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not-close-to-straight · 3 years

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FATWS Episode 4

I’m finally fucking getting time to watch this thing.

Dramatic reactions, incoherent ramblings and spoilers under the cut.

Right off the bat I’m feeling like the only thing I really remember about Episode Three is vaguely not trusting Sharon Carter. I’m really supposed to believe Peggy Carters Niecey, defender of Captain America and dismantler of Hydra really is selling stolen art in Madripoor? Seems fake, but okay.

Let’s get into it.

Have I mentioned I love Karli’s freckles? Her hair and her freckles kill me, I never understood people who don’t think freckles are cute. They are actual dots of delightfulness

AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AYO AYO AYO She is so ridiculously beautiful wtf. I’m shaving my head TOMORROW so I can be half as amazing as her.

Wait is this a Wakanda flashback? Six years ago... ohhhh look at my goatherder Jesus Bucky, let that baby rest. WHY IS SHE SAYING THE WORDS? LOOK AT HIS EYES PLEASE STOP. This is hurting my soul. Oh god homecoming, and it’s the moment he knew Steve. Oh the tears, I can’t. I CAN’T. “You are free” I’m already crying and it’s been 1.2 minutes.

Damn right the White Man doesn’t understand anything of their loss and shame. LISTEN TO BUCKY SPEAK WAKANDAN. I LOVE IT. Urgh she’s so beautiful. Her murder strut is impeccable. I’m in love and I’m swoooooooning.

“It was sweet of you to defend me” Zemo take ten to twenty percent off the top there, This isn’t a date.

Hey, I feel like I don’t love that they refer to Karli as “Karli”. If she was a man, it would be Last Name Basis. “She’s a kid” “she’s a supremacist.” hmmm seeing a parallel between Wanda and Karli and the way they were treated. “She’s a kid?” She’s actually ridiculously powerful but thanks for that. (no Wanda hate here, just pointing it out)

“My TT” ITS HIS AUNTIE BUCKY YOU’D KNOW THIS IF YOU WERE EVER INVITED TO THE COOKOUT

Uh Zemo, maybe we don’t be the creepy guy in the coat offering children candy. I mean, the tactic worked but you could literally not be creepier right now. Honestly I don’t know why I’m so surprised he’s keeping the Donya thing from them, duh he’s a villain, but I’m still surprised?? The sugar daddy role got me FOOLED

Sam being the one that understands what it means to be fighting to be on the other side of the “barbed wire fences” is so sad.

BUCKY’S MAD. Sam has something against head tilts, that’s so funny to me for some reason. I DON’T TRUST SHARON.

Why do I smell some foreshadowing with Karli’s talk about destroying the shield and how it’s a relic of a bygone era and a symbol of everyone that was left out

“take it easy before it gets weird” SAM.

John Walker literally looks more sketchy every time we see him. Also, if you can’t say “son, just don’t” and everyone stops in their tracks, you are NOT Captain America. Its worrying me that Battlestar (battleship? lmaoooo) is starting to side with BuckySam because if there’s one thing literally every movie has taught me, it’s that the person who switches sides ends up dead and if I have to watch a POC first be relegated to sidekick and then killed I might actually riot

It’s so good to see Sam being Counselor!Sam. I think that gets so overlooked with him and I think it’s one of the most defining traits of his character. He’s not just a soldier, he’s not just brave, he’s seen the loss and he knows the struggle and he chose to help others through it while also being equally willing to suit back up and save the world.

“Don’t patronize me” stop acting like a damn child. Why is John so twitchy, I don’t like it. OH is he really gonna say “this is easy for you, all this serum running through your veins” as if Bucky had a say in anything about in his life beyond Azzano.

GET HIM BITCH punch his raggedy ass!

Oh look at Bucky jumping, Winter Soldier, more like Winter Squirrel PARKOUR. Goddamn Zemo with his gun, oh no look at all that super soldier serum! I mean, you have to commend the guy for never wavering from his path. JOHN WALKER AND THE SERUM! It’s supposed to amplify what’s in your heart?? AND HE SUCKS OH NO.

The power broker texts her “little girl” that’s so gross.

“Separate them and kill Captain America” three months ago I would have howled at that line, now I’m like...meh.

Sam wouldn’t have taken the serum-- not surprising. He’s a good man all by himself. No serum needed. Have you seen those arms? Actual Cannons of Freedom and Justice. “What about bucky” I love that he’s thinking about Bucky. Someone please protect these boys.

Aw Bucky baby you’re not crazy. It’s funny to see him drink cos he definitely can’t get drunk. It’s the equivalent of some diva drinking a white wine spritzer.

WHY IS JOHN WALKER BACK.

THERE’S MY WOMEN OH MY GOD I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EXCITED IN MY LIFE. Do not shake her hand. John Walker, she will bite your hand off. Pointy Sticks, the Dora Milaje have jurisdiction wherever they want OMG HE TOUCHED HER omg. Look at Zemo sipping his drink LOOKING STRONG JOHN I CANNOT I CANNOT.

“Lets talk about this” Bucky is so calm. Bye bye Zemo. Oh GET it Sam with those fancy moves.

...what just happened with Bucky’s arm. what just happened. “James” oh man waht does that mean?! Has Wakanda left him? Has he dishonored Them? My brain is moving too fast for this.

I would like to have a moment of silence for John Walkers ego because he, a White Man (tm) and Solder (tm) and American (tm) just got his shit actually handed to him by a Black woman and he sat there and tried to more her “pointy stick” and couldn’t and then she full on did the shield kick thing while he sat on the ground and looked up at her and you know what? i think that’s very sexy of her, I will be watching this scene on repeat for the next hundred years wtf.

Also ALSO? This is it. This is the moment where The Man (tm) can’t handle being beat so he goes and does something stupid, this is it, isn’t it? The Man Pain he just can’t tolerate?

Oh my god Bucky’s face with his arm. I mean, it makes sense his arm would come off but to have himself literally disarmed (get it) in a fight is so... I mean it’s violating in a way, and its almost a betrayal as well but at the same time maaaaaaybe it’s a relief? Maybe its a relief to know he doesn’t always have to be a Soldier, he can take the arm off and just be Bucky??

Also I had to pause the show to write about this because my hand cramped up from trying to type too fast ughhh

Back into it

ARM PORN NOISES I LOVE THEM

Whats an El Chapo? Oh wait, I figured it out.

I love Lemar’s voice. He’s so confident talking about the serum but lets be perfectly honest, Karli Morgenthau and Steve Rogers are basically the same person a hundred years apart. If you don’t think Steve Rogers would have singlehandedly led a revolt against a world government he thought was wrong, you are 100% incorrect. Not that I think he wouldn’t have resorted to bombings etc, but also... that sort of life does awful things to people.

WHY IS SHE CALLING SARAH. “My world doesn’t matter to America” oh sweetheart, I feel that in my soul. Sarah knows who Sam is. She knows he’s not working for John Walker. This is the first time I’ve been anti-Karli. I know she’s desperate but you don’t threaten someones babies.

HEY LOOK THERE’S ME NOT TRUSTING SHARON AGAIN

It actually makes me angry to even see Walker carrying the shield like that. I’m aware it’s an overreaction, but your honor, I hate him.

...Lemar?

Don’t make me watch a POC die for some White Man’s story arc, don’t do that.

Oh. Shit.

Sam do something. SAM DO SOMETHING. HE’S NOT GOOD SAM!

My god do I love watching Bucky fight. Those Kicks of Vengeance will never get old. CAW CAW MOTHERFUCKER use them wings Sam.

Oh Hoskins is okay. Alright.

Bucky with the good knives, I LOVE HIM. The fight scenes are always so well coordinated in WS. We see you definitely not killing when you absolutely could.

OH FUCK HOSKINS WHAT THE FUCK I THOUGHT WE WEREN’T GOING TO DO THIS WHAT THE FUCK

...this makes me so mad wtf. We couldn’t have done this journey without pointlessly sacrificing a POC? No? Have to drag that trope out? Gonna make me watch another Black man be killed just so the White Guy can move his story forward.

oh shit Walker is MAD.

Fuck he just-- he just murdered someone with Steve’s shield. he just MURDERED SOMEONE WITH THE SHIELD AND EVERYONE WAS WATCHING.

And look at him, he feels no remorse. He feels perfectly justified. He is DARING them to say something to him. He is America (tm) brutally silencing protests and rebellions and taking his own issues out on people he feels disrespect him and you can’t tell him he’s wrong because he can justify every drop of blood by making it about how he felt “they beat me and they weren’t even super soldiers. they disobeyed me. they should have listened to me. they killed my friend.”

I keep hearing preserum Steve saying “I don’t like bullies” and then imagining him beating the shit out of Walker.

...That visual of the shield with blood on it... it’s so... shocking isn’t even the right word. Horrifying. Its horrifying.

I don’t even know what to say.

This episode was a whiplash. The writers of this series need to be commended. Also the stunt men and the fight choreographers. Fucking kudos, and now I need a stiff drink and a good cry because this episode took it OUT of me.

#falcon and the winter soldier

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travllingbunny · 4 years

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The 100: 7x04 Hesperides

The first quarter of season 7 is kind of like the first quarter of season 2 on steroids - everyone separated in several groups in different locations, looking for each other and having no idea where the others really are, while the show is doing world-building and introducing information about the main threat, setting up the main story that will really kick into gear later.

The main difference is, of course, that in season 2 we saw all of the characters, pretty much in every episode. But now, Bellamy has been missing since his disappearance early in 7x01 (which, of course, is mostly due to external reasons), and we have been in the dark about Octavia’s fate since she was pulled back to Bardo in 6x13, and have only seen her in flashbacks. Clarke, Octavia and Raven have had episodes centered on them (the first, second and third one, respectively), but there has been no or very little of Octavia in the other three episodes, and even Clarke has taken somewhat of a back seat in the last 3 episodes.

In the meantime, the B-list characters from the main cast - Echo, Gabriel and Hope - have taken center stage and gotten their own great stories. Hope, in particular, has been the character with the most focus in these early episodes - which isn’t that surprising as the show has to quickly give her all the fleshing out, backstory and development that other characters have had seasons to build. And we’ve gotten new characters - guest stars developed over just one episode or one scene - who have been given enough characterization and sympathetic qualities to make their deaths feel tragic and emotional (Hatch, Dev, Orlando).

No, I don’t think that this is a sign of the show focusing more on supporting characters and sidelining its protagonists in the final season, as some fans have been complaining and freaking out about. I’m sure that the mains will soon take center stage again, which is why their storylines this season are just starting or have been set up - while other characters have been given this early stage of season 7 to shine and get a lot of the story now. Another way those smaller stories feel relevant is that they are full of parallels and callbacks to the bigger stories from previous seasons.

I’m still not sure what relevance the title exactly has for this episode, and I’m not convinced that it is just supposed to be about 7x04. Yes, Hesperides were three maidens in a garden - like Octavia, Diyoza and Hope, and it was the topic of a cute exchange between Octavia and Hope (another Blake sibling teaching kids about the Greco-Roman mythology), but what are the “golden apples” that Hesperides were guarding and that Heracles/Hercules had to steal as one of his tasks? The only really valuable object on Skyring is the Anomaly Stone. But if that it what it’s about, that’s not something that has happened yet. Or do golden apples stand for something less tangible, like family, love, trust? Were Gabriel, Echo and Hope a new Hesperides trio (even though calling Gabriel a maiden in any sense of the word is a bit of a stretch), with Orlando as the dragon guarding the garden, or they thieves? I have no idea. I’m going to wait for the rest of the season to maybe give an answer. Maybe we’ll come back to the story of Hercules stealing the apples. That story also includes Atlas (who literally carries the weight of the world), and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is referenced, too.

Worldbuilding

The biggest takeaway from this episode for me were the really strong hints supporting the theory - which I’ve firmly believed in - that the Disciples are an off-shoot of Second Dawn and that their leader, the mysterious Shepherd, is Bill Cadogan. We learn that Disciples have different levels and that the highest one (?) appears to be “Level 12″ - which is reminiscent of the Second Dawn’s “12th seal”. Orlando prays to the “Shepherd, who delivered us from the fire that consumed the Earth”.

One of the most interesting parts of this episode was learning about the planets connected to the Anomaly (which we have a bit more info on than the characters do, thanks to the opening titles!) - which I’ve covered here. (Yes, the planet which was offline is Earth.)

There are thousands of Disciples, highly trained soldiers, guarding the “fortress”, as Orlando called it. They are highly trained and dangerous - better fighters than pretty much anyone we’ve met. However, they have apparently never been in a battle - at least not the current generations. They are preparing for something they call “the last war that mankind will ever wage”/”the war to end all wars” (?). Now, who could this war possibly be with, and why do they think they need Clarke as a weapon to win it? It sure can’t be anyone on Sanctum - Wonkru has dwindled to about 400 people, and everyone from Sanctum (from Prime guards to CoG) are pretty incompetent and terrible at fighting. Unless the war is just metaphorical, there must be some other people on one of the planets... Maybe the Eligius people and the Second Dawn are two different factions after all?

The Disciples are incredibly technologically advanced (which may not be so surprising, considering the fact that - if Bardo time is faster than Sanctum, and I think it must be, their society has existed for much, much longer than 230 years - and they have an amazing SciFi technique called memory capture. Which explains how they knew about Bellamy, Echo and Gabriel in 7x01.

The layout of Bardo - drawn by Orlando - provides a lot of info about the life there: there are living quarters, a galley/mess hall (it’s interesting that they use the word “galley” - which is normally used for the kitchen on a ship, train or aircraft), cell blocks, training quarters, arboretum, and so on; we see the first mention of “conductors” - presumably people who manage the travel via the Anomaly Stone - and the most interesting part: there are cryo labs, and “Shepherd” is mentioned in relation to them. Like everyone else, I immediately thought about it being a way for Cadogan to be still alive.

Because of that, I’m starting to revise my earlier theory about Cadogan being on Etherea (which I speculate to be the planet closest to the black hole, with the ‘slowest’ time) - but now I think that maybe some other people are there, who may be seen as enemies of the Disciples?

The Skyring trio and Orlando

The first 3 episodes have had the “Previously on” spoken by different cast members (Eliza, Marie and Luisa), which I feel is going to happen throughout the season. But this is the first episode of season 7 with no “Previously on”.

Instead, the episode opened on Hope’s 7 minute backstory scene. If this was an earlier season and some of the main characters we’ve known from the start were involved, it would take at least an entire episode. But this scene was a really well done montage, with little dialogue and done through visuals and a well chosen song (”Hymn” by Joel Porter), representing 10 years that Hope spent on Sanctum, her budding relationship with a Disciple/prisoner Dev - the first male and only the third person she’s ever met in her life, who became something of a father figure for her, and the one who trained her to fight and taught her about Bardo. We have met Dev before - as a corpse, and it was easy to guess from the state he was in that he was killed by Disciples while letting Hope escape. We don’t know anything about his life before he was sent to Skyring for a 10 years sentence - such as, what he was punished for. Maybe Dev (who was Level 7) was never such a true believer as Orlando. And in that case, it would have been easier for him to decide to devote his life to helping this child find her family. Of course, family bonds forged that way - as the only two people, an adult taking care of a child who’s been left alone - must be incredibly strong.

One of the reasons why this scene worked so well and created so much sympathy for a character we see for only a few minutes, is that it told a story similar to stories we have seen before with the main characters. It was a lot like Madi and Clarke, especially the part where the child was initially hostile and the adult had to break the ice (Clarke did it with a drawing of Madi, Dev ate the paint berries that aren’t good to eat - probably intentionally, since I think he must have heard Hope yelling he shouldn’t eat them - so Hope would take care of him). And Clarke’s relationship with Madi was, in itself, something that paralleled Bellamy’s pseudo-paternal relationship with his younger sister. Octavia’s relationship with Hope was also something that made her understand her brother better. And Dev was reminiscent of Bellamy, especially with the knife throwing scene, which is reminiscent of Bellamy and Charlotte. Except for the fact that Hope was not murderous - unlike Charlotte, who was already incredibly damaged. In fact, Hope not being able to kill, freezing and not joining the battle (unlike Madi, who was able to kill to save Clarke - but Madi had been taught to fight and defend herself against Flamekeepers as enemies) that she had been preparing for, was the reason why Dev got killed.

We still need to see one final part of Hope’s backstory - what happened when she got to Bardo, how she found a “friend on the inside”, how she made a deal with Anders, why the Disciples have orders to kill her on sight. Until then, we don’t know if killing a Disciple to save Echo was the first time Hope has killed someone. But I think it probably was, because it was an important moment for her - a replay of her old trauma, with her not hesitating this time and being able to protect a friend she’s spent years with. Hope has been trying to be tough, but we already saw in 7x02 that there was a lot of vulnerability, insecurity and lack of experience behind that. Echo called her out on not being able to be a killer in 7x02. Based on her experience, Hope would probably agree with Echo’s mantra that “Hesitation is death” (which it was, for the original Echo and not for AshEcho). Her mother probably wouldn’t be too happy for her, since she wanted - pretty unrealistically, unless Hope was to live away from the human race - to keep her away from the kind of life she used to have. Diyoza even kept her past a secret from Hope - before Gabriel put a foot in his mouth in more ways than one and mentioned Diyoza’s past as a Navy SEAL and terrorist (or “freedom fighter”. PoTAto- poTAYto).

As it turns out, the main plot of the episode was a replay and ironic contrast to the opening scene. It was a bit weird that Hope suggested getting close to Orlando, saying “Trust me, I’ve done this before” - as if she had deliberately manipulated Dev to become close to her, which I really don’t think was the case. (I’d also say that it’s weird that Echo - a spy - was not the one thinking along these lines, but had to be convinced by Hope and Gabriel. But the show has always portrayed Echo as a fighter/assassin rather than an actual spy, who gets close to people and gathers intel.) Hope. Echo, Gabriel and Orlando spent 5 years together, and must have gotten at least somewhat close to each other and to him. He trained them, like Dev trained Hope. But they started to get close to him on purpose, as a part of their plan, pretending to be a happy family and hoping he would want to join in. Which proved right. Orlando also felt protective of Hope, like Dev, which they also used as bait. However, he realized he was being played - proving smarter and less gullible than they had assumed - but agreed to everything anyway, somewhat out of loneliness and desire for human contact and relationships (maybe the same kind he had on Bardo with the people he trained). Maybe he was hoping that he could influence them enough, just like they were hoping - or at least Gabriel was - to be able to change his mind and make him less devoted to his faith. Gabriel’s points about false gods and blind faith seemed to strike a chord, but he still stuck to his faith - maybe because this was all he had ever known.

But after 5 years together, at least some of the bonds must have been real. However, everyone kept their own agenda, and the prior bonds remained the strongest - including Orlando’s attachments to the Disciples he had trained. Echo’s main allegiance remains Bellamy, Hope hopes to save her mother and Aunty O, and Echo thinks that they are still not “his (Orlando’s) people”*. It’s interesting that we saw these people spend time together on screen and get closer, with funny and warm moments, the kind we don’t often get in this show, but they do not seem to be a real family at the end - in contrast to Spacekru: with them, we were told multiple times hat they had become a close family unit, although we never saw that process on screen. So it would seem that bonding worked better during the 6 years of peace and boredom in space, than during the 5 years of peace and boredom on Skyring. (Or did it? I would argue that Spacekru being “close family” was never quite convincing and was only used as a plot device to create conflict between Bellamy and Clarke or Bellamy and Octavia, but that it’s the relationships that pre-dated the Ring that proved to be the strongest.)

