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variousqueerthings · 3 years

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Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part 1 of 3

Disclaimers and trigger warnings:

1. These fairytales are European, although there’s often overlap in themes globally. I know European fairytales better, which is essentially the reason I’m not going to branch out too far. I opted to also stick to Western movies so as not to narrow things down, but also in particular “waves hand towards all of Ghibli” amongst many others. There’s a reason the guys in Ghibli are so gender.

2. TW for discussions of rape culture and rape fantasies

EDIT: FUCK I’M A GOBLIN CHILD! FORGOT TO PUT A MASSIVE MASSIVE THANK YOU TO @mimsyaf WHO HAS BEEN THE NICEST, KINDEST EDITOR ON THESE THOUGHTS AND CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO THEM AND GENERALLY IS A WONDERFUL PERSON!

Part 2

Part 3

1. Introduction

I recently wrote a little thing, which was about Daniel as a fairytale protagonist – specifically one that goes through some of the kinds of transformations that are often associated with female protagonists of fairytales.

I used quotes from Red Riding Hood, Labyrinth, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Dracula, which, as an aside – the overlap between fairytales, horror, and fantasy and the ways each of those genres delve into very deep, basic questions of humanity and the world is something that will always make me feral. I will be generally sticking with fairytales though. Also I am very excited about some of those Labyrinth concepts going around!

I’m going to use “feminine” and “masculine” in both gendered (as in relating specifically to people) and non-gendered (as in relating to codes) ways throughout this, depending on context.

To be binary for a moment, because sample-sizes of other genders are low, women are usually able to fall into either feminine or masculine arcs, although sometimes the masculine-coded woman can become a “not like the other girls” stereotype and the feminine-coded woman a shallow cliché – in both cases they’re also under more scrutiny and judgement, so it’s always worth asking “is this character not working for me because of the writing or because I have ingrained biases? (Both?)”

Men don’t often get feminine-coded arcs. Because. Probably a mix of biases and bigotry. But there are some that seem to have slipped beneath the shuttered fence of “Sufficient Narrative Testosterone,” and Daniel LaRusso is one of them.

2. Some Dude Comparisons (Men Doing Manly Action-Hero Things like being trans symbolism and loving your girlfriend… seriously those things are hella manly, I wish we saw more of that onscreen…)

a. Neo

Much like Neo The Matrix, whose journey is filled with transgender subtext and specifically and repeatedly references Alice In Wonderland, Daniel doesn’t go through quite the kind of hero's journey usually associated with Yer Standard Male Hero, especially the type found in the 80s/90s.

Neo is my favourite comparison, because of the purposefulness of his journey as a trans narrative and the use of Alice. But I’m sure there are other non-traditional male heroes out there (but are they trans tho? Please tell me, I want trans action heroes).

Neo “passes” as a socially acceptable man, but online goes by a different name - the name he prefers to be known by - feels like there’s something inherently wrong about the world around him and his body’s place in that society, and then gets taken down the rabbit hole (with his consent, although without really “knowing” what he’s consenting to) to discover that it’s the world that’s wrong - not him. And by accessing this truth he can literally make his body do and become whatever he wants it to.

Yay. (The message of the Matrix is actually that trans people can fly).

Neo is – kind of like Daniel – a strange character for Very Cis Straight Guys to imprint on. He spends most of the first movie unsure about what’s going on, out of his depth, and often getting beaten up. He is compared to Alice several times and at the end he dies. He loses. He has to be woken up with true love’s kiss, in a fun little Sleeping Beauty/Snow White twist. Yes, after that he can fly, but before that he’s getting dead-named and hate-crimed by The Most Obvious Stand-In For Normativity, Agent Smith, and being carried by people far more physically capable than he is (people who also fall outside of normative existence).

Trinity and Neo in The Matrix. The fact that a lot of the time neither of them is gendered is something. Literally brought to life by true love’s kiss.

I’m not about to argue that Daniel LaRusso is purposefully written along these same thought processes, so much as the luck of the way he was written, cast, directed, acted, and costumed all came together in the right way. And this is even more obvious when compared to That Other Underdog Fite Movie That Was By The Same Director as Karate Kid.

b. Rocky

The interesting thing about Rocky is that he is (despite being a male action icon) also not written as a Traditionally Masculine person. Large portions of Rocky – and subsequent Rocky films – are his fear and insecurity about fighting vs his inability to apply his skills to another piece of work and wanting to do right by his girlfriend (and future wife), Adrian. The fighting is most often pushed onto him against his will.

Much like in Karate Kid there is barely any fighting in Rocky I. Most of it is dedicated to how much Rocky loves Adrian and the two of them getting together. The fight is – again like in Karate Kid – a necessary violence, rather than a glorified one (within the plot, obviously watching any movie like this is also partly about the badassness of some element of the violence – whether stamina or the crane kick, it’s all about not backing down against a more powerful opponent).

Rocky is played by Sylvester Stallone. He’s tough, he’s already a fighter (albeit in the movie not a great one yet), he’s taking the fight for cash – so although he’s also soft-spoken and sweet, you’re aware of the fact that he’s got those traits that’d make a male audience go “Hell Yeah, A Man,” or whatever it is a male audience does watching movies like that… cis straight men imprinting on oiled muscle men sure is a strange phenomenon, why do you wanna watch a boxing match? So you can watch toned guys groaning and grappling with each other? Because you want to feel like A Man by allowing yourself to touch the skin of other men?

Apollo and Rocky in Rocky III. This sequence also includes prolonged shots of their crotches as they run. Sylvester Stallone directed this. This was intentional. Bros.

Daniel LaRusso is not built like that. But that doesn’t really have to matter. Being smallish and probably more likely to be described as “pretty” than handsome, and not having a toxic masculine bone in his body does not a feminine archetype make. It just makes a compelling (and pretty) underdog.

c. Daniel

So where does the main difference really lie? Between Rocky and Daniel? Well, Rocky has the plot in his hands – Daniel, largely, does not. Rocky is acting. Daniel is reacting or being pushed into situations by others. Just like our boy Neo. Just like Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Snow White – just like some of the women in some contemporary(ish) fairytale films like Buttercup (Princess Bride), Dorothy (Wizard of Oz), or Sarah (Labyrinth).

This isn’t a necessary negative about stories about girls and women, so much as looking at what it is girls and women in fairytales have/don’t have, what they want, and how they’re going to get it. It’s about power (lack of), sexuality (repressed, then liberated), men, and crossing some taboo lines. It’s also about queerness.

3. The Karate Kid Part One: Leaving Home

Daniel LaRusso is a poor, skinny, shortish kid (played by a skinny, shortish twenty-two-year old) who doesn’t fit in after having been taken away from the home he was familiar with against his will. Not every male protagonist in a fairytale leaves of his own will, and not every female protagonist leaves under duress – Red Riding Hood, for example, seems perfectly happy to enter the forest. However generally a hero is “striking out to make his fortune,” and generally a heroine is fleeing or making a bargain or being married off or waiting for help to arrive. She is often stuck (and even Red Riding Hood requires saving at some point).

Daniel then encounters a beautiful, lovely girl on the beach, puts on a red hoodie (red is significant), is beaten up by a large, attractive bully, loses what little clout he may have had with his new friends, and generally has a mostly miserable time until he befriends and is saved by Mr Miyagi. To do a little Cinderella comparison: Miyagi is the fairy godmother who pushes Daniel to go to the ball in disguise as well, and that disguise falls to pieces as he’s running away.

Then Daniel asks for help, Miyagi gets him enrolled in a Karate Tournament, and starts teaching him. Daniel wins the tournament and gets the girl, the end.

While Daniel has chutzpah and is a wonderful character, none of the big events are initiated by him, except for the initial going to the forest/beach (and within all of these events Daniel absolutely makes choices – I’m not saying he’s passive): Lucille takes them to California, Miyagi pushes him to go to the dance, Miyagi again decides to enroll him in the tournament and trains him, and only because Kreese doesn’t allow for any other option, Ali is the one who more often than not approaches Daniel, and even their first encounter is pushed by Daniel’s friends.

Daniel really is at a dance/ball in disguise and receives a flower from a girl who recognises him through said disguise, it’s unbearable! It’s adorable! I get it Ali, I fucking get it!

Daniel’s main journey within this – apart from not getting killed by karate thugs (love u Johnny <3) and kissing Ali – is to learn from Miyagi. He’s not necessarily a full-on feminine fairytale archetype at this point, although there are fun things to pull out of it, mainly in the context of later films and Cobra Kai: the subtext of karate and how that builds throughout all the stories, the red clothes, the themes of obsession, his being targeted by boys whose masculinity is more than a little bit toxic and based on shame… more on all that coming up.

He doesn’t technically get a home until they build him a room at Miyagi’s place, but he definitely leaves the woods at the end of this one, trophy lifted in the air after being handed to him by a tearful Johnny and all.

And then they made a sequel.

4. The Karate Kid Part Two: Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Daniel’s won the competition, Kreese chokes out Johnny for daring to lose and cry, more life-lessons are given (for man without forgiveness in heart…) and Daniel and Ali break-up off-screen, confirming that TKK1 was not really about the girl after all, which, despite Daniel and Kumiko having wonderful chemistry, is also an ongoing theme. Daniel enters the screen in The Most Baby-Blue Outfit seen since Tiana’s dress in Princess and the Frog? Or that dress in Enchanted? Maybe Cinderella’s (technically silver, but later depicted as blue)?

(Sidenote: At everyone who says Sam ought to wear a callback to that suit, you are correct and sexy).

Surprise, Miyagi’s building him a room.

Double-surprise, Miyagi needs to go to Okinawa.

Triple surprise, Daniel reveals he’s going with him, because he’s his son dammit.

The Karate Kid Part Two is maybe the least Daniel-LaRusso-Feminine-Fairytale-Protagonist of the three, because it’s not really his movie. Daniel runs around with Kumiko (aka the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen), continues to be The Best Non-Toxic Boy a middle-aged Okinawan karate master could ask for, lands himself another Built Karate Rival (twice is just a coincidence, right? Right?), and eventually doesn’t die while wearing red again – twice: When Chozen almost strangles him to death at the Miyagi dojo and then during the final fight. The Saving Of The Girl (both the little girl in the storm and Kumiko) actually puts him in a more traditional masculine space than the previous movie did, even if the main theme of the film is about compassion and kindness and by the end, once more the boy whose masculinity is built on rockhard abs and matchsticks is on his knees. Daniel just has that power over big boys. It’s called kick/punch them in the face hard enough that they see stars.

There’s an aside to be made here about how much Daniel really is an observer in other peoples stories in this, although he is the factor that sends both Chozen and Kumiko into completely different directions in life (Chozen and Kumiko main characters when?) Anyway he comes out of it presumably okay, despite being almost killed. Maybe a few therapy sessions and he’ll get over it. Too bad Terry Silver is lurking around the corner…

5. The Karate Kid Part Three: The Big Bad Wolf

Alright people have written Words about the third movie. It’s fascinating. It’s odd. It’s eye-straining. It’s like olives – you’re either fully onboard the madness or it’s too off-putting for you (or you’re like. Eh, don’t see what all the fuss is about either way...). It’s basically a non-consensual secret BDSM relationship between a guy in his thirties (played by a Very Tall twenty-seven year old Thomas Ian Griffith) and a 17/18 year old (played by a shorter twenty-eight year old Ralph Macchio).

Also recently we got more information on Mr. Griffith’s input on the uh… vibes of the film. Apparently it wasn’t just The Sweetness of Ralph Macchio’s face, the screenplay (whatever that amounted to in the first place – release the script!), the soundtrack, the direction to not tone it down under any circumstances, the fact that Macchio categorically refused to play a romance between himself and an actress who was sixteen, no: it was also TIG coming up with fun ways to torture Daniel’s character and suggesting these to the director. Clearly everyone has fun hurting Mr Macchio (including Mr Macchio).

The point is that aaallll of that amounts to that Intense Homoerotic Dubiously-Consented-To D/s subtext that haunts the movie and gives a lot of fun stuff to play with. It’s also a film that – if we’re analysing Daniel along feminine-coded fairytale lines recontextualises his role in this universe.

The Fairytale goes topsy-turvy. Through the looking glass. Enter Big Bad Wolf stage right. Karate is a metaphor for Daniel’s bisexual awakening.

“Oh, when will an attractive man touch me in ways that aren’t about hurting me?” he asks after two movies of being hurt by boys with rippling muscles. “Why do men continue to notice me only to hit me? Do you think wearing red is making me too noticeable? Anyway, Mr Silver looked really good in his gi today.”

Daniel’s diary must be a trip.

#daniel larusso #the karate kid #cobra kai #ck #johnny lawrence #cobra kai meta #my writing #part one of three #some comparisons to matrix and rocky because I love to talk about those #terry silver

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prose-for-hire · 3 years

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All I want for Christmas is you

[This is a (late) part of my 12 Days of Chirstmas fics]

Pairing: Spike x fem!reader

Request: Hi! A spike request angst for the holiday collection. Where spike and the reader get into a massive fight and he says some really hurtful things. So its really awkward leading into Christmas and the reader considers leaving him. But then spike gives the reader a present on Christmas like a sorry present that changes her mind :)

Requested by: Anon

Warning: Spike and reader fight and say mean things. Swearing. Very light sex references.

A/N: I use the ambiguous phrase ‘jewellery’ rather than explaining what the object is because it’s a reader insert and some people like certain items and some people don’t like any jewellery (blame Buffy and Dawn sorry)

You and Spike loved each other, you knew this. But you and Spike also argued. All the time. You had broken up and got back together more times than you could count. It was a ‘can’t live with him, can’t live without him’ situation. And you were just going in circles.

This particular time, finds you and Spike finishing decorating the crypt. It had been fun, by all accounts. You had even got a tree. He had managed to distract you a lot, making an hour’s task lasting the entire day.

When you were loved up, it was bliss. It was fierce passion. Often languid and sensual. Even giddy and fun at times.

He hugged you from behind, closing his eyes as he inhaled, kissing the back of your head. His hands started to wander from your hips and you closed your eyes in delight. Pressed against him felt so right.

“Did you hear that?” You said, your eyes snapping open. It was bells. Little, twinkling Christmas bells. It was eerie, not cheery. You hadn’t bought any bells.

Spike groaned in frustration and looked around as if you had gone mad. You were always doing this. Driving him wild. Teasing him so.

“What in the buggering hell are you goin’ on about?”

“There’s something…” You said cryptically as you looked around, which irritated him to no end.

“It’s nothing, just- come here”

“Spike! Why don’t you listen to me?” You pouted slightly, hoping it was entice him to take you seriously, check if there was a threat. But it did the opposite.

“Oh, right, and what’s your plan then? Why don’t we scream and run away. That’s about the form of your fighting skills anyhow ain’t it?”

“Just shut up – it’s Christmas” You snapped, looking at him as if he needed to drop it. But this just irritated him, as if you were chastising him. Like he was someone you could control. Emasculate.

“Poor little y/n, making things up for a scrap of attention again” He stuck his lower lip out and tilted his head to the side, in a way that nobody would describe anything other than patronisingly, “You don’t know who you are, not without me” He added the end after a pause.

“You’re the one that followed me around for months on end before I agreed to date you!” You bit back. This is where everything tended to go south. Fast.

“Yeah? Well we’re only together after last time ‘cause I took pity on you and took you back – saw how I left you wantin’ thought we might as well. You’re attractive at least” He leaned in and took your chin, moving you to face him as he insulted you. You held back tears. He was supposed to love you, why was he always so mean?

“Fuck you, Spike!” You shouted, grabbing his wrist and moving him from touching you before adding, “You’re such a self-assured pig!”

“Yeah, you love it” He purred.

“I hate you”

“No, you don’t” He stated. Before dragging his voice out almost sing-song like but in a humourless way, “You want me. You need me” He bit his lip, moving closer and closer, making you shiver. He was trying to charm you into submission. Again.

Well, it wouldn’t work… not this time anyway.

“You’re the one that wouldn’t leave Buffy’s doorstep until I came back with you! You’re obsessive! You’re a slave to love, no - to pain, Spike!” You stated, moving away from where he had started to back you against the wall.

“Slave to you” He offered, that look in his eye. Offering to forget about it, although he had been the one that had been cruel. His look offering making up. In bed, wherever you wanted. He would even apologise if it meant you wouldn’t leave him again. But you were still mad, still angry at the way he spoke to you.

His look almost made you back down, he was hard to resist. You were addicted to each other. Even when you were fighting it could switch to sex so easily. To hot passion.

But not today.

