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bingwriterxo · 10 months

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the shakespeare exhibit - part 1

pairing: tara carpenter x reader

summary: in which tara finds herself in a weird place in the museum

warnings: none

word count: 1700+

author's note: this was a request (find here)! hope u guys enjoy :D the english major in me really popped the fuck out in this one 🤭

next part

Spending a rainy Sunday in the Museum of Modern Art was far from what Tara wanted to do, but she had been outvoted by the rest of her friends, all of whom thought that it would be fun (well, all but Chad, who wanted to stay in and have a movie marathon).

She found herself wandering aimlessly through the halls, glancing this way and that at different exhibits, though nothing really piqued her interest. Sam and Danny had escaped to the Egyptian gallery, Chad and Ethan were exploring the gift shop, Mindy and Anika had rushed off on their own almost as soon as the group walked through the front doors--if Tara had to put money on it, she would guess that they were making out in the bathroom--and Quinn was flirting with the ticket booth guy.

Tara pulled her phone from her back pocket.

Tara (3:46pm): can we go soon im bored

Sam (3:48pm): Danny and I are only halfway done!

Chad (3:49pm): anyone got some extra cash??? really want this weird t-shirt

Ethan (3:49pm): i got u buddy

Mindy (3:51pm): fh2p9hr2$!8tn

Sam (3:51pm): Mindy, what?

Mindy (3:52pm): sorry butt text

Mindy (3:52pm): me and nika r busy

She huffed when no one in the group chat seemed to be on the same wavelength as her and shoved her phone back in her pocket, continuing her shuffling. She wasn't even sure where in the museum she was, and she didn't really care.

Or, at least, she didn't care until she heard that voice.

"And here we have a painting depicting the celebration that occurs in the beginning of one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, Titus Andronicus."

Tara looked to her right, where the voice was coming from, and was met with a large sign that read Pop-Up Shakespeare Exhibit! She frowned. Shakespeare? she thought. Seriously?

"Now, this celebration is quite important to the rest of the play as..."

The voice was luring her in. Okay, maybe I can dig Shakespeare.

She wandered into the room, eyes flitting around as she searched for the person that the voice belonged to. Instead, she was met with numerous paintings of different scenes from Shakespeares' plays, or people that influenced him or were important during his time period.

And why the fuck is this man so iconic? she thought as she quickly scanned over each painting, finding nothing extraordinarily special about them. This shit is boring.

Still, she ventured farther in, determined to find the reason she had entered the exhibit in the first place. She wasn't, however, paying much attention to her feet or the paces in front of her, and the next thing she knew, she had bumped into someone else.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

"It's okay! That's my bad!" you replied, and Tara's eyes widened as she glanced in your direction. You were the voice that she was trying to find, and now that she had found you...well, she wasn't really sure what to do.

Honestly, she hadn't expected you to be so, in layman's terms, hot, and she could feel herself blushing up to her ears as she stared at you, awestruck and nervous and itching to talk to you all at once.

You offered her a wide grin and gestured toward the painting the two of you had ended up in front of. "Big fan of King Lear?" you asked.

Tara glanced at the painting. Two men stood in a vaguely grassy area, one old and the other younger. The older one had his arms thrown out, and despair was clearly controlling his emotions. The younger one was simply standing back and watching. What the fuck is this shit? she thought before realizing that you were awaiting her response.

"Yeah, definitely!" she lied. "It's probably my favorite Shakespeare play."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "Really? You strike me as more of a..." You trailed off as your eyes flitted down her body, taking her in. Tara gulped. "I would say Twelfth Night kind of girl."

Tara shrugged. "Well, I can be surprising." She pointed lamely at the painting. "Besides, I love history plays."

"Oh!" You raised your eyebrows as your eyes widened, and you chuckled. "King Lear isn't a history; it's a tragedy."

"Right! I--That's what I meant," she rushed out, trying to backtrack. "But, I mean, couldn't all of Shakespeare's plays technically be histories? They're all old."

You giggled, and Tara found that she liked that sound even more than she liked your voice. "That's not really how it works." You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth and glanced at the watch on your wrist. "If you want, I could give you a tour through the exhibit and explain some of the plays to you. My next group isn't coming for another hour."

I would rather Ghostface pop out of one of these paintings and attack me than have these boring-ass plays explained to me. She wanted to say that--god, did she want to--but you were looking at her with a soft smile and even softer eyes, your hands buried in your back pockets as you shifted on the balls of your feet, and her reply was tumbling from her lips before she could stop it.

"That would be great!"

* * *

You were only halfway through the exhibit, talking about some lady named Portia who could only marry the man that chose the correct casket--how fucking stupid, Tara thought--when you turned to her, a pitiful smile pulling at your lips.

"You find this boring, don't you?" you asked, though there was no judgment in your voice. If anything, Tara could detect a hint of teasing.

She shook her head. "No, no. Portia and Bassanio and caskets are all very...interesting." When you tilted your head at her, your eyes sparkling with disbelief, she sighed in defeat, allowing her shoulders to slump slightly. "Yeah," she admitted, "it's kind of boring."

You shrugged half-heartedly, a crooked smile on your lips. "That's okay. Shakespeare's definitely not for everyone." You looked back at the painting you stood in front of. "I mean, even I hated half the plays when I first read them."

"Then why are you a tour guide for this exhibit?"

"Money," you confessed. "I'm a broke college student who has tuition to pay for. Plus, I've read all of these plays ten times over, so I know them pretty well."

Tara wrinkled her nose. "Why would you subject yourself to that?" she asked. "I couldn't even imagine reading these plays once, let alone"--she gestured in the air--"as many times as you've read them."

"I'm an English Lit. major, so it's kind of my thing." You sighed in a dreamy sort of way, and Tara couldn't help as her eyes flitted down to your lips, her tongue dragging across her bottom one. She quickly shifted back to your eyes when you looked at her. "But it's not everyone's thing. I get it."

She frowned. "Sorry if I, like, wasted your time."

You waved her off. "Don't worry about it. I like talking about the plays, and if anything I said in the last fifty minutes got through to you, then I did my job."

Tara nodded. "Oh, it definitely did. Yeah, I learned so much about Shakespeare today," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

You chuckled. "Sure you did."

She took a deep breath in and then rushed out, "If I could prove to you that I learned something, would you let me take you on a date?" She watched as your eyes widened in surprise before being narrowed by the smile that took over your face.

"Okay," you agreed. "I'll ask you a question, and if you can answer it, then I'll give you my number. How's that?"

"Yeah," she said, grinning. "That works."

You glanced around the parts of the exhibit that you had taken Tara through, and she watched as you thought for a moment, your eyebrows furrowing in concentration and your hand scratching at the side of your neck.

"Oh!" you said after a minute. "I've got it." You turned to her, a wicked smile on your face. "In Twelfth Night, what's the name of Viola's brother?"

Oh shit, Tara thought. I should've listened harder when she was talking about that play. But it's not my fault she looked so cute when she was talking about the different theories of human gender.

She blinked at you, trying to come up with the name, or, frankly, any name that you had mentioned during your little tour. You waited patiently, watching her as the gears turned in her head.

Orsino? No, no--that's the Duke. Was it Cesario? Toby? Malvolio? None of those. Oh! It was--

"Sebastian!" she practically yelled.

You giggled at her enthusiasm and pulled the pen from your front pocket. As you clicked it open, you said, "I guess you do listen." You took her arm, pushed up her sleeve so that you had enough skin to write, and jotted down your number on her forearm. She looked at it when you were done, blushing at the sight of a poorly-drawn heart at the end. "Text me, yeah?"

