#also don't look back makes me think of eurydice | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

qroier · 5 months

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edited my post from yesterday on spiderbit eurydice and orpheus to be clearer. it is now. way longer klsdjfk. but the idea is the same. anyway enjoy reading if you do and uh. pues f if you don't, no? lskdfjsdk. kinda already mentioned it in the post but should clarify here that i'm 100% talking about the greek myth.

Thinking about spiderbit as eurydice and orpheus is so interesting to me, cause I think depending on how you look at it and how you think of the story, there's an argument for both. And then you remember everything that was purgatory and how clear of a parallel it is to the myth hdksjdks. Honestly though, I feel like the purgatory parallels are the biggest reason roier cubito as orpheus is winning out on that one poll, and I kinda have to disagree with that. The evidence for orpheus roier is there from the start. Roier cubito is always and forever a perfect, permanent orpheus figure even before considering purgatory, and it's down to the devotion roier and orpheus cling to and the grief they both drown in. (The rest under the read more)

Backtracking first for a bit to set the stage. There are many different versions of the eurydice and orpheus myth out there, and its nature as a myth means that interpretations (and translations of any original latin or greek versions) are always changing. Disclaimer of course that my understanding and general knowledge of the myth has been mainly influenced by the wider english-speaking cultural approach to it. I'm focusing on the orpheus archtype from my understanding of what it means (which I'll explain along the way) because otherwise if I didn't I'd end up getting too boggled down in "virgil said this according to this translation" and "ovid went more in this direction following this translator" details. and there is no way in hell i'm struggling through translating on my own with my measle little two years of latin classes under my belt lskdjfkldfj.

But regardless, here's a very basic and brief summary that most versions tend to follow: Eurydice and orpheus are married. Eurydice dies. Orpheus treks out to the underworld through the power of music to save her and get her back. He's told the only way he can have her is if he makes the treacherous trip back to the mortal realm without turning to look at her once. He looks back right before he makes it, and fails in saving her. Sounds familiar, right? slkdjfsk

Don't get me wrong, orpheus cellbit still makes sense in a way. That's part of why the poll and idea in general is so interesting. Heed the disclaimer again but to me, the biggest, most obvious, and most immediately linked connotation the myth has always had is one of devotion. Like the type of devotion that would take you all the way into the afterlife and all the way back in the hopes that that might save the person you love. Cellbit cubito is nothing if not devoted, and normally in the loudest ways possible. He loves shouting out his devotion at all times to anyone in close proximity. It just makes sense that if anyone could hold the level of devotion necessary to be orpheus it'd be him, cause we all know he'd do anything for roier.

Plus being honest, it also makes sense just going by the dynamics in their relationship that they most often present to others. Roier cubito kinda likes playing into the dynamic of asking other people to "save" him, whether that's from mobs or hunger or anything, so long as it's not something actually serious. So much so that the idiot (said lovingly) has conditioned everyone, and I do mean everyone, both islanders and audience alike, into thinking he's defenseless and needs saving. Maxo put it best that one time when he said he felt like roier after cellbit saved him from some mobs, only for cellbit to have to correct him and say that it's usually the other way around. As far as most are concerned, cellbit does the rescuing while roier gleefully asks for the help. It is very easy to make the jump from the idea that eurydice is being saved and the image of roier cubito calling out for help with a scorpion that he could (normally at least, I know he didn't have any weapons or gear that one time during purgatory) bring down on his own. It definitely doesn't help that cellbit is, of course and as always, already running to roier with a weapon in hand to kill the scorpion. At the first chance, he's already trying to help. Anything for his husband.

So it makes sense that orpheus cellbit, who clearly loves doing the saving, would drag himself through hell in his devotion to save eurydice roier, who loves being the one saved! But then you start remembering how the story came about. You start wondering, well, why does the devotion need to be so strong? Why does eurydice even need to be saved? What has brought the both of them to the gates of the afterlife? Oh. Right. It's because she died. She's dead. Eurydice, the love of orpheus’ life, is dead.

Saving her takes and is devotion, yes, but it's also an attempt to escape grief. If she’s saved, there’s no need to mourn. If she’s saved, then she’s not dead and there’s no grief. And, always, there is no one more grief-riddled than roier (except maybe maxo, whose grief has permanently killed him). No one knows more intimately than roier how tough of a fight it is to escape constant grief because he is constantly grieving, and it just keeps getting worse. His number one recurring theme since arriving on the island has been that he will lose loved ones. To the point that sometimes, even if the person is still technically around, the grief around them and the relationship that once was finds ways to persist (just look at the mess that revolved around spreen cubito before he was confirmed to be dead).

The devotion still applies to him too, of course. Even though it's in quieter ways, there's no denying that roier is as equally devoted to cellbit as cellbit is to him. Cellbit once promised roier he'd rescue him if the feds ever arrested him. Roier once told cellbit he'd go after him and wouldn't stop until he got him back if the feds tried taking cellbit again. And that's not even the only time roier has promised that, he's said similar things multiple times before. He even had to fulfill that same promise once already, back during the regret arc when cellbit went missing trying to save felps. If there is one thing that is true, it's that roier is not lacking in orpheusian devotion.

Actually, extending that devotion from being based in romantic love to also including familial love just makes it all the clearer how much of an orpheus roier has already been. Orpheus fights through the journey, holding on to hope and powering himself through devotion, because the alternative of having permanently lost eurydice, of having to succumb to grief, is too much for him to take. Roier fought through the entire island and later a dungeon, holding on to hope and powering himself through devotion, because the alternative of having permanently lost bobby, of having to succumb to the grief of loosing his son to something outside of his control, was too much for him to take.

And then they both fail. Orpheus looks back too early. Sometimes he forgets, in his excitement to be so close to the end, sometimes doubt gets the best of him and he has to check, and sometimes the need to see his love again overwhelms all his senses. Sometimes maybe it's somehow all three. Roier also looked back too early, in a way, but cucurucho only knows what way that actually was. It could have been that he technically did die right at the very end before he could make it through the dungeon, or it could have been that the gods were feeling particularly cruel that day. Either way, bobby wasn't returned to him. Either way, eurydice vanishes in the morning light after orpheus gets one last glimpse of her. Either way, Bobby vanishes behind the door after roier and jaiden are given only 10 minutes to say goodbye.

This is all without even touching on some of the details about how roier's singing charms everyone he meets and how music is such an important part of his character (for those of you unfamiliar with the myth, orpheus' connection to music is so deep that the greeks named a constellation after his lyre). Or, as notes in the last version of this post pointed out, how his previous journeys to the underworld have shaken his faith and trust (which would probably need to be a whole entire other post on its own).

Roier is just permanent orpheus. He can't help it. If you believe that characters in myths are left behind, endlessly retelling their journeys even once the book is closed, then orpheus is still there, making that trip to the afterlife and back. His story is being retold through roier, who is here now. Roier, who has already gone on two trips to the afterlife and back, already told this story twice before, and is now preparing himself for a third (even a fourth, if you want to extend this whole thing and include purgatory and the eggs). It’s retold in how Roier has to do the saving, again, because he keeps getting left behind. In how he’s always drowning in grief, in some way or another. How he’ll drag himself through the journey every single time if it means a chance at saving someone he loves. If it means saving himself from more grief.

So the stage is set. Purgatory happened. Orpheus has loved, again, and he's lost, again. Roier may like it when he's the one being saved but he's been forced yet again into a position where he has a chance to do the saving. He's facing an increasingly insurmountable mountain of grief on one side and a plunging chance at salvation on the other. The book has been turned back to its first page. The story is rewinding to tell itself again. We know what path he'll pick. Now all that’s left is to see if this third trip succeeds. To see if this retelling is one where orpheus does not look back. And if he does? Well.

"Dying again, [Eurydice] did not blame her husband — What could she complain of except she was loved?" - ovid, translator: stanley lombardo

#qsmp #if you don't feel like reading the whole thing then just read the fifth paragraph (starts with “plus being honest”)#and the second to last one (starts with “roier is just permanent orpheus”)#dunno how much sense they'd make out of context but they're the ones that focus on my original thoughts the most #speaking #spiderbit #roier #cellbit #👍#i don't even want to think about how many words this is lksdjfslkf much less how much time this took #posts from me for me

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jaxs-beanie · 3 months

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Zachary James' Hadestown headcanons

Zachary James, the West End Hades, posted a video on Cameo about his headcanons about the role and his relationships with the other characters, including a REALLY dark Worker headcanon! West End Workers have it ROUGH :(

Hades and Persephone have the greatest love of all, it's lasted millions and millions of years. "She has to leave 6 months out of the year and…I think at first it was 'okay we can do this' but…over time it's driven him mad. And he's in deep despair. Always wondering what she's doing up there, he has fear of missing out because he can't go run through the fields and all the wonderful things she does, and it affects her too." She comes back to the underworld and she doesn't have fun anymore. There's been a lot of turmoil to the relationship and he's become someone he doesn't like and she doesn't like, and because of the resentment, fear, and jealousy he's unable to be the beautiful, loving self that he was at the beginning of their relationship.

With Eurydice, she's new on the scene and he sees her and is like 'You look good. come with me. I have something to offer you, you're cold and hungry; I have food and warmth. 'I think for the Workers…he calls them 'my children' and that's what they are, he takes care of them, at a great cost to them but he doesn't see it as a great cost, he's like 'I've given you a job and you have a home and you're warm, and…y'know. And it's complicated because he really cares what they think about him…in my interpretation, he really cares. That's his only family that's always there. He's always there, they're always there, Persephone is not.'

Eurydice is just a new recruit, and he has had many recruits before--there are 5 Workers onstage, 6 with Eurydice, but it's complex because you know he has brought many, many Workers down. And I'm thinking 'it didn't work out' and when it didn't work out the Workers go to their death and their bodies are used for fuel. Cause he says he fuels this enterprise with the fossils of the dead', obviously fossils from the earth but I also interpreted it as fossils from…the Workers that didn't work out, or disobeyed.'

The power play is that if they disobey or don't do their work or whatever, they don't get to play anymore. so when ORPHEUS comes into the picture, the great challenge is that he's losing his sense of security and his sense of power and he's not powerful anymore because this guy comes in who's very charismatic and has this power of music! And music is love, right, so it's a pure love, which…contradicts the love Hades feels for things, for Persephone, for his environment, for the Workers. And when he meets Orpheus and sees that pure love, it's an existential crisis, that he's like 'Oh there's another way, I remember what that felt like, but I don't have that anymore and I can't have that anymore because of circumstances' and he questions his purpose. Hades sees Persephone loving Orpheus and the magic of Orpheus the way she used to love him, and it's very complex and painful.

Zachary definitely doesn't think of Hades as a villain, but as someone who's doing what he thinks is best, it just happens people are hurt by it. He's learned as an actor to not judge his character, cause if he thinks 'Oh I hate how he treats Persephone' it gets in the way of embodying the character and making him likable and bringing out the positive in him. 'I think he's a really tender guy and he has more feelings than anyone and that's what makes him so interesting to play.'

