#God of winter and death

[theartofdyingtogether]

Death can be Fat, Sid Hammer, 1964

[theartofdyingtogether]

This is what it is all about

Rejoice, For it is A World That We Bury

by Randy Ortiz

[glitter-stained]

Prompt:

After Red Hood stopped killing and someone leaked footage hinting that he's the second Robin, he expected to fight for every morsel of territory, for everybody to desert him and the murder attempts to triple.

And, well. It's not like he doesn't find himself in a rigged warehouse on Monday, walking off that one explosion with singes on his back. It's not like on Wednesday, a bullet pierces through a hole in his armour and he's losing half his blood in an alley. And sure, someone takes advantage of him throwing his helmet away on Friday (he was out of grenades and needed a bigger bomb) to fear gass him, but it's fine, he can function normally under fear gass nowadays.

Except. Except nobody deserts him. By Monday, the attempts have completely stopped. He walks into a meeting with his men and sees his goons' hands won't stop shaking, and even his lieutenant won't look him in the eyes.

Jason is confused, and so are the other bats, but soon the rumours reach their ears: you can't go after the Red Hood, because no matter what you do, once you've targeted him it's over, like a dog with a bone, he'll get you eventually- no matter how you shoot or how many explosives you use. It doesn't matter that the Red Hood doesn't kill, because the Red Hood doesn't die.

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

his daughter is not a weapon!

[derangedrhythms]

Winter is for dying, descending, hiding, forgetting. […] We welcome, for a time, destruction, chaos, death [...] We do not fight it. We submit to it, for it is what the season demands.

Jacqueline Holland, from 'The God of Endings'

[theartofdyingtogether]

Lover surprised by Death, Hans Burgkmair the Elder, 1510

[shirecorn]

Tumblr keeps popping up to sell me ad free dashboard. But what it doesn't understand is that me and the ads have a sort of symbiosis at this point.

The guys from the fake gameplay trailers for a predatory mobile app are my blorbos

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Currently brainrotting over the idea of Mobei-jun as Hades and Shang Qinghua as Persephone. That is all.

[tutterypuff]

also, everyone is talking about how Simon has this huge capacity for empathy this this and that about how empathy is so integral to his character as if this guy didn't just spend the first two episodes of this show torturing a goose to death

[theartofdyingtogether]

A new beginning

Alteration. Transformation. Loss, ending, or parting of ways. Boredom. Depression. Stagnation. Handling failure or disaster. Regeneration required. Bereavement. Forced removal. Immobility. Recovery from illness or shock. Transition.

[theartofdyingtogether]

The Dance of Death (Totentanz), Unsigned, 1919 - Poster for the movie directed by Fritz Lang

[hewantshisbrideback]

ARYA STARK AND THE GODS ❦ BOURNE FOR THE GOD OF DEATH

Thirty different gods stood along the walls, surrounded by their little lights. The Weeping Woman was the favorite of old women, Arya saw; rich men preferred the Lion of Night, poor men the Hooded Wayfarer. Soldiers lit candles to Bakkalon, the Pale Child, sailors to the Moon-Pale Maiden and the Merling King. The Stranger had his shrine as well, though hardly anyone ever came to him. Most of the time only a single candle stood flickering at his feet. The kindly man said it did not matter. "He has many faces, and many ears to hear."

The Many-Faced God, also known as Him of Many Faces, is a deity worshipped by the Faceless Men, a guild of assassins established in the Free City of Braavos. The tale of the guild's beginnings centers around a figure of unknown origins, the first Faceless Man, who heard the prayers of the slaves to their various gods of death and came to conclude they all prayed to the same god "with a hundred different faces", the Many-Faced God, and that he was "that god's instrument".

This belief came to be reflected in the Guild's temple, which has a large public sanctuary that contains idols of thirty death gods. The religious order refills its pool of black water with a poison, so that drinking from it leads to a painless death. Visiting worshippers light candles to their god, then drink from the fountain using a stone cup, then go lie in one of the alcoves. Others take advantage of special alcoves, called "dreaming couches", which have special candles that bring visions of the past, for a sweet and gentle death.

Followers of Him of Many Faces consider death to be part of the natural order of things and a merciful end to suffering. The guild will agree to kill anyone in the known world, for a price, considering this contract to be a sacrament of their god. The price is always high or dear, but within means of the person if they are willing to make the sacrifice. The cost of their services also depends on the prominence and security of the target.

