#I LOVE YOU MILLER but I also want to bully the hell out of you

[sharliexth]

just started playing peacewalker myself for the first time and good lord every time kaz does or says anything i just lose my mind. he's sooo annoying. his entire outfit sucks. has to comment on everything in the most obnoxious way possible. mf is so impatient. explains how a grenade works like im a baby hes so annoying and I love him i love him so much

[kyumisyumi]

Something something something eldritch Nikto something something something

I've sifted through so many ideas for this because I didn't wanna just pick a random eldritch creature from my box of horrors and slap Nikto's name on it. But also I don't feel like I have enough info about him(ironic, considering I write about him so much) to craft him into a creature. I watched some documentaries on eldritch horrors, dived into Russian cryptids and still drew blanks but here's what I managed

Rating: E for everyone who loves Nikto

Eldritch!Nikto x F!Reader

Word count: 1

Part 2

~Taking requests~

You weren't running from the consequences of your actions, more like briskly walking in the opposite directions. Looking forward all the way because backwards held the sounds of large dogs and angry men. Their boots cracking every twig and foliage along the way, voices interrupting the once peaceful ambiance of the woods. You could hardly tell whether the growling was from the hounds or the men. And really, who wouldn't want to run away from such a thing? Not run; walk. Quickly, very quickly. You were being smart, not cowardly.

No, never that.

You weren't cowardly when you snuck into that guardsman's post. You weren't cowardly when you tried to steal the gold he confiscated from the Miller's wife, the only woman that kept you fed while the streets were your home. You weren't cowardly when you defended yourself once he caught you. And you weren't cowardly when you accidentally bashed his head in with a clay pot. He should've worn a helmet, really. A guard should always have their helmet on! What was he thinking? Now look at you, running for your life and deluding yourself as if it would change the actions of the past.

Running.

You ran your mouth, ran your mind, but no matter how fast you moved, you couldn't outrun hunting dogs. Your fault, really, for trying to do so while wearing the long, ugly skirt you stole from someone's unattended clothesline. You should've maybe stolen the guard's old pants, you knew he had some because he mentioned wanting to give them to his nephew who was in combat training. Instead you dashed out the home the moment you realized he wasn't breathing, panicked by your first time taking a life. What were you thinking?

"I wasn't-" you spat a thick glob of blood out your mouth, it's red color staining the putrid black floor. Tears staining your vision and pain plaguing your mind. "I didn't mean to." You said it over and over again but it was little defense against men who'd lost a comrade because of you. A good man. A good man who stole from widows and bullied the elderly? It's weird how two people can look at the same person but see someone different. But that train of thought was halted by a kick to your stomach. And when one of the men took the final hit, the force of it sending you against the edge of the pit, you finally felt that feeling in your stomach. The one you hid away behind conversations with yourself. Locked away behind a naive expectation that things will either go your way or go away. Your first taste of true regret. Because you got a glimpse of where that attitude has lead you. That attitude that kept you going when your parents had left you. That attitude that kept you alive when your survival was in your own hands at an age where other children were being coddled and sung to. That attitude that protected you in the harsh village slum, now had you staring down into hell. 'The pit'; a giant hole defacing mother earth's perfect form. It's surface covered in black ichor, you couldn't tell whether the walls were moving or you'd been hit so hard your vision was thoroughly fucked. This was considered a punishment worse than death. Jokesters and troublemakers got a stern talking to. Thieves and crooks got jail time. Murders and adulterers got death. But the truly damned got the pit. The punishment didn't match the crime but judging by the hate filled glares of the men surrounding you, they didn't much care.

Or maybe they did care, they cared about you as much as you did yourself, these days.

That was a more comforting thought, maybe? Maybe not. Either way, thinking about it felt a whole lot better than thinking of the weightlessness you felt as you fell. Your vision quickly losing the greens and yellows of a gentle forest to being plunged into darkness. A darkness beyond description. One that surpassed what's seen when you close your eyes for the night. That surpassed the unconsciousness of sleep when dreams escaped you. A darkness that felt like death yet was somehow alive.

The walls were moving, they shifted uncomfortably as they felt the presence of another. Voices that whispered of uncertainty and conflict. Voices that yelled intruder and ones that yelled fodder. But one voice just hummed in curiosity at seeing the source of blood and spit and tears it tasted. He had consumed many of your kind but what little it had of you ignited interest rather than hunger. So it did not eat. Didn't wrap you in its tendrils and rip you apart into easily digestible pieces to be absorbed by its mass. The tendrils held you, confused by their many intentions and wants, before simply bringing you lower into the pit. To the very bottom that no other creature has ever seen. No other creature would ever be allowed near. Far too close to it's more vulnerable organs. But you wouldn't hurt it, would you? Wouldn't hurt them. Not with those blunt nails and teeth, not with those little limbs and severed ties to the natural order. You were weaker than it's weakest points yet you fought against his tendrils like you believed you could win. Struggled and resisted as if you had a fighting chance. 'Hush, little human.' It thought as it strangled you, only enough to render you unconscious. Give it enough time to build a prison home inside itself for you. Then build a form for himself more perceptible to your primitive eyes, he'd tried once before but the human face was so hard to mimic. There was so much anger inside you, more for yourself than for him. And Nikto couldn't understand it. There is only one 'you' inside that tiny, fleshy form. How can one be angry at their own/only self? That would be one of the first things he asked. He felt there was nothing a creature like you could teach him yet he had so much he wanted to ask regardless. Maybe once he had his answers he could finally consume you in peace. Maybe then the voices that called for him to spare you will quiet down. And the ones that screamed for him to bond with you will stop. Your body couldn't handle the things he desires... Could it?

Regardless, he has time. All the time in the world and beyond.

Silly human, getting yourself thrown down here, what were you thinking?

All in all, I didn't want to forget the eldritch and just make a monster.

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Fake Dating drabble No. 6

I'm back with 1.6k of Marcus Pike (x F!Reader) who offered to be your date to your class reunion while you were drunkenly moaning about it after work.

Fake Dating Masterlist

Warnings: alcohol (i think that's it)

This was a bad idea. You knew it from the time you had asked him. Which was 80% the fault of the beers you had that night. The combination of alcohol and a missed lunch hadn’t been the best idea.

“My ex-husband is gonna be there. And I don’t want to be the divorced miserable wife I certainly not am. Cause I’m much more happy without him,” you rambled on. You looked at your boss sitting next to you. You had been out to celebrate. After months you finally had made an arrest on the case you had been working on ever since your boss got here almost a year ago. Your boss. Marcus Pike. Perfect, pretty, Marcus Pike who was looking at you with his soft and warm brown eyes with his teasing smile. His lips always looked so damn soft… Wait, was he talking?

“What?” you asked. He chuckled.

“If you don’t want to go alone I do look good in a suit,” he shrugged, bringing his beer bottle to his lips and you had to blink a couple of times until his words made sense in your drunken brain.

“Are you offering to be my date to my class reunion, Agent Pike?” you asked.

“I guess I am,” and then he winked at you with his stupid gorgeous eyes.

Yeah. Stupid idea. Not because he was your boss, but because you had the biggest crush on him. You could control it at work, you were a professional after all, but spending time with him outside of work seemed to be the challenge. Which wasn’t often, but often enough to make you beyond flustered just with the way he was looking at you.

Okay. You could do this. This is just like the time you went undercover with him on that event. This would be different though. Because you went to school with those people and well, because of your ex husband. You thought of canceling but he would probably make it seem like you were still the heartbroken little girl you had been back in school. And you should be over your school and ex-husband trauma but you were also petty as fuck. You lost way too much weight to not show it off. Giving yourself one last look in the mirror you smiled at yourself as you heard the doorbell.

It was just like being undercover. Right?

It was not just like being undercover. You noticed that as soon as you opened the door for Marcus who was dressed in black, cleanly shaven and looking at you with a soft smile that would have made you swoon if he wasn’t standing directly in front of you.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you boss,” you winked with a grin.

“Ready to hear our cover story?” he asked as he waited for you to lock your door. You turned around, taking his offered arm as he led you to his car.

“Shoot.”

“We fell in love while working together,” he started the car and you nodded.

“Impressive. Good cover story. So thoughtful,” you teased.

“I know right?” he grinned and you shook your head with a smile as he began to drive. Most of the car ride was spent in a comfortable silence, yet you felt yourself growing nervous the closer you got.

You almost jumped when you felt his hand on top of yours on your thigh. Looking at him you smiled softly at him, the nervousness you felt before replaced by a warmth spreading through you. Shit you really had it bad for him. You made a mental note to yourself to not drink any alcohol tonight. You tend to get very affectionate while drunk. And Marcus Pike had made it very clear that the last thing he was looking for was a relationship after everything that happened with his last relationship.

It was like time just stopped as you walked through the doors of your old school. Even the smell was the same. You shook your head to yourself as you walked next to Marcus.

“This is like a really bad throwback,” you groaned as you walked past your old classroom. He chuckled before you felt him take your hand in his.

“I hated school. Or more like the people,” you sighed looking at him.

“So you’re here to…”

“Show everyone I’m not the sad ugly girl they had bullied for years? Sad. I know,” you shrugged as you walked within towards the big doors leading to the big hall where music was already playing.

“And to show off your new boyfriend?” he teased and you smiled. Was he… flirting?

“It’s sad, I know,” you groaned and he stopped walking.

“I did the same thing 10 years ago with my wife,” he said and you looked at him with big eyes.

“Yeah. I was the typical nerd in school. Try being a teenager who’s into art. High school was hell.”

“Aww you were already into art in school? That’s so cute. I would have dated you,” you winked.

“Yeah? Good thing we found each other then, huh?” he winked back and this time you did feel your cheeks growing warm at the look he gave you. If he noticed he didn’t show it.

“Come on. Let’s get some disgusting punch.”

Against all odds you really had fun. Marcus posed as the perfect boyfriend and you didn’t have to play the heart eyes you were giving him the whole evening. If you had only this night to play out your little fantasy of dating him, you would take full advantage of it before you had to make yourself fall out of love with him. Because he was your boss and you loved your job.

“The man over there keeps looking at you,” Marcus whispered against your ear. You were dancing to some cheesy song you didn’t recognize. Turns out Marcus Pike could dance. You frowned before you followed his eyes, seeing your ex husband stand there with none other than Babara Miller, the girl who had made your time in school a living hell.

“That’s my ex husband,” you rolled your eyes.

“You okay?” he asked, his hand on your back squeezing you lightly.

“Yeah,” you smiled up at him. For one moment you wished this would be real. That you could tell him that you loved him. That the look he gave you was genuine and not just an act. You breathed in deep. You didn’t want to be here anymore. This felt wrong. Fake. He seemed to pick up on that.

“Wanna get out of here? I’m starving,” he whispered.

“Please,” you nodded. He leaned down to kiss your forehead and you were close to tears before you felt his hand squeeze yours as he walked you out.

20 Minutes later you were the two fanciest dressed people at the hot dog booth Marcus had taken you to.

“These are really delicious,” you hummed, trying to look not like a starving animal as you ate. Marcus chuckled.

“I know. I got lost in the neighborhood in the first week I got here but I found the best hot dogs in the city, so I count it as a win.”

“Totally,” you nodded, taking a sip of the coke he had bought for you.

“So you live around here?” you asked.

“Yeah just two streets this way,” he pointed to your right.

“I guess I should get a cab home so you don’t have to drive all the way back to my place,” you suggested, but he shook his head, reaching over to you.

“No. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you drive home alone at night?” he asked and you sighed.

“You mean fake boyfriend,” you said and he only looked at you, his stupid gorgeous eyes not leaving yours. You bit your lip, looking away from him to set down your coke at the booth. When you looked up he seemed to have gotten closer. You didn’t miss how his eyes seemed to linger on your lips before he looked into your eyes.

“Yeah. Fake boyfriend. But even as your fake boyfriend I’m not letting you just get a cab home. I’m driving.”

“Okay okay,” you playfully rolled your eyes.

“You want a milkshake boss?” you asked.

“Make it chocolate.”

“Thank you for doing this for me,” you said as he walked you to your door. You still had your milkshake, peanut butter, in your hand, your other hand searching for your keys.

“You’re very welcome. It was nice. We should do that again,” he said and you looked up at him, an eyebrow raised.

“You mean more awkward class reunions?”

He chuckled, shaking his head.

“No. This. Us together. Hanging out after work,” he stepped closer and you smiled a little.

“Hanging out? How old are you? 14?” you teased and he rolled his eyes with a smile.

“I really, really had fun tonight. With you. And I’d like to take you out. On a real date. Let’s say next Saturday?” he asked and finally, you gave in to the stupid grin that you had tried to suppress the whole evening.

“You’re not allergic to peanuts, are you?” you asked and he frowned.

“No, why?”

“Cause then I couldn’t do this…” you whispered before you got on your tiptoes to kiss him.

