#world of defiance | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maegalkarven · 5 months

Text

The thing what kills me what it's not even OOC for the team to work with Gortash. You can canonically do that.

Wyll and Karlach don't even leave the party if you do that, you don't even have to make a roll to convince them.

You can either abandon Ravengard or save him BEHING GORTASH'S BACK after you've already killed Orin and solidified your pact and he went to the Morphic Pool. Like this is legit the thing I did in one on my playthroughs.

He canonically only attacks you if you attack him first, give him the stones (proving yourself to be weak) or if you went to a place he Explicitly told you Not To Go.

He calls you before you enter the Iron Throne and tells you not to do that. It's a direct warning and pretty much the only line you can't cross. You can destroy Steel Watch Foundry and STILL he offers an alliance.

(Fr how desperate is he for an ally??? Hello?? @ Mr Bane's Chosen, I don't think Bane approves???? You got this whole tyranny thing a lil wrong???)

His downfall is HIMSELF; if he did not go for that dumb stones grab he'd survive, but also he KNOWS they're going to fail in confronting the Brain, he pretty much states it in the convo next to a Morphic Pool, but he still pushes to try it, to meet the downfall on his terms.

I'm pretty sure it would be possible to convince him the Elder Brain needs to be destroyed because it became uncontrollable and is too much of a threat now (the things you can't control should be destroyed, yadda yadda, survival is a strong instinct and would win against thirst for power bc power is a means of survival too and power can be achieved elsewhere, meanwhile in death he is sentenced to Bane's wrath)

All the possible scenarios where his death by Netherbrain's command does not happen cloud my mind and I suffer. They could have had it all! Even Good!tav/Durge could have a Good Ending(hero of Forgotten Realms) and alliance with Gortash.

We could have had it all!!!

#lord enver gortash #enver gortash #like he is the worst #but also the fuck he offers the most respectful alliance you can have???#where you clearly know where you stand? there you can genuinely Work Together???#it makes me believe he follows Bane only on the surface/poser level and only for as long as he profits from it #because the equal alliance is not banite thing #bc “we will be gods” is pretty much a heresy concerning his servitude to bane. wdym YOU'LL be god? i don't think bane would approve of that #me rewriting the entire act 3 bc fuck that: Enver Gortash is not dying bc I said so #like the possibilities!!!#i think the thing what chains me to him is what he refuses to accept the cards he was given #he refuses to accept the fate #he refuses to accept any rules but his own #he is Defiance in the last instance. his enemy is The World in its entirety #he uses everything and everyone he meets went stop no matter what #probably CAN'T stop #i admire this level of...uh. obsession?

83 notes · View notes

frangipanilove · 6 days

Text

Fighting Fire With Fire Part 2;

"The Duality Of Fire"

(read part one and part three here)

During the early stages of the outbreak, the military used napalm in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. Through flashbacks and through FTWD, we saw how Operation Cobalt completely failed to contain the virus, while simultanously contributing to the total breakdown of societal structures. Metropolitan areas on the North American continent were indiscriminately bombed, making no differentiation between the living residing there, and the undead. We also saw, for instance in Shane's flashback to when Rick was in the hospital, how federal forces went in and killed any remaining survivers.

This is the duality of fire. It can be used for total obliteration, but it can also facilitate new life, as we saw in TOWL 1x1 Days, when Rick told the story of how his father burned down the farm, and how it flourished the next year.

During Rick's echelon briefing, we see the duality of the "fire" symbolism illustrated. Both Rick and Major General Beale talk about how you sometimes "have to burn things down in order to bring things back":

Both recognize the tremendous power of the fire symbolism, but they use the metaphor differently. Where Rick is ultimately interested in a good outcome as in facilitating new life, thriving crops and a sustainable future, Beale is literally talking about burning down cities, along with the people living in them.

In flashbacks seen during Major General Beale's Echelon briefing, we witness how the military used napalm on Atlanta and LA.

Napalm is, simply put, a fire bomb made from petrochemocals.

Let's explore the "fire = fuel" angle for a minute.

The opening minutes of 1x1 was our first introduction to the visuals and the symbolism of the show. We see Rick arrive at a gas station in search of fuel.

He only finds death and destruction, meaning that since the very first seconds of the show, the literal opening scene, we see gas, gas stations and fossil fuel surrounded by death symbolism. And, when we later learn that the military bombed the cities and killed countless civilians using napalm, we realise they used a firebomb made from petrochemicals.

The symbolism around gas stations as temples of doom continues, such as in 4x4 Indifference:

This sign quite literally labels the gas station as "hell". The people residing there had committed suicide. Keep this in mind, I'll return to it shortly!