“No. You’re not. You don’t want me. You want drama, a fight. I’m sick of it! Forget it” You shouted, continuing, “I mean it this time, Spike! We’re done!”

“Love, you don’t mean that – we’re-”

“Finished!” You ended his sentence for him, “Get out!”

“No- I’m the one with my name above the door, you don’t bloody pay the rent” He said, backing away from you as you had that look in your eye. You could be downright vindictive.

“Neither do you - it’s a crypt, you don’t pay shit!”

“You wouldn’t throw your fella out just before Christmas, would you, love?” He tried as you had walked him out of the front door, throwing his leather duster at him. He caught it in a ball and clutched it to his chest.

He sighed exaggeratedly. He really didn’t want to have to rough it somewhere, exposing himself to possible sunlight. He wanted you again. He cursed himself. Wished he had just kept his mouth shut.

But you weren’t so innocent. If he hadn’t created an argument, you would have done. It had been in the air. Building up over weeks.

“Bloody women!” He screamed at the door you had unceremoniously slammed in his face. He heard you slide the bolt across the door and he kicked it for good measure, howling in pain and hobbling away.

To add insult to injury, as he stalked through the streets trying to find a suitable crypt it had started to snow. The first bloody snow here in centuries and he had been caught up in it. It couldn’t get any worse.

Shit. Why did he have to think that? He rounded the corner and almost ran straight into the Slayer. He had been dragging his feet, kicking a stone until he looked up and saw her.

“There a reason you’re terrorising the sidewalk, Spike?”

“None of your business”

“Y/n’s kicked you out again hasn’t she?” Buffy’s face lit up as his face gave away she had guessed correctly.

She enjoyed seeing him like this. She was your best friend and she thought (no, knew) that you were too good for him. She told you all the time. But you were both too swept up in the animal attraction. In the possessive, heated entanglement you couldn’t escape if you wanted to.

“Betty the do-good…-er” Spike floundered. It wasn’t his best line. He was ridiculously sad. Mourning the loss of his relationship with you again. He craved you, he wept for you. There was a deep aching in his chest the further he walked from the crypt. The further he walked from you.

“That was tragic. You weren’t kiddin’ when you said you were bad” Buffy said, not able to hide the smile at her own joke.

“Yeah, well, just lost the love of my un-life here. Give a bloke a break” He snapped, sniffing and trying to wipe his eye on his sleeve subtly. Buffy rolled her eyes but for some reason, before she went over to the crypt to collect you and the overnight bag you had packed and re-packed more than you can count, she turned back to him.

“You know she feels the same. Maybe it’s time to let go, Spike. Or buy jewellery. I hear girls like jewellery” Buffy shrugged.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t know” He muttered, luckily she didn’t hear it or she would have spun back and staked him on site. She only hadn’t before the previous interaction because she knew you would never forgive her.

Your relationship was infuriating. And not just to you and Spike. It had a ripple effect, it was a part of your friends lives too. One day you would be shouting and screaming, the next passionately making love on the nearest surface. It was exciting and painful, like whiplash from a rollercoaster. The rollercoaster that was y/n and Spike.

It had been a few days now. You were staying at Buffy’s. She was a good friend to you. No matter how many times you and Spike yo-yo’d between love and hate she was there for you. With as little judgement as she could.

She comforted you while you cried, heartbroken despite Buffy being sure you would manage to find it in your heart to forgive him yet again. You clutched the mug of hot chocolate she had made, complete with marshmallows. She had learnt well from Joyce.

Dawn had slipped you some of her freshly baked sugar-cookies that she had made specially to cheer you up. She had decorated them with little Christmas characters which made you smile at her.

The girl adored your relationship with Spike, whether rightly or wrongly. She looked up to you, wanting to emulate a passionate relationship like that herself when she was older. It was like you were in a romance novel or something.

What you and Buffy didn’t know that since you had moved in, Dawn was Spike’s spy. She was, for the price of $5 and scary stories from his past, she told him all about what you said and how you were feeling. He now knew you were upset, missing him. Wallowing the same as he was. Well, good. But now, he had to make it up to you. He made Dawn help him brainstorm into the night.

She wanted to do it, she was sure it was for a good cause. In the name of true love, obviously.

Spike walked her back to Buffy’s where the Slayer was pacing and you were watching out for her to come home. You were going to give her the heads up that Buffy wasn’t pleased that she had gone awol. The snow had fallen thick now, anything could have happened and Buffy was scared Dawn was hurt.

You saw her then, with him. Your heart rose and your eyes glistened. You watched him trudge beside her, the white glow of the snow lighting up his face, making his cheekbones more prominent. He took a final drag of his cigarette before throwing it away, his eyes finally meeting yours through the window.

You walked to the door and unlocked it, whispering to Dawn that Buffy was gunning for her before turning back to Spike.

“Love…” He started. You just shook your head, you were still hurt.

“Goodbye, Spike” You said pointedly, closing the door on him once more. This time you turned with your back against the door, sliding down it as you started to cry. Dawn worried that it would take more than the Christmas gift they had been planning to win you back as Buffy scooped you up. She suggested that there was plenty of Christmas films you could watch, to take your mind off things. You nodded, leaning against her shoulder debating yourself whether to run after him or not. Buffy decided against any heavy romance-based films as you continued to sniff.

Eventually, Christmas Day came and it was the first that you spent without him in years. You usually made up before. You spent the entire day with a fake smile plastered on your face, not just at the slightly misjudged present from Anya (it was a vibrator, because you were on your own. You opened it in front of Dawn not realising and Buffy had to cover her eyes).

You thought about him the entire day. You ached, pined. You almost braved the thick snow, that you had almost been snowed in by, more than once before one of your friends distracted you with something.

As night fell, you gave up hoping. That was, until, there was a sharp knock at the door. His knock, you knew it. You had slammed the door in his face too many times not to know that knock. You sprinted over there, swinging the door open.

“Spike” You breathed, smiling. You had felt his absence so painfully.

“I know, I’m not stopping, wouldn’t wanna interrupt the touch-feely bollocks I’m sure is in full swing about now” He said and it made you smile, You loved the way he spoke. His accent. The way he phrased everything as if he had crafted it just for your ears.

He handed you a surprisingly well-wrapped gift as you smiled down at it, “It’s- for me? But I didn’t have time to get-”

“You know the only gift you could give me worth anything would be you” He admitted, which was how you felt for him. You didn’t need this, but you knew this was his way of apologising.

You opened the present and gasped, smiling wider. It was jewellery, just the kind you adored with a little gem that sparkled in the moonlight. You looked over at him, how could you ever have doubted him? He did his best by you, he always did. You knew who he was when you had started dating, just as he had known who you were.

“Spike, I’m sorry for how-” You started, but he shook his head, taking your hand.

“This- the way we- it’s not right, I know it” he admitted that the way things were, the bad seemed to take over the good. He lived in hope, though. He was convinced that this time it would be all love, “But I want you, I burn for you – it’s why the gem’s that colour, see? You’re the only one for me, the only one I could ever love through it all” He said it so honestly. So sincerely.

You invited him in after you whispered your own affections, much to everyone else’s chagrin. You showed them the gift and Dawn cheered, telling you she helped. You grinned at her and Spike had to convince Buffy not to stake him again. You both stayed in the living room for a moment, listening to the rest of them talking and just gazing into each other’s eyes.

Then you were kissing. His lips on yours hotly, you had missed this so bad. His lips were made for yours. He drank you in, all of you. Your flaws and your perfections.

He loved your everything. The good and the bad. And you matched his message. He felt it, deepening the kiss. Forgetting where you were for a moment. Until he heard your friends mutter insults at him.

He picked you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist. All the while, you had barely stopped for breath. You never wanted to part from him again. You were pressed close to him, willing him even closer.

His lips caught any exposed skin on your neck, your jaw as he carried you without word upstairs. You looped one arm around his neck, the other against his jaw so you could catch his lips again with heightened desire.

The others just watched you leave, trying to ignore the way you were all-but grinding against Spike in anticipation. None of them were surprised by the turn of events but they weren’t exactly pleased either.

Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles all shared a look as you and Spike thudded against the walls as you walked along the corridors upstairs trying to find a room to slip into.

They all wondered how long it would last this time as you gave yourselves a very merry Christmas.

#Spike #Spike btvs #Spike x reader #Spike imagine #Spike x you #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #buffy the vampire slayer imagines #btvs #btvs x reader #btvs imagine #btvs x you #Christmas fic #12 days of christmas #12 Days of Xmas #female reader #female #x reader

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draceempressa · 4 years

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Saw in Harry Potter’s Tvtrope fridge page that the 4 dorms are meant to cultivate “intended classes”, with the classes being :

Gryffindor: Knights

Hufflepuff: Monks

Ravenclaw: Scholars

Slytherin: Noble

And with that realization and after reading many info (from card stories, voice lines, min story , even seeing dorm uniform designs, etc, tho yes the focus on the great seven based of each dorm-not the prefect) I came to the conclusion that the intended classes of TW are as following:

Heartslabyul: Law enforcer this dorm is the hufflepuff one of TW ha you wish , back then in weston college arc black butler also lacks a dorm that is equivalent to hufflepuff

Savanaclaw: Street thugs

Octavinelle: Businessmen/Inventors/mafias

Scarabia: Advisor/ Underground mediators

Pomefiore: Entertainer/Assassin/Informants/Spies

Ignihyde: Scientists/Technician/Progammers/Hackers

Diasomnia: Knights/Military

As for the intended mottos, they are pretty much:

Heartslabyul: Follow the rules

Savanaclaw: Follow the strong

Octavinelle: Nothing is free/spirit of commerce

Scarabia: Why do it yourself when you can make others do it? /Don’t do things directly so you get someone to blame for your shit

Pomefiore: Use underhanded/indirect method/assume other identity if you must, but make sure you do it by your own power

Ignihyde: Why bother with actual interaction when you can solve things with minimum interaction?

Diasomnia: Stay loyal to your family and don’t shame your organization

Further explanation under read more, and yes, I am aware of the irony that Diasomnia pretty much have same intended class with Gryffindor but with Slytherin’s values, tho for Ignihyde and Savanaclaw’s values and classes are pretty self explanatory I don’t have anything to explain further for those two dorms especially savanaclaw, let’s just say Yana hates Gryffindor , if how she treats Green Lion in Black Butler didn’t make it clear, how she writes Savanaclaw will

Okay so for Heartslabyul being law enforcers... It was said Queen of Hearts doubles as the judge in the Wonderland’s court, and Riddle is very strict about his rules . In addition, the collar that is inflicted by Off With Your Head resembles pillories for prisoners, and it’s law enforcers that have the right to issue them to the arrested, the thing is basically a cuff/restraint.

Octavinelle being the merchant dorm is very blatant, it’s even the chapter title, and their dorm uniform is totes not mafia suit, but I will still explain the inventor part. With the information from Azul’s dorm uniform card that 1: his parents own famous restauran 2: Monstro is just around for a year, put the two together and you get the implication that Azul’s parents pretty much bought the Octavinelle common room for him to change into Monstro. They pretty much invest in buying Monstro and training Azul into even better businessman even before he graduates high school. The fishies even spread the rumors of Azul granting wishes as part of their marketing, and the mafia part.... well, is also pretty self explanatory with their modus operandi.

Scarabia being the advisor dorm, being the dorm based on Jafar is also pretty self explanatry. However, here comes the mediator part. Jamil, being servant of a noble house that was raised in his master’s manor isn’t exactly part of the upper class, but neither is he exactly part of the lower class. And in his chapter, he try to mediates the Scarabia students or Yuu& Grim to Kalim (not with good intention, but either way he is indeed the middle man). But whatever happened after the deal isn’t his business, impying Scarabia’s motto is why do it yourself when you got others to do it/get someone else to do it so you can blame them, the latter point is present in Savanaclaw’s arc but moreso in Scarabia as it’s Jami’s exact goal.

Pomefiore, oh boy here comes the fun part. Pomefiore has their own dance hall,and Vil is also masterful in many forms of art including movie making, making his own clothes, cosmetics, etc. Vil is also a famous influencer on Magicam, and world class model and actor. At first, it seems like that their intended class is indeed artisan/celebrity, and there is their manners, seemingly making their intended class the nobles as well there is implication many Pome students are rich (and have you seen anything about Pome, i bet most of NRC’s budget goes there) , but then you remember Pome students are known to do well in Potions.

There is also the fact that the prerequisite to be prefect of Pome is to make the strongest poison, and Vil make his own food. And he is based on Grimhilde, who makes the poison apples. Connect the dots. Vil is most known for his beauty, but question is, is that all there is to him? Answer is no, he is very smart , likely would have strong magical power being one based of the Great Seven, and he even lifts bigger dumbbells than Jack. Vil is the embodiment of the silk hiding steel trope, emphasis on hiding. Hiding his true strength , letting his enemies drop their guard thinking he’s just a pretty boy is pretty much is his modus operandi, You know that trope of good looking people who use their beauty to hidden their dangerous side? That’s Vil. Those kind of people will also use their looks to interrogate people or make others do what they want, and while Vil abhor cuttig corners, he is meant to bring that trope to mind. Pomefiore is meant for those ppl who hides their killing intents and methods behind their own beautiful looks, manners, and even creations/performance.

He is not only a good actor, he is also highly self sufficient that he makes his own stuff by himself. An assassin/spy needs good acting skill to blend in , and ofc as an assassin /spy you can hardly trust others so you have to do things by yourself. Other than that, he’s a socmed influencer. Meaning, he gets used to looking , spreading, and maybe twisting information. Grimhilde fakes the identity of the old witch, and still goes by herself to Snow White. Vil practicing his acting and even changing his pronoun in Ghost Marriage event is a reference to this, showing Pomefiore’s “Assume fake identity or do dirty trick if you must, but do it yourself” motto.

There is also Rook, who still fits the assassination and informant motif of Pomefiore. He is a sniper, another method famous for assassination. He has good sight and known to be a stalker, which means he know a lot of information of many. And then Pomefiore have a dagger in their logo, another common weapon for assassination.

As for Diasomnia, their military-like design should emphasis more to their military motif/intended class. Sebek is another pronunciation of Egyptian god Sobek, which also sometimes tied to the military. Knights are often tied to dragons too, tho, most other fictions depict knigths as either dragon slayer or dragon rider, here they serve the dragon. Lilia is explicitly stated to be a knight in Silver’s robe story, Silver also carries his magic pen like knights would their sword, and both Silver and Sebek are in horse riding clubs, knights are known to patrol on horses back in the day. They are also highly loyal to Malleus, all while Silver and Lilia consider him family. (seriously what do you mean it’s not family bond among Diasomnia as much it’s knight-lord) They are knights focused to protect their lord, with strict manners and ethics, not thugs looking out for fights. they counterattack, but do not initiate attacks.

#twisted wonderland #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #pomefiore #ignihyde #diasomnia

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buffyversefanfiction · 3 years

Text

Twisted Tristan’s Tormented Christmas

Fandoms: Buffy the vampire slayer, Angel, Buffy Dark Horse comics, Buffyverse and A Christmas Carol.

Warnings: I do not own the rights to the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its spin-off series Angel, its dark horse comics continuation series, or any of the characters created by Joss Whedon and others in the Buffyverse.

15 years +, Mild to Strong Violence, Sexual References. F/F, F/M, M/M, Other +

“Have yourself a merry little…” The voice on the television began to sing with a campy Christmas cheer before the song was abruptly ended by Tristan switching off the television in the living room of the apartment, he shared with Faith above their bar Rogue’s. “Christmas is cancelled this year; we are drinking straight through to New Year’s.” A drunken Tristan declared, while wearing just a pair of tight white boxer briefs as he held a half empty bottle of whisky in his hands, before crashing on to the nearby couch. This year had been especially difficult for Tristan Summers, who had went from being a vampire who was possessed by a demon, to being killed, only to come back to life and find himself sucked into a twisted dimension where he and his parents Buffy and Angel worked together to kill the shadow demon that had once possessed him. Being back from the dead should have been reason enough for Tristan to celebrate Christmas, however, despite many pleas from both of his infamous parents he continued to decline, even going as far as convincing Faith to head to Los Angels for Christmas so he would not have anybody to remind him come the day. The earliest Christmases that Tristan could remember with his adoptive parents seemed like a perfect Christmas looking back which were probably heavily influenced by nostalgia and how much he missed them. Heck, even his Christmases spent with vampires Dante and Drusilla were fun for him, of course they were all crazy and there’d usually be humans on the table instead of turkey but it still felt like a family holiday, a deeply disturbed family, but family nonetheless and after so many losses, heartbreaks, and betrayals, Tristan was done with it all, especially Christmas. After everything him, Buffy, and Angel had gone through to get to a place where their relationship was somewhat healthy, or at least healthier than Tristan trying to kill his biological parents, he did feel guilty for rejecting both of their invitations but he just did not feel ready to open himself up to another form of family, especially not on Christmas Day.

