#roman said a thing

[what-even-is-thiss]

For the love of god if your native language is different from the majority language of the country you’re living in don’t raise your baby speaking the local language. Either have each parent speak to them in a different language or only speak your native language at home. The kid will be okay. Get your native language in their head. You may think you’re helping them in the long term giving them the local language but no. When they’re an adult they’ll wonder why you never taught them your language. They can and will learn the local language in school. They’ll be okay. Produce more bilingual children. They are good for society.

#roman said a thing

[crazyqueensweets]

Unveiling the Narrative Dynamic: Characters at the Helm

Certainly, I'd be happy to help you rephrase that concept into an article!

Read more characters

Introduction

In the realm of storytelling, an intriguing analogy has emerged, one that paints a vivid picture of the creative process. A professor's words echo in our minds: "You aren't in the driver's or passenger's seat when you write a story. The characters are in the driver's seat, and they've locked you in the trunk." This metaphor encapsulates the captivating essence of storytelling, wherein characters become the driving force behind the narrative, leaving the storyteller confined to the sidelines, yet utterly compelled by the journey.

Characters as the Driving Force

At the heart of any narrative lies a cast of characters, each with their distinct personas, aspirations, and quirks. They are not merely ink on paper or pixels on a screen; they are the lifeblood that courses through the veins of a story. It's often said that characters take on a life of their own, steering the plot in unforeseen directions and revealing facets of the narrative that the author might not have initially envisaged.

When our professor likened the writer to someone locked in the trunk, it's a metaphor that carries profound insight. Authors may craft the initial contours of a storyline, but it's the characters who breathe life into it. They dictate their responses, their choices, and their growth, leading the narrative down uncharted roads. As creators, we find ourselves drawn into their world, spectators to their adventures, with each twist and turn of the plot surprising us as much as it does our readers.

The Intimate Dance of Creation

The process of writing, then, becomes an intimate dance between the writer and their characters. They whisper their desires, fears, and ambitions to the author, who in turn translates these revelations into words that captivate and enthrall. It's a delicate balance between steering the story and relinquishing control, allowing the characters to take the reins while the author becomes the conduit for their voices.

In the trunk, as our professor's metaphor suggests, writers may feel a mixture of anticipation and surrender. They are not captives of their creations; rather, they are humbled witnesses to the unpredictable trajectory of their own imaginings. It's this dynamic that often yields the most authentic and compelling narratives, where characters evolve organically, their decisions resonating with a genuineness that cannot be contrived.

Embracing the Unknown

The notion of being locked away in the trunk of the narrative vehicle doesn't evoke a sense of limitation, but rather an embrace of the unknown. It signifies a willingness to be surprised, to allow the story to unfold with a spontaneity that mirrors real life. In this sense, characters become more than the sum of their scripted parts – they become autonomous beings driving the narrative forward, revealing layers of depth that might otherwise remain hidden.

Conclusion

In the realm of storytelling, our professor's analogy paints a vivid and resonant image. Characters are indeed at the helm of the narrative journey, guiding us through uncharted territories of imagination. As writers, we find ourselves willingly locked in the trunk, awaiting the twists and turns that our characters unveil. It is a symbiotic relationship that encapsulates the beauty of creation – a dance between the crafted and the innate, the scripted and the authentic, ultimately leading to stories that resonate deeply with both their creators and their audiences.

#writing #roman said a thing #blaze

[homielander]

shiv's motivations for voting to pass the gojo deal are so layered and i don't think they should be dismissed in favour of any one interpretation. shiv desperately grabbed on to a lifeline for her relationship with tom. shiv was the deciding vote and she couldn't bear to hold the crown only for a moment just to place it atop her brother's head. shiv knew she would have more influence as wife of CEO rather than sister of CEO. shiv absolutely hated seeing kendall crystallize into logan before her eyes, especially when he made roman bleed ("and if we did kill him we get to go to bed") -- succession has always been about siblings so of course she tried to free her brothers before her child. shiv still thinks she can raise her child with all the material benefits of being the daughter of waystar CEO while doing better by her, whatever that means. and all of those things are true