"Totally," she breathed out. "Yeah, I'll do that. For sure."

"Okay." You glanced at your watch. "My next tour's starting in, like, a minute, so I've gotta run." You quickly looked around the exhibit and, upon finding no one near, leaned close and pressed a short kiss to her cheek. "Bye!"

Tara was left in the center of the Shakespeare exhibit, watching as you walked back toward the entrance, with a burning cheek and butterflies stirring in her stomach. She looked at the portrait on her right.

"Shakespeare, you're not good for much, but apparently you're good for getting cute girls' numbers," she muttered.

bonus: "so, what exhibits did you go to, tara?" sam asked as the group sat in a little coffee shop down the street from the MoMA.

"uh, the shakespeare one," tara mumbled.

everyone's eyes widened. "what?" came the resounding reply from all of her friends.

"you hate shakespeare," mindy stated.

"yeah. when they tried to teach us about it in senior year, you literally left the classroom," chad said.

"why the hell would you spend all your time in a shakespeare exhibit?" sam asked, furrowing her eyebrows at tara.

anika reached over and pulled at tara's shirt sleeve, revealing the numbers hidden beneath. "i think that might be why."

tara groaned as everyone started talking over one another, asking questions (sam) and squealing (quinn and mindy) and grumbling (chad and ethan).

"god," mindy started when everyone was finally quiet, "you are so gay, t."

#tara carpenter x reader #tara carpenter #tara x reader #jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega #scream 6 #scream 5 #museum tara

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spotaus · 1 month

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A few references! (A wip because I got distracted lmao--)

I snatched a few of these from a magma with @oodlesndoodles (I took out Kale if only because I *was* planning on rendering before my distraction) but this doodle features Pretender!Sans, Paps, Gaster, Alphys, and Grillby in their monster forms!

(More rambles under the cut)

Design Choices!:

Sans: He's been underground for a long time but used to live on the surface. I imagine he *does* have the iconic Sans outfit somewhere, but right now he wears robes like the King and Queen used to. (He recieved them when he was appointed Judge by Asgore, but no one really knows their significance because only the Guard and Asgore know of his work.)

Paps: Chose his outfit mostly to match Pretender amd the Guard. His shoulder-pads are like old crystal ball props, and his cape had the same sparke affect as Pretender's hood/robes. Around his waist he wears one of the old lab coats Sans leaves around the house. (<- It belonged to one of Sans' favorite people, the one Paps tries to mimic, so he wears it now instead.) Paps has the markings on his face same as Gaster because Sans has a lot of photos from over the years hung on the walls in his room, and Paps used to see them a lot.

Gaster: He's deceased, so the current plot doesn't see him (he can't interact with K, unfortunately. I think they would've been friends if they'd met in Gaster's prime) but I still wanted to doodle him. This was how he looked towards the end of his life, when most of the lab team had passed and he was starting to fall down. He wore cardigans and sweaters, focusing mostly on comfort rather than safety (he was always cold, but especially so towards the end).

Alphys: Went a bit crazy after Gaster passed. She hadn't been eating for a long time, and she couldn't bring herself to leave the lab, even after Sans retired his studies and moved to Snowdin. She still wears her old lab coat, stained and ripped, and she's worse-off for it. Most who see her think she's a rabid animal that has taken a spot in the labs, cameras abandoned and traps scattered in the lab waiting for prey to fall into them. It's an unsafe zone. Any humans who manage to pass Undyne *always* fall to Alphys.

Grillby: Back to fun times!!! He's a short king (at least coming in at around 5'6" which is small compared to other boss monsters, but big compared to merchants) and still runs his restaurant in Snowdin. Though, it's usually empty these days since he doesn't exactly have much food to serve. And water? He doesn't touch the stuff. Sans goes there often just to keep Grillby company. Most monsters, even if they do see a human enter, won't bother attacking because they know Grillby gets first dibs. Grillby would rather not get blood on his nice counters, though. He wears a vest and button-up with symbols like Pretender's, but otherwise is fairly unchanged from canon.

Extra Notes:

-Alphys and Sans aren't on speaking terms any longer. After Sans gave up the project, Alphys became manic and fell into despair, deciding that she'd do everything herself. Sans tried to see her a few times after that before be realized she'd gone off the deep-end and he only dared to be nearby when Asgore needed him.

-I now believe that MTT would be a positive force for humans. A ghost-monster who wanted to look human, to see if they could pass the barrier. Alphys was in charge of the project before Gaster passed, and constructed a surprisingly sturdy human-like body. It was never tested against the barrier. Now MTT tries to stay by Alphys, even in her madness. He tries to help people by reminding them how humans look, act, and talk, with his show. He helps people who get caught by Alphys' traps. (Gotta talk to Ood, but I'm thinking that Pretender wasn't fast enough to help K on her first time through the lab. It was actually MTT who moved her out of immediate danger before stalling Alphys? Unsure.)

-Grillby likes the taste of human, but there are certain unspoken rules he works by, like other shopkeeps. For him, as long as you pay your bill and follow his one rule (no water (tears do not count as water)) then you're free from his harvest. If a human came in looking for shelter, he'd leave them be.

-Gaster was a brilliant mind, and Pretender took a lot of influences from him over the years. Despite his death, his image and memory lives on in the mannerisms and knowledge of those who knew him. In the grief left in his shadow. In the young skeleton who imitates him partially every day because he made his brother happy a long time ago.

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fandomtrashhh · 1 year

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With November the 5th almost upon us, I have compiled my 13 most favorite Destiel episodes that you can binge on Destiel day/the month as a whole + honorable mentions. It happened to end up being 13 but it's perfect because it can represent The Mixtape. They're all in order.

Season 4, Episode 1. "Lazarus Rising"

You can't have a Destiel watch-a-thon without going back to the night they met! 4x1 is a must watch.

Season 4, Episode 7. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester"

In this episode, Cas pretty much begins to break the rules for Dean, and expresses to him that he has doubts. We have the iconic bench scene in this episode!

Season 4, Episode 16. "On the Head of a Pin" Cas says that his superiors think he's getting too close to Dean, and at the end of the episode, Dean and Cas have a heart to heart while Dean is in the hospital.

Season 4, Episode 22. "Lucifer Rising" The season 4 finale, and the point where Cas pretty much rebels entirely for Dean.

Season 5, Episode 3. "Free to Be You and Me"

A well known Destiel episode, this is a great bonding episode for Dean and Cas, and helps develop their friendship with one another.

Season 5, Episode 4. "The End" Another popular Destiel episode, Dean is taken 5 years into the future (2014) and meets the alternate future versions of himself and Cas, who I'm not alone in feeling like they were sleeping with each other.

Season 5, Episode 18. "The Point of No Return" This episode has some great interactions between Cas and Dean, and a lot of subtext.

Season 6, Episode 20. "The Man Who Would Be King"

A very popular episode amongst Destiel shippers, this episode was the episode that I, along with many others, were fully convinced of Destiel. One of my all time favorite SPN episodes, and greatly written, the focus is on Cas as he reveals what he's been up to the past year, and the episode where Dean is heartbroken to realize that Cas betrayed them.

Season 8, Episode 17. "Goodbye Stranger"

It's revealed that Cas has been being brainwashed by Naomi and unknowingly helping her. He is ordered to kill Dean, but his brainwashing breaks after Dean tells him that he needs him. (Which in the script was written as "I love you" instead of "I need you.")