As the hours passed, Tristan waited until his bottle of whisky was completely empty before passing out drunk on the couch where he sat but sleep was not something he would get much of on the night of December 22nd as he suddenly found himself being awakened by his old high school friend Mandi Jenkins, startling him to his core, considering Mandi was killed by Drusilla not too long ago. “Mandi,” Tristan mumbled as he rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what stood before him. “How is this possible? Your dead…I saw your body myself after Dru killed you.” “I believe the correct answer would be it’s the magic of Christmas, believe it or not that kind of thing really does exist but to be fair in a world filled with vampires, witches, slayers and sons of slayers is it really that far of a stretch that Christmas really is that special after all.” Mandi replied to her old friend. “Clearly, I am dreaming once again.” Tristan realized, as he stood up from his couch. “There’s only so many twisted dream scenarios one unhinged slayer can handle before he becomes completely and utterly tormented like…” “Drusilla…you were going to say Drusilla, right?” Mandi interrupted the slayer’s son, instantly noticing his guilt over mention the name of her killer to her so casually. “It’s okay Drusilla killed me, biggest surprise was it was not you who killed me…and I use the term loosely considering I am not actually Mandi.” “Are you the first? Please tell me you’re the first and not the shadow demon because I am getting sick of going up against the shadow demon.” Tristan complained. “I am the ghost of Christmas past.” Mandi revealed to him, only to be met by laughs of disbelief from Tristan. “Are we really doing this?” Tristan asked in between laughs.

Exactly one blink later and before his very eyes he was now standing next to Mandi on the snow covered grass of his family home in Riverborn looking into the dining room window to see his adoptive parents playing games, talking and laughing with each other and a six year old version of himself. “They loved Christmas so much, my dad used to dress up as Santa, I guess like most dads did but he really committed to the role either that or I was a really dumb kid because I was shocked when I found it was him.” Tristan admitted to Mandi, with tears in his eyes as he watched a beautiful Christmas memory before his very eyes. “Do you remember how our parents used to meet up on Christmas night and it would be like this big mash up of Christmas? And how you used to spend New Year’s with me every year?” “I know I look like Mandi, but I am not actually her remember,” The ghost of Christmas past reminded him. “I can see why Christmas is so difficult when it serves as a reminder of all you’ve lost but not all of which you have lost is bad…” “What does that mean?” Tristan wondered, before realizing. “Dante and Drusilla…I loved them like family too and the whole time they were the ones who killed my real family, first my parents, then you, well Mandi…” “I know how much Mandi Jenkins meant to you which is why I chose to take this form and I know the guilt you feel for not only her death but your parents’ too but all of that was out of your control.” Mandi of Christmas past explained to the son of the slayer. “Maybe not…but killing Mandi’s boyfriend was definitely all me, killing all those slayers, and all those innocents, that is all on me without any excuses and that is something I can never make up for.” Tristan admitted, never forgetting the horrors he had committed with his own hands. “I could feed you the line and play the role of a person endorsing your shit by saying you were manipulated by two vampires, one whom you were in love with, but the truth is you chose that path and you killed all of those innocents and that is something you should have to live with for the rest of your life without a doubt!” Mandi made clear to Tristan. “However, that does not mean you should resign yourself to the shadows, if you truly want to redeem yourself and be the better person then you need to learn the true differences between the past you, your present and what your future may look like.”

It was December 23rd the eve before Christmas eve and Tristan had all but regulated his experiences the night before as nothing more than a drunken dream as he pulled himself together, showered, washed, and put on some clothes before opening up his and Faith’s bar Rogues which they opened during the day despite the fact most of their customers couldn’t step out in the day, however, one particularly loyal customer only showed up during the day, Miss Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, a former vengeance demon from an alternate world who had found herself annoyingly human and in New York City. “So, you spend a thousand years give or take with the best gig a girl can ask for…minus all the bloody bunnies and then boom some shadow demon gives you an offer you cannot refuse although in hindsight I probably should have…” A drunk Anya Jenkins slurred while drinking her bottle of beer, sat on a stool, at the bar counter, within Rogues bar, which was empty barring her and her bartender Tristan Summers, who stood behind the counter, looking far from amused by his company. “Only to be beat by two humans and the worst part of it all is not only does the world suck a lot more than I hoped for but this world’s version of my boss tells me I have no choice but to stay human because this world’s me was given too many chances…” “You have told me this story every time you come in here in the afternoon, always drunk before the sunsets, forcing me to get you a taxi so you do not wind up some vamp’s dinner…” Tristan complained to her. “You need to get over it already and find yourself some kind of life you do not totally hate living.” “Oh, I am very sorry if my life’s problems bore you!” Anya said with great sarcasm. “It was you lot who did this to me…it’s only fair you have to wallow in my misery with me.” “Hey, do not get uppity with me because you were bested by a broken key and a halfwit.” Tristan mocked the former vengeance demon, and by doing so also mocked Dawn and her boyfriend Xander. “You are almost as bad as Sid for the complaining, but the guy is a freaking puppet who cannot drink…real problems, unlike yours!” “Remind me again why I keep choosing to come back here to a bar which service is severely lacking?” Anya asked, while digging at Tristan at the same time. “Because this is the only place stupid enough to let you have a tab!” Tristan replied. “Which was definitely more Faith’s idea than mine considering I know for a fact you are never going to find a way of paying us back nor do you want to look.” “You make an excellent point,” Anya responded before finishing her beer and placing the empty bottle onto the bar counter. “Where is your fellow slayer anyway?” “Spending Christmas in Los Angeles with everyone including the two humans who brought you down to your knees.” Tristan informed her, all too happily. “If I knew you were this much fun during the holidays I would have told her to take you with them although considering you’re an alternate world version of the girl Xander almost married I do not think Dawn would be too happy…saying that I am not too sure if I care about her not being happy.” “So, you turned down being somewhere for Christmas so you could serve me alcohol all through the holiday and yet I’m the one who needs to get a life?” Anya said blatantly, as she stood up from the barstool and began walking towards the bar door, ready to leave Tristan alone to think about her latest insult.

Later that very same night after he was finished closing up Rogues, the only male slayer Tristan went straight to bed, avoiding any drinks in an attempt to avoid further dreams about Christmas past, but alas the ghost of Christmas past and had come and gone and it was now time for the ghost of Christmas present and who better to represent it than Drusilla, a vampire that Tristan had a lot of history with, history which continued to troubled him right up to this very day, and possibly in the future too. “My boy still looks like an angel when he sleeps but the things, he’s done makes his daddy angel weep and weep.” Drusilla tormented Tristan, as the male slayer awoke from his sleep to find her stood above his bed within his bedroom. “Considering you were not invited into this home this has got to be another dream,” Tristan reassured himself, as he climbed out of bed and stood up on the floor, ready to face the vampire who made him into the monster he once was. “So, are we still on the theme of Christmas or is this just another dream with you in it?” “Yes, I do seem to haunt your dreams on the regular…tell me what is worse for you? The dreams in which I am killing everybody you loved which serve more like flashbacks than dreams, or is it the dreams in which you’re happy, we’re happy, Dante, and Mandi too?” Drusilla, the ghost of Christmas present, questioned the man who once loved her like a mother, knowing the turmoil her mere presence caused him. “I cannot believe I am saying this,” Tristan admitted to both himself and the ghost of Christmas present, eager to avoid anymore talk of his troubling past. “Please tell me this is another Christmas dream…” “Yes,” Drusilla said after a sinister cackle, the Christmas ghost playing their part of the deranged vampire a little to well, before the two found themselves standing outside the front doors of the Hyperion Hotel, within the garden, looking through the front doors to see Tristan’s father Angel reluctantly decorating a large tree within the reception area of the hotel, under close super vision by the all-powerful witch Willow. “Hate to break it to you Dru but if this is what you have to show me then your seriously lacking in the sinister department these days…or this Christmas ghost version of you is way too much Christmas and not enough Halloween.” Tristan scorned Drusilla, as he continued to watch his father Angel decorate a tree with Willow, looking further to find Faith and Spike knocking back drinks at the counter of the reception area, while behind the reception area Giles, his mother’s watcher, was heavy into what looked like a game of scrabble with Dawn and Xander, the watcher looking justifiably frustrated by what Tristan assumed was the others lack of verbal intellect in comparison to Giles. As Tristan continued to search through the festive scenery before his very eyes, taking Drusilla’s silence as a hint to continue examining what lay before him, after a few more moments he found his mother Buffy Summers sat on the stairs playing dolls with her six year old niece, and his cousin, Joyce Harris, and for some reason that he did not want to admit to himself he began to feel a gut in his stomach, jealous not of Joyce or her child play, but broken by the sign of Buffy being motherly to a child, a child that was not him, a child that would never be him. “You are right in thinking she will never be like that with you, for you a neither a child, or remotely innocent…the days of that ever being likely for you are well and truly over.” Drusilla told him. “You are never too old to be somebody’s son but are you too far gone to allow anyone to love you like that?” “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Tristan questioned the vampire, confused by her often-cryptic ways of putting a sentence together. But before the son of the slayer could get any answers from the ghost of Christmas present he found himself waking back up in his bed in his bedroom, only this time there was no sign of Drusilla to be found.

It was now December 24th, officially the eve before Christmas, and it felt to Tristan like this particular Christmas was on steroids, as Christmases tended to feel like during times people were far from feeling the festive spirit, and it seemed to Mr. Summers that he could not turn on a television, stream a song, or listen to the radio, without the message of Christmas being shoved down his throat, but as he opened up his bar for another day to night shift, he began to look forward to the distraction of Anya Jenkins, knowing she would be the last person to feel the festive cheer, or at least that is what he thought. As Anya strolled into Rogue’s dressed as a literal elf, holding a hot, sexy, and barely dressed, male Santa in her arms looking happier than she had ever looked before, Tristan could not believe his eyes, believing instantly some sinister magic was to blame for this ungodly sight before him. “I thought you hated elves why the hell are you dressed up like one?” Tristan asked Anya, as she sat down at the bar with her festive suitor. “It’s bunnies, it’s always been bunnies, bloody bunnies!” Anya corrected the male slayer, unnerved by mentioning the creatures she feared the most. “So, you hate Easter but not Christmas then?” Tristan wondered, before turning to examine the sexy Santa, failing to not notice his amazingly chiseled and seemingly oiled hairless chest. “Or do you just have a kink for Santa’s…which judging by this one makes a whole lot of sense.” “I like money, and lots of it, and I got myself as an elf at some shopping mall…can you believe shopping malls are still a thing on this world? In my world we enslaved all designers forcing them to make their designs exclusive to us which definitely wound up backfiring when they started stitching terribly and we got all angry and killed them all.” Anya revealed to Tristan, with a sense of fondness. “Now those were the days…” “Did you just say this world…as in you’re from another planet or something? Because that is super cool, everyone meets vampires and demons these days, but I never hear stories about aliens.” A clearly confused sexy Santa asked Anya, all too excited by the potential of her being an alien. “I knew by Xander that dumb was your type but at least this one’s hot.” Tristan told Anya, mocking both Xander and the sexy Santa without care. “Well aliens are from another planet and I am from another universe so yes, I’m technically an alien to this world anyways.” Anya replied to Tristan, before going on to say. “Also, I am not the Anya who almost married that lump I am the Anya that has only had the misfortune to meet him once.” “So, Santa what do you want to drink?” Tristan asked the man, eager to change from the topic of aliens. “Oh, I do not drink, I respect what goes into my body.” The sexy Santa, instantly losing all appeal to both Anya and Tristan within that one instant. “I’m cool with the whole not drinking thing but respecting your body? Is that really a thing when there is literally a fast-food joint on every corner? I mean I am all for self-love and stuff but keep your greens and I will keep my fats.” Tristan responded to the man dressed as Santa. “Tristan your bitterness over no Christmas date is starting to show, maybe you should hitch a ride to L.A. before it’s too late and spend Christmas with that god-awful family of yours.” Anya suggested to the male slayer. “I’d gladly tend to the bar for you…if I’m payed Christmas wages of course.” “No thank you,” Tristan scoffed, not willing to trust Anya, nor willing to go anywhere, especially not on Christmas. “I mean I know this place is just a dive bar and everything, but I would not trust you to take care of my stakes never mind my bar, and everything’s a stake if it’s wooden and you get creative…”

After spending his day shift watching Anya making out with the sexy Santa she brought to Rogues, and the night shift serving demon after demon, creature after creature, and the odd human who were very odd indeed, Tristan shut down the bar for another night before putting himself to bed once again, falling into a deep sleep, hoping the future was further away than what it would be…as before long he found himself awakening on the cold hard ground of his own grave. “Well this is definitely a little too much melancholy for even me…” He mumbled to himself as he stood up from the ground and walked off his grave, looking around the San Francisco cemetery, confused by how he got there. “Down here big guy!” Sid instructed the slayer, forcing Tristan to look below to find the living puppet stood in front of him. “In case you’ve not quite caught up on all of this, yet I am your ghost of Christmas future.” “I figured that much but why take to me to where Buffy buried me before the whole coming back to life via some powers that be meddling?” Tristan replied to the puppet man, made of wood. “Well where else were they going to stick your lifeless body the next time around?” Sid answered him. “They never got round to getting rid of the grave, not that they needed too considering you wound up back in it before long.” “What did I die of a severe lack of Christmas cheer?” Tristan joked, unaffected so far by this spiritual visit. “Or maybe a vampire staked me with a candy cane, the amount I’ve staked seems kind of poetic actually…” “Nope, after you went back to the bad way of life much to no-one’s surprise your mum Buffy stepped up and killed you…if memory serves right you were stabbed to death with way too many wounds for it not to be a little…you know…fun for her.” Sid revealed to the slayer. “But after all the work they put in saving you just for you to go back to being a bastard who would blame her…” “So, I go back evil? I wouldn’t do that…not after everything…” Tristan dismissed his claims, all while fearing Sid was telling the truth. “Yep, that’s what you thought too but after continuously pushing away the parents, then Faith, and even Anya got sick of you…well after all that you had nobody and before long you were back budding it up with Drusilla acting as if you did not know she and Dante killed your parents…or maybe you just really did not care anymore.” Sid continued to explain to a stunned Tristan. “I mean how are you supposed to be human when you haven’t bonded with any since you started playing with monsters.” “That’s not true!” Tristan snapped at the ghost of Christmas future. “I care about Faith she has never given up on me, and I care about Buffy and Angel, I mean sure the parents thing is a little complicated but I do care about them…and I cared about Mandi, Lucas, and the parents that raised me.” “If you really care about all these people, the ones who aren’t dead yet then why are you treating them like they are already gone?” Sid asked Tristan, already knowing the slayer’s answer. “Because you fear one day you might end up caring too much and losing them which will happen as nobody lives forever, thing is…if you don’t care, lose, get hurt, and let your heart break, then you’re not really human as much as it sucks, we got to feel the bad as well as the good because nothing is more dangerous than becoming numb to it all.” Tristan wanted to argue back with the man trapped within the dummy, wanting to prove him wrong, but Sid’s words were wiser than Tristan would like to admit, and even if he was not a fan of Christmas itself he was certainly a fan of those who did care about it, those who wanted to spend it with him and before long he started to realize that he had made a huge mistake by trying to skip Christmas….

As Tristan woke up in his bed within his room on Christmas Day, he was immediately met with guilt as he realized he had missed out on a chance to bond with his friends, his family, and potential loved ones. He was not suddenly a fan of Christmas itself, that would take some time, but he began to remember its message and how important it was for people, how important it once was for him, and as he climbed out of his bed, rising onto his feet, and walked over to his window to see the back alleyway, in between his building and several others, was covered in snow, as snow continued to fall from the sky, and for a moment, just a moment, he even considered opening that window and yelling Merry Christmas. Instead, he chose to get changed and then call up those who would answer to him, so he could wish them a Merry Christmas and admit to his regrets of not being with them on this special occasion but after he had got changed, and walked into the living room of his apartment, he quickly realized he had no calls to make as his living room was decked to the halls with Christmas decorations, including a fully decorated tree, as his mother Buffy Summers, his father Angel, his aunt Dawn, her man Xander, and their daughter Joyce, stood beside his friend Faith, the vampire Spike, his mother’s best friend Willow and the retired watcher Giles…all of them ready to spend Christmas with him whether he wanted to or not…but luckily for him he was more than ready to celebrate Christmas with them all.

