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lanshappycorner · 3 years

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Deuce Spade facts and fun facts🥳🥳

This is a list of facts and fun facts about Deuce! This list is based on true facts only and any observations I've made, however observations can be subjective, so those will be labeled properly! Let's start off with some facts already in the wiki :)

First Yr, class 1-A, student no.24

Birthday: June 3

Age: at the beginning of the game, Deuce is 16, but currently, he is 17 [his profile in game has not been updated, but as time is proven to flow in game, it is unclear but can be interpreted that the characters do canonly age]

Gemini

173 cm / 5'8" ft

Homeland: Rose kingdom

Family: Mother, Grandmother, it is implied that his father is out of the picture as Deuce states that he is the only man in the family so his father has either left or is dead

Club: Track and Field [alongside Jack]

Best subject: PE

Dominant hand: Right

Fav food: Egg dishes / omurice

Least fav food: Bell peppers

Dislikes: Limited time sales

Hobby: Magical wheel (twst motorcycle I guess but it looks kinda funky)

Talents: Machinery Maintainance [good with fixing gadgets and etc]

Used to be a delinquent before he heard his mother crying on the phone to his grandmother about his behavior. Afterwards he decided to change

Owns a pink leopard printed suit

Cannot do middle school math, he will take a lot of time to solve simple Algebra problems

Gets nervous and stops functioning entirely when talking to women

Onto some fun facts outside of the wiki! These facts have been gathered from various sources (ppl who can read japanese, ppl who have told me abt info in the twst guidebook, twitter, and ofc the main translated story), but I cannot prove 100% authenticity of this, so take it with a gain of salt

Canonly a pretty boy. Deuce is described as the "cool pretty type" in the twst guidebook

Smells like flowers [applies to all students from Rose kingdom]

A romantic, he admired the king and queen of heart's relationship and trey teased him about it

Thought that baby chicks hatch from store bought eggs until the MC and Grim told him the truth

Can cook eggs (he likes them over easy)

Wanted to make a magical wheel club but was rejected so he joined track and field

Bought magical wheel magazines when he was younger and studied it

Wanted to ride his magical wheel in the heartslabyul maze (mentioned he forgets bad things when he rides it so like...it makes him feel better)

Hates limited times sales/shopping but is extremely good at it. He can remember the price of an item, when exactly it sells out, the percentage/probability of when it can sell out, discount prices and pretty much any math that has to do with it [he's extremely good at shopping because his mother brought him out a lot with her to limited time sales]

In addition to the point above, it is implied he can memorize and calculate that for pretty much every item he intends on buying (everything I listed above is in relation to the time he bought 20 limited time puddings which greatly impressed Sebek who wasn't able to grab even 1, but it was later revealed that he also bought 8 bag full of items requested by Trey for baking, as well as the others probably from heartslabyul) so basically Deuce big brain and very good memorization abilities

Hilariously in the instance above, Sebek, who is like...a real fae, has said that what Deuce did was not something a human can do

Flirted with a plant because vil was fucking around with him and told him to

Was ready to fist fight Riddle

Was about to go find Leona to beat him up but Vil was like do u have no fear and Deuce pretty much said that he can get thru to Leona with his muscles

Was about to fight Malleus (jesus christ) but ended up fixing his tamagotchi and came out completely loaded and rich (good for deuce, get that cha ching babey)

Won a Track and Field competition (noted to be rare for a first year)

He is literally a pretty boy, it's been pointed out that he looks good in the ceremonial clothes (but we already know that)

Admires Riddle and sees him as a role model, has called him boss (like...yakuza boss terminology) once

[Observation] Has a pretty good relationship with Jamil as he has asked Jamil to help him practice his Stargazer dance, and mentioned him once again when talking about how Jamil fixed his hat and said that he was a reliable upperclassman

Has said fuck and would not hesitate to say it again 🥺

Has been called honest and cute, was fawned over by kalim and trey. Kalim said Deuce was similar to his younger brothers

During his delinquent phase, he was blamed for many things he didn't do as well, Deuce said that he realized no one believed in him despite what he says, but because a policeman stood up for him, he wanted to become a cop when he grew up

Used intimidation tactics [the equivalent of "u wanna fucking go let's go I'll beat ur ass" to scare off ppl and silver was like hm I will have to try that sometime, to which deuce was pretty much like ahahah no dont

Deuce refers to Yuu as his "mabu", basically calling Yuu his best friend

He can change a lightbulb, and he talks abt hand washing materials and just domestic house stuff in general as if it's common knowledge. In other words it's implied Deuce is really good at housework due to doing a lot for his mother

When he was a kid, he used to cry because he thought there were monsters outside, but it was just hanging laundry

Is more scared of Riddle than ghosts

It's implied that one time (or several times...) he stayed after school with Crewel, and the poor guy had to attempt to explain the same concept over and over again to Deuce for hours until he understood

Ace always cheats in card games with Deuce, so Deuce claims that it's not very fun playing with him

Bad at astrology bc apparently all stars look the same to him

Likes cafe latte

Does tease ppl, he once messed with Yuu and in the process called Ace "Ace-kun" (Ace called him "Deuce-kun" as well). There has been an instance where he's teased Jack about his Niceness TM

Used to have over 30 gang members following him at age 14-15. (You'd think that him being so young would make him like a lackey but no he was the boss)

Has a thing for summoning cauldrons since he was young, but apparently you need to have a large amount of magic capabilities to summon objects, so [observation] deuce may actually be extremely powerful bc he was able to summon things at a young age, but he hasn't refined his powers yet so he still seems weak compared to a lot of the cast

During his delinquent phase, apparently he had a really wild hairstyle and he used his magic on people weaker than him

[Observation] Deuce is actually pretty good at lying. In his Halloween card he was able to put up a good act and deceive some of his ex gang members into following him into the forest before mildly roughing them up (keep in mind that he has not had contact with these ppl for at least a year, yet somehow he was able to assert enough authority to tell them to follow him. Also, he thought of this plan on the spot, and acted malicious enough so that the gang members would believe in him—which proves that he's not only quick witted but a convincing actor, as Jamil actually believed his act for a while)

It's implied that he and Ace are often in leadership positions, as they helped to lead heartslabyul in designing their Halloween booth, but they also mentioned that it was much easier compared to organizing unbirthday parties

[Observation] despite wanting to be an honor student, Deuce is still able to take unjustly means to achieve his goals (EX. Making a deal with Azul to pass his test), in general, deuce doesn't care too much about the method, be it through cheating or violence to get to his goal, but he does value a fair battle

[Observation] a lot of Deuce's strengths are subtle as we are frequently told abt how much of a bad student he is, but if u rly think abt it, deuce is put in leadership positions a lot, he's good a memorization and small technical details, he can be at times quick witted and deceiving, and he has the potential to be extremely powerful in magic. In conclusion Deuce is a menace and once we find out what his unique magic is I'm 100.01% sure he will become a greater menace and I think he should fight a lot of people and win

That will be all for this post! There may be more fun facts/observations that I may have missed, but feel free to add on to this! Anyways thank u for reading and please stan Deuce Spade♠️💙

#please read this i spent hours on it <3 #i am sorry for being a walking deuce encyclopedia #twisted wonderland #deuce spade #twisted wonderland deuce #twst deuce

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evalinashryver · 3 years

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A Mysterious Stranger: thoughts on Gwyn’s unknown father

Gwyneth Berdara: our lovely cinnammon roll who could actually kill you who was introduced in ACOSF and who took the fandom by storm. She’s strong, brave, good and optimistic despite a dark past, a great friend that Nesta desperately needed. Her potential as a character is extraordinary, both because of the development and healing she needs to undergo, her connection with the Valkyries and Nesta and a very mysterious — and interesting! — family tree.

@yazthebookish did a great meta elaborating on Gwyn's maternal bloodline, connecting her with the Autumn Court and, more specifically, to Eris, which you can find and read (here). As you can guess by the title, we’ll not be diving into that side of the family, but rather about the mysterious stranger who so happens to be her father.

Firstly, I want to clarify that we actually have almost no information on Gwyn's father except for this one line in ACOSF: I, we—my sister and I, I mean—were the result of that sacred union with a male stranger. If we apply Occam's Razor to try and figure out his identity, the solution that covers all available data and makes the fewest leaps of logic is that this mysterious male is just that: a mysterious male, irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

But let's be honest— we all know how unlikely that is in a fantasy and ficiton setting. How many books out there do we have where a character’s unknown father (because yes, it’s hardly ever the mothers) turns out to be of relevance? And SJM does love to give her character something extra, something more, that makes them stand out from those surrouding them.

Look at ToG: how many of them either came from important bloodlines or were blessed by some kind of God? Aelin and Dorian are royals and a descendant of Mala herself; Yrene, introduced a novella and expanded upon Tower of Dawn, comes from an ancient line of healers dating centuries back; the key players are nearly all tied to some deity.

In ACoTaR itself, both Azriel and Cassian don't really come from special bloodlines (that we know of), but are extremely powerful to make up for it. The Archeron sisters? Their father was the Prince of Merchants, and there may be something else to their bloodline that we don’t yet know like, say, being descendants of the Fae who imprisoned Koschei. Feyre ended the curse and a silver of the High Lord’s magic, Nesta took from the Cauldron when she went down, and it loved Elain so much it voluntarily gave her more.

So let's put in our tinfoil hats and ask: what if Gwyn's paternal side is more than what it appears to be?

We all know Sarah loves Mythology and folklore and is constantly lifting things directly from it, be it names or concepts. Sometimes she picks and chooses and blends them together to create her own thing, other times she doesn’t even bother as much. Nyx's own name, for instance, or the High King Fionn, from the Irish legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill.

It’s fairly common in mythology and folklore for deities and supernatural beings to take different guises and seduce different women, then disappear and leaving them behind with a child, unbeknownst to them. Some already know from the start, but other times, the child grows up and only learns of their parentage when fate comes calling.

There's one god I'd like to call attention to, though. One norse God who is known to wander through the nine worlds, with a nearly insatiable thirst for knowledge: Odin. Wait, Ella, why Odin, of all of them? Because the Valkyries are his daughters. It's true that ACoTaR's Valkyries more closely mirror the Amazons than the Norse Valkyries themselves, but the connection is still there. And who brought the Valkyries up first, questioned why they didn't use Valkyrie technics (even though Nesta suggested mixing it with th Illyrians), and perhaps most symbolic, she was the first to cut the ribbon.

Gwyn, first of the new Valkyries.

We know from Sarah's multiverse that there are ways to travel between worlds; in ACoTaR, the harp itself allows one to open any door; in ToG, we have the wyrdkeys and the gates. So what if Gwyn's father was one such worldwaker, who just so happened to be passing by then? This could potentially tie her in with the greater forces at work, the otherworldly beings which Koschei and the Bone Carver are a part of. A child of secret knowledge.

That's the first assumption/idea. The second one is the other reason why I selected Odin: in the Norse versions of the story, he's the leader of Wild Hunt. ACoSF introduces us to the concept in the verse, this is what we know of it: "The Wild Hunt was a way to keep all of us in line. They’d gather a host of their fiercest, most merciless warriors and grant them free rein to kill as they pleased."

What's even funnier is that Odin, despite our current image of him, was far more related to the more berserker warriors and the frenzy of the combat. The Valkyries, the choosers of the slain, picked the most valiant and fiercest of warriors, half of whom became einherjar— and here I'd like to point out that they stemmed or were influenced probably from a common source, as the Wild Hunt is a ghostly horde (that does not seem to be the case in ACOTAR, but the connection is there).

Which brings me to another possibility: what if Gwyn's father is one the Daglan? We know they were cast down and hunted down, likely by Fionn (Rhys says that this one of the strains, but I'm going to go with it being true to Prythian), but just like there were Fae who fought with the humans in the Great War, were there not Daglan who sided with the Fae and Humans? We know that after they were cast down, the Fae hunt them down and imprisoned them, slowly, but how many managed to survive and live out there, in hiding? Even if they were not evil, the Daglan were demonized. Just like the Fae imprisoned Amren for thinking her one of their enemies, they could have turned against the Daglan who actually helped them.

The Daglan are, to me, inspired by the Fomorians who are described to be gods associated with the destructive powers of nature, being in direct opposition to the other race of gods, who are associated with more positive things. They also dwelled under the sea or under the earth. Cassian gives us Lubia as a seamonster. But under the Earth? We have the halls of the Prison, Under the Mountain, Hewn City... And yet unexplored Ramiel. With how the Hewn City designs were connected to the hounds of the hunt, these to me were important places of the Daglan of old. They might've even held the Dread Trove, once upon a time, and maybe Ramiel still does, or at least a clue towards it.

Gwyn being half-Daglan could neatly connect her to the overarching plot of the series, which seems to be going further into how the world was before the Fae took rulership. It would also tie her in with the otherworldly beings and plot that's emerging, and allow her to play a greater role. Would she be able to scry the fourth trove? No, but she and Azriel — because I firmly believe the next book is his — might be able to figure out and unveil the shadows surrounding the fourth trove.

This is very tinfoil-y and I'll readily admit that, but it's a thought that grabbed me and won't let go so I'm throwing it out there! Enjoy!

#gwyneth berdara #gwynriel #i hope this makes SOME sense #I'm tired af #yes yes i know this is far-fetched but IT'S A FUN IDEA #also thanks to everyone on discord who debated it ily

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chaos-of-the-abyss · 3 years

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Why Dany’s Motivation for Abolishing Slavery is Not “Condescending Compassion”

Anon: Someone I know irl keeps who’s a Dany anti keeps saying that they don’t like Dany because she has “condescending compassion” for the slaves she freed. I really want to argue back because I know they’re wrong, but I can’t articulate why. Could you give me an example of what condescending compassion really is, and explain why that’s not what Dany is showing?

Whew, it’s been a while since I got an ask about Dany, but I’m always open to defend her. This one was long and interesting for me, so I put it in post form rather than just answering the ask. I hope you don’t mind, anon.

Dany’s attitude towards the freedmen and the slaves she wants to free in the future is far from “condescending compassion.”

“Condescending Compassion is when a person feels magnanimous enough not to hold someone's 'faults' against them openly. They can't help being a commoner, idiot, mutant or simply wrong so it would be rude to treat them badly because of it. Instead, they resort to the much better idea that they should be sympathetic or even friendly to that lesser being, but of course, they won't really take them seriously.”

Source

This is not what Dany does. Here’s an actual example of condescending compassion. Under the cut for length and Fate/Grand Order spoilers, even though I really don’t think any of my followers know about or play it except for my constant spamming. Also, I will warn you that I ended up talking more about Fate/Grand Order than Dany because I was trying to explain the example, so... sorry about that. Also I got carried away

Someone who really exhibits a serious case of condescending compassion would be Goetia, the main antagonist of Fate/Grand Order Arc 1: Observer on Timeless Temple. Goetia is one of the seven Evils of Humanity, the Sin of Pity, which is, in essence, the embodiment of condescending compassion. To explain:

Goetia was essentially the collective consciousness of the 72 Demon God Pillars, who were familiars of King Solomon, the founder of magecraft. Solomon made a spell to manifest said collective consciousness as Goetia, so the Demon God Pillars could continue to protect humanity after his death.

As Solomon’s familiar, Goetia shared Solomon’s ability of Clairvoyance, which, in Solomon’s case, enabled him to see all of the past and all of the future. Over time, Goetia became enraged that Solomon refused to do anything about the constant death and suffering of humanity despite being an extremely powerful mage who could see all the hardships that had occurred and were in store (thanks to his Clairvoyance). Thus, after Solomon’s death, Goetia possessed Solomon’s corpse, obtaining the majority of his powers as well as nine of the ten rings given to Solomon by God, which was the source of a good bit of Solomon’s abilities. The tenth ring, however, was sent into the future by Solomon on God’s command, so Goetia wasn’t able to obtain it. That’s an important plot point for later.

Goetia waited until modern day (2018 I think?) and then used measures he had put in place to wipe out all of humanity. Not just the humans living in the present, but all of the humans who had lived in the past were killed, too. So think of it as everyone who exists, ever existed, or will exist, dead. The only survivors were the protagonists of Fate/Grand Order.

After incinerating humanity, Goetia planned to convert all of the destroyed mankind into magical energy, which he would then use to travel back in time to the planet’s creation. He wanted to start Earth all over again and establish a new humanity. However, this new humanity would be different from the old humanity; they would be unchanging, deathless organisms with no biological or emotional flaws, much like Goetia himself.

The thing is, Goetia loved humanity in his own way and wanted what he thought was best for them. It essentially goes like this: Humans know so little, while his knowledge, through his Clairvoyance, borders on omniscience. Humans turn on and hurt each other for their own self-interest, while he is capable of thinking and acting on a much wider scale. Humans have to die eventually, unlike him who’s immortal, and so everything that every single human ever did, in Goetia’s mind, was for nothing. Why would it have meaning, if their only possible option is to die eventually?

Poor things, right? He has to help them. They came out wrong. They’re so weak and hopeless, so he’s going to destroy their existence and their history and create them anew, the right way. (Aka his way.)

The way he loves humanity is belittling. No one wants help from someone who thinks of them like that. This quote is a pretty good summation of his love for humanity, borne of a legitimate case of condescending compassion.

“Do you think being forced to watch the lives of humans is an interesting task, one worthy of me!? I’m sick of it! No matter what happens, they just disappear, and only fear remains! Every human’s life is a story of hate and despair! It’s a terrible thing to watch!”

He invalidates all of humanity’s struggles, every single human’s life, because he’s not human himself. It’s not true that death means that everything that one ever does is pointless, but Goetia, being an immortal being unfamiliar with the concept of death, someone who doesn’t have to worry about an end ever coming to him, doesn’t understand that (for now). This is displayed in the multiple times he asks the protagonist and Mash, the deuteragonist, why. Why do they keep fighting, knowing that they can’t beat him? Even if they somehow could – why do they keep fighting, knowing that they’ll all die one day? Why do they keep fighting, when it’s so pointless?

But then, the basis of Goetia’s immortality is destroyed when Solomon reappears, having actually been one of the protagonist’s main allies disguised as a doctor. Remember that tenth ring that Solomon sent to the future under God’s instruction? Although Goetia has the majority of Solomon’s powers now that he possesses his corpse and the remaining nine rings, the tenth ring was something he never obtained. As it turns out, the real Solomon retrieved that ring, which was used as a catalyst to summon him, when he manifested in the modern era.

