#the way that they both play with the myth is so different but so wonderful too

[sailforvalinor]

L.M. Alcott writing Rose in Bloom 🤝 L.M. Montgomery writing The Blue Castle

Writing a novel very obscure as compared to their popular works with couples that are so overtly Eros and Psyche-coded that you just want to lay facedown on the floor and sob into your carpet. (Also, having the same first two initials)

#the way that they both play with the myth is so different but so wonderful too #ugh feeling the urge to reread both of these #the blue castle #rose in bloom #louisa may alcott #lm montgomery

[onskepa]

hello again! Could you make the sully family including Mo"at and tonowari family react to how to train your dragon and both of them to be in the same universe.

hello sweetie! Okie, so its been so loooooooooooooooong since I watched the movies, so I took my sweet ass time to re-watch the first movie [idk if ya wanna ask for more in the future]. So I only placed the important events. So sit back, relax and enjoy~!!

---------------------

Myth or Ancient?

“Here, and be careful not to touch the shiny part with your fingers, it can ruin the colors. So it's super delicate” Norm carefully instructs tsireya and rotxo who nod enthusiastically. “You can trust us Norman sir” rotxo promises with a wide happy grin. Saying their bye’s, tisreya and rotxo run to the village as they start to talk about what sort of ‘snacks’ to eat for when they watch the disk called ‘movie’. 

“Demon technology is very interesting when it is not scary. How can this round thing show colors or people?” tsireya wonders as she stares down at the flat box that is protecting the disk. Rotxo shrugs, “even if lo’ak or kiri explains to us, I get the feeling we will still be confused” he says. They make their way slowly as they look at the cover of the thin box. 

Tsireya squints her eyes and reads the letters but if anything, the bold red kinda annoys her eye site. “That is a lot of red…” she muttered. She usually sees human language in green or white. Rotxo leans in, “do you think the colors have different meanings?” he wonders. This time tsireya shrugged. 

Lo’ak and neteyam were showing ao’nung how a camera works while their parents chat in a not so far distance. Everyone had their noon meal, stomachs full and in a mood for tea as the other villagers enjoy their relaxing day. 

“Wait so I just stare at this circle thing and-” 

*SNAP!* 

“Ow! My eyes! Did it just blind me!?” Ao'nung screeches dramatically as he rubs his eyes, adjusting from the sudden flash of light. Lo’ak was cackling like a madman as neteyam chuckles at the reef prince’s antics. “Oh I have to see the result!” lo’ak says as he snatches the camera from ao’nung. 

As the boys looked at the result, mo’at, jake and neytiri were talking with tonowari and ronal. “There are many ways the people have enjoyed themselves, even with demon technology that causes no harm. We do keep it very limited to usage and the purpose of it” neytiri explains to tonowari and ronal. And as if on que, running towards them was tsireya and rotxo. 

“Mother, father, look what sir Norman granted us to see” tsireya says happily as she shows the thin box to the adults. Tonowari leaned in to see. “There are tiny letters that I cannot read so well,” he says. Tsireya hands it over to Jake to see if he can read which, Jake grins happily. “Babe, it's your favorite movie,” he grins. Neytiri's ears perk up and tail swaying happily, “how to train your dragon?”. Jake nods in confirmation. 

“What is it?” Tonowari asks, “something I believe you might all like. Come, let's prepare for what we call a movie night” Neytiri smiles wide as she answers his question.

Food was cooked and shared, many mats, cushions, and other forms of sitting was set as Jake and norm prepared the projector. Tonowari and his family got the best seats, right at the center where they can see the view perfectly. 

“How will we see this…movie?” Ronal asks as she cradles her young baby. Spider brought little treats for her baby kindly answers. “In simple terms, the movie will be seen like physical people telling their story, like 3D”. Ronal just stared at him, lost at the explanation. He chuckles nervously, “you know what? Best to see the magic yourself”. 

After 30 minutes of everyone huddling together, sharing their portions and for the Eclipse to take full effect of the night, norm began to press play. 

And for the metkayina family, they gasped in awe. Massive colors of mountains, the sea, the clouds! They looked so solid and floating in mid air! 

“Majic of holograms-” 

“Ok shut up lo’ak”

 “This is Berk…” 

The main character began to speak, narrating about his home and life. Show how it is at night, from the animals to the form of the berk village. The whole style captured the reef na’vi attention very well. 

“Incredible….” Tisreya mutters as she leans against lo’aks shoulder. 

“The only problems are the pest” 

The scene zooms in on the poker face sheeps, enjoying their nightly dinner with all of a sudden claws grabbing it. Ao’nung and rotxo gasped, just what was it? 

“Most people have mice, or mosquitos, but we have….” 

A door opens to see the sheep running away, and a monster flying dangerously close looked at the open door and breathed out fire. 

“Dragons!” 

“Dragons? What are those?” Tonowari asks, neytiri not far from his family simply smiles, “proud and fearless creatures, like the ikrans' '. Neytiri pops a popcorn in her mouth as she snuggles with Jake, enjoying her all time favorite movie. 

“Dragons…” Ronal repeats but with wonder. Oh they definitely have the family’s attention now. 

“What is he doing out here ag-what are you doing out here?! Get inside!” 

“That is stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off from its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do” 

Hiccup narrates of the large man who was able to easily pick him like nothing. 

Tonowari looks at the leader being show, “why is his face mostly hair?” he asks. “Thats how the vikings were back then. Said to attract and scare off anything” Jake replies easily. Tonowari hums at that, slowly liking this stoick guy. 

The movie continues to show the insanity of the dragons attacks. Their fiery breaths destroy so many homes, taking animals left and right. And the people fend them off in many ways. Utter chaos all around, but shows how it is their normal everyday life. 

For lo’ak and spider, hiccup has become their favorite character. Despite the awkwardness and having to be kept inside from dangers, they can understand him on a deep level. Which is why they understand hiccup’s need to kill a dragon, his way of “making his mark”. 

“One day bro…one day” lo’ak whispers to spider. But the human boy nudges him away, “dude you became brothers with a tulkun. I think you already made your mark on that” spider says in a deadpan way.

Spider can understand hiccup from how their own bodies are. Yes spider isn't shaped to stand the planet's environments but he makes it through. Just like how hiccups is small and lanky, he makes his way through his crazy viking life.

“So many different types of dragons….and many are so ugly” Ronal says as hiccup lists different dragon species. Tonowari can't help but chuckle, his guess, dragons are not meant to be a pretty sight if they are considered dangerous creatures of the skies. 

“There are prettier dragons you know” Neytiri comments. 

Ronal turns to her, “how so?” 

“Later you shall see. I rather not spoil the fun”

As the scene goes on, the one, the only, night fury dragon has entered the battlefield. Everyone cheers for that dragon, a common favorite in the clan. “Amazing! I want to see the full view of the nightly beast-what is hiccup doing?” it was rotxo who said that. He enjoyed the building hype until the next part focuses on hiccup setting up what looks like a trapping weapon. 

“He is going to get himself killed!” ao’nung whispers/shouts. 

“Yeah, that is going to happen a lot in this” neteyam calmly answers as he offers popcorn to ao’nung to whom happily accepts. 

“Yes! Did anybody see that?!” hiccup shouts excitedly. 

“He did” tsireya points happily as the monstrous nightmare dragons crawls up from the cliff. 

“Well he is toast” 

Neytiri cringed a bit at Jake's joke, but held in her laugh.

But as the next scenes go, things didn't go as smooth as stoick would have liked. Having more things being burned at the dragon chases hiccup, only for later to be given a lecture in front of the massive crowd. 

“I feel you hiccup” lo’aks voice cracks as a single tea falls from his face.

“The forest looks so pretty” tsireya comments as she admires the pretty view of the berk forest. Similar to the omatikaya forest, yet it is still different. Human environment truly never bores her. But as she admires the scenery, they reach the part as hiccup searches high and low for the night fury dragon he has shot down while ranting and venting his anger. 

“He found it!” rotxo points out the obvious thing but doesn't care. The suspense grows, hiccup takes out his blade which makes the sully’s give out a chuckle. “Tuk’s blade is bigger and sharper than that” neteyam says as he calms himself. Tisreya looks over at him. “Now that you mentioned is, where are your sisters? I figured they would enjoy this too” she wonders. Neteyam shakes his head, “no, they have something better”. 

Not sure what he meant by that, but tsireya accepts his answer. 

“Oh he is a beauty…” ronal admires the slow scene of the night fury. Capturing every detail and its mesmerizing green eyes. The look of a dangerous, unpredictable hunter. Something about it gives chills down her spine. 

“Indeed, he is my second favorite dragon,” Neytiri adds. Ronal wonders if another like the night fury will appear later on in the movie. 

Hiccup takes deep breaths, hesitating, heart racing. 

“He isn't….he isnt going to kill the dragon is he???” ao’nung asks, already feeling sad for the poor beast. Nobody answers. The tension is rising. The music is rising to its peak. Will he do it? Will he cut out the heart? 

Will the night devil accept his fate? 

No because hiccup decided to cut the ropes and only faint a minute later after releasing the dragon. 

“That was crazy of him, but also with the night fury” tsireya looks at the scene. Feeling worried about hiccup. There was a lot of stress happening in those few short minutes. “Makes you think if he still wants to follow the ‘viking’ style like his people” ao’nung comments, making air quotes like how the sully kids do.