The term "fighting fire with fire" was originally used to describe a technique of forest management, specifically in regards to how to manage wildfires, in which controlled fires were ignited in the path of a wildfire as a preventative measure:

"Fighting fire with fire" as an expression has also often been used to describe vaccines, due to the way it was discovered that exposure to pathogens in some cases could trigger the immune system to produce antibodies against said pathogens, thus resulting in immunity:

When first we met the character Dr. Edwin Jenner at the CDC in TWD 1x5 Wildfire, his name was a reference to Dr. Edward Jenner, an English physician widely known as the “father of immunology”, due to his role in developing the world's first vaccine, against smallpox, in 1798.

It is not a strecth to say that this foreshadows a potential vaccine in TWDU. The virus is called wildfire. Vaccines are often said to be "fighting fire with fire". We learned about the wildfire virus from a character named after the guy who developed the world's first vaccine.

In TOWL 1x2 Gone, we see Michonne involved in a situation that sheds light on how the "fighting fire with fire" symbolism is utilized by TPTB. We see her trying to get through an enormous walker horde, it's a virtual ocean of death:

She tries to distract the walkers by shooting a small missile into the horde, which then explodes. Fighting fire with fire.

Eventually, Nat shows up and helps by adding more explosive fireballs, and the "ocean of death" parts to reveal a way forward.

Fighting fire with fire:

This also provides an interesting example illustrating how fire bombs can be used responsibly, in contrast to the way napalm was used by the military, who indiscriminately bombed cities, killing innocent civilians in metropolitan areas by incinerating them.

It shows that when the people, who have harnessed the tremendous power of fire, have the right intentions, it can be used for good. It shows the duality of fire, and it illustrates the duality of pharmakon, a poison and a cure.

Fighting fire with fire.

This guy stands out from the crowd, and I believe he tells us something about what the wildfire virus in TWDU in reality is a metaphor for:

He's a callback to Rick, back in TWD 1x1 Days Gone Bye:

He beautifully illustrates the ominous nature of the fire symbolism, here represented by fossil fuels, or simply gasoline. We saw it herald death and dystopian hellscape at the gas station in 1x1, we saw it at the gas station in 4x4 Indifference, which was literally named "Hell", we saw it when napalm made from petrochemicals was used indiscriminately to destroy metropolitan areas on the North American continent and massacre anyone in proximity, infected or not.

And we see it again here.

The gas man is Mr. Wildfire Virus incarnate, a posterboy for death and necrotic life, a metaphor for "the old ways". He represents the disease, the plague, the extinction event...

He represents "the end" of humanity!

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the wildfire virus and the walkers in TWDU are metaphors for carbon emissions, the fossil fuel industry and the rapidly escalating threath of climate change to humanity. That's always been my interpretation, and that's solidified after seeing the gas man.

An interesting detail is how the gas man is shown here with gold teeth, as though he's illustrating the incredible wealth accumulated by the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the equilibrium of the ecology of the planet.

Seeing a gas man as the front figure and team captain of an enormous horde of the undead, an insurmountable obstacle, an ocean of death... it's not subtle.

A gas station innundated in death symbolism was the very first thing we, the audience, saw of TWDU, it was literally in the opening scene of 1x1.

And the gas man were among the last things we saw in what's so far one of the last episodes of the last spin off. But a few episodes later, we did see a glimmer of hope, and a potential way out of the mess...

The gas man functions as the face of the threat to humanity in TWDU, and was, in my opinion, inserted as a counter point to what we saw few episodes later, the ethanol as a representation of a "cure", an "antidote" in the back Richonne's escape car.

An electric/bio-ethanol hybrid car, no less...

Again, not subtle...

Bio-ethanol, a sustainable, renewable source of energy, is portrayed as a foreshadow of a sustainable future, in which humanity recovers and thrives.

A green(e) future?

I wrote about how they in FTWD season 4, and in particular 4x16, explored the "ethanol = cure" theme in a post the other week, read more about it here.

Remember how we in TWD season 9, saw the production of bio-ethanol as an alternative source of fuel. We saw how crucial it was, in that Maggie was even seen trading produce for bio-ethanol.

This is a theme TPTB also explored in TWD World Beyond, where especially Elton was concerned about the sixth extinction event, the Holocene extinction.

The kids in TWDWB called themselves "the Endlings", seeming to have accepted that they were among the last survivers of a humanity that was on a direct path to self destruction. Here's from an article in Comicbook.com:

"'Wind always wins,'" Elton tells Hope, borrowing a phrase from his mother who died at the onset of the apocalypse ten years earlier. "Something my mom said about nature deciding who lives and who dies. Turns out she was right."

