#As you can see. My reference point for villains is exclusively Kingdom Hearts

[shining-scion]

Alright, here it is.

“I want to be there, when you first transform.” The specter of the Shadow Queen muses, a rippling dark figure cradling her staff almost fondly as she stares down at the figure bundled in a burrower cloak. In the shadow of the eclipse tower, sheltered against pouring rain, was the young wizard— magic new and foreign to them sparking inside of their soul, coursing like waves as it surged and fought to settle, to assimilate. They felt none of this, and pointedly ignored the shade of the woman haunting them. “Ah, what did she tell you, little wizard? Was it the only way to defeat me?”

The woman’s voice is sickly high, now, and the freshly made shadowmancer stiffens, fighting to express no reaction of fear or discomfort to the mocking tone. “She’s lying to you. There is no way to defeat me. Though, to her credit, perhaps you almost have a fair shot, now… such is why I’d like to see the moment you really learn what you’ve done to your magic. The shrike that emerges from that despair will be glorious. I almost hope you survive long enough to truly face me.” They glance up, then— eyes darting to the Spider Queen’s unsteady illusion of a face in fearful suspicion. They know she only wishes to get inside their head, but memory betrays them. This was nothing like the man they had tragically fought in Dragonspyre. Never once had that conflict felt personal. “Oh, is it just the light, or have the shadows already begun to affect your eyes? Weren’t they a little brighter last I saw you?” They flinch, fingers trailing to their eyes as they glance around, sitting up straighter now as they try to find a reflective surface. “Would you like a mirror, little wizard?” Something clatters in front of them. They jolt once at the noise, staring down at the sudden dark framed hand mirror laying on the ground, jagged edges looking almost dangerous. The specter stands in front of them still, and to grab the mirror they’re forced to inch closer to the illusion, drawing back quickly once the object is in hand. “I do hope you remember what you looked like before the ritual. You’ve been here for how long, now? A few weeks? A month? A year?”   “I… only two weeks. I’m counting. You can’t trick me on that.” They reply, turning the mirror over in their hand before slowly tilting it towards their face. The Shadow Queen shrugs. “Well, it was worth a shot. The nights draw long in my web.” They make a point to show disinterest in her words, regarding their face instead, gaze deepening on their own eyes. They were a lilac, now and in the past— though the hue in the dark night of the current rain raises just enough doubt in their mind. Had their eyes changed? They had changed once, when mana flooded their soul for the first time and they acclimated to the lighter air and soaring skies of the Spiral. For it to change again would not surprise them, but it wouldn’t be welcome this time. They bring the mirror closer…

Only to jolt back as indistinct, flying swarms of bugs shoot out of the mirror— shadowy illusions like the queen herself, but enough to make them yell, enough to make them drop the mirror and slam their fist against the glass, cracking it. She cackles wickedly, haughty. “Fool girl! All reality is mine to control, and it will only get worse. Keeping the realm sane enough for you to navigate is a mercy I’ve extended to you.”

She turns away, then, regarding the rest of her domain with twisted pride. “I had hoped the fear of such a simple trick was enough of a trigger for your shadows to react, but it seems you hold yourself well. A good first step for you.”

Her form grows wispy, fading with a sudden break of dawn against the pouring rain. “I do hope our battle is well. We wouldn’t want my victory to be too easy, would we? The glory would be underwhelming…”

As quickly as she appeared, the Shadow Queen vanishes, leaving the young wizard alone in an uncertain daybreak, a cracked mirror at their feet and a simmering urge to press on in their heart.

[theliterarywolf]

What is TWST and what happened to piss the fandom off?

Here I go! Hopefully I don't make an ass of myself explaining this~!

So, TWST is the abbreviation for the mobile game Twisted Wonderland

You play as an MC who is summoned to another world via a magic mirror (that you can see referred to in the game's logo) and brought to the magic academy Night Ravens College. From that point on, you are lead by the headmaster to become more acquainted with the school's top students, who are (as you can see in the picture up top) inspired by Disney villains.

Emphasis on INSPIRED BY not meant to BE Disney villains. I emphasize that because, when Disney first announced that they're funding a Twisted Wonderland anime for Disney+, there were so many snarky people on TikTok talking about 'I can't believe Disney's making a game about anime versions of Disney villains; look at this cringe weebshit'.

Going counterclockwise, we have:

Kalim Al-Asim of the Scarabia House, inspired by the Sultan from Aladdin

Leona Kingscholar of the Savanaclaw House, inspired by Scar from The Lion King

Vil Schoenheit of the Pomefiore House, inspired by The Evil Queen from Snow White

Malleus Draconia of the Diasomnia House, inspired by Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

Azul Ashengrotto of the Octavinelle House, inspired by Ursula from The Little Mermaid

Riddle Rosehearts of the Heartslabyul House, inspired by the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

And finally Idia Shroud of the Ignihyde House, inspired by Hades from Hercules.

