#no one does it like c!dream | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hanzajesthanza · 6 months

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it really does matter so much that fringilla vigo is nilfgaardian, beauclairoise, for many reasons, but let's start here:

her entire role is that of an illusionist; one which she would not be were it not for her family lineage, rooted in beauclair:

There was a corridor in Beauclair Palace, and at the end a chamber, the existence of which no one knew about. (...) The corridor and the chamber, disguised by a powerful illusion, were known only to the palace’s original elven builders. And later–when the elves had gone, and Toussaint became a duchy–to the small number of sorcerers linked to the ducal house. Including Artorius Vigo, a master of magical arcana and great specialist in illusions. And his young niece, Fringilla, who had a special talent for illusions.

and since her talent in illusions is well-defined in the series, as it is her who grants geralt the very silver-mounted chrysoprase amulet which saves his life in the final fight against vilgefortz:

Geralt clenched Fringilla’s medallion in his fist. The bar fell with a clang, striking the floor a foot from the Witcher’s head. Geralt rolled away and quickly got up on one knee. Vilgefortz leaped forward and struck. The bar missed the target again by a few inches. The sorcerer shook his head in disbelief and hesitated for a second. (...) ‘I didn’t know …’ Yennefer said at last, scrambling out of a pile of rubble. She looked terrible. The blood trickling from her nose had poured all over her chin and cleavage. ‘I didn’t know you could cast illusory spells,’ she repeated, seeing Geralt’s uncomprehending gaze, ‘capable even of deceiving Vilgefortz.’ ‘It’s my medallion.’ ‘Aha.’ She looked suspicious. ‘A curious thing...’

that talent is something which cannot, by far, be separated from her character. and returning back to her lineage, it is again her familial relations which place her in beauclair.

she was positioned there, ready to intercept geralt, as early as the autumnal equinox in september, by which time geralt had barely just left the town of riedbrune:

The world over, the autumn Equinox was a night of spectres, nightmares and apparitions, a night of sudden, suffocating awakenings, fraught with menace, among sweat-soaked and rumpled sheets. Neither did the most illustrious escape the apparitions and awakenings; (...) In the huge castle of Montecalvo the sorceress Philippa Eilhart leaped from damask sheets, without waking the Comte de Noailles’ wife. The dwarf Yarpen Zigrin in Mahakam, the old witcher Vesemir in the mountain stronghold of Kaer Morhen, the bank clerk Fabio Sachs in the city of Gors Velen and Yarl Crach an Craite on board the longboat Ringhorn all awoke more or less abruptly. The sorceress Fringilla Vigo came awake in Beauclair Castle*, as did the priestess Sigrdrifa of the temple of the goddess Freyja on the island of Hindarsfjall.

* Slight correction - As explained in Chapter 3 of Lady of the Lake, Beauclair is not a castle, but a palace.

and she's only invited to beauclair in such a capacity because she is a relative of the duchess:

‘I’m in Beauclair because the largest, best-stocked library in the known world is here. Apart from university libraries, naturally. But universities are jealous of giving access to their shelves, and here I’m a relation and good friend of Anarietta and can do as I wish.’

(whom, you may note, she stands by and jointly receives geralt with at their first meeting, and participates in the festival of the vat with)

and therefore, she was in a perfectly strategic position to delay geralt, keep him captive:

‘(...) Please at least tell us … has the Witcher calmed down now? Are you capable of keeping him in Toussaint at least until May?’ (…) ‘No,’ she answered at last. ‘Probably not until May. But I’ll do everything in my power to keep him here as long as possible.’

because fringilla is not just an illusionist literally, as in the magic she is naturally gifted at, but 'illusionist' is her entire identity as a character.

and as her family hails from beauclair, this specific identity is compounded with the fact that beauclair itself is the center of illusions, a dreamland, a fairytale:

‘There’s something bewitched about this place, this fucking Toussaint. Some kind of charm hangs over the whole valley. Especially over the palace (...) no two ways about it, there’s something bewitched about this bloody Toussaint.’

fringilla is an illusionist because she is beauclairoise. she not only hails from a long line of illusionists, but hails from, is related to the ruler of, the very city of illusions and dreams.

she is the illusionist not just in a literal sense, but in the entire narrative role of casting an illusion over our hero, because it is the illusion of love which keeps her and geralt in beauclair. (the tricky trick is that geralt, taking a page out of yennefer's playbook of seduction, cleverness, patience, was able to cast an illusion upon the mistress of illusions herself, free himself from the witch's spell, awake from a pleasant dream to face the harsh reality).

