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chaiscentedcandle · 3 years

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Triwizard Tournament (part 1/2)

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: George Weasley x fem!reader (reader is implied Gryffindor house)

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: the reader, along with Harry, gets picked for the Triwizard Tournament and has to save George during the second task!

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭: yes/no

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: none, I think maybe curse words?

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 3,839

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: so, I started from the “beginning” and it’s getting long so I decided to make this into two parts!

The train cart rattled as it rode along the tracks, the twins including Lee chattering about something. The newspaper Y/n was reading would sometimes make noise occasionally when the cart shook, she was reading about the attack at the Quidditch World Cup, she had been their with the Weasley family, same with Harry and Hermione. It was a blur but what she distinctly remembers is running the wrong direction and coming face to face with a group of people wearing all black, their faces covered by gold skeleton masks and their hats were very pointy.

They had no business with her so they let her take off in the other direction, luckily she ran into the back of Fred. Turning around the Twins faces folded with relief as they didn’t have to worry about you and Ginny.

From the distance you could hear the trolley lady, her voice stretching far. Her slightly squeaky wheels bouncing off the walls, soon enough she was stood in front of their cart “anything from the trolley, dears?” She asked like always. Giving a quick glance up, Y/n reached into her pocket and pulled out a little pouch filled with galleons and some sickles, tossing it to Lee and hitting him square in the chest “get yourself’s something, I’m not hungry” she stated, George asked a weary “are you sure?” Before they crowded the opening. Enough money in the pouch to buy them each a thing or two.

“Are you done reading the bloody paper? It’s almost like you’ve been giving it bedroom eyes since you first saw it!” George said, a piece of sweets falling from his mouth to his trousers before he picked it up and but it back in his mouth. Sparing another short glance, Y/n responded “don’t talk with your mouth full, and no I have not, I’ve just decided to read the news for once” a bit of sass laced in her words.

“I agree with George, you haven’t taken your eyes off it, there’s not much in the paper about it” Lee added, and if Lee added Fred wanted to add too “yeah, I mean why read about it when you lived it?” He had a point, doesn’t mean it was a good one.

Y/n just rolled her eyes, Fred wasn’t done talking yet, as always “I mean think about it, it’s probably one measly paragraph or two, it’s a brief topic, why read that when you were in front of a actual death eater!” He said rather loudly with too much enthusiasm.

“You try seeing a death eater Fred, I’m pretty sure you’d wet yourself, plus it wasn’t a long encounter and I didn’t want it to be” George and Lee let out a few chuckles when Y/n said Fred would wet himself. They don’t know if it’d be true, but it was funny.

Lee whistled, catching George’s attention and tossed Y/n’s pouch to George who caught it mid air, beater skills. George placed it in her lap “there’s a few galleons left, Lee wasn’t too hungry either” finally Y/n fully took her eyes off her newspaper, setting it besides her, grabbing her little pouch she picked up her bag and stuffed it in, as she was distracted George took his opportunity to snatch the newspaper from her side.

Upon hearing the crumble of paper and seeing her newspaper gone, Y/n reached to take it from George, who only held it high “come on, George, give it back” Y/n told him, instead he stood up and held it above his head, Y/n followed ahead and tried to reach for her paper, alas she was too short. “George, give it back” she said sternly, he shook his head “no, you keep reading the damn paper over and over again, you’ve probably memorized every word by now, what good is coming out of it?” He asked, Y/n just glared up at him while George smiled a goofy smile at her. Planting her feet and putting her hands on her hips, Y/n was ready to tackle George, true it was just a piece of paper and it was a brief topic but she bought it with her own money “what do I have to do for you to give me back my bloody paper” jokingly George tapped his cheek with his free hand and bent his knees a little.

Y/n stood on her toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, George was stunned as he thought she would’ve given up, but when he froze Y/n took her chance and snatched the paper out of George’s hand, folding it up.

Everybody had gathered in the courtyard to see the foreign visitors. Y/n being squashed between the twins tall figures.

Hagrid stood down below with two giant paddles in his hands to direct the pegasus pulling a carriage in the air, it seemed to be going well until Hagrid turned his back and turned back around at the perfect second to doge the carriage. Some people let out gasps while others laughed or said “woooah”

“Well! There’s something you don’t see everyday!” Fred said, George responded with a laugh. Then Y/n spotted just the crows nest of a ship sticking out, pointing and leaning her body out a little she said “look! That’s the crows nest of a ship” George grabbed her hips “woah there! We don’t need you falling out” a hot flash of blush spread across her cheeks, as if on cue the tip of a ship shot out and fell forwards to reveal a whole ship. Another course of “woah” was let out, McGonagall walked out to the courtyard and called to the students “please go to your houses and get dressed in your robes, meet back in the great hall, we have an announcement to make!” With that she turned away and made her way back inside.

It wasn’t long before students began to fill the great hall, a few stragglers here and there. Y/n sat In front of George and Fred, next to Angelina, Neville sat across Y/n. They gave each other warm smiles.

Everyone watched the first years being sorted, Gryffindor gaining a few.

Dumbledore made his way to the stand, quieting the Great Hall. “Well now we’re all settled in and sorted, I’d like to make an announcement” just after saying this the Great Hall door opened and in running came Mr.Filch, Dumbledore continued “this castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well” Most of the students had their eyes on Mr.Filch as his heavy breathing echoed even though it wasn’t quiet. “You see, Hogwarts had been chosen-” Mr.Filch finally made it to the front, interrupting Dumbledore, they whispered about something before Mr.Filch took off running again, Dumbledore resumed “so, Hogwarts has been chosen to host a LEGENDARY event” he paused “The Triwizard Tournament!” People whispered among themselves for a bit, the twins whispering “brilliant” between themselves.

“Now for those of you who do not know, the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests, from each school a single student is selected to compete, now let me be clear” his tone turned to serious “if chosen, you stand alone and trust me when I say these contests aren’t for the faint hearted” then his tone changed back to happy “but more of that later, but now please join me in welcoming, the lovely lady’s of the Beuxbations Academy of Magic!” Just before he was about to finish the doors swing open “and their headmistress, Madam Maxine!” Beautiful, fancy women decked in blue walk into the Great Hall, their hands behind their backs, all proper. They walked before they stopped a let out a sigh, leaning to the right and putting out their hand, they walked again and repeated the same thing before speeding up to the front, most of the boys staring at their bums.

Y/n looked up at George to see him staring as well, she smacks him on the arm and give hims a look, he turns to her with a look of confusion “what?” He asked before turning back around.

Everyone was watching as Madam Maxine made her way through, down the table a bit you could hear Seamus Finnagin say “blimey! That’s one biiig women!” A little girl was in a different outfit and doing flips, along side her another, older, girl who looks similar to her. They get to the front and bow, most boys (and some girls) clap, stand, cheer or all three for the lady’s. George and Fred being one of those boys, Y/n and Angelina give each other a look, Y/n let’s out a “hmpf” and lean her head on her hand, a pout upon her face, George noticed and asked “what’s wrong?” Getting no response she just turns her head away from him, leaning over to look at Angelina, she just gives him a straight smile and raises her eyebrows before also turning away.

Dumbledore put his hands up to silence everyone. “And now our friends from the North! Please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang! And their high master Igor Karkaroff!” Y/n faces twisted a little, Angelia nudged her “what is it?” She whispered “Igor Karkaroff served you-know-who in the Wizarding War” she whispered back, Angelinas face began to twist as well. Just then a loud bang came from the front, well fit men walked with staffs, banging them on the ground and chanting, sparks coming from the bottom. They spun and twisted the staffs before some of them abandoned them and made a sprint for the front, some lady’s letting out a gasp and standing to get a better look. Y/n and Angelina begin apart of that, Y/n caught a look at George and it seemed he wasn’t enjoying it too much.

Soon legendary Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum and Igor Karkaroff entered, people began to whisper “look!” “It’s krum!” Y/n turned to Angelina, a small smile on her face “I have to admit he’s quite cute!” Angelina let out a laugh, George elbowed her. She turned to George with the same look he gave her “what?!” She gave a little more sass, Neville let out a giggle. She went back to looking at Krum till he caught her eye, giving a wink then looking straight ahead. Heat coated her cheeks, Y/n gushed to Angelina “did you see that?” Angelina and Y/n freaked out amongst themselves for a little.

George rolled his eyes “personally I don’t think Viktor is all that great” he said to Fred who only laughed at his brother.

Everyone began to talk, chatter filling up the Great Hall or eyeing some of the food in front of them, some people paying attention to people brining in a big gold structure. Dumbledore stood next to it “your attention please!” The crowd went silent “I’d like to say a few words” he placed his hand on the gold structure “eternal glory! That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament, but to do this that student must survive three tasks, three EXTREMLY dangerous tasks” Y/n could feel her heart begin to race but she didn’t know why, George looked excited while Fred looked smug “wicked” they both said. “For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule, to explain all this we have the head of the department of international magical corporation, Mr. Bartimus Crouch” the ceiling begin to rain and a lighting storm, a pretty bad one at that.

Some students began to scream before a red bolt in the corner up at the teachers table was sent out and it was back to normal. A wet, crazy looking man was putting his wand away. “It’s him” Ron said “Mad-Eye Moody” his voice low “Alastor Moody” Y/n said “the auror?” Hermione asked “auror?” Dean Thomas questioned “EX-auror, dark wizard catcher” Y/n said “filled up half of the cells in Azkaban thanks to him” Ron finished “he’s suppose to be mad as a hatter these days”.

The students watched the exchange between Mad-Eye Moody and Dumbledore. The minister Bartimus Crouch began speaking, his arms out and playing with his fingers as he spoke “after due consideration, The Ministry has concluded that for their own safety, no student under the age of seventeen should be allowed to put forth their name for the Triwizard Tournament” Mr. Crouch began to raise his voice as students started to get rowdy and yell “this decision is final!” Students started to get louder and louder, making Mr. Crouch having to speak louder. George and Fred got angry, screaming “that’s rubbish” and booing.

“You don’t know what your doing!!” George yelled, Y/n slapped his arm again “George! Be civil!” She told him, he ignored her.

Students still screamed and protested until Dumbledore screamed “SILEEEENCE!” There was still some murmuring before everyone stopped talking. Dumbledore raised his wand and lowered it, as he did the gold stand began to disappear and a big golden cup appeared, a small blue flame appeared above it which turned to a bigger blue flame. “The Goblet of Fire” Dumbledores voice rang throughout “anyone wishes to submit themselves to the tournament nearly write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night” he paused “do not do so lightly! If chosen, there’s no turning back, as from this moment the Triwizard Tournament has begun” Dumbledore finished.