Season 10, Episode 5. "Fanfiction" This episode isn't exactly a "Destiel Episode." Cas isn't even in it! It's a meta episode about a bunch of teenagers putting on an SPN play with their own interpretations of it, including Destiel, and even referencing it by name! A definite fan favorite, and one of my all time favorites. It's definitely a comfort episode of mine.

Season 12, Episode 10. "Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets" Throughout Season 12, there were many great Destiel moments, arguably some of the most out of any season. (They were opening the show up to the possibility of Destiel and were testing the waters while they did a market study.) I chose this episode to put on the list because this entire episode is basically one big parallel to Destiel, what more is there to say? SPN was especially insane for this one, and how blatant the parallels were. You can find many more s12 Destiel episodes, though.

Season 13, Episode 6. "Tombstone" The first episode after Cas is spit out of The Empty, Cas and Dean are on a hunt with Sam and Jack, and Dean and Cas dress up as cowboys. A pretty light hearted, fun episode where they all very much act like a family.

Season 15, Episode 18. "Despair" We all know what this one is. It's the reason why we celebrate November 5th, why I'm writing this. Destiel becomes (mostly) canon.

Honorable Mentions:

The Purgatory scenes from the beginning of Season 8. (Episodes 1-5.)

Way too much to add onto the main list, but some of the best and most intense Destiel scenes regardless. All they did was sacrifice themselves for each other there, with Cas leaving Dean to lead the monsters away from him, to Dean staying there for a year just to find his angel.

Season 8, Episode 7. "A Little Slice of Kevin" Cas comes back from Purgatory after Dean drives himself crazy thinking he's seeing Cas everywhere he looks, and the two have a heartfelt reunion.

Season 9, Episode 6. "Heaven Can't Wait" The first episode that Robert Berens, who wrote 15x18, wrote. A human Cas is working at a Gas-N-Sip when Dean comes to visit with him and work a case with him. Note that Misha was told to play Cas like a "jilted lover" towards Dean in this episode.

Parallels between Dean & Cas and Cain & Collette in Season 10. (Most predominantly in episodes 14 and 22. 14, where Dean and Cain have a showdown, and 22, where Dean beats up Cas badly, almost killing him before he makes himself stop.)

Season 15 certainly had a lot of Destiel (they knew what they were going to do with Cas in 15x18 at this point, and Misha played Cas as in love with Dean the entirety of s15) but two episodes besides 15x18 stand out to me:

Season 15, Episode 3. "The Rupture" Dean and Cas have been fighting and Dean has been very angry at Cas ever since Mary died. It finally comes to a head in this episode, and they pretty much "break up."

Season 15, Episode 9. "The Trap" Dean and Cas finally make up, and Dean forgives Cas. He falls to his knees crying while he prays to Cas for forgiveness and opens up to him more than he does to almost any other character.

There are many many more episodes I didn't mention, because there are just so many!! These are the episodes in my opinion that are important to Destiel and/or have a lot of good moments. Hope you enjoy this list!!

#supernatural #spn #destiel #deancas #november 5th #november 5 2020 #spn the confession #15x18 #castiel #dean winchester

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warrioreowynofrohan · 2 years

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I’ve started rereading The Way of Kings and am noticing a few things.

First, the risk that Sanderson took starting it the way he did. Three different time periods and viewpoint characters before the fourth chapter finally gives us a current-time, main character viewpoint. If I was Sanderson’s editor when he was pitching this, I’d be finding the Cenn viewpoint the hardest sell.

The Kelek one is short, hints at vastly powerful forces, ends with the creation of a great mythic lie, and the “4,500 years later” gives things a properly epic feel.

The Szeth one is fantastic - it starts with an iconic line, has an engaging magic battle scene, and sets up a central mystery: why did the Parshendi betray the alliance and have Gavilar assassinated. It explains enough but not too much of the context (mechanics of Szeth’s ‘magic’ powers: yes; details of the concept of Truthless and reasons behind Shin veneration of stone: no).

But the Cenn one has the combined challenges that this isn’t a main character, dies (though we don’t yet know it) at the end of the scene, and isn’t an interesting person in and of himself. If I was the editor, I’d be asking “Why can’t we have the Kaladin POV here?” But the more we see of Kaladin, the clearer it becomes why his introduction had to be done this way. The contrast between Kaladin in the Cenn-POV chapter and the despairing Kaladin in the slave wagon in the next chapter gains its power and drama from two things: the contrast between who Kaladin was then and now, and the contrast between how others see Kaladin and how he sees himself. Kaladin in that battle wouldn’t have seen himself as the heroic, nearly-miraculous figure his soldiers see him as: rescuing Cenn by fighting six-on-one and killing all his enemies in a matter of seconds, then turning into a healer and bandaging his wounds; training his men to operate as a unit unlike anyone else on the battlefield; spending most of his pay on bribing the support staff to evacuate his wounded; bribing other commanders to give him recruits who seemed militarily useless. He’d have taken that for granted. Kaladin (later) reacts to being pretty much miraculously resurrected by despairing and thinking he’s a failure. The switch of perspective at the start is necessary for us to realize early on that the way Kaladin percieves himself does not line up with objective reality or with other people’s perceptions, and necessary for us to realize how impressive he was, and how others reacted to him, before his enslavement. It’s the essential backdrop for all the horrible early chapters in the slave wagons and Bridge 4. But the necessity of that only becomes apparent once the reader has spent a while with Kaladin.

The second thing I’m noticing is that, while on my first read-through I was overwhelmed and not picking up on this, Sanderson does leave us a trail of breadcrumbs to follow. In the first chapter, four people are named: Kalak, Jezrien, Talenel, and Ishar. Then, only a few pages later, Szeth passes the states “depicting the Ten Heralds from ancient Vorin theology”, naming four: “Jezerezah, Ishi, Kelek, Talenelat.” The names are similar enough that it’s possible to put the pieces together. Even in Kaladin’s first chaptet, the mention of windspren stucking things to other things can recall Szeth’s Full Lashings.

Another thing that jumped out at me: in the first chapter, Kelek mentions “red, orange, and violet” blood on the battlefield. Parshendi blood is orange, but who on Roshar has violet blood?

#brandon sanderson #the stormlight archive #kaladin #the way of kings #szeth #szeth son son vallano

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flower-zombie-rob · 11 months

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Queer pride icons 2023 masterpost

I’ve turned on this collection of pride icons being my biggest one yet since I wanted to include way, more fandoms than previous years. these are all fandoms I’m involved with as well as fandoms that I’ve met a lot of queer people from, absolutely lovely characters, and who I think deserve to be included in this set due to either a great portion of fandom representation or just a massive cannon content representation for queer people that I think should be celebrated. All of the original posts that these links lead to, if you want a version of any of the characters with a flag that isn’t shown on the postal hasn’t already been asked for, send me an ask or direct message me and I’ll make you a custom one just for you, because pride month should be celebrated by everyone!

