#A Swift Return
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Book Review (Blog Tour): A Swift Return - Fiona Barker
Hello! This morning I am joining The Write Reads ultimate blog tour for A Swift Return by Fiona Barker, which was published by Tiny Tree Books last month. A massive thank you to Tiny Tree Books for sending me a physical copy to review. Disclaimer: I received a copy as part of The Write Reads Tour. All thoughts are my own. Book Summary: Aria has her head in the clouds. Yusuf keeps his feet on…
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#A Swift Return#Bilingual#Blog Tour#Book Review#Children&039;s#English/Arabic#Fiona Barker#Howard Gray#Picture Book#TheWriteReads#Tiny Trees Books
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sprinkling some tayblessings onto your dash ✨
#HAPPY RETURN OF THE ERAS TOUR#feeling like myself again#tayblessings#tayprincess#the eras tour#ts the eras tour#tayfairy#taylor swift#swifties#taylor nation#taylors version#tswiftnation#ts eras tour#eras tour#ts fanart#tsartists#my art#Taylor swift art
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i'll still harbor your love in my heart. promise.
loml, taylor swift || calyspo, george hitchcock || i'm not sorry for loving you, jorge rivera-herrans || la la land, damien chazelle || pink in the night, mitski || (credits in images..)
#web weaving#web weave#poem#spilled poetry#spilled thoughts#web weavings#webweaving#writeblr#on love#la la land#mia and sebastian#calypso#epic the musical#web writing#lyrics#taylor swift#on regret#on soulmates#on returning
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=> fight (your husband)
#dungeons and daddies#dndads#normal oak#taylor swift dndads#normal oak swallows garcia#dndads spoilers#dndads s2#who's ready to return to our roots (unfortunate child fight rings)#i for one am scared lol#i'm a firm believer in clerics kicking ass but i'm sooo concerned#my artwork
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luke & leia || peter
taylor swift / phoebe bridgers / anton chekov / jodi picoult / lindsey drager / jandy nelson
insp.
#u see the vision??#web weaving#luke skywalker#leia organa#luke & leia#a new hope#empire strikes back#return of the jedi#original trilogy#taylor swift#the tortured poets department#the last jedi#star wars
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I Love You, That's All
The Louvre - Lorde/Edgar Degas/The Creation of Adam - Michelangelo/Art Heist, Baby! - @otrtbs /The Gathering Storm - Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky/The Last Great American Dynasty - Taylor Swift/The Louvre - Lorde/Unknown/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/New Year's Day - Taylor Swift/Margaret - Lana Del Rey/Unknown/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/New Year's Day - Taylor Swift/Ships in a Storm - Ludolf Bakhuizen/Interior with the Artist's Wife Emilie Heise - Carl Holsøe/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/Half Return - Adrianne Lenker/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/My Tears Ricochet - Taylor Swift/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/Fourth of July - Sufjan Stevens/Unknown/Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss - Antonio Canova/Bigger Than The Whole Sky - Taylor Swift/Love in the Heart of Everything; The Correspondence between Vladimir Mayakovsky & Lili Brik/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs
#i had a little thought#and by a little thought i mean I saw a tiktok#about ahb... set to half return#and then this appeared#so here we are#doing fic web weaves now apparently :/#<- i say that as if I didn't fully do a road trip fic one and just never acknowledged it again#the color scheme was fighting me with this one though#it simply did not want to work#web weave#web weaving#lorde#edgar degas#Michelangelo#art heist baby!#Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky#Taylor Swift#Lana Del Rey#Ludolf Bakhuizen#Adrianne Lenker#Sufjan Stevens#Antonio Canova#jegulus
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You don’t need a reason to love somebody, you just do.
