#she had the gift of prophecy and we all doubted her

[girlgerard]

even after all these years ebony dark'ness dementia raven way was right…he IS a major fucking hottie…

#she had the gift of prophecy and we all doubted her #mcr #my chem #my chemical romance #gerard way #mine

[katshuya]

Rhaegar's wife, who had delicate health, gave him two children. One caused her to be bedridden for half a year and another that he impregnated her with during her recovery or, immediately after and almost killed her, deserved that crown.

Yes she deserved it more than Lyanna Stark who braverly defended her father's bannerman yet impulsively and naively when there was a well known mad king watching and entered as a mystery knight that grabbed everyone's curiosity for being unknown.

Elia Martell, who endured Rhaegar, his prophecy, racist people, and their opinion about how unworthy she was for him AND his racist, mad cruel father desrved respect as well as that crown.

Yet she was gifted with humiliation one after another after all that she sacrificed.

This will trigger many. But that crown was Elia's right after all the hell this strong woman had been through. Not Lyanna's. Yet, in the narrative, it is all about Lyanna and the winter rose.

Rhaegar only endangered Lyanna, and even if Aerys and Lyanna's family and betrothed weren't there, it was still Elia's right.

Honoring Lyanna could have been done more respectfully and wiser, yet it was extremely dumb and cruel.

Yet the audacity to put Elia in such a humiliating situation

She deserves more respect and attention from GRRM, which I doubt he will grant her any true respect.

Elia was killed for the sake of the narrative. So the promised one can happen. She was used and then killed in an unnecessary way for it.

What even happened to Elia's body along with her children's? Definitely weren't sent to Dorne. While we know Rhaegar's was burnt and Lyanna's in winterfell.

If George wanted us to like the Rhaegar x lyanna thing, then he failed miserably. For sane people, of course.

This will always be where he failed the writing.

We hear of Lyanna's suffering in the books, and how she was killed to bring important child for the future of the realm and its safety yet we barely hear of Elia's, who gave and suffered much, much more.

I like the Starks, but this is where George crossed the line with his favoursim.

She is barely there in the narrative, yet her story and the things she had been through and everything associated with her upbringing make her more interesting character than Rhaegar or Lyanna to me and many people.

I believe George unintentionally made her more interesting to many of us when he wanted us to care for Rhaegar and Lyanna.

Edit: I'm talking about the crown, not the winter rose itself. Since some Rx L shippers entered the asks and were acting so unruly like usual.

#asoiaf #elia martell #anti rhaegar x lyanna #anti rhaegar #game of thrones #lyanna stark #elia deserves better #rhaegar targaryen #lyanna isn't faultless #a song of ice and fire

[celestivlgvlvxy]

Four Pearls

This is a sort of continuation of this post where I talked about the changes regarding the solstice deadline, but this time I want to speculate a bit about the pearls and how I feel it will effect the larger storyline.

If you have read the original book, you would know that Percy originally only received three pearls from the nereid and Poseidon. The show gives him four. Let's talk about it.

So spoilers for PJO TV and the original PJO books! It's a long one.

There's a lot of speculation about what this means for Sally and "You will fail to save what matters most in the end." I still think they're going to fail to save Sally.

The prophecy: I have a hard time seeing the thing that matters most is not Sally. I have doubts that Percy's going to save her.

The preview: The preview for episode 7 shows Percy and Grover arguing:

Percy: "After we get the bolt, you guys are leaving…with my mom." Grover: "What about you? What about you?" … Percy: "Hold fast, Mom."

Based on how this line is delivered, I think this might be Percy telling Grover and Annabeth to leave thee Underworld with Sally. He pauses before he says "with my mom", which makes me feel like that hesitation means that Percy is relunctantly doing something once again. The way Grover reacts makes it seem like Percy is staying behind and he doesn't have a plan to get out.

He tells Sally to "hold fast" which we know is something that she tells Percy. The last time we hear this quote is when Sally leaves to distract the Minotaur and they're separated. I think Percy is telling Sally to hold on just a little longer because he can't save her.

The nereid: If you pay attention to what the nereid is telling Percy, you'd notice something a little odd.

Percy: "There's four of them." Nereid: "Save the world. And then go save your mother."

I don't think it's a mistake that she tells Percy to save the world first. She doesn't even tell Percy what the pearls are for, that's how the episode ends. If the intention of giving him the pearls was really about saving Sally, the emphasis would have gone on "save your mother."

So if the pearls aren't for Sally, what are they for?

I think they're testing Percy.

In my previous post, I talked a lot about how many, if not all, of the trio's major failures during their quest was because of the gods' interference. We are not meant to like the gods—they're setting it up so that down the line, we are more sympathetic to Luke's cause.

More importantly, it sets up Percy to be moree sympathetic to Luke's cause.

But Poseidon gives Percy four pearls. Poseidon actually waited for Percy to show up himself. With each episode, we are given little details to make us think that Poseidon is the god to be rooting for.

However, if you look a little deeper into his actions, Poseidon is not the perfect parent. Percy said it himself, Poseidon didn't acknowledge him until he needed something from Percy.

I believe Poseidon / the gods are testing Percy. The gifts from the gods don't come free.

Asking for Athena's assistance came at the cost of the Chimera.

Getting (relunctant) help from Ares nearly killed Percy if Annabeth didn't change Hephaestus' mind.

Seeking out Hermes for transportation caused them to miss the deadline.

What will these pearls cost?

Don't forget this quote from the book either:

When I reached the beach, my clothes dried instantly. I told Grover and Annabeth what had happened, and showed them the pearls.  Annabeth grimaced. “No gift comes without a price.”  “They were free.”  “No.” She shook her head. “‘There is no such thing as a free lunch.’ That’s an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait.” (The Lightning Thief, "We Shop for Waterbeds")

I think Poseidon knows he will fail and he's not telling Percy. It's a test of his fatal flaw: personal loyalty.

Who will Percy choose? Annabeth and Grover or his mom? The world?

The entire quest, Percy had little to no agency in the big decisions. He does not want to go on this quest. Annabeth is in charge, Athena, Ares, Hades, Zeus, and Hephaestus all nearly killed him. Hermes stalls them.

The deadline has passed and they failed. But Percy chooses to move forward. He chooses his mom, he chooses to continue. Percy is taking matters into his own hands.

The price is Sally Jackson and Percy is not going to be happy about it.

In the long run, I think Percy is going to be facing a lot of difficult choices. Choices that will justify him being bitter towards the gods. Choices that will justify him becoming like Luke, the same way Annabeth could've been Medusa in another life.

And isn't that kind of the point?

Percy is not Luke. He's not like them. He has every single reason to turn his back on the gods. He has every single reason to overthrow them. But he doesn't. Every single day, every single decision, Percy chooses to not be like Luke. But he gets it. He understands why Luke did what he did.

The writers are writing the show with the knowledge of what is to come. Percy's bitter, but he's not Luke.

He's going to be given reasons to be bitter and it starts with the pearls. But what will make Percy different? What will make him better?

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo tv show #percy series #annabeth chase #grover underwood #sally jackson #luke castellan #pjo spoilers #poseidon #pjo poseidon #media analysis

[littlee-sparkle]

First meeting with Amala through Amrit's eyes:

"Since childhood, I have heard so many conversations about her. About the ideal bride who was suitable only for me. About the one who was born just to rule next to me. I have never met in full at least powerful women who would stand on the same level with the Doobays. There is a lot of talk about Basus, but I have never seen them. I didn’t have time. The heirs fled and killed everyone else...

Vimal, my uncle, was a lover of his wife. But this was not for me. I don’t want a liar. I don’t want a beautiful doll that will only raise my children and obediently remain silent next to me. I need equal. I need Basu. Of which there aren't more on our land. What is she like, my betrothed? Is she willful, as they say about Basu? Is she as beautiful as they are described in the book in the family library? Is she looking forward to meeting me as much as I am looking forward to her? Or did Basu not only betray us by running away, but also keep silent about one of the most important prophecies? I wanted to find her a gift for the first meeting, although Rishi said that they don’t do that anymore. When did male generosity stop being the norm? It is true that there is nothing sacred left in Kali Yuga.

I don’t like women lower than me. I just can’t perceive them as equal partners. They look at me with that sticky dreamy or infatuated look, which only causes disgust in me. It's all about the strict hierarchy that forced them to obey me, and the same gave rise to reverence for the great name of the Doobays. Someone “I enjoyed it, basking in the attention."

When the avatar of order announced that he had found her, the peace came to an end. All I could do was wait and imagine our first meeting. It seemed that I had become accustomed to the fact that I would not find the wife I needed, and was almost ready to settle for less. But the thought that my betrothed would soon be near me erased any doubts into dust. I didn't wait in vain. I don't need anyone else. A dozen tried to persuade me not to look for her first, Vaish promised to bring the girl to the temple so that we could meet. And I had to agree. Standing in one of the shops and looking for a gift for my future wife, I suddenly felt a strange turmoil in my chest. Something was aching inside, pulling out. I began to think through possible causes in my head. Forgot something? Or maybe I had an argument with someone in the morning and a nasty aftertaste overtook me? I went outside and felt better. But a strange tangle of feelings that was gripping me more and more, pulled me further. And when it suddenly reached its peak, it was as if an electric discharge struck me. I was literally disoriented... and at that moment I ran into her. When we touched each other, we both experienced something similar to the same reverence with which the dozen girls looked at me... Only with this reverence I now looked at her. It can't be otherwise. And I saw that she was no less surprised than I was. Now I understood what connection the avatar of order was telling me about. You can't confuse something like this with anything. I found you, my betrothed. And I won’t let you go anywhere else."

