#the grim bard

[scrivenger-grimgar]

Every time I read Yiling Wei sect AUs and they start describing what the sect members and leader wears its like, (direct quote from The Yiling Wei Sect and the Black Robed Lan by IvoryDragon48)

"[Wei Wuxian's hair] was pulled up into a high ponytail by a red ribbon with a gold and silver headpiece ornamenting and helping to direct the flow of his hair. The robes he wore were expensive looking with black being the dominant color and reds as the accents. The inner robe was a red so dark it looked like blood and the outer robe had simple yet elegant designs."

--And like, I get the urge to make them really cool looking and with themes or designs matching the other sects but like??? there's massive wasted potential here!!!

First, the hair. that's all well and good, but there is no way in hell that the Yiling Wei folks (Wen Remnants and others reviled/ostracized by society at large) are going to buy a gold guan OR a silver guan. why the hell would they bother spending precious resources on trying to impress people who already don't like them for something they literally have no control over.

But Wei Wuxian would know that he has to play the game now that he has people to protect, and going to a Con as a Sect Leader and not doing what all the other sect leaders are doing (wearing guan to say "I'M BETTER THAN YOU!!") is essentially outright stating that he holds no respect for any of them except in a way that could get him and his people killed. so instead, he goes "fuck it" and makes a guan out of something incredibly ordinary, like iron or wood, so now if anyone brings it up he can say "Oh, well, I like feeding my kids." or "Actually, I made this myself, all the better for carving protective arrays into!"

--And that's it. Wei Wuxian is a street kid he absolutely knows that rich people don't like to think about poor people and that they prefer to ignore them or hurt them. except you cant just attack someone who's being perfectly reasonably polite in public, especially when you just pointed out that he's 'poor'. Wei Wuxian's strategy is make them so fucking uncomfortable that they leave us alone.

(This would of course be after several years of no contact and no fighting so things have cooled off a bit)

Next, robes. No expensive robes. Let them be very well modified normal robes that have subtle stains and colour bleaching from sunlight and washing. The (shown, non-array-work) embroidery is at best amateur level, and Wei Wuxian will proudly show it off, loudly saying "a-Ning started a while back to help with his fine motor skills, and he's really come such a long way!!" and that "Oh, Xuanyu started practicing only recently but he's already so good at it!"

The Yiling Wei are the exact opposite of Lanling Jin. Wealth is to be used to benefit everyone and everyone is to be loved and appreciated for their work. The refusal to spend money of frivolous things is strong, especially when its something you could make yourself.

Self Ornamentation would not be jade or gold or silver or silks. It would be some nice wood, these feathers from the bird that likes me, hey look at this cool rock I found I'm gonna polish it like a gemstone, I dug these awesome bones out of my grandmama's garden you think I can do anything with 'em?

Yiling Wei folks are death druids.

#druids who are also necromancers!! #but they use bard methods #thats kinda how i see guidao/“demonic” cultivation #lwj @ all who say wwx is poor: ah. so you have chosen death. #wei wuxian #wwx #mdzs #mxtx #mxtx mdzs #mdzs wwx #yiling laozu #mo dao zu shi #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the grandmaster of diabolism #yiling patriarch #yiling burial mounds #yiling wei #mdzs au #modao zushi #mo dao su zhi #the untamed #grim talks

[sebastianthemadlad]

How Black Butler characters would react to seeing a spider on their wall

(Yay! My first Black Butler post!)

I don't recommend reading if you're arachnophobic, especially the undertaker one 😭

Ciel

He wouldn't admit it but he'd be a bit scared

He'd instantly call Sebastian to come and get it

Sebastian

He'd usually have to deal with one when Ciel sees one in his room

Just gives it a wack

Sometimes grabs it with his hands and just squashes it with his fists

Is very calm while doing so

Meyrin

Would trip over in shock

Literally throws everything around her at it (and due to her having her glasses on she always misses)

She never thinks to take her glasses off for some reason

Eventually she has to get Sebastian or one of the other servants to fetch it

Finny

Thinks spiders are really cute

He'd never harm one at all! (At least not on purpose)

He'd either let it stay on the wall or catch it and put it back outside

He gets really upset when one of the other servants finds a spider and squashes it

He loves collecting all bugs (including spiders) in the garden and playing with them, there have been a few incidents where he's accidentally squashed one and he's felt horrible about it

Baldroy

Begins yelling uncontrollably

He then pulls out a blow torch and starts firing at the spider while continuing to yell uncontrollably

Sebastian gets really pissed at him for that because 1. He always makes annoying yelling noises 2. He always destroys the wall with fire