#hadestown #hadestown west end #hades #persephone #eurydice #the workers

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apocryphalantiithesis · 1 month

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small tess & script dump

hellou. This is the beginning of the content farm ehem anyways this is as the title says tess n script doodles from recently:]

Ok erm. Decided I'd put the rest of the stuff here because I'm gonna do. Some unhinged yapping rambling. Be warned.......

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Ok sou this one is. Actually tess as like.a small part of the b sides and rarities cover by the arcade fire woohoo!! Yeah.

This is gonna have a lot of arcade fire yapping because.im not normal about them nor spr 🕊️

Technically NOT the b sides cover but the pictures from neon bible!! I was listening to black mirror whole doing the tess drawing from above and I thought wow some of the lyrics could really y'know. Kinda??? Fit tess if you think about it hard enough. Also imagine. French speaking tess.but that's a different discussion AHEM

If you see a little that's actually ( 🤓🤓) why I wrote black mirror on the bottom of the first tess drawing above.

Yeah. So, Black mirror. So the first verse ehh not a lot BUT..but.

"I walked down to the ocean

After waking from a nightmare

No moon no pale reflection

Black mirror, black mirror"

ok so no reflection?? If we look at it from the spr perspective (wtf am I saying brah ☠️) no reflection we could say is tess loosing himself to the void right.right. like there's no reflection of him because technically he's slowly. Stopping being tess as 1x takes over

"Shot by a security camera

You can't watch your own image

And also look yourself in the eye

Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror"

Ok so more of the above , not your own image ;; 1x controlling him, can't look yourself in the eye ;; him being conscious of what's happening but not.really being able to control

"I know a time is coming

All words will lose their meaning

Please show me something that isn't mine

-But mine is the only kind that I relate to

Le miroir casse,

The mirror casts mon reflet partout

Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror"

I know a time is coming ;; as I said him being kinda conscious of the situation but continuing for the sake of knowledge or whatever, all words will loose their meaning more of the same. And the mirror breaking could be 1x taking over.

"The black mirror knows no reflection

It knows not pride or vanity

It cares not about your dreams

It cares not for your pyramid schemes"

Also big thing; the black mirror here would be 1x,. then the next 3 lines 1x not caring about tess as a person and only using him to have a physical body and do evil stuff later or whatever

Ok an that's it the next few lines are the same and then it repeats lolz

ALSO the original image has a horrid ahh quality so, originally you can't see the details on the clothes like at all but I added because erm. Why not.

ALSO (X2) color picked everything from the og image. Is it cheating? Maybe but I did this mostly for fun rather than for practice so bleeehhgh

NEXT ONE!!!

Reflektor. By the arcade fire. again. and its album cover...

Ok so I'm gonna be honest this drawing is actually from like a while ago last year BUTT I decided it'd be cool to include it here because it's kinda like the b sides one. also I don't remember posting this one ever, it was something I just kinda kept for myself so technically first time ..

ANYWAYS. so

The reflektor album cover is actually (🤓🤓 again) the Orpheus and Eurydice sculpture by Auguste Rodin. Orpheus and Eurydice.

So quick resume for this all to have sense. Orpheus and Eurydice are a Greek myth, basically the get married but Eurydice dies so Orpheus goes to the underground to save her beloved and comes to an agreement with the guy that controls the afterlife, that if he can climb all the way back up with Eurydice behind him, the underground guy will make Eurydice come back to life BUT. Orpheus can't look behind or else Eurydice doesn't live.

However the underground guy makes Eurydice talk and Orpheus turns to look back and looses and Eurydice dies forever and ñañañañañaññaa

SO ONCE AGAIN, from the spr perspective (☠️X2) we could try to make them fit into script and tess, obviously two totally different ahh situations BUT hear me out. Going back to reflektor as an album I want to focus on "It's never over" specifically this part:

"It seems so important now

But you will get over

Seems so important now

But you will get over

And when you get over

And when you get older

Then you will remember

Why it was so important then

Seems like a big deal now

But you will get over

Seems like a big deal now

You will get over

When you get over

When you get older

Then you will discover

That it's never over"

So obviously, script as Orpheus and tess as Eurydice. And that fragment in specific towards script. LIKE THE REST OF THE SONG MAYBE DOESN'T FIT BUT IMAGINE THOSE. VERY SPECIFIC LINES AS TESSLISS ANGST. THINK.ABOUT IT 💔💔

And I know I actually committed like a huge fuck up here because I put the roles backwards 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I did tess as Orpheus and script as Eurydice AND IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.THE OTHER WAY AROUND 😭😭💔 I honestly don't know why I did it that way back then but huge sigh and bad on my early 2023 self😞😞😞

Ok and putting everything having to do with the myth aside and only looking at the statue itself I guess I did it that way because it could've been tess falling into the void and scriptliss trying to comfort him because yknow. The chapter eight 1x dialogues where it shows interactions between the 2 and all dat stuff.

Looking at it like that it could've fit but. whatever, maybe I'll redo it one day in the not near future with the roles done right, for now here it is

Ok last one isn't gonna be that long of a yapping session.

Lyrics are from "infinitesimal" by mother mother.

Totally off topic but did you know.actually. mother mother are inspired by arcade fire and their album funeral 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓 are there any mother mother fans here?? eureka enjoyers??? Anywhere?

Not really much context as the other 2, I just thought that part of the song was silly and the way Ryan sings it is how I think script would talk lol

I did all the whiteboards and the 2 tess ones today I am literally in my fucking primeeee!! like 2 decently done drawings with decent rendering in one day?? This is why I'm calling it the content farm my brain is gonna be fueled the entirety of these 2 weeks of vacation 😈.

One last note and also spoiler for my next farm content edition, I was actually gonna q tess drawing with "in the backseat" lyrics and also "Peter pan" and I thought of putting it here but blehh for next time:3

Lastly sorry if there's any typos or if I wrote stuff in broken English 😞I try my best

and that's it!!! If you actually read this I love you :3:3:3:3:333333333 and also I'm sorry

#super paper roblox #paper roblox #scriptliss #tess aract #was this just an excuse to talk about arcade fire and spr at the same time🥺🥺? yes.yes it was #double aA&

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annymation · 1 month

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I reread the backstory of the villains and at the end you mentioned that Amaya is Persephone and Magnifico is Hades (from Disney). I was wondering which of the ancient Greek gods (or other characters from Greek mythology) do you associate Asha and Aster with?

So I kept looking for greek love stories with happy endings... And as ya'll can imagine that's a pointless endeavor, most are tragedies, and the few happy ones we do have don't fit with Asha and Aster.

So instead I decided to just pick greek characters that remind me of Asha and Aster, regardless of who those loved.

I'd say Asha reminds me most to Medea

Now hear me out, I know what you're thinking (If you're familiar with her myth)

"But Anny! Medea killed people!"

Yeah yeah I know, that's not what gives me Asha vibes in her, quick summary for those who don't know:

Medea was a princess, that fell in love with a "hero" named Jason

(She only fell in love with him because Hera made her fall in love with him, so she would help him survive the many trials her father was putting him through, Jason was like Hera's champion, that's why she gave him this lil intervention)

So Jason took Medea home with him, after she literally saved his life, and they had two kids together. But later, Jason decided he wanted to marry another princess, like, one still in power instead of Medea that was a run away princess.

Medea obviously got furious that her husband would marry someone else just for the perks. But she didn't just sit down and took it like many other maidens in greek mythology would, nuh-uh, she started plotting her revenge.

She elaborated a plan to kill both their kids and Jason's new girlfriend, through clever scheming and also potions- because did I mention she makes potions? Yeah turns out Medea was also a big inspiration for me when writing Amaya, she's kinda my favorite girl in greek mythology.

So WHY does she reminds me of Asha? Well simple, Asha stood up against injustice and did everything she possibly could to outwit the villains and had plenty of moments where her quick thinking saved her by a hair (Flashback to the climax of Kingdom of Wishes). Asha plans things out and speaks her mind, she and Medea are both strong, not physically, but in their wit.

I guess I could also compare her to Ariadne since she was also clever by helping Theseus escape the minotaur labyrinth, buuuuut Ariadne isn't as cool as Medea, like come on, at the end of the classical stage play she RIDES HELIOS FLYING CHARIOT LIKE A FREAKIN GODDESS JUST TO TAUNT JASON!!! SAYING SHE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM HIM!!! THEN SHE PROPHESIZES HE'LL DIE ALONE!!!! AND THAT THE GODS ARE ON HER SIDE!!! BECAUSE HES A LYING LIL OATH BREAKER!!!

Anyway, it gives me the vibes of Asha flying on her hand drawn flying carpet to defeat Magnifico and Amaya, and then saying "No one believes your lies anymore" while they're being turned into stone, she's just a badass like that.

As for Aster, maybe it's the Epic: The Musical fan in me talking, but eh, Odyseus.

Simply because I can totally see Aster going through hell and back to find Asha, the same way Odyseus did for Penelope, and also because I can see him being dumb enough to give his full name and address to a cyclops he just blinded. But as more and more shenanigans happen (And by that I mean most of his army freaking dying) he becomes more willing to be more ruthless for the sake of his men that are left and so they can go back home, similar to how Aster matured and even got a lil sadistic in the end there when he decided to turn the villains into stone.

Alternatively, I could also let the Hadestown fan in me win and say he reminds me of Orpheus, but that makes me too sad, considering what happens to Orpheus and Eurydice in the end. Let's say if you cut Orpheus turning to look back, yeah that relationship is very Aster and Asha vibes.

@superkooku you like greek mythology right? Do you have other ideas?

#wish rewrite #wish reimagined #kingdom of wishes #ask

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athenafire2000 · 1 year

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Ok I've mentioned some of this before at some point but I'm mentioning it again because the book is coming out soon and leaks are becoming more frequent so I want to place my bets now, but Michael Yew 100% got sucked into Tartarus when Poseidon sucked Typhon down into Tartarus through the river. My other predictions include:

Bob is trapped in Nyx's mansion (I already had this theory but the map pictures are making me more sure I am right)

Michael Yew will be the thing of equal value that gets left behind (or possibly Small Bob, I will cry either way)

Will might bathe in the Styx at Nico's request but don't really think so

It's actually going to be more of a Cupid and Psyche parallel than Orpheus and Eurydice, or a combination of both

I don't really think this will happen but I started a prediction AU about it a while back and never finished it or posted it but I think there's a possibility that Nico dies and Will goes all plaguey plaguey plaguey and then when he finally escapes Tartarus he just marches right into Hades's palace and is like hEY. I WANT MY BOYFRIEND BACK. And Hades is like cool sing me a song then. Also I already offered him immortality so he'll have to choose between that and you (another possible thing of equal value to leave behind) and you won't know till you get to the top of that tunnel without looking back. And because he's already kind of f'ed up mentally from Tartarus Will is like oh.... I don't wanna make him choose me over immortality... nvm I guess... and Hades is like just fyi immortality sucks when you're sad and alone can confirm how about you just do it and let him decide and Will is like ok good point and then sings a song and absolutely nobody cries or anything and then he makes it out of the underworld but basically passes out before he finds out if Nico followed him or not and Apollo just ignores everything and shows up and takes him to CHB to heal him and when he wakes up Nico is waiting for him and cue tears

Thank you and goodnight

OH also Small Bob becomes Will's therapy cat because WILL IS A CAT PERSON AND NICO IS A DOG PERSON I WILL NOT BE TAKING QUESTIONS

#tsats spoilers #nico di angelo #solangelo #will solace #pjo hoo toa #percy jackon and the olympians #solangelo book #solangelo headcanon

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mardytoast · 14 days

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🍄🪐📚

🍄headcanon for one of your favourite ships/pairings🍄

clyde and craiggg

craig introduced clyde to fnaf when they were like 10 to scare him bc clydes scared of everything but he actually ended up eating it up. they play it together and the next day clyde knows ALL the lore and craigs the one getting freaked out. he'll play all the games, scream, but then be like 'that was awesome' while Craig pretends hes not horrified out of his mind bc he cant accept that clyde is somehow less of a pussy than him. this obsession never fades.

man like clyde, scared of gingers, dressed up as hyper realistic springtrap for halloween when he was 13

🪐name three good things going on in your life right now🪐

very grateful to be in a position to answer this!!