SOURCE

#romance club #kali call of darkness #amrit doobay #amala basu #armit x amala

[the-moon-loves-the-sea]

It took me a while to notice that the Encanto gramma predicates them “deserving” the miracle (survivor’s guilt there) on them using their gifts for everyone who asks for help, all day, no rest, and tries to make sure no one in the town ever feels alone or unprotected, but not only is that making the kids feel exhausted and inauthentic and unseen; it’s also making her unable to deal with reality (the miracle faltering); and it’s also probably the reason Bruno felt like his gift was hurting everyone, bc it made the villagers really uncomfortable. At first the way “we don’t talk about Bruno” presents him made me think he was walking around telling people bad news unasked, but then he says everyone kept asking him, they just didn’t like the answers. So the town feeling unsafe around him made abeula feel like they were failing them.

And! The way Pepa tells her part of the song makes it sound like everything was sunshine at the wedding until he said what he said. But her husband corrects her “there wasn’t a cloud in the sky” to “no clouds ALLOWED in the sky.” And then at the end Bruno said “I could see that you were stressing,” which presumably means she did already have a little cloud when he showed up. But every time Pepa shows a cloud Abuela yells at her. She’s even dressed all in yellow with sun earrings, she’s trying to hard to stay sunny for Abuela. So she revised it in her memory to Bruno causing it. But then at the end when he tells her he wishes she would just feel all her feelings, her husband says “I’ve been saying that” and at the very end she’s dancing in the snow.

And at first I thought Mirabel had no gift but she and Bruno have almost the same gift! He had future sight and she has inner sight—she can see the cracks in the house before they appear, she can see Luisa’s trauma visually as she explains it. And at first she seems more determined than Bruno to follow through on her gift, but by the end she followed the same route as him—she ran off convinced she’d failed them. But bc Abuela had been through it already with Bruno she was able to make a different choice this time and follow Mirabel and let her teach her. I wonder if Abuela had inner sight too, since Mirabel seems poised to inherit the rest of her gift—house and candle guardian. She pretends she doesn’t believe the magic is faltering but then privately admits she knows, so is it bc she can see it too and was in denial? Or she just guessed bc of what happened to Mirabel?

The fact that Bruno saw the future still in doubt means the visions were multi layered anyway. And adjusting to free will as it happened. I love that Bruno’s prophecies are fluid like that. How the meaning shifts in response to what they choose. Dolores takes his prophecy and chooses to go get her man, Isabela takes it and gets new dreams of her own. So it doesn’t hurt them. I love how all of them develop so much more dimension to their gifts when they’re allowed to use it for themselves and not just for service! Selfishness!! It’s so necessary! I think it’s one of the best forms of healing trauma!! Bc our idea of selfishness gets so twisted. i’ve heard some people say they wished they hadn’t gotten their gifts back. They thought it would be more powerful if they didn’t, but I think the point is that the gifts are just who they are, it’s not really about them being magic. The house only amplifies the gift.

We never really get to see Mirabel’s moms inner life, which makes sense because that’s how we are with our parents at that age. But I do wonder if she had any adjusting she needed to do..

Also fascinating how Dolores is the one after Bruno who sees how things are most accurately, and she sees how nobody wants to hear what he sees, so she stays quiet about her perceptions about what she hears and just reports what she’s asked for neutrally, almost mechanically (unless it’s a major emergency, lol). Like Mirabel says Dolores will tell everyone, but she never argued with anyone about Bruno being bad even though she knew it was more complicated than that, she never tells anyone she still hears him sometimes, she reports “he wants five babies” with the barest quirk of her mouth, she never once mentions Isabela’s bf is her dream man even though Bruno told her that would happen years ago. Her verse about Bruno is by far the most perceptive but she almost whispers it. And only tells Mirabel things if she’s asked. It's so traumatic to be the one who sticks out, who can’t hide the gift so it antagonizes everyone. But it’s almost as traumatic to be the one who has to stifle their gift and not to use it nearly to its potential because so they’ve seen what will happen.

It’s SO layered and so dang accurate to how trauma plays out generationally and I’ve rewatched it three times and still keep noticing things and WOW. And Dos Origuitas makes me cry. Bc it’s layered too! It’s not just “you’ll transform through trauma,” it’s “the process of transformation may take you away from the people you went through the trauma with, and that’s ok, you have to let each other go and trust the cocoon and that you’ll find each other again after if you can” and that’s a lot!!!

#encanto #just found this in my drafts #apparently I was full of thoughts but forgot to publish #I stand by this #hell of a portrayal of trauma #and generational healing #Bruno madrigal made me feel everything

[bananadrinkxxx]

THE BLOOD CROWN (22)

[Aemond Targaryen x Original Female Character ! I fem!reader]

[Dark Romance / Enemies to Lovers / Revenge]

Content for adults. 18+

[warnings: smut, sex content, dark romance, angst, fights, domination, murder]

[description: Aemond Targaryen meets his niece under a different name and falls in love with her without knowing that she is supposed to be his enemy.]

Masterlist - click here for all available parts

116 AC.

T H I R T E E N - Y E A R S - A G O

KING'S LANDING

RED KEEP

Rhaenyra had only learned what true fear was when she held Jacaerys in her arms for the first time. The little creature had felt so fragile that she was afraid to make a wrong move. A quick movement that would rip this gift from her arms again. So pure, so innocent, so vulnerable. Rhaenyra had known that day that she would do anything for him. She had felt the same with each of the children that followed.

With Aemma, this feeling had been especially strong. Not because she meant more to her than the others, no, but because she knew how cruel the world was to women. Her brown eyes, with their extraordinary blue gleam, had looked at her expectantly, as if she expected more than could be offered. Rhaenyra had vowed that her daughter would never have to go through what she had, but it was difficult to rebel against the world of men when you were trapped in it.

"Aemma tells of strange figures in the fire," Rhaenyra began, seeing her father turn to her in surprise.

"Strange figures in the fire?" he furrowed his brow. He looked tired and sick.

Rhaenyra nodded and played nervously with her fingers. "At first I thought it was the playful mind of a child, but it happens to many times."

Viserys placed the stone dragon back on the table and looked at her intently.

"Very interesting. It sounds like Aemma is a dreamer."

Rhaenyra took a breath. "But she doesn't dream these things. She sees things in the fire."

Viserys rubbed his chin and leaned back in his chair. His movements were slow, as if each one pained him. Deep circles were under his eyes. His condition depressed Rhaenyra, put her in fear about the time that would come when she would be all alone in this world.

Laenor was by her side, but he was no help to her. Sometimes Rhaenyra thought he was her fourth child, a boy who never wanted to grow up. She stroked her round belly. Or her fifth.

Then there was Harwin Strong, the father of her children, who was never allowed to be what he really was. He would support her, he would die for her, but he would condemn them all to death if she ever openly showed what he meant to her.

"I really only know about our ancestors and their dragon dreams," Viserys admitted. "But in the diaries of Aenar Targaryen, the few we still have, in which he writes about his daughter Daenys and her abilities, he also talks about his younger sister seeing her own death in fire. It is said to have occurred in the same way. Maybe it was just a coincidence but probably that's why he didn't doubt his daughter's words."

Aenar Targaryen was the father of Daenys, the dreamer. She had foretold of the fall and destruction of Valyria, a prophecy that had come to pass twelve years later. Aenar had been wise enough to believe his daughter, and had fled with his family to Dragonstone. Aenar's rivals had seen their flight as weakness and cowardice, but while their families perished, Daenys had saved House Targaryen and Velaryon with her prophecy.

"Did Aemma say what she saw, then?" asked Viserys curiously, leaning forward slightly.

"Green dragon, bloody crown, black wolf, fire comes after blood," Aemma had kept repeating while staring into the fire. "Green dragon, bloody crown, black wolf, fire comes after blood."

She had no idea what her child had meant by this, but it had an unsettling effect on her. She had come here with the thought of asking her father for advice, but then she looked to his green coat and it reminded her that she was surrounded by enemies in her own home. He would tell Alicent about it without anything evil in mind, but Alicent was no longer the girl that Rhaenyra had trusted with her darkest secrets.

She shook her head. "She only talked about figures she sees."

Her father looked disappointed and nodded.

"Whatever Aemma's abilities are, you have to protect her, Rhaenyra," Viserys began, looking to the fire burning in the hearth beside them. "Protect her from any danger, protect her from herself."

Rhaenyra looked at her father in irritation. Protect Aemma? Her stomach clenched.

"Dragon dreams can be dangerous. More dangerous than our dragons," Viserys explained to her calmly, but his words worried her. "Many in our line have been dragonriders. Very few among us have been dreamers. What is the power of a dragon next to the power of prophecy?"

129 AC.

DRAGONSTONE

Despite the closed door, Rhaenyra heard Daemon going from one tantrum to the next, raving about what had happened last night. But Rhaenyra had other worries. She watched as the maesters tended to Rose, checking her for further injuries.

She watched her sleeping daughter. Exhaustion had made her close her eyelids again, although Rhaenyra would have liked to ask her a thousand questions. She had so many questions, but the most important thing was that her little girl was back. There was no doubt.

It still seemed like a dream to have her daughter lying in front of her.

Rhaenyra gently stroked her sleeping daughter's face and followed the maester out of her room as he finished the examinations.

"You look worried," Rhaenyra stated with a fast beating heart and Grand Maester Gerardys looked at the door. She felt nervous.

Gerardys nodded and pulled her aside, away from the guards and maids.

"Her injuries are minor in nature, my Queen. Worst of all is her exhaustion."

"But?" She heard in his voice that there was more. Gerardys looked at her seriously, his brow furrowing.