Y/n could hear the roaring of the fire, it was loud in her ears, her heart beat faster then a pixies wings when it’s was flying. All throughout dinner her hands where shaking, Neville was the first to notice.

“You alright, Y/n?” She casted her eyes up to him, shaking her head “no” and that was the last thing she said for the rest of dinner.

For Y/n it was a short time before it was Wednesday, the day before the picking of the champions, a couple of people including her sat in the room with the Goblet, a blue hue throughout the room. She stared at the cup, as if it would tell her all its secrets, a anxious feeling sitting in her stomach. Hermione sat below Y/n, she was calling her name but Y/n didn’t notice until Hermione was shaking her knee “you alright? You’ve been staring at the cup for a couple of minutes” Y/n blinked a few times before she shrugged her shoulders “I’m scared, I feel like something terrible is going to happen, but it’s hard to explain” just then George and Fred came running in, yelling and laughing, a vial in each of their hands.

“Well lads! We’ve done it!” George said to the few people in front of them “cooked it up just this morning!” Fred added, Hermione turned away from them “it’s not going to work” she sang, George and Fred gave each other a look before each twin was on either side of her.

“Oh yeah?” Said Fred “And why is that Granger?” George asked. Hermione huffed “you see this?” She said sassily and motioned to the blue line around the cup “this is a aging line, Dumbledore drew it himself” she told them “so?” Fred responded, Hermione scoffed “SO, a genius like Dumbledore couldn’t possibly be fooled by a dodge as pathetically dimwitted as an Aging Potion!”

“Oh but that’s why it’s so brilliant” told Fred

“Because it’s so pathetically dim witted!” Finished George.

“Ready, Fred?”

“Ready, George!”

They locked arms and said “bottoms up!” Both downing the potion before jumping inside the line, nothing happened. Some students cheered and the twins let out a victorious “yeah!” With a little pep in their step they placed their names in the goblet, letting out a another “yeah!” And high-fiving, unfortunately for them the cup went crazy and flung them out of the ring, landing hard in the ground.

Y/n let out a gasp as she stood up, as the twins sat up they both sported long grey hairs and breads to match “you said!” Said Fred “you said!” George repeated, then they began to brawl, rolling and tackling on the ground, everyone cheering.

“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” It started to die out.

Viktor Krum and Karkaroff entered the room, all eyes on them. Viktor entered the ring and placed a piece of parchment in, undoubtedly his name, as he was leaving he eyed Y/n and Hermione. This wasn’t unnoticed by George, who was still an old man, and his noticeable anger didn’t go unnoticed by his brother.

Thursday. Finally the name drawing of the three champions. Y/n hands wouldn’t stop shaking, her and Neville made their way to the Great Hall “are you okay, Y/n? You’re shaking like you’re freezing cold” he asked, she shook her head “I don’t know why, but I’m so scared, I’m getting terrible anxiety” she told him, he rubbed her back and pulled her to his side “you’ll be alright, you’re underage, you can’t get picked” she nodded her head, he was right, of course he was right, she’s only sixteen, shes too young. Neville held her hand to reduce her shaking, it helping somewhat.

Everyone stood in anticipation, eager to see who’d been picked. Y/n never took her eyes off the goblet, not until George nudged her “you okay?” He asked, she shook her head again “no, why does everyone keep asking me that? Don’t I visibly not look okay?” She said a little annoyed, George raised his hands in defense. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his side, just like Neville.

Soon the staff and Dumbledore entered. “Sit down! Please” he said. Hurriedly everyone took their seats, Y/n sitting next to George with Fred next to her. “Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” He paused to build tension “the champion selection!” Quickly Dumbledore turned around, his arm raised as he dimed the fire around the room.

Y/n heart started to beat faster, she wrapped her arm around George’s and curled into him, turning to her he gave her a kiss on the top of her head to calm her. Dumbledore made his way over to the goblet, same hand raised. Once he reached the goblet he set both hands on it for a few seconds then took it off and backed away, the flame turned bright red and he shield his eyes from the brightness, a piece of parchment flew out from the cup, catching it Dumbledore turned it over and read the name. “The Durmstrang champion is....Viktor Krum!” Cheers rang throughout Durmstrang and Viktor mumbled a happy “yes!” fist bumping the air, getting pats on the shoulder he stood up, shaking hands with Dumbledore and moving to the front.

Next was Beauxbatons, Dumbledore turned the fancy blue paper over “the champion for Beauxbations is..Fleur Delacour!” The Beauxbations women cheered and clapped for her, not as loud as Durmstrang, Ron eyed Fleur. Gross.

Next was Hogwarts. “The Hogwarts champion” Dumbledore turned the parchment over “Cedric Diggory!” Hogwarts cheered for Cedric, his friends cheered louder. Y/n let out a sign of relief, maybe she was just overthinking, Neville placed his hand in her shoulder “see! I told you you’d be alright” she gave him a smile to which he returned.

“EXCELLENT!” Dumbledores voice reached throughout the whole room “we now have our three champions!” Y/n could feel the pit in her stomach grow small, but it was still there “but only one will go down in history” Dumbledore continued “only one! Will hoist this Chalice of Champions!” Bartimus Crouch brought in something big, covered in a piece of fabric, he placed it on a stand “this vessel of victory! The Triwizard Cup!” Dumbledore turned around and pointed at the cup, the piece of fabric flew off and relieved a big blue glowing cup. Students began to clap and cheer for the cup.

Snape started to eye the goblet weirdly, the students near the entrance saw the goblet begin to go crazy like when George and Fred tried to put their names in. Dumbledore turned around quickly, the clapping stopped and he made his way to the goblet, it began to grow red like before when the names flew out. The red fire shot up and another piece of parchment flew out, grabbing it Dumbledore turned it quickly to find a name. “Harry Potter...” he mumbled, looking up hastily around the room he repeated once more “Harry Potter?” Students started to look around the room for Harry, Harry sat back down, not wanting to go up or be seen. Hagrid was shaking his head and mumbling “no...no”. Dumbledore grew angry “HARRY POTTER!” He yelled. Y/n could feel the pit in her stomach begin to grow again. Hermione grabbed Harry’s shoulder “come on, Harry” he didn’t move, she grabbed his shoulder and tried to move him “Harry for goodness sake” she said. Harry stood, Hermione shoved him lightly a few times, Ron had a very sour look on his face, Harry made his way to Dumbledore, who didn’t look so please and only shoved the parchment with his name to him, hesitantly taking it Harry made is way to the front, students protested. They were getting angry “he’s a cheat!” Someone shouted “he’s not even seventeen yet!” Someone else said.

Neville tapped Y/n on the shoulder “do you think that’s what you could’ve been feeling?” She shrugged “I don’t know, maybe” she looked back up at the front, only for the goblet start to go wild again, Dumbledore covered his eyes but that couldn’t stop his face from getting more angry. Just like Harry, another parchment flew out, angry enough, Dumbledore snatched it from the air, turning it over to read the other name “Y/n L/n?” He called quite loud. Y/n stomach sank, this is what she had been feeling. Just like Harry, she froze, somehow Dumbledore had found where she was sitting and his face showed he didn’t want to go through with this again. “Y/n come on, don’t make him wait” Neville whispered to her, with wobbly knees she slowly stood up, her hands violently shaking. George stood up too, blocking her from moving “George, what are you doing?” She asked, he just stared down at her, Y/n pulled him in for a hug, something they both needed in the moment. They pulled away and she made her way to Dumbledore, who also pushed the parchment her way but with a little more force, he was more than just angry. Students started to get angry again, two students had been chosen for the tournament who were underage, it was a champion for THREE people but somehow there’s five champions, it was an outrage.

Y/n followed where Harry went, he was technically the only other champion she knew. Following him, he leaned in, nervous as well “doesn’t feel great, does it?” He said, she wiped her sweaty hands on her skirt “no, no it doesn’t”.

Tags!: @the-romanian-is-bae @deadpoolgirl23

#hogwarts #hp imagines #harry potter #hp fanfic #george weasley #george weasley fanfiction #george weasley fluff #george weasley x reader

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whitherliliesbloom · 3 years

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lights, camera, duty commenced!

[ ffxivwrite2021 ] ★ [ masterlist ] ★ [ prompt #14 - commend ]

[ illya, g’raha & emet ] ★ [ 2,263 words ] ★ [ actors au ] passing mention of some friend’s ocs and illyanaud

commend: praise formally or officially

behind the scenes of the critically acclaimed long running tv show, final fantasy fourteen, g’raha tia is (almost) inconsolable after he reads the final act’s script

The not-so everlasting light shining down feels radiant and warm, but not scorching. In the distance, one can hear the push and pull of the tides from the nearby lake, as well as the rustling of the purple hued leaves that hung and swayed ever so gently upon the trees. A light baby blue canvas with dusty cotton candy clouds crowns lakeland, painting the perfect, serene vista for an uneventful day of shooting.

Though, Illya has to remind herself, as she looks up at the peaceful sky, and sighs in contentment that she was in the completely wrong headspace. Even though the sky above was bright and undoubtedly beautiful on this fine afternoon, she knows that all it takes is for a little bit of compuer-generated television effects magic to turn the tranquil landscape into a scene of naught but utter devastation and war.

Think termination. Think termination. You’re in the middle of a large-scale battle between Elidibus and the people of Norvrandt. The tone’s supposed to be somber and tense. You’re the warrior of darkness. You got this!

“Oh.... How could this be...?”

Her train of thought is rudely interrupted by the sorrowful moping of her co-actor, and she has to resist the urge to chide him for dragging his early morning sulking all the way into the afternoon.

“G’raha, please...” the lalafellin sighs, though cannot help but to let a sliver of sympathy slip into her tone. “The next scene’s starting soon.”

“I know, I know... But...” the man heaves a heavy sigh, hanging his head low and letting his arms drop onto his lap so dramatically she’d almost thought that his flesh really was made of crystal and wasn’t just a product of the hard work of extremely talented make-up artists. “I can’t help it. I can’t believe that my poor crystal exarch is-”

Illya can say she at least empathizes - though perhaps not to the same extent. She’s been casted into roles of characters who would meet an unfortunate demise later, but to be fair, they weren’t often major characters within the narrative of the show or film she was playing a role in.

The crystal exarch on the other hand, has played a key role as one of the many recurring supporting casts in the show. He’d lingered in the background as early as the first season, and was, to G’raha’s jubilation, finally given a main role in the fourth season they were filming.

