#why does fandom always inevitably demonize children over adults???

[inthegloomglow]

“The Sullys didn’t owe Spider anything, they didn’t adopt him.” It is basic decency to not leave a child with the murderers that kidnapped him. Much less a child you knew since infancy, much less a child who at least two of your children love like he’s their own brother.

#spider socorro #spider soccoro sully #miles socorro #avatar #i'm probably done harping on this now i'll get off my soapbox #look i don't hate the sullys #i think it's weak writing that causes this issue honestly #they didn't have time to flesh out every main #and they needed him kidnapped to further the plot #and neytiri is (i believe) blatantly set up to have an arc wherein she accepts him as his own person #though who knows #maybe they'll make him go bad and botch it or something #he doesn't deserve that #BUT in terms of what happened it is deeply fucked up how the adults around him regarded him #i don't think they WROTE it to be that way #but i cannot ignore the child neglecting elephant in the room #why does fandom always inevitably demonize children over adults??? #like kids have any trauma or bad emotion and fandom wants to crucify them #and the adults around them can do ANYTHING and it's okay #i saw it with harrison morgan from dexter #the vitriol toward that pooor child #who went through multiple traumas #is baffling to me #or travis and shauna from yellowjackets #constantly demonized and blamed for not handling a horrific situation perfectly well

[drconstellation]

Liberty versus the Tree of Life

TW: Discussion of death and grief

I received a question from @lickthecowhappy the other day on one of my metas that I'm going to try and address in this post. This is going to wander into some pretty heavy areas, and discuss some implications for S3.

They asked:

"What do you think about comparing "give me liberty (coffee) or give me death" with gaining free will via the tree of knowledge but losing access to the tree of life in the process?"

On one hand this might look like a simple choice between two things, but its not - there are shades of grey, of course. Can the two (liberty/death vs. knowledge/life) be compared? Yes - in a way. But we need to unpack the question in its entirety first.

"Give me liberty, or give me death!"

This famous quote that forms the basis of the name of Nina's coffee shop is from a reconstructed speech given by the American politician Patrick Henry in 1775, as the colonists prepared to fight against the British Empire. It is worth us having a look at the extended excerpt of the speech quoted from Wikipedia in context of what we know is coming in S3:

If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

If the mention of Boston wasn't there, you could almost read that as a crazy synopsis of S2 and S3. The Great War, that wasn't considered concluded satisfactorily and must be restarted and finished once and for all, has begun again, and is on its inexorable way. There will be storms. Some see the outcome in black and white - you either win or die; there is no other option, because they do not dare entertain it.

The fandom seems quite settled with the analogy of liberty and freedom = coffee, and six shots of espresso is Crowley's coffee preference, because he loves and protects his freedom with a passion. Crowley is that coffee, in a way - long, dark and richly intense. He is a champion of free will. Even as a demon he still gives those he tempts the choice to make their own mistakes. So how do we apply this to the coffee the Metatron offers Aziraphale, and the other option, death?

The coffee the Metatron orders and forces on Aziraphale is a message, and a warning, to the angel - "I know all about you and your demon partner." The shot of coffee in it is Crowley, the oat milk is to say Aziraphale has maybe gone a bit too far with things with Crowley while on Earth, and the almond syrup is to say they have been watched and observed do so. This is confirmed when the Metatron mentions that he knows that Aziraphale and Crowley have formed a de facto partnership.

And where would Aziraphale get his Crowley from if he went back to Heaven?

What about death? Is it a real option? What does the option of death mean anyway?

If you are not familiar with the Tarot deck, the Death card can seem quite alarming. A skeleton in black armour strides over a fallen king - death does not care for rank or position. Death cares not for riches, they will not hold it at bay. Nor will prayers. Death does not care what age you are, either. But the small, kneeling child holds a posy of flowers up as if in greeting, the only one prepared to face the rider on the pale horse; this is because children are not as always as set in their ways as adults are, and can adapt to change more easily.

Experienced Tarot users know that is what the Death card signifies when it appears: Change. Something is coming to and end, but something else is about to start as well. It's not a physical death, its a spiritual or metaphorical death. It should be a welcomed card, as it indicates there is a promise renewal and new beginnings on the horizon (see the dawning sun between the two pillars in the top right of the card?) and all one has to do is surrender to the inevitable change. But like death, making changes can sometime be a hard, fearful thing to face. Facing death, either your own or someone else's, is ultimately about accepting change.

Surrender to the British is not what Patrick Henry wanted to do. He wanted to keep the liberty he had in the new world.

But death was the only viable option Aziraphale had.

"So predictable," remarked the Metatron to Nina, when she told him people don't ever ask for death in response to his question. Death is present in Nina's coffee shop - it's the green colour on the inside walls.