Have a truly twisted Christmas that only torments you in the more joyous ways and a happy new year, a year which will hopefully be less chaotic than 2020, keep slaying slayerettes.

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dawnshadowlegacies · 3 years

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Demetrius Dawnshadow

Face Reference: Jon Snow, Dante from the Devil May Cry series, Tom ellis, and Kate Beckinsale Mix.

Name: Demetrius Dawnshadow

Race: Sin’dorei

Gender: Male

Age: Adult

Class: Demon Hunter/Rogue

Height: 6’0

Weight: 175 lbs

Body Shape: Athletic

Occupation: Demon Hunter, Adventurer, Rogue, Lord, Captain, Spy (formally)

Nicknames: Deme, Dem, bastard, Tatsu Longwei, Pain in the Arse

Titles: Lord of House Dawnshadow, Slayer, Dragon of the Illidari, Captain of the Red Siren Count of Starhaven (fromaly)

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Appearance:

Demetrius is a toned athletic elf with long dark shoulder length hair and a pale complexion overall with a reddish demonic hue around his hands and lower arms. He has a rugged roguish look to his facial features that some may consider charming especially when he dons his trademark grin showing the barest hint of his tiny fangs. He has a black Dragon tattooed on his right shoulder, while on his left is an elvish sword that bears a resemblance to his own weapon. His eye sockets are an almond shape with fel flame that can turn crimson when excited. He keeps a well groomed goatee on his face further accenting his roguish charm. He has various scars across his body from years of fighting, the most prominent being the scars under his eye sockets, a scar near his heart, and a burnt scar tracing up his lower right arm. Clawed nails tip his fingers and from time to time his reddish wings are out and folded round him like a cloak. While in his demon form his skin takes on a dark red color, his feet become cloven hooves, and horns grow from his head.

He wears dark black and red leather clothes with minor nether dragon scales on the sides and a coat made of the same materials with a sewed on black hood. An onyx etched dragon shaped pendant with ruby eyes hangs from his neck while his onyx and ruby shaped wedding ring that bears his house's emblem rests on his left ring finger. He keeps his family heirloom dragon hilted sword Dragonkin at his side. His belt holds his bag of holding as well his trinket to summon his fox friend Dexien. He wears the standard black Illidari blindfold as well. From time to time he can be found wearing his coat tied around his waist and a set of warglaives on his back.

Personality:

Demetrius’ personality can be best described as outwardly as both brooding and fun loving as well as bold, creative, mischievous, and reckless. Dem is devoted to his family and his friends doing what he can to safeguard and protect them. He follows his own code of honor choosing to defend the innocent and avenge the dearly departed. While he is known to brood and seem standoffish once he gets to know a person he tends to open up more and show that more playful side of his. Dem tends to enjoy a good fight and will taunt and display a devil may care attitude to most foes unless the fight is deeply personal or what he would consider serious. He is creative and will improvise new ways to attack enemies and look good doing so as well as create strategies on the fly. He is reckless and impulsive to the point sometimes he will do something because it seems fun to him at the time.

Dem enjoys swordplay, riding on the back of a dragon, fox, or his mechano hog, adventuring, writing, reading fantasy novels, sailing, games, and playing his lute. He hates monsters and people who would prey on the innocent, Blood Knights, demons, undead, and most void entities as well as all their former minions though he is not above giving them a chance to redeem themselves.

Gear:

Dragonkin: Dragonkin: A prismatic elementium, titansteel, and dragon bone runeblade crafted in a joint effort between the Kaldorei and the Black Dragonflight before the War of the Ancients in the arcane forge of the aspects in the elven style. The curved blade is 27 inches long and was folded 16 times to pound out the impurities in the metal. The blade has a dull silver to blackish sheen to it after being polished. The Hilt is made of the fang of a dragon and coated in the same material as the blade and is 13 inches long. The hilt is shaped in the head of a dragon with the tail wrapping along the groves of the hilt. The eyes of the dragon are made of hardened sapphires that depending on the mood of the wielder can turn blood red in an instant. The tsuba or hand guard is formed into the shape of a dragon claw plated in true silver and gold.

The curved blade is enchanted to drain the life of its wielder’s enemy if they are living. It used to choose its owner binding itself to them until their true death. It was gifted to the Starshadow family by a Black Dragon before their corruption and contains a fragment of his soul. The blade would be passed down to the Dawnshadow family till Demetrius obtained it. Recently it was broken during the first battle on the broken shore and then reforged by the Netherwing Pyreaku and now is bound to Demetrius’ own soul for eternity and thus is able to deal shadowflame damage as well as appear in Dem’s hand with a thought. If Dragonkin is broken or destroyed Dem can still call on it again after a period of time has passed.

Demetrius’ Clothes and Waistcoat (Grab of the Dragonfox): Demetrius normally wears a pair of black leather pants with netherwing scales swon between the leathers and inside the cloth of the pants. His black boots are made of the same material with white fur lining on the top and elementium steel toes. His shirt is a simple black shirt with an exposed neckline and sleeves that reach to his forearms. His waistcoat is a sleeveless red and black leather piece with high collar and a black hood within it. This ensemble is dubbed the Garb of the Dragonfox. It is heavily enchanted to protect him in battle as well as repair itself should it become damaged as well as adjust its size when he transforms into his demon form. The hood is enchanted to withstand mind based attacks and compulsion while the mask filters out poisons and diseases. Despite the nature of his boots, when he clicks them together the sound from his footfalls is muffled to be near silent. Minor slits in the back open up so that Deme’s demonic wings can push through when needed. Due to the inherent properties of the outfit, Deme can summon it back to him through his bag of holding.

Jewelry: Deme wears two rings, an amulet and a piece of eight. His amulet is an onyx etched dragon shaped pendant hanging from a true silver chain. His ring on his right hand is a true silver band and red dragon eye gem. On his left he wears an onyx and ruby shaped wedding ring that bears his house’s emblem. It was given to him by his wife Gwenda'lyn Starshadow. It is enchanted with fire resistance and a magical link private mind link between him and Gwen. The Piece of Eight he wears is an enchanted Elunite Coin signafing his place on the Midnight Corsair’s council. It is enchanted to defend him from time magics, and should the need arise hasten his movements for a limited time.

Miscellaneous Items: Deme wears a black leather belt that has three pouches one of them being a bag of holding. His bag of holding contains food, water, tent, bed roll, healing potions, first aid kit, a set of thieves' tools, a small portable alchemy station among other things. The rest of his pouches contain various other tools. He wears simple black gloves, a white wrapping on his upper right arm down to the top part of his lower arm. From time to time he wears a black and white furred cloak.

Armaments and Trinkets: Besides his own physical and magical abilities as well as Dragonkin, Deme has a few other weapons at his disposal to help in his adventures and quests.

Clipped with an elementium and netherscale wrapped chain is a white fox tail. With it Deme can summon to his side the Fox Spirit Dexien from the Emerald Dream to fight beside him or mount for 24 hours. If Dexien is knocked unconscious his essence will return to the tail and Deme must wait 24 hours for him to recover. If lost or stolen Deme can concentrate to pull the tail back to him.

Abilities:

Besides his own physical and magical abilities as well as Dragonkin, Deme has a few other weapons at his disposal to help in his adventures and quests ranging from an array of swords, daggers, and his own set of warglaives.

Demetrius is a Demon Hunter and thus has the physical abilities they all possess. His strength is at the point he can stab a dagger into a bolder down to the hilt. His speed, agility and dexterity has been boosted to be greater than mortal standards . His body also heals faster due to his damned blood, healing most wounds in a manner of seconds and some of the greater wounds in minutes and the most severe in a matter of hours or days. He can call upon his own wings to glide and fly around if needed and bite down on an enemy with his fanged canines. His skin though not scaled is thick enough to ward off some cuts and slashes. Thanks to his furthering demonic nature Deme can grow bone spikes or as he calls them hidden blades from his wrists and has claws for fingertips.

Due to his training and adventures as well as being hailed as a prodigy with the blade he has become a master swordsman, a competent assassin, a master of parkour and freerunning, as well as having knowledge in the Temple of the White Tiger style of unarmed combat, and an adapt marksman. He has developed a keen sense of tracking, deductive reasoning, and a knowledge of anatomy. He has also learned how to navigate and sail a ship as well as fight on his fox or wolf mounts. He is also a Dragon Rider and has learned to use his glaives and felmagics when riding on Pyre’s back. He is a decent writer though has terrible handwriting thanks to his claws. He is also a master swordsmith and has begun to study more alchemical pursuits.

From a magical standpoint thanks to his blood he can control and bend shadows to the point of fading away, shadow stepping and dropping a field of shadow to conceal himself and others. Like other demon hunters he is able to conjure green fel fire and the chaotic forces of the fel and has the ability to temporarily become a demon elf hybrid. He has begun to master combining his fel flame and shadow flame together due to his link with the darkness flame. He can manipulate it to form the shape of a black and fel accented dragon to devour and burn away his enemies. He has begun to learn how to create barriers using his magical abilities or soul magic as well as create sigils with his fel, shadow, or own blood.

History:

Demetrius was born alongside his twin Ambrose into the Dawnshadow minor noble family. Being born a bastard most of his life he was looked down upon by others his age for his heritage and not knowing who his father was. He had few friends growing up. Dem and Ambrose were raised by not only their mother Lana’thel, but also by their Grandparents Avadeth and Kayleen Dawnshadow. While Ambrose took more to a studious education, Dem felt more at ease with the sword which helped him channel his intal childhood running along the walls' energy. This didn’t mean he wasn’t educated in history, writing, reading, and his least favorite subject math. Under his Grandfather's guidance Dem grew into something of a child prodigy with the sword.

In time Dem would spend time with the more criminal element of Silvermoon during his late late teens and early adulthood. His tutelage from his Farstrider Grandfather paid off and he fell in naturally with the more roguish elements of the city and became something of a spy for one family or another as to make some coin while at school and away from home. Eventually his mother and Grandparents found out thanks to Ambrose who since childhood never approved of Dem and his antics. Dem was soon steered towards another more noble path, that of the Farstrider. And thanks to his roguelike skills and swordsmanship Dem was made a scout in the order after another year of training. Dem would excel in it and find his new role adventurous especially when it came to skirmishes with the Armani. Eventually Dem would meet a young Priestess his own age named Gwen and became smitten with her. After a humorous first meeting with him failing a backflip landing thanks to a log with mud on it he began to court Gwen and eventually marry her.

Over the years Dem would rise within the ranks of the Farstriders as a Captain and join Alleria Windrunner’s unit to fight in the second war. After the War he and Gwen would finally have a child of their own named Melisande. Minus skirmishes here and there Dem spent the rest of his time with his family in peace. That was till Arthas came leading a tidal wave of death through Eversong with his Scourge army. Dem witnessed a Dreadlord named Dagrim slay his Grandparents during the chaos of the time. Ambrose and his mother also disappeared in the carnage. Dem took up his family's Elven dragonforged runeblade Dragonkin and eventually chose to leave Gwen and Meli and venture forth with Prince Kael’thas’ forces eventually fighting up in Northrend and forced to retreat to Outland.

Dem was chosen to undertake the trials in becoming Demon Hunters. As part of Dem’s trial he was confronted by the Nathrezim Dagrim, the one who killed his Grandparents. After a battle that nearly claimed him, Dem used Dragonkin to carve out the Demon’s heart and ate it as well as drank its blood. After a long battle of wills and seeing the horror of the Legion and their involvement in creating the scourge, Dem pledged his life to the Illidari cause. He was tasked with hunting demons and rogue Illidari who turned to the Legion. Over time He along with other adventurers including his Great Great Grandfather of the same name as him; would free enslaved Netherwings and he would befriend the Onyx Netherwing Pyreaku. For this Dem was sent on separate a mission as a form of semi exile from the rest of the Illidari. This act saved Dem from being captured alongside his other Illidari by the Wardens.

Dem soon killed the demon he was sent after and learning of the Fall of the Black Temple he returned home and blended with Sin’dorei society as best as he could. He would stay with Gwen and Meli as well his recently discovered Kaldorei ancestor. Pyre would join him and together with Gwen he would answer the call to arms and head up to Northrend to take the fight to the Lich King once more. Dem and his group would find themselves helping the Red Dragonflight in the Nexus war, Witness the calamity of the Wrathgate, fight near the Titan complex of Ulduar where Dem would discover the titan forged void corrupted sentient blade Blackrazor. Eventually Dem would discover a horrible truth. A Death Knight loyal to Arthas confronted him up near Icecrown. The Death Knight was his long lost twin, Ambrose who had willingly submitted himself to the Scourge for more power and as he stated a more natural order. The twins would fight before Ambrose stabbed Dem through the chest. If not for his demonic healing factor and Ambrose just missing his heart he would have died. Instead he was imprisoned within the Crimson Halls of the San’layn with the Darkfallen draining him of his demonic blood and attempting to figure out a way to convert him to their order in undeath. Being bound to a Dreadlord which was for all intents and purposes a demonic vampire Dem did already show signs of vampiric tendencies. Luckily Gwen came and saved him along with Pyre during the Siege of Icecrown Citadel. Dem would heal up and immediately hunt down his brother and find him. It was then that Dem learned Ambrose as part of a show of his allegiance had killed their mother. The twins battled once more with Dem seemingly killing Ambrose with Dragonkin and Blackrazor.

The next couple of years were spent with Dem and his family, both Sin’dorei and Kaldorei aiding in the defense of MT Hyjal where Dem saved and bound the spirit fox named Dexien to an item to preserve his soul from death for all time. All the while thanks to his time captured and the whispers of Blackrazor Dem would eventually begin to lose control of his inner demon before locking up Blackrazor after the defense of Wyrmrest Temple. When Garrosh bombed Theramore and Dem’s cousin Darron’s died in the defence of the city, Dem planned and failed to hatch a plot to assassinate Garrosh Hellscream. Recovering on a Bloodsail ship the Demon Hunter began to find it hard to control his inner demon once more. It didn’t help that the captain of the ship was also a slaver. Once recovered Dem killed the captain and took the ship for himself and released the slaves in Alliance lands before finding his wife and daughter. Dem became a privateer assaulting Garrosh’s ships. He also hatched an Onyx Cloud Serpent named Shen’long whom Pyre considered a little brother. Dem would even sail to Zandalar after one of the Garrosh loyal ships where after a misunderstanding and a valiant escape, Dem found himself with a portal curse and wanted on Zandalar. Dem, Gwen and others would soon join the Siege of Orgrimmar on the side of the Alliance the Vol’jin’s resistance. There they would save a young enslaved Sin’dorei child named Seraphina. The husband and wife would adopt her and even take in her menagerie of wolves.

Instead of initially going to Draenor Dem sought out and received a pardon for his privateer actions against Horde ships. He would also make new friends and along with Gwen’s sisters learned to control and merge his soul fully with his inner demon. Yona provided him her expertise as a monk and trained him in their ways despite his lack of control of chi. As for Gwen’s older sister Farei she would provide him a hood that would protect his mind from intrusions and the whispers of the void and other sources though it would cost her her life eventually. During Dem’s training with Yona he would befriend the Orc named Zuggrum Skullspliter and the Matriarch of House Shadowfel Valanthriel. Gwen would also take up the path of the Monk after Blackrazor resurfaced and nearly destroyed Dem, herself, and their friends. With her last act as a Priestess she shattered the blade. Dem would eventually discover his birth father named Antheleos who tried to bring forth the Legion but failed thanks to Dem bringing in friends and allies alike. Part of that Alliance would fall apart after Dem broke a blood oath with the Lady Shadowfel and ultimately her potential control of him.

Eventually the Legion did return in full force. Demetrius would clash with his father on the Broken Shore and once again was nearly killed with Dragonkin shattered. Thanks to Pyre Dragonkin would be reforged and forever bound to Dem. Afterwards he would rejoin the Illidari and learn of a special form of fel and shadow magic fused together as shadowflame. Dem with the rest of the Dawnshadow clan would join forces with an Old Rival House known as House An’velas and their head of family a Blood Knight Knight Champion named Admmari An’velas. Despite House An’velas’ pledge House Dawnshadow found itself alone till Dem found his Great Great Grandparents once more, Demetrius and Gwenda’lyn Starshadow. The united family would help fight the Nightmare before heading to Suramar. An’velas would soon show up. Instead of helping the people of Suramar from the Legion, they would instead commit war Crimes something Dem stopped them from doing and planned to report to Silvermoon. Before he could two major events happened. Dem and his friends and family were greeted by Antheleos once more and after a long battle including a frostwyrm and a portal to the ruins of the original Dawnshadow estate, Dem was able to slay his father and trap his soul in a soul stone, but not before he revived Ambrose from the dead. The other event was Dem and Gwen adopting the Shal’dorei orphans Aliden and Leysase. An’velas took these events as a boon for themselves and framed House Dawnshadow for the warcrimes they themselves commited such as murder and pillaging of the people of Suramar. Dem and his family were forced to abandon their home but luckily the Starshadow clan took them in. Dem and Gwen would soon discover she was with twin children.