“Can you stop that?!” gobber shouts at fishlegs who for some odd reason is doing quick math as gobber lists the dragons that are behind the tight metal gates. 

“Interesting kids…” Tonowari obersves how each teenager is like. From the annoying twins to the tough girl act, Astrid. While at the same time, Jake was able to enjoy how Astrid was like. Reminded him so much of a certain tough girl. 

“Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you’re dead!” Gobber informs. Tisreya claps her hands as ao’nung listens to what gobber is saying. 

“It is just like an iknimaya. Learning at first hand, "Tonowari says in awe. He enjoys the scene as the kids in screen run for their lives and make a fool of themselves. The reef kids all smile as they remember their early stages and future stages of their iknimaya. 

“Is it similar to what you had to go through?” Ao’nung asks neteyam, the young boy nods “similar yes. Remind me of how we tamed out ikrans”. 

“And remember, dragons always go for the kill” Gobber stares at hiccup after his massive mistake. Ao’nung and rotxo tilt their heads on that one. 

“If that is true, why didn't the night fury attack him then?”

Hiccup began to slowly gain the trust of the nightfury, keeping his distance while feeding it fish. 

“I guess for humans its harder since neither the dragon or hiccup have a way to connect” it fascinates tisreya. Using a queue makes a bond easier. However for humans, it takes a lot of work and a lot of patience. And it shows the results. 

The nightfury, who was given the name toothless, has come to enjoy hiccups presence. 

“Their bond grows stronger” Tonowari looks in awe. Reminds him of how the animals bond and grow alongside the na’vi. As the movie continues, seeing how dragons live, and learning through hiccup, it was literally learning a whole new world, or in this case, the old world. 

Ronal however, seems to wonder about future possibilities. Balancing a secret and becoming ‘popular’ is multitasking. “It is only a matter before the truth comes to light…”

Ronal was correct. 

Hiccup’s secret was found out, without meaning to. He has a final test, to defeat a dragon in the trial dome. Everyone was cheering him on, but his life was in danger. Hearing his shouts, toothless heard and ran for his aid. Exposing to the whole village that the infamous nightfury was there all along. 

And to make matters worse, stoick used toothless as a naivator to find the queen of the dragons nest. 

“He is going to get everyone killed!!” tsireya shouts/whispers. Hugging her knees tight, feeling sad for hiccup and toothless. 

Clearly a war with the dragons seems very dangerous, even with the prepared weapons to take all of the dragons down, the queen is not a dragon that can be taken down so easily. And when she came to full view, was she terrifying. 

“So horrid…” 

“Yet to captivating” 

Neytiri and Jake enjoy seeing the metkayina’s reactions. The reveal of the queen never fails. “The queen will surely give me nightmares tonight” Ao’nung says, not liking how many sharp teeths the giant dragon has. Neteyam chuckles at that, “don't worry my friend, a true dragon queen is never ugly. Beautiful in reality”. 

Ao’nung looks over at neteyam with some doubt, “you make it sound as if you met a real dragon” 

Neteyam didnt say anything further and just enjoy the movie.

“NO!” 

Rotxo hid his face with the empty popcorn bucket, not wanting to see the impact of hiccup’s ultimate demise. Tsireya hides her eyes also, ready to cry if the poor boy is dead. “Please tell me he is not dead…I can't look '', lo’ak chuckles at that. “Come on, look, you will miss it” he encourages. Gently lifting tsireya’s chin to face the film, worry clearly seen in her eyes. 

In sigh of happiness and relief, they all see toothless covering passed out hiccup. Stoick goes to see his son, safe and in one piece. Well, almost in one piece. 

“Oh no…” Ronal covers her mouth as it is revealed hiccup lost his leg. Tonowari leans in, whispering to himself, encouraging hiccup he can do it, he can walk with his new leg. “It's not going to stop him, for sure” ao’nung says, his eyes so glued in to the final parts of the movie. 

“If the queen couldn't, nothing will” lo’ak says. 

“It was hardly a queen” netyiri gently scoffing at the dead horrid dragon. 

The door opens to show the village waiting for hiccup, welcoming back. And with a newfound perspective, thanks to him. Now the village embraces the dragons as their new companions. And of course, a new saddle to ride on, hiccup takes his flight in the new era of humans and dragons. 

“This is berk, its snows 9 months of the year and hails the other three. Any food that grows here tough and tasteless, the people that grow here even more sore. The only upsides are the pets. While in some places have ponies, or parrots, we have dragons” 

The credits began to role, thus the movie ended. 

Tsireya and rotxo clapped enthusiastically, as ao’nung nodded in appreciation. Ronal and Tonowari nodded to neytiri and jake, their way of saying thanks for the delightful entertainment. 

“That movie was incredible! But, were dragons indeed real? Have they gone extinct?” Tsireya could help but ask. She learned that the vikings were indeed real, but what else was real? As she asks aways, Ronal couldn't help but just notice something. 

“Neytiri, where are your daughters? I haven't seen them since we got here” she asks. Neytiri chuckles a bit as she prepares some late night meals for everyone, “they will all be here soon” 

“No sooner enough” was the voice of mo’at as she entered their home. The sully family welcomes her in, the metkayina greeting the tsahik. Mo’at sits beside her grandsons and accepts the meal from jake. “Where is kiri and tuk if I may ask? They missed such an amazing film!” Tsireya asks mo’at. 

“That movie of the dragons? I have seen it endless amounts of times I can recite the whole thing. My granddaughters would agree on that” mo’at answers. 

“But where are they?” 

“Enjoying the real dragon experience” 

This confused the reef na’vi a bit. But before anyone else can say anything, there was a loud shreek. It was an unfamiliar sound, at least to tonowari and his family. But this sound brought smiles to the sully family. “Right on time” jake said, everyone running out to see what it was. 

Opening the flaps wide, ronal peeked out and gasped loudly. 

“Is that…” 

“Oh my Eywa they are real!!” 

A dragon! A mighty one at that! It gently flapped its wings, landing down safely on a very thick branch. Climbing down was kiri and tuk, whose hairs were literally everywhere. “We are home!” tuk announces happily, running towards jake who catched her in mid jump. “Mom, you should have joined us, it was simply wonderful,” kiri says as she smiles. 

Tonowari and his family were left stunned and speechless, a dragon, in front of them! 

“Come on, dont just stand there, you want to meet her?” Lo’ak says as he and neteyam go to the dragon. 

“Her…?” tonowari repeats. Neytiri happily goes over to the dragon and gives her many kisses, the dragon releases what sound like pleasing purrs. 

“Yes, this is…..” 

The ending is up to you to interpret. But I hope you guys enjoyed it! Until next time! See ya!

#avatar #avatar the way of water #na'vi x reader #na'vi avatar #avatar 2 #na'vi x human #lo'ak #kiri #neteyam sully #jake sully #jake x y/n #jake x reader #jake x neytiri #neytiri x human reader #neytiri x reader #neytiri x jake #neytiri x y/n #neytiri x you #neteyam x human reader #neteyam x reader #neteyam x you #neteyam x y/n #neteyam x omaticaya!reader #kiri x spider #kiri x reader #kiri x sister!reader #kiri x y/n #kiri x you #lo'ak x fem!reader #lo'ak x reader

[quitefair]

The Temple of Mythal and Greek Sculpture

Or: How Bioware takes from history without any nuance.

--

Picture this. You're me, playing Inquisition for the first time. You get to the Temple of Mythal, the doors shut behind you and you finally get to look around. It's a typical elven ruin for the game, nothing much seems different...

Hold on.

Hold the fuck on.

You know what that is.

You know what that's based on, and for a long time after it tickles you. Oh, maybe that meant something in the grander scheme of things! We've never seen such a blatant reference to a real-life sculpture anywhere else in game (to my knowledge at the time)! Maybe it'll come up later and it'll all make sense!

Here's the deal. I've been bothered by this for years. The more I think about it, the more angry I become. Anger over a single fucking type of statue, you say? There's a lot of other shit to be angry over in this game, and you choose this?

YES! I CHOOSE THIS! AND THIS IS WHY.

--

Picture this. You're me again, aged 14 this time. You're in the Louvre, the first museum of Western classical art you've ever been to. You've grown up in a place where this interest could only be cultivated from extra-curricular reading, and for a kid that age from my country to be ass deep in Greek and Egyptian myth is frankly lmao. Neurodivergent. Anyway.

So we're wandering around the Louvre, I've just taken my parents through the Egyptian section and given them a thorough infodump on everything I know about burial rites.

And then we enter this room. And I very nearly fall to my knees when I catch sight of her.

This is the sculpture the statues at the Temple of Mythal are based on - one Winged Victory of Samothrace.

She is a sculpture from the Hellenestic era, depicting the goddess Nike stood at the prow of a ship. Her head and both arms are missing, save one hand with two fingers (also in the Louvre but displayed separately). She was found on the Greek island of Samothrace, among the ruins of what was known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. It seemed like she was displayed at the top of a hill, looming down at all that regarded her.

I’ve had the absolute privilege of seeing her in person twice in my life, both before and after the 2013 restoration. And let me tell you, regardless of which staircase that leads you there, the sight of her will stop you in your tracks.

[Now with people, for scale.]

She is massive. Larger than life, and immediately is the centre of your attention. It's not the fact that she has no head, no arms. No, you will realise the closer you get to her, the more you're able to appreciate the details of this absolutely astounding piece of history.

