#And her downfall

[greek-mythic-bitch]

so erm. I’ve been thinking about Helen of Troy a lot recently so idk have a poem

Meanwhile, Helen of Troy dances. She points her toes and stretches her arms above her head As she twirls through the silent halls of a palace that hates her. In some other story, She is a tragedy. Doomed by the Fates, Doomed by her knife-edged beauty To be nothing more than vain Troy’s prize, Vengeful Greece’s traitorous whore. In her mind, her sister Clytemnestra plays the lute with soft, careful hands (nothing about her is soft anymore) And she delicately turns to the rhythm of it. She bends one knee, Then the other, Softening her arms to hold in front of her lithe body Like her husband’s shield. She is the face that launched a thousand ships. The bodies that fall outside the city walls -in this other, dreadful story- Are lain at the altar of Helen’s beauty. One leg lifts behind her, Back arching and arms extending with the divine grace she has always possessed. Outside the walls of Troy, Achilles screams in his murderous grief. The body of his beloved lays before him Still and bloody from Hector’s hand And still she dances. These men, Clytemnestra would say, Are ridiculous. Vain, preening idiots who want nothing more than an excuse to die or to take what they don’t deserve. And, oh, isn’t that what Helen is for? A prize to be taken, Or a cause to gleefully die for? In this other myth, she is going slowly insane. Like gentle, scared Cassandra (Helen wonders why the girl is never angry) She has no cards left to play. She shifts onto pointe, And executes a graceful leap that would have any woman cheering And any man drooling. All of them want her, she knows, So why will no one help her? The only visitor she gets is Paris, Who takes what he wants And is less than gentle about it. She misses Hermione. Outside the palace, Hector runs. Achilles will catch him, she knows, So why does he bother? One may as well ask why Helen has not yet slit her wrists, Since she knows both Greece and Troy want her dead. Ragged breaths rip from Achilles’ lungs, And he throws his spear. Still, Helen dances. Folding one leg underneath her body, She softly drops to the floor. She does not make a sound. The Fates were cruel, indeed, To give her the body of a woman. Achilles and Hector be damned- She would surely be the greatest of them all. Or would she? As she balances on the tips of her toes, Helen holds enough rage to level the city of Troy without Odysseus’ tricks. But, she ponders, would this rage come with her? No. This rage is a woman’s alone.

[watchingwisteria]

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded mfer happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

[lemonsharkgirlfriend]

so rhaenyra starts s3 with a god complex, believing herself to be the prince that was promised from aegon the conqueror's dream... but hugh and ulf will betray her, mysaria will misunderstand her, coryls will undermine her, bartimos will underestimate her, daemon will abandon her, her people will turn against her and burn her castle and kill her dragon. and when everyone who accepted rhaenyra as queen rejects her, the only person left to love rhaenyra will be alicent, who never loved rhaenyra as queen but rhaenyra as a person ("she was the vision that sustained him [...] it was his love for her that kept him resolute in his choice of heir."). alicent, who abandoned her gods and duty to go to rhaenyra on dragonstone and appeal to the person beneath the crown ("i cast myself on the mercy of a friend who once loved me."). alicent, who's made a god of rhaenyra, not as queen, but as the girl she read with beneath the godswood ("come with me.").

[johnnyspells]

+ bonus:

[c-kiddo]

quick drawing of Asha in a digital painting style i dont usually draw in but whatever, ill stop messing with it and just post. i like her a lot

[id in alt text]

[ariadne-mouse]

Let's pour one out for Archmage Cassida Previn who spent her whole life developing a weapon (in a desperate bid to save her city) and now in rapid sequence is systematically destroying her life's work (in a desperate bid to save her city)

[undead-knick-knack]

Father Milo: *looks in Trist's general direction*

Ayden:

[funblogoftricks]

Noshir during the first 2/3 of Downfall: Playing low INT character for laughs, but also uses his habit of repeating others' words in meaningful ways, both bringing lightheartedness to the group and accidentally (?) highlighting and reminding us of recurrent themes in the work as a whole

Me:

Noshir during the last 1/3 of Downfall: "I'm scared", referring to The Emissary as the Lawbearer's son, USING A CHILD'S VOICE AS THE EMISSARY ENTERS DEATH'S DOMAIN

Me:

[nemorein]

Emissary of the Lawbearer.

@noshirdalal

[triaelf9]

~Family~

[shorthaltsjester]

Why are your children bound by rules you will not follow?

Critical Role, Campaign 3, Downfall Parts 1-3 // Commandments of The Prime Deities according to the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn

[yashley]

So sad. Do you think I do not understand the sorrow of responsibility?

[risky-witchy]

Was watching a video called ‘Marisha being proficient in note taking’ (watch the video it’s epic the link is here) where Beau is going crazy conspiracy mode and the things that gets brought up is Aeor, specifically Cognouza and in that she and Jester have a moment talking about it splitting from Aeor, specifically theorizing that maybe it is ‘a defense mechanism gone wrong’

I don’t know how much Matt had figured out at this point but from what has been revealed in Downfall,,, this theory is right on the money. It would be interesting to know if Matt had this thought out already or if Marisha’s rant inspired it, either way she knocked it out of the park - when watching the video I was shitting my pants cause of how much more Aeor lore we know now and what scraps we had of it back then and Marisha still figured that shit out it’s just impressive

[oddthesungod]

I'm tired of this human duet No civilizing hides Our animal impulses🐺

[johnnyspells]

just sisters being sisters

[immult]

like what do you MEAN both pelor and sarenrae are the god of light but pelor was of light because he lit up the entire vessel to chase the darkness away and sarenrae was of light because asmodeus was of flame. he was burning and he was burning so brightly that the light from his flames clung onto her for eternity. his pain informed her existence. her light mocked him at every step. whose light do you think lit the nine hells forevermore?