Solomon now uses the power of the gathered ten rings to perform his trump card – The Time of Parting Hath Come, I Am He Who Surrenders the World: Ars Nova – to return all of the powers God gave him back to God. In essence, he “closes the curtain” on himself, everything he has ever done, and everything he’s ever created, including Goetia. Ars Nova removes Solomon entirely from existence (rip), but it also removes Goetia’s immortality, and then the protagonist manages to land a fatal blow on him.

A little before Solomon uses Ars Nova and vanishes, he explains to Goetia why he didn’t try to change humanity the way Goetia did, despite seeing all of the past and future and consequently being exposed over and over again to how inevitable humans’ deaths were.

“That’s what you fail to understand, Goetia. Of course nothing is eternal, and pain awaits us all in the end. But that doesn’t make life a story of despair. Not at all. It’s a fight against death and separation in what precious little time one is given. It’s a repetition of meeting and parting, despite knowing there’s an end. ...Humans’ stories are dazzling, brief journeys, like the twinkling of the stars. They are stories of love and hope.”

At first, when he was still immortal, Goetia refused this logic, saying that it’s “deception” on Solomon’s part. Now, though, with Solomon having used Ars Nova and the protagonist having landed a fatal blow, Goetia is dying. For the first time, he’s confronted with the possibility of an end to his existence. He has no way, absolutely no means, to prevent his death now. Yet, when the protagonist attempts to escape the now-crumbling dimension in which Goetia made his temple, Goetia says this. (And I cut out a lot, because this is a long-ass monologue.)

“We finally understand each other. I’m not going to let you leave alive. You will die here with me. ...My dream is in ruins. Everything I did here in this temple, all the time I spent planning... All of it, for naught. [...] No matter what I do here, now, I cannot redeem my failure. Killing you will change nothing. ...This is a meaningless battle. This would have been an unthinkable choice for me before. But...

...Yes, indeed. I also have my pride. Or rather, I do now. I now understand human mentality. Now that I have a limited, mortal life, I finally understand. [...] My name is Goetia. I am the one who used humanity to destroy humanity. The one who strove for what lay beyond. A climax with no one around. ...I strove for an empty wish that none truly wanted. I am born now and I shall perish now. This battle may be without resolution or reward, but I shall put my entire being on the line to crush you. ...My sworn enemy. My hatred. My destiny. I want you to witness this. This brief moment is now my story. This brief but precious time has given the creature called Goetia true life.”

This quote is so poignant. Although Goetia attempts to pull a “taking you with me” on the protagonist, this is a rare example of the trope that is not meant to paint the villain in a final negative light, as a petty sore loser. Rather, it’s an indication that Goetia finally understands Solomon’s view on humanity, why humans strive so hard despite their lives being so short, and why the protagonist and Mash put their everything into fighting him despite knowing that they’ll inevitably die no matter what the outcome is. Humans’ time on earth is, in Goetia’s own words, “brief but precious.” He actually echoes what Solomon said about humans’ stories being “dazzling, brief journeys”, despite having so vehemently rejected it when he was immortal.

There’s no point in Goetia killing the protagonist. Just like he once believed human life to be meaningless, it should be meaningless whether he wins or not; he’ll die no matter what, and his plans are already foiled. When he was immortal, he never would have thought like this.

But Goetia isn’t immortal now. He has a finite lifespan; in fact, he’s about to die. There’s nothing he can do to save himself. Yet, he still wants to take the protagonist down with him, simply because he “has his pride.” And what’s more? Even if he loses, he wants the protagonist to witness his end. He asks to be seen, acknowledged, and remembered, despite all his work having been for nothing.

Both of those desires are human things. Goetia now knows what it’s like to be human. His case of condescending compassion is closed; he no longer looks down on humanity, because he understands them. He empathizes with them. He experiences being human.

But Dany? She never once looked down on the slaves she wanted to free. She doesn’t think, “Oh, poor things. They can’t possibly help themselves, not with how frail and simple they are. They’re so vulnerable, so delicate, so abused. Let me save them.” No.

Dany always understood what it feels like to be owned. She was abused by her brother for years, with no means to protect herself from him. Then she was sold to a man more than twice her age and made into a glorified sex slave, again with no way to defend herself. She’s already experienced something very much like what the slaves she strives to free have gone through. And even though she later gains agency and power, she never forgets what being owned, being unable to fight back, is like.

As the hours passed, the terror grew in Dany, until it was all she could do not to scream. She was afraid of the Dothraki, whose ways seemed alien and monstrous, as if they were beasts in human skins and not true men at all. She was afraid of her brother, of what he might do if she failed him. Most of all, she was afraid of what would happen tonight under the stars, when her brother gave her up to the hulking giant who sat drinking beside her with a face as still and cruel as a bronze mask.

A Game of Thrones – Daenerys II

"There speaks one who has been neither." Dany's nostrils flared. "Do you know what it is like to be sold, squire? I do. My brother sold me to Khal Drogo for the promise of a golden crown. Well, Drogo crowned him in gold, though not as he had wished, and I ... my sun-and-stars made a queen of me, but if he had been a different man, it might have been much otherwise. Do you think I have forgotten how it felt to be afraid?"

A Storm of Swords – Daenerys II

Safe. The word made Dany's eyes fill up with tears. "I want to keep you safe." Missandei was only a child. With her, she felt as if she could be a child too. "No one ever kept me safe when I was little. Well, Ser Willem did, but then he died, and Viserys … I want to protect you but … it is so hard. To be strong. I don't always know what I should do. I must know, though. I am all they have. I am the queen … the … the …"

A Dance with Dragons – Daenerys II

More than anything else, Daenerys always understood that her brother sold her as a bargaining chip – his own sister, and he uses her like some animal hide to trade off. She understood that she could do nothing to defend herself when she was with Viserys, and later, with Drogo. If they wanted to hurt her, no one would have stood up for her, no one would have protected her, and if she tried to protect herself, she would have been punished. She was in the same position as an object; no rights and no guarantees of basic decency. Dany experienced that fear and dehumanization firsthand. She empathizes with the slaves she wants to free in the way that Goetia, only at the end of his life, empathized with humans.

That’s why she wants to abolish slavery. She went through that horror firsthand, and she doesn’t want anyone else to have to go through it again. She wants to protect people from it, because she knows how awful and disgusting and traumatic it is.

TLDR: It’s a complete and gross mischaracterization to write off Dany’s motivations for abolishing slavery as “condescending compassion”. It’s spitting on everything that she suffered from Viserys and from Drogo. It’s empathy, not condescending compassion, that motivates her.

#daenerys targaryen #daenerys defense squad #the queensguard #asoiaf meta #asoiaf quotes #my asoiaf meta #goetia #solomon #fate series meta #fate series quotes #fate series #fate grand order #fate/grand order

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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzel’s Return Part 2

Continuing on from part 1 -

https://rachelbethhines.tumblr.com/post/635068926214258688/tangled-salt-marathon-rapunzels-return-part-1

Summary: When Rapunzel tries to defeat the Saporians by herself she gets captured; but once Varian realizes that the Separatists plan on using one of his potions' destructive properties to destroy Corona, he and Rapunzel work together to stop it.

Let’s Talk About What a Let Down the Sapiorans Are

Throughout seasons one and two the Sapiorans were built up to be this intriguing race of people with a complex past and real problems that are sadly relatable to this day. They had a history, goal, motives, and special abilities like magic.

Yet all we got was a really bad hipster parody.

Heck, the crew can’t even keep it’s stereotypes right because they mostly slide into hippy territory instead. Hipsters, Yuppies, and Hippies are three distinctive counter culture movements for three different generations with completely different social concerns and fads.

Basically Chris tried to “stick it to the kids” again and just wound up insulting his parents' generation instead because he’s that oblivious of other human beings.

And that’s not even taking into account that previously the Sapiorans were living on the run as nomads in caravans not dissimilar to common Romani stereotypes, so the show is once again making negative racial connotations due to thoughtlessness.

Why Do You Have a Secret Underground Room Hidden Behind Your Workshop Xavier?

Like that not a thing normal people happen to have lying around there workspace. We still are given zero explanation for why Xavier has all this plot convenient knowledge and rare unordinary plot useful stuff.

Given his previous connection to Saporia and Zhan Tiri wouldn’t it not have made more sense to reveal that he is an actual plot important character in season three rather than keep him as just the exposition fairy?

So Was This Before or After the Saporian Take Over? Cause Either Answer Makes This a Dumb Plan.

Why would the guards, especially Cap, just give up? Did they even bother fighting and then lost to Varian’s weapons or were they told to stand down by a brainwashed Frederic? If they knew something was wrong then why not stay and help? What makes them think they even could find Rapunzel given how no one knew where she was heading and her letters were infrequent? What difference would they think finding Rapunzel would do?

Basically, just like with the “former cellmate” line, we needed to actually set up and establish this conflict rather than relying solely on exposition dumps. Because what we get here doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It goes against established character and leaves a lot of unanswered plot holes.

More Promotion of Authoritarianism From the Show

Remember that these are the same people who formed a lynch mob to hunt down a fourteen year old all because the king told them to. The same king who had been lying to them for years and placed their lives and homes in danger for months. The same king who persecuted the poor and orphans for years. Him suddenly sending townsfolk to the mines isn’t anything new, so what are these people’s breaking points? Anyone else would have revolted by now.

But noooo, they need Rapunzel to do it for them. Cause Rapunzel is royalty and they can’t do anything without royal permission because they’re sheep. Sheep that’s been subjugated for years and conditioned to be afraid of their “beloved ruler”.

I understand from a meta point of view why you would want your main character to take charge but...

Like this isn’t inspiring.

It’s disturbing.

Why are we promoting blind loyalty to a person who’s not earned it just because they were born special? In a freakin’ kids show no less!

Oh and still no one bothers to call out King Frederic’s abuses here, FYI.

Take Note That Quirineon is Activated By Heat

This will be important later on in the review.

He’s Already Built Grenades For You. Wouldn’t Those Be Better Because They’re Easier to Control?

He’s already built explosive chemicals for you. You just used them in part one of the episode. And it came in an easy to use form rather than an unstable, and untested, mess that could literally blow up in your faces since no one, not even Varian himself, knows how to control it yet.

You Don’t Hammer Out a Cast Iron Pan

It’s literally in the word. To make a cast iron pan you pour the metal into a casted mold. You don't hammer it out like you would with a sword or something. And you can’t even go with the “rule of cool” here cause Rapunzel surrounded by molten metal and fire would have been far more impressive looking.

Yes I’m being picky cause I’m stalling. I don’t care. This is just yet another instance of the crew not paying attention to details like they should.

Behold The Final Time Eugene Will Ever Call Out Rapunzel’s BS

This is the last time Eugene will hold an honest discussion with Rapunzel like an equal to her. By the end of this episode he will have transitioned into full on doormat mode.

Also burying negative feelings and not addressing issues is who Rapunzel is. She’s been pulling this shit since day one. It’s what causes 90% of the conflicts in the show. Have you not noticed Eugene?

So This Episode Has Contradictory “Lessons”

The episode presents this idea that Rapunzel needs to open up to others and trust again after Cassandra’s betrayal. The problem is that the episode doesn’t follow through on that. It makes a knee-jerk decision to go with a “responsibility” lesson that wasn’t built up to instead at the last minute.

More on this later.

Varian Doesn’t Actually Interact With the Saporians at Any Point.

The only person Varian interacts with is Andrew. We have no concept of how he fits in with the rest of the group and what his dynamics are with them. What do they think of Varian? What does Varian think of them? The consequence to this is to further divorce Varian from narrative, even though this is supposed to be his redemption episode.

As I said in the last part, you can easily write Varian out of this episode and nothing really changes plot wise. That’s bad writing.

Also I was robbed of Khary Payton and Jeremy Jordan exchanging lines. I was this close to having audio material for my BH6 crossover, dang it!

Behold The One Time the Black Lady Gets a Line!

I think her name is Juniper?

You can tell it’s her because of the shadow on the wall.

Anyways they casted this part and only bothered to give the character a single line? What a waste!

But this just goes back to the series' poor representation. The only WOC in the show are presented as “shifty” and untrustworthy, even when they are ultimately “good guys”. The majority of them are straight up villains tho, and even as antagonists they’re not afforded any real screen time.

And the only other outright black women on the show is the inventor lady who was given zero respect and the ghost of a barbarian.

Once again, I don’t think the crew are intentionally racist. I think they’re just sloppy. They wanted to be more inclusive but they failed to actually give voice to minorities behind the scenes and so failed in representing them well. This is a problem with the industry as a whole, not just this one show, and must be talked about as such if we wish to change things for the better.

None of this “Stuff” Holds Any Real Meaning

We get several callbacks to season one through Cassandra’s personal things that she left behind, but none of this stuff holds any real personal meaning. It’s just there. They wind up triggering these big emotional reactions from both Rapunzel and Cassandra but the audience is just left confused because what they’re crying over are things that have little significance to these characters. Even this line from season one is just dripping with sarcasm and not some pleasant past memory that either Cass or Raps holds dear to their hearts.

Way To Go, Dumbass

It’s not that she went alone, or that she broke down when it finally hit her that Cass left, that I’m making fun off. The episode already addresses those two points.

No, what ticks me off is that Rapunzel has taken down killer robots, ghosts, and monsters before now with her magical hair but a handful of regular dudes can just bring her down? I don’t care how much alchemy they got. Depowering your main character for no stated reason just for narrative convenience is poor writing.

Because If He Didn’t He Would Have DIED, Rapunzel!!!

He literally would have freakin died had he not done something! He was left inside a jail cell to rot away! Before that he was threatened with hangman’s noose! Before that violence from an angry crowd! Before that he was left alone to starve and/or die from exposure! There was no way out for him except to fight!

And here you are inside the very prison that you kept him in and you still don't have the fucking self awareness to put two and two together!

This Right Here the Assassination of Rapunzel’s Character and the Killing Blow to the Series

Yeah, and what about after the storm? Hun, bitch!?

We’ve spent two damn seasons watching Rapunzel stepping on people and making excuses for herself and the one time when she should realize her actions are wrong and finally own up to her behavior and she still does not fucking change.

This is supposed to be a coming of age story! That means the main character is supposed to grow and learn shit! But when it matters most, Rapunzel only digs in her heels and refuses to change!

Why should I care about this character anymore if she’s just going to keep on being selfish no matter what? Why should I bother watching the show if it fails to deliver on its premise? How is this in any way shape or form an appropriate message for children!?

If you’re watching the series for the first time, then it’ll take awhile to register just how awful this scene is and how it really is the beginning of the end, because they did have time to turn things around after this. But they didn’t, and here we are.

This Isn’t a Real Apology

It’s not a real apology if all you do is make excuses for yourself. Rapunzel doesn’t address what she actually did wrong here and it has nothing to do with her stupid promise.

She neglected and enabled the abuse of a child for a year and three months, and she’s not even sorry for it!

You Were Never a “Friend” Rapunzel

Friends, actually do shit together. They enjoy each other’s company. They care when the other is hurt or in trouble.

Rapunzel only came to see Varian when she needed him for something. Even now, after this confrontation, that’s all she’ll ever do. She does not actually care about Varian, because the creators will not let her care.

And Here Comes the Death of Varian’s Characterization

In order to make this stupid, forced, “redemption” work the writers had to do a complete 180 with Varian’s character and his motivations. Instead of freeing his father, seeking revenge, or just, you know, surviving, he now suddenly cares about “being friends” and “being accepted by people”, only he has no reason to want any of that!

Rapunzel is a shit friend. Heck all the mains are crap friends to him. They ruined his life and the townspeople tried to kill him. Why would he want anything to do with any of these a-holes!?

Varian doesn’t get assassinated in the same sense as Rapunzel and Cassandra do. He doesn’t suddenly become a hateable dumb douchebag or anything, but he nevertheless has his character retroactively sabotaged by the writing.

Uh, Were You Not There When Your Dad Rounded Up a Lynch Mob Against Him, Raps?

I believe you were. Also Varian literally told you to your face that he had to go into hiding cause the townspeople were willing to attack him just because those rumors that you failed to stop and pretended not to know anything about.

Just because the characters shout something repeatedly does not make it true. The audience isn’t dumb. They can remember what happened only two seasons ago.

Where Was the Inciting Incident For This Change of Heart?

Why should he even want their forgiveness? Why has he given up on freeing his father? Why is he having second doubts about overthrowing the kingdom that persecuted him?

If you’re going to drastically change a character’s motivations, goals, and moral alignment then you need to present an in story reason for that change. We don’t get that. There’s no inciting incident on screen for us to see the shift in his character development.

The audience is left to only infer, and that’s poor writing. The audience shouldn’t have to do the work of the writers for them. Characters’ motivations and goals should not be guess work.

The only thing we can glean from this is that he had a change of heart while in prison and that’s a horrifying thing for the show to suggest. That’s basically justifying Frederic’s abuse. It also recontextualizes Varian’s arc into one of submission to his abusers and not one of learning to do the right thing simply because it’s right.

Once Again, Were You Not There For Season One Rapunzel?

They had a year and three damn months of chances. These people actively tried to do him harm just for simply seeking help. He has no reason to trust them nor you.

Why Are We Shoulding All of the Blame Onto the Abused Child?

Yes, he did do all of those things, technically, but they’re being presented here without context.

The Queen enabled his abuser who was threatening his life and destroyed his home. He kidnapped her as a last restore when all other methods to get out of his desperate situation failed.

The princess he threatened neglected him for three months and repeatedly refused to help him, even throwing him out into a deadly snow storm. Despite him being her responsibility, thereby making her neglect a flat out abuse of power.

He would have died a slow and painful death in prison had he not helped to overthrow the kingdom that persecuted him.

I’m not going to pretend that what Varian did was right or that he shouldn’t feel sorry for what he did, but this is a highly skewed version of events that are being recounted here just to create bias in the viewers. It’s manipulative writing intended to gaslight the audience.

Also, why does he even want a second chance!?

Doesn’t This Undermine The Saporian’s Goals?