Jacksepticeye egos:

Robbie the zombie

Chase Brody

Jackieboyman

Jameson Jackson

Antisepticeye

Shawn Flynn

Marvin The magnificent

Jacksepticeye ego custom requests:

Demiromantic chase

Idemiromantic/acespike jackie

Agender boy jackie

It/its flag jackie

Cupiosexual jackie

Markiplier egos:

xenogender Jameson

Bingsepticeye

Actor Mark

Darkiplier

Damien

Celine

Wilford Warfstache

Bim trimmer

Jim

Engineer Mark

Yancy

Illinois

Googleplier

Bingiplier

Doctor iplier

The host

Markiplier ego custom requests:

(None yet)

Sanders sides:

Virgil Sanders

Logan Sanders

Patton Sanders

Janus Sanders

Remus Sanders

Roman Sanders

Sleep

Emile

Sanders sides custom requests:

Abrosexual patton

good omens:

Crowley

Aziraphale

good omens custom requests:

Genderqueer crowley

The Sandman:

dream/morpheus

desire

despair

death

Lucifer

The Corinthian

The Sandman custom requests:

(None yet)

The owl house:

Luz Noceda

Amity Blight

Willow Park

Hunter

Gus Porter

Eda Clawthorne

Raine Whispers

King Clawthorne

Lilith Clawthorne

Hooty

The Collector

The owl house custom requests:

Poly/Uranic Hunter

#jacksepticeye #Markiplier #the owl house #the sandman #good omens #pride month #pride icons #zombie pride icons 2023 #Pride icons #masterpost

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arda-marred · 6 months

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According to letters and previously unpublished manuscripts, J.R.R. Tolkien began writing stories about Middle-earth as far back as 1917 when he was deployed in the First World War. During this time of time of senseless destruction and tragedy, Tolkien created a hero that embodied these fears; Turin Turambar, the self-proclaimed “Master of Doom.” There is no shortage of heroes in Middle-earth; the diverse cast of characters is a primary reason readers are attracted to Tolkien’s books. From the highest order of Elves and Gods to the smallest Hobbit in the Shire, anyone can be a hero. Manwe, Gandalf, Beren and Luthien, Eowyn, Frodo, Sam, and so on. These heroes of Middle-earth are generally positive figures, they show compassion for others, take council in wisdom, and put the needs of the helpless ahead of themselves; standard qualities for an archetypal fantasy protagonist by today’s standards. Turin is different. He is disturbed, melancholic, and vainglorious, though he is capable of compassion and accomplishes much in the name of good; of Turin’s many exploits, the most remarkable is single-handedly slaying Glaurung the dragon, a scene reminiscent of Sigurd and Fafnir from the “Volsunga Saga.” Despite all of Turin’s achievements though, despair follows. His sister Lalaith dies from plague as a child and Turin never recovers emotionally; Turin’s father Hurin is captured in battle, believed to be dead, tortured for decades, and cursed to watch his family suffer from afar through dark magic; Turin’s homeland is overtaken by bandits and subjected to thralldom; Turin is forced to abandon his pregnant mother at the age of nine and the two never meet again; he is exiled from his foster home after murdering an advisor to the king, refusing to return on the one condition that he ask for forgiveness; he kills his best friend Beleg after mistaking him for an orc in the dark; most disturbing of all, he discovers that his pregnant wife, is actually his long lost sister Nienor. Upon realizing their act of incest, Nienor casts herself into the ocean and Turin falls upon his sword, thus ending his miserable life. Turin, a complicated anti-hero that isn’t quite sympathetic, but pitiable, is a jarring departure from the other heroes of Middle-earth. There is never a triumph for Turin; the weight of the world just keeps packing on. While Tolkien was certainly in the headspace to create such a character during the turmoil of World War One, the genesis of Turin and his family is derived from “The Kalevala,” a collection of ancient songs, poems, and folk stories from Finland. Turin’s life was inspired by the rune songs of Kullervo, a deeply troubled youth who experiences many hardships and goes through life inflicting disaster upon himself and his people; sometimes by accident, other times in a fit of rage. Kullervo is a national icon in Finland, not just for his appearance in “The Kalevala,” but as the subject for Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ first major symphony, “Kullervo. Op. 7.” Through this creation, Sibelius raised the international awareness of this tragic character, as well as the literary and cultural merit of “The Kalevala.” Read more

#Tolkien #J.R.R. Tolkien #Turin Turambar #The Children of Hurin #The Silmarillion #Tolkien's Legendarium #Tolkien studies #Kullervo #Finnish mythology #The Kalevala #Finnish rune songs #The Tale of Kullervo #Tolkien's inspirations #Tolkien's influences #Tolkien and the Great War

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apocalypticavolition · 4 months

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Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 19: Beneath the Dagger

Do you still remember the deal? Probably not, huh? It goes like this: this reread has spoilers for the whole dang series. Spoilers for book 1 (kind of expected), book 2 (not uncommon), book 8 (I already ran out of parentheticals), book 10 (just kidding nothing happens in this one), and even book 15 (the one that only super special fans get to read). If you don't want that, don't click Keep reading.

The icon for this chapter is the Horn of Valere as it is the object of Rand's quest and his prize. It's also what our favorite lady in white gets fixated on. They're all very straightforward.

Every day they had been there on the mountainside, watching the place where Hurin said the trail had been, in that other world—where Selene said the Darkfriends would surely appear in this world—he told himself it was time to leave. And Selene talked of the Horn of Valere, and touched his arm, and looked into his eyes, and before he knew it he had agreed to yet another day before they went on.

I suspect that Selene is using Compulsion here and that it's working as much because this is what fate needs to happen as it is what Rand wants to do anyway. He thinks this is all nonsense and a complete long shot but in his gut he knows it's the only way to keep Mat alive, so all Selene is really accomplishing is pushing his surface thoughts out of the way of his true nature. It's borderline therapeutic!

I was happy then, I think, even running for my life. Playing the flute for my supper.

That is not remotely how it was, Rand. You were stressed and exhausted and for every place you got to play for your supper there was another where you got scammed or threatened or worse. It's quite interesting how we romanticize our memories though. One of Rand's bigger problems is that eventually he gets to a point where there's nothing to work with for this delusion, so all the "despair debt" as it were catches up with him in a lump sum.

In the moonlight he could see the shape of Selene, bending over his saddlebags, her hands on the buckles. Her white dress gathered the faint light.

There's something intensely metaphorical about the fact that the woman who has betrayed both sides of the metaphysical conflict at play is herself betrayed by the things that she does claim loyalty to.

“It came to me,” she said, “that I’ve been wearing this dress too long. I could brush it, at least, if I had something else to wear while I did. One of your shirts, perhaps.”

Points to Lanfear though for always having a back-up plan to work her angles.

Her soft laugh sent a shiver down his back, as if she had run a finger along his spine.

Rand doesn't mention goosebumps specifically in this sequence but I bet she really is running weaves of Air around him. Makes her creepier.

“Think of the glory that will come to the one who finds the Horn of Valere. How proud I’ll be to stand beside him who holds the Horn. You have no idea the heights we will scale together, you and I. With the Horn of Valere in your hand, you can be a king. You can be another Artur Hawkwing. You. . . .”

Honestly if Hurin hadn't interrupted her here Rand probably would have rebuffed her pretty hard anyway. Glory is the least of this boy's interests and Lanfear literally can't bring it up without going into this long-winded rant which she almost certainly plans to cap off with "topple the Creator and the Dark One". It's not even all that likely that someone with the Horn could pull off Hawkwing anyway - the world is too divided and the Heroes won't be happy being used for petty political warfare.

No reason to be angry with her.

Here's some other Compulsion Selene pulls off successfully, though the stakes are super low. There's plenty of reason to be mad Rand, even with just the info you have! It's weird she's digging around in your stuff in the middle of the night instead of talking to you about it. It's weird that she's sexually harassing you instead of respecting your boundaries. It's weird that she's clearly lying to you about Portal Stones!

“You don’t know you cannot take it. How many followers does this man have? You don’t know that, either.”

I will give Lanfear credit for actually providing useful tactical advice. Even if her "Get the Horn now!" routine is based entirely in her delusional self-importance, she's not wrong to point out that they should be learning about the enemy camp while they have the chance and the element of surprise. Rand's really more of the big picture strategist in warfare than this kind of skirmish.