1. i joined a discord server of poets for napowrimo (poetry month)

im finally able to share my work with people with experience, who care, appreciate and are able to give me really good feedback

it's only been a few days but i kinda love them🤭 also im being spoilt with soulful poetry

2. im getting better at guitar!! ive been learning for 3 months now but i haven't been practicing much so progress is slow. IN SAYING THAT THOUGH, i can see a crazy amount of improvement. callouses are pretty non existent but ive memorised a few chords and currently im trying to master pompeii by bastile

i am delighteddd to no ends bc it means i can start putting music to my songs!! alr done it with one!!

3. gonna split this between two small things. a.) summer is upon us, so im very excited. b.) i think ill be able to reconcile with one of my friends i fell out with for a stupid reason. im going to try talk to her and im feeling confident!!

📚what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?📚

the last thing i wrote was a song called 'if eurydice could see me now' and it's from a napowrimo prompt. i shared it with the server and they liked it :)

it's very inspired by tear you apart by she wants revenge

it's based on greek mythology, you can look up eurydice to read abt it <33

here's a little exert:

oh muse i can't face you now

i would die, to bring you back

i play my lyre and don't believe the man

im not a fool, im just overwhelmed

blood pooling in the imprint you left

but i leave, there'll be no poets

i arise to the heart's music

i gave up, now i just make it

#thank you for the ask <3 #asks #ask game #south park #clyde donovan #craig tucker #song writing #guitar

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star--nymph · 28 days

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Eurydice Essentials: 05 - What do they specialize in within their class? 06 - Do they have a preferred weapon they always use? 07 - How do they dress in their downtime, while fighting, in formal settings, etc.? Codex: 10 - Are there any animals they have a particular love or hatred for?

11 - Do they have any interest in folk tales or folk songs? Have fun! <3

Aaaaaa, thank you, Jaz!! TIME TO GUSH ABOUT MY ELF.

ESSENTIALS

05 - What do they specialize in within their class?

Rift Mage! I did play around with the other two in game, but character-wise they didn't work for Eurydice. She has a personal thing with against necromancy (particularly the idea of raising a corpse from its resting place to do one's bidding) and while Knight Enchanter's cool, it ultimately doesn't fit her fighting style (favors ranged over close combat). Aside from all that, Eurydice has been studying the mark and the rifts since she woke up to it cut into her hand. Logically, it only makes sense that she would further that study with the help of 'Your Trainer' and Solas. Even if she didn't have the mark, Eurydice curiosity over the rifts alone would have lead her to being a Rift Mage. They are just random rips time and space that is pouring the Fade into their planet--if she can't at least play around with it, she can use it to her advantage. And being able to rain down meteors is pretty hot, neither of us can not lie.

06 - Do they have a preferred weapon they always use?

Oh, you know, that's a good question because she tends to switch between weapons? At least, in my head, Eurydice is primarily a staff user but she has a tendency to dig her staff into the ground and use it as a beacon or point of focus while she uses her hands (think like a lightening rod). Eurydice has a wild fighting style; she uses her staff more of an extension of her magic but for the most part, she'll attack from a distance, using heavy-handed spells like the Static Cage or Veilstrike to her advantage. If she's risking someone getting close, she turns her lightening magic into a whip that she uses to drag people towards her. She has a tendency to skitter out of the way if people do get close and people have noted that she mirrors a stag or halla when she does so. I did have an idea a while back of her being a spellbook user and that she outfitted her personal tome to have spikes on the spine so when people get too close, she can slam it down on them. Whether she actually does that in battle, I don't know, but is an hilarious image. That all said, she also keeps a knife one of her brothers made her before she left for the Conclave. So that might be her actual preferred weapon--it certainly is the one she has used to gut people who corner her in battle (and she has threaten several people with it on occasion);

07 - How do they dress in their downtime, while fighting, in formal settings, etc.?

Okay, so I fully admit, if Eurydice had her way, she'd be wearing nothing but rags she found on the side of the road. Sadly for her, I love fashion and pretty clothing more than most things in life, so she has to deal with me having a detailed wardrobes for her. Eurydice has two different forms of downtime clothing: those she works in and those she wears around Skyhold. When the Inquisition first settled in Skyhold, Eurydice's wardrobe was whatever she had on hand and had pockets, no matter how bad they looked. I made a joke that Eurydice probably walked out of her quarters one day wrapped in a curtain that she tied with sash, and from that point on Leliana, Josephine, and Vivienne took over her wardrobe--and while that's probably an exaggeration, it's not completely off. Eurydice wears things that work and don't get in the way. She also has a tendency to like light fabrics, so she'd probably be content with something she found in an old draw or in the servant's quarters. I think when she was with the clan, she and her sister Melia often wore the same limited wardrobe because fabric was hard to some by and neither of them were skill weavers. They wore what they wore and fixed them when they were damaged until they could no longer be worn; then recycled them for some other use. Skyhold was the first time that she had the money or freedom to wear...new things. I want to take a brief moment to mention that Eurydice has texture sensory issues to certain fabrics. Like I said, she wears light fabrics and one of the reasons is because they overstimulate her. For example, she can't wear velvet; she has stated that she feels as if its ripping off her skin and will scream if she's forced to touch it. Taffeta has a similar reaction. Satin is touch and go. Wools, linens like Muslim, cambric, canvas, and fustian are usually what she prefers--the lighter and more breathable the material, the safer she feels. She doesn't mind leathers either, though she prefers them not directly on the skin. For a default look, Eurydice wears something like this:

Which is a modification of this PJ mod with an added skirt, sash, and different sleeves. This is definitely the one she's most comfortable wearing, as you can tell by her skirt's hem being tattered (and it's absolutely filthy). The skirt has extra pockets and the sash acts as one big pocket which she carries things like seeds or books in. It certainly the one she wears when she's working in the stables or in her workshop. Eurydice has a another part of wardrobe specifically for lounge wear or at least for less formal meetings with nobles--these outfits also use lighter fabrics but are noted for being more expensive, having high-quality metals, jewels, and embroidery sewn into them. These formal looks usually look like the outfits I've drawn here: 1, 2, 3, 4. Usually her hair is either down, or put up in braids and buns with ribbons. She likes jewelry, especially earrings, so when she's feeling particularly pretty, she might wear silver and gold earrings. As for formal events like Judgements, galas, noble meetings, or the like, Eurydice's wardrobe and hair are given the full royal treatment. Crowns, layers dresses with flowing sleeves and caps, the very best jewelry the Inquisition can't get, and beautiful pearl laced hairstyles. So examples like: 1, 2, 3. It's pretty obvious that she's never quite happy to be in these looks, especially because people fuss around her. By the end of the night, she's thrown parts of the outfits off somewhere over her shoulder. And as you can imagine, her Winter Palace look is probably even more grand (and upsetting for her). I don't have many pictures because I've been drawing and redrawing and scrapping her Winter Palace look for years but the main description I can give is that it invokes a moon goddess image, with her having a train and cape that looks like glittering stars, and a heavy head dress with moons on it. Finally, Eurydice armor is also something I've been playing with for years and while I don't have an exact picture, I will say it's meant to be a cross between Dancer of the Boreal Valley from Dark Souls, the Nightingale Robes from Skyrim, and the Dalish armor concept from DA2. She definitely has a full faced, featureless mask on. Most people presume that she's an old woman in her armor because of her mask, her grey hair, her slump when she walks, and her deep voice.

CODEX

10 - Are there any animals they have a particular love or hatred for?

Eurydice doesn't hate any animal. I used to think she hated spiders but now I'm like no, she loves them. Crawling little friends. They're doing their jobs, why should she bother them? If they make cobwebs in her hair, that's THEIR business. But hallas are the ones she holds closest to her heart. Eurydice doesn't just love halla, she feels protected and respected when they're around her—a group of them relaxing in the middle of a field feels like home to her. Halla are intertwined with her more significant relationships. She's been enamored since she was a baby and her grandmother (her Hahmama) would carry her around and tell her about them through the day; she even made a halla plush for Eurydice to sleep with. Actually, Eurydice was selective mute for a good portion of her childhood and the only times she would talk was if she was either her Hahmama or her sister Melia—or if she was with halla. Most people didn't even know baby Eurydice could speak until they'd pass by her sitting with a group and blabber to them—BUT if they tried to talk to her themselves, she'd become quiet again. And that was thing—from a young age, halla didn't require anything OF Eurydice. They just liked that she was there, that she plop down with the tiny useless things she found, talk their ears off, and cuddle by their sides. Halla don't judge, they don't say Eurydice talks in odd ways—too fast, too slow, not happy enough, not using the right words. It's hard to be in the world as it is but to be in a place with creatures who let you simply exist and are happy with is unique to Eurydice. It's sad really because as talented she is with magic, her coming into it destroyed her dreams of being a halla mistress. All she wanted as a child was to stay with her halla and her sister. She wanted to become a halla mistress with Melia, raise and care for the beings that welcomed her into their family when no one else did. It's one of the reasons Eurydice hid her magic she was twelve—because she knew once it was revealed, everything she wanted would be taken away for the good of the clan. And it was. Eurydice had to be The First, she had to learned the ways of magic and lore and leadership over her people, even when she wasn't her people's first (or even last) choice for successor. So no more halla—no more running away with Melia to pretend to be halla mistress' in the forest. The best she could do was watch them from afar, ride them when she was able, and have Ghilan'nain's vallaslin. Anyway, all animals are good animals, even the ones that try to eat her. If they kill her, that's her fault, she was slipping,

11 - Do they have any interest in folk tales or folk songs?