The Saporians wanted to reclaim their ancestral homeland so that they would no longer be a displaced people. How does blowing up that homeland help them?

Season three just throws all logic out the window. There’s barely a single villain who doesn’t undermine their own goals at some point with their stupid actions.

So Why Varian and Andrew Not Some Other Team Up?

Out of all of the various recurring baddies in the show Varian and Andrew have the least in common. I’m not saying that they couldn’t work together, but doing so required more set up than this. Because as is, this is a very contrived teamup.

They have diametrically opposed goals and moral alignments. Varian doesn’t bring anything to the table that the Saporaions couldn’t have supplied themselves. Meanwhile the Saporians have failed to offer Varian anything that he could want.

At best it’s a marriage of convenience for them to both break out of prison together, but even that is contrived because we don't know why neither of them were sent away on the prison barge with the rest of the season one villians.

Better combinations would have been

Varian & Lady Caine

Andrew & Lady Caine

Varian & Cass

Andrew & Cass

Varian & Zhan Tiri

Andrew & Zhan Tiri

Varian & Hector

The Baron & Varian

Andrew & Staylan

King Trevor & Varian

Like there were tons of options here that the writers just ignored, even though any of them would have made more sense than the one they went with.

The Andrew and Varian Dynamic Can Be Seen as an Allegory for Grooming; Unfortunately the Writers Didn’t Consider That Implication.

Yeah... That’s pretty much what Andrew has done here. He’s groomed this desperate and lonely teen to become a child soldier for him. And one only can only pray that’s all he tried to groom him to do since they were trapped inside a confined and enclosed space together for several months.

Listen, I don’t mind children’s shows touching upon darker subjects. Often fantasy is a good way for people to process complex themes and uncomfortable real world situations through the safety of fiction. It can even be helpful for those who have had the misfortune to experience certain traumas.

I’m not complaining that TTS is too dark.

I’m complaining about it being shit.

All of the crap Varian goes through is just thrown in there for shock value. It’s not here to commentate on the real world nor provide a complex story. The situations are brought only to then be outright ignored. This isn’t thoughtful nor deep. It’s not meaningful nor heartfelt. It’s just hollow drama done in bad taste.

You’re Not In a Position to Judge Rapunzel

You got captured first because you decided to throw yourself a pity party.

Would He Though?

I’m pretty sure Quirin is very well aware of how shitty Frederic is. If anything I would think he’d be pissed that his son, that he tried so hard to protect, was mistreated in such a hordenous way.

This isn’t some satisfying ending to Varian’s arc. It’s a heartbreaking revelation that he’s been beaten down by his abusers.

Varian’s Arc Isn’t Actually About Validation, and Rapunzel Giving It Here Doesn’t Really Change Anything

I spoke about this before on its own, but Tangled the Series places far too much stock in validation. Yes, it’s an aspect of his character arc, but it’s not the end all and be all of his motivation. It’s not the force that drives him to do what he does.

His primary goal is survival, both for himself and for his father. His secondary goal is gaining his father’s approval, but that’s not because he’s seeking generic praise, it’s because his father is emotionally distant. The “validation” is a mask for the real issues which are to fix his relationship with his dad and avoid the guilt of having possibly killed him in an accident.

Rapunzel has fuck all to do with that.

He doesn’t need to hear approval from her. He needs her to get her shit together and help him!

Rapunzel’s and Varian’s Situations Are Nothing Alike and Rapunzel Doesn’t Know Jackshit

Rapunzel you were dumped by your bestie because you’re a shitty friend.

Varian was neglected and abused by those who were supposed to take care of him.

Unless you’re drawing parallels to how Frederic and Gothel treated you, and even then neither of them denied you basic fucking needs!

This should be an “Oh Shit! I’ve become just like Mother Gothel” moment for Rapunzel, not an “Oh yay! Someone to share in my personal misery” moment.

Man, Rapunzel suuuuuucks!

Also This Still Isn’t An Actual Apology

Once again, Rapunzel is not admitting what she did wrong here. She’s not actually acknowledging Varian’s pain, nor what she needs to do to make admins with him.

What she’s doing is making things all about herself again. She’s talking about her feelings. About what she is facing. Rapunzel is an incredibly selfish and egotistical person and the show is trying to present this as a positive thing by rewarding her for such behavior.

Varian’s Redemption Should Have Nothing to Do with “Friendship”

Varian has no reason to want to become friends again with the woman who ruined his life and abused him.

But more than that, redemption shouldn’t be dependent upon Rapunzel’s friendship, nor even her ‘forgiveness”. Varian should be able to do the right thing just because it’s the right thing, Rapunzel be damned.

This cheepens not only his character development but also Rapunzel’s development as well. Rapunzel is not allowed to grow as a person and accept that not everyone wants to be her friend, and that people may have valid reasons to hate her even, and that doesn’t make them evil.

It also rushes through Varian’s arc undermining what the audience had to get through to get to this point.

OK, Let’s Talk About The Goatee

I wouldn’t have minded the beard had it just not looked like a fucking barcode. There’s production art where it looks fine. But just wiping it away ties back to what I was talking about in part one. It’s denying Varian the chance to grow up. This is supposed to be his coming of age story as well but the crew won't let him do that because “rule of funny” apparently overrides what the characters actually need in order to develop.

Once again, the show isn’t a sitcom. You can have comedic moments but the comedy doesn’t need to outright undermine the drama.

Once Again, Shouldn’t Eugene Be the First Person to Jump to Varian’s Defence?

You mean the orphan on the streets who stole stuff and fought to survive when the adults failed to take care of him? Is that what you’re talking about Eugene? Cause if I remember correctly that was you not just three years ago.

You Mean Rapunzel Needs Him To Make Her Feel Better About Herself

Spoiler alert, but Varian doesn’t actually do anything after this point in the episode. His entire “redemption” is just about making Rapunzel feel better about herself after Cass has rejected her. He’s literally become the rebound.

How Come Varian Suddenly Became Shorter Just for This Shot?

I know the meta reason is to reflect that scene back in Queen for a Day when Rapunzel promised him that she'd help him before everything went tits up. Where he was also drawn shorter in that episode to make him seem more verunable, but here he’s just suddenly shorter for only two shots and then suddenly back to his usual height.

Crap like this is why I insist that Varian didn’t actually get any taller in season three. The show just has always been inconsistent with his height and most of the “evidence” for his growth are cherry picked instances where the show drew him smaller than usual for reasons, like here.

So Where Did They Get That Much of the Explosives and How Did They Get Them So Fast?

Only Varian knows how to manufacture that stuff. Why would he make that much of it if he was still in the experimental phase with it? He’s even surprised that they have so much, so where did they get it? If they made it then, how did they make it so fast?

So This Plan Goes Nowhere

Spoiler alert: Varian doesn’t actually get to do any of that. In fact he’s kind of pointless for the rest of the episode.

Why Would the King and Queen Care About a City That They Can’t Remember?

Like this revenge doesn’t make sense. It’s just a contrived way to get Eugene and Lance out of the way.

If the Quirineon Explodes From Being Exposed to Heat Then What Good Does Just Dropping It Do?

Yeah, remember? The stuff explodes when heated. Simply dropping it shouldn’t do anything other than make a mess on the ground maybe.

All That Build Up and Varian Still Doesn’t Get to Do Anything Useful

Up till this point, Varian was shown to be the most competent threat in the show. Yet here they have him be a screw up twice in a row just for comedy antics and to glorify Rapunzel again.

If you got to nerf other characters just to make your main look good then you’ve failed to establish your main character as being capable in their own right.

Remember That This Boy Was Trapped in a Jail Cell With This Guy for a Year!

No, I’ll never be over this.

Andrew is the most directly violent and scummy out of all of the villians in the show.

If he’s willing to do this now, if he was willing to do this to his ex-girlfriend, then what the heck was he willing to do when he and Varian were trapped alone together?

So Andrew Just Willingly Sacrifices His Own People Here....Even Though His Goal Was to Give His People a New Home....

People need to use this gif more often when concerning this show and the villains’ ass-backwards plans.

And yes they survive because of Varian alchemy. But that was on accident. Andrew had no way of knowing that would happen. He’s willing to destroy his own people just to blow up his ancestral homeland and for what!? What does he gain from this action?

The Mind Wipe Kills Frederic’s and Arianna’s Characters; Littraly

Frederic and Arianna are effectively dead at this point. Anything that made them, well them, has been wiped away. Their personalities, hopes, dreams, their on going stories and development, just gone. And we never get them back, even when their memories supposedly return.

Varian’s Not Even Allowed to Get the Idea On How to Save Corona...In His Own Redemption Episode No Less

This is his episode! We’ve spent two years building up to this point and you can’t even let him help? He’s denied the chance to make up for his own mistakes! Just so Rapunzel can play hero and be a very shallow representation of what a bunch of men think a “strong” woman should be!

It’s fucking insulting. That’s what it is.

Making a female character the center of the universe to the point where other people are just props for her is not empowering!

No It’s Not!!

Uh you wouldn’t even be here had you just fucking helped Varian to being with you dumb bitch! This is very much you and your father’s mess!

Even now, while pretending to be responsible, Rapunzel can’t actually be responsible and own up to what she did!

She’s fucking 20 and the 16 year old shows more maturity than her!

Also Your Hair Can Protect Two People at Once Rapunzel; Remember?

There’s no excuse for leaving Varian out of the action. We’ve been shown multiple times now that Rapunzel’s magic hair can protect her and other people at the same time.

Having Rapunzel Save the Day By Herself Undermines Everything the Episode Was Trying to Establish

What happened to needing to “trust again” and letting other people help you? Having Rapunzel save the day alone just tosses out the lesson that the show was trying to build up to.

The show tries to frame this as Rapunzel learning “responsibility” but that also does not work. For one it was never established that she needed to learn that within the episode itself and secondly, she doesn’t actually do anything different from what she usually does.

Being an action hero isn’t the same thing as being responsible. Being responsible is being considerate of others, doing the borning shit or mundane crap that you hate, and being mature enough to recognize your own failings and admitting when you were wrong.

So in the end Rapunzel is neither responsible nor more open to others.

And There’s the Death of Eugene’s Character

Lance, who has maybe exchanged all of three sentences with Raps, is more distrught than the guy that supposedly wants to marry her. This isn’t heartwarming, nor it is growth. It’s just lobotomizing a character right in front of our eyes.

In this very episode he was worried about Raps going to face the Saporians by herself and was, guess what, fucking right to do so. But he doesn’t give two shits if she gets blown up!?

Ooookaaaay.....

This is the completion of turning Eugene into a doormat. From now own he shan’t be allowed to have any thoughts or feelings of his own that disagrees with Rapunzel.

The Eugene we knew is now dead.

But Of Course the Show Rewards Everyone for Behaving In the Dumbest Way Possible Anyways

Don’t expect any of these grossly out of character moments and oxygen deprived logic to be addressed nor fixed within the show. The series will keep on shoving unearned endings into our facing while insisting that this is positive development.

How Did Y’all Get Here Before Varian?

Yes, he was left on a roof, but he can climb and y’all were outside of the city.

Yeah... A Year and Half Fucking Later!

Ok, a year and three months, but that’s still not any better. Worse, all this implies is that Rapunzel would not have ever concerned herself with trying to free Quirin had Varian not broken out of prison. She would have literally left them both for dead and we’re supposed to find her suddenly doing the bare fucking minimum heartwarming and inspiring?

Where Was the Inciting Incident to Use the Decay Incantation for This?

How did Rapunzel come up with this plan? When did she come up with it?

When the hurt incantation was first found no one mentioned how it could be used to save Quirin. No one even gave Quirin a thought. Since then the incarnation hasn’t been brought back up, ever. This is a pretty big leap in logic for Rapunzel to suddenly think of this.

All it highlights how Varian was originally meant to be there to translate the scrolls and incantations in order to establish all this but of course it got cut so now it just comes the fuck out of nowhere.

Not Letting Varian Have Anything to Do With Saving His Father Is Even Worse Than Not Letting Him Save the Day

This has been his motivation since the beginning. It’s been the driving plot for a season, and now that the time has finally come what does get to do?

Hold a dang bucket.

Part of coming up with satisfying endings is following through on what you’ve established. The audience needs closure. Simply freeing Quirin isn’t enough, we need the carthartis of Varian specifically fulfilling his goal.

I don’t know how to break this to you Chris, but this isn’t Rapunzel’s story. Not this segment of it anyways. It’s Varian’s and it just so happens to connect to Rapunzel’s. She shouldn’t have been center stage for this.

The Series Blows It’s Load Too Early with the Incantations

This is the last time we’ll hear any of the incantations sung on screen, cause someone in budgeting didn’t know what was important to throw the money at and what was not.

It’s not bad here, but if we could only hear one incantation only once this season it needed to be in the finale with the final heal incantation.

Varian Was Right All Along

Also, all this does is justify Varian’s actions in season one. Rapunzel was indeed the only one who could free his dad according to this. For a series that desperately wants to shove all of the blame onto an abused child’s shoulders they sure go out their way to prove him right.

So How Is the Hurt Incantation Suppose to Work?

There were so many fan theories after this scene because Varian and Quirin don’t respond to the hurt incantation the same way previous characters had.

No one is gasping for breath, Varian can touch Raps without burning his hands, and Rapunzel can control the direction of her power. ect.

Turns out there was nothing there, the writers just didn’t know what the fuck they were doing and made the hurt incantation very inconsistent just like all of the magic in this show.

BULLSHIT!!!

You literally turn into a villain because she gave up on you!!!!

She also didn’t give two shits about you throughout the entirety of season two.

Why are we just pretending like season one didn’t exist!?

Why!?

The Note!!!

No It Fucking Didn’t!

Does That Look Like “I’m Proud of You Son” To You?

Chris went on to confirm that, yes, the note did hold more information that then got cut. Pretty much confirming all that we suspected. That Varian was cut from season two and his story hastily shoved back into season three at the last minute.

Below is the link to the tumblr post he made.

https://cnotes.tumblr.com/post/190534585146/apparently-one-of-the-writers-said-a-while-back

What’s worse is that his defense is such bullshit. The below exchange pretty much sums it all up.

This Doesn’t Actually Resolve Anything and Is Therefore Unsatisfying to Watch

Part of the reason why this conclusion doesn’t work is because it doesn’t actually address any of the problems that they have in their relationship. Quirin never owns up to what he did wrong. There’s no discussion of what Varian was up to while he was entrapped, no conversation about what secrets Quirin hid from his son, and zero admission of wrongdoing on either side.

Also Varian has done nothing significant to earn those particular words. Saying I love makes sense, but in context saying “I’m proud of you” does not. It doesn’t even work on a meta level cause the episode prevented Varioan from accomplishing anything.

It’s empty.

There Could Have Been More Screen Time to Fix This If Not for Season Two Mucking About

https://discord.com/channels/427940661589704715/569296212218347522/777635115978457098

Above is the link to the original storyboards. It doesn’t fix everything but there’s a lot more satisfying emotional beats including adding Ruddiger back in who is suspiciously absent for the entire episode for no stated reason.

This version was cut due to time. Which, like with the Crossing the Line song, didn’t need to be had they been more effective with their usage of time in season two.

They also could have had a better conclusion to Varian’s arc in general had he not been cut from season two altogether.

So What Does Freeing Quirin Add to the Series?

I’m serious. What does freeing Quirin at this point and time do for the story?

It doesn’t add any character development, Quirin just wanders around aimlessly in the background until the finale and even then his part in that is a pointless dead end. Varian doesn’t gain his emotional closure, just empty, hollow “praise”. Nor is he allowed to accomplish any of his established goals. No new lore or history is exposed. No mystery uncovered.

There’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done later in the season. Provide more tension and keep up the consequences of the characters actions. Give the mains something to do and work on until Cass and Zhan Tiri show up again.

The only reason why this is here is to wrap Varian’s story up as soon as possible so he won’t “steal Cassandra’s spotlight”. That’s it. He’s rewarded for conforming to Rapunzel’s will and all the fans should shut up and be grateful, at least according to Chris.

I Like This Song But It Wasn’t Needed

It doesn’t add anything to the story. It’s just a generic celebration song. Which would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that we have a limited number of songs, even less than in previous seasons, and the story isn’t over yet. This is the wrong place to put a victory song at.

Especially when we could have had a song that furthered Varian’s redemption instead. Yeah, that was cut too.

So Is Varian the New “Lance” This Season?

He’s right there! This is his dang focus episode!

Why hire Broadway singers and not let them sing!? Why waste talent and money like that?

Also These Lyrics!

Did Glenn Slater just not read the scripts before writing the songs? That’s all season three ever does! Give the mains what they want without earning it. Even in this very episode!

So Is This Rapunzel’s 20th Birthday or Not?

Ok I have gotten into many a heated debate about how long season three is supposed to be. And that’s because what the crew says doesn’t match what the series shows us.

By all accounts this should be Rapunzel’s birthday. According to season two she’s been gone for one year, and there’s the lanterns that they fly specifically on her birthday.

But no one verbally says it’s her birthday and I’ve heard conflicting accounts from different members of the crew. Some stating that it is her 20th birthday and some disagreeing that it is.

Well I’ll take what evidence that the show actually presents to its audience on screen over what the cast and crew says after the fact any day of the week, so I’ll be gathering up this evidence and proving by the end that season three is two years not one.

But the fact that I must comb through series to prove this, the fact that we can even have this debate, and the fact that the crew have to state basic info after the series is over is just proof of the bad writing.

Fun Fact: Cupcakes Weren’t Invented Until the 20th Century

Yeah, that’s the fault of the OG film, and yeah it doesn’t really mean much, but still it’s one more thing to add to the pile of stuff that doesn’t fit.

Plus I’m just a hardcore nerd for historical cooking and I like to share my knowledge.

Yeah But How Can He Trust All of You Again?

You’re the ones who let him down first; repeatedly. And you only started to make things up to him once he became useful to you. What assurance does he have that you won’t mistreat him again next time he’s in trouble or is no longer of any use to y’all?

Yes, Let NOT Show What the Main Character Is Actually Going Through

Yup, this is “Rapunzel’s show” but we’re not going to let Rapunzel have any focus on her feelings or give any insight into her thought process about what is the main conflict of the series now.

Conclusion

Ducktales was robbed!