Taglist:

@ladyreapermc / @cherry-gemz / @yespolkadotkitty / @filthybookworm / @knittingqueen13 / @melchills-j / @justpedropascal / @raspberrymama / @parkjammys / @novicepearl / @disgruntledspacedad​ / @perropascal​ / @empress-palpat1ne​ / @hotspacepilots​ / @sleep-tight1 / @freeshavocadoooo / @princess76179 / @pumpkin-stars / @evyiione / @hollydaisy23 / @princesssterek / @palaiasaurus64 / @mouthymandalorian / @turkish276 / @maciiiofficial / @re-reads / @penwieldingdreamer / @trippedmetaldetector / @liviiii98 / @greeneyedblondie44 / @darnitdraco / @tobealostwanderer / @gracie7209 / @rosiefridayrogersunday

[thepropertylovers]

Are You Watching Heartstopper on Netflix?

The new Netflix romcom is a beautiful coming-of-age portrait of young, queer love.

Let me just get this out of the way: We binged the entire series in two nights. Netflix’s new gay romantic comedy TV series Heartstopper is so, so good, and I would compare it to if Euphoria and Love, Victor had a baby, and maybe that baby was friends with Elite and Sex Education, but wasn’t influenced by either of their naughty behavior. It’s a pure, happy little series that deals with very real, serious topics like coming out, being trans, figuring out who you are and bullying.

It’s based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alice Osemen (have you read it?) who also created and wrote the series. The show has received critical acclaim, and has earned a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Adam Miller from Metro calling it “A life-changing moment for the LGBTQ+ people of today and all the ones who will follow.” I couldn’t agree more.

Here’s the basic plot:

“Heartstopper tells the story of Charlie Spring, a gay schoolboy who falls in love with someone he sits next to in his new form, Nick Nelson, while also exploring the lives of Charlie and Nick's friends, Tao, Elle and Isaac.

I had actually never heard of it before seeing the trailer for the show last month, and then got a gentle reminder from some of our subscribers this past weekend that it was out and that we must watch it immediately. The episodes are named things like “Meet”, “Crush”, and “Secret”, and they’re listed at the start of each new episode, so they get your attention immediately as you watch to see what will happen next.

The thing that separates this show from some of its modern contemporaries is that it doesn’t really fall into some of the teen romcom cliches and tropes. Just when you think a character will do one thing, because that’s just what happens in shows like this, they surprise you and do the exact thing you want them to do instead (aka, the right thing). It’s rewarding and fresh and fun and, at 27 minutes an episode, completely digestible.

Another thing that makes Heartstopper so relatable and just plain good, is the notion that just maybe, all your dreams really can come true. Right? It’s everyone’s dream that the person they like will like them back, or better yet, love them back. Nick and Charlie represent that very real human feeling of wanting to be loved by the person you love, no matter if you’re a teenager or much older. And when it comes true, when the person you love chooses to love you back, it’s the best feeling in the entire world (speaking from experience here).

I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have shows like this and “Love, Victor” around when I was in high school. I haven’t been a teenager in a long time, and high school feels like a entirely other lifetime, but I was deeply closeted during those years, always fearful someone would find out I was gay. I couldn’t imagine a world where I would ever come out to anyone. And then, a year and a half after graduating high school, I met PJ and because of him, I had the courage to slowly come out to the ones I love, and after that, I didn’t really care who knew and who didn't. I feel like things would have been a lot easier for me to come out back then had I had a show like Heartstopper. Still, I believe I came out exactly when (and with who) I was supposed to.

I truly hope LGBTQIA+ youth who watch these shows find comfort and acceptance, and that they help them to not feel so alone. The effect that representation has on a young mind, hell, even an older one, cannot be overstated. Seeing someone who you can relate to on the big screen is invaluable, and we can all only hope that more and more stories like this continue to be shared to a wider audience.

So what are you waiting for? Go watch Heartstopper right now and then immediately download the entire soundtrack because every song is AMAZING.

Hoping for a season two ASAP!!

(photos via Joe Locke’s Instagram)

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

The Crow's Eye: A Study in Evil

TW: Rape, CSA, Donald Trump, religion

Long time since I last did anything, but Euron has been on my mind a hell of a lot lately, so I decided to write a thing about him. Do be warned, this is the longest thing I've written, and it is very, very long.

There are many villains in A Song of Ice and Fire: Tywin, Cersei, the Mountain, the Others, Roose, Rorge. The most despicable of the lot though would be Joffrey, Ramsay, & Euron. There is something that makes them so hatable yet they have such a large imprint on the story. Despite there being little to almost no grey in any of these three characters, they each have subtle nuances to them that makes them compelling villains.

Joffrey is the deconstruction of the pretty prince. He has his mothers and fathers good looks, yet he is a brutal, psychopathic tyrant. He enjoys hurting and humiliating people, and is an entitled brat. He thinks that everyone will listen to him because he's the king and that's whats to be expected. Yet, we see that he was neglected by Robert and at least some of his intense cruelty was part of trying to impress or follow in Robert's footsteps (who was a famed warrior and often hunted).

In addition, being raised by Cersei, who herself was raised by Tywin who has questionable logic for leadership, couldn't have helped much either. However, Joffrey is simply still a child. An utterly sadistic tyrant, but still a child. He loves to belittle and torment but he is too ineffectual to even fight in battle, and on multiple occasions he is easily shut down by other people (like Tywin, or Cersei, or Tyrion). He was the first real villain of the series. From here on, the villains get intensely more vile and terrifying.

Ramsay himself is not without some nuance. His mother was the wife of a miller, and when they married without Roose's approval, he had the miller hanged and raped his wife. Growing up, Ramsay was with his mother, who had been given certain gifts by Roose on the condition she stay quiet about the rape. Yet as Ramsay grew, he grew wild, all the while his mother and his servant Reek pushed him towards trying to claim his rights, despite his bastard status.

Ramsay greatly resents being a bastard, and you could also look at his insanely cruel actions as him trying to live up to the Bolton name. In addition, Roose is a very cold man, and there is no real warmth between father and son. Ramsay killed Domeric out of jealousy, and Roose shows no affection or care for Ramsay. The upbringing of Joffrey & Ramsay are obviously not excuses for the crimes against humanity they routinely commit, but it provides insight into how they became what they ended up being.

Joffrey was a villain that shows what can happen when spoiled children end up in a position of high authority, and is a threat to those already low down in society. He's essentially a bully but with the power that comes with royalty. Ramsay is a different sort of villain, more akin to a serial killer from psychological horror films. He is clever, a capable trickster, and unrepentant sadist who enjoys torturing and breaking people down so they can serve him as his own personal pets. Yet, like Joffrey, he has a temper that is hard to control, and his inability to control his cruelty is what will eventually do him in.

Enter Euron Greyjoy. While I don't like saying that Joffrey was the first act villain, Ramsay was the second, and Euron is the third, these are three human villains that we feel the most emotions about, due to their impact on the plot and their unbelievable cruelty. Both Ramsay & Euron are villains straight out of horror, but their horror is very different. I will be breaking down Euron's character, his backstory, his intents, his narrative relevance, and his ultimate role in the Song. So, join me on this long, winding adventure into horror, gods, & madness.

The Slow Build Up

To start off, I want to give a scene by scene break down of Euron as he is shown chronologically in the books, to get the sense of the narrative around him. We first hear about Euron in A Clash of Kings, when Theon arrives to Pyke, and makes note of who is and isn't there.

Old men were cautious by nature. His father was old now, and so too his uncle Victarion, who commanded the Iron Fleet. His uncle Euron was a different song, to be sure, but the Silence did not seem to be in port.

At this point, I don't know if GRRM was already planning for Euron to be a super important character to the plot. Instead of having this big complex plan, I think that he had an idea of who Euron was and that he would be important later, but left it ambiguous enough to expand on when needed.

This first mention indicates that wherever Euron was, he was not like his brothers Balon & Victarion, and is notably absent from the rest of his family. You might even call him the black sheep of the family. Still, there are more things about Euron that are mentioned that build him as a potentially imposing figure.

"Euron Croweye has no lack of cunning, though. I've heard men say terrible things of that one." Theon shifted his seat. "My uncle Euron has not been seen in the islands for close on two years. He may be dead." If so, it might be for the best. Lord Balon's eldest brother had never given up the Old Way, even for a day. His Silence, with its black sails and dark red hull, was infamous in every port from Ibben to Asshai, it was said. "He may be dead," Esgred agreed, "and if he lives, why, he has spent so long at sea, he'd be half a stranger here. The ironborn would never seat a stranger in the Seastone Chair."

An outcast, intelligent, and dangerous. Yet, the last words that Asha says here turned out to be woefully wrong. We hear no more mention of Euron until A Storm of Swords, when we learn that Balon has died. The captain of Myraham, which brought Theon to Pyke, returns to let Robb know of the news from there:

The captain bobbed his head. "Aye, but that's not all of it, no!" He leaned forward. "The brother's back." "Victarion?" asked Galbart Glover, surprised. "Euron. Crow's Eye, they call him, as black a pirate as ever raised a sail. He's been gone for years, but Lord Balon was no sooner cold than there he was, sailing into Lordsport in his Silence. Black sails and a red hull, and crewed by mutes. He'd been to Asshai and back, I heard. Wherever he was, though, he's home now, and he marched right into Pyke and sat his arse in the Seastone Chair, and drowned Lord Botley in a cask of seawater when he objected. That was when I ran back to Myraham and slipped anchor, hoping I could get away whilst things were confused. And so I did, and here I am."

Here we get more of an idea of who Euron is. At this point it's pretty clear Euron is being set up to be important. This fearsome man with a sinister reputation appears the day after his brother dies, and when someone objects to him taking the throne, he simply has him drowned. Doesn't sound like a very nice guy.

No more mention is made of him, until A Feast for Crows. When Aeron learns of Balon's death and Euron's return, he begins to get flashbacks to his brother Urri and a rusted hinge screaming, and is deadset against Euron being king, calling a kingsmoot to let the Drowned God decide matters. Even Asha's uncle Rodrik is against going to the kingsmoot, worried that Euron will be Urron Redhand come again, slaying all the captains & kings on Nagga's Hill and establishing himself as the only true King of the Isles.

Victarion also has thoughts about Euron, and hates him tremendously, so much so that he thinks about killing him and the curse of the kinslayer when he arrives at Old Wyk. Only here do we finally see Euron on page.

He looks unchanged, Victarion thought. He looks the same as he did the day he laughed at me and left. Euron was the most comely of Lord Quellon's sons, and three years of exile had not changed that. His hair was still black as a midnight sea, with never a whitecap to be seen, and his face was still smooth and pale beneath his neat dark beard. A black leather patch covered Euron's left eye, but his right was blue as a summer sky.

And immediately Euron starts shit. When Aeron objects to godless men sitting on the Seastone Chair, Euron goes on a long boastful monologue about how he is the godliest man ever to raise sail, that he is more devout than even Aeron, and when Asha asks about his involvement in Balon's death, it nearly breaks out into a fight between Asha and Euron's supporters, only for Victarion to put an end to it.

Afterwards we learn why Euron was away, and why Victarion hates him. Euron impregnated Victarion's salt wife (either via seduction or rape), and ruined Victarion's honour in the eyes of the culture of the ironborn. As a result, Victarion beat his wife to death to retain his honour, and Balon exiled Euron to prevent Victarion from killing him, telling him to never return to Pyke so long as he lived. But now he is back, and when the kingsmoot starts, Aeron hopes that Euron would speak first:

The Crow's Eye was never patient, Aeron Damphair told himself. Mayhaps he will speak first. If so, it would be his undoing. The captains and the kings had come a long way to this feast and would not choose the first dish set before them.

Instead, Euron waits to be the last person to press his claim, and interrupts when he has one of his men blow a massive horn he has in his possession. He then makes a speech that even inspires Aeron:

"My little brother would finish Balon's war, and claim the north. My sweet niece would give us peace and pinecones." His blue lips twisted in a smile. "Asha prefers victory to defeat. Victarion wants a kingdom, not a few scant yards of earth. From me, you shall have both. "Crow's Eye, you call me. Well, who has a keener eye than the crow? After every battle the crows come in their hundreds and their thousands to feast upon the fallen. A crow can espy death from afar. And I say that all of Westeros is dying. Those who follow me will feast until the end of their days. "We are the ironborn, and once we were conquerors. Our writ ran everywhere the sound of the waves was heard. My brother would have you be content with the cold and dismal north, my niece with even less . . . but I shall give you Lannisport. Highgarden. The Arbor. Oldtown. The riverlands and the Reach, the kingswood and the rainwood, Dorne and the marches, the Mountains of the Moon and the Vale of Arryn, Tarth and the Stepstones. I say we take it all! I say, we take Westeros."

Although Asha and her supporters object to what he says next, Euron tells the captains that the horn is a dragon horn, capable of binding dragons to his will, and when he reveals his massive amount of loot, he is elected the new king, much to Aeron's shock. After this, Aeron proclaims he will have the smallfolk rise up to undo Euron's ascension, but he goes missing. Baelor Blacktyde attempts to flee, but Euron has Victarion hunt him down and cuts him into seven pieces. Asha flees back to Deepwood Motte.

Not long after, Euron leaves with the ironborn and takes the Shield Isles, raising four new lords to hold the isles. Yet here he makes a mistake, when he says that they are going to sail east to Meereen and Daenerys. The ironborn do not want to travel a long distance, instead intent on raiding around the Reach. Even Rodrik the Reader calls him out.