#dndads#dndads spoilers#dungeons and daddies#dndads s2#dungeons and daddies season 2#scary marlowe#lincoln li wilson#taylor swift dndads#normal oak#SOBS SCREAM ROLLS ON THE GOUND#THESE KIDS MAN AUUGGHGGHHFFHHEJJEWOAIFJVNSKF#I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. SO MUCH#that episode was SO GOOD. FUUUUCK#when drawing this i had the realization of OJHGUHFG I LOST MY ART STAMINA#I’m getting back there though babey IM MAKING MY WAY BACK#also fuck it we ball#the era of cal posting art in the middle of the night returns#I NO LONGER HAVE PATIENCE FOR SCHEDULING POSTS#cal draws
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The return of the King ✨❤
#gigantic game#go gigantic#gigantic rampage edition#tyto the swift#fanart#digital illustration#digital artist#digital art#digital drawing#digital sketch#myartstyle#myart#yeeees#the return of the king#i love that man#im sobbing#i have a crush
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we’ve made it to london n3 yall and it has been a wild ride! i hope you guys have been brainstorming some good guesses because i have to be honest there isn’t much to work with swirling around my brain haha but even so its time for the surprise song game! just leave your guesses in the tags or replies and the winners will receive shoutouts from yours truly 😊
my guesses are all over the place. i’m going to double down on my imgonnagetyouback x better than revenge combo but i also think london boy is a possibility. for some reason i also really feel like she’s going to finally sing the full version of so high school so i have to say that. and for insurance purposes ill go with so long london x the 1 on piano. who the hell even knows
#i feel like she’s going to save so long london for her return to wembley tbh#but we will see#i have no clue why i feel so strongly about so high school#also this chaotic guess is 6 songs so it’s technically possible! don’t come for me#mine#taylor swift#surprise song game#i also wonder if since she only did like 2 seconds of it she will repeat cbbh#but this time in full#remember when i heard it from the parking lot in philly 🥲 SHE SOUNDED SO ANGELIC
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some people are saying that daemon loved younger rhaenyra more and that's why it's her younger version he sees in harrenhal and even so it's obvious younger rhaenyra has a special place in his heart that but does not mean he loves older rhaenyra less. I think what's hard for him is that younger rhaenyra adored and idolized him and older rhaenyra still loves him so deeply but is no longer worshipping every step he takes especially in the situation they are in now. She still desires him, she still wants him but as she said herself and made clear before she can no longer wait for him even if it means that he is not at her side. It hurts her and she is still waiting for him to return but she is tired of chasing him just for him to slip through her fingers again. And deep down daemon always knew that he put her through a lot. Younger rhaenyra was always craving his presence and everytime she thought that maybe this time he would stay he was gone all over again. Younger rhaenyra was going absolutely crazy about him and idolizing him made it easier for her to deal with him being gone while she was already aware that the way he treated her was not okay. Now it's not enough to bring her gifts and to take her on a adventure, she needs to feel secure. And relationship go to different phases that does not mean you love someone less but in a different way, more solid. I think they both still share those moments of being high by each other's touch and feeling the rush, the desire is still there but right now it's not the time for it (even so they deserve a kiss and make up sex) and can we please all remember how this man was touching her face and looking at her in the fight scene like did that man look like he was not craving her touch?? He is there in harrenhal and out of his mind because he simply can not deal with what she said. This man fucking dies for her. Like he is still so crazy in love with her and I think if we got more scenes of them being married and happy at dragonstone maybe more people would realize that. And I really hope after this whole visiting alicent we get to see rhaenyra being allowed to feel her rage.
#daemon targaryen#rhaenyra targaryen#daemon x rhaenyra#daemyra#hotd#younger daemon and rhaenyra always make me thing of don't blame me love made me crazy by taylor swift#and they still have that affect on each other but people need to understand the situation they are in like???#HE FUCKING KNOWS HE WILL DIE IF HE RETURNS AND FIGHTS FOR HER AND HE DOES IT ANYWAY!#like hello?
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n like the thing is there is no need for neither palestinians nor israelis (or non israeli citizens living in israel) to die. the hostages couldve been released months ago in a deal. no lives r worth more than others it doesnt work like that. israeli lives shouldnt take precedence over palestinian lives, and its horrible how often they do n how popular that way of thinking is. n u can say all of that n not like. get mad at ppl for getting kidnapped from their homes or from a party?? like its their fault??? r u insane???????
#at the end of the day i wish a swift release to all displaced ppl refugees n hostages n for all to return n rebuild their homes#n that future is POSSIBLE thats the thing.#like imagine being so entitled that u sit in ur safe comfortable home looking at ppl who went thru months of unimaginable horrors neither u#nor any of ur loved ones will ever experience in their lives and going 'yeah its no big deal actually'#like kys im so serious
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Seeing Faces
It’s rare when we get a shipment to deliver that’s not packaged somehow — either in Earth-standard boxes, another world’s version of shipping crates, or a livestock pen of some kind. Even that bunch of alien trees had been thoroughly wrapped at the bottom. But this collection of machinery parts didn’t have so much as a layer of cling-wrap on it. I guess the owners figured these things were sturdy enough not to need it.
They were probably right. The metal chunks were heavy. I tried to guess what they were made for as Blip and Blop muscled the biggest ones onto a hover sled, clearing the way for Paint and me to gather up the smaller pieces. Captain Sunlight bid the customer farewell and shut the cargo bay door.