I can’t believe this shit won an Emmy for “best writing.” It utterly fails on every possible level. It fails to be a continuation of the ongoing story and it fails to be a stand alone episode. Even the very structure of the story is fundamentally flawed. The only reason why it’s not the worst episode of the entire series because the finale and the penultimate episodes exist.

Anyways...I finally made it through. It literally took my entire weekend but I’m finally caught up. Next week I’ll be going back to the usual one episode a week schedule.

#Varian #tangled #anti-rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #Eugene #andrew

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crushing-on-nico-di-angelo · 3 years

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Seven Nights in Cabin Thirteen

I’m inspired by another post I saw here that I didn’t wish to hijack lol, and OP deactivated or else I’d link their account here. credits to @the-ghost-king for the idea of a demigod therapy/Will being a past drug addict on this post. Yes this is a bad fic. It’s also my first fic ever. Please criticize if you see anything

Will never thought that he would ever appreciate his first monster attack. He was seven years old, and in hindsight his teacher probably only worked there to prey on young demigods (at least, that’s why he suspects the attack happened so early in his life compared to other demigods). But when Lee Fletcher sat him down 4 years later and told him that he was trans and would now be known as Lee instead of his birth name, Will knew that everything happened for a reason.

After many conversations with Lee about how he knew (gods bless that man’s patience) and with an older Athena camper who’s special interest dealt in psychology, Will realized the reason that he always felt disconnected from his mom and sisters in Austin was because he was like Lee. He was a boy.

Telling people wasn’t easy. Of course his older brother had to know; he was the one who introduced Will to this concept. Telling the rest of camp was as easy as telling Chiron, who told Dionysus, who always threatened to turn anyone into a dolphin if they talked shit about any trans kid. Telling his mom... that had to be the hardest part. How was he supposed to tell them? The only similarities they all had were that they were all musically inclined and that they were all girls.

Apparently, Will forgot that Naomi Solace was a musician. The music industry has more queers than an all girl’s school GSA. Her only questions were “Alright, what’s your name then, kiddo?” and “When do you want to set up an appointment with a therapist?” As for his siblings, well, let’s just say the oldest, Frankie, always knew. And it didn’t take long for seven-year-old Mickey to cut her doll-that-somehow-looked-exactly-like-Will’s hair and change his notes from high to low when she accompanied his singing on violin, as part of voice training.

Four years has passed since then and Will can hardly believe it. He’s stealth back at Austin because it’s just easier that way, but since a quarter of the camp knew him since he was seven, he figured there was no point; it isn’t like anyone treated him as though he wasn’t a man-- er, boy-- at camp anyways. So, life went on. He got his period for the first time during the Battle of Manhattan, that was no fun, but luckily Thalia was cool about it and made sure not to tell anyone. He started binding shortly afterwards, got a couple bruises hear and there. Kayla yelled at him for a week for that one, he remembers fondly. Discovered why it’s better to take off your contacts in the shower... that day isn’t such a fond memory. That was the first and last time he ever made himself bleed. Although, he will say that’s what sparked his interest in medicine and what made him the best doctor Camp Half Blood had seen in decades at the mere age of 15 years old. Life at camp was good, if a bit dull. He got used to the routine and the constant influx of damaged campers, the siblings and friends, and the always-perfect Texas Barbecue and Coke.

That is, until the War Between the Camps happened. Lou Ellen woke Will up before sundown that day and told him their plan. They were to hide in the tall grasses and wait for Camp Jupiter to show their ugly faces. Cecil had the genius idea to paint their faces and arms black so they’d blend into the night better, and Will supposes in the hubub of everything they forgot that his hair nearly (”nearly”) glows, even at night. Until Mr. Nico “I’m so smart, I nearly killed myself shadow travelling” di Angelo pointed it out. Whatever, it made sense at the time. They won the war against Gaea, not without sacrifice, and they finally, finally got past all the wars and destruction and health issues that they were able to just hang out and get to know each other as friends.

And boy, was their friendship amazing. Nico had the best taste in music from Will’s eyes, and that’s saying something because Will is a music snob. Nico could be a little stubborn at times, but that’s alright because so was Will (”Gods damn it, Nico, if you don’t take your medication right this second I will-” “You’ll what? Hm? You’ll force it down my throat? Last I checked that was abuse.”). They fit together so perfectly and became fast friends.

It wasn’t always sunshine and lollipops, though. What is, for a demigod? Will relapsed once and passed out right in front of Nico’s cabin. He was crashing from an exciting high that he hadn’t experienced in so long, and he felt so tired and ashamed of himself. Methamphetamine was a goddamned bitch, so while he was coming out of withdrawals, he made Nico promise not to let him leave the cabin for a week were simmering down. He had to make sure something like this never happened again. They Iris Messaged Chiron and explained the situation, and he understood. He made sure to contact the older son of Dionysus who had been Will’s therapist in the past and said what had happened and they agreed on a session for soon after Will got mostly over his cravings.

So now they had a week of downtime together. Awesome.

“Solace, do you need anything? Are you okay?” Nico asked towards the end of the first full day that withdrawals were over.

“I’m-- fuck. I’m fine. I swear.” He responded unconvincingly.

“That’s not what you said last night... no offense, but I’m not fully inclined to believe you when you look like shit.”

“It- It... it’s not something I’d like to talk about, if that’s alright. And... don’t tell Clarisse, please.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone, don’t worry. But I would like to know if this is going to be a common occ--” Before he could even finish asking, Will was already shaking his head and responding.

“One-time thing only, I promise. Gods, I’m sorry I showed up here at all.”

“Woah, buddy. That’s not what I was saying at all. You’re my best friend, I’m glad you came here.” Will almost couldn’t believe what Nico was saying. Then again, did Nico have very many friends? Nico himself certainly didn’t seem to think so. “In any case, you don’t have to explain what happened, or what led up to this, or anything like that. I don't need to know. What I do need you to do, however, is take a shower. I’m sorry to say so, but you smell like ass.”

“Yeah well, I’m…” He couldn’t finish his sentence. How do you explain to someone that he still wanted his drugs, and he didn’t want to leave the cabin because he knew he would leave to go find some before he would even think about going to his own cabin at this point.

“You don’t have to leave,” Nico said, perhaps sensing his agitation. “I have a shower in the cabin.”

“What the fuck do you mean you have a shower in the cabin?” The shock of this knowledge get him out of his stuck mind. “How did you get plumbing in here? How did Chiron allow this?”

“I helped design my cabin, and while I may not have all the experience in architecture that Annabeth does, I do know a thing or two. I did meet with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, you know.”

“I did not know. You- Who is Isambard Kingdom Brunel?” Will asked

“Oh, some civil engineer who is like a million years old.” Will scoffed at that.

“You’re one to talk,” he teased. He was never going to let go of the fact that Nico was technically like 80 years old.

“Oh hush, William.” William… never Will, like most people. William… like he was something special, something that deserved three syllables. “Anyways, like I was saying: take a shower. You look like you were up mowing all of camp with a flashlight.”

Knowing Will’s reaction to drugs, that wasn’t unlikely. He stood up. “Lead the way? I’ve never been around your cabin before.”

Nico’s cabin was unlike any others. Using some sort of Doctor Who-like technology, there was a living room, a kitchen, and one room. Surprisingly, the walls were all light or pastel, a stark contrast from Nico’s general (and unintentional) punk-rock appearance. However, the furniture was all a deep black. Nico led him to his room, a minimalistic one with a bed, a desk, and a lamp. Will wondered where all the personalization was, but made no comment.

“Here’s the shower,” Nico pointed to yet another room in this somehow huge cabin. “If you see something amiss or odd… ignore it.” Will didn’t want to think of the implications of that sentence.

He stepped in the shower and oh my gods, watching the dirt and grime wash off him after his 8 hour high-- which he did not want to think about (and not just because the author doesn’t want to taint his search history), it was too embarrassing-- was a wonderful feeling. He was still tired. He didn’t know why, it didn’t used to be this hard. However, he was pretty sure that he tried to clean the entire outside of the hypnos cabin before going over to the Hades cabin to do the same. This was the first and last time Will would ever thank the gods for Nico’s poor sleeping patterns, he had heard him outside and came to get him before he tired himself out more.

He nearly passed out in the shower again but managed to make it out. He looked around the well-stocked bathroom and realized something that he probably should have bothered to notice before: he didn’t have any clothes with him. Fuck. He wrapped a (black) towel around his chest because he didn’t think his body could take anymore binding and prayed to Dionysus that Nico didn’t notice that his chest wasn’t exactly male.

Luckily, the first thing Nico did say was “Is that a tattoo?”

Will looked down at his sun. “Yeah, it is,” he smiled. He remembered the night he did it, it was kind of hard. He ordered a tattoo gun off amazon and had Frankie do it for him shortly after the Battle of Manhattan. Some people might think it’s in honor of his dad, which is fine. It was really for Lee Fletcher, though. His mom totally freaked, for a really long time, but after his C-PTSD diagnoses she realized that whatever works for him works as long as it isn’t drugs or self harm. He knows she wants a future for him that doesn’t involve music, and that’s why she freaked. She thought it would ruin his chances. But it’s right on his shoulder, only visible in tank tops or no shirt.

"It… its to honor the man who taught me I could be myself." Will said after a small pause.

"That's a very lovely sentiment. If he made that much of an impact on you, he must be a very cool person."

"He was." Will knew that Nico heard the was by the way that Nico nodded solemnly. "I uh… I don't wish to be more of a bother, but do you mind if I go to bed now? That shower really helped."

"Yeah, of course. I can take the couch, you know where my bed is-"

"No, absolutely not." Nico sighed softly, as though he expected this. "I can sleep on the couch, in Austin I actually prefer it to my bed."

"That's-- no offense William, but that's weird."

"It feels less lonely to me," Will protested, then let out a huge yawn.

"Alright cowboy-" Will smiled at Nico's nickname for him "-get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Nighty night, Neeks. Love you." he didn't miss the small smile on Nico's face before he walked away. Will has always been very loose with his 'I love you's like that. He figured it's better to say it too much than not enough.

He had found his old stash the night before, the one that Clovis had helped him forget about. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about last nights events. At the time,he told himself that he shouldn't do anything with it, and put it out of his mind for about a week, but eventually his urge to smoke overcame his self-control. He went on a rampage of cleaning and was absolutely certain he looked like a madman. The worst part is, he didn't even know why he did it. It was as though his rehabilitation hadn't even happened, as though this was something that was as natural as getting a cup of coffee in the morning. He was so mad at himself, so embarrassed.

These thoughts occupied his mind until he fell asleep about an hour after his last words to Nico. He slept with no dreams, for the first time in about a month.

word count: 2,245

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streets-in-paradise · 3 years

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Fool

Troy Reader Insert Oneshot

Word Count: 1.187

Pairing: ( Pre War) Paris x Healer Reader

Genre: Fluff with some funny elements.

Warnings: None

Summary: The reader is the daughter of the most famous healer of the city, a friend of the royal family, and she has a long time crush on Paris. He never seemed to be interested on her untill she returns from a long trip she made with her mother and his ways around her start to change. She doesn’t want to let him know that she reciprocates his feelings because she is afraid of getting hurted. Instead of being disencouraged, Paris keeps chazing her even to the cost of making a fool of himself.

Disclaimers: This is for @spideyanakin , who asked me for a Paris x Reader just at the same time i was plotting the idea. This is slyghtly inspired in a less grimm approach for the story of Paris and Oenone. Since in the legends she is a ninph who knows a lot about healing, here the reader is a healer but that’s all. The backstory is invented by me and this is in Troy’s universe so i had to go for a human character for the reader. Also, there is a small reference to another reader insert of mine. I kinda connected everything accidentally.

Tags: @yerevasunclair @hrisity12

The most remarkable trojan healer and her daughter returned from a long trip to Egypt. They were away from their homeland for almost a year, received under the goodwill of cultural exchange between nations as experts in the most notorious aspect of cultural development of their city. King Priam threw a party in honour of their return, he was absolutely pleased with the outcome of the trip as well. The celebration was esplendid. They were the center of attention and they got plenty of time to share their stories about the magnificent experience of sharing knowledge with people of such a glorious civilization. The young lady was a bit more unused than her mother to those sorts of travels, since it was the first one she ever joined her in one. She had a lot of amazing details to tell about her first trip. During the party,she felt slightly strange after noticing she was being the focus of all the stares. She was dressed in egyptian fashion, with garments that were gifted to her by the pharaohess herself. Everyone asked her about it and her old friend, the princess, recommended her to relax and enjoy the well deserved attention.

She started to feel in the mood for it only when she noticed a particular person staring at her. Paris, the youngest prince and her long time crush, seemed to be in awe while glancing at her. She was aware of the rumours about him, claiming he was an insatiable seductor, but she couldn’t help to feel a bit of weakness around him even after all the time that passed. She was used to being seen by him as only a friend of his little sister and that was his usual attitude with her. He never displayed any form of interest, not in the way in which he was usually seen chasing other girls. Then, after a year of not seeing him, he was looking at her like if she was an entirely different person. It was the way in which she always wanted to be seen by him. The soft stare of his brown eyes set on her with admiration and curiosity, as if he was trying to figure out who she was even when they already knew each other.

He didn’t approach her directly that night, probably because his sister was keeping an eye on him, guessing what he wanted to do, and he didn’t want to upset her. Paris’s interest became obvious during the first week of work she had in the houses of healing. Since she came back and assumed the position that was destined to her there the prince started inventing excuses to show up. Those started as quasi logical requests and became insanely ridiculous over time. A headache, a stomach ache, lack of sleep, a scraped leg,anything seemed like a good reason to look for the healers, expecting to be attended by her.

“ Paris, you can’t keep doing this. You will get me into trouble.” she warned him when he saw him coming for the eighth time in six days.

“ Why? You are fulfilling your duty of watching over my health. I require your delicate touch because I am a more delicate man than my brother and you have the softest hands on the kingdom.” He replied innocently, glancing at her with his sweetest expression.

“ You are not sick. Everybody knows it already.”

“ It could be something on the inside. I could be dying.” He exaggerated

“ You know? It is curious how in this week I have seen you more often than I ever did.”

“Isn’t that proof of how serious i am? I feel terrible, I could faint anytime”

“ Or maybe you just decided to notice that i exist?” She replicated, showing her annoyance.

Paris passed the threshold of the door and sat directly over a table she was using. He looked at her like a lost puppy while getting in the middle of her work, showing how desperate for attention he was.

“ Do you really have such a low concept of me? I have always been fond of you. Now I just happened to discover a different side of you I crave to keep knowing… I also have an insufferable pain on my shoulders.”

“ Archery lesion?”

“ You will have to see it for yourself..” He teased her.

He didn’t give her time to start checking before pulling off the upper section of his garments, displaying his shoulders and back and trying to be seductive about it.

“ You are dumber than what I remembered.” She mocked him.

“ But you remember me and that’s enough.” He replied, smiling pridefully.

She started to examine the area being very careful with her touching. At some point, Paris did an obvious acting, pretending to be in pain.

“ You are a terrible actor and a fool. Luckly for you, I have a weakness for fools. What do you really want from me?”

“ Some of your attention to ask you out and maybe a back massage?” He suggested in a clumsy attempt of honesty.

“ I didn’t spend a year studying with egyptian healers to end up giving you back massages like a common caretaker. Look for another fool.”

“ I am not fooling you.” He reassured her.” You are right, I’m a fool. I had seen you around my sister since you were little girls sharing your firsts lessons and i didn’t pay enough attention. I saw you at that party and I lost my mind over you. Maybe I needed enough time without seeing you to realize what I was missing.”

“ I bet you had said nice things like that to every girl in the city at least twice. I would like to, but i don’t believe you.” She simply stated.

Instead of disencourage him, her reply made him get more determination.

“ You don’t do it now , but you will someday. I’m not a quitter, I will keep trying until you will be entirely convinced of how you had enraptured my heart since that night in which I saw you dressed like a foreigner goddess… What’s the name of the egytpian goddess of love?”

She chuckled. That was what she liked the most about him, his clumsy humour and his positivity.

“ Hathor. ” She corrected him.

“ Well, you are more beautiful than her and I have been blinded by my stupidity. Can you forgive a fool and give him another chance?”

She remained silent for a while. The sweet bliss of Paris’s face as he waited full of hope was killing her. Internally, all she wanted to do was to kiss his perfect lips and hush his fears of rejection. At the same time, she didn’t want to leave things so easy for him. She gave him a short peck over the commissure of his lips. Short enough to tease him and confusive enough to make him doubt if she really tried to go for his cheek or his mouth. His confusion was evident and she thought it was the most adorable thing in the world.

“ Put in a bit more effort and i may consider it.”

#troy 2004 #troy (2004)#troy fanfiction #troy 2004 fanfiction #paris #paris of troy #orlando bloom #paris x reader #orlando bloom x reader

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une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir · 4 years

Text

WHERE IS THE REST?

After “Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon” came out, it has come to our knowledge that Stannis will be burning Shireen in the books as well. It was revealed somewhere last summer that Jorah and Grey Worm were supposed to betray Danerys, but then they changed their mind about it.

This isn’t special on its own, but it is once you notice that all of this was hard-coded into the GoT’s foreshadowing a long time ago, for example through transition scenes... yet they dropped plots and cherry picked fanservice what they wanted for the final season.

it’s angering “fun” to see what they foreshadowed through those transition scenes, what made it and what didn’t made it. In specific, D&D have said transition scenes were important, because they say something about them. I cannot find the proper citation for this, but it’s common knowledge.

What I’ll write next is only for ONE episode, but this exercise can be made in SEVERAL episodes, this isn’t an isolated case by any means. (the following is a repurpose of an earlier post I made for this matter and i only have paint ATM, which is why the graphics are so shitty).

S03E01: Valar Dohaeris

Danerys is sailing through the Summer Sea while she watches the dragons fishing. While she’s fond of them, she doesn’t think they’re enough to conquer the Iron Throne so she wants an army. Jorah suggests she buys Unsullied and while she doesn’t like the idea at first because they’re slaves, she eventually relents as she believes it’s mecessary. Later, she arrives in Astapor and tours the Unsullied barracks.

There are two Danerys’ scenes in Valar Dohaeris, which are preceeded and followed by other adjacent scenes which characterise Danerys’ motivations during her stay at Astapor by contrast and parallels. Below, I enclose the scene transtion schematics.

