#yes the quote is from this book because the similarities between these two creatures are heartbreaking

[chaos-has-theories]

Part 1: The Eye of John

You’ve heard of „Alecto is a Resurrection Beast“, „Alecto is Gaia“ and „Alecto is a seamonster“, you’ve heard of John’s sun symbolism, now get ready for:

John is Ra and Alecto is Mehet-Weret

or less specifically Hathor, or The Eye of Ra

[Image description: A picture in the Ancient Egyptian style. It shows a large blue cow with stars along its belly. There are nine people under it, keeping it steady. An empty boat floats by its back legs, and another boat by its front legs, this one with the god Ra as a passenger. A large red arrow points at the cow and is labelled “Alecto???”.]

(More under the cut, because this shit will get long.)

First, for the record, I am emphatically not a learned egyptologist, so I might be getting things wrong here.

Secondly, ancient Egyptian mythology is a gorgeous mess. You can’t ever just say that x is the child of y, because they’re bound to also be siblings, and spouses, and x is also a and b and y is also b and c and... yeah.

Anyway, let’s do this.

---

I was rereading Harrow the Ninth with my roommates and we got to this part:

"Your sword will not rend its armour”, he said, with his back turned to them. “It’s weapons will ruin your flesh. It will not stop until it has subsumed its quarry.” (HtN p. 329)

and I thought to myself, huh, that kind of sounds like the Eye of Ra.

So let’s talk about that!

Now, the main story of the Eye of Ra is that, long ago, when the gods were still like, living on earth with the humans, people started to criticize Ra, their ruler.

That pissed off Ra, so he sent off his „Eye“ to punish them. She did, killing almost all the humans, but then Ra couldn’t really get her to stop. So the gods made a bunch of dyed beer with some blood in it, and the Eye drank it all and became drunk and docile.

So far, so good. Technically, at that point Teacher is talking about the Sleeper, but we all know that there are heavy parallels between the Sleeper and the Body. Also, there’s more where that came from.

"My lord,” said Augustine formally, “you told us the truth about Annabel–about Alecto–because she knew the truth too, and you never could control her.” (HtN, p. 478)

”Annabel Lee... was not the dying kind,” said the Emperor. It might be more accurate to say that I switched her off.” “You came to us and we asked, Is she dead?” said Mercy. “And you said, As dead as I can make her... I remember, Lord, that you wept.” (HtN, p. 479)

Neither Alecto nor the Eye of Ra are stopped by death or reason but instead kept somehow subdued.

But it gets better, and weirder.

The most famous version of the Eye of Ra is probably Sakhmet, the lion goddess. Sometimes she's a cat, Bastet; but just as often she’s depicted as a cow, Hathor.

There's a specific version of this myth called „The Book of the Heavenly Cow“ or „The Destruction of Mankind“. Here’s a translation of it.

I just learned about this myth. I learned about it under the Name of „Mehet-Weret“. Hathor and Mehet-Weret are… the same goddess? Not the same goddess? Sometimes the same goddess? They’re both cow themed, and occasionally take the same roles. Mythology is confusing, y’all.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Hathor was given the epithets "mistress of the sky" and "mistress of the stars", and was said to dwell in the sky with Ra and other sun deities. Egyptians thought of the sky as a body of water through which the sun god sailed, and they connected it with the waters from which, according to their creation myths, the sun emerged at the beginning of time. This cosmic mother goddess was often represented as a cow. Hathor and Mehet-Weret were both thought of as the cow who birthed the sun god and placed him between her horns. Like Nut, Hathor was said to give birth to the sun god each dawn.

Since I remembered the name Mehet-Weret and was very proud of that, that’s where I actually started my research here, and…

Mehet-Weret or Mehturt (Ancient Egyptian: mḥt-wrt) is an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name means "Great Flood". She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun at the beginning of time, and in art she is portrayed as a cow with a sun disk between her horns. She is associated with the goddesses Neith, Hathor, and Isis, all of whom have similar characteristics, and like them she could be called the "Eye of Ra". Mehet-Weret is primarily known as being the "Celestial Cow" or "Cow Goddess" because of her physical characteristics, but she contributes to the world in more ways than that. She is also the Goddess of Water, Creation, and Rebirth; in Egyptian mythology, Mehet-Weret is one of the main components in the making and survival of life. (...) She was credited for the birth of Re, also known as the Sun God Ra; she is also the one who protects Re. (Wikipedia)

SHE’S (a version of) THE PRIMORDIAL FLOOD, Y’ALL.

You said, “Teacher, what destroyed the House of the First?” “Not much,” said the Emperor, and he tried to smile. It was awful. “Rising sea levels and a massive nuclear fission chain reaction...it all went downhill from there.” (HtN p. 346)

"Even the devil bent for God to put a leash around her neck (...) But when the work was done (...) they bade him kill the saltwater creature before she could do them harm...” (HtN p. 328)

Next to you, the body said quietly, “The water is risen. So is the sun. We will endure.” (HtN p. 294)

On this same read-through I snagged on „The water is risen, so is the sun“ because it sounds so much like a quote, but I couldn’t find anything. Yes, John has sun symbolism and Alecto all that water stuff, but where is the connection?

Well, here. It’s just Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths.

The different creation myths have some elements in common. They all held that the world had arisen out of the lifeless waters of chaos (…) The sun was also closely associated with creation, and it was said to have first risen from the mound, as the general sun-god Ra.

That makes Alecto literally the First One. It makes her John’s protector as the Eye. It gives her a connection to water and and even death and the underworld. (It also gives her a connection to the sky, which always fits in a Space Fantasy.)

Essentially,

I can see two figures in Egyptian mythology that fit what we know of Alecto. Those would be the Eye of Ra, an uncontrollable creature of rage and revenge; and the flood from which the sun god rises during the creation of the world. And Mehet-Weret fits into both.

But you’re not convinced yet? Alright then. Remember how Hathor/Mehet-Weret is a cow?

"Oh, singular,” said Dulcinea quietly, more to herself than to Gideon. “Lipochrome...recessive.” (GtN, p. 106)

When she spoke at last, she sounded frozen and numb. “I see. I understand. Lipochrome. Recessive. You are the evidence.” (HtN, p. 410)

I did not know what the fuck to say to her incoherent spew. She said, ragged, peevish: “What? No tongue in your head, you–you mutant, you mistake, you great big calf-eyed fuck-up?”

If you’re like me and know nothing about biology, you’ll hop over to Wikipedia  and find this:

A lipochrome (from Greek λίπος ("fat") and χρῶμα ("color")) is a naturally occurring, fat-soluble pigment. Lipofuscin—a product of fat breakdown in lysosomes—is a type of lipochrome that is associated with the decomposition of cell membranes. Beta carotene, a lipochrome, was found in the retina, pigment epithelium, and iris of cattle eyes.

This is the entirety of the article by the way.

…and I was wondering why Tamsyn didn’t just call the eyes „Amber“.

Now you might say, but Chaos, you know they’re not really her eyes…

Yeah.

They’re John’s eyes.

They are, you might say, the Eyes of John.

---

THERE WILL BE MORE PARTS because I am LOSING MY MIND OVER THIS but this post is already longer than it has any right to be.

In the meantime, here’s an article on Mehet-Weret that I think is actually well researched and probably does a better job explaining how all these different gods fit together than I ever could.

#gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #alecto the ninth #alecto theories #the locked tomb meta #the locked tomb #please tell me if something in here doesn't add up #I hyperfocused on it for 24 hours and now I'm not sure whether my brain still exists #I'll be talking about the Lyctors and Griddlehark in part 2!

[ciceroisthefamilycat]

10, 18, and 20 for the va asks?

Thank you so much! (the asks post)

10. What are some memorable quotes?

This is something I think Richelle does really well- setting up memorable, unique quotes.

"I set off, off to kill the man I loved." (the final line of Shadow Kiss)

“ 'Ah, those two. In a fight, they’re lethal. Around each other, they melt.' ” (Sonya about Romitri in Golden Lily)

Those are probably the biggest two- they're definitely widespread in the VA fandom (and outside for the latter) for a reason. But since my most recent reread, I've been stuck a lot on Mia's "talk about a face only a mother could love" in Frostbite (which... is yikes in context but her and Rose's zingers to each other always land). Sydney's postscripts to her letter in Blood Promise really send me though, and I think are my favorites.

P.S. "The Red Hurricane" is what I named the car. P.P.S. Just because I like you, it doesn't mean I don't still think you're an evil creature of the night. You are.

I also have a huge soft spot for "Are you saying my sister looks like a prostitute?" in Golden Lily, because as much as it skeeves me out that the Palm Springs crew interdate so much when they're pretending to be siblings and as much as I feel for Braeden and kind of hate how the others reacted to him, I love the hetaerae runner in those chapters.

18. What character would you want a spin off of?

Well, Sydney's already taken care of, so...

I guess I'd really like one, post Angeline's graduation (since she was so excited about getting her education), where she and Trey team up with some dhampir allies (her brother Joshua, maybe one of the Baia Unpromised from Blood Promise, etc.), team up to start hunting Strigoi, like they did in Fiery Heart. Hopefully a Moroi or two would be involved (MIA please) and maybe even a witch friend Sydney recommends for the job. Zoe (who I was always sad didn't get close at all to Jill or Angeline) could coordinate with them to provide info.

Inevitably, in the second or third of six books 😉, Rose and Lissa would send them a spirit user (say, one of the former Tsarov prisoners who's finally gotten help) to try and help with more restorations, and Richelle could broaden the lore on that- how many Strigoi restorations can any one spirit user accomplish, and what are the downturn periods. And as Lissa pointed out when they were first discussing spirit use and healing, not even restorations, would Lissa and Rose be asking them to restore royal Moroi for political machinations, would it be a first-find, first-serve basis? Inevitably somebody joins who, like Mikhail or Rose, is really looking for one specific Strigoi (though maybe in their case it's revenge??). I just think there's a lot of potential in there. And Angeline (and Trey, if we could have dual narrators) is such a great vantage point for all of it.

20. If you could crossover VA with any other fandom, which would it be and why?

You're kind of my favorite person right now. Soon after they announced the VA show (and since I had just marathoned the Netflix Defenders-verse shows and awakened a sleeping attraction to Ben B, who was the most popular Dimitri fancast for so long), I decided to watch Shadow and Bone and consider what it might mean for the VA adaptation. And since maybe 15 minutes into that first episode (if that late), I have been imagining a VA-verse/ Grisha-verse crossover. The majority of the reason I actually read the books (or at least, the main trilogy and Crows duology) after was because I wanted to know if I could make that crossover work.

Between the heavy Russian/Eastern-Europe influences in their mythologies, and the power sets... I definitely think it could work. I was thinking all of the characters from both verses, in the Ravka setting, using the combined timeline from the SaB show. Knowing my record, I'm not likely to ever actually write it, but a screenshot of my planning doc is below. I would just really want to see Rose hanging out with Inej, Mia and Zoya being besties, Dimitri mentoring Mal, Lissa and Alina really understanding each other's burdens, Sydney and Wylan bonding over their love of scientific experimentation and unfortunately their shit dads, Sydney and Nina being like "yes we are badass polyglots who speak a half dozen languages" together, putting Adrian and Nikolai in a room together (they are so similar trope-wise, but different)... I just think there's so much potential in those characters getting to meet and bond. Shadowclub.

#long post #I'm a VA girl #halfthealphabet #Vampire Academy #responding to an ask

[feysandfeels]

Sometimes I think of the trigger Lucien must have gotten when he saw Feyre die and Tamlin holding her crying. He probably made a parallel about what happened to him and Jesminda. I believe that's why he didn't help Feyre so hard in relation to Tamlin in the second book, because Tamlin got the opportunity he didn't get.

Of course there's every part of Tamlin being his High Lord and he owes him allegiance, but I believe his trauma has been addressed.

Of course, that's not an excuse, but I can't stop thinking about it.

Hiya Sugar, I know you asked me this like three weeks ago, sorry I'm just getting around to it.

So this mainly has two sides to understand first is what was happening to Lucien. Here we need to take into account his history of abuse at the hands of his family and Tamlin. The second is clearly how Feyre understood the situation from her own place of enunciation. Still I think this is one of those discussions in the fandom where you should tread lightly because I don't think either side is entirely wrong to feel what they felt and every argument has a well crafted response that is enlightening.

Lucien.

I think by this point denying that Lucien is a victim of abusive relationships that showcased their abuse not only physically but mentally and emotionally is just irresponsable and willful blindness. Lucien's family dynamic speaks of a toxic environment if I ever saw one. The Jesminda's death at the hands of his brothers and father is something that has left a scar as visible as the one across his eye. This is an experience that molds how he interacts with other people as friends, as romantic partners, and also how he understands romantic relationships that he is not involved in (Feyre and T*mlin).

From this angle, yes, UtM was extremely triggering for him because yet again he was placed in a situation where the loved one is killed and the other person "can't do much" about it (the quotation thingies are because T*mlin was being useless af here and he should have done more than just beg, Lucien's situation he was magically and physically restrained). He understands T*mlin's nightmares better than almost anyone, and as he told Feyre, T*mlin will never not hear the sound of her neck breaking. I do believe that if T*mlin had talked about this with Lucien, he might have dealt with the whole thing better.

We can't also ignore that Lucien carries a lot of guilt regarding Jesminda. He couldn't save her and seeing his friend die in a similar manner must have brought up his own traumas so its understandable that his full on attention might not have been spent towards understanding what Feyre was going through. We all are dealing with things and it's fair when you don't have the mental space to see what is happening to those around you, even when you are as observant as Lucien is. If your mind is not seeing, it doesn't matter if your golden eye sees it all. This guilt of not being there for the ones he loves (in any capacity) is also shown in WAR when he realizes better what happened to Feyre and he says something about being the villain in her story. As much of an Elucien fan that I am I do think that part of his reasoning for going to fetch the army was to make amends with Feyre. He felt guilty for not being there for her friend. (Yes he had a lot more to address on his plate, there's no doubt of that). In a way I do think he recognized that he could have done more.

On top of this we add that Lucien's relationship with T*mlin is based on a partly on the loyalty earned from saving him from his brothers. I think that it is not for nothing that in ACOSF Eris says that he's the one that sent word to T*mlin about what was happening to Lucien, which implies the existence of a friendship that predates the murder of Jesminda. This means that along with that loyalty there must be some old fashion good hearted feelings that nourish what we see as the friendship these two have. What I mean is that probably Lucien's vision of T*mlin is the friend he used to be way back when and the loyalty for offering a "home".

We don't know when exactly T*mlin started being abusive towards Lucien, but at least we can all agree that during ACOMAF he was. It wouldn't also be a stretch to think that in the pre-acotar days there might have been incidents of physical abuse, but so far we don't know for sure. There is a missing piece of information that we don't have yet because Lucien was more feisty during UtM when his life was at risk, than he was during MAF... this tells us a lot of how T*mlin was handling things with him.

There's also something to be said with how Lucien understood abuse. It's a heavy possibility that he perceived abuse like he saw it in the AC. He had a naturalized version of what abuse is, that for him w abuse looked like and felt like what he lived in the AC, so what he experienced with T*mlin pre-acotar did not seem to him as abuse (even when it was). And after Amarantha he began to understand the multiple faces of abuse and thus started to being afraid of T*mlin. Lucien could have also been dealing with the realization that a centuries old relationship had be tainted with abusive behaviors.

I do think that Lucien thought that he tried as hard as he could with the tools he had. But that does not mean that he shouldn't have done more. The problem is that Lucien didn't know he could. Like if he had fought with Tamlin for Feyre's sake where would he go then? Feyre had the option to go to the Night Court, Lucien did not. I like to believe that if he had known the truth about the NC before and had him and Feyre talked about it they would have said fuck you Tamlin, bye, black is the new spring. But he did not know. So he stayed on the comfortable zone of pushing but not jeopardizing his "home". You can hardly blame him for how he played the game when he did not know he was playing with one hand tied to his back.

I will not excuse though when he tried to grab her against her will during the woods. I understand that he was scared and desperate, but I still think that it was not right.

Feyre.

When I stand from a Feyre point of view there are two things that speak to me above all others. First she died for Tamlin and she bargained her life for his court -Lucien included- so I understand the she expected him to push and fight hard for her too. I know there's a quote about her recognizing that T*mlin had fought for her but that she had fought harder for him, and I think that can also suit her relationship with Lucien to an extend. I'm not saying that Lucien is like T*mlin, because no, not at all, not even in the least; but I do think she would have liked for her friend to fight for her well being like she fought for his during UtM.

Second it is hard to be see your friends still be friends with your abuser. Yes Feyre doesn't know all the variables that affect their relationship, the toxic loyalty that T*mlin saving Lucien created, the genuine friendship that was there before her and before Jesminda... but I understand the pain to see your friend not draw the lines for your sake.

This offers a beautiful arc for Lucien in the sense that only recently there has been a movement of "tell me if I'm friends with your abuser", and this awakening is a reality that a lot of people are facing. Is hard to untangle yourself from a person you have known for x amount of time, because you are trying to see the abusive person in the face you related to kindness or something not abusive. Again, we don't know how their relationship was pre-Feyre, perhaps Tamlin had been nothing but a sugary cupcake with Lucien and it's hard to associate that version of his friend to the version he is post Amarantha, the version that will physically abuse them; perhaps T*mlin had always been an ass but "the good outweighed those few instances of abusive behavior". What I'm trying to say is that sometimes it is hard to make a clean cut when the abuser turns out to be the person who saved you (from an even worse abuser but like you get what I mean).

I will not do him the disservice to say that he might not have connected the dots and thought that T*mlin's behavior was abusive towards Feyre. Even if he was just understanding how abuse can look like and even if he was reliving Jesminda's death I do think he could see that T*mlin's behavior was abusive towards Feyre (here I am making the distinction between reliving the trauma of having his love murdered and him recognizing abuse). Lucien is clever and intelligent. I think he did see what was happening, but that implied also a massive shift of reality for him that he was not prepared to see and did not have the tools to deal with, he was also struggling there.

Final thoughts.

I think Feyre is not wrong to feel a tad of distaste against Lucien through ACOMAF. Speaking from a personal experience it is quite sad and tough to see people who you conceived as friends not stand up to you when you are suffering at the hand of your S.O who happens to be their friend. It sucks a lot because you truly feel alone and you feel that at the end of the day they did not take care of you at the expense of taking care or helping or remaining on the good graces of your abuser.

But I think that simply condemning Lucien's actions during MAF without understanding the complicated history of abuse he has, is irresponsable. You are of course allowed to say that he is not fave and that it left a bad taste in your mouth, that's fair, but to condemn him the way I've seen this fandom do without an ounce of empathy or critical reading is just baffling (which to be quite frankly is also something I saw everybody after ACOSF with Rhysand, they condemned his actions without truly taking five second to understand the historical context of them).

Characters are allowed to make mistakes and are allowed to fall short in any given situation, because we as living creatures sometimes fall short in life. What's important to me is that Lucien is learning and when Feyre returned to the SC in WAR we could all see that he changed his approached towards the situation and was there for her. And also you will pry this off my hands but the fact that he is invited to their Solstice celebrations speaks of the state of their relationship right now, they are understanding of what the other is going through and I do think they are making amends and creating a friendship that acknowledges the mistakes they have both made towards the other one.

Yeah this was a long ramble.

Again, apologies it took me so long to answer

Long live Lucien and Feyre. I can't wait for them to grow closer.

#Lucien Vanserra #Feyre Archeron #ACOMAF #ACOWAR #ACOSF #FeysandfeelsAsk #mistakes will be corrected when I inevitably publish this and see them

[tcm]

The Underrated Charm and Star of Theresa Harris By Constance Cherise

When she was garbed in fur laden fashion by Orry Kelly, it was right on her. When she performed as a replacement for Ginger Rogers’ character in PROFESSIONAL SWEETHEART (‘33), she left Rogers' performance shattered (although Rogers’ singing was most likely dubbed). When she performed with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson in BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN (‘40), she was girlishly charming. Talent explodes from this beautifully elegant woman, in a tiny 5’2” frame, who was given mere snippets of screen time. Her versatility when performing proved she had all of what it would take to successfully compete with any of her counterparts, and that she could easily dominate leading roles.

In researching the career of Theresa (aka Teresa) Harris, there truly is not much information readily available. One comes across a repeated staple of accoutrements: she was born in Houston, she was outspoken and intelligent, she possessed innocent beauty. She was uncredited in many roles and unaccepting of the stereotypical “Mammy” portrayal. According to online sources, the number of films she performed in vary between 70-90. However, the fact that she shared the screen alongside the greatest of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Stanwyck, Dietrich, Harlow and Gable [Madonna's “Vogue” comes to mind], is resoundingly indisputable.

Articles and books alike generally re-state the same facts and quotes as information is limited, and this is absolutely a shame because just a glimpse of Harris' talents, when she was given the slightest chance to expand her roles, proves she was nothing less than radiant.

Harris is probably best remembered for her performance alongside Barbara Stanwyck in BABY FACE (‘33), a film known for the untraditional on-screen interracial friendship between Chico (Harris) and Lily (Stanwyck), as well as its sordid subject of a calculating woman who sleeps her way to the top. Hooray for the pre-Code era! As Lily’s status grows, Chico’s role must change as the two cannot co-exist in the same frame of friendship, at least to the public eye. While it is true that Chico eventually becomes Lily's maid, what isn't as precisely clear is whether Chico’s subservient role is a necessary evil, a mutually beneficial business collaboration or a combination of both.

Chico: Is these the new furs honey?

Lily: Not so much honey...

Chico: Yes ma'am!

In two separate instances, Lily makes it crystal clear to her father and later her lover that she and Chico are an indivisible set. As Lily's fortune, and wardrobe, grows, so does Chico's, although the majority are refined maids’ uniforms. The entire premise of the film is Lily manipulating men to achieve the life she desires, and it's clear that not only does she refuse to leave Chico behind in her imminent rise, but that Chico is a willing accomplice as both benefit from Lily’s duplicity. Given the subservient roles relegated to black performers at the time, it is almost shocking, yet at the exact same time somehow unexpectedly intriguing, to witness. In fact, Harris' performance in the film inspired two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage to create the play By the Way Meet Vera Stark.

