#Ernest Littlefield

[elenath9]

Hugs in Torment of Tantalus.

[bagheerita]

Look at this baby ok, technically this isn't the same character but still

[thekinglemingle]

It always seemed odd to me that having confirmed the gate worked and how the coordinate system worked, that they never tried to bruteforce another address after they lost access to Abydos. Instead the gate sat abandoned until Apothis rocked up.

Even if they didn't know about Ernest's team, they demonstrate it was possible using manual dialling and 40s technology. How much quicker would that happen using automated dialling and an understanding of the phase space addresses could exist in?

[mariocki]

The Ape Man (1943)

"Six months ago, we made an astounding discovery. It was so far in advance of anything that's been done to date, but... Jim decided to be the guinea pig for this experiment himself. I tried to talk him out of it, but you know how stubborn he is when he gets an idea in his head. We made the experiment and... unfortunately it was a great success. So great, in fact, that we've been unable to counteract the results."

[miirshroom]

Elden Ring Elemental Allegory Hypothesis

So there's a question that has been on my mind for a while: does this Buckler shield look like a Helium atom?

There is an episode of Stargate SG-1 called "The Torment of Tantalus". A researcher named Ernest Littlefield has been stranded alone on a alien planet for over 50 years since 1945. The planet was called Heliopolis and was at one point the centre of power for Ra - a parasitic snake-like alien that lived inside a human host and presented himself as a god to the people of Earth. But long before this the planet was once the meeting place of 4 alien groups who communicated using the universal language - atoms.

I think it possible that one of the more subtle layers of Elden Ring is in using references to the periodic table of the elements to fill in some gaps in knowledge.

Summation of Sets - counting Rivets and Gemstones

For reasons that will become apparent later, the Buckler Shield is actually not the best example to start with because it is too generic and represents a few too many possibilities. Two better examples would be the Riveted Shield and Moon of Nokstella as both examples could be construed as referencing the moon (Selene):

Riveted Wooden Shield: Outer ring: 12 electrons - magnesium (Mg) Inner detail: 22 electrons - titanium (Ti) Combined: 34 electrons - selenium (Se)

Moon of Nokstella: Ring of small gems: 34 electrons - selenium (Se) Gems in settings: 4 electrons - beryllium (Be) Combined: 38 electrons - strontium (Sr)

I had an entire other post breaking down the elements of the Moon of Nokstella. But here I will run through the Riveted Wooden Shield.

The Riveted Wooden Shield is starting equipment for the Warrior class and the image upon it is of a sword and tree. The most likely reading of this is that the "tree" is represented as a conifer above ground and it's root system below ground, and the sword bisects these horizontally. The odd curvature of lines above and below the sword tip suggests also that the sword pierces a round object - perhaps an eye or full moon. The aesthetic of the Warrior implies a connection with the Blind Swordsman who long ago sealed the God of Rot, and indeed the head piece of this set covers and blinds the right eye (from the vantage of someone looking at the character). The right eye is associated with the eye of Horus and the moon in contrast to the left eye being the eye of Ra and the sun.

Magnesium, Titanium, and Selenium are all elements with connection to Greece. Selenium is named for Selene, the Ancient Greek word for the moon. Being the synthesis of inner and outer rivets this indicates the end product of the Blue Dancer/Blind Swordsman's actions - creation of a moon. As discussed further with the Moon of Nokstella, I believe this to be creation of the black moon or dark moon as selenium is a dark silvery metal.

Titanium is named similarly for the Greek Titans. The Titans were the pre-Olympian gods such as Gaia (earth), her son and husband Uranus (sky), their 6 male children, and 6 female children. The most well know titan is Cronus, the leader of the Titans who castrated and overthrew his father Uranus to become the god associated with the sky and the planet Saturn. The eldest of the Olympians are offspring of Cronus and Rhea: Hestia (Vesta - Virgin goddess of the hearth), Demeter (Ceres/Isis), Hera (Juno), Poseidon (Neptune), and Zeus (Jupiter). Some other Titans of note are the titan Hyperion and titaness Theia whose offspring were Helios (sun), Selene (moon) and Eos (dawn). And also Iapetus, father of the Titans Atlas (who holds up the celestial spheres (stars) on his shoulders) and Prometheus (who brought fire to man).