Only to be killed off in the final act - succumbing to the crystallization of his entire body, from head to toe, in the throne room of the crystal tower after the warrior of darkness’ battle with the ascian Elidibus. His death scene was to be an emotionally poignant one... and Illya herself has spent the last few days getting into the headspace of the protagonist - who would understandably be utterly devastated by the loss of a dear friend.

It didn’t help that the crystal exarch was a considerably popular character within the international community of fans - and his significant increase in screen time was due in part to fan demands... though that perhaps made his long foreshadowed death even more of a cruel irony.

And there was nobody in the world who was a bigger fan of the crystal exarch than the actor who played him himself. It wasn’t narcissistic either, in their line of work, it’s easy to get attached to the roles they play... even more so when they’ve hovered within the headspace of their character for as long as 6 years - she would know, Liliya Liya is as big a part of her as the crystal exarch is for G’raha now.

Thus, though she felt the urgent need to get G’raha back up on his feet in preparation for the remaining scenes on their schedule to film... she could not bring herself to so callously talk down his very real and personal attachment of a character he was meant to portray well anyways.

“Oh come now... you should’ve seen this coming.” with a swagger in his step and lazy grin plastered over his expression, Emet Selch strolls over to the pair.... far too comfortable within his own role that he was speaking with Hades’ signature slur in his speech even while out of character. The man has always noted just how similar he was to the god of the underworld, and Illya wouldn’t be surprised if he’d claimed to not even be acting in his scenes at all.

“I...” G’raha pouts, looking up at Emet as his ears flatten atop his head. “I guess I was in denial of it. I thought they would maybe subvert expectations... but-”

“But that wouldn’t be a very compelling story to tell, now would it?” The older man shrugs, and Illya regrets to think that she’s inclined to agree.

“I guess not..”

The robed miqo’te man sighs, and she notes with an amused raise of an eyebrow as his tail that had once been tucked tightly to his side was now swiveling from side to side and puffed up in annoyance.

“Still! They could at least let him go out with more of a bang! Maybe... after he has a solo action scene... or give him a kiss scene to make things more dramatic!”

“Is defeating the big bad and saving the heroine not dramatic enough for you, already?” Emet’s voice is in part mocking as it is exasperated, his arms thrown up to his shoulders in a shrug. “Also I hope you didn’t mean a kiss scene with Liliya.”

“W-what-?? I-” Illya’s mouth hangs agape.

“No! I wasn’t thinking anyone in particular, honest. Besides, she’s already caught in that love triangle subplot with the twins, isn’t she?”

At the mention of the topic, the lalafellin woman’s smile fades.

“D-don’t remind me of that. I’m really not looking forward to acting those scenes out.”

She’s already read the script for the fourth season in it’s entirety... and though she has incredible respect for the masterful writing and the wonderful character dynamics that has only gotten better with each passing season... she has never been... entirely comfortable with the romantic aspects of the scenes involving the elven twins. Scenes of the pair vying for her attention, scenes where she held hands and even got unsettingly close to kissing them...

Though, she will admit... her own uncertainty over her competence in filming those scenes are a result of her own, very personal emotions... something of which Emet Selch seemed to be more than aware of.

“Is it not because you harbor actual feelings for one of them? Would having scenes of you being close to him not be a blessing for you, then?”

The miffed glare Illya’s shoots up at Emet rivals moments of shadow possession Liliya experiences throughout the show, and he can only shrug with a cocky grin as her star-spangled swirl with indignation. Anger aside, heat is spreading across her cheeks in the form of a burning red hue that reaches the tips of her short, pointed ears.

Please stop.

Her expression spells out. She’s as annoyed as she her frightened about something.

Oh dear.

“Relax. Workplace romance here is nothing new.” His words only serve to worsen the already infuriated gleam in her blazing, shimmering eyes. “Mint certainly isn’t shy when it comes to showing she’s in a relationship with Estinien. Nor your friend Laurelis for that matter. She’s still keeping in touch with Haurchefant, no?”

Illya doesn’t say anything, but her silence and the paling of her complexion speaks louder than any words she can spill from her lips.

It’s precisely because he doesn’t know. So please, please shut your mouth.

He still cannot understand why on earth she would stay so adamant about keeping her feelings a secret anyway. For all he knows, the entire cast of actors... and the whole final fantasy crew for that matter, was fully aware of their pining - and Illya’s feelings towards her close co-worker and friend wasn’t unrequited either.

Just like in the show, the pair are completely oblivious to their attraction to one another... something he’ll just have to fix with his bare hands then...

But the matter is neither here nor there, and there was something of greater urgency to rectify now.

Emet Selch turns his gaze back down to G’raha, who has gone uncharacteristically quiet... and sensing his seriousness, Illya too diverts her attention back to the sulking redhead.

“You know... you’re a very talented actor. It’s so very rare to find someone who can capture the emotions and nuances of a character as well as you do.” Emet is the faster of them to speak, and Illya can barely believe the words she’s hearing leave his lips.

Compliments and praise, genuine ones at that, coming from one of the cast’s eldest, most experienced actor who is not only known to be critical when it comes to the art of acting - but is a certified acting coach himself? The monumental honor is not lost to G’raha, as his ears perk up and he whips his head up with widened ruby eyes to look at Emet.

“Death is difficult to portray - dare I say, almost impossible. After all, how can we, who have never experienced death... truly capture the sorrow and despair in it?”

Emet Selch pauses, drawing in a breath before he lifts his hand up to gesture at the pair before him.

“Which is why this is your biggest opportunity to showcase your talents, to move the audience with not just the story, but your very acting! The only thing we can do, as men and women of this field, is to act as vehicles and carry the emotions of the story into the hearts of the fans.”

The man finally sighs, shoulders falling and arms flopping lazily to his side, the sentimentality of the words he just spoke tasting bitter on his tongue.

“Besides, even in death there is a beauty. The crystal exarch lived his life fulfilled and having realized his wish at the end. I expect you to remember that when you eventually see him off.”

There’s a silence that hangs and festers in the air for a moment, before the fur on G’raha’s tail stands and his chest puffs up in a show of renewed determination.

“Y-you’re right, Emet! The crystal exarch dedicated his life to finding a way to save others... There is no better way to end his legacy than to see the world he’s protected for so long finally saved!”

Standing onto his feet, the miqo’te clenches his hands into fists and nods before casting a glance down at Illya.

“Illya! I will act my heart out to the best I can! I’ll act so hard that I’ll make you cry on set for sure!”

The corners of her lip tugs upwards into a wide smile, glowing as the afternoon sun basks down and reflects upon her snowy white hair and the blossoms of her amethyst eyes. Even with the black of the garments she wore and the eastern patterned ribbon that held the braid around her head in place, she was luminous and blinding in her radiant presence... not unlike the heroine of their story.

“Of course! And I’m sure the rest of the crystal exarch fan club will too when they watch that episode.”

“Illya, G’raha!” A pink haired lalafellin calls out to them from a distance away, her olive green eyes wide and excited as she waves her hands high above her head. A raven haired man stands just behind her, his dark blue eyes narrowed as he reviews the script in his hands intently. “We’re starting soon! Get over here!”

“Coming! Just give us a second!” G’raha waves back with a grin before turning back to look at Emet Selch with an apologetic, yet grateful bow, his relaxed tail swaying gently from side to side behind his back.

“Thank you, Emet. I won’t soon forget your encouragements. I’ll do my best and make sure to not let everyone down.”

“Yes, yes. Spare me the nauseating mush. I was just making sure you didn’t drag your co-actor down with your sulking.”

The elder man now glances at the starry eyed girl with amusement flashing through his expression, and Illya can already feel her earlier lighthearted elation fade as quickly as it came.

“By the way... I’m sure if you asked Yoshida properly.. he’d be willing to consider writing in a kiss scene with Liliya and-”

“If I were the warrior of darkness, I’d take my crescent moon cane and stab you with the end of it......”

------

Meanwhile, a little distance away from the trio, Kaye lets out a low hum as he reads and re-reads the words upon the small stacks of paper he held, expression doubtful and confused.

“You sure this is the script to Endwalker?”

“Yeah, I am! Alphinaud gave this copy and said that he got from miss Ishikawa directly! Apparently he’s playing another major role in the next season, which is why he got the script early as a heads up.”

“But... it says here that the crystal exarch gets reincarnated? Assuming that’s not gonna be changed... that means G’raha’s gonna be...”

Kaye’s head lifts and turns, eyes wide and brows furrowing in bemusement only to see an impish smile glimmer upon Lily’s face.

“Should we tell him?”

“Hm...? Nah... He’s gonna film the exarch’s death scene soon, right? I’m sure he’ll appreciate the little surprise later, anyways.”

#ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite2021 #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #g'raha tia #emet selch #illya skawi #g'raha #kiwisffxivwrite2021 #fanfic #mine #I've only had this au for a day and I've already written a fill for it lmao #*pumps fist*

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soyouthinkyoucansleep · 5 years

Text

Battle of the Blades Episode 1 Review

For those who saw my earlier post, I got to go to the live taping of BOTB in Hamilton...my tickets were the front row (excluding VIP) so I got a really really good view! Here is my review of the show. I’m gonna talk about all of the couples in the order they skated. I was also gonna talk about the judges and some comments on the show overall but I’ll save that for another post since this is getting long.

A quick intro into the format. So during the commercial break, which is about 3 minutes, the skaters on deck get to warm up. For most of it, everyone focused on stroking with a few timers for lifts in there. The skaters are scored in the 10.0 system rather than 6.0 in the past which was a little weird. For today’s show, Tessa and Scott counted as one judge (they gave one score together). I felt like I was watching NCAA gymnastics for a bit. In the past, eliminations were based solely on viewer votes; the scores were just guidelines. Now like DWTS, its a combination of viewer votes and the judge's scores. The bottom two based on that will be required to compete in a skate-off next week and the winner of the skate-off is selected by the judges. Winner stays, loser goes home.

I went with my younger sister who is a figure skater so the technical comments come from her. It was great sitting with her to get that insight. Scroll below the cut for all my comments.

Natalie Spooner and Andrew Poje

They were the first ones to go so they had the pressure of setting the bar for everyone. Nat was away at Hockey Canada’s national team camp for about 8 days and she only got back to figure skating Monday morning, leaving three full days of rehearsals before the show.

Naturally, Natalie seemed very very nervous in this warm-up, almost looking like she was about to throw up. She kept looking at the ground while skating (a big no-no, as per my sister) and I noticed a few times Andrew reminded her to look up.