Also, anyone who knows my tastes, can see who would be my favorite if I was more into this game. Anyway, the western fandom for this game has had a few minor scuffles due to claims of whitewashing (with the Lion King-inspired characters not being 'black enough') or "fatphobia" (Azul, our Ursula-inspired character, was chubby as a child but he lost weight as he got older), but those were more or less squashed down due to the western fandom being small since the game was Japan-exclusive.

However, with the recent announcement of the game getting localized, some people (especially those of us who have seen this cycle happen again and again) are mentally preparing ourselves for the upcoming shitshow that will surely occur now that the barrier to entry is no longer there.

I made the joke both in a tag here and with a friend on Discord: 'Genshin Impact and Cookie Run: Kingdom both place a hand on Twisted Wonderland's shoulder. "Your turn."'

[houseofsannae]

A Fistful of Munny - Extended End Notes

Notes for A Fistful of Munny that don’t fit within the character limit under the cut!

Please, read the fic before reading this post

           All right! Welcome to the extended notes, in which I go into excruciating detail over a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter, because I like the sound of my own voice!

           Let’s start with some more broad stuff that didn’t make the exclusive end notes space. To do the Fistful of Dollars homage, I needed a place where I could have two villainous factions intersecting for Strelitzia to play against one another. After some brainstorming and asking for help from other people working on the Entwined in Trine Sorikai zine (and ultimately ignoring all their very good suggestions (Sorry, guys!)), I eventually realized that the Wasteland from Epic Mickey was a perfect place for this story, both in the sense of having mooks to destroy without Strels committing actual murder, and in the thematic sense of forgotten characters. There was just one issue.

           I hadn’t played Epic Mickey.

           And that is how I spent my summer, playing both Epic Mickey games. Both, because I was looking for a good location to set the story in in-world. Since the Wasteland is based on the Disney theme parks, I was hoping to find one based on Frontierland, their Western section. Such a location did exist – Disney Gulch – but only in the second game. Which meant I had to play Epic Mickey 2, as well. (The first one is a better game, but that’s not really the fault of the developers; they were not given the time they needed to make it as good as the first one. Here’s a video with trivia about the series that goes a little into the development.) I also needed to learn the Mad Doctor’s ultimate fate, since I wanted his Beetleworx/Blotworx to be one of the two villainous factions. In the game, depending on whether you chose the Paint (Paragon) or Thinner (Renegade) path, the Doc is either redeemed… or dead. Neither of which was helpful, so I had to invent.

           But let’s talk about characters and why I picked them in order. The short version for why these choices, at least on the Final Fantasy side, is set-up for later. Obviously I can’t go into detail why. Before that, let’s talk about the Beanie Baby.

           Chi is, as I hope you were able to guess, Strelitzia’s Chirithy. I’ve brought it up several times, but I personally do not like mascot characters. There are a few exceptions, but Chirithies are not one of them. Like I said, KHUx isn’t what happened in this AU, so you’ll have to wait for in-universe answers on why it’s a cat now. Out-of-universe reason is this was the only way I could make it palatable for myself. I arbitrarily decided on a gender for it because as a real cat, it would have a sex. Canonically Chirithies appear to be genderless, and in Japanese refer to themselves with the gender-neutral (but masculine-leaning) boku. I would’ve left Chi that way, save for the fact that he’s a completely normal cat now. (And before you ask, no, not every real cat that appears in KHΨ from this point on is a Chirithy.)

           As for Strelitzia herself, it’s hard for me to pick up a character’s voice when they’re… not voiced. Intonation and cadence do a lot for me mimicking the way a character talks, so it’s a bit more difficult when they don’t technically speak. I tried for a mix between Sora and Kairi, while still keeping her defining character traits of being shy, but also impulsive.

           You may notice that while she’s started remembering faces, if not names, the Player’s name and face still eludes her, despite her (canonical. Deal with it.) crush on them. There is a story reason for this, and will become clear once Luxu takes centre stage.

           The name “Jane” was chosen with more consideration than just “Jane Doe” being the standard name in (at least my corner of) the English-speaking world for a woman of unknown identity. See, the Man With No Name actually has three names. In A Fistful of Dollars, he is referred to (by one character in one scene, once) as “Joe”. “Joan” might have been a more clear homage, but I figure Jane makes sense. And as you might guess, in the next fic, Strels will be going by a different name, still not her own. She’ll remember her name… eventually.

           One might think I could’ve picked any old Cid, and one would be wrong for reasons I can’t explain yet. In fact, I can’t explain much of anything surrounding him yet. What I can say is no, Cidney Aurum is not dead, she’s just not related to Cid Sophiar in this fic verse. An unfortunate consequence of where I wanted to put each of them in the narrative; making them not be related was the only way it made any sense, geographically speaking.