“I think these look like vertebrae,” I said to Paint. “Greasy vertebra. Ew. I’m going to need a new shirt.” The offworld engine oil of whatever didn’t seem acidic at least, so that was nice. I sighed about the black smears.
“Strange vertebrae,” Paint said, juggling her own armload of odd shapes that didn’t seem to be rubbing off on her orange scales. Not that I was jealous or anything. “There would need to be a dual spinal cord.” She tapped a claw on one of the holes.
“Hm, yeah. There are probably animals like that,” I said. “Or robots, as the case may be.”
Ahead of us, Captain Sunlight opened the door to the appropriate storage hold, then headed off on captainly business. It was impressive how different a vibe she gave off compared to Paint, for all their physical similarities. Both were little lizardy people, but one strode with her lemon-yellow head held high, every inch the authority figure, while the other was Paint. She somehow bounced when she walked, even when weighted down by unwieldy metal things.
“I’ll bet these stack really well,” Paint said. “They look like they interlock. We could probably build a spinal column without them falling over.”
“We probably could,” I agreed. “But I don’t want to be the one responsible for bending one of the flanges because we wanted to test it out.”
“Hm. Yep yep yep. But I maintain that we could.”
“We could.”
The two of us entered the storage hold to find Blip and Blop racing to see who could unload the sled faster. It’s not that the Frillian twins were overly competitive, but they were twins. They’d apparently hatched at the same time, and had been in a low-key competition to see who was better at life ever since. But they smiled while they did it.
“Done!” Blip declared, setting down a lump of metal big enough for Paint to hide behind. She raised her hands in triumph, fins fluttering.
“Doesn’t count,” Blop said as he put down his own piece. “You didn’t line them up right. Mine are tidier.”
They squabbled about this while Paint and I unloaded our metal chunks nearby. I had to kneel to keep from dropping the things. It would be just my luck if they did warp on impact, or bounce off each other and whack me in the shin.
The Frillians took their debate out the door before I finished. They’d already moved on to who could steer the hoversled with the minimum of touching.
“Ha,” Paint said. “They do stack.”
I turned to see only one of the things set on top of another, with Paint ready to catch it if it slid. She took it down before I could say anything.
I just nodded and arranged my own into a reasonable huddle, then wiped my hands on my shirt. It was only when I moved toward the door, with a look back at the big pieces, that I got a good look at the one that Blop had set on its side.
This was the logical place to put it, not sticking out past the rest, but the thing that caught my attention was the shape when seen from this angle. Those two holes could have been eyes, and the flanges were shaped like stubby arms. There were even a couple slots in the middle like nostrils.
I burst out laughing.
“What?” Paint demanded.
“It looks like Zhee!” I said, pointing. “Big bug eyes and everything!”
“What does?” Paint asked. She came to stand next to me, following my arm, but just looked confused. “Where are the eyes?”
“These!” I said, stepping closer and pointing at the holes. “And those are the arms. Isn’t it perfect?”
Paint cocked her head as if slightly tilted vision could unlock the answers. “Arms?”
I repeated myself, but she still looked lost, so I found a notepad and pencil in a storage cupboard —reliable even when the batteries all run out — and sketched what I saw.
“Ohh, I get what you mean now,” Paint said when I showed her. “Those parts are lifted like pincher arms, and those are roughly the same proportion as Mesmer eyes.”
“Yeah, it’s uncanny,” I said.
Paint took the notepad to study it closer. “How did you even notice that?”
“It was pretty easy,” I told her. “It just jumped out at me when I looked from the right direction. Like seeing faces in clouds, you know?”
Paint’s blank expression said that she didn’t know.
“Do you not do that? Find patterns of familiar shapes in random things?”
“No?” she replied. “Is that a thing I’m supposed to be doing?”
“You don’t have to! It’s just something that everybody does on Earth, ever since we’re kids. It’s probably from a long history of watching for camouflaged predators in the bushes. You’ve got camouflage on your planet, right? You must.”
“Yeah, sure,” Paint said easily. “But I guess not that much. I’ve never seen a face in a cloud; that sounds terrifying.”
“Not really; it’s more like feeling smart for spotting something. Well,” I amended. “It could be a little unsettling if you see a skull or something. But that’s rare. There are whole systems of divination about this sort of thing.”
Paint looked like she was about to ask a million questions, but right then the sound of familiar clicking footsteps tapped down the hall.
“Zhee!” Paint called, whirling with the notebook in her hand. “Zhee, look what Robin saw!”
Zhee came into view looking just as eyecatching and purple as usual, halting at the doorway while Paint eagerly explained the conversation we’d just had. Quickly and enthusiastically. With lots of waving the sketch around, and pointing back at the machine part.
