#darkness within spoilers

[sledgehammer-to-a-discoball]

#that's what gortash's dreams consist of #am i wrong #this man clears from the face of toril and within a week gort is haunted by self doubt presenting as his lover becoming an absolute malice #bg3 #durge #the dark urge #durgetash #bg3 spoilers

[wingedblooms]

Rotting darkness

This post briefly explores the darkness in Hewn City, how it is connected to the Weaver, and foreshadows Elain’s journey as @offtorivendell, @willowmeres, @silverlinedeyes, and others have suggested. Please avoid if you do not want to read hofas spoilers.

In acomaf, Feyre visits the Hewn City for the first time and has to combat her immediate discomfort of being trapped beneath in the dark. It’s possible Elain’s own discomfort in Hewn City is similar: this place might trigger terrible memories of what she found in the Cauldron.

Feyre also observes how deathly pale and cold everyone appears, and she claims the Court of Nightmares was the work of a god. It even holds a dark castle within.

I wondered previously if Hewn City belonged to Stryga, who is described as a death-god and a dark queen; if it was her black castle once upon a time.

She was known for her ability to devour life. And it is said that the evil within her—which I theorized is similar to or the same as the rotten core of the Valg—may have tainted her favorite mirror. Is it possible that the black stone of the castle within the mountain was also tainted by her evil core? If she is like the Asteri (and goodness, from behind she truly does look like Vesperus), did the land drink from her as she might have drank from it? Over time, it might have begun to reflect her dark, evil core.

That dark and evil core seems to have started to show physically when she was bound to the Middle and could not consume life and joy and beauty in the same way she used to:

And this rotted description mirrors what Mor tells us about the darkness of Hewn City. She says there is no light in it, never had been. It is eternal, rotting, and withers all life.

It is not like the darkness in Velaris, which was made for dreams, rather than nightmares. The darkness in Velaris is full of starlight: life and joy and beauty. Hewn City is the opposite. It’s a rotting pit, or void as @offtorivendell has theorized, that devours all light, just like its former eternal, dark queen.

As such, it is also the opposite of Elain and Urd, blooming life. It may even represent the magic that the Asteri imbued (void) within Urd’s sacred waters and her sacred peaks, which are void of life and thrumming with power. And Elain’s behavior in this scene tells me exactly how she might handle that challenge in the future. She may be afraid, but she won’t hesitate to do what is needed: to descend into that darkness. And it might try to poison her light and claim the very life from her, but she will square her shoulders. And she will face it anyway.

The difference is that, in her book, she will face that darkness and prove it has no power over her.

#hofas spoilers #hewn city #rotting darkness #not the sort of darkness in velaris #Stryga’s black castle #a mirror of the evil within #the opposite of Elain and Urd #blossoming life #weavers of light and life #Hope in the Void #elain archeron

[tmntkiseki]

[ SPOILER WARNING FOR TMNT 2003 SEASON 3 EPISODE 14 "THE DARKNESS WITHIN"]

I wanted to clip this scene because... Yeah, I just find Leonardo's screams of complete and utter agony that delicious.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2k3 #tmnt 2003 spoilers #tmnt leonardo #tmnt splinter #tw character death #video #Remember how I mentioned that TMNT 2003 is a series that does filler episodes right? #Because 'The Darkness Within' is technically a filler episode #But it's an important episode anyway because it highlights the individual fears of the four turtles #And it does so in a way that is absolutely nightmare inducing #4Kids be like 'We can't include Japanese food in our English dubs of anime' #'But we can show Leonardo impaling an evil nightmare version of Splinter on his katana'

[mirror-to-the-past]

Xingqiu fans are dining excellently with all the references to him and lore regarding the Guhua Clan being spotlighted via Chenyu Vale's "A Wangshan Walk to Remember." The comparisons that can be made between Xingqiu and his predecessors is also very fascinating...

The Grand Master Guhua truly did live out the life of idealized dignity and transparency just as Xingqiu desires for himself. There's something very touching and heartbreaking about the fact that Guhua's life was one deemed heroic, but he was only able to have his legacy carried on by Boxuan who cast his own name aside to exhalt the name of the deceased Guhua.

And then right after briefly recounting the life and works of Master Guhua, Wen brings up Xingqiu, reemphasizing the lofty ideal/hope that he can respark the dying flame of the Guhua (no pressure) and potentially act as a parallel to the founder of the art himself. It's made all the more poignant, considering that we could easily draw the connection that Chongyun could be considered Xingqiu's potential Boxuan equivalent, a fellow young practitioner of martial arts who acts as a peer and supporter of Xingqiu's arts (although lets hope Xingqiu doesn't die preemptively like Guhua did).