           Hyperion on the other hand, I can talk about. He’s one of the Gremlins in Epic Mickey, and… wait, first things first. Gremlins are from an abandoned Disney film based on a Roald Dahl book, itself based on the cryptids that supposedly haunted airplanes and caused them to malfunction, the earliest known written-down mention of the concept being from the 1920s. The film never got made, but the designs Disney would have used were adapted into a second printing of Dahl’s book, and they were later used in Epic Mickey. Hyperion is, like the publishing imprint that Disney owns, named after a street that Walt Disney used to live on. In-game, Hyperion is in Bog Easy (based on the Haunted Mansion), not Disney Gulch, but his name stuck out to me as being particularly fun, so I picked him instead of trying to figure out what Gremlins actually are in the Gulch (they have names in the files of Epic Mickey 2, but not in the actual game, so it would have been a hunt).

           Regardless of where the setting ended up, for the second villainous faction, I was always going to plop down the good old Don. More things I can’t talk about. For everything FF7, know that I’m always going to be pulling from a mix of the original game, Remake, and Machinabridged. Hence, Corneo’s outfit is a mix of his original and Remake designs (which basically just means he’s wearing blue jeans instead of brown). I didn’t think bringing in his three lieutenants from Remake was necessary, especially since this was supposed to be a kind-of small operation.

           Leslie is picked up and dropped from Remake pretty much unchanged. I needed someone to do the murders Strels couldn’t, and even if he’s not a complete asshole, he’s still mostly an asshole. Have we ever seen small, Materia-like balls used to cast magic before…?

           Onto the fun bits, which is the Disney characters. We’ll start with Percy, who is from a Goofy short called “How to Ride a Horse”, from 1950. And that’s about it. The conceit in Wasteland is that all of the Toons there were basically actors, and they wound up in Wasteland if they were forgotten (that’s not exactly correct, but I’m generalizing). This is interesting, since two of the Toons in Epic Mickey are Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, both of whom… are residents of Disney Town in Kingdom Hearts, having shown up in Birth by Sleep. So that’s an interesting continuity snarl that I’m going to just ignore.

           Persephone and Pluto, on the other hand, are from an earlier short called “The Goddess of Spring”, from 1934. It was one of the projects Disney tried as practice for Snow White. If you’re about to protest that his name should be Hades, not Pluto, then you’re going to need a time machine so you can tell them back in the 30s. The Goddess of Spring is a musical, in the sense that every single line is sung. Watch it for yourself. There’s a video with better quality floating around YouTube, but for some reason it’s the French dub. And that’s why both of them sing most of their lines. I tried matching the meter of their actual parts, but Persephone’s doesn’t actually follow a syllabic pattern that I could make out. I eventually gave up and just gave her the meter from the start of the short. Pluto’s was easier to manage (and more consistent).

           The skeletons are Disney veterans, presumably the same ones from “The Skeleton Dance” (1929), but more specifically they’re mimicking what they did in “The Mad Doctor” (1933), the first appearance of our other villain. They’re fun.

           The original Mad Doctor was supposedly named “Dr. XXX”, according to the name on his door. This was before the modern film rating system was put in place; it was a different time. In the original short, the Mad Doctor kidnaps Pluto (the dog) with the intent of cutting him in half and putting his front half on a chicken For Science!, and Mickey follows him to his castle to rescue the purloined pooch. The short wasn’t a musical in the same vein as “The Goddess of Spring”, but… the Mad Doctor’s only spoken lines were a song (aside from evil cackling). While I had already decided to do the “Toons that sang in their short can only communicate through song” with Persephone and Pluto before starting on Epic Mickey 2, I hilariously discovered that the game developers had done the exact same gag with the Mad Doctor, most of his lines in the game being sung. (In Epic Mickey there were no fully voiced lines, so he speaks as normally as anyone else does). Which made it easier to write his songs here, since I could just rewrite his songs from the game. I used to write alternate lyrics for songs back in high school, so this was an interesting trip back in time for me. They were stuck in my head for weeks afterwards, but it was worth it.

           I believe that’s everything for the characters. Let’s talk about Keyblades.

           It irks me that three people in KHUx have the same Keyblade. Ephemer, Skuld, and Strelitzia all have variations of Starlight. Now, in KHΨ, there is only one Starlight, and it belongs to Luxu, so I’m going to have to decide on different Keyblades for each of them. (Ephemer’s has already been decided, and I haven’t started brainstorming for Skuld yet. No I do not need suggestions, thank you). Pixie Petal bears a noted (by KHWiki) resemblance to one of Marluxia’s alternate scythes, so that tangential connection was enough for me. Both siblings have flower-themed Keyblades – it makes sense to me.