No. It's because she feels so alive.

The way her robes drape against flesh, wet from sea-spray or rain, yet flowing with the motion of an invisible wind. The wings cast behind her dramatically as her right foot steps forward. Standing tall and proud, unflinching, unbowed against the elements. Even without her arms, you can feel how dynamic the torso and legs are.

You don't need to be an art historian, or even have any knowledge of Greek myth or art history to stand in front of her, as I once did as a young teen, and nearly be brought to tears.

So.

This brings me to the first of the two main gripes I have with the way this sculpture is used in Inquisition.

Compared to the way she's displayed in the Louvre, and also presumably how she was presented to her original audience - larger than life, looming, powerful, beautiful - she is relegated instead to smaller, repeating statues of the same nature throughout the temple.

This diminishes the purpose of the original sculpture, which was to instill a sense of awe and wonder. The singularity that forces you to focus and appreciate the scale and intricacy. The aura, the gravitas of having a single, massive sculpture of such a dynamic figure is completely gone.

And to make things worse, they Mythal-ify her. Adding a helmed head and changing her beautiful feathered wings to leathery dragon wings. They don't even add arms, which is odd because the original sculpture very clearly is missing its arms.

And, may I ask, Why?

It feels cheap, like they saw the Winged Victory and were like 'oh shit this is a cool sculpture, we should add it in game' without giving any fucking thought to what the sculpture means.

Which brings me to the second gripe. The complete disregard for the symbolism of the Winged Victory.

Detail from the Athena fountain, Parliament Building of Vienna, showing Nike the Winged Victory in the palm of Athena's hand [source]

Nike is a minor Greek deity, said to be the daughter of Pallas (a Titan) and the river Styx. Her other siblings by the same parents include Zelus (Zeal),  Bia (Might) and Kratos (Strength).

Yes. That Kratos.

She was one of the earliest gods to pledge her allegiance to Zeus in the Titonomachy, and after the victory of the Olympians, Nike and the other gods that allied with them were allowed to live on Olympus. In her aspect as Victory, she is closely associated with several of the major Greek gods, and in particular, Athena.

There's also her Roman counterpart, Victoria. This version doesn't come with the backstory Nike has, but is more of a general concept of victory. This is the aspect that is present in a lot of the modern sculptures and interpretations of Nike/Victoria:

Left: Detail from the Berlin Victory Column. Right: Detail from the Victoria Memorial, London. Note the similar iconography, of a woman seemingly standing against a strong wind, fabric and cloth adhering and yet flowing against the breeze, wings outstretched.

From this, we can probably extrapolate what our beloved Winged Victory might've looked like. Here's an artist's render of one possibility:

There's some iconography we need to go through before moving on - symbols that are commonly associated with Nike/Victoria.

One is the trumpet as see in the reconstruction above, the sound and symbol of the end of war, of impending peace. Another is the laurel wreath, another Greek symbol of victory and achievement. Famously, laurel wreaths were used to crown victors of the original Olympic games.

This is another conversation entirely, but there’s a discussion to be had about the duality of Elgar’nan and Mythal, in term of vengeance and justice, and how an emotional rage versus a calculated wisdom can be compared to the difference between the two Greek gods of war – Ares and Athena.

If we can compare Mythal to Athena, in the sense of her wisdom in making difficult decisions, then it’s not a stretch to associate Mythal with the symbolism of Nike, and therefore explain the presence of statues similar to the Winged Victory in her temple.

But since Bioware absolutely did not put this in the game for anything other than the Aesthetic, there’s some problems that need to be addressed.

Mainly in the way in which these statues are scattered throughout the temple. If you wanted static, ominous statues to line the walls as your player characters explore, perhaps have like, I dunno. Less dynamic statues that you reference?

Left: Nike of Paionos, Right: Stele 1 of Las Incantadas

Or maybe instead of statues, have friezes lining the walls. Like this one from the equally iconic Pergamon altar, depicting the Giganomanchy.

It’s the same symbolism, the wings, the smiting of foes and victory of good over evil.

And then perhaps, at the heart of the temple... where, y'know Bioware, lay a body of water sacred to Mythal herself, you could've perhaps done something remarkable. You could then have had the most dramatic and beautiful entrance you’d ever seen.

[Nike, at the iconic Daru Staircase, the Louvre]

It was at this moment that Mythal walked out of the sea of the earth's tears and onto the land. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow, and at her touch he grew calm and knew that his anger had led him astray. - Codex entry: Mythal: The Great Protector

Mythal herself strides out of the Well Of Sorrows, the metaphorical tears of her followers that died and kept their knowledge alive in her name. Her (draconic) wings spread out, (restored) hands outstretched to touch her husband, to calm the rage that nearly destroyed this world.

A symbol of victory against the blind rage of a god against His father, the Sun. A symbol of wisdom and grace, against the violence of hatred. A divine sense of something bigger than anything we could imagine.

There's also the lack of iconography regarding victory, instead piling on some cheap representations of what we think of as Mythal. That's another post entirely on the symbolism of the Elven gods, but if Bioware really wanted to hone in on the Athena/Athena Nike parallels, they might have thrown in the trumpet/laurel/palm leaf symbolism with the statues, alongside the dragon wings.

If this were the case, then maybe, just maybe, Inquisition would’ve then earned the use of this sculpture in the game.

Sources not listed above/Further reading if you're interested

https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/a-stairway-to-victory

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1412/winged-victory-the-nike-of-samothrace/https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/hellenistic/a/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace

#da lore #da meta #mythal #temple of mythal #dragon age #da lore and meta #yo this has been simmering and brewing in my brain for like 8 years now not kidding #and im already neck deep in like..... figuring out the evanuris and trying to tie them into real world mythology and thats super fun too!!! #watch as this consumes and destroys me #my writing

[vodid]

building upon an upcoming au with a spark color scale for.. reasons... in which the closer a descendant of primus you are, the golder your spark. pure gold is an immediate child of god. while the farther your lineage goes, the bluer it becomes

(spark range not drawn to scale. i'm sure it'd take a LOT of generations to get through it like that. but id think its easy to get through the gold; its the blue that has a wider range)

both are positive in their own ways. child of god? you are cherished. have a deep cool blue spark? you have impressive ancestry.

most cybertronians are in the far blue range as cybertron has a lot of history to it, and it could be in such a way that gold has become entirely obscure, only known through word of mouth and could have even ended up a myth to many. religion would uphold this legend (ugh y'all know i LOVE me some gold halo iconography and this would be SO fun to play with) but we all know how deep a religion runs through someone can vary, from entirely atheist to devout.

i can also see more extremist religions twisting it a little bit, in a sort of "the bluer your spark is, the farther from primus you are and thus the more of a sinner you are" and potentially to a point where your bloodline "should be removed from the world." or if you have a gold spark, you MUST have some religious duty to fulfill. primus sent you for a reason. the closer to gold it is, the more expectation there is for you to become a religious figure. this could lead to an actual pattern in differences of religious devotion between those with golder and bluer sparks, which in turn could affirm zealots even more (your spark is blue? no wonder you're not a follower of primus. shameful!)

the thing that really ruins that perspective though is the matrix. it doesn't discriminate against spark color when choosing its prime (have a gold spark? you're closer to primus. have a blue spark? your lineage has made you strong. have a spark in between? you have the past and the future with you.) even if the matrix might not be the will of primus himself, it is the will of his direct children, the original primes with sparks of the purest, untouched gold.

perhaps, despite how private sparks are (unless you are a religious figure), some may decorate their spark casing in a way that stained glass could give their sparks the appearance of a golder or bluer spark, depending on what they want. it can be easy to balance it to a silver, which can really hide which color they are

but don't be fooled, most do not care as they generally have a similar blue in the current day and age. your spark could be cyan, it could be pushing the lines of indigo, but at the end of the day, it's not gold. maybe you'll see a silver in the temple, maybe you'll see a priest with the barest hint of a gold tinge, but not many who have yellower sparks are left. (not to say NO religious figures have blue sparks. many, many do and even a prime may have the deepest blue anyone's seen)

it really doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things unless you're the purest of gold, which nobody is ...at least, not for a while.

now the super fun issue is: cybertronians, in a post-apocalyptic world, would have no idea if gold means a child of primus. or a child of unicron. ;3c

#i like the idea that primus and unicron are split spark twins specifically #so while they are opposites they do come from the same gold spark and you would not be able to differentiate #polaris au #long post #excited to delve into this in my au and assign everyone a spark color LOL #i hope this wasnt too confusing

[johaerys-writes]

Hi! I’m pretty new to the world of Achilles and Patroclus (I read The Song Of Achilles last month) and I just saw your post about your love for them. When you said “there's just so much stuff out there about them (tsoa, hades game, the iliad, a bunch of other myths and adaptations, non fiction books, academic papers etc)” I was wondering if you could touch on the other myths and adaptations part maybe? I’m not exactly sure where to begin there but I would appreciate any guidance you could give!

Oh boy I don't know where to start either because there's a LOT. I don't want to overwhelm you so I'll just list a few key myths and adaptations off the top of my head:

Adaptations

So as far as adaptations go, I will include works where both Achilles and Patroclus show up and that are inspired by the Iliad.

Hades Game: I'm pretty sure you're already familiar with this, just mentioning it just in case!