A few articles state that Harris is given almost equal screen time in BABY FACE, however in my humble estimation, it is actually surprising how much more screen time Harris is given alongside Marlene Dietrich in the comedy THE FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS (‘41). In fact, Harris is given almost as much as the lead. Not surprisingly, Harris plays a maid yet has similarities to her role in BABY FACE as she once again is a cunningly convincing co-conspirator to Dietrich’s amusingly scheming deceit.

In PROFESSIONAL SWEETHEART, Harris performs alongside Ginger Rogers, and although she has very little screen time and is uncredited, when given the platform she is a fiery siren. Not a siren in a bombshell body type of way...a siren in a “once I start to perform, you better HOLD YOUR MAN (’33) type of way, as her sensuous vocals ignite the airwaves. (Pun intended, Harris starred alongside Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. Harris is great in that film as well.) It seems all the things she wants to be, but isn't allowed to be, translate through her voice. Harris’ performance is sinewy, scintillating and smoldering. Her husky vocals drip with eroticism awakening the sacral chakra. In that one performance, she expertly delivers, upending the entire film not only stirring the passions of the opposite sex but shockingly for its time, the reaction is reflected in white male actors.

The agent attempting to steal Rogers' character away from her current employer while listening to Harris over the radio states: “Think about it, every man in the country listening to that creature”...but her vocals are so sexily overwhelming even Rogers' character knows she is pulling at invisible straws, evidenced by the expression of jealousy plastered over her face and her husband’s subsequent provocation. Harris' performance in the film THUNDERBOLT (‘29) also mirrored this same reaction, and clearly the directors of each film wanted this to be markedly apparent. Truth be told, even in current times, Harris’ performance is so incendiary with its seductive runs and glissandos, an alien would find it titillating.

Perhaps Hollywood saw, and was threatened by the great potential in her, and that just may be precisely why she was essentially boxed in. When Harris performed in a scene, regardless of who surrounds her, your eyes naturally gravitate towards her magnetism, and that level of subtle explosive power can easily obliterate anyone else within the lens of the camera. It is abundantly clear Harris could hold yours and her own at the same time, executing with such refined finesse, such grace, it's contemptibly somber to know that her talent, along with a bevy of other black actors, were so underutilized.

#Theresa Harris #Jezebel #Baby Face #Barbara Stanwyck #black representation #Hollywood black #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Constance Cherise

[annebelle93]

I posted 90 times in 2021

41 posts created (46%)

49 posts reblogged (54%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 1.2 posts.

I added 127 tags in 2021

#obey me - 29 posts

#obey me fandom - 25 posts

#obey me headcanons - 17 posts

#obey me mc - 16 posts

#obey me lucifer - 10 posts

#obey me fic - 7 posts

#obey me leviathan - 6 posts

#obey me mammon - 6 posts

#obey me incorrect quotes - 6 posts

#obey me satan - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 70 characters

#i’m too far from sober to be anything other than embarrassingly honest

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

MC: hey, handsome! would you like to see a magic?

Mammon: sure

MC: creatures of the dark

I call on your spawn

when the last rhyme I bark

his dick will be gone!

Mammon: *high pitched scream* Lucifer!

184 notes • Posted 2021-09-28 21:25:16 GMT

#4

Lucifer: *being hot at the beach*

Group of youngsters staring at him

Youngster 1: Damn Nana, you have some really nice genes

Youngster 2: your grandson is really gorgeous

MC *92 years old*: that’s my husband

Youngster:

MC: I do have nice genes, thank you

213 notes • Posted 2021-10-17 23:26:22 GMT

#3

Obey me now detables react to an MC with a Th.D

Since the response to the brothers reactions was so amazing, I decided to imagine how the now detables and Luke would react to the Th.D MC

Diavolo

“What is that supposed to mean? Humans don’t know the actual Demon King?”

He is disappointed. No other way to put it.

Will listem to everything you have to say, he couldn’t be more interested in how humans see demons

But even though he is interested, he is jealous

Yes, Lucifer is great. But HE is the future king.

“Barbatos clean my schedule for the rest of the day, I have to help MC”

“Of course it is important, that’s diplomacy between the realms, obviously”

Barbatos

He know about your research before you arriving, of course

And was warned by Lucifer about your never ending questioning

Still, he can’t help but be amused by you

The day you looked him straight in the eyes and asked why didn’t he have a beard? The first time in years he allowed himself to laugh out loud

You spend a lot of time in the palace kitchen now

You trade recipes from the human world for supervision over your articles

After that, you two have tea while he explains the politics of the circles

Eventually you run out of politics to discuss, but you are so used to having tea if him (and Diavolo every once in a while) you just keep going to check on them

Solomon

Is not so much about what he does when he meets you. But what you do.

You go full fangirl

“Sir, I have all of your books. Do you have any tips for a beginner?”

That’s all he needed to hear

Self nominated demon related business mentor ™

“MC, how would you feel about a field trip tomorrow?”

Field trips become a regular thing between you two

And eventually they are just an excuse

It really is nice for him to meet another human with similar interests

Simeon

Absolutely fascinated

“You’ve spend all of your adult life researching us? MC, that’s impressive”

Is eager to learn how humans see the other realms

When he hears you speaking “symbolism” and “internalization”?

He loves it

He could drink your words it it were possible

Spends hours listening to you

You have to send him home, because he can go for days and you need sleep eventually

Will text you random updates from the celestial realm, to make sure your research is always fresh

Also sends you random texts reminding you to rest, as he understands humans need a lot of things to keep alive and he couldn’t bear the idea of you getting sick from overwork

Luke

Baffled to his last strand of hair

“You actually chose to study demons instead of angels?”

“Why would you do that?”

Doesn’t really want to hear you talking about you preposterous articles

Will make sure to highlight the celestial realm every time you two meet, in a attempt to make you change your line of work

And will send you sweets with little wings and halos painted on them whenever he doesn’t see you for long

Secretly, he is very impressed by how you dedicated yourself to something so intricate

Will asks a lot of questions to Simeon when he gets home after seeing you, but deny it vehemently to you.

I hope it makes up a bit for delaying Levi’s Army for today, but I promise you, I’ll be working super hard on it tomorrow again and I think it’s turning out pretty good (it might be the better so far, in my not so humble opinion hahaha)! And thank you so much to everyone who interacted with the last Th.D post! And so ya’ll know, my ask box is always open if anyone have any sort of doubt about the content or anything.

If anyone haven’t seen the original HC, you can find it in here

256 notes • Posted 2021-08-28 02:50:15 GMT

#2

Diavolo: hey, MC! Nice pants

MC: Thank you, just got them! they were 50% off!

Barbatos: I’m sure they would look substantially better 100% off on Young Masters chambers.

MC:

MC: did you just flirt with me for your boss or are you going to be there?

Barbatos:

Diavolo:

MC: whatever, I’m down

484 notes • Posted 2021-09-20 22:59:29 GMT

#1

Obey me boys react to an MC with a Th.D

You just finished your Th.D (Theology and religious studies Doctorate), younger of the class and now you’ve been struggling a bit to decide on what to write. Lucky you, you wake up in devildom, surrounded by all of the figures you’ve been reading about for the last years.

Lucifer

Is a bit impressed at first. You’re so young and already speak Latin? Maybe this exchange won’t be a total waste of time

Then he is annoyed

You just ask SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.

“MC, I swear to Diavolo, if you ask me one more time to teach you Sumeric I’ll lock you in your room!”

After you pester him over and over again with questions, he secretly asks Barbatos to find him a copy of your thesis

It’s about him. 300 pages of him.

The man is intrigued.

“Did you really spent three years writing about me?”

“Yeah, man” you shrug “the history f***ed you up. I always thought you were a much more complex character then described in the Bible”

He will teach you Sumeric now. And ancient Latin. And whatever dead language you ask him.

Honestly, he will marry you if you ask him nicely enough

Mammon

He doesn’t like you very much at first

Why do you use so many big words? It’s confusing

Very disappointed on how little you know about him compared to his brothers

“What do ya mean not enough lore?”

“I’ll show ya lore”

Lucifer may or may not have to “rescue” you from field trips to the fourth circle

Levi

Snake boy is flustered

You know him?

You actually like his stories?

You are i-i-interested in the g-great admiral?

“Why should I share my stories with a normie like you?”

Is very confused by you and he doesn’t like to be confused, so he keeps his distance

Until you slide a copy of an article you wrote about “Leviathan through cultures: similarities and idiosyncrasy”

You are a big obsessed nerd like him, only he likes video games and you books (don’t get me wrong, you like playing too, you just suck at it)

“I’m your Ruri-chan” he whispers after reading it

“Come with me! I’ll tell you every thing you need to know!” *anime pose*

Satan

HE. LOVES. YOU.

Finally someone who understands the beauty of spending hours reading in a library

At first was a bit bothered to always find someone else using the library

But you are very quiet when you concentrate

And you concentrate. For hours.

Very different from your overall hyper and impulsive behavior

Will happily explain to you all the inconsistencies in human literature

His memory is amazing, so he remembers every single event

Is very eager to explain why Satanás is far superior in literature and not at all the same character as Lucifer

“Why the humans always get it confused? It’s not that hard” procedes to give a very hard explanation

By the end of the program your research is so detailed and refined you can’t even publish it. No one will believe THAT level of details.

Asmo

Like Mammon, doesn’t like you at first.

Goes batshit crazy when you ask him why he doesn’t have three heads

“You appear one time to one human as an ugly beast after loosing a bet and then suddenly everyone thinks you are ugly!”

Demands you write at least one article proving to the humans he is beautiful

Will send you 7728372 selfies for you to use on the article

Likes to braid your hair and do your nails while you study, because “by Diavolo, you can be quiet when you focus!”

Is constantly worried about you because you don’t stop studying to drink water, eat or exercise

“Who is going to spread my beauty to the humans if you die?”

Secretly he just worries about you, nothing to do with spreading his beauty

Beel

Is VERY confused by you.

He didn’t ever remember he was once a god after he fell, how do you?

“What do you mean Mammon is seen as a part of me? Mammon is Mammon, I’m Beel”

Eventually he begins to enjoy listening to you talk about your research. You are very passionate about it and he enjoys when people like his brothers

Was upset when you reminded him about the god thing, because he recalled humans used to give him food offerings all of the time and now they don’t

You walk around with food on your pockets now

Belphie

Doesn’t like you. Doesn’t dislike you. You are just there.

Thinks you’re weird for writing 300 pages about Lucifer. Who would want to know that much about him?

Eventually he finds out you like to cuddle when you read in bed and “whatever, you are warm, I’m sleepy. I’ll indulge you”

He is like a big cat around your legs while you read

One day he peaks at what you are writing now

It’s about Lilith and how much of a power figure she is through history

You don’t see her as a fragile little girl

He will hide his face, he can’t let you see him emotional after all

But he’s is much more affectionate. He’ll even let you run your fingers through his hair now

Will tell you everything about his sister

And I mean EVERYTHING.

The rest of the boys are here now!

591 notes • Posted 2021-08-26 14:52:33 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#the longest hashtag is a great summit of my 2021 #your tumblr year in review #my 2021 tumblr year in review

[bigskydreaming]

This isn't a meme thing or anything but I was wondering if you had a top ten favorite characters from books? I actually end up getting a lot of good book recs from reading your blog so I was just curious lol.

LOL I wasn't going to do this ask because I was like ugh I suck at top ten lists because I can never pick just ten. But then I thought about it for like, five whole seconds and realized I DO have ten standout characters in answer to this so its like oh hey, learned something new about myself today! Lmao.

Anyway, in no particular order:

1) Anyanwu - from Wild Seed by Octavia Butler - Can not stress how like fucking...formative Anyanwu's character was for me as an abused kid who first read this when I was like 12. The book heavily deals with the back and forth across centuries between these two immortals, Anyanwu and Doro, as Doro basically tries to control her every which way he can, and Anyanwu just defies him at every turn, and it just....you love to see it. She's a bad-ass and I adore her.

2) Prince Corwin and Merle Corey/Merlin - from Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny - Yes I'm cheating but its me so you should have seen that coming. Another fave series from when I was in middle school, its ten books in total, and the first five are in Corwin's POV and the second five are in the POV of his son Merle/Merlin. So I maintain it counts. And is fine. Shhh, let it go, Elsa said so. ANYWAY, I actually probably like Merle better than his dad, because I mean, lbr, Corwin is a total asshole. But he's MY asshole, y'know? Wait, that came out wrong. Don't quote me there. But you know what I mean. Merle is a lot more level-headed, and quick-witted I think, and I like his supporting cast of relatives who want to kill him and he sometimes want to kill more than his dad's supporting cast of relatives who want to kill him and he always wants to kill, but like. Both are Valid. Also shout out to Fiona and Rinaldo, with a side shout out to Flora, who are probably my next three favorites from the series. Dara would be up there too but she knows what she did.

3) Elric/Corum/Dorian/etc - from the Eternal Champion books by Michael Moorcock - Look I'm already cheating so why not continue on a theme. But basically this counts too, I'm just saying. See Michael Moorcock's big project going all the way back to the 60s was he created a fantasy multiverse of different dimensions where this one Eternal Champion, meant to balance the scales between the Lords of Law and the Lords of Chaos, like, is reborn over and over again in different incarnations but who are all essentially him. So Elric of Melnibone, Dorian Hawkmoon, Corum I can never remember his last name.....they're all essentially the same guy.....but they're all at the same time very very very different, and they have extremely different storylines. But I maintain if you're gonna read one you kinda gotta just read them all, all Pokemon like and such forth, because the real beauty of these books is seeing the familiar traces of the Eternal Champion threaded through each of these incarnations but also contrasting how different they are from each other and like, looking at what makes them so different each time and how much it stems from their environment and situations, etc.

4) Civet - from the Dragons of the Inland Sea series by Laurence Yep - This is a kids' series, like for ages 10-12 kinda, but easily my favorite from when I was a kid. I reread them so many times, and I love pretty much all the characters from Shimmer to Thorn to Monkey, but Civet was always a standout. She's essentially a tragic character and her ending is bittersweet, but like.....she fully knows who she is and what she's about and makes no apologies for that, and she ends on exactly the note she wants to. Like, her story and her characterization was pretty damn dark for such a young-aimed series, but that's part of what drew me to it, it managed to capture the tone it set out to convey but in a completely age-appropriate way, and in an era when most books aimed at kids dumbed down most of their story concepts and themes, this one was refreshing for just being....real. Despite being blatantly fantasy. Also the Boneless King is one of the best villains ever, despite being deliberately over the top a lot of the times....idk what it was about him, but he was just chilling.

5) Jack the Bodiless and Diamond Mask - from the Galactic Milieu series by Julian May - These are linked as well because they're a couple and their stories intertwine so much that there's no real point in separating them y'know? That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But anyway, they're a weird choice for me because Julian May is hit or miss for me overall....I HATE her Saga of the Pliocene Epic, which is technically in the same universe as her Galactic Milieu series, but they have totally different vibes and the latter series doesn't contain any of the elements from the Saga of the Pliocene that I loathe, so it just works. Plus it has Jack and Diamond Mask, and like.....I don't actually know why I love them so much? They're just so different from pretty much any other characters I've ever read. Like, May does a lot of really high concept stuff across the board, but Jack and Diamond Mask are like.....high concept character wise? If that makes sense? Its okay if it doesn't. I'm literally just spitting words out here. Honestly, its hard to say anything specific about them because so much of their characters conceptually just doesn't make sense without knowing the in-universe concepts that led to them even existing, but like. They're weird and off the wall but still astoundingly human for all that and I love them.

6) Naomi Nagata - from the Expanse books by James S. A. Corey - I mean, if you've seen me ramble all the Naomi love in my live-watches of The Expanse TV show, this should be no surprise, but my love for her in the books like, exists manifold. She's great in both, but the books cover so much more content-wise, that her character has so much more room to breathe and be explored in all kinds of directions the TV show never touches on. The funny thing is, I actually prefer the TV characterizations overall....I think the authors of the books are actually pretty shit at characterization a lot of the time, but the basic thread of Naomi's character is consistent and the sheer abundance of story material she has in the books like.....keeps me going back to them even just for her. Her conflict with Marco in the books in particular just has so much more depth than in the show....like, I don't hate the show's version at all, anyone who's seen my posts there knows that lol, and I'm not actually even sure which version I actually like more in terms of that particular storyline.....but I just love that both versions are so different, while still being recognizably the same, y'know? I don't even know. Nobody knows. Its a mystery. Just nod and say yes, shh, its fine.

7) Locke Lamora - from The Lies of Locke Lamora/The Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch. This is an odd one for me, because in one sense Locke is a very contrived archetypal character from an author that doesn't always pull it off as successfully as I feel he thinks he does.....like, what I mean is Locke is inherently that type of character that is SUPPOSED to push buttons and straddle a line between likable and unlikable....and to be fair, that is VERY hard to pull off without at least some of the time falling on the wrong side of that line and alienating at least some readers. But there's something very genuine or sincere feeling about the character underneath all that, which is ironic for a character who is an acknowledged pathological liar and hardly ever tells the truth....like I said, its an odd one for me because I can't actually put my finger on what makes this particular character work for me when so many similar characters just bug the crap out of me.

8) Damien - from Black Sun Rising/The Coldfire trilogy by C. S. Friedman - This one is a whole fucking lie because I don't actually even like Damien that much lmao, but the thing is, I don't have a particular fondness for any of the characters in this series? But I gotta put it on the list anyway because I just love the world in this series so much, and its practically a character in and of itself. Like, so this was a science fantasy series set on a distant planet in the future but otherwise steeped in fantasy archetypes about spirit creatures that only Adepts could see, and like, Fae and life energy and sorcery that had roots in scientific principles but was otherworldly all the same. And that's like.....all literally my jam, and so I can't deny that this series was very formative for me even if its not the best example of those concepts. Its just the one I tend to go back to the most in my mind, like....the world and its characters are very standout and larger than life for me, even if they don't specifically APPEAL to me? They're impactful all the same. Its another odd one. I'm odd. You just kinda gotta roll with it. Its a thing. Its factual.

9) Yeine Darr - from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin - This was a tough one because I love literally everything by Jemisin and all her characters are just so....ooof. They're very very real, even in the most fantastical of settings. I have mad characterization envy every time I read her stuff, but like. Its so good. So really the struggle was picking one character or even two, because I mean, The Fifth Season and its sequels are easily her best known works and have a ton of fantastic characters, and I think her Dreamblood duology is vastly overlooked but in the end I had to go with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms even if just cuz of nostalgia. Its the first of her works and when I first started reading her and so its just.....anyway, if I was gonna go with that, it had to be Yeine, because she's so central to everything and also just....fantastic. Nahadoth and Sieh are also standout characters who get mentioned a lot in talk of this trilogy, and they're both such big personalities that at times they kinda overshadow Yeine, but Yeine has such a compelling.....undercurrent to her that she never actually gets lost in the shuffle even when surrounded by all these larger than life gods, and just. You love to see it. I do anyway. And its my list so nyah. But also if you're gonna read Jemisin, read everything Jemisin. It just makes sense, y'know? Good for the pores.

10) Cayal and Arkady - from The Immortal Prince/The Tide Lords by Jennifer Fallon - All the other Tide Lords can rot, but Cayal is hilarious in a depressing way. He's a ten thousand year old immortal whose greatest wish is just to die, which is how he meets Arkady who is a historian who just wants to like....know everything he knows once she realizes he actually is the figure of legend he professes to be and is so mad at him for not really giving a shit about all the weight of history he's been present for, but Cayal's just like, umm, I LIVED it so that's why I don't care, I'm allowed to not care, that shit hurt. Did you miss the part where one of the other Tide Lords threw a fucking meteor at me? And Arkady, distinctly unimpressed, is just like....I thought YOU did that, to Jasper. And Cayal's like, no that doesn't sound right. And Arkady's just like, you literally JUST told me that story. And Cayal's like, huh. I must have been lying. I do that sometimes. And Arkady's like, I thought you never lie, that's your whole thing? And Cayal's like, ahah, but what if THAT was a lie too? And Arkady's just like, bitch I hate you so goddamn much, how are you the worst of all the Immortals while still the only one who will actually talk to me and answer my questions. Cayal's like, we may never know.

Anyway, there's my list but like there's a lot more obviously because I'm me, I don't do moderation, its against my religion, but also I have to stop some time and the ask was for ten and those were the ten that popped into my head so they must be the right ones! Probably. Until I change my mind at least.

[magnusmysteries]

Part 21: Star-Crossed Lovers

The Magnus Archives was a horror podcast. It is now completed. Many of the show’s mysteries were never explained on the show. I intend to explain them. Spoilers for the show, but also spoilers if you wanna solve these mysteries yourself.

In the previous post I said the tree at Hill Top Road was of the Spiral. And that one of the reasons I think that is that it was destroyed by two people marked by the Spiral. What other reasons are there? 

Second reason: It bleeds, like the doorknob in a sturdy lock. If you see a tree bleed, you’d fear for your sanity.

Third reason: I think trees in general are a symbol of the Spiral. In The Coming Storm Michael Crew is tormented by a Spiral creature. He opens it’s gate to find a forest full of impossible trees. But symbolically what does trees have to do with the Spiral? 

I think the Spiral not only covers the fear of insanity, but also the fear of getting lost. That’s why the Spiral often deals with mazes. And that’s why trees, you can get lost in the woods. Michael Crew did not enter the gate, but if he had I think he would have gotten lost. This explains why the Spiral is the opposite of the Desolation (see part 3). Because trees burn. This is why the Spiral is next to the Buried (see part 3). Because you can get lost in a cave. 

This might explain why the Spiral likes fractals. Trees look like a fractal with their branches. And a maze has branching paths like a fractal.