"I am the storm, my lord. The first storm, and the last. I have taken the Silence on longer voyages than this, and ones far more hazardous. Have you forgotten? I have sailed the Smoking Sea and seen Valyria." Every man there knew that the Doom still ruled Valyria. The very sea there boiled and smoked, and the land was overrun with demons. It was said that any sailor who so much as glimpsed the fiery mountains of Valyria rising above the waves would soon die a dreadful death, yet the Crow's Eye had been there, and returned. "Have you?" the Reader asked, so softly. Euron's blue smile vanished. "Reader," he said into the quiet, "you would do well to keep your nose in your books."

And for a moment it seems that Euron's hold on the Seastone Chair is not secure. He later has Victarion visit him, and says that he realized that he was moving too quick, forgetting that the ironborn are small minded and not as ambitious as he is. Instead, he sends Victarion to Meereen with the Iron Fleet to bring Daenerys back, with Victarion plotting to take Daenerys as his wife in an act of revenge. This is the last we see and hear of Euron for a long time. Until we reach The Forsaken.

Aeron's thoughts on Euron, up until now, have been rather ambiguous as to whether he was as big of a threat as he thinks he is. His trauma might've been clouding his judgement of Euron as an antichrist type figure. But now the title of his first chapter, The Prophet, begins to make sense. Aeron was right about everything.

Here, we learn that Euron has no interest in being the King of the Iron Islands, in fact he holds disdain for the Old Way and ironborn culture and religion. In fact, his ambitions are far beyond what we initially assumed. He doesn't just want Daenerys and her dragons, he doesn't just want the Iron Throne; he wants to be a god. Now him telling Aeron to kneel to him for blessing makes more sense, as does his speech on being the godliest man ever.

We also get clarification on exactly what Euron did to Aeron. It is not completely explicit, but it's explicit enough that it leaves little room for other options. In fact, what we learn is much worse than we could have imagined.

“It was me who taught you how to pray, little brother. Have you forgotten? I would visit your bed chamber at night when I had too much to drink. You shared a room with Urrigon high up in the seatower. I could hear you praying from outside the door. I always wondered: Were you praying that I would choose you or that I would pass you by?”

Euron molested Aeron and his brother Urri as children. Yet even that's not the end of the horrific reveals. He tells Aeron that he has killed three brothers; Harlon, Robin, & Balon. A kinslayer thrice over. At this point, we can say that Euron is a monster worse than Joffrey or Ramsay ever were. And as the chapter unfolds, he gets worse and worse and worse. By the end, he has numerous mutilated priests tied onto the prows of ironborn ships (including Aeron on Silence) and sails into the open ocean. Then, he brings forth his own lover, Falia Flowers, pregnant, her tongue cut out, and naked, tying her right next to Aeron as a "gift".

Aeron thinks of him as a demon in human skin. There is no more apt description for the Crow's Eye. Here is the end of what we know. Now let's go all the way back to the beginning, to see how Euron became the way he is, and what he wants.

Ascension of the Crow's Eye

Euron was the second son of Quellon Greyjoy, right after Balon. The timeline is not exact, but from what we know, Euron was always different from the rest of his family. We know that at some point, he killed his half-brothers Harlon & Robin. Both were sick, easy targets, yet Euron killed them out of more than just sadism:

"Do you remember little Robin? Wretched creature. Do you remember that big head of his, how soft it was? All he could do was mewl and shit. He was my second. Harlon was my first. All I had to do was pinch his nose shut. The greyscale had turned his mouth to stone so he could not cry out. But his eyes grew frantic as he died. They begged me. When the life went out of them, I went out and pissed into the sea, waiting for the god to strike me down. None did."

Euron seems to have been curious about the divine early on. According to Balon and later Victarion, no man is more accursed than the kinslayer. Euron strikes me as someone who is very intelligent and curious and wants to know more about the world. Perhaps he had suspicions early on that the gods might be fake, so he tested it by committing the biggest sin in ironborn culture; killing his own brothers. When nothing happened, he took this as proof that the gods do not exist. It freed him from the constraints of ironborn culture, knowing that nothing would happen if he defied the Drowned God.

We also know that he craves power. Child sexual abuse is a form of domination and control, something Euron obviously wants. He abused Aeron and Urri because of the power he got from it. This is seen in multiple instances with his family. Euron abused his two younger brothers, then later impregnated Victarion's wife, bragging about it afterwards. Euron knows his siblings and what makes them tick all too well, so I have no doubts that he intentionally had Victarion's wife impregnated so that he would be forced to kill her because of his strict adherence to ironborn culture.

It's too light to say that Euron is the wildcard of the family. He practically is the most dominant of them all. Even Theon fears him and his eyepatch. Almost all the trauma that his family has gone through is a direct result of his own actions. We will get to more about his utter sadistic tyranny over his family and what that means, but that will come later.

Looking at those quotes from A Clash of Kings about Euron, I think exile for him must've not been much different from his usual activities. He loves reaving, he loves traveling, and he loves dominating over people and seeing other cultures. The only difference being that he did not return to Pyke for three years, longer than was usual for him.

He claims to have gone as far as Ib and Asshai, and even sailed the Smoking Sea and visited the ruins of Valyria, where those who go never return. It's ambiguous as to whether or not we went there. At the least, he's not telling the truth about certain things, and what is and isn't fact is hard to discern from him. What is for certain, is that the exile changed Euron, and led to him being the man he is today. His want for power is not new, but his ways of going about it have changed. Although, again, we cannot fully trust everything he says, Euron claims to have acquired a dragon's egg, and told a Myrish wizard to hatch it. When he grew impatient, he killed the wizard and threw the egg into the sea.

This might've been the first time Euron has tried to use dragons as a means to acquiring more power. Even though it was an egg, and it failed to hatch, he realized that there was more to the world than meets the eye, and there were ways he could become powerful that others simply brushed off or found foolish. I believe that everything changed after Daenerys left Qarth.

"You had not been gone from Qarth a fortnight when Pyat Pree set out with three of his fellow warlocks, to seek for you in Pentos."

Yet, despite this, and despite Daenerys knowing the warlocks never forget a slight, they never came for her again. That's because someone else came for them.

"Shade-of-the-evening, the wine of the warlocks. I came upon a cask of it when I captured a certain galleas out of Qarth, along with some cloves and nutmeg, forty bolts of green silk, and four warlocks who told a curious tale. One presumed to threaten me, so I killed him and fed him to the other three. They refused to eat of their friend's flesh at first, but when they grew hungry enough they had a change of heart. Men are meat."

According to the A World of Ice & Fire app, this what where Euron acquired Dragonbinder, not from Valyria, but the warlocks:

The warlocks under Pyat Pree attempt to pursue and avenge themselves on Daenerys, but their ship is taken by Euron Greyjoy, who seizes their alleged dragon-binding horn from Valyria and takes them as slaves.

We need not wonder what the curious tale the warlocks told was. They had a dragon horn, they left to get revenge on Daenerys, and they know of her dragons, having seen them with their own eyes. But I believe that the real thing that finally made Euron return was the shade of the evening. Shade of the evening is essentially magical LSD, that gives you one hell of a trip, but with the bonus of prophecy and visions to boot. A mind altering drug like this could easily change someones life, as I believe it did with Euron. He acquired secret knowledge, saw things that nobody else knew, and decided that it was time he came home.

Euron himself confesses to killing Balon;

"Oh, and Balon was the third, but you knew that. I could not do the deed myself, but it was my hand that pushed him off the bridge.”

We also see a vision back in A Storm of Swords, from the Ghost of High Heart;

"I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings."

It's all but confirmed that Euron hired a Faceless Man to kill Balon and allow him to return to Pyke. Of note, this has parallels with another ironborn king of history, Harwyn Hardhand.

When Harwyn returned to the Iron Islands, he found his father Qhorwyn dying, and his eldest brother two years dead from greyscale. A second brother still stood between Harwyn and the crown, and his sudden death even as the king was breathing his last remains a matter of dispute to this day. Those present at Prince Harlan's passing all declared his death accidental, the result of a fall from his horse, but of course it would have been worth their lives to suggest otherwise. Beyond the Iron Islands, it was widely assumed that Prince Harwyn was behind his brother's demise. Some claimed he had done the deed himself, others that Prince Harlan had been slain by a Faceless Man of Braavos.

This isn't even near the only parallel Euron has with Harwynd, but those shall come later. Euron immediately claims the Seastone Chair, yet he is confident when Aeron calls for a kingsmoot, that he will prevail. Victarion says he will only do more of what Balon did. Balon's rebellions were meager and full of defeat; he could not go against the Iron Throne himself, and he could not hold the North. Asha calls for peace, to get the lands around Sea Dragon Point under ironborn control, while they ally with the North against the Iron Throne.

Yet ultimately, Euron succeeds in being chosen, for several reasons. Asha suggests to Victarion that if he made her his Hand, she would support his claim to the Seastone Chair. However, Victarion was too full of pride, and Asha was too forward thinking for him, thus dividing their supporters instead of uniting them. But the biggest factor is that Euron simply appealed to the ironborn in a way Victarion & Asha simply didn't.

Victarion's campaign slogan was literally "same as always", which doesn't really inspire confidence, whereas Asha's was "we can simply have peace". Euron's was "make the Iron Islands great again". Euron promised the return to when the ironborn were feared, when they held real power. No more meager raids along the shorelines, no more being in the shadows of the Iron Throne. This time, they will conquer, they will rule, they will be victorious. Added to the fact that Euron is well traveled and has some seriously intense loot (look at Dragonbinder), the Crow's Eye successfully keeps his hold on the Seastone Chair.

In many ways, Euron's ascension is similar to the election of Donald Trump as president of the US in 2016. Trump promised a return to make America great again (literally his slogan), appealing to the lowest common denominator, as well as religious fundamentalists, and the dregs of society that were previously hidden. By appealing to white supremacists, fascists, and evangelical Christians, Trump made them feel seen again and that they were an important to the country, thus solidifying his support base.

Also like Euron, Trump was a wanna dictator who craved power, domination, and whose leadership put the country in political ruin, setting the US back decades in the Supreme Court and other areas of government, and led to thousands of deaths from his own incompetence and desire to "own the libs". Euron's way is undoubtedly going to result in a massive decline for the ironborn while he gets a power high.

Regardless of real life comparisons, Euron as king now allows him the position in society to accomplish his ambitions. Once again, his ambitions are nothing about bringing glory to the ironborn, it's all about bringing him glory. He wants to be a god, he wants to sit the Iron Throne, and he wants to ride a dragon and marry Daenerys. The ironborn are merely a means to an end for him.

The full backstory to Euron paints a picture of someone whose curiosity led to him discovering something that he views as incredibly potent power that he can wield with great effect. If you are for the Old Way, then Euron is by far the man you'd want to chose. Only problem being that he'd let you die if it meant more power for him. Yet despite this, Euron's hold on the ironborn is only growing stronger (as we'll explore later).

The Death of Gods & the Birth of Another

Religion has been a large part of the world of Westeros and Essos, but it comes to the forefront post-A Storm of Swords. Bran learns more about the weirwoods and Davos learns more about the worship of the old gods, the worship of R'hllor is spreading among the smallfolk of the Riverlands, and the High Sparrow gains significant power after the Faith Militant are reformed. In Essos, the high priest of the red temple preaches that Daenerys is Azor Ahai reborn, and there are hints of a religious uprising stirring.

And of course, Euron is also part of this metaphysical plot as well. However, instead of contributing to religion, he is the antithesis to the religious revival of Westeros. An atheist, Euron does not believe the gods exist, setting him apart from nearly all other characters in the series, who either acknowledge the gods or worship them. Not only does he not believe in the gods, he himself wants to become a god. His ego and narcissism rivals even that of Cersei, as it takes the idea of craving power and rulership over others into the metaphysical realm.

What exactly Euron's apotheosis means in the long run is not known, but it might be less literal and more philosophical. One of his most famous quotes illustrates this point very well;

"Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air . . . I know them all. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard the prayers, in half a hundred tongues. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy . . . protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence." He laughed. "Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray."

His narcissism runs so deeply that even when people suffer at his hands, it's about him. What he is saying here is that because he makes people pious through fear, he has served the gods, thus making him godly. In fact, he views him as the instigator for Aeron's religious zealotry (in which case he's not entirely wrong);

“It was me who taught you how to pray, little brother. Have you forgotten? I would visit your bed chamber at night when I had too much to drink. You shared a room with Urrigon high up in the seatower. I could hear you praying from outside the door. I always wondered: Were you praying that I would choose you or that I would pass you by?” Euron pressed the knife to Aeron’s throat. “Pray to me. Beg me to end your torment, and I will.”

Yet he is still an atheist. He constantly points out that the gods are powerless and false, especially to Aeron when he's torturing him.

"They pray to trees and golden idols and goat-headed abominations. False gods . . ." "Just so," said Euron, "and for that sin I kill them all. I spill their blood upon the sea and sow their screaming women with my seed. Their little gods cannot stop me, so plainly they are false gods."

"Still praying, priest? Your god has forsaken you.”