Despite it all Dem focused his attention on the Legion. Soon he would hear rumors and along with others part of a group called the Raven’s Watch would discover Ambrose undergoing the ritual to become a demon hunter. With the help of the Heridents, a group of traitorous Illidari Dem sent to the nether with the sole exception of their leader Sensi; Ambrose succeeded and became a hybrid of a Death Knight and a Demon Hunter. The Heridents along with Ambrose would head back to Argus. Dem along with the Raven’s Watch steal a legion ship dubbed the Millenium and would hunt each of them down. Despite it all, Ambrose feigned seeking redemption and together, he and Dem would fight Sensi only for Ambrose to steal Antheleos’ soul stone and take all of the twin’s father’s power for himself. Sensi was slain and Ambrose took his spot as leader of the remaining Heridents betraying Dem once more.

Dem knew he couldn’t defeat Ambrose at that moment and instead focused on his training. Over time he would begin to control a variation of shadow flame called the darkness flame thanks in no small part to Pyre. During his training Gwen would give birth to baby Darron and Anastasia. The time had come at last and during the final battle on Antorus the twins battled once more and Dem with his new control over the Fel and Shadow used a special type of shadow flame called the Darkness Flame which in honor of both his bond to Dragonkin as well as with Pyre he molded into the shape of a dragon’s maw. With his new technique in hand he would confront Ambrose during the final siege of Antorus. The twins would battle nearly killing one another. Despite being the better swordsman Dem was still at a disadvantage against Ambrose and his new powers. When all seemed lost the Demon hunter would unleash the Darkness Flame having it consume Ambrose before falling into a coma.

When he awoke from his coma, Dem discovered Meli his eldest daughter along with his Great Grandmother Darcynia had been consumed by the void and became Ren’dorei. He also learned Meli had become engaged to her childhood friend Nihlis, a Sin’dorei paladin pledged to the Silver Hand. Due to his mastering of the Darkness Flame and the shape it took along with his efforts against the Legion, Dem was bestowed with the titles of Slayer; the highest honor a Demon Hunter can achieve with only a few before him obtaining the honor and, Dragon of the Illidari by the rest of the remaining Illidari. For a time Demetrius Starshadow had given Dem the title of Count of Starhaven and he looked over it before handing back the title both because he longed to restore his own House and also to spend more time with Gwen and the children. Once Azerite was discovered some began to appear in the Starhaven mines which drew the attention of House An’velas. Dem longing for revenge against this house found and fought Admmari and slew the man breaking his ancestral sword Kel’faloom. Thanks to the notes and letters found on the ship Dem found the evidence he needed to prove his and his families innocence for the frame up as well as discovered Admmari was the last of his own line due to his wife dying before giving birth during the war with the Legion. Before he could bring the evidence to the Magisters of Silvermoon the call to war was sounded once more. And once again Dem was forced to watch and be on the losing side of another elven genocide as he along with family and friends tried to defend the Kaldorei people from Sylvanas’ Horde. Dem fought as a Privateer for the Alliance and learned more about the Inquisitors of Drustvar and the Drust as well as deal in piratetics in Freehold.

He would join the Kaldorei and Starhaven forces in their retaking of Darkshore thanks to a gambit created by Demetrius the older. It was then that Dem discovered Ambrose survived Argus and was working with Sylvanas but for his own secret goals and mission. Even in winning Darkshore Dem knew he would be forced to face Ambrose again in the future. Before he could follow Ambrose’ trail he joined his Kaldorei kin in Nazjatar and after the fall of Azshara he provided the proof of the An’velas family and their cohorts framing the Dawnshadows. Dem continued to aid both the Alliance, and Saurfang’s rebels where he could till the end of the fourth war. Despite his Kaldorei kin still wanting vengeance against the Horde he was able to convince them to focus their efforts in hunting Sylvanas and their loyalists instead of blindly attacking the Horde for the time being at least. With his family and himself acquitted of the war crimes they were framed for and the Alliance and Horde establishing a tentative peace, Dem for the first time since the start of the last war with the Legion returned to Silvermoon City openly as a Demon Hunter and also as a Grandfather. Meli had married Nihlus and gave birth to a child of her own. With his return Dem began to focus on three things, finding and reuniting with his old friends and allies such as Zuggrum, restore his house and finally embrace his role as Lord of House Dawnshadow, and find Ambrose and try to redeem him or put him down forever. He would eventually discover his sister Ash and became close with her during an accidental trip through with the rest of his family save Ambrose and Meli. During the time travel adventure Dem and Gwen would separate and upon their return divorce.

After his divorce Dem focused on the House and hunting down evil before the Shadowlans opened up. He would go on an Odyssey leaving his twin children in his sister’s care. During his odyssey he would discover the part of Ambrose that remained in the Shadowlands, a Foreworn version who nearly killed Dem and tossed him into Torghast. Dem endured various tortures before escaping and ending the soul of Admmari An’velas once and for all. He would find his way to the plane known as Revendreth and reunite with his mother. After overcoming his open pride and envy and going through Venthyr training Dem fought the Foresworn Ambrose one last time and win. He returned with that portion of Ambrose’s soul and began to focus more on his family leaving the heroics to others for a time.

@elvenwitches-things

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lainelannister · 5 years

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First Lines Challenge

RULES: List the first lines of the last ten stories you published. Look to see if there are any patterns that you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any! Then tag some friends.

(Okay, well, so I wasn’t tagged by anyone for this or anything. But I like it, so I’mma do it. #srynotsry)

From Auribus Teneo Lupum (Chapter 20):

“I really thought that they’d be more reasonable,” Jaime huffed as he stalked back into his camp pavilion, shunting his longsword to the side and collapsing onto a rickety stool.

From Unspoken:

She opens the tent flap at the end of her watch, and although her eyelids grow heavy with exhaustion, although her muscles are tight and her bones weary, she feels a quickening in her heart as the orangey light of the dawn trickles through the opening and combs through Jaime’s hair.

From Slayers and Stones (Chapter 3):

Jaime referred to the Lannister property in East Hampton as a “house”.

From This Bright Metal Season (Chapter 2):

Snowfall in King’s Landing typically involved only the lightest dusting of white particles upon the cobblestone streets and castle courtyards and a wet, unpleasant slush along the docks.

From It’s only castles burning:

Coronation. A grandiose word for a grandiose concept…

From My feet to follow, and my heart to hold:

Sansa closes her eyes and breathes deeply- not that there’s any purpose, for the air in the cabin remains heavy, stale, stagnant.

From Come, seeling night:

When his cold, dry, calloused fingertips coast over the smooth skin of her thigh, she hisses a breath through her teeth- just sharp enough, just urgent enough, just panicked enough.

From Snow had fallen, snow on snow:

A pain erupts behind his eyes, stinging and immediate.

From Well those passions read:

Lady Sansa sweeps from the courtyard in high dudgeon, spine straight and chin elevated.

From Ceremony:

The mattress is too soft.

Things I’ve Noticed About My Own First Sentences:

-I definitely seem to prefer to start my stories with complex sentences. Not SUPER surprising, since I like complex sentences better in general...but I don’t think I would have guessed how prevalent they are in my writing.

-I don’t start with dialogue as much as I thought i did!

-Oh, I definitely like present tense better than past tense. I keep forgetting that I’m writing Auribus Teneo Lupum in past tense...EVERY time I update, I have to reread my chapters to make sure that the tenses are consistent, because I’ll totally blank and start writing in present tense all. The. Time.

Tell me if you notice any patterns, plz!!!

#writing meme #ficcing #writerly things #starkfish #apprenticemockingbird #housecreepy #vixleonard #I tag you!

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scurvgirl · 6 years

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Once There Was A Dragon

Calling this the Fairy Tale AU because I’ve been referring to it as a Snow White meets Beauty and the Beast and 100% more dragons.

Every Friday, Adannar sets out to collect necessary alchemical components and food. The food part usually doesn’t take so long, he isn’t particularly picky, but the alchemical components can be very tricky. For instance, he needs a type of moss that seems to only grow on this one hill on the outskirts of his territory. The hill has an altered state of being due to the life and death of a spirit of Renewal. Every now and then, Adannar will see another Renewal lingering around the knoll, which means the hill is in radiant bloom. He saw the spirit yesterday, so if he hurries, he thinks he can make it in time to harvest the moss.

The moss is infused with wisps of Renewal’s energy and aid in the creation of his little creatures as well as general maintenance. But today he is looking to augment building.

To gather the moss, Adannar must shift his large, draconic body into a form more suited for the task. He shifts into an elf and walks the rest of the way to the hill. This way, he also avoids alarming the spirit. The creature has been known to take to fright overly much, accidentally shattering itself. Such a delicate thing.

After a moment of walking, he realizes he has neglected this form. His hair has grown long and reaches his ankles, and he is thinner than previously. He is not gaunt, but the robe he has attached to this form is looser, giving it a much billowier look than intended. No matter, he is simply here to gather the moss.

He walks up the hill to where the moss grows in thicker patches on stones, shaded by the tall tree Renewal likes to spend its time. Adannar sets his basket down next to a large rock and takes out the small pairing knife. He gently works the knife along the rock to remove the moss, placing it in the basket as he goes. He needs a good bit of it, so he makes his way to several other rocks before feeling satisfied with the amount he has collected. He won’t return to the hill for some time to gather more. Renewal will need time to cultivate more.

With his basket packed and the day’s main task accomplished, Adannar shifts back into his true form. He picks up the basket with a particularly dexterous claw then launches himself into the sky to fly back to his roost.

The forest is in the foothills of a great mountain range that acts as a natural border between two kingdoms. He…doesn’t know the names of the kingdoms, but he does know that the one he is flying from is smaller and the kingdoms don’t always get along. His nest is in a lone, small mountain that he has dug and carved out for himself through the centuries. It was his primary objective for many years until he was satisfied with the outcome. It is not as gigantic as some dragons’ lairs, but he likes it – it’s homey and allows him to work.

He’s created all of the decorations in his lair, from crystal chandeliers to beams that support some of the ceilings to burnished floors. It is the only home he has ever known, and while on the modest size for dragons, it can feel large and lonely to him. His seclusion is not by his choice, but rather by the choice of others to create spurious rumors about dragons.

Every so often knights fancying themselves as dragon slayers find his home. They demand he relinquish a prince or princess he has not stolen then attempt to kill him. The ones that live because they wisely run have spread tales of him and his little automatons. They know him as the Mad Dragon in the Forest. But to his kind, he is simply Adannar the Lonesome.

His home is just as he left it, in a disarray that he has felt unobligated to fix due to his lack of visitors. His friends have taken to solitude as well, and he is unsure of how to broach the subject on breaking it. He longs for the days when his kind could just be, visiting not only other dragons, but people – elves, humans, dwarves, even the horned people to the north. But the dragon slayers have risen in prominence, dragons have been killed for being too…prominent. So they lay low, even if it means seclusion and depression.

Adannar does his best to remedy his loneliness by creating. As a result, he has created many, many little creatures – wisps woven into mechanical bodies that resemble woodland creatures. They populate his home and the forest, not harming anything, just…being. He has struggled to give them language to converse, however, despite figuring out how to give them full personalities and lives. He loves each and every creation, and each is given a name, but he longs for more.

He has moss to create and repair but a heavy melancholy overwhelms him when he returns home, the piles of stuff only reminding him of everything he should do. But he lacks any of the ability to actually do any of it.

Instead of doing of the work he ought to be doing, Adannar collapses into the pile of pillows and blankets that make up his bed. He falls asleep and drifts into the Dreaming much more easily than he has in the past, his soul drifting and floating through familiar pathways.

He is not seeking anything in particular but feels strangely drawn to a small cottage in the forest between his home and the kingdom to the west. He lets his curiosity pull him to the long-abandoned home. Or supposed to be abandoned. Through the bright colors of the Dreaming and the familiar spirits drifting through the space, Adannar sees a horse tied to a tree, nibbling on a bush.

Curious, Adannar floats down into the cottage, his body wispy and delightfully formless. It is strange to be this way, like he was before he was a dragon, but not entirely unwelcome. He admits, there are days where he longs for the simpler days of a bodiless existence. And it comes in handy for exploring his territory when the weight of his body is too much.

Inside the cottage, a small fire burns. It has the look and size of a fire recently made, or made by someone not accustomed to building fires. Curled by said fire is an elven woman with her legs pulled up in front of her body and her forehead leaning against her knees. Hair black as ink spills down in front of her face and down her back. Pastel pink and blue robes are torn from her ankles to her knees, stained by mud and dust. But her hands are soft looking, her nails delicately manicured. Not accustomed to building fires, then. A noblewoman, but a noblewoman far from where she is supposed to be.

Her shoulders shake, from cold or crying, Adannar can’t tell. But he can tell that she has very few items on her person, and there is no food in the cottage, he knows. The poor thing! She must be so scared and lonely.

Adannar drifts out of the cottage and back to his body, forcing himself to wake. A burst of energy fills him and spurs him to gather a few foods that are palatable to elves – bread, fruits, and cheeses. He even packs a wine that’s been sitting in his kitchen for some time.

With all haste, Adannar takes to the skies and heads for the cottage. He lands and shifts into his elven form before reaching the home, however, careful to not scare his guest away. Several of his mechanical creatures follow his path as he strides to the cottage. Once, twice, he knocks before opening the door.

“Hello?” He calls before entering. The woman gasps and shifts back, scrambling to her feet and fishing out a dagger in her robes, pointing it at him.

“Who are you?” She demands.

He blinks, “I could ask you the same, seeing as this is my cottage.” Alright, not really his cottage, but it’s in his territory and it’s been abandoned for some time, so it could be said it is in his possession at least.

She hesitates before speaking, voice laden with suspicion, “I did not think anyone was living here.”

Adannar shrugs, and smiles, “Well, I now live deeper in the woods, more room you see. Old wards alerted me to your presence.”

Her eyes narrow for a moment, her lips pressed into a harsh line, “How do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know she didn’t send you?”

Adannar blinks, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. No one sent me, just…myself I suppose.” He lifts the basket, continuing to smile pleasantly, “I brought food.”

“How do I know it’s not poisoned? She…she would do something exactly like that,” she says, taking a step back, hand still firmly gripping the dagger.

“I really do not know who you speak of, but it is a fair worry, there are some very concerning sorts in the world.” He opens the basket and samples each food item, careful to show her each one before he nibbles on it. He even tries the wine. A delicious rose that matches her eyes.

By the end of the demonstration, he can see the hunger on her face, lips parted and eyes devouring the bits still visible. He places the basket on the floor and steps back.

“You are welcome to as much as you like, I am not an impolite host.”

She eyes him for a moment longer before settling down next to the basket. First up are the strawberries. Then she nibbles on some cheese and bread. She pours a glass of rose with a shaky hand and seems to have to resist from downing the entire glass.

She must be starving to eat so quickly. But even as she devours the food, he notices her posture is straight, her fingers delicate and poised as they hold her food. A noblewoman retains her manners everywhere it seems.

“My name is Adannar, by the way,” he says. She pauses and looks up from her meal, bashful and without a napkin to properly dab away the fruit juice at the corners of her mouth.

“How remiss of me, I am simply so used to everyone knowing who I am. I am Serahlin El – just Serahlin. A pleasure to meet you, thank you for the food, it’s delicious.” Her smile lights her entire face up in a brilliant display and he feels his heart stutter for a moment.

It has been far too long since he has had company to feel this way about simply conversing with a woman. A woman who had just threatened him, no less.

“A pleasure to meet you as well. And if you have need of the cottage, you are welcome to stay, though I must insist on letting me actually fill it with things to make it habitable.”

“Oh that is,” she pauses, biting her lip, blushing, “that is too kind of you. This is your home and I would hate to impose.”

He waves her off, “You would not be imposing in the slightest. As I said, I live deeper in the woods. I would be a terrible host if I did not ensure your comfort, correct?”

Serahlin pauses, then nods slowly.

“Great!” He claps his hands and walks outside where many of his little creations have gathered, curious to see the mystery woman. The mystery woman who follows him outside and gasps at the sight of the creatures.

“Wh-what are they?!”