I felt like apologizing as he stared with an unreadable alien expression. His antennae weren’t even moving; I couldn’t tell what he thought of it all.
Finally Paint finished talking. “She says it’s probably because her species watches for predators in the bushes. Isn’t that amazing?”
Zhee made a point of looking slowly from the sketch to the metal thing, then to me. I braced myself for judgement.
Instead, Zhee raised his pincher arms into the same pose and declared, “I am the danger that lurks in the bushes.” Then he slunk out of sight, many legs scuttling in a quickstep way that he knew darn well I found creepy.
Paint blinked at the empty doorway, still holding the notebook.
“Aw, man,” I said. “He’s picking things up from Trrili.”
Paint immediately closed the notebook. “We definitely shouldn’t show her.”
“Agreed!” I said.
After a moment of thought, Paint tore the page out and handed it to me, then took the notebook back to the cupboard. I pocketed it with a final glance at the metal vertebra that looked remarkably like a cartoonish Mesmer squaring up for battle.
Someone had left a roll of no-residue marking tape on a box nearby. I grabbed a strip and stuck it onto the metal, with the ends curved up.
Now the thing had a goofy grin that possibly no one would recognize. But if there were any humans on the receiving end of this delivery, they ought to get a good laugh out of it.
~~~
The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come! And I am currently drafting a sequel!
#my writing#The Token Human#humans are weird#humans are space orcs#haso#hfy#eiad#pareidolia#I definitely had to check how to spell that one#seeing faces in clouds#you know the one#'drunk octopus wants to fight you'#that picture of a coathanger#if you don't recognize that phrase look it up; it's a great accidental octopus#and oh yeah#I am definitely writing the sequel to A Swift Kick to the Thorax#very exciting#lotta fan favorites making glorious returns#I just wrote a scene with Vittr that I find extremely entertaining#and you might too#we'll just have to see!
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this is the batman i love to see
#he genuinely wished the best for oswald#a fellow oprhan#it was only when he saw he was buddies with shreck that he got suspicious#batman returns#batman#bruce wayne#oswald cobblepot#the penguin#penguin#dc comics#swift-tricker's posts
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Gaylor/Kaylor and Oz: Parallels and Theories 🌼🌈❇️
CW: Light Spoilers for L. Frank Baum's Oz book series (books 1-15) and major spoilers for Return to Oz (1985). And this post is very late-stage-Kaylor-specific, so if that's not up your alley, that's chill.
There is now a Vol. 2 with new additions and info! I recommend reading this part first.
Overblown Analysis Under the Cut ↓
As a huge Oz nerd, I and many others have noticed many Oz media parallels in Taylor's music. I wanted to piece together some I've seen mentioned and some I've noticed myself. More things could pop up as time goes on, so I could imagine me editing or making a second part to this post if necessary.
Part 1: Rainbows 🌈
In the 1939 film, Dorothy's home, Kansas, is portrayed as a dreary sepia or greige color, that way the contrast to the gorgeous technicolor of the land of Oz could be even more effective on the audience. Somewhat surprisingly I guess, this sepia color is reflected in the book, with Kansas being described as "the great grey prairie" and even W. W. Denslow's original illustrations of Kansas being colored in greige; the pages don't include more color until Dorothy is swept into the cyclone on her way to Oz.
So many of Taylor's lyrics describe events turning her world from colorless to colorful or vice versa. "The rest of the world was black and white // But we were in screaming color" from "OOTW", "You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else" from "Illicit Affairs", "If all you want is gray for me // Then it's just white noise, and it's my choice" from "BDILH", "Like a rainbow with all of the colors" from "ME!" turning into "I'm just... in shades of greige" from "The Prophecy", etc.
For TTPD, from a gaylor perspective, the sepia and greige theme of the album is supposed to reflect that for Taylor the closet is colorless and sad. It also invokes old Hollywood and how closeting is an old-fashioned practice figuratively and literally. Closeting is a practice based on outdated mindsets and fears and it's been a practice since Hollywood as we know it today was beginning to be established. MGM Dorothy actress Judy Garland was in at least one lavender marriage and might've been queer herself, but the latter isn't as confirmed as other victims of closeting of the time like, say, her husband Vincente Minnelli. Taylor often utilizes vintage imagery in her music, romanticizing it, but the song "TTPD" (and other points in the album) calls her out for it with her lover having to remind Taylor that they are living in modern times despite being held down by old-fashioned ideals. The Wizard of Oz (1939) film is arguably the epitome of old Hollywood nostalgia, so it makes sense for Taylor to use it as a way to tell the story she wants to tell, especially if it's a queer one since Oz is very special to a lot of queer people.