The Crow’s Eye pressed the dagger in a little deeper, and Aeron felt blood trickling down his neck. “If your Drowned God did not smite me for killing three brothers, why should he bestir himself for the fourth? Because you are his priest?”

“That which is dead cannot die,” said Aeron fiercely. “For he who has tasted death once need never fear again. He was drowned, but he came forth stronger than before, with steel and fire.” “Will you do the same, brother?” Euron asked. “I think not. I think if I drowned you, you’ll stay drowned."

Euron makes people pious out of fear, yet the gods never intervene when he murders and rapes and tortures. In his mind, he has more power than any of the gods.

“That’s it, priest. Gulp it down. The wine of the warlocks, sweeter than your seawater, with more truth in it than all the gods of earth.”

Euron routinely drinks shade of the evening, so this sentence solidifies his belief that he is more powerful than any god. His use of blood sacrifice and magic also is worthy of note. Thus, his belief is that because he has power and the gods never stop him when he blatantly blasphemes and sins, he himself is the only true god. He makes people pious and he disproves the existence of the gods, all through his own actions.

In fact, we see in The Forsaken how Euron's hold on the ironborn is quickly growing stronger. When he first invades the Reach, he briefly gets ahead of himself by saying they should sail to Meereen, but the ironborn are still not thinking the way he is, and so he decides to instead stay with them reaving. Throughout the chapter he keeps Aeron imprisoned out of everyones view, only moving him at night when nobody would be awake. By the end, however, things have changed greatly. He now openly parades Aeron around and even ties him to the prow of his ship.

And the ironborn are starting to slowly come around to his way of doing things;

“Your curses have no power here, priest,” said Left-Hand Lucas Codd. “The Crow’s Eye has fed your Drowned God well, and he has grown fat with sacrifice. Words are wind, but blood is power. We have given thousands to the sea, and he has given us victories!”

How quickly they suddenly reject tradition, calling their deity Aeron's Drowned God, and now using blood sacrifice as common practice. Euron in the beginning did not want to be seen as a kinslayer, but now he has Aeron tied to Silence, possibly in a sacrifice, and nobody is objecting. Tradition no longer matters to them, only the result. In a way, Euron has already started a cult among the ironborn following him.

Euron is what happens when someone is a megalomaniac and gets a hold of great magical power. He is a villain straight out of Lovecraftian horror. He doesn't just want the Iron Throne, or Dany's dragons; he wants to be above it all as a god-king. He knows the end is near, and is taking advantage of it.

The Damphair & the Drowned God

On a first read through of A Feast for Crows, when I got to Aeron's first chapter, The Prophet, I found myself having trouble connecting to him. The chapter was great, but religious zealots are not the kind of people I enjoy, and I couldn't really get behind Aeron, due to all the horrible things he said about women and his extremely deontological view of the world. Little did I know that this chapter was merely hiding the absolute madness that awaited in The Forsaken.

When he was younger, Aeron & his brother Urrigon were close. They share a room in the seatower, and played the finger dance, a game where ironborn would throw a throwing axe and try to catch it in midair. They were also both sexually abused by Euron. As the Crow's Eye notes above, Aeron would pray every night before their abuser came to them. Because of the culture of the Iron Islands, Aeron blames himself for his own abuse, viewing himself as weak and full of sin (something that is also experienced by real victims of child sexual abuse).

Nine sons were born from the loins of Quellon Greyjoy, and I was the least of them, as weak and frightened as a girl.

He still has flashbacks to his abuse, involving the scream of a rusted hinge, usually with him waking up screaming Urri's name. He then has to reassure himself that it is only a dream and Euron has not come again. As he got older, he looked up to his eldest brother Balon, but Balon was anything but warm, instead showing him nothing but scorn:

Aeron feasted on goat for a year, and named the longship Golden Storm, though Balon threatened to hang him from her mast when he heard what sort of ram his brother proposed to mount upon her prow.

Urri died when he was only 14, after he lost several fingers that got infected after poor healing by a maester, following the finger dance, something that still haunts Aeron to this day. He participated in the Greyjoy rebellion, reaving with his older brothers, but when his ship sunk in battle, he washed ashore and was held prisoner in Casterly Rock for the rest of the war. Later, Aeron had another near death experience, this time when his ship went down in a storm. When he washed up on the shore, he thought the Drowned God had saved him, and thus he became entirely devoted to the Drowned God as his priest.

Aeron's religious fervor is a result of many traumatic incidences throughout his life. He describes how he has two pillars that hold him up in life;

Aeron Greyjoy had built his life upon two mighty pillars. Those four small words had knocked one down. Only the Drowned God remains to me. May he make me as strong and tireless as the sea. "Tell me the manner of my brother's death."

Because of his extreme devotion to the Drowned God, Aeron is seen as mad even by other ironborn. He is singular in his goals to follow his god and interpreting what he is to do. Because of Euron's extreme abuse of Aeron leaves a massive impression on him, it is at first unclear if Euron is truly as big of a threat as Aeron himself says he is. Yet eventually we learn that Aeron's first chapter was very aptly named; he was right about everything.

A storm was brewing, he could hear it in the waves, and storms brought naught but evil.

He was born a lord's son and died a king, murdered by a jealous god, Aeron thought, and now the storm is coming, a storm such as these isles have never known.

Aeron tugged his beard, and thought. I have seen the storm, and its name is Euron Crow's Eye.

The decks of Euron's ship were painted red, to better hide the blood that soaked them. Victarion. The king must be Victarion, or the storm will slay us all.

Aeron constantly compares Euron to a storm throughout his first chapter, and later on Euron even calls himself the storm, after Rodrik the Reader calls him out on the problems with sailing the entire ironborn to Meereen:

"Where will you find fresh water, food? The first storm will scatter us across half the earth." A smile played across Euron's blue lips. "I am the storm, my lord. The first storm, and the last."

As we see later in The Forsaken, Euron cares not for the ironborn, only himself and his own power. And in classic fashion, Aeron's calls against Euron go nowhere. Even in The Forsaken, when he tells Falia Flowers to leave, she does not listen to his warnings;

“Run. He will hurt you. He will kill you.” She laughed. “Silly, he won’t. I’m his love, his lady. He gives me gifts, so many gifts. Silks and furs and jewels. Rags and rocks, he calls them.”

And then come the end of the chapter;

He beckoned, and two of his bastard sons dragged the woman forward and bound her to the prow on the other side of the figurehead. Naked as the mouthless maiden, her smooth belly just beginning to swell with the child she was carrying, her cheeks red with tears, she did not struggle as the boys tightened her bonds. Her hair hung down in front of her face, but Aeron knew her all the same. “Falia Flowers,” he called. “Have courage, girl! All this will be over soon, and we will feast together in the Drowned God’s watery halls.” The girl raised up her head, but made no answer. She has no tongue to answer with, the Damphair knew.

This leads into the existential battle between Euron & Aeron. It only makes sense for Aeron's philosophical and moral enemy is the atheistic and nihilistic Euron Greyjoy.

Euron subjects Aeron to unimaginable psychological torture; demoralizing him, pointing out how the Drowned God has not answered his prayers, taunting him of his abuse, force feeding him shade of the evening, all to get Aeron to do what Euron truly wants him to; to pray to him as his god and make him his priest. Euron may have Aeron tied to the prow of Silence at the end of the chapter, but his actions go to show that his goal isn't to kill him;

“The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.” Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him. “Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.” “Never. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!”

Euron pressed the knife to Aeron’s throat. “Pray to me. Beg me to end your torment, and I will.”

It is now time to come across the religious imagery and symbolism with regards to Euron and Aeron, because they are both full of it. It's rather easy to view Euron as Lucifer, with Aeron taking the role of Jesus Christ. Euron is a highly intelligent man, and every gift he gives comes with a price. As Victarion says, "Euron's gifts are all poison".

Upon winning the kingsmoot, Euron has Erik Ironmaker marry Asha (though it is a proxy marriage as Asha has fled), giving him stewardship of the Iron Islands and naming him the castellan of Pyke. At first it appears like he's simply rewarding Erik to ensure his loyalty. He is, but the truth of the matter is that Euron does not care for the Iron Islands, and couldn't care less what happens there to Erik Ironmaker, who was his rival at the kingsmoot.

After winning the Shield Isles, Euron gives the islands away to four new lords, a great honour. Yet, he allows the ravens announcing the attack of the isles to fly back to Highgarden, knowing that a force will be marshaled and they will be retaken. He says as much to Aeron;

“Your victories are hollow. You cannot hold the Shields.” “Why should I want to hold them?” His brother’s smiling eye glittered in the lantern light, blue and bold and full of malice. “The Shields have served my purpose. I took them with one hand, and gave them away with the other. A great king is open-handed, brother. It is up to the new lords to hold them now. The glory of winning those rocks will be mine forever. When they are lost, the defeat will belong to the four fools who so eagerly accepted my gifts.”

And those four fools were no random picks either. Nute was one of the most loyal followers of Victarion Greyjoy onboard his ship. Andrik the Unsmiling was one of the champions of Lord Dunstan Drumm at the kingsmoot. Maron Volmark supported Victarion and was considered by one of the drowned priests the true heir to the Seastone Chair given House Volmark's relation to House Hoare, who ruled when Aegon conquered Westeros. Finally, Harras Harlaw was a supporter of Asha, and removed him as Rodrik the Readers heir in place of Hotho Harlaw, who supported Victarion.

Then there is Euron sending Victarion to Slaver's Bay, and the gifts he gives him. The dusky woman, calling back to the wife Euron impregnated and Victarion beat, and Dragonbinder, the dragon horn that binds dragons to the owners will via blood sacrifice. Just as Lucifer does, Euron promises great rewards, but they always come back to your face in some way.

Many times, Euron visits Aeron in the bowels of Silence, trying to tempt him to break his faith, to worship him as his god, promising to raise him as his own priest;

“Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.” “Never. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!”

Euron pressed the knife to Aeron’s throat. “Pray to me. Beg me to end your torment, and I will.”

In this manner, Aeron takes the role of Jesus to Euron's Lucifer, when Jesus crossed the Judaean Desert. While Jesus fasted in the 40 days and 40 nights he spent crossing the desert, the devil came several times to tempt him.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8–9)

Like Jesus, Aeron resists Euron's temptations, holding true to his religious fervor. He believes that the Drowned God is testing him and holds onto his faith. Yet, in an inverse to Christ's crucifixion, Aeron refuses to believe that the Drowned God has forsaken him. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the last words of Jesus were;

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27: 46)

Whereas when Euron visits Aeron in the Silence;

“Still praying, priest? Your god has forsaken you.” “You’re wrong.”

And of course, the very end of The Forsaken has Aeron tied to the prow of Silence, in a style reminiscent of Jesus's crucifixion;

They bound Aeron Damphair tight with strips of leather that would shrink when wet, clad only in his beard and breechclout.

Throughout all his torture, Aeron holds deeply to his religious beliefs, and as yet, Euron has been unsuccessful in breaking down his faith. He believes he will soon die and live an afterlife of joy in the watery halls of the Drowned God.

Yet, from the looks of things, I do not believe Aeron is going to keep his faith. Looking back at his Feast chapters, we see that Aeron's religious devotion is a response to the trauma he has suffered throughout his life. Yet, when he tries to use his religion to stop Euron, he fails. Every single time.

When he hears Euron has claimed the Seastone Chair, he decides to hold a kingsmoot, trusting the Drowned God to intervene and correct the wrong;

"The god took me deep beneath the waves and drowned the worthless thing I was. When he cast me forth again he gave me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a voice to spread his word, that I might be his prophet and teach his truth to those who have forgotten. I was not made to sit upon the Seastone Chair . . . no more than Euron Crow's Eye. For I have heard the god, who says, No godless man may sit my Seastone Chair!"

And then it goes very very awry when Euron is elected king anyways. Yet Aeron rationalizes this by saying that Euron had his warlocks put a spell on the men to choose him;

"It was not the god who spoke. Euron is known to keep wizards and foul sorcerers on that red ship of his. They sent some spell among us, so we could not hear the sea. The captains and the kings were drunk with all this talk of dragons."

And thus Aeron goes into the sea, to take counsel with the Drowned God (which I will discuss more about in just a moment). Afterwards, he seems to be in high spirits again;

Aeron Damphair had struggled back to shore, full of fierce resolve. He would bring down Euron, not with sword or axe but with the power of his faith.

And then he is immediately kidnapped and chained in Silence by Euron's men. When Euron meets him and first force feeds him shade of the evening, Aeron curses him;

“I curse you,” Aeron said, when the cup was empty. Liquor dripped from down his chin into his long, black beard. “If I had the tongue of every man who cursed me, I could make a cloak of them.”

And of course, nothing happens to Euron. When he is imprisoned on Oakenshield and fed by Falia Flowers, Aeron tries to send a secret message to Victarion, but again, Euron defeats him;

“You must bear a message to my brother. Not Euron, but Victarion, Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet. Do you know the man I mean?” Falia sat back from him. “Yes,” she said. “But I couldn’t bring him any messages. He’s gone.” “Gone?” That was the cruelest blow of all. “Gone where?” “East,” she said, “with all his ships. He’s to bring the dragon queen to Westeros. I’m to be Euron’s salt wife, but he must have a rock wife too, a queen to rule all Westeros at his side. They say she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, and she has dragons. The two of us will be as close as sisters!” Aeron Damphair hardly heard her. Victarion is gone, half a world away or dead. Surely the Drowned God was testing him. This was a lesson for him. Put not your trust in men. Only my faith can save me now.