He explains humans are "at the conclusion of the Holocene extinction," the sixth extinction event on the planet following the Late Ordovician mass extinction, the Late Devonian extinction, the End-Permian extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, and the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

"We were already killing ourselves directly and indirectly, but nature made a shortcut," Elton tells Hope. "It took the dinosaurs possibly 60,000 years to die after 240 million of living, so following that ratio, given the human race's 600,000 and factoring in other miscellaneous variables, I say we have about 15 years until we're gone."

Elton was referring to the walkers when he talked about the threath to humanity, however, if the walkers are a metaphor for climate change, Elton's predictions of 15 years until we're extinct are sobering...

In TWOL 1x6, Major General Beale estimated non-necrotic, meaning human, life has 14 years left.

In real life, the doomsday clock is currently at 90 seconds to midnight (x)...

...we're nowhere near reaching the 2 degrees Celcius target...

...and 2023 was the hottest year on record.

We're not doing great.

TPTB seem to be well aware, because...

...here we see how an electric/bio-ethanol hybrid car represent the "antidote", the future, the "escape" from the extinction event.

Richonne's yellow stick shift electric/bio-ethanol hybrid car represents a potential way out of the imminent Holocene extinction. It represents an "escape" from the sixth mass extinction event, much in the same way a shift away from carbon emitting fossil fuels, to sustainable, renewable sources of energy represents the "cure" against climate change in real life.

But back to the narrative of the show. The accumulation of walkers represent a real threath to humanity, as Major General Beale correctly stated. What could the expression "fighting fire with fire", or "pharmakon", tell us about a potential "cure"? What could the "antidote" be, in the canon of the show?

During Rick's echelon briefing, Major General Beale raised a few issues that would be of legitimate concern, even if most of the rest he said were the ramblings of an authoritarian genocidal madman. He mentioned hordes of up to a million walkers, and he referenced studies suggesting non-necrotic life, meaning humans, could have as little as 14 years left before the the dead would outcompete the living. Millions of walking corpses, spreading diseases, polluting the soil, contaminating fresh water sources.

Those are legitimate concerns and would have to be dealth with. Fire could play a literal role.

Glenn told us in season one. "We bury the ones we love and burn the rest". From an infection contagion prevention point of view, it makes sense to use fire to destruct the wildfire virus. Fighting fire with fire. However, there must be some way to contain the virus while still preserving one's own hummanity. "We bury the ones we love and burn the rest". Unlike what happened during the mass murders of Operation Cobalt during the initial stages of the outbreak.

Again, fire, when used responsibly, could play a role in neutralizing the treath of the plague. It's pharmakon, a poison and a cure.

Fighting fire with fire.

And using fire as a contagion preventation measure was already built into the infrastructure at the CDC. We first saw it in 1x5 Wildfire, when Dr. Jenner accidently knocked over a vial containing samples from Test Subject 19, his late wife, upon which the lab went into full decontamination mode and erased any remaining trace of the pathogen in a great ball of fire.

Later, when the doomsday clock at the CDC reached zero, we watched the entire CDC explode, effectively destructing everything inside, including test samples containing wildfire as well as any other pathogen they might have kept in there.

We also saw it on Hershel's farm in season 2, when the barn where he had kept the reanimated corpses of his loved ones while awaiting a cure, caught on fire. Although, that was more of a display of the symbolism involved rather than a depiction of how to scientifically contain a virus:

We've also seen it countless other times. Fire symbolism has been prevalent on the show since the very beinning, and there's a reason for that. It's because it represents pharmakon, a poison and a cure!

My hypothesis is that "fire" could play a literal role in the resolution of the zombie apocalypse. I also believe that it's likely the term "fighting fire with fire", or "pharmakon", could be meant to be interpreted figuratively, as in the develepment of some kind of cure/vaccine/treatment/immunity.

And like I explained in this post from a few days ago, connections to Beth is found everywhere in the symbolism surrounding these themes.

I mentioned her association with ethanol (as in moonshine = alcohol). I discussed the precedence set by Alicia from FTWD in regards to the bite/cure theory.

And finally, I've spent years now, talking about the Sirius symbolism that Beth has been absolutely immersed in. The word "Sirius" comes from Greek Seirios, which means "glowing", "scorching", it refers to Sirius the Dog Star, and it's associated with the scorching hot "dog days of summer".

"Sirius" symbolism IS "fire" symbolism, they're literally the same, and it ultimately means "return/resurrection/rebirth/reunion", as a reference to how Sirius the Dog Star periodically disappears from the night sky, only to return one morning, right before dawn.