I don't have snippets of the dialogue for it or screenshots, but those books in the archive room were just so lovely to see. The fact that many of the old disciples of Guhua were just nerds like Xingqiu and enamored with wuxia novels, shelving their discussions of them among all of the records they held in their library was so sweet.

Additionally, the person who invented the Rain Cutter technique that Xingqiu uses now was the one involved with the hidden Wangshan chambers that had the really forboding message about the heavens rejecting humanity and whatnot... very mysterious stuff.

Additionally, those 5 swords scattered around Chenyu Vale, the first of which you find at the outskirts of the Wangshan Chamber....while not necessarily all individuals of the Guhua Clan, it made me oddly emotional to see how the years that went by, depicted by each sword's material- from a blade to a crude sword shaped stick- and yet they all had in common a very poetic observation of their goals and the world about them that could easily flow as a singular nature/travelling-based poem. And that spirit of poetry intertwined with swordsmanship flourishing across the ages still continues on with this one dorky rich boy. It's honestly wonderful worldbuilding, that through environmental storytelling and the mere mentions of a character who was never even present for the entirety of the world quest, all of these stories and records of Guhua disciples and swordsmen before him tell me all I need to know about Xingqiu as a character, too.

#definitely would like to do more rereading of the texts within the Guhua library + those weird inscriptions #these lore drops were so cool #currently caught up in the profound nature of multiple generations united in their love for art- poetry- swordplay- idealism of heroism etc #the joy of community but also the loss of having a space in which your passions can be taken seriously and allow you to grow into the #desired version of yourself #the fact that xingqiu is considered a light in the darkness for the current Guhua elders yet he practices his art as part of a double life #all while the wangshan chamber crumbles- very symbolic #suppression and isolation kills passion #genshin impact meta #semi incoherent most likely as I am sleepy but I had to get my thoughts out #genshin impact #genshin 4.4 #genshin 4.4 spoilers #xingqiu #a wangshan walk to remember

[punkeropercyjackson]

The irl reason we don't see Gwen doing activism and taking direct action even though she's canonically pastel punk is that the Spiderverse writers are doing copganda so they wanted to make her have a good relathionship with George.The in-universe ableit unintentional reason is that George would've assaulted her way earlier if she tried.And both fill me with so much fucking rage,i hate George Stacy i hate George Stacy i hate George Stacy BITCH YOU SHOULD'VE DIED INSTEAD OF JEFFERSON!!!!!!!!!!

#i was gonna have a different last line but it's dark and i don't wanna trigger kids in the fandom #anti george stacy #gwen stacy #trans gwen stacy #pro gwen stacy #autistic gwen stacy #spiderverse #atsv #atsv spoilers #btsv #the spider within #spidergwen #spiderwoman #gwenom #ghostspider #songspider #the anomalies #spiderman #spiderfam #spider society #💌 #transmisogyny #child abuse cw #acab #punk #pastel punk tag #summerposting

[corellianhounds]

“You have done the highest honor of the Creed: Saving a foundling.”

I take umbrage with this statement in the larger context of the show this season because Mando still has yet to have what I think is a pretty significant conversation with the Armorer concerning why he removed his helmet in the first place since that ⬆️ was precisely why he did it

This season has largely brushed past one of Din’s biggest internal conflicts by never showing the audience how he feels as an exiled member beyond him asking how he can atone, not discussing with the Armorer why the transgression was done or in what context— which they apparently didn’t have to address because hey, look, the kid’s back with him again, oh also we’re not going to talk about that despite the Armorer telling him to take the kid back to his own kind in season 1— making it barely an inconvenience to ‘redeem’ himself in the end anyway, and by overshadowing his ritual redemption by knocking him out when he goes into the waters and having him sink to the bottom, having to be saved by Bo-Katan (when we still don’t know why she saved him at all), AND by having his return to the covert and Armorer be overshadowed by Bo-Katan’s out of place induction into the covert.