Gertrude’s protective circle is in a forest. It has bottles full of boiling water and photographs of Gertrude and twigs and pine needles. When the Cult is trying to burn Gertrude, the force gets directed to the bottles because of the photographs. And then the forest and the twigs neutralizes the power because they are of the Spiral and opposes the Desolation.

In Burning Desire Agnes feels a sudden pain. It happens just about the same time as the Hill Top Road tree is pulled down. Why is Agnes affected by the tree’s destruction?

In Recluse the statement giver mentions the tree. He says it has leaves, and that he likes to sit under it and read. So it is a normal tree, not yet dead and spooky like in Burned Out. In the same episode is the box from the table. It has not yet ended up beneath the tree. So who changed the tree? Who placed the box beneath it? 

I think Agnes did both things. But how can Agnes turn a tree into a Spiral tree if Agnes is of the Desolation? Because Agnes is an avatar of both the Spiral and the Desolation. 

The Cult of the Lightless Flame has a hard time raising Agnes and so decides to send her to the orphanage to be raised by Raymond Fielding of the Web. Now, does that make any sense? Letting a different Power, one that specializes in mind control no less, raise their messiah? No. Creating Agnes was the Web’s plan from the beginning. 

In Burning Desire Jack sees three men from the Cult of the Lightless Flame. One John identifies as Diego, and suspects another could be Arthur Noland. One has a bag full of candles, so it is probably Eugene Vanderstock, as he made candles. By process of elimination, the third man is probably Arthur. This man holds a container full of spiders. According to Jane Prentiss, there are also spiders in the apartment building where Arthur later is the landlord. The Web is manipulating Arthur and he doesn't realize it. Arthur is the one that proposes a plan to make a Messiah for the Desolation. But it is actually the Web’s plan.

When the Lightless Flame Cult holds the ritual that births Agnes, they have it in a forest. Agnes’ mother lies on wood and wears a crown of wood. The cultists don’t realize it, but they are incorporating Spiral symbols in their ritual.

Agnes’ mother is of the Desolation. I think the father is someone from the Spiral. I think there is a meta hint about it: The mother’s name is Eileen Montague. Montague is the last name of Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. A story of two people from enemy families falling in love. Like Eileen having a relationship with someone from the enemy power. The Spiral being the opposite of the Desolation.

When Diego brings a book about child care, Arthur burns it. He thinks he does it because Diego is attacking his leadership. Actually the Web makes him do it. To sabotage their attempts at raising Agnes, so that they’ll bring Agnes to the orphanage.

Why was Agnes created? In This Old House we learn that the Web would lure servants of various fears to Hill Top Road to fight each other to widen the crack in reality. A sculptor of puppets (of the Web? Or the Stranger?) gets killed by a hunter.  An Eye avatar gets killed by a Buried avatar. But why make Agnes an avatar of two Fears? I think the web wanted all the Fears to have fought at Hill Top Road. By creating Agnes, the Web is killing two birds with one stone, getting a Desolation fight and a Spiral fight at the same time.

If Agnes made the tree, does it mean the tree is also a Spiral and Desolation tree? Yes. The tree has scorch marks on it. But if Ivo and Father Burroughs needed to be marked by the Spiral to destroy the tree, would they not also have to be marked by the Desolation? Yes, and they were marked by the Desolation. Just before they destroyed the tree, they were attacked by the Desolation and felt like they were burning. The Web brought the Desolation entity to Hill Top Road to mark them. 

In this Old House Annabelle says the crack in reality became a gap when Agnes kills Raymond. I think she’s a little wrong. The fight between Agnes and Raymond did turn the crack into a gap, but I think that happened before Raymond died. Agnes binds Raymond to Hill Top Road by putting the box from his table under the tree. She transforms the tree so it can not be easily destroyed. I believe binding Raymond is what widens the crack. And this allows for time travel.

Quote from Ivo from Burned out “And then I would smell it again, that whiff of burnt hair, or catch a glimpse of brown pigtails disappearing around a corner.”

Ivo is not hallucinating, nor seeing a ghost. That’s Agnes traveling to the future. The pigtails suggest this happened while Agnes was young. Which suggests the time traveling became possible before Raymond died.

In I Guess You Had To Be There a woman sees the ghost of a burning woman. I think that’s Agnes again, time traveling.

I think it’s impossible to travel in time to before the crack gets widened. At least I can’t think of anything that suggests time traveling happening before Agnes goes to Hill Top Road.

Raymond shows up in the future and meets Ivo. Raymond’s not a ghost, he’s a time traveler. He’s wearing old fashioned clothes, natch. (I think every time we see something related to ghosts or life after death it is connected either with the End, or the two fears next to the End, the Slaughter and the Lonely. I don’t think the Web or the Desolation makes ghosts.) I’m not sure why Raymond traveled forward in time. Was it on purpose to try to escape Agnes and the tree? Did Agnes send him?

Raymond goes and stares out of the window into the garden. I think he’s looking at the tree, the tree that is trapping him. Raymond vanished and the floor where he stood was scorched.

In the past Raymond vanished, and Agnes lived alone for some years. Then the orphanage burns and Raymond is found dead, missing his right hand. Many years later Agnes is hanged. A severed right hand is attached to her waist with a chain. Tissue decay suggests the hand owner died about the same time as Agnes.

I think when Raymond vanished for years, that’s because he went to the future and met Ivo. Right before Agnes dies, she travels back in time to when Raymond met Ivo. Agnes chains Raymond to herself and drags him back in time. Hence the scorched floor. Agnes takes Raymond back to the orphanage, cuts off his hand, burns him and the orphanage. Then she travels forwards in time and is hanged, hand still attached. 

Why is she attached to the hand when she is hanged? I think some magic reason. Maybe by having part of him attached, when she commits suicide, Raymond is symbolically committing suicide. Maybe this lessens the Web’s power? Hands are often a symbol for the Spiral.

Eugene says Arthur told him Agnes had kept the hand when she burned Raymond. So maybe Arthur spoke with future Agnes? Since Agnes stopped aging as an adult, Arthur would not have realized she was older.

Agnes goes on some dates with Jack Barnabas. When the tree is uprooted, Agnes tells the cult that Barnabas has made her doubt role as a Messiah. She says her doubt will make the ritual fail. And so she will hang herself, so that she will not use up the Desolation power on a failed ritual. That way the cult can attempt another ritual relatively soon, but not too soon. This is a bunch of lies.

Agnes never wanted to complete a ritual. (Maybe when she was very little.) She was just pretending for the cult. She never had any real interest in Barnabas, the dates with him were just an excuse to fool the cult, and more importantly fool the web.

Agnes fakes her death, sort of. By going back in time she could create two Agneses. One of them hanged herself, the other lived.

This paragraph has super big spoilers for the movie The Prestige, so I’m gonna encrypt it in ROT13 : Oneanonf naq Ntarf tb ba n qngr naq jngpu gur Cerfgvtr. Va gur Cerfgvtr n punenpgre vf uhat, lrg fbeg bs fheivirf, orpnhfr vg’f npghnyyl gjvaf cergraqvat gb or bar crefba. Whfg yvxr Ntarf trgf uhat, lrg fheivirf orpnhfr fur vf gjb crbcyr ivn gvzr geniry.

Why did Agnes have to fake her own death? I’m not sure about this but I think the Web considered her dangerous and wanted her killed. But if Agnes died, the aspect of the Web that was trapped under the tree would also have died. So the Web couldn’t kill her until they had removed the tree. Once the tree is gone, Agnes is no longer protected and she fakes her death.

This is similar to how the Web bound Gertrude and Agnes together. This made the cult afraid to hurt Gertrude. Agnes told the cult that it was her binding to Gertrude that prevented her from doing the ritual. But this is more lies, she didn’t want to do it anyway. I think the Web bound them together to protect Gertrude. The Web wanted Gertrude alive, possibly so Gertrude could stop the other ritual than the Eye’s. Or possibly because the Web thought Gertrude could be the one to complete the Eye’s ritual.

Is Agnes evil? I think she is very good, though very ruthless. When she was very young she did burn people. But if an adult gives a machine gun to a baby and the baby shoots someone, who is to blame?

In Burned Out Annie tells Ivo about Agnes, implying Agnes killed pets and a boy named Henry. But Annie serves the Web, and I think she is lying. Annie wants Ivo to repeat this story to the Archives to trick the Archivists into thinking Agnes is evil. Annie asks Ivo to not let anyone know what she’d been talking about. This is because Annie doesn’t want Ivo to find out the stories are lies. But Annie knows Ivo can’t help tell the story when making a statement.

In Recluse Agnes saves a boy from Raymond, and she probably saves the other children. This is before she is bound to Gertrude, so she was already good before that.

Eugene made candles of people, so Agnes could inhale their suffering. But Eugene is not sure if Agnes uses those candles, or that’s just what Arthur tells him. And in Twice as Bright Jude Perry says she had a newfound love for scented candles. It was Jude who inhaled their suffering.

Agnes kisses Barnabas and burns him badly. But I think this was to prevent the other cult members from killing him, because he’s already suffering. Agnes asks Jude not to interfere with Barnabas. Agnes cries a tear when kissing him, she is sad she has to hurt him.

Gertrude demands that the cult not hurt Barnabas. Why does Gertrude care about him? She doesn’t. It’s Agnes that has told Gertrude to protect Barnabas, because Agnes feels guilty about hurting him. Agnes and Gertrude are working together. More on that in a later post.

In Infectious Doubts Gertrude allows Arthur to ask her a question. Why would she give information to an enemy? The only reason would be if she wanted to lie to him. I’m not sure how much Gertrude tells him is true, but I think at least one thing is a lie. Gertrude says her protective circle has symbols of the Desolation. Actually it has symbols of the Spiral. Similar symbols were used when Agnes was born. Gertrude is lying to Arthur, because she does not want him to realize that Agnes is part Spiral. 

How can Agnes be good, if she is an avatar? I think because she never made a choice to become an avatar, she was one from birth. Because she never chose it, I think the Desolation and the Spiral can’t influence her mind.

#the magnus archives #tma #magnuspod #agnes montague #raymond fielding

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Sandcastles

Pt 6 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series

It’s Monday after lunch and Luz is trying to coerce her locker into spitting out her books. Beast keeping doesn’t usually require any, it’s more hands on learning, like how to properly feed a baby chimera or how to pull infected or molting scales of a hydra without the other heads eating you. Her afternoon potions class on the other hand requires several, it's arguably one of the more technical and dangerous tracks… in regards to consequences for the user if you mess up anyway. Or in some cases, the whole class. It wasn’t uncommon for the potions hall to be evacuated because someone mixed something with the wrong thing.

“Just give me the book!” She shakes her fists at the creature as it glares down at her, growling. She growls back and the creature only grumbles at her before it finally opens its mouth and she pulls the book out with a yank and gives it the stink eye.

“Give that locker what for!”

“You sure showed it.” A pair of familiar voices laugh and Luz turns to find the Blight twins standing behind her grinning.

“Oh, hey guys, what’s up?” She knows the twins well enough after two months of dating their sister that they are here for a reason. Everything they do has a purpose, even if that purpose is just to get a laugh or mercilessly tease Amity.

“It’s about Amity,” Emira starts.

“We need your help,” Edric finishes, and both twins look so uncharacteristically serious that her mind jumps to the worst possible conclusions.

“What is it, what’s wrong!?” She drops her book, eyes wide as they switch wildly between the two older teens. The twins jerk, realizing that maybe they came off a little too serious, but for once they are serious.

“Whoa, whoa, nothing is wrong.” Emira holds up her hands to calm her.

“Yeah, everything is fine.” Edric sets a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“You looked so serious, you scared me…” Luz holds a hand over her rapidly beating heart. It was too early in the week for this. Usually something terrifying didn’t happen until at least Wednesday…

“Sorry,” Edric chuckles. “This is serious, just not…,” he trails off.

“The life threatening kind of serious you’re used to getting yourself into…,” Emira finishes for him with a laugh.

“Oh, well, what is it?”

“Well, you know this Saturday is Mittens birthday…," Edric starts.

“What!?” Luz is panicked again, but now for a very different reason. “I didn’t know this weekend was her birthday!”

“Really?” the twins ask in unison.

“She’s never said anything…” Luz’s words are muffled as she drags her hands down her cheeks. What kind of girlfriend is she when she doesn’t know when Amity’s birthday is?!

The twins share a glance, before turning back to the internally… and outwardly panicking human.

“This is why we need your help,” Edric says.

“Huh?” Luz looks between them.

The two glance around the hall and finding it’s mostly empty, turn back to her.

“We know that Amity tells you everything, like about…” Emira makes a face, hesitating, but Edric doesn’t.

“Our family, we know she’s talked to you about our messed up family,” he says quietly with a frown.

“Oh…” Luz says. “yeah...” She nods.

“Well, then we shouldn’t need to tell you that our birthdays are used so that our parents…”

“Mom,” Emira coughs into her hand, as though trying to cover up the word.

“... use our birthday parties to show off to their work friends and acquaintances… it’s not really about us…” The older boy crosses his arms and frowns. Emira shares a similar look.

It makes sense to her, of course she knew Amity wasn’t the only one just trying to get by living under her mother’s thumb, but she never expected the twins to even mention it to her.

“So, they usually suck and the guest list is full of people important to them and their work, not us, and isn’t even usually on our birthdays, just close enough to it that works with their schedules…” Emira also crosses her arms and the bitterness in her voice is clear to Luz as Amity’s had been and she feels for all the Blight siblings, she really does.

“The fact that Amity didn’t even tell YOU about her birthday? Yeah, I think that says it all,” Edric says. “We had Amity’s ‘party’...” he finger quotes and rolls his eyes. “...Sunday, but this coming Saturday is her actual birthday…”

“We have a plan to celebrate.” Emira grins at her. “...and we need your help.” she points at Luz with a grin.

“I’m in!” Luz jumps, pumping a fist. She doesn’t even need to know what the twins are planning or what she needs to do, she’ll do it! Anything to make Amity’s birthday special for the first time since she was a kid.

Both twins grin brightly at her. They know the surefire way to ensure their sister has an actually happy birthday is to get her girlfriend involved. The two have been watching carefully over the last two months, and Amity is the happiest they can ever remember her being since their parents made her stop being friends with Willow, and they know it’s because of Luz.

“So what’s the plan?” Luz looks between the two.

“We’ve been extra good and diligent in our studies the last two weeks…,” Edric says, holding his clasped hands to his cheeks and bats his eyes.

“No pranks of anything…” Emira follows his lead.

“So that we could ask our parents’ to let us take Mittens, and use the beach house this weekend while their out of town again on business, and they said yes.” Edric is grinning

“What they don’t know is that we’re going to be throwing Mittens a surprise birthday party there.” Emira grins too.

"There's no school Friday, so it'll be a whole weekend long bash. We'll get there Friday afternoon and leave the same time Sunday," Edric explains their plan.

“That sounds awesome!” Luz grins, bouncing with excitement.

"We're glad you think so, we need your help with some of the planning," Edric says.

"Whatever you need, I am on it!" Luz hooks her thumb into her chest. She is determined to help make this the best birthday Amity has ever had.

"We figured you know who she hangs out with best, so we thought we'd leave who to invite to you." Emira smiles, setting a hand on her hip.

"Well…," Luz trails off thinking. "She only really ever hangs out with me Gus and Willow…," she screws up her mouth thinking.

Amity has all but abandoned Boscha and her crew, which is for the better she thinks.

"Then just invite them." Edric shrugs.

"Yeah, it doesn't have to be a big party, with a bunch of people that are hardly even acquaintances. Mittens had plenty of that Sunday." Emira rolls her eyes.

"Okay, I'll talk to them." Luz nods.

"Great, one more thing. We're putting you in charge of the cake. Me and Ed will take care of feeding everyone for the weekend and all the little things."

"Think you can handle it?" He leans forward with a teasing grin.

"I won't let you or Amity down!" Luz declares and then the bell is screaming.

"Alright, well we better get to class, we’ll message you the details. See ya, Luz." The twins wave as they walk off toward the illusion track hall.

Luz hurries to potions as she pulls out her scroll and sends a message in her Willow and Gus's group chat with the twins plan before switching it over to her and Amity's private one and sends her a quick message that she won't be able to hang out after school. Eda needs her home, which, yeah, is a lie, but it's for a good cause!

It's hard to concentrate on her potions work when her mind is buzzing with thoughts of the coming weekend.

The cake is arguably one of the most important things and the twins put her in charge of it. She already knows what she needs to do.

When the teacher is preoccupied she checks her scroll to find both Willow And Gus have sent back enthusiastic yeses to the invitations. While she's looking at the scroll it makes a quiet 'ping' and a message pops to the top, from Amity.

"Okay, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Luz grins at her phone as she types back a response.

"Oh, texting in class… that's not very 'top student' behavior, Miss Blight."

It only takes a few seconds for a reply to come in.

"Look who's talking."

Luz grins to herself and starts tapping.

Across the school in the abomination track hall Amity has her book held up to cover her scroll, waiting for Luz's reply that she's sure is coming.

"I've never, in any world, claimed to be the top student, maybe the middle."

Amity rolls her eyes but before she can reply another message comes in.

"But I'll happily settle for dating the smartest girl in school. <3"

Amity's face pinks and she hunkers down farther behind her book as the teacher drones on about the proper stance for abomination summoning. Something she's already covered in her personal time.

Luz is quite pleased with herself, knowing by the long pause that somewhere, on the other side of the school, Amity is probably turning a pretty shade of pink.

She's just about to put her scroll away when it pings again, the quiet sound unnoticeable over all the boiling potions in class.

She taps the message and reads, and now it's her turn to turn color.

"Then I guess I'll just have to content myself with dating the sweetest girl in school. See you tomorrow, xoxo"

As her face burns, Luz both loves and regrets teaching Amity human texting lingo. The girl is going to kill her, and right in the middle of class.

When the final bell sounds for the day Luz makes a straight shot for the owl house. She would have gone straight to town to do what she needs to do but she doesn't have any money on her.

She says quick hellos to everyone as she runs by, going straight to her room and changing before taking some snails out of the small savings jars she started. More often than not Eda's potion clients tip her when she brings their deliveries, and she's started to hold onto it. Eda calls it her 'date money jar’ and Luz can't really argue with that. She mostly uses it when she and Amity go on dates, which, since they can't be seen together very often out in town by themselves, lest someone they know from school see them, she rarely dips into it.

This is a special occasion though, and she's spending it on Amity anyway.

Money firmly in her pocket she hurries back down the stairs and shoots out the door with a call that she's going to town and will be back before dinner.

Leaves crunch under her feet as she runs down the path to town.

Luz has learned that Amity actually has quite the sweet tooth, but one thing she likes more than anything is treats made out of thornberries.

She rounds the corner to stop in front of Amity's favorite bakery and freezes, stomach dropping.

It's closed and a sign hangs in the window.

'gone on vacation, back in two weeks.'

The date on the bottom is from yesterday to well after Amity's birthday.

"Now what am I gonna do?" she mumbles to herself. There aren't any other bakeries in Bonesburough that sell Thornberry baked goods.

She goes home, dejected.

Hooty tries to talk to her but she just nods to whatever he's rambling about as she walks into the house.

Luz walks into the kitchen and plops into a chair at the table next to Lilith, who's is flipping through a book and sighs.

"Hey, kid, what's got you lookin like someone died?" Eda looks up at her as she mixes potions on the counter.

She sighs again and explains how the twins had approached her after lunch.

"Bakery's closed, huh? Tough luck," Eda says, pouring some things into the pot and Luz watches her for a minute before she has an idea.

"Maybe I could bake a cake?" She sits up.

"Sure, why not." Eda shrugs. "Kitchens yours to use if you want."

"Can you help me?" she asks and Eda grimaces.

"Eh, you'd probably be better off on your own, I was never much of a baker," she admits.

Lilith snorts, finally looking up from her book.

"That's putting it mildly. When we were girls you almost burned down the kitchen trying to make bramblewheat bread."

"Happens." Eda shrugged, turning back to her pot. "You'd be better off asking Lilly, she was the baker."

Luz turns to the other Clawthorne sister with wide eyes.

"You bake?" she asks, wonder coloring her words.

"I... dabbled a little when I was younger, she admits and Eda snorts from across the room.

"When we were kids she used to enter baking competitions all the time, and won quite a few of them too, cakes were your specialty." She directs the last part at Lilith, whose face colors a little at the words.

"Can you help me?"

Lilith looks at the child who is looking at her with large, pleading eyes and knows she can't refuse. Mostly because she knows that she still has atonements to make to both her sister and Luz for what she did to them, and she has grown fond of Luz, but the look is hard to ignore too. Like a cerberus puppy.

Eda is grinning to herself from the other side of the kitchen, knowing that her sister isn't going to refuse.

"Very well. What kind of cake did you have in mind?"

"Thornberry" Luz answers immediately and Lilith cocks a brow at that.

"An unusual choice…," she hums, tapping her index finger to her chin as she regards Luz.

"Thornberry is Amity's favorite. When we go to the bakery she always gets Thornberry tarts or muffins," she explains and Lilith hums, thinking.

"We can make a thornberry cake… but you won't find them in town. It's not something people commonly use, the Redstone bakery is famous for them for that reason. We would have to go and pick them ourselves," she explains.

"Okay, where do I need to go," she asks and Lilith chuckles..

"I'm afraid this won't be a quick jaunt to a nearby section of the woods. Thornberrys grow only on the knee."

"Oh..."

"If thornberries are what you want we will have to leave first thing in the morning for the knee." Lilith declares.

"I have school tomorrow…," Luz starts, but Eda snorts.

"Pfft, school, schmool. That can wait." Eda waves a hand.

"While I also believe your education is important…," Lilith begins, pointedly looking at Eda out of the corner of her eye. "We will need to prepare the berries which can take a few days, and you only have until Friday morning; it will have to be tomorrow.."

Tomorrow is Tuesday, she has abominations on Tuesday with Amity, but this is for Amity, and there will be other Tuesdays. It doesn't take more than a second for Luz to decide.