I've talked about how Beth is deeply connected to the symbolism we see around Rick, I've talked about how they so often completely mirror each other and the resurrection symbolism around Rick is identical to the resurrection symbolism around Beth.

If "fire" is a part of the "cure" on the show, the fire symbolism includes resurrection symbolism, which we've seen countless exemples of around Rick and Beth.

And remember, the future is green(e)!

#team delusional #bethyl #daryl dixon #beth greene #team defiance #the walking dead #beth x daryl #twd #daryl x beth #twd towl #twd world beyond

28 notes · View notes

whumpetywhump · 9 months

Text

W: Two Worlds - Ep. 14 & 15

#w two worlds #kdrama #captivity #tied up #tied to chair #struggling #hair pulling #choked #defiance #torture #beaten up #bleeding #bloody face #lee jong suk #whump #kwhump #asian whump

113 notes · View notes

v-arbellanaris · 1 year

Text

lol im almost in tears at work thinking about handers. specifically mage hawke and anders. two mages, happily in love and free from the circle. especially older mage hawke and older anders with grey in their hair, (with. KIDS. ?!), and the vague sense of choked awe from the (former) circle mages they meet. when i was in the circle, love was only a game. it gave the templars too much power if there was something you couldn't stand to lose. no mage i know has ever dared to fall in love. this is the rule i will most cherish breaking. how many of them watched their lovers -- lovers they never held or slept with or even kissed -- turned tranquil, how many lost their lovers overnight to failed harrowings. how many mages kept their eyes shut, turned away from intimacy, out of fear it could be used against them. that they would be used against someone else, their lives ripped away for the crime of falling in love. how many heard the screams of mothers ripped away from their children just after birth. how many heard the sobbings of apprentices ripped from their families at night. and then, to see handers -- both mages, both so fiercely, unrepentantly, defiantly in love. mages who love each other, who have loved each other for years, who will always have each other, when they've never had that before. doesn't it give you hope for the future.

#sorry but handers is The ship. possibly of all time. just. the idea of other mages looking at them and seeing how much they love each other #and the defiance in that love when the entire world is telling them it's WRONG because they're mages #it's a metaphor for something i'm sure but i just. fucking love them.#(they're definitely both a bit freaky but that's like. when you know them. i'm talking about random mages seeing the small intimacies #between them. how they share a cup of coffee. hawke quietly piling more food onto anders' plate. anders absently holding hawke's hand while #he's explaining something. etc etc. and just. the defiance in these small unthinking moments that are UNIMAGINABLE for mages to have #but here they are! having it! they have it! this life is SO possible even for you! ok fuck me up i guess)#handers

116 notes · View notes

angelthefirst1 · 13 days

Text

Thanks, Emily! She reposted the missing Carol's cookie that I need from my last post here

But it gets better. She added more context and clues.

I mentioned how the Netherlands is a representation of being in France here. I mentioned tiptoe through the tulips 🌷 playing with Sam in season 6 around the time of the Wolves. Tulips are a Neatherlans hint.

They also have very similar flags 🇳🇱 🇫🇷 with the red, white, blue, but flowing horizontal instead of vertical.

Well, she's at the hummingbird Cafe, she is marked as the hummingbird with her tattoo.

The hummingbird cafe is a representation of her in France, eating Carol's cookies, which is part of the Echelon briefing/cure.

What's in the Echelon briefing? Carol's cookie recipe...

The book on the counter says puur, what does that mean in Dutch?

Completely made of alcohol

All clues linking her to DD2 and a cure that only the highest echelons would know about.

Alcohol can be used as a sterilising or purifying agent, and the process of alcohol purification is linked to Christ's purification.

1 John 1.7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Bad moonshine (purification/light) makes you go blind.

Alcohol can also be called spirits. So completely made of spirits, it could mean made of the Holy Spirit or antichrist spirit.

Real cure/fake cure

🐦🇫🇷🍪🍸♾️🍸🍪🇫🇷 🐦

#team delusional #team defiance #bethyl #team beth lives #beth greene #beth is alive #beth is coming #beth greene lives #td #beth x daryl #return of christ #light of the world

10 notes · View notes

prophecyofgray · 7 months

Text

i know i say this like every time i consume a new media but guys. guyyys. in other lands is somethign that can be soooo the underland chronicles

#somethgn something child soldiers smth smth elliots desperation for peace and gregors defiance of his role as the warrior #somethign something making an almost impossible choice between two worlds #somethign something uh. elliot would have a blast in the underland. Not with like the constant war and violence #he'd love to write them some treaties and sort their shit out ofc. but mainly he'd want to meet every creature ever #HE'D LEARN ALL THEIR LANGUAGES!#him and hazard would have a blast with that #luxa and serene would be the coolest friends in the whole world #sorry this started out with me comparing narrative devices and themes but now im just pairing characters off together. but like.#what a CROSSOVER it would be. sorry i know i know im crazy #actually luxa and luke would get along well i think. idk. im jsut saying things now #goodnight #the underland chronicles #in other lands #i love making niche posts <3 #audie talks #audie reads

26 notes · View notes

fellhellion · 9 months

Text

had thoughts. went insane as per usual.

