#Christ's representatives

[katabay]

PERCEVAL THE UNHAPPY, THE MISERABLE, THE UNFORTUNATE, THE FISHER KING!

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

ALRIGHT alright. so previously I did an illustration that explained the premise of all this, that it's inspired by the narrative choices that Bresson made in his film Lancelot du Lac etc

to dive in more into it (because this is something like derivative fiction. I'm putting concepts into a blender and seeing what comes out of it): the setting is haunted by the previously existing narratives that started cannibalizing each other until it regurgitates itself into the more well known narrative beats, and something else about the invasive rot of christianity and empire mythmaking into settings. it's an intertextual haunting, if you will! and this scene takes place during the grail quest narrative, but the temptation of Perceval plays out differently.

in both Chretien (and Wolfram's) Perceval narratives, what 'wakes' Perceval up (in more ways than one. desire and self actualization in one go!) is seeing knights, something his mother tried hard to keep him from. so instead of the temptation of lust & etc in the Morte narrative taking the form of a lady, it takes the form of a knight. the temptation to renounce one's faith to serve something else remains.

so Perceval still stabs himself, but instead of continuing on the grail quest in the shadow of Galahad, he becomes the narrative's Fisher King because his earlier state of being as a the grail quest hero is creeping back into his marrow. it was waiting for an opening, and stabbing yourself in the thigh is one hell of a parallel!!!

that wound isn't going to heal buddy, and the state of the setting will now be reflected on your body. sure hope that Arthur hasn't like. corrupted the justice of the land or anything. that sure would suck for your overall health.

all the red in this sequence is because in de Troyes' Perceval, Perceval takes the armor of the Red Knight and becomes known as the Knight in Red.

and now for the citations, which I will try to order in a way that makes sense!

Seeing Knights For The First Time

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

The Temptation of Perceval

Le Morte Darthur, Mallory (modernized by Baines)

The Fisher King, and Perceval The Unfortunate

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

On Perceval and Gender, etc.

Clothes Make The Man: Parzival Dressed and Undressed, Michael D. Amey

On Wounds

Wounded Masculinity: Injury and Gender in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Kenneth Hodges

The Red Knight

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

On Arthur and the Corruption of Justice

The Failure of Justice, the Failure of Arthur, L.K. Bedwell

[retourpresdetoi]

hey mouthwashing analysts, do we maybe want to think a bit before comparing a full grown man, who is just heavily disabled, to a baby? like a literal infant? especially when there's a stronger metaphorical/psychological/symbolic avatar for the baby and pregnancy already present within the narrative? (multiple even!)

[canisalbus]

Feel free to ignore this if it doesn't spark your interest but worth a shot. Can I ask what breed of dog Jesus was in your dog world?

I think dog Jesus predates most of today's dog breeds. Realistically he'd probably be some kind of mutt, probably with vaguely Canaan dog looks. But European depictions of Jesus have always been very localized, and I tend to think that in Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art he'd usually appear as a Spaniel of sorts, although it varies from piece to piece. Gun dogs more often than not.

[mkstrigidae]

Of course there are many things the adaptation of hotd is doing terribly (and I am having so much fun complaining about them), but one of the things I think they actually did extremely well in this episode was the sheer destruction wrought by the dragons. Like, it almost felt like the battle was less about the dragons themselves and more about showing the wholesale and indiscriminate destruction that they wrought when unleashed. Soldiers of all sides and loyalties getting crushed underfoot and really reinforcing this thing that GRRM has been saying over and over again: that dragons are nukes. That it doesn't matter who or to what end they're unleashed in service of, only that people are going to die horribly and pointlessly, and that what's left in their wake won't be able to be fixed. Like Harrenhall itself, standing in ruins as a monument to the fact that, even hundreds of years later, what's been destroyed by dragons (nuclear weapons) cannot be fixed by man in a way that matters (nuclear exclusion zones).

[essektheylyss]

It is SO wild when people in this fandom are like "Pelor better watch out before people really start thinking he's the bad guy, the sun can scorch as much as it can grow" as if that's a new take and not, like, an accurate summary of ancient sun worship in real life history.