For what it's worth, Ashley Park performed the film's song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on The Drew Barrymore Show in what looks to be the Christian Siriano rainbow dress. Fun! Curiously, I can't find a video of this performance, I just happened to stumble upon this GIF on giphy.com and an article talking about the performance.
As an extra tidbit, in the Oz books, the rainbow is personified in the character Polychrome, the youngest daughter of the rainbow. She happens to be featured in one half of a certain famous quote from The Road to Oz. Polychrome comments, "You have some queer friends, Dorothy," to which Dorothy responds, "The queerness doesn’t matter, so long as they’re friends." This quote is theorized to be the inspiration for the phrase "friend(s) of Dorothy" in queer slang. And it's nice to have a friend like Dorothea, of course. Speaking of which...
Part 2: Dorothy and Ozma 🌪️🌺
Dorothy Gale needs no introduction, but I will give Princess/Queen Ozma one since she's a more niche character. Ozma is the rightful ruler of Oz. The "Wizard", Oscar Diggs, was not meant to rule over Oz. He went to great lengths to usurp the throne from Ozma's father, Pastoria, and hide Ozma away as a baby, dumping her on a witch named Mombi, who enslaves her and disguises her as a boy named Tip so she and others won't know her identity. She learns the truth about who she is and takes back her throne in book 2, The Marvelous Land of Oz (This backstory is why Ozma is a trans icon, along with a sapphic one). Ozma and Dorothy meet each other in book 3, Ozma of Oz, and are inseparable from there on. A common queer interpretation of Oz sees Kansas as like the closet and Oz as being out and free. A part of why the queer interpretations of Oz work particularly well in the books is because in The Emerald City of Oz, Dorothy and her Kansas family move to Oz permanently when Kansas stops being liveable for them. So Dorothy becomes the second ruler of Oz and Ozma's "constant companion" at Ozma's "proposal", as L. Frank Baum describes it. Dorothy is the only person allowed in Ozma's bedroom unannounced, which is cutely domestic. Baum's story and John R. Neil's illustrations of the two often depict them as being very close, holding hands, and kissing. It's not really knowable if Baum intended for it to be seen this way, but many modern Oz book fans see them as a couple.
Naturally, there's the theory that Taylor's song "Dorothea" is about Karlie, as well as the fact that Karlie dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween 2023 and did a partly-Oz-inspired photoshoot in 2010, among other Oz-themed things. Also, after the first book, Baum had a falling out with Denslow and appointed a new illustrator, John R. Neil; Neil's design of Dorothy sports a blonde bob, which reminds me of the "Karlie Kut" a bit, even if that's coincidental. Since the Karlie as Dorothy theory is pretty well established, I want to forward a theory about Taylor taking on the role of Ozma.
For starters, Taylor wears a gingham green dress in her music video for "Karma (ft. Ice Spice)" as she skips and sweeps down a yellow brick road in red shoes, looped braids, and lemon beret. This outfit is a bit perplexing, as while it seems very Dorothy-inspired, it actively makes itself just different enough from how Dorothy is illustrated in the first Oz book and seen in pop culture. It could be suggested that this is for copyright reasons since 1939 Dorothy is not in the public domain yet and using that likeness would require making a payment. However, thanks to the book specifically describing/illustrating Dorothy as wearing blue and white gingham and pigtail braids, these features can still be used, as all of Baum's Oz novels are in the public domain. Oddly, the only potentially copyright-able aspect of Dorothy's costume is the one that Taylor kept, the ruby slippers exclusive to MGM's '39 film, since in the book Dorothy's shoes are silver. So why were all these unnecessary changes here?