(sighs) and even if you want to forget fringilla's beauclairoise identity and erase her entire positioning as the illusionist which poses a threat to our heroes, entices them to complacency, her role as nilfgaardian in the sense of her academic identity and imperial service also defines her.

because it is also fringilla, the illusionist who casts the wool over people's eyes... who blinded yennefer at sodden hill.

‘We’ve already met,’ Yennefer spoke again. ‘I don’t recall,’ Fringilla said without looking away. ‘I’m not surprised. But I have a good memory for faces and figures. I saw you from Sodden Hill.’ ‘In which case there can be no mistake,’ Fringilla Vigo said and raised her head proudly, sweeping her eyes over all those present. ‘I was at the Battle of Sodden.’ (...) ‘Occasionally one happens to see another person for only a split second, right before going blind, and one takes a dislike to them instantly.’ ‘Oh, enmity is considerably more complicated,’ Fringilla said, squinting. ‘Imagine someone you don’t know at all standing at the top of a hill, and ripping a friend of yours to shreds in front of your eyes. You neither saw them nor know them at all, but you still don’t like them.’ ‘So it goes,’ Yennefer said, shrugging. (...)

fringilla's (proud!) participation at the battle of sodden is a crux of the lodge, because she alongside her good friend, the scholarly assire, they are nilfgaardians who, owing to their nationality, find challenges meshing with the northern sorcereresses. the lodge brought together representatives of magic across nationalities in the midst of a raging, bloody war between them all.

and it's so integral to fringilla's character that she has imperial biases, that she approaches even the international lodge with an imperialist view.

with no factual basis, she initially exotifies and sexualizes the northern sorceresses, despite her own prior denial of these base stereotypes:

Fringilla Vigo was putting on a brave face, but she was anxious and stressed. She herself had often reprimanded young Nilfgaardian mages for uncritically yielding to stereotypical opinions and notions. She herself had regularly ridiculed the crude image painted by gossip and propaganda of the typical sorceress from the North: artificially beautiful, arrogant, vain and spoiled to the limits of perversion, and often beyond them. (...) Her untrammelled imagination offered up images of impossibly gorgeous women with diamond necklaces resting on naked breasts with rouged nipples, women with moist lips and eyes glistening from the effects of alcohol and narcotics. In her mind’s eye Fringilla could already see the gathering becoming a wild and depraved orgy accompanied by frenzied music, aphrodisiacs, and slaves of both sexes using exotic accessories.

she even has a difficult time understanding why the northern sorceresses are upset about the nilfgaardian invasion, believing it to be a boon to their society. only through their discussion does she just barely begin to grasp the meaning of "invasion" and why she wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it:

Some were clearly anxious about the close proximity of Nilfgaard. Fringilla had mixed feelings. She had assumed that such educated people would understand that the Empire was bringing culture, prosperity, order and political stability to the North. On the other hand, though, she didn’t know how she would have reacted herself, were foreign armies approaching her home.

all of this indoctrination into imperial beliefs, at the same time that she is an educated woman, and herself, as an imperial sorceress, known for being rebellious and an upstart within her own culture:

‘Stop staring,’ Assire said, touching her bouffant and glistening curls. ‘I decided to make a few changes. Why, I just took your lead.’ ‘I was always taken as an oddball and a rebel,’ Fringilla Vigo chuckled. ‘But when they see you in the academy or at court…’

this is such a chaotic rambling post, but all i want to say is that fringilla's character, like most of the minor characters in the witcher series, was not invented through random generation, a roll of the dice, a spin of the wheel. her specific traits - such as her nationality, lineage, talents - all relate back thematically. everything is relevant, specifically chosen to create a specific character.

if once changes her backstory (e.g., to place her at aretuza... though i don't know who would do such a thing for no reason) they would change her entire character, the series' commentary on imperialism, and because of her role she takes later on, even the entire ending of the story.