Aristos the musical: it's a musical as the name suggests, and it revolves around Achilles and Patroclus' lives from Pelion all the way to Troy. It's really lovely and has made me emotional on numerous occasions and I love revisiting it every so often! It also has a Tumblr account: @aristosmusical

Troilus and Cressida: this is Shakespeare's take on the Trojan War and it's quite interesting, not really faithful to the Iliad but offers a sort of different perspective on the characters and the events that led to Hector's death.

Achilles (1995) by Barry JC Purves: it's a short stop motion film using clay puppets, it's on Youtube and it's only 11 mins and I think it's worth a watch! I find it very compelling visually and any adaptation where Achilles and Patroclus are lovers is a plus in my book 🫶

Holding Achilles: this is an Australian stage production by the Dead Puppet Society, I really enjoyed it and I found it an interesting blend of TSOA and Iliad Patrochilles, which also featured some cool new elements that I hadn't really seen before. It used to be free to watch for a while but now I think you have to pay to watch it, there's more info on their website.

The Silence of the Girls: a novel by Pat Barker, it's a take on the events of the Iliad mostly through Briseis' eyes, I personally didn't really like the book or the characterisations but hey both Achilles and Patroclus are in it so it might be worth a read.

There are some other novels I've heard of where Achilles and Patroclus appear (A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane) and also a TV show called Troy: Fall of a City but I haven't read/watched them so I can't really rec them

Myths

Most myths revolve around Achilles, there aren't that many with Patroclus I'm afraid, but here are some of my favourites:

Achilleid by Publius Papinius Statius: this is an epic poem about Achilles' stay on Skyros disguised as a girl and his involvement with Deidameia. It's interesting but I'd personally take the characterisations and events in it with a grain of salt because Romans were notorious for their unsympathetic portrayal of Greek Homeric heroes but it's still a cool thing that's out there and free to read online.

Iphigenia at Aulis: a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides, it's basically the dramatised version of the myth of Iphigenia's sacrifice in Aulis which predates the Iliad, there are many obscure versions of this myth but Euripides' sort of updated version is my favourite, I will never shut up about this play!! Lots of a nuance and very interesting portrayals of Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia and pretty much everyone in there, well worth a read.

Lost plays: there are several plays in which Achilles appears but that have been lost or survive only in fragments, but two of my favourites are Euripides' Telephus and Aeschylus' Myrmidons. Telephus takes place before the Trojan War, while the Greeks are on their way to Troy. I really like Achilles' characterisation in the fragments that remain and also the fact that he was already renowned for his knowledge of medicine and healing despite how young he was. The fragments that survive from Aeschylus' Myrmidons I think are fewer but the play was extremely popular at the time it was presented to the public and it sparked a lot of controversy re: Achilles and Patroclus' relationship and who tops/bottoms so I think that's kind of funny lol.

There are lots of other obscure little myths about Achilles that I've picked up by reading various books, papers and wiki posts on the matter and that are just too numerous to list here, but what I will mention and that I think concludes the myths section of this post pretty neatly is that the Iliad and the Odyssey are not the only works about the Trojan War that were written, merely the only works that survived. The rest of the books in the Epic Cycle have been preserved either in fragmentary form or in descriptions in other works, and I think the Epic Cycle wiki page is a good place to start if you want to get an idea of what each of those books contained.

I hope this helped! 💙

#patrochilles #achilles #patroclus #the iliad #homer's iliad #if I remember anything else I'll probably add to this post but I think that should be enough for now #there's just! so much stuff!! #happy reading/viewing/listening 😁

[adracat]

Esoteric and Divine Composite: Prospera

It's time for everyone's favorite gaslighting mommy. As with her daughter and Miorine, I see a number of interesting inspirations and homages for her character. They range from the esoteric Magician from tarot to divine figures, Mimir, Loki, Hades, and Hecate

Magician

I've already covered this parallel in my As Above So Below post. But let me expand on this briefly. With her manipulation and intentional twisting of communication, you can see how she embodies the card itself. It's compouded by Suletta telling us multiple times; Prospera is a magician as her namesake is in The Tempest. But this magician is a hermetic scholar, and so is Prospera.

The Schwarzette's design, a gundam she's overseen the development of is coded with Baphomet imagery, is proof of this. As Above So Below. And just like any good hermetic alchemist, she pursues eternal life in the form of QZ. The Philosopher's stone or Panacea. She helped create a miracle already in the form of Homuculi, heavily hinted at being aided by Notrette.

But her time as the Red King is done, the crown given to her daughter, and with the absence of her White Queen another miracle is impossible. All of this is symbolized with her hair and face. Her sun has burned out and all that is left is decay.

There's another magician beside Prospero she harks to. Merlin, the one whose contest grants Arthur his first sword. Like Merlin, she gives Suletta a sword, lampshaded in Cradle Planet. And as with him, she is eventually 'imprisoned' by a Lady of the Lake (Miorine, who bestows Suletta Calibarn) after imparting wisdom. She's lucky Mio entrapped her as an in-law and not in a tree like Merlin.

Mimir and Loki

If Mio is Odin then it's Prospera who plays the wisdom granting Mimir. As with Odin, Mio is forced to make a painful sacrifice in order to drink from Mimir's well and gain insight. Take note of Prospera's visor, since it's the first in a series of subtle mythological references. Mimir is eventually beheaded and kept at Odin's side as an embalmed head that provides counsel.

Loki isn't hard to extrapolate even if you have a passing knowledge of the trickster. It's interesting to note both Odin and Loki are associated with different aspects of Hermes/Mercury. And since GWitch's Hel and Fenrir are her children, she must be Loki. It is Prospera who begins the events of gwitch ragnarok by sending Suletta, as Baldr Guel's mistletoe and slayer of the Nemean Lion, to Asticassia.

But why the father and not the mother? Because Angrboda is a giant who isn't very relevant in norse other than simply being the mother of monsters. What is intriguing is that you can make a valid comparison for Earthians=Giants in norse myth. Both are contesting against the Aesir/Spacians. So who is an Earthian geneticist who could have uploaded Eri's biometric code and crafted replichildren? Anesidora/Notrette is Prospera's Angrboda. It's wild how they hint at Notrette being Prospera's counterpart in multiple ways. Makes you wonder, is there more to be uncovered? She is explicitly Anesidora, 3 chthonic goddesses who deal in hidden knowledge.

Hecate and Hades

I mentioned it briefly in the Mio analysis, but it goes deeper than simply stealing Persephone and defiling her spirit. Like Hades, she has a Cerberus (Eri) and a helmet that aids her to speak with the dead.

It might not turn her invisible, but she always seems to slip away until its ripped from her head by a bullet.

Another divine figure who I think Prospera is meant to invoke is Hecate. She is associated with witchcraft, the moon, keys, dogs, and thresholds. Specifically the threshold between the living and the dead. It's easy to relate the dog coded Suletta and QZ as the underworld.

It was explicitly mentioned when Suletta is called a Key, and we know she's the twelfth, correlating to the philosopher's stone. It simultaneously relates back to esoteric and mythology.

Hecate is known to wear a mask and to be decaying. When you dig deep, this may be the most on the nose homage honestly. Goddess of witches indeed. Hecate is also inexorably linked to the Eleusinian mysteries along with Demeter and Persephone. The three are often interpreted to be the phases of womanhood: maiden, mother, crone. Considering Hecate's triplicity and the three prominent eyes on Prospera's mask, her design is very interesting. An additional design note, red mullets are Hecate's sacred fish. Prospera/Elnora's hair imo, is a visual pun.

**Tangentially related to the red king point, Helios god of the sun is referred to as Hecate's spear in a Sophocles play. It is a spear, Gungnir, that Odin pierces himself with when hanging in sacrifice. (And Mio throwing herself into Prospera's clutches for her red king could be interpreted as this.) Could be a coincidence, but it works too well I think!

#she's a witch your honor #Would love to watch a prequel where she spirals #g witch #g witch spoilers #gundam witch from mercury #lady prospera #prospera mercury #analysis and speculation #suletta mercury #miorine rembran

[agentmyth]

Bailey's last assignment had been nothing like "The Broken Scales of Themis."

There was certainly some level of formality to it, but only so much could be managed when half the new recruits were stumbling sideways as waves tipped the ship to and fro. Their commander shouted over the creak of the boat to a small gaggle of newcomers who didn't know the meaning of "sea legs" yet. They'd voiced their understanding of their orders, shaking and wet, while trying to hold down supper and not really understanding much at all.

Even her orientation had felt somehow...less. They'd impressed upon her the importance of what she was to be doing, and there was a good chunk of movement from one place to the next that she simply couldn't remember. She'd learned quickly memories were slippery in organizations built around secrecy. It hadn't killed her excitement, however; she still popped up at the end of orientation with a smile and eagerly accepted her first assignment.

This was different. This was cool eyes watching her movement across the room, a group of strangers all sitting in a circle looking less inclined to introductions and more inclined to simply get down to the brass tacks. On the ship, they'd found time to laugh, to play pranks. Bailey couldn't see that same levity here.

She took her seat, offering a nod to who she assumed was the Commander, and glanced at her fellow teammates. Coworkers? Peers. There was a heaviness to the air that sat on her shoulders, weighing her down into the curve of her seat. She wondered if she could sink right in, wait for the others to finish. But that's not who Bailey Brennan was, and she rolled her shoulders to shake the weight away. This wasn't a hole to get buried in, this was an opportunity. She was so good at grabbing those with both hands. So she sat up straight and held onto the edges of a smile as introductions worked their way around the circle until they made it to her.