My main theory is that Taylor is subtly invoking Ozma in a way that would still be recognizably Oz-ian, as I don't think most people would catch on to the Oz reference if Taylor dressed as a more accurate-looking Ozma. Hence why the gingham and red shoes are present even though Ozma is never described as wearing anything like that. Ozma is often depicted in long flowing white or green dresses. And while Ozma's hair is usually free in Neil's illustrations, her hair is sometimes tied into a bun, and Taylor's looped braids seem to be in the same family as a bun (I don't know how else to say that, I hope you get what I mean...). The lemon beret is hard to explain. As far as I know/can recall, lemons have never played a major role in any Oz media, so my guess is that the hat is meant to match the yellow brick road or maybe slightly invoke the fighting trees from the film and book. Since Taylor's outfit is similar but not the same as Dorothy's, it could be interpreted as Taylor dressing as someone adjacent to Dorothy, or a friend of Dorothy's, and Ozma would definitely fit that title. Ozma is also a fairy, so this also lines up with my Taylor is the beast to Karlie's beauty theory, since a fairy is a creature. And as the small, coincidental cherry on top, Ozma was originally described as blonde like Taylor in the story's text, despite the fact that Neil always drew her as a brunette. Dorothy's appearance outside of her clothes is rarely if ever given, that way anyone could see themselves in Dorothy, her design not mattering too greatly. The only clue to her physical looks is in the illustrations, but the consistency changes over the Oz series when it comes to Dorothy's design, so again it doesn't matter. Kind of like how, whether a song has male pronouns or not, it’s always describing Karlie, the "design" of the muse not mattering. And it actually does make some sense for Ozma to have the ruby slippers, even though she never had them in the books, but more on that in the next part. If Karlie is Dorothy, Taylor is Ozma.
An alternate, more flimsy idea is that Taylor is dressed as Dorothy in her green dress returning to the Wizard with the wicked witch's broom as proof that she melted her. However, this doesn't quite work for me personally, as in the film, Dorothy never got a green dress from the Emerald City. And while book Dorothy did get a "green" dress, she never had to bring the witch's broom to the Wizard and her dress wasn't actually green but white; it only appeared green in the Emerald City due to the green spectacles everyone was tricked into wearing by the shamming Wizard. And of course, book Dorothy's slippers weren't red like Taylor's, but silver. Maybe I'm being too particular, but to me, the details of the two titular versions of Oz make this idea weak.
Another idea is that Taylor is dressed as an amalgamation of Dorothy and the witch, which is definitely an interesting thought. In the 1st book, both Dorothy and the witch have no magic of their own and need to obtain magical items, like the silver shoes or the golden cap. But the difference is that the witch uses her power to do evil while Dorothy doesn't know the power she has, even by the time the shoes get her to Kansas again, as they presumably could do way more than that. The idea of Taylor combining the two is interesting, but again the red shoes put me off.
I think the Ozma theory works the best (and I think it's the cutest).
The story of Ozma being unrightfully taken from her throne and hidden away from everyone and herself reminds me of many stories told through Taylor's music. Lyrics like "I (I) don't (don't) like your kingdom keys (keys) // They (they) once belonged to me (me) // You (you) asked me for a place to sleep // Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)" from "LWYMMD" and trapped imagery in MVs like "Willow" feel somewhat reminiscent of that story.
Taylor isn't any kind of genderqueer as far as anyone publicly knows for sure, but Taylor definitely seems to have no problem with aligning herself with masculinity and taking on male roles. Take things like the wonderland photoshoot (Lordy! 🤭), Taylor semi-confirming she's Folklore's JaMEs, "The Man", "Peter", and maybe etc. Ozma being a girl but forced to present as a guy for years could be seen as similar to Taylor having to paint some of her songs about women as being from a male perspective, or some songs never being officially said to be from a male perspective being assumed to be so anyway, like "Question...?"
One more small parallel between Taylor and Ozma: Ozma is often pictured as wearing two poppies, one on each side of her head, seemingly in her hair or connected to her crown. Reminds me of "Say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair" from "The Great War".
Part 3: Return to Oz 👠
Return to Oz (1985) is an unofficial sequel to The Wizard of Oz (1939) made by Disney. It takes the stories of The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz and combines them into an original story. At least in America, this is the only feature-length film to feature Ozma and attempt to vaguely adapt the novels more closely. (Context for RTO photos in the image descriptions, which is the case for every image and GIF on this post because why the hell not)
Return to Oz adds a setting that wasn't featured in any of the Oz books: a mental hospital. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, concerned that Dorothy isn't sleeping and won't stop insisting Oz is real, send Dorothy to a mental hospital in an attempt to get her help (not out of malice). As we know, TTPD features the theme of asylums prevalently. The treatment chosen to help Dorothy is electroshock therapy, similar to Taylor receiving electroshock therapy in the MV for "Fortnight". In "Down Bad", Taylor says, "They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about the existence of you", just like how Em and Henry thought Dorothy needed psychiatric help when she talked about Oz being real.
When Dorothy stays over at the hospital for treatment, a character named Nurse Wilson (Kansas doppelganger of Mombi) escorts her to her room; Nurse Wilson wears a black dress very similar in style to Taylor's black dress from "Fortnight".