* Out of the 4 people on Skyring, Gabriel is the only one doesn’t really seem to have any strong emotional attachments at the moment, after Josephine’s death, and is there apparently mostly for his scientific curiosity about the Anomaly. We only see Gabriel react emotionally when loses his temper, to the point of becoming physically violent to Orlando. (Which is in character - remember that he killed Eduardo in anger?)

Let’s talk a bit more about Echo.

One of the things that struck me about Echo’s interactions with Hope and Gabriel this season is that she has more chemistry with them than we have seen her have with anyone before, especially a lot more than she’s ever had with Bellamy, and that she’s also showing a lot more personality: we see her joking, showing some sass (I would think it’s the new writer - Niylah has also suddenly became sassy and made snarky remarks in this episode - but she’s also had those moments in 7x02), she is perceptive of Hope’s emotional states. Now to be fair, though she never really glued so well on screen with the Spacekru, we did see her joke around with Monty and banter with Murphy or Raven. But, since they have become an item, always becomes incredibly bland around Bellamy - as it his presence turns her into her role as a follower/soldier/servant. It’s not something that Bellamy does on purpose, it’s just the fact that Echo has picked him as her King and gravitates towards him that way.

In 7x01, her own subconscious was telling her (just as it did in 6x02 during the red sun eclipse) that she needs Bellamy because she wouldn’t have anyone to follow without him, and questioned if her devotion to him is really about love, or about her need to have a purpose (reminding her that she was so loyal to Queen Nia that she betrayed “the man she now claims to love”). In that context, her single-minded focus on saving Bellamy (”I wouldn’t know what to do without him”) sounds less romantic and more unhealthy, something she needs to learn to grow out of. This is the second season in which she has a lot of interaction with a character whose main trait is blind faith and devotion to a master - in season 6 it was Jade, now it’s Orlando. Echo’s words to Orlando - “It must be hard to dedicate your whole life to something that may never come" sounds ominously like something that may apply to herself.

A comparison between Echo and Finn in season 2 has crossed my mind, but to make things clear - I don’t think their actions are similar. Finn became deranged and killed a lot of unarmed people for no reason; Echo is just being herself, once again, repeating old patterns. But the similarity is in the fact that they are obsessed - in a way that may not be too healthy - with saving a love interest, who may end up being not too happy about it. I don’t know if Echo’s actions at the end of this episode will be brought up between her and Bellamy and if he will learn about them - but the facts are that a) he has consistently shown he cares, loves, needs Clarke more and values her take on morality (or her at her best - because Clarke has not always stuck to it in the past, but has started off that way and has been trying to live by it since the end of season 5) as something he tries to live by, and b) he has been committed to “doing better” and not repeating old mistakes since season 4, while Echo is usually suggesting solutions based on killing and violence, which Bellamy almost always rejects, and Echo falls in line, because Bellamy is the leader.

But left to her own devices, even after spending 11 years in peace, whenever trouble arises, Echo tends to fall back to her upbringing by Azgeda and Queen Nia: “Hesitation is death”. While her circumstances have changed so much since season 4, she has remained fundamentally the same in many ways. It’s not that she doesn’t feel compassion (when she has to hurt someone she has some connection to - she looked sad when she was leaving Orlando. Just as she looked sad when she thought Octavia was dead and had to bring the news to Bellamy in S4), but that doesn’t change her fundamental belief in what should be done. Did she need to kill the four unconscious Disciples? That’s debatable. (It depends on whether you think they could have used the Anomaly Stone to jump back to Bardo - even if they had taken or destroyed all their suits - in time to catch Echo, Hope and Gabriel. But this possibility wasn’t even mentioned by Echo and the others.) What’s certain is that she thought she had to: she knew she had to leave Orlando, because he was too upset by the death of someone he had trained (even though, to be fair, Echo had told him something like that might happen); he could have told the Disciples about them; when there is a threat that can stop you, you must eliminate it. She only left Orlando alive because of their bond, but what she did was even worse as it made him commit suicide.

Again, I don’t know if Orlando could have used the Anomaly Stone to jump to Bardo, or if he really would have had to spend years alone, again, as Gabriel assumed. But I think the main reason for his suicide was the fact that, because he had let himself trust these people - maybe out of loneliness - he had indirectly caused deaths of Disciples he had trained and cared about. In any case, the show managed to make this character sympathetic in such a short amount of screentime, and make his fate really tragic, in a dark twist after an episode that often felt lighthearted. (I felt really sorry for the guy - kudos to the actor, Darren Moore.) Echo, Gabriel and Hope did not anticipate this, so they will probably feel terrible when they find out. And Hope and Gabriel are responsible, too, because, in spite of their objections, they went along with it.

If Hope killing to save Echo was a replay of her trauma with a different outcome, Echo has replayed her own trauma with the same outcome: she had to kill her friend to save herself. And all she has learned from it is that she has to do the same, every time. Only, we can’t blame her for what she was forced to do to save her own life as an abused child. This time, however, she did not kill in self-defense or battle, but afterwards, when the Disciples were already unconscious. Her betrayal of Orlando also recalled her betrayal of Bellamy in season 3. She had not spent more than a tiny amount of time around Bellamy then, but he considered her a friend he could trust, and she used his trust and got people he cared about and people he felt responsible for killed, causing him to feel enormous guilt.

Now, I’ve seen the argument that Echo doesn’t need redemption, because her story is about finding independence instead of being a follower. But it can be about both. Her story may not have so far been about “doing better” - although she has heard Monty’s message together with everyone else, and repeated the words “I guess it’s time to do better” during the battle in 6x13 (only after Bellamy has made his decision what to do). But that makes her stick like a sore thumb in a show where the last two seasons have been based on that idea - doing better, not repeating old mistakes. It means that she needs not just to find her independence, but to rethink her methods and world view. I don’t subscribe to the idea that being a follower absolves one of every responsibility for carrying out their master’s orders. The Nuremberg defense, “I was following orders”,is not considered a good defense in court. It’s even less so in terms of morality and personal responsibility. Now, it’s true that a lot of fans hate Echo and tend to judge her more harshly than the other characters - but at least a part of the reason for that is the fact that the show has done very little to have her face the consequences of her actions, as opposed to most of the other characters. Characters who held a similar view of “kill or be killed” have been reviled and killed off (Charles Pike says Hi). In the show, Bellamy has been called out on, physically punished, felt enormously guilty and had a long redemption arc for participating in the killing of an armed, experienced and dangerous army (who may not have been a threat, but it’s understandable why he and Pike considered them a threat), which was considered incredibly evil just because said warriors were killed while sleeping (which makes no sense, but OK) - even though he also was not in charge, Pike was. And Bellamy never used the “following orders” defense and instead felt responsible and did his best to change and do better. In season 5, he was the one who opposed to idea of killing Eligius prisoners who were in cryo sleep (while Echo, like Murphy, supported the idea). Echo has now killed Disciples while they were unconscious. Back in season 3, Echo facilitated and supported a mass murder of civilians done not because of any threat or misguided wish to protect her people, but as a part of a scheme to give her clan more political power.

Now, it may be argued that Echo didn’t have a choice to disobey - but we later saw, throughout season 4, when Nia was dead and Echo did not have to answer to her, that Echo was still constantly opting for violence and killing as the first option, often as a preemptive strike: killing a leader from another clan for just opposing her plan in public, egging on Roan to kill Clarke and the rest of the Sky people, when they haven't done anything to her or Azgeda and they weren't threatening her or them, telling Roan they betrayed him, kidnapping Bellamy and killing another Arker who was captured with Bellamy - for no reason. She didn’t even need to kill Ryker in season 6, either, regardless of whether we think he deserved it or not. And we have never seen Echo renounce Queen Nia’s legacy (which, lest we forget, is the legacy of someone who practiced genocide - including killing children - and slavery.) In season 4, she was always telling Roan he should be more ruthless, more like his mother, and she was still repeating things learned from her in season 6.

There was a character on Agents of SHIELD that Echo reminds me of (I won’t say his name for spoilers, for AoS fans should easily guess who I mean). This character also had a very tragic backstory - traumatic childhood, abuse, an evil mentor who was emotionally abusive to them but conditioned them to be blindly loyal and commit all sorts of crimes out of that loyalty, career as a spy/assassin who gets close to people and betrays and kills, pathological need for a leader to give them orders, or for some sort of a purpose, a tendency to resolve problems with violence. This character had a passionate fanbase who argued that, as a victim of abuse, he deserved a second chance, but the writers and most of the fandom was adamant that it was not enough to absolve him of responsibility for his crimes as an adult. The 100 is a show that is much more likely to give characters second chances and redeem them. But it’s also a show that normally makes characters work for it. To make Echo the one exception to the rule and give her a get-out-of-jail free card, declaring she doesn’t need to be held personally responsible for her actions, and that she doesn’t need to work to change and do better, would be both inconsistent with the overall themes of the show. and a huge disservice to Echo as a character.

Clarke & co. at Sanctum

It’s kind of funny that, before this season of t100 started, people thought/were worried Bellamy would recklessly jump into the Anomaly after Octavia - but instead, he was taken, and everyone else is recklessly jumping into the Anomaly without knowing where exactly they'll end up. Immediately planet hopping without any supplies or suits with oxygen wasn’t the wisest decision! I was wondering, like many people, why they did not at least take the suits from the dead Disciples. But someone on Twitter has pointed out that the suits probably got damaged by the blast from the energy weapon Raven took from the dead Disciple, which makes it all make more sense. For the rest, I can explain it by the urgency of the situation - they knew that more Disciples would be coming soon. (And the urgency turned out to be very justified - as a Disciple turned off the Anomaly Stone shortly after.) And I have no problem believing that Clarke is that desperate to find Bellamy “her people”.

..Who are we kidding? If it was just Octavia, Echo and Gabriel, she’d still want to save them, but I don’t think she’d be immediately hopping to another planet without knowing for sure if it’s even survivable, and without saying goodbye to Madi. Some people were bothered that Clarke’s choice wasn’t played more emotionally and that she didn’t specifically mention Bellamy - but I disagree, because this is nothing new. For so many seasons, we’ve seen Clarke talking only in terms of saving “her people” or “her friends” even when everyone knew that Bellamy was the one she’s most emotionally attached to by far. (Going back to season 2 and “You care about him” - “I care about all of them” - “But you worry about him more.) I don’t need this spelled out right now. Maybe the show could have immediately delved a bit deeper into everyone’s reasons for planet hopping, but maybe they didn’t need to because we hopefully will see more of their emotions in the upcoming episodes, especially when they get stuck on the ice planet with a really nice name that kind of means “Hell” or “Purgatory”.

I didn’t take their cavalier remarks like “why not” and “this planet sucks anyway” seriously. What makes a lot more sense is if Niylah mostly wants to save Octavia - since we know how devoted she is to her. Miller may in particular feel he owes Bellamy to save him now, since he did not in season 5, which he felt guilty for and apologized about. And maybe that argument he had with Jackson in the previous episode (aka a few hours earlier) opened some wounds from Blodreina days, since Miller reacted by saying he isn’t just a follower. For Jordan, I suppose it may be a chance to participate in the heroic adventures of the group he’s only heard stories about. Raven has all sorts of reasons, from saving her friends, to her scientific curiosity and love of space-faring adventures, to the fact that a part of her would probably want to be as far away from Sanctum and ‘the scene of the crime’ right now.

I certainly hope that we delve more into everyone’s emotions and psychology in upcoming episodes, especially Clarke’s. She tends to try to keep her emotions inside, until they explode (and she beats up Russell and burns down the palace), and this has especially been the case this season. The Bellamy-shaped hole In the show has affected her - she isn’t able to be fully vulnerable with anyone the way she was with him (as recently as their hug in the season 6 finale). In this episode, it felt like she was mostly seen from the outside - we can take a good guess how she feels because of her actions, but it feels like she is seen from other people’s POV - whether her friends’ or the Disciples. From Niylah (who knows her well) saying “of course she is” when people were surprised she would go and risk her safety and freedom and maybe life when she was told they have her people, to Captain Meredith saying their intel on her is “smart, brave, willing to risk her life, not willing to risk the lives of her friends” (that must have come from Bellamy’s and Octavia’s memories), to Jordan announcing “Ladies and gentlemen, Clarke Griffin has left the planet”. (She is, after all, a legend for him especially, he was raised on stories about her. Raven is another legend for him, so he announced her the same way “Ladies and gentlemen, Raven Reyes”.)

But let’s go back to the beginning. I’ve seen people criticize the episode for “not showing the moment they realized Bellamy and others were missing”. I don't know why anyone thinks they would have realized they were missing before. This episode takes place very soon after the end of the previous one. (Clarke even hadn’t seen Raven after she had been beaten up by Nikki.) Bellamy, Octavia, Echo and Gabriel have been gone for about a day and a half at this point. Maybe they would have wondered “when are they coming back?”, but I don’t think they would have seen a reason to be worried - before a foraging party found a dead body of an unknown person with a mysterious suit and helmet. Which was followed by the mysterious people showing up and asking to talk to Clarke.

Raven is haunted by guilt throughout this episode (which makes perfect sense to me, as she has never really had to deal with being directly responsible for deaths in this way, let alone of people she knows), including a hallucination of irradiated Hatch, and Lindsey’s acting was really good.I loved her conversation with Clarke, where Clarke gave her a simple advice, from her own experience, which says a lot about how she has been able to go on: you will not forget the faces of those you’ve killed (we’ve seen Clarke be haunted by hallucinations of Finn and see dead, irradiated Maya in her mindspace), but think of the faces of all the people you have saved. I’m looking forward to more of Clarke/Raven bonding in S7.

I know I sound like a broken record, but one character whose characterization I don’t know how to feel about is Jordan, because of the way the show has been skirting around the issue of whether he has been brainwashed or not. But that may just be me being influenced by the fact that so many people are arguing he is not brainwashed, just because he doesn’t believe in the divinity of the Primes. But 1) he has undergone the process, 2) become weirdly attached and close to his brainwasher Trey and the other ‘Devout’, 3) formed a strange attachment to Priya’s mind drive and started blaming people for her death - seemingly forgetting about his actual dead girlfriend Delilah and her death, 4) is hanging out with people who worship his girlfriend’s murderers, while seemingly paying no attention to her grieving parents, and 5) did a 180 from despising the Primes as murderers to defending their society as “peaceful” and “happy” and spouting similar Prime propaganda BS (which we had previously heard from Josephine), blaming Earthkru for destroying that fake paradise. He does it again here, in an off-hand comment (“before we screwed up”), which sounds like he blames his friends for... what? Not being OK with Clarke being murdered and bodysnatched and trying to save her? Apart from Madi - who was under Sheidheda’s influence - all the others did was try to save Clarke and try to save themselves from getting burned at the stake, while also trying not to kill people. And now, we see Jordan happily plan to save Clarke from getting captured and having her memory extracted, or Miller, Niylah and Gaia killed, by having Raven kill 8 people, which bothered her a lot (especially with her recent experience getting Hatch and 3 other people killed), but didn’t seem to bother Jordan. Now, I’m not saying it should - it’s defending your friends - but how can he do that and at the same time blame his friends for trying to save Clarke from a much worse situation? He’s like two completely different people when he is with the Devout or says anything about them or the Primes, and when he is away from them (when he suddenly stops being annoying and saying absurd things). Either he is showing consequences of brainwashing by the Devout, or he is a terribly written, inconsistent character.

I wish we had seen a scene between Jackson and Miller (which must have been deleted, going by the promo pictures), before Miller abruptly left. He probably didn’t know he would be going to another planet, but he knew he would be risking his life, so some sort of a goodbye could have taken place. At least, with the fact that Jackson was present when they discovered the body of the Disciple, at least someone in Sanctum has some idea what happened, now that Gaia got kidnapped and would not be able to go and tell Madi, Jackson and everyone what happened to Clarke, Miller, Raven, Jordan and Niylah, in addition to Bellamy, Echo, Octavia and Gabriel. But the people in Sanctum are still going to be wondering what happened to all those people (now including Gaia) who are just gone.

Did Clarke get to take the note? It wasn’t clear in the episode itself. If she had it, I wonder what Orlando wrote in it and if this would give her more info or just be more confusing. If he just said something like, there were three of them, two women and one man, she could assume those were Bellamy, Octavia and Echo - but she was already finding Meredith’s info hard to believe and thought he was lying. Everyone thought Bellamy shoot the Disciple they found, because he was the only one with a gun - which Echo actually took in 7x01, before losing it in the trip to Skyring - but all that happened doesn’t sound like something he’d do.

As I expected since the trailer came out, Gaia offered to be the one to stay behind take care of Madi and warn the others. (The show had to build a friendship and trust between Clarke and her to make it believable that Clarke would feel Madi would be safe with her, and so people wouldn’t criticize Clarke too much for leaving. Not that this is helping much, since she’s already getting some criticism thrown at her in the Facebook group.) But her getting kidnapped by a Disciple means that 1) Madi would have to face Sheidheda without the help of her former Flamekeeper, 2) people in Sanctum would have far less idea of what’s going on, and 3) Clarke and co. had no idea about it when they left, thinking that their people are relatively safe in Sanctum. At least Gaia didn’t need to warn them about the Disciples coming for them - since the Disciple has deactivated the Anomaly Stone. So, now Sanctum is offline, too.

Where is everyone now?

Octavia was pulled back to Bardo at the end of 6x13 and we still haven’t seen her in the present

Bellamy was kidnapped and taken to Bardo in 7x01 and we haven’t seen him since

Diyoza was already on Bardo as a captive

Echo, Hope and Gabriel jumped to Bardo from Skyring

Gaia has been kidnapped by a Disciple and taken to another planet - maybe Bardo, but maybe not (and I’m not sure how the Disciple even could have taken her to Bardo, when the Anomaly Stone had been set to Nakara, and the Disciple just turned if off, as far as I could see?)

Clarke, Raven, Jordan, Miller and Niylah jumped to a random planet and ended up on Nakara, the ice planet

Murphy, Emori, Madi, Indra and Jackson remained on Sanctum, together with Russell!Sheidheda, broken Wonkru, about 400 of them (including the Sangedakru - who worship Sheidheda), angry and hurt Nikki and 31 other Eligius prisoners, the Devout who still worship Russell and the Primes, and the Children of Gabriel, who want him dead.

Timeline: The 100 writers are indeed bad at math, or aren’t too bothered about making the timeline fit, and this is also clear in this episode.

Meredith, during his first meeting with Clarke, only told her "Your people killed 3 of mine" and told her to hurry "Where your friends are, time runs much faster. Every second counts". Which sounded like he only knew what they did on Sanctum, and made it sound like they were still on Skyring (I'm sure time runs faster on Bardo than on Sanctum, too, but the time differential is not as extreme, so "every second counts" is a bit too dramatic. They'd only be a few hours older if they were on Bardo.)

Which only makes sense from the Doylist perspective - the writers didn't want the audience to be spoiled on what happens in the Skyring storyline. But it makes no sense from the Watsonian perspective - Meredith should already know that they killed 5 more of his people and jumped. Because those 5 years were about 2 minutes on Sanctum - so, it all happened a day earlier, in the timeline of 7x01. Logically, Meredith and his team must have known everything and then have been sent to Sanctum.

Body count: The Disciples are really dying a lot this season: 3 in 7x01, and in this episode, 5 more killed on Skyring (1 by Hope, 4 by Echo), 8 including Meredith killed on Sanctum by Raven, Orlando (reportedly) committed suicide. 17 dead Disciples since the start of the season.

In the flashback - 4 Disciple dieds: Dev killed 2, was mortally wounded by a third, but managed to detonate a grenade and kill his killer.