While the warm-up may have been a recipe for a bad skate, the routine was anything but! Nat had a huge smile on her face and seemed to have fun the entire time once the program got started. There was one major lift, a knee slide in there, and some footwork. Andrew and the choreographers did a good job adding a little mix of everything and they highlighted that Natalie was a strong skater (compared to many of the others). Completely forgot the fact that she’s hopping back and forth between hockey and figure skates because of her national team commitments.

They ended with 27.9 (9.3′s across the board) for T-3rd overall.

Colton Orr and Amanda Evora

Amanda is the reigning BOTB champion so there’s a little bit of expectation for her there. She’s skating for Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada in honour of a friend of hers who recently passed away (I think he’s the father of one of her students, Grace Knoop?)

Overall, they weren’t terrible but there wasn’t anything exciting about them. They did two lifts and a death spiral but the remainder mostly felt like stroking. Colton was also very right and like Kurt said, didn’t allow his lower body to move freely and separately from the upper body. Time could help with this but they were in last place with 27.4 (9.2 from Colby Armstrong, 9.1 from VM and Kurt). They will need the votes and potentially a good skate-off next week to be safe for week 3. My sister thinks they’ll be the ones to go home first and I agree with her.

Sheldon Kennedy and Kaitlyn Weaver

tw: abuse, sexual abuse

Sheldon’s intro piece focused on the abuse he suffered at the hands of his hockey coach Graham James. CBC did not shy away from the topic. They stated that Graham kept trading for Sheldon in the junior leagues so he could keep abusing him. The intro piece then showed how Sheldon took this terrible thing that happened to him and made it his life’s mission to educate the world and have these discussions so it doesn’t happen again.

What was truly amazing was how the crowd erupted in cheers for Sheldon at that part. It felt like the entire country of Canada is proud of Sheldon for the person he has become. I could see Sheldon getting a little emotional by that response.

They skated to Wake Me Up by Avicii which kinda tells the story of Sheldon wanting to run away from hockey to escape his abuse but found himself again and found joy in his life. And this routine was the literal definition of fun and joy. Sheldon and Kaitlyn had the biggest smiles on their faces and were both having the time of their life.

Not to take away from the fun, but they also skated probably the most difficult routine technically out there. There was an overhead lift. This is especially amazing considering Sheldon is only 5′10″ and Kaitlyn is 5′7″. Kaitlyn was not going easy on him and threw in a bit of the Yankee Polka pattern dance. YANKEE POLKA. AND they made sure to get the crowd involved too.

They received a well deserved, unanimous standing ovation. Like everyone was standing up, even the women with canes in the rows behind me. And they finished the night with 28.3 (9.4, 9.4, 9.5 from Kurt) in first place.

Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford

In the intro piece, you could see how much Amanda really looks up to her older brother Phil Kessel (Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh) and I think that’s so precious. She even chose Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto as her charity after seeing Phil bring the Stanley Cup to the kids and seeing their reactions and subsequently the work Sick Kids does for these children and their families.

Amanda and Eric skated to “Juice” by Lizzo so I was already excited for that. In terms of training footage, both Amanda and Eric posted a lot of lifts so I was excited to see what they were planning. They did do a fair number of lifts and a death spiral in there which were well executed. However, beyond that, I felt Amanda was very similar to Colton as she was very tight and rigid. Because she was the one being lifted, it was less noticeable compared to Colton–the lifts and tricks in a sense “broke apart” the tight skating. They ended in second last, with 27.7 (9.3 from Colby, 9.2 from the others)

Brian McGrattan and Vanessa James

Brian McGrattan is a Hamilton Native so this was a homecoming for him. He lives in Calgary now but a lot of family and friends were here supporting him. Brian discussed his struggles with anxiety and depression which lead to alcoholism. He then sought treatment through the NHL’s alcohol abuse program.

Side note: It’s amazing that CBC, and these hockey players, are not shying away from these difficult topics. Brian McGrattan is a 6′4″, big, tattooed, enforcer. If he can come out on national TV and say “hey I struggled with depression and anxiety and I sought help”, I hope that inspires other boys and men to not shy away from these problems. The stigma with mental health is stronger with men and boys and I think people like Brian can make a difference. So kudos to the players and CBC for having these topics.

The program overall was elegant and vulnerable which is a completely different side to what people are used to for Brian, but he pulled it off really well. Brian truly opened himself up and was committed to the program. Technically they had some amazing lifts and a good connection. Overall they scored 27.9 to tie for 3rd with Natalie and Andrew but the individual judges were all over the place a bit (9.4 from Colby, 9.3 from VM, 9.2 from Kurt)

Bruno Gervais and Ekaterina Gordeeva

I’m just gonna start off by saying Bruno Gervais is an amazing dude. Just out of the goodness of his heart essentially, he started a charity with his close friend Max Talbot (husband of former Canadian Ladies’ Champion Cynthia Phaneuf) which provides underprivileged children with opportunities, ranging from sports to funding hospitals. They started this charity together when both were just 23 years old!

Katia is a queen. That is all that needs to be said. She was referred to as the G.O.A.T. by Kurt and Ron MacLean many times throughout the night, and rightly so. Both of them worked with Elladj Balde a fair bit which was very helpful for them. Elladj is trilingual (English, Russian, and French)–Katia’s first language is Russian and Bruno’s is French so Elladj communicated with them in their respective mother tongues.

Elladj’s influence was seen at the beginning of the routine with Bruno busting out some [very good] dance moves. His skating was very fluid and relaxed and he was very comfortable with the lifts, even doing a “combination lift” per se which involved a lot of twists and turns. They got a partial standing ovation from the crowd, the only other team to do so. I forget their score off the top of my head but they were in second place, close to Sheldon and Kaitlyn.

So that’s my review of the skates...stay tuned tomorrow for comments on the judges and the show overall.

Also, my messages are open if you want to ask me about anything in particular!

#battle of the blades #botb #figure skating #battle is back #kaitlyn weaver #sheldon kennedy #andrew poje #natalie spooner #ekaterina gordeeva #bruno gervais #vanessa james #brian mcgrattan #colton orr #amanda evora #amanda kessel #eric radford

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greensconnor · 4 years

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i’m asking about your dragon age characters

molly i would KILL for u im ur personal hitman now

anyway i said my city now because the entire bioware writing team sucks shit xoxo and i’m so much smarter than all of them but also fully incapable of having a normal amount of ocs for anything (see: the time i made 20 rwby ocs in less than two weeks) so i have. five worldstates here r some assorted thoughts

uhhh so the worldstates r as follows

eira mahariel (two-handed berserk/champ spec), rhett hawke (two-handed berserk spec), alas lavellan (mage knight enchanter spec), romanced alistair/fenris/dorian respectively

shiv tabris (dual wield duelist/assassin spec), radella “rads” hawke (mage spirit healer spec), kat adaar (two-handed reaver spec), romanced morrigan/isabela/cassandra respectively because im a pc gamer and i think i should be able to date whatever video game woman i like because im infinitely better than cishet men

this world state said yeah i respect mens rights. mens rights to shut the fuck up

twins bronson (sword/shield reaver spec) & bryant cousland (archer ranger spec), carmine hawke (archer assassin spec), syracuse trevelyan (dual wield tempest spec), romanced zevran/anora/josephine/bull. if ur wondering how that works my city now and the warden, hawke and the inquisitor should all meet and so they do because i Said So

riva amell (mage arcane warrior/battlemage spec), graham “gray” hawke (mage force spec), hellathen “hela” lavellan (archer assassin spec); romanced cullen/anders and later blackwall because hawke only likes men who will break his heart. hela doesn’t have a romance because she’s literally 20. who let her lead the inquisition (me it was me). also it should be noted the version of cullen i have in my head only vaguely resembles actual cullen because i write better than dragon age writers ever could and i gave him an Actual Cohesive Narrative and he gets bullied relentlessly for being scrawnier than his mage boyfriend

malien “mal” surana (mage spirit healer/keeper spec), jules hawke (sword/shield reaver spec), ash adaar (mage rift spec), romanced leliana/merrill/krem because i should have been able to kiss krem and its a Crime that i am not allowed to

knight enchanter is a Very op specialization and by Very op i mean it makes a mage with their built-in low constitution stats able to solo the biggest baddest dragon in the game on nightmare mode in under five minutes so like. alas lavellan fist fights dragons for fun send tweet

i think lavellans should be able to hit ppl with bricks for all the shit they endure. thus solas gets pranked by mahariel and alas by which i mean they just tip buckets of water onto him from the rookery

kat might be my only competent inquisitor but she did also try to knock out the right hand of the divine and attempt to gap even tho there’s fucky magic burning up her hand so does she have a brain cell? you decide

also its fantasy land and i do what i want so kat has blue/gold sectoral heterochromia

gray “mage rights” hawke is best friends with fenris which surprises literally everyone. their friendship started because they got into a fist fight and then they were like okay i respect u now. hawke is like hey fenris give me ur sword i have a fun trick to show u [uses his sword as a foci to zap carver in the ass with lightning]

i am Always thinking abt like how cullen could have been one man anti-chantry propaganda machine if he hadn’t so blatantly been shoehorned into every game past origins so anyway bioware forgot about a wholeass moon i can write what i like. [holds up cullen by the scruff of his stupid armor] not only are you bisexual you are also a bottom

i also Hate the whole uwu mage haters get fixed by romancing a mage

unlocked secret dialogue option where my inquisitors verbally cuss out dorian’s dad instead of whatever sympathetic narrative the writers were going for cuz its bullshit.

riva is a showoff and a Menace about being as good as he is because he unabashedly loves being a mage and hes like oooh look at me im sexy i dont need to use my hands to cast magic because i’m just that good ;)) and you know what. hes right.

gray, on the other hand, does Not want to be mage. he wants to be a druffalo farmer and retire in the hinterlands and be left the fuck alone. unfortunately he is gay and has one brain cell and terrible, terrible taste in men. ribbed relentlessly for this by riva (altho does he have room to talk hes been hung up on cullen since he was like 13)

shiv is trans n kieran is the result of doing the dark ritual with her wife and he looks a Lot like shiv (dark skin pointed ears, shock-white hair) and morrigan always just Assumed she dyed it or did something magic with it so seeing their kid come out like that was a WEIRD time for her

leliana almost Murdered by cassandra in worldstate 5 because the warden is Actually There The Whole Time, but its been 10 years, mal’s cut off all her hair and gotten full facial tattoos and she’s like “no one will know its me its fine” and she’s right. she gets away with it. only cullen like, Knows, because he knew her before the blight but he doesnt have a death wish n he like. will Not piss her off

shes dalish by birth n she was stolen from her clan by templars and thus is vehemently anti-circle and anti-chantry in general

uhhh the vallaslin (elf face tattoos) of my 4 dalish characters are:

eira = ghilan’nain (chose em cuz shes rlly interested in the navigation aspect of the goddess)

alas = falon’din (god of the dead n he picked them because he’s Also the god of fortune and alas is like tee hee fun but also he can and will kill u if u fuck with him so yk its fitting)

hela = june (god of the craft bc she likes to Make things but june is also the god who taught the elves 2 hunt and hela is. a hunter.)

