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Childhood memories

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Leviathan and the Titans

I’m REALLY getting some Leviathan and whale hunter imagery from all this; Especially since the Titans are the only known source of land, so they’d be hunted amidst endless boiling ocean! And the resemblance to the biblical Leviathan could be intentional;

After all, it’s said that Leviathan was a whale, and the Titans are compared to whales in how they’re slain. This place is called the Demon Realm, and then there’s Belos working with the Collector, and HIS whole schtick with being an actual christian colonizer who’s incorporated his religion into his tactics. 

In the Bible, the Leviathan is said to be a demon, who will eventually be slain, its corpse feasted upon by the worthy, even as its skin is used as a tent to house this banquet. This sounds similar to how isles are made from the bodies of dead Titans, smaller creatures feasting on them… And could call to mind the imagery of Belos bringing his ‘worthy’ to reap the spoils of the hunt, as the Titan Trappers themselves have done so.

So I think there’s definite biblical parallels here, but ironic of course; The Collector is like ‘God’ for Belos and the Titan Trappers (worshipped and associated with the Sun), who aids them in slaughtering this colossal demon that dwells in the ocean. As the worthy, they are rewarded with the spoils of the hunt, living within the remains of the sea monster…

But given this show’s critiques, this seemingly positive narrative is turned around and framed as horrific and murderous; The Collector is no saint and wants to kill for the sake of it, as do the Titan Trappers, who have hunted King’s people to near-extinction. Demons are wrongfully persecuted on the isles and here, Leviathan and Titan overhunted like whales in real life because of greed.

Keep reading

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sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

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I understand why a lot of fantasy settings with Ambiguously Catholic organised religions go the old "the Church officially forbids magic while practising it in secret in order to monopolise its power" route, but it's almost a shame because the reality of the situation was much funnier.

Like, yes, a lot of Catholic clergy during the Middle Ages did practice magic in secret, but they weren't keeping it secret as some sort of sinister top-down conspiracy to deny magic to the Common People: they were mostly keeping it secret from their own superiors. It wasn't one of those "well, it's okay when we do it" deals: the Church very much did not want its local priests doing wizard shit. We have official records of local priests being disciplined for getting caught doing wizard shit. And the preponderance of evidence is that most of them would take their lumps, promise to stop doing wizard shit, then go right back to doing wizard shit.

It turns out that if you give a bunch of dudes education, literacy, and a lot of time on their hands, some non-zero percentage of them are going to decide to be wizards, no matter how hard you try to stop them from being wizards.

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The Enfield [Celtic mythology, Irish mythology]

With the head of a fox, the lower body of a wolf and the legs of an eagle as its forelegs, the Enfield is a strange sight to behold. Sometimes they are depicted with eagle wings, too. These creatures play a significant role in Celtic mythology. You see, burial ceremonies were quite important to the Celtic idea of an afterlife, as one needed to have a proper burial in order to find peace in the next world. As such, it was not uncommon for warring tribes to try and steal dead bodies of important people, such as tribal leaders. That’s where the Enfields come in: whenever a chieftain died, these fierce guardians were tasked with the protection of the dead body.

Though they were supposedly conjured when needed, I could not find details on how this conjuring process worked. Regardless, the three animals that compose the Enfield have a symbolic meaning: these guardians combined the cunning of a fox with the honour and fortitude of an eagle and the fierceness of a wolf. The Enfields also became symbols in Irish heraldry.

Sources: https://starlitden.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/creature-feature-enfield/ https://mythical-creature.fandom.com/wiki/Enfield

(image source 1: William O’ Connor) (image source 2: MBPanther on Deviantart)

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Shout-out to when I was in middle school and Disney kept airing promos hyping up the Phineas and Ferb Hawaiian Vacation episodes and I was SO EXCITED because I was ABSOLUTELY DEAD CERTAIN it was gonna be a multi-part Lilo and Stitch crossover special

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STOP BEING SELF CONSCIOUS ABOUT YOUR CREATIONS STOP SECOND GUESSING WHAT YOU REALLY WANNA DO STOP DEBATING IT'S WORTH. LET YOUR ART SERVE YOU INSTEAD OF THE OTHER WAY AROUND

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Small fantasy worldbuilding elements you might want to think about:

A currency that isn’t gold-standard/having gold be as valuable as tin

A currency that runs entirely on a perishable resource, like cocoa beans

A clock that isn’t 24-hours

More or less than four seasons/seasons other than the ones we know

Fantastical weather patterns like irregular cloud formations, iridescent rain

Multiple moons/no moon

Planetary rings

A northern lights effect, but near the equator

Roads that aren’t brown or grey/black, like San Juan’s blue bricks

Jewelry beyond precious gems and metals

Marriage signifiers other than wedding bands

The husband taking the wife's name / newlyweds inventing a new surname upon marriage

No concept of virginity or bastardry

More than 2 genders/no concept of gender

Monotheism, but not creationism

Gods that don’t look like people

Domesticated pets that aren’t re-skinned dogs and cats

Some normalized supernatural element that has nothing to do with the plot

Magical communication that isn’t Fantasy Zoom

“Books” that aren’t bound or scrolls

A nonverbal means of communicating, like sign language

A race of people who are obligate carnivores/ vegetarians/ vegans/ pescatarians (not religious, biological imperative)

I’ve done about half of these myself in one WIP or another and a little detail here or there goes a long way in reminding the audience that this isn’t Kansas anymore.

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How to spot signs and symptoms of Breast Cancer 

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Vampires in Romanian myths

There are two different types of vampires in Romanian folklore, moroi and strigoi. A moroi is a type of vampire ghost. In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grave to draw energy from the living. Morois are also known as mortal vampires, whereas strigoi are immortal vampires. They are also sometimes referred to in modern myth as the live-born offspring of two strigoi.