Rating: 8.5

#the 100 #the 100 7x04 #hesperides #the 100 season 7 #clarke griffin #hope diyoza #echo kom azgeda #gabriel santiago #raven reyes

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fuse2dx · 3 years

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December ‘20

Bugsnax

Bugsnax is an odd little title, landing somewhere between Pokémon Snap and Ape Escape. There’s a bit less of a frantic pace though, instead telling a tale of a remote island where the titular part-animal, part-snack race roam about, with a series of characters each having their own relationship to them that... typically involves eating them. The disappearance of one key villager has been the catalyst to everything heading into a state of confusion though, and as the new person in town, it becomes your job to pull everything back together, all while trying to piece together a better understanding of just what Bugsnax are in the first place.

The game’s main cast are loud, colourful, and full of personality, with some decent queer representation going on too. It’s regularly quite charming, but the story runs parallel to a pretty simple gameplay loop of going out to a new area, meeting an estranged villager, getting a new tool that allows you to catch some new ‘snax in service of a given task for said villager, that inevitably fuels their return to the village. While catching a good chunk of the 100-strong Bugsnax portfolio follows a fairly repeatable mould of trap-setting and capture, some require some slightly more creative thinking, and final smattering lean more on good fortune as you try and juggle a few different elements in a way that sets up the perfect snaring.

I’ve seen some talk of folks who found the last sections of the game a little out of character, but having gone through all of the side missions before heading for the finish line, nothing came as too much of a surprise for myself. As a PS5 launch game it might lack the flair and experimentation that one might expect, but in better handling one’s expectations and seeing ‘just’ a game with extraordinary timing, it’s a pleasant and sufficiently entertaining romp - just nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

Demon’s Souls

I was in two minds coming into this. I’ve played the opening few hours of Demon’s Souls about 5 times now, with each attempt before this one stalling at different points for a variety of petty and frustrating reasons. So this, a fresh chance to try again, newly polished and smoothed out, with active servers, and a revitalised community? Excellent! Yet on the other hand, how much of the magic is Bluepoint likely to have been able to recreate? Even as a shot-for-shot remake, what if they had diluted the experience?

While I can’t speak with any particular authority here, very little seems to have changed outside of the visual overhaul. Some areas might be a bit easier to navigate owing to their new lick of paint, but enemies still pose the same threat, and everything is still where it should be, as are the obtuse, woefully under-discussed karmic swings that underpin its tendency system. Let’s not pull punches; it’s most notably a mean platform to build a game upon that makes suffering players suffer more, and is likely not one that you’ll even be aware of it before near irreversible damage is already done. From have undoubtably done similar concepts much better since, and while I might bemoan it, there’s also something to be said for allowing it to still exist just as it did at the series’ outset. It’s likely a wise choice on Bluepoint’s part to have left it untouched, albeit a slightly cruel one.

While the lack of a single, interconnected world was not yet on the cards for this particular Souls outing, there’s still plenty of great level design, with each of the game’s archstones providing a theme that’s adhered to brilliantly. A few exceptions aside, boss battles are typically less about flexing combat chops too, proving more of a challenge in solving how to approach them in the first place. In doing so, it creates some truly memorable moments alongside those that are purely frantic and rewarding thereafter. The same can be said for the game at large too; while its punishment of new players might be its most infamous quality, it does do a remarkable job in having you learn its every inch, and how best to deal with everything it cares to throw at you. While the chase of 1:1 replication might mean some of its jankiness remains, its visual overhaul and silky smooth frame rate certainly do a good job in helping you overlook it all and in embracing the still best-in-class world building. One of the years’ best, and by far the most compelling reason to date for next-gen ownership.

Grindstone

Grindstone was front and centre right as the doors opened on Apple Arcade, and it’s a pretty easy to see why it’d be pegged for such honours. It’s bright, colourful, charming, and very easy to pick up. Some of Capy’s other noteworthy titles might fall more into the realm of the arthouse, but this is them at full power, exhibiting that ultimate strength of knowing just how to capture any given audience. Most of the game is spent planning out your turn, and it looks great even in this calm stillness - but as you unleash the mighty Jorj on each of his rampages, there is a satisfying spring into action that gives the same kind of satisfactory twang you might get from an elastic band, or a coiled slinky about to bound down a flight of stairs.

Within a few short stages almost all of the base mechanics are laid bare, with each turn asking you to plot a course through colour-matched enemies, and landing you far enough away from any enraged enemies that’d seek to do you harm. Chain for long enough and you’ll spawn a grindstone that’ll let you switch colours mid-combo, and building up enough hits can then allow you to expend that strength on monsters with higher health pools. The range of enemy types grows as you progress, as does the array of new tools you can build that allow you new ways of dealing with them all, but ultimately the balance that needs addressing is knowing just when to walk away. There’s typically three goals to each level - opening the exit being just the first of these - and while in some cases you might have a handle on things when the exit does open up, it’s often not the case, and hanging around too long carries the risk of losing all of your progress on the stage if you lose a clear path to your escape.

Some of its later mechanics and the level arrangements can be quite taxing, and while never completely unfair, it can definitely... grind... on your patience. For something that could easily be taken as a casual little puzzle game, it’s quite lengthy too - the path unbroken leads you through a whopping 180 stages, but without extensive draining of resources from each of these, you’ll likely need to try some of the side dungeons to help make your way to the end too. Very likely more than your bargained for then, and yet still plenty compelling to boot.

Necrobarista

Some neatly constructed character models and a snappy trailer might attempt to tell you otherwise, but let us be clear with one another that Necrobarista is very much a visual novel. A shock to the system this may be, but anyone reading this likely knows by now this is far from a bad thing around these parts, so let us look a little closer.

It’s quite a melancholic thing, set in a less than conventional, somewhat Purgatorial coffee shop, where the newly departed stop in for a brief spell and a brew before taking the next step into the great unknown. While there’s a setup here for lots of stories to be told, it really draws in on a small cast of characters who look after the shop, and how a few key visitors change the world built up around them. Between each of the game’s chapters there’s the opportunity to unlock new side stories dependent on which of the phrases you chose to identify with from the chapter just gone, and although short, these do some good work fleshing out some characters and breaking up the main tale. As the title would suggest, the particulars of coffee do come up as a point of conversation, but there’s no drink-making side shows here - just a lot of talking, scheming about how to cheat death, and the more chin-scratching topic of a more accepting approach to this great inevitability.

It’s fairly short - comfortably under 10 hours - but crucially gets plenty of character development from each of its cast given the tight focus. Rather than the still portraits that you might come to expect of the genre, characters are given a real depth with 3D models that convey just as much as their words, which also helps this effort. Perhaps most crucially, and whether it’s in spite of all of the death, or instead because of it, there’s plenty of quite thoughtful and heartfelt sentiment hidden inside it. Comes recommended.

Tangle Tower

I picked this up for Switch based on a recommendation, not knowing that I’d unknowingly be closing out an Apple Arcade hat trick for the month. So yes, it’s another more story-driven game, not too heavy on the input requirements, but instead good for getting you thinking.

It’s immediately very easy on the eye, with each and every character drawn in large format and animated with buckets of quirk and charm that runneth over. Every single one is brilliantly voiced too, with varying degrees of charisma, bluster, dry wit, and numerous other characteristics that shine through in brilliant harmony with the art. It’s a murder mystery, see, and while you’re putting together what everyone says has happened, looking out for who’s fancying who and the like, you’re also doing so with the critical expectation that at least one person is likely spinning you some tall tales. Luckily you’ll find clues that help you get closer to the truth and help deconstruct some of these falsehoods, whether they’re in plain sight or hidden behind one of many puzzles. These are exemplary in just how well-pitched they come, each being self-contained and just tricky enough to have you pause to really think about them, but without ever being too irksome or troubling to stop you enjoying yourself. Once you do start to get to the point of unmasking some secrets, there’s also a neat little interface the game rolls out for you to drop in and then verify these revelations; pairing numerous characters, items and statements to help demonstrate to it that you’re keeping up with it all, and things are clear enough to move on. There’s subtle little prods in the right direction just when they seem to be needed, further cementing the game’s solid grasp of when it’s best to say something, and when it can let you just stumble about and get on with it.

It’s a fantastic little game. I lost a day or so to this, and had a wonderful time doing so. I hope that it’s not too far away that I forget all of the details, so that I might do it all over again.

#bugsnax #demons souls #grindstone #necrobarista #tangle tower

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atamascolily · 4 years

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Metaphors vs. world-building in Star Wars landscapes: a ramble

Readers of my fics will know I am a big believer in the idea of the landscape as a reflection of the inner life of my characters. They also know I'm fond of "layers," which is my term for plot and character decisions that resonate on both literal and symbolic levels, and draw on archetypes and references that I find interesting and meaningful. One of the reasons I enjoy playing in the Star Wars sandbox is that the original trilogy really GETS that; one of the major reasons why I think the franchise is so popular is that it taps all this other stuff on both conscious and subconscious levels.... and this is especially true when it comes to landscapes.

Take Dagobah, a swamp planet shrouded in mists. As he struggles with his training in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is literally bogged down, trapped in a landscape where his vision is obscured and nothing--from the tiny creature who turns out to be the teacher he was searching for to Darth Vader himself--is what it appears to be.

At the same time that Luke is struggling on Dagobah in ESB, Han and Leia are having their own struggles with illusion and deception on on the gas giant Bespin. Cloud City is literally a "castle in the air," beautiful in appearance but lacking any grounding--as a dis-armed Luke literally discovers when hanging suspended from what passes for foundations.

(As an aside, I appreciate Luke's "fall from grace" during his fight with Vader, and its parallels to the myth of Icarus. Icarus ignored the warnings and flew too close to the sun, only to die because his father couldn't reach him in time; Luke ignores the warnings and confronts Vader, only to deliberately refuse his father's outstretched hand. I don't know if the filmmakers consciously intended that parallel, but they nailed it.)

Yet by the time Luke returns to Dagobah in Return of the Jedi, the ubiquitous mist has vanished, and he is able to walk through the swamp in knee-high black boots without a speck of mud on him. The "veil" over his eyes has been lifted both literally and metaphorically--he now knows the truth about his father, and has accepted it.

We all know that world-building in Star Wars ranges from mediocre to non-existent, but there’s very little in any of the OT landscapes that seems grossly out of place within the context of the films themselves. The same is not true for the ST, where the filmmakers toss the world-building out the window and just go with what looks/seems the coolest (*cough* Starkiller Base *cough cough*).

In The Last Jedi, the Ahch-To sequences are supposed to parallel what we've seen in ESB of Luke's own training under Yoda. The filmmakers chose to site Ahch-To on Skellig Michael, a World Heritage site off the Irish coast, which works great on a metaphorical level. At the same time, they claim “Temple Island” be the site of the original Jedi Temple--which was a poor choice from a world-building perspective.

Just as the island is a lonely, rocky peak emerging from the ocean, so is Luke, tucked away in his self-imposed exile. I hate that nu!canon did that to him, but metaphorically it checks out. Just as Christianity survived in large part due to small, isolated outposts like Skellig Michael, so too have the Jedi been reduced to this final bastion. Luke's decision to self-isolate makes no sense in a larger context, but the symbolism is clear and consistent.

Because of this, the Ahch-To sequences are the most visually compelling in the entire movie for me. I like the juxtaposition of Rey, a desert child, literally out of her depth in the cave sequence--although I would have had her "vision" arise from staring at her reflection in the water as opposed to an actual mirror, because, you know, METAPHOR.

On the surface, Skellig Michael seems like a reasonable choice from a world-building perspective. It's home to a famous Gaelic Christian monastery founded somewhere between the 6th and 8th centuries. Since the Jedi are envisioned in the PT as space warrior-monks (retconned from the samurai analogues they are strongly implied to be in A New Hope), a monastery seems like a good fit for them, right? Well, yes, and no.

The problem is when nu!canon tries to claim that this is the home of the first Jedi temple--because that doesn't make sense from a logistical OR metaphorical perspective.

Historically, there were only 12 monks and an abbot living at the Skellig Michael monastery at any given time. I'm sure some of the Jedi could have doubled up, but there's still only so many people the island can support, unless their food is coming from elsewhere (From the Lanai? From somewhere else? who? what? how?) And where did those Jedi come from? Were they born on the island? Were they all related? Why did they build their temple THERE as opposed to some other place? How did they get off the island and into the stars? What was their tech level like, given that all we see of them (books, architecture, etc) is very low-tech to begin with?

To be fair, it may well be that Ahch-To is far more variable than the single-biome worlds we see elsewhere in Star Wars, but...do we see any of this, ever? NOPE. And the whole point of using Skellig Michael is to visually explore how little the Jedi Order has changed over the centuries... even their stonework is still there, thanks to the Caretakers (note that Rey, the disrupter, keeps knocking them down because METAPHOR), so I feel like it's okay to say that other things were probably the same however long ago the Jedi Order arose (which nu!canon is kinda vague about).

There is one reason why you'd build a temple there, though--and it has to do with the "Jedi as space mariners and star navigators" motif that nu!canon has been building up as a precursor to its High Republic mode. The temple site is literally a lighthouse, perched over the ocean, with the sun streaming in along the floor in a way meant to evoke ancient devices for measuring the arc of the sun. And I bet it has a fantastic view of the stars--perfect for people whose books are filled with geometrical depictions of planetary orbits and carry star compasses attuned to the Force.

But the FIRST Jedi temple? The first ever?? This I very much doubt, any more than Christianity itself originated at the Skellig Michael monastery. Not without a hell of a lot more world-building than they've ever bothered to show us.

Nu!Canon also tries to tell us that Ahch-To is the original homeworld for the uneti trees, which again, is fucking ridiculous without a little more world-building given that SKELLIG MICHAEL HAS NO TREES and the only one that we see in TLJ is ALREADY DEAD. This works well as a metaphor--the Jedi are a literal dead end, one that must be burned to rise like a phoenix from the ashes--but makes no sense from a world-building perspective.

I'd believe it if you told me the Jedi had come to the island to build their temple-monastery-observatory and planted the tree there from elsewhere. But they didn't do that, and it drives me crazy, because it was so easy for them to make it make sense and they didn't bother to think it through.

I think it was Philip Pullman who said, "Never make a metaphor do the work of a fact," when someone asked him about how/if daemons eat. Trying to make functional ecologies out of metaphor is probably a futile task doomed to failure... but some ideas are easier to work with than others and the best settings (in my opinion) exist as both.

I guess we'll put this down as yet another reason nu!canon doesn't work for me.

#star wars #SW meta #WHY DISNEY WHY #ahch-to

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apple-grass-and-smiles · 4 years

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Anakin Skywalker and Gifts

Hi, welcome to another round of my Star Wars thoughts. Ever since the Phantom Apprentice aired I’ve been thinking a lot about Anakin and the gifts he’s given people. As a person who spends his entire life with relatively few possessions he can call his own, it is logical to assume that physical gifts are especially meaningful to Anakin. Over the past few months, I have also been thinking a lot about how Anakin is defined by the women in his life more so than the men (male characters often act as a foil to Anakin, which is a meta of its own about Anakin and his more stereotypically feminine characteristics). Then, because my brain does that, it felt logical to analyze Anakin’s gifts that he has given the women in his life and how those physical tokens represent his relationship with them. Below I’ll go over gifts Anakin gives Shmi, Padmé, Ahsoka, and Leia in roughly chronological order. (There’s also a TL;DR at the end if you want the short version.)

Shmi and C-3P0

The gift Anakin gives Shmi is a partially-finished C-3P0. He states in TPM that he is building Threepio to help Shmi and when Anakin leaves, Threepio acts as his stand-in (something that is a bit of a trend for Anakin). Anakin knows that his mother’s life is difficult and that the best thing he can give her is someone who will help to ease the burdens she carries. By leaving Threepio with Shmi he is doing his best to ensure that 1) someone will be there to take care of her the same way she always did for him and 2) that she won’t be alone. While we don’t see much interaction between Shmi and Threepio in Legends or canon, it is easy to assume that, especially in the early times after Anakin left, Threepio was Shmi’s main companion and tie to her son, so Anakin’s gift is more a surrogate son and constant companion than a protocol droid.

It is also worth noting that while Anakin clearly didn’t want Threepio sold (he says so in TPM), the droid could have been sold and brought Shmi money if that was what was needed. You could claim that Anakin also left some financial security and a better chance at Shmi buying her freedom by leaving Threepio; this just has less canon support.

Padmé and...

The Japor Snippet

Anakin gives Padmé tons of gifts over their time together. The first, and most frequently referenced, is the japor snippet. Anakin tells Padmé exactly what this gift is supposed to give/represent for her (good fortune and a reminder of him). From an out-of-universe point of view, the snippet also acts as a great visual symbol of Anakin and Padmé’s relationship. You see it a lot in ROTS as a marker for when Anakin and Padmé get to be themselves instead of their public personas. Ultimately, Lucas uses the snippet as a visual shortcut to remind us of the love between these two and Anakin’s intense infatuation/love/devotion for Padmé. For simplicity’s sake, and in hopes of keeping this from getting too long since the japor snippet’s symbolism can easily be an entire meta on its own, I’m saying that it represents good fortune and Anakin’s enduring devotion to Padmé.

C-3P0

This is a gift that is really only explicitly stated (to my knowledge) in Stover’s ROTS novelization. He writes a scene where Anakin passes Threepio onto Padmé very early on in their marriage as a “devotion-gift”. He explains that he can’t really keep Threepio because he’s a Jedi and that even if he could it wouldn’t make much sense for a Jedi to have a protocol droid. When “giving” Threepio to Padmé, Anakin explains that he “didn’t have many friends when [he] was a kid...so [he] built one”. In this case, Threepio once again acts as a stand-in for Anakin when he is away, but this time the droid is more of a friend than a helper or son like he was for Shmi. Anakin knows he can’t always be there for Padmé so he passes along his childhood friend and one of his greatest creations to her so that she can always have a friend with her.

His Lightsaber

This scene is great because once again Anakin lays out exactly what this particular gift represents. He repeats Obi-Wan’s mantra that the lightsaber is a Jedi’s life before handing it over to Padmé. There’s really not much to explain here, but this does create a nice parallel once Anakin gives Ahsoka her lightsabers, which, partially, symbolize him giving her her life/ability survive. Here he puts his life in Padmé’s hands as a sign of trust and devotion and later he will hand Ahsoka her blades to get across a similar message.

His Padawan Braid

Honorable mention to this *maybe*-kind-of-canon gift that features in the 2003 Clone Wars and the Stover ROTS novelization. In both pieces of media, Anakin gives Padmé his Padawan braid almost immediately after being Knighted. In Stover’s book, he says that the braid is a devotion-gift to Padmé and the “one thing that [Anakin] truly owned, that he had earned, that he was not required to renounce. One gift he could give to celebrate their love.” There are lots of things this gift could represent (I personally lean towards that it suggests that while he has devoted the past decade to the Jedi, he plans to give his future to Padmé), but since the braid really has no presence in things that are undeniably canon that I know of, we’re keeping this short and literal and saying the braid equals his devotion to Padmé.

Ahsoka and Her Lightsabers-

At this point I think there have easily been thousands of words written about Anakin giving Ahsoka back her lightsabers and all of the ones I have seen are stunning. In particular I want to point out Dave Filoni’s interpretation of what the lightsabers, and the fact that Anakin modified them to be blue, represent:

“Him tinkering with her lightsabers while she is gone shows that he was always thinking of her. And the lightsabers are then a representation of her in the story, and his thoughtfulness regarding her.” -Dave Filoni (transcript taken from here and the quote is in this video)

So, for Filoni and I blue lightsabers equal a representation of Ahsoka’s role in Anakin’s life. If you want to read more about this idea, I’d strongly recommend these: meta by @soccialcreature and @novaewalker, fic-like meta by @cross-d-a, and meta by @meandmyechoes. They all say what I’m thinking much more succinctly and clearly!