"The girl is expecting a child," he revealed, and Rhaenyra's eyes widened.

"She's pregnant?" she asked, "Are you sure?"

Gerardys nodded. "She hasn't been pregnant for very long, and I doubt she knows, but there's no doubt that new life is growing inside the girl."

Rhaenyra had to admit that she had expected everything, but not this. Daemon and Lucerys had told her about her relationship with Aemond. Daemon because he had seen it and Lucerys because he had suspected it, but she had hoped they were both wrong. 

What a bizarre idea that Aemma was pregnant by her uncle. The gods showed no mercy if it were true.

She'd have to find out whose child it was. 

Rhaenyra nodded gravely. "I wish that her pregnancy will not be discussed for the time being and that you keep silent about it."

Grand Master Gerardys nodded. "Of course, my Queen." If he was surprised, he didn't show any sign of it.

Should it turn out to be true that Aemond was the father, then Aemma would be in danger. She didn't know what relevance her daughter had for Aemond, but she knew her brother well enough to know that he would come for what was his.

. . . . . 

"You betrayed Mother," said Jacaerys, and Lucerys looked up. Six sat with Rhaena and Baela on the beach, staring at the sea as they had done when they were little children.

All of them hadn't found sleep since last night. Jacaerys looked at Marax, who had already been fed for the fifth time in the day. The wounded dragon ripped apart his prey, his anger was clearly felt.

Lucerys looked at him hurt, but Jacaerys had no pity. What he had done was wrong.

"Jacaerys," Baela hissed, but he ignored his fiancée.

"You freed her, even though Mother gave a different order."

"Her execution has been proposed. I had to help her."

"It wasn't your decision to make."

Lucery's hands were shaking. "She's our sister."

"Bullshit."

"The Queen called her 'Aemma,'" Rhaena said defensively, looking at Jacaerys. "I heard it, loud and clear."

Jacaerys shook his head. "That's not possible. They have no resemblance."

"Are you blind, brother? She looks like Aemma."

"She has dark hair and brown eyes. Surprise. Let me go to the village and I'll bring you five girls who look like Aemma."

"You think you're smart," Lucerys spat. "But you talk like a fool."

"She's dead! Aemma is dead," Jacaerys shouted and clenched his fists. He jumped up. He felt him tremble with anger. Why didn't anyone listen to him?  "She's no longer alive, that's just wishful thinking. That girl up there can't be our sister. The Greens are fake and sneaky. They know of our loss and try to destroy us from within. Why can't anyone see what I see?"

"Rose is Aemma, brother," Lucerys said desperately. "They have so many similarities. Please, you have to listen to me. Even mother thinks she is. Get to know her."

Jacaerys shook his head.

"No, she's a fraud."

"She never claimed to be Aemma," Lucerys defended the strange woman. "Why can't you believe what we believe? Our sister has returned."

It would be too good to be true. For a moment Jacaerys wanted to give in, but he had to keep his senses. He couldn't be fooled.

He looked at Baela, seeking help, but she only shook her head. Rhaena had lowered her gaze, and Lucerys looked at him defiantly. In the past, Lucerys would never have spoken to him like that, but since his imprisonment, he's been someone else. He didn't recognize his brother, and it was all his own fault. If he hadn't suggested Luke fly to Baratheon, he would have been spared all this.

Jacaery's heart ached at the thought that he had almost killed his brother. He wouldn't let a stranger ruin this family just because she happened to look like his beloved sister.

"She's Aemond's mistress, isn't she, Luke?"He saw Lucery's surprise. He looked to the side and Jacaerys breathed. "We can't trust her. You can't trust her. I won't let that happen."

Whoever she was, she wasn't Aemma.

Aemma was dead.

No matter how much his brother and his mother wished for their return, Jacaerys would not be able to deceive them.

He would protect his family. At all costs.

Without another word or giving the others a chance to reply, he turned around and stomped back into the castle.

He'd prove to everyone he was right.

RED KEEP

Aemond listened to his brother's cries.

He stood in the hallway, waiting for his mother, who was visiting her brother at that moment. When she came out of his room, she seemed distracted. She looked at him with sad eyes, desperate, but there was also anger in them.

"This is Rhaenyra's fault," she said, full of hatred and Aemond followed her. "He is hardly conscious anymore, and when he is, he only expresses pain. He's in so much pain, Aemond, it breaks my heart."

Her voice trembled. Aemond didn't know whether it was grief, pain or anger.

Aemond felt sorry for his brother. He had been so preoccupied with his own problems, with Rose's loss, that drove him insane.

"Everything that Rhaenyra touches falls apart," Alicent continued. She had never spoken more openly about her feelings for Rhaenyra than she does today. It reminded him of the night on Driftmark when Lucerys took his eye off him.

"We must take revenge, my boy."

Aemond looked at his mother in surprise. His mother had longed for peace, she had done everything to make sure nothing happened to his sister, the princess, even after the failed assassination of her grand children, she had kept calm, but now he saw her anger, her willingness to shed blood.

"This realm needs guidance and right now your brother is unable to fulfill that duty."

Aemond stopped and held back his mother. Did his mother mean what he was thinking?

"What do you want from me, Mother?"

Say it. Say it.

"Rule this kingdom while your brother is unable to do so. Become Prince Regent, Protector of the Realm. Protect your family."

Aemond didn't know what to feel. That's what he'd always wanted. He had always wished to sit on the iron throne and possess what he was supposed to have in place of Aegon, if the gods had been righteous.

He would not be a king, but he would possess the power of a king.

Satisfaction flowed through him. He'd finally be able to prove himself. He would eliminate his enemies, every single one of them.

"If I do what you ask, I won't be able to let Rhaenyra live. No one. Not her, or any of her children."

Alicent nodded, he saw sadness in her eyes, but her attitude showed determination.

She looked back to Aegon's room. 

"Do what you have to do. Kill our enemies. Anyone who's a threat to us. I want Rhaenyra to know what it's like to see your child suffer like this."

Taglist

@watercolorskyy @marvelescvpe @ammo23 @helaenaluvr @toodlesxcuddles

#aemond fanfiction #aemond targaryen #aemond x oc #aemond x fem!reader #aemond one eye #aemond the kinslayer #dark aemond smut #dark aemond angst #dark aemond #dark aemond targaryen #modern aemond angst #aemond targeryen angst #aemond angst #hotd angst #ewan mitchell smut #aemond targaryen smut #hotd smut #aemond smut #aemond x wife #aemond x wife reader #aemond fanfic #hotd fandom #house of the dragon fandom #ewan mitchell fandom #aemond fandom #hotd fic #hotd fanfiction #aemond fic #rhaenyra targaryen #game of thrones

[writingnocturne]

A Gift

This is one of my contributions to @zelinkcommunity's Zelink Week 2023! Day Seven: Free Day

Look below the break to read! Zelink Week may be coming to a close, but there's plenty of content to look over! I recommend doing so, everyone has been posting great stuff.

{ For this week, I have been posting a little peek at art/writing for memories in Call of the Forgotten, a TotK rewrite I am working on (there will obviously be direct and indirect spoilers for TotK). These memories have been posted out of order and are subject to change. They follow the Ancient Hero and Princess during the time of the First Great Calamity, an aftershock of the Imprisoning War. }

Memory ?? – A Gift

( Words – 601 )

Princess Zelda sits upon stone at the edge of Hyrule Field, a small flower with white and blue petals resting in her hands. Its delicate petals are soft against her fingertips. This bittersweet-scented blossom had risen from where her tears hit the soil, as they have every time she's come to the heart of the land. Today, the princess has arrived to oversee the progress on the new castle– one designed to remind the world of what lies beneath it– but has kept her distance. Zelda had expected the wave of sorrow. The castle has been in progress for nearly a decade, and the descent into grief at this site has become routine. She would rather keep it hidden away.

Gently nestling the flower in her hair, Zelda's gaze trails to the towers themselves. The Sheikah constructed spires of their own when she was young and gifted with prophecy. The towers of the new castle, however, now rival them in stature. Soon it will be complete enough to serve as a place of residence as opposed to the old abbey-turned-palace upon the Great Plateau. Regardless, it appears compact for a castle. At least it will fulfill its purpose, she tells herself. There will no doubt be expansions as Hyrule grows.

Her thoughts wander through the fate of Hyrule in the years to come. An aftershock of the Imprisoning War looms in the near future; so close it is like a memory she has watched unfold for countless lifetimes. She will do whatever it takes in the time remaining to be sure Hyrule has time to flourish into the kingdom its King and Queen hoped for, but… can she be sure the warning they sent to her will be enough? Can this land truly rest in her hands, as young as she is? Perhaps– with all of Hyrule united– it will not be her duty alone.

As if he read her mind, Link's footsteps fade into audibility behind her. The princess's long ears perk up at the sound before she turns her head back to see him. Her friend had disappeared some time ago, although they had come to the site together. Now, he returns; but he is entirely covered in dirt. The limp body of a boar is slung over his shoulders in a rather impressive show of his natural strength. It doesn't seem to bother him at all. In a predictable contrast, Zelda's expression is entirely bothered. Her eyes are stuck wide and open for a solid minute, only halted when Link presents the dead animal to her. She blinks.

"I went hunting!" He finally cracks a small grin and speaks up. "I caught this for you." Link is observant enough to know something was wrong when they neared this place. He figured a gift may lift her spirits some.

"...Link, that is–" Zelda is at a loss for words. The gesture is… very sweet, but it's quite obvious from the boar's appearance that Link killed it with a blade rather than an arrow. "...Uhm... Thank you." Moving past how she is mildly disturbed, the princess stands up and makes sure her eyes rest on Link instead of his kill. "I was getting hungry; anyway. Why don't we find someone at the camp to help us prepare it for cooking?"

