#also now is prime post-church time

[misfitmagpie]

Well I will gladly take a look at the fully revealed logo! Though I will say that red-archivist pointed out some good stuff in this post. But we can take a deeper look into certain things!

Also p.s.: You will want to read the giant ramble to the end, because I noticed something as I was finishing, and it puts everything in an interesting context.

As mentioned in that post, the combination of the alchemical symbols for salt, mercury, and sulphur do indeed form the tria prima, the three primes or components of life.

⊖ or salt, which represents the earth and the human body. In alchemy it also symbolises the lower consciousness, self-knowledge, and wisdom.

☿ or mercury I already covered last time, representing the mind, the omnipresent spirit of life, and stood as symbol for intellect, imagination, moral judgement, and the higher mental faculties. The alchemical associations of mercury have a strong connection with the Greek/Roman gods Hermes/Mercury, a messenger god who also acted as a chthonic deity, a psychopomp and god of boundaries to be exact. Which might be relevant, might not. (He was also a shepherd god, just adding that detail)

🜍 or sulphur represents the spirit or soul of all materials and living things. In alchemy it is seen as synonymous with consciousness and the expansion of thought. And is seen as the bridge that connects the body with mind, thus it is seen as the key to understanding the inner workings of the soul and consciousness. It’s interesting to me that the sulphur is in the logo 4 times, connected to the circle that encompasses the salt and mercury symbols, and the chevrons (I’ll get to those in a moment). This could have been purely aesthetic, but they could have also simply opted to have the sulphur symbol instead of one of the chevrons and have pretty much the same effect. Instead they chose the alchemical symbol of the soul, also seen as what ties body and mind together, also an element that is strongly associated with heat and fire, to encompass the body and mind, together with heraldic symbols of protection. It’s an interesting choice which makes me wonder about the mindset of the people who founded this organisation. (Maybe they are the types to believe in purifying fire, or purity of the soul as a way to protect oneself against the horrors out there? Who knows.)

The double ^ are chevrons, a heraldic symbol associated with protection, and meant to represent the roof of a house. Even the name is derived from the French word for “rafter”. It is also used in military or police uniforms to indicate rank or length of service. It is interesting to me that the bottom left chevron is an inverted version of the top right. The inverted version being next to the symbol for mercury or the mind, and the regular next to the symbol for salt or the body. Without it being in full colour, I can’t say much about any particular heraldic or symbolic links that might have. At most I can speculate that maybe it’s hinting at how the mind might not be as safe as the body in such a service, of course that can also be my own knowledge of TMA colouring my interpretation.

The O.I.A.R. in the top banner has been revealed! And it’s nice to get confirmation that I guessed correctly on the R! Personally I am not very good with acronyms, but @emdashingaway correctly guessed that it would be this. In my previous post about The Magnus Protocol logo she pointed out that it might stand for Office of Incident Assessment and Response, which now seems very plausible!

Now the background has some interesting repeating symbols too.

🜏

This is the Leviathan Cross, in alchemy another symbol associated with sulphur (in particular black sulphur) and thus also the soul. However it is worth noting that Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, has adopted the Leviathan Cross as a symbol of his Church in the 1960s. Though I can’t immediately find much more about it and its origins beyond the alchemical association and the very modern Satanic association. (The name Leviathan strikes me as interesting too, but there is too much that can be said about it, especially for a symbol that just occurs in the background.)

🜇

This is the alchemical symbol for aqua regia (derived from the Latin for “royal water” or “regal water”), it is a mixture of is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, optimally in a molar ratio of 1:3. Historically aqua regia was used in alchemy in the process of attempting to create the philosopher’s stone. It is also used to help dissolve gold and platinum within actual chemistry!

♁

Is the symbol for antimony is associated with the animal nature or wild spirit of man and nature, and it was often symbolised by the wolf.

🜘

This is the symbol for bismuth, while it does get mentioned in alchemical texts, the particular use and associations seem to be unclear. All that I can seem to find is that in early days, it was often confused for tin or lead. And that apparently Miners in the age of alchemy also gave bismuth the name tectum argenti, or “silver being made”. (Also it’s chemical symbol is Bi, which is funny given how apparently some have discovered that they are bi thanks to TMA)

I hope this is visible, but one of the symbols in the background also looks an awful lot like one of the alchemical symbols for tin. It looks like a curved X with circles at the ends of the legs. Tin in alchemy is associated with the planet Jupiter, and is sometimes called the ‘breath of life. ’ It represents the idea that the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.

⚥

From what I can find, this is not strictly speaking an alchemical symbol. Clearly a combination of the male and female gender symbols (each of which is actually derived from the symbols for Mars and Venus respectively, which do get used in alchemy actually), it is generally seen as a hermaphroditic symbol (using the strict broad biological label here, not referring to intersex, I just want to point that out). But given all of the alchemy references so far, I suspect that it might be referencing the rebis (from the Latin res bina, meaning dual or double matter), the ultimate end product of the alchemical great work. It is sometimes described as the divine hermaphrodite—a reconciliation of spirit and matter, a being of both male and female qualities. A lot can be said about the great work in alchemy, and this post is already long enough honestly.

And lastly…

Take this, flip it upside-down, and you have the shape of the logo in which all these symbols are displayed. This is the symbol for the philosophers’ stone. In alchemy it is an unknown substance sought after by alchemists, said to be capable of turning base metals into precious ones (like gold and silver), can be used to derive an elixir of life, and was even thought to bring about spiritual revitalisation. And it symbolises perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

And while researching this, I also noticed something rather interesting. It might end up not being relevant at all, but I discovered that a famous alchemist was named Albertus Magnus who was born some time before 1200 in the Duchy of Bavaria (the flag and coat of arms of which during the Wittelsbach dynasty sports a rather nice diamond pattern, a bit like the pattern you see within the triangle of the logo). He was a saint with a deep interest in a large variety of topics including logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, mineralogy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, justice, law, etc. I recommend potentially checking out the wiki page on Albertus Magnus that I shared earlier if you are interested in knowing more, there is a lot of history there. But it’s interesting that he shares a surname with Jonah Magnus, founder of the Magnus Institute.

Conclusion:

Given all that I have managed to dig up about the symbols within the logo, and the indirectly connected links with suspiciously named historical figures, in particular with the context of there being another Bouchard within the Magnus Protocol, I can’t help but be suspicious of whatever this British civil service is actually getting up to behind the scenes. In particular what they think they might be trying to accomplish using the Fear Entities.

Of course at this point it becomes pure speculation. But I am more than happy to hear everyone’s ideas, speculation, and contributions!

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #the magnus archives #rusty quill #turns out asks don't show up in the tags how annoying #also I want to point out that I am by no means an expert on alchemy #I simply enjoy research #Share your theories though! It's fun to discuss that kind of stuff!

[profanepurity]

Praeteritum AU!!!! Long Post!

I’ll post design sheets for everyone along with mini comics, but here’s the solid designs (for now) for Papa I and Prime Mover Elizabeth!

At this point in time, Elizabeth is the only Prime Mover in the clergy, which is a very coveted position, placing her just under Sister Imperator. While she does not have any children with Primo (yet), she is very much involved in rituals, sacrament, holding her own following to Lilith specifically within the church, and caring for the ghouls that “spawn” in Primo’s garden.

Side note: I’ll elaborate on this more later, but I like to think of Primo’s garden as a very unholy place. Many rituals and sacrifices are offered in dedicated areas that act as altars. While Primo has recently given the title of “Papa” to Secondo, the current Papa at this point, there are still a number of siblings that also attend mass led by Primo and Eliza in their gardens. Because of all that dark energy, Lucifer has “unblessed” it as basically a demon hot spot. Some spawn as ghoulings, others as fully grown hellish creatures.

In fact, standing behind Primo in the mini comic is Mountain! He serves as “Earth” (in this AU) under Primo; deciding to stick with him even after he steps down as Papa, at least for now.

Sister Elizabeth (Primo absolutely dedicated that song to her), is looked up to by many of the siblings and ghouls as both an authority and maternal figure. While she may be outwardly intimidating, she is an incredibly warm, patient, and protective woman. She is always backing Primo’s guidance of the siblings with a nurturing hand. And while she doesn’t need it, Primo will always defend and support his wife when necessary. They’re your loving Satanic grandparents.

Because they don’t have any children yet, this is a big source of discourse between them, Nihil, and occasionally Imperator. You’ll notice a bit of bitterness in Primo’s words- he’s projecting a bit towards Nihil. Eliza and him as still very active and involved in the church, and want to make sure they can balance their duties to the Olde One and raise a child properly, especially if that child could potentially be the antichrist…. Or is the antichrist already among them? 👀

#the band ghost #the band ghost fanart #the band ghost oc #the band ghost art #ghost bc #papa i #papa emeritus i #papa primo #papa emeritus primo #sister imperator #papa nihil #nameless ghouls #ghost ghouls #opus eponymous #prime mover #sister of sin

[beneaththetangles]

The Redemption of Homura’s Wish

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a cornerstone series for us here at Beneath the Tangles. It came out just a few months after Twwk kicked off this ministry, and has inspired rich, thought-provoking posts from many members of the writing team ever since. So, isn’t it time to move on? Why are we doing yet another Madoka post? Well, that’s because each new writer brings something fresh to the table, and our latest team member, Michel, is no exception! In this feature (the first of two), he explores the way that Madoka Magica routinely subverts our expectations—not simply to entertain or keep us guessing, but in order to effect the greatest plot arc of all: redemption. As Michel reveals, although Madoka Magica may be most well-known for the theme of sacrifice, it is as much, if not even more so, a tale of redemption. ~ Editor

-----

This article will be spoiler-heavy and will contain (excessive?) discussion of the anime’s symbolism. If that’s your cup of tea, read on!

Madoka Magica is one of those ambitious series that aims to be a fast-paced psychological thriller, while also telling a multi-layered story that treats us to deeper insights on each additional viewing. Usually, I prefer anime that have a more humble vision, but the crazy thing is that this anime succeeds in achieving both goals. In fact, the thematic depth of the anime goes so far that for a long time, I missed some of the more obvious allegories. This is because the relatively easy-to-follow main plot contains a motif that gives the story a surprising amount of complexity: the motif of reversal. That is, after introducing one way of understanding a character or situation, the series eventually turns that interpretation on its head. This happens with symbols, characters, and even core themes.

