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William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146/47-1219). Greatest Knight of the Middle Ages...

If you hear the term Middle Ages or Medieval Era, at least in a European context one visual that might form in the popular imagination is that of the knight. Bedecked in armor, astride a horse, armed with lance, sword & shield prepping for war. While acting in accordance with a code of conduct known as chivalry, one that stereotypically stressed virtues of loyalty, martial prowess, gentlemanly behavior towards others, including in courtship among other virtuous behaviors.

The truth regarding Medieval knighthood is one far more complex when reviewing the individuals who actually embodied it. Knighthood and what it meant to be and even to look like as a knight developed over a long period of time, it was never that static of a concept. Concepts similar to knighthood can be found in many cultures the world over and many predate the popular European concept of knighthood in the Middle Ages. When you consider the Middle Ages was roughly bookended with the fall of the two halves of the Roman Empire. Starting with the fall of the Western Roman Empire to waves of invasions, primarily to Germanic tribes in the 5th Century AD to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire in the mid 15th Century AD to the Ottoman Empire, you have about 1,000 years of history to cover, alot of time for a concept to take hold and evolve.

I want to focus on one individual said to epitomize our popular concept of the knight, who lived during the period of time where the notion of European knighthood crystalized from its embryonic concepts to the first flowering of our classical understanding of knighthood & chivalry. The individual said embody this most was man born in 12th century England, an Anglo-Norman by the name of William Marshal. In his native Norman French, he would have been Williame il Mareschal...

The Early Days:

-William Marshal was born in England around the year 1147 AD. His exact place of birth isn’t known but his parentage is. He was the younger son of a minor Anglo-Norman noble by the name of John FitzGilbert, AKA John Marshal and Sibyl of Salisbury. Both from Anglo-Norman families that had formed the new nobility of England following the 1066 Norman Conquest initiated by William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror) who became King of England and united the Duchy of Normandy in Northern France with the whole of England.

-The Normans who descended from Vikings from Scandinavia and settled in Northern France in the late 9th & early 10th centuries. They converted to Christianity and adopted the French language and mixed in with the local Frankish, Flemish & Gallic peoples of France. Here they formed their own unique ethnolinguistic & cultural group. One best known for the martial prowess inherited from their paternal Viking origins combined with devout religious fervor & culture from their adopted French homeland.

-With the Norman Conquest of England started in 1066, the Normans replaced the Anglo-Saxon nobility in most instances with soldiers who accompanied Duke William and their families being granted estates of land throughout England, often at the expense of former Anglo-Saxon rulers.

-The Normans changed the ruling elite, architecture & some linguistic influence of French into England but the majority populace remained Anglo-Saxon.

-As time went by the communities remained somewhat segregated but did learn to interact. The Normans and their Anglo-Saxon subjects over the next century expanded into Wales, southern Scotland & eventually Ireland, becoming the first wave of lasting English influence on the Emerald Isle, more on that later.

-William’s eventual moniker and surname of Marshal, came from his father’s position as hereditary royal marshal. It was a position as an official marshal to the Anglo-Norman King & Duke, generally aiding in access within the king’s household. Nevertheless, for John FitzGilbert, it did not bring large estates and the role was relatively minor in importance.

-Only during the period of civil war known as the Anarchy (1138-1153 AD) did John FitzGilbert rise to a level of semi-importance. The Anarchy revolved around succession to the throne of England & Normandy. Henry I, King of England and last son William the Conqueror to rule England & Normandy found his reign from 1100-1135 in a succession crisis at the time of his death. His legitimate son and heir, William Adelin died at age 17 in 1120 during the White Ship accident on November 25th of that year. The ship hosted a large drinking party of royalty & nobility including the Anglo-Norman heir apparent. The ship disembarked from Normandy to cross the English Channel for England when it struck a rock and most of the people aboard drowned including William Adelin.

-William Adelin’s importance was to unite the political elements of England, Normandy & Scotland into one person. His father of Norman extraction and his mother Matilda of Scotland was born to the King of Scotland Malcolm III & the Anglo-Saxon princess Margaret of Wessex, one of the last vestiges of the displaced ruling house of Wessex which had ruled Anglo-Saxon England for over a century prior to the Norman Invasion. With his death these hopes were seriously endangered.

-William Adelin did have a sister Matilda (1102-1167) who married Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1114 until his death in 1125. Matilda then married in 1128 Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou. Anjou like Normandy was a feudal state within Medieval France which was nominally in service to the French king but was effectively independent as the French king could only wield limited power to rein in his nobles at the time.

-Henry I on his death bed made his Anglo-Norman nobles swear to recognize his daughter Matilda as Queen and her successors as the legitimate rulers of England & Normandy. However, the problem of her sex & the fact that she was previously married to the German Emperor meant she appealed to less than some of the nobles. Her opposition came from her cousin and fellow grandchild of William the Conqueror, Stephen of Blois.

-Stephen, with backing from the English Church had himself crowned King of England on December 22, 1135, within days of Henry I’s death. Stephen had been one of the nobles who previously gave oath this uncle that would recognize Matilda as Queen. Despite his usurpation of the throne, it was didn’t immediately cause an outbreak of war.

-Stephen first dealt with troubles from Scotland and then returned to southern England to issue a series of reforms from the times of Henry I, reforms which were intended to shore up support for his rule by addressing so called royal abuses of noble privilege during the reign of Henry I. He then dealt with rebellion in Wales and gradually trouble from his cousin Matilda & her husband Geoffrey of Anjou who invaded Normandy.

-In 1138, Robert, Earl of Gloucester who was half-brother of Matilda & son of Henry I through a mistress rebelled against Stephen and this pushed England itself into civil war as various nobles in Normandy & England took up us the causes of Matilda & Stephen.

-In this environment John FitzGilbert who initially professed loyalty to Stephen and was granted castles in Wiltshire County and elsewhere as a result. In 1141 he switched his loyalty to Matilda and her supporters. Matilda even briefly sought refuge in one of his castles. While covering a retreat for her John himself took up refuge in an abbey that was set ablaze by Stephen’s supporters. This resulted in the loss of an eye due to dripping lead from the melting roof.

-The Anarchy went off and on over 14 years and John in 1152 was confronted at Newbury Castle in Berkshire by Stephen and his army. During the siege, John’s young son, William (Marshal) was taken hostage by King Stephen. The young boy, no more than seven years old was taken as hostage to ensure the compliance with surrender of the castle but John reneged on the deal with the king. Angry, Stephen threatened to load the young William on a catapult and slam his body against the castle walls as a sign of his determination. John merely mocked the king, saying he could kill his son, for he would make “newer and better sons”. For reasons unknown, Stephen who wasn’t entirely known for being ruthless appears to have taken pity on the boy and spared him. However, he did keep him as a prisoner for several months.

-Matilda & Geoffrey’s son, was Henry FitzEmpress who had become Duke of Normandy in 1150 with his father’s capture of the Duchy. Henry on behalf of his mother’s claim ventured to England in 1153 and ultimately agreed to a final settlement with Stephen as both sides were militarily exhausted with little change in their situation. A truce was agreed to with the understanding that Stephen would remain King of England for the rest of his life but that he would adopt his cousin Henry FitzEmpress as his son and successor. Matilda would therefore not reign herself, but her son would succeed to the throne and reunite England & Normandy under one ruler plus bringing in his inheritance from his father of the County of Anjou.

-Stephen died in 1154 and Henry took the throne of England as Henry II, great-grandson of WIlliam the Conqueror, grandson of Henry I. In addition to England, Normandy & Anjou, his 1152 political marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine heiress to the wealthy Duchy of Aquitaine in southwest France, herself a former Queen Consort of France during her marriage to Louis VII of France. Her marriage was annulled in 1152 prior to marrying Henry, then Duke of Normandy. This marriage brought into a unified political realm that eventually saw all of England from the borders of Scotland, parts of Wales, Normandy, Anjou and Aquitaine which bordered the Pyrenees mountains with Spain come into being. It would go on to include other French possessions including the Duchy of Brittany, Toulouse and the Lordship of Ireland. This became known as the Angevin Empire, derived from the paternal origins of Henry in Anjou with its historical capital in Angers, France, ruled by the House of Plantagenet, so named from Geoffrey V of Anjou’s habit of wearing a sprig of flower in his hat.

-John FitzGilbert went on to become the Marshal of Horses under Henry II and this became a hereditary position for his family. The position was meant to keeper of King’s horses but eventually became a kind of leader of household troops. It would be inherited by his elder son John Marshal, William’s brother. After his later death in 1194 it would officially transfer to William, becoming an early surname and eventually popularizing the name Marshal.

-William’s prospects were not great being a minor noble’s younger son meant next to no inheritance would go to him. Instead, he was at the age of 12 sent to a relative of his mother Sibyl of Salisbury who was sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury. This relative was William of Tancarville, a Norman noble who was lord of Chateau de Tancarville. Sent from England to Normandy, William began an apprenticeship under his mother’s cousin and began being trained in knighthood.

Becoming a Knight

-For roughly a six-year period in Tancarville, William Marshal was trained in horse riding, swordsmanship and fighting in the Norman tradition. He was trained in the early concepts of chivalry, the code of conduct by which knights were to abide by in all aspects of life. It meant loyalty to a lord, stressed physical prowess in combat but also gentlemanly honor in dealing with all individuals. The ultimate goal of a knight was to live in accordance with chivalry, expressed in loyalty to a lord by being part of the noble or royal master’s retinue of troops. In exchange for loyal service, they would be furnished with pay, food shelter & perhaps eventually grants of land themselves, though this latter perk was no guarantee.

-We know William’s training was several hours a day and involved not only combat but etiquette and culture, his apprenticeship was akin to both military basic training and boarding school in his day. He would have learned how to behave at the dinner table, learning the manners of his day. He also would have had some additional cultural training involving the arts. However, he would primarily be known for his physical prowess in combat training and the cultural training wouldn’t initially hold much sway with young William. Though it would nevertheless serve to provide a foundation for how he “should” act. Providing the diplomatic basics that would he come to utilize later in life.

-He was knighted in 1166 while in Upper Normandy which was facing invasion from the County of Flanders. He saw his first taste of battle which was yielded mixed results. He was remarked as brave and determined in combat though his prized horse was killed in battle underneath him. Horses were the most expensive part of a knight’s cost.

-Each knight from a retinue generally had multiple horses in the 12th century. A small horse or general travel, horses for transport of weapons & armor and war horses. Arabian horses brought to Europe by way of Italy & Spain were the most prized. The war horse was on its own more expensive than multiple other horses, armor & weapons. It was roughly the cost of several thousand goats on a farm in England or France circa 1170.

-Armor and weapons for knights in William’s day also did not consist of the shining and ornate full body armor of the later 13th & 14th centuries. Instead, it consisted of a hauberk or shirt of chainmail, occasionally some plates of armor and, a coif of chainmail on the head & helmet. The helmet did not cover the full face leaving them somewhat vulnerable to blows to the face. Otherwise with the weapons of the day, knights were virtually impervious to blows. Though injury could occur in many cases, death in battle among knights was actually not very common, relative to the common soldiery who had much lessor no armor by virtue of expense. The knights brandished a sword typically, along with a medium or large almost triangular shield. On horseback they also brandished a simple wooden lance. Lances were prone to breaking after one use or if lucky repeated use, but they could yield serious injury and occasionally death.

-The object of knight-on-knight battles was not always death or even injury but to render your opponent ineffective. Especially, to unhorse and capture your opponent as not all battle was honor driven but instead for profit. Knights who unhorsed and captured their opponents would take them as hostage and could negotiate for their release later on to be paid by the knight themself or their master since both were usually of noble and relatively wealthy backgrounds. Knighting was expensive but could be incredibly profitable and this served as motivation to join in this marital brotherhood.

-After this brief war, Flanders and the Angevin Empire made peace. William soon found himself also attending knight tournaments. These festive events were gradually becoming a popular spectator sport in the latter half of the 12th century. They were officially banned in England but not so in the rest of the Angevin realm, being popular in France and elsewhere in continental Europe including Germany and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire. These events were condemned by the church and did not generally allow women to attend and weren’t usually filled with spectator stands like later centuries. Nor did they tend to involve one on one jousts.

-Instead, these events which were embryonic in these days were a mix of ever- increasing pageantry filled with a series or one rather large melee of knights from different retinues acting as teams. The goal to capture as many hostages from opposing teams as possible for profit and increase in reputation. It is true retinues began to fly unique banners of their lords but early on the Norman knights would have flown under the banner of the Norman lions.

-William’s initial outings in tournaments were mixed in results like in battle. He appears to have been determined and quite physical. He was noted for his large size physical strength landing hard blows of lance and sword, but he appears to have been headstrong occasionally rushing into battle with little more than anger and courage on his side. This could lead to his own capture at times or yield only a few prisoners of his own. He would have to refine his technique in time.

-Suddenly, he found himself without William de Tancarville’s patronage anymore in 1168 for reasons not entirely known, with little prospects and still mostly unknown. He returned to England and found himself working for his uncle Patrick of Salisbury instead, quickly becoming part of his retinue.

-Later that year while Patrick of Salisbury was escorting Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to her homeland, her escort was ambushed by rebels from the House of Lusignan, minor nobles in the region who rebelled against Henry II & Eleanor, hoping to use the queen as a bargaining chip for political gain. In the ambush, the Queen escaped but Patrick of Salisbury was killed with a lance blow by one of the rebels. This angered William who rushed headstrong as ever into battle. Again, he fought with determination but cutoff from his retinue he was wounded in the thigh and taken prisoner. He suffered a wound from which he made his own tourniquet to slow the bleeding. He was a prisoner for months and given clean linens with which to wrap his wound, until ransomed by Queen Eleanor herself, supposedly on the grounds of his brave reputation in the defense that allowed her escape.

-William served as part of her personal retinue for the next two years. He took part again in occasional tournaments, refining his skills.

Service to the Kings of England: Henry the Young King

-1170 saw the appointment of William Marshal as tutor in arms to Henry II & Eleanor’s eldest son and heir, the jointly crowned “junior” King of England, Henry the Young. Henry was crowned in June 1170 at age 15.

-Henry the Young King while in name a co-ruler with his father had no practical power. He was given an allowance and was politically married to Margaret of France, princess & daughter of the French king, Louis VII, former husband of Henry the Young’s mother.

-In time Henry the Young King appears to have been under the influence of others around him and in conspiracy with his brothers Geoffrey & Richard, his mother Eleanor & his father-in-law Louis VII of France, Scotland & some Anglo-Norman nobles he began the Great Revolt of 1173-74. William had to make a choice, loyalty to the King Henry II who was his overlord or his immediate lord, Henry the Young King his appointed lord who he trained in knightly arms. He chose to ride with Henry the Young King and made his way to France to take part in the rebellion.

-Ultimately, the rebellion teetered back and forth much like Anarchy of decades before. However, Henry II would be victorious in battle defeating his wife & sons. The motivations were varied but it seems to have centered around Eleanor’s desire to see her sons replace her husband, in part because of her estrangement from him due to his marital infidelity and her desire to see Aquitaine independent of his rule. France & Scotland wanted England & Normandy weakened and more amenable to their own political aims.

-Eleanor was imprisoned for the next several years in a castle in England. Meanwhile, Geoffrey & Richard would be given political positions in their own right to satisfy their desires as they reconciled with their father. Geoffrey would still be Duke of Brittany, Richard still Duke of Aquitaine and Henry the Young King, still junior King of England. However, Henry the Young King did not enjoy much more than an increased allowance and was kept under strict observation by the Henry II initially.

-William & Henry the Young King appear to have bonded quite well during the rebellion, Henry appreciated the loyalty and William the continued patronage. Their does appear to have been evidence of a true friendship. This would only become more apparent in the ensuing years.

-William Marshal became part of the Henry the Young King’s retinue in knightly tournaments over the next few years. Both became obsessed with the sport and in time, went from being little regarded to among the most respected in tournaments.

-Having learned some tricks from Philip I, Count of Flanders, both Henry & William learned to begin winning the day seizing many opposing knights in these melees. Sometimes by what we may regard as less than fair means in the modern sense but still within the rules of the day. One tactic involved not announcing to partake in the melee until it was already under way, then joining in the fray after the first contact, this caught opponents off guard and allowed them to be captured. Otherwise, William’s combination of great physical size, strength and steely determination and renown for unhorsing opponents with hard lance hits and unmatched sword blows coupled with a favored technique of grabbing the opponents horse bridle in one hand with sword in the other while “steering” the opponent away from the fray until they surrendered made him especially successful. By 1179-1180 William Marshal was a relative celebrity on the tourney circuit in Europe. He was feted for his bravery & guile in battle along with his sense of honor and humility outside of battle.

-Two recorded stories sum of his becoming he epitome of the knightly gentleman. Due to his own renown, William was with some persuasion to Henry the Young, allowed to represent himself in some tournaments and he began to develop his own personal small retinue. On the evening before a tournament in France, he ventured into the host town to stay with a local noble. He left his prized hors with a local boy for safekeeping outside the local lord’s home. During a toast to his honor the sound of a thief making off with Marshal’s horse led to him pursuing the criminal on foot. He doggedly pursued the offender and captured him while he was hiding behind a bale of hay in an alleyway. He proceeded to beat the criminal but would not let him face capital punishment. This act showcased his willingness to defend his honor & property but also his mercy towards others. The second story involved a tournament being held in which William held his own but only had mixed results on the day though his bravery was unquestioned. The tournament organizers looked to present an honorary dedication to a knight on that day, a sort of “knightly MVP” of the tournament. They couldn’t decide on one until William Marshal was so named, he reputedly tried to turn down the honor, saying he was not worthy of it but nevertheless accepted it after their insistence, demonstrating his chivalric humility.

-By William’s own later recollection, he captured about 500 knights in tournament career. His winnings made him wealthy and his reputation for success, bravery and gracious behavior made him a celebrity of his time. He had also earned the right to has have his own retinue & bear his own arms in tournament. His coat of arms would remain with him for his life. A red lion rampant on a shield half green and half gold.

-Yet, he lacked the remaining perks of some fellow knights, land and a title. Henry the Young King could not provide him these officially. In time, the two best friends had a falling out circa 1182. The reasons aren’t clear, but one accusation was William having an affair with Margaret of France, Henry’s wife which has never been proven. In could be due to William’s own greed or desire to pressure Henry for his benefit whatever the reason he was dismissed from Henry’s service

-In 1183 they reconciled with Henry went to war with his brother Richard. Henry II intervened on Richard’s side and in May of that year, William was cleared of any wrongdoing he was accused of and returned to Henry’s service, but it was too little too late. Henry the Young King died as age 28 in June 1183.

-Henry on his death bed got William to commit to take up the cross and go on Crusade to the Holy Land.

-William undertook this venture in late 1183 by travelling to Jerusalem with Henry II’s blessing. There is little to no record of his activities while on Crusade, but he did make a promise there that on his deathbed he would be received as a Knights Templar, a Christian military order that partook in the Crusades. Presumably, William partook in military activities, but this could not be definitively determined.

Service to the Kings of England: Henry II’s final years

-Upon returning from Crusade in 1185, William Marshal found himself a captain in Henry II’s army and in personal service to the king.

-He was granted a land holding Cumbria and offered a bride from a minor noblewoman in the north of England. William would decline the offer.

-Henry II would find himself at war with Philip II, King of France and son of former king Louis VII. This war was for control of the region of Berry in central France.

-During this conflict, Richard, Duke of Aquitaine and now Henry II’s heir given his elder brother’s death in 1183 had turned to side with Philip II.

-During a battle, William personally charged Richard and knocked him off his horse killing the animal with his lance. He reminded the Duke of Aquitaine and prince he could have killed him but chose not to out of respect. William Marshal went down in history as the only man to unhorse Richard.

-Henry II died that same year and Richard despite his rebellion against his father was still named heir apparent & now rose to the throne as King of England and Duke of Normandy. Known as Richard I or Richard the Lionheart.