"We leave at dawn!" Luz proclaimed, thrusting her fist into the air.

"That's my girl!" Eda points at her with a grin and Lilith rolls her eyes but can't help but smile at the two.

~

They leave at dawn the next day, much to Luz's chagrin.

She hadn't meant literally… she'd just really always wanted to say that…

The ride on Lilith’s staff is chilly and the knees biting winter like winds bite at her face.

On the way she sends Amity an apologetic text, saying that Eda needed her to go with her to gather ingredients for potions.

She can tell by the short return text that she's disappointed, but it's for a good cause. Luz is going to do whatever she needs to do to make sure her girlfriend has the best birthday possible, come hell or high water.

The knee is even colder than she remembers now that fall has begun to settle over the Isles.

She and Lilith track through the woods in knee deep snow, foraging.

"Thornberries are oblong, dark red with black stems and leaves and covered in thorns; they only grow in this area of the knee," Lilith tells her as they search the woods for the elusive bushes.

"Red berries, black leaves…," Luz repeats to herself as she weeds through the underbrush of the forest, weaving between the trees, leaving no bush or rock unturned.

They search for two hours, but so far they have nothing to show for their efforts other than red ears and noses from being exposed to the cold.

Luz sighs to herself frustrated. She hasn’t seen one single red berry or even a hint of the black plant.

Lilith keeps searching ahead of them While Luz turns to search another section of trees, splitting up to cover more ground seems like the logical thing to do.

She shoves her way through some scraggly, thorny plants, though not the ones she’s looking for, muttering under her breath. Her nose is numb and her cheeks feel raw, buffeted by the cold winds of the knee.

She shoves some tall bushes out of her way and glances around, freezing at the sight in front of her.

About twenty yards away, is a small field full of black plants with shiny red berries.

And sleeping curled up in the snow near them, is a Slitherbeast, snoring loudly.

Stiffly, with eyes wide, Luz backs out of the bushes.

“Lilith… Lilith!” She hisses in a loud whisper over her shoulder, but stops. There is no way Lilith is going to allow them to pick berries so close to a sleeping Slitherbeast.

Luz frowns, fist tightening on the empty burlap sacks in her hand.

She needs those berries…

Luz swallows thickly, mouth suddenly dry as she quietly pushes through the bushes and with the slowest, most careful steps she’s ever taken, makes her way over to the plants. She glances at the Slitherbeast, still snoring peacefully as she crouches down, wincing at the sound of the snow crunching under her boots as she does. She doesn’t think her heartbeat has ever been as loud as it is right now, A heavy staccato rhythm in her ears.

With careful fingers she begins pulling berries off the plant as quickly and quietly as she can. When this one is picked clean she moves to the next and repeats the process, glancing over at the sleeping creature every minute or so. She’s not paying attention for a second and thorns dig into her bare fingertips.

“Ow!” She yelps and immediately slaps her mouth shut, eyes whipping to the Slitherbeast, its snoring hitches for a moment before returning to evenness and Luz breathes a silent sigh of relief before she goes back to collecting berries as fast as she can.

One of her bags is full, a second is nearly full, and she’s picked about half the bushes clean. She has no idea how many they need and if she’s going to put herself in mortal danger for this she may as well go for broke.

“Luz!”  Lilith’s voice cuts through the trees and Luz freezes.

The bushes begin to rustle and Luz whips around in time to see Lilith break through the line of underbrush.

She freezes upon seeing the Slitherbeast, still sleeping nearby and looks between it and Luz, eyes wide before an outraged look comes over her face and she silently points down at the ground in front of her.

The message is clear.

'get over here!'

Luz tiptoes with her bags of berries carefully over to Lilith, but a rock, covered in snow is her undoing.

She can't help but call out as she slips and tumbles face forward into the snow and something else if the pain they erupts from her forehead is anything to go by.

A screeching roar makes her jump up much more quickly than normal and grab her bags, hightailing it toward Lilith, who is now flying toward her on her staff.

Luz jumps on, almost over shooting it and flinging herself over the staff, but a hand fisted into the back of her coat steadies her as they fly away from the Slitherbeast that gives up on chasing them after only a few seconds.

"Whew, that was close…," she breathes.

"What were you thinking?!" Lilith is scowling at her over her shoulder. "That creature could have easily killed you."

"I needed the berries!" Luz yelped, holding up the two filled sacs.

"Ugh..." Lilith slapped a hand to her forehead as they flew away from the knee. She turned back to say something else but saw the blood running down Luz's face from her forehead. It seemed like quite a bit of blood.

"Your bleeding…"

"Huh?" Luz reached up and winced as her fingers touched her forehead over her left eye. She winced and pulled her hand away to find her fingertips covered in blood.

"Well that's not good…”

Lilith pushes her staff faster toward home.

~

Eda is not pleased when they get back and blood has dripped down half of Luz’s face though she doesn’t seem to be suffering or badly hurt.

They clean off her face and it’s a decent cut, but nothing serious. Luz just shrugs and explains that forehead cuts just bleed a lot, at least on humans.

Eda slaps a white gauze bandage on her forehead and calls it good. Luz hurries to the kitchen where Lilith is washing the bags of berries.

“What do we do first?” Luz looks up at Lilith as she finishes washing them.

“First, you dry these,” she instructs, handing Luz the large bowl full of them. "We’re going to cook them down into jam to use between the layers of cake.

"How do you make jam?" Luz asked, looking up from the wet, shiny, red fruit to gaze at Lilith, brown eyes wide with wonder and the elder Clawthorne sister can't help but smile.

"I'll show you."

The rest of the day is spent making and canning jars of thornberry jam and talking about baking and magic.

Eda is her magical mentor, but Lilith knows more, even if Eda was more powerful by Lilith's own admission, she actually finished school and her years in the emperor's coven had given her access to the castle's vast library full of books about all manner of magic.

She can better explain the theory and technicalities of certain magics better than Eda could.

She has a precise and easy way of explaining things that reminds her of Amity, which makes sense, Amity used to study under Lilith; though now they hardly speak.

Amity had to come clean shortly after their month anniversary about having come to speak to Lilith that day in the market one day when Luz suggested they hang out with the elder Clawthorne for some magical tutoring.

She still hasn't forgiven Lilith for what she'd done to her or to Luz. She knew Lilith was trying, but she wasn't ready to forgive.

She wasn't sure how her girlfriend would feel about it, but Luz said as much to Lilith who listens quietly, intently, frowning, and when Luz is done she just nods knowingly.

"Amity is a proud girl, and after you told us about her family life it’s easy to understand why she can't forgive me," she finally says, accepting, and Luz frowns.

"But you're trying!" Luz argues." She respects her girlfriend's feelings, but seeing Amity upset about her old mentor doesn't make sense to Luz when it's so obvious that Lilith wants to make amends and do better. "I forgave you, and you kidnapped and tried to kill me!" She throws up her hands. Both sisters make uncomfortable faces at that.

"You are…" Lilith hesitates.

"You're a freak of nature when it comes to kindness, Kid," Eda says. "Almost no one is as kind as you, and even most people who are would have a hard time forgiving someone who tried to make a shish kabob out of them." Eda adds her two snails from the kitchen table where she's drinking apple blood out of her 'thirty & flirty' mug and Lilith makes a face but doesn't argue. "Your girlfriend has trust issues with adults,” she says, taking a loud slurp from the cup. "Just look at what you're doing, the look-alikes are having to throw her a completely separate and secret birthday party because their parents use theirs for influence-mongering," Eda growls.

She might give them a hard time and tease them, but Luz knows Eda likes Amity, and is becoming just as protective of her girlfriend as she is of Luz.

Lilith nods.

"Amity is accustomed to being betrayed, manipulated and lied to by the people she is supposed to be able to trust. I broke her trust, so earning it back will take time and work on my part." She then smiles at Luz and hesitates a moment before reaching out to pat the girl's head. "I know you have forgiven me, but I do not yet feel I have earned that forgiveness, and until I do, I will work to earn hers and be worthy of yours. Yours, Amity's and…" Her dual colored eyes flicker over Luz's head to where Eda is sitting at the kitchen table, watching silently with the same eyes.

Whatever long talks the sisters have had about this subject, Luz has not been privy to, and for once she knows better than to ask. Sometimes, things are still quite tense between the two and Luz can't tell what is just sibling bickering or… something else.

"...this is something I must do." Lilith picks up where she left off.

"But I…," she starts.

"That's enough, Luz." Eda's unusually serious voice cuts her off and Luz hunkers down.

"Okay…," she mumbles. Lilith smiles and pats her head again.

"If someday, Amity would like to learn from me again I would be glad to teach her. She has incredible potential and is a very apt and studious girl." Lilith shifts the conversation back to a topic that is always a surefire way to perk Luz up and keep her talking; her girlfriend.

"I know… she was upset last week when she got a A- on our abominations test... I'd kill for a C in abominations!" Luz throws up her hands in exasperation.

"Eh, you'll figure it out before you know it, and then those ugly, goopy things will be all over the house," Eda huffs with a wave of her hand.

"I agree." Lilith nods and Luz looks up at her, surprised. "You don't have an inherent affinity for magic, but where you are naturally lacking you make up for in tenacity and ingenuity." She smiles down at her.

"That's what makes you better, Kid. You work for it," Eda agrees with a grin.

Luz can't help but grin too at the praise.

They finish turning all the berries save a few into jam and store them in the fridge. They need to sit for a couple of days.

One thing they do have in the Isles that Luz is familiar with, oddly enough, is vanilla and it far more readily available then thornberries. They decide to make the layers of the cake vanilla with thornberry jam on top and between the layers.

With the cake well on it’s way Luz only has one thing left to do.

She needs to figure out just what exactly she’s going to give Amity for her birthday.

#Moonlit Masquerade #lumity #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Eda Clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #Edric Blight #Emira Blight #fic #toh #the owl house

[ailuronymy]

Book Club: Tallstar’s Revenge, chpt. 37-45 overview.

Two highly professional gravediggers observe the job ahead of them:

“I'd like to congratulate us both on finishing this godawful book! A whole super edition in five weeks. They said it couldn't be done, but we showed them. “ - S

“Yes! It's truly miraculous that our brains are intact still.” - K

“So glad it's over, though.” - S

“Should I grab the shovel?” - K

“Yes, it's time. Let's bury this corpse.” - S

In this final week of reading Tallstar’s Revenge, we will be thinking about these final nine questions. Well done for making it this far! We hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. 

When you’re ready, consider sharing your thoughts with #ailuronymy book club and see what other readers are thinking!

1. First impressions?

K: It's bad! It's bad. It's all bad and I'm not surprised by any of it. K: I was actually expecting there to be more bullshit in the end, but I was almost... let down? By how underwhelming it was? S: Some moments surprised me a little but like... these did not spark joy. K: It was so boring. S: I have that same note: huge anticlimactic fuckery at the end. K:  If you're going to torture me, you might as well make it interesting, Erin. K: Throw in a wild plot twist or something. K: Get me going. K: Make me feel alive.

2. How did you feel reading this section? K:  Mind numb, head empty. For like, at least three chapters I read them and then failed to register anything important for the notes. It just dragged on. S:  More bored than I expected to be! I thought it'd at least ramp up a little, but it very much did not in any meaningful way and really petered out with a sad little "wuh-wuh."

3. What chapter did you find most interesting/moving/effective, and why? K: Chapter Forty, seeing all of the clanmates that I'd been missing for half the book felt so satisfying. I missed Dawnstripe, Heatherstar, Barkface, and Hopkit all so much. The only good bit. S:  I feel that. S:  For me, I think in terms of sheer pleasure, it has to be the echoes I saw from turn to dust all that I adore in Talltail swimming in a time of crisis. K: Yes! S: It made that passage I wrote feel retroactively so much more intense and significant, which I love.

4. What chapter did you find least interesting/effective/most frustrating, and why?

K:  The final chapter, Chapter Forty-Seven. That leader ceremony was so bad and I hated all of it. K: The Shadowclan battle was also mind-numbing. S: I think it's got to be the jump from first apprentice to leader ceremony. That's so much life we don't see, which given how goddamn long the book took for the rest of his very boring life is a travesty. S:  I tend to take some umbrage with Starclan whenever it shows up in canon, but in this particular case, the way that his leader ceremony is handled--especially by Palebird and Sandgorse--is horrific. S:  I also think it's appalling that Sandgorse offers a life of forgiveness, but never once asks for it from Talltail, unless I'm mistaken? S: He thinks he can embody forgiveness, but doesn't have the humility to admit to the things that he had done wrong by Talltail. Egregious.

5. Is there a passage that stuck in your mind–for good, or not-so-good reasons? What is it, and why did it stand out? S:  I think for me, this is Sandgorse's everything in the leader ceremony. I think I'll just [my whole rant just now + thoughts on forgiveness]. K:  I had two specific quotes from this go that fit I think. K:  First was: "I guess Clan cats aren’t used to leaving home.” Jake sounded amused. “I know the feeling you’re having. The nagging pain, the tug in my pelt and paws? I get that whenever I’m away from my home too long.” “Really?” Talltail blinked. “Why?” “Every creature needs to belong somewhere,” Jake told him. “Your paws know where that is, even if you don’t.” K:  Just the phrase of "Every creature needs to belong somewhere" felt so genuine and sweet coming from Jake, and I think could have felt so much more impactful if the themes we've recognized were more evident in the story. K:  The second was: “Talltail!” Dawnstripe leaped from the Meeting Hollow. “You came back!” Delight lit up her eyes. Talltail stood still as she raced to meet him. “I couldn’t stay away.” She stopped in front of him and gazed warmly into his eyes. “Then my training wasn’t wasted.” “It was never wasted,” he meowed softly. “Not once.

S: YES K: Partially because I will always be soft for Dawnstripe, but also, the genuine tenderness between her and Talltail in this moment felt so real and so earned. K: This is what I wanted from Bluestar and Stonepelt. S: I've said it before, I'll say it again: mentor+apprentice relationships For Life. K: Talltail saying that his training with Dawnstripe was never wasted, and then immediately transitioning into him encouraging and being a positive role model for Deadkit? K:  Ugh. It's so good. S: Loved it.

6. What other non-Warriors (or Erin Hunter affiliated) books does this one remind you of? Are there themes, symbolism, or storybeats in this novel that made you think of other stories as you read it?

K:  Oh, great question. K:  Oh shit, you know what. S: Hit me. K: We've got a Book Club classic coming at you. K: The Knife of Never Letting Go, by our mutual bastard Patrick Ness. S: You know, I was thinking about More Than This. But mostly because of how much I hated it. K: TKNLG's big theme revolves around like, what murder does to you and what it feels like to do an unspeakable act that you can't retract or replace. Revenge and anger become a part of you and you've got to deal with that. K:  And it's been ages since I read it, but I feel like that makes a lot of sense for this book. Todd and Talltail both spend a book with things being taken from them and wrongs being done to them, and it makes them so angry and hurt and desperate that eventually they go "Okay, yeah, murder would be a solution here." And when it comes down to it they both get to make that choice, of what they want to put out into the world and what kind of man they want to be. S:  I like that. I haven't read it myself, but I can definitely see how those themes talk to one another. S: I don't think there's a particular story I can pinpoint that is similar to this one, but I can think of stories that echo what I'd like this story to have leaned into more. S: Being about forgiveness and family trauma, it reminds me both of The Goblin Emperor and also the How To Train Your Dragon films? Especially the first film, I think. That whole undercurrent of absent mother, disdainful and frustrated father, queer-coded and different kid feels very present in Tallstar's Revenge. S: However, I think HTTYD does that a lot better than this book, by a considerable length.

7. Did this novel (or the experience of reading it) change your perspective on anything, either within the world of Warriors or outside it? What do you think about differently now?

 K: Hm. I think it's certainly limited my excitement on reading any future Super Editions books. They all seem to be just the same garbage plot wrapped with slightly different bows, and that's both disappointing and relieving. S: I feel you on that. S: I think for me, the single biggest shift is that it's changed how I think of Tallstar. For me, he was probably my favourite leader--or one of my favourites--growing up reading the books, and he came across often as wise and relaxed, and then made that final defining mistake. S: Having come back and read this, I feel that the book stripped a lot from the character in a way that wasn't constructive. I don't feel like I know him better, but I do feel like I respect him less. And I think that's a monumental failure of a prequel. K: Tallstar had such a specific presence in the original series, and this book just really takes a lot of that away and replaces it with something worse. S: It does. And that's disheartening to me. S:  Of course I can and will kill the author myself and take my place on the throne of canon, but you can't unknow details of a character. So that does change things. I don't have the same fondness for Talltail, now that I know he spent so much time being unadmirable and stupid and boring. S:  I recognise that your twenties is like that for most people, but like. Doesn't mean it's worthy of a narrative. S:  Kind of makes me think of Albus Dumbledore, to swing back around to Joke Rowling? S: Like, despite and sometimes because of how phenomenally jank and flawed that magnificent man is, I love Albus Dumbledore. I always have, ever since I was first listening to the tapes. And part of that is knowing his past--knowing that he struggled figuring out what was right, knowing that he fell in love very young with someone whose ideology became incompatible with his core beliefs and virtues. But I think you can allude to past mistakes and show growth without having to delve into it, if that makes sense. S: If I read about teen Dumbledore being like "hmm maybe wizard supremacy is good" for several chapters, there's a strong possibility that would stain all my readings of him into the future. I can know he did something, without needing a front-row seat. K: Yeah. S: And I feel like the crux failure of Erin Hunter's super editions is they don't have the delicacy or sense needed to know what needs to be told and what needs to be shown. S: Because sometimes, showing is worse. K: Being shown like, all of this, was worse than not. S: Nearly all of this book could have been summary.

8. Last week, we talked about predicted endings for the novel. In light of that, how do you feel about the ending? Was your prediction correct–and do you feel that reflects well on the narrative, or poorly? (i.e., is it good that you could guess, or are you disappointed by the result?) How important is it for an ending to be “unguessable”?

K:  We hit the nail on the head and I am not surprised at all. S:  I would say we were basically correct, but it brought me no joy. K:  Yeah, it felt bad to read and go "I already knew this but sure, disappoint me with what you have to say." S: That's not to say I would have been overjoyed if there had been some bizarre twist, because I don't think twists or shock endings are inherently good storytelling. K:  They're not. They've gotta be handled well to make me feel like, "Fuck yes, this is wack and I want more" K:  And like, you can predict an ending and still have it be satisfying! K:  That's just called successful foreshadowing. K:  But what we did was like. Just have the sad, knowledgable wherewithal to know exactly what kind of inane and soulless bullshit Erin would pull. It's not foreshadowing if it's just "you're a bad writer and you're going to reach for the easiest tropes to tie up your story without any thought about what makes it good" S: As a general rule, I think you should be able to predict endings based on the tone and emotional themes of the story. For instance, a story that starts with someone getting thrown out of their house by their unloving family should, ideally, rectify that by ending with that person having either found a new loving family and/or revenging on the previous bad family. Sometimes both! S: If you're going to start an arc, you should finish it in a satisfying place. If you start with a murder being discovered, you should have a denouement at the end. S: So... I guess Erin Hunter's ending is... fine, in that light? S: Their narrative is honestly very muddled, so it's not super easy to actually see what the through-line of the story is. The story starts with a prophecy about Talltail leaving, so really it should end with his triumphant, enlightened return... but then it keeps going. K: It just drags on and so much of it feels weightless. S:  It feels like they're juggling a lot of themes and ideas, but they're not really doing any of it well enough to be impressive. While I'm reading, there's always this deep uncomfortable sense of anything could be dropped at any minute. A good performer of any kind makes you feel safe in their hands, not lowkey on edge. S: It's like watching amateur stand-up.

9. In your opinion, what is the most important moment or event in this final chunk of story, and why?

 K:  I guess the cliche answer would be to say "Tallstar choosing to return to Windclan", but like. I think that really is the most important part of all this. S:  I think it's actually choosing not to kill Sparrow. K:  Oh, I mean. Okay that's fair lmao S:  Because I think he probably could have gone back after he killed Sparrow and everyone still would have been basically fine about it. It didn't seem like anyone cared enough to try to stop him leaving, and frankly the clans as Erin Hunter writes them are mad blasé about murder. S:  But I think in order for Talltail to retain like, some moral worth as a character, it was vital (if super inevitable) for him to not kill Sparrow. K:  Absolutely. K:  Can you imagine if he had, though. K:  Like, if he'd pushed Sparrow off the ledge and went "sick" and then Sandgorse's ghost showed up to razz him with airhorns like 'YOU IDIOT SON, THAT WAS THE WRONG CHOICE, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DISAPPOINT ME AGAIN' S: Om.  S:  [that one video of the guy screaming above the mountains] S:  That's Starclan whenever the living make a bad decision.

Bonus question: choose a different character from Tallstar’s Revenge and briefly imagine what this story would be if they were the protagonist instead.

K: Hm. I'm torn. Barkface, or maybe Reena, would be interesting to me. S:  I think Reena's experience would be super interesting. K:  I think you could tell a really interesting narrative with her. S:  I'm sort of thinking Shrewclaw? Like, he's such a dick and there's very little about him that's redeemable, but like. This is also true of Talltail for a lot of the book. S: And I guess an external clan perspective of Talltail from someone who actively dislikes him could be kind of interesting! It'd definitely be a totally new counterpoint. K:  Yeah! Especially given that they end up kind of being... foils? A little? I think it could be super neat to like, see Shrewclaw reprimand Talltail for being so focused on revenge, and then suddenly becoming revenge-minded himself and then having to grapple with that hypocrisy. K:  Either by going "My feelings are different, I'm not like you," or going "oh shit oh fuck we're the same and now i feel all sorts of ways about it" S:  I think the low-hanging fruit for why Shrewclaw is such a prick to Talltail is just plain homophobia, you know? But that's so boring, so I'd definitely want to tap into like, the inner world of Shrewclaw and swing it a different way. S: See Talltail through his eyes, emphasising everything Shrewclaw doesn't like about himself. Which becomes so tasty when you later think about Mudclaw doing something similar. S:  Shrewclaw has to grow from hate and jealousy to grudging respect and kinship within the clan, and then Mudclaw grows from outright respect to total adoration. It's an interesting intergenerational trajectory.