“They are my creations, do not worry, they will not harm you. Here,” he holds out his hand to her while a deer-construct named Huirin sniffing at Adannar’s other hand, “let me show you.”

Serahlin stares at the…mechanical deer and wonders briefly if she has fallen into one of the stories her maid used to read to her as a girl. The man, Adannar, holds his hand out to her, clearly gesturing for her to follow his lead and perhaps touch the creature. It is…overwhelming, to say the least.

It must be the lack of sleep over the last few days because she takes his hand, rough from building these…creatures. But he is gentle as he guides her hand to its muzzle. The metal is warm and smooth and the deer responds like a real deer, blinking and sniffing, curious. A curious air surrounds it as it steps closer to her.

“Oh, that is…”

“Alright, Huirin, give the lady space. I apologize, he is a glutton for treats and rubs.” A soft whirr emanates from the deer in what she can only assume be a noise of communication.

Serahlin swallows and retracts her hand.

Adannar, the man, is very…earnest in his kindness. When she had found the cottage it had been a blessing after the three days on the road, trying to get as far away from the palace as possible. Even if getting far away meant braving the Dragon’s Forest and even the dragon itself. There was no food or furniture, but it was something, which was more than she had.

The food Adannar brought was blessedly not poisoned and the more he acts, the more she is convinced he is not sent by her mother, but just a strange man who lives the dangerous woods…making mechanical woodland creatures.

It is too much to fully process at the moment lest she risk completely melting down in a sobbing mess. First her mother tries to kill her and now she is in a strange wood with a strange man and stranger creatures. Too much. Better to ignore it and let it happen than to think about it.

Adannar gives the creatures instructions, requesting they bring back everything necessary to make the cottage livable. But really, Serahlin doesn’t need it, she just…alright, perhaps she does need it. She hasn’t even been able to find food on her own, and only luck granted her finding that small brook to drink from.

“In a few hours, the home will be ready. Would…would you like a change of clothes? I have some robes that can fit anyone easily.”

She must look horrid for him to ask her such a thing, but she supposes it is part of the deal after spending three days on the road running from her tyrannical queen of a mother. She nods.

“That is too kind.”

“Nonsense, the world can always use more kindness.” He turns back to a creature, a large bird this time, telling it to bring back robes. She pulls her clothes closer to her body, stupidly worried over her appearance. He doesn’t know who she is or her status or anything. She is just Serahlin.

It makes his kindness nigh unbearable.

Don’t think about it don’t think about it.

Her hands return to her front, clasped together to keep them from shaking. Her distress must be obvious for Adannar to turn to her, brows drawn together in concern.

“When was the last time you slept?”

She swallows and considers lying, but what use would that be?

“Sufficiently? Three days ago. I have attempted to sleep more but the forest…I’ve never been without a bed.”

His expression turns soft, “And fear keeps you awake nonetheless.”

She startles, “I said nothing about fear.”

“You pulled a dagger on me when I first entered the cottage, your robes are torn, you have no supplies – you’re running from something. Do not worry, I don’t even know who to report you to if I even was the sort to do such a thing. And I’m not! I promise. Lots of people run from things! Often from monsters.”

Not for the first time she thinks of how strange he is. His way of speaking is foreign, as is his accent, robes…truly everything about him is odd. He is not from the neighboring kingdom, his mannerisms are entirely wrong, too open and honest. But he is not of her kingdom either, he is too earnest and bombastic. Besides, he is…in quite the disarray aesthetically, though it looks entirely more purposeful than Serahlin’s own current state of ruined robes. His hair has been allowed to grow significantly past fashionable length and what are his robes even supposed to be? They hang loosely on his frame, too big, and yet they are exquisite.

“Monsters?” She asks carefully.

“Yes, I’ve met many people fleeing monsters. Gurguts are common enough to run from, nasty buggers, they smell terrible. Bogfishers, though they’re less aggressive as long as you give them room. I once saw an entire village flee a giant that had decided to take over the village for some strange reason. And of course, there are more sinister monsters, abusers who make fleeing almost impossible. You don’t need to tell me what monster you’re fleeing from. Just know that you are welcome here as long as you need.” The mechanical creatures disappear into the wood, theoretically fetching the items Adannar has requested.

His words are reassuring in the least. She had not dreamed of finding safety in the Dragon’s Forest of all places, running from her mother of all people. And speaking of monsters…

“Isn’t there a dragon living in the forest?”

Adannar blinks and shrugs, “I’ve never been bothered by the dragon. Keeps mostly to itself from what I can understand.”

“That is a relief,” she sighs, leaning against the cottage wall. The knights had all said the same thing about the dragon in the forest being terrible and cruel and mad. She ran here because she knew that it would give anyone pause chasing her. Leave Serahlin to the forest, she’ll die soon enough with that dragon in there.

And perhaps she would have if she had not met Adannar.

Don’t think about don’t think about it.

“You are exhausted, please, sit, allow us to fix the place.” He guides her to a stump to sit on and she turns away from him.

“I am not an invalid, good sir, I am fully capable of helping.”

“I am not saying you are incapable, I apologize for insinuating such. Rather, I am striving to be a good host. Though I am failing if I am insulting you – what would you like to do?”

What a question. What would she like to do? What she wants is to sleep for week and to be taken seriously and not just as a silly princess. Not that she wants to tell Adannar that. He doesn’t need to know that she is more than what she seems to be, and that the monster she’s running from looks more like herself than a gurgut or bogfisher or whatever else he was on about.

Sitting is nice though, and she appreciates his candor. She is unaccustomed to such openly kind and honest behavior. He is bound by manners, clearly, but not in an effort to one-up her, but to genuinely be good to her. It is as foreign to her as his garb.

“I am quite fatigued from my journeys,” she says, “but if there is a task you need assistance with, please ask.”

He nods and continues to smile, “That I will. Rest is important, it is how the body naturally heals itself.” Several of the creatures return from their venture, carrying various objects in their talons or mouths or on their backs. Adannar waves his hands and conducts the items into the house by floating them in. There are thuds and scrapes but the entire spectacle is quite…amazing. He must be exceptionally gifted to be able to move all of this, and there is quite a bit, on his own.

“Do you require assistance? Telekinesis is not my forte but I can certainly reduce any strain.”

“What? Oh no, this is not very difficult me, don’t worry,” he affirms before returning to the task at hand. Posts and lamps and rugs and even dishes are floated in, arranging themselves into proper formations. But no, it’s Adannar doing all of this.

Exactly how powerful is this man? He says he made these mechanical creatures and now this blatant display of power is…it’s a bit concerning. Is she his guest or his prisoner?

“You are quite gifted with magic,” she says.

“I suppose.”

“It makes sense then for you to live out here, many would seek to use you or your power for their own gain.”

He hesitates but nods, “That is very true.”

“But it’s not why you live out here?” She presses.

The flow of items reaches its end and he lowers his arms. When he turns to her, she expects a harsh face, a turn in his demeanor to show that she is more prisoner than guest. But he only looks…sad, even with his smile and kind, yellow eyes.

“Not entirely. Many do not understand and what people do not understand, they seek to hurt or tame. I have no interest in either.” He turns from her, gold hair flowing away from him as he strides to his creatures.

“Food will be brought to you. If you are interested, I can teach you, or one of the spirits of the forest can teach you to hunt and gather and cook. I imagine noblewomen aren’t taught such things.”

Feeling suddenly defensive, Serahlin narrows her eyes and straightens her back, “I am not a frivolous dependent. I went out on hunting trips regularly with the hunts master.” Not that she learned that much from those trips, but still, his tone leaves much to be desired.

“I do not wish you to starve, Serahlin. I apologize for poor manners, the exertions of the day have left me fatigued,” he turns toward her, serious and solemn, “a caution about the forest - do not pass the waterfall to the east, many who do, do not return.”

What a cryptic thing to say. Before she can question him by what he means, he slips into the forest, seeming to disappear within the shadows. Strange, but it the Dragon’s Forest, strangeness is probably the norm as backwards as that sounds.

When he leaves, the creatures go with him, taking the low whirring that had filled the air with them. It leaves her with a sudden heavy silence and a full cottage for her to explore anew. Serahlin rises from the stump and heads into the cottage, now alight with warm candles and a much more sufficient fire. There is a sofa with cushions covered in a vibrant floral pattern that makes her smile. Behind the sofa against the wall is an oil lamp; and next to a bookshelf that even has a few books on it – old and weathered tomes on flora and fauna of this part of the world and even a few fictional stories.

She wanders up the stairs into the bedroom to find the fireplace in there lit as well, and a small oil lamp sitting on a side table. The bed is smaller than what she is used to, less extravagant, but it is beautiful all the same. It appears to be hand carved from a light wood, swirls and symbols etched into the small posts at the head and foot of the bed. The bedspread is floral as well, though different from the cushions on the sofa it’s still a beautiful print.

She wanders to the wardrobe on the other side of the bed and opens it to find it filled with robes. They are unlike any of the fashionable robes she had in the palace, but they are radiant in their own way. Best of all, they are clean and untorn.

Opting for comfort for the day that is winding to a close, she chooses the night gown, wrapping the soft simple robe to her body. She spends many minutes simply brushing out her hair, getting all of the knots and tangles that have formed over the past few days of running. It is not easy and by the end, the brush is covered in hair.

But her hair is brushed, and her clothes are clean, and she is exhausted. This place is strange, and she is alone. Before a few days ago she had never really been alone. There had always been people around her – servants, her mother, her sister, knights, nobles…. It is not a terrible thing, she doesn’t think, but it is not good either. She is alone because her mother wants to kill her, because another kingdom demands it due to their supposed honor. It’s ridiculous and sad and terrifying.

She lies back in the bed and looks up to the ceiling. As strange and scary this entire thing has been, she thinks she’s at least temporarily safe. Safer here at least than at the palace. Adannar seems kind, if odd and exceptionally powerful. He seems to be bound to a code of hospitality that obligates him to see to her needs, but she is unfamiliar with this code. Hospitality is expected back home but so is a certain amount of distance and an “accomplish what you can on you own” attitude.

Or maybe he’s mad and being quirky to get her to like him so she won’t question it when he starts performing magical experiments on her. If that’s the case, she has the knife and the horse to run. Though for now she is safe and in a very warm, soft bed. She waves her hand, switching the oil lamp off as her body drifts into the best sleep she has ever had.

#my writing #i wrote it! yaaay!#late night posting but whatevs #i'm pretty proud of this actually #i'm proud of the amount of description i managed #fairy tale au #adannar #serahlin #serannar #i do plan for other characters to be involved!#folks are welcome to guess who are dragons and who are not #hint - not what you're probably thinking!#anyways i hope y'all like this

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nobodysuspectsthebutterfly · 7 years

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I think I've read the passage of the House of the Undying an thousand times by now but I don't get what they are hinting at. Who are the mounts and the treacherous people and so on... Any thoughts?

Ohh boy. The thing to remember about the House of the Undying prophecies is that, well, they’re prophecies. Some of them haven’t happened yet, so we can only make guesses. It’s likely that after the books are complete, we’ll be able to go through all of Dany’s storyline and match up all the passages, but for now, we might be right or we might be wrong.

Anyway. These are my theories, based on the events of the books so far, TWOW preview chapters, other people’s thoughts, and other general speculation:

Dany first sees visions when she enters the House of the Undying, behind the doors of the hall. The beautiful woman being ravaged by little men is Westeros during the War of the Five Kings; the feast of corpses is the Red Wedding; the house with the red door in Braavos is what it is; the old man on the Iron Throne is Aerys commanding his pyromancers to light the wildfire when he hears Robert’s army has come to King’s Landing; and the last room shows Rhaegar with Elia and newborn Aegon, saying that Aegon is the Prince that was Promised but deciding he needs another child (in addition to Rhaenys) because “the dragon has three heads”.

Then Dany enters the chamber of the Undying, and they proclaim various prophetic statements:

…mother of dragons… child of three… […] three heads has the dragon…

Dany is the mother of dragons and one of the three heads of the dragon (part of the prophecy of the Prince that was Promised), that’s a given. What “child of three” means we’re not sure yet – it could be that she was one of Aerys and Rhaella’s three surviving children, it could mean that she’s one of the three heads of the dragon, it could be related to how these prophecies are given in sets of three, it could mean something else.

mother of dragons… child of storm…

Daenerys Stormborn, born during a great storm that hit Dragonstone and wrecked the Targaryen fleet.

three fires must you light… one for life and one for death and one to love…

One for life: Drogo’s pyre, which birthed her dragons

One for death: uncertain – may be the fire that burned down the House of the Undying, may be the “dracarys” that freed the slaves of Astapor, may be something related to her potential interactions with the Dothraki and the dosh khaleen in TWOW, might be related to the King’s Landing wildfire theory, or something else

One to love: what a fire to love means is extremely confusing. I personally think it will be a fire that will guide her to her love, but it could be something else.

three mounts must you ride… one to bed and one to dread and one to love…

One to bed: her silver mare, that carried her to her wedding night with Drogo

One to dread: Drogon, probably. (Since he’s Balerion the Black Dread reborn, or that he is dangerous even to his mother, or both.)

One to love: ??? unknown. May be a mount that will carry to her to her love, may be a mount to be loved (in which case “mount” for all three may be metaphorical), we just don’t know yet.

three treasons will you know… once for blood and once for gold and once for love…

Once for blood: Mirri Maz Duur, probably

Once for gold: might be Jorah’s betrayal, might be the Second Sons’ betrayal, might be something in the future (Daario perhaps)

Once for love: Very confusing right now. But I feel that a treason for love is different from a treason of love – that is, not a lover betraying her. Also, the fact that this is a treason she will know – it may be Dany herself is the executor of this treason for love. Some connect this to Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, I say we can’t be sure, it’s something complex without the full context we need to understand it yet.

Then the Undying show Dany three sets of visions, each related to a certain theme. First theme:

Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth.

His golden crown.

A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him.

Rhaego conquering Westeros, a might-have-been. (Note Dany wasn’t by his side; perhaps if Rhaego had been born, she might have died instead?)

Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman’s name…

Rhaegar, at the Trident.

mother of dragons, daughter of death…

This refers to the last three visions – Viserys, Rhaegar, and Rhaego had to die so that Dany could be the mother of dragons, could be queen in her own right.

Second theme:

Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow.

Stannis.

A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd.

Aegon, the mummer’s dragon.

From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire…

Unknown, almost certainly hasn’t happened yet. May be something Melisandre creates, as she does want to birth dragons from stone, and she makes shadow illusions and actual shadow creatures. May be related to something Euron does at the Hightower. We’ll just have to see.

mother of dragons, slayer of lies…

Again, referring to the last three visions – Dany must slay the lies that Stannis is Azor Ahai (she is), that Aegon is the Targaryen ruler of Westeros (nope, that’s her, he’s a Blackfyre), and whatever the lie is regarding the shadow dragon. (If it’s Melisandre’s creation, it’s probably regarding the prophecy that Azor Ahai Reborn would wake dragons from stone, because again, that’s Dany.)

Third theme:

Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars.

Dany’s wedding night with Drogo.

A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly.

Uncertain. May be Hizdahr zo Loraq, dead and made the figurehead of Victarion’s ship (as Euron does to Aeron in his first TWOW chapter). May be a punning reference to a “grey joy”, either Euron or Victarion. (With Euron’s living figurehead thing being a metaphor for him by proxy.) We need TWOW before we can be sure, unfortunately.

A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness…

Jon Snow, the son of Lyanna Stark (given a crown of blue roses by Rhaegar), at the Wall.

mother of dragons, bride of fire…

The theme for these last three visions is Dany as a bride, so almost certainly these visions show her husbands. (That’s why the uncertainty with the second vision, as she did marry Hizdahr, but Euron and Victarion have both declared their pursuit of her and the willingness to kill anyone in their way.) And of course, the third vision is a major reason for the existence of the Jon/Dany ship amongst book readers, especially because of the “sweetness”, the suggestion that this marriage, at least, will be for love.

Then there’s a last series of visions, showing Dany where she came from, what she will become:

Shadows whirled and danced inside a tent, boneless and terrible.

Mirri Maz Duur’s tent, where she performed the ritual that saved Drogo’s life (but not his soul and mind) and killed Rhaego.

A little girl ran barefoot toward a big house with a red door.

Almost certainly little Dany in Braavos, but some wonder if this is a vision of the future, Dany’s own daughter.

Mirri Maz Duur shrieked in the flames, a dragon bursting from her brow.

The birth of Dany’s dragons (metaphorically).

Behind a silver horse the bloody corpse of a naked man bounced and dragged.