Service to the Kings of England: Richard the Lionheart

-Richard I had received news of the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt & Syria. He was to partake in the Third Crusade to restore the Holy Land to Christian rule. This would involve a planned alliance with Philip II of France & Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor. Richard would go onto take control of Cyprus and best Saladin in a series of battles, notably the Siege of Acre & Battle of Arsuf. Though he failed to retrieve Jerusalem. The two rulers had a martial respect for one another and agreed to a truce and the coastal territories of the Holy Land remained in Christian hands with free passage of pilgrims to holy sites. While Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands.

- Prior to his departure for the Holy Land, Richard upon becoming king recognized the martial talents of William Marshal. Rather than ignore or punish him, he sought to keep Marshal in his service.

-Henry II was prior to his death looking to finally grant Marshal a marriage that would land him fortune, vast estates and title for his service. He settled on the 17-year-old Isabel de Clare, Countess of Pembroke. Isabel was an Hiberno-Norman (Anglo-Irish) noblewoman. The daughter of Richard de Clare 2nd Earl of Pembroke, better known as Strongbow. Strongbow was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and soldier who hailed from the de Clare noble family which held many castles throughout England and had served the Norman Kings of England. Strongbow was responsible for leading one of the first English invasions of Ireland which was to have lasting permanent effects on that island. Due to a civil war between Irish kingdoms, the King of Leinster Dermot MacMurrough, ruler of an Irish petty kingdom in eastern Ireland was kicked out by his rivals. He left for England and appealed to Henry II who was campaigning in France for assistance in regaining his throne. Henry did not personally join but did allow Dermot to organize a mercenary army of Anglo-Norman nobles to assist in regaining his throne. Strongbow being one of these mercenary leaders made a deal with Dermot, in exchange for this restoration to the throne, Strongbow would marry Dermot’s daughter Aoife (Eva) of Leinster, gain lands in Ireland and became his co-heir with Aoife as his bride.

-Strongbow and other Anglo-Norman lords and their small but well-armed retinues made short work of the Irish opposition in 1171. Dermot was restored to the throne of Leinster, peace was made with his rivals, Strongbow married Aoife & gained power in Ireland. Too much power in Henry II’s eyes.

-Strongbow & Henry II worked out a deal, due to an earlier dispossession of his lands in England & France because siding with Stephen in the years of the Anarchy against Matilda, he wasn’t recognized in certain titles. In exchange for relinquishing control of now Anglo-Norman settled strongholds in Ireland, namely Dublin and other key cities to the King of England, Strongbow would be allowed to retain lands in Ireland, plus his lands in Wales and regain holdings in England & France, making him one of the richest and most powerful Anglo-Norman lords in all the realm. He was also named 1st Lord of Leinster & Lord Justicar of Ireland. In other words, the King of England’s chief justice or representative in Ireland, the first of 700 years of English rule that was to follow.

-Strongbow died in 1176 and his son Gilbert died in 1185 but his daughter with Aoife, Isabel survived into adulthood and was allowed to inherit the landholdings and title of Countess of Pembroke from her parents.

-In August 1189, Henry II’s promise to marry Isabel to William Marshal was upheld by Richard I of England, fulfilling his father’s arrangements.

-William was made Earl of Pembroke by virtue of his marriage a decade later in 1199. He also gained all the rights to most of Isabel’s lands that once belonged to his illustrious father-in-law. He was wealthier than ever with all these land holdings from Ireland to Wales, England & Normandy.

-William was 43 at his marriage & his wife 17 but despite the age difference & political motivations, the marriage was by all accounts a genuine love affair. Both spouses were loyal to each other and 5 sons and 5 daughters. Many people numbering in the thousands if not greater descend from this union into the modern age.

-Richard I made William a member of his regency council upon his leaving for the Crusades in the Middle East.

-During this time William played the role of diplomat and statesman, helping the council of regents to oversee & rule England in the king’s stead. He sometimes sided with Prince John, youngest son of Henry II & Eleanor of Aquitaine.

-Upon William’s older brother John’s death in 1194, he was allowed to inherit John’s lands and title of royal marshal which in turn could pass to his sons.

-Prince John fought against his brother Richard’s loyal regents including William Marshal and he also joined in Richard’s Norman campaigns against Philip II of France as the ongoing power struggle between France’s royal House of Capet & England’s Norman derived royal House of Plantagenet continued to play out for control of Western Europe.

-On Richard’s deathbed in 1199, he made William Marshal custodian of the Norman capital of Rouen plus the royal treasury. Richard was succeeded by his brother John.

Service to the Kings of England: John I & the Magna Carta

-John I took the reins of power in 1199 and William was entrusted with defending Normandy from the French king, but it was ultimately lost as a whole in 1203.

-John alternated with William being in his favor and not being in his favor. John allowed William to serve as an ambassador to Philip II of France where he had to do homage on behalf of the King of England to the French king. William hoped to do so would allow him to personally retain lands in Normandy given his knighthood developing there. However, the French king insisted on a personal homage for this, something not authorized by John. William nevertheless did in order to retain his lands in Normandy, this led to icy relations between Marshal and his monarch.

-John went to war with his nobles in Ireland who he felt exercised too much power independent of his rule. The results were varied. Marshal himself fought against the king’s agents and lost some land but some was regained when his wife Isabel led an army that defeated John’s loyalists. Allowing William to return to Leinster, he remained in Ireland for much of this time up until 1213. He built Carlow Castle, the first towered keep in all of Ireland, its ruins remain standing to this day.

-By 1212, he was back in good favor with John and summoned to the royal court in 1213. The two men had differences having spent a decade in mixed favor and falling out. Nevertheless, after 1213 William Marshal remained loyal to John during the First Baron’s War (1215-1217).

-During this time, William Marshal guided and advised King John to sign the Magna Carta (Great Charter) which affirmed certain noble rights for the barons of England in return for their loyalty to the king. The Magna Carta was seen as a prototypical first step in the placing limitations on the English monarchy, paving a tenuous first step over the centuries towards constitutional monarchy, as well as influencing English common law tradition of later centuries & much later was cited as an influence on American law.

-William Marshal was named one of the 27 Counsellors to the King on the original Magna Carta of 1215.

-Despite Magna Carta, some barons continued to rebel due to John’s perceived lack of compliance and the weakness of its remedies to their grievances. Additionally, Louis VIII of France sought to use English barons against his rival John to push French influence on England.

- As Earl of Pembroke, William remained loyal to John throughout the civil war. There was a final brief falling out but it lasted mere months and the two reconciled once more. Only like decades before in service to John’s much older brother Henry the Young King, the reconciliation came in time for the monarch’s passing. John was on his deathbed in late 1216. He named Marshal one of his regents and entrusted William with protecting the interests of his nine-year-old son and heir, Henry.

-William Marshal was now regent to the newly crowned Henry III, King of England.

Service to the Kings of England: Henry III and final days

-Counting Henry III, John I, Richard I, Henry the Young King & Henry II, William Marshal would serve 5 English kings in succession over three generations served.

-On May 20th, 1217. William Marshal took personal charge of the English army loyal to Henry III as regent to the underage king. He was the real power behind the throne, becoming the most powerful man in all England. At age 70, donning armor one last time he personally led knights into battle in the Battle of Lincoln defeating a combined French and rebel English Baron force which had besieged Lincoln Castle.

-John’s death had caused some barons to switch sides but others were bought up in influence by the French king who sought to place himself on the English throne combining all of France & England into one personal union.

-The Battle of Lincoln and Marshal’s victory over the French and rebels largely ended this French pretense. Rebel barons were killed or captured, French soldiers in retreat killed in the English countryside & the subsequent naval Battle of Dover decided the war in favor of England and Henry III.

-Henry III’s regents including Marshal would uphold his claim to the throne and Louis VIII would drop his claims to the throne of England, vow never to attack England again in exchange for a general amnesty of English barons who had been rebels against John & Henry III. This was the Treaty of Lambeth (1217)

-Some criticized William Marshal for his lenient terms at Lambeth but his sense of diplomacy and restraint were in line with his character and knight’s training with its emphasis on mercy. In battle he was known for his vicious blows but off the battlefield, he had learned that a knight’s chivalry demanded an honorable and if possible expedient peace. Magnanimity in victory was crucial to his thinking and knight’s training.

-To further amends, Marshal reissued Magna Carta in Henry III’s name in 1217 with slight updates from John’s originally signed one from 1215.

-in 1219, with his health failing, Marshal as leader of the regency called together Henry III, the remaining regents & his own son, William Marshal II & his retinue of knights. He chose to name the papal legate as Henry III’s regent. He also fulfilled the promise to officially join the Knights Templar on his deathbed. He died on May 14,1219 at age 72 at Caversham, his estate in Berkshire, England. He was buried in Temple Church in London, where his tomb remains to this day.

-In his funeral, the bishop named him the “greatest knight who ever lived”, due to his prowess & bravery on the battlefield regardless of the circumstances, unrivalled success on the tournament circuit and for his generally dedicated service to England and the stories of his humility, honor, mercy & magnanimity which served as the basis for him being the living embodiment of a chivalrous knight, one who came closest to exemplifying the virtues of King Arthur & his Knights of the Round Table. While this may somewhat be an exaggeration as Marshal was no doubt a man motivated in part by profit, fame & title and he was doubtless a very shrewd politician. Nevertheless, his bravery was never questioned and plenty of stories seem to exist to somewhat uphold this image of knightly hero. Plus, the political restraint he exercised in his dealings as royal regent suggest that his knightly training and the emphasis on chivalry did influence his behavior. We might be able to gleam from William’s life, someone who probably fell short of the chivalric ideals, at least in the purest sense and at the same time, perhaps came closer to embodying them than many of his contemporaries.

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britesparc · 2 years

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Weekend Top Ten #536

Top Ten Legacy Superheroes

So Ms. Marvel is out. At the time of writing, I’ve not watched the first episode yet; I was out on Wednesday watching Everything Everywhere All at Once. Anyway, it’s about Ms. Marvel, a superhero, but get this: she’s not the first person to be called Ms. Marvel. Oh no; it’s actually the name of another superhero. Scandal! The tea leaf! But no, it’s okay: these things happen in comics. It’s quite ordinary. One hero retires or dies or is promoted or whatever, and another person steps into their cowl to assume their heroic identity. These are “legacy heroes”.

Now, in the MCU, it’s a bit weird because Carol Danvers has never been Ms. Marvel; she got blasted by Annette Benning’s magical box (oo-er) and, after being gaslit by Jude Law for a little bit, just went straight to “Captain Marvel” without any in-between rigamarole. But it’s true that, as a comic book character at least, Kamala Khan is a legacy hero, adopting the mantle of Ms. Marvel after Danvers discarded it. And she’s following in a long line of successor supes.

And that’s that, really. A fairly short preamble this week. Except to say that some of these are absolutely my most favourite characters ever. Oh, and their status in this list is a determination of how I feel they have best adopted the legacy title; that is to say, how much they succeeded in making it their own, how well they performed the duties as that particular hero. It’s not really a popularity contest, otherwise Dick Grayson would win.

Batgirl (all of them, from 1967): I had to include her, because there have been multiple girl bats, and all of them absolutely rock. The definitive Batgirl, in pop culture terms – the one from the sixties show and the nineties animation and the upcoming movie – is Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon, but even she wasn’t the first Batgirl. She inherited the mantle from Betty Kane, niece of Kathy Kane, the Batwoman (technically, Betty stylised it as “Bat-Girl”, predating Spider-Man’s love of hyphens). Comics continuity being what it was back then, there was no real handover or acknowledgement of the change, and it’s fair to say that, generally speaking, Betty’s time in the cowl has been written out of continuity, so that Babs is usually considered the inaugural Batgirl. However, Barbara was famously – infamously – crippled by the Joker in the 1980s, and over the years saw a number of replacements stepping in to be the new Batgirl: Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown. Helena – aka the Huntress – was more of a plot point stop-gap, but both Cass and Steph were the real deal, genuine successors to the role, and both were tremendous, anchoring themselves and making it their own outside of Babs’ shadow. Cass was silent but deadly (er, not like that), a mute assassin trying to atone, in a head-to-toe all-black number, very much a junior Batman; Steph, on the other hand, had a far gaudier costume with pink highlights and yellow pouches, and was a less capable but far sunnier presence, like Spider-Man in a batsuit. All of them are tremendous characters, and to celebrate the variety and success of the disparate Batgirls, I’m counting them all as number one.

Robin (Tim Drake, 1990): Batgirl might have the edge on numbers, but if there’s one hero who most made a legacy role their own, it’s Tim Drake. He’s not the first Robin – not even the second – but he’s the definitive Robin. He’s the platonic ideal of Robin. If, for thirty years or more, the Batman mythos has solidified around four key personalities – Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl – then Tim just is Robin. He’s the default Robin. His success is because he feels, like Peter Parker, a relatively realistic teenager in the way Dick Grayson arguably didn’t. He’s also part Grayson, part Wayne, but – at least originally – distinct and divorced from the two of them. A nerdy computer whiz kid who’s also funny and empathetic, but more pragmatic and colder than Dick; someone who isn’t peak-human, uber-trained, the world’s greatest acrobat. He works at it. He embodies the best qualities of the heroes that preceded him, but makes the role his own.

The Flash (Wally West, 1986): another character who absolutely claimed the mantle given to him in such a way that, for a generation, he’ll always be the true incarnation. A looser, funnier version of the Flash than his staid uncle Barry Allen, Wally was young – barely off the Teen Titans – when destiny (and a Crisis event) handed him the red pyjamas. And he grew into it, struggling, cocking up, learning and growing – not just as a hero, but as a person. He got married and had a family, he remained a devoted friend to the Titans, and he brought a bit of youthful vigour to an aging Justice League. He also represented DC’s willingness to age its characters, to allow them to mature and move on, in a way that sadly seems to have been reversed. He’s so cool in the role, so iconic, he was the default Flash in the Justice League cartoon, and there’s no greater compliment than that.

Batman (Dick Grayson, 1994): Dick arguably inherited his Nightwing identity from an old Kryptonian legend, so maybe the world’s first Robin was already a legacy hero, but it’s in his almost-inevitable ascension to the role of Batman that puts him on this list. He’s donned the pointy ears a couple of times, first in 1994 (and these dates, incidentally, are when the characters debuted in these roles), although I’d argue his greatest stint was in Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin comic and its related series. Like Wally as the Flash, Dick is a wittier and warmer presence, a much more open-hearted vision of Batman. His lithe acrobatics suit the character, and in Frank Quitely’s subtly tweaked version of the Batsuit, he cuts a leaner figure than Bruce, his cape shorter, his fists smaller. He managed to be Batman with a twinkle in his eye, bringing a touch of the Roger Moores to his interpretation of Batman as a hairy-chested love-god. But it’s in his warm relationships with his colleagues and other heroes that he excels, as Dick always does, the most empathetic and friendly of characters; he supports and encourages, especially his Robin, Damian Wayne. Their relationship is an absolute delight, and whilst Damian isn’t my favourite Robin, their version of the Dynamic Duo is one for the ages.

Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance, 1986): making the current Black Canary the daughter of the Golden Age character was a stroke of genius, at once recognising decades-past comics as being part of the continuity, but also adding a sense of gravitas and longevity to the tale. It also gives Dinah a great backstory and helps with her origin. But in another way it’s irrelevant; I didn’t know, when I started reading comics earnestly about twenty years ago, that she was supposed to be a second-generation hero. Dinah is great regardless, a determined and self-possessed woman, a formidable fighter and natural leader, but one also possessed of warmth and empathy. Her tumultuous relationship with Green Arrow is iconic and beautiful but also believable in all its rollercoaster turns. And she has an awesome costume. By this point, surely, she’s the one and only Black Canary in any way that matters, yeah?

Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan, 2014): ah, a Marvel character, how quaint. It’s true and fair that, for years, it was DC who were the “Legacy Company”, trading on their great history, unafraid to bench or even write off significant characters and allow another secret identity to take them over. Here, though, we have a truly excellent re-imagining of a classic hero. Kamala came from nowhere, a totally believable and instantly loveable creation, showing us a hitherto under-explored portion not of the Marvel Universe but of our own; a child of immigrants living in America, a Muslim, a brown-skinned girl torn between two cultures and traditions. It gave us a fresh and vibrant twist on the usual teen hero tropes and was all the better for it. Plus Kamala is just fun and funny and great all round.

The Question (Renee Montoya, 2007): probably not one with the legs of other characters on this list, as I’m fairly certain she’s already been retconned away, but I loved Montoya as the Question. Already an excellent supporting character in Batman comics, Montoya grew slowly over the years, being given more depth and nuance – we discovered she was gay (arguably one of the first prominent gay characters in superhero comics), and then she drifted into alcoholism, losing her job and becoming nihilistic and self-destructive. In the series 52, she inherited the mask of the Question, becoming basically a badass P.I. in a totally terrific outfit. She suited the role perfectly, and it became one of those brilliant bits of the DC Universe that I felt just really worked (like the Riddler also becoming a P.I.). I love Montoya, she’s great, and it was so cool to see her properly rubbing shoulders with other superheroes.

Spider-Man (Miles Morales, 2011): how can you top Peter Parker? He’s an icon, one of the few superheroes everyone knows. He feels so indelibly linked to Spidey that it’s a fool’s errand to replace him, surely. But Miles managed it. Earnest and clumsy, with his own sense of guilt and justice to guide him, he was a worthy successor to the spider-mantle, and brought a welcome dose of youth and naivete to the role nearly fifty years after Spidey’s debut. He also, and let’s not understate this, brought some diversity to the overwhelmingly white ranks of big mainstream comic book heroes. Like Kamala Khan, it gave us a new window onto the life of a hero, a twist on a story we may be used to, and was also more realistic and reflective of the times in which it was written. Now, of course, Miles Morales is ascendent, with movies and videogames, and everyone knows who he is and why he rocks as Spider-Man.

Wonder Girl (Donna Troy, 1965): this one feels a bit weird because whilst she’s an awesome character, arguably people don’t associate her quite so much with her legacy role. But technically Donna was the second Wonder Girl, adopting the role her sister Diana had as a child; the actual real-life circumstances of this are a bit weird and amusing (rumour has it the creators of the first Teen Titans story didn’t know the previous appearances of Wonder Girl were of a young Wonder Woman and not a separate character), and Donna was a regular fixture in the Titans. She was an essential part of the Titans’ great run in the eighties, but it’s here where – like Dick Grayson’s Robin becoming Nightwing – she eventually dropped the Wonder Girl mantle. Nowadays she’s usually just “Donna Troy”, but her compassion and integrity still shine through. I also really, really love her platonic relationship with Dick; it’s still quite rare to see two people who might otherwise become a couple instead just remain very close friends.

Death’s Head II (1992): sorry, Kyle Rayner; I love you as Green Lantern (and John Stewart, too), but I had an excuse to put my boy in the list and I took it. Death’s Head rocks, one of my favourite characters, and his successor – Death’s Head II, natch – is always interesting to me, even if it’s probably more for his place in history than his actual character. He was an attempt to create an iconic figurehead for Marvel UK as it sought to branch out with “American-style” comics in the nineties; a hulkier yet more organic-looking mechanoid than his predecessor, he exemplified the excesses of the “extreme” era of comics. He does have a striking design, with his demonic skull-like face and weird morphing arm. And the fact that he adopted the role after killing the first Death’s Head and absorbing his personality just makes him all the more edgy and – yes – extreme. Whilst I still prefer my freelance peacekeeping agents to have a little more chrome on their dome, DHII still rocks.

#top ten #heroes #legacy heroes #sidekicks #superheroes #comics #marvel #dc #mcu #ms marvel #spider-verse #batman

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fairykukla · 7 months

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Freddie's back!

I'm continuing my Halloween Movie Marathon, shifting to modern horror. I'm doing this mainly because I managed to pick up the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series in a two-package set from the thrift store!!