mal = elgar’nan (allfather/god of vengeance bc. she is Vengeful. she is Angry. but yk fucking with shem politics and fucking their divine is like. mal may have little a retribution. as a treat.) yes she has the full half-face solid colour tattoo she does NOT fuck around.

bronson and bryant r not genetically identical but they Look similar enough 2 anyone who doesn’t know them well enough 2 play spot the distance. anora and bronson think this is a super fun game to play, especially when nobles realize they’ve swapped out the king but they’re too nervous to say anything

eira mahariel has two hands. one is for holding hands with alistair and the other is for throttling elven gods, apparently. she’s killed one before so solas she’s coming for your bitch ass next. watch urself.

speaking of eira and alistair are married thru dalish tradition and humans don’t recognize it n alistair loves 2 re-propose to her with random things. he’ll just pick up like. a bit of cheese and be like “marry me ;)” and she’s like GASP but whatever will the chantry say!!!! all of their friends r sick of them

“vhenan if you love me bring me a sword” “you think i could do better than a sword made out of space rock?” “:)”

eira is my youngest hero at 18 at the start of her game and kat is my oldest at 32 at the start of her game.

none of my hawkes are under six foot. rhett is the tallest (6′8″) and rads is the shortest (6′2″).

syracuse trevelyan would have been the Perfect inquisitor if he were not a pretty boy himbo and a gay bastard who does Most Things just to spite his parents.

[corypheus pointing at syracuse’s visage in his crystal orb thingo] i want that twink obliterated

i love the companions from older games return thing i truly do so i make it a point for Every companion to return in inquisition so the gang rlly is all here because i am a Slutte for found family

i lie in my keep worldstates because i dont want to choose between hawke and alistair during here lies the abyss but i never make him king and every time i play inquisition and cole has the wicked grace line it makes me Scream. alistair baby im so sorry i did this to you but i didnt actually do this to you

yes this is my everyone lives au but like. all the time. i have never left hawke in the fade and i do not intend to.

fuck whatever nonsense about wardens not being able 2 have kids. by sheer divine power (me) anora and bryant have three daughters; eleanor, sabina & cecelia n both bronson and zevran make Excellent uncles because i think anora deserves good things because i’m tired of bioware being like women bad, actually,

so like most of the time i have the warden & hawke turning up after the move to skyhold n then staying on, with the exception of bryant, carmine & mal. mal is as mentioned previously just There the whole time with her girlfriend. bryant steps in as king of ferelden w/ interests in closing the big hole in the sky spewing demons in2 his kingdom yk. carmine shows up because she wants to help & she wants protection for bethany but she outright says she’d rather die than be inquisitor so cassandra is shit out of luck.

“CHANGE HER MIND VARRIC” “she once doubled down on insisting amaranth was a shade of blue because she didn’t want to admit to being wrong. no one’s changing her mind seeker”

alas is the middle child of eight and is thus very good with children and also bossing around people older than him. 2 of his older siblings come to the inquisition when stuff in wycome has been settled

i left ash with the basic canon background with Some variation (he grew up under the qun and left of his own free will when his magic was discovered n he realized he couldn’t take living as a saarebas

kat on the other hand was raised tal-vashoth and has bounced around basically all over thedas and leads her own merc company when the conclave blows up. she also speaks multiple languages. is there a language she doesn’t speak? probably not

just realized how long this got so im gonna like. stop my general rambling now but lmao yeah theres some basics. waves hands.

#sol.txt #sol.orig #long post #late night followers im SO sorry for this #but also like.#i love them so yall just have 2 cope w/ it #no thoughts head dragon age #peonydarling

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harry-leroy · 5 years

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Top 5 soliloquies? Could be from Shakespeare or whatever else :)

Thank you so much for this ask! I appreciate it! I’ll do some from Shakespeare (and probably some from Oscar Wilde let’s be real about ourselves tonight >-

1) I AM STRAIGHT UP NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME (The Tempest)

All the infections that the sun sucks upFrom bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall and make himBy inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear meAnd yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch,Fright me with urchin—shows, pitch me i’ the mire,Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the darkOut of my way, unless he bid ’em; butFor every trifle are they set upon me;Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at meAnd after bite me, then like hedgehogs whichLie tumbling in my barefoot way and mountTheir pricks at my footfall; sometime am IAll wound with adders who with cloven tonguesDo hiss me into madness.

- Caliban; The Tempest (2.2.)

Okay I love everything about the language in this play, but some of Caliban’s speeches are the best places to find these fantastic descriptions of the island that we’re on. Better yet, the way that he describes Ariel and the other spirits is so fascinating to me - it makes me wonder about where Ariel comes from, it makes me want to dive into the psychology (which is exactly what I’m doing for #ProjectTempest which is now #ProjectAriel). There’s a sense of militarism that comes from the spirits. They organize themselves into a hierarchy, with Ariel captaining the whole brigade, and not to mention, some of the things that they do are seen, at least in my eyes, as incredibly violent. In my project concerning Ariel, I am trying to dig into why we see Ariel as morally better than Caliban, even though he does some rather tortuous things, and this speech is full of them. I’m currently reading W.H. Auden’s The Sea and the Mirror, which is a poem that explores duality in The Tempest, using primarily Caliban (who represents the earth) and Ariel (who represents the sky). Auden made this incredible chart using these two ideas as ends of a spectrum, and he calls them both “HELL” (I’ll see if I can find the chart somewhere and upload it eventually because it is fascinating). Ahh, I just love this play so much.

2) #EXPOSED (Love’s Labour’s Lost)

Ah, good my liege, I pray thee, pardon me!Good heart, what grace hast thou, thus to reproveThese worms for loving, that art most in love?Your eyes do make no coaches; in your tearsThere is no certain princess that appears;You’ll not be perjured, ‘tis a hateful thing;Tush, none but minstrels like of sonneting!But are you not ashamed? nay, are you not,All three of you, to be thus much o'ershot?You found his mote; the king your mote did see;But I a beam do find in each of three.O, what a scene of foolery have I seen,Of sighs, of groans, of sorrow and of teen!O me, with what strict patience have I sat,To see a king transformed to a gnat!To see great Hercules whipping a gig,And profound Solomon to tune a jig,And Nestor play at push-pin with the boys,And critic Timon laugh at idle toys!Where lies thy grief, O, tell me, good Dumain?And gentle Longaville, where lies thy pain?And where my liege’s? all about the breast:A caudle, ho!

- Berowne; Love’s Labour’s Lost (4.3.)

THIS SCENE. It will always make me laugh, and cry, and feel every human emotion in the book. God, I love it so much. Can we talk about how ridiculous these boys are? Berowne has such a superiority complex - he’s always off by himself, probably musing to himself, even when he isn’t trying to keep secrets from his three best friends. So when he’s found his chance to have a laugh, he takes it. And can we talk about the language in this play? So fun, absolute joy to read. It makes me cry sometimes I won’t lie. I adore these boys, and I adore how everyone gangs up on Dumaine because Dumaine is the baby (and of course he goes after Katharine because why shouldn’t he?) and I will die on this hill. I love this play so much.

3) DOUBT COMES IN (Lady Windermere’s Fan)

How horrible! I understand now what Lord Darlington meant by the imaginary instance of the couple not two years married. Oh! it can’t be true—she spoke of enormous sums of money paid to this woman. I know where Arthur keeps his bank book—in one of the drawers of that desk. I might find out by that. I will find out. [Opens drawer.] No, it is some hideous mistake. [Rises and goes C.] Some silly scandal! He loves me! He loves me! But why should I not look? I am his wife, I have a right to look! [Returns to bureau, takes out book and examines it page by page, smiles and gives a sigh of relief.] I knew it! there is not a word of truth in this stupid story. [Puts book back in drawer. As she does so, starts and takes out another book.] A second book—private—locked! [Tries to open it, but fails. Sees paper knife on bureau, and with it cuts cover from book. Begins to start at the first page.] ‘Mrs. Erlynne—£600—Mrs. Erlynne—£700—Mrs. Erlynne—£400.’ Oh! it is true! It is true! How horrible! [Throws book on floor.]

- Lady Windermere; Lady Windermere’s Fan (Act I)

“A wife should trust her husband” says Arthur, because it’s all he knows about marriage, that and that he would do anything for his wife. He would throw himself in front of the spear of society’s hatred for her, even though it is what he fears most. Arthur spends his entire life trying to be the model husband, the model son, the model father, the model man in society, he is so focused on perfection that Margaret can’t believe it when he’s fallen from grace. And it ruins Arthur just as much, maybe even more so. Everyone knows that Arthur is a perfectionist. He tries to match Margaret’s model, as Cecil would say “that is the worst of women. They always want one to be good. And if we are good, when they meet us, they don’t love us at all”. He feels like he needs someone to reform him, keep him from falling into the pit, but really he needs to relax. He needs to learn how to say “no”. And people have been waiting for him to slip up: Darlington because he wants Margaret, Cecil and George because they find it amusing. For Margaret, this is where the chips fall, where the imperfections finally come through. For the first time, she has reason to doubt him. And she lets it consume her.

Arthur finds himself in the same position at the end of Act III. He finds his wife’s fan in Darlington’s rooms, and you can feel the tension in his voice, he’s about ready to throw out his back and shoulders from how tense he gets. But he doesn’t blame his wife, he blames Darlington, or at least that’s what he couldn’t bring himself to say. “And if my wife’s here, I’ll -”: he can’t finish his sentence, because it can’t be true. She loves me! She loves me! Thank goodness for Darlington’s interruption. For the first time, he has reason to doubt her. And he can’t bring himself to do it.

4) HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF (Lady Windermere’s Fan)

Gone out of her house! A letter addressed to her husband! [Goes over to bureau and looks at letter. Takes it up and lays it down again with a shudder of fear.] No, no! It would be impossible! Life doesn’t repeat its tragedies like that! Oh, why does this horrible fancy come across me? Why do I remember now the one moment of my life I most wish to forget? Does life repeat its tragedies? [Tears letter open and reads it, then sinks down into a chair with a gesture of anguish.] Oh, how terrible! The same words that twenty years ago I wrote to her father! and how bitterly I have been punished for it! No; my punishment, my real punishment is to-night, is now!

- Mrs. Erlynne; Lady Windermere’s Fan (Act II)

- What did Margaret write on that fatal letter? “Arthur has never understood me” says Margaret, “but when he reads this, he will”. It’s a second-generation Nora, the woman who has never understood herself because she’s been smothered. That’s exactly what Margaret has been, losing her parents at a young age, she has been sheltered from every kind of horrible truth there is. She believes her mother died a saint, her father whose heart swelled too much in devotion for such a saintly figure. Lady Julia made sure of that. In reality, Mrs. Erlynne, while not a saint in any regard, threatens to outshine the golden girl of society, her own daughter. Mrs. Erlynne is the life of the party, not her daughter, and what is worse, her husband might love this woman, and now she thinks he has every reason to. “Cowards are always pale” - how can Margaret hope to compete with this woman? Darlington says ‘forget them, run away with me’ - she can’t bear to think that her husband has left her side. “Come back to me?” she asks the Duchess, hardly able to believe that her husband could have left, but it’s Arthur she wants. She tells Darlington, “my husband may return to me”. She would forgive him, because she loves him, but she can’t stand to think of herself as second rate in her husband’s eyes. It’s a feeling that Mrs. Erlynne knows far too well. There’s so much about motherhood in this play that I absolutely love. In my prequel play, The Selby Roses, I attempt to explore similar ideas about fatherhood. There is so much generational conflict in both plays - even seen in the men of this play. Look at Cecil Graham: there is nothing he holds in contempt more than the older generation, but he also fears them. He gets sheepish around Mrs. Erlynne, he loves to talk down to Lord Augustus. “You were never my age” he tells Augustus, almost as if to say “And I’ll never be yours”. Ah, it is such an interesting concept. Okay, stream-of-conscious rant over hehehe :’)

5) HE’S SOME KIND OF POET (King Lear)

When we our betters see bearing our woes,We scarcely think our miseries our foes.Who alone suffers suffers most i’ th’ mind,Leaving free things and happy shows behind.But then the mind much sufferance doth o’erskipWhen grief hath mates and bearing fellowship.How light and portable my pain seems nowWhen that which makes me bend makes the Kingbow!He childed as I fathered. Tom, away.Mark the high noises, and thyself bewrayWhen false opinion, whose wrong thoughts defilethee,In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee.What will hap more tonight, safe ’scape the King!Lurk, lurk.

- Edgar; King Lear (3.6.)

Will I ever figure out why Edgar is speaking in rhyme here, even though he is alone? Probably not. Though, it does totally make me believe that Edgar knows he has an audience, and it haunts him to no end. There are so many elements to King Lear that make it absolutely absurd, which is why it’s (at least in my eyes) such a good play for 2019. Edgar is performing for self-preservation, but isn’t everyone? Up until this night, he’s refused such a thing. Honesty or I am nothing. The day he accepted playing the game was the day Cordelia refused and that will 5ever end me.

#thank you so much for this!#this was fun #i'm not as good at analysis as you are #i promise i'm way more articulate in papers #and of course i had to throw in some lady windermere's fan #am i like... the only person on tumblr who adores the heck out of that play?#probably #but it's fine #shakespeare #oscar wilde #theatre #enjoy some lwf analysis #and yes that ariel project is really vexing me #i gotta finish auden before i go any further #but it's all a work in progress #dustyprose #suits of woe #thank you so much!

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questionsonislam · 5 years

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Does a woman have to marry her husband in the world in Paradise? If she married only once in the world, will she have the right to choose another man?

Detailed information regarding the bounties of Paradise has been given in the Quran for man, who is inclined to all kinds of perfection and beauty and who desires his highest degree like a lover; in addition, he has been pledged the content and pleasure of Allah.

Paradise, which includes all kinds of spiritual and emotional bounties, also contains all kinds of bodily and material bounties. Eating, drinking and marrying are regarded among the highest bounties of Paradise. According to the statements of the Quran and hadiths, the family life that is established in the world will continue forever if both spouses deserve to go to Paradise; their marital relations will go on endlessly. However, the spouses that did not believe and died as unbelievers will be separated from their spouses and they will suffer the punishment for their unbelief by staying in hell forever even if they are the wives of Hazrat Noah and Lot and the husband of Asiya, the Pharaoh.

God Almighty will give the believing women who entered Paradise due to their belief and good deeds to their husbands as spotlessly clean wives by cleaning them from all kinds of worldly defects. Those women of the world, who were created in a more beautiful form than houris, will be eternal friends of life for their husbands and become the sultans of the houris. They will make use of Paradise forever with the people they love without any feelings of jealousy and competition.

The believing men and women who died before they got married in the world will be married in Paradise; all of the single people will be married there. However, those who died as children are exceptions to that rule. As it is understood from the phrase, “wildanun mukhalladun” (immortal children), the children of believers who died before reaching the age of puberty will go to Paradise directly, but they will make their parents enjoy the pleasure of caressing and loving children by remaining as children forever. However, God Almighty will create the children who prayed and performed fasting thanks to the encouragement of their parents although they did not have to as adults and he will grant them the return for their deeds as Paradise. The children of unbelievers who died before reaching the age of puberty will enter Paradise but they will be employed as servants. Those who were not sane and the people of interregnum who were unaware of the true religion will enter Paradise since they were not mukallaf (responsible); they will not be accounted for their mistakes.

– Which one of her husbands will a woman who married several times in the world be together with in Paradise?

– First of all, it is necessary not to forget the characteristic of Paradise. If its characteristic is forgotten, many questions cannot be answered. That characteristics is as follows:

Paradise is a place of complete happiness. A person who enters Paradise will not come across with even the slightest thing that will overshadow his happiness. On the contrary, he will have all of the things that will make him happy and as he likes them to be; there will be no deprivation.

Acting upon that basic criterion, we can say that she will be together with the husband that she will be happy with. In other words, she will prefer to be with the husband that made her happy in the world; she will increase the happiness of the world more in the hereafter. In Paradise, it is out of question to be together with a person that one does not like or does not want. Then, those who love will be together with the people whom they loved in Paradise; they will transform their ephemeral happiness in the world to eternal happiness in the hereafter. That is the summary of the judgment expressed by the hadiths that are thought to have different meanings.

As a matter of fact, the following famous hadith that is uttered as a proverb among people expresses the same thing:

– A person is together with whom he loves!

Unfortunately, the world is not a place that is appropriate for fulfilling every wish. A person might not be together with the person he loves in the world no matter how much he wants. However, it is certain that he will be together with whom he loves in the hereafter though not in the world.

What is more, those who did not express their love openly and could not be together with their lovers will meet their lovers there.

We can add the following remark here.

Since a person will be together with whom he loves in the hereafter, one should love the people who deserve to go to Paradise so that he will be together with them in Paradise. God forbid, if you love the people who deserve to go to Hell, it is possible that you go to Hell in order to be together with whom you love. – Do not say is it possible? It is. They say love is blind. A person may love someone that Allah does not love. He follows that person and goes to the place where he/she goes because a person is together with whom he loves.

Then, love the people that Allah loves so that you will be together with them in the hereafter. Be careful not to be a victim of wrong love and a person who is overcome by his feelings.

Another important point to remember here is as follows.

Great saints say:

– Do not attribute your love in your marriage to outward appearance and beauty, which will disappears soon. Do not regard the beauty of a face, which will disappear soon, as the only reason for love because outward beauty will disappear in a short time; since what makes you love disappears, your love may disappear too. That approach will soon make the family loveless. However, if one attributes his love to nice qualities like belief, ethics, sincerity and loyalty, which will increase as one gets older, not to outward beauty, which will disappear, the future of the family will be guaranteed. The parties who see that the reason for their love continues lifelong will maintain their family without weakening it until they die because the high ethics that originates from devoutness brings the wife and husband together in Paradise; it will enable them to be together in the eternal life after the world; thus, they make their love kind of eternal. Therefore, they are very careful and try not to disappoint and hurt their eternal friend here.

The following point regarding the issue should never be forgotten:

– The wife and husband that will be together in Paradise will not be the same couple with their weaknesses in the world. Both of them will be together in Paradise after being cleaned from all kinds of material and spiritual dirt. What is more, the wife and husband that they imagined will appear exactly; they will have the appearance of a Paradise youth and a Paradise houri that will make each other happy. They will meet in Paradise being freed from some views that overshadowed their love that existed in the world.

Thus, the wife of the man in the world will be a Paradise houri that he will admire fully and the husband will be a Paradise youth that she will admire fully; they will have the opportunity of enjoying their overshadowed happiness in the world without being overshadowed in Paradise, and in a better phase.

Therefore, the love in the world should not be attributed only to the temporary outward beauty. They should focus on the beauty of belief and ethics that will gain them the eternal friendship of life in Paradise, which will improve as they get older so that their family love will continue lifelong and will be transformed to eternal friendship of life.

Does a woman have to marry her husband in the world in Paradise? If she married only once in the world, will she have the right to choose another man?

We can give the following summarized information regarding the issue:

a. The principle is that each husband and wife continue their marriage in Paradise.

b. The women who died before getting married can marry the men they like.

c. According to the opinion of some scholars, if a woman married two or more men in the world, she will marry her first husband if her other marriage(s) took place as a result of the death of her husband not as a result of divorce; according to the opinion of other scholars, she will marry her last husband. However, she can also marry the one that she likes better. (cf. Alusi; ad-Duhan, the interpretation of the verse 44/54.)

d. If one of the spouses wants the other but the other spouse does not want him/her (if there is a consciousness and demand like that), the one who likes will be given a similar spouse, and the other is left free; he/she will marry whomever she wants.

- It should not be forgotten that a depressing situation is never in question in Paradise. Nobody will be more beautiful and beloved than one’s spouse no matter whom one marries. The sadness and longing in the world are not in question in Paradise. In other words, the longing and sadness remaining from the world will be eliminated there by reunion or there will be no traces from them; what is important is to enter Paradise. Therefore, it is necessary to compete in taqwa, that is, in obeying the commands and prohibitions of Allah, which is a prerequisite for entering Paradise.