If they want to credit Bo-Katan with ‘saving’ the Mando kid because she headed up the hunting party even though Din was the one to actually grab the kid in the end, fine, whatever, but it is also the most overt way to again show that everything of value that Din has done this season has still been pushed to the side in favor of showcasing Bo-Katan

Unless they’re leading up to Din having some ego issue regarding Bo-Katan’s popularity and place within the covert because of how much he’s being shoved aside (which is entirely out of character for him), I’m not sure why they aren’t making him and his character more of the focus of the season. We’re not getting anything from him regarding his feelings or direction in terms of the bigger picture, which is why all of the episodes feel like filler— They’re achieving plot points like a checklist instead of showing us how Din feels about anything by not tying the emotional stakes to the physical ones. There’s no tension or narrative weight to any of these actions. His dialogue regarding the Creed, his redemption, and teaching and bonding with the kid (his character’s two main focuses) has been factual and exposition-y without feeling like his story is being told.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #The Mandalorian critical #din djarin #bo katan kryze #idk this is messy but it was also my biggest beef with an episode within a show that has already founded this season— #— on so many other storytelling and narrative issues #there’s only eight episodes in each season. you have to be judicious/economical with where you spend your time #and we still don’t know what the main STORY of this season is supposed to be #season 1: protect the kid and stay alive #season 2: find other Mandalorians in order to find the kid’s people to return him to where he belongs #season 3: ?? not really focusing on the Mandalore or dark saber plot bc Bo katan doesn’t care so she’s not chasing him as the villain #he’s not really the main character driving any of the action or the story. Bo-katan is. #and unfortunately I think it’s a little late in the game to establish this as an ensemble show. #if you wanted that you should have established it in season 1

[randomshipperhere]

I can’t stop thinking about him…

#3rd post within the last 4 hours of me missing dark and relating everything back to adwm #:((( #mark pls I miss him #photo post #markiplier #darkiplier #adwm #iswm #iswm spoilers

[dandelionandkrindle]

All the hero specialization icons we've seen so far

from: Portergauge on Twitter

#the war within #world of warcraft #wow #tww spoilers #just when i think i'm out THEY PULL ME BACK IN #the ret paladin ones hnnng #also you can bet i'll be playing my silly little dark ranger build

[movisual]

me after finishing tsats in a day

#fuck all yall who wanted to be picky abt it #the book being not really abt bob but about a couple learning and understanding each other #about communication and finding light within dark and dark within light #know each other to be stronger and healing from who you used to be #not rejecting darkness but accepting and learning to live with it #THATS GOOD SHIT #solangelo wasnt bad #and it wasnt perfect #it was a normal couple in an abnormal situation #tsats spoilers #solangelo #nico di angelo #will solace

[wellwhatnowlove]

“Of course! The bodies,” Kavax says. “Sevro, could you fetch my cane? My legs ache.” “Slag off, old man. I’m not a servant. I’m a terrorist war—” “Now!” Kavax booms. “It’s just outside the Crescent Vault. Fetch it or Sophocles will bite you!”“By myself? That place is creepy shit. Fine. Losing your marbles.” Muttering to himself, Sevro humors the old man and leaves the Sphere. He appears a moment later. “I’ll know if you talk about me.” He leaves again. The two Telemanuses wait for him to reappear.

Dark Age by Pierce Brown, pg 253

#they’re literally all insane #and I LOVE THEM #haha so funny #*pretends I don’t know what’s about to happen* #why does this book make me crack up and bawl within 10 pages #darrow of lykos #dark age #red rising #pierce brown #dark age spoilers #iron gold trilogy #kavax au Telemaunus #sevro au barca #virginia au augustus

[faggyangel]

like 'i wanna go' doesn't mean he's suicidal, it means 'i've developed friends and family, i've grown, i've experimented and discovered who i am and made peace with it, i've loved everyone i needed to and they loved me back and i know that now. i can let go of the idea of glory and just be with family for the time i have left. i'll sit with ed until i go and tell that i love him, tell him it's okay that i'll be gone because he has people who care for him, it's not just me anymore, i can trust stede to love him, watch him become who he wants to be, i can tell him that i want him to be happy, that he can leave blackbeard behind and be who he is outside of being the legend we made together. ed's loved and protected, the crew is safe, my family is taken care of, and i've done everything i need to.' he doesn't mean 'i wanna go because i don't want to live' it means 'i wanna go, i'm ready, i lived my life and i can let go now' izzy died happy and fulfilled, he died in the arms of the man he loved, surrounded by people who loved him. the crew mourned him by celebrating lucius and pete's love, they mourned him by going forward and avenging him, forming a new family and crew to carry on the legacy of piracy, and most importantly ed is mourning him by doing exactly what izzy told him to do, he's letting blackbeard die and allowing himself to be loved, he moves into a little house with someone who will always love him with izzy's grave and memorial in view, and izzy will always be with ed in so many ways, but especially because he gave him permission to let go of his darkness and become someone better