"Hiya, I'm Bailey. Urban Myth." Her smile ticked up, just at the edges. She liked the moniker that had been given to her. "I'm a little less Bigfoot," she crooks a thumb towards the one who'd introduced themselves as Loch, "And a little more deep-sea mythology. Think I get more seasick on land than on a boat at this point."

Bailey thought a lot of things, it was sort of a specialty of hers. Think herself silly, think herself into a PhD. Think herself into a foundation that seemed to value her thinking just enough to ship her to the middle of the forest to think on their terms just a little longer. Gosh, she wished she knew just what she was doing, sitting in a room full of people who varied from I shouldn't be here to lighting a cigarette and telling the boss to take five. She just couldn't think herself around that one.

She grins, "Don't think we'll be finding Scylla or Charybdis out here, but I've got you covered, if we do."

#fhq.intro #rel: about #dash: open

[utilitycaster]

Hi, first religion anon (NOT the same as the second religion anon). My main complaints are with TUC (mostly s1 but the ‘Jesus is real’ thing in s2 really bothered me) and the way that Laudna and a few other characters engage with the gods on CR. I have 0 complaints with Sam, I think his engagements with religion as both Scanlan and FCG are fascinating. I think things like ACOC and Kristen on D20 are done fine, but when they move outside of Christian allegories they tend to stumble. I know Brennan and Ally have philosophy backgrounds and Emily has a religious studies background, but frankly I’m not super confident in American universities’ ability to make people deconstruct Christian hegemony, and things like Emily using the phrase “Judeo-Christian” aren’t super encouraging to me.

thanks for clarifying, I was wondering about the second anon bc I was like "the first anon came in being fairly normal even if I don't agree and this feels...bad and also just a hunch but it feels like it's coming from a Cultural Christian who is not American. (also I did get your follow up question and I want to answer that one separately bc I think it's a good but separate point).

I know it's not terribly popular to say but being weird about the term "Judeo-Christian" feels like one of those things that Jumblr and other people in Jewish Millennial/Gen Z spaces online made a big deal about and I'm like "uhhhhh this was a thing my actual Jewish middle school teachers said sometimes; it's not the best term, no, but it was the go-to term in a lot of contexts until quite recently to the point that yeah, Emily going to school in the 2000s would probably hear it even from Jewish profs, and so it's not so much a red flag as a sign that she graduated before 2010."

I also honestly don't mind Jesus being real in TUC 2; at some point if you've decided all other mythology is real why not Christian religion. It feels, in a way, far more Christian-centric to treat Christianity as something that cannot be incorporated, as too real, as compared to say, Norse or Greek myths or Golems.

I will say that I agree that Ally and Marisha do tend to be a bit more limited in how they engage; I actually don't mind Laudna's frustrations with the gods from a "I think this comes from Marisha's personal feelings" perspective more so than a "could we...actually explore this as a throughline rather than a bunch of random-ass statements." I do think that Ally does tend to pull from their own experience; understandably so, but yes, it's very different than my experience as someone not raised Christian let alone strictly so.

I guess, and this might just be difficult to do as an anon ask thing, that I am looking at this very holistically. I am looking far more at what the GM is doing than an individual player, and I haven't had issues with Matt, Brennan, Murph, or Aabria's portrayal of divine forces. I find that Worlds Beyond Number has been explicitly very not Christian (and indeed, heavily influenced by Shintoism and pre-Christian Irish religion) in how the spirits are portrayed, and while I think Matt does tend to draw a lot from Catholic architecture and imagery and vibes, the way the gods engage with the players does not feel exclusively Christian (notably in Campaign 2; none of Fjord, Caduceus, Yasha, nor Jester's experience feel inherently cultural Christian beyond the fact that Travis mentions he doesn't feel like he can connect with the Luxon because 'it's a shape'). So it means I'm not looking to Ally for example for an exploration of religion that is as accessible to me, but I do find that actual play on the whole feels fine. I find a lot of the claims do feel like they get really hung up on specific details (eg: the Santa jokes in Chetney's backstory) instead of the overall feeling (eg: the fact that many of the deities have a very open, fluid, and at times intellectual form of engagement; the fact that the general message is that suffering is not purifying but rather simply sucks; Melora death domain traditions and especially Caduceus's philosophy which is very much outside American Protestantism; the polytheistic society of Vasselheim.)

#answered #Anonymous #cr tag

[phynally]

Greek mythology and the Hunting Dogs

What if I told you the Hunting Dogs' theme song used Greek mythology to hint at the future of the series?

BSD manga spoilers ahead

For this analysis, I’ll be using a fan transcription of the Hunting Dogs/Bloodhounds theme.

Original post with transcription:

One Song, Two Narratives

The Hunting Dogs' Theme first appears in Episode 44: Dogs Hunt Dogs (S4, e7) and is repeatedly used throughout the anime during scenes involving the Hunting Dogs' pursuit of justice.

However, its lyrics (in line with previous songs from the show) feel purposeful, describing two distinct narratives within the story.

1. Artemis and the Agency

The first portion of the song seems to be directed at the Armed Detective Agency, as seen in the first verse, 

“Here comes the setup from the moon It’s time to play hide-and-seek” 

and first pre-chorus,

"Do you remember what you have done to my world? You cannot recall it We chase you round and round a shiver

The "setup from the moon" might be a reference to Artemis, the Greek goddess considered by some to be the personification of the moon (Artemis is also directly mentioned in the second verse—more on this later).

Additionally, "hide-and-seek" may also refer to the cat-and-mouse chase between the Hunting Dogs and ADA that began in season four and has continued to play out in both the anime and manga.

The pre-chorus further echoes the sentiment felt by the Hunting Dogs toward the agency, as from the Dogs' perspective, agency members appear to be lying about atrocities they "cannot recall."

2. Artemis and Fukuchi

In a twist of irony, the song's second half seems to change focus, however, as we can see in verse two, 

“How come you cannot see your doom? …I have the end of Artemis”

and the second pre-chorus,

"Have you conceded that you've been already dead? Your bullshit feeds the end Shut up now dancing 'round a shiver"

Now you may be wondering, "But Phy, why aren't these lyrics also about the agency?" I'm so glad you asked.

To answer this, we need to take a brief dive into Greek mythology:

Artemis was the Greek goddess of the hunt, said to have once punished a hunter who saw her bathing by having them turned into a deer and devoured by their own hunting dogs [Wikipedia].

In a way, the Hunting Dogs personify this "end" condemned by Artemis in myth, as the ADA is ‘fated’ by the Page to be targeted and torn to shreds by their own nation’s military police.

However, this line takes on a deeper meaning when applied to Fukuchi, a hunter who has "already been dead" in alternate futures and whose "bullshit" (claiming to lead a terror investigation while being the cause of said terror) "feeds the end" of their world.

Another key difference between the first and second verses is that while the agency is only "set up by the moon" to "play hide-and-seek," Fukuchi is "doomed" to "the end of Artemis."

Could this mean Fukuchi will ultimately face his end—similar to the hunter from myth—as he is torn apart by his own hunting dogs?

If so, we may have already seen the beginning of this process in Tachihara and Jouno's resistance to Fukuchi. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before Tecchou and Teruko follow suit, passing the ironic judgement of Artemis on their former captain.

BUT HEY, THAT'S-- not my line lol

Thanks for reading!!~ <3

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd s5 #bsd spoilers #bsd theories #the hunting dogs #bsd hunting dogs #bsd tachihara #tachihara michizou #bsd teruko #teruko okura #bsd tecchou #tecchou suehiro #bsd jouno #jouno saigiku #bsd fukuchi #fukuchi ouchi

[israaverse]

Hi! I came across your beautiful art of Canaanite gods, and I wondered if you are making art solely based on the mythology or if you have some story/universe of your own. I hope this question makes sense. Have a nice day.

Hi!!

Most of my art on the Baal Cycle is based directly on the texts that we have access to. HOWEVER! The texts we have access to such as the Baal Cycle and the Epic of Aqhat are fragmentary with large parts missing and unfortunately do not go into much detail in the intact parts. To make it more frustrating there is an academic discourse on different translations of the Ugaritic texts (example: Anat has an epithet that translates to 'virgin', but different translations equate 'virgin' to either 'unmarried' or 'prepubescent/young girl') and depending on which translation you heed you can come away with different ideas (irt previous example: Anat is either an unmarried adult woman connected with sexual fertility or a prepubescent child associated with sexual fertility, which can get real gross (you can guess which translation/iteration i prefer)).

So, long way for me to say: ... kind of both!

It's all very HEAVILY based on the texts, BUT I do have to make up quite a lot as I go, especially physical attributes of various characters, the locations of their palaces/thrones (I made up Mot's palace being a salt pillar in the Dead Sea because it makes thematic sense), relationships between characters (It's debated who exactly Baal's wife is, if he has one wife, if the wife is Astarte or Anat, who Anat's mother is, how many wives El has), etc. etc. etc.

The bones and overarching narrative are taken directly from the mythology, but because of whatever myriad of circumstances the oral traditions and written mythologies haven't survived enough to create a framework for me to actually stick to without skipping over VERY important things, like: How did Baal die? Which is incredibly central. Also, irt the Baal Cycle and the tablets that its written on, we Don't Know which tablets go in which order so I kinda gotta play it by ear with which events go before which.