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anhed-nia · 5 years

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SMILE PRETTY

This is not a good movie, and I can't stop thinking about it. It is barely competent, technically, and I'm not sufficiently confident that it sets the right tone in its discussion of its excruciatingly difficult subject. However, I can't seem to stop thinking about it, so I guess I have to record my feelings here, even though I am hesitant to force anyone else to think about this. Reader be warned.

[N.B. I literally gave myself a panic attack writing this. What started out as an intellectualizing assessment of a troubling film turned into a long, grueling, extremely detailed account of my full personal understanding of sexual abuse. If that sounds like it is going to cost you sleep, please do not proceed.

On a further note, in this piece, I often use the terms "victim" and "survivor" interchangeably. I understand the importance of being able to identify as a survivor, rather than wear the inappropriately subjugating and finalizing mantle of victim. In this case, it is necessary for me to use the term "victim" to differentiate between the ongoing "survivor" experience, and the immediate, contemporaneous experience of abuse.]

I blithely selected SMILE PRETTY, in total ignorance, on a streaming site, strictly because Scout Taylor-Compton is in it. She is so effective in Rob Zombie's fraught HALLOWEEN remakes that I felt compelled to watch this tacky-looking movie, even though I was turned off by the premise, about a child pornography survivor. ALSO, I just now looked up some information about SMILE PRETTY to prep for this review--I hadn't done so before, because the movie seemed too crude to have been made by anyone I would have heard of--and I was very alarmed to discovered that it was directed by Harry Bromley Davenport, who made all three XTRO movies. Now I'm even more bothered than before...

In SMILE PRETTY, Scout Taylor-Compton plays teenage Nastalia, better known as Nasty, the ongoing victim of a child porn operation run by her uncle, who has been perpetrating and recording her rape for most of her life. A glimmer of hope emerges when she has a chance encounter with Matt, a 20-something white knight who makes a big show of encouraging Nasty to escape her uncle, and rebuffing her ingrained seductive behavior. (played by Peter Chekvala, who looks just like a chav Paul Rudd to me, which should be funny, but it is impossible to experience anything like joy during this movie) Of course, it turns out that Matt actually knows Nasty well from her uncle's widely circulated output, and their meeting was no coincidence. A brief conflict resolves itself in a consummated sexual relationship, after Matt lays out his own sob story: He, too, was molested as a child, so therefore he can't help being a pedophile, and deserves Nasty's sympathy and support. Nasty thinks she has found love with someone who truly understands her, but soon enough, Matt starts using her to bring in younger sexual partners for the two of them--or just for him. Nasty finally becomes disillusioned with Matt when their latest third, 14 year old Samantha (the excellent Shannon Collis), becomes Matt's new primary partner. Realizing that Matt has lost interest because Nasty is approaching adulthood, she finally alerts the authorities and escapes this lifelong cycle of abuse.

As I mentioned, this is what I would ordinarily call "barely a movie". The video quality is crap, so is the sound, and I often found the general manner of filmmaking overly indulgent, as if the director might be telling this cautionary tale as a flimsy excuse for his own interest in young girls. It just seemed to have that grimy, tonally dissonant vibe. However, the performances by both women are roundly superb, and the screenplay by Rachel Calendar has a feeling of authenticity that I found impossible to ignore. The construction of Nasty's character is just too psychiatrically accurate--her sexual forwardness, which she literally cannot control due to her abusive upbringing, her relentless desire to impress and please older men (her partner's arousal is her only source of personal arousal, at whatever cost to herself), her valuation of herself only in terms of her sexual viability--all of these things are vividly articulated, and textbook perfect. The character of Matt is also unnervingly familiar from real life: A narcissistic and manipulative Abuser who wields his own Abused status as a shield, or even a weapon against anyone who rightly accuses him of malice, or tries to stand between him and the greedy indulgence of his slightest whim.

(Artist and survivor Florence Burnier-Bauer in MY TALK WITH FLORENCE)

More disturbing than all of this, is Calendar's unbearably frank discussion of an aspect of child abuse that is seldom addressed: That when an innocent person is induced into a victimizing sexual encounter, they still experience the pleasure that comes from the physical stimulus. Last year, I watched a documentary called MY TALK WITH FLORENCE, in which a victim of lifelong sexual abuse (beginning with her family, and ending with a powerful cult) speaks ferociously about the fallacy of rape as a purely painful experience. Her point is that if we believe that physical evidence of pleasure on the part of the victim means that their assault cannot be defined as rape, then we deprive huge numbers of survivors of their claims. She uses the example of male victims having involuntary, unwanted erections, a biological fact which is used to support the absurd notion that men and boys cannot be raped. Even more to the point, the word I used to describe the confusion of childhood abuse, "innocent", isn't a mandatory ingredient in this noxious emotional brew--even a violent attack will produce a physical reaction. The body can play cruel tricks like this to protect itself from being torn apart from force and friction. I have heard many times the phrase used by Alison Botha in the documentary ALISON, about her brutal rape, disembowelment, and near-decapitation by a pair of strangers: "My body betrayed me." In the case of SMILE PRETTY, there is an unfortunately unforgettable sequence in which Nasty, Samantha and Matt all reminisce about their experiences. They describe their own rapes with an almost gleeful defiance, proclaiming defensively that they each actually enjoyed their dehumanizing sexual initiation at the hands of predatory relatives and babysitters. It is painfully clear that they are trying to justify the shame of their involuntary physical pleasure, by pretending to own it. In the following scene, Samantha listens intently through the wall as Matt and Nasty have sex with more vigor than he has recently managed to summon; all of this detailed reminiscence has thrust the three survivors into a state of hypnotic arousal. Watching this, I was rudely reminded of a conversation I once had with a friend, who suddenly and matter-of-factly recounted an occasion on which an especially shitty college boyfriend raped her, just to conclude an argument. My friend stonily declared, "I didn't give a shit. I was fine." This may not be the same as trying to own the "pleasure" of being assaulted, but it had a similar aspect of trying to own the rape, of trying to reject victimhood by claiming to accept the traumatic event. Though I never forgot it, I try not to think about it. SMILE PRETTY made this impossible.

(Alison Botha in the strange and shattering documentary ALISON)

And here I am, days later, still thinking about this movie I may wish I had never seen. I'm not sure what I got out of it. I'm not sure what anyone would get out of it, who does not know intuitively or factually about these intimate realities of sexual abuse. I rarely feel that I would rather not have seen a movie--my usual philosophy is that as long as an experience moved you in some way, even a displeasurable way, then it was somehow worth the undertaking. In the case of SMILE PRETTY, my resolve may have been tested, and failed. The jury is still out.

#tw: abuse #tw: rape #tw: csa #tw: child abuse #tw: everything #smile pretty #harry bromley davenport #blogtober #Scout Taylor-Compton #shannon collis #my talk with florence #Florence Burnier-Bauer #alison botha #survivor #documentary #drama #rachel calendar

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blenderbender1811 · 6 years

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A Song of Ice and Fire - Weddings Primer

Just a bunch of stuff put together about weddings in the ASOIAF universe for those looking to write them. Specifically, how weddings run in Westeros. This goes under a read more, for the post is long.

1) Nobody can be COMPELLED to marry. They need to say the words and if it’s done under sword point, it might be dissolved later. That said, it’s expected you’ll marry who your lord or his liege commands and if you don’t, you might be estranged from your family, and the ironborn can marry someone by proxy (with a seal in the place of a person, the iron born are weird.)

2) The Targaryens occasionally took more than one woman as a wife. The Ironborn also sometimes have more than one wife - an ironborn ‘rock wife’ and ‘salt wives’ taken on raids (because that’s not coercion at all). The children of salt wives are not considered bastards, but they come AFTER the children of rock wives status wise.

3) Marriage contracts take forever to negotiate and they address all sorts of possibilities - land, inheritance, dowries, etc. Once a betrothal is made, you better have a GOOD reason to break it (infidelity, inability to fulfill property or income agreements in the contract, somebody died and you must fulfill their betrothal, you found out they have another contract, an inability to seal the alliance with children (infertility), etc.). Breaking a betrothal is a BIG deal and you might cause a lot more than hurt feelings. You might cause very real political damage with the people you were trying to ally with.

4) So, how do you choose a partner? There’s several factors, some more important than others.

- Rank: This is one of, if not the most important thing to consider. If the parties are not of similar rank, this is going to get tricky. Marrying one rank up or down doesn’t seem to be scoffed at (for instance, nobody thinks, for example, that Mace Tyrell is weak because he married down to Alerie Hightower). More than one rank though and you’re going to need a very good reason for the marriage to happen. And marriages to lowborn people are vanishingly rare. That’s why Asha couldn’t marry Qarl even though she’d love to.

- Position in Family: Another super important factor. Is the person being married a ruling Lord or Lady? What about an heir? Are they the eldest daughter (who traditionally has choicest pick of gentlemen callers)? Are they true born or bastards? If they’re dynastically important, the family will be much pickier. Younger sons or daughters are much more likely to marry a household knight (or their daughter) or a minor bannerman than an older child, who is likelier to marry a major bannerman, if not marry up.

- Political Context: This just always needs to be in mind. Does the husband have another wife? Is their land in a dangerous or contested spot? What’s their influence in the capitol like, if any? If your marriage making plans don’t make sense, the marriage is going to look shabbier or hastier to everyone else in Westeros.

- Age: In Westeros, we all know their treatment of age with regards to marriage is absolutely gross. We don’t need to be told that. Age isn’t treated as a major factor and indeed, young women have been married off to gross old men as a punishment (see poor Sylva Santigar for details). That said, even in Westeros, it’s generally considered more comfortable if they’re close in age, like with Joffrey and Sansa being considered perfect because they were the same age. This also makes sense dynastically speaking because they wouldn’t have to wait long for children. Or, alternatively, if you’re an elderly person looking for companionship before you die, you’ll probably pick someone closer to your own age and experiences.

- Religion: Again, not the biggest deal for most of Westeros, but I can easily imagine someone super pious wanting a spouse of the same religion.

- Personal Well Being: Since we’re playing a feudal dynastic game, this is barely a concern. That said, a decently loving family will probably want to look out for their family’s well being. They’re probably not eager to give their child in marriage to someone actively dangerous for them after all. Plus, dynastically speaking, it would render any alliance gained moot. Also, an older person looking for a second or third marriage, or again, an elderly person looking for companionship, would likely consider how well they got along.

- Health: Somewhat important. If the point is to seal an alliance via babies, you want someone who can survive consummation, pregnancy, birth, and raising those children. One of the most important things Catelyn considered when looking for a bride for Robb was how good their hips were. IIRC, she didn’t want Robb to marry a Whent because their health tended to be delicate. Again, if you make an alliance only to immediately lose it when the person dies, what was the point of it in the first place? A good example of this is how nobody wanted to marry Shireen because she had greyscale.