The first film, the iconic Wes Craven masterpiece, still holds up beautifully. I can see where he leans into the curves with some tropes, and veers right off the tracks with others. It's very clever, and beautifully metaphorical. The Mythology presented is internally consistent, and the characters are all very believable in their various roles.

Bitty Baby Johnny Depp sure is playing a "typical high school boy next door" as Nancy's across-the-street boyfriend. The rest of the cast are taking their roles seriously, including Robert England debuting a career defining role as the villain, Freddie Krueger.

But the core of the horror is about how this monster comes after you when you're at your most vulnerable; asleep in your dreams. What's more, the parents don't believe Nancy because they're guilty of their own sins. "Fred Krueger can't hurt you, baby, because mommy killed him." That's a hell of a reveal.

Robert England is the best thing in it, with his weirdly comedic take on the character, but it has recently occurred to me that Fred Kreuger was a successful serial killer of children; kids don't go along with creepy people. Successful predators are wolves in sheep's clothing. Oh, we *want* to believe that The Killer or The Perpetrator would be readily identifiable. We want him *obvious*. So, even more disturbingly, the original Fred Krueger wore cheerful colors and was kinda goofy/funny, maybe even charming. He apparently goes free due to a technicality, but I suspect that some of the reasons have to do with his being able to masquerade as a charming, non-threatening milquetoast.

Now that he's been revealed as a monster, he's a monstrous version of his former self. And his real sense of humor is dark and gruesome, but still (horribly) funny.

His reasons for tormenting, then killing these specific kids are because their parents were the ones who burned him to death.

The second best thing in it is our Final Girl, Nancy. I remember her as a mature-seeming "older teen" when I first saw the film. I was a young teen at the time, and she reminded me of my babysitters; a few years older and Very Cool. As an adult, I see how young she is, but still courageous and awesome.

(maybe one day Sigourney Weaver and Heather Langenkamp can be badasses together as bitter old biddies. I would watch THE SHIT out of that.)

And then, this happened. Oof. Wes Craven mostly just signed off on this one. He didn't write it or direct it.

And while it has some excellent moments, the overall story is neither written well, nor executed well. It's a mess.

Freddie wants revenge and uses the body of The New Kid to perform his bloody work. New Kid just moved into "That house on Elm Street," where "A girl went nuts after seeing her boyfriend killed across the street."

But apparently the house where the boyfriend was liquefied and sprayed all over the walls was... what? Sold to a different family right away?

It's "Five years later" but the film came out the following year?

The house is haunted but Dad is so pleased with his bargain that he won't fix anything?

Freddie possessed New Kid at completely random times, finally manifesting fully through him in the real world? Nancy's diary is found to provide necessary exposition?

And the pacing is ponderous, lots of close ups of sweaty, half-dressed teen boys.

So like, bonus points for making the guys into the eye candy, but they made it boring at the same time.

Central theme is... uh... Freddie is scary!

This one is Bad. Watch a couple of YouTube clips or the gif sets and move on.

In point of fact, the second film put me off the marathon for the night, so I'll pick back up and write some more later.

#2023 #halloween marathon #halloween movie marathon #spooky marathon #a nightmare on elm street #a nightmare on elm street 2

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ventiiology · 3 years

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— ✦ || home

title . windtrace characters . kaeya , diluc , venti , childe type . fluff , bullet-point headcanons

an interesting man in mondstadt is advertising for a game that represented mondstadt’s history but eventually got less played and forgotten over the years. he wanted to bring back the tradition, with more exciting edits made to the game in hopes of attracting more players. you have convinced your boyfriend to play it with you, and hell, it was a wild ride.

kaeya, upon hearing about the game from you, would already be interested

it sounded really fun, so he played it with you asap

he may or may not have skipped some duties from the knights, but in his eyes it was completely within reason

he didn’t tell you about that, of course, or else you would’ve forced him to go back to favonius headquarters and finish up whatever boring paperwork he needed to sign.

anyways..

as a hunter he would be quite experienced, as expected, since he was a knight and had to do similar activities when hunting down criminals like treasure hoarders, the abyss order, etc

you’d have to be good at hiding, otherwise the game would end very quickly

“hm? i’m surprised how you were able to outrun me the first time with your height. i don’t usually fall for the same thing twice, that’s why i was able to catch you~”

as a rebel kaeya would also be surprisingly good at the role

he’s scarily good at hiding and even with your perks as a hunter to trace wherever he is, he still made it really challenging

if you ever get too close to wherever he’s hiding or disguising he might take advantage of having a cryo vision to slip you up somehow

whether that be literal or not

although he’ll get called out for cheating later

“my, you’re freezing up. come on, don’t be salty you lost. you were pretty close to catching me, i’ll give you that.” kaeya says as be brings you into his embrace, warming you up in dragonspine’s bitter cold.

diluc would honestly not be interested at first

it would take quite some pleading, daily bugging, and perhaps a bit of bribery to get him to agree to play

tell him that he wouldn’t have to see kaeya around for the week or something

as a hunter he would spend a good 30 seconds just standing there wondering what he should do. there are a lot of places to hide, and the map was very big. also you could’ve disguised yourself as something from the area, so how could he be completely sure it’s you?

he’s really quiet so you wouldn’t hear him coming

using the hunter ability to trace where you went, he’d be somewhat indecisive on whether he should take his time or run to follow the traces

will use hunter abilities at the most inconvenient moments

for you, as the rebel, at least

like when you think he didn’t notice you and is walking away he’ll activate the hunter ability ‘insight’, which reveals your location and points you out with a pillar of light

diluc will be annoyingly good at finding you this way

“did i scare you? i— i’m sorry. i’ll try not to repeat my actions.”

as a rebel, he’d probably be more hesitant than when being a hunter

multiple times throughout the game, he will mutter to himself that he is not suited for this role

however diluc always seemed to take the longest to find... you wondered how he pulled it off every time

he’s definitely aware of this game

venti, of all people, should know about windtrace, especially its origins...

so he’s actually the one who invited you to play with him

as a hunter he’d love the thrill and challenge of finding you

he would much prefer to be a rebel, but the hunter role was still fun to play as!

he’d take his sweet, sweet time as a hunter

not sprinting all over the place will give him more time to examine places

but if he gets as much as a glimpse of action, he’ll go running towards that

“heeeey! that’s not faaaair! i declare a rematch! if i win this one, you owe me... an apple! no, five apples!”

“deal!”

as a rebel he’ll be able to find hiding spots in places you didn’t even know existed within the map

he might use a little bit of his anemo powers to let him climb up to higher places... if needed

will climb trees a lot, so when you start looking in trees, he alternates his hiding style

and he’s a speedy little shit too— so speedy you can hear him leaving sonic behind

like if you manage to get his disguise out of commission and you spot him since he’s unable to hide, he’ll literally just speed away behind something then you lose track of him

like???? what??? how does he??????

he will taunt you

one time he was disguising and you got pretty close

when your back was turned, he whispered, “missed me~” then will use the rebel skill ‘transparency’ to just disappear and sprint away since he knew that your hunter abilities’ cooldown wasn’t done yet.

“let’s play again! hold on, let me write a song about this...”

you didn’t even get to finish asking him if he wanted to play windtrace with you and he already agreed

this man is a simp

he’ll never admit that, though. he has pride.

as a hunter, the games played with childe will be so nerve-racking and intense

while he’s hunting for you, it’s like his whole aura’s changed

he seemed far more intimidating and scary than usual

“[name]~ where are you~? i can tell i’m getting close...”

why was he taking this game so seriously????????

when playing with childe, you could truly feel like you were the prey and he was the predator

he’ll give you a false sense of security. he’ll make you think that you’re safe from his watchful gaze.

you used your ‘transparency’ ability to become invisible to him

he’ll pass by and you hold your breath, nervous that if he hears a single movement, whether it be an exhale or the small brushing sound of your sleeve moving against your shirt, he’ll be able to find you

he walks away and sprints out of sight. he probably saw movement ahead and went to track that

you started to calm down and your tense shoulders relaxed. phew, he was gone.

then, you heard a whisper behind you as someone grabbed your shoulders.

“boo~”

you jump out of shock and he starts laughing at the scare he gave you

“that was not funny. i’m gonna hate you forever for that one.”

“you can’t hold it against me for that long, and you and i are both aware of it.”

as a rebel he would be annoyingly good at it too

after him scaring you as a hunter you got somewhat paranoid. who says he won’t pull off the same kind of thing as a rebel?

you swore you saw a wooden crate move so you turned around to face it but then it was gone

childe’s light on his feet and barely makes a sound

you’d get more panicked as the timer ticked closer to the end of the game. you really wanted to win this one.

according to the ‘hunter’s intuition’ skill you were able to pinpoint the place where childe was at

you sprinted closer to the beam that gave away his location

you wandered around the area, trying to find where exactly the pillar of light was pointing you to... then the light disappeared

you saw a hay roll near a house which definitely wasn’t there last time you checked, so you took your chance

you were 5 metres away from it when you felt a certain someone pull you into a hug from the back.

at the same time, your timer rang, signifying the end of the match.

how does childe keep sneaking up behind you?

“hah, was it really that hard to find me, love?”

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?”

“i’m just a natural at it, i guess. haha, don’t worry~ with enough practise, you might surpass my skill level!”

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin imagines #genshin headcanons #genshin x gender neutral reader #genshin x you #zhongli x reader #diluc x reader #kaeya x reader #venti x reader #childe x reader

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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Shiramine Nokia, and her role in Cyber Sleuth’s narrative

This one’s on request! Cyber Sleuth is quite the interesting game and a rather landmark entry in the franchise, mainly for being a love letter to the franchise and its long history itself, and for being the franchise’s very first work exclusively aimed at adults, meaning that it can explore different topics that wouldn’t normally be Sunday morning timeslot material, while also being a little more willing to assume that the people playing this are familiar with a lot of older parts of the franchise (not that it’s advisable to have complete lockout, but the game benefits greatly by not needing to assume lockout by default).

One of the ways Cyber Sleuth exhibits its “franchise love letter” status is by starting off the game all the way back at the franchise’s roots, before Digimon Adventure changed the game and everyone’s perception of Digimon and Digimon partnership, when the V-Pet lore was intertwined with Digimon as elements of hard sci-fi. As the game proceeds, the atmosphere slowly starts to resemble the more fantasy-like version of the franchise established by Digimon Adventure and its follower entries -- and that change is represented in none other than Nokia herself.

Before we begin: As anyone who follows my meta work has probably noticed, I generally prefer to have my analyses use tons of references and screenshots so that it’s easy to follow and the evidence is concrete, but Cyber Sleuth is a game, and it’s much harder to get those things without replaying the entire game, so I hope this won’t be too hard to follow despite being mostly text.

Nokia’s background and personality

If we want to apply the producer’s statements on Twitter, Nokia is 17 years old at the time of Cyber Sleuth, and has a backstory of having originally been a shy, bullied child who broke out of her shell thanks to the influence of her cousin (who, of all people, happens to be none other than Date Makiko). The flashback we get with Nokia in chapter 18, however, portrays her as just a fairly cheerful, go-getter child, but (although we only get to see her hair) she’s not quite as “flashy” or in-your-face as the description entails.

A possible hypothesis for rationalizing this all together comes from a what we learn about the process of memory wiping in Cyber Sleuth chapter 14: even if memories are extracted from the person, there’s some kind of residual memory left behind (the producer’s above statement also states that the same thing had even happened to Suedou). In Hacker’s Memory chapter 16, Arata confesses to Ryuji that the first Under Zero incident and Jude's loss to the Knightmon had re-triggered his trauma from having lost Yuugo years prior -- “not the memory, but the feeling.” So in other words, there was some feeling of loss that came after the loss of Yuugo that impacted those involved -- and it’s very possible that this deeply impacted and traumatized Nokia as well.

Assuming we’re still following this line of thought (since, again, this background point wasn’t actually in the game proper), Nokia eventually decided to break out of her shell thanks to Makiko’s influence, and become eccentric and assertive, and thus, the game begins.

While we’re here, I also want to point out that Nokia is also voiced by Han Megumi, possibly the Digimon franchise’s most notorious “promoted fangirl” who freaked out after getting to meet her childhood characters’ voice actors while cast as Airu in the Xros Wars crossover and ended up casted in a handful of major Digimon roles thereafter as a result. Which is not to say that her voice performance wasn’t also absolutely perfect for the bright and aggressive Nokia, but, you know...considering the below analysis, food for thought.

Nokia as a representative of “the conventional franchise”

Cyber Sleuth opens on a world where Digimon are largely seen as hacker programs, and even the hackers themselves only see them as non-sentient programs; there are ones like Chitose who treat them with empathy, but his attitude seems to be kindness towards them in a way not entirely unlike a family would treat a Roomba. Although he doesn’t admit to it at first, Arata himself also comes from this “world” of hackers, and we later learn that Yuuko herself is as well (via her “Yuugo” persona), meaning that, other than the playable protagonist, Nokia is the only “outside-context” person -- a completely ordinary civilian who’s gotten dragged into all of this.

Much like, say, the protagonists of Digimon Adventure.

With this background behind her, once she’s thrown into the world of hackers, she immediately has a “fateful encounter” with Agumon and Gabumon, instantly recognizable as two of the franchise’s most prominent Digimon (and complete with their Adventure voice actors, too). And I do especially bring up Adventure specifically, because while Nokia’s position in the game does end up taking in certain elements that roughly came around that era and possibly slightly predated it (mostly Digimon World and V-Tamer), Agumon and Gabumon weren’t particular mascots of the franchise until Adventure basically blew everything to pieces.

Right off the bat, Nokia does not have a single shred of doubt that Agumon and Gabumon are living beings and should be treated as such (again, much like the protagonists of Digimon Adventure; even Taichi in his “is this a game?” mode never doubted this). And they open up their meeting with this conversation:

Agumon: Umm, who are you? Nokia: It... It can talk?! It's so... so... so adoooooorable! M-M-M-M-My name's Nokia. What're your names? Agumon: Me? My name is Agumon! Gabumon: I... I'm Gabumon. Nokia: Agumon and Gabumon? Hee hee! What weird names! Gabumon: Hey, they're not weird! Agumon: You're the one with the weird name! Nokia: As if! My name's not weird! Hee hee!

And on top of that, Agumon refers to Nokia as having a “familiar” scent. Remember this for later.

Nokia’s second encounter with Agumon and Gabumon in Cyber Sleuth chapter 3 involves her properly partnering herself with Agumon and Gabumon, and learning about the existence of the “Digital World”. Note that, for all intents and purposes, EDEN had been treated like the functional equivalent of the Digital World in this narrative up until this point -- cyberspace with hackers, coming from the network, it’s basically a “digital world” from top to bottom, and yet here Agumon and Gabumon are introducing the concept of a more fantasy-esque incarnation of a digital world. (And, in fact, despite EDEN being right there, many long-time Digimon fans playing this game often complained about how little you get to see the “Digital World” in this game, because of how associated that term is with something more fantasy-like.) So, again: here we have Nokia, who’s forming a partnership with Agumon and Gabumon as equals instead of recruiting them as hacker tools (even the protagonist wasn’t immune to this method), and being indirectly responsible for introducing the more fantasy-like concept of the Digital World that the modern franchise is currently associated with.

Nokia embarks on the conventional shounen anime character arc of starting off cowardly, but eventually learning to have her own inner strength, with her Digimon evolving in accordance to her emotions. And, eventually, in Cyber Sleuth chapter 8, she decides to form her own hacker team, called the “Rebels”. She ostensibly bases it off the old creed of Jude, having heard that they were a team that never caused trouble for others, but we later learn via Arata turning out to have been its former leader, and the even later portrayal in Hacker’s Memory of its spiritual successor Hudie, that this is an extremely rose-colored image of them -- Jude (and Hudie) was not a well-intentioned team by any means, but rather a sort of mercenary group meant to enforce the “freedom” of EDEN, often taking on shady jobs and “punishing” entities they considered to be causing chaos. But in this case, Nokia forms her team under the idea of legitimately fighting for justice and good will -- again, much like a Digimon Adventure protagonist.

In case the metaphor weren’t clear enough, Nokia decides that the members of her group will not be called “hackers”, but “Tamers” -- the same lingo used by the franchise to refer to a human who partners alongside a Digimon to help them get stronger -- and that she wants to promote the idea of humans and Digimon working in tandem (complete with emotional bonding exercises). For this, everyone looks at her weird, and yet her methodology, initially naive as it seems, keeps working, because Nokia’s natural charisma starts bringing people from different places together and making quite the formidable team. Everyone is perplexed by this, but perhaps it’s only natural, because Nokia has just independently invented the modern concept of Digimon partnership in a world where it did not exist. And this is eventually solidified by the Under Zero invasion in Cyber Sleuth chapter 10, in which Omegamon is finally formed (from sheer guts on her part).

Omegamon is yet another symbol of the modern franchise, but it’s important to remember that he hasn’t always been so; even his appearance in V-Tamer was as more of a tactical piece than any kind of game-breaker, but the impact of Our War Game! has led him to constantly make a resurgence in major franchise roles (maybe a little too much these days). However, on top of Nokia basically embodying the modern franchise itself by doing this, Nokia and Arata’s positions are an obvious reference to Our War Game! in particular, being Omegamon and Diablomon Tamers -- but they’re not seen directly fighting each other. In fact, Arata’s partner only ever reaches Diablomon when he’s at the highest point of his morality, so the reference is more ideological; Nokia represents the more idealistic and heroic side of Digimon, whereas Arata represents the more dirty-playing and cynical hard sci-fi side of it (remember that Diablomon himself was rather detached from the fantasy conflict of Adventure, being a mysterious entity that sprouted out of nowhere on the Internet and wreaked havoc). Moreover, Nokia’s usage of Omegamon embodies a theme that’s central to both Our War Game! and Cyber Sleuth itself as a whole -- while most people associate Omegamon with Taichi and Yamato these days, the original method of formation back in Our War Game! came from “bringing people from different places together”. Nokia managed to bring together a formidable army in a place where everyone else in the hacker world was trying to promote a dog-eat-dog philosophy, and the sense of cooperation is arguably making her stronger than anyone else.

(I should also point out that Nokia’s name is, obviously, a reference to the Finnish telephone communications company, and this has a lot of relevance to the game’s theme of connection, along with her phone Digivice...and, also, the method used to bring everyone’s powers together in Our War Game!’s spiritual successor, Diablomon Strikes Back. Feels a bit too on-the-nose here.)

In the second half of the game, when the world starts falling apart due to the Digital World portal opening, Nokia becomes one of most important people holding everything together as Arata goes off the deep end and Yuuko starts fixating on her own personal problems and revenge -- because she’s the one most in tune with treating Digimon as the living beings they are, she’s most active in advocating for them and helping them bond with humans, and and she��s the one making the chaos be a little less chaotic. The second half is basically the more fantasy-esque version of Digimon leaking into the sci-fi, with the sidequests progressively resembling your average Digimon anime monster-of-the-week episode, and holding that all together is Nokia, who becomes a vital figure in maintaining that fellowship by being in tune with the modern franchise’s philosophy.

Through all of this, Nokia ends up taking a role rather similar to a Digimon protagonist, which is highlighted very strongly in Cyber Sleuth chapter 18 when she ends up literally becoming the player character while the main protagonist is out of commission. During that time, Yuuko and Nokia learn the truth of what happened during the EDEN incident eight years prior -- and we also learn that the five children involved had an extremely conventional “first meeting in the Digital World” experience that could have been pulled right out of the first episode of a Digimon anime, with them having a lovely adventure meeting new creatures. And at the center of that “first contact” was none other than Nokia, Agumon, and Gabumon themselves:

Agumon: Um... who are you? Nokia: Ahem! I am Nokia! And just who are you? Agumon: Me? My name is Agumon! Gabumon: I... I'm Gabumon. Nokia: Agumon and Gabumon? Hee hee! What weird names! Gabumon: Hey, they're not weird! Agumon: You're the one with the weird name! Nokia: As if! My name's not weird! Hee hee!