The name of elemental magnesium "comes from Magnesia, a district of Thessaly (Greece) where the mineral magnesia alba was first found". The word "magnet" has a similar origin as natural lodestones were also found in Magnesia. In the 1st or 2nd century BC there was an astronomer and thaumaturge named Aglaonice of Thessaly who was best known as a sorceress able to 'make the moon disappear from the sky'. It is the speculation of modern astronomers that this means that she could predict the general timeframe when a lunar eclipse would occur.

"Plutarch wrote that she was "thoroughly acquainted with the periods of the full moon when it is subject to eclipse, and, knowing beforehand the time when the moon was due to be overtaken by the earth's shadow, imposed upon the women, and made them all believe that she was drawing down the moon." Peter Bicknell notes that in most lunar eclipses the Moon does not disappear completely, but simply takes on a reddish hue. The ancient sources which discuss Aglaonice do not describe such a change of colour and there is no suggestion that she failed to convince observers that she was able to draw down the Moon. Bicknell speculates that in the first and second centuries BC there was a period in which the Moon appeared significantly less bright during the lunar eclipse due to variations in solar activity, and this might explain this apparent inconsistency." - Wikipedia article on Aglaonice

Overall, the point is that the shield can be read as indicating a time when the old Titans were supplanted by their offspring and thrown under the earth. This coincided with the old concept of the moon being replaced with a new one, which may be characterized as a lunar eclipse. Note that the landscape of the Lands Between is built upon the bodies of giants, and those giants are of a size to operate the Giant's Forge. And in agreement with the ancient mythic nature of this reading the Warrior is the oldest of all Tarnished - as the selection screen indicates "they were all warriors once".

Speculation on the Buckler Shield

Helium (He) would actually tie in quite nicely with the themes of Elden Ring. Its name is derived from "Helios" the Greek god of the sun, as the element was first observed via 7-prism electromagnetic spectroscopy instruments aimed at the sun. The first recorded observation of helium occurred during an eclipse on 18 August 1868 (also called "The King of Siam's Eclipse") by French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen. But it was not identified as a new element until a second astronomer - Norman Lokyer - observed the same spectral reading from England in October 1868 and confirmed the discovery with the help of chemist Edward Frankland.

Helium is the only element to have been first discovered in outer space before being found on earth and is very abundant in both the sun and the planet Jupiter in our solar system. It was later found on earth and isolated by chemist William Ramsay in 1895. Ramsay was also known for discovering Neon, Argon, Krypton and Xenon, and for isolating and characterizing Radon in 1910. Helium has many industrial applications such as the cooling of superconducting magnets, arc welding, growing crystals for silicon wafers and as a safer gas for lifting airships than the flammable hydrogen gas. It is generated through alpha particle decay of radioactive elements.

Buckler

A small metal roundshield. The bump in the center enables parrying techniques. A well-timed parry can break an enemy's stance, allowing a critical hit. Best suited for those prepared to take the risk to reap their reward.

The Buckler is starting equipment for the bandit class, or sold by Gatekeeper Gostoc. And based on this available information there is nothing that immediately stands out as relating to the shield being connected to helium. Although helium does have a fairly stable nucleus relative to its neighbours hydrogen and lithium, it is not what it is known for, and it is certainly not a metal. The description of the bump in the centre enabling parrying brings to mind the way that the nuclei of atoms will prefer to repel each other, thus performing nuclear fusion requires particles to be accelerated towards each other at very high speeds. Californium and Berkelium have been produced by bombarding Curium with alpha particles, Mendelevium is produced by bombarding Einsteinium with alpha particles.