[smply-sktchng]

Chainsaw Man Chapter 74 with Excerpts from Mystic by Sylvia Plath

“The air is a mill of hooks —

Questions without answer

…

I remember

The dead smell of sun…

Once you have seen God, what is the remedy?

Once one has been seized up…

…

Used utterly…

What is the remedy?

…

[karamazovposting]

Thinking about the fact that since it's explicitly stated by the narrator that Ivan has been depressed in the past and has hallucinated other times prior to the events of TBK it means he'd been dealing with mental illness for a long time but never told anyone because I love ruining my own day

[hauntingblue]

chopper has become catholic

[liquidstar]

This is such a tangent btw but on the topic of guilt tripping and reblogs... I remember a few years back there were some terrible fires in Greece (and again this year, entire island villages are gone now) and at that time I had family who were caught in them. I can't describe the desperation I felt with these horrible things happening to my family and loved ones in my country. And I remember being frustrated and desperate with how no one around me in America really seemed to give a shit. I remember blogging asking people to PLEASE care please share something please reblog this link for mutual aid please think about the stories and fires etc etc etc. And the thing is I was very much in a state of grief myself, maybe not every word or action was perfectly reasonable, because I don't realistically expect everyone everywhere to care about every tragedy in the world. You can't. Emotionally it's just not possible, especially with all the stuff going on in the states rn too. Yeah it's a lot. It's not like I blog about every tragedy that ever happens either. I understand.

HOWEVER what I also remember was at this time there were a couple mutuals very clearly making vagueposts along the lines of "remember not everyone has the energy to care about everything in the world uwu" while I was posting about family who died and family who were drifting in the ocean for hours as their homes and loved ones burned. Listen. You have to understand sometimes that when a person in grief and frustration with things going on in their countries and communities impacts them very personally beg you to care... It's coming from a place of needing to see that care in the world in general. They're not holding a gun to your head Specifically saying you have to reblog the posts, if you don't have the energy just ignore it.

You don't have to go out of your way saying "um actually I can't care about the horrible stuff you and your family and your country are experiencing rn. I'm too busy focusing on my own stuff so can you be quiet or more reasonable with your grief thanks." Like. Just keep it to yourself then??? Have some fucking sympathy for other people and understand that maybe it's not always logical. The same way you don't have the emotional energy to think about every tragedy in the world, people who've been impacted by them often don't have the emotional energy to handle that alone and may seek somekinda community or solidarity. Idk. It's not about forcing shit on you sometimes it's not about you

[hanzajesthanza]

i like how i finally (barely) got my witcher 3 game running on the next gen update, and it was doing ok starting a new game. until the cutscene let me go, and my first action of free will was to tell yennefer i wanted to have lazy day sex with her, only then did it crash

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

“because he never accepts that it's never been about righteousness--it's about repentance.” except javert killing himself IS repentance.

well, it’s like 12 different things, because bro had gone days without sleeping and very little food and water and he already had low self-worth and kept asking the amis to kill him and just assumed he was going to die AND THEN valjean upended his understanding of the world and morality. he was really going through it & there are a lot of overlapping reasons for why he jumps into the seine.

but javert is like Number One Most Responsible guy in the whole story. taking responsibility is his Thing (forever bitter the musical doesn’t include the punish me monsieur le maire scene). how else, in his derailment, could he atone for his conceived misdeeds other than by handing in his resignation to god? in the brick he had already left a note urging his superiors to treat convicts at toulon better, which is another step in his repentance (and another crime the musical commits by not including it). jumping into the seine was another step.

honestly a lot of ppl who like the book think the musical was dead wrong to exclude him from the big heaven group sing, because it COMPLETELY undermines the themes of forgiveness and compassion threaded throughout les mis. like the musical was simply wrong lol.

This is helpful context! I am still finishing the brick, although I have fully read the abridged version, and that detail about the letter wasn't included, so I didn't know that occurred! (And thank you for the message--this is a long response but I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

I agree that Javert is certainly deeply distraught and remorseful; like you mentioned, his worldview is literally falling apart, and his actions reflect his mental state. But his death isn't really repentance--in the sense that it's not what God would have wanted. To me it reads like a Judas situation: a desperate realization of a huge mistake, and doing the only thing you think can make it right, namely, ending it all. That's the just punishment for someone so wrong, isn't it?