Grell

Very similar to Baldroy

Starts screaming uncontrollably about how disgusting spiders are

Then pulls out her death scythe and cuts the spider into tiny pieces

Usually makes a huge hole in the wall

And it usually happens on reaper property and gets in trouble with William and the council

Ronald

Is very frightened but a lot more chill than Grell

Mutters "oh my days, oh my days" under his breathe

Tries crushing it with an object rather than his own hands because he has an irrational fear of it crawling on him, crawling up to his ear, crawling inside and taking control of his brain

William

Acts like a normal person and just squishes it without issue

Doesn't have a fear of spiders but they sure do annoy him

Undertaker

He'd play with it

He'd just grab it with his bare hands, bring it to his desk and watch it squirm around

He thinks spiders are funny, their long legs are just funny to him

Since the funeral parlor is dusty like all the time and full of cobwebs he finds so many, at least twice a day

Once a full nest of spider eggs was hanging out under his desk and he didn't notice until they hatched and began crawling all over him

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #spider #ciel phantomhive #sebastian michaelis #grell sutcliff #william t spears #ronald knox #black butler meyrin #black butler finny #black butler Bard #headcanons #funny post #black butler undertaker #grim reapers

[blueoncemoon]

Tolkien, when describing just about anything except Bard:

Tolkien, when describing Bard:

#tolkien #the hobbit #bard #bard the bowman #bard is grim #like really really grim #but is he grim? #tolkien mîms

[gritsandbrits]

If adam is supposed to be based on rock music then eve is based on new age.

#cass and flora are hippie themed thats why eve isnt; besides Eve is more...melacholic and whispy #not that melancholic hippie music doesnt exist im just trying to give them similar themes #ava is poprock evan is neo-classical #abel is bard/Disney coded #cain is death metal since he is literally the grim reaper #seth is gospelrock

[orion-overdrive]

a bard, an angel of death, a dream spirit, and a harvest god

(the dudes from here given their own post)

#art #digital art #artists on tumblr #anime art #oc #ocs #original character #original characters #kemonomimi #bard #demon #usagimimi #grim reaper #black artist #black art #oc artist #oc artwork #drawing while black #c: sylvian ambrose #c: arius augurine #c: valerian lumince #c: revaire récolte #orion.png #y: 2023

[forcedhesitation]

me watching people play bg3 without a single mage/person multiclassed into a mage class on their team:

#bg3 #thoughts about media #I don’t mean it disrespectfully. I just don’t get how your team is still alive. #are you just. stockpiling arrows of arcane interference/using the sussur weapon? #with high initiative so you go first??? or?? #the person I was watching sure didn’t do any of that. #it was a little painful to watch them die over and over. #level 2 sorcerer gets twinned spell and level 3 quickened spell. #not to mention base armour class 13 on draconic sorcerers #level 2 wizard can get arcane ward. or portent die. or scult spells. or grim harvest. #level 2 fiend warlock gets agonising & repelling blast. #level 2 bard gets song of rest and jack of all trades. #like what ARE you doing if you don’t have a mage or someone multiclassed into a mage class????? #I mean that as a genuine question. like what are you doing if you don't have sorcerer/warlock/wizard/bard/druid?

[funtomfactory]

So I was absolutely certain I did a casting post on my main a long time ago already, but apparently not, so here we go:

Cast for the Black Butler rendition of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame:

Clopin - Joker Quasimodo - Snake (with Dan) Victor - Doll (with Wordsworth) Hugo - Finny (with Oscar) Laverne - Grell (with Emily) Esmeralda - Beast Frollo - Sebastian Phoebus - Bard Archdeacon - Tanaka Guard 1 - Lau Guard 2 - Agni Quasimodo's mother / old church lady - Mey Rin Romani ensemble / Misc. - Dagger, Jumbo, Peter, Wendy, Prince Soma, Ran Mao, Undertaker, William, Ronald

Light and sound - Sieglinde Costumes and grime - Lizzy Set and curtains - Edward and Wolf

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #ciel phantomhive #o!ciel #snake #finny #finnian #mey rin #mey-rin #bard #bardroy #baldo #baldroy #sebastian michaelis #prince soma #agni #lau #ran mao #grim reapers #musical #hunchback of the notre dame #noah's ark #circus

[little-red-fool]

Basically the only thing you need to know about my main OCs.