#fringilla vigo #c: fringilla #the witcher books #book: lady of the lake #listen i don't enjoy her character as in i don't think about her 24/7 but i am begging my fellow fans to not just throw her #entire character out because they don't like her or what she does or they think it's just a matter of preference if she goes to aretuza #because these specificities define her entire character which define the entire stay in beauclair which define the assault on stygga castle #which define the entire ENDING of the saga which define the MEANING of the saga #these little guys (fictional characters) are like dominos or jenga blocks. if you move one little thing it changes everything #like there's so much meaning and symbolism to the wintering in beauclair it kills me to see people throw it out the window #bro they were caught in a dream a pleasant dream #and you also know what. the way we see beauclair. is FROM a dream. from condwiramurs' intentional oneiromancy #it's literally a dream about dreams #AUGH i lose my shit over the fakedeepness of lady of the lake #also her name is the latin for chaffinch. she's a little bird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringilla #which i am... guessing... relates to the wintering theme... perhaps...#analysis

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bluerasbunny · 6 months

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this song is soooo c!dream it is insane

like it is just him. i need you all to see my vision here i need everyone to hear my point. hear me out guys hear me out.

i am going to ramble so aggressively under the cut but hear me out here stay with me. this may not be coherent and that was because it was written in a haze. no idea what i wrote just hear me out

'The looking glass, so shiny and new How quickly the glamour fades'

its like the SMP. a shiny and new existance, something new he crafted for his friends and yet the glamour fades, it all falls apart and it dissolves and it crumbles in his hands.

'You made a deal, and now it seems you have to offer up But will it ever be enough? (Raise it up, raise it up) It's not enough (Raise it up, raise it up)'

do i even need to explain. the revival book. the deal for it, the crushing realization that reality is not what he thought, that infinity is possible and eternity is a truth, and this is not enough for him. he needs eternity. he needs forever, it will never be enough. he offers up his sanity, his grasp on reality, in exchange for a promise of eternity. hear me out-

'Here I am, a rabbit-hearted girl Frozen in the headlights It seems I've made the final sacrifice'

the rabbit dream agenda. this is just the rabbit dream agenda but also he is frozen in the headlights of the role he has to take on. he has to be the villain, he has to make the final sacrifice and give himself up to the box he's being placed in; because there is no other option. a trapped rabbit cannot flee. a trapped rabbit can only fawn and freeze and fight (reminds you of the prison, doesn't it?).

'This is a gift, it comes with a price Who is the lamb and who is the knife? Midas is king and he holds me so tight And turns me to gold in the sunlight'

oh GOD there is so much i can say. there is so much this post is going to be years long there is so much. the revival book is a gift. it is the gift, and it comes with a price. the lamb and the knife, discduo, vaultduo, however you want to see it; who is the lamb and who is the knife will change and rotate. tommy is the lamb in exile, dream the knife. dream is the lamb in the vault, sam the knife. dream is the lamb in the finale, tommy the knife. the roles will change, the gift always comes with a price. companionship is a gift that comes with a cost. hear me out stay with me here

'I must become a lion-hearted girl Ready for a fight Before I make the final sacrifice'

guys its the fucking disc finale its the. its just the disc finale that's the disc finale thats th. he has to shed his heart, he has to make the final sacrifice, he has to be ready for a fight because he needs to protect, he needs to defend and he needs to stand for his ally. he needs to mold himself from a rabbit to a lion, prey disguised as predator, a rabbit in lions clothing. the final sacrifice is just a price he has to pay. the gift of companionship will always come with a cost, and dream is more than ready to walk into it.

'And in the spring I shed my skin And it blows away with the changing wind The waters turn from blue to red As towards the sky I offer it'

OOHHHH god so much.s o much i can say theres so much there is so much. he sheds his attatchments like a snake shedding its skin, letting them dissipate with the changing winds- and he sheds himself, too. he steps out of his skin and changes the winds, walks a new path not of choice but of necessity, because this is all he can do. what else can he do, when faced with the reality of his situation, of his existance, flawed and cursed with mortality that he can cure? what else can he do, when faced with the reality of his server, his friends, lost to conflict, lost to disagreements, and he can fix it. he can fix it, they just have to trust him, they just have to hate him. he has to be a viper, a snake in the grass, he has to be a lion because he cannot be a rabbit. he cannot be prey, not anymore. c!dream is prey acting as a predator. he is a rabbit cornered and biting in retalliaton read as violence. he is a snake hissing and biting, desperate to be left alone and to be heard. he masquerades as a lion, a dragon, a beast of unknown proportion; but he is an animal that burrows and clings, grapples with the past and craves companionship and distance at the same time. the waters run from blue to red as he offers revival, as he offers himself.

this is a gift. it comes with a price.

okay im done this was probably so incoherent but i am in a c!dream and neurodivergence fuelled haze right now and i need you guys to hear my insanity /hj

no i will not be elaborating or explaining any of this

#grayy rambles #dreblr #cdream #no guys hear me out hear me out i know i sound insane but you've gotta hear me out here #i think in music i need to associate osngs with every character ever and this. this one is dream.#my dreamisms are getting a little too insane!! /hj #dsmp analysis. technically. kind of #long post #dsmp analysis but of music and the corellation to a characte rthat the song is not even about im just that insane about him #this was written in a haze ngl #i think i just like. went insane for a moment and then blinked and this was on my screen. the things c!dream does to my brain holy shit #Spotify

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maddieandangel · 3 days

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Had a weird Hollow Knight-related dream a couple days ago, so I decided to draw a major scene I remembered from it dgsgshf

More context will be in the tags, for those interested!