I haven't done much colour meta lately but I have been doing a lot of research on them, as I realized the original meta I wrote needed a major revision, which I plan to do soon. Green was one of those colours that needed more work.

The green on the inside walls actually has two meanings, which are both specifically tied to the coffee shop, but the first one is Death, with the capital D. This is one of the Four Horsepeople lurking in the background of S2, as Armageddon prepares to ramp up again. War is on the label of the wine bottle Crowley has in S2E5, Famine is the Marley Horse statue that Crowley puts his sunglasses on inside the bookshop, and where the stone-shaped Eccles cakes are placed in offering. Death is waiting inside the coffee shop, right next to the constraining sky-blue moral lawfulness of Heaven.

Death rides a pale horse, but the word used to describe it, "chloros," actually translates to a "pale greenish-yellow." That would have looked a bit sickly inside the coffee shop, I think, so they used a more complimentary shade of green, and one that would double up with a second meaning. Green is also the colour associated with new beginnings and the resurrection. That's why the outside of The Resurrectionist pub is dark green - it's got nothing to do with Hell (at least, I don't think it does, in this case!)

The Second Coming is in progress. Armageddon is underway again. Someone in Heaven is determined to see the supposed Great Plan come to fruition.

The Riddle of the Sphinx

In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex the titular character meets the Sphinx on a hill outside of Thebes. The monster has been devouring travelers who do not answer her riddle correctly.

"What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"

Clever Oedipus replies with "Man," and defeated, the Sphinx departs, removing her curse from the city.

A baby crawls on four limbs into childhood, then two legs into adulthood, then on three legs with a cane for an aid into old age. This is the natural progression of life. You would not want to remain an infant forever, and similarly if you have children wouldn't you wish to see them progress from childhood to adulthood and have children of their own?

Remember Momento mori? It's a major theme in the series. Remember that you die. It's a reminder that cycles must end and restart, and that death is an important part of life. We saw the Starmaker set up a star factory, but even stars die eventually, and need to die, to make new stars. The universe recycles itself, that is how it keeps going. Sometimes we need a reminder that life is short, although sometimes it seems too long as well.

I think we too easily forget that our ineffable duo, as angel and demon, are entities that can effortlessly travel between these two worlds of life and death, as we humans see it. It's their business to do so, after all. As supernatural beings, they are eternally alive, and death has a different meaning to them - it's destruction that they fear.

The Tree of Knowledge & The Tree of Life

Aziraphale's role as Guardian of the Eastern Gate was to prevent humans returning to the Garden of Eden to access the Tree of Life after they had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge.

The Tree of Knowledge gave us questioning, curiosity and imagination. We learned, we created and in doing so made choices - we used free will. But in taking this liberty it gave us the responsibility for ourselves. It supposedly gave us the concept of sin and doing wrong, and also shorter lives to help us deal with the "agony" of this.

And the other option, the Tree of Life, that is apparently so dangerous we must be kept away from it? Is it death? No, quite the opposite - it offers eternal life, and redemption from sin. In short - a state of no change - and no choice.

To access the Tree of Life now the choice is made for you before you can arrive in front of it, in the Book of Life. If your name is in the Book on Judgement Day, you get to enter Paradise. If it is not, you will be cast down into a lake of burning sulfur (hmm, sounds familiar...) And that's it, forever and ever.

Is that really the ideal of Paradise? Yet we're made to fear the cyclic change and new growth that death brings, and want to yearn so much for the stagnation of Eternity that we rigidly structure our lives around a possible promise of it as a goal.

Eternal Life, Eternal Youth

Eternal life is not the same as eternal youth. In a cautionary tale from Ovid's Metamorphoses we have the Cumaean Sybil who lived a thousand years. She was the priestess of the oracle of Apollo at Cumae, near Naples, and apparently Apollo offered to grant her a wish in exchange for her virginity. She scooped up a handful of sand, and asked to be given as many years of life as there were grains of sand that she held. Later, she refused to sleep with the god, so he let her physical body wither away, because she had failed to ask for eternal youth as well. Her body shrunk as the years went by, and grew smaller and smaller, and eventually only her voice was left, kept contained in a jar. (And here is a link to one of the books on Jim's bookshelf - Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar is named after the ampulla that the Sybil's voice was said to have been kept in.)

Searching for a Fountain of Youth, or creating a Philosopher's Stone for immortality has a common theme in stories through history, even from earliest times. It can be seen as a blessing, or a curse, or a fool's errand. It's a quest that is still prevalent in our modern thinking - going to the gym to build muscle, cosmetic surgery for looks only etc Queer culture has long had an emphasis on youth and beauty and growing old is anathema; freezing the body in time like in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is an aim, but our fragile mortal frames just aren't made for that. Isn't it what is inside us that counts, not the label we have applied to it?