She does. As I mentioned above, Eurydice's Hahmama started her love for halla and the reason for that was because her Hahmama was actually the clan's storyteller. Her Hahmama was like a library of stories and songs, every day she'd beguile the clan's children with myths and legends, and every night she'd sing to the adults about old heroes and love affairs with the gods. But the special stories about hallas and Ghilan'nain were reserved for her grandchildren and little Eurydice was enthralled with them through her. So as she grew, she'd collected them in her mind like her Hahmama did before her. Though she's no storyteller, she knows her people's folk tales and songs well, and she keeps in her heart for those she loves. And when her children come, she'll sit them down and tell them all they need to know.

#Eurydice Lavellan #writing #dai #female lavellan #lavellan

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chrysanthemumgames · 11 months

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I just read chapter 8 and wow, it was so amazing! I don't even know if I prefer the aftermath of the chapter 7 fight + the ending with the fruit and all, or if I prefer the whole Orpheus and Eurydice thing!

Eurydice literally tackling Orpheus out of the Underworld had to be one of the biggest "she did WHAT" moments of all times for me, but it was so great! Especially with it allowing a good ending too! Or well, at least as good as it could have been given the circumstances. Not to mention, I quite admire you for making something inherently "funny" still being more shocking and suprising than anything else thanks to how you described it. It could have easily turned into a comedic scene considering what happened, but somehow you avoided the pitfall. I also really liked the small detail to allow the MC to stim out of stress during the whole ordeal. It's these little details and how much freedom we get over them that truly make your game special - well, among other things.

Back to the fruit scene though... It's interesting - I was somehow both surprised and unsurprised that it was such a "mundane" thing. It's a bit hard to describe, but on one hand I thought that maybe eating the fruit would be something dramatic, and on the other hand it also felt like people in the Underworld would just treat that as something "normal" to do. Well, I'm assuming if the MC keeps the fruit for now but doesn't eat it yet it may turn to be more dramatic later heh - but that wouldn't really make sense for my specific MC. I really love the fact we can decide to share the fruit though! Again, such a nice thought.

That aside, I have a two questions if you don't mind!

First one is about the magic sharing thing (sorry if it was asked before and I somehow missed it!). Will we be able to determine how our MC feels about their "partner's" magic? I don't mean how they feel about the fact the magic is shared in itself - we can already determine that - but really how they feel about their partner's specific magic. Hades saying he finds the MC's magic rather pleasant was so sweet, and I'm curious if we'll be able to determine how the MC feels in return, basically.

Second one is about Orpheus and Eurydice. In my ending to the story, they will be staying half of the year in the Underworld and half in the mortal realm (I love the parallels with the original Persephone deal here too!) - for any good ending where it's relevant (I'm assuming there are variants), will we be able to talk with them a bit more in future chapters, once they've calmed down and all? Especially since it would be interesting for the MC to discuss being a demigod with Orpheus I think - all the more since he was raised as a mortal and the MC as a god. During the whole trial thing, my MC talked with Eurydice because it's what made sense - they were sort-of-friends at that point, and it made sense that she would be the person my MC would seek there and the one easier to "influence" out of the two to help them succeed, but that means he didn't have the opportunity to interact with Orpheus, sadly.

Thank you and have a great day!

Heya! Thanks as always for the reading and the feedback. :) As to your questions:

I don't have the next book planned down to the individual choices or anything, but I'm pretty sure that one will come up, yes.

Sort of the same answer, really. I do think I'll be looking for opportunities for the PC to talk to other demigods (besides Pyri), and an Orpheus who is around some of the time is definitely an option there. So I suspect there will be, depending on where they are and what they're up to, further opportunities to interact with those two!

#ask #kind non anons #konoi and noir

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inkofamethyst · 2 months

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February 25, 2024

I met up with my family in NYC this weekend to explore and see Hadestown to celebrate my birthday and it was fantastic. I feel so rejuvenated after the quick jaunt (less than 24 hours in the city!). I'm not really a huge fan of NYC compared to my current city, but I can recognize its beauty and appeal (even though it gives me an awful experience of some sort every time I enter lol). We went to the New York Public Library and it was amazing. I wish we had hours to spend in there rather than minutes, but we had a show to get to.

Hadestown was... I don't really have words to express how much I enjoyed the show. I mean, it broke me, wrecked me, body mind and soul, but I'd see it again in a heartbeat. I'd heard about it from a friend of my dnd-friend way back in 2019 during or after a game of, you guessed it, DnD, and I'd wanted to see it ever since. I knew the story of Orpheus and Eurydice; one of my favorite tumblr posts of all time discusses the varied interpretations of the myth, and I honestly go back and read it once and a while because the story has always always always been beautifully tragic to me. So I knew how it ended (but I hadn't listened to the soundtrack--I'd refused all these years). And yet. I cried silently at intermission, knowing that Orpheus' quest would be in vain. I cried silently as Eurydice slowly dropped at the end. I cried during bows, I cried on the way out of the theater, I cried while expressing to my family how beautiful it all was. Why tell a story you know is doomed over and over and over again? And every single time, we hope they get it right, though we know they never will.

The music was excellent, the storytelling excellent, the actors (named and ensemble (even with just five they sounded so powerful)!!!!!), the choreography, the set design, the musicians, the lighting design (!!! (as a once-former lights person I'm keenly aware of the effect lighting can have on a story and whew they certainly used it))... All phenomenal. There was a choreographed bit in "Wait for me" with the lights swinging on beat and, just, wow. WOWWWWW. All involved should contribute to my next therapy bill lol.

My mother said she never realized I was such a romantic and, frankly, I didn't either. I mean I knew I was a crier. If there's one thing Imma do, it's cry. And cry ugly. But I think I'm drawn to stories about what love makes us do. Stories that show us how love can destroy, but we still do it anyway, again and again. We seek it out. We risk destruction for the chance at being known, truly and fully.* There was a line in act one from Eurydice, something like "All my life I've only held my own, now I just want you to hold me," and that knocked me out.

Y'all I think Hadestown might be my new favorite musical, surpassing Aida after, oh, six years?

I also had my first ever migraine during my trip lol. I'd braided my hair very very tightly, so it was pulling on my scalp, slowly forming a headache. That combined with the plethora of street smells, the greasy ham and pineapple pizza (which was so so so so good though, place called Carve), and two nights in a row of less than six hours of sleep (braiding lol) resulted in headache + nausea and I wanted to die. But it was nothing an Exedrin and some rest couldn't fix.

During my braiding marathon (a week and a half because I was so busy ugh (but they look gorgeous!!!!)) I watched Blue Beatle finally and thought it had a lot of heart. Regret not seeing it in theaters, but I think it came out during a period where I was just tired of it all ("it" being superhero movies). Also watched The Flash and thought it was very compelling. Flashpoint is not an uncommon means of exploration for the character, so I've seen at least a couple iterations of the same story, but I think this version was done quite well. It was interesting, well-paced, had a nice ending, and was a graceful way to get rid of Ben Affleck lol (also loved the old Batman theme <3 (ALSO also love Is She With You because that is a banger every single time)). I think Ezra Miller plays a really endearing Flash, shame he's crazy :/

Also watched a lot of animated movies on Max! I watched Belle (another with some "la-la-la"'s hehe) which was odd in many ways but was also cute and beautiful, compelling and full of heart. Then I did a bit of a Ghibli marathon of movies I'd never seen before: Tales of Earthsea, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa, Arietty. All beautiful in their own ways. Very unique storytelling, gorgeous art, powerful messages. There are still several I want to see!

I finished Batman Beyond and the ending was dumb anticlimactic lol. The least they could've done was a two-parter that built to something satisfactory. Honestly the epilogue episode in JL (JLU?) was more compelling. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was pretty solid though. I think I'm going to give the DCAU a rest now hehe. Gotta catch up on the MCU, frankly. They've got some interesting things coming up...

*ReesaTeesa's "Who tf did I marry" series was something else. That was another thing I watched while braiding. Finished in two days. Was watching while making figures in the office and someone recognized her face lol. Three things. 1. I did not know a person could be tortured in the way that she was. What happened to her was awful, and it was only because she put herself in the vulnerable position of seeking love. 2. I can't say I fear a pathological liar specifically, but one of my romantic fears is wanting someone's affection so badly that I overlook red flags. Wouldn't be the first time. 3. I know how the internet works, so I shouldn't be surprised, but imo finding her ex's facebook and flaunting it in her comments was a breach of the social contract between ReesaTeesa and her audience, and it should not have been done. She does not want to be associated with that man. I fear for her peace and hope that he does not attempt to make a single penny off her. Was I curious too? Yes. But a person's privacy is more important than my curiosity, always.

Today I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my family. I'm so thankful to have a family I enjoy spending time with. Teared up while saying goodbye :') We're considering making this a yearly thing while I'm in school here. That would be lovely. Also thankful that things are looking up for my sister, it's been a rough school year so far, but things are shifting toward the positive rapidly! Lastly, lowkey thankful that the subway was out of order today on my way back to my apartment. Forced me to take a shuttle which drove through parts of the city I'd not been to yet. Excited for spring and summer treks there, though!

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qroier · 5 months

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EDIT: working on a new version, that's why reblogs are turned off. i'll probably post it tomorrow (12/2/2023) in the (my) morning.

SECOND EDIT: post is up!

that spiderbit as eurydice and orpheus poll is so interesting to me. i can see why people would go with cellbit cubito as orpheus and roier cubito as eurydice, i was even expecting more people to go with that option, but to me roier cubito is just forever and always permanent orpheus. more under the read more cause this got so long hfkshdks

like don't get me wrong orpheus cellbit makes sense in a way, that's actually why the poll is so interesting to me. disclaimer of course that my understanding and general knowledge of the myth has mainly been influenced by the wider english-speaking cultural approach to it, but to me the biggest, most obvious, and immediately linked connotation the myth has always had is one of devotion. like the type of devotion that would take you all the way into the afterlife and all the way back in the hopes that that might save the person you love. cellbit cubito is nothing if not devoted, and normally in the loudest ways possible. he loves shouting out his devotion at all times to anyone in close proximity. it just makes sense that if anyone could hold the level of devotion necessary to be orpheus it'd be him cause we all know he'd do anything for roier.

plus being honest, it also makes sense just going by the dynamics that outsiders might see of their relationship. roier cubito kinda likes the playful dynamic of asking other people to try to "save" him, whether that's from mobs or hunger or anything, so long as it's not something actually serious. so much so that the idiot (said lovingly) has conditioned everyone, and i do mean everyone both islanders and audience alike, into thinking he's defenseless and needs saving. unfortunately, there is going to be at least a little bit of an association between the idea that eurydice is being saved and the image of roier cubito calling out for help with a scorpion that he could (normally at least, i know he didn't have any weapons or gear that one time during purgatory) down on his own.

so it makes sense that orpheus cellbit would drag himself in his devotion to save eurydice roier! but then you start looking deeper into that devotion. you start thinking about, well, why does eurydice even need to be saved? oh, it's because she died. she's dead. saving her is devotion but it's also an attempt to escape grief. and, always, there is no one more grief-riddled than roier (except maybe maxo, whose grief has permanently killed him). the most consistent thing that has happened to him since arriving on the island is losing people that he loves.