There is a secondary explanation that fits - which is actually the first one that I had thought of. There is a theme in Elden Ring of shells. Turtles have shells that are symbolic of protecting secrets, snakes have shells (which don't match their species), the sorcerers have trays of shells sitting in their rises. One of the successful models of the atom is to arrange the electrons in shells, where the valence electrons in the outermost shell are available for bonding. It was coincidentally Edward Frankland again who introduced the concept of valence in the same year as the discovery of helium.

The Buckler is made of an unspecified metal, and as it happens there are many elements which are found with 2 valence electrons in their outer shell. These include Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni), Cobalt (Co), Yttrium (Y), Vanadium (V), Scandium (Sc), Technetium (Tc), Cadmium (Cd), Lutetium (Lu), Hafnium (Hf), Tantalum (Ta), Tungsten (W), Rhenium (Re), Osmium (Os), Iridium (Ir), Mercury (Hg). As well as the entire alkaline earth metal group of Beryllium (Be), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Strontium (Sr), Barium (Ba), and Radium (Ra). Whittled down the periodic table to a mere 23 or so entries of interest - not bad! And at least 10 of these (in bold) were already thought by me to be elements of interest.

And by the traces of rust on the shield the "metal" in question could be simply iron. Iron has two electrons in the outer shell and is the heaviest element produced by the sun with nuclear fusion. Iron represents a transition point - for lighter elements energy is produced by nuclear fusion and for heavier elements energy is produced by nuclear fission. Although the Earth's core is largely composed of iron, most available elemental iron in the earth's crust originated from meteorites.

This post is just an introduction to the kinds of things that I'm thinking about, really. Assuming the convention that rivets represent electrons there are so many other shields to sift through and cross reference with the other known information to confirm a real pattern. Other possible elemental references I have noticed: the variety of flame colours found in game being reminiscent of the colours produced in burning metals for flame tests; characters whose names or story themes represent mythological figures who have elements named for them; characters whose names contain a syllable that is a standard abbreviation for an element; and known types of metals incorporated in descriptions and visuals like gold, silver, copper, bronze, brass, iron, steel, etc.

And also, the buckler shield may be present in Elden Ring but it originated at least as early as Dark Souls. So that begs the question of how long ago could FromSoft have started playing with elemental metaphor go that uses the true atomic elements of the periodic table as inspiration lurking beneath an alchemical framing device.

[halestrom]

Stargate Spy AU

The SGC (Stargate Galaxy Command) was formed in 1945 upon the successful return of Ernest Littlefield from P3X-972 in 1945. Their mission was to gather intelligence from the galaxy, as well as any help they could get with technology. They succeeded and by 1970, Earth was at the same technology level as it is today in 2023. By 2023 it is advanced beyond that, but most of the world still doesn't know aliens exist, even though a fair number of human-aliens live among them happily. (Teal'c is making a killing as a audiobook reader)

The current head of the SGC is Dr. Samantha Carter who has a dual PhD in Astrophysics and engineering. Her second in command is Dr. Rodney McKay who has the same degrees. They met in college and sparks flew. Of all sorts as they decided to build a plane for fun one day and made friends with the local machinist. (there was one night okay? they don't like to talk about it). Daniel Jackson, Littlefield and Catherine's protege) would be in command but they keep losing him to different planets for a few months so it never worked out. (Cam and Vala make sure he's safe.)

They have a close working partnership with many different nations at this point and so have international staffing. Ostensibly this is known as Cross Border Training or CBT and has ended up helping with the lessening of tensions around the world. (the politicians took credit but everyone knows the marriage of Evan Lorne to Radek Zelenka started this road).

The current President for the US, Jack O'Neill, along with his running mate Elizabeth Weir, are both big fans of the SGC, as well as the CBT and so they're working on drawing up plans to try and make sure there is no funding issues going forward. Declaration of Independence for the Command Kids as Jack calls it. Or DICK. (Yes, Elizabeth is aware of this, but the name will change like most of their other names have. The worlds a better place but she can get a lot more done behind the scenes and Jack has no issue being a figure head. He knows he's pretty. And it means he can flirt with Dr. Carter a lot more.)