Let’s look at an example of this in episode seven, where the symbolism behind the apple gets flipped. Sayaka follows her enemy, Kyouko, to an unfamiliar location where they can talk in private. The place where they end up is fitting: an abandoned and ruined church. This site both reflects the degeneration of something good and primes the viewer for the Christian symbolism to follow.

Up until now, Kyouko has been nothing but a thug who seems to be trying to corrupt Sayaka and undermine her good intentions. And what she has to say now seems no different. When she offers Sayaka an apple—literal forbidden fruit, since it was stolen—Kyouko seems to be playing the part of the snake in the Garden of Eden. It’s no surprise then, that Sayaka is suspicious of her, which becomes evident when we see Sayaka’s face reflected on the apple.

(Read More)

#Anime #Christianity #Puella Magi Madoka Magica #Homura Akemi #Madoka Kaname #Sayaka Miki #Kyouko Sakura #Kyubey #Redemption #Anime Article #Anime Blog #Articles #Christian Anime #Christian Otaku #Author: Michel

[zeravmeta]

yknow that saber/cu alter art post has me thinking it really is fascinating to me that saber and cu have a ton of similar qualities in choosing a heroic fate they knew would ultimately lead to suffering and like, the core difference between them I feel is that saber chose her heroic ideals for the sake of others and cu chulainn chose it for himself

saber in a lot of ways has a similar potential towards inhumanity/being monstrous the same way cu does (being referred to as a child of dragons, the stoic impassive uncaring face of a king no one really understands, the lion king as a whole is a prime example of this) where you can feed too deeply into one aspect of them but that would never really erase the base, cu alter even as a modified beast king is still proud to have been cu chulainn much in the same way that the lion king or saber alter are still at their core kings trying to support their people for the sake of their ideals. and like for all that those are definitely major parts of their beings it's not their whole, they could certainly Be monstrous and in some respects can be considered monsters but they are not only that,

and like what really makes this fascinating to me is that no one ever really tries to save cu chulainn from his heroism the way people tried to save saber from hers.

so many people saw the cruelty saber committed against herself for the sake of others and have tried to save her from it, which in turn led to their own types of disasters. you cant save the legendary king who already died because she still chose this fate for herself, but people still tried against impossible odds. you cant say that cu chulainn didnt also suffer for his heroism, anyone even halfway familiar with his story knows just how much he suffered for the sake of being a hero, knowing his fate would be that of a short tenure of unmatched glory. even if he did choose it for himself, saber also chose her own fate knowing it would lead to a disgraceful end, just because one did it for his own sake and another did it for the sake of others doesnt erase that it is still cruelty towards oneself to become a hero. and like, they also share the pride in their choices! for all that she knows she has regrets about its fall saber would still choose to be the king of camelot a million times over because it was worth it to her despite the tragedy and suffering, to try and stand for a greater cause as a king and a hero, much in the same way that even if he has way more blood on his hands than he would ever be comfortable with, knowing that there are more victims in his path than actual enemies, cu chulainn is still proud to have been a hero and would always choose to be a hero.

romani once said that once you become a hero you no longer belong to yourself, you are now something beyond human who has given up their chance in order to stand tall among the rest of human history. and i feel like this sentiment is the crux of both saber and cu's dynamics with archer and medb, because both of them see the person instead of the hero.

archer stands in a unique position compared to saber and cu because hes the nobody hero who's arguably suffered far worse than them but for all that he looks down on heroism he still does respect both of them deeply as heroes. hes able to insult cu as hard as he does during their fight at the church because he understands cu and knows how to directly spit on his pride, and as shirou there's every action he took throughout the entirety of fsn to try to connect with and save saber from the burden of being the unmatched king and hero. always understanding but never being understood he is every bit their equal as a hero but he does not really like being a hero. archer understands them as people and cannot accept them as heroes because hes so embittered by his own endless experiences as a hero that he cannot see heroism as anything other than an endless path of bloodshed. and in a lot of ways he is right, neither saber nor cu can deny that their choices as heroes led to far more people dying than they were prepared for, but that doesn't mean they didn't see those choices through to the end, and even now still would. in a similar vein, medb is the "king" equivalent of their parallel the way shirou/archer is the "hero" equivalent: medb does love cu, but she doesn't demand the heroic legacy of cu chulainn to be hers, the very first thing she did in america with a grail was try to alter cu so that he Wouldn't be everyone else's hero but a king who would stand at her side, and yet cu alter still ended up being as equally heroic as cu chulainn because the heroism is a core part of him, you cant take away any part of cu because they are inherent to the whole; cu chulainn may be a monster but he isnt only a monster, he is also a hero. knocknarea and catoria are also part of this, offshoots of the people they are based on where the core of their dynamic is what knocknarea wants castoria to take control of her own destiny and go forth not as a the legend but as the person. oberon describes that the only real difference between medb and knocknarea is that medb is simply the version whose searching for love but knocknarea was always searching for love and the one person she connected to in the century she was around in fairy britain was the child of prophecy meant to absolve the land of its sins, quite literally the hero who has to die in order to save the world.

saber and cu may be wildly different in a lot of aspects but they are ultimately two sides of the same coin on the idea of heroism. neither is right and neither is wrong for what is the best version of a hero or themselves, but what matters the most is that despite the suffering, it was still their choices to be a hero. maybe they could be saved, maybe they were saved, maybe they never needed to be saved in the first place, all of that is secondary to them having made their choices and dying for them. no one ever saved saber because you couldn't save her no matter what, but no one ever saved cu chulainn because he never wanted to be saved.

that is the price of being a hero

#no specific overall point just thinking about the ogs #anyways what i am saying is that they need to double team archer AND be double teamed by medb (singular) #and also something medb desires them the person above them the concept. RBY color wheel craved carnally by the pink one (not on color wheel #fate stay night #fate grand order #zerav meta

[agentravensong]

i've had a fic in my drafts for multiple years now (first version of it is from shortly post witch in the web) about paul becoming something of a surrogate dad for hannah (or, more accurately, just beginning on that journey, and then the events of tgwdlm happen). and now i have an idea for a similar story that i think i'm even less likely to finish, so i'm gifting it to tumblr:

bill becoming grace's new, better dad (potentially leading to, depending on how much you want to balloon the scope, the full ccrp gang (minus ted, for timeline reasons we'll get to shortly) becoming psuedo-parental figures for the full npmd protag gang)

to start: bill and grace. i think we can all agree that grace deserves better parents, right? well, there's one reason i think bill is the prime candidate to step into that role for her: they're canonically the same denomination and go to the same church. meaning that a) bill has seen this girl once a week for probably her whole life, so he's got to at least know her a little bit by now, and b) grace probably has a baseline level of respect for and willingness to listen to him, at least compared to any of the other ccrp adults (who are all different denominations).

them having their church in common gives them a starting point, but we also know just how different bill is from grace's parents (for one, he has no problem with his daughter being gay and dating). so being around him could give grace another perspective on life, one she wouldn't be so easily able to dismiss out of hand. there's a chance, however slight, that grace might actually believe him when he shows her there are other ways to be good. other ways to Be.

i guess there's also the possibility that grace's family (and thus grace) could secretly despise bill for not adhering to their version of their denomination's beliefs? but i still think it could work given the right circumstances.

what would be those circumstances, you ask? here's what i think:

the workin boys timeline, post workin boys (gals).

think about it: bill was there, and he has to know grace was there, since she's the one who Dealt with hidgens. imagine being him, and going to church the next sunday, and seeing her there. you'd be at least a little concerned about how she's doing, right?

now, answer me this: do you think grace's parents would be at all equipped to give grace the emotional support she would need after that experience? do you think they'd react at all rationally when they found out about this whole thing?

do you think grace would be able to fully keep up appearances the next time she went to church, after smiting someone in the name of god?

which is to say, i think bill, for as obtuse as he can sometimes be, would notice that she's not okay. and knowing how much he misses alice when she's not around, and how much he always worries for her... i think it's a fair jump to make that bill's fatherly side would start coming out. that he'd offer to be there for grace, and maybe start looking into her family on his own.

and grace, after a short while doing her best to hold things together on her own, cracks, and decides to take him up on that offer.

i think bill would have to do some more developing himself in order to really help grace, because we do see in his relationship with alice that familiar strain of overprotectiveness, even if it's much less dominant than in the chasitys. in that respect, i think setting a version of this idea in the watcher world timeline could be easier, because bill goes through some serious development there... but overall i find that version less interesting for grace, so instead, bill is gonna have to learn the longer way.

it would take a while for bill to start getting at the heart of how grace got messed up by her parents. but i think, with enough time — and maybe some help from a certain social worker and his specially gifted (girl)friend, if we say this timeline is one of the better 50% — he could get there.

now, i mentioned the other npmd teens up top. for the sake of this story, i like imagining that ruth actually survived; she hid when hidgens started murdering and he didn't get to her before the curtains went up. so she gets to be here! yay!

but, uh. none of them are doing too hot. obviously a ruth who lived through that would be traumatized; it might even ruin her love of theater entirely. ritchie saw it all, and i figure ruth wouldn't come out of hiding until after it was all over, so there were a good few minutes at least where he genuinely believed his (maybe best) friend was dead.

and, pete... he wasn't there, but, ya know. he lost his brother. so.

all the kids need help, is the point. and if bill is starting to look after grace, then it's basically inevitable (heh) that he'd start seeing some of ritchie (since he and grace were already kind of friends in this timeline, and i can imagine them developing a trauma bond in the aftermath of the event) and then, by association, ruth. i can even imagine him encouraging grace to hang out with them more as part of her healing, and then they could start having hang-outs at his place, and... plus, i figure the other ccrp adults probably at least vaguely knew about ted's younger brother, so bill doing at least one courtesy check-in on pete makes sense. and pete is friends with richtie and ruth, so, it all comes together!

and at some point, if bill is gonna end up helping out all these teens to some extent, it'll probably become part of his small talk at work, and that's how, if you wanted to, you could get the other adults involved. like, we know paul has babysat for alice before, so i think bill could probably convince him to help out here too... eventually. i mean, it's not like he'd ask him to take them to a musical, given Everything. if paul has started pursuing something with emma, then she can be here too! and charlotte... well, i don't know if we know anything about her opinion on children, and i don't want to stereotype her given she's the only woman of the group. but she's at least generally a nice person; i think she'd be willing to help out when she sees bill starting to get overwhelmed.

which basically just leaves the question of how steph gets involved. my answer: she hears about what happened, then learns that pete's brother was one of the casualties, and through some combo of feeling obligated and having a spark of an interest in pete, reaches out to him to ask how he's doing. so she gets pulled in through him. with this set-up, tho, i figure she probably wouldn't be a major player (though she definitely also deserves a better parent... that can be its own story).

to kind of wrap this up, the point of this whole story concept is that bill accidentally gets a second daughter, figuring out how to be a better dad in the process; and grace, on the precipe of entering adulthood with some fresh trauma, gets a real chance at salvation. a chance to be, relatively, normal. or, whatever she wants to be when free of her parents' expectations and religious standards. anything else for any other characters is a bonus.