“I am capable of guarding myself, until you return to protect me. Take the alantin.”

Nothing suspicious about any of THIS at all. Literally any other Ogier in the world would have called out someone calling them an Old Tongue name only, I think. Loial just doesn't do it because he's so naive.

“Remember the glory,” she said softly. “Remember.”

I think it's pronounced "Memento mori", Lanfear. Someone really should have been whispering that to you.

He wished he could stop thinking, and before he realized it, the void had formed within him, making thoughts distant things, as if part of someone else. Saidin shone at him, beckoned to him.

Being caught between Lanfear and the tainted saidin makes rocks and hard places seem like vacation destinations. But being able to use the void at all means that Tam's training saved Rand from quite a lot of Lanfear's influence I think.

Loial’s huge hand settled over Rand’s mouth, and a good part of his face besides.

This is far funnier to me than it has any intention of being. Breaks up the tension of the scene, which is quite effective but difficult to quote because it builds up over time.

Tam had told him Trollocs were lazy, apt to give up any task but killing unless fear kept them to it.

Really just another demonstration of how the Shadow without the Light is entirely self-defeating.

The Horn of Valere and the dagger Mat needed, both almost within reach of his hand. Selene’s face drifted with the chest. They could follow Fain’s party in the morning, and wait until Ingtar joined them. If Ingtar did come, if he still followed the trail without his sniffer. No, there would never be a better chance. All within reach of his hand. Selene was waiting on the mountain.

Again, points to Selene (from the Light's perspective) because Rand would have utterly wasted this opportunity without her guidance. It really makes me wonder how she got to rise through the ranks to Forsaken at all considering how little she does for the Shadow's agenda. Literally less than the Trollocs and I just got done roasting them.

His hand touched something else, on the lid. The dagger, bare-bladed. In the dark, his eyes widened. Remembering what it had done to Mat, he jerked back, the void shifting with his agitation.

Lucky he didn't cut himself on it. Or perhaps unlucky; if he had cut his hand on it maybe Ishamael would have given him a matching wound there as well instead of any side wounds and it would have been much less miserable in the long run what with Semirhage's post-cleansing amputation of the poor boy.

Even in the night it was plain Loial’s eyes were as wide as they could go; they looked as big as saucers in the light of the moon.

It's these subtle touches that do a good job of emphasizing how uncommonly brave Rand is. Loial is absolutely a trooper for making it this far but even he's got limits.

“I know it is you, al’Thor! You’re hiding from me, but I know you are out there! Find him! Find him! Al’Thoooor!”

It's funny how in this book, which is mostly moving well away from the LotR inspiration that all 80s fantasy novels needed to have, Fain is acting more Gollum-like than ever before.

Rand moved without thought. He was one with the blade. Cat Dances on the Wall. The Trolloc screamed as it fell, screamed again as it died.

Frankly, CDotW sounds less like a standard sword form and more like what mentors joking call it when the new guys start panicking and waving their sword everywhere in a panic, but I guess it works.

The Courtier Taps His Fan. No scream, this time.

In contrast, this particular form sounds much more dignified and controlled. Jordan using these names to describe the action without describing it was a really great touch.

Lizard in the Thornbush. He rose smoothly from one knee as the second toppled, horns almost brushing his shoulder.

I like sword forms okay?

Fain was there, and Darkfriends, and more Trollocs. Too many to fight. Too many to face and live.

As awesome as the forms are, I do have to point out how unbelievable it sounds that Rand just single handedly killed eight Trollocs and is worried about fighting more. Like obviously he will eventually get exhausted but it really feels like he burned through a good chunk of the enemy forces. I'm not really sure how many there are at this point anyway and I'm not sure if that's the text being vague for tension or if I just forgot from earlier chapters because of the break.

“Sometimes I do not understand half of what you say,” Loial said. “If you must go mad, could it at least wait until we are back with the Lady Selene and Hurin?”

Again: Loial is painfully naive. Any other Ogier would have been well aware of exactly how alarming Rand's confession of going mad would be. I'm just gonna say it outright: the Elders were lowkey right not to approve of Loial wandering around in the world on his own. Look at the company he keeps.

As she stretched on tiptoe to put a hand inside, Rand reached over her shoulder and lifted out the Horn of Valere. He had seen it once before, but never touched it. Though beautifully made, it did not look a thing of great age, or power.

Normally I don't approve of tall people using their height to thwart shorties but for Lanfear I must of course make an exception.

And also, I'm sure again: how fucking old IS the Horn anyway? It can't possibly just be going through the whole of the Wheel over and over. Who made it? Why? When? What parts of interacting with the Heroes that the cast just assumes is the natural order of the worldl are in fact only possible because the Horn exists?

“You misunderstand me, Rand,” Selene said. “You cannot go back, now. You are committed. Those Friends of the Dark will not simply go away because you’ve taken the Horn from them. Far from it. Unless you know some way to kill them all, they will be hunting you now as you hunted them before.”

Ugh and now she's made another good point, even though again it's only in her self-interest. Lanfear you are supposed to be crazy. Stop challenging that by actually being helpful.

“Be careful,” Selene said. “Do not cut yourself.”

Once again, one has to wonder how the Forsaken are so familiar with something that was never contemporaneous with any of them except ol' Ballsac.

I am also now struck by the wondering if Lanfear's behavior makes her some third flavor of evil that might also be destructive against the Taint if it only existed in larger qualities than her. Probably not, but... she's closer to pulling it off than anyone else.

“The chest will surely shield us,” Selene said in a tight voice. “And now I mean to finish what is left of my night’s sleep.”

Since the chest is a stasis box, Lanfear is of course quite pissed that Rand has accidentally found a valid solution to their problem.

He gestured to the first Trolloc that had brought him word al’Thor was not to be found. It still snapped at ground muddied with its own blood, hooves scraping trenches as they jerked.

Poor Trolloc. Nobody deserves Fain.

“I am a dog no longer. A dog no longer!” He heard the others shifting uneasily around the fire, but he ignored them.

A fun contrast. Rand protests he will not be made a puppet and aptly demonstrates this by making his own choices whenever possible and wise. Fain protests that he's not a dog even as he plans to follow Rand's metaphorical scent, then he goes barking mad. The Shadow: Not even once.

That wraps up another chapter. Lanfear doesn't deserve any points so I'm taking them all away from her before the chapter break. She's back to 0, tied with virtually every other character! Next time: Fewer points awarded to Lanfear, hopefully. Also: saidin.

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #rand al'thor #loial #hurin #lanfear

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satoshi-mochida · 7 months

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SaGa Emerald Beyond announced for PS5, PS4, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android

Gematsu Source

Square Enix has announced SaGa Emerald Beyond for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android. It will launch digitally in early 2024 worldwide.

Here is the official press release information:

SaGa Emerald Beyond is an all-new original adventure in the acclaimed SaGa RPG franchise. Featuring music from iconic series composer Kenji Ito and artwork from acclaimed illustrator Satoshi Kuramochi, SaGa Emerald Beyond brings together the core combat and free-form scenario elements of the beloved RPG franchise to deliver the ultimate SaGa experience to fans and newcomers alike. SaGa Emerald Beyond features an eclectic cast of heroes from vastly different worlds, with five distinct and dramatic stories to experience. Players will select any of the six protagonists to begin their story with, and guided by mysterious emerald waves, will explore 17 strikingly beautiful worlds where you can meet a diverse cast of races, including monsters, mechs, and vampires, forging their own story. SaGa Emerald Beyond expands on the free-form scenario system the SaGa franchise is renowned for, offering the player the greatest amount of freedom to shape their own story to date, with each tale branching outwards based on their choices and actions. The game also features strategic turn-based combat system, offering the best iteration of the SaGa franchise’s combat. Players can choose to begin their story as one of the following protagonists. Each possesses the rare ability to see emerald waves that present choices of their destinies:

Tsunanori Mido – A man who can manipulate kugutsu, or animated puppets, which protect the barrier around his home, Miyako City. When the city is plagued by all kinds of supernatural phenomena, Tsunanori embarks on a journey to other worlds to find four elemental spirits in order to restore order to the spiritual realm.