           You might notice a few disparities in the magic. These are on purpose, and will eventually make sense. And that’s all I can say on that at the moment. ;)

           Oh, yes, one important thing I probably should have said on the main notes: I’m not going for a realistic depiction of amnesia here. Anything I got right was entirely accidental, and I’m fairly certain there’s not much. There might be a story reason for why it works the way it does… and it might be the same reason why other people from KHUx have or had amnesia in the present day…

           You know what’s funny? Although Orcuses look more impressive than Invisibles, their stats in Days are actually worse. I’m fairly sure that this is because the only time we see an Orcus, it’s actually an illusion cast over Xion so that Roxas will fight her to the death. There are no other stats for them (according to KHWiki), since they’ve never been used elsewhere.

           A friendly reminder that Apprentice Xehanort invented the term “Heartless”, which was why Aqua didn’t know what to call them until Mickey told her. Thus, nobody from the era of the Keyblade War should know the term “Heartless” without being told by someone in present day. “Darkling” was the term they used instead. I’m fairly certain KHUx ignores the continuity on this (so why should we trust its continuity for anything else, hmm?)

           I think that covers everything! Or at least everything I’m willing to share at this point. If you’ve read this far, thank you! I appreciate your dedication! ^_^

[violethowler]

Dark Enchantress

Following on from last week’s essay, I would like to talk about one character who has often been overlooked both in-universe and out. Someone who was a major character in the first game, but whose presence has diminished in the years since, even as subsequent games have subtly laid the groundwork for her return to prominence. 

I’m talking of course, about Maleficent. 

Because of the fact that she hasn’t been a major threat since the first game, many fans tend to overlook Maleficent in later Kingdom Hearts games and dismiss her as an unimportant distraction, or even an outright joke. Outside of Re:coded, her schemes have had no immediate impact on the overarching plot of any games, and she’s constantly overshadowed by bigger antagonists like Xehanort. 

However within the framework of the Heroine’s Journey, Maleficent fills a crucial role that has not yet been completed. To explain, I must first elaborate a bit more on the narrative archetype into which Sora and Rikus’ relationship falls: 

The character dynamic between the protagonist and their Animus in a Heroine’s Journey often follows what I have heard others informally label as a Dark Youth/Light Youth narrative[1]. There is no official name for this archetype, so I will be referring to it by the terms it was labeled as when I first learned of it. While the archetype is not exclusively used for romances, many Heroine’s Journey romances fit into this dynamic, as romantic Dark Youth/Light Youth stories tend to follow Beauty and the Beast, rivals-to-lovers, and enemies-to-lovers archetypes.

The Light Youth is most commonly the protagonist of a story, while the Dark Youth typically serves as a Shadow figure to the main character. While there have been rare instances where a Dark Youth is the protagonist of their own story, in most examples, the Dark Youth will be a deuteragonist to the Light Youth. The Dark Youth represents what their counterpart could have become had their circumstances been worse, and in a coming of age narrative they symbolize the more turbulent aspects of growing up. 

They typically begin the story as an anti-villain or tragic villain before transitioning to an anti hero or outright hero by the end, with their interactions with their light youth counterpart gradually driving them to change for the better. For all that various groups in fandom spaces will debate about whether or not a character “deserves” redemption, a well-written Dark Youth archetype is meant to teach younger audiences that no matter how many mistakes you make, it’s never too late to turn things around and do better.

Some examples of Light Youth/Dark Youth pairs include:

Belle & the Beast (Beauty & the Beast)

Aang & Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Rey & Kylo Ren (Star Wars: Episodes VII - IX) 

Lucy & Edmund Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe)

Allura & Lotor (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Kagome & Inuyasha (Inuyasha)

In many examples of this dynamic, the Dark Youth often spends a significant portion of the narrative under the spell of an Evil Sorcerer figure. Someone whose actions and influence create or maintain a rift between the Dark Youth and their counterpart. In order for the story to reach its climax, the Evil Sorcerer’s control over the Dark Youth must be overcome. This hold can be literal in the sense that they are physically holding the Dark Youth captive, or it can be metaphorical in the sense that their words and actions influence the Dark Youth psychologically. 

While the character that fills this role in the narrative isn’t required to be magical at all, one of the most common forms this archetype takes is the Wicked Witch (hence why I refer to it as the Evil Sorcerer). In Dark Youth/Light Youth stories that deal with themes that are relevant to real world experiences, they can often take the form of an abusive parental figure, like Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar or High Priestess Haggar in Voltron.

Thus, we come to Maleficent. Despite the fact that she hasn’t been a serious threat since the first game, her influence still lingers. She spent much of her screen time in the original game convincing Riku that Sora had abandoned him, driving him down the path to villainy. Despite working in every game since to redeem himself, her influence still casts a shadow over his interactions with Sora. While they reconciled during their reunion in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora and Riku did not meaningfully address the latter’s behavior during the first game. 