Final notes.

S: God, can we rewind a moment to the whole Sparrow bullshit. K:  Oh 100%. S:  Talltail obsesses over this for like, at least twenty chapters. And then two lines of dialogue and he's like, "I'm cured, my dad was a hero the whole time." S:  “It’s what Sandgorse would do.” Now that the rage had gone, Talltail wondered how he could ever have thought of killing Sparrow. Had grief taken away all his faith in the warrior code?” MY rage is still right here. K:  Literally one of my notes is: K:  Talltail straight up telling him he’s here to kill him like a coward. Like not that I WANT him to be a murderer, but god damn, just do it! K:  If you're gonna spend an entire fucking book yelling about how badly you wanna kill a guy then just! Don't make me wait this goddamn long! Do it!! K:  And yeah, just. Redeeming Sandgorse. BLeughghelfuf

S:  Okay, another point of rage: Talltail literally dissolves the goodwill between the travellers and the clan. K:  Y E A H S:  Like, years of peaceful gathering, destroyed. S:  Note: "This dude literally just ended years of peace over his petty revenge quest" K:  I do find it hilarious though that Talltail goes "Hey we should leave," Reena goes "Hm?? No you dont?" and then Sparrow comes in with the most uncomfortable, exhausted expression saying "No He's Right They Really Should Be Going And Should Never Come Back Thanks," S: I'm also so pissed that when Talltail showed up, the travellers were like, “Warriors and kittypets don’t belong with rogues” AND YET you stay for a whole month or more in clan territory? What ripe fuckery is this. K: YEAH IT MADE NO SENSE S: Everyone's just ambiguously racist enough to use it as an excuse whenever they don't want to do something.

S: Also: we called it re: Reena, although the story was actually less obnoxious than I was expecting. S: “There was sympathy in the she-cat’s mew, and Talltail suddenly wondered if Reena had been hoping that Talltail would be her mate: that they’d have kits and travel together. Had she started to imagine a whole new life ahead of them?” Ew.  K:  i was gonna say K:  We really did call it. S: Way to project, Talltail. S: "I guess she's in love with me and I'm breaking her heart by leaving because of the elaborate future she's imagined of our strong, brave kits and--" calm down, boy, she didn't say any of that. K: Yeah, like. Keep it inside, buddy.   K:  There was a lot of very wild Jake/Talltail shit going on but I'm going to drop this from my notes first before dipping into the bits I did like: K: Jake saying “oh that drive to kill wasn’t REALLY you” is VERY “what if I date this unhinged maniac man so I can change him and make him better because I know who he is deep down” and that is VERY unsexy of you, Erins, K:  Jake... my boy.... S: Yeah.  S:  I'm just going to keep pointing at the advice I gave him in previous Book Clubs. Respect yourself, king. K:  I did briefly look at the disastrous mini-comic at the end of the PDF and I do love that he's canonically a chubby king, though. S:  We do love that. A cuddly boy. K:  He's shaped like a friend! S:  But yeah, if these cats were people, Talltail is some skinny closeted runaway with some serious esteem issues and a kind of volatile and disrespectful pattern of behaviour. S:  And Jake is the cute bi boy next door with a supportive dad with apparently a solid sense of self and value, and I find that kind of a jank combination? It feels like it'll either lend itself to basically "adopt a stray" style "fixing" someone else, which isn't a great relationship dynamic, or Talltail dragging Jake into his mess and drama. And it's just difficult for me to imagine what Jake sees in Talltail. S:  If the relationship was just a bit more balanced--Talltail bringing something of value to Jake beyond "adventure"--I could believe it more. K:  Meanwhile, if Talltail retained his "soft, shy poet boy who's just looking for a place to be accepted and flourish" attitude... S: YES 

S:  I got so mad when Talltail's like, "I'm going to kill a guy," and Jake was like, "you can't!" and Talltail's like, "if I was back home, I would have probably already killed by someone by now," and Jake's like, "yeah but that's different, warriors killing each other for Survival is fine." K:  IT ISN'T S: And I'm like, whoa, slow down, I want to talk philosophy right here right now. S: It's a genuinely fascinating conversation that I want canon to have a lot more, but they just... glance over it.

S:  Pivot for a moment to the gay part of Jake/Talltail: I was surprised by exactly how heavily they implied it. K:  Me too!!! S:  I thought it'd be a lot less than there was, and a lot more oblique. So that was a pleasant (? is any part of this pleasant?) surprise. K:  And in the final comic they say that Tallstar sees Firestar like the son he would have had (with Jake).  Which. Is gay. S:  Mad huge gay, for sure. K:  Their final "oh, what if I stay with you!" parting scene was wild to read. And on Tallstar specifying that Jake is someone he loves at the very end. Like hot damn S:  But I Lost My Whole Mind. Because of one line. I read it and involuntarily galaxy-brained with the power of song. I can't find the full quote right now BUT it was basically Talltail and Jake talking right before Talltail leaves to return to the clan. S: And Jake's like, "you know what you have to do. Listen to your heart.” K: YES S: And I was HIT BY A TRUCK S: by this song S: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCC_b5WHLX0 K:  OH FUCK YES S:  Which honestly is so good, and also hilarious, because I have fond gay memories of this song from my teen years. S:  So I know we were saying the very long slow lame end was boring and anticlimactic, but there were a few things that did in fact spark joy.  One was--despite his name and the rampant ableism--Deadkit. K:  YES K:  I have in my notes: K: "I would die for Deadkit." and then "Apparently Deadkit would die for me" S: Hopkit sat up straight, quivering with effort. “Still as a stone, right you are!” he mewed. “Barkface, carry on!” Bless. S: MY SON S: MY BOY K;  And Talltail finally being like? Not an asshole, and treating him well and encouraging him.  He really did feel like he was emulating Dawnstripe in a wholesome way. S:  I KNOW. S:  It honestly made me feel so good about the story I've planned out, but I can talk about that after. S: I also loved that Talltail swam. <3 K: Yes.  S: I was there just elated, thinking about Mudclaw's final moments. And how this story actually ties in so well with that one. That's nothing really to do with Erin Hunter, but it was nice for me. It made the two feel resonant and in conversation with each other in a way I truly hadn't expected. K:  Oh fuck also, two extra from the notes K:  "Talltail’s heart began to race. “I can’t go home!” He stared in panic at Jake. “They won’t want me! I broke the warrior code when I left my Clan. They’ll drive me away again!” — On the one hand: I understand that his fear of being driven away/not being accepted stems from like, 90% of the interactions in this book. But also: THEY LET YOU LEAVE, everyone agreed! Nobody drove you out!" S: Talltail: "I'll go if I must, I understand, you need me to leave--" The rest of the clan: "uhh dude you said you wanted to go." S: Makes me think of people who get really pissed when they're like "I said I'm fine, why didn't you ask me more about how I was feeling because I was clearly Not Fine and Lying to you." S:  And it's like... I trusted you to tell me the truth. Don't play stupid games. K: Yeah! Like, if you want to be consoled or helped, be honest! I can't read your mind!

S: Palebird is just a full on mess in this book, huh? And it's really unsatisfactorily handled.  S: Sandgorse gets obsessed over for... the entire book. Palebird, equally bad parent, doesn't really get any kind of meaningful resolution with Talltail. K:  I misread when Talltail first brings the kids into camp, and fully thought that Palebird recognized Talltail and chose to ignore him in favour of her kits. That sadly isn't actually far off from what happens when she does recognize him. K:   He just goes "oh she died and in my leader ceremony she makes me feel like she always loved me and i never should have doubted her" S: I was so furious that her bit was like "a mother's love for her kits" and he's like, oh I can't believe how stupid I was for doubting her. S: She abused you, dude. S:  Being like, "lol jk" after she's dead counts for Nothing. K: It’s awful.  S: "I always loved you," said Palebird. "I just never wanted to interact with you at all when I was alive and I attached all my grief and trauma to your existence, which made it impossible to enjoy time around you, and I never even bothered to get help for myself or you, and I was happiest when you weren't in my life and I could focus on my other family. So I guess I didn't actually love you. I just felt like I probably should have, but oh well." S: I am as angry about her as I am about Sandgorse. K:   Yeah, she just somehow gets a free pass because "that's just how moms are!" -Erin S:  "Mums can say they love you and you have to believe them." K:  What kind of mother did you have/are you to your kids, @the Erins collective. I want to know. S: I KNOW K: Like, please answer for science. K:  I KNOW WE'VE ROASTED SANDGORSE THIS ENTIRE TIME BUT K:  THE NOTES S:  GET HIM S:  GET HIS ARSE K:  “I give you this life for forgiveness. No death need ever be avenged. Forgiveness brings peace far more surely than vengeance.” Talltail felt his ruffled fur smooth, his claws retract into his pads, his breath come steadily. Mercy was his, and always would be. “I’m sorry you had to learn the hard way, Tallstar,” Sandgorse meowed. — HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO MURDER A FICTIONAL CAT S:  YES YES YES YES S:  I was literally about to grab the same note. K:  "im sorry you had to learn the hard way" WHOSE FUCKING FAULT WAS THAT S:  “I give you this life for forgiveness. No death need ever be avenged. Forgiveness brings peace far more surely than vengeance.” It is a fatal mistake to conflate forgiveness with pacifism. K:  It's just. K:  Like I knew it was going to be awful, I knew this moment was going to happen, but just to see it and see the phrasing. K:  "I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way" is just the ultimate slap in the face. You abused and abandoned and neglected this kid. You did this. You were a ghost for 70% of the book and could have told your son that you "died a hero" and stopped him from being an absolute asshole. YOU DID THIS. S:  What peeves me is that I personally believe forgiveness is something you have to do for yourself, and not for other people. A lot of the time, bad people in your life won't ask for your forgiveness and don't deserve it. K: Yes!  Forgivesness isn't earned, forgivesness is given. K:  It's up to you to give people that forgiveness on your own terms, whenever and however you choose. And if you go "I'm not giving this to you" you don't have to! It's for you! It's your choice! S: But all your anger and hate and misery inside will burn you out like acid, so sometimes you need to go, "you're never going to earn my forgiveness, but I am choosing to forgive what you did so I can move on with my life and grow." S: It's why "forgive but don't forget" is a good thing to remember. You can let go of self-harmful anger without ever losing the lesson that person taught you, which was stay the hell away from people like that. S: That's the conversation I want to see happen around forgiveness in this story. K:  Talltail deserves so much better than any of the story we were given. K:  And like. Forgiveness through that specific lens is so compelling. S:  I know. It's something I'm deeply invested and interested in.  K:  It's so engaging, and relatable! It's messy and nuanced and full of a lot of good shit. S:  Yeah, like, and what happens when the person you resent or distrust tries to make efforts to atone, but they always fall a little short, or don't grow the way you need them to?  How do you forgive that, but still choose to walk away, knowing that in their narrative, you're the bad guy? K:  It's hard.  Knowing that they see you as the bad guy is like, the fucking toughest.  s:  It's extremely hard and I think there's so much space in this story for that exploration. K:  It makes it so easy to want to go back in for seconds and explain yourself to try and get them to understand you, even when you know that like, they're not going to and never will.  And it'll just hurt you more to try than to move on and be a better you for it. S: And being able to forgive yourself is I think a massive underrated lesson. K: Yes! It's beyond hard to try and be gentle with yourself and have compassion for yourself sometimes, especially regarding a messy scenario like these. S: I mean, all of this is way out of Erin Hunter's range, but like, ugh. What could have been. K: Yeah, absolutely. K:  Also I'm always here for young upset queer kids growing up to become Better & Cooler & Sexier than you, so don't try any shit dad, S: Anyway! That's it! We did it! K:  Yeah! S:  Honestly this is such a dumb book but it always feels like an accomplishment to get through another Book Club with you. K:  I agree. K: <3 S: <3

#ailuronymy book club #sorry to everyone who's been waiting for this final installment! i forgot to post it like a year ago #thank you to those who reminded me! i hope you all had fun with this little endeavour

[ellanainthetardis]

Alright, this will be my review for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes so obviously spoilers under the cut.

Also obviously, this is my opinion, I force no one to share it and I’m happy to discuss the book with anyone who wants to. 

First off, I won’t go into all the deep themes in the books. It seems obvious to me there’s a very clever allegory for a contrat social at work here but since I am not very much interested in that, I will leave it aside. It’s well done, I think, but I am more a character driven sort of reader than theme driven and the debate over “are we the product of our environment or is man a beast at heart” is a bit null here. Surely enough, as one of the quotes at the beginning implies, the whole book more or less struggles to show Dr Gaul somehow turns Coryo into a monster to her Frankenstein… Sure, he seems to hesitate between right and wrong, the nature of the two etc etc. But, really, I have troubles relating to a character questioning the nature of man when that character is so plainly a psychopath himself.

I’m sorry. I said it.

Did I love Snow in this book? Sure. Even when he was being bad, I loved him. What’s not to love? He’s completely over-dramatic. All the time. He’s a complex character with Draco Malfoy vibes and who tries to do well by his family. But he is also sick in the head and that predates Dr Gaul’s little mind games. Can we argue it’s because of his traumatic childhood? Maybe. It doesn’t change the fact he equals love with possession, does not seem to experience remorse nor guilt – or at least not very long and he’s  very quick to rationalize it – and has a natural ability to mimic or force himself to act as is expected in any given situation. He doesn’t react  to things, you will notice, he behaves the way he thinks people expects him to.

So, he is sick. And since he is sick, the whole debate through his head about the nature of violence, men being beasts without laws, freedom versus enforcement, right and wrong, etc seems void.

Let’s leave that aside for now.

The question you will probably ask me is: did you like the book? And the answer I will give is yes I did. I did enjoy the book. At least the first two third of it.

It’s fast paced, it’s engaging, it’s easy to read…

What I like most is the worldbuilding. What a difference a 3rd pov makes… I mean we finally got all the world building we deserved. And the names. Actually, there were so many names in there I’m pretty sure she threw them as a joke. But, yeah. Everything I reproach Thg was fixed here: we have a more consistent idea of how the Games work out of the arena, we know the currency used is dollars (which we didn’t up until now), we have a  better idea of how the Capitol works as a society, about the working of Peacekeepers and Districts… I quite enjoyed learning more about the 1st war and the post war world too.

I also enjoyed the Capitol families Cameos – and I was very wary about them if you read some of my posts pre-released. They were nice nods, it wasn’t too on the nose…  I am relieved beyond measure not to have seen a mention of an Abernathy or a Trinket – or an Everdeen or a Mellark, I guess – mostly because that means we are still free to stick to our own hcs. (it’s not that important but still).

The cast of characters were all great – with two notable exceptions but I will come back to that.

I loved Snow’s family. What a surprise to find out Tigris is a Snow? But what joy she is. I really enjoyed her character but I have to say I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get to see (or at least were told in the epilogue) how they grow apart or how she comes to have whiskers. The Grandma’am was an awesome addition too. Lucy Gray, the Coveys, the Peacekeepers, Sejanus, the other mentors…  They were great.

I will argue that maybe Lucy Gray, as a main character (second main character? She’s the yin to his yang in this book) could have been more fleshed out because when it comes down to it, she seems to float around in the story only in relation to Snow. This being said and the pov being mostly Snow’s, it’s coherent with his egocentric view of the world. And I’m sure a lot of people will argue the case that her only purpose being to die so he can get over love is a bit problematic better than I could.

The two characters that I think were disappointing were the “villains” of the tale: Dr Gaul and Highbottom. They were actually so disappointing that I spent a good portion of the book convinced that here was some kind of secret plot, that there would be a conspiracy or something. But no, they were just that… flat.

Highbottom first: the creator of the Hunger Games who, obviously, didn’t mean to and ends up doctoring himself with morphling to forget. And seems to hate Coryo (yes that’s Snow’s nickname) for no obvious reason. I was sure there must be some twist but no, it just turned out he hates Snow because his father stole his Hunger Games idea to pitch it to Gaul for a grade and now he’s responsible for the death of kids. Which, I mean, is valid. But since it’s only here to bring into contrast the “is Snow really bad or have the circumstances make him bad” when, really, he’s a psycho, it ends up being very disappointing on discovery – never mind as the final reveal of the epilogue.  

As for Gaul. Is she terrifying? I mean, for a young adult book, sure, I guess. She’s too obviously mean and crazy scientist for me though. I like my villains a little more subtle. She spent her times torturing her pet rabbit and various animals ffs. All she needed was a mustache to twirl. She’s cliché and, again, I’m sure it was like that for rhetoric purposes but… She’s Frankenstein and Snow is her creature, we get it. Why though? She takes a shine to him and proceeds to groom him so he can deliver the world she wants? So he’s her legacy? Because she’s a psycho too and she needs an apprentice? I thought that part was a little fishy because, at the end of the day… I don’t know, it seems a bit random.

But, I suppose, yet again, everything has to revolve around Snow in the book and in Panem.

And we’re touching to the part that annoyed me to death, that really really angered me and that, right now as we speak, I am a little disgusted by.

A short word first about the fan service. And there was plenty of that to go around. All the little wink wink, nudge nudge made me smile at first (like the grandma saying it only takes a spark for fire to catch, that sort of things), it was subtle so it worked. But as the book goes on, all the references built to the point I was sort of terrified Katniss would end up being related to Snow. And while she is not, I am fairly convinced she’s descended from the Coveys, it makes a lot of sense.

Ok… Where to start with that part and be coherent…

The less offensive (yes, I am using that word because it was offending to me) thing was Snow’s recurring reflection about the mockingjays. On hindsight, of course, it has so much more meaning than what is going on on paper, so it made sense and while it was a bit sold too thick, it was also interesting. That’s something I’m willing to grant was good.

I also liked the “it’s not over until the Mockingjay sings” saying. To be honest, I was 100% confident the epilogue would be a flashforward to the end of MJ and that quote would somehow come back into play but apparently not, that’s for us to fanfic instead.  

Now, as for the rest… I am going to speak as someone who loves Haymitch Abernathy an unhealthy amount, and while I speak as someone who loves Haymitch, I also feel it is only minorly about Haymitch and a lot about Katniss, Peeta and the rest of the victors. But Haymitch is my favorite character in the series, Haymitch is a big part of why I have dedicated so much time writing fanfics and contributing to the fandom, I am very protective of Haymitch. And, on his behalf, I am so deeply, deeply offended.

In this book, Suzanne Collins makes Snow a victor.

We can argue the semantics. Naturally, he didn’t actually win the Hunger Games.

Or does he?

Because there are no winners, only survivors and by that very definition Coriolanus Snow is a victor.

Coriolanus Snow walked into an arena, was forced into the arena.

Coriolanus Snow fought in the arena.

Coriolanus Snow killed someone in the arena.

Coriolanus Snow walked back out of the arena.

He survived.

It makes him a de facto victor. He is actually literally called that a couple of times throughout the book. It’s reinforced by the idea that mentor and tribute are a team, even.

And this very idea that Snow is a victor, has been a victor all along, is so deeply, deeply upsetting to me. The bond between victors, it’s something very special, I feel. Victors share something nobody else can understand – my very favorite part of the whole series is in Catching Fire when they hold hands, it is such a strong emotional moment, it always moves me, always. And Snow being a part of that defiles it. Worse, that means a victor was actually the one imposing such horrors on other victors all along.

And that’s… I mean, probably in terms of themes and the story as an independent object, it’s all very ironic and dark and full of great meaning about man and it’s condition. But for someone who loves Haymitch, it is very deeply offending to learn the man who has taken everything from him went through the same experience he did, that they share that bond, that they have so many similarities.

Too many similarities actually. And here we are going to branch out on TBOSAS in relation to Katniss more specifically.

That’s another thing I am not sure I liked: how similar Snow’s conditions were to our beloved characters. The starvation, the very similar experience they had growing up.

At first, I didn’t mind it. I thought, even, that it was quite fitting. But the problem came when so much of Katniss’ story was being… stolen, turned around. It started feeling like this book was subverting the powerful story in THG, not just the main plot, but everlark, and the character building. So, of course, here again, it’s probably a matter of questioning if, stemming from the same conditions, you become a hero or a villain. Nature or nurture. That sort of things. And, again, it depends if you look at the big picture and analyze it calmly or if you react with your guts as a fan, I guess. Yeah, no surprise, I’m going the fan route.

So there were a lot of parallels to Katniss.

The starvation. The strong sense of family. Lucy and the singing…

And it wasn’t limited to Katniss, it touched to everlark too.

The star-crossed lovers thing comes to mind obviously (and I want to talk about the ship too but after). Then, there was the bread thing that was both Snow’s and Lucy’s favorite and the fact that Snow brings her food all the time.  The poison in the arena we can land at snow’s door since it’s his weapon of choice, but still poison in the arena, my mind goes straight to the berries… (I will tackle the hanging tree song after)

At this point (before she goes in the arena), I was still mostly okay with it because I thought it would somehow have a reason later. Like either Katniss would turn out to be related to Lucy or it would remain light enough to turn out to be foreshadowing for THG.

Then came part 3. And that’s where the book mostly lost me.

There are eleven other Districts in Panem. So why Twelve? And if it had to be Twelve why pollute everything Katniss loves? How are we supposed to see those things the same way again when we know what we now know?

The meadow? The meadow where the toastbabies are dancing and running? Where so many people are laid to rest? Snow has been there, kissed his girl there. And let me tell you, as a Haymitch fan, knowing that Haymitch never gets to reunite with his girl in the meadow because of Snow, it’s a special kind of pain to read Coryo frolicking there in the grass “with his girl”.

And then, of course, I don’t know what is worse… The lake or the song?

Let’s start with the lake. Where do I begin? The lake that is so special to Katniss? The little shack where she stocks everything? The lake that features into so many fanfictions and that, if some people feel the same way I do, can never be used again the same way? So, that lake was where Snow murdered (possibly) his “love”. The lake, thus, becomes a part of Snow’s narrative.