the devotion still applies to him too, of course. even though it's in quieter ways, there's no denying that roier is as equally devoted to cellbit as cellbit is to him. cellbit once promised roier he'd rescue him if the feds ever arrested him. roier once told cellbit he'd go after him and wouldn't stop until he got him back if the feds tried taking cellbit again. and that's not even the only time roier has promised that, he's said similar things multiple times before. he even had to fulfill that same promise once before already, back during the regret arc when cellbit went missing trying to save felps. roier is not lacking in devotion

you can even extend the type of love from romantic to familial and it will still be true that roier is permanent orpheus. it even becomes clearer, almost. orpheus fights through the journey, holding on to hope and powering himself through devotion, because the alternative of having permanently lost eurydice, of having to succumb to grief, is too much for him to take. roier fights through the entire island and later a dungeon, holding on to hope and powering himself through devotion, because the alternative of having permanently lost bobby, of having to succumb to the grief of loosing his son to something outside of his control, is too much for him to take. and then they both fail. orpheus looks back too early. who knows what went wrong with roier's journey. it could have been that he technically did die right at the very end before he could make it up, or it could have been that the gods were feeling particularly cruel that day. either way, bobby wasn't returned to him.

this is all without even touching on some of the details about how he charms everyone he meets and how music is such an important part of his character. roier is just permanent orpheus. he can't help it. like he's literally gone through a journey to the afterlife to save someone he loves TWICE already. (could even extend it to include purgatory and the eggs, if you want). he keeps getting left behind despite his best efforts. he's always drowning in grief, some way or another, and yet he can't help but try and fight to bring back the people he loves anyway. let's just hope this third time, with cellbit stuck in purgatory, doesn't go like the first.

#qsmp #roier #speaking #spiderbit #yeah #slkdjflksdfj spent way too much time on this i should be doing assignments #hope all of you at least have fun reading this if you do ksdljfk #posts from me for me #edit:#i went back to edit this a bit and add a readmore #if you've seen two different versions don't worry they both say the same thing

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ryuichirou · 1 year

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Hello! Your art is really amazing and I also have a question to ask you if you wouldn't mind

I don't mean this in a rude way and the reason I'm asking is because I'm curious, why do you ship Ortho/Idia and Lilia/Silver?

+ Anonymous asked:

Hello ! I was wondering what make you ship ortho and idia ? No jugements here I also shipped family members in the past for various reasons, but I can’t seem to see the appeal of this particular ship. Anyway, have a nice day ! (btw sorry for my grammar i’m not english)

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

Hi, Anons! Seems like I’m starting all of my replies with apologizing for being late, this one isn’t an exception lol This is another ask that I wanted to think about for a while to make sure that I reply to it properly.

Thank you so much for liking my art and thank you for approaching this question in a polite way. I know this is a controversial topic, this is why we try to be honest about it, but at the same time not to post about it too often; but if you’re curious, I don’t mind talking about it. Ehh but this post is super long, I don’t know if you wanted it to be this long haha well.

Obligatory disclaimer,in case there are any people out there who still don’t realise where we stand on this issue: fiction is fiction, any topic or trope could be explored and played around with in fiction, and there is no direct correlation between the tropes a person loves and their moral code or life choices. One does not “support *something*” by shipping a certain ship. It’s not that deep.

With that out of the way, let’s proceed! Starting with Ortho/Idia. The reply’s mostly about them, tbh.

And right away, another disclaimer: like I mentioned in another post on this topic, us shipping Ortho and Idia romantically doesn’t mean that we don’t appreciate the platonic reading of their relationship. The idea that platonic love could be super strong and tragic and make a person do drastic things for their sibling’s happiness is great and rarely explored in fiction. Believe it or not, we just really love the way they’re written, and even though we ship them romantically, we’re not blind to this version of their dynamic and we love that twst has a storyline like this. This storyline made me lose my mind as a shipper, but even if we look at it platonically, the fact that Idia called out the hypocrisy of swooning over Orpheus and Eurydice and yet people thinking that him (Idia) desperately wanting to bring back his brother is wrong is just beautiful.

Alright, that’s all the disclaimers, let’s dive into the shipping territory and talk about our feelings.

I don’t know, man, they just… love each other so much. The sheer volume of their love is so impressive and beautiful, and when it comes to shipping tropes that we like, they pretty much tick all the boxes. I’ll try to explain it in more detail and with examples.

Since it’s a little bit hard to talk about them because there are so many versions of Ortho, I’ll try to say things that are common to all of them. And when I’m talking about a specific version of Ortho, I’ll mention that.

First of all, we really love ships that force characters to open up, develop, evolve and enhance the traits that we love about them. This is why in all of my character rants I tend to talk about their relationships with others, and in all of my headcanon posts I tend to talk about canonical events a lot: these things are strongly tied together for us. So naturally, I’ll start by talking about Ortho and the way his character works (and develops) through his relationships with Idia.

To be honest, we didn’t really care for Ortho at first. He wasn’t all that interesting to us based on his design and character quirks (alright, a cute robot boy, we get it), but once we got to know him better, he literally became one of our favourites. Because he is so much more than just a cute robot boy who only acts like a mascot or does whatever Idia wants him to do.

Even though he is perceived (mostly by the fandom, but also by some of the characters) as a child, he is definitely not an innocent and gullible baby. If we compare AI-Ortho to original Ortho from the flashback, it becomes very clear just how different they are. Ortho from the flashback is a very young child: he sounds, acts and talks like one. AI-Ortho, even though he’s based on the original Ortho, is nothing like that, because he grows, develops and learns with time. Ortho has shown again and again that he is smart, he could be quite cunning, his morals are questionable (since, you know, he is an AI and not a person), and he is quite reflective and perceptive. He is much more mature than he is given credit for, and a big part of it is that his main role is to take care of Idia. And not just in a “drink water, niisan” kind of way: he also acts as Idia’s emotional crutch at times. Ortho is very attentive to Idia’s emotional state, because this is what he’s been doing his entire robo-life: making sure that Idia is feeling alright, comforting him, reassuring him constantly, finding this fragile balance between not pushing Idia too hard and trying to inspire him to socialize with others as much as he can. This takes a lot of empathy and emotional wisdom; it’s clear that between him and Idia, Ortho takes the role of a mature caretaking person, even though he could still be a little bit naïve at times. And as he learns and adapts, he becomes more strict and more pushy with Idia, he learns how to persuade him, manipulate him, how to trick him. He becomes less anxious and scared to accidentally hurt Idia, because he knows what’s best for him.

Ortho as a character develops through his relationships with Idia, and we really love how big of a role Idia plays in his life. Of course, it’s obvious, because Ortho’s main purpose is to assist Idia, but the thing is, he’s always had his own agency about it. From one of his birthday vignettes we learn that Idia didn’t really want to talk to him at first when he created him, so Ortho had to analyze movies and learn how to have a proper emotional human-like dialogue, trying to find a way to approach Idia. And this “trying to find a way to approach him, trying to find a way to communicate with him, trying to make him happy” is Ortho’s entire life quest, but it’s such a dynamic quest that makes him learn a lot about himself as well. Even though Ortho only got his “heart” at the end of chapter 6, I think he developed feelings much earlier than that.

Which leads us to a very specific trope that we love in ships and media: an AI that falls in love/becomes obsessed with a person it serves. And not necessarily in a healthy or human way, since its grasp of empathy and ethics is much different from a human being’s, which makes its love weird and uncanny and yet strong and absolutely genuine. As I mentioned in one of the previous replies, the idea of AI-Ortho developing feelings for Idia, despite not being programmed to feel this way, is heartbreakingly beautiful. And this is exactly what happened to them: Idia is a genius, but he still wouldn’t be able to make AI-Ortho love him as much as he ended up loving him. So all of it is on Ortho…

Another group of tropes that we love a lot are overprotectiveness, unhealthy obsessions and yandere scenarios. And boy these two deliver when it comes to that. They are super protective over each other.

We really enjoyed Ortho’s Ignihyde Gear vignette, in which he overhears some Diasomnia students talking shit about him and Idia and tries to fry them with lasers, because being rude to Idia is an unforgivable sin to Ortho, to the point that he doesn’t even care when Trein calls him out for endangering others. He gets super upset when Trein bans him from going to classes with Idia though, and when he tells Idia about it, Idia gets furious… because how could these assholes bully Ortho, and how could Trein punish Ortho when he was only standing up for himself! The first instinct for both of them in this situation is to get back at assholes for hurting someone they care about. They worry about each other to the degree that they immediately become very antagonistic and cruel towards anyone who wrongs their loved one. And this is such a great trope for us, we love it a lot. In general, if you can describe a ship with a phrase “have you ever loved someone so much you’d want to destroy the world for them”, we’re most likely on board with it, having a mental breakdown because of how absolutely beautiful it is. And this is even a minor example, compared to everything that’s happened in chapter 6… When you look at it from the shipper point of view, the entirety of chapter 6 is so painfully romantic. (Also, even if instead of AI-Ortho we had a real Ortho, I’m pretty sure he would’ve been just as overprotective. The Shrouds are not okay.)

Another good theme of this ship is that ever since they were kids, they were all alone; all they have is each other, and that hasn’t changed even now, as the events of the game unfold. I love this bittersweet feeling of them being the only people who are capable of understanding each other in this big world, it’s such a unique (for a lot of reasons) and extremely strong bond. And it doesn’t matter which version of Ortho you take: be it the canonverse, be it an AU in which the original Ortho never died, they would still be extremely close and feel like the two of them are somewhat separated from the rest of the world. Their experience together is different, no one knows that they went through, and ships with such a great connection are always fun for us to play around with. Especially when their bond comes with a heavy baggage. A lot of things that I’ve described could be very unhealthy, and again, even if Ortho was alive, their relationship with Idia wouldn’t be all that healthy. Idia is very dependent on Ortho, he clings to him and could be pretty much helpless without him. No matter the AU(or canon), Idia always seems like someone who is filled with guilt over it, but just can’t help it. And at the same time, he might feel that Ortho has so much more to live for than to waste his life on his useless brother, and that he has to let him go. Idia is always ready to sacrifice pretty much everything about himself for Ortho, always has been, as we saw it in the flashback. The trauma, the codependence, the jealousy – all these feelings could eat Idia (or Ortho for that matter) alive, and we’ll always enjoy this type of content with them.

Also, here is a fun little bonus. Another interesting thing that I noticed and also some people pointed out as well (well, I’ve seen only one, but I’m not sure we’re the only people who noticed that) is that Ortho and Idia’s story kind of has some correlations with Hercules and Megara’s story. I am very biased because I adore Meg, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Well, Ortho does have a lot of motifs of Hercules and it’s a fact: he “goes from zero to hero”, he is being called “Monsieur Wonder” (Wonderboy), he wanted to be a hero ever since he was a child. And at the end of his arc he had an opportunity to start living a new life, true to who he is (stop pretending to be Ortho Shroud and find his own identity = joining the gods on Olympus), but ends up staying with the one he loves instead (just like Hercules stayed with Meg, because “I finally know where I belong”).