Sora’s views about “Riku” in Chain of Memories prior to the Replica reveal indicate that he believes Riku was not in control of his actions and was therefore blameless for what happened. But we as the audience know that despite being manipulated by Maleficent, Riku was in control of his actions. In order for the rift between the two to fully heal, they need to have a conversation where they talk about why Riku behaved the way he did and, in doing so, they must get to the heart of why Riku was so jealous of Sora.

As mentioned in my previous essay, the depiction of Riku and his bond with Sora across the series is consistent with how love interests in the Heroine’s Journey are portrayed. In addition to this narrative pattern, multiple textual parallels with canon Disney couples point towards Riku and Sora having romantic feelings for each other: 

In the first Kingdom Hearts, we have two prominent moments of one character calling out for another as the party flees the location of the world’s boss while it quakes around them: Aladdin calling out for Jasmine as the party flees the Cave of Wonders, and Sora calling out for Riku as the party flees Monstro’s stomach.

Kingdom Hearts II uses plot details involving Disney Princess romances to foreshadow Sora and Riku’s reunion in The World That Never Was.

Aladdin is avoiding Jasmine at the start of the first visit to Agrabah just like how Riku is avoiding Sora throughout the game as a whole. 

After being freed from Xaldin’s influence in the first visit to Beast’s Castle, the Beast is afraid to talk to Belle after how he behaved, just like how Riku didn’t want Sora to find him after how he acted in the first game. (Notably, we don’t get to see the Beast’s curse broken until *after* we’ve seen Riku no longer trapped in Ansem’s form)

Ariel is afraid that since she’s a mermaid and Eric is a human that he’ll reject her, just like how Riku didn’t want Sora to see that he’d taken on Ansem’s form. 

When Sora, Donald, and Goofy are separated from Rapunzel and Flynn in the Kingdom of Corona during Kingdom Hearts III, Goofy says that Rapunzel and Eugene will be fine as long as they’re together. The last time this phrasing was used in the series, Goofy was saying that about Sora and Riku. 

Kingdom Hearts III connects Riku’s sacrifice for Sora in the Keyblade Graveyard with Hercules diving into the River Styx to save Megara’s soul. (This is more clear in the original Japanese, as the localization translated the term taisetsu na hito [literal meaning: precious person] as “person I love most” for Hercules and “what matters” for Riku.)

In Jungian psychology, which the Heroine’s Journey is heavily influenced by, the Evil Sorcerer working to keep the romantic leads apart is symbolic of romantic/sexual interference. They represent cultural forces attempting to dictate what kind of romantic relationship is socially acceptable for people who share some aspect of the protagonist or Dark Youth’s identity. 

Maleficent got her hooks into Riku at the beginning of the series by convincing him that Sora didn’t value him or their bond. Since then, he’s gone to the opposite extreme. Instead of lashing out over his jealousy of not being the center of Sora’s attention, he bottles his feelings up. While some fans perceived his distance from Sora in recent games as him stepping back, it ‘s more accurate to say that he has resigned himself to the belief his feelings for Sora will forever be unrequited. This is best demonstrated in the Limit Cut DLC, where even after a year of multiple characters attempting to trace their connection to Sora with no results, the idea that his own bond with Sora could be important never crossed his mind until the Fairy Godmother said there was a clue in his dreams. And until Riku learns to let down his walls and admit to Sora how he feels, Maleficent will still have a hold over him. 

Despite the narrative setup for a romance between the two of them, they will not be able to get together until Riku has fully broken free of Maleficent’s influence. This is the reason why the “Healing the Wounded Masculine” stage of Murdock’s formula where the protagonist and the Animus mend the rift between them is placed very close to the end of the sequence. Freeing the Dark Youth from the Sorcerer’s influence represents their relationship with their Light counterpart triumphing over the societal forces that the Sorcerer archetype represents. Until that has been achieved, neither lead is emotionally or psychologically ready to begin a relationship.

So while Maleficent may not have been as significant a threat as she was in the beginning, she still plays a major role within the framework of Sora’s Journey, and she will continue to have a presence in the series until that role has been completed in full.

Sources:

[1] Death of a Dark Youth, Desecration of the Animus; December 20, 2018. https://www.teampurplelion.com/death-of-a-dark-youth/

[greenspeare-blog]

The symbolism and use of nature in William Shakespeare's "King Lear"

William Shakespeare's "King Lear", like many of his other works, entails a number references to sightings and objects in nature. These include various plants, animals, natural phenomena, weather descriptions, even planets. But what do these references mean, how are they used, and how well does Shakespeare's environmental awareness reveal itself, based on "King Lear" alone?