When the power goes out and the electroshock therapy isn't given a chance to begin, a fellow patient revealed later to be Ozma helps Dorothy escape the asylum by freeing her from the bed she's strapped to and bolting with her. Ozma and Dorothy slip into a river while running away, in which Ozma finds an abandoned chicken coop for Dorothy to ride through said river to Oz, Dorothy fearing Ozma drowned during the process until the end of the film. This is similar to Taylor and Post Malone's character escaping the asylum after Post cuts the power in "Fortnight". Ozma unstrapping Dorothy from her bed is similar to the nurse who unchains Taylor from the bed in "Fortnight", theorized to be played by Karlie herself. And Ozma finding the coop for Dorothy to ride away on is reminiscent of Taylor clinging to her piano in "Cardigan". Clinging to something when in rough water is common imagery, so it could definitely be coincidental, but I thought I'd mention it.
In this film, Ozma is trapped in a mirror by the witch Mombi, reminiscent of Taylor depicting herself as trapped behind glass closets in numerous MVs. After Dorothy saves Oz, she is the one to free Ozma from her glass prison by touching her hand and guiding her out of the glass, similar to Post and Taylor in the last scene in the "Fortnight" MV. Ozma in the mirror behaves like Dorothy's reflection, which reminds me of Taylor having Post's tattoos when she wipes her face in the mirror as if to say she's a reflection of his character.
Dorothy gives Ozma the ruby slippers before leaving Oz (Disney paid for the right to use them). That could help to explain why Taylor wears the ruby slippers that Ozma never had in the books if she's truly dressed as Ozma. And notably, when dressing up as Dorothy for Halloween, Karlie wore a full Dorothy costume, except for the ruby/silver slippers, arguably the most important part. As if Karlie was in "Kansas" and gave Taylor her shoes.
Dorothy chooses to return home in the end, but Ozma gifts her a way for them to communicate: through her mirror. This way Ozma can watch over her and when Dorothy wants to return to Oz, Ozma will make it happen. I've mentioned the parallels with the glass closets, but this also reminds me of "A tiny screen's the only place I see you now" from "Dorothea". In the book and '39 film, Dorothy uses her shoes to get back to Kansas, but in RTO, they are presumably going to be used to get Dorothy back to Oz when the time is right. So maybe after Taylor potentially comes out she will use Karlie's ruby slippers to sweep into the rescue and save Karlie from Kansas/the closet and back to Oz/freedom with her. Outside of RTO, it could also work the other way, with Taylor using the shoes to go home, especially with all the lyrics Taylor's had about returning home to/with her lover. Kansas doesn't represent anything bad in the original story, so it's possible that Kansas isn't a debilitating cage/closet, just home where you feel safe with the ones you love. Ozma also encourages Dorothy to keep their communication secret. Dorothy wants Aunt Em and Uncle Henry to know of Ozma, as she calls for Em to come and look as soon as she summons Ozma. But Ozma seems to see it as best kept quiet, no exact reason given to the audience from what I can tell, but it's understood by Dorothy and Ozma themselves. Pretty similar to Kar and Tay maintaining their closet for reasons we gaylors don't fully get to know, at least not yet.
(I didn't know where to put this little factoid, but in this film, the only times Ozma really smiles is at Dorothy. It's not important, just a bit cute and sad.)
And as a bonus for you Spade riddle fans out there, when Dorothy meets Ozma in the hospital, Ozma gifts Dorothy a pumpkin because "it's Halloween soon". The pumpkin is a Kansas doppelganger to an Oz character called Jack Pumpkinhead, who calls both Ozma and Dorothy "Mom" because Dorothy saved him from Mombi and Ozma built him and brought him to life. A bit reminiscent of Karlie and Taylor having Levi and Elijah if you ask me. I'm admittedly not a huge riddles person because it goes a bit over my talents, but I think they're intriguing and I'm curious if the riddles and Oz/RTO together would mean anything.
There's debate on whether Post's character is supposed to represent Taylor working with herself to get free or Karlie. I think it could be either or even both in a convoluted way. I like both theories. If "Fortnight" is based on RTO, the roles of Ozma and Dorthy seem switched, with Dorothy rescuing Ozma from the asylum. However, the tattoo mirror scene suggests that Taylor is mirroring Post's character, or playing him, and if that's Karlie, maybe the MV could be seen as Taylor playing Karlie in a sense since they're "twins" whose pasts are "parallel lines", while Post is either playing Taylor or Karlie; they are one and the same. The MV is really interesting to ponder in general.
Part 4: Miscellaneous Oz Connections ❇️
Lightning round (filled with tons of reaches)! ⚡️
In the "ME!" MV, Taylor and Brandon running up to the green building with a rainbow beam on it whilst in green marching band outfits looks similar to Dorothy and her friends running toward the Emerald City in the '39 film.