The wineseller who tried to assassinate Dany at Vaes Dothrak. (And the reason why Drogo decided to support her conquering Westeros, the reason he ended up in the battle where he took his deathly wound.)

A white lion ran through grass taller than a man.

This may be the hrakkar Drogo slew in the Dothraki Sea, whose pelt Dany now wears. Or it may be a metaphorical vision, referring to Tyrion (a lion of Lannister with white-blond hair, and a dwarf). We’ll just have to see.

Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed.

Hasn’t happened yet, but will – after Dany is brought to Vaes Dothrak by the khalasar that finds her in the wilderness at the end of ADWD, something will happen (perhaps the fire for death), and the dosh khaleen will accept that she is truly the promised prince, the khal of khals, the Stallion Who Mounts the World.

Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver, riding like the wind. “Mother!” they cried. “Mother, mother!”

The mhysa scene, after Dany frees the slaves of Yunkai.

And that’s it. Hope that helps!

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lordofpinecrest-blog · 5 years

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SEASON 8 EPISODE 5 BELLS

In my opinion, Episode 5 was a great one and one of the best ever. Drogon was all WOW! Some of the best televisions cinematography ever. How fitting was it that on Mother’s Day, that we saw the Mother of Dragons get her revenge for the death of her two children? And then we saw the other mother die as she wept in her lover’s arms? Happy Mother’s Day to them!!

We began with what the Game of Thrones always gets back to: treachery. The Spider talking to Jon Snow, saying “every time a Targaryen is born, the Gods flip a coin.” Do you remember Cersei saying that to Tyrion back in Season 2? The reference is to children born from adultery. But Varys is talking treason and Jon will have nothing to do with it. Was Jon being just loyal or just being naive again? And I guess I was wrong about Sansa as she clearly broke her oath to Jon as it does appear that Sansa told the Imp who Jon really was. But could he have been lying to Daenerys? Still not sure. Our Queen uses the word “TRUST” with Tyrian, and we know that never works out.

Did anyone see Tyrion turning on Lord Varys” I didn’t. As it turns out, Tyrion is the clever one. Good bye old friend” are the Master of Whispers last words before Drogon toasts him. How cool did Drogon look when we first saw him behind his mother? And so the madness begins. Or perhaps, it already had. I thought Daenerys started to lose control when she found out Sansa broke her oath to Jon and told Tyrion who Jon really was. The Mother of Dragons feeling alone with fear as her only weapon. This despite Jon saying he loved her and wanted no part of the Iron Throne. One thing is for sure, Danny looks like she has aged 10 years over the last few weeks. Hey Jon, a little TLC might have saved the day! But Jon never seems to get it right.

In Dragonstone, Daenerys looks as if she is already sitting on the Iron Throne as she rejects Tyrion’s plea for mercy. She points out quite correctly, that Cersei equates mercy with weakness. I agree with that 100%. Tyrion begs the Queen to hold off the attack if the bells are rung in King’s Landing, and we see Daenerys nod a “yes” to Greyworm. Did you think when she nodded, it was a yes to call off the attack or a “yes” to go full Dracarys? Love the way the show does the double meanings,

More news. Danny tells the Imp that Jamie was captured trying to get to Cersei. And then a threat that may come back to haunt us “The next time you fail me, will be the last time you fail me.” And we know that Tyrion helped Jamie escape. Will that come back to haunt him? How can it not.

People are pouring into King’s Landing. Troops assembling for the attack. The Hound and Arya riding to King’s Landing. And to know one’s surprise, family wins out again as Tyrion saves his brother. And for those who thought Jamie still had some good in him, what did you think when he echoed his sisters’ feelings, that he didn’t’ care for the millions who were going to die, whether innocents or not? Tyrion tells Jamie how he can escape with Cersei to Pintos and begs him to do sp. Tyrion, despite all that Cersei has done to him, Tyrion still loves her as she is family. A tear jerker goodbye but a genuine one for these brothers. And when Tyrion tells Jamie to ring the bells, we know that he took Daenerys’s nod as a good sign. OOPS!

Next-BATTLE STATIONS! RED ALERT! Euron readying the Iron Fleet with his men loading the dragon catapults. Thousands of innocents running for “safety” behind the walls of King’s Landing, and two not so innocent, the Hound and Arya. And wasn’t the commander of the Golden Company an IDIOT for having his troops line up outside the gates? What was he thinking? That the better dressed army would win!

And then we have our first look at Cersei. This time dressed in red-cold as ice as she stares out as thousands are trapped when the gates are ordered closed. One of the soldiers feels a breeze as dust blows by and Euron feels it to. He shields his eyes and looks high into the sky. At first he smiles when he spots Drogon. But not for long uUnlike his siblings, Drogon has a TRUSTED pilot flying him as The Mother of Dragons skillfully dodges the incoming bolts. And then Drogon is launched in a full DRACARYS attack mode. First Daenerys burns the Iron Fleet and then she toast the Scorpions dragon killing machines outside the walls of King’s Landing. The Golden Army knows something smells afoot and the next thing we see are the gates of King’s Landing exploding in fire as Drogon continues with his carnage. The commander runs but cannot escape the galloping Dothraki army. How fitting was it that Grey Worm was the one who put him down? The Lannister army is no match against them and Drogon as the Mother of Dragons shows no mercy.

Cersei watches on, same cold face as her city burns. Doesn’t seem to care. But her brother does as we walks through the death. Cersei cannot accept defeat, even when Qyburn tells her the Iron Fleet is burning and that all the Scorpions have been destroyed. And despite Her Grace’s claim that her troops will die for her, they see what they are up against and they drop their swords and surrender. As Jamie runs to join his sister, Tyrion is looking and hoping for the bells to be rung. A brief standoff and the bells rings. Battle over-right? Nope.

Next we see the shadow of Drogon’s wings flying over King’s Landing. Do you remember back in Season 2 when Daenerys saw that vision when she was in the House of the Undying? She also saw King’s Landing reduced to ashes. Prophecy coming true. Despite the bells, our Mother of Dragons goes full Mad Queen and literally burns them all. Innocents and armies alike. And then Grey Worm does the same. And now we know what the “nod” really meant. Not mercy, just killing. Grey Worm is getting his revenge as he is just as unhinged as Danny. Meanwhile, Tyrion can only look on in shock. Even Jon is shaken as he kills on his own soldiers to save an innocent woman.

And what looks like the same spot where Tyrion sailed away from King’s Landing, Euron washes up and fights Jamie. I didn’t think much of the fight between Euron and Jamie, but I guess it was fitting for the Kingslayer to kill another “king.” And while dying, Euron smiles as he thinks he killed Jamie Lannister. But Euron should have known, what is dead can never die.

All the while, The Mother of Dragons turns her attention to the Red Keep as she has Drogon slowly torch it. I think she wanted to keep Her Grace alive to see all her people die. And as Qyburn finally convinces a crying Cersei to retreat for safety, did you notice that Drogon’s fire was setting off wild fire in King’s Landing? So who is to say that Cersei wasn’t planning the same thing for her people? After all, I don’t think she was crying for her dead people; she was crying only because she lost. Next we have the Hound with Arya standing on the Lannister map. The Red Keep is all but gone, but the Hound has some wisdom left in him when he convinces Arya to leave and to save her life. He has known revenge all his life and tells her to “Look at me. Do want to be like me?” And what a reply “Sandor, thank you.” as they go their separate ways. Touching end to their relationship. The Hound is off to face his brother. I did like that in the end, the Mountain refused to obey his Queen and killed Qyburn, swatting him away like the mosquito that he was. As for the Glegane Bowl itself, it was just okay. As the Hound said, the Mountain just wouldn’t die. We see the Mountain start to gauge out the Hound’s eyes in the same way he did to the Red Viper. But the Mountain gets a second life; he stabs his brother in the head, but still can’t kill him. So what does he do? He lock a hold of him as he pushes himself and the Mountain off the ledge as they plunged to their deaths in fire. The way they dies, in fire, was a very symbolic way for them to die and it fit perfectly.

And while this was going on, what was going through Arya’s mind as she ties to leave the city? She knows what a monster the Dragon Queen become.

Did anybody besides me think that when Jamie showed up by Cersei’s side that he was dead and that it was Arya ready to kill Cersei? I really thought that. But no, this brother and sister also die in each others’ arms. Cersei crying she doesn’t want their baby to die, that she doesn’t want to die. And Jamie, with his last breath, repeating what Cersei said to Jaime seasons ago “Nothing matters but us.” A fitting last line as the rest of the Red Keep crushes down on them. Some don’t think they died, but I do.

We end with Arya covered in blood and ash. Silence as nobody around her is alive. She stares a burned mother and child Only to spot a white horse-could it have been Tywin Lannister’s horse? She touches the horse gently and then rides out of a completely destroyed King’s Landing. No words. But where is she going?

Again, I thought it was a terrific episode. The dragon scenes were amazing. And while I was in full dragon mode, could anybody have been in a dinosaur mode and watched a Raptor? NO WAY! And just like earlier in the Season, a lot of it came down to relationships. This time, many really ended. But what of the living? What will be Jon’s relationship with Daenerys? What about Tyrion, who in the words of Bruce Springsteen, looked out over his city in ruins. Does the Imp realize he backed the wrong person to sit on the Iron Throne? Could he become a Queen Slayer as his brother was a King Slayer? Or will it be another kill for Arya? Have we seen the last of Sansa? Hope not. Some say Daenerys was right to do what she did, that she was driven to it by her foes? Do you agree?

Well only one episode left and we still do not know who will sit on the Iron Throne. Most think the Jon as Aegon Targaryen will become the King. But to do so, he will need help from others as Danny seems to be in full control. And she still has Drogon. Or will somebody kill Drogon? Doesn’t that have to happen to end the reign of Daenerys? I think so. Lot’s to think about as we are around the stretch and headed for the finish line.

Let me know what you think.

The Lord of Pinecrest

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tialovestelevision · 7 years

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Amends

It’s a Buffy Christmas episode! Let’s see what I find. 1. We’re now being reminded of the Evil Angel story. And Xander’s awfulness. 2. And Angel flashbacks. Fun times. 3. “Daniel! Be of good cheer! It’s Christmas!” *chomp* 4. “Vampires probably aren’t that big on Christmas, now that I think about it.” 5. And now Angel sees Daniel. 6. “Xander, enough, okay?” 7. “Tree. Nog. Roast beast.” Love the Grinch reference. 8. Cordy has the best Christmas vacation. Since she comes from a family with serious money, that’s to be expected. 9. Them bringing up Willow’s Judaism raises a salient point. Why do crosses work on vampires? Do other religious symbols? That’s something the show really ought to ask, but doesn’t seem interested in. 10. Hey! Oz came over to talk to Willow. 11. Willow, please stop interrupting Oz. Let him talk. 12. “This is what I do know. I miss you. Like, every second. It feels like I lost an arm. Or, worse, a torso. So I think I’d be willing to give it a shot.” Oz, communicating. 13. “Do you want us to hug now?” “Yeah, I’m good for that.” Communicating and respecting boundaries! They can learn! 14. “Faith and I don’t really hang out, or talk, or make eye contact lately.” You should. 15. “You’re still number one on the guilt trip, mom.” Yes. Yes, she is. That’s kinda essential to why I dislike her so. 16. Joyce doesn’t want to spend Christmas with Giles. Is it because of Anne, or because of Band Candy? 17. A bunch of Christmas trees are dead. That’s probably a bad sign. 18. Blind chanting demons. That’s new! 19. Even the cheap hotels I’ve stayed in have usually had good TVs. Faith must be at a really, really shitty motel. 20. The scene with Buffy and Faith there was kind of nice. 21. Angel is visiting Giles. And asking for help. Giles is not letting Angel in before he has his crossbow. This is understandable caution. Better would be to not invite him in at all - talking across the threshold and going out together, without an invite ever happening. 22. Angel wants to know how he got back. Good question. 23. Angel sees dead people. 24. Now he’s dreaming about his past. We’re going to meet someone else he’s murdered, then he’ll see an apparation of them. 25. And… now Buffy is having dreams instead? About Angel’s past and him eating people? Nothing makes sense! 26. Jenny is visiting Angel. 27. Jenny turned into that other guy Angel killed. 28. “I’m not seeing him any more. I’m trying to put this behind me. And I’m not going to be able to as long as we’re both doing guest spots in each other’s dreams.” 29. “We start, unsurprisingly, with research.” Giles never disappoints. 30. You can’t make Oz trust you, Willow. You can keep showing him that you can be trusted, and he can choose whether and how much to trust you. 31. Angel’s being tormented by more dead people. They’re bringing up his pitiful first life. 32. “I don’t want to hurt you, Angel, but you’ve got to understand. Cruelty is the only thing you ever had a talent for.” 33. If Buffy didn’t have Slayer regeneration she’d be lining herself up for a bad neck pain. 34. Sex flashbacks! 35. This is far more explicit than the first time we saw it. 36. And there’s another one of the no-eyed demons. 37. Huh. Did whatever the dead people are bring Angel back from Hell? 38. Ahh. That’s what I thought was going on. 39. So now Buffy has to fight the Harbringers of the First. 40. Willy likes people to feel all right, even if they threaten him. 41. Willow is dressed all sexy and stuff. 42. Ohgod. She’s playing Barry White. 43. Willow is trying to seduce Oz. She’s not very good at it. But that’s less important than him not being ready. 44. Once again, Oz is Good Communication Guy. 45. Joyce has lit a fire and turned the air conditioner on. And hey, it’s Faith! There for Christmas Eve! 46. And Angel’s in Buffy’s room. She’s terrified of him and worried for him. These are reasonable responses. 47. She’s not wearing her cross. 48. Ah. Here’s the rub. The First will settle for Angel killing himself. 49. Huh. The Harbringers are under the dead Christmas trees. Nice use of Chekhov’s Gun there. 50. Dig a hole, Buffy! Dig a hole! 51. The First couldn’t help but gloat. That’s likely to be counterproductive. 52. Since Buffy found Angel. 53. “Strong is fighting. It’s hard, and it’s painful, and it’s every day.” 54. It’s snowing. It’s the warmest Christmas ever, and it’s snowing. That’s kind of a lovely image, and it works. 55. I love Faith walking out into the snow. 56. Angel is hanging out in the morning in the snow. Overall: That was very, very good. I know the First comes back in the last season of the show, and even beyond the basic concept of the First making it a perfect final villain for the show to use, I can see why they picked it. In this episode, the First both perfectly uses the voices of the various dead people it takes the images of and establishes a distinct personality. It’s a great villain. The thematics, like so often in Buffy, don’t quite land, but they come close enough for network television, and the story is told well enough that it hardly matters. This might have been the best episode so far this season, with the exception of “Faith, Hope, and Trick,” and I’m really in a good mood after watching it. Too bad I’m about to lose that good mood...

#buffy #buffy the vampire slayer #amends #buffy season 3 #season 3 #the first evil #angel

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lordofpinecrest-blog · 7 years

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SEASON 7 EPISODE 2 STORMBORN

Not sure how most of you felt about the episode, but I thought is was great as it went to the depth of the characters and intrigue. While until the end, there was not much action, there sure was a lot going on. What was great again was how they went from one scene to the next, seamlessly with the connections and undercurrents. To me, except for the ending, the thrust of the episode was all about relationships, whether old ones, new ones, and how they would forge moving forward. Who can be trusted? Remember that word “TRUST?” We also had heterosexual sex, lesbian sex and lost of eunuchs. So let us begin. Still trying to figure out how to write this one, but I am going to start by location and how each character played a roll. I tried to keep it shorter this week, but once again, watching the episode three time made it impossible. Sorry!!

DRAGONSTONE

We start with a violent thunderstorm at Dragonstone. Tyrion tells Daenerys that it was a night like this that she came into the world, and Varys says he remembers that night, thus the name “Daenerys Stormborn.” What follows is a great dialog between Varys and the Mother of Dragons. I don’t know about you, but I have missed the Spider’s soliloquies. The Queen says if Viserys III, her sadistic brother, had arrived with the three dragons and an army at his back, he would have already invaded King’s Landing. But Tyrion says that Danny doesn’t want to be Queen of the Ashes, and she agrees. The tension in the air rivals the bolts of lighting flashing in the background as Daenerys reminds Varys of those he previously supported and turned on. But how great is the Spider when gets on a role? Not backing down, he tells the Queen that there were few rulers in history as cruel as the Mad King, and that while Robert was an improvement, he was basically incompetent so he turned on him as well. But as Daenerys keeps pushing, Varys has to admit that he sent the assassins who plotted to kill her. Tyrion tries to come to his rescue, but as Danny points out, how can he be trusted when he turned on all his previous rulers. And then Varys shows us why he is vital-he is the type of servant the realm needs. “Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty.” A lesson we are learning today!! And when he describes his childhood, the camera pans to Grey Worm and Missandei, both of whom had similar up bringings. Varys goes on to say he will support Daenerys because he believes in her and they make a pact–if Varys believes that the Mother of Dragons is failing the people, he will not conspire against her, but tell her to her face. Done deal!! I also loved Tyrion’s facial expressions during the scene. And don’t forget, in Season 1, when Varys visited Ned Stark while Ned was imprisoned, when Ned asked the Spider who he served, his reply was “The realm my Lord. Someone must.” Consistent if nothing else.