(there can also be some alice — bill drama when alice next visits and starts noticing how much bill is devoting himself to this girl that isn't even his daughter. drama that, eventually, results in the two of them becoming closer, and grace getting an honorary older sister!)

(also remember that duke and holloway can be here helping with the kids, if you want them to be. and why wouldn't you?)

like i said up-top, i have no plans to actually write this. y'all can take it and do whatever you want with it. i just hope at least one other person gets something out of this bain blast i had :D

#starkid #hatchetfield #grace chasity #bill woodward #not tagging everyone else #workin boys #workin boys spoilers #nerdy prudes must die #(not really but close enough) #going back to the bill already knowing grace thing: i could honestly see him checking in on her as the theater's clearing out #sitting with her until her parents arrive or bringing her home #...except that the whole 'my coworker i brought with me to this show got shot' thing would probably be his primary overriding concern #i think he'd only really start thinking about the Implications for grace once some time had passed #on an entirely other note: if people are interested in the paul & hannah fic i mentioned up top let me know and i'll get into it :)

[bookishfeylin]

Hi there! I read your post about Egypt and Cleopatra, and now I am really curious about the African Kingdoms you mentioned and was wondering if you could tell us more about them please, they sound really interesting.

Oh, there's SO much I could tell you, and there's so many African kingdoms that have been woefully understudied--and many more aside from the ones I mentioned. They all have their own rich histories, cultures, political intrigue, and it's an actual tragedy that they aren't discussed more. I'm still researching myself, so I'll just review some of my favorite things from each kingdom.

Aksumite/Axumite Empire: Located in modern-day Ethiopia, this empire existed from the 1st to 8th century CE, though its prime was from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE. The Axumites converted to Christianity of their own free will over 1,000 years before colonialism and as a result have ancient churches, some made of stone and carved from the earth itself. They also were the first African kingdom to mint their own coins, and their capital city of Axum had, at its peak, 20,000 people living in it. Also, I love the Dungur palace. Here's a reconstruction of what it looked like:

LOOK AT IT.

Source: x

Kongo: Located in central Africa around modern-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. This kingdom had a rich social hierarchy, apparently had ambassadors to Europe, and some people practiced Catholicism, which led to their own branch of Christianity led by a woman named Beatriz Kimpa Vita in the 1600s who believed she had visions that informed her Jesus actually came from Kongo. Yeah.

Sources: x, x

Loango: A neighbor of Kongo, but one we know much less about due to Kongo having a long, well-documented history of interacting with Europe (see: the ambassadors), and Loango... does not. But we do know they also had a rich social hierarchy, and we have this map of their capital city.

Sources: x, x

Great Zimbabwe: From 1100- 1500, located in modern-day Zimbabwe, this was a city of the Zimbabwe empire that was either used for storing grain or as a royal residence. Either way, the ruins of said city look like this:

Here's a reconstruction:

Sources: x, x, x, x

Ghana/Mali/Songhai: These were three successive empires from West Africa, with Ghana being the first from the 7th to 13th centuries, Mali being the second from the 13th to 16th centuries, and Songhai being the last one from the 15th to 16th centuries. If you learn about a non-Egyptian African civilization at all in school, chances are it's the Ghana empire and its successive empires, and they're most famous for gold, Timbuktu (with its ancient mosques, library, and university), and Mansa Musa.

Sources: x, x, x, x, x

Ashanti/Asante Empire: Located in modern day Ghana, this kingdom lasted from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century. This kingdom is most well-known for its role in the slave trade. The Ashanti had well-built roads and architecture, and a little fun tidbit about them is that, after the introduction of guns, they actually had a minor firearms industry.

Here's their capital, Kumasi:

Source: x, x

Swahili Coastline: The coastline was made up of MANY city-states that saw their prime in the 11th to 15th centuries--including Mombasa, Zanzibar, and Kilwa--that participated in the Indian Ocean trade route, and pottery from as far away as China has been found in these cities. Many of these cities also practiced Islam and had their own mosques. Kilwa is my personal favorite:

These cities were built of stone, but Kilwa's palace, in particular, was built of coral. Its architecture led to the city being described by Ibn Battuta as one of the most beautiful in the world, which is part of why it's so fascinating to me.

Source: x, x

Of course, this barely scratches the surface. There are many more kingdoms all over the continent and a variety from ancient and pre-medieval times that deserve much more love.

And this image doesn't even cover them all!

So yes, ancient and medieval Africa deserve much more love, more research and more hype, and hopefully one day soon they'll get just that.

#africa #black history #ask #black tumblr

[bramble-scramble]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CvPzjsNO6Ud/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==

I'm sorry if this message seems odd, but there's a secret message in this post that you might be exited by! (Just ask me if you can't figure it out or don't want too.) Again, sorry if this ask is weird!

NO, NO, IT'S NOT WEIRD AT ALL

I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS BECAUSE I HAD *THE DREAM* LAST NIGHT AND I WAS JUST SITTING DOWN TO POST ABOUT IT..... I guess I'll do it in this ask then!

OK SO WHAT I MEAN BY "THE DREAM" is the prophetic Phantom dream that all of us M+R fans seem to be having, in our own ways. It finally happened to me!

So I dreamed I was on vacation with my parents and brother, like the one I just came back from, except this time we were in this weird steampunk version of New York City. There was a lot regarding that I could talk about, but the important part for our purposes is that Ubisoft randomly dropped the third DLC out of nowhere the day I was going to leave, so I decided to take the Switch even though I don't normally take it on trips.

I didn't have much chance to play it because I wasn't able to download it until I got to my destination, and then I was trying to grab little moments here and there when we were on public transportation, or in our hotel. So my dream was jumping back and forth between the steampunk New York scenes and the game.

As for the game, the heroes had landed on this planet that I could best describe as looking like Palette Prime in the spring (similar vibes but a lot more green), and I think my brain forgot this was supposed to be a Rayman thing lol because all the Mario characters were there. When they got there, they found there was a strange cult and everyone was talking about their "new leader" and how some people respected him but others were afraid.

Then cut to a scene of Phantom spying on the heroes! He was in some kind of abandoned church or temple, looking out an ornate window, and he also had some kind of little underling with him. He was infuriated that the heroes had arrived there and he flew threw a wall.

The rest of my experience with the game was mostly just exploring, except Phantom would send up menacing faces/images into the sky to scare the Heroes (like translucent holograms/illusions), but they were just generic scary faces (not his own) so they hadn't figured out who it was yet.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm sure this whole cult thing came from @hostess-of-horror comparing Phantom to Cthulhu with him invading our dreams and us trrying to summon him, lol.

I was super happy but I had vowed not to get on the internet until I beat the DLC so nothing would be spoiled for me, but I just knew everyone would be happy. And when I woke up, it all seemed so real that I said, "He's coming back for sure!" But throughout the past few hours, that wore off and I came back to my realistic and grounded self who never gets her hopes up!

And THEN as I sit down to type up the dream and share it with you all, I see this ask!

What a day!

(Btw I pre-ordered this album a while back lol so I will get it eventually!! And we have the old tech to listen to it on because my partner is a vintage stuff enthusiast)

Ahem but anyway

THEY'RE JUST FUCKING TELLING US NOW

FLKASJFLKASJDFLKA GAAAAAAAAARHGHLAKDSHF ALKDSJFLDJSLKFJLKSJ

We were RIGHT this time, friends. The theories, the foreshadowing, the attention that we paid, it will be rewarded!!!

Ok now I have to go back to my job... somehow......... I'm expected to work......

#mario rpgs #mario plus rabbids #mario + rabbids #alter answers #the phantom of the bwahpera

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 2x12 ‘The Mandalore Plot’ Reaction

I love Satine. She is AMAZING. She is so fierce, takes absolutely no nonsense, stands up for what she believes in, is exceptionally competent and skilled in her areas of speciality (diplomacy etc), calls out Obi-Wan on his philosophical jedi bullshit and saves his life as well. And the sass. The Sass. It is off the charts. They spend the entire time flirting under the pretence of verbal jousting, sassing back and forth at each other. I love it. I love them. I spent so much of this episode just CACKLING.

Satine and Obi-Wan are perfect together. They compliment each other so well. They’re one of those couples that are just meant for each other. They’re soul mates (if this was a Soul Mates AU). Yes I know what happens shhh just let me enjoy this 

I know I go on about Space Husband Cody all the time but Obi-Wan and Satine are just so good together. Obi-Wan can have a Space Royalty Wife and a Space Warrior Husband, as a treat. Or they could all just get together as a throuple. Actually, Satine, Cody and Obi-Wan as a throuple sounds most excellent. Ultimate power throuple right there. 

Anyway, onwards to the live-blogging style portion of this reaction post.

-

Ahahahaha Obi-Wan is pure sass already

Oooh that’s a pretty building. Not particularly tactically secure though seeing as its walls and ceiling are made of glass. Though that makes sense as a pacifist statement I suppose.

Jango Fett was a common bounty hunter? Excuse?!