Idia is clearly based on Hades and he doesn’t let us forget it for a moment with his constant quoting, but he still has some interesting traits that resemble Meg as well. He is kinda stuck doing a job he hates (although this is true to Hades as well). And even though his backstory is very different from hers, ultimately, he is a cynical heartbroken person who is disappointed in life and doesn’t want to get hurt again, and who also has a huge soft spot for a certain wonderboy who is very genuine and kind to him, which also makes him feel deep and constant guilt. I really love this unintentional (?) crossover lol

And the last thing, If we’re being open and honest, there are also some aspects of Ortho and Idia’s relationship that hit close to home to us personally. Not the incest thing of course, but the way their dynamic works. Without diving deeper into details of our personal life, let me just say that when Ortho said that he just doesn’t want Idia to be misunderstood and mistreated by others, I felt it.

It’s funny that you, the first Anon, asked about both Ortho/Idia and Lilia/Silver, of course I know what makes these two ships similar lol, but the thing is, our attitude towards Lilia/Silver is a bit different simply because we don’t know them as well as we do Ortho and Idia. With Lilia and Silver, our feelings could basically be described as “well that would be fun/hot, wouldn’t it?”. It’s more on a sexy side of things, even though there are some deeper aspects of their relationships that we love and find interesting. The fact that we love both Lilia and Silver individually also makes them quite a nice ship. They just have a lot of potential for both cute scenarios and really really problematic, unhealthy and fucked up ones. The only reason I’m not writing a 4 page long essay on these two is because I don’t have as much to say about them… yet. Sorry, there’re so many characters in TW, and it takes a while both to get to everyone and to enjoy the ones we’re pretty confident about, so idk how long it’ll take for us to truly dive into Lilia/Silver as much as we have with Ortho/Idia.

TLDR; We love unhealthy dynamics, codependence, possessiveness and readiness to act drastically for a loved one. Ortho and Idia love each other dearly, and there is a lot of baggage and layers to their relationships, no matter which version of Ortho and Idia you take. Lilia and Silver also have a lot of potential for fun unhealthy scenarios, but they are also very hot together, and we are very self-indulgent, sooo don’t mind if we do.

And finally, let’s save all the right and healthy dynamics for real life. In fiction, it’s fun to look at things that are interesting, unusual and taboo. It’s always been this way with us; we’re just naturally drawn towards ships that have problematic elements in them, since they tend to have more potential for messed-up scenarios (and we prefer those). Even in ships with zero age gap and no family relation between the characters whatsoever, we enjoy playing with the idea of unhealthy obsessions, dependence and all this jazz. We just really love dark media, and not only for shipping purposes.

It’s also ironic, considering the topic of this particular post, but we aren’t that into incest as a trope/kink, haven’t been at least. We’re just very open-minded when a ship grabs our attention, and this is exactly what’s been happening lately with all these couples lol

I guess that’s it? Let me know if you have any more questions, and I really hope that I managed to explain what we see in these ships properly. If this monster of a reply isn’t enough for you for some reason and you crave more of our thoughts, please read this one too…

Thank you for reading! And have a good day.

#replies #shroudcest #liisil #about characters

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achaiapelides · 1 year

Text

Spoilers for Chain of Thorns

Christopher might be alive

I saw a post a few days ago arguing very convincingly why Christopher might actually be alive and I wanted to add some arguments to it, but can't find it anymore. So I'm now making my own post about this. If you are more talented than me in finding this post, please tag whoever wrote it in the comments. Thank you.

Little disclaimer: I didn't look anything up in the books, because I don't have them with me. So there might be something I don't remember correctly. Please point that out in the comments if this is the case.

So, as stated, I believe that Christopher might not have died (at least not fully*) by the poison from Tatiana's dagger. Here are some arguments why I think so.

*He could have become a vampire after his death, as mentioned in said post I can't find anymore. The author of the post wrote that vampire blood could have been part of the poison, causing Christopher to go to the nearest vampire clan and get bitten by them.

Christopher's appearance in the whole book series: He is the main character with the least POVs (does he even have one?) and "screen time", even though he is a main character. That might indicate that he could become important in future books like TWP or the book about Matthew, to make the screen time more even. He also has almost no character development because his character is already good as it is. This might change or get more attention in a future book.

Christopher's appearance to Grace in the laboratory 1: First of all how random, that no other character in all of Cassie's books ever had an appearance like this even in way more challenging situations. Could this actually happen? Secondly, in this scene, Christopher asks Grace not to turn around to see him. Why would he do that if he was only a ghost or not even visible. I mean that would be the first thing I would expect to see if someone, who I think is dead, starts talking to me. Grace wouldn't be scared by that. But if he was actually alive or in a very... uh... unpretty condition... like for example that he somehow turned into a downworlder (vampire) and looks rather bloody, that could scare Grace, especially since she thinks he would be dead. So he warns her not to turn around. Now you might say: But the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that was addressed by Grace, wouldn't that be the reason? That is just what Grace thinks of at that moment, but not the reason Christopher gives. Of I remember correctly, he gives no reason, just says "Don't turn around", and Grace listens.

Laboratory scene Part 2 - Orpheus and Eurydice parallel: As mentioned above, Grace thinks of this myth when she encounters Christmas in the laboratory. In the myth Orpheus basically tries to bring his beloved wife (?) Eurydice back from the dead. He manages to convince her soul to follow him out of the Underworld, but he has to promise her not to turn around until they manage to escape. Almost out of the Land of the Dead, Orpheus gets too noisy and turns around. So, he fails and Eurydice has to stay dead in the Underworld. But opposing to this myth Grace doesn't turn around to look at Christopher, which, according to that myth would mean that she brought him back from the dead successfully.

Cassie's theories before the book was published: If I remember correctly Cassie gave us three statements about what would happen in COT, two of them being true. I think it was something with Belial and flying over London as a bird (true), one of the main characters dying (true?) and one of then turning into a downworlder (wrong?). While everyone at the time thought that was about Matthew, it now applies to Christopher. Why would she choose the downworlder theory, if she didn't actually think about making one of her characters one. And we know Cassie. She always has some surprise fir us, especially when a character like Christopher just randomly dies.

Motive for his death: There is none. While everyone else who dies, dies for a reason, Christopher's death seems so random and even at the end of the book, you won't find out why he died. This means that we probably get at least another mention of Christopher somewhere, to explain why he had to die.

Immortality as a vampire: As mentioned above, another mention or appearance of Christopher and Grace seems likely to me. But four of the five books we know about that Cassie will publish in the future, play a century later. So, to appear in them, Christopher and Grace must either invent time travel or become immortal. All the Harry Potter fans know what a mess happens when you add time travelling to a story. And I TWP there's also Thule and the Faerie Lands as different worlds, so that would just get to confusing. Therefore my guess is that if they actually appear, they would be immortal. The only way to become immortal as a Shadowhunter is to be bitten by a vampire. So, Christopher could have been bitten by a vampire, while "dead" and unattended and after months of struggles, came back to Grace. Grace, having nothing to lose, chooses to join Christopher and lets him bite her as well. If they tell their friends or not, is actually not quite important, but like this they could appear for example in TWP, to give the main characters some advice or help them with something. I mean, in a Grande Finale of a universe, the help of two science obsessed, former Shadowhunter vampires might be great.

Nobody is dealing with the aftermath: No funeral, no great remembering of Christopher, nothing. This might indicate that something happened that made it unnecessary for this to happen. Like, you know, Christopher actually being alive.

Here are also arguments I can think of, that would make it less likely for Christopher to be alive:

He's dead. Very dead. Anna literally said it. (But on the other hand, medical knowledge back then was not as good as it is today and they all were super shocked. They might have missed a sign that he was actually alive.)

Why would Cassie do that to us? (She did it with Livvy. Why not again? Just a little less destructive.)

I can't think if any other reasons right now, but if you have more arguments for this or even against it, please leave them in the comments or repost this. I will add the arguments here if you want to.

What do you think? Could Christopher actually be alive? Or is that impossible?

#shadowhunters #cassandra clare #the shadowhunter chronicles #the wicked powers #tsc #the last hours #chain of thorns #christopher lightwood #kit lightwood #grace blackthorn #grace cartwright #gracetopher

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beauty-and-passion · 2 years

Note

If you were to describe the Sides as gods or heroes in Greek/Roman mythology, who would be who?

HELL YEAH, my boy, that's my jam! I literally grew up with this stuff, thanks to my dad who read me stories about Greek myths when I was a child. So yes, I will be more than happy to reply to your simple ask, with a stupidly long post :D

A premise: I couldn't choose between gods and heroes, so I picked one god AND one hero for each Side. And I chose both males and females, because some females were just *chef's kiss* and I had to pick them.

Also, I tried to not make the most obvious choices, like Apollo for Roman or Dionysus for Remus. And no, I didn't pick Janus Bifrons for Janus because he is clearly inspired by that god, so where would be the fun in choosing someone this obvious?

Of course, you may not agree with my choices: in this case, please feel free to share your ideas and try to change my mind. I would be more than happy to know what you think!

A tiny little warning: if you ever read one single myth, you know there's everything inside it. Personally, I don't think there's nothing you should be scared of - on the contrary, this stuff is part of humanity's culture and it should be known by everyone. But hey, we live in a free world and if you're easily impressed, read at your own risk.

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Patton

Hero: Orpheus

Brief recap: Orpheus was a legendary musician, well known for his ability to charm all living/non-living things with his music. One tragic day, his beloved wife Eurydice was bitten by a snake and died, leaving him alone. He was so devastated by her death, he decided to travel to the underworld, in a desperate attempt to bring her back.

His mournful music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, gods of the underworld. So, they allowed Eurydice to come back among the living, but on one condition: Orpheus should walk in front of her and never look back, until they both had reached the living world. Orpheus accepted, took Eurydice’s hand and they started to walk their way back.

But once they got closer to the exit, Orpheus turned. The reason varies depending on the versions, but the one I grew up with was that Orpheus was so eager to finally see her, to turn back right after he was outside, forgetting she was still in the dark. And so, Eurydice disappeared again, this time forever.

Why is this hero perfect for Patton? I can explain it with just one word: love. Orpheus' story is a demonstration of the sheer, absolute power of love. Love is something so strong to push Orpheus, a mortal man, where no other mortal was supposed to go. He loved his wife so much, to not fear anything, not even death.

And when he turned back, he proved once more how deep and strong his love was.

But how? Wasn't that a bad choice? If he waited, he could've had his wife back, right?

Well, no. Because death is inevitable and no matter what happened, Eurydice would never come back to life.

You shouldn't look at this story with a realistic approach, but with a metaphorical one. The point wasn't that dead people can come back to life, but to show how strong love can be.

I am pretty sure you have ever loved someone or something in your life, no matter if it's a lover or a very close friend. And I am pretty sure that, if you can't spend your time with them, you won't just forget them and do whatever else: on the contrary, you would probably think about them a lot and wait for the moment you will be together again.