[3] Sansa with Shae in King’s Landing port watching the ships.

[*] Danerys sailing the seas and beng suggested the Unsullied.

[4] Davos confronts Stannis about Melisandre burning people..

[5] The Tyrell siblings and Cersei / Joffrey having dinner where they discuss Margaery’s charity.

[*] Danerys arrives at Astapor and tours the Unsullied barracks.

[3] Sansa is powerlessly watching ships at the port, wishing one of them would take her away from captivity. This is followed by a contrast, Danerys is on a ship doing whatever she wants and going wherever she wants. Danerys and Sansa are foils.

Shae and Sansa play a game about where the ships come from and where they go. At some point, Littlefinger comes to talk to Sansa, promising to take her away

Remember this one for later.

In the show, Ros tells Shae that Sansa’s birth was a joyous day, where the bells were rung from sunrise to sunset. In the books (the equivalent chapter where Danerys sails the seas), Danerys recalls her own birth was during a storm which destroyed her father’s ships. Much later in the show (season 7), Danerys’ birth is brought up again, it’s mentioned that she was born during a storm and the dogs barked the entire night.

There is a clear contrast between these two characters births according to the show canon. Sansa was born and there was joyful bell ringing during the entire day, while Danerys was born and there was ominous barking dogs during the entire night. Take note that the foreboding for Danerys is in the books’ canon as well, as the storm raged all night and destroyed the Targaryen ships.

Sansa cannot go home because she’s a prisoner with no power (no movement), while Danerys is sailing free and returning home because she’s free with power via the dragons (movement).

There is a clear contrast between these two character in agency and power as well, which also translates into how they rule. Sansa is a prisoner that had to learn politics and how to play the game of thrones because she had no dragons to rise to power, while Danerys is free after she births the dragons so she never learnt either because the dragons gave her power.

Danerys doesn’t think the dragons enough to get the Iron Throne and wants an army. Jorah suggests to buy Unsullied and Danerys decides that she will get them. This is followed by [4] Davos confronting Stannis for allowing Melisandre to sentence those that oppose them to burning alive, but Stannis justifies this as necessary for the war he’s fighting. Stannis (through Melisandre) and Danerys as parallels, basically Stannis (through Melisandre) is Danerys on dragon steroids LITE. Stannis and Danerys have many adjacent scenes for this reason (for example, walking into the fire, threatening to burn people, activelly burning people, and so forth...)

Stannis confronts Stannis after he’s informed by Salladhor Saan (earlier in the episode) that Stannis follows what Melisandre tells him to do due to the prophecies she sees in the fire. In parallel, (in the books) Danerys follows what she sees in dragon (fire) dreams and other prophecies as well.

Stannis (through Melisandre) and Danerys both follow prophecies that are associated with fire, which are interpretated to suit their narcissistic delusions of grandeur. The magic is real, the meaning they gave them is not.

Melisandre is said to sing to her enemies as they burned, while (in the books) Danerys is said to “sing” while she commmands the dragons to burn the Unsullied masters (yes, this very story segment we’re on!).

Melisandre asks if Davos remembers all those men burning and yelling for their mothers, while Danerys burns every master in Astapor (including what’s basically children, as she says anyone over the age of 14)

Melisandre is called the “mother of monsters” for creating the shadow assassin through blood magic, while Danerys is called the “mother of dragons” for creating the dragons through blood magic, both using these fire magic instruments against their enemies.

Melisandre and Danerys blood magics are both characterised negatively. As a sidenote, Melisandre’s blood magic is sex and burning blood, while Danerys’ blood magic is burning others. In reality, it’s all the same shit, Melisandre’s sex “equals” to life (conception) and she made the shadow baby (subtle) and Danerys killed three lives for the dragons. Only death can pay for life.

Stannis isn’t so keen on burning prisoners and enemies, but does because he believes it to be justice against the infidels and what’s necessary to win the Iron Throne. In parallel, Danerys isn’t so keen on buying the Unsullied, but she burns the masters because she believes it’s justice and believes them necessary to win the Iron Throne.

Stannis and Danerys may both dislike abhorrent behaviour, but they engage in it regardless because they believe it necessary to achieve their objectes. Theis trend escalates from acceptable targets (the Faith of the Seven statues or Viserys) to uncceptable targets (prisoners of war that oppose them), until it’s unsustainable (Shireen or the citizens of King’s Landing) and then someone kills them. It’s worth noting that in the books, Jorah suggests the Unsullied and Danerys doesn’t even give a shit that they are slaves, getting excited with the idea instead.

[5] Margaery gives food to the poor. After, the Tyrell siblings have dinner with Joffrey and Cersei where they discuss Margaery’s charity, with Cersei implying it’s not genuine. This is followed by Danerys touring the Unsullied barracks, where she notes Kraznys being a dick to the Unsullied, which she later uses an excuse as to why she freed them, bt this isn’t genuine. Danerys and Margaery are (in hindsight) parallels.

Margaery does charity not for altruistic reasons, but because she wants to gain power by currying favour through the people’s support. Likewise, Danerys frees the Unsullied not because she cares about freedom (remember, she wanted to buy them regardless), but because she has no money to buy them and wants good publicity.

Margaery and Danerys are both dishonest about their real motivations for doing good deeds, because they’re basically just publicity stunts to harnass support and power. On one hand, when Margaery is taken by the Faith of the Seven, she eventually admits that she never cared about the poor and in fact hated them, but did what she did for power. On the other hand, when Danerys negotiates with Kraznys, she realises she has no money to buy them and makes sure they’ll follow for sure before dropping the dragon, only after she’s convinced by the dispute between Barristan advocating Rhaegar was loved and that’s why others followed him versus Jorah advocating that Rhaegar was honest and that’s why he died.

Margaery is dressed through these scenes in a similar way as Danerys when she’s pandering to the same “soft-power” tactics.

Good so far? Let’s rewind.

Danerys and Sansa are foils.

Sansa cannot go home because she’s a prisoner with no power (no movement), while Danerys is sailing free and returning home because she’s free with power via the dragons (movement).

Sansa adquires a “dragon” in season 6. He’s not the mythological beast proper, but her cousin Jon Snow, who’s secretely a Targaryen and therefore the “blood of the dragon”. Such, one of Jon’s narrative purposes for Sansa is the same as the dragons for Danerys, Jon’s there to protect and power Sansa, to take her home when others couldn’t or wouldn’t.

Jon protecting Sansa happens from the moment they reunite, as he vows to look after her and not leave her from that point forward (Ned haunting him is just a joke, as in show canon Jon doesn’t believe there’s anything beyond death, as he saw nothing when he did). So Jon protects Sansa from Ramsay and Littlefinger, gets angry on her behalf against Tyrion and Theon, there’s an unexplicable hiatus where he's a different character (what happened?), but at the end Jon returns to character and kills Danerys to protect Sansa.

Jon empowering Sansa, not so much. Jon accepts being King in the North instead of making Sansa the Queen in the North... until the very end and in this King’s Landing port (what were D&D indireectly saying that they wouldn’t say directly?)... where Jon forsakes being King in the North (even though that’s dumb, since he’s in jail now) and names Sansa the Queen in the North instead. It was done late and contrived (Jon has been convicted to “jail”, he could never be king again), but the correct foreshadowing was played straight neverhteless.

Sansa asks Littlefinger to take her home and he says that it’ll be treason since she’s property of the crown, but then promises he’ll try to smuggle her on a ship but she needs to be ready to flee.

Littlefinger doesn’t take Sansa home, he takes her to the Eyrie instead. In the books, Sansa accuses Littlefinger of lying about his promise and he admits it, while telling her to forget Winterfell and make the Eyrie home instead. Some time ater, Littlefinger promises to take Sansa to Winterfell after all if she marries Harry Hardying. A likely story... not. Littlefinger already had promised and lied about it.

In the show, Littlefinger does sell Sansa to the Boltons, so she technically returns home but since she runs away shortly after, there’s that feeling it didn’t count. It’s Jon that truly takes Sansa home, by defeating the Boltons and retaking Winterfell at her behalf because if he decided, he’d rather defect south. So, once again th foreshadowing was played straight.

It has been confirmed that in the books, Littlefinger won’t be selling Sansa to the Boltons, so she cannot return to Winterfell that way, not even technically... So Sansa will realise Littlefinger will never take her home even if she marries Harry, so she’ll flee the Vale to the Wall, then Jon takes her home.

Sansa plays a game about the ships she’s watching, where they’re headed to and why. The captain is disillusioned with undeserving people and wants to go wait out winter in Dorne where it’s warm.

Sansa is playing a game of pretend, because she has a penchant to sugarcoat than face the reality of things. When Shae asks her why she’s doing it, Sansa says she does it because “the truth is either boring or terrible”. For once, a good original scene. Still, Sansa’s fantasy is quite specific, this captain must represent someone else.

Knowing D&D, thisis to be delivered later like something out of a shopping list later on. So... someone is going to want to escape winter to someplace warm, because they're disillusioned with undeserving people. As a matter of fact, the scene before Sansa crashes the no!funeral at Castle Black, Jon (born in Dorne) embodies it...

Jon Snow. Three out of three.

To summarise, these transition scenes predict Danerys storyline regarding some issues by paralleling Stannis and Margaery scenes, as well as by contrasting Sansa’s scene. This is reciprocal as Danerys’ scenes also predict Stannis and Margaery as well as Sansa’s by paralleling and contrasting with their scenes.

As for Sansa proper, to recap and in broad strokes, Sansa is watching the ships and wishes to go home on one but can't because she is a prisoner with no power, which is contrasted with Danerys sailing on a ship and going home because she's free due to her dragons. In addition, this also foreshadows that Sansa gains a “dragon” later on, who provides freedom and protection as well as takes her home and gives her power, the person being revealed in Sansa’s scene details.

It was all there.

Well not all... I got to say that Littlefinger selling Sansa to the Boltons wasn't the only bulshit D&D pulled on the northern campaign. This is because according to this reading that Jon is Sansa’s dragon, he is supposed to empower Sansa yet he accepts being King in the North instead of her. That's not empowering!

It can work though, for example Jon wanting to crown Sansa as Queen in the North, but then having to backtrack because Tyrion presses his marriage to still be valid, so accepts to be King in the North to protect her. Well, this is the realm of speculation, not the point of this post, which was “where’s the rest”...

WHERE’S THE REST?

Let's backpedal a little. Amongst the things Littlefinger says...

Littlefinger: You are the property of the crown. Stealing you would be treason.

In ASOIAF / GoT, a man stealing a woman is wildling code for marriage. This is bad, I don’t like this... because Petyr Baelish stealing Sansa Stark from the Lannister crown is not cool.... but no, as seen from the previous points the metaphor here is meant to be Jon Snow so...

Jonathan Snowflake, who is accused of stealing a redhead around this time in the narrative, later thinks about stealing a woman when confronted with the opportunity to take Winterfell from Lady Lannister, is accused of being half-wilding and having a bizarre endgame where he's suggested to be a wildling but not really since they mention he’s still in the Watch (what was that)...

Jon Snow stealing Sansa Stark.

Knowingly. Willingly.

Jon Snow stealing Sansa Stark from the crown..., which incidently is the Lannister crown, when Sansa is married to Tyrion Lannister. ... Uhm... Tyrion Lannister, who incidently features in the scene preceding this exact one, where Tywin Lannister denies him Casterly Rock and promises him a bride... which is Sansa. Lawl at foreshadowing choochoo train being all matchy matchy with each other.

Jon Snow stealing Sansa Stark from Tyrion Lannister.

I’d like to see it. Where is it?

As a side-note, Sansa's scene details of the ship captain and Littlefinger’s speech is interesting because they might hint at a scrapped storyline for how this entire would have developed, a storyline closer to the books.

Sansa: It's carrying silk and it's supposed to bring back wine in exchange, but it's not coming back.

Sansa imagines the captain leaves with the excuse he's going for a trade deal to exchange silk for wine (food) and in the books, food is actually a big deal with Jon being concerned about food often, at some point saying their best hope to get some arse is the Eyrie. For example, Jon pretending he's going to the Vale with Sansa to get food but then defecting for her sake fits.

Littlefinger: I saw your mother not long ago. She's very eager to see you. And your sister. Sansa: Arya's alive?

Littlefinger mentions Cat and Arya, which is interesting because in the books, Cat prowls as the undead Lady Stoneheart, having taken Brienne who’s looking for Sansa, and Jeyne Poole is impersonating as Arya Stark (she’s the one that marries Ramsay). So these threads may be more connected to Sansa fleeing the Vale than previously thought. Perhaps Stoneheart told Brienne where Sansa is, perhaps Sansa finds out about fake!Arya and that’s why she decides to flee.

Well.. that’s also the realm of speculation...

By the way... armed with this post, answer the following GoT’s endgame questions:

Danerys burning King’s Landing because she believes it’s justice against her enemies and necessary to win the iron chair was out of character?

Jon didn’t notice that Danerys was an arsonist lizard even worse than Stannis and Melisandre?

[INSERT JON BANNING MELISANDRE FROM THE NORTH HERE]

Jon didn’t notice that Danerys was a fake altruist bitch like Margaery?

I’d like to see it. Where is it?

WHAT HAPPENED?

#bulshit that's what happened #jonsa #anti jonerys #anti daenerys #i only have paint on this laptop and i don't FEEL like installing tumblr on my laptop

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realityhelixcreates · 3 years

Text

Lasabrjotr Chapter 79: The Rites of Blood and Knowledge

Chapters: 79/?

Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: pg 13(Blood)

Relationships: Loki x Reader

Characters: Loki (Marvel),Thor(Marvel) Wanda Maximoff, vision, Bruce Banner

Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Party Time, In Reference To Blood Mixing Mentioned In The Eddas

Summary: The great ceremonies begin.

The dreams were powerful that night, whisking you off to far away places, off to the increasingly familiar form of the gargantuan space artist. There was a strange nostalgia out here that you were slowly coming to recognize as being not your own. How could it be? You had never physically been here, only visited in dreams.

With green and blue sparkling at your right and left, you drifted along in their orbit, yet another asteroid in a primordial star system.

First Wielder.

The concept filtered through your mind, trailing a warm and wistful longing behind it.

Peace. Eternity. Creation.

Before battle. Before separation. Before imprisonment.

Before all.

The star system was strange: every time you came here, the sun was a little different. A variable star, its brightness oscillating, it was still young and new.

There was only one planet in this system, located fairly close to the star. The presence of the colossal giant perturbed the asteroids and gas around the star, but their great mass prevented them from coalescing.

Comets formed in great numbers from the gas and ice beyond them, whizzing past them, inspiring new drawings. Asteroids clumped up against them; a brush of their great hand sent them flying, to collide into one another, to spin away from their unstable orbit, and join the comets on their cross-system journey, to crash into the singular planet.

The colossus watched with the patience of true immortality, as the planet burned and erupted, filled up with water, and clouds, and sky.

Thoughtfully, they regarded an asteroid they held in one hand, then, with their color-stained fingers, they began to draw.

The wistfulness and regret reached their peak, and you woke up in the empty bathtub, with a thought ringing in your head.

The Wielders always came to a bad end.

******

Loki was somewhat disgruntled to discover that you'd been having these dreams without him. He didn't scold, but his concern was clear. You described them in as much detail as you could, but, to your dismay, he didn't have any explanation for what you'd been seeing while you slept.

It would just have to remain a mystery. The upcoming day was going to be far too busy to dwell on it.

Both you and Loki had dressed in your absolute finest, your armor polished bright, your skirt covered in embroidery, your chest and neck festooned in beads of carved gold and pearl. You still felt a little bit like you were so buried in finery that you became invisible, but you tried to carry it with pride. All of this had been put together especially for you, and that hard work deserved to be shown off.

Loki was so magnificent in his fur-trimmed cloak, and elaborate helmet, you had to firmly tell yourself not to spend the whole day just staring at him all moon-eyed.

Maybe just a few hours.

Today, the Second Feast, was really the main event, as far as this Buridag was concerned. At noon, you would participate in the Blood Taking ceremony, wherin you would 'mingle blood' with the royal brothers, in order to be formally adopted into Asgardian high society. This would cement your status as high enough to advise Loki as one of the most important members of his personal entourage. And before the evening feast, you would perform the ritual that would confirm you as an official Seidkona.

But before that, you would have the time to run around and enjoy the festival.

It was set up like a combination job fair and reenactment fest. Stalls lined the streets and filled courtyards, peopled by the crafters of Asgard. Smiths, armorers, and carpenters, goldsmiths, lapidaries, scrimshanders, and glassblowers. Weavers, spinners, leatherworkers, and dyemakers, artists, musicians, chefs, academics, mages, stonemasons, construction workers, scribes, dancers, and cheesemongers. All the sights, and sounds, and scents, and flavors that made up Asgard were being demonstrated and celebrated.

Your Father and Tara joined you in the streets, and Loki reluctantly released you into their care, having some preparation left to do.

Tara, flouncing around in an apron dress and domed brooches very much like your usual style, gushed over how beautiful you looked, and your father, rather sheepishly dressed in an Asgardian greatcoat and cowl, agreed openly.

“You look like a princess.” he said. “A real one. You...You walk different now. Talk different. You look so strong.”

“Is it me, or are all these people following us?” Tara asked, not very quietly. A few chagrined people in the crowd that flowed in your wake down the street peeled away, and wandered in different directions. The rest either had less shame, or had orders to keep watch over you.

You spared the group a glance. There appeared to be a solid mix of Asgardians and humans, several of which had their phones out. You surmised there would be a new wave of photos of you on the internet over the next few days.

“Keep your cowl up dad.” You advised.

“Want me to run them off?” he offered.

“Nah. I don't really mind if they take pictures of me. Can't really hurt anything.”

“Wasn't so great last time.” Tara pointed out. “I spent a lot of time stanning for you.”

“Well, last time was sensationalized bullcrap. This time is a nice festival. I mean, check out that guy!”

That Guy was a glassblower in his stall, spinning a huge, bubble thin amphora of rose pink glass. You had seen its like before, but never seen one made.

“Oh, they age crystal mead in those! The pink lets in the right wavelengths of light that give it it's shimmering quality.”