Sorry for the long explanation! I try my best to note which aspects of the Canaanite myth stuff I do is entirely my own creative liberty or conjecture, mostly because 1. I don't want to misrepresent the texts, and 2. I highly encourage people to read translations of the texts themselves, if they are able (unfortunately it's written in very stilted language, so I completely get why it'd be eye roll inducing for many).

PS: I have a personal vendetta against Illimilku of Ugarit, who was the scribe that wrote down the only written iterations of the Baal Cycle and Epic of Aqhat, that we know of. Why didn't he make more??? I need to know how the EoA ends!!! Here's a shitty meme I made about my frustration.

#not art #asks #canaanite myth

[mdhwrites]

You said before that Boiling Isles is basically our world but with more teeth, it's flat and flawed, also because there's tech in there despite already having magic that could do the same job. So I was wondering.

What would've made the world building more interesting? Or what Bl should've got rid of to not make it a copy pasted version of our world?

The short answer to this is that I don't really know. I will talk a LOT about why TOH feels like such a bare bones fantasy world but the issue is also part of its identity. There's a reason why I've also said that the writers feel like people who don't like fantasy who were forced to write a fantasy show. There's just no respect for the fantasy. And if that's where you're STARTING from for your fantasy world, there's already something wrong unless you're writing a full blown parody. And TOH is all too happy to borrow the easy outs that fantasy can give, especially to spectacle, to make that claim. It's just that if you don't have one side of the coin, your spectacle is going to struggle to feel meaningful. But let's first talk about the complaint. "Our world but with teeth." This is the fantasy equivalent to the horror genre complaint of "This is an action X but with zombies." Both effectively mean the same thing: It is wearing the skin of the genre but not understanding the draw of the genre. The core feelings and emotions and the like of the genre. After all, a scary design does not make horror. Dread, suspense, scarcity, disempowerment, etc. like that make horror. So that begs the question of what makes fantasy fantasy? Well... That's really hard because fantasy is INCREDIBLY complex. Yes, there's the version of wizards and goblins and orcs and elves and etc. but that isn't by any means the only version of a fantasy world. Magic can be limited to very few characters and it can still feel fantastical. You could in fact have ZERO fantasy elements and still evoke the fantastical and the other worldly through your story. That this is a new place with new rules. As an example, my favorite book series, Ranger's Apprentice, has very sparse actual fantasy elements outside of the first two books. And yet, I don't think it loses the fantasy title because of the titular rangers. How people react to them. Their reputation. Their limits and strengths that make them have the reputation of "One Ranger, One Problem." They're that effective at solving things and the joy in finding ways for Rangers to solve new problems is WONDERFUL. And a large component of that is that the myth of the Ranger, how the world sees the Rangers, is taken very seriously. Compare this to The Owl House. Outside of Belos, literally zero threat, if much of anything, is taken wholly seriously. Most of them, frankly, aren't magical. They may have a magical gimmick but they're a story that doesn't require magic. As an example, Tibbles' first appearance. Just swap it to the medication for Eda's disability isn't widely available right now, she has to go to the night market for it, she gets card sharked to give up King and then gets a gun put in her face. The only thing the fantasy elements adds is that you believe no one will object to Tibbles now owning a person.

And that's where the more teeth part comes into play. People are so much like our real world counterparts that it doesn't feel like a reasonably different culture. Just think about how Willow is introduced. Her strength in plant magic isn't what decided her path. Her path was decided because 'abominations have more career options'. It's a cute joke but like... Plant magic is TERRIFYING in most settings. TOH effectively boils it down to vines outside of one memory poison but think about all that plant magic can encompass. The sudden growth of potion materials. Pheromones and pollens by plants you make suddenly spring up. The hundreds of different poisons you can craft out of plants, OR THE ONES THEY MAKE THEMSELVES. But just from that one line, we're told that magic is incredibly de-emphasized in this setting. That it's so mundane that you learn what will get you a job instead of what you are capable of doing. Does the show do anything with that though? No. A LOT of S1 Boiling Isles actually has this feeling. This feeling of people being very mercenary and out for gain more than they are the wonder of their own world. It's shockingly similar to ours honestly and at first explains why instead of exploring the world, 90% of what Luz faces is some form of huckster or scam artist who's magic doesn't matter. I mean, just look at the twins. They have illusion magic which should allow them such a wide variety of options to mess with people and their grand plan for their sister? Steal her diary and share it with people. Yeah, that's... That's totally not something that could have just happened in a normal, school setting. Molly Mcgee has more fun with what you can do in those sorts of ways than TOH and its one fantasy hook is ghosts. Molly Mcgee is REALLY good though. I highly recommend it and I personally need to watch more. But let's back up to something you might criticize me on. While in Hooty's Moving Hassle, Eda's plot can easily be converted away from a magical setting, what about Luz's plot? Moving house, monster hunters, etc. like that?

Well, that's when we get into the other side of it: It's very functional. The Resident Evil games as they become more action oriented changed their zombies into versions that were much cooler to kill and fit into action rhythms. The horror elements no longer were something to care about but now bent to the will of the action verbs.

TOH does this with fantasy. The majority of Luz and co's plot line in Hooty's Moving Hassle isn't interested in the monster hunters or Hooty himself, enchanted by the magic. Those are to give action to Willow's anger towards Amity and to give Willow something to show how powerful she is against. None of this will be remembered. None of this will be called back to. None of this even portrayed in very interesting ways as the fight is effectively skipped at the end and yeah, they move Hooty but it's just for teenage hi-jinks. It's not bad but it's not special.

This extends to much more important episodes though. Teenage Abomination features Principle Bump putting the school into lock down with intricate runes and a complex system of magic. We never see anything like that again. The Power Glyph in Covention spits directly in the face of Luz's magic being special but it allows Amity to have a fighting chance against magic traps (another concept never brought back) that Eda places and for the emotional moment of her having been tricked into cheating.

Now this isn't to say that your fantasy/magic shouldn't bend to your narrative. There's a breaking point though. If the magic ONLY bends, instead of standing tall, it feels like a tool. It's actually part of what's important about early Hogwarts stuff in Harry Potter. Do the portraits need to be alive all the time? No. Do the staircases constantly have to be moving, especially when they aren't actually saving physical space? No.

But do you know what those things do add? They add the feeling that when a secret passage is shown to exist, you immediately believe it. This place is DRENCHED in unnecessary magic. So much of it defies logic because why the fuck not? This is magic. Let's have fun! So when you're told there's fifteen evil basements and roughly 27 BILLION secret passages, you just… agree. That is the world they've set up.

And I do want to mention that this isn't just in flowery ways. Dark Fantasy effectively asks the question of "How fucked up can we make magic?" What can you do with bones and blood that will just make a person's skin crawl? How much pain can we inflict on the mind because of pressure that couldn't be possible in any other way? What price is paid for magic?

TOH cares so little about its magic thought that it can't even keep something as basic as the spell circle consistent. Darius' abomination form has NO SPELL CIRCLE. Not even an attempt despite how strong that spell feels. He just focuses and casts. Why? I don't know. Probably because it's cool and it's less of a Danny Phantom ripoff than what you'd get with a transformation done with a circle. Most bard magic doesn't have spell circles for OBVIOUS REASONS.

And this doesn't need to be hard coded into its magic. Little Miss Rich Witch, my own series, is very loose with its magic. Instead it's through the society that I create the feeling of something different. The main characters are nobles, something we don't have as much of, and that fact permeates through their social interactions and the feeling of them not being just people from our world in costumes.

But with TOH... how many care about Luz being human? That she doesn't have magic or that the glyphs are special? She is a complete anomaly to this world and NO ONE CARES. It gets a little lip service by Amity and Eda but Boscha just calls it weird that a human is going to her school. She cares more about Luz being friends with Willow than anything to do with her being human or magicless. The glyphs themselves are purely mechanical even with little weight to most of them and little impact for those that do have weight behind their discoveries.

