiasco - btw - is why horatio needs a cane. which sucks. horatio's family believe that they murdered him, so they had this big funeral for him ala sanji and the vinsmokes, except they actually think he's dead. and this is the big reason why celia and horatio are trying to hard to make sure he doesn't get a bounty. because they do not want to risk his family finding him again. so we already know how the whole thing with yuji went. celia realises what's going on and tries to convince horatio to leave. but it takes him forever to believe her because one of the big issues that his family left him with is that, well, he has absurdly low expectations for how people treat him. in his mind, if they're not physically abusing him, then everything's cool. because they're not as bad as his family. so that's why it took her so long to convince him. horatio's about seventeen when they leave.

CANON TIME-PERIOD CONNECTIONS: they - as a duo - have their first encounter with canon one piece characters about half-way through the pre-time skip era? they arrive in alabasta post-war and end up in a Fiasco that leads to them meeting vivi. which was their intention anyway because horatio really, really wanted to meet vivi. vivi gets on with horatio the best - the old both being royals thing really helps with friendship, apparently. celia spend roughly half the time pouting because she thought horatio liked vivi more than her. she is easily made jealous. but they do end up friends in the end and it's all good. vivi told them stories about the straw-hats and as a result, the Dynamic Duo really want to meet them. just because of that. they end up leaving about enies lobby time and heading off along the grand-line for more adventure. and murder. that too. they also run into old jewelry bonney part way through her journey, after they leave alabasta. celia fights her. then they end up bonding over mutual pasta appreciation. so that's nice. horatio was Amused. i haven't fully thought through their time-skip existence, but i know that celia wants to meet luffy even more just so she can congratulate him on punching a celestial dragon. the day she heard about it, she literally cheered. it was great. 

#my writing #my ocs #jernigan celia #horatio

[tragicdanishlesbians]

Hamlet and Horatio

who is more likely to hurt the other? - Hamlet. When she’s not feeling the greatest she will, as we’ve seen, lash out. But she always apologizes quickly.who is emotionally stronger? - Horatio’s a tough kid. Which is why it’s so shocking when she does have really rough days and she breaks. Hamlet gets it though, and she’s always there for her.who is physically stronger? - Horatio is not only the tol to Hamlet’s smol but she’s got muscles. She may be a nerdy scholar but she can also do pushups while Hamlet sits on her back and reads to her.who is more likely to break a bone? - Hamlet is a total klutz. Every day is a new opportunity for her to fall down the stairs. Horatio doesn’t know how Hamlet manages to fence so well.who knows best what to say to upset the other? - They both do? But it does not come out at all, even when they’re mad at each other.who is most likely to apologise first after an argument? - They’re both quick to the punch, usually apologizing at/around the same time. who treats who’s wounds more often? - Horatio carries around a first aid kid. Help her.who is in constant need of comfort? - While I wouldn’t say constant, Hamlet’s definitely in need of comfort far more than Horatio, especially when it gets close to the anniversary of her father’s death.who gets more jealous? - Hamlet. While she trusts Horatio, she’s very often taking what could just be seen as people being polite to Horatio as them flirting. Horatio doesn’t mind so much when Hamlet gets all possessive.who’s most likely to walk out on the other? - Neither. They’d never, no matter how angry.who will propose? - Horatio for sure. She’d want to make it a big deal at first and probably have this big elaborate plan in place, but then before the thing would go into motion there’d be this perfect moment that had just the two them and Horatio would propose right then and it’d be intimate and adorable. (BUT ALSO IN MY HAMLET ADAPTION HORATIO PROPOSES TO HAMLET IN A SORT OF NON-ROMANTIC “I’LL HELP YOU MAKE A FAMILY OF YOUR OWN THAT YOU’LL FEEL COMFORTABLE IN” WAY but then of course it gets romantic anyway imma go cry brb…) who has the most difficult parents? - It’s more Claudius that’s the difficult “parent”. Gertrude more or less knows that her daughter’s in a secret relationship and helps keep it on the DL, but Claudius is always going on and on and being a general douche. Horatio’s parents know all about the relationship and they are so down for it. Whenever they’re on leave they always want updates.who initiates hand-holding when they’re out in public? - Horatio does most of the time. But if Hamlet’s nervous/anious/having a rough time she will go for Horatio’s hand the minute they’re out the door.who comes up for the other all the time?  - uh?who hogs the blankets? - Hamlet is a total HOG. Horatio has back up blankets for situations of this kind.who gets more sad? - Hamlet, definitely. She always feels even worse because she feels like it makes her a bother or a pain to be with. Horatio never minds. She understands that Hamlet can’t control her depression.who is better at cheering the other up? - While Horatio generally is doing this and is definitely an expert, Hamlet’s very good at it as well. But Horatio’s probably the better of the two.who’s the one that playfully slaps the other all the time after they make silly jokes? - Hamlet. When she finds something funny, (especially when it’s Horatio saying it), she’s a giggling mess.who is more streetwise? - Hamlet. Girl survived pirates.who is more wise? - While they’re both extremely wise, Horatio takes the book-smart cake.who’s the shyest? - I feel like they both are? It depends on the environment they’re in.who boasts about the other more? - Hamlet cannot stop talking about Horatio. She’d be the type that posts pictures of Horatio around like “Have you seen my girlfriend. She’s not missing or anything she’s just perfect” if their relationship wasn’t hidden. But anytime she’s around people who know, she’s like “MY GIRLFRIEND IS PERFECT HOW HAVE I BEEN SO BLESSED.” Otherwise she’ll always just really talk about Horatio. Polonius thinks they’re just really good Gal Pals ™ until he figures out what’s going on. He ships it.who sits on who’s lap? - Hamlet loves sitting on Horatio’s lap. Horatio loves when she does.

#Hamlet #TDL trash #Shakespeare