But true repentance, meaning the repentance that the Lord desires, is about changing your ways, not "paying a price." Had Javert really understood the beauty of Valjean's mercy (an image of Christ's, just as the bishop's undeserved mercy was to Valjean himself), rather than killing himself, he would have lived to also become "an honest man"--in heart. One who could forgive and understand forgiveness, for himself as well as others. One who could recognize that he is not The Law, that he can fall, but that he can also be "brought to the light." One who could accept that men like Valjean, and men like himself, CAN change, and be changed.

It's tragic to me because so much of "Stars," and his character in the book as well as the musical, is about wanting to be righteous, to rise above his birth and the sinfulness he associates it with. It's about wanting to please the Lord by his actions. But in his end, he shows he never understood what God really wanted from him, and that's where my original phrase comes in: not righteousness, but repentance. To live, and face the man you were, knowing it's no longer the man you are. That it's never been about what you've done or can do, but about what's been done for you. That's the Gospel that he could never fully accept.

To use another example you mentioned, that misunderstanding drives why he asks the Mayor (Valjean) to punish him--in his worldview, mercy is unjust, or at the very least, unfair. Evil must be punished; "those who fall like Lucifer fell" receive "the sword." But "as it is written," God "desires mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). God would have wanted Javert to live, and Javert couldn't see that, and that's why it's devastating to me. In his misunderstanding of the heart of God, he misses what would have set him free from the chains of sin he's always been trying to escape.

That's why he's contrasted with Valjean, who (though he carries guilt about his past till the end of his life) is eventually able to face it and confess what he had done to those he loves. He knew there was mercy to be found, if only it was asked for. Javert was too blinded by pride and shame to realize it, and so, while broken, he never was able to truly repent.

For that, you must go on.

[kavehsassframe]

just saw the natlan trailer

[mortimermcmirestinks]

hey kids let's sing our silly little song!

♪ this is our silly little song ♪ ♪ I'm scared of donald trump winning another election ♪ ♪ doot doot doot doot doot ♪

[catwouthats]

…. What do you mean many other trans people don’t like the idea of Skyrocket or Gal Gardner…

I feel so alone.

[bloomingdead]

“You’re telling me it’s fine that the choices don’t matter?!?” No, we’re telling you that you’re wasting your energy being angry because it’s already decided.

[godblooded]

gale has a blue μάτι (evil eye) embroidered by his mother on the left sleeve of his robe. when he was a baby, he was gifted a gold bracelet with a simple μάτι in white enamel by his godfather. it’s traditional for the godparents to buy a μάτι baby bracelet for their godchild and it must always be worn on your left wrist. it’s not to be taken off, and if it breaks it means it protected you from ill intent and must be replaced. the μάτι wards off all evil and must be a gift bought by someone else. the reasoning for this is the μάτι is imbued with the good energy and love of the giver (this goes for all jewelry too) and therefore cannot be acquired by you, as is also tradition for any μάτι one purchases or acquires. his baby bracelet no longer fits him, and he’s never acquired an ‘adult’ μάτι, as he hasn’t yet found the perfect one that’s caught his eye.

all the trouble and crisis and mystra took him away from the possibility of such a mundanity, the simple promise of an imperative touch of memory, self. he wants his mother to buy him his adult μάτι, the one he will always wear on his left wrist. she embroidered the one in his robe. when he can, when it’s right, he wants to find her one fitting of one so spectacular as herself to craft for her. by his own hands or the meticulous hands of another, any mastery will do, but the beauty must be immaculate. perhaps an enchantment.

he still has his baby bracelet, which he cherishes as it has never broken. gale often makes sure to keep it tucked away on his person (always in the left pocket of a rucksack, always in the left inseam of his robe). he keeps it close, as its enchantment is all its own. he thinks of it as a talisman, a shield, as a boon to his courage; the strength of his family and all that came before them remembered in a trinket.