Zelda can see Link slowly reach for his blade again, but she subtly just lowers it with her own hand. She's sure he can skin it himself, but she'd rather they just spend some time together in a more sanitary manner. He simply nods and lets her lead the way.

Thank you for reading! Check out the first concept doodles of the First Calamity here! Obviously, this is all very incomplete; but most is planned out thoroughly! If you have questions, just ask!

Art Information: ( Check out my art blog @nocturnalfandomartist! )

Program: Ibis Paint X

Time Elapsed: 5 hours, 10 minutes

(last minute more here, sorry for the terrible background I soooo got lazy with it)

#zelink week 2023 #zelink #totk zelink #botw zelink #totk spoilers #tears of the kindom spoilers #totk headcanons #loz #tloz #the legend of zelda #legend of zelda #zelda #link #princess zelda #the great calamity #tears of the kingdom #zelda tears of the kingdom #tloz totk #breath of the wild #zelda breath of the wild #tloz botw #loz totk #loz botw #botw #loz fanfiction #loz fic #tloz fanfic #loz fanfic #tloz fanart #loz zelda

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Dumbledore is a Manipulative Piece of Shit: Part 3/?

The Prophecy

In the first post in this series, I mentioned having reason to doubt the validity and truth of the prophecy regarding Voldemort and Harry. This is this post.

Although I don't have definitive proof the prophecy is a lie, I have plenty of circumstantial evidence that sheds reasonable doubt on the prophecy and Dumbledore's interpretation of it.

(link to part 2, for those interested)

Exhibit 1: The Location

So, we know how this goes:

“I did,” said Dumbledore. “On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog’s Head Inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, and I thought it common politeness to meet her. I was disappointed. It seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave.”

(Order of the Pheonix, page 840)

“That might, indeed, have been the more practical course,” said Dumbledore, “except that Voldemort’s information about the prophecy was incomplete. The Hog’s Head Inn, which Sibyll chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele than the Three Broomsticks. As you and your friends found out to your cost, and I to mine that night, it is a place where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard. Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sibyll Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My — our — one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.”

(Order of the Pheonix, page 843)

The reason I'm bringing this up is this specific part of the quote above in particular:

The Hog’s Head Inn, which Sibyll chose for its cheapness

Since when does an interview prospect for the position of Hogwarts professor choose the location of the interview?

We know that when Tom Riddle came to his interview for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position in 1967, the interview was held in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts:

The Dumbledore behind the desk showed no sign of surprise. Evidently this visit had been made by appointment. “Good evening, Tom,” said Dumbledore easily. “Won’t you sit down?” “Thank you,” said Voldemort, and he took the seat to which Dumbledore had gestured — the very seat, by the looks of it, that Harry had just vacated in the present. “I heard that you had become headmaster,” he said, and his voice was slightly higher and colder than it had been. “A worthy choice.” “I am glad you approve,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “May I offer you a drink?” “That would be welcome,” said Voldemort. “I have come a long way.” Dumbledore stood and swept over to the cabinet where he now kept the Pensieve, but which then was full of bottles. Having handed Voldemort a goblet of wine and poured one for himself, he returned to the seat behind his desk.

(Half-Blood Prince, page 441)

Why would Dumbledore choose to hold Trelawney's interview in the Hogs-Head? Because it was his choice. He could've interviewed her in his office like he had Tom Riddle. But no, he preferred the cheap inn, run by a brother who hates him and is known for attracting less reputable sorts (including Death Eaters) in the middle of a war?

And even if he is holding the interview in the hogs-Head, let's say he has a good reason for it, why not make sure he wasn't overheard in such a place? We know its possible with the Imperturbable Charm.

Turning to Fred and George she said, “It’s no go with the Extendable Ears, she’s gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door.”

(Order of the Pheonix, page 69)

Because if Molly Weasley can cast this charm, surely Dumbledore can.

Or the Muffliato Charm that Snape has invented by that point:

and, perhaps most useful of all, Muffliato, a spell that filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing, so that lengthy conversations could be held in class without being overheard.

(Half-Blood Prince, page 238)

But no, instead he made sure to be in a place where he was likely to be spied on and took no precautions against it, even though he could've held the interview in the safety of Hogwarts.

The only conclusion I can draw is that he wanted to be overheard. That he wanted some Death Eater to hear the prophecy and take it to Voldemort.

Exhibit 2: The Circumstances

But why? Why would he want Voldemort to hear a prophecy that would make him target an innocent baby?

Well, Dumbledore was in a rough spot in May of 1980 when the prophecy was made. Voldemort practically controlled the ministry and did as he pleased (even though, it wasn't much). The Order of the Phoenix had 15 of its members and member families killed from August 1979 to that interview.

Dumbledore and the Order were losing. And they were losing badly.

Arthur Weasley says:

“Oh, Molly, come on, it’s about time you got used to hearing it — look, I can’t promise no one’s going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we’re much better off than we were last time, you weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one. . . .”

(Order of the Pheonix, page 177)

By 1980, if Dumbledore wanted to win, he needed a miracle. And that's when he was approached by Trelawney approached him.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he held a normal interview in the castle, and in that interview, she made a real prophecy about Harry and Voldemort, but not the one we hear. Dumbledore heard the prophecy and knew he'd have to orchestrate the circumstances of Halloween 1981 if he wanted to end Voldemort. So he did.

He gave Trelawney a script, and he made sure to be somewhere a wizard down on their luck who wouldn't stand the temptation to spy on him would overhear and sell the information to Voldemort. I don't know if Dumbledore specifically intended for it to be Snape, but maybe? I don't know.

But I know he made sure Voldemort got hold of the prophecy, or at least part of it so Dumbledore could set Voldemort's demise into motion.

Exhibit 3: The Only Time We Hear the Prophecy

Now, we would never know what the true prophecy said, since it was smashed.

The only source we have for the full prophecy is the word of Albus Dumbledore. Well, his word and his odd memory:

Then, with a sigh, he raised his wand and prodded the silvery substance with its tip. A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly, her feet in the basin. But when Sibyll Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her use once before. “THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES. . . . BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . . AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . . AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES. . . . THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . . .” The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.

(Order of the Pheonix, page 841)

No other memory Harry sees in the pensive behaves this way. Harry always places his head in the pensive and is sucked into the memory, to walk in it. It's how a pensive always worked.

Except for this one singular instance, in which it shows a "memory" like a hologram, like an illusion.

I don't think this is a memory at all, just from how different it is described from any other memory. For context, pensive memories are described like this in the same book:

Harry walked the remaining few feet to the Pensieve and stood over it, gazing into its depths. He hesitated, listening, then pulled out his wand again. The office and the corridor beyond were completely silent. He gave the contents of the Pensieve a small prod with the end of his wand. The silvery stuff within began to swirl very fast. Harry leaned forward over it and saw that it had become transparent. He was, once again, looking down into a room as though through a circular window in the ceiling. . . . In fact, unless he was much mistaken, he was looking down upon the Great Hall. . . .His breath was actually fogging the surface of Snape’s thoughts. . . .His brain seemed to be in limbo. . . . It would be insane to do the thing that he was so strongly tempted to do. . . . He was trembling. . . . Snape could be back at any moment . . . but Harry thought of Cho’s anger, of Malfoy’s jeering face, and a reckless daring seized him. He took a great gulp of breath and plunged his face into the surface of Snape’s thoughts. At once, the floor of the office lurched, tipping Harry headfirst into the Pensieve. . . . He was falling through cold blackness, spinning furiously as he went, and then — He was standing in the middle of the Great Hall

(Order of the Pheonix, page 640)

Even if I did take the prophecy at face value, which is a big if, I can interrupt it in multiple ways. I'll give one example:

The third line:

BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES

Sure, it can refer to July, the seventh month in the Julian calendar we use today. But before Julius Caesar and Agustus (the Roman emperors) added months named after them, September was the seventh month. It's why it's called September — "Septima" means "seven" in Latin. September is literally named "the seventh month".

And that's without talking about other calendars, that have a whole different system to their months.

Or the Line before it:

BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM

What exactly counts as defying? It's so vague any disagreement could be considered a defiance. Is it battle? Is it that he offered James and Lily to join him and they refused?

Vagueness means it could mean literally anything and puts the whole interpretation of the prophecy in question.

Conclusions

So, we have a prophecy that was made under odd circumstances, where the only source we have to it is supposedly a memory of a powerful Legilemense that knows how to edit memories.

There isn't exactly cutting evidence the prophecy is fake, but I think there's enough here to make us doubt its validity along with its intentions and interpretation.

#harry potter theory #harry potter thoughts #harry potter #hp thoughts #hp theory #hp #hollowedtheory #sybill trelawney #albus dumbledore #dumbledore analysis #professor dumbledore #professor trelawney #lord voldemort #voldemort #first wizarding war #second wizarding war #the prophecy #Sibyll Trelawney #harry potter analysis #wizarding world

[blackjackkent]

Brought Lae'zel into the party in our flex slot, since we want her on hand for the Orphic chaos. (@zenjestrr tells me we'll have one more chance to update our party before the big ending battle, so we'll probably swap Minsc back in for that.)

Voss is still waiting for us where we last saw him in the sewers. Patient fellow, especially given how much it must stink down there. However, he has a buddy down here with him who wasn't here before!

Who dis?

"Have you brought the Orphic Hammer?"

Hector has questions before he's going to hand over the hammer.

"Who is this new companion of yours?"

"Not a new companion, but an old one. And a loyal one. A proper introduction is in order - but I will let him do the honors."