Ameya – A witch-in-training who visits Miyako City and lives in secret as a schoolgirl as a part of her graduation exam. After Ameya is attacked by an unknown man, she loses practically all of her magical power and must find a way to regain what was lost and pass her final exam.

Siugnas – An immortal vampire who rules over Yomi, a world shrouded in darkness, as the Dismal King. However, after being betrayed and driven from his throne, Siugnas finds himself in Brighthome—the gathering place of dead warriors—and must set out on a journey to recover his powers alongside the other warriors in his squadron.

Diva No.5 – A songstress mech designed to sing and dance from the world of Avalon. After singing a forbidden song, however, Diva’s memory and singing functionality are sealed away, causing her to lose her livelihood and music itself. In her despair, Diva discards her “human” body and, going with the flow, accepts an invitation from a secret society, leaving Avalon behind.

Bonnie and Formina – Two new recruits and partners on the Capitol City police force who are investigating an assassination attempt on the President. With a key person of interest’s claim that the president is a traitor and a mysterious triangle piece as their only clues, they set off on a journey through other worlds to uncover the hidden truth behind the incident.

And here is the game’s store description:

About

The latest standalone entry in the SaGa franchise, SaGa Emerald Beyond, brings together the very best elements of the beloved series to offer each player their own unique gameplay experience. Make use of glimmers and combos in battle; meet a diverse cast of races, including monsters, mechs, and vampires; and experience your very own story, created through your choices and actions.

Distant Worlds Woven Together

Travel to 17 unique worlds from the Junction, either led by the hand of destiny or by a path forged by your own choices. Discover the completely different cultures and landscapes, ranging from a densly developed forest of skyscrapers and a green and lucious habitat covered in plantlife to a world governed by five witches, or one ruled by vampires–just to name a few of the distict settings.

An Eclectic Cast of Protagonists

Six leading characters, all from diverse backgrounds and with vastly different goals, set out on their journey in five unique story arcs. They venture to the myriad of worlds for their very personal reasons: One, a human on a mission to protect the barrier defending his city; another, a witch trying to regain her lost magic while maintaining her disguise as a schoolgirl; and yet another, a vampire lord out to regain his crown and reclaim the throne as the rightful king of his world. Even Selecting the same protagonist for a second—or third or fourth—playthrough will lead to completely new events and stories, a completely fresh path and experience.

A Story of Your Very Own Making

SaGa Emerald Beyond has the greatest number of branching plots of any game in the SaGa series. The story branches abundantly depending on your choices and actions. Every time you visit a world, the story will evolve, allowing the protagonist and player alike to discover new possibilities. As the story unfolds in this way it becomes a tale all your own, not only affecting the path you walk but also the multiple potential endings that await each protagonist.

Battles where a Single Choice Can Change Everything

SaGa Emerald Beyond further refines the highly strategic Timeline Battles the SaGa franchise has been long renowned for. With series mainstays such as the skill to spontaneous acquire abilities through the Glimmer system, tactical ally placement known as Formations, and United Attacks that enable individual skills to connect together to form devastating chain attacks, it offers the best iteration of SaGa‘s turn-based combat to date. The new combat system adds more drama than ever before, allowing you to support party members, interrupt enemy actions, and use United Attacks by strategically manipulating the order of ally actions. The characters that join you, the weapons you wield, your party formation, and your tactics in battle—everything is up to you!

Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here.

Announce Trailer

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

#SaGa Emerald Beyond #SaGa Series #Square Enix #Nintendo Switch #PS4 #PS5 #Steam #RPG #Gematsu #Youtube

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anubislover · 5 months

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My mother was watching The Crown and I came in during the frankly *iconic* Princess Diana moment and it made me realize something.

You know which One Piece character should get her own Revenge Dress moment?

Viola.

Seriously. Doflamingo was literally the king of Dressrosa for ten years. He wasn't even secretly ruling from the shadows. He was a big deal, visible, front and center. There is no way his defeat, fall, and arrest wouldn't be huge news. No way Big News Morgan would let a scoop like that slip through his feathers. Especially when there's a princess like Viola on the throne, who has an incredible story of perseverance and drama from serving the man she hated. There had to be paparazzi everywhere.

Now, Viola knows Doflamingo. She hates the man and served him for a decade. But she knows that while he's definitely imprisoned, he's got connections everywhere. She knows he'll find a way to get access to things like newspapers, even in the bowels of Impel Down. So what does she do?

Has her iconic Revenge Dress moment. She lives her best life as the rightful ruler of her country and shows off in a classy but sexy-as-hell dress for the press knowing her picture would end up in the papers, which would make their way to Doffy. And on the inside she's crowing in delight, because after years of humiliation, suffering, and despair, even if Doflamingo isn't dead like she wishes he was, she can get one last, petty parting shot in against the man who ruined her life and family.

Just...Viola deserves a Princess Diana "fuck you to my ex" moment. Please.

#one piece #viola one piece #donquixote doflamingo #princess diana #revenge dress #one piece headcanons #dressrosa #donquixote pirates #doflamingo one piece #violet one piece #please viola deserves this kind of moment #and considering how Pda basically said she and Doffy were an item it's fitting #he didn't publicly announce he cheated but what he did was definitely worse so let her have this

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 1 year

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What do you think about Cinderella?

Thoughts on the Movie

Fantastic artwork. Mary Blair is remembered as one of Disney's greatest concept artists for a reason. The film is beautiful and iconic from the character design, background art, set design, etc. Once again, this is one of those films you should watch if only for the artwork alone.

Thoughts on the Plot

It's not my favorite version of the Cinderella story.

It's leagues ahead of the Disney live action Cinderella, which was... a movie, but it has little plot to work with and it knows it. We get very long sequences of the talking mice running for their lives from the cat Lucifer.

This has nothing to do with our main characters, nothing to do with the plot as a whole, and all of these characters could have been easily cut but we clearly need to take up runtime. So, we get a lot of mice.

And the mice get the most personality by far of all of the characters. (Except perhaps for the despairing king and his advisor who just wants his son to get married. JUST PICK SOMEONE!)

This is because, like some other Disney films, the characters are meant to be archetypes and tropes who fill a role rather than characters. That's the point of them, not for the characters themsleves to have too much depth.

As a result, the stepmother's delightfully evil but not particularly memorable in what she says or does. Cinderella is beautiful and sweet, but again not too memorable for what she says. The prince... god, he barely gets any lines at all.

It's a film that poured all its personality and interesting lines into its tangential characters who aren't actually involved in the plot.

Getting Into This Again

Like Snow White, I'm not that offended by Cinderella. One of the things we see addressed in the new version is that Cinderella doesn't rescue herself in the original version and isn't in control of her own destiny.

However, in the live action there's a fundamental issue with this: if Cinderella can leave any time she likes, then why doesn't she? ("Oh, I really like this house. It's okay that my relatives abuse me because I can ride on a horse in the woods.")