The other angle I want to point out is written about beautifully by @gffa here. Basically, the lightsabers come to represent not just Anakin’s role in Ahsoka’s life, but also the Jedi and the home and people Ahsoka desperately wants to return to. Lightsabers have always been the symbol of the Jedi both in- and out-of-universe. As has been mentioned and shown countless times in canon, lightsabers are also a symbol of a Jedi’s ability to survive (”This weapon is your life.”) and Anakin giving Ahsoka back her lightsabers is ultimately what keeps her alive throughout the Siege of Mandalore arc and her leaving one of them behind is what sells the story of her death, protecting her from being hunted by the Empire for a while.

Ultimately, the lightsabers are full of symbolism, but it is most worth noting that they represent: 1) Anakin caring/thinking about Ahsoka, 2) the Jedi and Ahsoka’s chance to return to them and Anakin, and 3) Ahsoka’s ability to survive the events that will follow.

Side note: I think it is also worth noting that Anakin tried to give Ahsoka back her silka beads at the end of the S5, but she turns them down. I’d argue that while the lightsabers stand for the Jedi as a group, the beads were a symbol of Anakin asking Ahsoka specifically to come back as his Padawan. When Anakin offered the silka beads he wanted Ahsoka to come back and to have nothing have changed, which is why she has to turn them down. The lightsabers are an open invitation to rejoin the Jedi when she is ready and a promise that he will accept her back whenever and however she chooses to return.

Leia and Luke-

This one is a bit tricky. Leia obviously doesn’t have a great relationship with Anakin and Anakin doesn’t ever get a chance to develop a meaningful one with her. However, I think Leia is fundamental in understanding Anakin and that’s why I felt it was important to include her in this. She is probably the character who Anakin would say is the best representation of his legacy since she manages to symbolize so many parts of what makes Anakin Anakin. (She is a blood relative to Shmi and Padmé and therefore representative, at least in appearance and genetics, of them; she has a lot of Ahsoka’s personality; if you stick with Stover’s ROTS then she’s the child that Anakin sensed was focused on since he didn’t sense Luke...; she’s a great amalgamation of traits and people that defined Anakin.) While we never have an obvious moment where Vader hands over a gift to Leia the same way he does in all the examples above, I would argue that Anakin’s gift to Leia is the most meaningful one of all: he gives her Luke.

People have pointed out over the years (I tried to find the posts about it but couldn’t; if you find one, please let me know) that Leia must have been thrilled to learn Luke was her brother because a twin meant she had family again. Luke is one of Leia’s best friends and a source of hope for her. Legends, and possibly canon that I don’t know about, has moments where Luke helps Leia to find the strength and peace to finally be able to forgive Vader for the horrible things he did to her and that helps her to be able to be happier and more fulfilled. This is definitely the most abstract of all the gifts, but I think it is important to recognize Luke and the love, forgiveness, and peace he brings into Leia’s life as the one gift that Anakin gave his daughter. He gave her so much pain, but also a person to help carry her through it, which is ultimately what all of his gifts have been about. Luke and Leia are the culmination of Anakin’s attempts to give companionship and love to the women he loves most in the galaxy.

TL;DR-

All of Anakin’s gifts to the women he loves are meant to represent something more abstract/deeper he wants to give them. Shmi gets Threepio who acts as a surrogate for her missing son and also provides much-needed help. Padmé gets multiple gifts from Anakin: the japor snippet (representing good fortune and her relationship with Anakin), C-3P0 (to be her friend when Anakin is away), his lightsaber (lightsabers equal the life of the Jedi they belong to), and his Padawan braid (open to interpretation, though I think, and Stover implies by calling it a devotion-gift, it’s a sign of him devoting his future to her). Ahsoka gets her lightsabers from Anakin, which represent that she will always have a place with the Jedi, the place she has in his life, and her ability to survive. The modification of the colors signify that he has continued to think about and care for her while she has been gone. Finally, Anakin gives Leia her twin brother, who helps to fill Leia’s need for family and brings additional peace, forgiveness, and joy into her life. All of these add together to tell a story of Anakin trying throughout his life to pass along love and his companionship to the women that mean the most to him.

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fortunatelylori · 4 years

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Sandtion: The Sense and sensibility connection - a meta collab with @and-holly-goes-lightly

As some of you may have gathered, @and-holly-goes-lightly and I are salt mates (this is a tumblr term I have learned only recently and am planning to run into the ground. You have been forwarned. I don’t want any complaints down the line!)

It all started about a year ago, with this:

And progressed steadily until we ended up here:

Occasionally, between ogling pictures of naked men, we discuss serious issues as well. Those end up as metas for your consumption, most of the time.

It’s a colaboration that works well. I write long metas, she writes really good ones. We enjoy. We have fun.

Given that we both obssesively analyze tv content and that we tend to reach about the same conclusions, we have been planning on doing some project together for a while now.

I think if 2 months ago someone had told us that Sanditon would be the tv show that would see us join writing forces, we would have been more than a little shocked.

But here we are … hoplessly obssessed with Austen’s unfinished novel and ITV’s unfinished tv show (get the hint, ITV?!?! I hope you do. Chop, chop! You can’t live on Downton Abbey reruns for the rest of time, you know)

So on this most special of days, @and-holly-goes-lightly and I bring you the motherload of Sandtion metas. Two crazy writers, one tv show, one simple title:

Sandtion: The Sense and Sensibility connection

It’s no surprise to anyone, at this point, that Andrew Davies wears his Austen influences on his sleeve in Sanditon. You can find easter eggs for most of Austen’s work, from the famous Pride and Prejudice to the obscure Lady Susan.

However, Sense and Sensibility seems to be one work that hasn’t insipired much comparison from the fandom. And it’s perhaps for that reason that Sandion’s last two episodes were so hard to digest and why so many question marks were raised in regards to Charlotte’s characterization.

In this project we aim to dispel some of that confusion and attempt to put into prespective the character arcs of both Sidney and Charlotte in:

Sidlotte: A parallel journey between Sense and Sensibility by @fortunatelylori

As well as delve deeper into Charlotte’s POV through out the season finale in:

Charlotte Heywood - From Sensibility to Sense by @and-holly-goes-lightly

We hope you enjoy our take. Please don’t forget to leave us your comments in the reply section. This is a new format for us and we’d love to hear from you on how you like this kind of collaborative work.

Sidlotte: A parallel journey between Sense and Sensibility

As I was reading the now infamous Theo James interview, I was reminded of the “unusual” visual representation of Sanditon. It really does look quite different to most Austen adaptations which are defined by the sunny, sanitized domesticity of the English garden.

Sanditon doesn’t look like that. It’s rough and a little wild. It presents a world in the throes of change, with gales, nudity and darkness lurking around the corners. I think it’s those visual cues that made Theo link it to Wuthering Heights with its Yorkshire gloomy moors and harsh winds.

But that just goes to show you Mr. James has not done his proper Andrew Davies research (Tsk, tsk, me thinks he will need to do a few more nude scenes to atone for it) because the wind swept beaches, the wilderness of the English countryside, the cowboy motif? They all go back to this:

I imagine the visual style of Sense and Sensibility 2008 was in part generated by an attempt to separate it from the very famous 1995 version (the quintessential sunny English countryside film) and in part as a response to the earthier approach Joe Wright took for his now very influential version of Pride and Prejudice (2005).

But I do think Sanditon owes more to S&S 2008 than just its visuals. I’ve talked about this in the past but Sanditon, to me, is really Davies’ homage to Austen’s entire body of work so the more you dig and analyze, the more similarities and parallels you are going to find between Sanditon, its characters and the rest of the Austenverse (I really hope this is just a thing I say in a sarcastic way on tumblr. Not everything needs to be a –verse, people!).

Episode 8 really brought this theory into focus for me. In my review I said that the finale marked the tonal shift of the story from the naïve, hopeful and mostly comedic territory of Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice towards the darker, more reflective tone of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility.

Of course, comedy and witticisms are a core trait of all of Austen’s work. Her voice is so powerful that she is always an extra character in her own stories. However, Persuasion and S&S are also permeated with a sense of loss and angst that her other works don’t really have.

They’re more mature I suppose one could say. And it’s that maturity that plays a role in the shift that occurred in the season finale of Sanditon. Because Sanditon is really all about Charlotte Heywood. We enter this world with her and we follow her coming of age story throughout the season. And that story is marked by a pretty steep transition from the romantic, hopeful heroine represented by Marianne Dashwood to her restrained, sensible sister, Eleanor.

One of the things I liked the most about S&S 2008 was how much more balanced its view on Marianne and Eleanor was. In the 1995 film, it always felt as if Marianne was presented as a cautionary tale while Eleanor was the heroic nurturing woman who endures everything stoically and is rewarded for her restraint in the end.

But that’s not really, to my mind, the message Jane Austen would like us to get out of S&S. Just like with Pride and Prejudice, Austen is shining a light on the folly of both extreme sense and as well as extreme sensibility. It is not wise to jump head first into situations having only Lord Byron’s poems as your guide but it’s also equally unwise to constrain yourself to the point where you are unable to confide in anyone, to the point where you deny your feelings and end up a passive participant to your own life.

With Charlotte Heywood, we get to explore both those behavioral patterns.

The change from Marianne to Eleanor doesn’t occur in episode 8, by the way. It occurs at the end of episode 6 and carries through to the finale. That’s why people, including myself, were taken aback by Charlotte’s apparent change in demeanor in episode 7, from the girl who always spoke her mind (even when she shouldn’t) and wore her heart on her sleeve to the outwardly detached, apprehensive young woman who was waiting for the other shoe to drop even as the man she loved was about to propose to her.

It would be easy to blame this transition on poor execution and I do believe the shift was too sudden and it was a mistake to have it start off screen (in between episode 6 and episode 7). However, the arc itself is not a mistake and it’s actually very clever.

For one because it allows us to explore this story both from the naïve, romantic perspective as well as the angst filled one.

Secondly, and most importantly, because it works in tandem with Sidney’s arc, who is going through the exact opposite journey from the emotionally repressed outlier to the open hearted tormented hero, representative of the Byronic romantic ideal.

What was supposed to happen is that by the end of episode 8, Sidney and Charlotte would meet in the middle, she as a more controlled romantic, he as a warmhearted stoic. What Davies gave us instead is two ships that passed each other in the night and have, by their last scene in episode 8, completely exchanged places.

So I think it’s important to go back to the beginning and analyze how the meeting between the naïve romantic Charlotte and the world weary Sidney ended up altering them forever and how, while deeply painful for both of them at the moment, their separation and behavior shift will end up benefiting them when their eventual reunion occurs (whether or not ITV decides to renew this series, Charlotte and Sidney WILL get married and have 2 to 3 adorable children because this is an Austen story and I will accept nothing less, damn it!)

One of the most important scenes in the whole season for me was the carriage scene in episode 6. I wrote a whole meta on it that you can find here and I have to go back to it in order to reference this extremely important exchange that sits as the lynchpin of this meta:

Sidney: And what do you know of love? Apart from what you’ve read?

Charlotte: I would sooner be naïve than insensible of feeling.

We’ve spent a great deal of time analyzing this scene and how pivotal it is in the story of Sidney as the motivator behind his lowering of his emotional guard. But I don’t think we’ve spent nearly enough time asking ourselves what this exchange tells us about Charlotte.

Because this doesn’t just announce a change in Sidney, it also foreshadows one for her. Sidney is correct in implying she doesn’t really understand love because she’s never experienced it. She is, however, about to realize that she’s in love with him and thus her assertion that she’d rather be naïve than insensible of feeling is just about to be tested.

And the surprising result is … Charlotte fails at her own paradigm. For the rest of the season, she will never be as emotionally open as she is in episode 6.

Charlotte is unable to remain the open book, expansive girl in the face of first supposed unrequited love and then as she experiences loss. She, instead, withdraws inward and begins building up her walls just as Sidney did after Eliza left him.

I think Davies understands Austen’s ultimate message that you fall into the extreme of sense or sensibility at your own peril, which is why he chooses to have his main two characters traverse opposite journeys so they can be brought closer by the end of the story (in season 2 of course).

That’s because at the core of all of the fights and misunderstandings between Charlotte and Sidney sit two problems:

Sidney Parker does not believe in the good intentions of other people. He is operating from a place of hurt and feeling under attack. He is essentially under the impression that the people he comes into contact with have ulterior motives, and none of them are good. And you can’t really blame him for that distorted image of reality when you consider what the two most meaningful relationships in his life have been up until this point.

On the one hand you have Tom who weaponizes even the most benign of compliments:

Tom: At least I have your prowess on the cricket field to be thankful for.

Sidney: Well in truth you have Lord Babington to thank for that. I am here at his behest to give him support in his time of romantic need. God knows he shall need it.

Tom: You’re a good friend, Sidney … I don’t suppose you could try just one last time… [to go ask for money]

On the other hand, you have Eliza Campion who says stuff like this with a straight face:

Sidney: You didn’t have to wait for me, you know.

Eliza: I’ve waited for 10 years. What’s another quarter of an hour?

While researching this meta and also trying to figure out my Christmas fic, I’ve come to realize that both Tom and Eliza are using a victim narrative to get what they want from the people around them. What Sidney has learned from these relationships is that nothing in life comes for free. Any compliment, any sign of affection comes with a price tag or an eventual let down.

For her part, Charlotte Heywood is suspicious of Sidney because he doesn’t make himself easy to understand.

Charlotte thrives on communication and she tends to empathize and like people who share, or overshare, information with her. Her opinion on Tom shifts the moment he starts including her in his Sanditon projects. She is apprehensive of Otis for quite a bit of episode 4 but ends up completely on his side the moment he talks about his past as a slave and making innuendos about Sidney, despite neither one of those things really resolving her initial reasons for being apprehensive.

This behavior is really down to Charlotte’s upbringing in a very large but very happy family. Or as Eleanor Tilney in Northanger Abbey would put it:

Eleanor: I think you have had a quite dangerous upbringing. You’ve been brought up to believe that everyone is as pure in heart as you are.

Incidentally another Andrew Davies adaptation …

In Charlotte’s mind, people who are open emotionally and speak their mind must be good people. After all, she is this way and she certainly always has the best of intentions. When someone doesn’t do that, or worse they evade and try to manipulate, she distances herself from them, as is the case with Edward and Clara.

And since Charlotte views meaningful communication as the ultimate sign of trust, it’s this withholding of information, this emotional barrier she can sense in Sidney, that makes her mistrustful of him. She can’t understand his emotional withdrawal for what it is – a response to trauma - because she’s never experienced it. And as such she will always fundamentally misunderstand him.

We see these two character hang ups rearing their ugly heads again and again in their conflicts:

Episode 1

Sidney: And what have you observed about me upon our small acquaintance?

Charlotte: I think you must be the sensible brother of the three. I may be mistaken but it seems to me that your younger brother, Arthur, is a very … contrary nature. Alternately over lethargic and over energetic. While your elder brother, Tom, could be called over enthusiastic. I’m afraid that despite his good nature, he neglects his own happiness and his family’s in his passionate devotion to Sanditon. Don’t you agree?

Sidney: Upon my word, Miss Heywood, you are very free with your opinions. And upon what experience of the world do you form your judgments? Where have you been? Nowhere. What have you learnt? Nothing it would seem. And yet you take it upon yourself to criticize. Let me put it to you, Miss Heywood: which is the better way to live? To sit in your father’s home, with your piano and your embroidery, waiting for someone to come and take you off your parents’ hands? Or to expend your energy in trying to make a difference? To leave your mark. To leave the world in a better place than you found it. That is what my brother, Tom, is trying to do. At the expense of a great deal of effort and anxiety, in a good cause in which I do my best to help and support him. And you see fit to … to criticize him … to amuse yourself at his expense.

Fortunatelylori: … I have a theory that the reason why Sidney’s been forced into prostitution by the end of season 1 is because he used the argument of the fucking patriarchy to defend Tom The Worst Parker. Gee, Sidney, us women would love to go out there and change the world but your male friends are forcing us to stay home with our pianos and embroideries to make sure they take full advantage of our ovaries. Please take several seats!

Fortunatelylori: Also … fyi … Tom isn’t protecting England from the French or helping Warren de La Rue develop the freaking light bulb. He is trying to run a dime a dozen seaside resort and failing miserably at it so spare us the change the world one naked ass at a time speeches.

Charlotte is baited by Sidney, the emotional recluse, into oversharing which she can’t help herself from doing because even at this early stage she has a crush on him and wants to impress him with her insight. He takes that rather kind take on his brother Tom and spins it into a narrative of inexperienced superficiality and mockery because that’s what he’s conditioned himself to think about people.

Episode 2

Charlotte: Our conversation at the party … I expressed myself badly and I fear you misunderstood me. I didn’t mean to disparage your brother or to offend you. Indeed I have the greatest admiration for what you and he are doing here in Sanditon. You were right to rebuke me and indeed I am sorry. I hope you won’t think too badly of me.

Sidney: Think too badly of you? I don’t think of you at all, Miss Heywood. I have no interest in your approval or disapproval. Quite simply, I don’t care what you think or how you feel. I’m sorry if that disappoints you but there it is. Have I made myself clear?

Fortunatelylori: Badly done, Sidney! Badly done indeed!

Not much to say about Charlotte in this one as this argument is ALL on Sidney and his trust issues. In his world, this kind of earnest apology and brave taking of responsibility is always a precursor to a guilt trip or a victimization episode. So he has become very adept at shooting down any such attempt forcefully.

It’s only in episode 3, when he sees Charlotte helping Mr. Stringer without any expectations of reward and her accepting his apology without any hint of emotional blackmail that Sidney is able to lower his guard and begin to see Charlotte for the honest, kind and generous human being that she is:

Fortunatelylori: Awwww! This is Sidney essentially seeing his unborn children in Charlotte’s eyes. (that is the most romantic lyric in the English language and no one will convince me otherwise)

However, what ends up happening? Sidney lowers his guard just in time for Charlotte to reactivate her suspicions which leads to their most explosive fight to date:

Episode 4

Sidney: Did we not agree that you would look out for Georgiana? Keep her out of trouble? I should have known you weren’t to be trusted.

Charlotte: And I should have known, despite your professed concern, you care nothing for her happiness.

Sidney: I would ask you to refrain from making judgments about a situation you don’t understand.

Charlotte: I understand perfectly well!

Sidney: Of course you do! Even though you’ve known Georgiana but a handful of weeks and him but a matter of hours.

Charlotte: That was time enough to learn that Mr. Molyneux is as respectable a gentleman as I have ever had cause to meet.

Sidney: You seem to find it impossible to distinguish between the truth and your own opinion!

Charlotte: The truth? You wish to speak of the truth, Mr. Parker? The truth is you are so blinded by prejudice that you would judge a man by the color of his skin alone.

Sidney: You speak out of turn.

Charlotte: Why should I expect any better from a man whose fortune is so tainted with the stain of slavery!

Sidney: That is enough! … I do not need to justify myself to you.

They essentially spiral out of control in this scene. Sidney’s trust issues come back and his lack of feed-back to Charlotte’s accusations make her provide increasingly horrible explanations to fill in the blanks.

Because their fights tend to be very intense (they are both people with very strong personalities), it’s easy to think of the two of them as simply not being compatible.

But their issues aren’t a matter of compatibility but rather an inability to find the right channels on which to communicate with each other, despite both wanting to.

Which brings us to episode 5

I love these little acting choices Theo James makes. This sigh is so evocative because it’s pretty clear it’s not frustration or boredom, but rather Sidney still reeling from her accusations in episode 4.

On the other side, Charlotte looks at him and thinks he is distant and non-affected and because, despite being angry, she still wants to connect with him, she tries so hard to use Sidney’s acerbic wit against him and keeps attempting to poke the big grizzly bear:

Charlotte: I assume you are here for the cricket.