Poor Voss really looks and sounds worn out as hell and tore up from the floor up. Rebelling against Vlaakith is clearly not a relaxing occupation.

Also that's not technically an answer, but Hector lets it pass for now.

"Where are the rest of your allies?" he asks.

"The remaining honor guard serve as my eyes and ears," Voss answers. "Vlaakith's forces hunt you and the Prism. My allies have slayed more than you know, so that you might travel freely. As for those that break through - you've proven more than capable of bleeding them yourself."

This is rather unsettling for Hector to hear - that there have been many battles going on behind the scenes in defense of him, while he had no knowledge of it at all. He looks at Voss steadily and wonders - how many of this man's friends have died to keep me alive?

"I've retrieved the Hammer," he says quietly.

Voss's head lifts and he lets out a heavy breath, as if a weight he has been carrying up a steep hill has shifted a little, some burden eased just slightly. "The Prince of the Comet is not dead..." he whispers, and Hector recognizes the tone of recitation, of a religious litany. "The Prince of the Comet will come again. The Prince of the Comet will liberate us from the lich queen's tyranny..." He gives a nod of satisfaction. "The prophecy is one step closer to fruition."

"Gith's son will soon ride against Vlaakith, Voss," Lae'zel says sharply. It is the same tone of eager obeisance that she once used in honor of the Lich Queen - and yet not quite the same, too. Hector has watched her grow older and stronger in the time they have traveled together; it is a devotion tempered with, if not yet self-determination, then at least greater self-possession.

Voss nods back at her soberly. "And you will wield the greatest gift Mother Gith ever granted her dauntless children."

"A silver sword," Lae'zel murmurs reverently. "I will carry it for the honor of Gith, the great liberator, and her unforgotten son."

Voss smiles, gives a slight nod of approval, and then his eyes flick back to Hector, all business. "Istik, now that you have the Hammer, you must find a way to enter the Astral Prism. Once inside, smash Orpheus's bonds. His cry will shake the planes, and I will fly to your aid. The Prince of the Comet will soar the heavens again. First we'll defeat the Absolute; then we let the lich queen tremble!"

His voice rises eagerly-- and then Hector feels a stab of pain through his temples as the Emperor speaks, his voice like a slap through Hector's mind.

"Think again," the illithid snaps. "I will not permit your entry."

Well, there it is. The proverbial cat is out of the bag. Not that there was any question of the Emperor noticing what was happening; it was just a matter of when. Hector doesn't bother arguing with him; what would be the point? The creature that once was Balduran has shown no sense of flexibility in smaller matters up to this point, and Hector very much doubts that any sort of appeal now would get very far.

Ignore the Emperor.

"Questions, istik?" Voss asks, unaware of the one-sided battle being waged inside Hector's brain. "You seem to be lost in thought."

Hector shakes himself, trying to ignore the creeping sense of the Emperor's presence watching him, listening to every word. "Getting into the Astral Prism will be... complicated," he says, with deeply dry understatement. Jaheira snorts softly behind him.

"Yes," Voss answers gravely. "But you will meet this challenge, as you've met so many others."

"Glad he's so confident about it," Karlach quips in an undertone, low enough for only Hector to hear.

Hector resists the urge to smile and keeps his eyes focused on Voss. Giving the other man a sharp nod, he steps back.

Leave.

"Istik," Voss says sharply, offering him a githyanki salute. "Friend to Orpheus. Together we will end the elder brain which shakes this city. Then I turn my sighs to Vlaakith, the queen of deceit!"

-----

Voss gives us a very nice looking githyanki sword.

That goes to Lae'zel. And now I get to figure out where the hell we go from here.

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle

[tsignpro]

Sakura is Gifted

No doubt, Sakura is a hard worker, but I would say most characters in the Naruto universe are hard workers, such as Naruto, Sasuke, Rock Lee, etc. However, Rock Lee is the only one who got to where he is through hard work alone.

I would categorize Sakura as a hidden talent. We are constantly shown this throughout the OG series:

She has had Perfect Chakara Control since OG naruto; even Kakashi was surprised at how good she was.

She was able to answer all the Jounin-level questions without cheating.

Midway through the Chunin Exams, even Kakashi noticed that Sakura's resilience and skills drastically improved over a few days.

Within the Chunin Exam Finals, Sakura is one of the only few that was capable of escaping an A-rank Genjustsu.

Tsunade takes her on as an apprentice because she has the rare skillsets and resolve required to become a medic-nin.

Sakura is brimming with potential, but the reason she is not being not seen as a gifted Shinobi like the other characters is for a few reasons.

To begin she is on a team of Prodigies. We constantly degrade Sakura compared to her other teammates. Still, many critics intentionally leave out that all her teammates are the main characters in a Shoen series, so her teammates will outshine her abilities as the only girl on the team. (I will leave out the main characters' backstories as the subject of this post is about Sakura being a hidden talent and why it no one seems to notice.)

First, We have Naruto Uzumaki main character of the show. In the beginning, he is the perceived underdog of the series, but we soon find out that was never the case. He has the Nine-tails inside of him, one of the most powerful creatures alive. We then find out he is the child of prophecy; he's also the son of the 4th Hokage, whose mother was part of one of the most powerful clans in the series. In addition, he was given The Sage of Six Path powers, and let's not forget he's the reincarnation of the Demigod Ashura.

Next, we have Sasuke Uchiha, the deuteragonist of the series. Born into the most powerful clan in the village, blessed with the Sharingan (the ability to copy almost any move and predict where the enemy would attack), he was at the top of his class. He is a prodigy, was given a curse mark that made him more powerful, given performance-enhancing drugs, and given his brother's eyes to make him even more powerful. In addition, he was given the Sage of Six Path Rennigan and is also the reincarnation of the Demigod Indara.

We then have Yamoto and Sai as temporary fill-ins for team 7. Yamoto is a science experiment performed by Orochimaru, who imbued him with Hashirama Cells, giving him the power to use the sporadic ability of Wood Release. Meanwhile, Sai is a well-trained Ninja by Danzo Shimura and can bring his ink work to life.

Finally, we have Kakashi Hatake, Born a prodigy and the son of one of the most powerful Shinobi (said to be even more powerful than the Legendary Sannin combined). He was then given one Sharingan and ended up copying over 1000 Jitsu. When the Mongekeo Sharingan is unlocked, it can teleport anything into another dimension; finally, he gets the other Sharingan and can form a perfect Susunno seconds after he receives the eyes.

So it's no surprise that Sakura gets the short end of the stick and gets ignored. Sakura doesn't come from a powerful clan. We are not even sure if she's from a ninja clan the only detail we get of her background is the Road to Ninja Movie, where her parents said that their family is not known to have any particular talents. Her mother is a part of the mother alliance force but that is all we know. The story constantly reminds us (whether intentionally or unintentionally) that being born into a powerful clan is the key to being phenomenal. There are outliers like Minato, Jiraya, and Rock Lee, but those are exceptions, not rules. Someone like Sakura, who doesn't come from a renowned clan and is a girl in the Shinobi world, would be overlooked.

There is an implicit bias against Sakura. We see it in the way Kakashi treats her. He focuses on the boys, showing them how to do a Jitsu, and giving pointers and advice while ignoring Sakura. The most he showed her was how to climb a tree and release Genjuitsu. Still, since she learned so quickly, he didn't bother to teach her anything else and focused on the boys.

In some cases, Kakashi coddled Sakura and didn't take her seriously. The circumstances of constantly having to be on missions after Konoha's 1st Destruction forced Kakashi to prioritize Naruto after the 2nd attempt to retrieve Sasuke failed. Kakashi knew from the start that Naruto and Sasuke would be great because of who they were.

Even though she is a hidden talent, she gets overshadowed by her other peers. Sakura is brilliant but compared to Shikamaru; she seems average. However, her Chakra Control is phenomenal; it is stated that once you can master chakra control, you can theoretically perform any Jitsu, but since no one is showing her how to utilize this talent (in part 1), Sakura has to figure it out herself. Unlike the Prodigy Neji, who can use his chakra to block his opponent's chakra points. These two are exceptional Shinobi but are both from powerful clans that give them the attention they need to develop those skills.

Her skill set is not particularly flashy compared to others. Instead, the most striking thing in her arsenal is her powerful punches; it's impressive to watch but can get repetitive. Although we see the fantastic scene where she saves Konkuro's life, we don't get a lot of chances to see her shine (this is a fighting series, not Konoha'a Anatomy). She was terrific in the Kazagake Retrieval Arc and did a lot during the Pein Arc. Still, she gets relegated to the background and is a damsel in distress for Naruto or Kakashi to save until the second day of the 4th great Shinobi war (but still gets to play damsel somehow). Most of her skillset is grounded and loosely based on real-world medical procedures meant to save lives, compared to her teammates who get to perform flashy mystical Jutsu meant to harm their opponents.

Her motivation for becoming a Ninja is never really solidified; most people think it is so that Sasuke could notice her, which. I don’t blame people for that perception because the anime made it seem like that was the case, which is not the case. She is smitten with Sasuke but before she noticed Sasuke, her goal was to become a kunoichi like Ino, someone she viewed as brave, strong, and kind, something she wanted to be. She wanted to become Ino’s equal, Sasuke was the tipping point and excuse she used to declare Ino’s her rival. Sakura would rather be Ino’s rival and be an equal than be her best friend and be in her shadow. After that her motivation was to save Sasuke from the darkness, protect Naruto and Sasuke and stand together with them on the battlefield, and reunite team 7.

Sakura’s goals are pretty low stakes and small compared to everyone elses. All of her teammates on team 7 are tramatized in some way shape or form.