It’s stolen away from Katniss.

And to better stress that point? The scene with the Mockingjays taking up the hanging tree when Lucy is about to get murdered. (let’s make a digression to say oh boy how fun it must have been for Snow during mj, I’m very tempted to fanfic THAT). It’s all very full of symbolism, of course, but with the hindsight? It’s another great important moment stolen away from Katniss. Highjacked. Not unlike a mutt, actually. This book is a mutt XD

Which brings me to what really, really made me angry: the hanging tree song.

That song is so symbolic of MJ and everlark. I mean, there’s one thing I will give MJ the movie and that’s this scene with the song. The people attacking the dam and getting butchered while humming that song? Iconic. But more prosaically, book based, that song is such such a powerful moment. It’s special. And not only because of all the thing with everlark and the tree and midnight.

And suuuuure there might be a lot of symbolism in that song being not strictly about but still intimately related to Snow. Sure. But you know? It’s also another thing that now is about Snow. So even as Katniss was singing that song, getting the Districts to rebel, showing Peeta that District 12 was gone, letting the Mockingjays by the lake take up the chorus… It isn’t just about hope or freedom anymore. Now, it’s about Snow and about how terribly ironic it is this particular song comes to be his demise, how it’s fate or karma or whatever you want to call it. Because now, we can’t unread this book, we can’t unknown what we know.

And I hate that.

Because Katniss’ journey in THG? It’s now so deeply linked to Snow’s story that if you take a step back and think, it’s more all about Snow than it is about her, or her sister or the Districts. Snow lands on top, right?

And you know what really irks me?

The book is actually good as a character study book (not really so much as dystopia because in terms of actual plot, I feel there was really little) but it didn’t have to taint so many elements of THG the way it does.

Let’s say for a moment Snow isn’t Snow. Let’s say he is a wealthy Capitol fallen from grace and that character who is not going to be the President of Panem has the same journey Coryo does. Let’s say at the end of the story, he moves on to become a famous Head Gamemaker or a close advisor to the President?

Well, the themes explored then remained the same, the conclusions remained the same. We lose the visceral signification of his connection to the mockingjays but is that really important? The Hanging Tree now has a resonance for another character in that world, the meadow has probably seen countless lovers reunions and someone killed someone else at the lake, those things happen. The problem is they happen to Coriolanus Snow.

And baring that, let’s say we keep Snow as a main, why did it have to be Twelve? Again, there are eleven other Districts in Panem. He could have come to the very same conclusions in any other place.

Twelve is only relevant in relation to what happens in THG, to Katniss, to Peeta, to Haymitch.

Lucy and the Covey could have ended up stuck in any other Districts. It didn’t have to be Twelve. It didn’t have to spoil the Meadow, or the lake or even the Hanging Tree song.

Is that why Snow hates Twelve so much? Is that why he kills Haymitch’s family even if it’s completely stupid and leaves him without a leash around a Quell’s victor’s neck? Is that why he bombs the Districts into complete oblivion ? Not to punish its victors but because he so intimately hates the place? Because he walked in their very shoes? Because, for a brief time, from his Frankenstein’s experiment, he played in the mud?

For that matter, is that why he has this weird relationship with Katniss? Because she reminds him of Lucy? The similarities are there if you look…  Is Katniss a sort of ghost to him? Come back to haunt him after all those decades? Is that why it feels so personal between them?

I will say a quick word about the ship: I was into it at first. Then there was this scene at the zoo after the snake attack on Clemmie and I felt everything started going downhill from there. The ship is rushed. They go from attraction to love in ten seconds FLAT. I know it’s YA and concessions have to be made (although I will argue I read plenty of YA and some ships don’t seem this juvenile), I made them on account of the fact they’re both young and prone to being drama queens.

(I’m making a brief parenthesis because, rereading this, I realized I did say when the book announcement came out and we all very obviously predicted the romance, that as a hayffie fan I hated the thought Snow would have a Capitol/District romance, but on that account, I have to say after reading I don’t even care because it felt so immature and so not actual love, that I don’t feel it really counts? But at the same time, it’s definitely something I have to think upon in terms of hayffie and Snow because would his own experience play in the way he sees them/manipulates/threatens them?)

All in all, though, that ship didn’t convince me. I couldn’t believe it was real. On either part. On Snow’s part because I’m  not certain he’s capable of love. He equals love with possession,  “his” girl, she “belongs” to him, he liked her better locked in the zoo because he knew where to find her, he constantly questions Lucy’s loyalties… Every  time she sings something, he’s like “is it about me? Is it about me? It’s not about me? Who is it about? I hate her. She’s dead to me. Oh but now she’s singing she’s over him. So I love her again”. Being in his head is a journey, let me tell you.

As for Lucy, it’s frustrating. But with Collins, I learned long ago to be frustrated (hey, hayffie fan here XD. You know the two characters you need to build your own hc about if you want to use them with some depths). You can feel there’s this whole backstory about her but we never get to really touch that and so we’re treated to this very strange scene with the ex-lover but we don’t really care because there is  no passion, nowhere… In fact, as a character, outside of her singing, her being a show girl, and her little discourse about how man should be free, live and let live yada yada yada, Lucy’s character is very flat in the third part of the book. She’s here only to allow Coryo’s character development.

I would argue that Sejanus actually makes more of an impact on Snow and the general plot than she does in part 3 – or, if you think about it, in the book in general. Lucy is the trigger that gets Coryo’s reflection starting about the hunger games but it’s really Sejanus that challenges it and keeps it going. Sejanus is, in fact, the District character since Snow keeps telling himself the Covey aren’t really Twelve.

I  also want to say, on a completely unrelated note, that the constant mansplaying of songs by Snow was unbearable. And that’s not his fault. So, Mrs Collins, I know how to interpret a text thank you. And I’m sure everyone else does to. It broke the pace and the emotion so much for me when he started randomly explaining. The Lucy Gray ballad was the worst. “she’s dead.” NO KIDDING SHERLOCK.

And while we’re in that Lucy Gray thing: very subtle foreshadowing here, btw. Didn’t see it coming at all.

Ah and also something that made me cringe and that I felt was very out of place: the livestock cars and the cages at the zoo. Not to go all social justice warrior but when I read, it immediately hit home and not in the right way. It felt like a prop to stress how inhumane and racist the Capitol was being, they were easy references to loaded terrible horrifying history events and I truly, truly thought it was borderline because, like I said, it was used as a prop.

To conclude.

Is this book great? Yes and No.

I think if you take it independently of THG, it’s a very good book. It’s interesting, the characters are compelling, there is a moral for you to reflect on… It’s not the best dystopian book I’ve read in recent years, it’s not the best young adult book I’ve read in this lockdown (Hi, do yourself a facor, check out the Shadow of the Fox trilogy and then come shout at me in my ask box) but it was still a good read. And I forgot to say but the first half of the novel is actual crack. It was hillarious. Might not have been the intent but come on. It was funny. (and I’m satly they sent him in the arena but they sent him with a can of pepper spray and that will make me laugh forever) I had  a good time and, at the end of the day, that’s what you ask of novels.

However, in the general context of the series, loving thg as much as I do, it tainted some of the iconic things, twisted them, insulted some of my most favorites characters, and that really dampened my joy and made me angry. So as a fan… I’m not sure I can say it was great, no.

It certainly didn’t let me indifferent though and that’s already something.

And, I mean, it is so much better than the cursed child I feel I cannot complain too much.

 It also does leave the door rather open to a sequel, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another announcement soon.  

#tbosas spoilers #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the ballad of songbirds and snakes spoilers #balladspoilers #spoilers #i read stuff #namely abosas #abosas spoilers #book review #I did my best to correct spelling errors and such #but i've spent the whole day reading and my eyes are killing me

[skekheck]

30 Days of the Dark Crystal Challenge

Decided to do poultry-blocks Dark Crystal challenge because it looks like a lot of fun to do. However I’m cheating and I wrote all of this within a couple of days. Warning: fairly large post with pictures and fan ramblings. 

EDIT: I FORGOT TO INCLUDE DAY 16 WHOOP. It’s in there now. 

Day 1. Your favorite skeksis

Idiot, feral, wildman who stole my heart. How? Why? Who knows. *chef kisses* Beautiful stinky bastard.

Day 2: Your favorite gelfling

Bless her and her skeksis cosplay. What a queen.

Day 3: A character that you love that everyone seems to hate.

The tides are changing for her it seems. I think people are appreciating her more, but she still faces her fair share of controversies. Not that I don’t think it warrants discussion nor am I excusing her actions. But she’s way more complex than what a lot of people are making her out to be.

Day 4: A character that you hate that everyone seems to love. 

Hate is a strong word as I don’t hate him, but I don’t really care for Amri. He feels like a bootleg Deet mixed with a little bit of Kylan and Gurjin. Wasted potential and honestly shouldn’t have been the POV for Tides of the Dark Crystal. Seems I’m alone in this opinion, though. Maybe the book warrants rereading?

Day 5: Movie or TV Show? Why?

TV Show by miles! I think the series accomplishes way more than the movie does, like establishing lore,  better written characters, and a more engaging story. I actually cared about the gelfling and it really fleshed out the skeksis in an interesting way outside of “oh they do evil things because they’re evil!”. Doesn’t mean it does everything right, but I’ll get into that later.  

Day 6: Something you wish that happened in the series but didn’t.

Just a few things. I miss the gelfling intermingling with the mystics, particularly urVa. I love everything that happens with urGoh and skekGra, but some of the bonding moments Naia had with urVa are precious and I wish we had more of that. I also wished the gelfling got the message out to the other clans like they did in the book where Kylan dreametched their message onto the Santuary Tree’s blossoms and scattered them all throughout Thra. I also wished Tavra and Onica were an established couple, but maybe it’s not too late for that.

Day 7: Favorite gelfling clan

The Sifa! It was the Dousan at first, but the more I learned about the Sifa the more I grew to love the clan. If I were a gelfling I would probably be a sifa myself LOL. 

Day 8: You opinion on Aughra

She’s a fun and fascinating character! Aughra puts a unique spin on the whole beautiful, wise earth goddess trope by making her ugly, old, and cranky. She’s also a character with her own flaws, even having a mini arc about neglecting to take care of her planet and doing whatever she can to make amends. Not to mention she’s wildly entertaining. Much love for Aughra!

Day 9: Skeksis or Gelfling?

Both!

Day 10: Your opinion on podlings?

They’re just funky little potato people who just want to have fun, dance, and drink all day and I respect them for that. They’re great. Also Hup exists and he’s just an amazing character so there’s that.

Day 11: Your The Dark Crystal unpopular opinion

I think it’s okay to sympathize with the skeksis as long as one is not excusing their actions. I see a lot of people say you shouldn’t because they’re evil and they commit atrocities. Which, yes, it’s true, but I think both can co-exist. I mean, skekTek’s whole cycle of abuse is written very sympathetically yet the show doesn’t coddle him. It shows the ugliness of his character and what happens when someone isn’t capable of cutting off from said cycle. Also the writers consider the skeksis as tragic characters due to their broken nature so I don’t think it’s wrong to be a little sympathetic. But once again with great emphasis, sympathy is fine as long as their actions are judged. They are awful bastards and no amount of sympathy will change that. 

Day 12: Something you dislike about the series

I think the stuff I don’t like about the show is a result of its pacing and cluttered cast. There are so many stories going on and while I liked how they handled it for the most part, you can also see how the show rushes to get through all of them. A lot of important moments where a character should reflect or something that should simmer more is pushed aside for the next thing. Maybe if the show was given more episodes and time to breath it would have been better off. 

Day 13: Most disappointing thing about the series

SkekMal and urVa didn’t have enough screen time and we were honestly ROBBED. 

Day 14: Your OTP

Speaking of which... . Its a crack ship, but I’m all about that allegory for self love (and I just want these two to be alive). Day 15: Favorite quote

Listed plenty of my favorite quotes before, but I’ll pick this one:

“ Life is my paint. Death is my canvas”

Day 16: Rate the skeksis from least favorite to favorite OR rate the gelfling from lest favorite to favorite [or both!]

And if you want my gelfling hot takes, here’s this list (just backwards in context to this post)

Day 17: Opinion on Raunip?

Raunip is a fantastic character. I loved him in Creation Myths and I can’t wait to see what role he’d play in the resistance. And I absolutely love the parallels between him and the urskeks it’s great. 

Day 18: A character that is most similar to you.

I too am a dark-dwelling gremlin who constantly forgets where I put things and crack a few dark jokes at my expense. 

Day 19: Which character do you strongly dislike, why?

This is entirely based on the books, but I find Mera to be awful.  I think it’s because she’s so fake and condescending? When Naia arrived in Sami Thicket, she was acting nice and polite but when the Drenchen asked her why the skeksis never visited Sog Mera responded  “It’s only worth counting what’s valuable”. She continuously disrespects her by calling her pet names even when Naia became maudra. It doesn’t come off as cute, it’s gross. I don’t recall Mera ever apologizing for any of the shit she did to Naia... or Kylan for that matter. She was a pretty neglectful step-mother to him. She doesn’t have an excuse being busy with Maudra stuff because Laesid was a kickass mom to her kids. So in conclusion, fuck this bitch.

Day 20: What do you like so much about the Dark Crystal?

The better question what’s not to love about the Dark Crystal? It has amazing creature design, an expansive world that feels real and alien from our own, having complex and interesting characters as well as villains, the fact that it relies heavily on practical effects a.k.a puppetry... . There’s nothing like it and that’s what makes it so wonderful and unique. It needs to be appreciated more. 

Day 21: Favorite music piece from the soundtrack?

Can’t beat that opening theme. 

Day 22: Your opinion on the sequel comics [Power/Beneath the Dark Crystal]

They have cool concepts and ideas, but they’re not written well. Power is just the movie if it was put into a blender and shredded and ignoring a large portion of established lore for the sake of plot. And Beneath is just a generic fantasy story with the Dark Crystal logo slapped on it. 

Day 23: Which character from the YA novels/comics do you wish we would see more of?

There are plenty of characters that are a given to appear in the series at some point (skekSa, skekLi, urSan, etc). And of course I want to see them, but I really hope Periss shows up (and his brother too). He is one of my favorite characters from the book series and we could use some more Dousan rep!

Day 24: Your opinion on the Age of Resistance comic?

I have yet to read the comics. I’m waiting on them to be part of a collection so I don’t have to buy all of the volumes at once (I prefer owning physical copies). I’ve heard good things about them, especially the story with Hup and the current Mayrin arc. I’m excited to get my hands on them. 

Day 25: The best moment/scene in the series?

There are a lot of great moments, but Rian and Ordon’s fight with skekMal is still my favorite in the entire series. The "Speak For the Dead” scene is a close second.

Day 26: The death of a character that hurt you the most?

He did not deserve this. Fuck you, skekMal. 

Day 27: Your favorite episode from the series?

It’s got to be 4. Not just because a number of my favorite characters debut in this episode, but it’s an important one for the plot. Stakes are being raised, we’re seeing set ups to major story elements and character arcs, and events that impact the rest of the series. It also has a handful of my favorite character moments and interactions. 

Day 28: Your favorite non-skeksis and non-gelfling character? Why?

I’ve come to realize the reasons why I love urVa are the same as why I love skekMal (incredibly appropriate I might say). There’s enough information about him that we get a good understanding on who he is as a character, but still mysterious enough that there’s interest in wanting to know more. Much like his skeksis, he’s unique from the other mystics and thus giving him unique experiences that are fun to speculate. However, the YA novels are responsible for my current fondness of him. 

Day 29: Do you like the urru and skeksis apart or like them as urSkeks together?

A main theme of the Dark Crystal is unity and balance. The main conflict of the franchise are the skeksis, the broken fragments of their urskek self who, according to the writers, “...[have] a dire need for the qualities they lack”. Their only salvation is to become urskeks again and unfortunately many of the pairs never achieve this.  They’re basically a giant allegory for the self and self-love. While we don’t really know what they were like when they were an urskek (aside from SilSol perhaps), we can get some understanding when we look at their pairs and see what traits they share. Speculation is also fun! So as much as I love the skeksis and mystics as individuals, I prefer them to be whole again.

Day 30: What are your wishes for a possible season 2?

A whole bunch of things. I want to see them explore more about the mystics and their lifestyle, having Raunip play a big part in the plot, seeing more of skekSa’s fall from grace from her perspective, the beginning of the Garthim Wars, and more. 

#the dark crystal #my posts #long post

[poledancingsquid]

Wicked Game Fanmix

Look I said I’d make this in 2018 and then life was A LOT but I finally finished it today and frankly it’s still my absolute favourite BFU fic.

If you haven’t read Wicked Game go read it ( and send your adoring praise to @mephsation ) If you’re swerving spoilers do NOT read the rest of this yet bc boy am I about the quote the shit out of my favourite fic and also I’ve written a brief summary of every chapter in case people have forgotten.

If you don’t want to read my reasoning and just want the songs here’s a Spotify playlist

So Chapter one: Shane’s just joined the precinct, when Ryan works out the scene they’re at was by a copycat rather than the Lover Shane responds by just saying “You’re Brilliant.”

We’re gonna be friends- The White Stripes, it’s the beginning of Ryan impressing Shane and they’re already conversing easily, honestly this is the chapter I struggled to find a song for the most.

Chapter two: This is where we meet Jess for the first time and find out about her and Shane’s relationship. It’s also when Ryan establishes that the copycat is shorter than the killer so the song I picked was

Looking up- Paramore, granted this is entirely down to the first lyrics being “Things are looking up oh finally” but it’s a banger anyway

Chapter three: This is when Ryan gets the first email. Ryan also nearly gets stabbed and Shane shoots a suspect, the copycat writes ‘he’s not good enough for you’ in blood.

Chic- Leadley primarily for “We could last forever she could last all week” Jess is so sure she’s better suited to Shane than Ryan is.

Chapter four: The second email arrives, explaining that the Lover has killed a man for the first time, the man looks like Ryan.

One More Murder- Better Than Ezra “One more murder in this town don’t mean a thing” which is what Ryan tries to convince himself after a lookalike is murdered.

Chapter five: This is where Ryan first realises he has a crush on Shane, it’s also the chapter with the press conference where the Lover’s sexuality is raised and when Shane admits he’s questioning is sexuality sending Ryan into a slight spiral based on his fear of being outed.

Would you be so Kind?- Dodie I’m not sure who’s POV I think this applies to more at this point.

Chapter six: This is the chapter where Ryan apologises to Shane for his reaction to him coming out, it is also the chapter where an LAPD officer who is the exact same race as Ryan and looks like him is killed, Ryan throws up.

Fear and Loathing- Marina and the Diamonds This is mostly in relation to Ryan’s fears about coming about though I suppose could also be applied to the whole serial killer killing people who are very similar to him thing.

Chapter seven: This is when Ryan and Shane go on their Not! Date that is definitely a date, it ends in their first kiss and Shane blowing him on the couch “Please don’t make me regret this”.

Brilliant Mind- Furniture throughout the fic Shane is constantly fascinated by how ‘brilliant’ Ryan is and this chapter epitomises that. “ You must be out of your brilliant mind”

Chapter eight: Ryan tells Shane about the homophobia he’s experienced in the past, Jess finds out they spent the night together “woke in an empty bed aching for a presence he has no business missing”. Shane is helping a friend clean their apartment so he goes to meet Jess at a bar and gets spiked.

Far too young to die- Panic! at the disco I went with this song because essentially it’s a recurring theme that Ryan almost dies also the obsessive nature of the verses fit in with Shane’s behaviour “ I've never so adored you, I'm twisting allegories now,I want to complicate you, Don't let me do this to myself”

Chapter nine: This is when Ryan wakes up in the hospital, Shane starts to behave oddly and just says he is working on a theory, he also invites himself over to take care of Ryan, Ryan discovers the cleaning supplies in a publi bin. The chapter ends with Shane revealing that Jess is the copycat and the bombshell of “Schmidtt thinks I’m the lover”

If I lose it- Charlie Simpson A little because of the medical stuff at the start of the Chapter a lot because Shane seems so scared for Ryan and ultimately the uncertaintly at the end of the chapter “ I can't tell you what will happen, To us as the days passed, Please just stay with me.”

Chapter ten: Shane plays the recording of Jess, Ryan plans to spend a night with Jess despite everyone telling him not to. Shane begs Ryan not to be scared of him “no more innocents” Jess texts him that she is going to kill someone if he doesn’t come to her immediately, he locked both their guns in the safe so goes unarmed.

Pressure- Paramore this is frankly one of the most stressful chapters to read because Ryan commits dumbassery after dumbassery and I think this embodies that intense STRESS feeling very well

Chapter eleven:Jess is arrested, Shane almost shoots her in full view of the bodycam, Ryan gets shot and Shane is going on trial to ensure Jess pleads guilty.

Coming Down- Halsey This is where Ryan starts to see a possible darker side to Shane  “I found the Devil, I found him in a lover, And his lips like tangerine, In his color coded speak”

Chapter twelve: This is when it’s officially revealed that Shane’s a murderer, he stands by no innocents killing Leo Tayler with an axe after he caused the deaths of his children.

Monster- Paramore “ You were my conscience, so solid, now you're like water We started drowning, not like we'd sink any further” this is the point at which Ryan’s conscience is starting to slip (even if it’s giving Shane more of one)

Chapter thirteen: With no more murders they are eventually taken of the Lover case Jess’s trial is over quickly and she pleads guilty, Shane’s trial drags on, Ryan finds out he killed a criminal in one of his first weeks on duty, he’s found not guilty, Ryan sees Shane at the firing range and says that he wants Leo to be dead, he gets home from work to find Shane in his LAPD uniform.  The head is delivered to Ryan

Crazy=Genius- Panic! at the Disco, this is a bit of a summary of Shane’s character throughout honestly but also this really feels like the turning point of no return, Shane would do anything for Ryan including murder, and it’s through his ‘genius’ he was found not guilty. 