Next, a “surprise” visitor, none other than Melisandre who comes in speaking High Valyrian. For the first time I remember, Varys puts his foot in his mouth when he says the Red Priestess backed a wrong king, Stannis. But forgiveness is in the air as Danny doesn’t hold that against Melisandre. When asked what the Lord of Light wants from her, Melisandre says she can help as she believes in the Prince who can help win the new War for the Dawn. The original Battle of the Dawn took place about 8,000 years ago, led to the defeat of the White Walkers and the building of the Wall. Stormborn seems to know her history and what this means, but says she cannot be the one as she is not a prince. But good thing there was a linguist there, as Missandei says the actual interpretation is gender neutral. So modern!! But then we get to the great stuff. Yes, the Red Priestess believes Daenerys has a role to play in bring the Dawn, but so does the King of the North, Jon Snow. And so it begins, the path toward a meeting we have all been waiting for. And how good was it when Tyrion piped in, vouching for Jon and saying what a good judge of character he is-obviously referring to his judgment of Danny. Missandei says Daenerys should summon the King of the North, but did you pay close attention to how Stormborn did it? She told Tyrion to send a raven North to tell Jon that “his Queen invites him to Dragonstone...” and with cold eyes, to bend his knee. Tyrion didn’t like that part. Forgetting about the “bend the knee” crap, the KEY was the word “invite” and not “order.” More on “invite” later.

WINTERFELL

We go from the mentioning of Jon Snow right to Winterfell. Children being taught the art of war. The raven has arrived from Daenerys with the “invitation” for Jon to come to Dragonstone. Sansa thinks it may be a trap and not written by the Imp. She has learned so much and to be cautious. But Jon knows it is from the Imp because it contains the line about Snow being a bastard. That line comes from Season 1 when they first met. King Robert and the Lannisters had traveled to Winterfell where Robert requested that Ned become Hand of the King. There was the grand feast, but Jon, being a bastard, was not invited. Outside, Tyrion met Jon and the following ensued as Tyrion said “Let me give you some counsel, bastard. Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” To which Jon replied “What do you know about being a bastard?” to which Tyrion replies “All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes.” At that time, we had not yet come to love the Imp as a character, but this may have started that. And while off episode, the next lines also helped fuel the theory that Tywin may not be the Imp’s father. Jon asks Tyrion “You are your mother's true born son of Lannister” to which the Imp replies “Am I? Do tell my lord father. My mother died birthing me, and he's never been sure.” So he could be like Jon, half Targaryen. with her “invitation” to Jon. We see that it is written by Tyrian but Sansa thinks it could be a trap. But Jon knows otherwise as Tyrion ends the note with a quote he said to Jon in Season 1 “All dwarf’s are bastards in their father’s eyes.” That came after they first met and it went like this: “Let me give you some counsel, bastard. Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” To which Jon replied “What do you know about being a bastard?” and then the line “All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes.” And while off episode, the next lines also fuel the theory that Tywin may not be the Imp’s father. Jon asks Tyrion “You are your mother's trueborn son of Lannister” to which the Imp replies “Am I? Do tell my lord father. My mother died birthing me, and he's never been sure.” From that line, the theory of the Imp, like Jon, being half Targaryen. And as mentioned, Tyrion also went to the Wall where he had further discussions with Jon.

I guess my digressions are why my posts are so long, so back to the episode. Jon does ask Sansa her opinion, which I believe is significant, but while Sansa doesn’t fear Tyrion, she is afraid it is too risky. Can’t blame her. Ser Davos is intrigued because he remembers that Jon said fire kills White Walkers so the dragons would be helpful. Did you notice what Tyrion left out of the message? Bend the Knee. He knew The King of the North could never agree to that.

KING’S LANDING

Cut to King’s Landing with Cersei on the Iron Throne. In an anti foreigner Trump like speech, she goes off the rails on both Daenerys and Olenna Tyrell. But she has too if she is going to win so it is a good strategy. As she has often said, live or die. To do so, she must convince Randyll Tarly, who is Sam’s father, to join her. The Tarlys have been banner men of the Tyrells, but Her Grace has made it clear that the Queen of Thrones is now an evil traitor who sides with the foreigners. But it is Jamie, not Cersei, who does the convincing. He first praises him as the only one to defeat Robert Barathean in battle, which is true, and promises Randyll to make him is ranking general if he swears his oath to the Queen. But Randyll is not so easily convinced to turn against House Tyrell, as he says “I'm a Tarly. That name means something. We're not oathbreakers, we're not schemers. We don't stab our rivals in the back, or cut their throats at weddings. I swore an oath to House Tyrell." He is clearly not pleased with a King Slayer or the Red Wedding. But Jamie can be a charmer. Olenna is broken and she brought those foreign savages, the Dothraki, and the debased eunuchs to their shores. And he promises him he can be Warden of the South. Nothing like a good bribe to convince somebody to join your cabinet. Jamie winning the day over Cersei have implications for the future? How cannot it not?

OLD TOWN

The Great Maester and Sam are with Jorah Mormont. The greyscale has spread so much that the GM doesn’t think it can be cured. It is in this scene that Sam discovers that Jorah is the son of his former Lord Commander and you can tell from the look on his face that this moved him.

KING’S LANDING

Back at King’s Landing, we have Qyburn and Cersei in the cellars of the Red Keep where the old dragon skulls from the Targaryen reign are kept. They walk to the great and mighty skull of Balerion, also known as the Black Dread, who was the dragon Aegon rode when he conquered the Seven Kingdoms. He was the largest and most feared dragon of all time. Qyburn says while powerful, dragons are not invincible and to prove it, he has designed a powerful cross bow like weapon to shoot the dragons and he has Cersei pull the trigger as the arrow punches a hole in a rotting skull. A couple of things. First, Qyburn seems to imply the Balerion died from an attack, but the Black Dread was over 200 years old and died of old age. And while Drogon was wounded by spears and arrows, he was younger and much smaller at that time, his scales were not as thick and he couldn’t fly as high as he can now. Third, when Cersei pulled the trigger on the cross bow and then put on her sadistic smile, it reminded me of when Joffrey did the same killing the prostitute Ros, who was delivered to Joffrey by Littlefinger. Remember that?

DRAGONSTONE

War council, dominated by women. Yara, the Sand Snakes, both the daughters and their mother, Ellaria Sand are trying to convince Daenerys to invade King’s Landing with their navy, army and dragons. Yara is right, the city will fall within a day, but at what price? The Imp says tens of thousand will die. Ellaria basically calls Tyrian a wimp, but Tyrion holds his ground, saying they don’t poison little girls here, a reference to his sweet innocent niece, Myrcella. Remember, it was the Imp who made the deal to send Myrcella to Dorne for what he thought was her safety. Good thing Melisandre wasn’t in the room to discuss the death of young girls!! After Stormborn says she is not there to be Queen of the Ashes, Olenna chimes in with a speech about her grand daughter, Margaery, is now ashes and that the people won’t obey Danny unless they fear her. But led by the Imp, Danny has a plan. King’s Landing will be laid siege by the Dornish and Tyrell armies. The Dorne army will be ferried to King’s Landing by Yara’s Iron Island fleet. No Dothraki as the use of foreigners would help convince others to support Cersei. At the same time, the Unsullied will attack Casterly Rock, the Lannister’s stronghold and seat of the true power in Westeros. The “girls” reluctantly agree. But then Olenna has a private meeting with Daenerys, you know, Trump and Putin like; just kidding. Olenna is not thrilled with the plan or with the Imp and she says “He’s a clever man, your Hand. I’ve known a great many clever men. I’ve outlived them all. Do you know why? I ignored them. The Lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.” From what we know, it is never a good thing to predict outliving somebody in the Game of Thrones.

Was it a good, solid plan or were the girls right? History teaches us that laying siege to a city in winter is never a good idea. And while the Tyrells are not used to winter, the Dornes are farther south and really not used to cold weather. Was Tyrion more concerned about innocent people dying or about his brother being in King’s Landing and thus dying there? After all, as Ellaria said, it is war and the Lannisters were at their weakest. Did the Imp blink?

We go on to the love scene between Grey Worm and Missandei. Touching. But is the point that woman are stronger than men because a woman can melt even the strongest man? Let’s hear from you girls!

THE CITADEL

This jump to this scene wasn’t as good. Back at the Citadel, Sam tries to cure Jorah. Is he being disloyal by disobeying orders from the Maesters or showing loyalty to the Night’s Watch and Sam’s former Lord Commander? I say the latter. The scene was very gruesome as Sam carved away the diseased skin off Jorah’s body. If it works, I think we will see Jorah play a key role in protecting his Queen.

ARYA

We go immediately from the gruesome scene of Sam carving Jorah to Arya meeting Hot Pie and carving into one of his delicious creations. How great was it to see Hot Pie after all these years? Hot Pie asked what happened to her, and Arya eyes looked dead. She tells Hot Pie she is headed to King’s Landing when HP drops the bomb-John Snow is alive and King of the North! But curiously, no mention of Sansa. He tells Arya that Jon won the “Battle of the Bastards” and that the Ramseys are dead. Who knew the battle already had a real name in the Seven Kingdoms! So now Arya changes her mind and decides to go North. Ned always taught her the value of family. Hot Pie’s departing words were, “I am a survivor.” I hope that his prophecy does not come to haunt him as he a lovable guy.

I know this scene does not immediately follow, but I wanted to stick with Arya. Any complaints? If so, off with your head! While resting by her campfire, her horse begins to get startled and Arya grows tense. And for the first time in a long time, we can see fear in her eyes. She draws out Needle and we see a pack of wolves circling running around in the woods. The wolves surround her, growling and bearing their teeth, but they don’t attack her or her horse. Then Arya senses something behind her. She turns and we see a HUGE, and I mean HUGE wolf. It is Nymeria!!! They both recogonize each other, but I think Nymeria knew it was Arya when she approached her and when the wolves were circling. Arya tells the Direwolf she is going home and asks her to come with her. But Nymeria turns away with her army of wolves. And a very sad Arya, says, and I know it was hard to hear, “It’s not you.” Being commanded back into civilization and under Arya’s command is not just what Nymeria can do or is.

A couple of things. In the books, Arya dreamed of Nymeria and warged with her and that is why I think Nymeria knew it was Arya. I never understood why the show downplayed the warging and the magic connected with it as it was so important in the books. Also in the books, the direwolves communicated with each other. And for the first time, we see how a direwolf should size wise look. HUGE. Ser Lane Abraham speculates that Shaggy Dog may still be alive because the head Ramsey had as proof that he had Rickon was too small. In fact, it should have been much bigger. Will Nymeria play a role in the future? The directors are fearful, that unlike the dragons, a direwolf does not look real enough and they are expensive. But I have to say, Nymeria looked pretty real. What role could she play? When Arya asked her to come with her, Nymeria turned away. She is in many ways, a powerful queen of a large army. And what has that army been doing? Ravaging Stark enemies. So could Nymeria do that if the Lannister’s marshal forces to march North? Or protect Arya as she heads North to Winterfell?

As for Arya, as Ser Brad Roller Pointed out, her departing line to Nymeria “That’s no me” was the same thing she told her father in Season One when Ned said she could be a princess. So Arya is off to Winterfell and I think she will help Sansa fend off Littlefinger. As with Jon, Sansa did not have a good relationship with Arya, but that will change. Many have asked whether Arya knows whether Littlefinger betrayed her father. She may suspect it, but does not know for sure. But she may encounter somebody that does and who may tell her: The Hound.

WINTERFELL

As Arya decides to go North, we naturally go back to Winterfell. Another raven has arrived, this from Sam telling Jon of the mountain of dragon glass that sits under Dragonstone. Jon tells his banner men of that message and the one from Daenerys. He tells them he plans on accepting Tyrion’s invitation to go Dragonstone to meet Daenerys. Sansa is STUNNED! All the banner man are against Jon leaving, including Lyanna Mormont. With an impassioned speech, where he reminds everyone that, unlike him, they have never seen the Army of the Dead and that they cannot defeat them alone; they need allies. To protect his beloved North, he is willing to take the risk of going to Dragonstone. And in a show of true leadership, he appoints Sansa as “Queen of the North.” What made this scene even greater was the camera panning to other faces. Sansa, giving a nod that she deserved it and truly accepted what Jon said. Brienne smiling in approvement. And Littlefinger, with his smirkish smile, happy as well.

Down in the crypts there is short confrontation. As Jon looks on at Ned, Lord Baelish says to give Tyrion his best. He then goes on to say that he was sorry that Ned died–even though he set him up. But he goes on to say he loves Sansa and then Jon threatens him. But Littlefinger only smiles. Then Jon rides off with the Onion Knight and some others. I thought Pod would be joining them as he was Tyrion’s squire. Wouldn’t that have made sense? The scene ends with the worried stare of Sansa as Jon rides off and Lord Baelish staring up at her. Littlefinger is obviously plotting to become the King of the North and more.

Many have raised the issue of “trust” and whether Danny will turn on Jon. But I don’t believe The Mother of Dragons can do that when Jon first arrives. Tyrion invited him and the Imp does abide by the Rules of Hospitality. So he will be safe, at least for now. Anyone disagree?

GREYJOY FLEET

In the episode, we went from Arya and Nymeria, to the Greyjoy fleet sailing to Dorne to get their troops and then sail to King’s Landing. We have the scene with Yara and Ellaria and the teasing of Theon. Arya says that Theon will be her protector. All of them are so confident. But then all hell breaks lose. Euron’s fleet has somehow discovered them. He has a strong force and after fierce combat, he smashes his foes, killing both of Ellaria’s children and capturing both Yara and Ellaria. So now we know Ellaria was the gift Euron promised Cersei. But for some reason, he chooses not to kill Yara. Could that come back to haunt him? We see Euron as a fierce fighter with a crazy look about him. I mean really crazy, We also see Theon not protecting his sister and jumping overboard. His thoughts went back to Reek and the torture he suffered. Did you notice that when Ellaria said “kill me already” that Euron’s men said nothing but merely shook their heads no. That is because, as we know from the books, Euron’s ship is named the “Silence” and he had all the tongues of his crew ripped out. Theon sees that happening, so he abandons ship.

Two questions. First, we know the Dornes use poison. Euron was stabbed by the Sand Snakes. Could his days be dying from poison? And if poisoned, will Cersei have Qyburn save him? I say no.

Second, how did Euron know where Yara’s fleet was? It is a big sea. There must be a spy. The internet was full of guesses, including Olenna. That theory on the Queen of Thorns was if the Dorne’s couldn’t get to King’s Landing, the Mother of Dragons would be forced to use her Dragon’s to wipe out King’s Landing. Plus Olenna wants to keep her troops in High Garden to protect against an attack. While anything is possible, I think it is more likely that Euron had a spy from the Iron Islands on Yara’s fleet. And how disappointing is it that the Spider no longer seems to be the one with all the spies?

One last thing. Remember when I asked who was right-Tyrion or the “girls?” If Daenerys had sided with the Yara, the Sand Snakes and Olenna, most of her soldiers would have been on Yara’s fleet. While they would have had more troops to fight Euron’s men, the result would have most likely been the same–a sounding defeat and the loss of the Dragon Queen’s army. So maybe it is good to listen to a clever man, especially if the clever man is Tyrion. Agreed?

RECAP

So much went on again with the characters filling the screen. The table cloth is now down as we continue to set the table. I am now more starved for next week than last week.

I was debating on what picture to use. I usually relate it to the title of the episode. And given this weeks title “Stormborn” I thought of Daenerys or a violent thunderstorm. But as I am sure Prince Louis guessed, I had to go with Nymeria!! Just love the Direwolves.

Common all my humble servants. Email comments and let’s start a real discussion!!

One more thing. A special shout out to a good client and better friend, Paul Feldman. He is new to the blog but realized that getting this done was more important then getting the legal work done today. Now that is a person who knows how to prioritize!!!

As for any typos, I am Your Grace!!

Until next week,

Eric, the Lord of Pinecrest

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