Finally, even though Sakura is a hidden talent, We only get a slight glimpse of her abilities compared to her peers, whose abilities are more Flashy. Of course, she had a natural talent, but since she didn't come from a prestigious clan and was a girl whose skills were based more on intelligence than physical ability, no one expected her to achieve as much as she did. Therefore, even though I criticized Kakashi a few paragraphs ago, I will commend Kakashi for telling Tsunade that Sakura has the skillset needed to become her apprentice and aknowledge that he reconized her strength after the 2 year timeskip. Despite not being from a powerful clan she still became the strongest kunoichi.

So, in conclusion, Sakura didn't achieve her success through hard work alone. Although she was hidden talent, her male counterparts overshadowed her because she was a kunoichi from an unexceptional clan, and she had the misfortune of being a girl in a Shoen Manga/Anime.

#sakura #sakura haruno #sakura uchiha #pro sakura haruno #pro sakura uchiha #naruto #essay that was in my head and I couldn’t do anything else until I finished writing #anime girl #anime and manga #sarada uchiha

[persephoneflowerpetals]

So one of my Friends had this HC that what if The Big Three actually grew up together with Zeus' Foster Caretakers from the Mythos?

We all know that in Myths, Zeus was the last born to escape and was taken care by the Nymphs, Kouretes, and even breast-feeded by the She-Goat, "Amalthea".

I imagine that an alternate version where the Six Siblings actually grew up together would've been fascinating, especially on how that we would've imagine the moments where The Kids bond with their Step-Parents besides than their Biological Mother.

None of the less, do you have any headcanons you'd like to share about the Golden Age in the Hercules Universe? I'd like to hear your own thoughts/opinions on Zeus' caretakers (especially Amalthea).

Also, would it be heartwarming to imagine that whenever Hades has terrible flashbacks about the Titan War, Persephone would always be there to comfort him about his Troubled Past with his Father?

Oh wow! I actually didn’t know Zeus had foster parents! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a dummy when it comes to original Greek mythology sometimes lol.

(long rambles ahead lol)

I did find out through the Hades Challenge PC game that Zeus was raised in Crete (it was one of the little trivia questions Hades asks in the game lol), so I guess that makes sense lol!

Honestly, my whole headcanon/theory I guess for the “Golden Age” of Greece is that (of course) Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were all born from Rhea and Kronos on the island of Crete. Back then, the world was run by the titans, some were good and some were bad. There were some Olympians that existed as well during this era like Demeter, Hermes, Athena, and Ares (and more of course). The three brothers had a pretty decent childhood and got along with each other (for the most part). They had a great relationship with their mother who loved them with all her heart, but their father was mean and cruel to them, so to protect them from their father’s wrath, Rhea sent her sons away to be raised by nymphs. The boys really missed their mother, though, and wished to stay with her forever.

One day, Kronos decided to start a war against the Olympians and the titans after learning about a prophecy that one of his sons would defeat him and the Olympians would rule. Kronos then kidnapped his two youngest sons (Poseidon and Hades) and swallowed them. Zeus and Rhea found out about this and made a plan to rescue Poseidon and Hades. Rhea would then trick Kronos into eating a rock, claiming it was Zeus. Zeus then leaped into action and defeated his father and rescued his little brothers. Kronos ended up coughing up the rock and placed a curse upon it, so if any Olympian ever looked at the rock they would fall into a deep sleep, but the rock was lost and forgotten for ages. Zeus and Poseidon (and possibly Hades, though, I doubt it because Hades seemed to be in good terms with the titans in the movie) worked together to take down the rest of the unruly titans and locked them away under the sea. For his heroic efforts of saving the cosmos, Zeus became a god and the new ruler of the universe. Rhea decided to become a guardian of the universe and watch over it so it wouldn’t end up the way it was when Kronos ruled. Zeus then created Olympus and granted all Olympians a role as a god and gifted his younger brothers their own realms to rule over, Poseidon: the sea and Hades: the underworld. Hades, of course, wasn’t happy about his new role as a god and to make matters worse, Zeus then commanded that their father, Kronos (as well as some other unruly titans), be sentenced to live in the underworld for the rest of eternity as punishment.

Eventually, Prometheus and Epimetheus (good titans) were given the task of creating mortals and animals with the help of Athena (who was given a city-state that became the capital of Greece: Athens, while her brother was granted his own land: Sparta). Mortals didn’t have much down on Earth though, so Prometheus sneaked up to Olympus and stole fire (which was only used by the gods) and gave it to the mortals and well…we all know what happened after that.

But yeah, that’s pretty much my “Golden Era” theory/story for the Hercules universe lol! I’ll give you a few headcanons about the Big Three when they were kids!

Zeus was the most popular of the three and had the most friends.

Zeus was the first one to discover Amalthea and make her their pet goat

Poseidon and Hades looked “normal” as kids, but after they became gods of their domain, their realms started to change their physical appearance over time.

Hades was actually pretty soft as a kid, but his personality toughened up as he got older.

Poseidon’s favorite activity was swimming when he was younger, but Hades wasn’t too fond of it and preferred playing on land.

Oh and yes! Persephone ABSOLUTELY comforts Hades when he has flashbacks about his father. It’s so freaking sweet lol! They usually come in night terrors and he either wakes up in the middle of the night panting and sweating or he’s tossing and turning and making noises in his sleep. Either way, Persephone wakes up with him and comforts him until they fall back asleep. He gets kinda embarrassed about having the nightmares at first because he didn’t want Persephone thinking he was some wimpy, pathetic god that’s afraid of his own father, but Persephone reassured him instantly that he had nothing to be embarrassed about and his feelings were absolutely valid, so from then on he was much more comfortable talking to her about it. Some nights when he struggles to fall back asleep after his night terrors (when Persephone is not around) he’ll drink a cup of hot tea or coffee (caffeinated, of course, because Hades is well known for hating decaf lol) and basically stay up until morning (of course, he’s much more irritable on those days because he didn’t get much sleep). But yeah, he does his best not to think about his dad or talk about him because it brings up bad memories of his childhood and the day he was nearly killed by his own father.

#ask #hercules #disney #hercules 1997 #hades #zeus #poseidon #kronos #rhea #greek mythology #headcanons #persephone oc #persephone x hades #persephades #persephone #hades x persephone #disney oc #hercules oc #s/i oc #long ramble #rambles #disney hercules

[godhasheardtruthfully]

Purge This Story 16166: A Horror Short by Sam-Amina Matthew-John Bailey

Purge This Story 16166h Rabi Al Thani 1445 / October '23

The following may be a prophecy of Sam-Amina Matthew-John Bailey. Little remains of information concerning her life (which we believe played out in this place sometime around 1444h) save that she was held to be a seer amongst her people & dedicated this (her transfixative work)”—to Ember. Whom I live to see as a mighty king among my people!”. 

This text is delivered as an appendage of songs of Sam-Amina with this warning:

“BEWARE: creative license in play & truthfully we ourselves face evil inclinations. Still. Never doubt when you have lived to see stranger days.” 

Purge This Story 16166h. Psalm1

Annabelle lived 13 years on Earth before becoming impregnated with a whole new world. 

Purge This Story 16166h. Poem 3

“Woe, whoah! Oh woe… That I had died before (I had met this moment.)” 

Four months on as she dips her honey tanned mitts into high tide waters she’ll remember to say

“Praise God I lived to see this momentous day”. 

Annabelle is naked save for clay of the Earth she smears on her body and the remnants of her thick silken cloak which shimmers green in the sun. She is captivated by her baby’s reflection in the pond water. 

Purge This Story 16166. A dirge. 

“Jesus joy of Mans desiring” she plays.

Annabelle’s a gifted cellist who doesn’t see herself as first chair, much less a violinist. Annabelle lacks the charisma she perceives of the violists while reveling in their recklessness.

Besides, Annabelle greatly prefers her private repertoire. The unplayable (sans scorn from others if they could hear). Oh well. Anything is preferable to Annabelle over the piercing pitch that punctuates her skull when the yielding heard of E stringers tune their machines. 

Simmering in the clef with the bassists Annabelle is no choir singer. An ever on Earth orphaned woman. So long as Annabelle remembers her birth parents are no more. The tales she hears shift. Sometimes a boating accident becomes being eaten by a fish. Life goes on. 

She grows up in The Church. On her worst days she screams 

“I swear to God these people! (Are consuming me, as if I myself were the fattest among the cattle calfs being buttered up for a burnt offering or the wafers served beside wine.) 

This was a life lived in vanity. Horsehairs dragged across suspended metals. The soft/steel meeting is lubricated by imported jade rosin. 

Purge This Story 16166. An Admonition (& forgiveness!) 

Young Annabelle is foolish & fears January as if it possesses the might of God Himself. She is correct, however, in her calculation that the death making angels of Allah themselves are roosting upon her threshold. 

All her virgin life on Earth Annabelle never uttered, or even comprehended, her peoples dominant tongue. Most language utterly escaped her. Her every thought of talking vanished.  Sincere attempts to meet the most pleading, violent, or romantic of advances that this woman ‘aught speak given sanity or reason dissolved upon her most strident attempts at application. Precisely like a dream wherein one finds themselves holding on to the memory of screaming in a universe that physically commands its silence. A cruel muscle memory? 

With quiet comes forgetting. Sometimes Annabelle likes this. 

It is no man that inseminates her. No baby which Annabelle begets.   

Purge This Story 16166 Never Speak of This

He Dog arrived about as soon as Annabelle is granted memory. The Smoking Man she perceives in the closet calls out to her with names worse than the like of herself. Words others pick up. 

This causes her to seek otherworldly refuge. She wonders at first if it is not Satan living in the vent just above the top bunk of the twin bed at the first place where she lived on 16th Court - With the last nearest thing to a family she experienced before being brought to this place.