Chapter fourteen: As they investigate Leo Taylor’s murder Ryan begins to suspect Shane, this is where he quizzes Shane, discovers a knife in his home that isn’t his, later whilst investigating the deaths of sex wokers Ryan runs into a building without back up, Shane shoots Douglas and Ryan basically asks him to kill Murray

One Little Lie- Simple Creatures because at this point Ryan basically knows Shane is a murderer he just gets very good at lying to himself “I tell myself one little lie and the pain don’t phase me”

Chapter fifteen: So basically whilst fucking Shane Ryan thanks him for killing Douglas and then he bites him until it draws blood because Shane asked him to/ They manage to book a holiday eventualy, Ryan finds out Shane has a ssecond phone and saves the number. They go literally everywhere Ryan loves: Knotts Berry Farm, A Lakers Game, Disneyland there’s a car crash and Ryan stops to save the victims. Shane admits he wouldn’t have stopped. When they’re due to return to work Shane leaves early. When Ryan gets to work there’s a rung on his desk and email from Shane. He tries to call him on both phones “ I would’ve said yes”

Already Gone- Kelly Clarkson look when I started this playlist this was the only song I was certain was fitting for this particular part of the story because in his own way Shane is trying to protect Ryan by leaving. “ And I want you to know, You couldn't have loved me better, But I want you to move on, So I'm already gone”

Chapter sixteen: Shane watched him for ten years. Ryan remarries after moving to Chicago although he still wears Shane’s ring around his neck. Another killer goes after him. Shane finds out and it culminates in his shooting Weber. Ryan instantly knows it’s Shane and makes a come hither motion.

I felt younger when we met- Waterparks Ryan has had the guilt of hiding what he knows about Shane for a decade, he still cares about him but it kills him inside “ Do you see, You're the reason I can't sleep?, Lose it where your head should be”

Chapter seventeen:Ryan and Shane meet in a bar, Shane tells him the names of everybody he killed, they go home together after Ryan tries and fails ot arrest him, Shane chokes him until he’s either unconscious or dead and turns himself in the next day

Pompeii- Bastille This chapter is straight up just dark nostalgia (which frankly you can inject into my veins) “And if you close your eyes, Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all” In the dark between my sheets

#Wicked Game #buzzfeed unsolved #buzzfeed unclean #fic #fanmix #shyan #shanexryan #shane x ryan #skeptic believer

[aion-rsa]

Why Evil is the Only TV Procedural Worth Watching

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Evil article contains spoilers. You can read a spoiler-free review of the show here.

Who knows what evils lie at the heart of CBS’s Evil? Shadows know. We consulted a book of shadows (not the one Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson) skims, too many spoilers there) to cut into the left ventricle of the darkness feeding the network’s supernatural series, now in production for season 2. The blood of the police procedural pumps through the veins of the paranormal investigation show, but Evil transcends the statutes of those limitations. Occasionally by papal decree. The series is intelligent, filled with symbolism, and its main character, who is training to be a priest, drops acid on a semi-regular basis. And he’s not microdosing. Look at those baggies.

Evil doesn’t debunk demonic possession, which is the main thrust of the team’s investigations. It never treats it as campy. The series believes demons are real, even giving the audience a breakdown of the six different forms possession take. But it deliciously stops short of giving full commitment. The show also explores how to parse out personal responsibility when there’s a supernatural being to blame. In episode 7, “Vatican 3,” we learn “the court does not acknowledge demonic possession” in determining guilt or innocence. The series further muddies the waters when the crew has to take a hard look at a murder committed by someone who wasn’t possessed, such as when the parents of what they believed is a demonically possessed child kill him. The series further turns the screw because the kid they killed to save their other children was born evil. It was literally in his genes.

Evil shares DNA with The X-Files, and David Acosta, played with charisma and empathy by Mike Colter (Luke Cage), is the new show’s Fox “Spooky” Mulder. He is looking for answers beyond the veil, which has the same letters as evil, and he is putting the pieces together like a hidden map of old Manhattan. There’s a truth out there and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to understand it. He’s not in it to solve any crimes against venal sins. He is looking for deeper meaning, and this alone puts the series above most procedurals. David’s got a bit of the scientist Dodge from original The Planet of the Apes film in his cinematic character. One of the first astronauts to delve so deep into the outer reaches of space, “He’d walk naked into a live volcano if he thought he could learn something no other man knew.” David is the same. He was a foreign correspondent in war-ravaged Afghanistan who got to know the soldiers whose stories he reported. Truth and knowledge are the most noble of callings, and ultimately come before his religious calling.

While the basic premise of a spiritual believer teamed with a dissenting psychologist is procedural trope, Evil is out to debunk the law of its diminishing returns. First, the show teams David with not just one skeptical voice, but two. Katja Herbers’ Dr. Kristen Bouchard plays the same role Agent Dana Scully played to Mulder, and with a similar arsenal. She comes from a different perspective, though. Bouchard does indeed believe in miracles, but thinks they all have scientific explanations. She is confident the only reason something might defy natural principles is because science hasn’t been applied properly yet. Scully, who wore a cross and took her faith seriously, accepted miracles on faith. David and Kristen rarely come to the same conclusion.

Ben Shakir, played by Aasif Mandvi, brings common knowledge, and shades his skepticism with cynicism. The former Daily Show correspondent takes on the weight of all three Lone Gunmen but with more constructive skills. Before joining the paranormal team, he was a carpenter, just like Jesus. Ben knows how things work, and when everyday mechanisms like sinks or faulty wiring are the root cause of supernatural phenomena, he can turn the screws, and spot the mold. Ben, “the Magnificent,” as Kristen’s children call him, is also tech savvy, and quite capable of hacking hackers.

Evil also throws things at Ben which he can’t easily spackle over with even the best of tests. Try as he may, and he tries, he can’t explain the light of an angel in the frame of a surveillance video. There is no evidence of doctoring, even at the most expert levels. “The world is weird,” David passes off as dating advice when Ben asks about potential girlfriend Vanessa (Nicole Shalhoub), who wants to know she if she should detach from her dead sister before committing to a new relationship. Vanessa thinks she is “tethered” to her phantom sister by the right arm.

Supernatural science is bizarre, creators Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife, Braindead) believe. They push the show to diagnose causes the external evidence of exorcisms and stigmata, the bleeding wounds which correspond to the wounds on Christ’s hands when he was nailed to the cross. Because stigmatics display their wounds as they are portrayed artistically, rather than how the Romans historically would have done the crucifixion, it proves it comes from a psychological source. Internal belief causes the phenomena, not external spiritual forces. Evil explains that, allowing ample room for skepticism, belief, and even poetic reasons for spiritual incursions. David quotes Shakespeare to enunciate his faith. The concept of free will doesn’t come up in most procedurals. Neither does the way sociopolitical issues are turned into supernatural questions and tied to the origins of evil.

Evil is almost a character in Evil, and has relatable entry points. Real demons first get to Kristen’s four young daughters through an augmented reality videogame. A little girl who never takes off her Halloween mask almost gets the sisters to bury one alive. We don’t know how much of the characters’ perceptions is the result of a demon character’s influence on them. Each character is slowly being tempted by the dark side.

Kristen joined the team as a rational thinker but has had to accommodate uncomfortable ideas and adjust her comfort zone accordingly. In her usual line of work, she’s analyzed the criminally insane, but the show has pushed her into close contact with people who are evil in the Biblical sense. She is being pushed incrementally by forces in and out of her control. Her own mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) sides with a manipulative competitor, Leland, over her daughter, and he’s made direct threats. The first season can be seen as Kristen’s slow corruption. The second season may see Kirsten apply her skills to her own situation, which will delve further into the dichotomy between the spiritual and pragmatic.

This is because Kristen may have already fallen. The final episode includes a telltale blood stain, which she wills Ben to unsee. On any procedural this is considered a clue, but here on Evil, the evidence actually points further than a mere homicide. It is the first sign that a main character has gone to the dark side. It is confirmed when the touch of a crucifix blisters her hand. There’s no such thing as an original sin and Kristen has been flirting with temptation long before this.

Kristen is a married nonpracticing Catholic who lost her faith. She’s sexually attracted to David, a man on his way to becoming a priest. When this subject was broached on the classic 1970s cop comedy Barney Miller, a prostitute who was supposed to be a young priest’s last fling before he entered a monastery said “I break laws, not commandments.” It feels like Kristen reminds herself of this every time the two of them are on screen alone together. Their sexual chemistry is that palpable. Yes, this is very similar to the long-gesticulating romance between Mulder and Scully, but he was no priest and she wasn’t married. Not only is Kristen married, but she’s got half a brood of daughters. Annoying things, really, but at least one of them has an excuse. Another reason Evil is the only procedural worth watching is because everyone on it just might be cursed. That’s not found in the manuals.

Evil towers over contemporary procedurals in how it’s going dark. Most procedurals chase a morally compromised arc, but Evil treats it like an encroaching corruption. Kristen, who is sworn to uphold the law, may have gone more than rogue vigilante. Besides the crucifix-burning season closing, David has visions of a goat demon waiting for Kristen with a scythe. She’d been tormented by her own personal demon throughout the season but when the George, the demon-like creature who visits Kristen during sleep paralysis, falls on the knife, it changes nothing. He is just one of many demons. One of them set up practice and is taking office hours with Leland.

The Demon Therapist is an all-male Goat of Mendes, or Baphomet. The show gets into how different biblical angels look from how they’re perceived artistically and by the contemporary faithful, but won’t present a faithful representation of Baphomet. It’s as patriarchal as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Evil keeps it vague whether the goat demon is real or in Leland’s head. The Demon therapist appears in Kristen’s dreams as well. Lexis (Maddy Crocco) disabled the house alarm for the visiting devil therapist when he invites her to “the next level,” making it seem she is at least susceptible to underworldly influence. The kids are irritating, but they are a bargaining chip and their father, Adam, put them up for grabs when they chanted together offering an exchange of souls. Kristen was co-opted into evil through protective motherly instinct. She doesn’t see the mark of the devil as a badge of honor. When Kristen puts the cross in her palm, she doesn’t look like she expected it as much as feared it.

While the network show will never have the freedoms afforded cable series, the acting is top notch all around. Series like HBO’s Perry Mason or even Showtime’s reimagined second incarnation of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, provide a wider range of emotion and carnality. But Evil gives us muted, for the most part believable performances, very often underplayed. As are the special effects and use of technology as a narrative device. Too many procedurals treat high tech surveillance and other investigative tools like they are all-seeing eyes which can count nostril hairs.  It has become normalized. Evil doesn’t waste intellectual space with unreasonable gadgets. The tools Ben or Leland use to their computerized ends are believable. At one point, Kristen asks Ben to record a cell phone conversation which is already halfway over. She is surprised he can’t with all his special skills.

The series incorporates real world horrors into mundane life. Even some of the most normal looking settings carry a sense of unease, to underscore the show’s thesis that the supernatural is natural but never quite normalized. Many of the scenes are shot vertically, drawing the viewers’ eyes upward and inferring something is always going on above. The series’ many wide-angle shots put a distance between characters even in close-ups.

The show isn’t afraid to wear its influences on its sleeves, and on several occasions has a lot of fun with it. For Dr. Kurt Boggs’ (Kurt Fuller) arrival at an exorcism, they recreated Father Merrin’s introductory scene in the horror classic The Exorcist, shot for shot, even getting an exact replica of the light post and the same make car, though different year, from the film. They gave nods to Rosemary’s Baby, Misery, Cabin in the Woods, and Children of the Corn.  The climbing ax which Kirsten grabs on her way out to do damage on the serial killer Orson looks like it has teeth. As did the walking stick Lon Chaney’s Larry Talbot carried in The Wolfman. The demon George looks like Freddy Krueger’s good-looking cousin. The tonality of the show is reminiscent of Charles Laughton’s immeasurably influential Night of the Hunter.

The main reason Evil shines above most procedurals is because it is scary, and those scares have been building slowly and deliberately. Commonplace settings feel off, and the world around is filled with conspiracies and coverup. The Vatican asks the team to determine whether a woman who knows the hidden history of the church is a false prophet. The fertility clinic Kristen and her husband Andy used when conceiving Lexis corrupts fetuses with satanic insemination. A witty but innocuous internet meme, Puddy’s Christmas song, is a hummably foreboding earworm. Anything can go evil on Evil.

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Evil season 2 is currently in production. Read more about that here.

The post Why Evil is the Only TV Procedural Worth Watching appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[lo-lynx]

Masculine embodiment in ASOIAF- aka, what’s up with the eunuchs?

CW: Sexism, cissexism, rape, sex, description of genitalia and bodily functions.

Spoilers: All of A Song of Ice and Fire, and a tiny spoiler from Game of Thrones season 8.

“’I hold the man’s balls in the palm of my hand.’ He cupped his fingers, smiling. ‘Or would, if he were a man, or had any balls.’” (Martin 1996/2011, 194) Ah, classic Littlefinger burn about Varys. In George RR Martin’s world of ASOIAF such jokes are frequent, but when last time when I re-read A Game of Thrones this one joke in Ned’s fourth chapter stuck out. Perhaps it was because I had recently watched the last season of Game of Thrones where Varys comments on Tyrion’s ever-present jokes about Varys being a eunuch (Game of Thrones 2019, 04:27). Perhaps it’s because issues of gender and sexuality interest me in general (see: all of this blog). Regardless, it got me interested at seeing how eunuchs are described in the books. I soon found that the connection between a man’s genitals and masculinity seemed to be very strong. Now, before I go any further, I feel like two disclaimers are in order. 1: I’m not saying that having a penis is necessary to be a man, I’m saying that both our society and the world of ASOIAF seems to think so. 2: I’m not saying that GRRM thinks this either, I have no idea what his personal stance on these things are, but I’m saying that he seems to have transferred these views from our world into his world. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, why focus on this aspect of masculine embodiment in ASOIAF? Well, as I intend to show in this analysis, by analysing how eunuchs are portrayed in the books, I think one can infer quite a bit of how men and masculinity is conceived of in Westeros and beyond. So, firstly I want to give a brief overview of how sex/gender was conceived of in our medieval world (mostly to show how this DOES NOT seem to match ASOIAF), and secondly how these things are conceived of in more modern times and compare this to ASOIAF.

So, before the 18th century or so, European conception sex/gender relied on what has afterwards been called a “one-sex model” (Mottier 2008, 33). This model was very influenced by the Greek philosophical idea that men’s bodies were active, hot and strong; women’s bodies being passive, weak, damp and cold (ibid, 5).

As the historian Thomas Laqueur has pointed out, the classical model of gender involved a ‘one-sex model’: since gender was fluid, men risked becoming more feminized if they lost heat, while women could become more like men if their bodies heated up. The psychological consequences of such beliefs was [sic] that gender did not appear as a stable, biological characteristic, but as an identity that was potentially under threat. (Mottier 2008, 6)

That is to say, during this time sex/gender was seen as fluid, and not a biological fact. As mentioned, this view didn’t really change until the 18th century. Mottier describes that shift like this:

From the 18th century, the traditional idea of the ‘one-sex’ body, which conceptualized women’s bodies as similar but inferior versions of male bodies (with female genitals being thought of as internal, much smaller versions of male genitals) started to be replaced with the idea of a clear biological differentiation between men and women. Male and female bodies came to be seen as fundamentally, biological different, not as part of the same hierarchical continuum. The gender hierarchy remained, however. (Mottier 2008, 33)

From this we can infer then, that during the medieval period in Europe, female bodies were perceived as sort of defect versions of male bodies, not fundamentally biologically different. It was after this model was replaced with the ‘two-sex model’ that men and women were seen as biologically different creatures. This biological difference also began being used as a justification for social difference (and inequality) between men and women. That is not to say that such social difference didn’t exist before that, but it wasn’t though to be the result of biological differences in the same way. In my view, this later conceptualisation of sex/gender is much more in line with how sex/gender seems to be perceived in ASOIAF. Throughout the books there are several references of women being of the gentle/weaker sex, or similar descriptions. One such is in Catelyn’s last chapter in A Game of Thrones when Catelyn tries to persuade Robb’s lords to sue for peace with the Lannisters. The Greatjon then says that because she is a woman she does not understand such things, while Lord Karstark says: “You are the gentle sex (…) a man has a need for vengeance.” (Martin 2011, 770) Such a view, seeing the female sex as gentler/weaker than the male sex, seems much more in line with a “two-sex model” than the “one-sex model” that would’ve existed in Medieval Europe. I shall therefore proceed to explain the male body has been conceived in more modern times.

In general, one can say that the male subject is expected to embody strength, toughness, and have a capability to exercise power over a space (Whitehead 2002, 189). This expectation also carries through to expectations of men’s sexuality, which is why many aging men might start to lose confidence in their sexuality when they can’t live up to this expectation (ibid, 200). This connection between masculinity and strength, virility etc. also impacts the importance being put on having “normal” genitalia. As Fausto-Sterling writes about the male body, from a medical point of view, the existence of a “functional” penis is often considered crucial for manhood (1995, 130). This is taken to the extreme that children born with a penis that is considered too small (even though the size of the penis at birth doesn’t seem to be a good indicator of adult size) will have their genitalia surgically changed into a vagina (for more on surgery on intersex children see for example: Amnesty 2017). Presumably this is partly because the sexual act of penetration is so closely linked to masculinity, that having a penis that is considered “too small” for this is inconceivable (as someone who works with sex education, I just want to add SIZE DOESN’T MATTER THAT MUCH. Just communicate with your partner and figure out what works for you!) Other studies have also analysed the way testicles are perceived in modern society and found that those seem to be closely connected to masculinity as well (Karioris & Allan 2017). The most obvious example of this is of course the phrase “grow a pair”, said when wanting someone to toughen up. Kaioris and Allan also write that fear of castration is often linked with a fear of losing one’s masculinity. This is all to say, that in our society genitalia seems to be very important to manhood and being “a real man”. Now, is this also the case in ASOIAF?

Short answer, yes. One example is of course the quote with which I started this text, when Littlefinger seems to equate Varys’ lack of testicles with his lack of manhood. Another example comes from A Clash of Kings when Tyrion expresses a similar sentiment when comparing himself to Varys: “Yet I’m still a man.” (Martin 1999/2011, 120). But the linking of lack of genitals with lack of masculinity doesn’t stop with Varys, it is also something we see with Theon after his torture by Ramsey. He himself thinks that he is no man (Martin 2011/2012, 566). Later, when Ramsey forces him to be a part of raping Jeyne Poole, he jokes about Theon (not) getting an erection by seeing Jeyne, and then says that Theon is: “Not even a man, in truth.” (Martin 2011d, 582). This equating of (lack of) a penis and testicles with (a lack of) masculinity/manhood isn’t contained to Westeros, however. Daenerys thinks a similar thing when describing the unsullied in A Storm of Swords: “(…) they were no men at all. The Unsullied were eunuchs, every one of them.” (Martin 2000/2011, 314). Speaking of Daenerys, in A Game of Thrones we learn from her chapters that in Dothraki culture, the only ones who ride in carts are those with a disability, women giving birth, the very old and the very old. Oh, and eunuchs (Martin 1996/2011, 373). Here it becomes very clear that eunuchs are seen as weak and unmanly when they are grouped together with pregnant women, old people and those with disabilities. How disability is portrayed in ASOIAF is not something I will go into further here, but I recommend the text “Power and Punishment in Game of Thrones” by Mia Harrison that does explore that. However, it seems clear that those with disabilities are not seen as “real men” either.

So, based on this, we can see that the Westerosi (and Essosi) view of what a man is seems to presume that he is strong, active and virile. It is apparently also very important to have functioning genitalia (whatever that even means). Therefore, those who cannot live up to that, such as eunuchs, are not real men. This is a very narrow definition of masculinity and manhood, yet it unfortunately rings true in our world as well. Not only does it exclude trans folx completely, it also limits people of all genders. We see the consequences of that in ASOIAF when Brianne is excluded from knighthood based on her gender, and in the way people of Westeros treat all of its “imperfect” men. And we can most definitely see it in our own world.

  References

Amnesty International. (2017). “First, do no harm: ensuring the rights of children born intersex.” Accessed 1 December, 2019. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/05/intersex-rights/

Game of Thrones. (2019) Winterfell. [TV-show]

Harrison, Mia. (2018). “Power and Punishment in Game of Thrones”, pp. 28-43 in Schatz, J L & Amber E George (Eds.), The Image of Disability: Essays on Media Representations. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.

Fausto-Sterling, Anne (1995). “How to build a man”, pp. 127-134 in Berger, Maurice, Brian Wallis and Simon Watson (eds.) (1995). Constructing Masculinity, Routledge, New York

Martin, George RR. (1996/2011). A Game of Thrones. Harper Voyager: London

Martin, George RR. (1998/2011). A Clash of Kings. Harper Voyager: London

Martin, George RR. (2000/2011). A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow. Harper Voyager: London

Martin, George RR. (2011/2012). A Dance with Dragons. Harper Voyager: London

Mottier, Véronique. (2008). Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Whitehead, Stephen M. (2002). Men and Masculinities, Cambridge and Malden: Polity, pp. 181-204

#asoiaf #got #feminism #cw: sexism #cw: cissexism #cw: sex #tw: rape #idk how to tag this

[thegodshavehorns]

Come Into My Parlor (4/5)

Chapter 4: A Game for Two

You don't tell Eridan. You can't - no, you don't want to, are too afraid that doing so will put your apprenticeship in jeopardy. It's also just... just plain embarrassing. You don't think this counts as self-deception, don't think the truth of the matter will stream into Eridan's head with all the subtlety of a gong. But the truth, damnably, is that you aren't completely sure.

And so, when the Thief reappears, you have nothing for her. "What a pity," she says, making an exaggerated show of disappointment. "I guess you'll just have to miss out on hearing about my sordid past with Tavros."

But she doesn't leave. The game carries on.

This is acceptable to you.