Sidney: Never short of assumptions, Miss Heywood.

Unable to find a chink in his cold shoulder, Charlotte tries again at the cricket match:

Charlotte: Good luck to you too, Mr. Parker. Although I imagine you don’t think you’ll need it.

Sidney: Yes more assumptions, Miss Heywood?

Sidney is so pissed at her in this episode, not even her low key flirting with James Stringer galvanizes him.

But then something quite unexpected happens … Without actually realizing it, Charlotte manages to find the right channel to communicate on:

Stringer: You haven’t got another player to replace him. We win.

Charlotte: I’ll play.

With the wide eyed enthusiasm of a true romantic, Charlotte taps into the core of what Sidney desperately needs in his life. She doesn’t just help and support him when he needs her to but crucially she doesn’t put a price tag on it.

Charlotte: Is that a smile I detected?

Sidney: Oh, I doubt it …

Charlotte doesn’t enter the cricket match because she wants to use that gesture to ask Sidney for money for her pyramid scheme or gaslight him into thinking her betrayal was actually her “waiting” for him. Charlotte does it because she wants to see him smile. And just look at him …

Unfortunately that momentary progress is derailed again when Georgiana is kidnapped which will eventually lead to the carriage scene in episode 6 where Charlotte’s need for feed-back clashes with Sidney’s trust issues in their most revealing conversation.

It’s tempting to look at this argument and think Sidney is the only one who is in the wrong and who needs to change. But that would be missing a few important aspects of the story.

Charlotte: Otis never meant to place Georgiana in harm’s way. Any more than I did.

Sidney: And yet you both did.

I think a lot of people, Charlotte included, fall into the trap of believing that if someone didn’t intend to harm someone else that means they haven’t actually done something wrong. Which is why there are still people in the Sanditon tag that are resisting the idea that Tom Parker is a villain. Surely he never meant to hurt his brother and he didn’t force him to propose to Eliza, so why is everyone so hard on him?

But like Charlotte had to learn with Otis, just because Tom didn’t intend to cause Sidney harm doesn’t change the fact that he very much did.

In this case, Charlotte’s major mistake was not that she helped Georgiana stay in touch with Otis. Charlotte’s mistake was in assuming she had the whole 1000 piece puzzle completed when she only had about 200 pieces in place.

Charlotte: All I ever cared about was Georgiana’s happiness.

Sidney: What did you think I cared about?

Charlotte: That is anyone’s guess!

Sidney: I’ve done the best I can by Georgiana.

Charlotte: No! At every turn you have abdicated responsibility. If you truly cared for her welfare, you would have watched over her yourself.

Sidney: It is a role I neither sought or asked for.

Charlotte: Of course not! Because you are determined to remain an outlier. God forbid you give something of yourself!

Sidney: Please do not presume to know my mind, Miss Heywood.

Charlotte: How could anyone know your mind? You take pains to be unknowable. All I know is that you cannot bear the idea of two people being in love.

Despite admitting she doesn’t know his mind, Charlotte can’t help herself from filling in the blanks with what she assumes is a conscious desire to be uncaring. Because she doesn’t have the life experience to come up with another answer.

For his part, Sidney is hurt by her lack of trust in him but unwilling to trust her enough in return to tell her the whole story. Still her words do affect him enough to make him begin to lower his barrier and give Theo James one of his best acting moments:

Sidney: And what do you know of love? Apart from what you’ve read?

Charlotte: I would sooner be naïve than insensible of feeling.

Sidney: Is that really what you think of me? I’m sorry that you think that. How much easier my life would have been if I were …

Fortunatelylori: I just … he’s very good … that is all

It would be very tempting to assume that since Charlotte admits to being naïve once the whole Otis and Georgiana’s situation is revealed:

Charlotte: It’s all so overwhelming! I hardly know what to think anymore. (beat) About anything! I’ve always felt so certain of my judgment. But now I see that I have been blinded by sentiment and naivety. How could I have gotten it all so wrong? No wonder your brother has such a poor opinion of me …

and Sidney begins to show more outward concern for the people around him and validate Charlotte in ever increasingly romantic ways:

Charlotte: I know … I’m too headstrong. I’m too opinionated. I’m too …

Sidney: No. You are not too anything. Don’t doubt yourself. You’re more than equal to any woman here.

That their clashing world views are now aligned. But the truth is, Sidney isn’t the one to explain to Charlotte how it was that he became “insensible of feeling”. It’s Tom that tells her that story (and then promptly bungles whatever help he might have provided his brother). Sidney’s trust issues remain which is evident even as late as episode 8:

Babbington: I believe she’s tamed me.

Sidney: Yes … I just imagine how that might feel.

And

Sidney: I have never wanted to put myself in someone else’s power before.

Don’t get me wrong, I melt every time I hear that second line but it is indicative of the fact that love still feels like an inherently risky and dangerous thing for Sidney where he is obliged to hand over his power to someone else and pray that person doesn’t abuse it the way Eliza did.

For Charlotte’s part, Sidney beginning to reveal more of himself and show her the true man underneath the armor, makes her fall more and more in love with him. And the more she loves him, the more afraid she is of outwardly showing it. His confusion over his feelings for her and Eliza’s reappearance in his life, cause her to attempt to fill in the blanks again in episode 7. First by proxy, while talking to James Stringer:

Charlotte: You are far too sensible to form such a misguided and futile attachment.

Stringer: Why should it be futile, Miss Heywood? For all you know your feelings are repaid 5 times over.

Charlotte: I allowed myself to believe so for the briefest of moments. But I cannot deny the evidence of my own eyes.

And then directly:

Sidney: I hope you weren’t too offended by Mrs. Campion. It was only meant in jest.

Charlotte: Is that all I am to you? A source of amusement?

Sidney: No. Of course not! You’re … Forgive me.

Charlotte: On the contrary, you’ve done me a great service. I am no longer in any doubt as to how you regard me.

So what happens in episode 8? Well, they essentially trade places, going from this:

Charlotte: I hope you won’t think too badly of me.

Sidney: Think too badly of you? I don’t think of you at all, Miss Heywood.

To this:

Sidney: Tell me you don’t think too badly of me.

Charlotte: I don’t think badly of you.

In one of my metas I made the point that Sidney Parker IS Charlotte Heywood’s coming of age story: he is her first love, the first man she is sexually attracted to, her first kiss and well … unfortunately also her first (and hopefully only) heartbreak.

By being forced to deal with her own sense of loss and the pain of being separated from the person she loves, Charlotte will finally be able to understand the true nature of Sidney’s insensitivity of feeling. Instead of causing her suspicion or apprehension, she will be able to connect with it because she’s lived through it herself.

As for Sidney … I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in the end he is forced to do to Charlotte what Eliza did to him all those years ago. He chooses to marry a wealthy woman he does not love and disappoint a poor woman whom he does love.

I think given that his motives are obviously altruistic while Eliza’s were not (both per Tom’s story as well as her general character as revealed in the show so far), the point of the similarity is not to bring him closer to Eliza. Certainly not when he’s looking at Charlotte like this:

Which means that him being forced to contend with what happened 10 years ago by reliving the incident, this time in the role of the aggressor, is there to increase his level of vulnerability and put him in the place of the earnest person trying to reach out for emotional connection and having to fight to pull down the walls he himself helped put up in Charlotte.

You know what they say … If you really want to know someone, walk a mile in their shoes. No one ever said those shoes would be comfortable.

#sanditon #sanditon meta #sidlotte #sidlotte meta #jane austen adaptations #sidney parker #charlotte heywood #sense and sensibility #sanditonmetacollab

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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#8yrsago David Byrne's How Music Works

Former Talking Heads frontman and all-round happy mutant David Byrne has written several good books, but his latest, How Music Works, is unquestionably the best of the very good bunch, possibly the book he was born to write. I could made good case for calling this How Art Works or even How Everything Works.

Though there is plenty of autobiographical material How Music Works that will delight avid fans (like me) -- inside dope on the creative, commercial and personal pressures that led to each of Byrne's projects -- this isn't merely the story of how Byrne made it, or what he does to turn out such great and varied art. Rather, this is an insightful, thorough, and convincing account of the way that creativity, culture, biology and economics interact to prefigure, constrain and uplift art. It's a compelling story about the way that art comes out of technology, and as such, it's widely applicable beyond music.

Byrne lived through an important transition in the music industry: having gotten his start in the analog recording world, he skilfully managed a transition to an artist in the digital era (though not always a digital artist). As such, he has real gut-feel for the things that technology gives to artists and the things that technology takes away. He's like the kids who got their Apple ][+s in 1979, and keenly remember the time before computers were available to kids at all, the time when they were the exclusive domain of obsessive geeks, and the point at which they became widely exciting, and finally, ubiquitous -- a breadth of experience that offers visceral perspective.

There were so many times in this book when I felt like Byrne's observations extended beyond music and dance and into other forms of digital creativity. For example, when Byrne recounted his first experiments with cellular automata exercise for dance choreography, from his collaboration with Noemie Lafrance:

1. Improvise moving to the music and come up with an eight-count phrase (in dance, a phrase is a short series of moves that can be repeated).

2. When you find a phrase you like, loop (repeat) it.

3. When you see someone else with a stronger phrase, copy it.

4. When everyone is doing the same phrase, the exercise is over.

It was like watching evolution on fast-forward, or an emergent lifeform coming into being. At first the room was chaos, writhing bodies everywhere. At first the room was chaos, writhing bodies everywhere. Then one could see that folks had chosen their phrases, and almost immediately one could see a pocket of dancers who had all adopted the same phrase. The copying had already begun, albeit in just one area. This pocket of copying began to expand, to go viral, while yet another one now emerged on the other side of the room. One clump grew faster than the other, and within four minutes the whole room was filled with dancers moving in perfect unison. Unbelievable! It only took four minutes for this evolutionary process to kick in, and for the "strongest" (unfortunate word, maybe) to dominate.

I remembered the first time I programmed an evolutionary algorithm and watched its complexity emerging from simple rules, and the catch in my throat as I realized that I was watching something like life being built up from simple, inert rules.

The book is shot through with historical examples and arguments about the nature of music, from Plato up to contemporary neuroscience, and here, too, many of the discussions are microcosms for contemporary technical/philosophical debates. There's a passage about how music is felt and experienced that contains the phrase, "music isn't merely absorbed above the neck," which is spookily similar to the debates about replicating human consciousness in computers, and the idea that our identity doesn't reside exclusively above the brainstem.

The same is true of Byrne's account of how music has not "progressed" from a "primitive" state -- rather, it adapted itself to different technological realities. Big cathedrals demand music that accommodates a lot of reverb; village campfire music has completely different needs. Reading this, I was excited by the parallels to discussions of whether we live in an era of technological "progress" or merely technological "change" -- is there a pinnacle we're climbing, or simply a bunch of stuff followed by a bunch of other stuff? Our overwhelming narrative of progress feels like hubris to me, at least a lot of the time. Some things are "better" (more energy efficient, more space-efficient, faster, more effective), but there are plenty of things that are held up as "better" that, to me, are simply different. Often very good, but in no way a higher rung on some notional ladder toward perfection.

When Byrne's history comes to the rise of popular recorded music, he describes a familiar dilemma: recording artists were asked to produce music that could work when performed live and when listened to in the listener's private playback environment -- not so different from the problems faced by games developers today who struggle to make games that will work on a wide variety of screens. In a later section, he describes the solution that was arrived at in the 1970s, a solution that reminds me a lot of the current world of content management systems like WordPress and Blogger, which attempt to separate "meaning" from "form" for text, storing them separately and combining them with little code-libraries called "decorators":

[Deconstruct and isolate] sums up the philosophy of a lot of music recording back in the late seventies. The goal was to get as pristine a sound as possible... Studios were often padded with sound-absorbent materials so that there was almost no reverberation. The sonic character of the space was sucked out, because it wasn't considered to be part of the music. Without this ambiance, it was explained, the sound would be more malleable after the recording had been made. Dead, characterless sound was held up as the ideal, and often still is. In this philosophy, the naturally occurring echo and reverb that normally added a little warmth to performances would be removed and then added back in when the recording was being mixed...

Recording a performance with a band and singer all playing together at the same time in the same room was by this time becoming a rarity. An incredible array of options opened up as a result, but some organic interplay between the musicians disappeared, and the sound of music changed. Some musicians who played well in live situations couldn't adapt to the fashion for each player to be isolated. They couldn't hear their bandmates and, as a result, often didn't play very well.

Changing the technology used in art changes the art, for good and ill. Blog-writing has a lot going for it -- spontaneity, velocity, vernacular informality, but often lacks the reflective distance that longer-form works bring. Byrne has similar observations about music and software:

What you hear [in contemporary music] is the shift in music structure that computer-aided composition has encouraged. Though software is promoted as being an unbiased toold that helps us do anything we want, all software has inherent biases that make working one way easier than another. With the Microsoft presentation software PowerPoint, for example, you have to simplify your presentations so much that the subtle nuances in the subject being discussed often get edited out. These nuances are not forbidden, they're not blocked, but including them tends to make for a less successful presentation. Likewise, that which is easy to bullet-point and simply visualize works better. That doesn't mean it actually is better; it means working is certain ways is simply easier than working in others...

An obvious example is quantizing. Since the mid-nineties, most popular music recorded on computers has had tempos and rhythms that have been quantized. That means that the tempo never varies, not even a little bit, the the rhythmic parts tend toward metronomic perfection. In the past, the tempo of recordings would always vary slightly, imperceptibly speeding up or maybe slowing down a little, or a drum fill might hesitate in order to signal the beginning of a new section. You'd feel a slight push and pull, a tug and then a release, as ensembles of whatever type responded to one another and lurched, ever so slightly, ahead of and behind an imaginary metronomic beat. No more. Now almost all pop recordings are played to a strict tempo, which makes these compositions fit more easily into the confines of editing and recording software. An eight-bar section recorded on a "grid" of this type is exactly twice as long as a four-bar section, and every eight-bar section is always exactly the same length. This makes for a nice visual array on the computer screen, and facilitates easy editing, arranging, and repairing as well. Music has come to accommodate software, and I have to admit a lot has been gained as a result.

Byrne is well aware of the parallels between music technology and other kinds of technology. No history of the recording business would be complete without a note about the format wars fought between Edison and his competitors like RCA, who made incompatible, anti-competitive playback formats. Byrne explicitly links this to modern format-wars, citing MS Office, Kindles, iPads and Pro Tools. (His final word on the format wars rings true for other media as well: "Throughout the history of recorded music, we have tended to value convenience over quality every time. Edison cylinders didn't really sound as good as live performers, but you could carry them around and play them whenever you wanted.")

Likewise, debates over technological change (pooh-poohing the "triviality" of social media or the ephemeral character of blogs) are played out in Byrne's history of music panics, which start in ancient Greece, and play out in situations like the disco wars, which prefigured the modern fight over sampling:

The most threatening thing to rockers in the era of disco was that the music was gay, black and "manufactured" on machines, made out of bits of other peoples' recordings.

Like mixtapes. I'd argue that other than race and sex, [the fact that disco was "manufactured" on machines, made out of bits of other peoples' recordings] was the most threatening aspect. To rock purists, this new music messed with the idea of authorship. If music was now accepted as a kind of property, then this hodgepodge version that disregarded ownership and seemed to belong to and originate with so many people (and machines) called into question a whole social and economic framework.

But as Byrne reminds us, new technology can liberate new art forms. Digital formats and distribution have given us music that is only a few bars long, and compositions that are intended to play for 1,000 years. The MP3 shows us that 3.5 minutes isn't an "ideal" length for a song (merely the ideal length for a song that's meant to be sold on a 45RPM single), just as YouTube showed us that there are plenty of video stories that want to be two minutes long, rather than shoehorned into 22 minute sitcoms, 48 minute dramas, or 90 minute feature films.

And Byrne's own journey has led him to be skeptical of the all-rights-reserved model, from rules over photography and video in his shows:

The thing we were supposed to be fighting against was actually something we should be encouraging. They were getting the word out, and it wasn't costing me anything. I began to announce at the beginning of the shows that photography was welcome, but I suggested to please only post shots and videos where we look good.

To a very good account of the power relationships reflected in ascribing authorship (and ownership, and copyright) to melody, but not to rhythms and grooves and textures, though these are just as important to the music's aesthetic effect.

Byrne doesn't focus exclusively on recording, distribution and playback technology. He is also a keen theorist of the musical implications of architecture, and presents a case-study of the legendary CBGB's and its layout, showing how these led to its center in the 1970s New York music scene that gave us the Ramones, Talking Heads, Television, and many other varied acts. Here, Byrne channels Jane Jacobs in a section that is nothing short of brilliant in its analysis of how small changes (sometimes on the scale of inches) make all the difference to the kind of art that takes place in a building.

There's a long section on the mechanics of the recording business as it stands today, with some speculation about where its headed, and included in this is a fabulous and weird section on some of Byrne's own creative process. Here he describes how he collaborated with Brian Eno on Everything That Happens Will Happen Today:

The unwritten rule in remote collaborations is, for me, "Leave the other person's stuff alone as much as you possibly can." You work with what you're given, and don't try to imagine it as something other than what it is. Accepting that half the creative decision-making has already been done has the effect of bypassing a lot of endless branching -- not to mention waffling and worrying.

And here's a mind-bending look into his lyrics-writing method:

...I begin by improvising a melody over the music. I do this by singing nonsense syllables, but with weirdly inappropriate passion, given that I'm not saying anything. Once I have a wordless melody and a vocal arrangement my my collaborators (if there are any) and I like, I'll begin to transcribe that gibberish as if it were real words.

I'll listen carefully to the meaningless vowels and consonants on the recording, and I'll try to understand what that guy (me), emoting so forcefully by inscrutably, is actually saying. It's like a forensic exercise. I'll follow the sound of the nonsense syllables as closely as possible. If a melodic phrase of gibberish ends on a high ooh sound, then I'll transcribe that, and in selecting the actual words, I'll try to try to choose one that ends in that syllable, or as close to it as I can get. So the transcription process often ends up with a page of real words, still fairly random, that sounds just like the gibberish.

I do that because the difference between an ooh and an aah, and a "b" and a "th" sound is, I assume, integral to the emotion that the story wants to express. I want to stay true to that unconscious, inarticulate intention. Admittedly, that content has no narrative, or might make no literal sense yet, but it's in there -- I can hear it. I can feel it. My job at this stage is to find words that acknowledge and adhere to the sonic and emotional qualities rather than to ignore and possibly destroy them.

Part of what makes words work in a song is how they sound to the ear and feel on the tongue. If they feel right physiologically, if the tongue of the singer and the mirror neurons of the listener resonate with the delicious appropriateness of the words coming out, then that will inevitably trump literal sense, although literal sense doesn't hurt.

Naturally, this leads into a great discussion of the neuroscience of music itself -- why our brains like certain sounds and rhythms.

How Music Works gave me insight into parts of my life as diverse as my email style to how I write fiction to how I parent my daughter (it was a relief to read Byrne's discussion of how parenting changed him as an artist). I've been a David Byrne fan since I was 13 and I got a copy of Stop Making Sense. He's never disappointed me, but with How Music Works, Byrne has blown through my expectations, producing a book that I'll be thinking of and referring to for years to come.

Byrne's touring the book now, and as his tour intersects with my own book tours, I'll be interviewing him live on stage in Toronto on September 19th, at the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors.