#to fucking quote d20 and brennan lee mulligan just because because your story ends doesn't mean it didnt happen #his story his development his role was so important and meaningful and death will never take away from that you know? #like it was beautiful and heartbreaking and meaningful and tragic it wasnt a brutal murder it was the end of his story #also yes he was queer no it was not becaude he was gay or anything like that like it was a loss sure #but also even if you do want to compare it to the brutalization of queer ppl which i do think is extreme but going down that road #means honoring those who died and sacrificed and suffered before you by remembering them by going forward making life better for those after #and using that freedom to be better and grow and live your life to the fullest #“where's the queer rage?” the queer rage is within the revenge crew going out and taking back power from the british #ed cant be surrounded by darkness forever let him REST #our flag means death #izzy hands #done tagging spoilers because its been a while since it came out

[paragonrobits]

It is day, or what passes for it in the acid rains and bleak dryness of Avernus, when the Dark Urge, Wyll of Badur's Gate and Karlach come to meet what might come, at least doing it together.

If they die, they thought before, at least it is with honor, and at least it is together. Perhaps it is something like a wedding, as only they might see it; dark and twisted and the best they could hope for. A wedding for who, that was anyone's guess.

At least, they thought, as the armies of Zariel came to meet them, this certain death would be met, with defiance and peace.

But they are not the only ones who meet it.

For there have been others fighting the eternal war of demon and devil, in penance for some unimaginable sin. And someone is watching them.

His eyes are, perhaps, blue. His hair thick and corded, in a style that has been forgotten. His face is grim, as he watches them go.

Going to meet death, knowing the certainty of it. He knows that himself, and something in him strikes a chord, and a sudden impulse seizes him.

And he goes, and power walks with him; a power older, some say, than Zariel herself. For this warrior is old; so old than he was there before the shape of the Planes as they were now had been settled. So old that he was nameless. If anyone in Avernus knew what his true name had ever been, then they were probably never going to tell anyone. Forgotten, in this modern age, but at his approach the world shook.

And the dragonborn turns to see this man come, the magic shifting around him like a cloak, twisting Avernus from Zariel's grip-

And the Dark Urge sees the human. If he was human.

Draped in a cloak abandoned by a far larger fighter no doubt slain not so long ago, he was a distinct figure, and for a moment, she thought the stranger was a zombie, or a flesh golem of some sort. His skin was gray, and horribly mottled, and then it takes a moment to see. That the gray are scars; he is horribly scared all over, perhaps from head to toe, every single inch of his body mutilated beyond comprehension. Some part of her, that still carries the scars of the one who made her, sings at such exquisite cruelty, a testament to unimaginable suffering.

His eyes are blue. His body is a horrendous mass of scars, and something in his eyes makes her feel as if she has found clan, down here.

He looks at them for a moment, and again the thought strikes her; somewhere, deep down, some part of him understands.

His cloak moves past as he revealed an arm, and there is a patch on his arm, unscarred.

He does not carry torment on his arm. Not anymore.

(He has fought the unended cruelty and evil of the Planes themselves.

He has battled upon Avernus and all the Lower Planes for time without imagining.

He has endured all this time. In older times, it was because he simply could not die. Now, it is because he has become too strong. Sometimes, the Planes throw you bad odds, and something else decides that for once, things ought to end up better, and perhaps it is fitting that he IS that better ending, at least in this moment.

It's nice, he thinks afterwards, to have people happy to see him for once. He's seen too much torment. It's nice to see people happy, even if they thought they were going to meet their doom.

They never do get his name. That's nice, too; going from having no name for himself to them making up a name for him on the spot.

Karlach says he looks like an Adahn. He bursts out laughing for a solid minute and it takes a while to explain why that's so funny.)