“Well, Master Kenobi, my shining jedi knight, to the rescue once again.” OMGILOVEHERALREADY

What were those strange shimmering noises?

“After all these years you’re even more beautiful than ever.” Obi-Wan you are NOT subtle

“Kind words from a man who accuses me of treachery.” CACKLING

“No Mandalorian would engage in such violence.” That sounds exceptionally counterintuitive, even if this is a long time before The Mandalorian series.

Did she just ask him out on a date after a verbal joust?!

Those strange shimmering noises appeared again. Also, the ominous music is about as unsubtle as Obi-Wan’s flirting. I think, just maybe, that they might be trying to tell us that *gasp* something sinister is going on here!

There seems to be quite a few lingering shots on the Prime Minister. Does he do something nefarious later down the line?

Naw they’re on a date! 

The little pauses in “It’s so good to see you again Obi-Wan” aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Death Watch. That’s a subtle name.

“Small group of hooligans.” Well that’s going to come back and bite you now isn’t.

“Most distasteful.” Dooku doing the absolute most to chew all of the scenery on this holocall.

First philosophy lesson of the episode. Satine has a damn good point and she’s not letting Obi-Wan get away with any noble jedi bullshit.

Naw he was so worried about her. 

Obi-Wan just deciding what to do for Satine’s safety. I get that it’s probably a good idea but also side eyeing. 

Ok that was not something I’d ever expect them to show in a “kids tv show”, that was rough and intense. 

Is this the first time we hear the Mando’a language spoken?

There’s a lot of religious iconography going on in this episode. The building that Obi-Wan meets the Prime Minister and Duchess Satine in, which looks like a church interior. That hand reaching towards the light.

You two are great and all but why are you sassing each other over the very recently dead dude who is right there?!

“That’s why I’m still talking to you.” SAVAGE 

Ahahahahaha Obi-Wan’s little impressed expression CACKLING

Mining is bad kids

Oooh, a Vizla. Is this Paz’s dad?

“Please try not to cause problems where none yet exist” THE SASS

Omg I love these two. They’re perfect.

That pause before Satine said “meditate” XD

Obi-Wan that snooping around is about as subtle as your flirting

I’m loving the music in this episode. It’s been consistently excellent throughout TCW but this episode especially it is really heightening and adding to everything.

This entire scene of Satine trying to subtly communicate with Obi-Wan without alerting Vizla is peak ridiculous campy TCW comedy

“I’m in a bit of an awkward spot” Obi-Wan does like using that phrase when the situation is much worse than he’s letting on. He did the same thing in 2x9 ‘Grievous Intrigue’ when he asked Anakin to pick them up from a ship that was in the middle of exploding in space.

Why did one of the Mandalorians have an OTT south London gangster accent? 

What are those? Random demonstration space pumpkins to emphasise the squishing Obi-Wan is about to receive?

“This is not good.” ya don’t say

Ahahahaha at the line about the loud metallic clanging sound and the machine about to smash him into bits.

I am CACKLING at their sassing of each other. Obi-Wan is metres away from being pureed and they’re still bantering.

This is definitely me reading far too much into things but that look of relief on Obi-Wan’s face looked suspiciously like an orgasm face. Apt seeing as this is the episode where he reconnects with his old flame.

“Unseemly pleasure” hmmm indeed.

That’s where you’re supposed to kiss dammit.

Again with the random south London gangster accent for the Mandalorian “hooligans”?

“We’ll have to stand and fight. Or in your case, just stand.” OBI-WAN YOU DID NOT

For such an apparently uncivilised weapon, Obi-Wan seems suspiciously good at shooting blasters.

The rock! Satine!

Lol the Death Watch leader just flicked his little cape away from in front of his arm and then the next shot we see of him it’s right back where it was. 

Guv’na? Why the random bri’ish accents?

Lol of course Vizla was the baddie and leader of Death Watch.

Nyoom! Wiz! Zing! Random sci-fi noises!

Obi-Wan why are you dodging missiles with dance moves?! What is this ridiculousness? Also, CACKLING

Satine! There are missiles coming, time to go!

Lol of course he fell on top of her but in this case I don’t care and I will take that trope and run with it! 

“Mine was the more daring of the two rescues.” SNORTS

 Lol at Rex, Cody, Anakin and the clones just randomly turning up at the end of the episode.

#the clone wars #tcw #star wars #sw #watching the clone wars for the first time #tcw 2x12 #tcw 2.12 #tcw the mandalore plot #the mandalore plot #tcw 2x12 the mandalore plot #satine kryze #duchess satine #satine #obi wan #tcw reaction #tcw gifs #obitine #obi wan x satine #reaction #thoughts

[cleolinda]

Varney the Vampire: Chapter 9

Chapter 8: "Vampire hunting is harrrrrrd. I want to go hoooooome."

Chapter 9: Originally posted on Livejournal on February 20, 2011 in the same post as chapter 8. Revised a little for polish.

CHAPTER IX.

THE OCCURRENCES OF THE NIGHT AT THE HALL. -- THE SECOND APPEARANCE OF THE VAMPYRE, AND THE PISTOL-SHOT.

When we last left the Fearful Vampyre Hunters, Mr. Dr. Chillingworth was refusing to believe that the paranormal is even a thing; the Bannerworth brothers were limp with horror that their ancestor's missing remains were out vampyring somewhere, maybe; and Family Friend Marchdale and the aforementioned Chillingworth were trying to get them to fucking deal. So now we're going to cut back over to the Bannerworth house and check in on sister Flora Bannerworth, who has been left with their mother and ye olde pistols.

James Malcolm Rymer does something really interesting in this chapter, and I can't tell if it's on purpose or not: he essentially subverts the usual Brave Hero/Distressed Damsel setup by having Henry immediately abandon all will to live ("Nothing matters now. I care not what becomes of me"), and Flora, the actual victim, be the only Bannerworth with any moxie. So Flora's stuck at home with her terrified mother, waiting for the menfolks to stop meebling about how useless they are and come home from that church crypt, and she is beginning to think that maybe she can't handle this by herself.

Despite the full and free consent which Flora had given to her brothers to entrust her solely to the care of her mother and her own courage at the hall, she felt greater fear creep over her after they were gone than she chose to acknowledge.

(An interesting effort here to underline that Flora is left to protect herself by choice.)

But only maybe:

"But it is but for two hours," thought Flora, "and two hours will soon pass away."

Specifically, she reminds herself that the Crypt Squad will be gone from 9 to 11 pm (which is relatively early at night and probably not prime bite time for the vampyre, who arrived last time after midnight). Flora also has no idea what they're up to out in the ancestral church vaults:

It was not even guessed at, however remotely, so that she had not the additional affliction of thinking, that while she was sitting there, a prey to all sorts of imaginative terrors, they were perhaps gathering fresh evidence, as, indeed, they were, of the dreadful reality of the appearance which, but for the collateral circumstances attendant upon its coming and its going, she would fain have persuaded herself was but the vision of a dream.

Honestly, sometimes I like to quote from the text purely to remind you what we're dealing with here.

Meanwhile, as you will recall, Henry's shuffling around in the ancestral vault, moaning "listlessly" about how doing things is harrrrrrd. Flora and her mother wait bravely for the men in the shuttered breakfast room; an hour passes pretty quickly and Flora feels good about this and Mrs. Bannerworth's like, "Oh, Flora! You look much better than you did when the vampyre first made you his hideous repast!" (Henry, back at the crypt: "Being related to a vampire is the woooooorst thinnnnng that has ever happened to anyoooooone.") "Oh! Mother, do you hear that?" "What?" "Just... you know... something at the shutter I've been hearing for the last ten minutes. It's cool, I'm probably imagining it. I mean, I'm the one who got chewed on, I'm certainly not going to get scared." ("It's darrrrrk and I'm saaaaaaad.")

Flora herself trembled, and was of a death-like paleness; once or twice she passed her hand across her brow, and altogether she presented a picture of much mental suffering.

And yet she does not whine about it. Mrs. Bannerworth suggests ringing for some servants to wait it out with them, and Flora's like, "No, no, it's cool! What is that scratching at the window? No, no, I'm fine!" Hm. Maybe Flora needs to admit that she can't—shouldn’t have to—do this all by herself. Or maybe we can just have her waffle back and forth for three hundred words ("No, no! We don't need the servants to sit with us, everything's going to be OH GOD WHAT IS AT THE WINDOW?!?"), that's cool, because finally,

A faint cry came from Flora's lips, as she exclaimed, in a voice of great agony, --"Oh, God! -- oh, God! It has come again!" [207 words] Mrs. Bannerworth covered her face with her hands, and, after rocking to and fro for a moment, she fell off her chair, having fainted with the excess of terror that came over her. [240 words] [The entirety of which I spent laughing at the image of Mrs. Bannerworth falling off her chair like a stunned parrot] One glance, one terrified glance, in which [Flora's] whole soul was concentrated, sufficed to shew her who and what the figure was. There was a tall, gaunt form -- there was the faded ancient apparel -- the lustrous metallic-looking eyes -- its half-opened mouth, exhibiting tusk-like teeth! It was -- yes, it was -- the vampyre! [Tusks? Seriously? Maybe Varney just wants his bucket.] It stood for a moment gazing at her, and then in the hideous way it had attempted before to speak, it apparently endeavoured to utter some words which it could not make articulate to human ears. The pistols lay before Flora. Mechanically she raised one, and pointed it at the figure. It advanced a step, and then she pulled the trigger.

QUEEN SHIT

A stunning report followed. There was a loud cry of pain, and the vampyre fled.

YEAH HE DID

It was no effort of any reflection, but a purely mechanical movement, that made her raise the other pistol, and discharge that likewise in the direction the vampyre had taken.

Granted: Flora then flings the gun away and flees the room; she runs smack into Unidentified Guy Who Might Be the Vampyre (But Probably Isn't, Since the Vampyre Is Out Crashing Around in the Foliage) and faints right into his not-vampyre arms. But for one shining moment, someone did something.