How Music Works

https://boingboing.net/2012/09/12/david-byrnes-how-music-w.html

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taysi-kuu · 5 years

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Samhain

Here is a small "guide" to help you celebrate samhain i have included some in depth spells as well as well as super simple things you can do if youre busy or just dont have the mental energy to celebrate. there is no "wrong way" to celebrate any of the sabbats, just because one person did a huge ritual doesn't mean doing something smaller and simple is any less meaningful. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Times to celebrate: In the northern hemisphere, many Pagans celebrate Samhain from sundown on October 31 through November 1. Others hold Samhain celebrations on the nearest weekend or on the Full or New Moon closest to this time. Some Pagans observe Samhain a bit later, or near November 6, to coincide more closely with the astronomical midpoint between Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice. Most Pagans in the southern hemisphere time their Samhain observances to coincide with the middle of their Autumn in late April and early May, rather than at the traditional European time of the holiday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is Samhain: The third and final harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year is Samhain, observed on October 31. This Sabbat marks the end of the growing season and the beginning of Winter, which must be prepared for now in earnest. Herbs are dried for winter storage, fruits and vegetables are canned and preserved, and root vegetables are dug up and stored so they may nourish us through the cold months. The word “Samhain” comes from the old Irish and is thought by many to translate as “Summer’s end.” While the cycles of life and death are implicitly recognized at every Sabbat, Samhain is when the necessary role of death is formally honored. The nights grow noticeably longer with each day. The God retreats now into the shadows of the dark season, symbolically dying back to the Earth before being reborn again at Yule. Many Wiccans and other Pagans consider this to be the most important day on the Wheel, a time when the veil between the spirit world and the mundane world is at its thinnest. Our ancestors and loved ones on the Other Side are said to be more easily able to visit with us and make their presence known at this time. Samhain is arguably the most visible Sabbat in the mainstream world, thanks to the parallel holiday of Halloween. Many of the Halloween traditions celebrated in contemporary cultures today have grown out of customs dating back to pagan times. As far back as ancient Greece, people were leaving offerings of food to their ancestors, which is echoed in the modern tradition of trick-or-treating. The practice of leaving root vegetables, hollowed out with lighted candles inside, to guide spirits visiting on Earth ultimately led to today’s jack-o-lanterns. Witches, of course, have always been part of mainstream Halloween lore. And although they have almost always been presented as “evil” caricatures with no resemblance to the real thing, there’s still a lingering association between the spirit of Halloween and the real power of a Witch .--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Correspondences: SYMBOL: Black cat, jack o 'lantern, bat, ghost, scarecrow, waning moon.

GODDESSES: Crone, all crone goddesses, Cerridwen, Hecate, Hel, Oya, the Morrigan, Lilith, Kali, Ishtar, Arianrhod, Rhiannon, Tlazoteotl, Nephthys, Persephone, Beansidhe (Banshee), Inanna, Baba Yaga, Isis, Pomona and Cailleach Beara (Brigid's crone aspect), who is reborn this night.

GODS: Osiris, the Horned God, Herne the Hunter, Cernunnos, Anubis, Odin, Bran, death gods, dying and rising gods. INCENSE: Copal, sandalwood, mastic resin, benzoin, sweetgrass, wormwood: to get the sight, to see the spirits of the returning dead. CANDLES: New candles for the new year: black, orange, autumn colors, or black candles for the Lord and the old year, white candles for the Lady and the new year. TOOLS: Besom, to sweep out the old year and any negativity it had. Cauldron, for transformation. Divination tools: Tarot cards, scrying bowl, rune stones, pendulum, mirror, etc. PLANT: Pumpkin, apple, grain, pomegranate, mugwort, wormwood, Dittany of Crete, acorn, oak leaf, gourds, root vegetables, rosemary (for remembrance). STONE: Obsidian, carnelian, onyx, smoky quartz, jet, bloodstone. ANIMAL: Bat, black cat, owl. ALTAR DECORATIONS: Autumn leaves, fall flowers, pomegranates, apples, pumpkins, ears of corn, sprays of grain, corn dollies, gourds, nuts, seeds, acorns, chestnuts and images of ancestors are all appropriate. Use whatever is in season where you live, whatever feels right and looks good to you. FOOD: Gingerbread, freshly roasted nuts, nut breads, anything made with apples or pumpkin, meat (especially bacon), doughnuts, popcorn, cakes with lucky tokens in them, and red foods because the ancients held them sacred to the dead. DRINK: Mead, apple cider, mulled cider, mulled wine, fruit juices, pomegranate juice/tea .-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magical Workings: Samhain is one of the most potent nights of the year for magic. As a cross-quarter day it is a supernatural time, a time outside of time, the night that is not a night, a powerful time of flux and change. This is a good night for: candle magic - astral projection - past life work - dark moon mysteries - mirror spells (reflection) - casting protection - inner work - propitiation - clearing obstacles - uncrossing - inspiration - workings of transition or culmination - manifesting transformation - creative visualization. Divination: Samhain is a power night for divination: read the tarot cards; use the Wheel of the Year spread to forecast the year ahead - cast runes or the I Ching - scry in crystal balls, dark mirrors, bowls of black ink or pools of water - swing a pendulum, asking yes or no questions - eat an apple in front of a mirror at midnight, by candlelight, to scry your future mate. Meditation: This is a good night for deep reflection and inner work. Meditation themes include: changes, transition, endings and beginnings, passage, return, mortality and reincarnation, chaos leading to reorder. Spirit work: (by invitation, not summons) This is the night when the veil is thinnest, the gates between the worlds are open. Souls of the dead are said to visit their homes at midnight. Possible workings include: a dumb supper for the beloved dead - ouija - séances - trance possession - automatic writing - bury apples as food for hungry spirits - leave spirit plates of food outside your home - set a place for a missed love one at the banquet or dinner table. New Year workings: Release the old: bad habits and toxic relationships, illness, failure and poverty; everything you do not want to carry into the new year - sweep negativity and out of your home - end quarrels - settle debts, make amends or restitution if needed - spells for prosperity and security for your family. Faery Magick: This is a great night for visiting the faery realm but you must return by dawn or remain forever enchanted, unable to return. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- simple no bake apple oatmeal cookies https://onceamonthmeals.com/recipes/no-bake-apple-oatmeal-cookies/ not so simple soul cake recipes https://www.learnreligions.com/make-a-soul-cake-for-samhain-2562655Once ------------------------------------------------------------ Candle Ceremony for The Ancestors This is a wonderfully simple ritual which can be shared with both friends and family, or worked alone. You can include children in it - it begins in darkness and ends full of light. It's a great balance to trick or treating! You will need a supply of small candles, either black or white, or a supply of night lights. You need a heat proof container or tray of sand or earth to put them in. Place one in the centre of the container from which all the others will be lit. Switch off all the lights and sit gently in the darkness. Allow the darkness to enfold you. Ask for the presence of your ancestors to come to you. When you are ready, light the central candle saying "We welcome our departed loved ones into this home and honour your presence amongst us". Allow each person in the circle to spontaneously remember someone who has passed to the Summerlands and remember something about them and light a candle for each person from the central candle: 'I remember Great Aunt Sheila and her generosity of heart....'. Allow this to continue for as long as it takes to complete the re-membering. You will end with a tray full of radiant candles. When all is complete, give thanks, and allow the candles to burn to completion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Guide the Spirits (quick and easy spellwork to honor the dead) Place a white candle in the window to guide the dead to the Spirit World. Light the candle and speak these words, “O little flame that burns so bright, be a beacon on this night. Light the path for all the dead, that they may see now what’s ahead. And lead them to the Summerland and shine until Pan takes their hands. And with Your light, please bring them peace, that they may rest and sleep with ease . ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- as Samhain marks the witches new year you can write down a bad habit or something you dont wish to carry with you onto the new year onto a piece of paper and in a fire proof bowl or somewhere safe place a lit candle inside (or even use a fire pit/bonfire/fireplace) and drop the paper in the flame and watch it burn away. if there are any ashes of it left over wait for them to cool and bury them outside ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If anyone plans on taking a walk late at night or a cemetery walk at night please be careful! if you can bring someone with you or bring some form of protection pepper spray, pocket knife, even your keys. be respectful to the spirits, be safe with what spirits you try and contact. if you aren’t sure if a passed family member would want to be involved if your spells/rituals you can always ask them/ send them an invitation so that way the choice is at least open to them. i hope you all have a wonderful and safe samhain/halloween <3

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bro-stoevsky · 5 years

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Are you ready to hear me lose my absolute mind over my favorite scene as a part of the deeply enabling @the-terror-appreciation-week

it’s Franklin’s funeral from The Ladder! Which means I’m going to talk for 100 years about the lead-up to this and the scene itself. Didn’t you do this yesterday? You may wonder. Not these scenes I didn’t. Yesterday I talked for 100 years about different scenes, which makes this OK, and normal. Even fun and lighthearted.

There are a lot of great scenes in this show obviously but this one will always be my favorite, it’s so laden with meaning and warring perspectives. That it’s Crozier reading a service Franklin wrote in much different circumstances than he imagined is especially significant!!! Delicious, delicious significance.

Franklin probably intended it to be comforting, full of reminders that God is close by and always watching them, as well as inspiring -- Jacob’s Ladder is, after all, a story about God keeping his promise to Jacob’s ancestors. It’s easy to see Franklin intending that to prick everyone’s spirits with the crazy understanding that the Northwest Passage is somehow their right to discover; something owed to them that will soon be delivered. Remember in David Young’s funeral he did the same thing where it was like “sad about him but one step CLOSER TO THE PASSAGE”

But in the context of its delivery -- a Franklinless world where, after the funeral, no further attempt or mention is made of finding the Northwest Passage -- it does an incredible job of amping up the dread. The parallels between Bethel and their unplotted location (as Franklin puts it, “no house, no hearth”) are exaggerated, as is the symbolic nature of the ladder. This is, after all, a story from Genesis, when God had approximately zero problems chatting with people any old time, one on one, physically present, while they were awake. But the ladder, the thing that leads away from the “terrible place” Jacob is stuck, is only a dream. And that’s the part that becomes most significant in the context of this scene which I want to print on a silk rug and roll around on like Becky Sharp in that scene in the Reese Witherspoon Vanity Fair movie where her rug unrolls on the street and she just rolls around on it. Just. Like. That.

This scene, as well as the preceding episode, does a great job of making it clear that Franklin’s viewpoint of destiny and metaphor and Biblical parallel is direly unsuited to the situation. The listeners feel that they are actually in a terrible place, geographically and in terms of the options remaining to them. And they need an actual way out. Not a dream, not the unseen but immediate presence of the invisible world. The disparate dawning of this understanding is apparent on some of the guys faces.

Let’s take a look at what everybody’s doing:

Crozier is sad but also he’s focused on reading. Fitzjames is sad but he keeps looking at Crozier like u better fuckin read it good

Collins losing hope, Le Vesconte regular sad, Stanley inscrutable:

Blanky stoic, Jopson mentally cheering on Crozier who is doing a great job reading that Victorian handwriting:

Fitzjames overcome by the beauty of Franklin’s description of the known world: “with its rocks and moon.” Poetry, he thinks. The world does have rocks and a moon. Chi renda a me quell'uom?

Crozier’s voice cracking thinking about “all the people we know, have ever known, and ever will know:”

Hickey getting ready to shit in Gibson’s bed and presumably wipe his ass with Gibson’s glove:

Do I wish this scene was not cut through with Hickey shitting in Gibson’s bed? I do. Do I know what it means? Not really? Some kind of contrast between the baseness of Hickey’s actions and the high-mindedness of a funeral, showing the ends of the spectrum of humanity? Too visually boring to just show the funeral? Shocking us with how much Hickey really does not give a single fuck about society’s rules and virtues? Foreshadowing the inevitability of Gibson’s similarity with the rats he described as “swimming in our filth....devouring each other”? What are birds?

We Just Don’t Know.

Now because this is TV and the episode is called The Ladder, let’s take a look at all the ladders in the episode:

(1)

Concluding the plot of Silna’s father from the previous episode, we see the ghastly sight of the fire hole where Franklin has instructed his crew to take the man, in a horrifying contrast to the “mercy” he showed in a previous burial ashore. All the other dead after they left open water have been stored on the ship. Into this fire hole a piece of ship’s rigging extends, presumably (?) in case anyone fell in during its maintenance:

Either way it’s clearly a ladder, and it is clear where it leads:

Franklin takes this ladder down with him, as well as the bucket of coals they used to keep the hole open:

(2)

I’m pretty sure this is just an innocent ladder, but nevertheless, it does scoot by behind Irving and Hickey having their watercolors conversation:

(3)

Listen I have no idea what in absolute Fuck Hickey is saying at the best of times, but his little “you don’t know what you’re missing” speech to Gibson in their breakup talk is interesting:

I can’t think how this is contributing substantively to the motif. It’s more likely that he’s taken Irving’s suggestion of “climbing exercises” to heart and his actual plan to relieve the boredom of being stuck in the ice while simultaneously being E.C. Hickey is to.......somehow worm his way to the top? of the expedition? but it is interesting.

(4)

Listen I know this isn’t a LADDER (what if I didn’t and you were like........do we tell her.......) but it is the closest we come to acknowledging what is ACTUALLY needed -- a physical way out. Whether you call that a ladder, a staircase, or a road, Crozier Gets It:

This post has been sponsored by theladders.com: Exclusive Job Matches in HR, Sales, Finance, Tech & Marketing. Approved Recruiters. Not really!

ANYWAY this is my favorite scene. I love it. I love it to SMITHEREENS.

Addendum:

Here is the full text of the service, proving once and for all why I’ve never been good at transcribing (I can’t punctuate), but here for your reading pleasure:

“In his flight, Jacob lighted upon a certain place and tarried there because the sun was set. He thought it a terrible place. No house, no hearth. But that night he dreamed: a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reaching to the heavens. Behold, the Lord stood above it, and He said: 'I am with thee and will keep thee in all places wherever thou goest, for I will not leave thee.’ And in Jacob’s dream he saw the invisible world, companion to the known one we perceive, with its rocks and moon, its ice fields and brute animals, and all the people we know, have ever known, and will ever know. So complete it would seem to leave no room for its invisible brother world which is yet more immense than the one we see. For in this world dwell the angels who keep us, the Lord who will not leave us, and the departed, who though cleaved from the frame that carried them, yet live. The newest to their ranks our bright captain, Sir John. Who in the virtue and strength of his every gesture showed himself the elect of the Lord, destined to reign with Christ forever. The invisible world of spirits, though unseen, was present for Jacob -- not future, not distant, but present. And it is now, and it is here, among us if we open our eyes and see His truth amongst us.”

And HERE is the paper Crozier was reading from -- notably it is missing “the Lord who will not leave us” and the stuff about Franklin being the “elect of the Lord” etc etc -- though the latter stuff is probably something Franklin wrote anyway, just on a new page.

#theterrorappreciationweek #wheeze #long post #is this #meta?#my favorite scene is franklin's funeral that's all u need 2 know

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kyojuuros · 6 years

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Levi’s role in Eren’s development and why “Eren vs. Levi” won’t happen

I mentioned recently my opposition to the idea that Eren would hurt or even kill Levi in order to further pursue his goal - whatever exactly it may be. Furthermore, I am not personally foreseeing an “Eren vs. Levi” showdown approaching. I feel like I should elaborate on that.

Eren and Levi have always had a compelling relationship, in my opinion. Where other people have either feared or blindly adored Eren, Levi has always seen him for what he is and accepted him. Likewise, Eren has almost always looked to Levi for guidance and inspiration, but was quick to understand Levi is as fallible and human as anyone else. I'm gong to cover some points as I try to explain myself here.

Isayama has stated before that Eren may have to march in Levi's shadow in order for the story to progress in a certain way.

I think that we are clearly seeing the result of that now. Where Eren used to convulse and shake when he was angry (and in general, very expressive and impulsive), something Isayama stated Levi once did too, we have now come to see an Eren who pushes what he's feeling down in order to focus on his goal. This is very similar to Levi's demeanor and something we only see from them as they are now when they've become deeply emotionally compromised.

It's not that Eren has become cold, detached and unfeeling toward his peers. Rather, he's come to learn that he cannot let his emotions and feelings about them dictate his behavior if he is going to save them. He must control himself if he is to get anything done. Since Levi goes about things in a similar manner, he's in one of the best positions to understand Eren as he is now. Thus, I believe that he is one of the more likely people to get through to Eren at this time.

Additionally, it’s good to remember that Levi told his squad plain as day that he was willing to "become a mass murderer” if it meant humanity at large would have a chance at surviving. Eren is doing the same for his friends and the island now. He has picked up on the things Levi has said and done and has started to absorb it into his own actions. Again, if anyone will understand this point of view, it will be Levi.

I think that, if we are to take this sort of parallel between them and assume that Eren has adopted more of Levi’s approach toward achieving his goals, at the very worst Eren would do something minor to get Levi out of the way (as Levi tried to do to him during the serumbowl) - but nothing that would put permanently harm him.

Levi's views on Eren per their Visual Novel

In Eren and Levi’s shared visual novel, Burning Bright in the Forests of the Night, it's stated very clear that Levi understands well the essence of Eren's character.

Humanity’s Strongest understands Eren Jaeger very well. Eren Jaeger is indeed feared as a monster. Eren Jaeger is undoubtedly a monster. But all these people have gotten it wrong from the start. Eren Jaeger is not a monster because he has the power to shift into a titan.

When Levi states that Eren is a monster in the Forest of Giant trees, he’s implying that it’s Eren’s nature that is to be feared, not his shifter ability. This is something that Levi has seen since their very first formal encounter. Eren as he is in the current timeline is showing this nature for all the world to see now. But Levi was the one who saw it first, completely unadulterated nor filtered through personal affection.

Nothing can be done to control this monster. Not violence, power, words. Nor danger, fear, peace. And, most likely – not even love.

And again, this is something that we are seeing now. Eren’s will keeps pushing him forward, no matter what. When he’s determined and has his mind set on something, nothing can stop him from trying to pursue it. Eren has expressed the love he holds for the 104th (and hopefully by extension, Levi and Hange, who have also been through a great deal with him). However, no matter how much he cares about them, he’s come to be a person who keeps moving forward with or without them - possibly to the point where he may even be willing to push them away. Levi gets it.

Eren Jaeger’s essence can never be changed.

As early as the Female Titan arc, Levi understood that Eren was someone who can’t be tamed or caged. And no matter how many times the story has tried to beat him down, he keeps moving forward. He keeps fighting.

The novel ends with an excerpt from the poem “The Tyger,” although that requires a long winded essay I don’t want to clog up this post with. But in essence, it’s about a man looking onto the beast in awe of it’s beauty, but understanding its raw, primal power. The inclusion of this poem tells the reader that Levi is looking at Eren in this way. Regardless, Levi has been using his position and his role in Eren’s life to try and guide him down the best possible path, even if he’s not sure he always does a good job of it. But it’s enough to show that he cares about what Eren does with his power.

Levi's role as a mentor/”big brother” to Eren

Levi was recently described as a character who is like a big brother to the 104th. And as we have seen throughout the story, he has guided and mentored them. Most notably we have seen this through his interactions with EMA. In the case of Eren, we have seen Levi repeatedly offer him advice, understanding and concern:

Chapters 25 & 26 - When Eren accidentally transformed and his squad turned their blades on him, Levi was quick to step in between them, stating that his intuition is guiding him to believe Eren is not a threat. This is the first show of understanding we see from Levi when it comes to Eren’s intentions and what he wants to do. Eren isn’t a traitor. He wants to help the Survey Corps and Levi sees and understands that. This was very profound at the time, given no one was willing to trust in Eren other than his friends since childhood. It was especially jarring, given that Levi had vowed to take Eren down if he did anything wrong.

When everything is sad and done, Levi checks in on Eren to see how he’s feeling.