Nokia, Agumon, and Gabumon’s meeting at the beginning of the game had been an (accidental) reenactment of their first meeting in the Digital World eight years prior -- and, in the flashback, Nokia invites them to go on an “adventure” with them. So in other words, Nokia getting involved in the hacker conflict at the beginning of the game was, unknown to all of them, her attempting to restore that beauty and idealism of the Digimon Adventure-esque philosophy and fun in a world where the Eaters had torn it away and EDEN had turned into a haven of cynicism and hacker battle royale.

In the end, the game’s conflict is only resolved by bringing everyone together; Arata has to be retrieved from the deep end, and Yuuko has to settle her deep-seated personal grievances. Everyone makes a promise to return together, in the sense of making things right and repairing the connections between them that had been cut in that incident. The final battle (momentarily) causes the playable protagonist to literally fall apart, and the one reaching out to them and sending her message to them at the end of the game is none other than Nokia herself -- again, in the absence of the game’s protagonist, Nokia is the one with the closest role, because in the face of the new world going forward, she was the one who contributed most to restoring its idealism.

Ultimately, all of this is especially because Cyber Sleuth works under one of the most terrifying imaginable premises for a fan of a kids’ franchise: “we made an entry for this, but for adults.” Many of us can testify that this kind of premise can go very well, or very badly -- the latter especially in the case of things that decide “taking the opportunity to do things that you can’t do on a Sunday morning kids’ timeslot” means “going out of your way to put edgy violence and sexy things and cynicism just because you can”, or, in other words, looking down condescendingly on its kids’ franchise roots with malice and deciding that something for adults means “more suffering” and not “issues that require more life experience to understand”. The reason the game ended up getting as much acclaim among longtime Digimon fans as it did was that despite being the franchise’s first venture into this territory, it did end up setting itself up as something that took that opportunity to do something new and unique that would have never made it into any of the prior entries (holy hell the doll quest) and yet never gave up on the idealism and themes of connection that make up the franchise at its core, and paid respect to everything that had contributed to all of that while it was at it.

And at the center of that is Shiramine Nokia, who is effectively the spirit of Digimon Adventure, condensed into a single character.

#digimon #digimon story cyber sleuth #shiramine nokia #nokia shiramine #shihameta

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phantomato · 3 years

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Five Tom Riddle Crossover Fics to Read

Tom Riddle is a difficult character to ship. For those of us who want to see pairings beyond the Big Two (Tomarry and Tomione), canonical options peter out relatively quickly. Sure, we can invent our own pairings by fleshing out side characters, but sometimes, the itch is best scratched by borrowing from another canon.

And it makes sense for Tom more than nearly anyone else in HP. Tom was born into an era that is the subject of so much literature, so it’s easy to find another person kicking around postwar Europe if that’s your goal. He’s an archetypal character, the villain seeking immortality, and can be matched against other villains with the same aims. Hell, even his quest to recover lost artifacts turns into the basis for two of these works—Tom Riddle has the perfect combination of a recognizable context and character model, plus the ambiguity of his canon timeline, to slot him alongside so many other fictional figures.

I want to pause on some of these themes for a second. Immortality or relationship to age, for one, is something that comes up in three of these pairings: the Darkling and Koschei the Deathless are both immortal characters in their own canons, and Edmund Pevensie is not immortal but has aged and de-aged repeatedly in his travels to and from Narnia. The HP series doesn’t give us nearly this wealth of different perspectives on age and immortality, which is fair—HP makes it clear that immortality is unnatural and undesirable, and Flamel is notably a ‘good person’ because of his willingness to accept his own death—but for a character as obsessed with the idea as Tom, some emotions can only be explored when you match him with another character who has a complicated relationship to aging. Even someone like Indiana Jones, not immortal and not trying to be, has an interesting perspective to bring to a story because he has seen so many other quests for power gone terribly awry.

Of course, the other thing we get from crossover pairings is the ability to match Tom with a villainous character. And whether you’re a fan of conflict at the start of a relationship or not, I think there’s something to be found in putting two villains together: moral arguments, when they exist, are rarely about whether death is necessary but about what kinds of death are best used when; the entire concept of either a redemption arc or a breaking bad arc can be thrown out a window. It’s a space wherein our two villains are allowed to be themselves, and the reveal of the extent of each character’s villainy becomes a strange form of celebration. This is challenging to achieve if one sticks to HP canon alone, whereas crossovers are a fruitful space.

My selection methodology was to read every crossover fic with a clear focus on Tom Riddle or Voldemort on AO3. I found crossover pairings by visiting the meta pages for the Tom Riddle, Voldemort, and Tom Riddle | Voldemort tags—I may have missed some pairings for Tom Riddle, as the character has over 300 child relationship tags and AO3 cuts off at 300 displayed. If you know of any ships I missed and should check out, do tell! I’ll also make a note here that one of these fics is my own—if self-recs bother you, skip Bluebird.

The following five fics are ordered by wordcount. Let me know what you think!

Neurotic Virtuosi, by skazka

Crossover: Hannibal Rising (movie version). The wizarding world exists, and Tom and Hannibal encounter each other in non-magical Eastern Europe.

Summary: Tom and Hannibal ride the same train when Tom is hunting down the diadem. Tom shares an apple and thinks about keeping Hannibal.

Mature, <1k, Graphic Torture Fantasies

Why?: This is one of those pairings that I wouldn’t have thought to do when the characters were both young, but it’s so much better for that choice! The length of this fic means we only get a taste of their interactions, but what a taste it is. Tom’s internal fantasies are horrifying and described in a very erotic way, which fits both characters.

This also serves as an interesting vision of what Tom might have experienced during his world tour to find the diadem, a period we rarely get to see. I particularly like that the author chose to write it as frustrating and mostly fruitless; a Tom who is stymied and unsuccessful is a particular weakness of mine.

Two Sides of the Same Coin, by Anonymous

Crossover: Chronicles of Narnia. Both Hogwarts and Narnia are real, and the characters meet in Britain. The magic isn’t the same, but there’s mutual recognition.

Summary: Tom tries to use sex to seduce secrets out of Edmund. Edmund sees something reminiscent of his younger self, the version of him who could join the White Witch, in Tom Riddle.

Explicit, 2k

Why?: Edmund and Tom are a pairing made in crossover heaven, both boys of a similar age born into war in the same country and whose discoveries of magical worlds help them escape it. Both lust for power and make poor choices; Edmund canonically recovers and finds redemption from his actions, and Tom does not.

This fic wears the hat of something pure smut, starting in the middle of a sex scene and tagged with top/bottom roles, etc., and it is that and does that well. But give it a shot for Edmund’s reflection at the end, his hopeful musings that he can apply the lessons learned from Aslan to help Tom before Tom’s utterly lost. It’s a crossover ship with unbelievable potential for both characters, and this fic makes me want so much more.

Shedding Skin, by electric_typewriter

Crossover: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. Both the wizarding world and the magic of Deathless exist.

Summary: Tom meets Koschei before splitting his soul. They keep meeting, and Tom keeps attempting to match Koschei’s immortality.

Not Rated, 2k

Why?: Immortality via relocation or storage of souls is an idea that easily predates Harry Potter as a series, and seeing two different versions of the some core idea interacting with one another is precisely what crossovers exist to enable. Koschei as an immortal being that found his immortality in a way he considers superior is a fascinating concept, because it creates a power imbalance between them that leaves Tom always running to catch up. And Tom, poor Tom, feels like a desperate man, finding sensation only when he’s around Koschei and feeling nothing at any other time.

This reads a bit like you’re dissociating. The author uses descriptive language to keep the reader a little distant from the grounded reality of the events happening, which has the effect of keeping you focused on the metaphysical question of what it means to have part of a soul.

Bluebird, by Phantomato

Crossover: Shadow and Bone. S&B summoning powers instead of HP magic, set in the real world, with characters’ histories preserved.

Summary: Tom is the second sun summoner to exist, born long after the first gave up her powers and lived out her natural life. He tracks down the Darkling, the shadow summoner who never really died.

Explicit, 17k

Why?: Tom is an immortal being for at least part of his life, and his character arc is about pursuit of immortality, but he is fundamentally a young immortal, and is killed before he can graduate to old immortality. Aleksander, the Darkling, is canonically an old immortal, and his character arc is about the burden of living with the knowledge that you will likely always be alone. That loneliness sets the scene for the relationship between Tom and Aleksander, driving Aleksander’s behavior—he fundamentally believes he will always be alone, even an immortal like Tom passes through his life.

There is a high proportion of smut in this, serving in place of the emotional honesty that neither character can muster, and I recommend it for that. But the story also relies on investment in quiet everyday moments shared between the characters. It’s a fic told through behavior because both men are so cautious around one another, where they nevertheless manage to find sympathy for the other.

Riddles of the Dead, by Maeglin_Yedi

Crossover: Indiana Jones. Blends together the wizarding world and the mysticism present in Indiana Jones films.

Summary: Tom Riddle hires an expert archaeologist and gentleman adventurer, Dr. Indiana Jones, to help him pursue an artifact that might grant him immortality. There’s fucking, fighting, magic, snakes, and some difficult choices in store for our leading men.

Explicit, 18k, Angst

Why?: Maeglin Yedi has been a mainstay of the Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort ficspace for nearly two decades, but an old crossover like this can unfortunately slip through the cracks. It shouldn’t! With an original publishing date in early 2005, this predates the concept of horcruxes, the knowledge of Tom’s early years at Wool’s orphanage, and, well, so much of what we would eventually learn about Tom Riddle as a person. It’s a testament to the author that the story manages to capture Tom’s character in such a way that he’s still fully recognizable to a current-day reader, despite working with so much less canon.

This fic is fun. It’s an adventure, featuring hazards and traps and assassination attempts that you would expect from an Indiana Jones film, but the magic and mystery never overwhelms the relationship at the core of this story. It’s set up beautifully, with a mirrored structure between the front and back halves of the fic that foreshadows the inevitable end of the story. Watching older, confident Indy seduce young, hungry Tom is a delight. One (possible) mark of a great Tom-centric fic, imo, is to be able to portray Tom enjoying the exchange of power, giving it to someone as well as taking it from them, and this Tom is able to revel in giving up some perceived power as he practices being vulnerable with Indy. The romance is quite sweet, especially considering that ‘angst’ tag at the top of the fic!

#tom riddle #tomato fic rec

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samwisethewitch · 3 years

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Paganism and witchcraft

Thanks to many, many centuries of misinformation, paganism and magic are inextricably linked in pop culture. Progress has been made — the word “pagan” is less likely to make people think of dark rites, blood magic, and ritual orgies in the twenty-first century than it was in, say, the seventeenth century. Even so, if you tell someone you identify as pagan, you’re bound to eventually get the question: “So, are you, like, a witch?”

The answer, like so many things in paganism is that it depends on the pagan.

Before we get into modern pagans and their views on magic, I think it’s helpful to understand the historical roots of the association of paganism with witchcraft. And for that, we have to travel back to the Middle Ages, when Christianity was already well-established as the dominant religion in Europe, and the Catholic Church was well on its way to becoming a hegemonic superpower. The beginning of the witch hunts was just around the corner.

In her book The Study of Witchcraft, Deborah Lipp claims that two very different understandings of what it meant to be a witch were both at work in the medieval witch trials.

The first concept of witchcraft, which Lipp identifies as the “folk witch,” was much older and much less Christian. These were people who used dark magic, such as hexes, to cause harm and mischief. Though they may not have been called “witches,” folk witches or witch-like figures have existed in virtually every culture in some form. Examples include British witches, Irish changelings, and Navajo skin-walkers. The one consistent feature of these diverse creatures is an association with magic and a tendency to cause harm. They were seen as a threat to the community, and these types of witches were persecuted long before the rise of Christianity.

(For what it’s worth, the fact that witches were disliked by ancient pagans doesn’t mean that all magic was. Most of the ancient cultures that inspired modern paganism also had their own magical practice, and in many cases magic does not seem to have been controversial or taboo. But again, those who used magic for good would not have been considered witches before the twentieth century.)

The second concept of witchcraft identified by Lipp is the “Satanic witch,” which is an exclusively Christian concept. These people were heretics of the worst kind, members of a cult of Satan worshipers who had sexual relations with demons and plotted against the Church. They were a threat to the faithful Christians in their community.

The only unifying factor in these definitions is a sense of deviancy. Both folk witches and Satanic witches were people who deviated from the norm. It’s no coincidence that those accused of witchcraft were often those who broke societal norms in some way, such as single mothers or women who owned property.

These two distinct definitions of witchcraft would collide in the Middle Ages, with those who were tried for witchcraft often accused both of causing harm to the community by blighting crops or killing animals, and of worshiping Satan. It was commonly believed that these witches tormented the community with evil powers given to them by Satan.

But what does all this have to do with paganism?

While it’s possible that some of the people executed for witchcraft in Europe were secretly practicing the old pagan religions, they definitely wouldn’t have been the majority or even a significant minority. Supposed witches were almost always accused of worshiping Satan, not pagan gods. Most of the people who were accused, tried, and executed for witchcraft were probably accused for social reasons, not religious ones. Most if not all of them were probably not witches as we would recognize them today.

The accusation of devil worship is one that medieval “witches” have in common with pagans. Many of Satan’s names were originally the names of pagan deities, such as Beelzebub (a Philistine god), Moloch (a Canaanite god), and Dagon (another Philistine god). This association of Satan with pagan deities reflects real-world political conflict between the Hebrew people (and later the early Christians) and the cultures who worshiped those deities. Like the label of “witch,” this serves a political function and creates a clear “us vs. them” mindset.

However, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that medieval Christians thought that witch = pagan, or that they thought pagan = devil worship. During the conversion period (several hundred years before the Middle Ages), it seems that Christians largely viewed pagan gods as just that — other gods who were in competition with their own. There are records of Christians and pagans living in relative peace in some parts of Europe — something that surely wouldn’t have been possible if Christians believed that all pagans were devil worshipers.

Fear and paranoia regarding Satan and his followers didn’t become a large part of Christianity until the Middle Ages. Before that, Satan was a relatively minor figure, less the embodiment of evil and more of an annoyance. He was even used for comic relief in religious plays! It was in the Middle Ages that Satan began to take on a more prolific, antagonistic role. Again, this coincided with the Church becoming a hegemonic political entity.

I’m by no means an expert on European history, but it sure seems to me like the witch hunts and Satan paranoia of the Middle Ages were more about controlling the people and punishing deviance than about genuine religious conviction. Just saying.

By the time the witch hunts began, paganism (a.k.a., pre-Christian religion) had all but died out in Europe. Worship of the old gods had either ceased entirely or had been incorporated into Christianity in the form of regional tradition and superstition. Thus, “witches” were accused of worshiping Satan who, at the time, would have been a much more recognizable figure than Jupiter or Anubis.

So, to make a very long story short, there really isn’t a historical connection between paganism and witchcraft, except for both of them having been in conflict with Christianity at some point. It’s important to remember that witchcraft (in this case defined as harmful magic) is a concept that predates Christianity and that witches were treated with suspicion in pagan as well as Christian communities.

That’s not to say the two aren’t connected. In fact, modern paganism is much more closely linked to witchcraft than its historic counterparts.

If you read enough older books about paganism, especially Wicca and other neopagan religions, you will likely find references to “the Burning Times.” This is an exaggerated, largely fictionalized, and thoroughly disproved narrative that was popular with early neopagans, including Gerald Gardner, the father of Wicca. The “Burning Times” refers to the idea that, in the Middle Ages in Europe, the witch hunts were a genocidal attack on self-identified witches and pagans, in an attempt to wipe out these ancient belief systems. This is almost entirely false.

Belief in the “Burning Times” requires belief in Margaret Murray’s witch-cult hypothesis, which has been almost totally discredited by historians and archaeologists. Murray believed that the medieval witch trials were an attempt to wipe out a widespread pagan religion that had survived the Christianization of Europe. Murray claimed that this witch cult spanned much of Europe and worshiped a horned deity, who was referred to as the Devil by Christians.

Again, Murray’s theory has been completely discredited. There is no evidence whatsoever of a continent-spanning pagan religion, much less one that survived into the Middle Ages. If a book, website, or teacher refers to Murray’s theory or to the “Burning Times” as if they were historical fact, they are not a good resource for your study of paganism. Remember, paganism had been largely displaced by Christianity before the European witch hunts really got going!

But Murray’s theory, although false, has still had an impact on our modern understanding of witchcraft and paganism. As previously mentioned, Gerald Gardener was inspired by Murray’s ideas and incorporated some of them into Wicca. Noticeably, the Wiccan God often appears in prayers, poetry, and artwork as the Horned King, clearly inspired by the god Murray wrote about. Wicca was also the first pagan religion to make magic an integral part of ritual, thus marrying paganism with witchcraft.

The rising popularity of Wicca, and of self-identified witches, has helped destigmatize the label. Wiccans are, for the most part, lovely people who strive to use magic only for good. This is very different from the historic understanding of a witch as one who causes harm, and it’s been great PR for the witch archetype.

Nowadays the word “witch” can refer to anyone who practices magic, although some magic practitioners choose to use different labels. “Witch” no longer has connotations of evil, mischief, or malicious intent. The witch’s pop culture makeover has also been aided by popular fiction that portrays witches in a positive light, like the sitcom Bewitched, the Harry Potter franchise, and the TV show Charmed. This new definition has caused thousands of people, pagan and non-pagan alike, to use witchcraft and the witch label as a means to empower themselves and improve their lives.

Modern pagans may or may not identify as witches. Personally, I am both a pagan and a witch — but my paganism and my witchcraft are two different parts of my spiritual identity. For other pagans, witchcraft and magic are an essential part of their religious practice.

Say it with me, now: it all depends on the pagan!

Resources:

The Study of Witchcraft by Deborah Lipp

Witches, Sluts, Feminists by Kristen J. Soleee

The British History Podcast, “94 — Dark Age Beliefs”

Irish History Podcast, “Kilkenny Witchcraft Trial of 1324 (Part I)” and “Kilkenny Witchcraft Trial of 1324 (Part II)”

Wicca For Beginners by Thea Sabin

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twistedtummies2 · 3 years

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Well, you've done DC. How about Marvel?

Okay, this one was REALLY tricky. XD The issue with Marvel is that while there is one character who is consistently one I adore, the rest of the characters I can have kink crushes on tend to be in flux, so to speak. Like, sometimes I'll like them a whole lot, sometimes I'll only like them a small bit, sometimes I'll like certain designs or portrayals and not others, etc. So there are NUMEROUS Marvel characters I wouldn't mind writing for and can fantasize about, but how much those levels stand is forever fluctuating. Having said that, this won't REALLY be a Top 5 of favorites, but more...a Top 5 of consistency. Because aside from my number one (and maybe my number two), the other characters here fluctuate in terms of how much I like them compared to others. HOWEVER, they are ALL characters I CONSISTENTLY enjoy to some degree or another in a pred/big eater role. (Mostly pred, if you haven't guessed from previous answers.) Now, let's get into them...

5. Galactus.

Ah, yes, the Eater of Worlds himself. In point of fact, Galactus' literally cosmic appetite is both his biggest pro AND his biggest con. Galactus is a veritable god of destruction; a nigh-omnipotent being whose entire existence REVOLVES around consumption on a massive scale. Galactus literally eats worlds; he absorbs all energy the planet has into his being, and his hunger is neverending. Time and again he's come after Earth, but every time, he's outsmarted by the heroes and left to find some other place to gorge himself. On the one hand, God-level predators are freaking AWESOME, and that level of sheer hunger is INTENSELY squeak-and-blush-inducing. On the other hand, however, it doesn't leave much room for intimacy or for writing that will present an especially great amount of conflict. As a result, Galactus' appetite is both incredibly appealing and yet slightly off-putting for me.