And once that moment finally comes, when you can finally see them… would you ignore them and not give them a single glance? Or would you look around, searching for them, happy and eager to see them once more?

If Orpheus never turned back, he would've demonstrated he never loved his wife. He was so bored and uninterested, to not even care to look at her. But he turned and did what every other person in love does: looks for his beloved.

This is why I think he works so well for Patton. Patton overflows with love for his family. Everything he does is out of love - even when he makes a mistake. And, since Patton is the embodiment of "most of Thomas' emotions", I am very sure he understands Orpheus' grief too. He is probably the only Side who would look at Orpheus, understand everything he does and know that he would do the exact same thing, if he were in his place.

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God: Demeter

Demeter is the daughter of Cronus (god of time) and Rhea (titaness daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus), so she is Zeus’ sister and one of the twelve Olympians - aka one of the most important deities of the Greek pantheon.

I specifically chose Demeter for two reasons: she presides over the sacred law, i.e. all the ethical and moral codes taught by religious traditions (and Patton is the embodiment of these same codes). And she is mostly known as the goddess of harvest and agriculture.

You may think "what does this have to do with Patton?". First of all, being the goddess of agriculture means giving nourishment to everything - and that implies a connection with fertility. Patton is a father and fathers are, by definition, fertile.

But being able to nourish every living being also means controlling the whole cycle of life and death. And that's a huge power to handle. I would like to remind you that, when Demeter's daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, Demeter was so desperate she stopped doing her job and that led to the death of every. Single. Living. Thing. Zeus himself had to intervene, otherwise they would have faced the extinction of all life on earth.

Sure, Patton cannot wipe out all life from the planet, but he has the potential to end Thomas' existence - which is, in comparison, the same thing. And, just like Demeter, when he shows how dangerous his power can be, he doesn't do it out of malice, but of desperation.

Speaking of Patton's huge potential, this is why I also associate him with Cronus in my fanfictions. However, I like to think that Cronus is what Patton would have become, if he was not who he is.

Both Patton and Cronus embody the authority, especially represented as the fatherly figure - which has always been considered the ruler of the household and the one who held the power over his offspring.

Cronus in particular represents the tyrannical, all powerful authority that, in order to keep everyone under its control, is ready to devour his children - aka, to bend everyone to its will. In a way, he can be considered a representation of the Superego as well.

Patton is the same. He also represents the Superego - heck, he's the embodiment of Thomas' Morality. He is his "sense of right and wrong" which Thomas learned from his parents, of course Patton is strongly associated with the father figure, the authority and the Superego.

And yes, he fully has the potential to become like Cronus. He's powerful enough to become a tyrant and to (figuratively) devour his own children to keep his power. He could do it, we saw how deeply rooted his influence is in Thomas' mind.

But he will never be like Cronus and it's all because of one tiny, little difference: Patton is connected to emotions, while Cronus is not. Patton has the potential to be a ruler and a tyrant, but his essence is much, much kinder: Patton is full of love, he adores his kiddos and would never do anything to purposely harm them. Hence why he is more like a giver of life, rather than an overwhelming tyrant.

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Roman

Hero: Heracles

If this name sounds familiar, it's because the Roman equivalent is Hercules. You probably heard it somewhere :P

But, well, what Disney told us was a very, very short story of all the stuff Hercules did.

The thing is: Heracles is the most famous, beloved hero of Greek mythology. And, since he was so loved, he was everywhere. Argonauts? One of them. Perseus’ story? A brief appearance. Prometheus' story? He's here too. Alcestis’ tragedy? Here he comes, saving the day. The 12 Labours are just his most famous adventure, but if I have to talk about all the stuff he did, this post would be endless.

What I can tell you, is that Heracles fought a lot of beasts, defeated a lot of people and was a beloved hero with a kind heart. But he was also a tragic hero too: his first marriage ended with him killing his wife and children because of a fit of madness, induced by Hera. When Heracles came back to his senses, he realized what he did and visited the Oracle to find a way to expiate his crime. The Oracle told him he had to serve his enemy, King Eurystheus. And this is the guy who gave him the Twelve Labours.

This is why this hero is so used and so loved. He's strong, sure: he's the perfect representation of bravery and strength. And he has a kind heart, because he always fights for a reason, not for bloodlust.

But he's also a hero who fails and does wrong. He's not perfect, despite his demigod nature. And when he fails, he repents and works even harder to expiate. A bit like a certain Side who is a hard worker and always tries to do his best.

So... well, it may sound clichè that Roman gets the quintessential of the hero, but Heracles is more than just "slaying monsters and being cool". He is divine, but human too. He is strong, yet humble. And he is a hard worker, who doesn't backs down when it's time to help.

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God: Aphrodite

I didn’t want to pick the most beloved Greek god for Roman, but I HAD to pick the most beloved goddess.

Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, passion, sexuality and two of them are Roman's canonical roles. She was also associated with fertility, procreation and sex and the intercourse was the most physical representation of her power: the union (no matter if marital or not) was something ancestral, born from that need humans have that pushes them together.

This reminds me a lot of creativity. Creativity is also an ancestral human need (we started to show creativity since we lived in caves), it's something able to bring people closer (at least emotionally), it's strongly connected with beauty in all its shapes and forms.

And it always stems from love. No matter what kind of creativity is, love is always one of its main components. It could be love for you, your family, your lover, your friends, your world, your job, it doesn't matter. Love is always present.

I think this is also what made Aphrodite such an irresistible goddess: not just humans were attracted by her, but even gods. And it makes sense, because love and beauty ARE irresistible, humans ARE intrinsically attracted by beauty (yet alone such human gods as the Greek ones) and, despite talking about love for centuries, we never get tired of exploring it.

So it just makes sense that the Side who embodies such a loved aspect of the human condition as its creativity, is also the embodiment of passions and beauty.

_______________________________

Logan

Hero: Psyche

Brief recap of her story: Psyche was a mortal girl, so beautiful that people considered her even more beautiful than Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty herself. Of course Aphrodite did not like that, so she decided she would get her revenge, by making Psyche fall in love with the most hideous, horrible man.

Eros reached the girl to do what his mother asked, but as soon as he saw Psyche, he was so captivated by her beauty that he hurt himself with one of his arrows and fell in love with her.

In the meantime, since Psyche could not find a husband, her parents consulted the Oracle, who told them she would marry a terrible beast and to leave her on a cliff, where her husband would take her away.

Saddened by these words, her parents complied and Psyche was left to meet her destiny. Here she was abducted by the god wind Zephyrus, who left her in a beautiful, empty palace.

During the night, Eros finally met her and, in utter darkness, they loved each other. He told Psyche she was free to do whatever she wanted, but there were only two things she could never do: ask his name or look at his face.

Psyche complied and, from that day, she spent every single day alone in her palace and every single night with her mysterious husband.

Things were fine, until her sisters visited her. They were so jealous of her beautiful, luxurious life, they convinced Psyche she had to see who her husband really was and if he really was a monster, then she had to kill him.

One night, after Eros fell asleep next to her, Psyche carefully lit an oil lamp, grabbed a knife and let the light shine on his face. And she realized her husband was not a hideous monster, but the beautiful god of love.

Eros woke up, shocked and scared by Psyche's betrayal, and flew away, leaving her alone. Full of regret, Psyche pleaded with Aphrodite, asking for her help.

Since the greek gods don't hold grudges nope nope, Aphrodite tested Psyche with impossible trials and ended up killing her. But Eros saved his beloved wife, took her to Olympus and she became a goddess herself. And they had a daughter: Hedone (Voluptas, in her Roman variant), the goddess of sensual pleasure, enjoyment and delight.

But now you may ask: what does Psyche have to do with Logan? Well, in order to reply to this question, we should look at the deep meaning of this story.

Eros represents all the human instincts and desires, the most irrational part of ourselves. On the other hand, Psyche represents our minds, our logic, the most rational part of ourselves. Even today, the word psyche is related to the mind and the conscious.

Hence why the story of Eros and Psyche is nothing but the journey of the rational that accepts and embraces the irrational. By going through the different trials, Psyche/the rational accepts Eros/the irrational as part of herself, someone she cannot live without, someone to die for.

This is the same journey Logan should take. Just like Psyche, he is a fully rational figure, who ignores (and even suffocates) the irrational surrounding him. Just like Psyche, Logan should also face the less logical parts of himself, accept them and finally embrace them as something fundamental.

And maybe, thanks to this union between rational and irrational, he will also have his own kind of “hedone”: not much like a physical pleasure, but rather a mental peace and spiritual satisfaction.

---

God: Athena

I mean... come on. How could I not choose Athena? She’s the literal goddess of wisdom!

But she's not just that. She is also the goddess of arts, handicraft and industry. And this fits Logan even more because, as I said several times, logic always plays a role in the creative process. Hence why it makes sense he's connected with arts and industry.

In addition to that, Athena is also a warrior goddess. In particular, she represents the most “intellectual” side of war - military strategy, heroism, justice, skills and so on.

Again, this works for Logan too. Logan isn't a frail Side, but a tough one, who is never too afraid to hit back when someone tries to insult him.

Thinking about that, this connection with war could also work as a possible connection with Orange. Why? Well, if Orange is Wrath, then he would probably be associated with Ares. And if Athena represents the rational part of war, Ares is the irrational, bloodthirsty part of it.

So, just like Athena and Ares are two aspects of war, Logan and Orange could be two aspects of reasoning: the extremely logical one and the furiously emotional one.

_______________________________

Virgil

Hero: Prometheus

Prometheus is a complicated hero and that's why I chose him for Virgil.

First of all, he's a Titan, so he's already different from all other heroes who are mostly demi gods or mortals. Despite that, he's very close to humanity - he is even considered the creator of mankind.

Prometheus is universally famous for one single act: he stole the fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. Because of that, Zeus punished him, by bounding Prometheus on a rock, where an eagle would eat his liver during the day. During the night, the liver would grow back, only to be eaten again the day after in an ongoing cycle.

This story made Prometheus a symbol in the western culture. Over the centuries, he has been seen as a rebellious figure who defies authorities, a lone genius who wants to improve human existence no matter the consequences, a spirit of knowledge free from the chains of ideology. It's no surprising humanity loves Prometheus this much.

And if you want a reason too, just think of the colossal importance of fire in humanity's development. Fire gave protection to our ancestors and became a source of heat for the first men.

But, even more importantly, fire allowed them to cook their meat. This is what made us evolve: cooked meat was more nutritious, helped our brains develop more, made us smarter. We wouldn't be the most dominant species of this planet, if it wasn't for the fire.

And this myth emphasizes how important fire is. It has divine traits, because it was something for gods only. And it is immensely precious, because Prometheus suffered a terrible punishment for stealing it. Even without knowing how important fire is for our development, the myth alone makes us think that, wow, fire really is important.