The High Valyrian words associated with the cult and its assassins are valar morghulis, or "all men must die", and its traditional response, valar dohaeris, or "all men must serve". This philosophy runs deep. Members are made to forsake their identities for the service of the Many-Faced God, and may only assassinate targets they have been hired to kill. They are not allowed to choose who is worthy of the "gift" by themselves.

[thatonepersonguy]

Haha, funny resident evil men am I right

I also drew Chris but I hated how it turned out so for now I’ll keep it to myself. 👍

[crustaceousfaggot]

"I came here as a stranger, as a stranger I leave again."

The Terror (2018) + Winterreise (Franz Schubert, text by Wilhelm Müller)

English Translations by Michèle Lester

Context & thoughts below the cut:

I think Winterreise works really well alongside The Terror. Beyond the base similarity of "going on a long doomed journey through the cold" I just think the vibes match up really well. I first made the connection when I was listening to No. 23, where the singer witnesses a morning sun dog and compares the two false suns to the eyes of the woman he'll never see again:

Winterreise (or The Winter Journey) is a song cycle for tenor and piano written by Franz Schubert in 1828, set to the work of German poet Wilhelm Müller. It's loosely narrative in nature, and follows a man who is cast out from his village after the death of his lover. He embarks on a meandering, directionless journey through the frozen wilderness, commenting on the things he sees and feels. The end of the song cycle is vague, and the wanderer's fate is left uncertain.

I didn't include this one in the main post because I think the connection between the poem and Crozier is just one step too far removed for it to make sense in a post without context, but I wanted to mention it here somewhere because it really just feels like a perfect match.

Looking past just the text, the music of Winterreise is some of my favourite ever written for the human voice. It's bleak, it's haunting, it's Schubert at his best. There's this pervading sense of hopelessness through the entire work - sometimes raging and desperate, sometimes cold and listless, sometimes interrupted by moments of joy and light before falling again into desolation. Rarely has a piece of music left me feeling so hollow inside. The Terror left me feeling the same way.

If you're at all interested in classical music, I cannot recommend enough that you give this a listen. I'd recommend the Peter Pears recording, or the Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recording if you don't vibe with Pears' voice (I wouldn't blame you, he's got this sort of ghostly wail-like quality to his sound that can be very jarring.) There's also a 1968 video of Pears and his partner (composer and pianist Benjamin Britten) performing and discussing the music, which is absolutely worth a watch if you want to see two old gay men talk about music for 10 minutes.

Anyways, this is all to say that being into classical music does not free you from Blorbo Song Disease. If anything it just makes it more embarrassing. I can't just make a character playlist and call it a day, I have to make pretentious and long-winded Tumblr posts that would make my Song Interpretation professor claw her hair out.

[scarefox]

current QLs I am enjoying~

Every You, Every me (Thailand) : alternative universes, drama, soulmates, boss x assistant, car mechanic x customer, guitar teacher x students brother, BL actors, falling in love in every universe, humor, struggles, fluff, death, loss, abusive ex partner (not between the mains) See Your Love (Taiwan) : crime, thriller, drama, rich brat x caretaker, mafia business, mute + deaf main, martial arts, hurt / comfort, attempted murder, rich brats assistant x mafia assassin, dysfunctional family, loving family, friendship

Caged Again (Thailand) : mystery, drama, humor, animal to human transformation, boarding school, bullying, shy x feisty, animal trafficing, spirits, swim tournament, school clubs, friend group, nerd x dorky Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart! (Thailand) : action, humor, debt collector x thief, poverty, (friends to) enemies to lovers, time jump, mafia, dysfunctional family, costuming & cross-dressing, from parents disowned children, heists, betrayal, secret relationships, wound patching, social injustice, martial arts, rich snob x poor thief, child adoption, rich to poor, violence, false friends

Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu / Our Youth (Japan) : high school, nerd x delinquent, abusive parent, secret friendship to lovers, hurt / comfort, opposites attract, wound patching Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru / Love is like a Poison (Japan) : investigation, humor, lawyer x conman, court battles, cohabitation, stern x playful, power couple, blackmail, trauma, abusive parent, talking with succulents (lol), street kids, underground gang, corruption

