#ARC THREE / A SYNONYM FOR SLAUGHTER

[martyrdoem]

IT’S A NEGOTIATION WITH HER SWOLLEN BELLY ,     but she has been told there is little anything can do when matched against Lily Evan’s Potdar’s sheer determination. Perhaps breathing a bit more heavily than she would otherwise, a knee slides into place on either side of his hips, breakfast floating in just behind her.

“     Up you get, I won’t allow you sleep your first Father’s Day away.     ”

@marautyr​ 

[aristotlewilliams]

Why Nesta Being Sent to the War Camps Was Necessary (and my personal theories and predictions for a court of silver flames)

(This is one massive ramble because I’m so excited for the book and I have not seen a lot of theories or head canons about it so I made my own! Please bear with me this makes sense I promise)

In a court of frost in starlight we are introduced to the new potential threat the Illyrian war camps could face for the night court. The Illyrians believe their forces were slaughtered during the war as payback for how they treated Cas Rhys and Az as children. They hate how pushy Cas is with making the females train and they’ve worked around it for centuries. Plus a lot of the Illyrian camps turned to Amarantha’s side and were hunted down by Rhys Cas and Az as a result, something that also caused problems amongst the camps because of how angry they were about being hunted like animals by the inner circle. Because of all this Rhys comments on how he needs to send a “steady presence” to the camps to act as a peaceful and cunning diplomat to fix these issue before they get any worse.

Here is where Nesta comes to play. Nesta is a powerful and cunning bitch who is not necessarily a physical warrior like Feyre is. Nesta wields words as her weapons. Both Cassian and Rhys agree that this issue with the war camps is one that cannot be solved with more fighting but with peace and negotiations. If anyone is capable of making an entire war camp of arrogant Illyrian males their bitch it’s Nesta. Especially when even as human she made Lord Devlon and the other Illyrians nervous. I think unlike Rhys or Cassian Nesta won’t approach this issue with threats or just demands for her way but she’ll try and earn the respect of the Illyrians so they see her as someone to follow. (Maybe even potentially going as far as to become Lord of the camps?? There’s some foreshadowing that Lord Devlon is rebelling like the rest of the camp so there would be a role for her to fill. And she is often compared to an Illyrian, one of the reasons Rhys says he can never forgive Nesta for making Feyre hunt is because she has an Illyrian heart and is a born warrior and Cassian describes Illyrians as “strong, proud and fearless” which is literally all just synonyms for Nesta.)

Now here enters the Blood Rite. Again in Acofas Cassian dedicates a lot of time describe the mountain Ramiel, the place that inspired Amarantha to make under the mountain and the place that host the annual Illyrian Rite where young Illyrians are dumped off into the wilderness with their wings tied and their magic stifled and nothing but their clothes and are forced to survive the terrain and the dangers of the forest as well as any enemies they made in the camps. He also mentions how the Rite will be taking place the spring and spends a lot of time talking about it so it’s definitely important. I believe Nesta and Cassian are gonna compete in the Rite. In Acofas Cassian says he would even go through the horrors of the Rite again if it would ease the tension building in the camp. (Also as I stated above Cassian goes into depth about how ancient and sacred the mountain is and how besides the Rite no one is allowed to be near it so I feel like there’s definitely gonna be something super important about this place even if it isn’t the Rite which I hope is the case because I really wanna see the Rite go down . Anyways I feel like they’re gonna discover some ancient magic or evil or some shit idk but that mountain is important mark my words). Anyways the importance of Nesta competing in the Rite does a few things.

One: a main issue is the treatment of the Illyrian woman and their inability to train so it Nesta, a once mortal woman, could survive and even win the Rite it would show how capable and strong females are a lesson the Illyrians really need. (Or maybe she makes a deal or bet with Devlon that if she wins the females have to train before chores or whatever.)Two: It would cause for Nesta to earn the respect and ear of the war camp without simply demanding it. And for Cassian to win the Rite once again?? They would definitely have no ground to further challenge him as leader and commander. Three: Enduring the Rite together would force Nesta to rely on someone else in a way she has never been comfortable with before. I’m not saying Nesta needs Cassian in order to win because she’s a badass and I have full faith in her making the Rite her bitch on her own but I feel like her letting her guard down and allowing herself to be vulnerable with Cassian is what she needs for her next step in growing as a character.

So yeah basically I think Nesta is gonna go to the war camps, make the rite her bitch, change centuries of unnecessary violence and sexism all while coming to terms with her trauma and her immortality. I personally would love for Nesta to become like the queen of Illyrians or some shit especially since she used to be so boujee and spoiled (but like me too) I feel like it would close her arc perfectly. Also like come on Cassian possess the killing power of the Illyrians and Nesta’s power is literally death given flash?? HELLO!! This power couple controlling an ancient race of badass warriors?? Sign me tf up.