#shiv roy #succession #succession spoilers #ok i'm sleeping #wait i know i just assumed tomshiv baby is a girl but like. i'm right #also i have seen many people say shiv did it purely out of spite and i will say #i don't think they would have had dialogue about shiv saying she's tired and they should all rest #or panned to shiv looking at roman's face fresh with blood #or shown shiv tearing up over her conversation with tom at the beginning of the episode #or had her say 'i cannot stomach you' which has pretty obvious connotations even in the context of succ #or had shiv make up her mind precisely when kendall said the andrew dodds confession was a lie #if her motives weren't meant to be read as ambiguous. they would not have put those things in there without reason #shiv leaving the room may have been impulsive spite but what came after was more complicated #it's also not even wholly altruistic it's just cold admittance that they don't have It. she thinks she does #and i'm not sure why the sentiment that they can't take it but she can surprises anyone #she's literally always seen herself as the exception

[robert-deniro]

Oppenheimer (2023) dir. Christopher Nolan

#filmedit #oppenheimeredit #adaptationsdaily #filmgifs #moviegifs #fyeahmovies #userrobin #userclayy #usersugar #useranimusvox #dailyflicks #filmandtv #sakshi does a thing #no but like. i get it. #he really was obsessed with what oppie said to einstein and why einstein ignored him. for all those years. #his roman empire if you think about it. #and for some reason This is my roman empire. and all of you have to deal with it.

[brother-emperors]

 Then, on his arrival in Constantinople, after much counsel with himself, considering that he was already unequal to the amount of pressing business and believing that there was no room for delay, on the twenty-eighth of March he brought the aforesaid Valens into one of the suburbs​ and with the consent of all (for no one ventured to oppose) proclaimed him Augustus. Then he adorned him with the imperial insignia and put a diadem on his head, and brought him back in his own carriage, thus having indeed a lawful partner in his power, but, as the further course of our narrative will show, one who was as compliant as a subordinate. No sooner were these arrangements perfected without disturbance than both emperors were seized with violent and lingering fevers--

AM 26.4.3-4

this was one of those illustrations that was originally supposed to be a 5 page comic until I realized I don't know anything about later roman empire architecture or visuals or art or anything, so we'll revisit that later. maybe

for right now though, these two are fascinating. we have two brothers acting as one body, even becoming ill in tandem with each other, it's giving This Throne Is Cursed. like, the last time I read about emperors coming down with life threatening illnesses, it was Caligula, and that moment in his biography marked a very specific tone shift. I spent the rest of the (first) time reading about Valens and Valentinian waiting for something comparable to Caligula's reign to happen lmao (Dio 59. 8. 1-2)

and since Caligula was already on the mind, I started thinking about Tiberius: I think he would've loved these two since he had a whole thing about twin-ification and brothers and etc etc etc. ofc, Rome is both a Mouth and a Tomb, so it's going to go badly for someone/everyone eventually, but honestly I think that Valentinian and Valens were the best we could've hoped for. like it could've been so much worse

Tiberius and the Heavenly Twins, Edward Champlin

Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D, Noel Lenski

⭐ I have a tip jar (ko-fi)!

⭐ and other places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

#(drawing hearts around valens) hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii #roman empire tag #drawing tag #every day i think about valentinian bringing his brother into this and wondering how valens felt about it #especially since the over all arc is that he's constantly just trying to tread water managing everything from six different fronts #did you ever want things to go back to how they were!!!! did you dream of simpler times!!!!!! when it was just hard work and dirt #under your nails instead of the horrible scale of empire choking you out to the very end!!!!!!!!! did you hate your brother for it #im normal about valens. btw. (<<<said by a guy who made valens his icon on his main art blog) #anyway. (claps hands together) im going to go and write about bonifacio and mabini and lucan and crassus and the pharsalia #and mabini's writings on a failed revolution and bonifacio haunting the collective memory #i gotta condense it down to a thousand words. ideally. we are rambling around at around 2k and its unwieldy #valens #valentinian I #later Roman Empire tag

[queerprayers]

i want to say first of all that i fully respect a community's/denomination's/culture's right to have closed practices. i am not entitled to other people's traditions, and when i am a guest in a space i understand that everything is not automatically for me. and i know i do not have to understand to respect.

and also! when i go to a catholic church and can't receive communion i want to fall on the floor weeping. what do you mean i can't have him he's right there. sorry my baptism was the wrong kind of baptism. i'm hungry and you want me to become someone else before being fed.