And then he prays to die so he can join his god, but this also doesn't work;

That night, when the tide came rushing back into the prison cell, he prayed that it might rise all night, enough to end his torment. I have been your true and leal servant, he prayed, twisting in his chains. Now snatch me from my brother’s hand, and take me down beneath the waves, to be seated at your side. But no deliverance came. Only the mutes, to undo his chains and drag him roughly up a long stone stair to where the Silence floated on a cold black sea.

When Euron next visits Aeron, Aeron doesn't believe that Euron is capable of kinslaying, only for Euron to prove the exact opposite;

“Pray to me. Beg me to end your torment, and I will.” “Not even you would dare,” said the Damphair. “I am your brother. No man is more accursed than the kinslayer.” “And yet I wear a crown and you rot in chains. How is it that your Drowned God allows that when I have killed three brothers?” Aeron could only gape at him. “Three?”

The Crow’s Eye pressed the dagger in a little deeper, and Aeron felt blood trickling down his neck. “If your Drowned God did not smite me for killing three brothers, why should he bestir himself for the fourth? Because you are his priest?”

And then he prays for his brother's death, yet he remains stubbornly alive. When the warlocks and other priests are brought to share the room with him, he fervently prays to his god, thinking he is stronger than all the other false gods. Still, Aeron's mental state is declining;

In his saner moments, Aeron questioned why the Crow’s Eye was collecting priests, but he did not think that he would like the answer. Victarion was gone, and with him, hope. Aeron’s drowned men likely thought the Damphair was hiding on Old Wyk, or Great Wyk, or Pyke, and wondered when he would emerge to speak against this godless king.

One last time, Aeron tries to warn Euron about the wrath of his god;

“Release me,” Aeron Damphair commanded in his sternest voice, “or risk the wroth of god!” Euron produced a carved stone bottle and a wine cup. “You have a thirsty look about you,” he said as he poured. “You need a drink; a taste of evening’s shade.” “No.” Aeron turned his face away. “No, I said.” “And I said yes.”

If the Drowned God is going to make the Crow's Eye pay, he's sure taking his time. When Aeron is finally brought up to see Euron's captains, it becomes clear that nobody seems to care about the Drowned God anymore;

“Have your gods been good to you in the dark?” asked Left-Hand Lucas Codd. One of the warlocks snarled some answer in his ugly eastern tongue. “I curse you all,” Aeron said. “Your curses have no power here, priest,” said Left-Hand Lucas Codd. “The Crow’s Eye has fed your Drowned God well, and he has grown fat with sacrifice. Words are wind, but blood is power. We have given thousands to the sea, and he has given us victories!”

By the end of The Forsaken, despite the excruciating torture at the hands of his demonic brother, Aeron still holds onto his faith. But the fact remains that when Aeron has attempted to do anything involving his faith to defeat Euron, nothing happens. This itself doesn't mean that Aeron will lose his faith, as seen in his chapters, these defeats are rationalized to fit his super religious worldview. However, there are small hints that his faith is merely a shield that is slowly being chipped away at.

Despite Aeron calling Euron godless and saying that the Drowned God himself said he did not want Euron on the Seastone Chair, it's quite clear that it's Aeron who doesn't want him because of his trauma. This isn't an invalid reason, Euron absolutely should not sit the throne, but the fact remains that the Drowned God did not tell him anything, it's all in Aeron's head. When Euron is elected at the kingsmoot;

Even a priest may doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aeron Damphair reached within himself for his god and discovered only silence. As a thousand voices shouted out his brother's name, all he could hear was the scream of a rusted iron hinge.

When Aeron faces the reality that his tormentor and abuser has succeeded, in the holiest of places, when he tried to use his faith as a weapon, he is unable to reach his god. Despite this brief moment where he is unable to comprehend his faith with the reality of the world, he quickly goes on to say Euron used sorcery to get the captains to vote for him.

After the kingsmoot, Aeron goes to speak to his god, in one of the most telling moments in The Forsaken;

And there and then, the Drowned God had come to him once more, his voice welling up from the depths of the sea.“Aeron, my good and faithful servant, you must tell the Ironborn that the Crow’s Eye is no true king, that the Seastone Chair by rights belongs to ... to ... to ...” Not Victarion. Victarion had offered himself to the captains and kings but they had spurned him. Not Asha. In his heart, Aeron had always loved Asha best of all his brother Balon’s children. The Drowned God had blessed her with a warrior’s spirit and the wisdom of a king – but he had cursed her with a woman’s body, too. No woman had ever ruled the Iron Islands. She should never have made a claim. She should have spoken for Victarion, added her own strength to his. It was not too late, Aeron had decided as he shivered in the sea. If Victarion took Asha for his wife, they could yet rule together, king and queen. In ancient days, each isle had its Salt King and its Rock King. Let the Old Way return.

If the Drowned God was actually talking to him, how come he isn't even able to finish his sentence? How come he doesn't even know who the true ruler is? Aeron is talking to himself, convincing himself that his voice is the voice of the god. Even though he uses his faith as a shield, he unknowingly uses his own thoughts and feelings to fuel his delusion that the Drowned God is talking to him.

It might sound like I'm being very harsh towards Aeron. I am an atheist, and like GRRM, do not like religious fanatics. The horror of what Aeron is going through is not just Euron being literally the most evil character in the universe, it's also the fact of what this torture means when you think about belief in the gods. The horror is that Aeron tries to find reasons to believe the Drowned God is still with him, yet the god never even intervenes. For some, the fact that Aeron still believes in his faith is seen as inspirational and uplifting; even though he has gone through an unbelievable amount of abuse, he's still holding onto his faith, winning over Euron who has been trying to break his faith down.

However, I see this as incredibly dark. On an existential level, the basic concept that staying faithful to God even as bad things happen and that god is all powerful is just frightening. If the god can intervene, why is he not intervening? The horror of The Forsaken isn't just from Euron's mad ambitions; it's in the fact that Aeron's god has not done anything observable to help him in the darkest of times. Even if it is to "teach Aeron a lesson" or "test his faith" it still comes off as horrifying. Who would worship a god that lets bad things happen to you in order to test if you are truly devoted to him? At worst, that's just another form of abuse.

Aeron's story is very dark. He's been abused, used, nearly died, tortured, and devoted to a god who isn't here for him. None of this is to say that if Aeron wasn't religious he'd be handling his torture better, or that Euron is in the right, far from it. I view it as a multilayered tragedy. There is a reason GRRM wrote Aeron as a religious zealot and Euron as a monstrous demon. Ultimately, they are both on the extreme opposite ends of the religious spectrum.

Everything Aeron does is for the Drowned God and is so singular in his devotion that he is blind to the fact that the Drowned God is not the answer to everything. Meanwhile, Euron is so vehemently against religion that he believes everything is nihilistic and is devoid of any and all compassion, serving only himself. While I am an atheist and have many problems with religion, both Aeron and Euron's worldviews are incredibly flawed and ultimately self serving and harmful.

This is why I think, when Euron does whatever he's about to do with Aeron tied to the ship, Aeron's faith will falter. I don't think that GRRM wants Aeron's story of religious fanaticism to be one of triumph and success. His worldview will not be able to withstand everything, just as Euron's worldview won't be able to withstand everything. It's a very dark ending to one of the most tortured characters in the series, but The Winds of Winter is going to be very dark and things will get worse for many characters.

The Corruption of Victarion Flamehand

Older than Aeron, but younger than Euron or Balon, Victarion is sort of the middle child of the Greyjoy family. He, like Aeron, followed Balon loyally throughout his life. When Robert's Rebellion was raging, Victarion joined Balon and Euron in convincing their father, the progressive Quellon, to join in. This led to their fathers death, and Balon claimed the Seastone Chair. When Balon started the Greyjoy's Rebellion, Victarion served him loyally, commanding the standing royal fleet, the Iron Fleet, as its Lord Captain.

Although Victarion is a capable battle commander and naval captain, he is more of a follower, loyally serving his superiors. He is also devoted to the Old Way and reaving culture, wearing plate armour at sea for he does not fear drowning. He lives for fighting and battle, so much so that he wishes to fight some of the best warriors in Westeros;

He would give half his teeth for the chance to try his axe against the Kingslayer or the Knight of Flowers. That was the sort of battle that he understood.

Otherwise, Victarion is not the brightest person in the world (and we'll get to that).

Victarion also mistrusts laughter, as both Euron and Aeron mocked him using feigned praise when they were younger, which hurt him. Yet, he hates Euron for a much deeper reason. When it was learned that Euron impregnated his salt wife (either via seduction or rape), this dishonoured Victarion in the eyes of ironborn culture. To retain his honour, Victarion beat his wife to death, and nearly killed Euron, but Balon reminded him of the sin of kinslaying and instead sent Euron into exile, never to return as long as he lived.

Since then, Victarion has blamed Euron for his wife's death and has wanted to seek revenge. When the kingsmoot is called, he puts forth his claim, yet he is no poet, and all he says is that he will give the ironborn more of what Balon gave them. When Euron wins, unlike their younger brother Aeron, Victarion is resigned to the outcome;

"Drunk, and fearful of that horn. You heard the sound it made. It makes no matter. Euron is our king."

Despite Victarion's hatred of his brother, he follows him loyally. When Baelor Blacktyde refuses to accept Euron as his liege, Victarion blocked his escape with the Iron Fleet and delivered Baelor to Euron to be executed. He then follows Euron's plans to take the Shields, by blocking the mouth of the Mander to prevent the dromonds from returning to the isles while Euron swooped in and took them undefended. He also agrees to sail the Iron Fleet to Meereen to bring Daenerys back to Westeros when Euron asks him of it, but he plans to betray Euron and marry Daenerys for himself.

As noted above, Euron's gifts are poison, and Victarion is aware of that. One of the most interesting of gifts Victarion is given by Euron is the dusky woman;

As a reward for his leal service, the new-crowned king had given Victarion the dusky woman, taken off some slaver bound for Lys. "I want none of your leavings," he had told his brother scornfully, but when the Crow's Eye said that the woman would be killed unless he took her, he had weakened. Her tongue had been torn out, but elsewise she was undamaged, and beautiful besides, with skin as brown as oiled teak. Yet sometimes when he looked at her, he found himself remembering the first woman his brother had given him, to make a man of him.

Euron is very well aware of Victarion's hatred of him and his issues with women after impregnating his wife. The dusky woman as a gift is a different type of poison; a reminder of the power Euron has over Victarion. He took away Victarion's wife (again, as Victarion sees it), and just as easily gave him a new woman. As Moqorro later sees, Euron is the one behind the black strings that make Victarion dance. And dance he does.

When Victarion leaves to sail east with the Iron Fleet, he begins to change. For the first time, Victarion is truly on his own, with no one else to give him orders or advice. And here we begin to see Victarion change into a different sort of person. While he loathes Euron, Victarion also seems to look up to him. As the middle child, Victarion inevitably suffers from middle child syndrome, always walking in the shadows of his older brother, who gets all the credit while he obediently follows him from behind. Throughout the journey, Victarion thinks about Euron and what he'd do, and it influences his own decisions;

So he had slapped the Limper twice across the face and said, "The first is for the ships you lost, the second for your talk of curses. Speak of that again and I will nail your tongue to the mast. If the Crow's Eye can make mutes, so can I."

The Crow's Eye had sailed halfway across the world, reaving and plundering from Qarth to Tall Trees Town, calling at unholy ports beyond where only madmen went. Euron had even braved the Smoking Sea and lived to tell of it. And that with only one ship. If he can mock the gods, so can I.

But Moqorro knew these strange shores in ways the ironborn did not, and secrets of the dragonkind as well. The Crow's Eye keeps wizards, why shouldn't I?

But sailing around Yaros would cost him precious days. With Yunkai so near, shipping in the straits was like to be heavy, but he did not expect to encounter Yunkish warships until they were closer to Meereen. What would the Crow's Eye do? He brooded on that for a time, then signaled to his captains. "We sail the straits."

As the journey continues and he discovers Moqorro, he also begins to find a new confidence within himself, thanks to the red priests magical abilities. His hand was infected thanks to him not treating a wound he took in a previous battle, and when Moqorro healed it, it became something entirely different;

The arm the priest had healed was hideous to look upon, pork crackling from elbow to fingertips. Sometimes when Victarion closed his hand the skin would split and smoke, yet the arm was stronger than it had ever been.

Moqorro continues to give accurate predictions from his nightfires to Victarion, allowing him to find missing ships and hunt down other ships to add to his fleet. As he grows in his own newfound power, he also begins to take on the worship of R'hllor, sacrificing to him in addition to the Drowned God;

"Two gods are with me now," he told the dusky woman. "No foe can stand before two gods."

"With this gift of innocence and beauty, we honor both the gods," he proclaimed, as the warships of the Iron Fleet rowed past the burning ketch. "Let these girls be reborn in light, undefiled by mortal lust, or let them descend to the Drowned God's watery halls, to feast and dance and laugh until the seas dry up."