(We have now run out of Livejournal-era recaps! At one point, I had read about halfway through the entire behemoth, but that was about 12 years ago now and I can't even remember what I had for breakfast, so this will mostly be new to me as well. Until I figure out about how long it takes me to recap a chapter from scratch, we're going to say that chapter 10 will go up on Friday, April 14. Could be sooner! Won't be later, unless fate gets tempted!)

#varney the vampire #vampires #vampire studies #long post #recaps

[aprillikesthings]

GOOD MORNING (afternoon actually) time for more she-ra

(I actually started this episode last night lol but wasn't able to finish it)

s5 ep3 corridors

oh this episodes starts with the intro instead of an open. okay.

nnnoooooo

Not only do Catra's ears do a little twitch but it makes a really adorable noise????

Also I just looked at my fic to make sure I mention that Catra's eyes glow a little and got distracted rereading my own porn lolol but yes I did already edit that into a scene

man I feel sad for both of them here. they're both just little kids--with like, zero good role models :(

poor babies

anyway, nice segue

oh those lights are explosions. oh. :(

would you like some heavy-handed but appropriate symbolism

but also the clones are basically stalking her every move, and she runs into the clone that's actually Hordak

I wanted to get a screenshot of her smoothing down her hair and accidentally got whatever this is lol

but yeah Hordak is like "I don't know what you're talking about. anyway go away."

LOL

The ship shuts down and stops in space which is really funny because THAT'S NOT HOW SPACE WORKS unless you're fighting the gravity of a nearby planet or star or something you should maintain your speed forever

but whatever, fantasy universe, plot, etc.

awwwww Catra and Glimmer are talking again. Their banter is so easy to read as flirtatious, too.

It is a struggle not to screenshot every single facial expression they make during this scene.

...Also, I should read my friend's Glitra fics.

THEY'RE SO CUTE

Glimmer mentions specifically raiding the kitchen for cake enough times that I'm 99% sure I subconsciously remembered it when I wrote that short fic that includes it considering I wrote/posted it before I got to any of the mentions of it in my re-watch.

She even mentions eating it with her hands and here I thought it might be weird that I put it in the story lolol

I forgot entire huge portions of plot but remembered Glimmer likes to sneak into the kitchen to eat cake with her hands.

(they're talking about sleepovers)

UGH THIS SCENE IS SO GOOD also the look on Catra's face while she talks about Adora during happier times 🥺

SHIT Daci came upstairs okay I gotta finish this tomorrow

it is now tomorrow :D

don't mind me gonna rewatch this whole scene because it's so painfully sweet

OH ALSO one of the things that's good to note for myself later (re: character stuff) is that Catra is still a little shit here. She opens the conversation by taunting Glimmer about her failed attempts at escape, and when Glimmer pushes back she initially starts to leave.

So yeah. She's always still a bit of a brat.

ALSO I want to note that part of the reason they're willing to tolerate each other at all is that, at this point in the plot, they've both done Pretty Bad Shit. Whether it's the same amount of bad shit is a matter of debate, but Glimmer feels horribly guilty for trying to use the Heart of Etheria and allowing Horde Prime to find them--she's even the reason Catra is on the ship. So they're sort of equals at this point. I don't think Glimmer would be friendly to Catra to quite the same extent if she didn't have that hanging over her. I could be wrong though.

But also yeah they're still very similar people.

look at how soft she is ;_;

but yeah Glimmer's talking here, and oof, look at Catra

do you also have some regrets bb

;_;

and then she gets up and walks off without a word to Glimmer

lol the claws on the wall, absent-mindedly. I know why she's doing that--the urge to leave a mark, however minor--"I was here"--to be even the tiniest thorn in the side of an enemy that unfathomably powerful.

another allusion to Christianity

they went for (synthesized) Gregorian chanting here instead of the organ

oh no it's that fucked-up baptism thing D:

(true story: a lot of churches are willing to baptize you more than once, especially if they're weirdoes and don't think other churches' baptisms count. The Episcopal Church, like most mainline protestant denominations, won't re-baptize you--if your previous baptism was done with the Trinitarian formula ("Father, Son, and Holy Spirit") it counts. This actually gets tricky if you were baptized as a Mormon, because they do use the Trinitarian formula, but they mean entirely different things by it! In some parts of the country you'll get rebaptized, in others you won't. Sometimes they'll do what's called a conditional baptism, where they literally say "If you are not baptized, [name], I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Like. They insert a "just in case" clause. They also do this for people who just do not know if they were baptized--like if you can't ask your parents whether you were baptized as a baby because they're dead/no-contact. Anyway I was seven when I got baptized, so I remember it, which is nice; but I did text my mom about it when I was about to get confirmed and it turned out she'd kept my baptismal certificate all these years?!)

I don't know if they were going for The Meme this time--I don't think so? it's just a good way to frame this scene? --but I cannot unsee it

oof it must hurt to admit that, but also, it must be a bit of a relief to actually GENUINELY NOT KNOW and be unable to give away anything

"And yet you seek to protect her" dude has her number that's a fact

oh god he tells her to get info from Glimmer D:

"If I could tell you where Adora is I would! She's my enemy! I want her gone!" oh baby you're so convinced

at this point in the plot I'm not entirely sure he's wrong, but of course he misunderstands why it's a bad thing and the solution to it

(I get that a sprinkle of water on your head is a totally valid baptism but also I think more mainline churches should have full-immersion options bc I just think it makes sense from a symbolism standpoint. I know some mainline churches will allow you to do it if you're an adult getting baptized. Depends on the church/clergy.)

ANYWAY real glad that baptismal fonts/pools aren't electrified

And yes bringing Catra there was a threat

And Catra brings Glimmer cake

aww

hm

she could have stood looming over Glimmer here. Instead she's literally on her knees and holding Glimmer's other hand. She doesn't want to intimidate Glimmer into giving her information. She wants Glimmer to kNOW.

Glimmer drops the cake.

I'm gonna chew my fingers off aaaaugh

I'VE HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT i knew I would and I'm only halfway through the episode hold on

#april rewatches spop #corridors

[zorishy]

Reclaimed bur/tropesona + DreamXD lore post

🟢DSMP

Rowan and Casper (after the events of hitting on 16)

Rowan (Revivebur) started feeling guilty about leaving Ghostbur in limbo after accidentally taking one of Ranboo’s canon lives and decided to find a way to revive him. He learns about DreamXD from eaves dropping on a conversation between Foolish and Slimecicle at the Las Nedadas casino.

Rowan goes to Technoblade to get more information after the crows tell him that Techno knows something. Techno tells Rowan that he knows how to summon DreamXD. They go to the syndicate meeting room and try to place an ender eye in one of the portal frames making up the table. XD shows up before they can put in the eye. Rowan asks XD if there is a way to revive Ghostbur. XD says yes but it comes with a price. Rowan says will do anything to get Ghostbur out of limbo.

XD tells Rowan that if he wants Ghostbur back he will need to renounce all his worship of c!Dream, sacrifice someone to him, and leave church prime and convert to worshiping him. Rowan agrees. Rowan kills Connoreatspants (c!dream’s child).

DreamXD has Mumza create a vessel/body for Ghostbur to inhabit before reviving Ghostbur. When Ghost is revived he as 3 canon lives because his new body hasn’t lost any. Ghostbur takes some time to get used to his new body and independence from being Rowan’s spirit. Eventually he adopts the name Casper to further separate himself from that aspect of his existence.

Over the course of the next month Casper builds a home for himself in one of the walls of the hole that was once lmanberg, rebuilding his old crane and using it as an elevator to access his house.

Casper, despite now having his own body and identity, still feels drawn to Rowan. Eventually these feelings evolve into a kind of crush. Casper eventually confesses his feelings for Rowan. Rowan is a bit shocked at first but decides being in a relationship again is worth a shot. Turns out they make a great couple and Rowan ends up moving in with Casper.

Also Casper forms a friendship with DreamXD and helps him improve his social skills and work through the trauma he has from George taking one of his canon lives. Eventually Casper forms a support group for people who have lost one or more canon lives and were traumatized by the experience.

#bursonas #ghostbur #revivebur #lore #sootbur #Burs reclaimed #Zorishy’s tropesona lore #Symphony of gods and dreamers

[maggot-monger]

lucifer gender symbolism essay part 3: the dead nun

masterpost

remember how lucifer’s very first appearance was as a dead nun in lucifer rising?? it wasn’t a vessel situation, but the first time we hear lucifer speak directly, it is through a dead catholic nun, to azazel, at the end of s4. and that is how we are INTRODUCED to lucifer as an actual real, speaking character who isn’t just a distant mythic concept. this adds to the atmosphere of the scene and makes lucifer and azazel seem scarier, but by putting lucifer's voice in the nun's mouth it also kind of situates lucifer as being like the nun in some ways.

in his first appearance, the devil is a brutalized woman of god!

it’s appropriate, given lucifer’s firm stance that he fell because he loved god too much. lucifer is rebellious, but not for the sake of rebelling — he’s doing an apocalypse for revenge, but also seems to think he’s legitimately trying to protect what he sees as his father’s best creation. there is a lot going on with why lucifer fell, but one of them is for overstepping what angels were supposed to do by having an opinion that contradicted The Father’s. but fundamentally, lucifer sees himself as loving god — loving god too much — being devoted to god and god’s creations, to the point that he felt disobedience was a better way to show devotion than obedience (if this sounds strange i would direct you to the first and second bullet points on this post, which might or might not make things clearer)

so, it’s fitting that he would be introduced as a nun. it primes us to think of lucifer as a religious figure, sacrificed on the altar of her piety — the scene is disturbing, the religious imagery seems twisted and warped and corrupted, but nonetheless, the voice does come from a nun’s mouth. lucifer did not kill that nun; lucifer is speaking as that nun. the disturbing religiosity of the image is about corruption maybe, but what is really going on there is lucifer as a woman who pledged her life to god and who has now been bloodily killed specifically because she is a woman who pledged her life to god. and that is, in a sense, exactly what lucifer is: an embodiment of piety, broken.

it seems relevant that it's a nun rather than a priest too...partially this comes back to supernatural's thing about women and innocence: a dead nun devil is creepier than a dead priest devil because women have more in-show purity symbolism baggage than men do, so it's more dramatic and creepy when they're killed or corrupted. lucifer, having once been god's favorite, had the furthest to fall, so it's creepier for him to end up the devil than it would have been for pretty much any other angel.