To me, the original is far more realistic and compelling. Cinderella doesn't leave because she can't. Her father has died, she grew up in this household, she has no introduction into society, no financial means of supporting herself, and no way of getting out.

This ball is her opportunity to get out of the claustrophobic world that she lives in and one that is not easy to flee from.

#cinderella #cinderella meta #meta #opinion #disney

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 years

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top 5 ouat moments? i've only seen a few eps but everything i've heard about the show is wild so i'm curious

jesus christ let's go

first and foremost I would be absolutely refuckingmiss if I didn't talk about Emma and stupid fucking eyeliner Captain Hook absolutely sucking face in the goddamn cursed jungles of Neverland while an absolutely demonic Peter Pan was skittering around abducting children. absolutely insane payoff to that sexual tension. this woman's annoying 12 (???) year old has been abducted by his own shit-eating immortal great-grandfather and she has this absolute mess of a wet one-handed man dragging himself after her in 700 pounds of leather rambling about how he's in love with her because they have the same abandonment issues... and he was right. she truly said fuck it I will climb this particular leather-bound tree don't mind if I do. this might as well happen. most desperate make out ever aired on a network that doesn't allow kissing with tongue. goth kings do not despair there is a jock gf out there for you and if you go on enough stupid little adventures together she WILL want to peg you.

do you guys remember when Belle went off on an adventure by herself for a episode and she had the absolute KICKIEST little leather booty shorts outfit you ever did see? god. a fashion icon. and then she met this flamboyant CGI Lumiere which absolutely no goddamn sense because he wasn't even, like, IN the Beast's castle because the Beast was just Rumplestiltskin and he had a completely different deal but OUAT was only kept alive through the goodwill of terminally unhinged Disney adults so they had to pepper in little movie references no matter how misplaced and inexplicable they were? okay good now that we've layed the groundwork for that one let's talk about this:

when Elsa and the cast of Frozen showed up as major supporting characters for an entire arc in goddamn live action LESS THAN A YEAR after the movie came out. hello??? HELLO??? unhinged. also very funny how the show played exactly as fast and loose with Frozen as they did with all the older Disney fare up to and including introducing Elsa's Evil Ice Aunt Who No One Ever Mentioned Even Though She Has The Same Goddamn Powers Don't Worry About It.

okay sorry I've sat on this long enough but we simply MUST discuss that a not insignificant chunk of Rumpelstiltskin's backstory is that his wife left him for Captain Hook. and then however many decades later (like every fairy tale character in this show was 500 years old because of *magic* and no one talked about it) Captain Hook came back and. god you guys are not going to believe this. he came back, still the exact same age, and he cucked Rumplestiltskin's son (WHOMST HE ALSO MET AS A CHILD) with tremendous success. please see point #1 again. if you need a reminder. this is so funny and I will genuinely never get over it. this show is nothing but convoluted connections between public domain characters but that is by FAR the most insane. Henry better watch his fucking back when he grows up because this patrilineal is evidently cursed with Getting Cucked By Captain Hook Disease. "Makenzie that's crazy what are the odds it would happen a third time" WHAT ARE THE ODDS IT WOULD HAPPEN TWICE. of all the women you could have fallen gobsmackingly stupid in love with. it was your stepson's baby mama. idiot.

the final season finally coughing up some canon gay rep in its death throes but instead of getting a really popular existing ship like Mulan/Sleeping Beauty together or canonizing a beloved Disney character common headcanoned as queer like the aforementioned Elsa they decided to get Little Red Riding Hood together with never-before-seen Dorothy Wizardofoz in a 5 second scene that was disrespectful to Mulan, Aurora, the audience, and Dorothy's book gf Ozma.

and I'm like barely even scratching the surface here. OUAT is insane. a pre-MCU-fame Sebastian Stan is there for a few episodes. Star Wars is canon. there's an alternate universe based on classic horror instead of fairy tales and everything is black and white there. Christian Gray is a pretty significant character in season 1. Rapunzel showed up like three different times and was a a completely different character each time. Maleficent and Zorro had sex. Emma Stone wishes her Cruella had a SLIVER of what Victoria Smurfit was bringing to the role.

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ace-disgrace-on-the-case · 11 months

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Auugh I swear I’m so. So normal about Guilty Gear

But like. The newest entry in the series, Strive, speaks to me in so many ways and I don’t just mean as a game (though it is fun and I wish I could get ANYONE I know irl to play it with me but oh well, at least I’m pretty good with Bedman?)

And yes I’m about to ramble about fighting game lore so I’m sorry in advance

Over and over through the game’s themes, its story, there’s one thing that just keeps repeating over and over again. The game has a genuine thesis: forgiveness and moving on in a positive direction. Recognizing the world isn’t perfect but seeing that it’s worth saving. From the music to the character arcs it’s there. And oh god, especially the way the characters developed. For example:

Unwilling scientist-turned-superhero Sol Badguy (an alias; his actual name is Fredrick Bulsara—yes, Freddy Mercury’s real name you just get used to that it was intentional) finally gets the chance to move on from the life he was forced into, is no longer the most powerful being alive, and just gets to live with his wife/girlfriend and drink shitty beer and be a mechanic.

Ky Kiske, king of basically the European Union, abdicates to his biological superweapon wife to prove to the world that Gears are people too and gets his happily ever after with her and their son (who is a lovable idiot)

Potemkin, former slave gladiator who helped start a revolution that made his country a better place, who refuses to give up hope for despair even when faced with the harsh realities of the world

Revenge fueled, one-armed Samurai Baiken finally gives up on her revenge to save her found family

Bedman(?), who literally died after going on a mistaken crusade to help save his sister (not knowing that the way he wanted to do so should doom the world and being fooled that all the destruction he caused was only temporary), still caring about his sister enough that even in death his robotic bed continues to protect her, animated (probably) by his soul to earn some ounce of redemption in her eyes

Asuka R. Kreutz, anti-villain forced to make a series of horrible choices, framed for starting essentially World War 3, and now that he’s finally cleared his name starting on the long road to forgiving himself

Bridget, rejecting the social norms of where she lived and society at large to go the way she wanted to in her life (even though she’s hardly relevant to the story she’s still an icon)

Pretty much everyone else in the cast in some way is healing and moving on with life, I’m just listing a few

I’m sorry I’m rambling but like. God it’s a crazy story and it still brings tears to my eyes listening to the ost (absolutely banger btw) and I will not shut up about it I love it too damn much

#post #fen rambles #guilty gear

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smalltownfae · 1 year

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Favourite Opening Lines:

“He came one late, wet spring, and brought the wide world back to my doorstep.” - Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb

“In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.” - Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

“I lost an arm on my last trip home.” - Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.” - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

“Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we?” - The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

“The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone.” - The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” - The Hobbit by J.R. R. Tolkien

“I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.” - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

“Marley was dead, to begin with.” - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Favourite Ending Lines:

Careful with spoilers.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” - Animal Farm by George Orwell (Name a more iconic ending. You can’t.)