“What's crystal mead?” your father asked.

“Don't try more than a few sips, if anyone offers.” you warned. “Asgardians have iron guts. Their booze is way too strong.”

“Yeah, they warned us about that on the plane.” Tara said. “And yesterday, it looked like they had everything divided up by species, so no one got the wrong thing.”

You took them around to various demonstrations: spinners spinning yarn, brewers preparing several of Asgards many alcoholic beverages, apothecaries showing how basic medicines were made, a cobbler putting together a nice pair of boots.

“So, Asgard's really advanced, right?” Tara asked. “Why is everything like Ye Olden Times?”

“Asgard's never had that big a population, even at it height. There just isn't that much demand for mass production. Most things are bespoke, or self-made. Quality depends entirely on the maker, so that, of course, becomes a competition. And that, in turn, becomes a matter of cultural pride. Also, they have thousands of years to get good at what they do, so Asgardian made goods are super high quality, and they judge personal worth by that. I don't think they'll ever automate; it would go against a lot of what they stand for.”

You snagged the three of you a traditional Asgardian snack; fat sausages, wrapped in savory pastry. You thought it might be good to have something else in your stomach before the first ceremony.

Tara called them Asgardian corn dogs, which you couldn't wait to share with Loki, if only to watch his nose wrinkle with disdain over the undignified term.

“So when do we have to let you go?” Tara asked.

You checked your phone for the time, stuffing the last of your sausage into your mouth.

“Eh, I've got a few minutes left. Better start heading over though.”

Your winding path through the courtyards took you past minstrels, impromptu dances, and games, to a large, tall dais that had been put together as a temporary mirror to the throne room. It towered over the City Hall courtyard like a ziggurat. You'd be up there soon enough, but currently...

“Who's that?” your father asked, pointing at a man standing at the top. “Doesn't look like Thor.”

You squinted up at the figure, his bright armor shining in the rarefied sunlight.

“Ah, That's Heimdall. He's the Guardian of Asgard, and god of...uh, sight? I think? Vigilance? It's not quite that neat and simple, you know? The whole 'God Of' thing is a bit more complicated than that.”

“So that's a god?” your father asked. “How can you tell? Are they all gods? What does that even mean?”

“All good questions. Mostly because they are very hard to answer.”

Your father and Tara jerked at the sudden new voice, and, not for the first time, you found yourself amazed at how easily a man of the sheer size and importance as the king of Asgard could sneak up on people.

“Your Majesty.” you said calmly, inclining your head. Your father and Tara dipped into awkward bows, a little awed by the mythical figure before them. Thor didn't necessarily demand obeisance, but he didn't exactly discourage it either; he let people act as they felt appropriate.

“Not every Asgardian is a god.” Thor explained. “Those that are go by the term 'Aesir', a common name through most of the realms for beings of that type. You are born Aesir; you cannot become one by outside influences. However, Aesir nature doesn't always become apparent at birth, it often doesn't manifest until adolescence. As for what it means to be Aesir...that doesn't have so straightforward an answer. I leave it to the philosophers, who, incidentally, are in booth seventy-eight.

Anyway, I have come to collect your daughter for the ceremony. There isn't much time left, so we'd all better get in place. If you go through those two poles there right now, you can get very good seats.”

“This could get a bit weird.” You warned. “It's a ceremony more ancient than any recorded human practices, so it's probably going to seem archaic.”

“Oh, it's not so bad.” Thor said. “It's been updated and refined over all those years. For instance, everyone remains clothed now, and there are at least seventy percent fewer entrails used.”

Your father coughed, and you rolled your eyes. Thor's sense of humor was difficult for you to understand, considering how serious he was about everything. The thing about Thor's jokes was that he might have been joking about something that had really happened, or he might have been joking about something he'd completely made up, but he would never specify which.

“On that note, I've got to go.” you said. “Entrails to sort, and all that.”

Your father coughed again, Tara patting him compassionately on the back.

“Good luck!” she called to your receding back.

******

“Now, you've been fully briefed on what will happen during this ceremony, correct?” Thor asked, as the two of you loitered near the back stairs of the temporary dais. People were filtering in to seats and standing room around the courtyard, waiting for things to start.

“I think so.” you said. “If I've got this right, there's going to be a special dance-”

“The Alignment of the Celestial and Worldly bodies, yes.” Thor said. “It symbolizes everything that must come together to bring the 'adoptee' to the greater 'family'. In this case, it will tell the story of how you came here to join our family.”

A soft warmth crept up your neck, and heated your ears beneath your helmet. You knew it was all socio-symbolism, but the notion of 'joining the family' hit differently now that you were on intimate terms with Loki.

“And then all the braziers will have some kind of incense thrown in, and in the smoke, we'll all go up the stairs like we're magically appearing. Honestly, it sounds like it'll look really cool.”

“All ceremonies contain a bit of theatrics.” Thor agreed. “Perhaps that is the most important part. Or that's the part that makes it important. I wish we still had some of the traditional ceremonial incense, but we just don't have access to the materials anymore. You would have liked it; it was much more floral than most of what you have here. We did manage to get some lavender though. That should be nice.”

“Maybe one day, when the Bifrost is more stable.” You said. It did sound very nice. “Loki said that you, and he, and Heimdall will sing a blessing song?”

“Yes, a divine blessing from a trio of Aesir. It's got to be three. And then...”

“Yeah. And then.” Loki had told you about the bloodletting. He had been very frank about it. “I know. I'm nervous, but not afraid.”

Thor nodded. “Sometimes there are unforeseen effects, but never anything bad. You'll be perfectly safe.”

“I know. The nervousness just comes from knowing it'll hurt. Even if just for a short time.”

You buckled under Thor's hand when it came down on your shoulder, enveloping the whole thing.

“Loki would rather slice out his own guts than draw your blood, trust me. He's been trying to figure out how to get around it for weeks. Unfortunately, the blood is the most important part of the magic. It carries all of the power. It's very old magic: according to him, this is practically the only part of the ritual that has remained unchanged from the beginning.”

“Did there really used to be entrails and naked people, or was that a joke?”

“Ehhh, well, yes and no. This ceremony originated with the Vanir, and they are not opposed to nakedness under certain circumstances. In this case, everyone who attended was expected to leave the clothes they came in at the door, and wear a special loincloth instead. This was actually to prevent violence, by barring hidden weaponry from being brought to ceremony grounds. So rather than pure nudity, everyone was dressed as scantily as was possible.

As for entrails...unfortunately yes, that was also a part of it. A seer would perform a divination using the entrails of a slaughtered animal. That practice was going out of fashion, even before the war, and I don't think anyone today even remembers how it was done.”

You shuddered. Yes, it was a different culture, and a long time ago, but it still grossed you out.

“I'll have to remember to thank Loki for trying to get me out of it, even if he wasn't successful.” You said. He really did put in a lot of effort behind the scenes. If only he were more open about some of that effort, so you could appreciate it more.

“He was adamant about the bull.” Thor said. “Demanded a private ritual the night before. Put your helmet up on the pillar, then sacrificed and butchered the beast himself. Insisted on it. Did our ancestors proud, but you know he knows his way around a knife.”

“I wish he'd told me. I was really stressed about that whole thing. I'm glad, in the end, that he was thinking of me, but I really wish I'd known. I wouldn't have lost so much sleep!”

“It was a little last minute.” Thor admitted. “I approved it the instant he explained, but we had to do it pretty much immediately afterwards. He really should have told you, but I fear my brother is usually more invested in the making of plans, rather than what to do once they come to fruition. I feel you will be a positive influence on him, though.”

Even though he was wearing his eyepatch, rather than the mismatched prosthetic, his one blue eye was open and sincere.

“I think so too.” you said. You already were influencing each other. It was impossible to live so close, to sleep in the same bed, without doing so. But Loki did have a bad habit of assuming things, a by-product of his upbringing as a leader, you supposed. You would simply have to speak up more.

Perhaps you had gotten too comfortable. But perhaps you wanted to be too comfortable. It might be a holdover from your year of struggle, but having someone who wanted to do so much for you was very tempting. You knew it would be better to strive for a balance, but you also knew that, unless Loki somehow diminished himself severely, the two of you would never truly be equals.

But you admired that greatness, and somehow, those all too common flaws in him made him easier for you to love. They made him so real.

An ambling drum beat started up, accompanied by the brassy ting of zills, and a flute. Loki joined you and Thor in peeking out around the dais, just as a group of dancers spread out around the courtyard.

You'd been told that the dancers represented personages from history and legend. You were pretty sure that the three women who orbited the dance stage equidistant from one another must be the Norns, and you assumed the cluster of people standing beneath a glittering tree branch and clanging their zills were probably meant to be the ancestors of the royal family.

The dance told a story of a woman dressed like you, and a man dressed like Loki, wearing silver bells at their wrists and ankles that jingled with every step. They made everything look so much more graceful and sensual than it really had been: Holding hands like the rune branding had been on purpose, dancing circles with each other, like everything had been friendly and not at all awkward from the very beginning. How elegantly 'you' swooned into 'his' arms, while the assassin was caught. How triumphantly 'you' defended 'him' against the Huldra. And how beautifully 'he' clasped 'you' in a romantic, yet properly chaste embrace.

There was none of the blood, none of the fear, or anger, or petulance, or confusion. No loss, or loneliness, or uncertainty.

But that was how it worked, wasn't it? None of those things could be shown to the general public. This was ceremony. This was spectacle! This was what would be remembered.

The pair danced away, out of sight, the ancestors retreated, and the Norns raised their arms in unison. All around the courtyard, attendants dumped incense into the torches and braziers, sending thick smoke and mysterious perfume wafting over the entire area.

“Show's on, darling.” Loki said, grasping your shoulders, and leading you up the stairs. A new wave of anxiety washed over you as you rose above the sweet smelling clouds like a legend. Heimdall stepped aside to let you pass, Loki and Thor leading you right up to the edge of the elevated platform, where waited a podium, upon which rested a brass bowl. An unfamiliar rune was stamped on its bottom. So that was where the magic would happen.

Thor held his hand out over an unlit brazier just in front of the podium and concentrated. Scarcely a moment later sparks danced between his fingers and jumped to ignite the fuel. The light illuminated the clouds of incense, obscuring the audience. Cut off thus from every other person out there, you didn't flinch as the trio of gods each placed a hand on you, and began to sing.

You couldn't help but wonder if they had done this before. It was a complex song, with rising and falling harmonies, parts layered over one another, something that couldn't have been easy to learn. As their voices dipped and flowed, you felt the power rising, just like out in the camp, months ago. Why could you sense divine power? Was it because of your magic? Was there anyone out in the crowd that could feel it too?

Thor's good eye had begun to sparkle with crackling white energy, the power of the blessing he was singing into you. You assumed Heimdall, behind you, was lighting up orange, and when you turned your head to glance at Loki, you were suffused with the gentle glow of the blue light from your dreams.

All of the anxiety drained out of you at the touch of that light, your arms dropping to your sides as relaxation took over.

Everything was all right. Loki was right beside you. Thor and Heimdall were with you, their voices reverberating through you, their blessing upon you. The rare winter sun filtered down over you like a blanket, as the last notes of the Aesir's song filled your head.

Loki gently took your hand, gazing earnestly into your face as the calming light faded from his eyes.

“Forgive me, my love.” he whispered.

A sudden, painful jab, ripped you out of your cocoon of sunny calm. With a sharp cry, you turned to stare at your fingertip, pierced deeply by the tip of one of Loki's knives.

Loki held your hand over the brass bowl, letting the blood drip, enough to cover the rune at the bottom. Then he tenderly bandaged the tiny wound, lines of regret around his eyes. Thor held his hand out for a slash, and then Loki turned the blade on himself. Blood slowly filled the little bowl, as a light throbbing started in your head. Every drop that rippled its surface was like a giant heartbeat within you.

Once it was full, Thor and Loki began singing again, lifting the small bowl between them. They held it up to the sun, and then poured it onto the burning brazier. The fire sputtered, sizzling, sending a huge cloud of smoke directly into your face. You gagged on the scent of burning blood, practically bathed in it, a layer of death-scent on your skin. The song cut through it, thrumming in your ears, an echoing promise of cherishment and fidelity.

The blood burned down into nothing, the smoke slowly clearing. All of the people in the courtyard came back into view, the upturned faces solemn. The dancers below picked up the chorus.

And you understood them.

Loki took your hand and lifted it up, flourishing to the crowd. They cheered, while you stood there, stunned. You understood what they were saying, their enthusiastic calls, their songs. The blood smell lingered in your nose, the throbbing swiftly receding from your head.

He led you to the stairs down as you wobbled, but you never made it all the way down. Dizziness overcame you, and you collapsed into Loki's arms.

#lasabrjotr #loki (marvel)#loki x reader

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aralezinspace · 3 years

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TW: Death

If death is a theme in your writing in any way, this is for you! If not, I hope you enjoy it any way. Transcript under cut, tagging all my writer pals <3

@chromehoplite @griever-bit-my-finger @amanitus @java-jowgie @plague-of-insomnia @luci-on-the-moon @bitterbetterbun @little-bit-sebaciel @cielpansyhive @peekaboo-desu @wicked-game-black-butler @sinnergism

Who’s ready for another video of oddly specific knowledge I have from performing at the renaissance faire? Fair warning, this video will be talking a lot about death and the concept of dying, so if that’s not your wheelhouse, now is your opportunity to bounce, and know that I love you.

So today we are going to be talking about the danse macabre, the dance of death. Now in a lot of media, I’ve heard the phrase “danse macabre” used to refer to a high stakes conflict between two characters, where death is often the outcome for the loser. And that’s totally cool and valid and I love it. But there’s so much more that can be done with the concept of the danse macabre, so let’s get into it.

Another disclaimer, take everything I say in this video with a very slight grain of salt, if only because we don’t have a lot of primary sources about the danse macabre, so everything I’m going to be talking about in this video, I learned for the sake of performing at the renaissance faire, which takes place in Elizabethan England. So if I make any mistakes in the course of this video and I find out later, I’ll come back and fix it.

So the danse macabre had two main themes: the phrase memento mori which is latin for remember you will die, and the concept of death as the great equalizer.

Now this is gonna sound extremely ridiculous but the phrase memento mori was like the YOLO of that time period. Its place in the danse macabre was to remind people to live their lives in a way that if they were to die tomorrow they wouldn’t have any regrets and would be ready to face their final judgement. It was a reminder that death was very much a part of life, that death was always lurking around the corner, and you never knew when it was going to be your time.

This reminder was often physical: there were murals, paintings, manuscript pages, the theme of the danse macabre appeared everywhere. But for the sake of the renaissance faire and what also appeared in Elizabethan England, was a performance aspect. So what we did at faire, and what was also believed to have happened at least once in Elizabethan England, was villagers would dress up in skeleton costumes like skirts gloves masks etc with skeletons painted on them, and do a parade. We would parade through the faire grounds playing music on period instruments, so we had tin whistles, violins, one of my friends played mandolin, and we had some drums. There were also noisemakers which were pieces of wood or metal or things you’d find in nature, that you’d just shake together to make cacaphonous noise, and people would play those as they followed the parade and interacted with the peple watching.

The main instrument, which I actually got to play my last season, was a wooden xylophone that you carried on your chest like a marching band xylophone, that you played with wooden mallets, and the really cool part was that when you had two or three of them, it sounded like you were playing the song on bones.

And the purpose of this performance was to personify and embody death, make the concept of death physical, something you could see and interact with. So when this parade came around the corner, it served as a reminder that death was always around the corner.

Just a slight tangent, I can’t even begin to explain how amazingly touching and profound it was to perform in the danse macabre. There was a point in my life where I was suicidal for over a year, and to perform in this parade where I got to personify and embody death was life changing. It completely changed my relationship with death and the idea of dying, to this day I always have a piece of jewelry on me that says memento mori. At this point it’s a bracelet but I’ve had a necklace, a ring, it’s something I will never forget.

so this physical reminder and performance aspect of the danse macabre was more common among the lower classes. Death was very much a part of their lives; farm animals died all the time, children died all the time, women died in childbirth, death was a constant part of life. It didn’t have the taboo that we place on it today. So seeing a parade of death coming around the corner wasn’t super shocking, but it was a poignant enough reminder to live your life in a way that you wouldn’t have any regrets and that if you were to die tomorrow you’d be ready to face your final judgement.

Now theme 2 of the danse macabre not only affected the lower classes, it also had a profound effect on the nobility and the royalty, and that was the idea of death as the great equalizer. It was the idea that everyone from the lowest peasant to the highest king died the same. Death came for us all, we are all equal when we are dead, we all face the final judgement, and that made the ruling class VERY uncomfortable.

The ruling class already lived under the constant threat of peasant revolts. The peasant class outnumbered them something ridiculous like three to one, I”m not sure of the exact figure. but a peasant revolt was never far from their minds, it was a constant anxiety. In addition to that anxiety, this idea of death being the great equalizer was a direct contradiction to a great source of the ruling class’ power, especialy the monarchy.

A good chunk of the monarchy’s power came not from the state but also from the church, from the perceived divine right to rule, that this monarch had been specially chosen and ordained by God to sit on this throne and lead these people, and this made the monarch inherently superior to the people they ruled.

So take that idea, then introduce the idea that peasants and monarchs are equal in death, and that made the ruling class super uncomfortable. It directly challenged their perceived divine right to rule.

So that’s something that could be introduced into your writing, how does this concept of death as the great equalizer live in your world? Who isn’t super bothered by it, who does it make very uncomfortable, who embraces it, who rejects it, stuff like that. How does this idea of death live in your world?

so if any of this is helpful at all, fantastic, I can’t wait to see what you come up with. If not, I hope you at least found it informative if not just entertaining. Bye!

#my stuff #writing things #danse macabre #death #writing info

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madamlaydebug · 3 years

Text

The Seven Functions of the Pyramid

1. Power generator and distributor

2. Preservation

3. Transportation

4. Energy balance

5. Prophesy

6. Resurrection

7. Divine unity

The ancient Egyptian/Ethiopian empire used a certain form of electricity that was generated and distributed by pyramids. It is different than modern electricity in that the modern type is a low form of electricity that requires transmission wires.