To begin with, the plants mentioned in King Lear are the following: apple, burdock, cork(y), corn, crab(-apple), cuckoo-flowers, darnel, flax, fumiter, furrow-weeds, hemlock, harlocks (burdock), hawthorn, lily (-livered), marjoram, nettles, oak, oats, peascod, rosemary, samphire, vines, wheat (1). While not all of these plants will be discussed in the current essay, we will stop to look at a few of these in their contexts. For example, in act 1, scene 5, when Lear is shunned by his daughter Goneril, he decides to visit his other daughter, Regan, in order to gain shelter, to which Lear's Fool comments:

"Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee

kindly; for, though she's as like this as a crab's like an

apple, yet I can tell what I can tell."

Apple and crab are used to show the difference in the natures of the daughters. In act 2, scene 3, Rosemary is mentioned in the passage where Edgar, Gloucester's son and Edmund's brother, has just escaped out to the countryside, away from his father, after being framed for treason:

"...The country gives me proof and precedent

Of Bedlam beggars who, with roaring voices,

Strike in their numbed and mortified bare arms

Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary;"

Sprigs of rosemary, along with the other items in the list seem to exemplify the futility in the protests of the beggar-class people. The use of marjoram seems interesting because the meaning behind it is less apparent. In act 4, scene 5, when Lear (now insane), walks in on the blinded Gloucester and Edgar and asks for a pass(word), Edgar responds with 'sweet marjoram' and Lear grants the pass. At this point, it is useful to know that marjoram is thought to have medicinal properties that could help cure certain diseases of the brain, which fits well in the given context. In act 4, scene 4, Cordelia, the daughter who was shunned by Lear himself quite early in the play, sends out people to find Lear, in response to the sightings of him:

"Alack, 'tis he! Why, he was met even now

as mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud,

Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds,

With hardocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,

Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow

In our sustaining corn. A century send forth;

Search every acre in the high-grown field,

and bring him to our eye."

As Cordelia hints, Lear was found in a corn field with a crown of different plants. In his madness, Lear gathered fairly unconventional flowers and weeds, which are either useless or dangerous. Hardocks, hemlocks and nettles are generally stingy to the human skin, with hemlock being poisonous aswell. So, Lear was not just gathering weeds, he was gathering poison. However, cuckooflower is neither poisonous nor a weed, it was used long ago as the Ancient Greeks and Romans lived and as recently as the last century for treating mental diseases (2). This might refer to Lear's subconscious wish to cure his insanity.

In addition to the rich descriptions and symbolism of the plants, "King Lear" also has references to nature on a larger scale in the form of weather, natural phenomena and planets. Due to their size and importance, these examples are not woven into the story the same way as plants are, they are given a bigger stage. In act 1, scene 1, Lear is dividing his kingdom between his daughters and describes the lands he is passing on to Goneril:

"[showing on the map] Of all these bounds, even

form this line to this,

With shadowy forests and with champaigns riched,

With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,

We make thee lady."

In the same scene, after hearing Cordelia's resolve where she professes her love to Lear as his daughter, distances herself from her sisters who are not sincere in their promises and says nothing else in order to gain his favour, Lear says:

"Let it be so; thy truth then be thy dower!

For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,

The mysteries of Hecate and the night,

By all the operation of the orbs

From whom we do exist and cease to be,

Here I disclaim all my paternal care,

Propinquity and property of blood,

And as a stranger to my heart and me

Hold thee from this for ever."

The running themes in "King Lear" to an extent seem to be irony and the act of going against nature, an example of which is shown above, where Lear swears on the sun and orbs (possibly planets),  disclaims his role as Cordelia's father and ironically, later in the play, Cordelia is the only person who truly cares about him. In act 1, scene 2, when the Earl of Gloucester hears about his son Edgar's alleged plot against him, he compares the situation to sightings in nature:

"These late eclipses in the sun and moon

portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature

can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself

scourged by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship

falls off, brothers divide. In cities, mutinies; in

countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond

cracked 'twixt son and father."

Gloucester seems to blame the revolt on nature and its cycles. His son Edmund thinks otherwise:

"This is the excellent foppery of the world

that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of

our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the

sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains on

necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves,

thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance,

drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced

obedience of planetary influence, and all that we are

evil in by a divine thrusting-on. An admirable evasion

of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to

the charge of a star! My father compounded with my

mother under the dragon’s tail and my nativity was

under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and

lecherous. Fut, I should have been that I am, had the

maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my

bastardizing."

Edmund puts his trust in Nature, he refuses to accept the exclusion that is imposed on him as the illegitimate younger son. In act 2, scene 2, Kent tries to stop Oswald, who works against Lear, and says:

"No marvel, you have so bestirred your valour.

You cowardly rascal, Nature disclaims in thee; a tailor

made thee."