         “No” she succumbs to telling herself. 

“This is He Dog”.

He Dog is minute but menacing. Rich curls of brown fur with red yellow marbled eyes. Two feet and half one inch upright. 

He Dog speaks an ancient dialect Annabelle alone comprehends well and appears to understand the whispers of her heart. 

Annabelle is immediately trained never to mention He Dog by the reactions of those around her when she shares her experiences. 

“It is okay.” She lies to herself. “He Dog understands me”. In this Annabelle is not entirely wrong. 

Purge This Story 16166 So much for my (/boundaries). 

Ballad, The town of Annabelle’s birth, Is built on a peninsula. The boundary between her people and God knows what exists in the beyond is bordered up by a thicket of trees, reeds, marshy waters and marked by a blood stained rock left by the ancestors of the towns inhabitants. Songs & epics passed through the ages of her people all warning against even nearing the shrub gates into the damp woods of the lost.

Annabelle misinterprets He Dogs ability to quietly listen to her as signs she’s found a beneficent friend. All he’s done yet is listen quietly and murmur to her in a dialect so foreign it’s one of the few things she recognizes. 

She takes him on a walk, one of the many rituals he enforces coercively at the face of maintaining his friendship with Annabelle. This may as well be protection to Annabelle. Under duress Annabelle begins to believe she must do this. 

Purge This Story 16166 Busted

Annabelle doesn’t recognize the urgency of her hunger until pale moonlight is hours past being all that’s left of the sun. Moon beams gently punctuate the pitch black canopy of trees above her. It isn’t her sight Annabelle is following, rather He Dog, who appears to have caught scent of something himself. 

Leaves are all that’s slick under her bare calloused feet. If rough skin sheathes the musician from the hot friction of metal cords on their fingertips what are twigs to Annabelles feet? Cuts to her skin when a Psalm is composed of more than just notes inked on paper? 

“He Dog No! Please!”

The blood soaked stone is rendered dimly visible by daybreak. He Dog is arrested by the border stone. Narcissus mugging himself in the pond water couldn’t be more hellishly captivated as He Dog & that boundary rock. There’s something so transfixing about the forbidden, the vain, the deadly. Annabelle must now learn why that is for herself. 

Fatigue escapes to amazement as soon as Annabelle sees, truly realizes what she is perceiving from before her mahogany eyes, the engraved markings which drink up an inheritance of spilt blood. Even dried up viscous remnants of life don’t cover this up: They make the shape of the sounds she hears. Annabelle is beginning to comprehend literacy. 

Docile no more. He Dog reveals all the ravenous might he’s been biding. “YOU MUST DO THIS ANNABELLE” he gruff’s while biting at her hands. “You are going to do this Annabelle. Listen to me. LISTEN TO ME” he bites at her feet. He Dog is growling.

Purge This Story 1666: Re: Genesis. 

It was fast all too much for Annabelle whose tears of grief overcome her ’til her head rest a’slumber on the stone. 

Annabelle dreams of a deliverance. She sees faces gathering around her. Beautiful perfumed ones with gold sashes & Biblically bright pupils. They are different from the people around town, though many townsfolk are there as well. This company is welcoming of her and feeding her grapes, juicy pomegranate seeds, honey buttered slabs of bread. 

They take her home. To the one she remembers. 

Daybreak anew. And her physical condition is worse for 24 hours of ware. He Dog is grumbling.

“Bell… You know you’re going to do as I command you”. 

She understands perfectly what is written on the rock. She’s spent hours cautiously mesmerized by its recitation. It’s lost meaning to her whether or not He Dog comprehends what lays ahead of her if… 

“Annabelle! Annabelle.”

A new voice. Beautifully carried by the damp morning air. She hears a princess, 

“Annabelle I am here with you”

She hears a Queen. 

Annabelle lifts her loosely braided crown of yellow hairs from the rock, now damp with her spit, snot, and tears along with the ever stubborn blood. She is realizing this voice progenies from her shadow. What is left of her after the sun cuts her body with its ancient starlight.

It takes seven minutes for light to travel at its namesake speed from the surface of the sun to the face of the Earth. It takes thousands of years for the same light to travel from the core of the Sun to its launching surface. Layers of fusion and convection in viscous plasma temper starlight for such a moment. 

It takes Annabelle like no time at all to at least try to seize that God cursed stone once she comprehends her shadows news:

“Do not be scared any longer. I am here. I am telling you to do this.”

The rock is heavy, sunken and grown over into the crust of the Earth. Annabelle appears weak, vulnerable. But she screams. A guttural primal force gathering howl and she picks up that rock.

Annabelle bares it. She thrusts it behind her from across her breasts. Annabelles lungs expand with mossy oxygen. She hurls herself into the unfathomable. Annabelles eyes are beaming in the face of what is ruinous.

Purge This Story 16166 Four Months Later 

Annabelle is amazed at how well her stitches are healing. How soft He is.

#horror #story #short #fiction #queer #Muslim #Christian #Halal Halloween #God Loving Horror #trans #furrycore #transgender #writing #writers of tumblr #The Church #shadows #Starlight #science #stars #regenesis #Satan #666 #111 #Sam-Amina #Matthew-John #Bailey #scary story #colorado #queen #psalm

[xiakha]

FFXIVWrite2023 Prompt #26 - Last

"Oh Venat, I was expecting you."

Azem was at her loom again. The clicking and clacking paired with the movement of the wooden frames that made up the half room sized device came across as an alien string quartet.

Venat paused. That indeed was Azem's usual greeting, but why was it all of the sudden so... sinister? Venat had gotten used to just barging into the apartment that Halcyone shared with Hades and Hythlodaeus because Halcyone always had the door unlocked for her.

"Hail, Halcyone, you're certainly busy."

She smiled in the harried way of someone with too much on her plate. "Well, I just got back to Amaurot, and I'll be leaving once again in the morning. So I'm hoping to get a bit more of my weaving in before I must leave."

Venat was also recently returned to Amaurot after quite the eventful trip.

"Such a pity that my better thirds are still occupied with Hermes. But you at least were able to spend some time with all of them?"

For a moment there was only the clacking sound of wood on wood.

"...Indeed. I wasn't aware that Hades and Hythlodaeus had an appointment in Elpis, otherwise I would have gone to greet them upon their arrival."

"Strictly speaking, Hades had the appointment. Hythodaeus was simply the plus one "expert second opinion" that went simply to sight see and enjoy the scenery. Alas, if only I could have gone, but I was halfway across the Star when they first left, and I'll be halfway across the Star once more before they return!"

"Did you weave that in?"

"The set up, yes. the end result, not yet." Azem jabbed a finger into the broad tapestry she had been working on for years. I shall be sure to add in the consequences once they debrief with me."

Venat wanted to scream. She wanted to shake Azem angrily. She needed to know how much of the trip to Elpis was guided by her hand, how much she shaped directly or indirectly.

Instead she said, "Ah, if only Hythlodaeus could be convinced to seek more fresh air and green grass in a less grandiose manner."

"Alas, but his lust for the grandiose knows no bounds, and I dare say that Hades and I both agree that we fell for him partially because he was always little bit too much."

Hythlodaeus was the light that brightened Hades's grumpy little existence. Conversely, Azem felt his presence as calming and his voice as wise. On his part, Hythlodaeus played both roles extraordinarily well, sometimes switching without missing a beat, sometimes catering to both his lovers with the same turn of phrase.

Venat could only groan in mock disgust at how perfect the three were for each other...

It was indeed strange that Azem was consistently in the right place at the right time, especially as her gift was the ability to weave fates, not change them per se, but guide them in a manner that she found more palatable. In each and every tapestry that Azem finished was another chapter in the grand story of the Star.

Venat did not wish to doubt her handpicked successor, (Ah but why did she handpick her in the first place?) but Elpis had her on edge.

"I'm curious, Halcyone, you've been working on this particular tapestry here for moons now, on and off. Will time itself outpace the speed of your weaving?"

"'Tis why I labor tonight, desperately trying to keep my work from becoming yesterday's news today." Of course, she could not alter the past, only the future yet to come. But it was important to have the recent past set down as well to continue the threads.

"Does your aetheric influence extend forever had you the time? Would you weave the story of the Star five thousand, five hundred thousand, years from now, could you?"

Azem blew a low whistle and looked up from her work to see Venat's nonchalant smile.

"I suppose, had I the time and resources, yes, But my works are only as strong as the cloth that is woven. Doubtless, one day the sides will fray and the weave will become undone, and any prophecy yet to be fulfilled would no longer hold."

"So, a good while, but not forever."

"Perhaps if someone were to maintain the tapestries and keep them tidy in perpetuity they would exist for much longer, but Venat, I hardly can imagine what will happen one year down the line, let alone five hundred or five hundred thousand." She looked out at an invisible length of tapestry that had yet to be woven, stretching on for malms, "'Twould be imposing work, even the mere skeleton of a plan would surely take years to create."

With this, the cloud on Venat's mind lifted, "Ah, so you have no such grand overarching plans."

Azem laughed, "Ah, but therein lies the rub, I do. And yet years later, after so much weft in warp and so much dealing with the responsibilities of Azem, I have barely started planning out my notes for this plan. Mayhaps I will fill my days with just weaving and leisure once I have passed on the title of Azem myself."

Venat smiled again, cheerfully, but hollowly, "I look forward to the day."

So it was a matter of outlasting Azem's imagination, holding out further and longer than her grasp on her shuttle and the length of her thread. She would free herself from Azem's influence simply through perseverance.

"...'Twould be interesting to perceive a Star in which the power and influence of the Convocation had waned so utterly as to be forgotten, would it not? I wonder how it would look then to wander the world."