Choices, Choices...

The time has come to make a choice: will it be the stimulating coffee of free will, or the painful change and rebirth of death, that might lead to something even better?

Perhaps you want to try the other combination: Having control and responsibility over your own short life in exchange for having to live your life to a strict set of rules so that you can then exist forever in somebody else's idea of a static ideal afterwards.

I find I'm a bit biased. But you chose what you will.

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” T. S. Eliot

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #the metatron #the resurrectionists #the four horsemen #sophocles #oedipus rex #the riddle of the sphinx #memento mori #the tree of life #the tree of knowledge #the cumaean sybil #the bell jar #the picture of dorian gray #the book of life #judgement day #give me coffee or give me death

[hogwartsfirebolt]

I know what you’re thinking! But I promise this third one is the LAST PART of my fic rec list for 2018!!! You can find part one HERE and part two HERE to see all 30 of my favorite fics I read this year. The banner art is by the wonderful @alek-r who was kind enough to let me use her work for this ❤️ Now, once again in no particular order, here it is:

            FAVORITE FICS I READ IN 2018 PART THREE

1. Hesperides - @lettersbyelise​ : Draco Malfoy is not the kind of man to lavish gorgeous Greek holidays on his flings. So Harry doesn’t really know what to make of his invitation.

In under 2k words, Elise immerses us in the lightness, elusiveness of a romantic getaway. Every word in this fic is purposeful and beautiful, and throughout the year I found myself going back to it more than once if only to relive that feeling. I can almost smell the salt in the air, feel the white sand between my toes and the sun warming my shoulders. The full sensory immersion of this fic isn’t limited to that, though, because I was also there for the slow, languorous sex, the butterflies in the stomach, the easy companionship. Simply wonderful.

2. Fast Forward, Two Steps Back - @emmagrant01​ : Everyone knows that Draco Malfoy died in the Room of Requirement ten years ago. So when he suddenly reappears at Hogwarts ten years later, still seventeen years old, Professor Harry Potter’s life gets very complicated.

When I first encountered this story, I couldn’t resist the pull of that summary, I opened it immediately, ignored absolutely all my homework for the day and effectively DEVOURED it. The premise is so interesting, and the way it navigates Harry and Draco’s dynamic when Draco is 17 and Harry is 27 is downright masterful. I am always weak for fics that explore Draco coming to terms with who he is after the events of book 7, and having Harry as someone who already went through all of that and is willing to help was a very refreshing take on the trope… and come on, sexy professor Potter? Sign me the hell up. 

3. Spokesperson - BummedOutWriter : “It was entirely consensual,” Malfoy drawled, as the lights from dozens of cameras flashed across his pale face. In fact, his face was paler than usual. Honestly, gray. “Councilmen Rupert and goblin Gornuk request privacy at this tender stage of their relationship. Excuse me.” And with that, Malfoy hurried off the platform with no explanation of why he was departing so suddenly. Harry could see the slight pooch in his robes where their baby was growing. Malfoy disappeared into the building and reporters yammered in protest. Morning sickness, Harry mused, not quite sympathetic, because Malfoy didn’t seem to warrant it. A bumbling young witch stepped forward and took over the press conference.

This fic is SO good. In just under 3k words, it has everything: a dash of humor, a tiny bit of angst, a teaspoon of pining and a pinch of fluff. It tells a story of a one-night stand that inevitably ties two people together when they’d very much rather not be. The presence of the press in it is really well done, and it has one of the most creative professions I’ve seen around for the HP world; Draco’s snark is inevitably present, and the way he attempts to keep Harry at an arm’s length away at all times without actually managing it rings very true to the pairing. 

4. A Man Named Potter - @l0vegl0wsinthedark​ : Potter begins to take me apart, each savage, pounding thrust peeling away layer after layer of everything that I am, reaming me open in a way that makes me wonder how I’ll ever be able to let anybody else but him fuck me after this.

I have read this series several times, and the reason is that it is simply scorching hot. Yes, like that, in bolds. It is composed of two fics, the first one in Draco’s POV and the second one in Harry’s. I was a bit scared going into it, because I don’t usually read first person POV, but this one is SO well done that I enjoyed it immensely, and the way it was told only added to the absolute hotness that is the first part and the sweetness of the feelings that surface in the second. And hell, if you need some more enticement to go read it, Harry calls Draco kitten. 

5. Boiling Point - @goldentruth813​ : Ferveret - n. boiling point. After an Auror raid gone wrong, Draco ends up trapped in a dodgy safehouse with nothing but Harry Potter’s dubious company and a dwindling supply of food. With only each other and the walls surrounding them, they’re forced to confront their past and their feelings which have long been threatening to boil over.