“If Hundreds Hall is haunted, however, it’s ghost doesn’t show itself to me. For I’ll turn, and am disappointed – realising that what I am looking at is only a cracked window-pane, and that the face gazing distortedly from it, baffled and longing, is my own.” - The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Killer reveal)

“Oh,Constance,” I said, “we are so happy.” - We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (this has the same effect on me as the ending of the movie Midsommer)

“I When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.” - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

“In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood, like a hundred golden urns pouring out the sun.” - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

“Wolves have no Kings.” - Royal Assassin / “We dream of carving our dragon.” - Assassin’s Quest / “She settled into it and continued towards her destiny.” - The Mad Ship / “The past is no further away than the last breath you took.” - Fool’s Errand / “Perhaps having the courage to find a better path is having the courage to risk making new mistakes.” - The Golden Fool (all by Robin Hobb)

“Hoping that this time it will remain a lullaby. That this time the wind will not hear. That this time – please just this once – it will leave without us.” - Chocolat by Joanne Harris

“And Cat, though he was still a little lonely and tearful, managed to laugh too.” - Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

#favourite first sentences #favourite last sentences #favourite lines #booklr #I probably forgot some

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iviarellereads · 3 months

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The Eye of the World, Chapter 9 - Tellings of the Wheel

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Dragon fang icon)(1) In which I have complicated feelings about this extremely badass moment.

Rand dreams he's being chased across a terrible desert by Trollocs, to the point of utter exhaustion. He sees a mountain, a bleak stone spire, and calls it the source of his desolation. He feels like he knows it, though he can't place how.(2) Part of him feels drawn to the mountain, and his limbs move to bring him closer to it, until he realizes it's not his own urge, and gets angry.

A voice calls upon Rand to "serve me", and Rand swears he'd recognize the voice if it kept talking. He yells a cuss, and a face looms before him that he can't bear to look at.

A hand reaches for him, and he throws himself over the cliff, but lands on his feet in a winter-brown field of grass. He can see a mountain that inspires no negative feelings, and a city between two rivers,(3) a city from a story, white and silver and fair radiating safety. He makes his way toward it until a cold, clammy feeling comes over him, and that face reappears. He can sense the cold hand reaching for him again, touching his collar, and he knows that if those fingers touch him, he'll go mad or worse.

Suddenly he trips, and lands next to one of the bridges to the island-city refuge.

He sees a great white tower and knows that's where safety and knowledge lay, but surely it can't hurt to stay in the city a moment. He turns a corner, and sees the tower at the end of the new street. Everywhere he looks, is the tower.(4) The people around him look of despair and he knows somehow he's the one who broke their hope. As soon as he starts walking toward the tower, they all become happy again and cheer him on, dancing and making music and pushing him toward the tower.

Eventually, he finally makes it to the tower, and the Myrddraal hisses that they've been waiting for him.

Rand wakes from the nightmare to note that the fire's been tended, and wonders if naming the Dark One in a dream, as he did, will bring the same attention as naming him aloud. He blames the nightmare on his hunger and the stress of the previous day.

Tam awakens as Rand gets up to check on him, and realizes that it wasn't a dream when he sees his sword at Rand's waist. Rand catches him up on everything that's happened. Tam is skeptical of Moiraine's words, noting that Aes Sedai don't lie right out, but they can manipulate words to mislead.(5) He does agree that if Rand has to leave, it has to be done soon, but says maybe he'll catch them up on the road.

Lan comes to tell Rand to hurry, there's trouble afoot. Tam tells Rand to keep the sword, he'll likely have more use of it than Tam will. Rand rushes out after Lan, to find Moiraine being yelled at by a crowd of villagers, mainly the ones who are well known for being unhappy with anything and everything. Mayor al'Vere and Master Luhhan try to calm the crowd with reason, to little avail.

Moiraine cuts in and reminds them that they are the descendants of a great kingdom, Manetheren. She tells a tale of the bravery of its rulers, King Aemon al Caar al Thorin and his wife, Queen Eldrene ay Ellan ay Carlan, and their and their citizens. During the Trolloc Wars, Manetheren was the Dark's fiercest opponent, and their main force had just won a great distant victory when they learned that their home was under attack. They marched day and night, not stopping even to clean their blades. They made it home just before the trolloc horde bore down on their mountain kingdom home.

“The host that faced the men of Manetheren was enough to daunt the bravest heart. Ravens blackened the sky; Trollocs blackened the land. Trollocs and their human allies. Trollocs and Darkfriends in tens of tens of thousands, and Dreadlords to command. At night their cook-fires outnumbered the stars, and dawn revealed the banner of Ba’alzamon at their head. Ba’alzamon, Heart of the Dark.(6) An ancient name for the Father of Lies. The Dark One could not have been free of his prison at Shayol Ghul, for if he had been, not all the forces of humankind together could have stood against him, but there was power there. Dreadlords, and some evil that made that light-destroying banner seem no more than right and sent a chill into the souls of the men who faced it."

In the end, they were promised aid, but none came. Eventually the host fell, and Eldrene knew the moment Aemon died. In response, she channeled more than anyone can, and burned herself out to take out a significant portion of the trolloc army.(7) Moiraine tells all this, reminding the people before her that they should weep for the loss of that people to the cowards they are today.(8)

As the crowd disperses, Rand thinks to himself that this is the real beginning, leaving with Moiraine and Lan, and he has no choice except to leave, but he vows to return to Emond's Field someday.(9)

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(1) Who or what do you think this stands for, in this chapter? (2) Hey, we know a mountain! This doesn't sound quite like that one though. What kind of desolated place might Rand half-remember in a dream? What have we been told by reasonable authorities that the Dragon did near the end of his life? The hopelessness of this place could track with the sort of place the Dark One would be more involved in, the kind of place where one Lews Therin Telamon might take a hundred men to try to burn the DO back out of the world. (3) In the prologue, it said the creation of the mountain diverted a river, which split in two, forming an island between its two channels. I wonder if this is related. (4) Well, dream logic could mean a lot of things. But, how interesting that this tower is where safety and knowledge are, and Rand wants to go there, but as soon as it can't be escaped it becomes rather more ominous. (5) Frankly, don't trust anyone 100% at their word, but the Aes Sedai have no small bit of the Fae, or perhaps the Sidhe (note the closeness of the words), in them. There are lots of ways to leave a piece out or make something seem more important than it is, without lying, to influence the interpretation. Why, I'm doing both of those all the time in these summaries. >:D (6) Ba'alzamon sounds an awful lot like Beelzebub, doesn't it? Lord of the flies, father of lies. A fun wordplay to use. (7) Huh, that sounds a little like what happened to LTT in the prologue.

(8) Now here's where I get a bit tetchy. First, if you're not reading or rereading with me, I gotta tell you to go read (or listen to) this speech for yourself, it's worth it. See, this is an unbelievably powerful speech. Don't get me wrong, it's utterly iconic. The audiobook is narrated, in this chapter, by Michael Kramer because it's from Rand's point of view, but there exists out there a narration of this speech by Kate Reading, who does the women's POVs when they come in. (It's barely a spoiler to tell you the audiobook casting, right?) Anyway, she read the Manetheren speech once, and it's one of the most moving readings of the series IMO, and I know all that's coming. But, I have a "but". I think it's a bit rich that this stranger knows their history, while the only remnants they have are a few place names that have themselves morphed over the years, and a cultural stubbornness. It's part of the point being made, but I wonder at how differently it could've been handled to not seem like this white lady walking into a rural brown town (for have you noticed how much redhead Rand stands out with his grey eyes? though skin colour hasn't been mentioned, it's not a far stretch) and wagging her finger at them for not knowing their own history, as if everyone outside does or something. (9) Oh, Rand, you really don't know the hero's journey, do you? You can never really go home again. You can visit the place, but you and it will both have changed in your absence, so much sometimes that the place is uncannily unrecognizable from what your memory held. The journey has already begun, and I love this little knife to the heart.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #the eye of the world #eye of the world #eotw #teotw #wot dragon fang icon #rand al'thor #tam al'thor #lan mandragoran #moiraine damodred

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