This culminates when Moqorro sees the dragon horn Euron gave Victarion, and translates the runes inscribed on it;

"Here it says, 'No mortal man shall sound me and live.' " Bitterly Victarion brooded on the treachery of brothers. Euron's gifts are always poisoned. "The Crow's Eye swore this horn would bind dragons to my will. But how will that serve me if the price is death?" "Your brother did not sound the horn himself. Nor must you." Moqorro pointed to the band of steel. "Here. 'Blood for fire, fire for blood.' Who blows the hellhorn matters not. The dragons will come to the horn's master. You must claim the horn. With blood."

With this, Victarion now has a plan to have three thralls sound Dragonbinder, after he has claimed the horn with blood, in order to get Daenerys's dragons bound to him. Suffice to say that his ambitions are starting to grow;

He brushed his hand across one of the red gold bands and the ancient glyph seemed to sing beneath his fingertips. For half a heartbeat he wanted nothing so much as to sound the horn himself. Euron was a fool to give me this, it is a precious thing, and powerful. With this I’ll win the Seastone Chair, and then the Iron Throne. With this I’ll win the world.

Yet throughout all of this, Victarion never questions why Moqorro is helping him or if he has an ulterior motive. Moqorro serves him and his needs, and thats all that matters to the Lord Captain. Although Moqorro is most certainly only going to be 100% faithful to Daenerys, as she is Azor Ahai reborn, he is ultimately using Victarion as a means to an end, yet he is useful to him in that regard. He must get to Meereen, and the best way is to get into the good graces of Victarion, and it does him no good to lie or deceive him when Victarion is the only person who doesn't want to sacrifice him to the Drowned God.

In addition, Moqorro has gained a convert to R'hllor, although begrudgingly, as Victarion still worships the Drowned God. He is also coming to ally with Daenerys, which gives him maybe more credit than if Moqorro were to be picked up by someone else. While I don't think Moqorro is lying to Victarion, he is still manipulating him, trying to convert him to R'hllorism and giving him valuable information so that Victarion doesn't kill him. It all works towards Moqorro's larger goal of serving Azor Ahai, aka Daenerys Stormborn.

I think that Euron's original plan for Victarion was simple. Have him travel to Meereen, plot to betray Euron, get obsessed with Dragonbinder, then blow the horn and die as a result (or some other way), gifting Daenerys a dragon horn and a fleet of ships to bring her to Westeros. Despite Euron's manipulation and psychological trickery usually working out for him, Moqorro is a potential wildcard that throws his plans out of balance. It is because of Moqorro that Victarion is now on the verge of acquiring dragons. It is because of Moqorro that Victarion has this newfound power and confidence. It is because of Moqorro that Victarion did not die of his hand wound that he previously refused to treat.

This is also why I think Victarion will be successful in acquiring his own dragon (for a time). With Moqorro's knowledge, which Euron could not have possibly foreseen, Victarion now has the capability of acquiring a dragon. Although it's certainly plausible Moqorro's information is faulty, the information we have is consistent with what we know, and as stated above, there are ample reasons to believe Moqorro isn't trying to get Victarion killed. Story wise, if we are to up the stakes, then someone taking control of one of Dany's dragons would be a big way to change things and show the power that Dragonbinder possesses.

Despite all the talk of manipulation, Victarion's goals are still his own. It's why his chapter titles switch from his roles (The Iron Captain/The Reaver/The Iron Suitor) to his name (Victarion I). He is becoming more himself, he's just being given the tools that allow him to do so while also suiting other peoples agendas. And the more he becomes himself, the uglier he seems. Between his increasingly graphic human sacrifices and his almost delusional want for immense power, he's becoming more selfish and villainous than before.

In fact, while he is coming into his own, it's also very noticeable that he is slowly also becoming more like Euron. He is starting to use magic for his own ends, has a red priest coaching him in magic, and starting to reject some teachings of ironborn culture by also worshipping R'hllor. This is rather significant, as I'll discuss later, but Victarion becoming like Euron is more than a result of him being jealous about living in the shadow of his older brother; despite the fact that Euron's way is not like the Old Way, he has more in common with Victarion than Victarion cares to admit.

He objects to Euron selling the captives of the Shield Isles into slavery, when the ironborn practice thralldom, which is essentially a form of slavery. He objects to Euron supposedly using his warlocks, but then Victarion decides to use a red priest. Most importantly, however; he does not accept responsibility for his wifes death. Ironborn culture is incredibly misogynistic and terrible, and Victarion being who he is, follows through even though he didn't want to.

Yet, although Euron definitely knew what he was doing and what Victarion would do, he cannot be to blame for what Victarion did. He chose to beat his wife to death because she was impregnated by another man. The fact is that Victarion is a villain who undeniably believes himself to be the hero, and works through psychological loopholes to put the blame on someone else. Euron and Victarion are opposites, yet also identical in a way. They are both villains, but while Euron knows he is a terrible person doing terrible things for his own gain, Victarion thinks he's a good person and serving his gods while doing terrible things for his own gain.

Of course, there is also the factor that Euron is actually competent; he's highly manipulative, politically aware, and perceptive of how to play people. Meanwhile, Victarion is dumb as a stump, easily manipulated, and never considers what other peoples motives might be (even though he does with Euron, he ends up just not thinking about that at all). It makes for a rather entertaining contrast between the two.

Sailing on a Sea of Blood

Having now talked about Euron and his relationship with his brothers, it's time to look at what Euron is going to do in the future, and The Forsaken is the starting point to build off. It is one of my favourite chapters in the entire series; it is a masterpiece of psychological horror, with big twists, reveals, and terrifying moments. There are also many visions that Aeron experiences from being force-fed shade of the evening. The section will be split into three different parts.

The first will be viewing at the general visions, deciphering their possible meaning to the story. The second will be specifically looking at the visions and other text that might pertain to the coming naval battle Euron is planning to engage in. The third will be exploring what exactly Euron is going to do. I will also be taking bits from different chapters as well as I see fit. Since it was a sample chapter for an unreleased book, it is important to note that the visions Aeron has may change in the final product. But since we don't have the final product, we'll be sticking with the one we know.

To begin our journey into madness, we have Aeron's first set of visions. These occur at the beginning of the chapter when Euron first force feeds Aeron the wine of the warlocks. It begins with Urri, Aeron's dead brother;

“Urri!” he cried. There is no hinge here, no door, no Urri. His brother Urrigon was long dead, yet there he stood. One arm was black and swollen, stinking with maggots, but he was still Urri, still a boy, no older than the day he died. “You know what waits below the sea, brother?” “The Drowned God,” Aeron said, “the watery halls.” Urri shook his head. “Worms ... worms await you, Aeron.”

On a subconscious level, it'd make sense for Aeron to have dreams of his faith being false. Dream Urri tells him that nothing but death awaits him in the sea, no Drowned God, no afterlife. This is potentially prophetic, as it goes nicely with another vision later on;

When he laughed his face sloughed off and the priest saw that it was not Urri but Euron, the smiling eye hidden. He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered round his feet and a forest burned behind him.

The scale dark as onyx might refer to the Valyrian steel armour Euron wears at the end of the chapter. And here we see the true Euron; his smiling eye, the blue eye that represents the face he shows the ironborn, is hidden, and now his blood eye, the black eye filled with malice that represents his true monstrous self, is visible. Him sitting on a mound of burned skulls with dwarves at his feet, and that burning forest, probably represents his way of acquiring power and how he views himself.

He is bringing untold death and destruction in his wake, all in a quest to gain ever more power. In his view, everyone else is insignificant and he towers over them. It also fits nicely with the general apocalyptic aesthetic these dreams have, which is important to the next part where Euron says;

“The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.” Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him.

The mention of the red comet is interesting. Over the POVs we learn that the comet has many different meanings to people. However, we also know that from the Azor Ahai prophecy, which states;

"There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world. In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him."

So Euron at least knows what the red comet signifies, or perhaps even knows about the Azor Ahai prophecy. Whatever the case, he knows that something apocalyptic is coming and is taking advantage of it. I do not believe in the theories that Euron is in league with the Others and wants to lead them or anything; he is simply aware that very bad times are coming and is using it as an opportunity to gain power.

The symbolism regarding the dragons, krakens, and sphinxes is mostly straightforward- the dragons representing Daenerys coming to Westeros based on his own actions, and the krakens being the ironborn he rules over- although the sphinx is much harder to figure out. Historically, sphinxes are known for killing those who cannot answer their riddles, acting as spiritual guardians. Perhaps this represents Euron's own hubris when it comes to power; the warlocks of Qarth have hidden knowledge, thanks to their shade of the evening, but Euron has now gained that knowledge after dominating them. Perhaps the warlocks might be represented by the sphinxes, guarding their ways closely, but Euron has bypassed that and can now tap into them. Who knows, sphinxes are purposefully tricky.

And the first vision set ends with one of the more disturbing images in the chapter;

“Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.” “Never. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!” “Why would I want that hard black rock? Brother, look again and see where I am seated.” Aeron Damphair looked. The mound of skulls was gone. Now it was metal underneath the Crow’s Eye: a great, tall, twisted seat of razor sharp iron, barbs and blades and broken swords, all dripping blood. Impaled upon the longer spikes were the bodies of the gods. The Maiden was there and the Father and the Mother, the Warrior and Crone and Smith ... even the Stranger. They hung side by side with all manner of queer foreign gods: the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat, three-headed Trios and the Pale Child Bakkalon, the Lord of Light and the butterfly god of Naath. And there, swollen and green, half-devoured by crabs, the Drowned God festered with the rest, seawater still dripping from his hair. Then, Euron Crow’s Eye laughed again, and the priest woke screaming in the bowels of Silence, as piss ran down his leg.

As Euron getting Aeron to worship him as his god has been discussed elsewhere, we'll move right past that and talk about Euron's goals. Here it's clear that he doesn't care for the Iron Islands, or the Seastone Chair, or hell, even the ironborn. He is merely using them for his own ends in acquiring what he truly wants; the Iron Throne.

The bodies of the gods impaled on the Iron Throne represents Euron's goal to be seen as a god, and the fact that he holds all the gods false. In his mind, he is the only true god, and all the others are false. There is possibly more to this, but that will come later. Afterwards, there is at least a few weeks before Euron once again forces the vile LSD wine into his mouth, and the visions get more terrifying and mysterious;

The dreams were even worse the second time. He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea.

As I'll discuss later, this is most likely a view at the upcoming naval altercation Euron is about to have with the Redwyne fleet, so we'll explore this in detail in a moment;

He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles. Beside him stood a shadow in woman’s form, long and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire. Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed ...

Aaaaaand we have gone to Lovecraftian horror. Euron in this vision is supposed to invoke the imagery of Cthulhu, who is a cosmic entity worshipped by various cults and the source of constantly subconscious anxiety in the works of HP Lovecraft. Sounds a lot like Euron, doesn't it? I don't think that this vision is meant to be literal, in that he will turn into a squid demon, but it's definitely meant to represent the existential horror he brings.

The shadow in woman's form has been subject to much theorizing and debate, but I ultimately believe that this is meant to be Daenerys. Aeron, who has never met her, does not know her, but given that Euron is mad and cruel, it is reasonable for him to assume that Daenerys is also mad and cruel, otherwise why would Euron want her? It is also important to note that Euron has also never met Daenerys, and this may also be how he views her; a partner in conquering and surviving the apocalypse. The dwarf imagery, again, speaks to the dominance Euron wants him and Daenerys to have, ruling as gods over everyone else.

Aeron dreamed of drowning, too. Not of the bliss that would surely follow down in the Drowned God’s watery halls, but of the terror that even the faithful feel as the water fills their mouth and nose and lungs, and they cannot draw a breath. Three times the Damphair woke, and three times it proved no true waking, but only another chapter in a dream.

This is the last vision Aeron has, and it goes back with the very first vision he had. Urri told him that nothing glorious awaits him in the sea, no afterlife, just death. And here in this dream, Aeron is afraid as he drowns. Drowning at sea is considered one of the most holy ways to die in Ironborn culture, yet Aeron is fearful. Of course, this is definitely subconsciously something he is afraid of, but given evening's shade has a magical component to it, it might foreshadow his real death. There is more support for this, when Euron visits him;

“That which is dead cannot die,” said Aeron fiercely. “For he who has tasted death once need never fear again. He was drowned, but he came forth stronger than before, with steel and fire.” “Will you do the same, brother?” Euron asked. “I think not. I think if I drowned you, you’ll stay drowned."

And thus the visions come to an end. But where does this leave us? What is to happen next? Well, we did skip over certain parts for this purpose, and now is time to look back at that. About midway through the chapter, Aeron is joined by several other priests in Euron's custody;

It was in the second dungeon that the other holy men began to appear to share his torments. Three wore the robes of septons of the green lands, and one the red raiment of a priest of R’hllor. The last was hardly recognizable as a man. Both his hands had been burned down to the bone, and his face was a charred and blackened horror where two blind eyes moved sightlessly above the cracked cheeks dripping pus. He was dead within hours of being shackled to the wall, but the mutes left his body there to ripen for three days afterwards. Last were two warlocks of the east, with flesh as white as mushrooms, and lips the purplish-blue of a bad bruise, all so gaunt and starved that only skin and bones remained. One had lost his legs. The mutes hung him from a rafter.