I don’t know where Eris and the Autumn Court fit in to any of this but oh well this is just my personal head canon so

[el-smacko]

Telesilla, the “Antique Joan of Arc”

In the first volume of the Loeb Classical Library’s Description of Greece by Pausanias, the author of the notes and English translation, W.H.S. Jones, gives us “A Few Synonyms,” as they call the section. The edition is from 1928, so “synonym” is a bit broader of a term in that it means “functionally similar words with nuance.” Anyway, in the section for graven image synonyms, he notes that Pausanias uses the word ἕδος (hedos,“seated statue”) exactly once. Naturally, I had to check it out and according to Pausanias (2.20.8) it’s one of Aphrodite in Argos, looming above a stele (essentially an aesthetic, non-supporting column) featuring the lyric poetess Telesilla, who Pausanias goes on to say that, after Argos was depopulated of fighting men, armed the Argive women to successfully defend the city against the Spartans (2.20.9-10).

A lot of the literature calls her an “Antique Joan of Arc,” and for good reason—she and the women she arms:

“were not fear-struck by their war cry (ἀλαλαγμῶ, alalagmō, onomatopoeic; fun fact, Ares was called Alalaxius, “god of the war cry”) but received their attack and fought valiantly (ἐρρωμένως, errōmenōs, implies both inner and outer strength and good health, meaning that Telesilla and the Argive women were, if not winning, at least successful in repelling the siege).” Of course, male Greek author that he was, Pausanias had to hedge and say the Spartans withdrew from a lose-lose situation in which they would either ingloriously slaughter the women fighters or, inconceivably worse, lose to women.

Herodotus tells a more Spartan-friendly story in which, under the lead of Cleomenes, the Spartans killed most of the Argive fighting force, burned a very sacred grove, and went home without sacking Argos. Herodotus says he didn’t capture the city either because he was bribed or, according to Cleomenes himself, basically felt he’d done enough, but Herodotus refuses to commit to any explanation in particular.

Of issue is also the Delphic oracle that predicted the outcome of the battle, interpreted differently by Pausanias and Herodotus, even though Pausanias says he’s quoting Herodotus when he writes, “But when the woman having defeated the man drives him out and great glory is won in Argos, there will still be at that time many women of the Argives with both cheeks torn in grief.” So the women led by Telesilla are victorious, but many of them lost their husbands in the battle preceding the siege. But the text of Herodotus that we have adds “And someone from the men born afterward will say, ‘a terrible, three-coiled snake was destroyed, tamed by a spear.’” In Herodotus, it’s not that woman beats man, but that the grammatically feminine “Sparta” defeats the grammatically masculine “Argos.” As for the snake thing... it’s complicated. Pausanias himself describes the area around Argos as having a shrine to “Pythian Apollo,” that is, Apollo who killed the serpent Python, literally “Rotter.” He also says he was excited to see the tomb of Aepytus, a former sovereign of Arcadia (right next door to Argos), mentioned in the Iliad by Homer (2.604) as being right beside Mount Cyllene. Pausanias says that Aepytus was killed by a sēps, some kind of snake, and that a nearby mountain was named Sepea for it (8.4, 15, 16). Now if there’s a local shrine of Pythian Apollo, I’d say the word sēps is related to sēpō, from which we get sepsis, meaning it’s a local Argive translation and tradition of “Rotter.” It would be massively ironic to have Apollo’s Delphic oracle, named the Pythia after Python, to call Argos a “snake” in reference to their own Pythian tradition. W.W. How and J. Wells in their notes on the oracle in Herodotus explain the word for “three-coiled” as being metrically easier to work with than the intended “coil-less,” but it could refer to any three of the mountains of northern Arcadia bordering on Argolis.

We are told by W.H.S. Jones, W.W. How/J. Wells, and A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (ed. William Smith) that Telesilla, though rad as hell, is probably a later addition to the story, as Herodotus is a much earlier source than Pausanias. We also know from his later treatment of Artemisia—a Greek commander fighting for Persia and played by Eva Green in the inane second 300 movie—that although being a male Greek author he isn’t unwilling to portray women in fighting roles. Of course, the story of Telesilla is in the context of Greek-on-Greek warfare, whereas Artemisia’s being with the Persians would be a betrayal of Greece. Just as Romans thought the Greeks were effeminate, the Greeks thought the Persians were effeminate and Herodotus may have been more willing to tell of Artemisia as evidence of Persian effeminacy in contrast to Greek manliness. Either way, Telesilla appears to be a blend of the historical Argive poetess and some ancient and long-forgotten war goddess (pre-Greek or eastern), invented to account for how Sparta and Argos both technically won and thereby fulfilled the Delphic oracle—all because Sparta pulling a drive-by without capturing or at least sacking Argos sounds rather improbable. Until, of course, you consider one of the modern sources above, ADG&RB&M, which notes in the entry for Cleomenes that “we must remember the Spartan incapacity for sieges.”

An ancient mythological enigma that boils down to the simple tactical fault of an otherwise powerful force.

[martyrdoem]

" THIS MUST BE THE STUPIDEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN. ”     (     Her grin states otherwise, as does the way she draws nearer to the motorcycle    ).    Sirius just within reach, tactile hands seek him out as a chin tilts to prop itself on his shoulder. No matter that she needs to stand on her toes to do so.

“     –––      Can I fly it?     ”

@cewyllenw​     /     starter call.

[martyrdoem]

𝘛𝘈𝘎 𝘈𝘙𝘊𝘏𝘐𝘝𝘌 : 𝘕𝘈𝘙𝘙𝘈𝘛𝘐𝘝𝘌 𝘈𝘙𝘊𝘚