It seems that betraying Lear and losing honour in that manner goes against nature and such a deed is considered to be man-made. In act 2, scene 4, a storm is heard approaching right after the attitude of Lear's daughters' (Goneril and Regan) is revealed to him, meaning that they refuse to accept him with his men. Aftear hearing this, Lear starts wanting revenge on them, however, it could be said that Lear brought the situation on himself and the upcoming storm symbolises that, it is also a direct punishment on him (Lear has to survive the storm without much shelter) for trying to go against the circumstances that he created. In act 3, scene 2, Lear gives himself to nature's mercy:

"Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!

Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.

I tax not you, you elements, with unkindess:

I never gave you kingdom, called you children;

You owe me no subscription. Then let fall

Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand your slave,

A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man:

But yet I call you servile ministers,

That will with two pernicious daughters join

Your high-engendered battles 'gainst a head

So old and white as this. O, ho! 'tis foul!"

As he awknowledges his position, Lear also seems to wish for the nature to punish his daughters.

As it turns out, Shakespeare, atleast in the context of "King Lear", was definitely environmentally aware. In addition to using quite a number of plants, some of which have multi-layered meaning in their contexts due to their historical backgrounds, Shakespeare also seemed to compare humanity to natural phenomena and weather, such as storms and the alignment of planets, eclipses, which have influence over people's everyday lives. Most characters accept nature and the power behind it, some of them blame it or try to distance themselves from it, some put their trust in it, but almost everybody acknowledges nature.

Bibliography and sources:

(1) BOTANICAL SHAKESPEARE. Gerit Quealy, Sumie Hasegawa Collins. (2017). Botanical Shakespeare: An Illustrated Compendium of All the Flowers, Fruits, Herbs, Trees, Seeds, and Grasses Cited by the World's Greatest Playwright. Harper design.

(2) William Shakespeare. (2005). The tragedy of King Lear. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 214.

THIS GREAT STAGE OF FOOLS. Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds. Source: https://stageoffoolsdotcom.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/crowned-with-rank-fumiter-and-furrow-weeds/

William Shakespeare. (1994). King Lear. Ware, Hertfordshire. Wordsworth Editions Limited.

[violethowler]

What the Kingdom Hearts Series Means to Me

Holding the physical copy of Kingdom Hearts III that I pre-ordered and paid extra to have delivered on release day is a surreal experience. It feels like a dream in all honesty. Kingdom Hearts III used to be a formless thing. A cryptid that fans hoped to catch a glimpse of but didn’t really believe existed. To put it into perspective, Kingdom Hearts II first released when I was in third grade, and I’m currently approaching my graduation from college. Six games have been released in the last decade and a half to expand on the series’ lore and set up the major pieces for the next “main” installment, but only now are we getting Kingdom Hearts III. This franchise has been with me through middle school, high school, and college. It’s a big freaking deal.

I had never been passionately into video games as a kid. My first game system was the Nintendo GameBoy Advance, and the only games I was interested in playing were movie tie-in games that adapted the plot of a specific movie. The Incredibles. The Polar Express. Ice Age: The Meltdown, Madagascar. The only other game I can remember that wasn’t an adaptation of an existing film was a weird 3D Pacman game, but I don’t remember ever playing it as fervently as I did those old movie games.

Even after receiving a PlayStation 2 for either my birthday or Christmas in 2006, the only games I would play that weren’t movie adaptations were the NickToons crossover games like Battle for Volcano Island or Attack of the Toybots. But I only played them because they featured my favorite TV character. I was never interested in the storyline. That would change one day in late-summer/early autumn 2007, when, after seeing an advertisement for it in my old Disney Adventures magazines, I rented a PlayStation title I’d never heard of called Kingdom Hearts II.  

In the beginning, I didn’t pay attention to the story. I just skipped through the cutscenes and focused exclusively on the gameplay. But as I got to the more difficult portions of the game, I started to watch the cutscenes and pay attention to the story. And the more I did, the more I fell in love with it. Once I had fully digested the story of Kingdom Hearts II, I wanted more. I went back and played the original Kingdom Hearts, then I bought Chain of Memories for my GBA. I was hooked. I started buying and reading the manga adaptations of the games. I bought a couple of collectible figurines. I. Was. Obsessed.

I spent much of my computer time in those days scouring the internet for every scrap of information I could find on the next games in the franchise. Kingdom Hearts III wasn’t in the cards yet, so I focused my attention on the three titles that I vaguely recall being collectively referred to at the time as “the handheld trilogy”: 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, and Coded. I searched with a fine-tooth comb on websites dedicated to gaming news in general and Kingdom Hearts specifically, hoping to find out more about these next three games.

In many ways, Kingdom Hearts helped me take my first tentative steps into the wider community of fandom. My search for news on the next games in the series unearthed funny fan-made comic strips about my favorite characters. Even though Kingdom Hearts III was still a fantasy by that point, I found people using Photoshop, or whatever image-editing software was popular around 2008 or so, to create ideas for what the cover art would look like. I found detailed fan art of potential new outfits for all the major characters. I found theories and ideas and the ever-raging bonfire of speculation that grows larger with each new game released. I found fan-made music videos and fanfiction to sate my hunger for more content between games. I wasn’t as involved in fandom to the extent that I am today, but my experience with Kingdom Hearts helped me dip my toes in the water, so to speak, as I started to engage more with my favorite media beyond simply consuming it once and then going back to watch/play it again when I needed something to do.