beyond spn standard gender stuff, nuns and priests have different roles in catholism: depending on the order/region/etc, nuns might be cloistered (no contact with the outside world) or work in caretaking roles or similar doing acts of service. priests, on the other hand, have an explicit leadership role: they preach to their communities; they are thought leaders; they are called "father" for a reason. (some nuns are community leaders as well of course but that's not the job description for them the same way it is for priests). in lucifer rising, lucifer is not using the voice a leader, but is instead using the voice either of someone cut off from the outside world (true, certainly in the cage and more symbolically pre-fall), or of someone who is supposed to concern herself with doing good works than with interpreting god's word for a congregation. showing lucifer as a nun subverts expectations both of nuns and of lucifer, and puts an interesting spin on the character by giving us some possible insight into what he was supposed to be — and, maybe, how he still thinks of himself.

there’s also something to the fact that women can’t reach the same positions within the hierarchy of the catholic church that men can. they can be nuns; they can’t be cardinals etc. this is a bit messy because lucifer used to be one of the highest ranking angels, but nonetheless…maybe something about the incorrectness of the demons deifying lucifer. lucifer doesn’t give the impression of wanting to be in charge of the demons, he doesn’t seem to want to rule hell as a kind of god or pope figure. he leans into it because it’s tactically useful, but that’s not something he’s all that into. what lucifer is, according to lucifer, is someone who loves god and serves god’s best interests. lucifer's hubris is from lucifer thinking he knew better than god what was in god’s best interests. this is kind of getting away from me but you see the general outlines of this, yeah? maybe? anyway

part 2: gender in supernatural part 4: women in white

#spn #spnluciferweek #lucifer #spn thots #meta

[profanepurity]

POV: You are Lilith and you’ve been cursed by God for refusing to submit to a Twink. Every child you have is slaughtered and it’s unimaginably painful for you to have to watch your children suffer because of you. Fast forward a long ass time and you find some cool satanic worshippers that dig the idea of conceiving your child for you and the Devil, but they actually fuck you over with the blood magic stuff they used and now your son belongs to them. You don’t find this out until you’re about to bless him during his dedication ceremony after the woman you trusted to carry your son has the baby, which you have never been happier in your existence about. Said woman has the audacity to name your baby “copy” since she used the fetus of her own baby with the current Papa to make an antichrist. You can’t tell him who he really is or who you are, and all like five of the demon kings that you hang out with that love you so fucking much can’t do anything either because of that drippy ass pendant Mr. Salty is wearing giving him Solomon top energy. Now you’re terrified of what they’re going to do with your son and wondering how long it will be until they kill him, and you can only interact with him while you’re in your silly little human cosplay. 

Oh, and your son is being raised by rats for like the first couple years of his life because his dad thought it was a good idea. He’s never seen The Omen, but if he had he totally would have given Copia a hell hound. Rats are rad too though. 

But it all kind of works out, because you really really like the current Papa’s oldest son, and so do all the other Lords of Hell, so you decide to sort of gift him/ dump a third fratellino on him AND give him a sexy vampire Prime Mover that you have blessed yourself. 

Now all the Unholy Mother can do is wait until the wrath of God can come down upon the church when Jesus arrives. 

(If this is your first time seeing my au, I’m sorry lol. I’ve been in a shitty headspace all day so I figured I’d draw something sad- but also kind of a big lore drop?? I feel like I still have more lore to surprise you with 😏. I also wanted to show you guys a peak at more designs for the Lords of Hell before I post a promo for a little somethin somethin’. Can you guess who’s who lol? All the names are in the tags towards the end if you want to use that as your little demon name bank. It’ll let me know who’s done their homework and read “Guiding Star” lol 🖤)

#the band ghost #ghost the band #ghost bc #ghost fanart #the band ghost fanart #ghost the band fanart #ghost the band au #ghost the band oc #copia #copia fanart #papa copia #popia #cardinal copia #papa iv #papa emeritus iv #papa emeritus copia #sister imperator #young sister imperator #mr saltarian #Lucifer #lilith #belial #asmodeus #beelzebub #praeteritum au

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

To touch on your great analysis meta about the routes, why do you think so many Dimitri haters lament about AM being a character driven narrative? Do you think it's just salty haters who can't accept that CF wasn't the same character driven narrative for Edelgard? Or salty Claude fans who dislike that VW was more about Fodlan lore than about Claude himself? I've always been of the belief that character driven plots are the best types of stories because I prefer characterization to lore tbh.

I was thinking about this exact thing yesterday actually: Why have I seen so many complaints over the years that Dimitri's route is about . . . Dimitri?

I came to a conclusion that may be absolute horseshit, but oh well:

We come to stories for escapism, right? On the surface that comes across as just a different set of rules to a world, to the point where we can't recognize our current circumstances.

That's not entirely true. At least, it's not true on its own. We want stories that make us feel. We come to pieces of media to listen to, read, watch stories that could be about us, but in a different world. We want to witness people, who could be us, who might just be us, go through the trials and tribulations of life--if not something astoundingly worse--and walk out okay, because that means we'll be okay. Humans are fickle creatures, and we want just enough about a story to be foreign to entice us into looking at it, and then be relatable enough for us to sink our teeth in and love it for years. Strangeness draws us in, and relatability keeps us there.

You can only do that with really good characters. You can only get that resolution when you watch realistic characters go through problems that are likely (i.e., probable within the narrative) to affect them, if not ruin them, only for them to emerge victorious. (And I say probable, because if rabid doves were to start attacking Fódlan, it would turn into a comedy long before anything else.)

I've seen various complaints about AM. Some of them are warranted. Others not so much.

Why doesn't Dimitri tackle TWSITD? Well, he kills three of their major players on accident, and while he wants to learn the truth of the Tragedy, he comes to accept that if he focuses on what he doesn't know, he's going to find himself in an even earlier grave. Also, Dimitri's story is about him. Trying to shoehorn in Fodlan's past would a) contradict his themes of leaving behind the uncertain and moving forward with the certain and b) force him into a claude-like role where he's not important, the lore is. (Which isn't to say that it couldn't have been done, just that several things would have had to be reworked and changed to write a compelling Dimitri story alongside that of the church/agarthans/nabateans. Claude was more primed for a story that ties in his character with the lore, but, again--shafted.)

Why does Dimitri focus on the painful parts of his life? I hate to break it to people, but pain is pain. It goes away when it wants, if it wants. Post-skip, he's just spent five years up to his eyes in that pain, at the whims of his mental illness. The biggest point in favour of AM is that he becomes better at bearing it, as we all do with time and support.

Why do I have to hold his hand? Sorry, that's all Byleth (and a hefty sprinkling of writers' work.) At the end of the day, Byleth wants to help Dimitri. Their character isn't as fleshed out as others', courtesy of the curse of avatar-ness, but that they want to help people is a pretty consist characteristic across the game. Also, I understand that the more aggressive symptoms of mental illness are frustrating (I deal with it from my own family), but that does not, and will never, mean someone deserves to be abandoned. That someone inconveniences you or frustrates you does not warrant the total removal of their support. Now, I wanted to rattle him at moments, because godDAMMIT Dimitri, can you sit down for a second instead of trying to march off to your death, but if you equate being frustrated with someone's mental illness to thinking they deserve to fester in their own pain . . . You need to do some serious soul-searching.

Why does Dimitri make a complete 180 the minute Rodrigue dies? He doesn't. You have to actively stop him from riding off to Enbarr on a suicide mission. To boot (and I blame this first and foremost on the support structure), he admits that he's going to be seeing and hearing shit till the day he dies in his S support with Byleth. He doesn't make a 180; he just tries to get his shit together to save his kingdom.

Why does Dimitri make everything about him? I don't know how to explain the concept of empathy to people, really, but he's being empathetic. I've been comforted by people who share my pain, and I do the same thing, because pain is manageable, but pain you face alone is lethal. Dimitri continually says this, that without the support of those around him, he likely would have died a long time ago.

Dimitri is a character that is completely and utterly relatable in his pain. No, a vast majority of us haven't watched our families get slaughtered in front of our eyes in a blaze of terror, but it's his pain we feel. I've forgotten the voices of my dead loved ones; I have a hard time remembering to take care of myself; I have to remind myself that I am not my mistakes, and I am not the hurt I've dealt to people. Sure, he's a king in magical, distant not-Europe, but first and foremost he is a person whose journey we witnessed, from a prince who sees himself first and foremost as a weapon for the grief of his dead family to a king who wants nothing more than to see his home safe and sound. He isn't his pain, and neither am I. That's what brings tears to my eyes; that's how I can play White Clouds over and over in the name of getting to AM, because his journey is woven into it so neatly.

That's the thing people want when they come to a story; they want a tale of people overcoming the obstacles they themselves face, often in window dressings that don't match their own world's. Ultimately, the window dressing doesn't matter, but rather the victory of the character. Stories are for people, and so they have to be about people. That's why characters carry plot, and not the other way around.

Anyway. That's just my two cents.

#s responds #anonymous metropolis #fe #fe3h

[telomeke]

Amid the looming clouds at the halfway point of Moonlight Chicken, along comes Ford with a message of hope–

It's the closing theme, and the lyrics speak of looking beyond your current turbulence at better days to come.

Unusually, he's singing in a church or chapel at Christmas-time (there's a Christmas tree visible behind him, marking the season), but it's not completely at odds with the themes of Moonlight Chicken if you think about it.

The storyline has referenced other days of celebration from different traditions as well (the Mid-Autumn Festival and Loy Krathong), and these are also somewhat religious in nature .

Tying in with the idea of dawn in Li Ming's name (see this write-up linked here for more explanation) and with Ford signaling the power of new beginnings in the lyrics of his song, there is some relevance to Moonlight Chicken's storyline.

I'm thinking of Heart and Li Ming's subplot specifically, because the sign language employed in this video (at timestamp 0.33) points us unwaveringly at their private and earnest conversations.

In addition, referencing a Western religion with the Christmas setting underscores Li Ming's self-avowed desire to move to the US and start his life anew, remembering too that the Yuletide message is also one of hope and rebirth.