#lutheran alert but will NEVER understand closed communion. i respect it. but i do not get it #none of us will ever be holy enough to hold jesus within us but we do every day anyway. and so we are #communion is what brings me to god. to put a barrier of entry on that. to say you have to believe certain things or be in a certain state? #idk it doesn't sit right with me. #again i respect it i have catholic family ik the beliefs/history/good intentions. #but i need to come out as an open communion fan #roman catholicism didn't exist yet at the last supper. jesus said do this in remembrance of me. #everyone who does this has already fulfilled the requirements to be present at the table #i think that was the only hard part of my grandfather's conversion. that he could break bread for me at the altar but couldn't give it to m #i would give anything to watch him preach one more time (he's retired/sick now) #but more than that i would give anything to be fed by him again. to eat with him as our lord commanded #just once. #i will have to be satisfied with the foretastes of the feasts to come that i have received from/with him. we'll have that again

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Imagine if Jin Zixuan DID yeet his brother from another mother (🥲) down the stairs.

Meng Yao: I'm your brother. Happy birthday! 🥰

Jin Zixuan: There can only be one. YEET

I am truly sad he didn't; think of the 'No Doubles' memes that we could have had...

#ask #Convoluted edit...my apologies...but do you see my vision? #Original text is: 'jesus was kin with god and was executed because the roman emperor said no doubles.' #I sort of recall CQL/The Untamed having JZX kicking Meng Yao but I could be imagining it #My memory is bad. As I keep reminding everyone. Do not ask me to recall things. I have brain damage. And an attention disorder. #I'm a big fan of the theory of Jin Zixuan and Meng Yao being born same day AND year. Adds to the drama. Tragic not-really-twins #Also sitting here right now and realizing that their arcs go in the reverse direction of each other. #Parallels in the way your mirror image is the opposite reflection of you. #Every empty space one leaves is filled by the other. Every gain one makes the other diverts in the opposite direction. #Oh no I think its time to write another essay.

[thebatmqn]

I’m not lying when I say I fully believe this is going to be these three’s dynamic post-series finale.

#shiv is not going to stay out of the company’s business god bless and roman will come back under the guise of ‘annoying her’ #(he misses her) #and based off of a few things that have been said from the crew i feel like they’ll be fine with tom? both of them? #shiv and him will settle into something (something strange and off putting yes but something) #and i don’t think roman will hold a grudge against tom in the way ken probably will #matter of fact i see rome relying on tomshiv + baby as a support system post finale 😭 #succession #shiv roy #roman roy #tom wambsgans #tomshiv #romtom

[waystarresourceco]

Kieran Culkin on Roman reverting to a child-like state when around Logan (and to an extent around Kendall). (x)

#Roman and Logan's relationship really is so interesting to me #Kieran has said the same thing a number of times about the Roman and Kendall dynamic #but the idea of Roman being perpetually struck in childhood especially when it's just him and Logan #I would literally pay money to see what Roman was like in LA when he was not in daily contact with Logan/his family #kieran culkin #roman roy #logan roy #kendall roy #cast interviews #hbo succession #succession

[iclaimedtobethebetterbard]

LOGAN STILL HAS THE SHERLOCK HOLMES AND SELF-INSERT-AS-WATSON-SIDEKICK FANFIC ROMAN WROTE FOR HIM <333333 AND HE KEEPS IT ON HIS NIGHTSTAND <3333333333

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #thatsthat24 #logan sanders #roman sanders #ts roman #ts logan #logince #peregrin said a thing #ts spoilers #caps

[what-even-is-thiss]

One of my professors told me recently “You aren’t in the drivers or passengers seat when you write a story. The characters are in the drivers seat and they’ve locked you in the trunk” and I mean he’s not wrong.