#hollow knight #little ghost #hk ghost #the knight #hk hornet #hornet #alright. as of writing these tags it's been a week since the original dream so! let's see what i remember dgsgsgf #i was playing a game. which was a sequel to hollow knight ((Not silksong though))#there was some new sort of divine infection in hallownest and hornet had asked ghost to investigate it. they ended the last one after all!#the red glowy spike gate thingy is what you jumped into to enter the 'infected' areas #though it actually led directly to a hub world type of place. which was kinda like an expanded base for the grimm troupe?#more like an entire lair instead of a camp. also some greek gods were there for some reason lmao. they had their own special rooms too #so sidenote but- new headcanon that there are grimm troupe members named ares athena artemis &... venus lmao. not aphrodite for some reason #also monomon was there?? i think??? except she was cooking????? she had a sidequest to deliver something to someone though i dunno hdgfhdgh #i remember going back to the grimm troupe lair a couple times throughout my 'playthrough'#anyway. the 'infection' this time around was more of a glitchy physical corruption thing? rather than a mind corruption.#though there were still aggressive enemies to fight. but i remember getting a map from cornifer early on and he was. probably infected #i think part of his body was covered in electricity or something? so he wasn't fully visible? but he was still acting normally #there was also a moth who was the seer but then later wasn't the seer (but was still the same moth) dghgdhf. i delivered stuff to her #that glowing white wall thing in the drawing was like a one-way gate. you could only cross it from the other side and ghost came from there #i guess things looped back up somehow i dunno ghdgfhgf #anyway. ghost's red eyes. those are significant! those happened while i was walking through a corridor. it had pools of shallow water #(shallow enough to just walk through) and also creatures that were lightseeds but red.the implication was that they were full of Blood lmao #and as i went along killing them--as one does--as i walked through the hall. they started turning the water red too #there was also narration about this as it was happening ashdgsf. specifically the narrator said the water turned red before it actually did #ghost's eyes slowly turned red too. but aside from that they were fine! since. they're the player character and the player is perfectly fin #BUT. when they encountered hornet again. she thought they were infected. and that she lost the only family she had left </3 #she didn't attack though. instead she just jumped into the red spike gate without a word. decided to try to fix everything herself #but eventually you'd encounter her again down below and she'd fight you. didn't actually get to that in the dream though #aand i'm out of tags </3 i wanted to talk about what i'd do to make this make more sense as an au or something now that i'm awake but. :c

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bleue-flora · 1 month

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Wait... Dream was born on August 12, 1999 and Dream was arrested in the Disc Finale on January 20, 2021 soo... wait, wait, wait, that means he was only 21 when he was imprisoned for life in a small lava covered box!... Did I do that math right? 21?! Man was barely able to drink legally in the United States and they gave him a life sentence in a boiling cell with nothing but lava, raw potatoes, a clock, and some books?!... oh my god...

#sorry.... I just... give me a minute to process... I mean I knew we were close in age but I guess I never really thought about it #sometimes I forget it happened all the way back in 2021 and just... wow.#and Tommy would have been 16 so getting his driver's license in most states... The age gap is like that of my siblings and huh...#my brother can be a real prick... its a weird thought to imagine him getting through in prison just for messing with us... damn...#dreblr #c!dream #this is fine #don't mind me researching for my lastest maddening project..... i can't stop thinking about Dream being Sam's project.......#I'd blame my job but... let's be honest the prison arc lives rent free in my brain lol XD #dsmp #dsmp dream #dream smp #dreamwastaken #no one does it like c!dream #prison arc #pandora's vault #dishing up lore #kinda? I guess...#lore thoughts #ouch... I'm older than c!dream was in prison now... poor baby... :'(

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theminecraftbox · 2 years

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Can we talk about the dehumanization in c!Dream’s monologue? He isn’t comparing himself to a person who was threatened, who was hurt, and whose family was in danger. He is comparing himself to an animal. He isn’t giving himself any kind of agency—only that of instinct.

And he is saying, look, even snakes are treated better than I am. Even animals are afforded the dignity of having their motives questioned.

“Unless you’re saying that I’m not a person.”