The all-pink soldiers in the marching band scene of "ME!" remind me of Glinda's all-female red army in the books.
In "loml", Taylor sings "The coward claimed he was a lion", a reference to the cowardly lion.
The men in the "ME!" MV falling from the sky with umbrellas reminds me of Dorothy and her cousin Zeb falling through the sky with an umbrella down to Oz in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.
Taylor might've been in a Wizard of Oz play at her school in 2006. The linked post doesn't give too much evidence admittedly, but I think it's worth saying that the play at least happened at her school.
I wasn't sure where to put this mini-analysis, but I think it's interesting that Taylor associates Dianna Agron with Wonderland and Karlie with Oz and the differences that could suggest. Alice and Dorothy go through similar adventures, but the two go about them very differently. Dorothy adapts to Oz very quickly and loves it there, enough for it to be her second home. Meanwhile, Alice certainly doesn't enjoy Wonderland as much as Dorothy loves Oz, itching to get out and stay out. Dorothy is very active in her role, making friends and changing Oz forever, while Alice passively goes through the motions and lets things happen before escaping to the next thing. It seems like Baum wrote the Oz books to give children lessons on friendship, feminism, and more, while Lewis Carroll wrote the Alice books with the exact purpose of saying nothing and giving birth to the genre of "nonsense writing". And Wonderland is definitely a dream in the original two novels while Oz is a very real place in the books. I know the associations seemingly have to do with the muses’ actual taste in fairytales, but I wonder how the differences speak to the story Taylor’s spun in her music about them. Assuming both Oz and Wonderland are freedom to some degree, does Wonderland being temporary speak to Taylor and Dianna as a couple, while Taylor and Karlie are still ongoing IMO, just like the Oz book series to this day (Canonical Oz books are still being written by different authors. There’s 40+ of them)? Is there something in the fact that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an English fairytale and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is considered the first American fairytale, and Karlie convinced Taylor to stay in America and live in New York rather than London where Dianna was? Do Alice and Dorothy’s different reactions to their discovered worlds speak to how both Karlie and Dianna feel about closeting vs being out or maybe how they feel toward Taylor in some way? I genuinely have no clue, but it's some interesting food for thought. (This isn't Dianna, Swiftgron, or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland slander btw, I don't know enough about Swiftgron besides the basics to do that.)
In Conclusion 🌼
I have no way of knowing if Taylor has even read the Oz books, seen Return to Oz, and knows all this information, but I think it's fun that these connections are there. If there are more connections you thought of or ones that you think I missed, let me know!
Thanks for reading!
#this was so much fun to put together!#i love putting my hyperfixations together!#i can't believe i found all the needed return to oz images just casually online#i thought y'all were just going to have to take my word on the scenes looking like fortnight#i put way too much detail in this#i even added image descriptions for crying out loud#i just wanted to add the context to the return to oz scenes in case someone didn't know#and then it felt weird to *not* give *every* image a description#even though everyone here likely knows good and well what the context to fortnight is#don't regret it tho#perfectionist till i die bitch#kaylor#late stage kaylor#lsk#gaylor#gaylor swift#friends of dorothea#friend of dorothea#lgbetty#lgbettys#gaylor theory#parallels and theories
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no collective thoughts just drawings before i DM tonight
#dndads#dungeons and daddies#grant wilson#sparrow oak garcia#sparrow oak#nick close#nicky swift#hermie the unworthy#normal oak swallows garcia#normal oak#scary marlowe#terry jr stampler#someone reminded me scary had her hand cut off during the soccer game in hell so thank you random citizen#also saying it now i think album wise puberty 2 would hit normal like a ton of bricks#like i could make a list of all the songs that would kill him but i wont lol#i dont know if the grant/sparrow sketch is necessarily shippy nor do i know what their ship name is.... so thats up to you lmao#my artwork#return of the purgatory tatt lets go
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Having a song stuck in my head is so annoying because it doesn't match my mood at all. Like right now I have I Think He Knows in my head right after rewatching Doomsday which is really screwing with me because for the past few minutes I've been stuck hearing "I want you bless my soul" with a basebeat of the Doctor screaming while Rose gets pulled into the Void.
#it's legitimately driving me up the wall#at least I don't have to worry about mind readers#a telepath would be in my mind for 5 seconds then fuck off never to return again#doctor who#the doctor#rose tyler#timepetals#tenrose#doctor x rose#ten x rose#the tenth doctor#10th doctor#doctorrose#doomsday#dr who#dw#taylor swift
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