4. Fin Fang Foom.

While his name is pretty silly, this giant dragon is actually one of Marvel's most underrated and intensely powerful antagonists. Originally imagined as a sort of unlikely cross between Godzilla and Fu Manchu - a monstrous distillation of all things that terrified people during the Yellow Scare - Fin Fang Foom has evolved with the times and, much like the Mandarin, still has a steady home at Marvel in the comics and in animation. He's not very well known, however, I think mostly because he hasn't appeared in any movies. As you know, I love dragons, and Fin Fang Foom is a dandy of a beast: a regularly rampaging monster who is, indeed, a canon pred. The image used here is actually from a defective clone of Fin Fang Foom, which had much of his power but little of his intelligence; the REAL Fin Fang Foom is actually highly intellectual...but this does not make him any less ravenous than the version depicted above. (Plus...come on, with imagery and writing like that, I HAD to make this the image I shared.) He's pretty much perfect for macro/micro type stuff, if you're into dragons.

3. Nightcrawler.

There are several X-Men characters I have had crushes on: Beast, Blob, Toad, and Sabretooth are the chief ones. However, in all four of these cases, how much I like them tends to fluctuate, as I've said before: it depends on a LOT of factors. However, the one X-Men character I seem to consistently want to stuff full of food or end up feeding myself to is, ironically, one of the least likely options: Kurt Wagner, a.k.a. Nightcrawler. I WOULD say this is because he's my favorite X-Men character (which is true), but I don't really think that's the reason. There's not much evidence of Kurt being an ESPECIALLY big eater, and certainly no evidence of him being of a predatory mindset...yet he has developed a niche group of vore-loving or belly-loving fans who really love the thought of feeding him one way or another, and I am in that niche. I think it's a mixture of his design and his personality: Kurt looks like a fanged, fuzzy demon, but his soul is actually that of a very fine fellow. He's an impish mischief maker, a charismatic and chivalrous gentleman, and a kind, charitable, religiously devout sweetheart, all at the same time. You can imagine Nightcrawler being a big tease to someone who has certain kinks, but you can also imagine him being very docile or very comforting. He's pretty much a tailor made character for the softer, safer, more playful sides of these interests almost without trying.

2. Tiger Shark.

I've only come to know Tiger Shark fairly recently, and I haven't READ much of him...but with what I have seen of him and learned of him, he's definitely worthy of the number two spot. Remember how I said in a previous thing of these sorts that Killer Croc was sort of "King Shark done right"? Yeah, I think Tiger Shark is an even more accurate example of that. In the comics, this rogue's story goes like this: Todd Arliss was once an Olympic swimmer who lost his abilities in an accident: desperate to regain his athletic capabilities, he gave himself over to experimentation, and his DNA was fused with that of a tiger shark, and also of the mythical Sub-Mariner, Prince Namor. The resulting mutation turned Arliss into a predatory monster, with superhuman strength and a savage appetite. Over the years, Arliss has been depicted less and less human and more and more animalistic by various artists; whether this is a canon show of his worsening mutation or just artistic license is anyone's guess. Tiger Shark has a more consistent personality than King Shark, and while his design has changed over the years, he's at least retained the basic concepts, as well as his hunger. I have to admit that I actually prefer a version OUTSIDE of the comics for my interests: the version that appears in the series "Avengers Assemble," which gives him a whole new backstory and a decidedly beastly design. If I were to write for the guy, I'd likely follow that one more closely. Still, the comic version definitely has some merits, too.

1. Venom.

Now, I'm specifically talking about the original Eddie Brock Venom; other versions just don't interest me as much. With that out of the way...Venom didn't START OUT as a predatory beast, but quite quickly, as time went on, the character became more and more focused on that aspect of things. Just looking at the guy, it's easy to see why. The Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque relationship between Eddie Brock and the ravenous Symbiote that controls him is one that can be used for both comedy and tragedy, and Venom's gluttonous, aggressive, and at times delightfully witty personality makes him a very fun character to imagine. He can devour massive amounts, has a canonical love of chocolate (as well as human flesh), and has more appealing dialogue than you can shake a stick at throughout his long history. He's right up there with Killer Croc as one of my favorite predator crushes in comics, and possibly the only Marvel character I can consistently say I adore above ALL others.

#ask #answer #marvel #q&a #comics #supervillains #superheroes #nightcrawler #venom #fin fang foom #galactus #tiger shark #pred crushes #kink crushes

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ethrenisnotthehero · 3 years

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@hogwartsmystory is a predator (final)

If you haven’t read the other parts of this callout, I encourage you to start here. As in both previous posts, the normal tags are not included in order to allow this to reach as many people as possible. Potential triggers are listed below, and the main content is hidden to keep sensitive individuals from being unintentionally exposed.

TW: Pedophilia, Abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual Assault, Self Harm, Suicide, NSFW Topics, Faked Illness, Faked Mental Illness, Faked Death, Victim Blaming

Originally, I intended to craft this final part to you, the reader, as an emotional appeal. To be wholly honest, there’s only so much evidence that can be utilized without either forcing Jill to relive unnecessary trauma or exposing deeply intimate or personal parts of her life. Until now, everything I’ve told you and everything I’ve shown you is what was enough to convince me when Jill first reached out to me. If you, the reader, don’t believe the factual information that’s been presented so far, then I don’t think that you will. If you, the reader, believe Jill and her story, then no further evidence is going to magically make her story more true.

However, I don’t have to. Instead, I can let the friends-- the family--that Ren created on his website speak for themselves, and show you with their own testimony just the kind of person he was. Jill wasn’t the only person that Ren hurt. Jill wasn’t even the only person Ren preyed on as a sexual predator. Many people on staff, and many people outside of it, knew Ren and grew to have what they thought was a close relationship with him. People regarded him as someone to look up to, to find comfort in, to aspire after, to lean on; people thought of him as a friend and a hero in his community.

On April 12, 2021, at 9:57 AM Greenwhich Mean Time, the current administrators of Advanced Scribes issued a statement addressing Ren’s actions and his faked death. An additional announcement was made the following day. While the announcements themselves and the replies (including moderator statements) are publicly available, I have saved a print-to-PDF versions on Google for you to browse at your leisure.

I intentionally waited until the initial panic and outrage died out a little to let the most important statements come to light. Included in the PDF are sentiments that I personally thought were the most important sentiments; edits have been made and pages have been deleted, so you can see the current state of the conversations by visiting them directly. You can find the first discussion at https://advanced-scribes.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42100#p1454263 and the second discussion at https://advanced-scribes.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42107#p1454361.

Before you continue reading, please look over the statements and replies. The words of former staff former friends say more than I can ever hope to about Ren and the kind of reality that he stood for. Additionally, Jill herself has added to the conversation (username Rakuen), so you can read a bit from her perspective by looking into these announcements. After you’ve taken a look, continue below and I will sum up my final thoughts on this predator and his legacy.

Advanced Scribes • Our Statement (PDF)

Advanced Scribes • Change (PDF)

The Act of Grooming, Part 3: Entrapment

One of the reasons that predators get away with their crimes for so long is because they trap their victims. When they gain access to and successfully lure in their prey, they then engage in entrapment behavior to separate victims from other people and build reliance. The reason why kids are so prone to predation is because of how vulnerable they are. Young people just want to belong. They just want to have community, security, and affection. When they can’t get those things in their lives, they seek it out and take it where they can get it even when the situation is obviously bad. Kids can’t be held accountable for being smart because they’re kids. Jill was vulnerable. She wanted belonging and support. She fell into Ren’s lures, and he trapped her. He used his affection as a tool to solicit sexual favors and pictures from her, but never shared his face with her. She was always chasing his love, and all the while he was simultaneously preying on other individuals in the community. For God’s sake, this man had a selfie thread where underage girls would send pictures of themselves publicly on the site for him to look at, and he even intentionally disabled the website’s COPPA features.

Before Jill, there was Buttercup. Buttercup was also an admin, and she was also 13 when she met Ren. While Ren was a minor during he and Buttercup’s relationship, his behavior with her was just as predatory and Buttercup attempted to warn Jill via PM before she ended her relationship with him.

The picture he sent Buttercup wasn’t even him.

The entire time that Ren was convincing Jill that Buttercup was evil, and jealous, and a spiteful, hateful person, he was manipulating her the same way he was manipulating Jill. Ren is a predator who knows what he’s doing; he always has. He draws in his victims and makes everyone hate them so that he’s the only person they have. He makes them so desperate for his approval that they let him screw them over time and time again, and for what? Just to see his face. Think about what you read. He didn’t just do this to Jill and Buttercup. He did this to every person he cheated with or got close enough to get a grip on. Even if he didn’t sexually exploit someone, he emotionally did. An entire community of people suffered through this over and over and over again. Read the statements again. If you only read the live version, read the PDF.

I also want you to bear in mind that everyone on staff was equally a victim as they were an enabler. It doesn’t erase their responsibility, but their roles in this story or more nuanced than “moderator bad, burn the witch!” Some of Ren’s supporters were as young or younger than Jill when they met him. The two people most notorious for standing at his side right now were both “rewarded” with a relationship with him in the fallout of his faked death.

At some point, this man looked at his behavior and not only decided that he didn’t need to take responsibility, but that his victims daring to try and claim some kind of ownership over their own story was a personal affront to him.

Ren is a monster of his own creation. He chose to be that monster again, and again, and again.

What makes his enablers equally to blame is when they became adults and made a conscious choice to ignore what was happening, which brings us to the next topic.

Finally... How Old Was Jill?

Despite everything I’ve said and shared so far, I still get this question in my inbox.

How old was Jill? Did she lie about her age? Is she free of guilt because she was a kid? Did he know how old she was? Was she legal in her country?

I gave you all everything I had. There were some things I just couldn’t confirm because there was no proof either way. However, all of that changed when the announcements were released. I now know exactly how old Jill was when they began dating, exactly how old she was when people knew about their relationship, and even that Ren was public with all of this information. I also know that staff knew everything, and chose to do nothing.

As you can see in the screenshots above of Buttercup’s message, it was sent on Jun 17, 2015. At that time, Jill was 14 years old. By Buttercup’s estimation, they had been dating for around a few months, which is how I was able to discern the previous exact age of 14 years old at the time they began dating.

However, Ren himself refutes that fact in a Valentine’s post for Jill. As pointed out in the “Our Statement” thread, the post that user amnesia. references includes very sexual and disgustingly graphic descriptions of Ren’s activity with her. It also says this:

As per the timestamp of this particular post (as seen below), Jill was 16 at the time. Ren, a man claiming to be twenty-five years old at the time, was proud to admit that he had been with Jill since she was 13.

You can view the full PDF of this post to see what else he said here, but please be warned that his descriptions are NSFW and absolutely disgusting.

Warm Fuzzies Post (PDF)

No adult should talk about a kid like that. In the statements, several staff members admit that they knew that the two were dating when she was 16, and that it grossed them out. But none of them did anything. To amnesia.’s credit, they claim they tried to pursue legal action but found no viable routes.

From the discussions and statements, we can discern five things:

1. Jill was 13 when she started dating Ren. 2. She did not lie about her age. 3. Ren did not lie about her age. 4. Ren knew how old she was. 5. Staff knew how old she was.

Jill’s feelings and her opinions on staff and their behavior are separate from my own. She does not share my beliefs here, and I need to make it very clear that what I’m saying next is entirely my own opinion.

To everyone who was staff at that time: shame on you. It’s one thing to be a victim yourself and to not understand how or when to stand up for what’s right, especially when you’re young; it’s another to become an adult and to have let something like this permeate your legacy and your community for all this time. From what I understand, none of you are completely innocent in this. Ren wasn’t secret, he was loud and proud and he didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. Everyone who was an adult then and is an adult now shares some responsibility for that. Those of you who mean your apologies, thank you, but those of you who are using this event as a stepping stone to make that website into your own personal playground know who you are. Stop. There’s an entire generation of kids between AS and CS who have lost years of their childhoods to this shit and the only right thing at this point would be to turn the site over to the police so that Ren can answer for his crimes the right way.

To everyone else: protect the people around you. People like Ren don’t think about how other people think or feel. They don’t care who gets hurt or who they trample under their feet. Look around at your community, and ask yourself if those who interact with you know that you are safe. Inevitably, someone is going to get hurt. Are you the kind of person that they can come to when it happens, or are you the kind of person who will turn your head away?

Be the person that everyone knows they can come to, because, eventually, someone’s going to need you.

#ethren is not the hero #ethren whitecross #ethren #chicken smoothie #chickensmoothie #harry potter #hphm #hphl #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts legacy #aaron #aaron strider #strider #advanced scribes #advanced-scribes #skyren #captured hearts #aven #lucian

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shezzaspeare · 3 years

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Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It��s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

Blessie presents – The Science of Fanfiction: A Study In Sherlock (2021) • Next

Follow me! • My Carrd | My YouTube Channel

SOURCES • Pinterest, Google Images, Wikipedia, Literary Terms, Conan Doyle Estate, Definitions, The Sherlock Holmes Book, and Google

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burneddownthegym · 3 years

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can’t stop thinking about this so hear me out. a spuffy au of farscape 2x16 the locket. set it in s9, firstly because everything should be set in s9. or early s10. but secondly that’s bc it’s when they’re at their most Best Friends Who Are In Love But Aren’t Saying It which is exactly the s2 johnaeryn vibe. you need a long opening section to set up how in love they are, but also Not Doing Anything About It. they can make out a bit, bc why not. it’s about the yearning. in this version it would be dawn that gives buffy a locket, because dawn and chiana are both the annoying younger sister archetype. then buffy goes to check out some kind of disturbance in a warehouse and disappears. buffy has to play the aeryn role bc spike loving buffy for 200 years is like whatever. of course that’s the kind of stupid shit he’d do the revelation just won’t hit right if he plays aeryn.

so then spike is worried that buffy hasn’t come back in so he goes to the warehouse. and then she pops out, and she’s old and stuff. and rambling about the life she has to get back to. but she has to warn them first about closing the portal. and the characters try to get buffy to linger but she knocks them out and goes back through the portal. and then spike follows after her. and she’s like. you stupid idiot. the portal is only open for so long. and of course he gets stuck.

so now there’s old buffy and spike. maybe do some bullshit about how it turns out slayers are longer-lived (superhealing??) but not immortal. and she has like, a daughter and a dead husband and shit. and he’s insecure bc like, that’s what she always wanted right? she wanted normal and she got it. teases her about how it’s always her husband or angel she’s been in love with. meanwhile buffy is insecure bc she’s old now and he’s perfectly young. and there’s nothing for him to do in this alternate life. no demons, no predators. she can’t even fight him properly anymore and doesn’t think he’d want her. and he’s still so in love with her he doesn’t give a shit, but she had this whole life. it’s all even more impossible than it was before. so they just talk. they just talk for decades and grow their stupid sheep and plants and bide their time for the portal to open again so buffy can warn them and see dawn again before she dies. and bc she thinks that’s where spike needs to be. he can do good in their original world and needs to keep doing good bc she still believes in him. plus he’s a fighter he’ll be happier there. right?

so then they’re about to cross over. and she says she’s sorry he got stuck with her. and then they cross and she dies. and he’s like, i would have stayed with you forever and it would have been worth it bc he’s so in love with her and never ever stopped. but of course she’s DEAD and can’t hear. and he opens the locket and he’s the love of her life too and everyone’s crying now. and then magic portal stuff happens and time reverses and whatever. maybe dawn can also play the stark/zhaan role since she’s the key yadda yadda, so she remembers but no one else does.

and then the story finishes where it started, with spuffy on the verge of becoming something. but they look at the locket together and there’s something there. like they just Know somewhere deep in their souls that something happened and they smile at each other and spike asks if she wants to kill something with him, and she’s like, no one i’d rather do it with. and then they’re REALLY smiling, but bashfully. and everyone’s crying again but it’s happier this time.

anyway it’s the lifetime movie spuffy deserves.

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deathwishy · 3 years

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×MARTIAN AU×

It was April 1st and, according to plan, every hero from the Young Justice was present. Perfect.

It was hard, but Marinette and Tim managed to bring everyone together for the biggest prank in Young Justice history. Of course, their team mates didn't know that. Except Miss Martian. She found out by accident and they had to take her in, but it turned out to be the best decision ever.

It all began with a ghost story two months prior. They were already planning and Miss Martian was just brought in. They decided that it was the perfect moment to plant the seed of fear and doubt in their hearts.

It started out as an innocent game night. Most of their team was present except for Kaldur, Artemis, Wally and Bart. With conspiratorial looks, M'gann suggested watching a horror movie, saying that she didn't see one yet. The team agreed, suggesting a modern one with good graphics, as a good introduction to the genre. After the movie came to an end, M'gann snorted loudly, instantly attracting the attention of the team, without looking like it was her intention.

"What's the matter?" Asked Dick, grabbing the remote and stopping the movie at the credits. M'gann blushed.

"It's nothing, it's just... We had nursery rhymes scarier than this."

"Oh?" Demanded Superboy. "Do tell."

Tim and Marinette locked gazes when no one was looking and grinned maniacally.

"Well, there is a legend, which my brother told me, that kept me awake for months. The story itself is not that scary but the concept and the fact that it turned out to be real did a number on me."

And so the story began. It was a genuine Martian story but it was not real, as M'gann was claiming. It was about a being called a Raggan'aaz. A shadow being that walked Mars long before the Martians and dwelled in the caverns deep below the surface. They lived for long and wouldn't die of natural causes, only if killed. When the White and Green Martians came around, they were hunt down, but a few still remained. After that,hey craved Martian blood but they were also very careful and patient. After all, they wouldn't die because of old age. As years passed, they became a myth but still very alive in Martian culture. They even had a rhyme to remind the children to stay out of their supposed caverns, where people would still disappear. 'Stay, my child, away from dark/ Or The Martian will claim his mark/ Stay away from places long forbidden/ And beware the red eyes in darkness hidden.'

"Wait, you called him The Martian?" Asked Superboy, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, they were supposed to be the first Martians. And so the title of The Martians came to the beasts. This is a translation from my language, Raggan'aaz is the original term. Now let me finish."

Raggan'aaz were predators. It was said that they would stalk their prey for weeks, months, some said even years, before engaging. The prey would even go insane by the time they were killed, drove into madness by the beasts whispers and taunts. They wanted to imbue the flesh of their victim with the taste of fear. Of terror. Once they had a target in mind, they would not let go until it was dead.

"It's not that scary." Dick said, grinning and crossing his arms.

"Maybe not for you, but our people tend to beware when they see red in the darkness, shadows with the corners of their eyes or hear whispers without anybody nearby."

"Maybe people were just going insane."

"Maybe." M'gann shrugged and stood up. "I'll go to sleep now, good night."

The team felt just a tad bit uneasy but they blamed that on the movie. They didn't know that it was Miss Martian, suggesting a little fear on the psychic link. Nothing serious. The three weren't planning on permanently scaring their team.

Since then, Marinette told Trixx, who was extatic, to create illusions around the base. They kept them out of missions, they didn't want to create real problems. The tamer were nothing much, a shadow, a pair of glowing red eyes that were visible just for a second here and there, the more unsettling ones were a few babbling but ominous sounding whispers in the halls at night. M'gann made sure to get each member alone when Trixx made the illusions, guiding the kwami while invisible. When Kaldur, Artemis, Bart and Wally mentioned these things, the tension in the team only grew tighter. By the time April 1st came around, the Young Justice believed that they were hunt down by a Raggan'aaz.

...

"I think it's bullshit. Everything began after M'gann told you that goddamn story." Started Bart a month later, looking around.

"Look, it's nothing, maybe the story was a bit more unsettling than we thought it was. Now we are just seeing things that are not there." Dick countered, waving around a cookie.

"Maybe she's pranking us." Pointed Artemis, plopping on the sofa. Wally followed her, snuggling next to her.