Chapter 26 - After Eren’s accidental transformation, Levi offers Eren words of advice, explains why his squad turned their blades to him, and also is sure to make Eren understand that they did not enjoy doing it. That they want to have faith in Eren. He’s been real and honest with Eren since the very beginning, but he’s always managed to do so in a way that helps Eren to understand and is never overly harsh toward him.

Chapter 25 - Levi’s iconic “no regrets” speech. When Eren is discouraged from acting on his own accord in favor of trusting in his comrades, Levi gives Eren words of advice on the spot. He encourages Eren to make his own decision - to trust his intuition, and make the choice he will regret the least. Eren even believed in retrospect that if he had transformed, Levi may have fought alongside him. This scene is always a good one to come back to when looking at their overall relationship and Eren’s development as an individual.

When Eren chose to put himself in the hands of others, they ended up dead. But later, when Eren is faced with other tough decisions, believing in himself is what saved them. When it comes to the current events of the manga, I think that this mentality is holding up strongly with Eren. He must believe in himself and his own strength if he is to accomplish anything. Levi, having given him this advice, is in a position to understand his line of thinking.

Chapter 32 - After Squad Levi is killed by the Female Titan, Eren blames himself for it completely. He believes that putting his faith in them is the wrong choice and what led to their deaths. Levi watches Eren as he laments his decision, he really soaks in the fact that Eren is carrying that burden, and chooses to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault. He had no way to know that things would turn out that way, and he shouldn’t put the burden on himself over it. Levi is extending to him kind understanding in the wake of loss and trying to alleviate the burden.

Chapter 53 - Eren and Levi are motivated by similar goals. Eren seeks freedom and Levi validates this by stating that he wants the same thing. The walls stink, they are suffocating. They live in a cage like livestock. Similar ideologies. Levi fights for his people and it’s something Eren wants to do as well. This is a way in which they can relate to each other. Even in the current timeline of the manga, they both want what’s best for their people.

Chapter 66 - Eren is under pressure, and Levi knows he’s about to add onto it. He apologizes for it. It’s a scene that shows Levi doesn’t want to keep putting the burden of pressure on Eren. That he verbally expressed as much is, in my view, a big deal for both the readers, and Eren.

Chapter 70 - When Eren is overexerting himself, Levi is the first one to notice and offer him a hand. As Levi is helping Eren out and showing him compassion, he also notes his concern about the toll it’s taking on his body and advising Hange to take it easy. Despite this, Eren insists that they keep making weapons with his power so they can get to Shiganshina. Here I’m sure Levi can also see that Eren is willing to push himself past his limits. It’s another reason for him to try and look out for Eren.

Chapter 89 - After the events of the serumbowl, Levi isn’t seen holding anything above Eren’s head. In fact, when he can see Eren is visibly distressed, he tells Hange to lay off of him and let it rest. Something Eren really needed at the time.

Unrelated to the pane above, he heard Eren out during the serumbowl, and he also reminded him not to regret his choices. He isn’t seen holding Eren’s choices against him, once again showing us that he has an understanding that Eren is only doing what he thinks are the best decisions he can make.

Overall, with the exception of the altercation during the serumbowl, Levi has always been on Eren’s side. I doubt that Eren has let this all go completely unnoticed. I think it would be foolish to assume Eren would be willing to toss aside someone who has been so supportive and patient with him in a world that's primarily viewed him as a tool, a symbol, or a monster. Whatever Zeke has offered him, he doesn't have the history with Eren that Levi has, nor do they have years of trust building between them.

Which brings me to the reason I pointed out the term “big brother.” Levi and Zeke have already been compared via their roles as leaders of their respective groups. They are a contrast to each other:

Levi is a survivalist who looks out for the well being of his peers and subordinates first. He is generally a defensive fighter, only attacking when provoked or threatened. Zeke, from what we have seen so far, is an offensive fighter. He is the one who picks fights, schemes and launches the attacks.

Similarly, their differences can apply to their relationships with Eren and how they each approach him individually as well. We can say with certainty, based on everything above, that Levi cares about Eren as a person, but can we say the same for Zeke? The only hint we have on how he feels about Eren is the time he said that Eren was brainwashed and that he would save him.

We still have yet to learn about the Yeager brothers' relationship as it is now. Are they in it together? Do they care about one another? Are they using each other? Deceiving each other? It's a big question mark but I believe the real answer to it will decide the way that Eren and Levi both ultimately sway in the end.

Levi has been “like a big brother” to Eren, whereas there is a chance his real big brother may only be treating him as a tool.

Of course, we also must call to question Levi's faith in Eren and whether he still trusts him or not. It's clear he doesn't trust Zeke, but is he willing to reluctantly move forward with a plan if Eren truly believes it to be the best one? Levi has expressed an open mind when it comes to the secret plan. Is this because he still has faith in Eren going with the best plan possible to try and save everyone? I think he’s erring on the side of caution for now. Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Still, I can’t imagine he would take action against Eren unless provoked. Eren would have to be the aggressor here.

They need to talk about things. And Levi is always ready to talk to Eren when something is up and he has questions. For example, when Eren revealed the truth about Historia and how he didn’t want to say anything in order to protect her. Levi wanted to hear him out but left it for a later time.

One thing we haven’t gotten over the time skip is Levi’s perspective. While Eren continues to talk about fighting the enemy, rejecting the sacrifice of Historia and refusing to rely on the rumbling, Armin and Hange have talked about reaching out, diplomacy, paving a pathway of peace. Levi has expressed neither agreement nor disdain for any of these things. Rather, he has remained as a quieter, almost background character in recent chapters. I’ve talked before about how I think it’s possible he is privy to what the Yeager brothers have up their sleeves. If Zeke’s goals are truly good, then he has no reason to oppose Eren. If Zeke’s intentions are bad and Eren is falling for it, again, I see Levi as one of the few people who would be able to reach out and get through to him due to their similar mindsets and shared history.

Only if Eren and Zeke both have bad intentions do I think Levi would step up and oppose Eren. And although this is just my personal view, I still have faith that Eren is doing what he believes to be the best choice to save the people he cares about. But we still have yet to see if he’s started to walk a much darker path than we’ve been presented thus far.

Levi's reaction to Eren in Liberio

The kick was harsh, yes, but it is the exchange that they shared that is so very telling:

Levi is genuinely hurt. He doesn't like seeing Eren this way. He compares him to the pitiful people in the underground and laments, “You, too.” It’s another person that Levi has grown to care about who is simply “becoming a slave to something” and discarding parts of himself in order to accomplish his goal. Eren used to have so much fire and passion in his eyes and the blaze has started to burn out, replaced by something colder. Levi can tell there is something different about Eren now and it pains him.

Eren notices this.

Levi then expresses his distaste for the current situation toward Zeke, asking him if everything went the way he wanted it to. Zeke got what he wanted, and now Eren looks lifeless. Thanks, bud.

This leads me to my next point.

Levi seems to be exhibiting defensiveness about Eren

We haven’t had many interactions between Zeke and Levi just yet. However, all the banter aside, this panel gave us a huge clue that after Zeke mentions wanting to meet Eren, Levi’s glare seems to worsen, as Zeke makes note of it. While Levi can agree with Zeke that they don’t have all the time in the world, it also seems as though he’s not happy about Zeke pressing the issue of meeting up with Eren.

Levi has been asking Zeke the same things over and over while they’ve been waiting in the forest, trying to figure out the kind of person Zeke really is and whether he is being honest or not. Naturally, of course, he cares about the island as a whole, which is a huge contributing factor to this behavior. But I might be bold to suggest that he’s also trying to figure out what his next move is going to be regarding Eren and whether he’ll be able to protect him from Zeke if he’s truly a liar. This is, of course, just speculation on my part at this point.

The Forest and potential parallelism

The three of these characters are most likely going to reunite in the Forest of Giant Trees, where Eren once had to make a hard choice - the choice that he made that allowed his comrades to be killed.

Once again, a choice is probably going to have to be made here. Either Levi will try to persuade Eren to step back from Zeke, or Eren will have to convince Levi to work with them. While theoretically this could lead to a “fight,” I think at worst it would be a verbal altercation. Remember where they are. Levi and Zeke are in the forest specifically because titans have the disadvantage against the 3DMG here.

A few final points

Just as we don’t have Levi’s perspective, we’re kind of in the dark about Eren as of the current timeline as well. We still don’t know why he went to Marley or what he and Zeke discussed there. There’s also the chekov’s gun about him potentially being controlled by Zeke rather than acting of his own accord (Although I personally... am not a fan of this, but it’s possible and the story introduced the concept). This is the only thing that I can see being a physical danger to Levi, as I firmly believe Eren wouldn’t attack him normally. That being said, I do believe that Isayama is purposefully making us question Eren to throw the readers off.

The only thing Eren and Zeke want right now is just to get to each other because they are pressed for time. Eren is still determined to see whatever they’re planning through before Historia has to become a sacrifice. Eren’s goal has been stated over and over - he wants to protect the people he loves, not get them hurt and killed. I’m sure Levi feels similarly.

I feel like if anything, an “Eren vs. Zeke” showdown is something far more likely to happen. Especially if Zeke turns out to truly be “the bad guy” and takes actions that Eren knows will hurt his friends. That being said, it’s something that would happen later down the road rather than in the forest at the beginning of a new arc.

Anyway, all of the things above are why I’m certain we’re not going to see a “Levi vs. Eren” showdown happen in the forest. To me, it feels like it would be a waste of their character development and the importance their relationship has had on the story. Eren and Levi have been shown to acknowledge and care about each other. They have inspired each other and have given each other hope in many situations. I’d hate to see Isayama just throw that all out the window after all of the buildup. If anything, I feel that the buildup is leading to a moment where Levi will have to help bring the Eren we are familiar with back to the forefront if Eren’s childhood friends are unable to do it on their own.

#snk spoilers #snk meta #ereri #eren jaeger #levi ackerman #zeke jaeger #eren yeager #zeke yeager #mymeta #idek it's a lot of rambling

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asherlockstudy · 5 years

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Bran Stark and the Long Night

A “Very Potter Musical” theory

Okay, no I did not lose my mind. This is not a Very Potter Musical theory but it discusses some similarities between Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and ends with a little help from Spotify. By writing this down I prove I have learned nothing from my past mistake of interpeting the questionable plot twists in BBC Sherlock through an optimistic perspective. I need to get it out though and I’ll just hope I won’t get too disappointed in the next episodes. Please keep in mind that opinions and preferences amongst GoT fans vary greatly - who is important or evil in my opinion might not be for you.

This is a long post, so here’s a summary of what is discussed:

Review of the Long Night

Many parallels between Bran Stark and Harry Potter. Bran is a (dark) grey character in this theory.

Arya’s importance and whether she is the promised one or not

Personal predictions about the next episodes. All main characters are discussed. Might or might not contain wishful thinking. A whole lot about the prophecy of Azor Ahai which I REALLY want to see fulfilled properly before the show ends.

Clues from the Spotify Game of Thrones Playlist D&D created for the ending of the show

Some noticeable emphasis on Jaime and Brienne. A LOT of Jaime.

First of all, I belong to the few (?) who loved the episode. I doubt any other TV show will ever manage to achieve anything remotely as ambitious. The cinematography is gorgeous, the actors, the crew, the visual effects, the music... everyone who took part in the making of this episode needs a standing ovation. As for the darkness? It meant to be this way! The darkness was what kept us on edge and it made it harder to understand if a character was dying or not, thus stressing us out even more. The darkness was meant to reinforce the feeling of uncertainty and imminent danger. Whereas Helm’s Deep battle was lit to emphasize on the heroism and the stunts, the battle of Winterfell is darkened to emphasize on its unpredictability and the feeling of death lurking in every corner. So it is unfair to rate this episode with 1s or 2s like so many people do. Even if you didn’t like the ending, there are so many elements here and so much hard work that deserve acknowledgement.

I didn’t like everything though. What did I not like? Well, duh, the ending. I was never interested in the whole “White Walkers” part of the plot and yet Arya killing the Night King in seconds didn’t exactly satisfy even the indifferent me. Don’t get me wrong, I like Arya and she sure is one of the most lethal characters. It just never occurred to me that she could be connected to this particular subplot. The thing, however, that I interpret very differently than most people writing reviews is that to me there was nothing final about this episode. Many fans act as if this was the general ending of the story and I don’t want to be too optimistic but I just don’t see it this way. So what then? Are we going to watch Cersei sip wine for the next four and a half hours until Drogon roasts her in the last second? Are they THAT bad? The fact that the characters in the show consider the Dead their greatest threat does not mean that this is the culmination of the plot. Let alone that the fact that the characters think the threat is gone does not mean the threat is gone. Remember the show we’re watching - the shocking plot twists always happen when you least expect them. If D&D have now become cowards, we must wait until the end to be able to tell. I, for one, consider the fact that they have not left even a mere second, even a still image, even a comment or a sentence about the last three episodes slip as extremely promising. Even the promo for the next episode is literally two scenes and obviously the least important. Anyway, I don’t want to defend them too much because this has been a boomerang for me in the past *cough sherlock cough*.

According to what we got, most have assumed that Bran was the ultimate good guy who had orchestrated everything so Arya, Azor Ahai, would kill the Night King. My main argument is that Bran Stark...just doesn’t strike me like an *entirely* good guy. I know people have had enough of Bran is the Villain theories but I am not speaking about a full-blown villain and also...just consider it for a bit. The Three-Eyed-Raven is supposedly the eternal enemy of the Night King and is a wise entity. There is a problem in Bran’s case though: the Night King leaves his mark on him.

Don’t forget, the Night King is known to create wights simply by touching them. Craster’s living babies. Bloody (though dead) Viserion! The intelligence or the living state of the victim doesn’t seem to be an obstacle. The Night King then assumes complete control over his creations.

Do you know what this mark reminds me of?

This.

Voldemort tried to kill Harry but his curse turned back at him because Lily had just died to save her child (because of love). It left a scar on Harry’s forehead instead of killing him. What happened between Bran and the Night King seems very similar. The Night King wanted to kill or turn into a wight the soon-to-be Third Eyed Raven so he grabbed him by the wrist but Bran wasn’t exactly there so there was an obstacle the Night King couldn’t fully overcome. Bran escapes him and returns to the present with a mark. We’re told that this mark can help the Night King find him. Is this all there is to it though?

It takes five years for Dumbledore to brace himself and reveal to Harry why his scar is a sensor of Voldemort’s presence and extreme mood shifts. The reason is that the day Voldemort tried to kill Harry a part of his already ruined soul was merged with Harry’s soul which made them both have access to each other’s feelings and thoughts to some degree. As time passed, that connection became stronger, especially as Harry and Voldemort became aware of it. By his fifth year in Hogwarts, Harry’s mood is constantly affected by Voldemort’s; he’s often angry and full of inexplicable hate. He laughs and gets furious and has violent urges all of a sudden without understanding why. He starts getting visions where he is Voldemort. The good thing in Harry’s case is that Harry’s soul is a pure whole soul that can’t get easily corrupted and that some powerful people know about this connection more or less and try to guard him against it (Dumbledore, Snape, Sirius etc).

If something similar happens to Bran, he is not that lucky. Nobody understands this connection except maybe the previous Third Eyed Raven who is dead. What’s worse, Bran does not only fight against the Night King’s effect on him. Whereas Harry’s soul was pure and healthy and whole, Bran’s soul and identity collapses under the weight of partly being both the Night King (or controlled by him) and the Third Eyed Raven. His mind fills with the memory and the wisdom of the world as well as with the awareness of the intent of death. Obviously, little Brandon Stark’s emotional and mental world doesn’t even make up 1% of the whole consciousness there is now inside him.

As the Night King gets more powerful day after day, we see an evolution in Bran Stark as well. As the story proceeds, he becomes more and more emotionless and lifeless just like Harry was getting more irritable, envious and violent. Bran starts resembling a dead man. It does not help that the Third Eyed Raven has a pretty neutral stance as well but young Bran suspiciously beats the much older previous Third Eyed Raven in terms of neutrality. When he returns to Winterfell, he has already lost all his feelings for his family. Maybe Bran is still in there but only a last lost hint of him that needs something groundbreaking to happen to cause him to externalize some emotion.

Another proof that Bran has a more special connection with the Night King than just being tracked down by him is offered to us when a panicked marked Bran (when he still could feel) argues with the Third Eyed Raven that the Night King can’t get to him in that sacred place to which the wise entity responds laconically: “He can now”. Well, if the mark was just a track medium then the Night King would get stuck in the opening of the cave, aware that Bran is inside yet unable to enter. If he can now get in, this possibly means he is already in, protected by being carried by an innocent, still pure and very much alive being; Bran. The Night King is inside and thus the wights can now follow him there.

Dumbledore thought it was too cruel to reveal to poor Harry that the only way they could completely kill Voldemort was to kill him too. Aaaand Dumbledore thought it was important that Voldemort killed them both himself. The only difference here is that Bran is both the equivalents of Harry and Dumbledore in one body, so Bran himself was the one who knew what had to be done.

When they are discussing the battle strategy, Bran tells everyone the Night King wants to kill him because he wants to erase the memory of this world. Despite this, Bran requires to be left outside in plain sight so that the Night King will find him and everyone assumes he wants to be the bait, something Bran neither confirms nor denies. But what if he wanted to be the sacrifice instead of the bait? Think about it, Bran’s plan makes the Night King supposedly more vulnerable but it also makes the Third Eyed Raven way easier to kill. If Bran waits for him in the open, it’s very easy for the Night King to reach him quickly with the dragon and if he does, then all the living die anyway! If Bran was in the crypts, the Night King would have a much longer way to go into the castle, thus having to confront many more living that could hopefully take him down. Honestly, Bran’s plan just makes the Night King’s job easier. Moreover, Bran does not ask protection. Theon takes the initiative and swears to protect him and Bran once again says nothing because he doesn’t want to cause disagreements and end up protected in the crypts or with a more skilled fighter to guard him. At this moment Bran realises Theon is about to die for his cause and he allows it to happen for either the greater good or the greater evil. Bran says he doesn’t know if dragon fire can kill the Night King because nobody has tried, therefore making Jon and Daenerys waste all their contribution at trying to take him out in this way. When Daenerys dracarys at him, the Night King shows human traits and smiles sinisterly at her.

Hehe, tricked ya! Has he ever displayed so particular human reactions before?

In short, I believe Bran wanted to die in this battle. What’s questionable is Bran’s allegiances. Does Bran want to die to save everyone else or to ensure the Night King’s plan is successful? I tend to believe the answer is...both. The Raven inside him wants the Night King to fail but Night King’s consiousness inside him wants him to succeed. Either way Bran must die. However, I think currently the Night King’s will inside Bran is winning because Bran would try to pass on somebody else his gift before sacrificing himself. Another question is, is Bran totally honest? What if the Night King's actual plan was to resurrect him or merge with him after killing him which as a result would mean that the Night King would become the Third Eyed Raven, accumulating enormous god-like power?

Arya prevented Bran’s plan whether his intent was good or bad. With this reasoning, Arya is not Azor Ahai because either she delayed the salvation of the living or she didn’t completely beat the “Final Boss”. Of course, there are problems in this theory. Why did Bran want to save himself in the past, why did he not head alone in the north to find the Night King first and end this without so much mayhem? Also, what about Arya and the dagger he gave her?

Possible answers:

Bran’s high consciousness as well as his connection to the Night King get stronger minute after minute. It might have taken him some time to process what he needed or wanted to do and how he would achieve it.

Well, he is a boy in a wheelchair. Nobody will let him just go find the Night King. He can’t escape their notice. Before this, Meera would never agree to take him north obviously.