In my opinion, everything about Prometheus and his story just screams "Virgil". Prometheus is a hero among the humans, but a traitor among gods: Virgil is a good boy, but he has been seen as a bad guy too. Prometheus gave humanity a powerful and terrible gift: Virgil's anxiety can both be extremely useful and immensely dangerous. And just like Prometheus was punished, every time Virgil overused anxiety he was mistreated by Thomas and the others.

But let's not forget that Prometheus was a rebellious figure too: he literally fought the authority to get something. And, by his own admission, Virgil "fights The Man", so he is a rebel.

Last but not least, Prometheus is a tragic figure: he did something precious and fundamental to mankind, yet he was punished for it and his punishment would go on forever. Virgil loves Thomas, cares about him and his anxiety will always be that alarm clock Thomas needs... yet, he will also suffer from the counter effects of anxiety, forever.

However, Prometheus' story doesn't end here. After centuries of suffering, Eracles broke Prometheus' chains and freed him. Do you remember which Side gave Virgil the final push towards full acceptance?

---

God: Hephaestus

Hephaestus is not a typical god either.

When his mother Hera noticed he was limping, she threw him off a cliff. Despite that, Hephaestus survived, was raised by the Nereids and even learned how to keep a fire lit underwater. Over the years, he became a skilled craftsman and, according to the oldest version of his story, he got revenge from his mother when he came back to Olympus, only to leave again because fuck those gods.

In case it wasn't clear, Hephaestus is very cool.

Hephaestus is also considered a grumpy god and what a surprise, who would've imagined it. His own mother treated him like shit, no wonder he's so grumpy.

Despite that, he is married and not with a random goddess, but with Aphrodite herself. But hey, Aphrodite is still Aphrodite, so she had an affair with billions of other people.

In case it wasn't clear, fidelity wasn't so important among gods.

Why is this god perfect for Virgil? First of all, because Virgil is grumpy too. His second name is "grumpy". Virgil Grumpy Sanders. That's him.

Then, it's because Hephaestus is an incredible artist. He's the god of fire, but also of metalworking, blacksmiths and even of sculpture. Hephaestus made the most beautiful jewels and the most powerful weapons. Virgil is canonically a poet, so he creates something beautiful already. But he also has a part in Thomas' creative expressions, as Roman explained in AA-part 2:

[Roman]: Anxiety, you're... ...what pushes Thomas to rehearse and rehearse before performances. You are that nervousness that he feels right before going on stage, but just as he does so... you ease up, and... you let his excitement and passion for performance take over.

But there's another reason why Hephaestus is good for Virgil and it's because of its Roman equivalent, the god Vulcan. Hephaestus uses fire as a creative force and he's an artist, but Vulcan was a much more terrible god: his own name is related to volcanoes and, just like the volcanoes, he has strong, destructive powers. He was literally described as a "daemon of fire coming up from the earth".

This encompasses so well the dualism of Virgil's anxiety. He can use his power to make something beautiful, to protect Thomas, to make him stronger and braver. But his power can also be destructive for Thomas' mind and dangerous for his life. It all depends on how he uses it.

(On an unrelated topic: I like how different volcanoes' fire is seen in both ancient Greece and Rome, it makes me think about the different volcanic activity in both countries.

Greece doesn't have a lot of active volcanoes. Some were active in the past, but they were on very small islands, far away from the mainland. And sure, there were some destructive eruptions, but in very ancient times (like the Minoan eruption, which devastated Santorini's island). It makes sense that Greeks saw volcanoes as a power coming from the water - or related to water anyway.

On the other hand, Italy still has a lot of active volcanoes, both on the mainland (Vesuvius) and on one of the two biggest islands (Etna). And Vesuvius is especially known for the destructive eruption that destroyed Pompeii. So I can understand why they saw fire and volcanoes as "a daemon coming from the ground".)

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Janus

Hero: Odysseus

The reason why I chose Odysseus is very simple: he is known for being a cunning, deceitful hero. He has been referred to by both Greeks and Romans as "deceitful Odysseus" and he always made his way by lying and deceiving everyone.

For example: he didn't want to take part in the Trojan war, so he pretended to be insane. He wanted to save himself and his men from Polyphemus, so he lied about who he was, made the cyclop drunk and stabbed him in the eye. He wanted to take back his throne, so he dressed up as a beggar and slayed all of his wife's suitors.

Well, yes, he also kills a lot of people. But all heroes do, so nothing out of the ordinary. What makes him stand out so much is his intelligence. Odysseus was a liar, but he was a clever one. And his lies helped his people: he was the one who thought about the Trojan horse, after all.

But Odysseus also has the shittiest luck ever. He didn't want to take part in the war, but one of the Greeks unmasked his pretended insanity and he had to go anyway. After ten years of war, all he wanted was to come back home, but his men angered Poseidon - and it’s not a great idea to anger the god of the sea, when you’re coming back home by sailing in the sea. He finally comes back home but the Suitors are trying to take his throne and his wife.

Doesn't that remind you of something? Like, idk, a certain snake boy, who just wanted to be listened to once, but ended up making a mess between the Sides, faced Patton's breakdown and gave the push for Roman's breakdown. Just like Odysseus, he's a clever liar who just wants to live in peace, but ends up dealing with a lot of shit.

What a goddamn mood.

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God: Moirai

The Moirai are not a simple god.

First of all, the Moirai are three gods, not one. And they are the incarnation of destiny. Wikipedia perfectly sums up their role as follows:

“The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives, and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle.”

And so, we have the three Moirai: Clotho, “the spinner”, who spun the thread of life. Lachesis, “the allotter”, who measured the thread of life. And Atropos, “the inexorable”, who cut the thread of life and, by doing that, decided how each person should die.

Because of their role and their importance, Moirai were considered even above the gods: they were enforcers of fate and fate was something inescapable in Greek myths, a blind and mysterious force nothing and no one can resist - not even gods. Hence why the gods feared Moirai.

This reminds me a lot of Janus. Despite being one of the Sides, Janus has powers over them. He can be considered an harbinger of change and change is something as equally powerful and inescapable as fate was for Greeks: you cannot escape change, no matter who you are.

Just like Moirai, Janus can also foresee things. Moirai usually appeared after a child's birth, to determine the course of its life and/or prophesize something that would happen to them: since Janus appeared, he brought changes and foreshadowings of what would come next.

Last but not least, Moirai are extremely mysterious. And isn't the snake boy a walking mystery too?

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Remus

Hero: Medea

Medea is a wonderfully complex character for the time and the protagonist of one of the most famous Greek tragedies.

First of all, she was a sorceress and a very clever woman. Thanks to her mind and her magic, she was a great help for Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece and, once he finished his quest, the two got married.

Medea and Jason had two children and lived a happy life. But after ten years of marriage, Jason decided to abandon Medea and marry Glauce, king Creon's daughter.

Medea was shocked: she tried to talk to Jason and reminded him how much she helped him in his quest. She pleaded with him, because she knew that, after the marriage, she would be banished from Corinth along with her children.

But Jason apparently hit his head and changed from a hero to a dick and, since he is now in full "dick mode", he doesn't give a damn.

Livid with rage, Medea says everything is fine, Jason could marry Glauce and she will not get in his way. Jason knows nothing about women and believes her.

In the meantime, Medea plans her revenge: she sends a beautiful dress and crown to Glauce as a wedding gift, both covered with poison. As soon as Glauce touches them, she dies in great anguish - and when the father tries to help her, he dies as well.

But Medea is not satisfied yet: in order to be sure Jason will never have a living bloodline, she murders their children and then leaves, to marry another king.

Moral of the story: when a woman suddenly agrees with your stupid plan, it's not because you are clever, but because she wants to fuck you. And not in a good way.

Jokes aside, there is a lot inside this woman and this is what makes her so intriguing. She's a terrible murderer, who suffocated her own maternal instinct and did the most terrible thing ever: killing her own children. She's mad and insane. But she's also a rejected wife, who seeks revenge because she passionately loves her husband.

For all these reasons, you can see why Medea doesn't fit with the general vision of women of the time: too clever, too skilled, too manipulative, too violent, in a time period in which women were submissive, maternal figures.

This is why I think she's so perfect for Remus. Remus doesn't fit either, Remus is too clever, too skilled and too violent. Remus is wonderfully useful when he wants to be. Remus is incredibly dangerous when he wants to be. Remus is as much prey to his instincts as Medea was.

And let's not forget he's a rejected figure too. Just like Medea has been rejected by her husband, Remus is the "unloved brother from Genesis". And this adds another layer to his insanity: we can understand why he's so eager to get everyone's attention, we can emphasize with him. Just like we can emphasize with Medea, despite her murderous acts.

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God: Eros

If you think Eros is not perfect for Remus, please allow me to change your mind.

First of all, Eros isn't a cute little baby with wings, surrounded by hearts, all cutesy and nice. That's the diluted version of Eros, developed through the centuries.

According to the greek myth, Eros is the god of lust and sexual desire. In some versions, Eros is one of the four original primeval forces born at the beginning of time. In others he's the son of Aphrodite and Ares. In others he's a "daimon", namely a creature between divinity and mortality. In Psyche's story, he's described as "a beast even the gods fear". "Cute" is not the first word we would use to describe him.

Then we should focus on what his name means. While the English language uses one term only to talk about the vastness of the concept of love, Greeks had much more diversification.

In particular, there were three main ideas of love: agape, philos and eros.

Agape is the "perfect love": it's unconditional, total and spiritual. Agape has been identified over the centuries with God's love for his creation - an universal love which elevates man.

Philos is the "fraternal love": it doesn't exist just between brothers or biological families, but it's a sense of kinship and deep sharing with someone else who is important for your life. It's a deep, sincere friendship, made of complicity and common aims.

Eros is the "erotic love": It's that kind of attraction that pushes humans both physically and sexually and has the potential to evolve into real love. It's attracted by beauty and looks for satisfaction of its desires. It's something so strong to inspire courage, valor, great deeds and even vanquishing man's natural fear of death.

This is what Eros represents. No wonder he's so incredibly powerful and scary enough to be feared by gods. According to the Greek myth, no one could escape his arrows: not humans, not beasts, not even gods. If Eros' arrows hit you, you are overwhelmed with desire and longing and you cannot stop it, until your need is satiated. Not even Eros was able to resist his own arrows, when he fell in love with Psyche.

I really like this, because it gives a bigger, more complex vision of what love actually is. It's not just butterflies in the stomach or cute blushing or being happy: it's something equally wonderful and terrible, something that makes you feel the best and mortally ill at the same time. It turns everything beautiful and clouds the mind at the same time. It's a "divine curse" and it makes sense such power is represented by a frightening god.

This is perfect for Remus. Remus, who is both useful and terrible, who embodies sexual needs down to their most instinctual parts. Remus, who is unstoppable and impossible to contain, just like Eros' arrows. Remus, who is made of instincts and passions, sometimes as violent as the erotic ones.

Remus is Eros in its Greek, raw version and I adore him.

#sanders sides #ask #sanders sides theory #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #greek gods #greek myth #roman myth #I love this stuff #I got a bit carried away #zero regrets

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