#no one does it like c!dream #c!Dream and trauma #I’m sure plenty of this has already been said but I can’t stop being sad about it

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nympippi · 2 years

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Here me out Techno is a pig hybrid yeah? And piglets are really itty bitty right?

So here’s my pitch Techno was a tiny ass little kid that was an all around little shit just completely full of mischief!

And another thing because I have got to include rivals because I literally will pass away if I don’t, Dream makes it his mission to watch over this tiny little kid even though if Techno wanted to he can go chihuahua mode at any time, however Techno just kinda humors Dream and tags along because he’s funny.

He can fit under Dreams cape and just act like one of those kids you see in a store hiding in the clothing rack

But like Dream is always on edge and nervous, always trying to deep into the shadows trying to go unnoticed, it never works on Techno though he sniffs him out like a hound and just poof! Back into the cape!

Just idk I wanted baby rivals so yeah ^^

#c!dream #dreblr #c!techno #rivals duo #c!rivals #rivalsblr #is this kinda inspired by the runaways au yes very much #kid Dream is the kid that fucking bites you #and always stares too like he keeps an eye out #because let’s be honest no one thinks the way c!Dream does without some type of trauma #but yeah I saw photos of piglets and how small they were and got inspired ✨✨#rivals oh my rivals #pippi art

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lostinmcyt · 2 years

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"I will trap you in a replica of the place I made your hell" vs "hell is under my control now and I have the keys to prove it; you can't touch me anymore"

#dreblr #c!dream #c!quackity #ooooh prison trio NO ONE does it like you

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dr3amofagame · 13 days

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Yeah that moment kinda shows how he can make c!discduo listen to him and even the way how this is not healthy. I also think he might be participate in comflict bewteen cdiscduo if he didnt leave but more as an motivator but not him causing it on porpuse. At the end cdream was trying to make him by his side to have laverage, ctommy was still really depend on him and the disc that cdream have. It was a a disaster that was coming but he leave so he did not caused a new conflict but was a factor that played in a resolution

i mean ? "participate in conflict between c!discduo" he is like the foremost reason why the conflict between c!discduo even looks the way that it does honestly. it wouldn't have been about heroes and villains without lmanburg, full stop. when dream and tommy had their first disc spat, they didn't need to be handheld into figuring out a solution, yk? they had their fornite battle, tommy and dream both got their shit back, they did a trade of a stack of diamonds for a netherite chestplate, and i'd go as far as saying that both of them kinda had. fun ???? like c!tommy is reminiscing about those times IN THE LITERAL FINALE, a consistent trend with him throughout the server (he did the same during november 16th, where he had been downright excited to go back to the disc war and was ribbing c!dream about how he's never in the walls no more) and while c!dream honestly has a terminal stick in his ass and always saw the whole thing as more serious than c!tommy (hence why c!tommy was sitting there going i never realized how much that hurt you), i think it's hard to look at the way c!dream acts with c!tommy pre-vassal and really say that he hated the kid's guts over a stupid surprise attack the whole time lmao. they liked each other! they were friends!

c!wilbur being able to make c!discduo listen to him (and um, give his words the weight of the world) isn't just an inconsolable differences thing, it's really smth that stretches as far back as that first discussion about lmanburg that they ever have. it's something that applies to the duel, to vassal. c!wilbur participating and fanning the flames of conflict between c!discduo (and quite literally prying them apart in vassal, which was kind of the beginning of the end) is something that happens throughout the server, and i'd argue that inconsolable differences -> boundless sands is his clumsy attempt at fixing that. shutting the damn book on lmanburg as the one who penned the story, say youre a tyrant dream and put it in writing and burn the discs, you two can't play nice so the game's fucking over. tommy, stay in your place, dream, do as i say, etc etc. c!wilbur has to leave because of who c!wilbur is to c!dream and especially to c!tommy, it's just things were too fractured for him leaving in itself to Completely Fix Everything

#c!dreambur #my asks !!#c!wilbur /can/ make them play nice by technicality yeah as the one that can get both dream and tommy to do as he says when he says it #which is also why he couldn't. be the solution. inconsolable differences shows that.#muzzling two dogs and putting them on leashes doesn't solve a problem when the reason they wanna rip each other's throats out #is cuz you trained them to fight in a cage in the first place. ykwim.#^ that's a messy analogy #like he HAS to leave. this DOES serve as the catalyst for the events that end with a nuke falling over their heads.#this doesn't mean it would've been /better/ if he controlled them into playing nice #idk idk this is all messy as an explanation but ... yeah

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