#long post #look. LOOK. is it just the 2099 brainrot? yes. is andor the more cohesive and nuanced critique of authoritarianism? also yes (though 2099 is #going more for a capitalist critique alone)#but I have thoughts. I have EMOTIONS. when this comic works it fucking WORKS for me #2099 says you HAVE to try if you want the world to become better #that love changes the world. that even in the capitalist hellscape of Nueva York 2099 there needs to be defiance #how can it get better if there isn’t #also yeah one of these pics is just me showing off I was paying attention to the background signs abshdjfjjfjf #tunes talks 2099 #anyways CHRIST. sorry this is so long. watch andor fr it fucks #migedits

37 notes · View notes

maranull · 2 years

Text

an unstructured Ranni mess of a thoughts dump or "why I love the demi-goddess doll very, very much and I wanna hold her hand(s)"

First of all. She's trying to actually help the creatures in the Lands Between, and isn't looking for the Ring for her own, or her religion's benefit. All she's after for herself is freedom of choice and she needs that so much that she literally kills her old body so that the Fingers lose track of her.

She's so stupidly stubborn to not put her closest people in danger that she repeatedly tries to shoulder everything herself while brushing off any help and acts all bothered and annoyed when she does gets that help.

She understands her step-mother/ dad well enough to know how to break them and lose faith in the Greater Will, causing the Shattering and all that comes with it (basically the whole game).

She loves her people so much and keeps them close as much as possible:

Iji is kept around as a "war counselor" when her "army" consists of three people plus the Tarnished.

She builds her new body in the shape of her old mentor.

She constantly watches over her mom.

Blaidd is the only one that she seems to don't mind having him roam the world and that's because she trusts him so much that him getting hurt probably doesn't even register to her mind.

She's extremely powerful as the murder scene at her Two Fingers shows. (The only reason she needed the Tarnished to help her with her assassin was because said assassin had taken Blaidd form and she couldn't bring herself to kill what looked like him).

~~~

Having said all that... She is also a complete and utter goof and fails repeatedly at hiding her feelings in the most funny ways possible.

"Oh? A dogged fellow, aren't we? Or is it merely thy habit, to talk to dolls?"

She says, then after you help her she gives you her freaking wedding ring, effectively telling you to marry her.

She stacks books to make herself seem taller, she tries to be fully independent then talks to everyone about her plans, she's all grouchy when she is in mini-doll form and also goes full softy.

She bids you farewell:

"And once all is done, we shall see each other, once more."

and also stays in your pocket to keep an eye on you because she always keeps an eye on those she cares about.

She is an idiot and a master planner at the same time.

She's a horse girl.

She's so alive and human while being a freaking doll- aaaaaaAAAAA

~~~

Her driving force is freedom. Her ending is giving the creatures of the Lands Between agency and life beyond what the Greater Will and the Order allowed.

And she's not simply replacing the Greater Will, she banishes it and then she also leaves, giving the simple, non godly creatures agency over their own lives and I love that so much that already mentioned it thrice.

It's the fact that despite being a demi-goddess, and also ascending to full-on Goddess at the end, she doesn't think herself better than the creatures of the world. Or that she knows better than them how to guide their lives.

AND FOR THE FOURTH TIME: Giving everyone the freedom to fuck up, be cursed, die, live, love and enjoy their moments in the world is the best fucking thing a game ending can be. And it is so fitting that it is an ending for a world that most people see as depressing, pointless and cursed.

#ranni the witch #elden ring #elden ring spoilers #unstructured thoughts #the souls games are about perseverance and defiance #and seeing them evolve from the depressing-everything that has happened will happen and there is no true escaping from the Circle- that was #the original Dark Souls is so cool #like #yes the world is a mess and everything seems pointless and doomed to fail but fighting for something better is the very point of life #am i talking about Souls games or real life here?#up to interpretation #but ye #i love Ranni #and Elden Ring is good game go play there're mods that make it easier if you need to okay-bye

365 notes · View notes