#my art #my oc #D #d&d #graverobber #warlock #shadar kai #pascal cadapher blackthorn #pirate #cleric #triton #grim jim sanson #alchemist #bard #elf #mathias #rogue #dhampir #vampire #dmitry malakhov

[theimaginatrix27]

Don't mind me, I'm just really happy about Swan Island

I recently acquired Blackthorn and Grim and the Warrior Bards, both trilogies by Juliet Marillier and set in the same universe as Sevenwaters, though at least a couple centuries removed.

I don't know if any other factors make this apparent, but the really obvious one is Swan Island!

SWAN. ISLAND!

Bran and Liadan founded Inis Eala so Bran's band of warriors could have legitimacy and purpose and safety, and they brought my son Finbar I to the island for his safety and to give him a peaceful, isolated place to stay. The island was named in his honor (something a fellow fan had to tell me because I had no idea what the name meant.)

And hundreds of years later, Swan Island is still a thing! They train warriors and spies there! It's still going Bran, Liadan, Finbar! It is still going! Your legacy reaches on into the future and I know you'd love Blackthorn and Grim's babies! I love them!

I didn't know until the other day that these two trilogies were connected in this way, but as soon as I found out, I had to get them! If nothing else, this is an Expansion the Sevenwaters Infinite Loops can't leave unaddressed, even if there has to be a separate Anchor (more likely two, I wouldn't make poor Blackthorn do that alone!)

#Juliet Marillier #Sevenwaters #Blackthorn and Grim #Warrior Bards #More Juliet Marillier is a wonderful thing! #But Hell's Bells Blackthorn and Grim went through the wringer!

[0the-duchess0]

Shameless self promotion:

I made a collection of short stories containing all sorts of Kuroshitsuji scenario's. Requests are open, and you can find them here!

#kuroshitsuji #black butler #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #snake #elizabeth midford #mey rin #finnian #finny #bard #charles grey #charles phipps #undertaker #grell sutcliff #william t spears #grim reapers #demons #human #oh my

[eemoo1o-animoo]

If Ciel makes friends with people from every single country (and species) he could build himself an empire. Maybe to go up against Undertaker and his army of dolls.

#no gays allowed tho ofc #in all seriousness he’s already got india Germany and china #what’s next? oh yes america I assume bc of Bard but Bard isn’t exactly someone in power like Soma lau and sieglinde are #anyway #black butler #kuroshitsuji #ciel phantomhive #sebastian michaelis #sieglinde sullivan #grim reapers #undertaker #the undertaker #bizarre dolls #lau #ran mao #mey rin #wolfram gelzer #soma #prince soma #soma asman kadar #original post #shitpost

[velnica]

FFXIV Write 2023: #29 Contravention

T | Sanson/Guydelot | 1431 words

Sanson’s feats in Garlemald had not gone unnoticed, and Commander Heuloix delivered some warnings that Sanson should heed if he wanted to keep climbing the ranks.

Sequel to In the Belly of the Beast.

#ffxivwrite2023 #ffxiv #sanson smyth #guydelot thildonnet #guydesan #bard boys #my fic writing #GPOSE to be added later #It's a grim update #But they gotta be careful!

[eltehh]

yeah!!! grim reaper bard!!!

also he's a bird and probably tunes the guitar midway with his wing-claws!! yeah!!!

#original character #oc #bard #grim reaper #illustration #a70d #ordell #i love him

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

Thought you ought to know that I saw that Warrior Bards fic you reblogged last night and now I've splurged seven credits on Warrior Bards, Blackthorn and Grim and the sequel to Wildwood Dancing. I could, theoretically, drop most of my remaining credits on the rest of the Juliet Marillier audiobooks as well. Still mad they don't have 'Twixt Firelight and Water yet!

That's great! :D I ended up buying the first Warrior Bards book after seeing/reblogging that fic post and I really enjoyed it! I bought the second book right after I finished the first one and I'm reading it now. :D Also it looks like the books are set in the Sevenwaters-verse which is exciting! :D I think they're definitely worth checking out!

I haven't read Blackthorn and Grim but I might try it again once I'm done with Warrior Bards. I also haven't read Cybele's Secret, because I didn't enjoy Wildwood Dancing.

#asks #warrior bards #sevenwaters #wildwood dancing #cybele's secret #blackthorn and grim

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The Next Generation

The Warrior Bards novels are to the Blackthorn and Grim trilogy as Star Trek: TNG is to Star Trek TOS. This is literally the next generation in this world, and it's exploring the lives of Blackthorn and Grim's children, both bioloigcal and adopted. What is absolutely wild to me is that where Blackthorn and Grim felt like more traditional, older-style historical fantasy (think like, 1980s Tamora Pierce or Mercedes Lackey) despite being published from 2014 to 2016, the Warrior Bard books feel very modern and very much what I would expect for historical fantasy published from 2019 to 2021. And yet despite the style changes, both series still manage to sound like Juliet Marillier. Let's talk Warrior Bards.