John fell into it by accident. Literally. There had been an issue with the air vents and so someone (not naming names but it rhymes with Davanaugh) decided to open one of the emergency exits which opens onto a running trail and he fell into the hole because it wasn't there. He somehow wasn't injured, but unfortunately, this isn't the movies and unlike Men In Black they don't have the neuralyzer and so there's no way to erase John's memory of seeing a six foot scaled man with a pair of wings and a third eye. It's just easier to pull him into it. (rodney's working on the neuralyzer, but he's glad John didn't get memory wiped because he's got a good brain...and a good lot of things)

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 2.17

Beer Birthdays

George Younger (1722)

Ernest Davis (1872)

John A. White Jr. (1878)

Wendy Littlefield (1956)

Marty Jones (1959)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Billie Joe Armstrong; rock musician (1972)

Arcangelo Corelli; composer (1653)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt; actor (1981)

Michael Jordan; Chicago Bills G (1963)

Denise Richards; actor (1971)

Famous Birthdays

Enrico Banducci; nightclub owner, "hungry i" (1922)

Red Barber; sportscaster (1908)

Michael Bay; film director (1965)

Noah Beery; actor (1882)

Jim Brown; Cleveland Browns RB (1936)

Buddy DeFranco; clarinetist, bandleader (1923)

Isabelle Eberhardt; Swiss explorer, writer (1877)

Dorothy Canfield Fisher; writer (1879)

Paris Hilton; celebutante (1981)

Hal Holbrook; actor (1925)

Barry Humphries; actor (1934)

Arthur Kennedy; actor (1914)

Friedrich Alfred Krupp; German manufacturer (1854)

Tobias Mayer; German astronomer (1723)

Valeria Mazza; model (1972)

Samuel Sidney McClure; publisher, writer (1857)

Loreena McKinnitt; pop musician (1957)

Mary Ann Mobley; actress (1939)

Lola Montez; Irish dancer (1821)

Huey P. Newton; political activist (1942)

Andre Norton; writer (1912)

Jerry O'Connell; actor (1974_

Lou Diamond Phillips; actor (1962)

Christina Pickles; actor (1935)

Wally Pipp; New York Yankees 1B (1893)

Gene Pitney; singer (1941)

Rene Russo; actress (1954)

Horace-Benedict de Saussure; Swiss physicist, founder of "Alpinism" (1740)

Margaret Truman; writer (1924)

Montgomery Ward; department store founder (1843)

Thomas J. Watson; businessman, IBM president (1874)

[merelyspecters]

Sooooooo has anyone created an AU where Ernest Littlefield was related to Carson Beckett or...

All I'm saying is that the first time Daniel Jackson meets Carson, he blinks. That guy looks a heck of a lot like the old photos Catherine has of Ernest. It's only after he casually mentions the resemblance to Catherine that she mentions Ernest had family in Scotland. It's only later that Daniel mentions it to Carson, and Carson himself realizes the connection. Ernest is his great uncle. The Gate's always been in his blood.

[oxideblack]

[g8z]

Paul McGillion as Ernest Littlefield

Obsessing over this tidbit from SG1. He looks so handsome like this.

[mysg1spacemonkey]

Torment of Tantalus

[scifidancer]

STARGATE SG-1 / "The Torment of Tantalus"

[stargatecaps]

[michaelkenmore]

i was sad so i started a new sg1 rewatch yesterday and... god. the episode about ernest and catherine is so profound, i forgot it happened so early in the series and that it was so heavy. i wish we had seen more of them after this moment. and i really do wish that the alliance of the four races had ever been discussed again like!!!! tbt to the furlings ever even existing lmFAO

[nerdgatehobbit]

Look, it’s Carson Ernest, with the young Catherine!