Or hell, how about the demons of the DEMON REALM? They act like anyone else and their biggest distinction is that if you're a demon, you're a villain or a background character. You're not pretty enough to be a part of the actual cast (despite Boscha being a bombshell but I mean... All she has is a third eye). The majority of character just look like elves but with only their magic instead of any sort of culture, ideals, etc. like that. When even your only two races in your fantasy realm are that basic... What's the point? Why not just them all humans with magic if that's effectively what they are? If they have no personality beyond that? And I know that's hypocritical of me since I wrote a 300k word behemoth that was exploring Luz, Amity and Boscha, two main characters and someone I elevated into have very real depth, inbetween S1 and 2 but that's also the thing: On accident, S1 appears to have a personality. Lots of questions about its magic that you may want answers to. Oddities to its world like teachers getting excited about kids fighting that stick out in the brain a little. And the setting is also just malleable enough that I could headcanon a LOT of different elements, like glyphs being linked to emotions and that causing problems with a witch's bile sacs so as to make them dangerous to witches but that's also why Luz is so powerful with them. S2 takes away SO MUCH OF THIS. The increased attention but also death of taking the EC seriously is a large part of this. Suddenly, we're being told that things like Child Endangerment laws have been in place since Eda was a child. Why is it like this now? The Savage Times were actually a utopia so now any negative element of the BI feels forced and incongruent for the simple message of "Belos bad" even while Gus doubles down on "ONLY ILLUSIONS FOR LIFE MOTHERFUCKERS!" So what could have been done? Caring. At all. But the writers hardly care about their characters and treat many of them like plot devices. Why in the world should we expect them to treat the setting with more care than that? Especially when King, arguably the most important character in the series, spends half of it as comic relief? And all of this doesn't even get into the subversive elements. I barely touched on how none of the threats arrayed against people are taken seriously for more than a minute besides Belos. But those elements themselves really push the idea that all is ephemeral. That you shouldn't care about any of it. That the moment you look away, it all vanishes. And one of Fantasy's greatest strengths, or the strength of any story, is to teleport you to new worlds that you can believe in. That feel real, despite the fact that you know they're not. And eventually, I found everything to be made of nothing more sturdy than cardboard with some glitter on it. ========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#TOH Critical #The Owl House Criticism

[wixelt]

I read a fanfic set durring the reign of King RentheKing and suddenly got an idea that was at first just a bit but I soon realized could actually do both that and set up consequences down the line

So the idea originally was that Cub, attempting to keep cards close to his chest, does not use vex or other magic around any and all non-hermits, instead reprising his role as The Court Magician and performing slight of hand and other tricks exclusively. Because of this, while The Core can tell he's hiding his abilities, Marcy doesn't actually think vex magic is real until the group encounters Sahsa and Scar at The Third Temple.

Now, how this starts causing problems down the line is because Player magic tricks are based around their own understanding of physics, playing with more obscure causes and effects, so The Core is aware of certain universal principles that it otherwise would not have been from The Hermits simply upgrading their tech base. Things like how certain items increase in size instead of decreasing as they're supposed to when exposed to player inventory, causing one object to have the appearance of another, or fishingrod activated enderpesrl stasis chambers aren't really the first thing one thinks to install when giving a less advanced civilization better tech.

Well, maybe the enderpearl stasis chambers. The Hermits may think to set those up in hermitopia just in case... and then have to break them on their way out in the aftermath of True Colors.

It makes sense Cub wouldn't outright show his hand with his Vex abilities as Scar might. They're both a little antsy about the Vex, these days - as Scar trying to dissuade Sasha shows - but Cub thinks ahead more. He's the one who makes schemes & plans for the benefit of both himself & his friends.

Him erring more toward his less fantastical, trickster-esque varieties of magic feels like a logical step when faced with all the unknowns Amphibia naturally represents, even before getting to the prying to gaze of Andrias & later the Core, from the shadows.

Marcy's face when Sasha turns up at the Third Temple wielding a magic she dismissed as myth despite the bemused looks she got from many a Hermit for doing so would be priceless, if it weren't for all the other baggage that comes with finding out Sasha's made such a deal.

But back to Cub.

His choice to conceal his Vex contracts & use the full bag of player physics interactions & mechanisms to play the trickster does have consequences, as you say.

It's not as if the other Hermits aren't using these tricks as well - & some are using many of them - but Cub is using a very wide array of gimmicks to play his role, so the Core very quickly gets to see the entire type range of interactions in one individual - internal inventory, item property adjustment, ender porters and so on - mostly untainted by a specific gimmick.

Other Hermits are doing wonders for the tech base, but their mixed approach makes it harder to tell what's one thing and what's another.

In other words, there's no variables for different Hermits' quirks or eccentricities when using their crafts. By using the way Cub does things as a baseline, the Core finds it very easy to decipher & understand many of the principles & concepts underpinning how "players" interact with the world.

Which only makes it easier to jam them when the events of True Colors come around, not to mention everything that comes after that...

(Also, do you mean Newtopia, rather than Hermitopia? I ask as I've never discussed the Hermits having a joint base prior to Season 3, as they did in the Empires world.)

#hermitphibia au #hermitcraft #hermitblr #hermitcraft au #amphibia #amphibia au #cubfan135 #marcy wu #sasha waybright #goodtimewithscar #amphibia core #amphibia andrias #andrias leviathan

[coulsons-fullmetal-cellist]

Baking for the Devil in the Big White Tent

(Dieter x horror loving female)

Words: 787

Summary: Dieter discovers a show you love that isn’t a horror

Warnings: Dieter being Dieter, lots of sweets, I know in America it’s called The Great British Baking Show but I’ve always known it by it’s original title

Check out masterlist here

You approached your boyfriend, mug of tea in hand, with a question you weren’t sure how he would answer. Sitting down next to him on the couch, you nervously asked him.

“Dieter, a show I like has just started a new season. Do you mind if I watch it now?”

“Is it a horror one?”

“No.”

“Then go ahead.”

Sighing in relief, you pressed play and Dieter snuggled up next to you, wondering what sort of non-horror show would have your interest.

“What is this show?”

“It’s The Great British Bake Off.”

“Wait, I know this show. Isn’t this some horror thing where they trap people in a tent, and they don’t let them out until they bake stuff for some blue-eyed devil?”

You tried not to gawp in confusion. “When you put it that way, it is a bit of a horror. But no, Bake Off isn’t a horror.”

“It’s not?”

“No, it’s a wholesome British show. Although it does get stressful when literal cracks start to form in cakes.”

Suddenly Dieter jumped up on the couch in fear. “Ah! That’s him! The blue-eyed devil!”

“That’s Paul Hollywood,” you explained but Dieter continued making the sign of the cross with his hands. “Were you sober when you watched this?”

“Not exactly,” Dieter stopped his attempt at exorcism and went back to snuggling.

You gave Dieter a running commentary as he looked at the screen with both fascination and confusion.

“Every week has a theme. The first week is always cake. There’s always someone who likes to experiment with exotic flavours. Last year was all miso.”

“Me so hungry.” That joke got a friendly little nudge from you.

“Every week there’s three challenges. This one is the signature challenge.”

“Is there a big prize at the end?” asked Dieter.

“Not really.”

“No $10,000 cash?”

“No, it’s just some nice plate thing. And bragging rights”

“Huh,” he mused. “That’s different from most American shows.”

“It is. It’s so much less cut-throat as well. Everyone is so nice on here.”

“I love all their accents! I’m going to have to try them.”

You couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. “I don’t know how I feel about these bakers. I had so many favourites last year. I mean, they had Jurgen.”

*****

“Now the technical is when the bakers have to make something, but they don’t give them the complete recipe.”

“Why would they do that?”

“To test their baking skills. Then the judges blind tastes them.”

“I’d like to do that. Seems fun.”

“Not when things are underbaked.”

“I’d still eat it.”

“So now it’s the showstopper. This is when they have to do something impressive.”

You gripped his arm tightly as bakers rushed in the last five minutes, trying to put their bakes onto their stands.

“This is so tense,” said Dieter. “Now I know why you like this show.”

As the Star Baker was announced and the leaving baker was surrounded in hugs, you untangled yourself from your boyfriends embrace and got something from the kitchen.

“Bake Off puts me in a serious baking mood so I made a little something.”

“Wait, you have freshly baked goods in the house, and you didn’t tell me?”

“Well I know you’d scoff the lot,” he hmphed in agreement. “Before I had a chance to explain what they are.”

You pulled the lid off the container and Dieter looked in. He gazed at sponge cakes which were dipped in chocolate sauce and sprinkled in coconut.

“These are lamingtons.”

“Are they those things that jumped off the cliff in that Disney film?”

“They what?!”

“No wait, that’s Lemmings. And they were thrown off a cliff which is messed up and created that silly myth.”

Your confusion was delayed by Dieter putting a piece of coconut covered cake in his mouth followed by the appropriate moan of delicious delight.

“So will you be doing more baking?” he eagerly asked.

“Oh there will be lots more baking. Next week is biscuit week.”

“So biscuits and gravy?”

“No, it’s what the British call cookies. And what you call biscuits is what they call scones and they have them with jam and cream.”

He avoided thinking about it by taking another bite, it was a tasty distraction. “Would you ever go on the show?”

“Me? On Bake Off? Oh gosh no. I just bake for fun. Putting me in a competition will stress me out to no end,” he nodded in agreement. “But they do have a celebrity version for charity. It’s a lot less stressful.”

“And you’d be on that?”

“Oh no, I don’t think I’m famous enough. You might be good on it.”

“Dieter Bravo on The Great British Bake Off? As if.”

Lovingly tagging @boliv-jenta @simpingcowboy @ellenmunn @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @brilliantopposite187 @chaithetics @myloveistoolittle @cevans-is-classic @glshmbl @cupcakehp

#pedro pascal #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #dieter x honey cakes #love of horror fanfic #love of horror #love of horror universe #dieter x reader #dieter bravo #the bubble netflix #the bubble

[johaerys-writes]

TW: Non-consent mentioned. No pressure on answering this, but I figured I’d ask you since I value your opinion way more than Google/Reddit.

There’s an assortment of superstitions out there around childbirth. It varies among cultures but sometimes the superstitions overlap. I’ve heard suggestions about the position the birth parent is in during conception influences the (assigned) sex. I’ve heard suggestions that if the birth parent has sex while pregnant they will have twins. Now, there’s this other curious superstition that if the birth parent has sex with multiple partners, a number of things could happen including all sperm donors become the (biological) parents. I was wondering to what extent this last one is believed as part of Greek mythology? I’m assuming to some extent it is believed given the myth of Leda.