All the substances of the universe have a range or spectrum of frequencies. You are familiar with the most common spectrum - that of light. Scientists have named the extremes that they know of this, calling them infrared and ultraviolet. That means if you look at the seven colors of the rainbow, starting with red then orange then yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, then the light spectrum starts from below red (infrared) and goes all the way to beyond violet (ultraviolet).

Similarly the other forms of matter also have a range. Solid matter comes in a range of solidity, from soft solids like lead to very hard ones like diamond. Liquids also have a range, starting with thin liquids like pure alcohol or substances such as benzene, to thick liquids like gels. This is true for all the seven forms of matter through the gases to the ether, light, electricity, and magnetism.

Modern generated electricity is a lower-spectrum type, barely above static electricity (the type that makes your clothes cling). The ancients used a higher form of electricity that did not require wires for transmission. It was transmitted directly in the ether (i.e. in space) the same way radio waves are transmitted. It was transmitted to the temples, which served, among other things, as receiving stations. So the temples had antennas used to receive the transmission. These antennas can still be seen today erected in front of some of the temples. Modern people call them obelisks. There is one near you in Central park, New York that was stolen by Americans from one of the temples, and many more that were stolen by Europeans, perhaps the most famous one being the one called Cleopatra's needle.

Now, the ancients had great reverence for technology. To them it was a gift of nature coming directly from the Gods - the 144 Chiefs of the Black nation. So they did not treat it as casually as modern people do. Today everyone in western countries has access to electricity, including batteries, and they use it casually. There is no reverence whatsoever for this gift of the Gods. The ancients used it only when necessary, including it in the appropriate rituals, and only for projects that were for the benefit of the general society rather than individuals. Other than that they went about their business the usual way, using ordinary hand tools.

For this reason modern archeologists claim that the ancients did not have the knowledge of high technology such as electricity because they see the ancient Egyptians going about their business using hand tools and physical labor most of the time. Yet, there are many instances where they have seen the manufacture of certain implements such as stone coffins that were obviously made using some kind of high-speed machinery. They dismiss these instances as exceptions, and so never mention them in their studies and reports. There are many sculptures and other pieces of art found that are made of very hard stones such as diorite, including vases with very thin walls, narrow necks and wide bottoms. When they look at them, it's quite obvious that they could not possibly have been made by hand. They were certainly made using some kind of rotary machine that required electricity. These are the kinds of items that they bury in the basements of their museums because they do not fit their theories and explanation concerning the level of ancient technology.

The ancients understood the concept of balance in all its aspects. They understood that balance is necessary in all things, including the use of technology. Even though electricity is to be used to make life much easier, it is not supposed to be exploited to the point where it replaces all other uses, especially the uses of hand tools and physical labor. Such behavior leads to a deterioration of the human body. It discourages the exercising of our muscles using natural activities. Our muscles need natural activities in order for our bodies to remain in a state of good health. It does not help the body to replace natural activities with artificial activities such as weightlifting and gymnasium exercises. The everyday activities of the ancients, such as farming, washing clothes by hand, milling grains, making wine, rowing boats etc ensured that their bodies never went lacking for natural exercise and the muscular fitness and balance required for good health and long life. That's the reason they kept their ancient ways even in the midst of technology that was vastly superior to that of the modern day.

Every person had to reach a certain level of initiation before he could use it. The technology was not given for free or for money as it is today. It was earned by knowledge and understanding obtained in the rituals associated with it. They understood that all technology has a higher purpose above that of merely making life easy - it lends to the overall balance of the forces of nature. Without this balance, the life of a society will degenerate to one of two extremes; the extreme of greed, where the gifts of nature are used solely for the satisfaction of physical desires with no spiritual value whatsoever. This is what we see with the way the light-skinned people use technology today. The other extreme is that of over-technologization, which leads to over-intellectualization - i.e. giving up the heart for the sake of the head. This is the case with the extraterrestrial races today, who have given up all emotional life for the sake of the intellect, to the point where they have lost all capacity to love or to empathize.

These two extremes illustrate the end result of the unbalanced use of the gifts of nature.

Knowing this, the ancients were able to keep using high technology for thousands of years without the harmful effects we see today such as the ecological disaster that is being foisted upon mother earth by the light-skinned races, or the genetic deterioration that comes as a result of losing one's capacity to feel emotions, such as is being experienced by the extraterrestrial races.

The pyramids were also used for the preservation of life forms, or the function that has been attributed to Noah's ark. Periodically, it becomes necessary to preserve life forms on earth, both of animals and plants, so that they may continue after certain events that devastate the earth during its periodic cleansing. I will talk more about this function and events at some other time.

Pyramids are also used for space travel. This requires the manufacture of a monolithic pyramid. This is a large pyramid (much larger than the Great Pyramid) that is made of a single stone. The stone is obtained in space from among the debris of large rocks that orbits alongside the planets, that are called asteroids.

When our first ancestors came to earth from Sirius, they used twelve such pyramids, each one occupied by 12,000 men and women.

They landed the pyramids at twelve different locations on our earth, that were the energy nodal points of that time. The pyramids remained there for a long time in the far, far distant past, trillions of years ago. Such pyramids are always used when large groups of people leave to settle a new planet. We will see their use again here on our earth in the near future.

Pyramids are also used to balance the earth's energies. They are placed at the 12 primary nodes of the earth where space energies enter our planet. Every inhabitable planet receives energies from other stars in space that are essential for human and other life. These energies must be balanced as they enter the nodal points, otherwise they could upset the earth's magnetic shield. The earth's magnetic shield is crucial for keeping out things in space that could cause harm to the planet, such as large meteors and harmful rays. Our earth and other planets in our solar system are still bombarded by such things because our solar system is still evolving. They will cease when the entire solar system reaches a state of perfect stability, where all its energies are in perfect harmony with the energies received from outer space.

The Great Pyramid also acts as a prophetic 'book of stone'. It's constructed in such a way that it tells the future story of the age we are in. Every King or Queen who rules the earth builds a stone pyramid as part of their ordination. In its construction, they 'write' the future of their 25,000-year reign. They do not write it in Hieroglyphs, but in the sizes and types of stones used, and the way they are placed, as well as the way the chambers are constructed. A person who is initiated into its mysteries can read the future events of the earth from it.

It is also used as a resurrection 'machine'. I've already described the two facets of resurrection for which the Great Pyramid of Giza is used.

Lastly, and most important, the Pyramid is used to facilitate divine unity during rituals. This is a function that belongs to the 24 Elders.

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wardencommanderrodimiss · 3 years

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If Fates' child mechanics could be improved, story wise, what would you do? Because I do genuinely love the kids as characters but they were done DIRTY by the excuse plot and reasons for them to be there.

That reminds me of something else I’ve meant to say about how the Fates child mechanics really really doesn’t work. Actually several things, one big one and a bunch of other little ones.

It’s obvious that the thought process was “well, people liked Awakening and Awakening had XYZ, so let’s add it in again!” without taking into account that Awakening built its story around time travel. Even if you didn’t get any S-supports, Lucina is still there. It’s a major plot point. Grima is still there, also having time-traveled. You can’t separate the time travel from the main plot, so from there it’s natural that Lucina would have some friends who came back with her, and thus you get the kids.

We’ve discussed how Fates’ baby dimension is silly. Yeah hang on let’s all just have kids during a war and throw them into an Outrealm pocket dimension where they’ll grow up real quick and we can have more soldiers for our army. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody’s around to hear it - if a situation so fantastical happens that it couldn’t have been written about in any human rights documentation, is it still a war crime? Several other issues I have with it before I get into the big one I wanted to talk about:

Even if we presume that the ladies are spending the duration of their pregnancy also in a pocket dimension where time passes differently in relation to the outside world, that’s still the equivalent of nine months that they are experiencing. That’s (equivalent to) several months that they’re not going to be able to train when the pregnancy is far along or when they’re recovering. Even if it seems like just a few days passed outside, they’re physically going to be lagging behind where they were when they entered the outrealm.

Azura and fCorrin would do that twice.

After they yeet the first of their female friends into a pocket dimension off the astral plane so that she can time-lapse her pregnancy, you would think that someone in the army would figure out some sort of birth control spell/concoction/herb/something so that they don’t have to worry about this again. That’s just good common sense, something we know Corrin lacks, but somebody else surely would suggest it. I feel like Camilla would have that under control - not to insinuate like that she’s a slut or something, but I mean that her older sister vibes tell me that she has the knowledge and supplies to dump on her three younger siblings to inform them how to have relationships safely without fear of unwanted children “and if anyone tries to pressure you otherwise, tell me and I’ll cut their head off” ;3c. She’s like that, I think.

And then the other big and uncomfortable problem with this setup is: some of the character ages.

Like, in Awakening, you’ve got Donnel, Ricken, and Lissa who seem the youngest. Depending on Robin’s gender and how the pairings fall, I think you could end up with two unmarried guys, so you could just have Donnel and Ricken not have children, but if you want to get every character you’ve got to have Lissa get married. I put her at 16/18 during the two parts of the game. Not a great age to have a kid at - but the thing about Awakening’s time travel is that she’s not having a kid at that age. Owain’s from the future, and the only child born during the events of the game is Lucina. It still felt a little weird to see those younger ones getting married, Lissa might be getting a ring now from someone just as young as she is (in the middle of a war) but kids are still years off. That...somewhat lessens the discomfort.

And then. sigh. then there’s Fates. Where no pocket dimensions and strange flow-of-time can get around the fact of character ages, because their children might be growing up fast but they are not from the future. Those kids are born during the course of the game. And like! Elise and Sakura! They’re my baby sisters! I don’t want my baby sisters to be teen moms during a war! That’s just weird and gross and uncomfortable! They’re my baby sisters. I want to find my siblings good partners but I’m not going to matchmake for my baby sisters if that’s the result.

So looping all the way back around to your question - I have no idea, honestly. Anything except time travel/coming from an entirely alternate timeline in the future has all of the above problems baked in, and then future-kids is just an Awakening rehash. Like I was about to suggest that it’d be interesting if for Birthright/Conquest, the kids came from an alternate timeline of the other path, where their side lost the war, but firstly that’s just Awakening rehashed again, secondly Corrin spares as many people as possible so we don’t have dead parents, and honestly it’s not even a dark dire future in Awakening. Like for Nohr in Birthright, Leo gets crowned king of Nohr, his kid is going to have no drive to come back and change the past because it’s fine, there’s holes in the family where Aunt Elise and Uncle Xander are missing, but this is not dire enough to need to find a way to change fate. And thirdly, for the few characters who do die - since we’re using Birthright as the example, Elise and Xander - that would mean that their kids were born before the end of the route, which runs into that same Elise problem! If you wanted “the kids as refugees from a dire timeline” it’d have to be one where Garon won and then again, just play Awakening for that plot.

Conceptually I think it’s interesting to draw the kids in from a different timeline where Corrin made the other choice - “Roddy what about Revelation?” I don’t fucking know man - and see how they react to Corrin being on that side, fighting for their country, with their parents, but... then that runs into the problem of spoiling the other route. Like if you played Conquest first and Xander’s kid says he died before they were born, well, that’s awkward. And again, Elise - in Conquest you could pair her with like, Kaze, who was with Corrin the whole time, always on Corrin’s side no matter what, and then that creates a plot hole of it having been literally impossible for that kid to have come from a Birthright-esque timeline because they couldn’t have existed then because Kaze could’ve even died before Corrin reunites with Elise. No, that concept can’t work. Too much potential for plot holes and stretching too weirdly to try and cover it.

I don’t know. I don’t know if you can fix it without becoming an Awakening rehash or turning Fates into something entirely different...which, it’s Fates. Might not be a bad thing to do that.

#fire emblem chatter tag #jakeun-kangajii

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holymoonlighted · 4 years

Text

Allant, Amygdalae and You

Spoilers for Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls below:

In Bloodborne’s Alpha test, the Amygdalae were there, but not visible to the player. When re-enabled these familiar Gods have something interesting about them that was removed in the current game. Their eyes. (Images are from here.)

Their eyes are extremely familiar to people who payed attention to Demon’s Souls True King Allant. The eyes are essentially the same, not entirely the same design but, the idea is there.

For those who don’t know, Bloodborne was Demon’s Souls II at one point in development, there are files quite literally classed as “DSII” or “Demon’s Souls II” not Dark Souls II, the team making Bloodborne had nothing to do with DSII, I’m pretty sure. Anyways, the connection is incredibly obvious once you know that. This does clear up one thing, Great Ones are most likely Demons. Or were Demons. This Allant has become a Demon through worshipping the Old One, who is also a Demon. Nevertheless, the Amygdala and Allant share some sort of connection. Allant in this form also look like an early form of the Amygdalae, but not quite. Great Ones in Bloodborne’s story have always been God-like beings, Miyazaki has stated one of the first things written for Bloodborne is that Great Ones cannot have children, meaning Great Ones in some capacity have always been relevant. To get to the point, Amygdala have always most likely been intended with this relation to Demonhood and this connection to Allant. In Demon’s Souls, human-turned Demons have been in the story the whole time, in fact, some of the major bosses are those, see: Tower Knight, Phalanx and Flamelurker. They are all Demons. And now, when in Bloodborne when you take into account that these are also Demons and that most likely have also inhabited the planet, one can wonder if the mist brought them or that they have been placed there like the Old One was. In fact the old names for Amygdala are “False God” and “God’s Fallen Angel” and in the alpha, an unused track associated with Amygdala are called “False God”. Additionally, Amygdala was also the final boss of Bloodborne at one point. If you notice, in the Grand Cathedral on the way to Amelia there are statues lining both sides that depict Amygdalae, no doubt about it.

They have the face and the tentacles. It’s plain and simple; Anyways, it is obvious Amygdalae are still worshipped as Gods. In Bloodborne’s world you can hear characters say “Gods” instead of a singular God. Meaning that Great Ones, in Yharnam, at least, are worshipped in a large capacity. With this, and the assumption that they were Demon’s, it can be said that history is just repeating itself. For those who don’t know, the God referenced in Demon’s Souls is the Old One. It is worshipped, presumably given by Allant the Old One is known and so is its power but only by people who really want to delve into it. Though now, it seems that people fully accept these Demons who live in their city and worship them as Gods, as Boletaria once did. Amygdalae are False Gods under blasphemous worship, the reason there are so many is unknown. Maybe it was explained in an earlier iteration, alas, it is lost or the reason why is gone. So it seems that in Bloodborne the theme of cycles carries true and that was the scene they were trying to push out.

This place here is an interesting point of conjecture, however. At some point in Bloodborne, the plot was that you, as in the hunter, have an incurable disease. This was one of the major plot points too, it wasn’t a side thing. The Doll mentioned it, multiple NPC’s including unused ones did. It was just the entire plot, plus other things. Anyways, this place at one point is called Shrine of the Diseased and Amygdala still occupied this place. The diseased are the name of well, the ones with the disease. Along with some dialogue, it seems that the diseased are almost worshipped in some capacity. And why an Amygdala is here is unknown, this is still DeSII territory so anything goes in terms of relations. The diseased seem to be able to collect madness, early dialogue from the Doll even says as much. This madness, like Blood Echoes are able to be transformed into strength. Madness is not insight, however. Meaning that dead enemies and bosses dropped Madness, or something of that capacity. The Kanji used is “狂気” which is the literal state of Insanity, which suggests that it is the madness that is building inside of someone’s mind. The doll also says:

“ あなたもそうなのでしょう？だから、死してなお悪夢で目覚めるまるでそれこそが、悪夢であったかのように狂気とは、つまりそういうものですから “

Roughly translated(and localized) into:

“You awoke the same as you died, yes? This is why you awake again past death, as if it were a nightmare. This is what madness is, after all.”

This disease seems to be the reason why the Hunter, or in this case, The Diseased, awakens again. It is a disease of madness that prevents death. Now, back to the point. It seems in the Nightmare Frontier, this shrine was used by someone or something to worship the diseased. Amygdala could very well be the keeper of the shrine. Meaning, they are protective demons. Or used as some kind of protecting nature and keep holy things protected from danger. In Yharnam, it is probable they are just surveying and making sure things stay intact. Yharnam is a city like Boletaria, full of religion. With this, an argument can be made that Demons do not need the fog to be summoned and that the Dream and Nightmare realms are their homes and the fog just allows them to come onto the Earth. For Amygdala, it’s hard to say if it was a worshipped then came into existence, but it seems odd that humanity would create this cosmic visage in the first place. For Demon’s Souls, Gods like the Storm King are a viable depiction of a god. Amygdala looks like something that has always been there. Though, in cut enemies of Bloodborne, Demons that resemble something of a traditional Demon.

These things prove somewhat that the fog creates Demons based off of the beliefs of the people around them. At least, that is the only explanation I can come up with. It looks exactly like a Christian Demon someone would depict, fire, brimstone with “terrifying” wings.

The early common depictions of Satan, which matches somewhat with the Demonic depiction of the “Creeper” as it is called. To make a long story short, the Fog still obviously creates Demons out of the beliefs of the people. Amygdala does not seem to be one of those, however. There if no proof that they aren’t, but it seems unlikely.

Going back to my first point, there is no clear way to link Amygdalae to Allant directly. However, given the nature of the Amygdalae in cut content it seems Allant is a madman who through this has become a Demon visually similar to other Demons. This also harkens back to the concept of evolution and becoming a Great One. So in this sense, the point was to become a Demon like them, to become a demon with great power, possibly the goal was to become exactly like the Old One which isn’t surprising. Byrgenwerth was always apart of the story so the evolution part was definitely most likely a thing for a while. Anyhow, Allant in the original plot of Demon’s Souls definitely was not trying to become an Amygdala but in Bloodborne, the Amygdala definitely are something people like they want to become it, most likely. Amygdala still has remnants of its’ worshippers with Patches. He wants to sacrifice you to Amygdala, but can’t. Amygdala definitely has a cult even still which was probably more prominent in earlier iterations.

Speaking of cults, some cut characters suggest something about this. Some figure of “Justice” and influence in the Healing Church: - Louvan - Aragon - Idona These characters are never actually used, they seem to all be a cut minister character. However, they all seem to be related to “Justice”, someone in the Healing Church who decides the worthiness, or something like that. So, this person is in high power. Meaning they are influential, this leads to the fact these people have the influence they most likely tell the Yharnamites to worship these Demons. They most likely keep in touch with the Choir so they know some pretty important knowledge. So, yes, these characters are pretty comparable to religious world leaders who basically make people worship their God. Except, it’s more complex. The Amygdalae probably do not care or possibly do not even know what is going on around them and are just surveying human behavior. So in the end, it’s a ruthless effort to worship something that doesn’t even care about your existence, which is a nice detail story-wise.