"Yeah, no, she's cool and all but she's not a prankster." Said Wally dismissively.

Tim and Marinette were watching from the side, trying not to laugh. It was a stupid prank but that's why it would work. But they would need a fourth player. Someone that would be trusted about Martian information and that was usually serious enough to be believed about serious stuff. They needed J'onn J'onzz.

The three cornered him when he visited the base a few days later, away from the rest.

"We need your help." M'gann began, flashing a smile. After a few seconds J'onn frowned slightly. M'gann only smiled wider.

"It's one of the most ridiculous plans I've ever heard. How did three of the smartest heroes in here come up with it? And why?" Now M'gann was listening too. She got on board but didn't know why they wanted this.

"We need to get back at them from what they did six months ago."

"When they threw us in a panic room and didn't let us out until we confessed our feelings for each other." Tim smiled at Marinette, taking her in a side hug and kissing her on the head. She blushed a little and just snugged closer.

"It worked out for us, in the end, but we can't let that slide. This is war."

"And yes, it is a stupid plan and a very stupid prank but that's why it will work."

"They will expect something elaborate from us, so this is the way to go. They will not know what hit them."

J'onn considered for a few seconds. That may work. He wouldn't usually partake in such a childish endeavor but he was curious about the outcome. The Raggan'aaz were mere folklore but they were terrifying, especially for Martian children. Human children may be just the same.

"Very well. I am curious about the outcome. What do you need me to do?"

The fearsome trio smirked. This would be epic.

After they briefed J'onn and set the date, a week from then, and dispersed. Tim couldn't believe that they convinced J'onn to do it, Marinette was thrilled about it and M'gann was giggling like an idiot.

A week later, J'onn J'onzz stumbled from the zeta tube, disheveled and clearly unsettled but otherwise not obviously harmed. He was clutching his side and he was limping but that was it.

"What the hell happened?" Dick was the first one to get to J'onn, helping him on a chair.

"I... Am not quite sure myself." He turned his eyes to M'gann, who was checking him for injures, playing her role flawlessly. "If I didn't know better I would have said it was a Raggan'aaz."

Bart dropped his phone, Kaldur and Artemis flinched, Superboy whipped his head around, until then being in a conversation with Dick, who looked queasy. The rest of the team had varying reactions.

"Bullshit." Blurted Artemis.

"It's real?!" Screamed Marinette, looking at M'gann, who was now becoming more pale by the second. With a little help from her powers.

"I told you it was real!"

"We thought it was just a crazy legend! What the hell?" Screamed Wally pulling at his hair.

The team was now full in full hysterics.

"I think you summoned it." Said Garfield in a matter of factly tone.

"What is that?" Asked J'onn with a neutral tone, but with a hint of concern. He was good.

"The Martian, Raggan'aaz, he's been prowling around this place for weeks. I didn't actually think it was one of the beasts, I told the team the story just because I saw some things that reminded me of them and thought it would be funny. It didn't pass my mind that an actual Raggan'aaz would be on earth. I think he was looking for you. How did you even escape him?" Asked M'gann, now breathing hard.

That was something that they came up with a few days ago, when they were brainstorming ideas to make the story more believable. J'onn approved when they talked after, seemingly stoic as ever, but M'gann told them that he will be definitely laughing after the call ended.

"I don't think I was his actual prey, otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance. I think is someone else, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tried a second time."

"We have to tell the Justice League, this is bad." Now Nightwing looked alarmed.

"Calm down. We are not 100% sure this is a Raggan'aaz. Maybe M'gann's story is getting to your heads. My encounter may have been a misunderstanding, it would not be the first time another Martian impersonated a Raggan'aaz. I will investigate the situation but I advise you to be vigilant."

That seemed to calm the team down, if only for a bit. Tim was hugging Marinette, his face hidden in her hair to hide his smile. He could feel her smile too in his chest. M'gann was keeping it together very well, talking with J'onn in hushed tones as she led him to the zeta tubes. Tim was now looking at Superboy, who looked uneasy. He was listening. Good. Let him fan the flames. The asshole was the one to throw them in the panic room.

April 1st, The Young Justice Base of Operation

The team was tense and paranoid but not very much above the normal level. All the heroes were tense and paranoid most of the time.

There have been no sightings of the Raggan'aaz since J'onn has been 'attacked' but no one feels out of the hook yet. They have been questioning M'gann relentlessly but she quite enjoyed sharing bits of her culture, all real facts that could be woven easily into the lie but would stand on their own when the prank was done. She liked her small victories.

As they planned, the team was afraid but not so afraid that it would start affecting them or that they would feel the need to further consult with the League about it. Martian Manhunter knew so the others must know too, or so the youngsters assumed.

In the morning something could be felt in the air, besides the smell of pancakes. It was a bit of Trixx's and Plagg's magic, a bit of mischief sprinkled in the air.

Tim, M'gann and Marinette were in the kitchen that morning, nothing unusual. Marinette and M'gann were making pancakes and Tim was drinking his much needed coffee. He had to be wide awake. They already bugged the whole base but nothing can beat the real thing.

As the team was lured into the kitchen, the Raggan'aaz made his appearance.

"I'm smelling Dupain-Cheng pancakes. This is the best 'Welcome back after 6 months in space' gift I could have hoped for." Adrien was practically skipping in the kitchen, stealing one of the plates. He then drowned them in syrup and whipping cream.

"Jesus Christ Adrien, stop, you'll get sick."

"Worth it."

"You came back a week ago. I've made pancakes then."

"Did you hear what I said? 6 months. I'm planning on making up for the lost time."

"I'm heading for the gym. Feel free to join me." Tim said, kissing Marinette. She giggled and winked.

The others either cooed or made gagging sounds. Adrien was grinning. He was the main Timari shipper. A few seconds after Tim left, there was screaming in the hall. Perfect timing.

When they saw the scene in the hall, the team freezed. There, before Tim, was something resembling a White Martian, but only in form. His skin was a dark red riddled with black veins, long white claws, a mouth full of gleaming yellow teeth and red eyes that looked like they could set you on fire. The beast almost reached 10 feet, but hen it went on all fours. Trixx had really outdone herself. Tim had his Bo staff out but kept his distance. After all, the illusion would fall as soon as they touched him so they had to make the most of it.

"What the hell is that?!" Screamed Adrien calling for his transformation. Nobody saw Plagg's grin.

"Raggan'aaz." Said Nightwing, pulling out his escrima sticks. They cracked with electricity. He looked ready to puke.

Artemis was swearing along with Wally, Kaldur looked like he might run, Garfield turned into a rhyno, looking terrified but ready to punce.

The beast groweled something that made M'gann gasp.

"He said that his mark is on all of us. We are his prey."

It was all they needed to attack. The speedsters tried to get to him first but the thing was just as fast, if not faster. After all, it didn't obey any laws of physics, it was just an illusion. Marinette was already transformed but she, M'gann and Tim were sitting on the sides looking like they were waiting for an opening. When it almost got cornered the Raggan'aaz jumped on the ceiling and then out of the room. With a battle cry, the team followed it. The three stayed behind, not trusting themselves to not laugh. There were a lot of screams and thuds but after a few minutes it went quiet.

When the young heroes strolled in, with the most betrayed faces they have ever seen, the three burst out laughing. They couldn't even speak for a few minutes.

"Was any of it true?" Asked Nightwing with his 'dissapointed big brother' face™.

"Only the story." Said M'gann gasping for air.

"How did you get J'onn on it?"

"Pretty easy actually, he didn't have that much to do so he agreed. It helps to be among his favorites." Replied Tim grinning. He was still clinging to a giggling Marinette.

"Why?" Asked Adrien with a pained look on his face.

" Panic room." The couple said at the same time.

"But that worked out!" Adrien shouted indignated.

"It did, but this was war. We needed to retaliate."

The Justice League heard about the war from J'onn after it was done and they thoroughly enjoyed the clips Tim sent them. They unanimously decided to not cross Tim and Marinette. The two could conquer the world if they weren't so sleep deprived.

Ok, so this was written at 3 AM and there might be some inconsistencies but please enjoy my best shot at this prompt.

This is set after season 2 of Young Justice and before season 3 but Wally is still alive because he never died in my heart.

This came later than I would've liked but civilian lives are a pain.

@timari-month-event

#maribat #mlb x dc #timari january #timari #maribat january

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nightwingmyboi · 4 years

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Hey so I was wondering about Dick's Romanian heritage. Is it mentioned a lot in comics or media? Is he dark skinned in any adaptations? Is it true he originally went to Juvie after his parents died? Where would I go to find this stuff out? Thanks!

Sure! So, Dick’s heritage is a pretty complex topic. I think it’s best to leave the explanation to [this post]. Since I know not everyone will click the link, just to briefly clarify something: Dick is Romani, not Romanian. Being Romanian means being from the country of Romania. Romani people are scattered across the world. Also, Dick is typically depicted with light skin in canon...him being Romani would not conflict with this, because the Romani people have a large range of skin tones. Not at all opposed to him being depicted with darker skin, but just so that you know. Very, very strongly recommend checking out the post for the whole story (edit: and checking the reblogs for the counterpoint to said post!!)

Robin (1993) Annual #4

As for your other question...in one version of Dick’s origin story, following his parents’ deaths, Dick was sent to Gotham’s Youth Center. This center was essentially a juvenile detention center; most of the kids were sent there for committing what are described in comic as “adult crimes.” It was a very rough environment for Dick, especially in the aftermath of his parents’ deaths.

Dick going to the center after his parents died is technically a retcon of his origin (ie it was something added later). I know for some reason certain people hear the word retcon and immediately are like “then it doesn’t count!!!” but I think that is very much the wrong approach. True enough, some retcons are bad--that is, those that completely ignore previously established characterizations or plot points, and in doing so often radically change the story for the worse. It’s fine if people want to ignore those bad retcons, I do so myself. But, that’s not true for every retcon lmao. I’d say the juvie origin retcon is a great example of a good retcon. It really helps to clarify and enhance the original story, and I don’t think it should be dismissed. Hear me out here:

1.) The juvie origin doesn’t replace any previous origin story--it really only adds to and improves upon the timeline of Dick’s original origin.

For the most part, in previous tellings of the story, Dick’s origin went pretty much straight from his parents dying to him and Bruce in Wayne Manor. It’s a pretty sudden, jarring jump; the in-between was largely left to the reader’s imaginations or implied to not exist at all. And I’ll be real...the pacing and immediacy of events is pretty wonky and unreasonable. In one of the most extreme speed runs through Dick’s origin I’ve seen, Dick’s parents die and Batman immediately swings down from the rafters and tells Dick that he’ll solve the case...while Dick’s parents’ bodies are still cooling a couple feet away (Batman #436). Yeah, that is absolutely ridiculous lmao, as is the idea that Bruce just immediately adopted Dick the day his parents died. I think that the juvie origin very nicely slows things down and helps to organically fill in the gap of time that would and should exist between Dick losing his parents and being taken in by Bruce.

2.) The juvie origin helps to rationalize Bruce’s reasoning for taking Dick in.

In previous origin stories, Bruce’s main motivation for taking Dick in is that he saw his own suffering reflected in Dick and wanted to help him. I dig the parallels between Bruce and Dick...but this is very flimsy reasoning to adopt someone lmao. With all the tragedy that occurs in Gotham, you cannot tell me that Bruce had not run across some orphans before. Bruce sympathizing with Dick certainly should be part of what motivates him, but there needed to be something more. If there is not some immediate, urgent reason to adopt Dick, then it makes zero sense that Bruce would try to raise him honestly. Why would Bruce tear Dick away from his remaining family and friends at the circus? Why would Dick want to leave? And even if Dick could no longer remain at the circus, why wouldn’t Bruce allow Dick to go to a good foster home, especially since Bruce is so laser focused on his solo crusade against Gotham’s crime that he doesn’t even allow himself to have a steady girlfriend half the time? Lots of plot holes here!

The juvie origin fixes a lot of these issues! Staying at the circus is not an option for Dick, not because Bruce just snatches him away, but because legally Gotham Juvenile Services says that the circus is an inadequate environment for raising a child. Dick is sent to juvie, and the comic makes a point of showing Dick nearly being beaten to death almost immediately upon arriving.

Dick is in danger and he’s lost in the system, so there is no longer a possibility for him to land in a good home. Initially, when Bruce goes to find Dick, he’s still tracking him down only with the intention of getting justice for Dick by solving his parent’s murder. But Bruce is a good person at heart. When Batman finds Dick trying to escape from the juvenile hall, beaten to hell, he intervenes. The next morning Dick is taken in by Bruce Wayne.

So now, taking in Dick isn’t Bruce tearing Dick away from the chance of having a loving family and throwing him into the dangerous life of a crime fighter; taking Dick in is Bruce saving Dick from a horrible situation, possibly even saving his life. The only way to get Dick out of the potentially deadly situation he was in quickly was for Bruce to take him in as a foster parent. Bruce’s actions actually make a lot of sense! And Bruce is forced by necessity to take on a fatherly role that he does not feel suited or prepared for, rather than him adopting Dick on a whim. The juvie origin gives this scenario the urgency and necessity that it desperately needed.

3.) The juvie origin has been around for a long time, and pretty successfully adds nuance to Dick’s character without completely altering or changing who he is.

The juvie origin is a retcon that has been established for about 25 years, fyi. Robin Annual #4, which is where this idea first came into play, was released in 1995. There are also references to this origin story in Nightwing Vol. 2, and that comic series ran from 1996 to 2009, so it’s not like the juvie origin is completely baseless or totally removed from the narrative.

Nightwing (1996) #11

Also...Dick Grayson has been around for 80 years. In DC comics, I’m pretty sure he is predated only by Superman and Batman. You are inevitably going to have to add nuance to his character as time goes on. The juvie origin adds a very interesting complexity to the character and his fight against crime, considering he himself has been in the system...there’s so much untapped potential there!! So yeah, I feel like the juvie retcon is a very valid addition to Dick Grayson’s origin story. Plus, Robin Annual #4 is just a very well written and well thought out comic book that really fleshes out Bruce, Dick, and Alfred’s initial relationships to one another in a realistic way, and more people should check it out.

What I’m saying...is that more people need to get on board and accept the juvie origin guys!! It’s my favorite origin for Dick, hands down. Thanks for giving me an excuse to talk about it anon.

As for where to go for more info…well, you can always check out Dick’s DC wiki, or anyone else’s, for basic summary info. For me, I always like going straight to the source. You could find a comic rec list that focuses on what you’re interested in and just dive in and build your knowledge that way. Sometimes if you google around, you can find neat creator interviews that address questions like the ones you asked. If nothing else, I’m sure there are people on tumblr (like me :D) or elsewhere online who are willing to help you out and point you in the right direction if you’re curious about something in particular. Idk if other people know of a good resource for things like this?

#thanks for the ask anon!#ask #dick grayson #robin #bruce wayne #batman #alfred pennyworth #juvie hall #meta #romani #romani dick grayson

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scarletarosa · 3 years

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Ningishzida

Mesopotamian god of the tree of wisdom

Ningishzida’s name means "Lord of the Good Tree", which is also known as “The Tree of Death”. It is this sacred tree that grants wisdom once eaten from, causing a “death” to one’s ignorance and a rebirth through knowledge. This tree is also an entrance to the Underworld, since wisdom comes from allowing one’s current self to die. Its sister-tree is the “Tree of Life” which is equivalent to Yggdrasil.

In depictions, Ningishzida is shown as either a large serpent, a serpent with the head of a man, a crowned man with snakes coming from his shoulders, or as a double-headed serpent that is coiled into a double helix. This last representation makes him the first appearance of the caduceus symbol, predating the one shown with Hermes and Asclepius in Greece. In another depiction, Ningishzida is shown beside the Tree of Death (a unique tree that is shown bearing some sort of fruit), along with two griffins, which are divine protectors. Ningishzida is also associated with dragons, the mušhuššu and balm. He is also referred to as a snake, (muš-mah, meaning “exalted serpent”). Due to these, he is moreso a serpentine-dragon, rather than just a serpent.

Myths: In mythology, Ningishzida is one of the deities thought to travel to the Underworld (Kur) during the dead seasons (mid-summer to mid-winter); the other deity being Dumuzi. These two gods are also featured in the myth of Adapa, one of the first humans. When Adapa is commanded to arrive before Anu, god of the heavens, after speaking a curse to break the south wind, he sees both Ningishzida and Dumuzi placed as guards for Anu’s celestial palace. As for Ningishzida's chthonic connections, a title of his is “gu-za-lá-kur-ra” (the chair-bearer of the netherworld). He is also the overseer for the twin-gods who guard the gates of the Underworld: Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea. An additional role of his is being involved with divine law in both the Underworld and on Earth, making him a guardian/overseer of many things.

The Tree of Death had also been linked with the serpent or dragon (winged serpent) for over 1,000 years before Genesis was written. In 2025 BC, the cup of the Sumerian King Gudea of Lagash showed two winged dragons holding back a pair of opening doors to reveal a caduceus of uniting snakes, the incarnation of the god Ningishzida, to whom the cup is inscribed: “Lord of the Tree of Truth”. In northern Babylonia the goddess who embodied the Tree of Wisdom was called the “Divine Lady of Eden” or “Edin”, and in the south she was called the “Lady of the Vine”, an understandable change of name given that the Sumerian sign for ‘life’ was originally a vine leaf.

Appearance: Ningishzida is an enormous serpent with yellow eyes and a body that is over 30 meters in length. His body is made out of black Sumerian syllables that shift all around his form, due to his power of words. He also has shimmering black plumes on his head and around his neck. While his form is that of a great serpent, he is a species of dragon and has similar abilities to them.

Personality: Ningishzida is reserved, serious, highly intelligent and wise, honest, diligent, intuitive, and deeply loyal. He is a highly respectable being and seeks to teach promising humans of true wisdom and knowledge. He has said that the path to true wisdom is a painful one and very few make it; yet those who do are fully reborn. Just like a serpent, they must shed themselves and become anew. Although the majority of humans do not impress him anymore; he wishes to work only with those who fully love truth and are willing to achieve spiritual evolution despite the strife it costs. He dislikes laziness, pretentiousness, cruelty, stubbornness, and those who prefer to believe lies in order to be comfortable. Ningishzida has also stated that he is neither Lucifer nor Satan, or any other demon; he teaches very similar things as Lucifer and is on good terms with him, but they are not the same. Overall, Ningishzida is a god of vast knowledge and wisdom who seeks to bring enlightenment to those who prove themselves worthy to him.

The Story of the Tree of Death: Ningishzida has described that the tree mentioned in Biblical texts is indeed his own tree, but the actual event was much different than described. He tells that when humans were being created, it was done so through guided evolution. The birth-place of the final result for humanity took place within several gardens full of life upon Earth, such as Dilmun and Eden (e-din: “the land between two rivers”; i.e. a location within Mesopotamia). When the humans were created within these sacred gardens, they were not actually created in pairs, but as large groups. This is because there is no possible way that two humans alone could populate the Earth. Once these humans were created, they were often visited by certain deities (such as Enki, their creator), as well as some dragons. The dragons are a race of beings who possess advanced intelligence and wisdom, many of them are also deities. These beings all came to the humans in order to teach them and show them how to become independent. One such mentor to the humans was the serpentine-dragon himself, Ningishzida, who guarded the Tree of Wisdom.

These gardens of paradise were select areas upon Earth that were enhanced with magickal fields due to divine pillars the deities had placed within. This caused the gardens to be otherworldly in their beauty, with plenty of food, water, and even luminescent architectures where the humans could live. The Tree of Death is a divine tree of otherworldly beauty that was projected into each of these sacred gardens, each one being protected by Ningishzida. These gardens were to serve as temporary dwelling places for the new humans, allowing them to be closely mentored until they were fully ready to become independent. Once a human made it far enough in their training, Ningishzida would allow them to eat from his tree and become truly wise.