I bring all this up because of the infamous Scyros scene in The Song of Achilles. Miller is a really great storyteller from a writing craft perspective. Very subtly, she weaves layers into her scenes. For this scene in particular, it is generally understood that the sex between Patroclus and Deidamia was non-consensual. I’ve seen some suggestions that the scene was included to further support the idea that Achilles and Patroclus are two halves -the pain of one is the pain of the other. I was wondering that in addition to such interpretations, that the scene exists also to make Patroclus Pyrrhus’ father? Because Deidamia slept with both, they are both the father. Does this fit with general beliefs/superstitions around sex in Greek mythology?

I wouldn’t really go so far as to say that the sex scene with Deidameia and Patroclus is meant to be non con. I always found it a bit dubcon-ish instead of fully noncon, although the lines might be a little blurry. I think that the scene is meant to be awkward and weird, and my understanding of it is that it wasn't so much to show Patroclus' and Achilles' pain, but to sort of... shed light on Deidameia's situation? She's a young girl that really has no options right now: she got into this marriage without really wanting to or understanding what was going on-- imagine a goddess showing up to you and telling you you have to marry her son or else? I doubt many girls in her position would have been able to say no to this. And then she sleeps with Achilles, she is his wife, and as a wife she has to love him now, he's meant to be her whole world. Like this is how Deidameia has been brought up, this is part of her culture, and as a young impressionable girl I assume she had some very confused feelings for Achilles at this point. Of course Achilles is gorgeous and a demigod and that plays into Deidameia's infatuation with him.

But then, Patroclus shows up. And whatever little interest Achilles had in Deidameia is gone. She is married to him and pregnant with his child and yet none of this matters because Achilles just wants nothing to do with her now. So I feel like the whole sleeping with Patroclus thing might have been... her trying to take control of the situation in some way. If she manages to seduce Patroclus, then perhaps she will manage to hurt Achilles as he has hurt her; or perhaps she might even come to be included in this very exclusive thing these two have going on.

It's a muddy situation with no good outcomes for her, but don't forget that she's a very young girl. And young people often make bad decisions. So, for me, this scene is less about making Patroclus and Achilles "even" or focusing on their bond (although there are elements of that here), but more so to highlight the pretty awful position Deidameia is in. (Of course people are allowed to have different opinions, if someone's reading of the scene is different to mine then that's fine.)

As for whether Patroclus and Achilles are both Pyrrhus' fathers, I.... am not sure. Like, I don’t really see it that way. To my knowledge, there aren't really many myths in ancient Greece to support this particular angle? The most you'll see when two men and one woman are involved is the woman having twins, which is what happened with Leda: she slept with both Tyndareus and Zeus, so she had two sets of twins, Helen and Clytemnestra and the Dioskouroi (Castor and Polydeuces), of which one child was mortal and the other a demigod. I really can't think of an occasion where a single child was the product of two fathers. And I also don't see the symbolism of it working for TSOA, since Pyrrhus is a psycho when he shows up at the end lol. Like that's no love child that right there 🥲

EDIT: Theseus was mentioned as having two fathers, Aegeus and Poseidon; I didn’t include him because in the version I'm familiar with he's just Aegeus' son, but in other versions of the myth he is also Poseidon's son. So I guess it depends on what version one has heard/wants to go for.

Anyway, that's my two cents! I hope I answered your questions 💙

#patrochilles #patroclus #achilles #deidameia #i will defend my girl dei until the end #love her so much #the scene with her and patroclus has baffled many but it always made a sort of twisted sense to me #i think it was bold of MM to include it and I really respect her for that

[deusvervewrites]

Inhumans question: how is it that Yaoyorozu's mom is a genie? Just asking because the idea of genie comes from Aladdin's tale being translated in French in the early 1700s and the readers not having the cultural context to realize the extraordinary thing was that two jinn had been bound to objects and forced into obeying whoever held said objects.

(cont) The cultural context of Jinn is that, according to Islamic lore, they are another sapient species, just with often weird morals compared to humans and having superhuman abilities that are at times so vast to be mistaken for supernatural by those who don't know their truth - hence why some talked humans living in their same area into worshipping them as gods. They exist all around the world, just with different names according to local traditions (in the British isles they'd be the Fair Folk, in Japan Kami and Yokai, and so on). Humans are usually better off staying away from them if they can, as while some Jinn are helpful others may play pranks they don't realize harm the humans and others are downright malicious. At times however there's some cunning humans who, when dealing with a hostile Jinni, can trick them into being trapped (such as the fisherman that found a bottle, uncorked it, and out came a very angry Jinni that offered him a choice in how he'd be killed, and the fisherman talked him back in the bottle and stoppered it), and some people with extraordinary knowledge of the arcane can find ways to chase them off or even command them (such as Solomon, who made a ring that allowed him to command Jinn. He used them in his army, and enslaved evil ones to build his Temple so they'd do something good). That was the extraordinary part with Aladdin's Jinn, someone had bound a pair of Jinn to a lamp and a ring and just left such powerful objects around.

You know, I had wondered where in pop culture Genies had split off from Jinn.

I'm actually familiar with Solomon, both because of his association with the Ars Goetia (relevant to various pop culture media) and because the Bartimaeus books fucking slap.

I'm loosely familiar with actual Jinn mythology, and Extra History just posted a video about that specific Jinni myth a few days ago. I'm also aware that the singular is Jinni. I alluded to some elements of Jinn myths with that ask about Momo's specifi limits when I mentioned that she's not a reality warper (yet) and has to physically accomplish the wish she's granting

All of that being said I'm not entirely sure that I understand the question of how her mother is a genie. The idea of the genie in pop culture has somewhat drifted away from the original Jinn roots, but even so, they still hold the idea of a powerful, magical shapeshifter so I don't see why one couldn't hook up with a human.

I could further make a case of genies deliberately binding themselves to lamps or rings or jars or whatever in order to preempt someone else doing it to them and thus gaining control over them

#asks #inhumans au

[sannylity]

I've been rotating vampire au in my head for days now, I can't stop thinking about it

Mariana was once human and was turned by his ex, maybe he confided in Charlie about this when he asked if he's ever turned someone else into a vampire. The thought's maybe crossed his mind once, twice, when Mariana fed on him, fangs sinking into his skin and draining him, how living as a vampire must be tough albeit interesting. Charlie would never ask him to, though

Charlie's handsy when Mariana feeds on him, grabbing him all over, because getting your blood sucked isn't always comfortable, but the euphoric rush of emotions also overwhelm him a lot. Mariana doesn't tell him he feels exactly the same way, because it's the taste of his blood, but Charlie's also his human and seeing him squirm and writhe under him sends him to heaven and pulls him down to hell. He doesn't know what that means

Mariana also has vampire friends (because why not). He ended up introducing Charlie to Roier (another vampire who thought him all he knows about being one), who tried flirting with him and ultimately realised Charlie was Mariana's human (he thought bloodsoulmates were a myth, he's pretty jealous actually).

And Mariana is so protective it's ridiculous. He didn't know he was being protective, snarling at every vampire who dared look Charlie's way. He was just tall, dark, mysterious, he thought others feared him for his size. He never realised he was making such an expression on his face. And all this time he thinks it's because Charlie is his walking bloodbag, and not that he actually grew feelings for the human. Charlie just thinks Mariana hated people.

Aw, yeahh!! The vampire AU is one of my favorites :D

I do think Mariana is very protective of his history, especially how he got turned into a vampire. Because he’s ashamed and regretful of how he actually pleaded and begged to be turned into one, thinking he wanted to devote forever to his boyfriend. It’s where he built his rule of feeding only once on strangers to avoid building a connection. Until he met Charlie, of course…

When he first fed on Charlie, he obviously didn’t understand how much it would affect him, same goes for Charlie. So, the more they do it, they didn’t account for attraction soon coming into play. Charlie didn’t expect that being fed on would also feel good on his end, it’s just arousing to them both. Heavy petting just becomes something they can’t avoid which soon develops into something more overtime.

And the addition of Roier being Mariana’s vampire friend and also becoming friends with Charlie is a good showmanship of a vampire and a human getting along without blood, turning and hunting being involved for once. I like it!!

Mariana being unknowingly overprotective of Charlie just comes with being his blood soulmate. But when Charlie is faced with real danger, he realizes that there’s a difference between his protective instincts and falling head over heels for someone.

In addition, Charlie does wonder about vampirism. When they are at the point of them being romantically acquainted, he would ask Mariana questions what it’s like, if it would hurt to turn, etc. Obviously, Mariana is suspicious of his questions but he’d answer attentively, thinking his boyfriend is just curious.

But then, it turns into an issue when during feedings, Charlie would come to beg for him to turn him, which honestly just reminded him of Mariana and his ex, so he doesn’t and refuses his request. Although, Charlie is out of it, he knows he was also being honest.

In Charlie’s head, he doesn’t want to grow old knowing Mariana will be left alone, because time does pass by like too fast for immortals. He wants to spend forever with him, that he becomes certain of.

On the other hand, Mariana has unresolved issues of trusting to that degree again when he got left behind. He couldn’t handle his blood soulmate leaving him in the end if it doesn’t work out. To him, it’s much better for Charlie to live his life to the fullest instead of risking an eternal life where Charlie would have no limit to figuring out that maybe Mariana isn’t worth it, maybe he’ll leave him too. It’s a matter of will he ever turn Charlie into a vampire to risk eternity with him or not?🤫