The dagger thing is the hardest. Can we still assume there is a limit to what Bran knows and can predict? He doesn’t know everything. I think at this point I believe there is truly a God in the ASOIAF world and it seems he has a design for this world indeed. Bran might be more powerful than a regular person but he still is a tool in the divine plan. Besides, upon planning the tactics for the battle, Bran does not seem exactly sure of the outcome. Bran seems to know vaguely who is important but he does not know exactly how. Perhaps Three Eyed Raven Bran sensed Arya was meant to have that dagger but he didn’t know yet what for and whether it would benefit his Night King side or not. Furthermore, back then the Night King’s effect on him was weaker so that Bran was a better entity than he is now.

Now let’s talk about the actual battle. When Melisandre sets the trench on fire, Theon seals his death by telling Bran that the fire is lit and the wights can not proceed (and therefore reach to them). Then - oh so coincidentally - Bran is like “OK thanx Theon gotta go now bye”. He then wargs into ravens and he leads them straight to the Night King. The ravens reach him and then and only then the Night King commands the wights to fall in the fire and create a bridge for the rest to cross. We see this on screen clearly so I wonder why people don’t talk about it at all. I would make a gif but it’s too damn dark! (Taking back all good words I said for the darkness lol). In short, Bran gets close to the Night King and sets him into action. Bran betrays them all. Is this a necessary evil for the greater good or just plain evil? Almost everyone was slaughtered after this, so I doubt Bran didn’t want to be in the crypts so more people would survive...bullshit. (Of course, all these apply if we blindly accept that the battle strategy was not just badly written.)

A similar scene happens in the seventh season when Bran wargs ravens to spy on the Dead and although they all are motionless, standing corpses, when the ravens arrive the Night King abruptly jumps to...errr...life and looks at them as if fully aware it’s Bran inside them. This terrifies Bran but also probably allows him to learn about the special nature of his connection with him.

In Dragonstone, the first episode of the seventh season, the second scene is the dead marching South and the scene cuts to Bran warging while Meera drags him to the Wall.

Back in the Long Night, Bran stays at warg state throughout the whole battle after this point. Now look... if you can. Apologies for terrible quality.

Bran never leaves his warg state until the exact moment the Night King arrives and has direct eye contact with him. Therefore, Bran does not need to guide him anymore. He returns to himself and thanks Theon essentially for dying for nothing. However, Theon serves his purpose, delaying Bran’s death until Arya arrives. Then he dies betrayed, paying for his betrayal of Robb Stark. Bran then waits passively for the Night King to kill him. Their interaction is basically all but hateful. The Night King just stares at him with something close to content in his face, while Bran looks...happy?

This is Bran’s happy face. I can’t unsee it!!!!! It’s excited or impatient or something like that... and Bran makes something like nod with his eyes and then the Night King tries to grab his sword..... but Arya arrives out of nowhere and kills him. Look at Bran. He doesn't look at the least bit happy or grateful. His - granted - blank expression somehow shows me he was thinking "How the fuck do I undo this now?". Look at Arya smiling at him after they are all saved and Bran’s reaction.

You’re safe now, brother!

Yeah, I am so happy right now I could cut you with the dagger I gave you..

For an extremely expressionless face, I feel like Bran is probably screaming internally here. Tell me, does he look happier with the Night King or Arya?!

Let’s focus on Arya now. As a start, Arya does not fit any of the criteria for Azor Ahai except maybe the first one (Braavos' water dance fight style and strong connection of the city with water???). She hasn't killed a Lannister-lion yet and the Nissa Nissa thing makes the probabilities even slimmer. Furthermore, she doesn't kill the Night King with her Needle but with a dagger instead. No fire, no red colour, nothing. Actually, we see her repeatedly asking Gendry to make her the weapon. We’ve therefore been told that Arya won’t have her sword so she doesn't have a Lightbringer either. Three swords get a lot of mentions in the show: the Needle which Arya did not use at all throughout the battle (she literally uses every possible weapon except the Needle), Heartsbane which Sam gives to Jorah who then falls and Oathkeeper which Jaime gives to Brienne as a token of his love.

Arya was not Azor Ahai but she still functioned according to the God's plan. The God (whoever he is, the old, the 7, the Lord of Light or the Many-faced one) doesn’t want the memory of this world to be lost. What perhaps Bran had not thought (or did not want) is that he should not die until he passed his gift to someone else. If Bran's plan worked, the world as everyone knew it would change forever. When Bran explains what he is now to everyone, Sam interferes and says they should never let him die. Someone must be the Third Eyed Raven so that the humans will keep being exactly that - humans with history, backgrounds and memories. Here we might be getting the answer about why on earth Sam did not die in the battle. Sam understands better than anyone the importance of this entity. This might hint that he is going to become the Third Eyed Raven once Bran dies or contribute to find the chosen one. The archmaester in the Citadel told Sam something similar: “We are the memory of this world.”

So, things were not going according to plan and also the real Azor Ahai had not showed up yet thus Arya was meant to save the day. Everything Arya did led up to this. She was filled with hate when her father was executed by Joffrey so that she would find the most skilled assassins to train her for revenge. Arya prepares the way for Azor Ahai. Beric was brought up to life to save Arya. The Hound was not killed by Brienne or Arya in order to then save the latter. The Hound most likely has more to do in the story (face Mountain) which is why Beric dies and Sandor does not.

Let’s go to the plot armour. Arya's timing saves Sansa, Tyrion, Missandei and Varys. During the battle, something of utmost importance happens in the crypts. Sansa plants an idea in Tyrion's mind - Daenerys is the obstacle in their way to be a couple. What's next; clever Tyrion will once again be the victim of a woman who promised him love and this is how Daenerys will be betrayed for love, fulfilling the prophecy. Tywin always admitted Tyrion's intelligence but despised him for being so weak in front of his vices; women and alcohol. Tywin cruelly tried to teach him a lesson twice, first with Tysha and then with Shae. But Tyrion did not pay attention and maybe his ultimate downfall is going to be Sansa. Missandei overheard what they said and she is still loyal to Daenerys. Tyrion is in danger. Varys heard them too but he might side with Tyrion. Let's see if mighty Tywin was cruel but spot on.

Arya's timing saves Greyworm who has promised to protect Missandei. Missandei is in danger now that Sansa knows she can rush to her Queen and tell her what she heard. Perhaps Greyworm survived so that the truth will reach Deanerys.

Arya's timing did not save Jorah but he held on enough to protect his Queen . Daenerys loses her last truly unyielding supporter. She is now more powerless than ever. Sansa has the upper hand in the North and if Dany opposes to Jon Snow, her fate seems doomed no matter what Missandei and Greyworm do. Then again, if Sansa finds out about Jon’s heritage, she might start being less friendly too. A cousin starts getting too distant especially when power is involved.

Arya's timing saves Jon, the heir, whose purpose however was not to defeat the White Walkers. His purpose was to tell the world of their existence or he might have a great part to play in the last war.

Arya's timing saves Tormund, Jaime, Brienne and Podrick. Out of all these only Brienne and Tormund naturally make sense to be still alive because of their strength and skill. And then we have one-handed Jaime and Podrick who honestly should have died in the first ten minutes. While everyone else fights for their life, Brienne and Jaime keep constantly saving each other almost like they are in their own world. Podrick surviving is very weird but we have already been shown that the boy has hidden talents. Podrick has not completed his arc.

As for Jaime, Bran told him he shouldn't have him killed before he got to help “them”. And then the battle comes and he merely survives. Arya's timing saves him (and his love) in the last second. Jaime did nothing important for or against the Night King or Bran yet. Jaime was trapped in the battle, hardly able to survive let alone reach to Bran. Sure, Jaime killed probably hundreds of wights that night but he didn’t affect the grand scheme of things in this battle like Bran implied. Yet, Bran literally waited for him a whole night out in the dark cold. This must mean we have a lot more to see in the next episodes.

Arya's timing saves Gendry and Sam but not Edd. Gendry still has a claim to the throne. Edd died so that Sam could live. I already spoke of Sam's importance. But something weird happens when Edd saves Sam. Sam falls down exhausted but something catches his attention. See the gifs in @nochancennochoice ‘s post: there is some debate on whether Sam sees Brienne, Jaime fighting with his two hands oooor Jaime fighting with a right hand. I think it looks like the third option is the right one and it would explain why confused Sam has a pausing moment in all this mayhem and forgets the world around him until Edd calls him back to reality. Sam sees Jaime through the flames, being in a delirious state, fighting like crazy with what looks like his right hand suspiciously a lot. We can be sure Jaime did not use his non-existent hand though - so could this be a vision in the flames by the Lord of Light...you know...a more accurate one than the ones Melisandre sees? Jaime was indeed fighting like crazy but Sam sees a changed image through the fire that puzzles him quite a bit. We’ll soon see if there was hidden importance in this oddly specific scene and, once more, it would explain why Samwell Tarly would survive the long night.

This does not mean Jaime is definitely the legendary warrior. However, he is the most likely contender in my opinion because a) he leaves his false vile identity in the past inside smoke and water (let’s pretend the baths had salts), b) he indirectly kills a lion, his father, c) he's truly the only character who is basically exclusively driven by love and we know Azor Ahai must make the ultimate sacrifice. Perhaps though and dreadfully so, Jaime still hasn't killed a lion because his father's murder is not on him. This might be the fulfilment of the Valonqar prophecy and Jaime gets to kill Cersei. At this point the story will have proceeded a lot and Jaime and Brienne will have confessed their love or acted upon it. Jaime has saved Brienne more times than we can count and especially in the first incidents Brienne asks him why, both in the show and the books. Jaime never responds in the show but in the books we see that he has meaningful dreams that lead his way. Jaime was destined to find Brienne, love her and keep her alive. Jaime gives her his sword and Brienne bonds with it so much that it almost already is part of her entity. The last challenge for Azor Ahai is to sacrifice his willing loving wife Nissa Nissa whose soul will become one with the sword and this will create the Lightbringer. It pains me to even think about it but Nissa Nissa doesn't sound like Cersei. Brienne will die so that Jaime can meet his fate.

Three guesses who.

After that Jaime and Oathkeeper will end this story by killing Bran. Bran still has a good side in him and it’s probable that he will guide Jaime to do it. I'm gonna cheat here with my evidence but this kinda explains why Nikolaj Coster Waldau loves the conclusion of the story but seems kinda sympathetic when Gwendoline Christie says she had trouble processing the end of her character and needed long walks at the beach and such. When asked, Nikolaj probably revealed too much at some point because he said the story is about that good guy Jaime and that Bran boy who sacrificed himself to save the world. Of course, it’s Nik. He might as well be saying what he wants the end to be lol. However... Bran did not technically sacrifice himself in the Long Night, right? If he knew Arya was coming, then he definitely did not. Either way, the outcome is the same - Bran has not sacrificed himself yet.

Back to Bran and the Night King. People in and out of the show wonder why the wights became so powerful and persistent in this era. Furthermore, the Night King seems much more conscious and lifelike than all the other moving corpses. Maybe we can conclude the explanation with the help of Hodor's backstory. Everyone kept telling Bran to not lose himself in the visions but he ignored them just like he ignored Catelyn and kept climbing towers. Everyone is paying Bran's disobedience and he is going to pay with his life. When the Third Eyed Raven was asleep, Bran travelled into an indefinite time period and got his mark from the Night King. This might have happened long before Bran was even born or before he got paralysed. Therefore the Night King already was connected to Bran but Bran had to get the mark first to start realising and reinforcing the connection. The connection the Night King has to Bran gives him some glimpses of a human living self which is why he is superior to the wights and the White Walkers and shows rudimentary human logic and sense of purpose and identity. With the same reasoning, it’s only after the mark that Bran loses all emotions and vigor.

Upon first meeting Jaime, Jaime who is probably Azor Ahai immediately tried to kill Bran. When Catelyn asked him much later why he threw her son out of the window, Jaime did not respond even though soon afterwards he confessed he sleeps with his sister so hiding this was not the reason he did not respond. It was fate that drove Jaime's hand because even though he doesn't know it, Jaime is driven by a force to become the leader against the darkness. Bran did not die from an 100% deadly fall because although it was Jaime who did it, it was not the right time yet because he wasn’t yet reborn as Azor Ahai and the Night King did not yet live through Bran. Bran's first encounter with the fighter of the Lord of Light is the beginning for his journey to meet his destiny and as soon as Jaime cripples him, he starts getting visions that call him to the North. We might say that Jaime sets the evil going in order for good to fight back and prevail. The things I do for love... Fighting evil?

And now...some more evidence about the story can be taken from the spotify playlist that hints at the ending of the show according to D&D. Let’s see the songs in the very end of the list:

Gold Lion... In the “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Tyrion and Jaime reminince on their past “glorious” days when Jaime was a Golden Lion and Tyrion was a whoremonger. Jaime specifically says his golden lion days belong to the past (which is like the most basic foreshadowing of tragic irony) but the playlist disagrees. Here are some lyrics from the song:

Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is... Tell me what you saw... We'll build a fire in your eyes...

If this is not the most ultimate “Jaime is Azor Ahai with Lightbringer” evidence, I don’t know what is.

Then we have Here’s Your Future, which is a song in which God basically is considered responsible for burdening his children with sin. God forces them to sin so that the duty of atoning and cleansing the world falls on them in order to get worthy of the future God has prepared for them. This really sounds like the Lord of Light so I do believe we’re going to have Azor Ahai by the end of the show. It is very similar to the concept of Jaime being destined to be depraved only to be led in the way of atonement, redemption and then glory. Melisandre and all sorts of God faith have been given a huge part to be totally meaningless.

Since I mentioned Melisandre, she was meant to die. Maybe this was the only vision R’hllor truly had for her; that she should die after this fight in the snow. Why? Ser Davos is the last main character Arya saves repeatedly. Ser Davos and Melisandre’s fates have been interwined for long even though they hate each other. Ser Davos witnesses her suicide. Why did Melisandre have to die, in terms of fate? Maybe because, from now on, there aren’t going to be any resurrections. Whoever dies, dies. Why did they change the plot so that Melisandre would need a magical necklace to stay alive?

Maybe because only one character will have the chance to defy death from now on. Chances are it will be a woman. Why is Ser Davos who literally can’t fight still alive all those years? Maybe because he saw Melisandre drop the necklace and then age and die rapidly. Davos will keep the necklace and probably save a woman he deems worthy of a second chance in life.

And then of course “Love is Blindness”. There are only two couples this could apply to; Jaime and Brienne and Tyrion and Sansa but I’m positive Sansa only wants to use Tyrion to weaken Daenerys and fight Cersei. So the only truly fitting love story is that of Jaime and Brienne.

As if all this was not wishful thinking...imagine Brienne sacrificing herself, Jaime becoming a heartbroken Azor Ahai and the ever surviving Davos putting the necklace around her neck, to the one he seemed to be so appreciative and fond of back in the fireplace...

Okay, okay aren’t all theories partly what we wish it happens? It’s perfectly reasonable if you find this way too much, way too complicated, way too wishful and subjective. If there’s something in here that makes sense to you, you can take this and leave all the rest. I am aware I completely dismissed some basic characters. Let’s say something short about them: Daenerys in my opinion won’t make it to the throne. Not only that but she’s going to be one of the first main characters to die. Even next episode seems probable to me. Arya soon will have her arc completed. I think she reached the peak of her importance. Of all the Starks, I think Sansa is the one who has a chance for the Iron Throne somehow. Right now, she is the most competent in the game of thrones. Littlefinger lives through her. She has admitted to admiring Cersei. One Stark will survive because there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. I honestly have no idea what will happen to Jon Snow. Everyone is sure he’s Azor Ahai but actually there is no evidence the Prince who was Promised and Azor Ahai are the same person. Targaryen heritage is only mentioned in the PWWP prophecy, not that of Azor Ahai. Nevertheless, Jon literally prays to die again. I don’t know if I feel content with the idea of him sitting on the Iron Throne and being depressed all his life because of it.

Cersei of course will die. Tyrion won’t be the one to do it. I would hate it if Arya was the one to do it by wearing one of the brothers’ face. It would be so emotionally anti-climactic and Arya already had her huge killing moment however in the Spotify list there is a song named “Dead Skin Mask” under the “Killer Wolf” one. God forbid. I hope she uses her skills to someone other than a Lannister because there is also an extremely disturbing and explicit song which is named “Sister” and guess what, the rather problematic lyrics are about a young boy who slept with his much older sister who is...nuts.

I was only sixteen but I guess that's no excuse

Oh, sister Don't put me on the street again Oh, sister I just want to be your friend

These were the most tolerable lyrics. (Wtf Prince?) I mean, the point of the song in the list is pretty clear. Jaime will meet Cersei once more and let’s hope he’ll kill her for ruining 20+ years of his life. Right now, Jaime doesn’t look particularly interested in Cersei. It seems as if everything regarding her has died inside him. Therefore, something will happen that will fill Jaime with wrath. The scenarios are two:

Bronn kills Tyrion.

Bronn tries to kill Jaime, Brienne defends him and falls.

Both heartbreaking possibilities (although admit it, they are awesome in terms of dramaturgy). Both are terrifying to me but my desperation makes me wish for the first option. The fact that Bronn said in the fifth season that he does not kill women really DOES NOT help. However, if Brienne is Nissa Nissa then Brienne will die after Cersei so Bronn might indeed kill Tyrion. Besides, Nissa Nissa’s sacrifice could also have some figurative meaning instead of foreseeing a literal death.

All these of course are just personal speculations and wishes. Cersei might be Nissa Nissa. Or Arya might have indeed been Azor Ahai. Jaime and Brienne might just live happily ever after (without Davos’ help) or Jaime might fall heroically. Daenerys might live and rule. Bran maybe is an awesome dude.

I will just say that judging from the way the eighth season is structured, I think D&D played a little game. They featured the huge, foretold battle in the third episode. If the heroes of the whole story were also the heroes of this episode (Arya, Bran, Melisandre) then perhaps it would be wiser if this episode was the fifth or at least the fourth. We are still not exactly in the middle of the season since the total duration of the last three episodes is going to be longer. So if this was the decisive turn of the plot, why would it be featured in the first half of the season? Furthermore, D&D promoted the third episode beyond belief while they kept the next episodes entirely in the dark. That’s got to mean something. Hopefully, D&D planned to create huge expectations for the third episode, therefore not allowing the viewers to build defenses for what would happen next. They tried to satisfy those expectations for the third episode with the exceptional cinematography, direction, music and unprecedented ominous atmosphere they created. This could potentially be the most important deviation from Martin’s future version, in which the Long Night might indeed be the prophecised event that would make Azor Ahai rise and most main characters die. D&D though want the show to be as unpredictable as possible and they have an Iron Throne to give which might mean they used the Long Night as a distraction, however epic.

#jaime lannister #bran stark #brienne of tarth #braime #game of thrones #got season 8 #samwell tarly #ser davos seaworth #azor ahai #jaime x brienne #got spoilers #everyone loves the starks and the targaryens and I just...don't

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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 years

Text

#7yrsago David Byrne's How Music Works

1. Improvise moving to the music and come up with an eight-count phrase (in dance, a phrase is a short series of moves that can be repeated).

2. When you find a phrase you like, loop (repeat) it.

3. When you see someone else with a stronger phrase, copy it.

4. When everyone is doing the same phrase, the exercise is over.

The most threatening thing to rockers in the era of disco was that the music was gay, black and "manufactured" on machines, made out of bits of other peoples' recordings.

And Byrne's own journey has led him to be skeptical of the all-rights-reserved model, from rules over photography and video in his shows:

And here's a mind-bending look into his lyrics-writing method:

Naturally, this leads into a great discussion of the neuroscience of music itself -- why our brains like certain sounds and rhythms.

How Music Works

https://boingboing.net/2012/09/12/david-byrnes-how-music-w.html

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