However, the tyrant Aeon god, Jehovah, sought to take Earth as his own by manipulating mankind. He managed to convince many humans that they were being held captive in these gardens and that eating from the Tree of Death meant literal death, in order to prevent them from becoming wise. Due to this, very few humans got to eat from the fruits of wisdom. Thinking that their mentors had been corrupting them all along, the humans prematurely left from the gardens and convinced others to do the same. Once many had left, the humans gradually began to realize how difficult surviving on Earth actually was and tried to enter one of the remaining gardens. But in order to keep the humans inside this garden safe, the deities prevented them from entering and guarded the entrances with flaming swords. In a rage, the humans attacked the divine pillars of all the gardens, causing them to lose their magick essences. The gardens of paradise thus lost their power and became nothing but regular places of nature, eventually being absorbed into the rest of the landscape.

Believing the lies of Jehovah that the fruits had condemned them all to a painful fate, the humans placed the blame on Ningishzida and the rest of the dragons. They raged at their old mentors and cursed their names. It did not take long until the humans began hunting down the dragons in order to kill them, though only succeeding a few times. This act of treachery greatly angered the draconic beings and eventually, they abandoned the humans to completely fend for themselves on Earth. All because of the coaxing of Jehovah, a long history began of humans portraying the dragons as evil and selfish, whereas humans are their victims. However, the humans who had remained in the gardens did not end up following Jehovah, which allowed them to pass down an actual record of the divinities and how Ningishzida represents truth. Unfortunately, a lot of the records were eventually destroyed by zealots and this act of giving wisdom was twisted into meaning something “evil” for many people. Overtime, this account was reformed and simplified into the Abrahamic texts (along with plenty of other Mesopotamian myths). The humans “Adam and Eve” are representations of humanity overall, and the giver of wisdom, Ningishzida, is portrayed as a devil.

Devotional actions: Ningishzida mainly prefers offerings of action over physical offerings. He can be honoured through actions such as gaining knowledge, overcoming your Ego so wisdom can develop, making mystical pilgrimages for enlightenment, seeking deeper meaning of yourself, and allowing the struggles of life to transform you for the better.

Offerings: lapis lazuli, amethyst, bitter oranges (signify the bittersweet taste of wisdom), snakeskin, desert sand, cedar trees, skulls (represent death), femur bones (contain the oldest tissues), Arab incense, incense of oud, amber, saffron, or saffron + rose

#ningishzida #the tree of death #tree of wisdom #garden of eden #mesopotamian gods #sumerian gods #draconic gods #serpent of wisdom #gardens of paradise #mesopotamian polytheism #sumerian polytheism #biblical #jehovah #the usurper #adam and eve #deity work #draconic work #spiritual evolution #illumination

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grigori77 · 3 years

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2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10. WOLFWALKERS – eleven years ago, Irish director Tomm Moore exploded onto the animated cinema scene with The Secret of Kells, a spellbinding feature debut which captivated audiences the world over and even garnered an Oscar nomination. Admittedly I didn’t actually even know about it until I discovered his work through his astonishing follow-up, Song of the Sea (another Academy Award nominee), in 2015, so when I finally caught it I was already a fan of Moore’s work. It’s been a similarly long wait for his third feature, but he’s genuinely pulled off a hat-trick, delivering a third flawless film in a row which OF COURSE means that his latest feature is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my top animated feature of 2020. I could even be tempted to say it’s his best work to date … this is an ASTONISHING film, a work of such breath-taking, spell-binding beauty that I spent its entire hour and three-quarters glued to the screen, simple mesmerised by the wonder and majesty of this latest iteration of the characteristically stylised “Cartoon Saloon” look. It’s also liberally steeped in Moore’s trademark Celtic vibe and atmosphere, once again delving deep into his homeland’s rich and evocative cultural history and mythology while also bringing us something far more original and personal – this time the titular supernatural beings are magical near-human beings whose own subconscious can assume the form of very real wolves. Set in a particularly dark time in Irish history – namely 1650, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector – the story follows Robyn (Honor Kneafsey, probably best known for the Christmas Prince films), the impetuous and spirited young daughter of English hunter Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean), brought in by the Protectorate to rid the city of Kilkenny of the wolves plaguing the area. One day fate intervenes and Robyn meets Mebh Og MacTire (The Girl at the End of the Garden‘s Eve Whittaker), a wild girl living in the woods, whose accidental bite gives her strange dreams in which she becomes a wolf – turns out Mebh is a wolfwalker, and now so is Robyn … every aspect of this film is an utter triumph for Moore and co, who have crafted a work of living, breathing cinematic art that’s easily the equal to (if not even better than) the best that Disney, Dreamworks or any of the other animation studios could create. Then there’s the excellent voice cast – Bean brings fatherly warmth and compassion to the role that belies his character’s intimidating size, while Kneafsey and Whittaker make for a sweet and sassy pair as they bond in spite of powerful cultural differences, and the masterful Simon McBurney (Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) brings cool, understated menace to the role of Cromwell himself. This is a film with plenty of emotional heft to go with its marvels, and once again displays the welcome dark side which added particular spice to Moore’s previous films, but ultimately this is still a gentle and heartfelt work of wonder that makes for equally suitable viewing for children as for those who are still kids at heart – ultimately, then, this is another triumph for one of the most singularly original filmmakers working in animation today, and if Wolfwalkers doesn’t make it third time lucky come Oscars-time then there’s no justice in the world …

9. WONDER WOMAN 1984 – probably the biggest change for 2020 compared to pretty much all of the past decade is how different the fortunes of superhero cinema turned out to be. A year earlier the Marvel Cinematic Universe had dominated all, but the DC Extended Universe still got a good hit in with big surprise hit Shazam! Fast-forward to now and things are VERY different – DC suddenly came out in the lead, but only because Marvel’s intended heavy-hitters (two MCU movies, the first Venom sequel and potential hot-shit new franchise starter Morbius: the Living Vampire) found themselves continuously pushed back thanks to (back then) unforeseen circumstances which continue to shit all over our theatre-going slate for the immediate future. In the end DC’s only SERIOUS competition turned out to be NETFLIX … never mind, at least we got ONE big established superhero blockbuster into the cinemas before the end of the year that the whole family could enjoy, and who better to headline it than DC’s “newest” big screen megastar, Diana Prince? Back in 2017 Monster’s Ball director Patty Jenkins’ monumental DCEU standalone spectacularly realigned the trajectory of a cinematic franchise that was visibly flagging, redesigning the template for the series’ future which has since led to some (mostly) consistently impressive subsequent offerings. Needless to say it was a damn tough act to follow, but Jenkins and co-writers Geoff Johns (Arrow and The Flash) and David Callaham (The Expendables, Zombieland: Double Tap, future MCU entry Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings) have risen to the challenge in fine style, delivering something which pretty much equals that spectacular franchise debut … as has Gal Gadot, who’s now OFFICIALLY made the role her own thanks to yet another showstopping and definitive performance as the unstoppable Amazonian goddess living amongst us. She’s older and wiser than in the first film, but still hasn’t lost that forthright honesty and wonderfully pure heart we’ve come to love ever since her introduction in Zack Snyder’s troublesome but ultimately underrated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (yes, that’s right, I said it!), and Gadot’s clear, overwhelming commitment to the role continues to pay off magnificently as she once again proves that Diana is THE VERY BEST superhero in the DCEU cinematic pantheon. Although it takes place several decades after its predecessor, WW84 is, obviously, still very much a period piece, Jenkins and co this time perfectly capturing the sheer opulent and over-the-top tastelessness of the 1980s in all its big-haired, bad-suited, oversized shoulder-padded glory while telling a story that encapsulates the greedy excessiveness of the Reagan era, perfectly embodied in the film’s nominal villain, Max Lord (The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal), a wishy-washy wannabe oil tycoon conman who chances upon a supercharged wish-rock and unleashes a devastating supernatural “monkey’s paw” upon the world. To say any more would give away a whole raft of spectacular twists and turns that deserve to be enjoyed good and cold, although they did spoil one major surprise in the trailer when they teased the return of Diana’s first love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) … needless to say this is another big blockbuster bursting with big characters, big action and BIG IDEAS, just what we’ve come to expect after Wonder Woman’s first triumphant big screen adventure. Interestingly, the film starts out feeling like it’s going to be a bubbly, light, frothy affair – after a particularly stunning all-action opening flashback to Diana’s childhood on Themyscira, the film proper kicks off with a bright and breezy atmosphere that feels a bit like the kind of Saturday morning cartoon action the consistently impressive set-pieces take such unfettered joy in parodying, but as the stakes are raised the tone grows darker and more emotionally potent, the storm clouds gathering for a spectacularly epic climax that, for once, doesn’t feel too overblown or weighed down by its visual effects, while the intelligent script has unfathomable hidden depths to it, making us think far more than these kinds of blockbusters usually do. It’s really great to see Chris Pine return since he was one of the best things about the first movie, and his lovably childlike wide-eyed wonder at this brave new world perfectly echoes Diana’s own last time round; Kristen Wiig, meanwhile, is pretty phenomenal throughout as Dr Barbara Minerva, the initially geeky and timid nerd who discovers an impressive inner strength but ultimately turns into a superpowered apex predator as she becomes one of Wonder Woman’s most infamous foes, the Cheetah; Pascal, of course, is clearly having the time of his life hamming it up to the hilt as Lord, playing gloriously against his effortlessly cool, charismatic action hero image to deliver a compellingly troubling examination of the monstrous corrupting influence of absolute power. Once again, though, the film truly belongs to Gadot – she looks amazing, acts her socks off magnificently, and totally rules the movie. After this, a second sequel is a no-brainer, because Wonder Woman remains the one DC superhero who’s truly capable of bearing the weight of this particular cinematic franchise on her powerful shoulders – needless to say, it’s already been greenlit, and with both Jenkins and Gadot onboard, I’m happy to sign up for more too …

8. LOVE & MONSTERS – with the cinemas continuing their frustrating habit of opening for a little while and then closing while the pandemic ebbed and flowed in the months after the summer season, it was starting to look like there might not have been ANY big budget blockbusters to enjoy before year’s end as heavyweights like Black Widow, No Time To Die and Dune pulled back to potentially more certain release slots into 2021 (with only WW84 remaining stubbornly in place for Christmas). Then Paramount decided to throw us a bone, opting to release this post-apocalyptic horror comedy on-demand in October instead, thus giving me the perfect little present to tie me over during the darkening days of autumn. The end result was a stone-cold gem that came out of nowhere to completely blow critics away, a spectacular sleeper hit that ultimately proved one of the year’s biggest and most brilliant surprises. Director Michael Matthews may only have had South African indie thriller Five Fingers for Marseilles under his belt prior to this, but he proves he’s definitely a solid talent to watch in the future, crafting a fun and effective thrill-ride that, like all the best horror comedies, is consistently as funny as it is scary, sharing much of the same DNA as this particular mash-up genre’s classics like Tremors and Zombieland and standing up impressively well to such comparisons. The story, penned by rising star Brian Duffield (who has TWO other entries on this list, Underwater and Spontaneous) and Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying, Dora & the Lost City of Gold), is also pretty ingenious and surprisingly original – a meteorite strike has unleashed weird mutagenic pathogens that warp various creepy crawly critters into gigantic monstrosities that have slaughter most of the world’s human population, leaving only a beleaguered, dwindling few to eke out a precarious living in underground colonies. Living in one such makeshift community is Joel Dawson (The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien), a smart and likeable geek who really isn’t very adventurous, is extremely awkward and uncoordinated, and has a problem with freezing if threatened … which makes it all the more inexplicable when he decides, entirely against the advice of everyone he knows, to venture onto the surface so he can make the incredibly dangerous week-long trek to the neighbouring colony where his girlfriend Aimee (Iron Fist’s Jessica Henwick) has ended up. Joel is, without a doubt, the best role that O’Brien has EVER had, a total dork who’s completely unsuited to this kind of adventure and, in the real world, sure to be eaten alive in the first five minutes, but he’s also such a fantastically believable, fallible everyman that every one of us desperate, pathetic omega-males and females can instantly put ourselves in his place, making it elementarily easy to root for him. He’s also hilariously funny, his winningly self-deprecating sass and pitch perfect talent for physical comedy making it all the more rewarding watching each gloriously anarchic life-and-death encounter mould him into the year’s most unlikely action hero. Henwick, meanwhile, once again impresses in a well-written role where she’s able to make a big impression despite her decidedly short screen time, as do the legendary Michael Rooker and brilliant newcomer Ariana Greenblatt as Clyde and Minnow, the adorably jaded, seen-it-all-before pair of “professional survivors” Joel meets en-route, who teach him to survive on the surface. The action is fast, frenetic and potently visceral, the impressively realistic digital creature effects bringing a motley crew of bloodthirsty beasties to suitably blood-curdling life for the film’s consistently terrifying set-pieces, while the world-building is intricately thought-out and skilfully executed. Altogether, this was an absolute joy from start to finish, and a film I enthusiastically endorsed to everyone I knew was looking for something fun to enjoy during the frustrating lockdown nights-in. One of the cinematic year’s best kept secrets then, and a compelling sign of things to come for its up-and-coming director.

7. PARASITE – I’ve been a fan of master Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho ever since I stumbled across his deeply weird but also thoroughly brilliant breakthrough feature The Host, and it’s a love that’s deepened since thanks to truly magnificent sci-fi actioner Snowpiercer, so I was looking forward to his latest feature as much as any movie geek, but even I wasn’t prepared for just what a runaway juggernaut of a hit this one turned out to be, from the insane box office to all that award-season glory (especially that undeniable clean-sweep at the Oscars). I’ll just come out and say it, this film deserves it all. It’s EASILY Bong’s best film to date (which is really saying something), a masterful social satire and jet black comedy that raises some genuinely intriguing questions before delivering deeply troubling answers. Straddling the ever-widening gulf between a disaffected idle rich upper class and impoverished, struggling lower class in modern-day Seoul, it tells the story of the Kim family – father Ki-taek (Bong’s good luck charm, Song Kang-ho), mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), son Ki-woo (Train to Busan’s Choi Woo-shik) and daughter Ki-jung (The Silenced’s Park So-dam) – a poor family living in a run-down basement apartment who live hand-to-mouth in minimum wage jobs and can barely rub two pennies together, until they’re presented with an intriguing opportunity. Through happy chance, Ki-woon is hired as an English tutor for Park Da-hye (Jung Ji-so), the daughter of a wealthy family, which offers him the chance to recommend Ki-jung as an art tutor to the Parks’ troubled young son, Da-song (Jung Hyeon-jun). Soon the rest of the Kims are getting in on the act, the kids contriving opportunities for their father to replace Mr Park’s chauffeur and their mother to oust the family’s long-serving housekeeper, Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun), and before long their situation has improved dramatically. But as they two families become more deeply entwined, cracks begin to show in their supposed blissful harmony as the natural prejudices of their respective classes start to take hold, and as events spiral out of control a terrible confrontation looms on the horizon. This is social commentary at its most scathing, Bong drawing on personal experiences from his youth to inform the razor-sharp script (co-written by his production assistant Han Jin-won), while he weaves a palpable atmosphere of knife-edged tension throughout to add spice to the perfectly observed dark humour of the situation, all the while throwing intriguing twists and turns at us before suddenly dropping such a massive jaw-dropper of a gear-change that the film completely turns on its head to stunning effect. The cast are all thoroughly astounding, Song once again dominating the film with a turn at once sloppy and dishevelled but also poignant and heartfelt, while there are particularly noteworthy turns from Lee Sun-kyun as the Parks’ self-absorbed patriarch Dong-ik and Choi Yeo-jeong (The Concubine) as his flighty, easily-led wife Choi Yeon-gyo, as well as a fantastically weird appearance in the latter half from Park Myung-hoon. This is heady stuff, dangerously seductive even as it becomes increasingly uncomfortable viewing, so that even as the screws tighten and everything goes to hell it’s simply impossible to look away. Bong Joon-ho really has surpassed himself this time, delivering an existential mind-scrambler that lingers long after the credits have rolled and might even have you questioning your place in society once you’ve thought about it some. It deserves every single award and every ounce of praise it’s been lavished with, and looks set to go down as one of the true cinematic greats of this new decade. Trust me, if this was a purely critical best-of list it’d be RIGHT AT THE TOP …

6. THE OLD GUARD – Netflix’ undisputable TOP OFFERING of the summer came damn close to bagging the whole season, and I can’t help thinking that even if some of the stiffer competition had still been present it may well have still finished this high. Gina Prince-Blythewood (Love & Basketball, the Secret Life of Bees) directs comics legend Greg Rucka’s adaptation of his own popular series with uncanny skill and laser-focused visual flair considering there’s nothing on her previous CV to suggest she’d be THIS good at mounting a stomping great ultraviolent action thriller, ushering in a thoroughly engrossing tale of four ancient, invulnerable immortal warriors – Andy AKA Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), Booker AKA Sebastian de Livre (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe AKA Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Wolf’s Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky AKA Niccolo di Ginova (Trust’s Luca Marinelli) – who’ve been around forever, hiring out their services as mercenaries for righteous causes while jealously guarding their identities for fear of horrific experimentation and exploitation should their true natures ever be discovered. Their anonymity is threatened, however, when they’re uncovered by former CIA operative James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who’s working for the decidedly dodgy pharmaceutical conglomerate run by sociopathic billionaire Steven Merrick (Harry Melling, formerly Dudley in the Harry Potter movies), who want to capture these immortals so they can patent whatever it is that makes them keep on ticking … just as a fifth immortal, US Marine Nile Freeman (If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne), awakens after being “killed” on deployment in Afghanistan. The supporting players are excellent, particularly Ejiofor, smart and driven but ultimately principled and deeply conflicted about what he’s doing, even if he does have the best of intentions, and Melling, the kind of loathsome, reptilian scumbag you just love to hate, but the film REALLY DOES belong to the Old Guard themselves – Schoenaerts is a master brooder, spot-on casting as the group’s relative newcomer, only immortal since the Napoleonic Wars but clearly one seriously old soul who’s already VERY tired of the lifestyle, while Joe and Nicky (who met on opposing sides of the Crusades) are simply ADORABLE, an unapologetically matter-of-fact gay couple who are sweet, sassy and incredibly kind, the absolute emotional heart of the film; it’s the ladies, however, that are most memorable here. Layne is exceptional, investing Nile with a steely intensity that puts her in good stead as her new existence threatens to overwhelm her and MORE THAN qualified to bust heads alongside her elders … but it’s ancient Greek warrior Andy who steals the film, Theron building on the astounding work she did in Atomic Blonde to prove, once and for all, that there’s no woman on Earth who looks better kicking arse than her (as Booker puts it, “that woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn”); in her hands, Andy truly is a goddess of death, tough as tungsten alloy and unflappable even in the face of hell itself, but underneath it all she hides a heart as big as any of her friends’. They’re an impossibly lovable bunch and you feel you could follow them on another TEN adventures like this one, which is just as well, because Prince-Blythewood and Rucka certainly put them through their paces here – the drama is high (but frequently laced with a gentle, knowing sense of humour, particularly whenever Joe and Nicky are onscreen), as are the stakes, and the frequent action sequences are top-notch, executed with rare skill and bone-crunching zest, but also ALWAYS in service to the story. Altogether this is an astounding film, a genuine victory for its makers and, it seems, for Netflix themselves – it’s become one of the platform’s biggest hits to date, earning well-deserved critical acclaim and great respect and genuine geek love from the fanbase at large. After this, a sequel is not only inevitable, it’s ESSENTIAL …