Venat looked back at Azem, her goodbyes forgotten.

"Pardon?"

"Without a direct connection to the present day, there would be no guarantee that I weave true, but now that I think of it, I could weave a bit of a tale..."

"Halcyone, forgive my intrusion. I really should get going. Never mind my silly aside when you have so much work yet to finish!"

Azem nodded and waved as Venat left as suddenly as she had arrived. But even as she passed the shuttle, weft over and under, her mind wandered.

Who would it be that saw the end of the Convocation? Who would outlive the rest of them, the last of their kind?

#ffxiv #ffxivwrite #FFxivWrite2023 #Venat #Azem #a short scene #wordvomit

[samwellwinchesterthebrave]

I am losing my mind over last night's episode of Calamity. Zerxus really just walked up to this Betrayer God, the Lord of the Hells, and healed him and prepared to cast Atonement for him. Like, what must it be like for this Betrayer God to have one of the mortals he fought with the Primordials against just come up and show him this kindness and understanding and forgiveness? Just Zerxus' whole deal makes my heart hurt. He's so earnest and sincere and I love him. I'm calling it now. Evandrin isn't dead, he's ethereal or something. He faded from visible sight but he isn't gone.

I love Patia and Laerryn. They were boss ass bitches and it was a delight watching them fight. Their arrogance is backed up by their power and I doubt they've come across a problem that they haven't been able to overcome with their knowledge and magical ability. It is amazing watching the ease and casualness with which they cast high level magic. This is the Age of Arcanum, of course it's every day for them. This is their life and they are comfortable and confident in it.

After the failed check by Cerrit, I feel like Loquacious is sketchy. He puts on this front that he's a good, if self-absorbed, person. But I think there might be some rotten bits in his core. I also think there's a hell of a lot more to the situation with Elena than might be just he got jealous and got her fired or something. Also, I feel like he knows something about what happened to Evandrin. There are secrets he's keeping and I feel like they are very important to what's going to happen.

And speaking of Cerrit, it was adorable when his son messaged him. It was the sweetest thing and it just digs the knife a little deeper knowing the Calamity is coming. I wonder what his wife is doing. Is she a mage? Or some other type of scientist? Why not be home for the Replenishment?

I was wrong about the Oracles disappearing but they are definitely out of commission. And, with the future knowledge we as viewers have, we know for a fact that Karwen's prophecy isn't false. It makes me wonder if it was just fear and a kind of burying the head in the sand mentality that made the Octothurge declare it false. It makes me wonder, considering the portal to Asmodeus is in Karwen's room, if Asmodeus is purposefully sending these prophecies or if his mere presence is changing things and opening up other things for the Oracles to see.

I love how Brennan portrayed Asmodeus. I don't know how much of what he said was manipulation and shading of situations (quite a bit of it I bet) but he played that conversation with Zerxus to a t. I love me a sympathetic villain and, from Asmodeus' point of view, he had some good points. It makes sense, the gifts he offered to mortals. After all, often a thing doesn't have meaning unless its absence is a possibility.

Ugh. This whole episode had me gasping and squealing right along with the cast. I'm loving Brennan as a dm. He's excellent at the emotional punches and making things matter even when you don't have a personal stake in the matter. His sense of timing is perfect.

It also makes me laugh that Aabria at the end was like I thought I was gonna cause it and it was you all along to Luis. Like, they're passing around being the cause of the Calamity like a hot potato.

I cannot wait to see where this goes

#exandria unlimited: calamity #exu calamity #exu calamity spoilers #exandria unlimited: calamity spoilers

[dragonsoftheeast]

secretly we're saviors

Aslaug sees the future, not entirely magically.

Part of my ongoing Glory and Gore AU

Written for the @vikingsevents Autumn Equinox Challenge Day 1: Feast

read on Ao3

When men return victorious, there must always be a feast.

They have earned it, you see, they have fought and bled for it, and they have long been away from home.

Preparing a feast is old hat for Aslaug by now. Half of being a good queen is being a good host. By the time the men leave, she has already thought out the feast for their triumphant return.

When their men return from Paris, it is their warriors who are happy, and the kings who are miserable. They look at each other waspishly, their mistrust poorly concealed.

Rollo is conspicuously absent, and she fears the worst. But surely that cannot be the source of all this?

The warriors are happy to tell the story. Ragnar Lothbrok, their clever king, went to the Frenchmen's king, claiming to have fallen to the Christian God- as if! And then Ragnar fell as if dead, and all of them mourned, devastated by the loss of their king. But they could not deny their king his last wishes.

The Frenchmen's stupid king with their strange customs and silly clothes allowed his body into the city, concealed in a box. At the right time, he leapt out! And opened the gates to the city for his exaltant warriors, to pillage and take as they pleased. And so, the dead have conquered Paris.

It is as the Seer foretold. The ending made clear in hindsight. Prophecy has a tendency to work like that.

Ragnar's inner circle seem much less charmed by the tale, but they do not dispute it. And to Aslaug's eyes, her husband looks far too close to death for it to all be a trick.

Oh, but he insists, he insists on projecting strength.

"Today we celebrate our conquest of Paris!" He says, his voice just this side of too hoarse. But the room falls silent anyway. "To my loyal son! Bjorn Ironside, who plotted alongside me to trick the French king! And to my brother, who rem ains at their marble city, to gladly throw open their gates when we return!"

The men roar their approval. The others at the high table scowl at their exclusion.

Perhaps the only one who seems to be actually happy is her husband's eldest son. Bjorn Ironside sits alongside his wife, his daughter proudly displayed on his knee. Blissfully unaware that she, for a brief moment, intended to abandon them.

She is glad to see Thorunn returned to her family.

A few years ago, Aslaug had envisioned this girl, mother to a great dynasty. And she knew that the mother of this girl needed to be freed. Not because it would help or hinder the outcome of prophecy- nothing in her power could do that. She has no doubt that, even if Thorunn had not been freed, this girl would have been born to her, and that Bjorn Ironside's daughter would found a dynasty in his name all the same. She has seen the ending.

She knew the moment she met Ragnar that she would bear him four sons. She knew, from the moment they were born, that Ubbe would die from treachery. Hvitserk will be raised above other men, burning brightly and quickly. Only Sigurd's sword and standard shall be returned to her. Ivar would die far from home, and his grave will be desecrated.

Let them grow, she prays, let them grow to become warriors. If her sons must die, it is suitable that they at least die in battle.

But who can say how that will come about? Aslaug knows that the future is set. It's fate. It is gift enough that she has these small glimpses, and unlike her husband, she knows that while knowledge has no limits, she most definitely does.

Because this is the curse of foresight: no amount of it will be enough. There will never be enough endings to fill in the gaps of all the endings she knows.

But she prefers to make things suitable.

She can see it now. The pillars of Ragnar's strength are beginning to cleave from him. Will the treachery that ends her sons' lives come from this very room?

They eat together, but do not share food; each one's portion is their own. Their eyes gleam dangerously when others speak of glory. They guard the stories of their victories jealously, hiding the brewing anger behind the joy of their homecoming.

The seeds of war are sown in peacetime, and there is no more fertile ground than a victory feast.

#vikings #aslaug #bjorn ironside #thorunn #glory and gore #ragnar lothbrok #vikingsautumn

[agentrouka-blog]

Something tells me that Dany burning khals in the books is going to be more terrifyng actually rather than Girl Power moment like it was on the show, it will be more like "Join my side or die'' and they will probobly bend knee to her cuz they are gonna be terrifyed of that Drogon might crisp them alive

Hard to say. The angle the show went with is also reasonably plausible, in that Dany uses Dothraki cultural norms and the imagery of prophecy to create a sort of apocalyptic take-over. They follow strength, it is said, and that's what she used on the show.

The khals in the show are all shown to be rapist oppressive evil men, but the actual act of killing them is calmly explained by Dany: they are weak losers who lack ambition, so Dany is taking over and killing them. Khal Drogo had real ambition and he had promised to conquer the Seven Kingdoms for her. That's Dany now. She erases the competition in one move and she erases the cultural cornerstone that ties them to the grasslands.

This speech kind of says it all: she is the leader now, but she is doing it differently, they all now belong to her as bloodriders, she is essentially assuming the role of the Stallion. (Girl Power, I guess.) A new era. Rising from the ashes of the old.

After her contemplations in the grasslands, I think it would be a logical move to see her lean into the role she had left behind in favor of "Mhysa", which was that of the khal(eesi).

"Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver's Bay is death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on." (ASOS, Daenerys VI)

There has to be a reason we've been reminded of Dothraki customs, such as these:

"It is cheaper to buy off foes with food and gifts." (ADWD, Tyrion II)

The fat man made a rude noise. "Zekko visits Qohor every three or four years. The Qohorik give him a sack of gold and he turns east again. (ADWD, Tyrion III)

"Khal Pono." Qavo waved a pale hand in dismissal. "The horselords come, we give them gifts, the horselords go." (ADWD, Tyrion VI)

And you may be sure the sons of the harpy give lavishly to every passing khal, just as the magisters do in Pentos and Norvos and Myr. They know that if they feast the horselords and give them gifts, they will soon ride on. It's cheaper than fighting, and a deal more certain. (ASOS, Daenerys II)

I don't think Dany will necessarily need to subdue the Dothraki with the threat of fire, though without doubt fire will play a role in how she takes over. I think she'll try to find a middle ground between that and reinserting herself into the Dothraki cultural fabric by epitomizing the Stallion and all that he promises.

What she goes on to do in Essos once she has accomplished that is going to be terribly interesting, I think.

#anti daenerys targaryen