#roman said a thing #writing

[androgynouspenguinexpert]

bout time i posted the og bc in the immortal words of yahtzee croshaw shit's about to get FUCKY!

also i like him :)

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #art #illustration #redacted vincent #redactedverse #this man is my roman empire #i would absolutely be upset if i were in his position like you cant just Not Tell someone that theyve been yoinked into a peudo family #thats real keen on murder and fraud and other things #i feel like theres no right answer here though #like i completely 100% understand where william is coming from on this one #porter is right #william is keeping vincent in the dark because he genuinely cares about him #and acknowledges (correctly) that turning him took away literally all of his agency basically forever #he's trying to do good by a stranger who he made a life altering decision on the behalf of #and it was a selfish one #yes he saved vincent's life but only by forcing him to throw away his old one #and in keeping vincent entirely out of shady clan business william is doing the best he can to give vincent a normalish afterlife #THAT SAID #you coulda told him #like yeah 20 year olds aren't known for making good rational judgements but this all could've been avoided #if william just sat him down and went look. this is what we're up to. i believe it's a necessary evil. you don't have to participate #but this is something you're tied to now based on a snap decision i made #i acknowledge that that was wrong and hope you can forgive me someday but if not that's okay #would it suck? PROBABLY! but vincent finding out through porter of all people is definitely worse #not to mention him feeling like he's the ONLY person who doesn't know and looked like an idiot defending the house at the summit #aw man i wrote another essay again

[vanityangel]

THE TRIBAL CHIEF vs THE YEET WWE SMACKDOWN (OCTOBER 13, 2023)

#wrestling #wwe #smackdown #roman reigns #jimmy uso #solo sikoa #paul heyman #the bloodline #wweedit #my gifs #jimmy yelling twice that hes doing this all alone and both times followed by him calling for his little brother #only made immensely funnier in that said little brother would be named SOLO of all things #you cant convince me this isnt all jimmys plan to just exhaust his entire family #he is weaponizing his unseriousness #wrestlingedit

[thejugheadparadox]

something something roman thinks he didnt say i love you and keeps asking if he said i love you and if it was real no one would ever know whether or not he did but its narrative its television so we know. and we know he didnt. in the behind the episode vid they spoke about how the camera is always on the siblings because it can never "let them off the hook". everything we do today will be what we did the day our father died. something something medium is everything it circulates it eats and spews back out it fossilises. its a tv show about tv

#IN MANY WAYS ITS KIND OF ACTUALLY JUST LIKE RIVERDALE #i went off the rails here a bit but theres sth in the core of this that holds weight i think #honestly i dont usually think of succession as a trapped in the narrative thing like i do abt other stuff. and i still dont #but it just suddenly hit me that roman in fictional universe will never know whether he said i love you but i do and i can always check #succession #succession spoilers

[brother-emperors]

Cato the Younger, early days.

he is. a weird guy. I've always read about him in association to brutus, but ever since kicking it back a generation, I've been reading more about him and I gotta say: eerie! usually I'd go, oh necromancy. but this is more like sticking your tongue into the intercostal space of a thing that should've decayed a long time ago and wearing it's death mask. arguably worse, because doing that is like tapping open an entombed space that will never be closed.

eventually he'll look less like an old design I had for brutus (or. hghg. lucius junius brutus, because I realized after I finished this that this is a parallel composition to when I drew lucius, only no dead sons) as I draw him more, but. ehguh. had some thoughts! wanted to excise them from my mind so I can go to sleep!! what a guy!

Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the end of the Roman Republic, Fred K. Drogula

bsky ⭐ pixiv ⭐ pillowfort ⭐ cohost

#i dont trust him #cato the younger #that said. he's compelling #anyway everything he does has me going: oh no #its like watching a tomb robbing show and the main characters are in a room and discussing things and im like. fellas you're going to #Wake Up The Dead. FELLAS. #drawing tag #roman republic tag #gotta readjust my dmbj au. it would not be caesar waking up the dead. cato would beat him to it

[brookheimer]

roman is free in the sense that he is free from waystar, but he is not free in the sense that he has 'escaped the cycle.' roman realized everything is bullshit and left, but that's not what actual meaningful freedom would be for roman. what rome needs is for business and family to finally make a clean separation, for him to be allowed to love his family without molding himself into an image of logan that he isn't. waystar has always been the only way the roys know how to interact with one another, and it still is. in that sense, nothing has changed. roman's declaration about the nothingness of waystar is not actually a change, because he still marries waystar to family, and thus believes family is nothingness as well -- functionally, there's little difference between that and the opposite belief that both waystar and family have meaning and are 'real.' what the roys need is to realize waystar is bullshit and family is real, but roman went from thinking both have meaning (family has meaning thus waystar has meaning) to thinking neither do (waystar is bullshit thus family is bullshit). nothing changes, the cycle keeps on cycling. finally family has been severed from waystar (what he's needed all along -- he's never really cared about the business, only his family, and the business was the only way he could be with his family, so he tried and failed time and time again to mold himself into the businessman his dad wanted him to be), and while this is a good thing, it's coupled with his realization of the hollowness of the family itself. in hindsight, this was inevitable, i think -- if waystar royco was the beating heart of the roy family (which it was), there's no conceivable severing of the two that would allow the family to maintain functionally intact.

i do think that roman will have relationships with his family after the finale (shiv is definite, con is likely, kendall is also likely because roman is incapable of not being around his family and can't imagine a world in which they don't return to each other somehow), but he's aware for the first time of the nothingness of their bonds, something that everyone has already known except for him -- something, i think, that isn't even entirely fair. they do love each other. there is something there. and now that waystar is no longer part of the equation, maybe there's hope for real relationships beyond transaction, beyond business, beyond logan. but none of them believe that to be possible. roman always used to, but for the first time, i think he's not sure. he's free of waystar, but the roys never managed to functionally healthily uncouple family and business, so being free of waystar also means being free of family -- it has to mean that. he's convincing himself it's all nothing and he doesn't care, and that won't last. but, in my opinion, neither will the distance between the siblings. i think it'll take time, but they'll come back together, albeit in varying degrees (i doubt shiv and ken will ever have quite the same relationship again, for instance). roman is free of waystar but not because he realized it's not necessary for family -- because he 'realized' family is not necessary, that family is nothing too, that everything is nothing. it's an empty sort of happiness, unsustainable and hollow. but i do think there is hope. i think it'll be okay for rome in the long run (family-wise, at least). i just don't think nihilism is a salve capable of healing deep cuts, only a bandage allowing them to stay hidden for a little while longer.

in life and in death, waystar royco and the roy family are eternal partners, inextricable from each other -- and so long as the two remain conceptually married, it'll be hard for roman to find legitimate happiness: if one is dead, then the other must be too. he ends the series the same as he started it, believing fully in logan's conception of family as a business unit (meaning now that both are bullshit), people as economic units (meaning now that both are bullshit), and roman himself as the son who couldn't be the heir and thus was never much of a son at all. logan dominates his worldview just as much as it always has. sure, roman acknowledges that everything is bullshit now, but that's even more logan than his previous viewpoint which was a naive sort of belief in family. now, it's all just bullshit. everything's bullshit. it's logan with nihilism as the dominant frame (rather than capitalism), but regardless of roman's thoughts on the meaning of things, the structure of the world is the same one that logan taught him. he is free from waystar, but he is haunted by its ghost and always will be.

#yes i said the 'roman is free (by choice) thing in one post however that was literally just to match the format of the #other parts of the post to make the con punchline work LOLL. needed to clarify my actual thoughts - that was mad oversimplification #anyways tl;dr - he's realized the business is nothing (!!) which means family is nothing (...) and logan's worldview prevails (fuck) #don't know if this makes sense or is even accurate to my thoughts bc 77% of my brain is focused on shiv rn lmaooo #succession spoilers #roman roy #casey shut the fuck up about roman roy #succession #so many thoughts to think. #idek if this is what i actually think LANDASJDNk i might change it later or post a new thing i just needed to clarify that i do not think #roman is actually free and that other post was just phrased that way to make the joke work LMAO #long post #100