5. MANK – it’s always nice when David Fincher, one of my TOP FIVE ALL TIME FAVOURITE DIRECTORS, drops a new movie, because it can be GUARANTEED to place good and high in my rundown for that year. The man is a frickin’ GENIUS, a true master of the craft, genuinely one of the auteur’s auteurs. I’ve NEVER seen him deliver a bad film – even a misfiring Fincher (see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Alien 3) is still capable of creating GREAT CINEMA. How? Why? It’s because he genuinely LOVES the art form, it’s been his obsession all his life, and he’s spent every day of it becoming the best possible filmmaker he can be. Who better to tell the story of the creation of one of the ULTIMATE cinematic masterpieces, then? Benjamin Ross’ acclaimed biopic RKO 281 covered similar ground, presenting a compelling look into the making Citizen Kane, the timeless masterpiece of Hollywood’s ULTIMATE auteur, Orson Welles, but Fincher’s film is more interested in the original inspiration for the story, how it was written and, most importantly, the man who wrote it – Herman J. Mankiewicz, known to his friends as Mank. One of my favourite actors of all time, Gary Oldman, delivers yet another of his career best performances in the lead role, once a man of vision and incredible storytelling skill whose talents have largely been squandered through professional difficulties and personal vices, a burned out one-time great fallen on hard times whom Welles picks up out of the trash, dusts off and offers a chance to create something truly great again. The only catch? The subject of their film (albeit dressed up in the guise of fictional newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane) is to be real-life publisher, politico and tycoon William Randolph Hurst (Charles Dance), once Mank’s friend and patron before they had a very public and messy falling out which partly led to his current circumstances. As he toils away in seclusion on what is destined to become his true masterwork, flashbacks reveal to us the fascinating, moving and ultimately tragic tale of his rise and fall from grace in the movie business, set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in American history. Shooting a script that his own journalist and screenwriter father, Jack, crafted and then failed to bring to the screen himself before his death in 2003, Fincher has been working for almost a quarter century to make this film, and all that passion and drive is writ large on the screen – this is a glorious film ABOUT film, the art of it, the creation of it, and all the dirty little secrets of what the industry itself has always really been like, especially in that most glamorous and illusory of times. The fact that Fincher shot in black and white and intentionally made it look like it was made in the early 1940s (the “golden age of the Silver Screen”, if you will) may seem like a gimmick, but instead it’s a very shrewd choice that expertly captures the gloss and moodiness of the age, almost looking like a contemporary companion piece to Kane itself, and it’s the perfect way to frame all the sharp-witted observation, subtly subversive character development and murky behind-the-scenes machinations that tell the story. Oldman is in every way the star here, holding the screen with all the consummate skill and flair we’ve come to expect from him, but there’s no denying the uniformly excellent supporting cast are equal to the task here – Dance is at his regal, charismatic best as Hearst, while Amanda Seyfried is icily classy on the surface but mischievous and lovably grounded underneath as Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies, who formed the basis for Kane’s most controversial character, Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Moneyball) brings nuance and complexity to the role of MGM founder Louis B. Mayer, Tom Pelphrey (Banshee, Ozark) is understated but compelling as Mank’s younger screenwriter brother Joseph, and Lily Collins and Tuppence Middleton exude class and long-suffering stubbornness as the two main women in Mank’s life (his secretary and platonic muse, Rita Alexander, and his wife, Sara), while The Musketeers’ Tom Burke’s periodic but potent appearances as Orson Welles help to drive the story in the “present”. Another Netflix release which I was (thankfully) able to catch on the big screen during one of the brief lulls between British lockdowns, this was a decidedly meta cinematic experience that perfectly encapsulated not only what is truly required for the creation of a screen epic, but also the latest pinnacle in the career of one of the greatest filmmakers working in the business today, powerful, stirring, intriguing and surprising in equal measure. Certainly it’s one of the most important films ABOUT so far film this century, but is it as good as Citizen Kane? Boy, that’s a tough one …

4. ENOLA HOLMES – ultimately, my top film for the autumn/winter movie season was also the film which finally topped my Netflix Original features list, as well as beating all other streaming offerings for the entire year (which is saying something, as you should know by now). Had things been different, this would have been one of Warner Bros’ BIGGEST releases for the year in the cinema, of that I have no doubt, a surprise sleeper hit which would have taken the world by storm – as it is it’s STILL become a sensation, albeit in a much more mid-pandemic, lockdown home-viewing kind of way. Before you start crying oh God no, not another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, this is a very different beast from either the Guy Ritchie take or the modernized BBC show, instead side-lining the great literary sleuth in favour of a delicious new AU version, based on The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first novel in the Enola Holmes Mysteries literary series from American YA author Nancy Springer. Positing that Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) and his elder brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin) had an equally ingenious and precocious baby sister, the film introduces us to Enola (Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown), who’s been raised at home by their strong-willed mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) to be just as intelligent, well-read and intellectually skilled as her far more advantageously masculine elder siblings. Then, on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awakens to find her mother has vanished, putting her in a pretty pickle since this leaves her a ward of Mycroft, a self-absorbed social peacock who finds her to be wilfully free-spirited and completely ill equipped to face the world, concluding that the only solution is sending her to boarding school where she’ll learn to become a proper lady. Needless to say she’s horrified by the prospect, deciding to run away and search for her mother instead … this is about as perfect a family adventure film as you could wish for, following a vital, capable and compelling teen detective-in-the-making as she embarks on her very first investigation, as well as winding up tangled in a second to boot involving a young runaway noble, Viscount Tewkesbury, the Marquess of Basilwether (Medici’s Louis Partridge), and the film is a breezy, swift-paced and rewardingly entertaining romp that feels like a welcome breath of fresh air for a literary property which, beloved as it may be, has been adapted to death over the years. Enola Holmes a brilliant young hero who’s perfectly crafted to carry the franchise forward in fresh new directions, and Brown brings her to life with effervescent charm, boisterous energy and mischievous irreverence that are entirely irresistible; Cavill and Claflin, meanwhile, are perfectly cast as the two very different brothers – this Sherlock is much less louche and world-weary than most previous versions, still razor sharp and intellectually restless but with a comfortable ease and a youthful spring in his step that perfectly suits the actor, while Mycroft is as superior and arrogant as ever, a preening arse we derive huge enjoyment watching Enola consistently get the best of; Bonham Carter doesn’t get a lot of screen-time but as we’d expect she does a lot with what she has to make the practical, eccentric and unapologetically modern Eudoria thoroughly memorable, while Partridge is carefree and likeable as the naïve but irresistible Tewkesbury, and there are strong supporting turns from Frances de la Tour as his stately grandmother, the Dowager, Susie Wokoma (Crazyhead, Truth Seekers) as Emily, a feisty suffragette who runs a jujitsu studio, Burn Gorman as dastardly thug-for-hire Linthorn, and Four Lions’ Adeel Akhtar as a particularly scuzzy Inspector Lestrade. Seasoned TV director Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) makes his feature debut with an impressive splash, unfolding the action at a brisk pace while keeping the narrative firmly focused on an intricate mystery plot that throws in plenty of ingenious twists and turns before a suitably atmospheric climax and pleasing denouement which nonetheless artfully sets up more to come in the future, while screenwriter Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, The Scouting Book for Boys, Wonder) delivers strong character work and liberally peppers the dialogue with a veritable cavalcade of witty zingers. Boisterous, compelling, amusing, affecting and exciting in equal measure, this is a spirited and appealing slice of cinematic escapism that flatters its viewers and never talks down to them, a perfect little period adventure for a cosy Sunday afternoon. Obviously there’s plenty of potential for more, and with further books to adapt there’s more than enough material for a pile of sequels – Neflix would be barmy indeed to turn their nose up at this opportunity …

3. 1917 – it’s a rare thing for a film to leave me truly shell-shocked by its sheer awesomeness, for me to walk out of a cinema in a genuine daze, unable to talk or even really think about much of anything for a few hours because I’m simply marvelling at what I’ve just witnessed. Needless to say, when I do find a film like that (Fight Club, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road) it usually earns a place very close to my heart indeed. The latest tour-de-force from Sam Mendes is one of those films – an epic World War I thriller that plays out ENTIRELY in one shot, which doesn’t simply feel like a glorified gimmick or stunt but instead is a genuine MASTERPIECE of film, a mesmerising journey of emotion and imagination in a shockingly real environment that’s impossible to tear your eyes away from. Sure, Mendes has impressed us before – his first film, American Beauty, is a GREAT movie, one of the most impressive feature debuts of the 2000s, while Skyfall is, in my opinion, quite simply THE BEST BOND FILM EVER MADE – but this is in a whole other league. It’s an astounding achievement, made all the more impressive when you realise that there’s very little trickery at play here, no clever digital magic (just some augmentation here and there), it’s all real locations and sets, filmed in long, elaborately choreographed takes blended together with clever edits to make it as seamless as possible – it’s not the first film to try to do this (remember Birdman? Bushwick?), but I’ve never seen it done better, or with greater skill. But it’s not just a clever cinematic exercise, there’s a genuine story here, told with guts and urgency, and populated by real flesh and blood characters – the heart of the film is True History of the Kelly Gang’s George MacKay and Dean Chapman (probably best known as Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones) as Lance Corporals Will Schofield and Tom Blake, the two young tommies sent out across enemy territory on a desperate mission to stop a British regiment from rushing headlong into a German trap (Tom himself has a personal stake in this because his brother is an officer in the attack). They’re a likeable pair, very human and relatable throughout, brave and true but never so overtly heroic that they stretch credibility, so when tragedy strikes along the way it’s particularly devastating; both deliver exceptional performances that effortlessly carry us through the film, and they’re given sterling support from a selection of top-drawer British talent, from Sherlock stars Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch to Mark Strong and Colin Firth, each delivering magnificently in small but potent cameos. That said, the cinematography and art department are the BIGGEST stars here, masterful veteran DOP Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner 2049 and pretty much the Coen Brothers’ entire back catalogue among MANY others) making every frame sing with beauty, horror, tension or tragedy as the need arises, and the environments are SO REAL it feels less like production design than that someone simply sent the cast and crew back in time to film in the real Northern France circa 1917 – from a nightmarish trek across No Man’s Land to a desperate chase through a ruined French village lit only by dancing flare-light in the darkness before dawn, every scene is utterly immersive and simply STUNNING. I don’t think it’s possible for Mendes to make a film better than this, but I sure hope he gives it a go all the same. Either way, this was the most incredible, exhausting, truly AWESOME experience I had at the cinema all year – it’s a film that DESERVES to be seen on the big screen, and I feel truly sorry for those who missed the chance …

2. BIRDS OF PREY & THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN – the only reason 1917 isn’t at number two is because Warner Bros.’ cinematic DC Extended Universe project FINALLY got round to bringing my favourite DC Comics title to the big screen. It was been the biggest pleasure of my cinematic year getting to see my top DC superheroines brought to life on the big screen, and it was done in high style, in my opinion THE BEST of the DCEU films to date (yup, I loved it EVEN MORE than the Wonder Woman movies). It was also great seeing Harley Quinn return after her show-stealing turn in David Ayer’s clunky but ultimately still hugely enjoyable Suicide Squad, better still that they got her SPOT ON this time – this is the Harley I’ve always loved in the comics, unpredictable, irreverent and entirely without regard for what anyone else thinks of her, as well as one talented psychiatrist. Margot Robbie once more excels in the role she was basically BORN to play, clearly relishing the chance to finally do Harley TRUE justice, and she’s a total riot from start to finish, infectiously lovable no matter what crazy, sometimes downright REPRIHENSIBLE antics she gets up to. Needless to say she’s the nominal star here, her latest ill-advised adventure driving the story – finally done with the Joker and itching to make her emancipation official, Harley publicly announces their breakup by blowing up Ace Chemicals (their love spot, basically), inadvertently painting a target on her back in the process since she’s no longer under the assumed protection of Gotham’s feared Clown Prince of Crime – but that doesn’t mean she eclipses the other main players the movie’s REALLY supposed to be about. Each member of the Birds of Prey is beautifully written and brought to vivid, arse-kicking life by what had to be 2020’s most exciting cast – Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, is the perfect character for Mary Elizabeth Winstead to finally pay off on that action hero potential she showed in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, but this is a MUCH more enjoyable role outside of the fight choreography because while Helena may be a world-class dark avenger, socially she’s a total dork, which just makes her thoroughly adorable; Rosie Perez is similarly perfect casting as Renee Montoya, the uncompromising pint-sized Gotham PD detective who kicks against the corrupt system no matter what kind of trouble it gets her into, and just gets angrier all the time, paradoxically making us like her even more; and then there’s the film’s major controversy, at least as far as the fans are concerned, namely one Cassandra Cain. Sure, this take is VERY different from the comics’ version (a nearly mute master assassin who went on to become the second woman to wear the mask of Batgirl before assuming her own crime-fighting mantle as Black Bat and now Orphan), but personally I like to think this is simply Cass at THE VERY START of her origin story, leaving plenty of time for her to discover her warrior origins when the DCEU finally gets around to introducing her mum, Lady Shiva (personally I want Michelle Yeoh to play her, but that’s just me) – anyways, here she’s a skilled child pickpocket whose latest theft inadvertently sets off the larger central plot, and newcomer Ella Jay Basco brings a fantastic pre-teen irreverence and spiky charm to the role, beautifully playing against Robbie’s mercurial energy. My favourite here BY FAR, however, is Dinah Lance, aka the Black Canary (not only my favourite Bird of Prey but my very favourite DC superheroine PERIOD), the choice of up-and-comer Jurnee Smollet-Bell (Friday Night Lights, Underground) proving to be the film’s most inspired casting – a club singer with the metahuman ability to emit piercing supersonic screams, she’s also a ferocious martial artist (in the comics she’s one of the very best fighters IN THE WORLD), as well as a wonderfully pure soul you just can’t help loving, and it made me SO UNBELIEVABLY HAPPY that they got my Canary EXACTLY RIGHT. Altogether they’re a fantastic bunch of badass ladies, basically my perfect superhero team, and the way they’re all brought together (along with Harley, of course) is beautifully thought out and perfectly executed … they’ve also got one hell of a threat to overcome, namely Gotham crime boss Roman Sionis, the Black Mask, one of the Joker’s chief rivals – Ewan McGregor brings his A-game in a frustratingly rare villainous turn (my number one bad guy for the movie year), a monstrously narcissistic, woman-hating control freak with a penchant for peeling off the faces of those who displease him, sharing some exquisitely creepy chemistry with Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) as Sionis’ nihilistic lieutenant Victor Zsasz. This is about as good as superhero cinema gets, a perfect example of the sheer brilliance you get when you switch up the formula to create something new, an ultra-violent, unapologetically R-rated middle finger to the classic tropes, a fantastic black comedy thrill ride that’s got to be the most full-on feminist blockbuster ever made – it’s helmed by a woman (Dead Pigs director Cathy Yan), written by a woman (Bumblebee’s Christina Hodson), produced by more women and ABOUT a bunch of badass women magnificently triumphing over toxic masculinity in all its forms. It’s also simply BRILLIANT – the cast are all clearly having a blast, the action sequences are first rate (the spectacular GCPD evidence room fight in which Harley gets to REALLY cut loose is the undisputable highlight), it has a gleefully anarchic sense of humour and is simply BURSTING with phenomenal homages, references and in-jokes for the fans (Bruce the hyena! Stuffed beaver! Roller derby!). It’s also got a killer soundtrack, populated almost exclusively by numbers from female artists. Altogether, then, this is the VERY BEST the DCEU has to offer to date, and VERY NEARLY my absolute FAVOURITE film of 2020. Give it all the love you can, it sure as hell deserves it.

1. TENET – granted, the streaming platforms (particularly Netflix and Amazon) certainly saved our cinematic summer, but I’m still IMMEASURABLY glad that my ultimate top-spot winner FOR THE WHOLE YEAR was one I got to experience on THE BIG SCREEN. You gotta hand it to Christopher Nolan, he sure hung in there, stubbornly determined that his latest cinematic masterpiece WOULD be released in cinemas in the summer (albeit ultimately landing JUST inside the line in the final week of August and ultimately taking the bite at the box office because of the still shaky atmosphere), and it was worth all the fuss because, for me, this was THE PERFECT MOVIE for me to get return to cinemas with. I mean, okay, in the end it WASN’T the FIRST new movie I saw after the first reopening, that honour went to Unhinged, but THIS was my first real Saturday night-out big screen EXPERIENCE since March. Needless to say, Nolan didn’t disappoint this time any more than he has on any of his consistently spectacular previous releases, delivering another twisted, mind-boggling headfuck of a full-blooded experiential sensory overload that comes perilously close to toppling his long-standing auteur-peak, Inception (itself second only by fractions to The Dark Knight as far as I’m concerned). To say much at all about the plot would give away major spoilers – personally I’d recommend just going in as cold as possible, indeed you really should just stop reading this right now and just GO SEE IT. Still with us? Okay … the VERY abridged version is that it’s about a secret war being waged between the present and the future by people capable of “inverting” time in substances, objects, people, whatever, into which the Protagonist (BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington), an unnamed CIA agent, has been dispatched in order to prevent a potential coming apocalypse. Washington is once again on top form, crafting a robust and compelling morally complex heroic lead who’s just as comfortable negotiating the minefields of black market intrigue as he is breaking into places or dispatching heavies, Kenneth Branagh delivers one of his most interesting and memorable performances in years as brutal Russian oligarch Andrei Sator, a genuinely nasty piece of work who was ALMOST the year’s very best screen villain, Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Widows) brings strength, poise and wounded integrity to the role of Sator’s estranged wife, Kat, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets to use his own accent for once as tough-as-nails British Intelligence officer Ives, while there are brief but consistently notable supporting turns and cameos from Martin Donovan, Yesterday’s Himesh Patel, Dirk Gently’s Fiona Dourif and, of course, Nolan’s good luck charm, Michael Caine. The cast’s biggest surprise, however, is Robert Pattinson, truly a revelation in what has to be, HANDS DOWN, his best role to date, Neil, the Protagonist’s mysterious handler – he’s by turns cheeky, slick, duplicitous and thoroughly badass, delivering an enjoyably multi-layered, chameleonic performance which proves what I’ve long maintained, that the former Twilight star is actually a fucking amazing actor, and on the basis of this, even if that amazing new teaser trailer wasn’t making the rounds, I think the debate about whether or not he’s the right choice for the new Batman is now academic. As we’ve come to expect from Nolan, this is a TRUE tour-de-force experience, a visual triumph and an endlessly engrossing head-scratcher, Nolan’s screenplay bringing in seriously big ideas and throwing us some major narrative knots and loopholes, constantly wrong-footing the viewer while also setting up truly revelatory payoffs from seemingly low-key, unimportant beginnings – this is a film you need to be awake and attentive for or you could miss something pretty vital. The action sequences are, as ever, second to none, some of the year’s very best set-pieces coming thick and fast and executed with some of the most accomplished skill in the business, while Nolan-regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar and Dunkirk, as well as the heady likes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, SPECTRE and Ad Astra) once again shows he’s one of the best camera-wizards in the business today by delivering some absolutely mesmerising visuals. Notably, Nolan’s other regular collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer, is absent here (although he had good reason, since he was working on his dream project at the time, the fast-approaching screen adaptation of Dune), but Ludwig Göransson (best known for his collaborations with Ryan Coogler Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, as well as career-best work on The Mandalorian) is a fine replacement, crafting an intriguingly internalised, post-modern musical landscape that thrums and pulses in time with the story and emotions of the characters rather than the action itself. Interestingly it’s on the subject of sound that some of the film’s rare detractions have been levelled, and I can see some of the points – the soundtrack mix is an all-encompassing thing, and there are times when the dialogue can be overwhelmed, but in Nolan’s defence this film is a heady, immersive experience, something you really need to concentrate on, so these potential flaws are easily forgiven. As a work of filmmaking art, this is another flawless wonder from one of the true masters of the craft working in cinema today, but it’s art with palpable substance, a rewarding whole that proved truly unbeatable in 2020 …

#wolfwalkers #wonder woman 1984 #ww84 #love and monsters #parasite #parasite movie #the old guard #mank #enola holmes #1917 #1917 movie #Birds of Prey #birds of prey the fantabulous emancipation of one harley quinn #tenet #tenet movie #2020 in movies

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