- Wealth: Fairly important. You want an alliance partner to bring something to the table. It’s less about coinage and more about resources. Do they have lots of land, minerals, livestock, industry, etc.?

- Appearance: Not exactly a first concern, but it’s somewhat a factor, simply because a good looking person is more likely to get lots of offers.

- Region: Most marriages take place between houses of the same region. This isn’t a hard and fast law, but your alliances are more likely to be useful when they live next door and not five days away in a region you’ve never seen.

- Former marriages or children: This is important because if they already have children, YOUR children won’t get any inheritance from your spouse. If you’re going to marry, you have to be okay with that. Tends to work for marrying off younger children or when you look for step parents, but it might also be a deal breaker for someone looking for a first marriage. Never even mind in the Iron Islands, where wives might have to compete.

- Reputation: Important. You don’t want to marry your kid off to someone with a poor reputation. Knightly orders, people closely connected to important people, well reputed for honesty or honour are good things. An oathbreaker or drunkard will have a harder go than normal.

- Prestige: A more prestigous house will have more suitors. A house being of high rank doesn’t necessarily mean prestige. “New money” houses or houses in trade my have the wealth and militaryy might to be a major house, but still not be considered pretigious enough for many large houses. A house that were once kings will have more prestige than those who weren’t. A house who’s been around for thousands of years is likely lmore prestigious than a new one (hence why the Lannisters are more prestigious than Baratheons of Storm’s End before a Baratheon becomes king).

5) According to the Wedding Knight PDF from the Game of Thrones edition of the Green ronin RP game, weddings are traditionally hosted by the bride’s family.

6) Likewise, according to the same, wedding dresses are traditionally white. This gels with the books, where the wedding dresses I recall being described (Jeyne’s, Sansa’s, and Margaery’s are all white). Now, to be fair, Sansa is a Stark and Jeyne was disguised as Arya, so they would both be using Stark colours. It also fits with the Seven, where white is seen as a colour of innocence and thus might be more appropriate to a maiden. It’s also a colour Septons and Septas wear most of the time (along with rainbows) and on Maiden’s Day girls light white candles. While none of that would apply to the Old Gods (or offshoots of the Old Gods like the Drowned God), I can see white catching on as a wedding colour regardless. If nothing else, it shows wealth if you can keep white clean.

This isn’t like the real middle ages, btw. Blue was the traditional innocence and purity colour then. Women basically wore whatever colour they wanted, albeit with different cultural traditions surrounding omens and such.

Notes: For five and six, ‘traditional’ in this sense most likely does not mean ‘binding’. We see numerous examples of weddings that are not at the bride’s home and I’m sure plenty of Westerosi ladies wore other colours to their weddings. I wouldn’t be surprised if house colours were involved. Not that it matters overmuch - they change for the feast, and those colours can be whatever they want (though likely house colours).

7) Weddings in Westeros (or, at least highborn ones) involve a dowry, a dower (as per Tywin and Hoster discussing one for Lysa and Jaime) and a bride price (as per Barristan’s comments). These are three different things.

- A dowry: A dowry is property or income a woman is bringing into the marriage, a payment from her family to her husband’s. It’s meant to help build the new family and also for income security. In the rare (nearly non-existent in Westeros) circumstance of divorce, I believe she gets the dowry back, but if she dies, the money either goes to her children or returns to her family.

- A dower: A dower is a sum of property or income designed to protect a wife if she becomes widowed. Since men are the primary breadwinners in Westeros, this is done so as not to leave a widow destitute. This income or property comes from the groom’s family. If the couple divorces, she does not get the dower (although some societies allow her to keep it if she has just cause, I doubt Westeros works like that). This money is traditionally given to the bride by the groom on the morning of the wedding. This money is HER’S. Unlike the dowry, which is often used by both spouses, her husband cannot touch her dower. Usually this means her representative (usually a male relative) is in charge of executing it, but she can be bequeath it to whoever she wants.

- A bride price: A bride price is money paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s. This is meant as a sort of ‘thank you’ for raising her and also to compensate them for the loss of their daughter - physically, emotionally, and financially. Calculating these can be complex and depend on numerous factors. Appearance, skills, how smart she is, how healthy she is, etc. I’m fairly sure this is what Cersei refers to as ‘selling women off like livestock’. In the case of divorce, you can get the bride price back in many societies, and some also allow you to get it back if she dies (particularly if she’s childless). I imagine that’s much the same in Westeros.

8) There are at least two feasts traditionally thrown for the wedding - a welcoming one to welcome all the guests, and the actual wedding feast.

9) It’s traditional to throw a hunt just before the wedding. All the men in the wedding party and any ladies who wish to accompany them are allowed to go. This is done as a show of magnanimity by the lord who is supposed to open his land to his guests, and also to provide sport for the restless party. In return, anything caught on the hunt is supposed to go on the lord’s table for the wedding feast.

10) Different regions have different local traditions for a wedding day. Case in point, the Reach has a wedding breakfast where the bride and groom SEPARATELY receive their gifts.

11) Ceremonies vary by religion

- The Faith of the Seven: This one is LONG. It begins with the septon in a sept reciting several prayers and readings. The groom is between the alter of the Mother and Father but the bride is outside the room. Next, the bride is presented, being walked down the Isle by her father or a close male relative (or, sometimes, a liege lord if a close male relative isn’t there). The bride is on the left and the groom to the right. The father presents the bride to the groom, and the groom lifts her veil (if she’s wearing one). The groom removes his bride’s maiden’s cloak (or bride’s cloak if she’s a widow) and gives her one of his own house. The septon says they’re there to join them in a union, and ties their hands together in a ritual knot. They make their final vows, kiss, and the guests applaud. Guests stand in two columns in front of the couple to watch the wedding.

- The Old Gods of the Forest: The ceremony is performed by the head of the groom’s family. It’s at night, in the godswood, in front of a weirwood preferably. The guests carry torches to watch. The bride is led by her father (or again, a close relative). The person performing the ceremony asks who comes before the old gods and a few ritual lines are exchanged where the man gives the bride. The officiator asks the bride if she will take the groom, and when she says yes, the couple hold hands and kneel before the heart tree for a moment of silent prayer and then they’re done. The groom removes the maiden’s (or bride’s) cloak, give them a cloak of their husband’s house, and carries her to the feast in his arms.

- The Drowned God: They’re officiated by a priest of the Drowned God and tend to be very solemn. Salt wife weddings tend to be more fun, and that is all we know. Since Drowned God priests seem to do their ritual work on the shore, it seems probably iron born weddings are at the beach. I wonder if they have to drown for them? Maybe they wade into the water or get water dunked all over them. We’re not sure. We’ve never seen an iron born wedding. Since the Drowned God is an offshoot of the Old Gods, they likely also have some sort of bridal cloak custom, probably after whatever blessings and ritual immersion in water is done.

- R’hllor: The ceremony is conducted by a member of the clergy. The bride is escorted to the clergy person who asks the bride to identify herself and who comes to claim her. They ask the bride and groom if they will share their fire with their spouse to be to warm them when the night is dark and full of terrors. The bride and groom jump over a bonfire built in a ditch and by doing so, their souls become one to the Lord of Light. Then the groom removes the maiden’s (or bride’s) cloak and gives her the cloak representing his house.

12) After the wedding, there’s the reception. This has dancing, music, poems, basically whatever kind of entertainment you want (which is likely regional). This is all done along with the wedding feast. There might be tourney to celebrate, but melee’s aren’t traditional (I’m sure they occur but it’s not a custom). ALSO. IMPORTANT - It is considered bad luck to deny a knight your hospitality on your wedding day.

13) At the end of the feast, the highest ranking person in attendance calls for the bedding. Men carry the bride off, stripping her clothes and telling dirty jokes, women do the same with the groom, and sometimes they might be yelling encouragement or advice outside the door (or, god forbid, witnesses). This is done to ensure consummation. Not all weddings require a bedding ceremony, but Westeros does require consummation. This seems to be a custom for the Faith, the Old Gods, and the Drowned God, so it’s a universal across Westeros. After this the wedding is over. From this point on, they are married and if you don’t like it, well it just sucks to suck. And even if the wedding isn’t consummated for whatever reason, it’s bad luck for spouses to sleep apart on their wedding night. Brides are expected to be maidens (i.e. virgins), but if the couple gets married later, it’s not considered dishonouring (sex without a later betrothal was likely the dishonour Ashara experienced at Harrenhal, as it would have impacted her marriageability - not ruined it completely, you can marry somewhat decently even if you’re not a virgin, but definitely having an impact).

14) Women may or may NOT take their husband’s name. If they’re of the same rank, it’s pretty much up to her. If she outranks him, she very well might continue using her higher status maiden name. Plenty of women use their husband’s name and in fact most likely do, but it’s not a requirement in Westeros (at least, not among the same ranked or when the woman is higher).

15) Annulment is incredibly hard to get in the Faith of the Seven - you better hope the High Septon or the Council of Faith is inclined to give you one (this is easier if its not consummated, the marriage is bigamous, there was an unbroken prior betrothal, or if the vows were made under false pretences, but it’s possible even if you’ve consummated or had children - Renly didn’t think it was impossible for Cersei to be set aside in favour of Margaery, Tysha and Tyrion’s marriage was annulled, etc) and while you don’t need to be there for it, you need to make the request yourself. It’s easier to just move apart. Or, if you’re THAT committed to getting away, you could join the Faith or Night’s Watch.

Note: It’s much much easier to annul a marriage in the Old Gods religion (and, likely, the Drowned God as well) - all you need to do is tell your spouse that they’re no longer your spouse in front of public witnesses, at least according to Elio and Linda’s correspondence when discussing The World of Ice and Fire. R’hllor might require permission from the clergy in addition, but I find that unlikely for the Ironborn, since they seem fairly independent and in many ways closer to the Old Gods simplicity. I’m not sure if there are any special conditions to make this announcement but if they exist, they would likely be similar to grounds for annulment in the Faith of the Seven (with the exception of bigamy for the ironborn - they really really don’t care about that). Honestly, even if they don’t have conditions that doesn’t necessarily mean an unhappy marriage will be annulled since that requires spitting in the eye of the family you’re trying to make an alliance with. Breaking a betrothal is messy enough, breaking a marriage is just BEGGING for trouble.

#a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #meta #weddings #game of thrones #asoiaf meta

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