There's a loophole you've found in your agreement with the goddess, a tacit one that she's never called you out on. You don't phrase your query as a question, and she won't cut you off if you ask two.

She returns, again and again, and you query back and forth. On her end, Vriska enquires constantly about Eridan's long-term plans, of which you of course know very little, and then your plans, about which you know very little more, then about his personal life, then your personal life, all in between jabs and provocations. It's sadly predictable.

Her answers to your questions are infuriating; she responds accurately, but without real substance. Still, you are learning more about their old world, Alternia, and the interactions between the gods when they were young. Occasionally, you get hints, left in tantalizing drops, of what happened during their apotheosis. It's a very different kind of education than what Eridan gives you, and you're earning it in an entirely different way. Vriska isn't a mentor dropping nuggets of wisdom from her ivory pedestal. Vriska is a nut to be cracked.

It's hard to respect the Thief, the same way you respect your mentor. Her behavior is juvenile and erratic, and you can't resist psychoanalyzing her. You have always enjoyed books on psychology, and now that you have access to Eridan’s library your psychiatric acumen is at its finest.

She strikes you as restless. Unsettled, uprooted, unstable. Unhappy. She has all the power a divinity could ask for, and no use for it. You could almost feel sorry for her, if you could get past how utterly unsuited she is for goddess-hood.

You could pity her, almost. The past her, at least, the one that tried to psychically force others to like her, the one with so little ability to empathize with others that she literally blinded the only person who had ever befriended her. Her casual cruelty and elitism were clearly meant to cover up her terror of being of being seen as weak or useless.

Though, granted, some of it is so alien that you can't relate at all. Cradled as a child between the fangs of a spider, learning to tiptoe over webbing, then having to kill anyone weaker than herself to keep her monstrous guardian alive... not to mention the omnipresent threat of culling and the complete lack of adult supervision. You wonder what you would have done, in such circumstances.

"I had to give it all up," she admits, reclining on a couch in a way that is hilariously (and unintentionally, you think) reminiscent of old cartoons of psychiatry patients. "When I became a goddess. My lusus, my home, even my psionics."

"That sounds... difficult." By now, you've filled up dozens of pages with notes on the goddess' psyche. More pages on her mind, actually, than than on her origins.

"Well, I had plenty of incentive."

"Oh?" You wait for her to continue, but she doesn't offer anything more, so you probe indirectly. "I can't say I completely understand why you would miss that life. I realize that it may be culturally insensitive to say so, but frankly, being raised by your lusus sounds horrid. I'm amazed you didn't run away at the first opportunity." Like I did.

"Ha. Well, that is easy to say for you. But a young troll without a lusus, an orphan, made easy prey. Even I knew deep down that there were bigger and badder creatures out there than me, though of course it was my ambition to outlive them. And hey, I did! Not that it matters, now."

"Mmhm." You take notes automatically, hardly thinking about it.

"What about you, Lalonde?"

You look up from your notebook to find her meeting your gaze. "Sorry?"

"Didn't you leave anything behind for, ah, this? I know what humans tend to like. All this ice, snow, and cold hard truth can't be too comfortable for you."

You thin your lips. "There are more important things than comfort." Vriska is still looking at you, piercingly, and you fight back the desire to squirm. Eventually, you break eye contact. "I wasn't happy with my prospects at home. Eridan made a better offer."

"And your family? Your mother?"

Your gaze snaps back up. "What?"

The goddess grins. "You kept yammering about her, when we first met. Don't you miss her, here?"

"It... your behavior was reminiscent." You can't hold back a grimace. "Of some of her worse days."

Vriska sits up, resting her chin in one hand. "Is that why you keep asking me back?"

You study your notes. "No. I have already explained my motives to you. And-" you shake your head. "-it's my turn to ask."

You haven't had to interrupt a line of questioning like that in a while now. But this subject is making you uncomfortable, and-

-and you can practically hear Eridan chiding you already. Tell the truth. For yourself, if not for anyone else.

The Thief is waiting. "... It might have been a subconscious factor. I know you're not my mother, but I might be... offloading some of my inner existential frustrations onto you, in her stead. It is unwarranted, I know, but our... meetings, feel more controlled than interactions with her ever did." You look back up at Vriska. You can't quite place her expression. Her eyes have softened, but her lips are set in a thin, pensive line. Is it just you, or does she look... a bit younger?

Most likely, it's not just you. You've seen Eridan pull similar tricks.

You stare at each other, into her shocking blue irises. The silence goes on, stretching past uncomfortable and entering into.. something else.  Your next question is on the tip of your tongue, but you don't say anything. Your heart is pounding. You can't seem to look away.

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

You don't know what to think about her.

"My lusus made me do things to survive that others didn't have to. I hated it, but I told myself I liked it. Eventually, I did enjoy it. Having that power."

You don't like her. You don't like her.

"My mother always tried to make it up to me with objects. Grand gestures, extravagant even. I thought it was a way to rub her absences in my face, using generosity as a social weapon to make me forgive her."

She's reprehensible. She's cruel, conniving. Nasty, even. You don't like her.

"Of course, it's easy to look back now, and see how other people turned into objects for me. But, that's how it is for a god too, so I suppose it all just served to prepare me for godhood."

You understand her.

"Even now, admitting that my mother's motivations might be genuine, that it might be... her way of expressing love... it hurts."

Better than you'd like.

"In the grand scheme of things, why does any of it matter, cosmically?" you wonder, studying the grain of the leather on your chair. "Eridan tells me the universe is so vast even gods still discover something new on occasion. The Earth alone is larger than the human mind can easily grasp, and the Earth would fit a million times in the cores of the largest stars. Time stretches forward and back through ages mortal minds cannot comprehend, from the searing light of the Vast Croak to the final entropic void. Utter nothingness on both sides. We're sandwiched between one oblivion and another." You let out a long sigh. "And even in that sandwich, we're one molecule on a granule of salt."

The goddess sounds impassive. She doesn't seem interested in the mention of Eridan. She hardly asks about him at all anymore. "So why do you keep working so hard? Wouldn't it be easier to give up? A life of pleasure until you die works fine for most mortals I've met."

You shake your head, and look up to meet the goddess' eyes. "I cannot give in to hedonism. I don't want that. Eridan has told me about civilizations who choose to just... plug their brains in and overload their pleasure centers until they waste away in bliss. There are more important things than that. Why else do we exist?"

She smiles, less sharply than usual. "You expect me to tell you? Rose, we didn't make you with a grand moral purpose. We made you because we found a full universe more entertaining than a lifeless one. We were children. What else do you want from me?"

And you know, now, what kind of child she was. Morally deficient, fiercely competitive, cunning, jealous, abused, terrified.

You remember coming home to a 20-foot wizard statue, a work of art commissioned and installed just for you, on your 10th birthday. "Two feet... for effffery year!" your mother had slurred, then vomited on the floor.

"I don't want anything," you say, and pray that it's the truth.

-------

It's sometime after that conversation that you find out the Real Truth about who you are. What you are. And why you're here at all.

------

"Did you know?" You, breathless, wide-eyes, hands shaking. Your habitual self-control, carefully curated by necessity, has been thrown out the proverbial window.

"Nope. Never knew." She shakes her head. The Thief is calm, but looks slightly impressed. "Pretty good at keeping secrets under wraps, isn't he? Truth god, ha!"

"That's... yes, truth god. Gods. Shit."

She rests a claw on her lower lip. "I'd have thought you'd be excited. You finally have a chance to 'right' our 'wrongs.'" You can almost see the air quotes. "So, he told you everything?"

You sit down, pull up your knees, and rest your head against them. "Yes," you say, voice a bit muffled.

"Well...." She puts a hand on her hip and looks away. "I suppose I should offer condolences. Can't say I found out in the same way, but yeah, that must be rough."

"Yes." You close your eyes. "I'm not ready."

"Rose."

"I'm not. It's the truth. How could I be? There's still so much to know. And I'm not ready, I can't be a god, I can't be like you, I don't want this, I-"

"Rose."

You feel a hand on your arm. Cool, smooth, surprisingly light. You freeze, and the hand moves, sliding along the crest of your shoulder, your collar, your neck, your face. There, it stops. It's smooth. Not callused. It doesn't feel like the hand of a killer.

You note all this in a distant part of your brain. The nearer part is too shocked, she is so close, she's never laid so much as a finger on you, not since that first day you met.

Her hand cups your cheek.

"Rose," she says. "Shhhhhh."

------

The moment she leaves, you message Dave.

TG: okay but why the fuck are you telling me

TG: you think i'm some kind of god romance casanova>

TG: i mean clearly i have all the goddess babes over here

TG: worshipping at my fucking feet

TG: i'd better get used to the worshipping bit

TG: being all god in training that i fucking am

TG: god of players and babes

TG: that's gonna be my title

>TG: 'player of babes'

TT: Far be it from me to assume,

TT: But I believe that your divine connections are more involved with the 'mortal/god romance' habit than mine are.

TT: Seeing as my mentor has admitted to only rarely dabbling with mortal relationships, and never in flushed.

TG: right yeah that's a little hard to believe

TG: i mean he's had millions of years to fool around with this shit

TG: and you're saying he decided to be all 'nah that's gross' with everyone but other gods?

TG: sounds like he's just too squeamish to get up close and personal with alien junk

TG: but he is the god of truth so whatever

TT: Is this a way for you to admit that you have no knowledge of romantic quadrants whatsoever?

TT: Despite your boon companion and patron being the very literal goddess of such things?

TG: yo i didn't say that

TG: i know everything

TG: all the quadrants

TG: all of them

TG: so lay it on me

TG: what happened? she give you the ol' divine makeout session? things get hot and steamy in the prince's broom closet?

TG: does he have a broom closet?

TG: i assume he does but i dunno how much of a neat freak he is.

TG: Nep's pretty chill about it.

TT: I assure you there was no broom closet involved. Or makeouts.

TG: did she bite you in the hot tub?

TG: pap you up against the wall?

TG: shit it's like clue in here

TG: is it mrs peacock in the lounge with the  auspiticeship

TG: or mr green in the conservatory with the kissmessitude?

TG: i should patent this shit

TT: Hypothetical quadrant-related board games aside,

TT: It was indeed what is known as a 'pap.' And in my room, on the couch, if that matters.

TG: was it just a casual pap kind of thing? or was she trying to start something serious? how did she look while she was doing it?

TT: She looked, I suppose, like she was concentrating very intently. On me.

TT: Is that indicative of anything?

TG: fuck, i don't know

TG: talk to her

TG: ask her what it was all about

TG: she probably won't tell you and you might look like an idiot but it's worth a shot 

TT: And, what if her response is in the affirmative, that it was indeed meant to be a romantic solicitation?

TG: fuck if i know

TG: i'm not in a relationship with a goddess

TT: Are you quite sure? Some of the things you've said... you and the Rogue seem quite close.

TT: ...Dave? Are you still there?

TG: we're not morails rose

TG: it's platonic

TT: Protesteth thou too much, methinks?

TG: right

TG: you'd say that to any amount of protestething

TT: Why Mr. Strider, I'm wounded.

TT: In any event, thank you for the advice, limited as it may be.

>TT: I admit I find it somewhat galling that this form of relationship does not come naturally to me, and so I must fish for hints like this. But I will do my best.

TG: yeah, well, good luck

TG: hopefully she doesn't kill you when you break up

TT: Well, I would hope she would realize that I'm... relatively important to the other gods, now, and refrain. Or else not break up at all, I suppose. Or not get together in the first place.

TT: And this is one hope that I will not be telling my mentor of.

TG: good move

TG: otherwise he'll prince himself all over it

TT: A pleasure as always, Dave.

TG: seeya

-----

Still, you know with a certainty that few others can brag of that Eridan does not shy away from all mortal relationships.

There was a time, last year, when you and Eridan received a visitor at the manor, the first you could remember ever having. He was a large man wearing the sigil of Hope, showing his rank as an Angel, and not just any, but an Archangel of the Innermost Order of Truth. He didn't really look the part. You'd always imagined Angels as being somewhat scholarly, but this man looked like he belonged at a tailgate party, celebrating a sporting event somewhere in Middle America.

"Prince," he said, and knelt.

Eridan took the Archangel's hand and brought him to his feet, and you noticed his touch lingering. But no, that couldn't be right. Eridan had told you he'd never been romantically involved with a human, hadn't he? You must have been mistaken.

Eridan's Antarctic manor was his hive, a place of solitude for him alone. And for you. He'd met with other people plenty, gods and mortals alike, but never in his home. You asked him about it, and he responded unsatisfactorily.

"I like my privacy, but the highest ranking Angels know where I live."

The change in routine was jarring, seeing this other person in the halls, the library, the dining room, the study, often speaking with Eridan in a hushed voice. He stayed for days.

This was all wrong. If the Archangel was here to discuss the Order's business, why was it taking so long? And why here? Other people didn't belong here. You knew, of course, that it was Eridan's decision who should walk his halls. But having this stranger present in your 'home away from home' was decidedly galling.

Then, four days after the Angel's arrival, you sought out Eridan for the translation of an ancient extraterrestrial text, and ended up walking in on him and the Angel in the middle of a... pile.

You didn't even know enough at the time to be embarrassed, only exceedingly perplexed by the sight of your godly mentor reclining amongst opulent pillows, head on the Angel's lap, eyes closed and making a slow, cricket-like chirp-rasp. The human was brushing the Prince's hair and spoke in a quiet, low tone. At your entrance, the Angel had paused mid-brush, and mid-sentence, mouth open.

It was shockingly ill-considered, you think in hindsight, for them to be doing that in a public space, rather than somewhere in Eridan's quarters. Maybe Eridan hadn't wanted to open those rooms even to his moirail, or maybe he'd forgotten you were there.

You'd gotten 'the talk' after that. Not quite the one your school had given you, but interesting nonetheless.

Eridan had assured you that his moirallegiance with the Angel was a 'casual fling' and wouldn't be continuing, so you shouldn't expect to see the Angel around too much. And that was it, in terms of quadrants. He clearly didn't think it important for your education. Eridan has always been willing to answer your questions, but has offered surprisingly little information otherwise. You'd almost think he didn't enjoy romance at all, when he very clearly does.

Due to this and other factors, you determine that you are not going to ask him for advice about Vriska.

#vriska serket #rose lalonde #homestuck #homestuck fanfiction #trolls are gods #godstuck fic #godstuck #the gods have horns

[angieschiffahoi]

Reasons why Terminator Dark Fate is a worthy sequel of T2

It wrapped up a stale story and respected its predecessor’s finale

Skynet is dead, long live Skynet. Yes, there is no fate and Sarah was able to kill Skynet, but Skynet wasn’t a product of only its time nor an incident made by rogues: Skynet was a warning of what would become of people if they were too arrogant. It’s a tale of hybris. Men get too self-reliant and create something that will bring about their downfall: they become God, but by becoming God they commit a sin so big, they will need Jesus Christ (John Connor or James Cameron, if you will) to save themselves. I mean, if you don’t see the correlation between the Virgin Mary and Sarah Connor (Sarah is also the wife of Abraham, the quintessential mother in the Bible), y’all are blind (she gets inseminated by an “angel” sent to protect her, by her own son, ergo God). Terminator Dark Fate didn’t become woke, it did what T2 started to do, it de-christianized its message for a wider audience (Hollywood doesn’t pander to white christian americans anymore in 2019, go figure). In both movies, Sarah isn’t the Virgin Mary anymore, she’s the mentor, she takes action and she changes her own future and that of billions of people: she becomes the saviour. In the sequel to TDF she obviously was supposed to be the mentor to the new saviour. By killing John, it gave the story back to Sarah and a new hope for the future, taking out some of those harmful tropes where women are only good to “birth” the father of the resistance and not be them. John Connor was never a character you were going to be satisfied with, because he’s an ideal. You liked the teen version, because he was a rebel-ish punk who did everything he wanted, had a motorcycle and a pet robot. You were never going to like the gritty future version of a man destroyed by everything and also he was never supposed to become that. All of Sarah’s struggles the moment she found out she was pregnant were to protect her son from that future. Hadn’t they killed him off in 1999, he would’ve just been a 45 year old drunk - that’s where his character was going after defeating Skynet. 

It isn’t contraddictory to have another AI replace Skynet. 

Skynet and Legion are a cautionary tale, they are false gods, Frankenstein’s creature and the devil. It’s not repetitive, it’s not something that can be prevented in full, because humanity IS on that path. Humanity wants to play God and Sarah and John’s effort to stop Skynet was silent, it was secret (despite Sarah’s efforts to have people believe her, nobody did). Do you really think it would be so difficult to imagine another company, working on a similar project, at the same time in the late 90s - early 2000s? The only weak point is the implication that Legion would occupy terminators and the same tactics as Skynet, but I’m guessing if Sarah has been killing Terminators in the past for 30 years, Legion could’ve “read” something about it and developed itself to fit the past or got inspired, I don’t know. It’s not that far-fetched to have another AI use the same tactics. 

It introduced a new scary terminator, who is perfect for 2020

The Rev-9, like its predecessors, is an inflitration model (and that’s the only reason they cast a latin actor) who is built to hunt the same way the first two were, but it does it better: because 2020 is a scary time. The T-800 had to look on a phone book and kill three Sarah Connor before getting to the right one. This one? It needs a working internet connection. 

Also, to all of you saying that politics should stay out of movies, 

- the T-800 was an intimidating male hunting a defenseless woman

- the T-1000 was a cop hunting a supposed “crazy woman and criminal” 

- the Rev-9 is an immigration officer hunting a defenseless immigrant. 

not that hard to spot the similarities. 

It answered the question “what happens to terminators when they fulfill their purpose?” 

Arnie is old and that’s what made it so much more believable for me. 

People keep using this quote from The Terminator to say how terrible writing and what a huge plot hole it was to make the T-800 a dad:  “That Terminator is out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear...and it absolutely will not stop.Ever. Until you are dead.”

Here’s a few reasons why their reasoning is biased:

First, off screen reason: this is the first movie, Cameron had no idea what would become of its own sequels. He hadn’t predicted Arnold would have such a following and I’m sure a re-programmed Terminator wasn’t in its plans. The first movie was about the horror of the terminator, we weren’t supposed to feel anything for it but fear, because its purpose was to scare us and nothing else. 

Second, in-character reason: Kyle Reese is a soldier in the future. He has only seen these machines kill and maim and knows that, just because this one has skin and hair and muscle on its endo-skeleton, it isn’t less machine than the ones he has been fighting all of his life. He only knows this one’s worse: because he has a single purpose. 

Third, non canon reason: Cameron from TSCC. Nobody was offended when she started to develop feelings for John in that series, why is everyone so offended by Carl now? Yeah. But it’s not canon, so let’s go to the last reason. 

Fourth, canon, on-screen, in-character reason: THE WHOLE EFFING MOVIE YOU LOVE SO MUCH. Terminator 2 is all about the differences between the T-1000 and the T-800. Yes, it was re-programmed, but it wasn’t programmed to get attached to John, to learn from him, to almost act as a surrogate father, to give him a sign of their relationship as he was lowered to his death. It has been established machines can feel. Even the Rev-9, who’s still fully on mission, has a personality, the same way Patrick’s was. They exist, therfore they are. They have their own thoughts, their own doubts and that means they can develop a conscience and get attached. Carl says he doesn’t love his family the way a human would and it shows, the same way the T-800 from T2 didn’t love John like a Kyle Reese would have. 

It gave us a new found family dynamic and used old tropes to tell new stories

Dani, Grace and Sarah have an amazing dynamic. Adding Carl to the mix was a bonus, because it created tension, but at the same time it gave us back that soft T-800 everyone of us fell in love with at 10-13 years old.

It did what TFA tried to do but better, imho. Star Wars fans were starved and when Disney made that movie, it still was considered a good producer of excellent content (now, not so much). TDF was produced by a variety of studios, because nobody wanted to take full responsibility after the disaster that was Genysis (and who could blame them?). Nobody praised TFA for its attempt to start a new saga, re-using ANH’s storyline with new characters and then build from there a new story, but it’s because they didn’t do it right. TFA doesn’t give you time to care about the characters, it’s a messy introduction of what could’ve been a very good trilogy if only they tried harder. 

TDF, in my opinion, did try harder. It gave us a simple hunter-hunted storyline, where all of the cast is in the same place at the same time. This way, you can care about the development of their relationships. You care about Grace and Dani, not because the movie told you to, but because you can see Grace’s affection and ammiration from the very first scenes and, by the end, you see the affection Dani has for this stranger who’s sole purpose it taking care of her, when she’s so used to be the one to take care of others (see the first few scenes with her brother and father). You care about Dani and Sarah, because the whole movie builds up to the mentor storyline without telling you. You care about Carl and Sarah, because of all the build up from past movies, but also because of the little things (”I’m never f* calling you Carl” to calling him just that a few scenes later or Sarah calling out the Rev-9 by telling it, “we’re not machines”). Everything it did, it did without telling us what to feel and that’s rare in a world where franchises are constantly telling you who you should like and why, instead of writing a good story and letting you figure it out by yourself. 

-----

It is not by far a perfect movie. Having 3 producing companies and six writers didn’t help, the same way it didn’t help that Tim Miller was basically ghost-directing for the ever-too-busy James Cameron. 

It could have been better in many ways: firstly, by using smaller scenes and a smaller budget and maybe a little less CGI and a little more practical effects. It was too ambitous and fans hadn’t yet forgiven this franchise for Genysis, because fans are butthurt babies who only want things to be they way they want them (I hated Genysis, don’t get me wrong, but I decided if this movie was going to be worth it once they said it wouldn’t be a sequel and watched a couple of trailers, it isn’t that hard). Another reason it bombed, beside the active boycotting, was the close to absent promotion except for a couple of lines. 

Anyway, this messy post is just to explain the reasoning why I believe it is a worthy sequel and, in my opinion, without the nostalgia goggles on and taking out of the equation the “originality” factor, I dare say it’s perfectly on par with The Terminator. 

#terminator dark fate #terminator #terminator spoilers #spoilers #angie rants #ignore #personal #long post