One of my favorites of Janel’s! The forced proximity trope is always an amazing way to explore how two people fit against one another while providing the space to build trust and get to know each other better, and it is breathtakingly beautiful in this one. It makes you feel it all, the longing, the fear of opening up, the defensiveness that comes with feeling vulnerable, the heartache when facing demons of the past and the love, the love, the love. 

6. Dwelling - aideomai: Curses, James and Lily Potter ride again, several Ministry balls, a teenage Summer of Love, a grim young adult dystopian winter, a few different Draco Malfoys, secrets and the problems re: not having any, alternate lives, impossible lives, real lives, allusions to Dirty Dancing, and just because it’s not called the Mirror of Erised doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know better.

WHERE TO BEGIN. This story is mind-blowing through and through, and it is so damn GOOD I can’t even put it to words. It’s an AU that’s not an AU, a story with all the tropes: childhood friends, post-war, case fic, eight year, everyone lives, nobody lives, canon compliant, non-canon-compliant, summer of love, a group of teenagers having to figure out what the hell is going on, and a DEEP study on how much it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. One of my all-time favorites, and one that you NEED to read asap.

7. What We Pretend We Can’t See - @gyzym​ : Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

This fic is a Drarry classic for a reason. It has the most PERFECT characterizations I have ever, ever read. Draco is snarky and funny and dramatic and just a bit crazy, and Harry is noble and good and they’re both so complex, so lovely it makes my heart ache. In this story, there’s a case involving Draco that Harry is trying to decipher, and in trying to do so, they grow together. The way they are in this one feels like such a natural development, considering everything we know about them in canon, and the way their relationship develops is natural and amazing and I DREAM of the day I have the time to sit down and give this a very thorough reread. It decomposes and rebuilds each of their personalities and it feels so human and so real. A thing of beauty. 

8. Malfoy’s Anatomy - @novareblogs : Healer interns are nothing short of a bunch of little children running around with wands and severed limbs, having inappropriate sex in inappropriate places. What’s the worst that could happen, really?

Here’s something about me: I’m a medical student, and very partial towards Healer stories. It is a trope I actively seek, and out of all the fics that I’ve read that include it, this one paints the REALEST environments I have ever seen. I was cackling all the way through, the relationship between higher-ups and med graduates, how students tail the surgeons (and give them nicknames), having to find a place where you and your friends can study until four am, when you inevitably fall asleep against each other. It is literally what studying medicine is like. And not only is this fic hilarious, it also has a very fresh take on the characterizations. I had never seen Harry like this, and his relationship with his (very much alive) parents feels very real. The way he and Draco slowly come together as they uncover secrets about each other’s pasts is wonderful, and the medical consent that’s handled throughout the story is very well done. A very good read that I didn’t expect to find, yet surprised me in all the right ways.

9. Humbug (A Christmas Tale) - Snegurochka : Draco has been taking his casual relationship with Harry for granted. Visits from four key ghosts the night before Christmas just might shake up his priorities in life.

A beautiful retelling of A Christmas Carol, with delicious pining and gorgeous characterizations. I always do love stories of fuckbuddies who are definitely so much more, but pretend they’re not. That, plus a wonderful redemption arc for Draco? I was sold. This story made me feel butterflies and tear up at times, and I love it very, very much. An excellent fic to read this time of the year. 

10. Away Childish Things - @letteredlettered​ : Harry gets de-aged. Malfoy has to help him.

God. There is so much to say about this story. It’s beautiful, in every sense of the word, breathtaking. Lettered has such a way with words, I felt like I was right there next to Harry and Draco, like I was them, feeling everything they felt. It is incredibly powerful. It made me feel angry, empty, lost and sad and it made me feel excited and elated and hopeful. It made me understand things about myself as the characters discovered things about themselves. This story might be one of the absolute best things I have ever read, in and outside of fandom, and it’s such a thorough exploration of each of the characters that it feels inevitable, it feels like, no matter what the epilogue says, this is what actually happened to them. I cried, I cried so many times from both sadness and happiness. There are simply no words to explain how gorgeous it is. I am immensely grateful to have read it. 

Thank you to all who read my lists, and thank you thank you thank you if you decide to give these works and these authors a chance, because they deserve all the love in the world. All the way from here, behind a username and a few tumblr posts, I can honestly say that these 30 stories made my year. I hope they can make yours, too ❤️ If you ever want to discuss these (or any story really) my DM’s are always open. Happy New Year!

#drarry #drarry fic #drarry fanfic #drarry fic rec #drarry fic recs #ficrec #2018rec #draco malfoy #harry potter #drarry rec list