The strigoi are the troubled souls of the dead rising from the grave. Some strigoi can be living people with certain magical properties. Some of the properties of the strigoi include: the ability to transform into an animal, invisibility, and the propensity to drain the vitality of victims via blood loss. Strigoi are also known as immortal vampires.

The strigoi is different than a moroi. They are close relatives of thewerewolves There are two kinds of strigoi, “strigoi viu” - a living vampire witch, as well as strigoi mort  a/n (un)dead vampire that is associated with vampires or zombies.

According to Romanian mythology a strigoi has red hair, blue eyes and two hearts. The strigoi can change into a variety of animals, such as barn owls, bats, rats, cats, wolves, dogs, snakes, toads, lizards, and spiders/insects. They also have the ability to render themselves invisible. They’re also known to be capable of creating damaging storms, blights, droughts, floods and even poltergeist activity. The strigoi in some accounts is also capable of a form of astral projection appearing as shadows or ghosts.

There are several ways for a deceased person to become a strigoi. For example, if a person dies before they are married they are at risk of becoming a strigoi. Most often in a situation like this, the corpse is wed to another unmarried person around the same age to prevent them from returning from the grave. Should this technique fail, however, the strigoi will return to have sexual intercourse with their spouse, and will attack family members. The corpse should then be stabbed through the heart with a sickle or other piercing object, to prevent any more attacks. Corpses walked over by cats are also at risk of become strigoi. To get rid of them, bury a bottle of wine near the grave. Six weeks later, dig it up and drink the wine with relatives. Whoever drinks the wine will be protected against the strigoi, who will not return. A person who is filled with pain and regret will turn into a cat or dog after death and return as a strigoi to torment his/her relatives. Piercing the body of the strigoi with a needle will prevent it from leaving the grave, as will placing a candle, coin or towel in the hand of the corpse. Walking around the grave with burning hemp will cause the strigoi to become helpless. One remedy against strigoi is to bury a bottle of strong spirits with the corpse. The vampire will drink it and not return home.

If a child is born with a caul atop their head they are said to be likely to become a strigoi viu (a live strigoi). 

 So how do you kill a strigoi? Garlic is said to be potent against the vampire. Due to this weakness, most burial ceremonies have rings of garlic around the corpse, coffin and grave.

One way to dispatch the strigoi is to drive a stake, made from wild rosebush or aspen wood, through its heart(s) and into the earth to hold it to its grave. The vampire must be set on fire before it gets up. Another way is to remove the vampire’s heart(s) and burn it and the vampire, or do precisely that and decapitate the vampire as well. Then bury the remains at a crossroad as burying them at cross-roads would inhibit their ability to find and wreak havoc on their living relations and former associates.

One gypsy remedy for killing a strigoi is as follows: dig up the vampire corpse, remove its heart(s), and cut the organ in two. Drive a nail into the forehead, place a clove of garlic under the tongue, and smear the body with the fat of a pig killed on St. Ignatius’s Day and rebury it facedown so as to send it to hell if it were to reawaken.

Strigoi are said not to be fond of light, though there is no suggestion that they burn from sunlight. Travelers often stay close to a bonfire to protect themselves from the vampire. Also the main ways of detection such not having reflection are not mentioned or suggested.

It is said that if the strigoi goes undetected for seven years, it can travel to another country or place where another language is spoken and become human again. Once human, the strigoi can marry and have children, but they will all become vampires when they die.

In the Vampire Academy-series by Richelle Mead, the moroi are vampires born of vampire parents and strigoi are turned vampires feeding on moroi-blood. 

Some other facts about different types of vampires. 

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"Is it so unbelievable that I wanted to keep you safe? But, in typical Eda fashion, you're not gonna stop until you make things right"

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thats not a goat

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fun times in the human realm

(was testing out no reblog gif but. whoof. so i am putting it back. shamelessly)

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Dana's new Young Eda outfit released on Patreon, it captured my heart awwwwwww

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Yea so Ody is finally home and he’s with his wife and son. It’s all cool and fun. But hold on. Can you imagine how HORRIFYING Odysseus and his family must be to other Royals now?

Here is a king that fought monsters, witches, slaughtered most of the male Nobles in his kingdom. FOUGHT POSEIDON AND MADE HIM BEG FOR MERCY!

And worst of all, he is crazy smart. So negotiating or trying to make deals with Odysseus must be the most horrifying thing in existence at the time. You can’t threaten him, you can’t negotiate a better position than him, you can only just sit there and smile as you pray you don’t accidentally offend him.

Oh and that’s not all, If Penelope also dislikes you, you’re f***ed. Because Odysseus fought a war for 10 years over an oath. Imagine what he would do if someone tried something with his wife… OH WAIT, we don’t have to. He SLAUGHTERED them! And she might not even need him to.

She is from Sparta and by Odysseus own words JUST AS SMART AS HIM. The main reason she didn’t go out and fight those nobles/kick them out is because of the laws of hospitality (which are enforced by Zeus). But with her god piercer husband, she doesn’t need to be so polite anymore. And she held the kingdom together for 20 years! She knows how to handle business. So yea, don’t mess with her either.

And his kid? He’s a warrior of the mind now! Who has the favor of ATHENA! WHO in a very short time learned how to fight. Going from losing a fist fight, to fighting dozens of men who only overwhelmed him because he got TIRED of kicking their asses! He has ATHENA on his side as his best friend. Dont even try

Point is The Ithaca royal family is a f***ing nightmare to deal with now.

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Appreciation for this illusion teacher

they just look so supportive

(theyre from “something ventured, someone framed” btw)