#balder's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #planescape torment #the nameless one #some variety of this idea has been bouncing around my head since I got this game last year!! #about time i did something within it #acutally i was going to have the dark urge sadly musing about having been happy a long time ago #with deliberate parallels being drawn to the Dark Urge's unknown but horrible past actions #and TNO's evil incarnations #queued

[steelhazes]

by the fucking way the lvl 70 drg quest destroyed me

#in a different way. eyes my wol and estinien #two dragoons in black and white show up to free a black dragon from its frenzied haze #white dragon shows up and saves the black dragon from the power of love. you're JOKING #i'm so unable to let go of the light/dark dichotomy (is that the word) between these two #THAT AND THE STORMBLOOD MSQ #SPOILERS AHEAD FOR WHOEVER CARES -> #rune within the light of the rebellion fighting headfirst into enemy territory and always at the front lines #estinien working in the shadows and out of sight (mostly) from others and yet his actions are just as impactful to the resistance #lying face down on the floor fucking SOBBING these two are just rattling around in my brain AUSUDHHD #they are SO sun and moon to me. i'm in pain #stfu anri #*with the power of love motherfuck i hate being in mobile

[tiffanytoms]

I understood Lily to be the cat in the last chapter, but I had no idea it was THAT CAT. Cat who accompanied us from the beginning in this free fall into madness 😂. God, that woman is insane, however I'll give her a compliment because seeing the man you love being engaged/shagging with another girl for years must be pretty frustrating

Oh yeah, she been there 😏😈

I hope it is now clear that this story was really just gender-swapping with Enemy Within and how I thought that would play out with their different personalities 👯‍♀️ Lily played that long game…

(Also, HAHAHAHA James couldn’t exactly stalk Lily as a deer 🦌 omfg… the visual 💀)

#wickedly twisted #spoilers #anon asks #enemy within #dark lily evans #dark james potter

[mummer]

mind so blank. But. Movie about the events of the show. shows within shows. Yep yep yep FUCKED UP METANARRATIVE ENJOYERS WE’RE BACK

#GUYS WHOSE FAVORITE BARRY ARC WAS SALLY’S SCENE ABOUT HER ABUSE >>>>>> #THE AUDITION ENJOYERS >>>>>>> #barry spoilers #ive got more i just. Oh my god you guys the black hole bit THE BLACK HOLE BIT #Ringer podcast. he just described the black hole stuff as ‘the screen going dark’. Guys #guys it’s not so much the internal darkness within us or hell or whatever. It’s. The end of the show #the black screen. The end of the story. no more getting to tell it #IT'S A TV SCREEN #oh GOD #the fact that the Hell Sound in the purgatory beach scene ended with a camera click and i can prove it just listen to me

[ziracona]

Okay so if you don’t walk out to start the confrontation with John in episode 4, and listen to the whole thing, it’s actually less worrying in a ‘is he lying’ way if you hear it all but oh my god; he starts to talk to himself about what if Bruce sent the agents after him to attack him because he’s buddy buddy with the Agency, but is like “No! Bruce would never do that!” back, and anyway, I am trying to play my replay Bruce as very core centered around his relationship with Harvey, so he never doubted John vocally about what happened (although he’s thinking it through seriously of course), and the scene is SO different that way. He never attacks you, he’s not confrontational or aggressive, just relieved and stressed and worried. But also, he talks a little more about what happened, and playing this again, I think from how John describes it all, they also wrote John as someone with a dissociative disorder (though not DID obvious because no amnesia and more drift combo type switching than switch-switching), and that’s really cool because you like. Never see any dissociative disorder but DID at all (and DID itself once in a blue moon and then at least 70% of the time totally warped and demonized) but anyway, fascinating and I like that, but it also is absolutely going to color how Bruce is/will handle everything with John, like, you can ask him if he’s back to his normal self again instead of the him who fought the agents, and John will consider and he’s absolutely not for a second but then is and tries to worriedly assure you that he will not be the other one again and it’s nothing to worry about, and I’m just like it’s ok John don’t even worry I’m not judging or scared about that, but yeah I’m glad my playthrough Bruce picks up that kind of thing so fast. Doing so in S1 really helped me keep Harvey as okay as humanly possible, and damn if I’m not gonna do the same here for John.

#Me: *slaps OSDD-1B label on John Doe’s head* hi babe #batman the telltale series #batman the enemy within #the enemy within #telltale John Doe #telltale batman spoilers #telltale batman #he describes the incident as somewhat unclear and like an out of body experience and like ‘someone else took over. someone dark and a little #scary but that you’d want on your side’ and talks about the same person pacing a few layers deep back at the cafe scene #didn’t think of it as OSDD-1b until he described the incident with the agents as he did and I heard the way he was talking with himself but #it makes a lot of sense. especially with how hair trigger his modes swap in and out but how quickly and without confusion. Also with the #long term amnesia pre-Arkham and his depersonalization he describes outside Arkham and his general disconnect from reality a dissociative #disorder fits. anyway welcome to the very short list of OSDD charcaters John anyway I love you and I’ll beat Waller up to keep you safe