To finish this off, there isn’t a strong connection between Allant and the Amygdalae, nevertheless, the Amygdalae have always had an intriguing role. I might edit this post later for some clarity and more information but for now, have my first cut content post, enjoy! Any critique, feedback and or things that can be added upon, please let me know! I’d love to hear.

#Bloodborne #Bloodborne Cut Content #Bloodborne Theory #Amygdala

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zipstick-writes · 4 years

Text

Inktober 2020 Day 14 - Armor

They were riding back to the city at a slow pace, Roman at the head of the group.

Virgil nudged his horse and rode forward to be beside Roman.

“Roman,” He began, sounding concerned. “How are you going to explain this to your father? He ordered you to bring Janus back, and we’re empty-handed.”

“Oh shit. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Language, Roman.” Patton joked.

“Oh, sorry pat.” Roman answered.

“Back to the topic at hand,” Logan pitched in, “Virgil has voiced a legitimate concern. King Romulus demanded we bring him back, and we’ve allied ourselves with him.”

“Well, what do you propose we tell him, Logan?”

“I’d suggest we tell him we were unable to find any evidence of suspicious activity in the area the reports came from. Perhaps we could also tell him that it’s possible he had caught wind of us searching for him and moved on already.”

Virgil nodded. “Let’s just hope he buys it. If he asks any questions we could be in trouble.”

“Prince Roman,” The King said, “How did you fare on your mission?”

“I’m afraid we were unable to locate the stranger the villagers reported. We found no evidence of any unusual or suspicious activity, so it’s possible that he caught wind of our search and moved on before we had the chance to reach him.”

The King looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered;

“That is unfortunate. However, it is of the utmost importance that he is captured. Reports indicate that he is heading towards the city and we can't risk our citizens’ safety. You must ride out again and find him.”

As if that’s what he cares about, Roman internally scoffed.

As if that’s what he cares about, Roman internally scoffed. But he supposed he had no choice, so he nodded and responded,

“We will, father. We’ll gather our equipment and leave immediately.”

He then turned to face the other Knights and said, “We’re going to the armory. Make sure your swords are sharpened, we may need them.”

The others nodded, and they headed to the armoury.

The armory was empty, as it usually was this time of the afternoon. Virgil and Logan picked up their bows and quivers, filling them with arrows and strapping them to their backs. Roman collected their swords from the rack on the wall, passing them to their owners.

Logan walked up to a decorative suit of armour and pulled down the spear it was holding. Behind it, a door slid open. The four entered the doorway and it closed again behind them, leaving no indication anyone had entered. It was a small space, and in the centre of the room was a table with four seats around it. They each took a place on the table.

They had used this room since Patton had discovered it years ago, back when they were teenagers, by grabbing onto a spear and almost falling flat on his face when it moved. Behind the suit was an old but still functioning mechanism leading to a space known only to them. In this room, they had plotted to subtly rebel against King Romulus’ rulings. Doing things such as distributing extra wealth or food during times of especially widespread poverty, or returning excessive taxes to citizens once the money had been counted. While the Castle staff had taken notice of that pretty quickly, but they had never once been discovered, having already mapped out several other hidden passageways, almost all of which ended up converging back to this room and others around it, which they sometimes used for their personal chambers. The room was also useful for occasional sleepovers, a fact Patton and Roman were particularly enthusiastic about.

Today, though, they were intent on discussing just how they could co-operate alongside Janus, despite having no way to contact him.

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’ll work.” Patton said thoughtfully. “Maybe we could send him one of our maps of the secret passageways in the castle? Nobody’ll notice if a messenger bird goes missing for a while.”

There was silence for a moment, each of them looking thoughtful, when Logan piped up.

“The concept is satisfactory,” He began, looking as if he was choosing his words carefully. “However there’s too great a risk of the message being intercepted.”

Virgil nodded.

“I’m with Logan. It may be read by someone who wants power, but doesn’t have the Kingdom’s best interests at heart. Someone like that with inside knowledge of the castle could be very bad. Or it could be intercepted by a castle guard, and out hideout could be discovered and there’d be no more helping the people. Even worse, they could see we sent it to a known enemy of the Crown, and we’d be tried for treason, and-“

“Okay, we get it, Sir Glooms-A-Lot.” Roman cut in before the most anxious of the four could start panicking. “It seems like the only option we have is to deliver it ourselves. We’ll take the western passage to the exit by the stables and ride out straight away.”

There was a murmur of agreement, and they walked towards a door on the west side of the room. They headed to the stables, took out their horses, and were about to set off when Roman took notice of a missing horse.

“Wait! My brother’s horse is missing. I dread to think what he’s up to.”

“Remus? Probably forging alliances with common thieves, I’ll bet.” Virgil said.

“Probably. Best be on the lookout for him too, just in case. I know we don’t exactly get along sometimes, what with his... Needlessly detailed fantasy tales, but I do care for him a great deal.”

“Shouldn’t we get going if we want to find Janus?” Patton suggested.

“You’re right, Pat. Let’s move out.”

And the four knights rode out of the castle once again.

“Ah, the Duke. How good to see you.”

“Janus. I need to discuss something with you. It’s really quite important.”

“Alright, Remus. Come, follow me.”

They entered the crumbled ruins of an old but still somehow intact watchtower, once used by military scouts but now abandoned. A perfect hideout for them.

They sat side-by-side at a small stone table. Janus sat quietly, patiently waiting for Remus to talk. Remus sighed, looking unsure of himself, a rather unusual sight. Janus put a gloved hand on Remus’s, gently reassuring him.

“It’s just.. This rebelling against my father. I don’t feel... right.”

“What do you mean, Remus?”

“What I mean is, it’s not some loyalty to my father or whatever. It’s Roman, my brother.”

“The Crown Prince? What about him?”

“I think I just feel conflicted. It’s like I’m torn between my brother and my only friend.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I have some unexpected news that I think may make you feel better about this.”

Remus lifted his head from where he was staring at the table. There was something akin to hope glimmering in his eyes.

“Yesterday, I had an encounter with your brother and his famed Knights. There was… a misunderstanding and we duelled. He had me pinned to the ground and asked what my motivations were. I told him that we- I wished to put an end to the divide between noble and common-born people.”

Remus was listening intently, focused completely on Janus’s words. “What happened then?”

“I was expecting to meet my end right then and there,” he chuckled, “But he sheathed his sword and told me that he’d had the same goal for years. I, naturally, didn’t believe him. Takes a liar to know one. But he spared me, told me he’d seen how King Romulus hordes his fortune. And now, we’ve come to a sort of alliance.”

Remus was silent for a few moments. Then he muttered,

“I don’t have to choose. I can have both?” he looked like he didn’t believe his own words, but was reassured when Janus nodded.

A sound came from outside the watchtower. Both snapped their heads up and faced towards the sound. It was a horse neighing. This shouldn't have alarmed them, given the fact that both of their horses were tethered inside a small shelter on the side of the tower, but the sound was accompanied by the sound of people talking.

“Stay here, Remus. I'm gonna see what's going on.”

“This is it. This is where we found Janus yesterday, chances are he’ll be in here.”

“Wait, Ro. Why are there two horses there?” Patton pointed out. “That black one is the same one Janus was riding yesterday, but whose is that other one?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Perhaps the snake has a guest over.” Roman replied. “Logan, check the saddlebag. There could be something in there we could use to identify this visitor.”

Logan nodded and dismounted his own grey and white horse and made his way over to the horses tethered in the shelter. He was reaching for the saddlebag when he noticed it.

“Roman,” he called, “Look at this. This is the royal crest. And the craftsmanship looks like it was made by the city’s best leather workers.”

“What could a royal horse be doing out here?”

“Maybe someone else from the palace is rebelling from the inside, like us.” Virgil offered.

“Wait a minute,” Roman said. “This is Remus’s horse.”

“Explains why it went missing.” Said Virgil.

“Yeah, it does.”

Just then, a figure appeared in the doorway.

“Well, well, the Prince is back.”

The knights, not realising that Janus was there, jumped at the voice.

“Janus. I have something regarding our... Partnership that I feel may be useful to you.”

“And what might this 'something’ be?”

“It’s a map of the numerous passageways in Sandaria castle. Our meeting point is here,” he said, pointing to a spot on the map, “past the treasury and behind the armory. There’s a hidden entrance to a passageway near the Caves of Fandor that leads right into our rendezvous point.”

“And why exactly are you telling me the inner workings of the palace?”

“Well, we have a common goal and a sort of alliance. It would be more convenient to have an established meeting point than having to track each other every time we need to discuss something.”

“Well, Roman, it seems you’re more intelligent than people like to give you credit for.”

“Roman? What are you doing here?”

The two turned to the source of the new voice, to see Remus standing at the foot of the spiral staircase.

“Remus. If you’re here then you must have heard about my alliance with Janus-“ The Snake picked up on the question and nodded in confirmation, and Roman continued. “We’re here to deliver some information on the passageways in the castle.”

“How long have you known about these passageways?”

“A few years. It was Patton who initially discovered them, when-“

“You’ve known about secret passageways in the castle for years,” Remus interrupted, “and you didn’t tell me about them?”

“You and I both know how terrible of an idea that would be.”

“That’s fair.” Remus responded. “Still mad about it tho.”

“Ugh, fine. Our meeting point is behind the old suit of armour next to the spears in the armory.”

“And how do you get in?”

Roman sighed. “You pull the spear it’s holding down like a lever and the entrance will open.”

“Thanks, brother!”

He’s probably pondering how many new crimes he can commit with this, Roman thought.

Roman and Janus were alone at the table in the watchtower.

“Janus, would you like to stay in the castle? There’s a spare bedchamber only accessible by taking the passage from the armoury, and I bet it’ll be a hell of a lot nicer than this place.”

“I could benefit from some more... Livable, shall we say, living space.”

“And you’ll get intel directly from the heart of the city.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll be coming with you.”

Outside the entrance to the caves of Fandor was a wall covered in ivy and vines.

“You see that little waterfall near the mouth?” Roman asked, pointing. “Behind that is the entrance to a passageway leading straight to our meeting chamber.”

“Got it. I just think it’s important to know that I don’t deal well with the cold, so there better be a fireplace in my room.”

“Oh there is, don’t worry.”

“And this is where we make our plans. They’re never much more than distribution of coin or food, but whatever we can do helps.”

Janus nodded.

“Would you like to be shown to your chambers?” Logan asked. At Janus’s nod, he and Patton led him through a door on the left of the room into a hallway with six doors, each painted a different colour. At the end of the corridor were two newly-painted doors, one green and one yellow.

In the room behind the yellow door was a large bedroom with several cabinets, a desk stocked with paper, ink, and quills, and a dressing screen. Up against the right wall was a large fireplace with an expensive-looking rug in front of it. Beside it was a pile of thick blankets. When Janus sent the two Knights a questioning look, Patton piped up,

“Roman told us that you don’t do well with the cold, so I snuck in some extra blankets from the laundry.”

“That was... Very thoughtful of you, Sir Patton. Thank you.”

“Just Patton is fine, Janus. And it was really no trouble.” Patton responded, smiling that blindingly bright smile of his. He’s very cheerful for one of the kingdom’s most skilled knights, Janus thought.

And against the middle of the wall was a large, luxurious bed piled with pillows and with a red-and-gold quilt covering it. A choice of Roman’s, no doubt.

“This is beyond perfect. Thank you”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“No, really. I never could have expected to be accepted by the Knights of Sandaria, let alone getting treated this well.” He removed one of his gloves, and while he guessed the knights didn’t understand the meaning of the gesture, they surely caught on to its significance. “I mean this from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

#fanfiction #my fics #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #royals and rapscallions #sanders sides human au #sanders sides au #inktober #inktober 2020 #demus #dukeceit

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key-kkagii · 4 years

Text

God God God!!

Hello Hello!

I've been wondering about this for a while now, and I've solved it.

The occasional use of the word Walls in SNK fanfiction is a bit strange, and I wonder if this is GOD, based on the usage? I thought.

Soron Rocket and The Cartoon Princess told me that Walls was still a paraphrase of GOD.

So, since I have an idea, today I'm going to do a talk on Japanese gods!

God and Faith

What do you foreigners think the religions the Japanese believe in?

Unless the act of "starting a new faith or being baptized" or their parents have other faiths, the Japanese born in Japan are almost automatically Buddhists and Shintoists.

It's an indigenous religion.

Buddhism.

Shinto.

It would be too long to talk about why it's two, so I won't.

But, for example, if you ask a Japanese student, "What is your faith?” The Japanese would surely answer, " I am no religion.” You might think. "What?”

But it's not.

The Japanese people aren't really irreligious, they just have too many gods to believe in and don't have much of a sense that they believe in anything.

Japan is a polytheistic country. (Or rather, Both Buddhism and Shinto are polytheism.)

'How many polytheistic gods are so many that we don't know what they believe in, maybe 20?'

No, no, that number is Yao Yorozu. The meaning of Yao Yorozu is eight million. But Yao Yorozu is an example of a "super many", so it doesn't mean that there are eight million gods. Don't worry!

In fact, there are more. And God will soon increase.

Perhaps one of the sights you will visit when you come to Japan is a Shinto shrine or a temple.

There are more shrines in Japan than there are convenience stores.Gods are everywhere.

The god of toilets is a highly virtuous god.

Freedom

We don't remember every one of these 8 million+ gods either. We don't remember, so many of us have little sense of faith.

So I can say with confidence that I'm a Pastafarian of the Flying Spaghetti Monsterism religion. Yes, FSM is one of the gods of Yao Yorozu!　The Shinto religion swallows up any god. Ramen.

Joke religion?　It doesn't matter!

Also, when it comes to religion, there's a lot of commandments and believers have to follow them. So I think that's part of the reason why I say, "I don't have those precepts to follow." Strictly speaking, Buddhism has its own precepts, but I don't care! We're barely even aware that we believe in Buddhism!

That's why many Japanese people think they are not religious. They think, "I don't worship anything in particular. For Japanese people, religion is often associated with monotheism.

But we are not very aware of our faith, but when we get a chance, we go to shrines and temples to pray to God and Buddha. We usually worship anything that is called a God or Buddha.

Funeral ceremonies are done in the Buddhist style with a monk from the temple, and weddings are done in the presence of a priest at a shrine.

Some people have weddings in chapels, even though they are not Christians. Because the Christian wedding style is beautiful. A pure white wedding dress is beautiful.

I would love to dress Historia in it.

By the way, isn't the windy green frock coat lovely? Hopefully someone will wear it someday? Next to Historia...

Oh!　What a topic of conversation that has gotten away from me. It was about God.

Three religions in one week.

I guess this is how the Japanese view of religion often manifests itself. The following is common in Japan.

We celebrate Christmas on December 25, go to visit a temple (Buddhism) a week later on the 31st, and then the next day, January 1, we go to a shrine (Shinto) for our first visit (Hatsumoude).

Well, some people say it's either the temple or the shrine, but that's just a matter of scheduling. There are few people who are particular about one or the other. It doesn't matter which one you go to.

Everything is all mixed up.

In times of distress, he prays." God help me!" When he meets with good fortune, " Thank you God!" At this point, it is unclear who that god is. I'm not sure, but it's some kind of god anyway.

In other words, the Japanese have an unspecified number of religious beliefs.

An unspecified number... Bitc... huh?

Oops!🤫

Shinto

A long long time ago, the main source is Shintoism. Animism. The groundwork for this Shinto to swallow up any god. Because of animism, there is a god in everything.

In the age of mythology, you know, if a high god washed his face, a new god was born from his eyes and nose. Well, the direct descendant of one of those gods born at that time was our Emperor. That's what it says in the history books.

Later on, Buddhism came in there, and after about 1500 years or so, a lot of things happened, and it became what it is today. If you want to know more about it, look it up. It's fun.

In this manner, there are more and more gods in Japan.

(Have you ever heard of a game called " Touken Ranbu"? All the characters in that one are gods. God in the katana.)

And Japan welcomes gods from foreign countries, saying "Welcome to Japan. "

The Tatari God should go home! Well, there are some gods who came to Japan as Tatari gods, and became whole after being worshipped in Japan. (Tatari gods are the type of gods that sprinkle curses around.)

You can try to be kind to a gods!

There are many gods that are no longer worshipped in the country where they were born, but are still enshrined in Japan in a slightly different form. I haven't counted them.

From a Shinto perspective, Yahweh is one of the gods of Yao Yorozu. That's why Japanese people bow to Yahweh and Christ when they go to church, even if they are not Christians. From a macro perspective, Yahweh is also an object of faith.

That's why people often quote parts of the Bible when they're not Christians and talk about it. A popular one is "God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear". (But there is also a God in Japan who gives us insurmountable trials. Too bad!😂)

My favorite has been "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." since I was a teen...

I love and live.

I hope Rivahisu is married.

Wall religion

SNK's wall religion, which I thought was also Shinto-like.

The Wall religion in the work worships the wall. And it worships the wall's names, Maria, Rose and Sheena, as goddesses.

I think the sequence of events is that Karl Fritz built the wall and named it after the three sisters of Ymir, and then the Wallists worshipped the wall and started deifying the woman named after the wall and calling her a goddess. Under the lead of King Reiss.

For a hundred years after the Wall closed, the people whose memories had been manipulated had no concept of the Subjects of Yumir. I don't think they had any idea that Maria and the others were the daughters of the progenitor Yumir. (Except for King Reiss.)

So I don't think he worshipped Maria, Rose and Sheena directly as goddesses. King Reiss uses the idea of animism to his advantage.

I felt like that.

It would be interesting to think deeply about Wallism.

I'm sure there are definitely extremists and others who only worship one of the three walls.

The Japanese gods are like the ones I introduced.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

I'd like to hear more about the SNK religion from the perspective of other countries' religions.

See you then. Good-bye to this day!

*These explanations of God are based on my knowledge and maybe some people think differently.*

#Key's Japan Talk #Japan

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