We're being primed for heavier drama in the second half (the angst has been building) and I think the air of wistful melancholy overlaid on this hope-filled song hints at – if not a wholly happy ending for all the Moonlight Chicken gang, perhaps one with touches of the bittersweet? 😥 For Ford is telling us to move forward not in despair (even though it is sure to come), but rather more in spite of it. 💖

P.S. Did you catch what the sign language interpreter was signing at timestamp 0.36? A little shout-out to Gemini's character... 😍 P.P.S. I wrote all before this post-postscript before watching Ep.4. But now that I have, I realize that it looks like I was just repeating some of what was in the episode, when it was really all off Ford's video. I think Director Aof is just very good at telegraphing meaning in all he does. 💖

#moonlight chicken #moonlight chicken closing theme song #ford arun #YouTube

[300iqprower]

So I was playing Elden Ring and just noticed how every boss is literally weakened by the passage of time. Is this a thing in all Fromsoft games? Elden Ring is the first one I've played and it's fascinating how Fromsoft made it a point to show bosses facing their end because they've been eroded by time.

Is that a thing mechanically? Like I know its open world so do the bosses you choose to do later get scaled down/dont scale to your new level to make it so the later you do a boss the weaker they are? If that's what you mean, no that is an Elden Ring thing.

If you mean lorewise, does the game show how these are ancient beings who are long past their prime and at best a hollow shell of what they once were pretending to be the legend described, oh yes that is very much a FromSoftware thing. And I dont know WHY IN GOD’S NAME I felt a need to systematically break down some examples, but I super did. So here we fcking go.  [BUT THATS YOUR TLDR: “YES.” WTF IS WRONG WITH ME THE REST OF THIS IS LIKE 4K WORDS. Oh and sorry in advance for the length before the break but it only lets ya put one Keep Reading i guess...]

Gonna put a spoiler break only later on for heavy spoilers. In the meanwhile there will be light spoilers for Dark Souls 1, 2, 3, and Bloodborne. There will be no Elden Ring or Sekiro spoilers in this post (albeit only cause I've avoided spoiling myself as much as possible on both lol)

Again, the answer is basically “yes.” Like, that is Fromsoft design 101. That has been the core philosophy of every final boss across Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, and Bloodborne. Hell, most bosses in the series in general. It's even a thing in Sekiro, albeit a lot of it is presented very differently (As far as I am anyways. See above.)

> Light spoilers for Bloodborne follow.

Father Gascoigne, the first mandatory boss of Bloodborne, sets the tone very well for this sort of thing. Hunters are very clearly supposed to be the ones who keep order and cull the insane and the beasts during the Night of the Hunt, and when you encounter the only named Hunter thus far it starts out exactly like that, finding a priest in a graveyard with the same weapons you start with, dressed similarly to the default Hunter's attire and hacking at a beast...except, it becomes immediately apparent that it’s already long dead, less a hunter killing prey and more a butcher obsessed with a carcass. Upon noticing you, a fellow hunter, he says “Beasts All Over The Shop…..You’ll be one of them….Sooner Or Later….”

before turning around and revealing he's blindfolded as he lets out a raspy, feral growl. ...And then halfway through the fight he turns into a fucking werewolf.

Yeah, despite being a Fromsoft game, Bloodborne is very quick to make clear what's going on in it. Between the insane mob of villagers, the werewolves running around, the giant roaring abomination that's supposedly a Cleric, and now the first fellow hunter you meet (one working for the Church that is supposed to be the governing authority no less) is as crazed as the beasts themselves and several times as deadly in his brutality, this is clearly a place that has gone to hell long ago, and Gascoigne already told you why: "Sooner or later, you'll be one of them too." Between Gascoigne turning into a beast moments after telling us we'll eventually be one ourselves, and the cryptic lines from our hub dream world about how this is all happened before and is a tradition that will continue, it's pretty clear Bloodborne is about ‘he who fights monsters’ in the most literal sense, and it demonstrates that by having you fight people who have been fighting monsters for far too long to hold onto who they were. This world where crusading hunters once took up arms to defend their home from a plague of beasts are now as bloodlusted as the beasts themselves, to the point where the second mandatory boss ALSO transforms from human to monster before our eyes.

It's really the DLC that goes all in on this idea though. without properly spoiling anything (this is all stuff that is literally in the official description and its CALLED The Old Hunters), names that you heard lauded as great heroes finally make their appearance proper...but as twisted and broken beings who bear no resemblance to their legends and every resemblance to the things they were meant to destroy.

> Light to moderate spoilers for DS3.

You know how Elden Ring does that thing at the start where it shows you all these long fallen characters you yourself will eventually encounter and stuff? Yeah that’s something of a staple of Fromsoftware, specifically what they did with DS1 and 3. While 1 is a lot more coy about it and waits til like the halfway point, though, 3 makes it clear it’s doing the same thing DS1 did right out the gate. “The world is dying, you’re gonna face these guys, and you’re gonna catch on quick they’re all mere shadows of the legends they’re meant to be, in fact we are literally telling you this in the intro.”

And much as I love taking any chance whatsoever to rave about how the best boss in the entire series is The Abyss Watchers, it’s actually everyone’s favorite DS3 meme Yhorm the Giant who takes it. He’s possibly the most built up of all the bosses: Last of the giants and their king, a being who can’t even be killed by the weapons of men, a descendant of a conqueror and a warriors king in his own right...now nothing but a mindless, burnt out husk quietly waiting for death on a subconscious level. He once wielded a greatshield but now two-hands his sword, having long since stopped acting as a ruler in the face of all he’s lost and becoming nothing more than a weapon. Long ago he would give the Storm Ruler, the giant-slaying sword, to those who did not trust him to rule as an act of honor; now it lies carelessly strewn alongside his throne, and Yhorm will attempt to crush you long before you reach it. His one friend Siegward joins you because he knew from the start Yhorm would be like this, and seeks to put the husk out of its misery, even if it costs him his life. Siegward makes clear he would rather die than let his once friend Yhorm spiral ever further into a decay that he is too great to be consumed by yet not great enough to escape, and that’s the entire point. Greatness is a curse, not a blessing. Immortal Life can do nothing to stop the world around you from succumbing to erosion and decay. Just as Yhorm awoke from kindling to find his people still suffered, just as his empire inevitably fell and left him alone, so too did the entire world begin to die as the fire faded ever further. Hollowing is inevitable, because you will always be powerless against entropy in the end. Yhorm knows this beyond any other Lord of Cinder. Whereas the others all went astray in their selfishness or simply went insane from corruption, Yhorm is the one who truly despaired and simply...gave up, on trying to hold onto what he was. His body persisted as a hollowed husk of a once incredible being, but the mind within it died in the face of an immutable reality. Even in gameplay he’s just a walking shell, one of the easiest boss fights in sosulborne history thanks to him having kept a weapon designed for killing him at his side; the Storm Ruler isn’t some measly damage buff against an enemy type, this thing kills him in like 5 hits. From the start you weren’t ‘fighting’ something that was meant to be fought, but to be put down.

> Moderate spoilers for DS1 (middle third of the game or so)

DS1 arguably has the most wide scale example of this, since the entire point of the game is that every major boss is a once great god gone astray, and you have an entire city demonstrating this. At the start of the game we’re shown all these incredible being of old, and it’s made out as if we’re watching legends who created the world give us context on our upcoming adventure. These beings are made out as distant entities so much greater than any of us, meant to be acted in the name of as we kill dragons and stuff. But then, around the third to halfway point, it becomes clear we’ll be fighting them ourselves, and these ‘distant almighty gods’ have fallen from their glory and become what are simply more monsters to be cut down. Nito the lord of the dead is least changed but acts entirely in self interest at this point, dwelling the dark catacombs after imposing the very concept of death onto the world and not caring the slightest for what came after, to the point that what truly weakens him is not Pinwheel’s fucking about, but rather the sheer energy he is putting out to impose the concept of death onto an ever more undead world. The Witch of Izalith? Where to start, how about the fact that in her hubris of thinking she could recreate the first flame, that as a being who had lost their glory she could simply recreate that glory, she turned herself into a horrid abomination and shit-tier boss fight? Because of COURSE that happened. How could you reclaim the height of your power when even at the height of your power you could not hold onto it? How about Seath? Oh the things to say about Seath, what can we call him? Cruel, Jealous, Spiteful, literally and figuratively jaded, insane, pathetic, but of all the things we can call him those things are not “glorious” or “immortal”. He became desperate for the immortality he supposedly “proved” he didnt need by killing his scaled brethren. From declaring he did not need his peers’ immortality, to going insane over his obsession with cloying at whatever possible escape from death there might be.

From Nito’s indifference to Izalith’s hubris to Seath’s madness, they are all fallen in their own way. All their attempts to hold onto their glory only serve to further remove them from it. So many millennia and the god of Death has only become weaker as the world dies. The Witch’s magic that is meant to bend chaos to its will could only damn its wielder in the face of nature’s course. The crystal dragon’s immortality is exactly that: crystal, the fruits of his cruelty and madness nothing more than a feeble crystal easily shattered.

But to loop it all back around, it’s the final bosses of the series who really hammer the theme of ‘faded glory’ home.

> Major spoilers for DS1, DS2, and Demon’s Souls to follow, starting with DS1.

First though....Hey remember that bit I casually dropped about an entire city? You arrive to Anor Londo, carried from desolate undead asylum or the dregs of Blighttown to a great golden city illuminated perpetually by the sunset, powerful knights and cleric giants all over the place, lightning and miracle using enemies whose powers are synonymous with Gwyn’s legacy, and at the end of that gauntlet are Ornstein and Smough in their golden armor and every bit tough and lively as their legends portray. Beyond them, you meet the beautiful Gwynevere who gives you the Lordsoul to truly start your quest for the gods in linking the flame. Even if the gods are all fallen or helpless on their own, we can at least see the legacy they created and hopefully spread through the land. We can at least bring this light back to the rest of the world, knowing it can still be sustained.

Except, that was a lie. It was all a fucking lie. 