Here we have three septons, a red priest, followed by the two warlocks of Qarth joining a Drowned Priest in this dungeon. There could be more, however. I find it rather unlikely that a red priest would be found in Westeros, as it is a primarily Essosi religion. When looking back to the vision of the gods impaled on the Iron Throne, it could also foreshadow Euron's upcoming blood sacrifice. If it does, then he might have more priests from the other gods we see. One thing to note as well is that Aeron does not see the old gods, as they would not have priests.

Regardless, Euron is collecting these priests for a special purpose;

He stepped back and sheathed his dagger. “No, I’ll not kill you tonight. A holy man with holy blood. I may have need of that that blood ... later. For now, you are condemned to live.”

In the canon of bloodmagic, we've only ever heard of kings blood, as Melisandre notes it has great power. She and Stannis nearly burned Edric Storm to wake dragons out of stone because he was the son of King Robert. Holy blood is something entirely new. However, he also is using a pregnant Falia Flowers in the ritual as well. Their child has kings blood, so Euron might end up using kings blood anyways. This mixture of holy blood and kings blood suggests that he is trying to tap into different forms of magical power. Euron is also ready to sacrifice the warlocks, who may not be priests, but are magical people.

There is also the possibility that these won't be the only people he sacrifices. In two visions, Euron is associated with the image of a sea of blood. This first appears when Moqorro tells Tyrion about the people who are seeking Daenerys;

"Only their shadows," Moqorro said. "One most of all. A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood."

The second, of course, is this line from Aeron's nightmare visions.

The dreams were even worse the second time. He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea.

The burning ships might indicate that the ironborn will suffer large casualties in the coming battle with the Redwyne fleet. Euron himself knows that the Redwyne fleet and Hightower fleet are trying to trap him in the Redwyne Straits using a pincer maneuever;

“Count yourself blessed, Damphair,” said Stonehand. “We are going back to sea. The Redwyne fleet creeps toward us. The winds have been against them rounding Dorne, but they’re finally near enough to have emboldened the old women in Oldtown, so now Leyton Hightower’s sons move down the Whispering Sound in hopes of catching us in the rear.”

And yet Euron knows this and sails into battle anyways. The Redwyne fleet is also the largest in Westeros, around 200 warships. Meanwhile, with the Iron Fleet gone, Euron's main source of seapower is gone. His fleet, as Aeron sees, is also far smaller than the one they are about to enter conflict with;

And so, Aeron Damphair returned to the salt sea. A dozen longships were drawn up at the wharf below the castle, and twice as many beached along the strand. Familiar banners streamed from their masts: the Greyjoy kraken, the bloody moon of Wynch, the warhorn of the Goodbrothers. But from their sterns flew a flag the priest had never seen before: a red eye with a black pupil beneath an iron crown supported by two crows. Beyond them, a host of merchant ships floated on a tranquil, turquoise sea. Cogs, carracks, fishing boats, even a great cog, a swollen sow of a ship as big as the Leviathan. Prizes of war, the Damphair knew.

Only 36 longships and an unknown number of ships they caught from their raids. Militarily, the fleets of the Reach have the numerical and tactical advantage, with larger fleets and ships built for naval combat. Euron is also very confident about what he is doing, and given that there is no way he can defeat them conventionally, it's most likely that he is about to use magic. While the Reach fleets want to lure Euron into a trap, Euron himself is luring them into a different kind of trap, and the perfect bait would be to send some of his fleet to do battle, perhaps as a sacrifice of sorts (more later).

This image of a sea of blood appears as visions from two different sources; one a red priest far away in Essos, and the other Aeron. Being shown far from each other suggests that this event is important magically and metaphysically. It has shades of when Daenerys saw a vision of the Red Wedding in the House of the Undying, far away from Qarth or anything she was involved with. When considering what Euron is exactly doing here, one possibility is that he is summoning krakens. Krakens are apparently drawn to the surface by blood, and capable of pulling under large galleys, as Arianne is told by the Tolands in Dorne;

"And krakens off the Broken Arm, pulling under crippled galleys," said Valena. "The blood draws them to the surface, our maester claims. There are bodies in the water. A few have washed up on our shores."

In the Iron Islands own history, krakens also appear in large numbers when there are heavy casualties from sea battles. From Fire & Blood, we know that after the death of King Harren Hoare, the Iron Islands were thrown into chaos and battled one another with their own kings;

Other claimants around on Great Wyk, Pyke, and Orkmont, and for more than a year their adherents battled one another on land and sea. It was said that the waters between the islands were so choked with corpses that krakens appeared by the hundreds, drawn by the blood.

Krakens being drawn to the surface by the blood from the large casualties seems possible, but this would not be the main reason for the sacrifice. Given how much build up there is, the fact it spans two continents, I think that something far more magical and powerful is happening. One of the most curious, and severely underrated, portions of The Forsaken is the detail in Aeron's vision that the blood-red sea is boiling. It could definitely be from krakens appearing, but as noted, there seems to be something more happening. It also invokes the image of the Doom of Valyria, where the Smoking Sea is said to boil in places.

Going back towards the idea of a set of ships being sent as bait to the Redwyne fleet, there might be more reasons for this to happen. Instead of being just bait, these ships and the ironmen on them could also be sacrifices. It would justify the scale of what Euron is doing, using a huge amount of death to accomplish it. Steven Attewell suggests that Euron is planning to sacrifice his entire fleet, deliberately having thousands killed, while he uses the priests as talismans or ways of focusing magical energy to complete the ritual.

While I don't agree with everything written in the post, I think that Euron is definitely going to deliberately sacrifice at least a portion of his fleet, and use the priests sacrifices to amplify the power of the death from the naval battle. And Euron is definitely preparing for battle, not just a sacrifice;

Euron Crow’s Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was, but Euron wore it as easily as if it was the thinnest silk. The scales were edged in red gold, and gleamed and shimmered when they moved. Patterns could be seen within the metal, whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols folded into the steel. Valyrian steel, the Damphair knew. His armor is Valyrian steel. In all the Seven Kingdoms, no man owned a suit of Valyrian steel. Such things had been known 400 years ago, in the days before the Doom, but even then, they would’ve cost a kingdom.

He's not wearing that for no reason. He intends on a fight, with magical assistance. But what exactly he is doing is a lot harder to parse out. Perhaps the Doom of Valyria example is close to the mark. Euron himself has many artefacts and ideas that are rather deeply rooted with Valyrian culture. He had Dragonbinder, he has a suit of Valyrian steel armour, he wants to marry Daenerys and get her dragons. His antitheism is even reminiscent of Valyrians view on religion, although he is not tolerant;

Some scholars have suggested that the dragonlords regarded all faiths as equally false, believing themselves to be more powerful than any god or goddess. They looked upon priests and temples as relics of a more primitive time, though useful for placating "slaves, savages, and the poor" with promises of a better life to come. Moreover, a multiplicity of gods helped to keep their subjects divided and lessened the chances of their uniting under the banner of a single faith to overthrow their overlords. Religious tolerance was to them a means of keeping the peace in the Lands of the Long Summer.

He is also practicing blood magic, which the Valyrians also famously practiced. It's possible that this sacrifice is something rooted in Valyrian magic. Him needing "holy blood" also strikes me as him trying to tap into some sort of divine power, something that could be considered an act of god.

When thinking about Euron's goal to become a god, we can get caught up in the idea that he wants to literally become a god and this ritual is his way of trying to do that. However, he already believes himself to be more powerful than all the gods, as he does horrific things constantly without ever being stopped by them. Instead, I believe Euron is doing this ritual to do something that makes him appear as god-like, instead of literally making himself a god.

What exactly that is, I'm not sure. The visions are vague, and the boiling sea could mean any number of things, whether it be krakens being summoned, or the Redwyne Straits literally becoming the new Smoking Sea. He has been planning it for a while, as he mentions needing holy blood halfway through the chapter, long before the end. Perhaps he was waiting for the right time, when there would be massive casualties as a result of a massive sea battle, to do this ritual. In that case, he could try to make himself a god in fact, or gain power in some way, rather than simply do his own act of god.

He is noted as not caring much about material wealth;

She laughed. “Silly, he won’t. I’m his love, his lady. He gives me gifts, so many gifts. Silks and furs and jewels. Rags and rocks, he calls them.” “The Crow’s Eye puts no value in such things.” That was one of the things that drew men to his service. Most captains kept the lion’s share of their plunder but Euron took almost nothing for himself.

Despite being narcissistic, he doesn't seem to really care about having the most powerful stuff. This could be that his real goal is to try to gain some sort of power or godly ability, and gods have no need of material wealth. It's not what he wants, he wants deification. There are three things I'm sure of, however; 1) Aeron will not be able to comprehend what he will see. 2) The Redwyne and Hightower fleets are fucked. 3) It's going to be horrifying and exciting to read about.

The Future of the Crow's Eye

The final section is going to explore what Euron will do in the story beyond weird pirate warlock god-king shit, his next moves, as well as his inevitable end. As frightening and imposing a figure he is, I don't believe he will be the "final villain" of the series. The main antagonist of the series has always and will always be the Others. This doesn't mean that Euron won't succeed in doing some serious damage, however. Mad, bold, and malicious, he is going to and has already started to do things that significantly move the narrative.

His presence in the Reach means he is a very near and significant threat to Sam and others at the Citadel in Oldtown. He has already sent Victarion to Slaver's Bay, and whatever he does there will be because of Euron. The probability that Daenerys is going to use the Iron Fleet to reach Westeros is also pretty high, as it would be a waste of narrative space for the fleet to be sent to her and them leaving without her. We will return to Daenerys and Victarion later, but first a look at some of the historical parallels to Euron.

The image of someone wearing an eyepatch and having a bright blue eye is also found with Aemond Targaryen, from the Dance of the Dragons. Unlike Euron, he had only one real eye, but the eye he lost was replaced with a sapphire gemstome, which he usually kept hidden with an eyepatch. He was also the second born brother of the king, and a narcissist who remarked that he looked better wearing the crown (when named Prince Regent after Aegon was wounded) than Aegon II ever did. However, beyond that, he doesn’t share much more with Aemond.

This leads us back to Harwyn Hardhand, who we mentioned much earlier. Like Euron, he (probably) hired a Faceless Man to kill his older brother and then take the Seastone Chair. And, like Euron, he spent much time away from the Iron Islands;

His son Harwyn had no use for peace, but much and more for the arms and armor that his father forged. A belligerent boy by all accounts, and third in the succession, Harwyn Hoare was sent to sea at an early age. He sailed with a succession of reavers in the Stepstones, visited Volantis, Tyrosh, and Braavos, became a man in the pleasure gardens of Lys, spent two years in the Basilisk Isles as a captive of a pirate king, sold his sword to a free company in the Disputed Lands, and fought in several battles as a Second Son.

After his time away and returning, Harwyn then invaded and conquered the Riverlands, which the ironborn would hold for three generations. This is worth noting as the ironborn are not great on land, but Harwyn’s time with sellsword companies in the Disputed Lands made him a worthy commander on land and sea. Euron is strictly a very skilled naval commander, but he has also learned about the power of blood sacrifice and magic, which the ironborn are now also utilizing. His deceptive tactics have also begun to find use in some of his reavers;

"It grieves me that honest men must suffer such discourtesy, but sooner that than ironmen in Oldtown. Only a fortnight ago some of those bloody bastards captured a Tyroshi merchantman in the straits. They killed her crew, donned their clothes, and used the dyes they found to color their whiskers half a hundred colors. Once inside the walls they meant to set the port ablaze and open a gate from within whilst we fought the fire. Might have worked, but they ran afoul of the Lady of the Tower, and her oarsmaster has a Tyroshi wife. When he saw all the green and purple beards he hailed them in the tongue of Tyrosh, and not one of them had the words to hail him back."

Sam notes that the ironborn are far bolder than ever, no doubt emboldened by Euron’s victories. With the Arbor having been sacked, and with the Redwyne and Hightower fleets dealt with, Euron is now free to raid Oldtown. It’s likely that he will use some sort of deception, as Oldtown is a strongly fortified city and the Hightowers are preparing to deal with them. Once again, look no further than Harwyn Hardhand;

Harwyn assembled a host and led it across the bay on a hundred of his father's longships. Landing unchallenged north of Seagard, they carried their ships overland to the Blue Fork of the Trident, then swept downstream with fire and sword.

Given the obvious parallels with Harwyn Hardhand, succeeding in conquering most of the Reach, this is another way Euron could parallel Harwyn. While some of the ironborn attack Oldtown straight from the Whispering Sound, he has others land south of Oldtown, carry their longships around to the Honeywine, then strike Oldtown from the north where they least expect it. If they get a hold of Oldtown, they then have another base they can use to launch even more raids all along the Honeywine, far inland into the Reach.