And what makes this day so much sweeter is how much effort Disney is clearly putting into promoting this game. Almost a decade ago, and the most advertising any Kingdom Hearts title got outside of dedicated gaming magazines or events was maybe a single tv commercial per game. The only way to know a new game was coming otherwise was if you were actively following the development of each title before they even locked in when it would come out. In the last six months of waiting for Kingdom Hearts III, there’s been a concert tour, multiple commercials and advertisements on both TV and social media, and even ads playing before the previews at movie theaters. After years of trying to share my love for this series, only for a handful of people to have ever heard of it, it’s a tremendous thrill to see the games I love finally getting mainstream recognition.

It’s because of this series that I even consider myself a gamer in the first place. Before Kingdom Hearts, I just plowed through every game I had, treating each level as just another puzzle or challenge to complete. But Kingdom Hearts II exposed me to the possibility of video games as a medium for storytelling, and it was through my engagement with the Kingdom Hearts storyline that I found myself seeking out other games with their own compelling stories. Final Fantasy, The World Ends with You, Horizon: Zero Dawn… These are some of the many games with stories and worlds that have enthralled me as someone who loves to both experience stories and create them. And without Kingdom Hearts, I would probably never been enough of a gamer to know or care that they existed.

When I was younger, I was only interested in games if they were available on the systems I had. But Kingdom Hearts wasn’t limited to only one console. In the early years of the franchise, the series was spread across the GameBoy Advance, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and smartphones. So, whenever my research uncovered that the next title would be on a console I didn’t own, I would go out of my way to get it, either by putting it on my holiday wish list, or by saving up the money for it myself. And usually, I would buy these platforms years in advance of the Kingdom Hearts game I’d got it for came out, so I would search for interesting games to play on it while I waited. And unlike before, now I was actively looking for things to play.

When it was just my GameBoy, PlayStation, and a handful of movie/TV show tie-ins, I didn’t go out of my way to look for new games. I relied on advertisements in my trusty Disney Adventures magazine to tell me what games that were out that might interest me. Nowadays, I annually watch live coverage of E3, the entertainment expo where game developers show off the status of their current projects or unveil their next main title. And I keep my eyes out for every title that looks entertaining from both a gameplay and story perspective, whether I see ads in a magainze, footage at E3, a trailer on YouTube, or fanart online.  

Before I realized that animation was what I wanted to do as a career, my first dream job was to be a game designer. And if your first guess as to why I wanted to pursue that career path isn’t Kingdom Hearts, then in the words of one of the franchise’s original villains, “You have come this far, and still, you understand nothing.” While I ultimately realized that animation was my true passion as an artist, it was Kingdom Hearts that set me on the idea of turning my art skills into a career. Without Kingdom Hearts, I might not have ended up where I am today. 

Most of the fandom knows that Kingdom Hearts III isn’t the end of the road for the franchise. Even aside from its immense popularity, series director Tetsuya Nomura has spoken about the fact that the series will continue beyond III, but that this represents the conclusion of the current story arc that has been going on since the original Kingdom Hearts game back in 2002. It’s fitting that this arc of the series is ending the same year that I graduate from college. This series has seen me through multiple chapters of my life. Middle school. High School. College. And in May, I’ll be a college graduate looking for a job. Each time I moved from one stage of life to the next, it always felt like the end. But it never is. But life goes on. The story will go on, but this chapter of it is over.

You can imagine, then, why today is such a big deal. This series has been with me for more than half my life. These games, and other media I obsess over to a similar degree, mean so much to be precisely because the story and characters connect with me on such a deep emotional level. My opinion on storytelling in any medium is that the ones that put your emotions in a blender and take you from screaming in anguish to crying tears of joy in the span of a few hours or less are the ones that deserve to be remembered. The best stories should leave you wanting to know more, not just out of curiosity over what happens next, but also for the satisfaction of knowing that the characters you’ve grown to love will be alright.

Kingdom Hearts has consistently checked every single one of those boxes for me for as long as I’ve been playing it. Even the prequels and midquels that ended in tragedy and heartbreak still had a note of assurance that there was still hope. Even if the games that inevitably come out post-KHIII hypothetically don’t have the same emotional impact on me that the pre-III ones did, I will never be able to stop loving the series I grew up with. I’ve been invested in it for so long that it feels like it’s woven into my DNA. This series has grown over the last eleven years just as I have, and whatever the future holds for the franchise, good or bad, I will never regret the time I’ve spent with this incredible saga.