A lie orchestrated by one feeble god desperate to maintain a literal illusion of his family’s grandeur. A god whose main tactic should you fight him is to run away forever in an endless hallway and blast you with magic because he’s otherwise powerless against a simple human. Should you find and successfully kill Gwyndolin, the magic he cast over the city fades, and we see Anor Londo for what it really is: Dark. The city of the gods, the capital of the Age of Fire that stands against the Dark, has itself gone Dark, and we can’t even begin to imagine for how long it’s been that way. The gods, their cities, their subjects, their champions, all of it is just a shadow cast so long ago that it doesn’t resemble that which cast it, and any evidence that their time hasn’t passed is just another lie you’ve been fed. (...Side note, watch this video I subconsciously almost quoted verbatim)

Thus enters the God who lived and died for that lie, unable to accept a reality in which he did not rule. Thus we meet Gwyn himself....or at least, what little is left of him. Because that guy the game has been building up as your ultimate challenge? That top god who by this point has Final Boss written all over him? That guy who STARTED all this crap and is basically Zeus the Dragon Butcher? Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight?

You don’t fight him. You fight a walking husk, and this time I mean that literally. Burnt inside and out with a body of charcoal and soul of ash. You fight one of the easiest bosses in the game, a boss the devs explicitly stated was designed to make sure any possible build would not struggle much with. You fight a guy who doesn’t have a single lightning attack. You fight Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. And by the next game, he doesn’t even have a name. The one who conquered the everlasting dragons and ushered humanity into their first age is barely a memory in Dark Souls 2, simply known as a distant sun god; his own miracles that were so crucial to his legacy don’t even acknowledge him. The one person we meet who remembers he properly existed regards Gwyn as a blind fool who did not save humanity, but damn it.  And by Dark Souls 3, Gwyn isn’t even his own being, he’s just one of many nameless souls to link the first flame. 

Once the most powerful of all gods and savior of humankind, now no more valued than the random undead schmuck you played as. Without a doubt the one you see fall the furthest in any Fromsoft game is Gwyn, and it’s exactly what he deserved. 

> Onto DS2

Because while Gwyn is the definitive example, he’s not the most extreme example; I’d argue that’s Vendrick. You might disagree since his fall was not as far, but what we saw of him WAS harsher than anything we saw of Gwyn. If not the most extreme, he’s certainly the most tragic, because unlike so many other cases of this in the series, Vendrick knew and accepted that this would happen to him. He’s one of a handful of figures across the series who embody the idea that, among all these legends, the ones truly worth being remembered for their glory are the ones who recognized they must eventually let go of said glory. 

What I mean by “what we saw” is...well, just like Gwyn, Vendrick is built up over the course of the game as the great king and conqueror who ruled over the world you’re travelling around, and while Gwyn is foreshadowed as the big bad, Vendrick is directly made out to be the final boss. You’re given a quest, you overcome trials, and it’s all directly in the name of reaching this ancient tyrannical being who as a mere man conquered giants and reigned dragons. And when you finally go through a gauntlet to reach him and break his seals...

...you’re met with a feeble, shriveled Hollow who can barely drag his sword. 

Gwyn at least gave the player a sense of who he was. He was a husk, and he was weak, but he put up a fight. He was waiting for you, undeniably himself in body if not mind, and commanding the first flame as his own with a blade wreathed in those flames. He stares you down as you enter and rushes you when you approach, his iconic theme playing as he silently lashes out at you. He was a husk, but he was never completely without dignity. Vendrick doesn’t have any of that. He’s hunched and aimlessly wandering his small chamber when you find him, not even attacking until you’ve hit him several times. He has no grand, iconic requiem accompanying his battle. Instead there is the scant few piano chords of a whisper filled dirge fading in and out, as faded as the empty being before your that has thrown away all but his blade and his crown. His robes, his precious ring, all of it cast aside, knowing the fate that awaited him would have no use for them. He’s nothing more visibly imposing than a giant version of the most basic hollows. His only unique abilities are the incredibly durability and raw strength, both of which he can longer wield effectively as one of the most predictable fights in the game; the same bait and strike tactic that works on any starting grunt works just as well on him. The closest thing to a unique attack he has is a single curse spell that represents everything he was trying to defy. 

Gwyn was a far cry of his once glorious self, but he was a proper final boss in atmosphere and presentation if not strength or challenge. There’s no comparison to Vendrick, who is downright unrecognizable and was never your true foe to begin with...just a poor hollow to be put out of its misery...

> But Wait There’s [one] More [thank god]! It’s finally Demon’s Souls time.

Demon’s Souls is very much the Proto-Dark Souls in a lot of ways and how it conveys its themes is no exception. The big thing about soulsborne games is how, as you said at the start of this essay, the things we fight have all been eroded by the passage of time. We don’t see what their true potential is. We never meet them in their full glory. We can only strike down what remains of that faded legend. Even when something like time travel gets involved with various DLCs, we fight things like the Burnt Ivory King and Artorias of the Abyss. Even in the past, the legends we face are already corrupted almost beyond recognition. You simply don’t get to see what their prime is, no matter how curious we may be, because that’s the whole point of the theme of fading glory: You can’t get that back. You can only accept that it’s gone. 

.....Old King Allant is a massive, blitz speed, Final Explosion-ing, soul sucking exception to this. 

Look at this. Look. At. This.  LOOK  AT  THIS  SHIT.

This is not a shell, this is not a husk, there is nothing faded about this Alabaster curb-stomper - he’s practically radiant. Whether he’s something exceptional in difficulty is up to debate, but what isn’t up for discussion is how he’s presented, because every. single. attack. of his radiates power. I’m talking, like, Vergil levels of  P O W E R. He’s got a winged aura of storm winds, he delays his windups only to then lunge forward at breakneck speed, just the way he draws sword to face you gives off raw “I’m going to fuck you up” energy - the sword in question being Soulbrandt, a blade that he never once let go of out of his infatuation with the way it grew in strength as his soul grew darker. He sends shockwave projectiles, not magic sword beams, pure shockwaves from how hard and fast he’s attacking. He almost never gets stunned compared to any other human, he has resistances against just about everything including the ability to shrug off any magic you throw at him, and his own magic is so powerful he can either one-shot explode you or steal your levels as he kills you. Above all else though, he’s brutal. He’ll attack relentlessly and swiftly, taking out anyone who’s relying on heal-tanking or fucking around to find out. There are various exploits as there always are, but for most players, regardless of difficulty he’s the one boss we all fear: The kind where there is no trick, you just have to git gud at learning his patterns and countering them. And that’s the main thing that stick with you, just like with Artorias or Maria or Ludwig or Gael or every single bloody Sekiro boss [and from what I’ve seen almost certainly Melania], there’s a swiftness, brutality, and efficiency that truly conveys the power of this legendary figure you’re up against.

Not bad for an illusion, eh?

Yeah I’ve ignored that bit long enough. Old King Allant, or to give his other name, the False King Allant, is truly worthy of being called a warrior king at the peak of his glory....because he was created to be that. The game’s final boss, King Allant XII, is not some alabaster tyrant who conquers dragons and command the demons. He is something even lower than Vendrick in its own way, a mass of mutated, inhuman flesh that pulses and can barely so much as reach out to you let alone strike you, unable to even wield the Soulbrandt fused with its lower carcass, still desperately clinging to it even as the power of the Old One has overwhelmed his physical form. He sought ever more glory, ever more certain his could never fade, and so unlike Gwyn who was puppeted or Vendrick who was hollowed, he became something not just less than human, but unrecognizable as human. We saw him in his glory, and while he retained the strength and power to make that zenith seemingly eternal, intent on and complacent with ruling from his dwelling with the Old One as a mere specter goes forth in his image, when confronted he is not powerful at all. He is, if anything, completely powerless.

Gwyn retained his visage and his dignity, but lost who he was, a burnt husk who possesses none of his own legacy and was doomed to ultimately be forgotten for the very reason of desperately holding onto his glory. Vendrick never ceased to represent that which he believed in, but lost his visage, his dignity, his kingdom, his mind, and his soul, ultimately left with nothing but the acceptance of his own inescapable fate.

Compared to the both of them, Allant is still the most on the nose, because unlike the rest we see that glorious legend. We meet it and fight it before we then deal with the reality of what is left of that same legend. Allant is not a once great, now faded light. He is a blazing pyre snuffed out right in front of our eyes. We go back to back from the peak of his tyrannical and power-mad glory, to a wretched and pathetic abomination pleading for mercy and understanding he does not deserve.

.................................................................................................................................... sigh

There. It’s done.

Ideally I would either now go into how Bloodborne does this amazingly as well with its final boss, but i don't want to spoil it. Not even tagged. Bloodborne has what might be my absolute favorite final boss in all video games, both because of themes discussed here and so many other merits, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone under any circumstance. I don’t care if it’s a 7 year old game (oh god my back), I won’t be the person to spoil that experience for anyone, invested or otherwise. Of course, I could go into the much more willing to spoil Lady Maria because just about EVERYONE knows about her, and from what I’ve seen of Elden Ring she might even have been a sort of “Proof of Concept” for Melania, or I could talk about how Maria is an inverse of this philosophy of “fading glory” and how she stands against the idea of holding onto such…

….but i think i already spent far too long on this, especially when for all i know you were in fact referring to a gameplay mechanic in which case this completely unsolicited WHY DID I WRITE THIS-

#long post #very long post #wall of text #literal essay #I realized how stupid this was around the 1.8k mark but i also knew it was too late to back out by then #This isn't even systematic like I claimed but ya know I only have one life to live so- #i can talk about why Maria and Artorias are such iconic characters some other time #same goes for Abyss Walkers and Burnt Ivory King #I spent multiple hours too many on this #writing analysis #video games #game design #video game analysis #writing shit #dark souls #dark souls 2 #dark souls 3 #demon's souls #bloodborne #elden ring #fromsoft #soulsborne #never let me do this again #never thought i’d get an ask #YOU HAD BETTER APPRECIATE THIS I CHECKED THE WORD COUNT ITS FCKING 4075 #vendrick #father gascoigne #gwyn lord of cinder #king allant #normally im not one for mass tagging BUT I EARNED THESE TAGS DAMNIT