The Harp of Kings introduces us to Swan Island, a training ground for freelance spy/mercenaries, and main characters Liobhan, Brocc, and Dau. Brocc and Liobhan are Blackthorn and Grimm's children, and they are in training on Swan Island. This book follows them on what is technically a training mission, but it's a very, very live mission. You can't crown a king without a magic harp, after all. Dau and Liobhan are set up for their rivals to lovers arc throughout the trilogy, and Brocc is very, very clearly set up to end up on an intertwined but related path to his sister--there are fae involved.

A Dance with Fate has been mentioned on this blog before, in the very first post. It has a very complicated relationship with disability and the magical cure trope, which I won't go into too much depth here; the TLDR is that on principle, I hate the magical cure trope (seriously, disability is not a life-ender. You can live and live well with a disability, it does not HAVE to be cured), but this book does some interesting work with the grief that can come with acquiring a disability and the absolute fuckery that acquiring a disability can throw your relationships (of all kinds, but especially family ones) into. The previous book wasn't not character driven, but this book is CHARACTER DRIVEN, and I love that about it. It makes the stakes higher and the actiony, plot-y sequences weightier.

This book also really divides its time between Dau and Liobhan and Brocc, who is off in a Fae stronghold and very much on his own romantic journey that has some tragic-feeling tendrils woven through. Brocc is not my favorite part of this trilogy, but he is central to it in a way that, while reading, I was never mad about spending some time with him, especially because while he is geographically separate from Dau and Liobhan, they're deeply connected in terms of in-world geopolitics and plot. It's just beautifully balanced.

A Song of Flight takes all the threads that have been worked through the first two books and opens with a kidnapped prince, who's bodyguard is Brocc and Liobhan's elder brother, Galen. Swan Island turns out to find the prince, and Dau, Brocc, Liobhan, and Galen have to save both the magical and mundane worlds.

This trilogy is excellent, and does not require reading the Blackthorn and Grimm books before reading, and if you don't discover Juliet Marillier through the Wildwood books, I would actually recommend starting with this trilogy (unless you are a massive classical fantasy fan, then Blackthorn and Grimm might be a better place to start; your mileage may vary).

#juliet marillier #warrior bards #the warrior bards #the harp of kings #a dance with fate #a song of flight #blackthorn and grim #historical fantasy #historical fiction #fiction #fantasy #books #adult fantasy novel #books and novels #books and reading #books & libraries #book recommendations #book recs

[blujayonthewing]

I think about that time aubree got a casual hookup a lot I think largely because it was a time something nice happened to her with no downsides

#I am imagining her being treated softly. I am imagining her being touched gently. I am imagining her falling asleep in soft arms. #aubree talks about cooking with a gnome who named herself after an herb and drinks wine and has sex and wakes up and makes coffee for two #and doesn't think or talk about The Horrors even once. for twelve blessed hours. what a concept #I've had three glasses of wine and I am now crying about my blorbo ahskfdlsh she just has NO SUPPORT in the PARTY!! #justin has built a world full of kindness and goodness where being kind makes a real difference #where you can form real and rewarding connections with people in a living and responsive world and it's so wonderful #but we travel because we're adventuring!! so aubree only has the party actually present!! #and the party consists of a bard who works overtime to be rude and mean and make a BAD impression everywhere we go for no reason #and an overwrought teenager whose trauma is 1) the only trauma that matters and 2) overpowers ANY of those real and meaningful connections #her player constantly like 'ooOHhhHh justin your GRIM WORLD you are PUTTING LISBET THROUGH IT hohohooo' #ACTUALLY the entire POINT of this grim world is to highlight the power of love and hope in the face of darkness and despair!! #but you keep CLOSING YOUR EYES TO THAT!! and CHOOSING TO PLAY GRIMDARK NO MATTER WHAT!! #so I'm just sitting here like :) this is a world full of kindness and hope and aubree doesn't get any #cause she's the only one IN the party BRINGING any!! #and we don't stay long enough with any one NPC for them to be there for her #LAYS on the FLOOR. #it's a weird contrast with mel who is ALSO profoundly lonely because mel doesn't understand that #and if she DID she HAS friends she could lean on-- zhartook at the very least and probably also claire #aubree grew up in a big family in a tight community-- she KNOWS she needs connection and right now doesn't feel like she HAS anyone #sucksss #about me #aubree