Petrichor (Thailand) : thriller, mystery, serial killer, forensic investigation, detective x forensic pathologist, crime investigation, enemies to lovers, autopsy, gore, incompetent police, feisty x cold, corruption, lovely siblings, coworker friend group Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring (Thailand) : thai prison setting, strangers to lovers, rough environment, prisoner x prisoner, homophobia, sexual harassment, based on a real story, hookups

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan) : Love in the Air remake, students, senior x junior, bike racing, auto mechanic, dominant x submissive, friendship, seduction, sexual abuse in the past Bad Guy My Boss (Thailand) : boss x assistant, mutual pining, power couple, possessiv, business life, multiple hookup partner, dubcon, attempted murder, shady business, jealousy, so many HR violations, blackmail, cheating, abusive side couples, spying, scheming, miscommunication, slightly dark romance

recent finished ones I rec to check out:

Affair (Thailand) : childhood friends, rich vs poor, family tragedy, time jump, friends to lovers, possessive, mutual obsession, stalking, rich to poor & poor to rich, abusive ex, divorce, secret relationship, suicide attempts, doctor x musician Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (S. Korea) : martial arts, strangers to friends, friends to lovers, bullying, unrequired love, abusive parent, time jump, stern x dorky, poor vs rich, hurt / comfort, misunderstandings The On1y One (Taiwan) : enemies to friends, mutual pining, cohabitation, nerd x nerd, power couple, dorm life, exam phases, not blood related soon to be step-siblings, forbidden love, secret love, coming of age, yearning, teacher x teacher side couple, hurt / comfort, unrequired love

4 Minutes (Thailand) : crime investigation, mystery, alternative realities, time jumping, patient x doctor, mafia, shady business, murder, hookups, drug use, corruption, death, violence, criminal x cop, hallucinations, cheating, blackmail, abusive lover (not mains), abusive parent, fixing mistakes Battle of the Writers (Thailand) : romcom, childhood friends, writer x writer, fictional parallel universe, secret relationship, friends to lovers, editor x writer, writer collaboration, BL writing, social commentary, childhood trauma, strangers to lovers Eccentric Romance (S. Korea + Thailand) : mystery, crime, romcom, childhood friends, friends to lovers, mutual pining, murder, bilingual, language students, working out, school club, friend group, investigation

Meet You at the Blossom (China + Thailand + Taiwan) : historical, fantasy, humor, dark romance, magic, rich noble families, playboy, crossdressing, noble son x assassine, fake identity, intrigues, fuck or die, royalty, doctor x servant, betrayal, childhood friends, misunderstandings, hurt / comfort at times, abduction, obsession, jealousy, abuse, imprisonment, torture, illness, implied unrequired cousin crush, abusive parent, dubcon My Damn Business (S. Korea) : office romance, short series, humor, boss x subordinate, misunderstandings, fluff, jealousy, teasing, drinking buddies, BL comic, talk about exes The Hidden Moon (Thailand) : historical & present, ghosts, mystery, horror, unrequired love, death, murder, accident, different era time jumps, ghost x human, time loop, friend group, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, f/f m/m m/f side couples, violence

[nullifi-blr]

there’s something interesting about death in eldermourne. there’s something haunting the third mates, like a cold hand waiting to lead them to death.

zirk gave up his life in an effort to save irena. he made a deal with a winter fairy of death for one last chance, and failed. he died, right then and there. throughout the journey, zirk was always the first to drop unconscious. the first to die, but somehow still managing to live. even when he fully died, he was able to revivify.

fia nearly died as a child, but was saved by batilda. she is a woman stuck in her past, chasing the one person she cared for as a kid long into adulthood. irena became her one mission in life. fia is a nostalgic at heart, her powers are time based. stop the clock, rewind, and try it again.

i wonder if fia’s “time devil” and zirk’s winter fairy are one in the same. in a world of reincarnation, death can really just be the stopping of a clock, rewinding it, and setting it to go again. why would one random winter fairy reach out to zirk in that moment of desperation? why does this fairy care about this mission?

there is a haunting of death in eldermourne. monsters and fairies lurk around every corner. but no fiends. no devils. but i suppose any fairy with darker motives would seem more like a devil than a god. there is no trickier devil of time than death itself.