There is, however, the possibility that Euron might not succeed. Oldtown is set to be an important location in the future, and we currently have Sam Tarly there as a POV. When Jon tells him to go to Oldtown to earn a maesters chain, he also tells him to keep up his practice with archery, and he does, joining the red archers aboard the Cinnamon Wind to send out a volley of arrows against ironborn trying to hunt them down. He even manages to have his arrow hit the ship by the end, which shows he is improving. Thus far he has worked with Ulmer of the Kingswood Brotherhood, Kojja Mo aboard the Cinnamon Wind, and is now to be looked after Alleras (Sarella Sand), all of whom are very skilled archers. In addition, the sigil of House Tarly is a striding huntsmen atop a horse with a bow in hand.

I think it’s possible Sam actually does kill Euron, but even if he doesn’t, he might prove important to the battle or rescuing Oldtown in some other way. If he’s successful in sacking Oldtown, I imagine he will be continuing to raid the Reach, all to prepare for Daenerys to come to Westeros and maybe impress her with his own deeds. Yet, I do not believe things will work out for Euron exactly as he wishes, because events in the east are going far beyond his control.

So now we finally return to Meereen and now I can wrap this whole thing up. There is a strong possibility for Victarion to succeed in binding a dragon to him, as discussed before. The big question is how Daenerys might react to this. On the one hand, she might not be super happy with Victarion taking one of her children, and she has been warned by Quaithe not to trust “the kraken”. On the other hand, the House of the Undying tells her “three heads has the dragon” and she thinks to herself;

The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.

Yet when we look at the House of the Undying visions, I think it becomes clear that Daenerys will allow Victarion to ally with her, possibly even marry him too;

. . three mounts must you ride . . . one to bed and one to dread and one to love . . .

It’s most likely that the one to bed is Drogo and the one to love is Jon Snow. The one to dread could refer to her being a dragonrider with Drogon, but if we go along the themes of a lover or a husband, it could refer to someone else, possibly Euron or Victarion. This would be ambiguous to me if it weren’t for more obvious visions that Dany receives from the Undying;

Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . .

She is called “bride of fire” and we have her silver gifted to her by Drogo, her husband, so these all likely refer to significant marriages in her life. The corpse at the prow of a ship with grey lips smiling sadly, in my mind, almost certainly refers to a Greyjoy (what with the ship and the allusion of grey lips smiling being a sort of pun on the name Greyjoy). Victarion is already present in Meereen and Euron is hundreds of miles away. With an offer of marriage, and a visual of a future husband matching Victarion or another Greyjoy, it seems to me she will marry a Greyjoy, and Victarion makes the most sense to me.

Why he is a corpse at the prow of a ship is tricky; perhaps he did actually die and Moqorro brought him back to life (although I prefer to think he was just healed with fire magic). Or he is a dead man walking whose time is limited. There’s a lot to think about for this. Drogo was important to Daenerys, as she ended up falling in love with him (as problematic as I find that entire storyline), and his death did lead to the birth of her dragons. Jon Snow, one of the other main characters of the series, is likely to have a significant impact on Dany as well (there is an almost overwhelming amount of foreshadowing for the two getting together but we’ll save that for another time).

If we keep with the pattern, perhaps Victarion might be important to Daenerys as well. I find it difficult to imagine this, but GRRM has done this sort of stuff before, and perhaps I am underestimating Daenerys in that regard. And there are reasons why Daenerys might marry Victarion, even if she won’t fall in love with him. For one, Victarion is rather easy to manipulate, and he would do anything to get into Daenerys’s good graces. He might have some severe issues with women, but something tells me he would do whatever she told him if he meant he would get her as a reward.

On the other hand, he has many things to offer her; he has Dragonbinder that Euron gave him, and he has the Iron Fleet. One reason why Quentyn failed to get Daenerys to marry him (apart from the fact she was still trying to integrate into Meereenese society) is because he only showed up with two of his friends and a signed marriage pact. In other words, nothing present and material that she can see. But if Victarion helps in the defeat of the Yunkish, defeats the Volantenes, and has a massive fleet he commands, it would prove to her that he is a useful ally to have.

In addition, she is now of a mind to finally just head to Westeros and leave Essos all together, and so marrying a Westerosi lord would be important to her, even if he is a fucking Greyjoy. All together, although I found it to be strange at first, there is a strange amount of evidence and logical reasons for her to marry Victarion. It is an inverse to Quentyn’s quest, where both go over a long journey and have similar end goals, but where Quentyn failed, Victarion will succeed… at least for a bit. And, as Euron tells Victarion;

"When the kraken weds the dragon, brother, let all the world beware."

Except the kraken marrying the dragon is Victarion, not Euron. If this happens, then Daenerys comes to Westeros with Euron as her antagonist, not a potential suitor. This leads to the final point (finally) I want to discuss. How will Euron meet his end? He’s a legit villain and a major threat, but there is no way he will survive the series. I brought up the theory of Sam the Slayer killing Euron, but it is equally plausible that Euron kills Victarion and in revenge Daenerys burns Euron to death with her dragons. I have another theory, however.

In Victarion’s first chapter alone, kinslaying is brought up four times, and in his next two it is mentioned thrice more, all in reference to Euron;

Euron was still his elder, no matter how much bad blood might be between them. No man is as accursed as the kinslayer.

He would give half his teeth for the chance to try his axe against the Kingslayer or the Knight of Flowers. That was the sort of battle that he understood. The kinslayer was accursed in the eyes of gods and men, but the warrior was honored and revered.

In addition, there are references to Victarion thinking about Euron while also thinking about killing him with his own hands;

Victarion's hands closed into fists. He had beaten four men to death with those hands, and one wife as well. Though his hair was flecked with hoarfrost, he was as strong as he had ever been, with a bull's broad chest and a boy's flat belly. The kinslayer is accursed in the eyes of gods and men, Balon had reminded him on the day he sent the Crow's Eye off to sea.

Victarion would not speak of kinslaying, here in this godly place beneath the bones of Nagga and the Grey King's Hall, but many a night he dreamed of driving a mailed fist into Euron's smiling face, until the flesh split and his bad blood ran red and free. I must not. I pledged my word to Balon.

"He put a baby in her belly and made me do the killing. I would have killed him too, but Balon would have no kinslaying in his hall. He sent Euron into exile, never to return . . ."

He drank in the darkness, brooding on his brother. If I do not strike the blow with mine own hand, am I still a kinslayer? Victarion feared no man, but the Drowned God's curse gave him pause. If another strikes him down at my command, will his blood still stain my hands?

"The Crow's Eye fears you, my lord, why else send you so far away? He does not mean for us to return." Victarion had thought the same when he met the first storm a day out of Old Volantis. The gods hate kinslayers, he brooded, elsewise Euron Crow's Eye would have died a dozen deaths by my hand.

And now Victarion has a volcano arm with supernatural strength. Victarion may be stupid and a brute, but if he was going to die, then it’d feel a bit weird for Victarion to die so soon after getting it without playing some other purpose. It’s not just this that makes me consider the possibility Victarion is the one who deals the final blow for Euron. Throughout his journey to Meereen, he begins to imitate Euron, worship R’hllor, and become more his own person, not 100% following ironborn tradition.

If he is becoming more like Euron and less like a typical ironborn brute, then it’d fit for him to become a kinslayer, having the power to finally stand up to his demonic brother and kill him. Alternately, him thinking about if he would be a kinslayer if someone else did it at his behest might suggest he has someone else kill him instead. It would be a great bit of irony that Euron, arguably the smartest Greyjoy, and the atheist of the family, sent away Victarion, the dumbest Greyjoy, to die, only for the will of R’hllor to find Victarion and give him the strength to kill his own brother.

A simple death is so incredibly fitting for a sorceror king who wishes to become an invincible god. In many ways, Euron is a deconstruction of the dark lord trope that GRRM has been critical of from Tolkien imitators. Euron is 100% a dark lord, and also has many parallels with Sauron. Both become more powerful through the use of magic. Both want to conquer Westeros/Middle-earth to rule as its god-king. They even have similar banners/flags and imagery. Compare the Eye of Sauron with Euron’s nightmarish personal sigil.

Yet, I think GRRM wants to tell us a very human lesson with Euron. He may want to become a god, believe he is a god, stronger than all the gods. But despite the blood sacrifices, extreme sadism and torment, his intent on ruling in the aftermath of a massive apocalypse as a god-king, and his confidence, Euron is, at the end of the day, still human. He is mad and ambitious but he is not all powerful or beyond mortality;

"The Horned Lord once said that sorcery is a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it."

He is playing with forces he does not understand, and there will be a price to what he does, which is as human as you can get. He is not a god, and he can still be killed by normal mundane means. He is absolutely a terrifying demon in human skin, as close to absolute evil as anyone can be, and not to be dismissed out of hand. But he can still be brought down and killed just like anyone else, and his want for power and the consequences of his own actions will be GRRMs way of making Euron human.

Fuck an overview conclusion, I already wrote everything and I spent dozens of hours on this… to anyone who finished this and read every word, thank you. I will never write anything this long in my life ever again, I swear it on my grave. I hope this doesn't break anyones browser as it did mine.

[briarsheart]

Meet The Characters:

Fanfic: Final Girl

Fandom: Stranger Things

Pairing(s): Steve x Fem!OC , Robin x Fem!OC (eventual)

A/N: so, this fic is published and has been for some time!!! Go check it out on my wattpad if you want (my username is briarsheart but I also linked it below). Pleaseee if you have feedback or questions or even suggestions lmk!!! Xoxo, MJ

Link

Isla Weir — The Survivor

On the morning of September 8th of 1980, Isla Weir was presumed dead.

The night of November 1st of 1983, Isla Weir dragged herself from the clutches of death to the doorstep of her childhood home. The dead girl walking. Only, upon her return, another child takes her place: William Byers.

Between haunting nightmares, that aren’t really nightmares at all, and a boat load of survivors guilt, Isla learns very quickly that she’s the only one capable of preventing the disappearance of more children and teens alike. Throwing herself headfirst back into the hell dimension she tried so hard to escape from, Isla trades in her title of ‘survivor’ for the title of ‘hero’.

Birthday: February 14th, 1967 (Aquarius)

Quote(s):

“We do what we have to in order to survive. It isn’t personal.”

“I do. Because the same thing happened to me and... I’m starting to realize I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

“Okay, then we’ll run away to California and live with the Brady Bunch, duh.”

Theme song(s):

My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift

Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo

As It Was by Harry Styles

Funeral by Phoebe Bridgers

Dawn Miller — The Protector

Dawn Millers life began the moment she was dragged into the upside down; with her mother dead and her father off doing fuck knows what, she didn’t have much keeping her around. It wasn’t until the threat of a blood thirsty monster that she found her purpose. More specifically, when she stumbled upon a crying child, shaking from fear beneath a rock formation in the woods.

Isla Weir was Dawn Millers reason. Her motivation to keep fighting. her ray of hope in an otherwise dark and unforgiving dimension. For over four years she did everything in her power to keep her safe and sane. It was something she excelled at. All well searching for a way to uphold her promise to her surrogate little sister; to get Isla back into the arms of her loving family. To get her home.

Birthday: June 27th, 1963 (cancer)

Quote(s):

“What’s your favorite song? Sing it to me.”

“We’re gonna get out of here, okay? I’m gonna get you home, I promise you that.”

“Avery, I swear to god-”

Theme song(s):

Matilda by Harry Styles

Rescue by Lauren Daigle

Lean On Me by Bill Withers

Avery Fleming — The Fighter

From the moment Avery Fleming was sucked into the Hell Dimension known as the upside down, she was deemed a teenage runaway. With a bad attitude and a mean left hook to back it up, she was never anything more than a basket case. A screw up destined for failure.

But the fire that burned so fiercely in her heart proved to be her greatest strength in an alternate dimension filled with monsters out for blood. Even if it was the same thing that caused her to bump heads with Dawn Miller — the self appointed leader of their little band of lost misfit toys.

Birthday: April 8th, 1965 (Aries)

Quote(s):

“Stop feeding her fake fantasy’s Dawn! No ones coming to save us, we’re stuck here and we’re all gonna fucking die!”

“Control is a fucking fantasy.”

“You did what you had to do too survive. We all did. You shouldn’t be sorry for that.”

Theme song(s):

This Is Me Trying by Taylor Swift

Devil In Me by Halsey

Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple

Water Me Down by MOTHICA

Ezekiel Shaw — The Brains

Ezekiel Shaw had battled more monsters than he could count — in Dungeons and Dragons, obviously. In the real world? Hah! He couldn’t even stand up to the kids at school who relentlessly bullied him. Instead, he begged his parents to move to a different state. That was his first mistake. His second was deciding to take a nice little stroll through Hawkins on the morning of September 8th of 1979.

His wish to be free of bullies was granted when he was snatched up by a slimy, veiny monster and dragged into the pits of hell. Or, more commonly known as, the upside down. He was goner, no doubt about it. That is, if it wasn’t for his saving grace which came in the form of a pissed off teenage girl armed with nothing more than a stick; Avery Fleming.

Birthday: December 18th, 1966 (Sagittarius)

Quote(s):

“Do you know what I’d do for the monsters to go back into my stupid board game?!”

“It’s like a shark, it can smell blood.”

“We need to collect intel on this thing if it’s hunting us. We’re the ones with the brains, not the Demogorgon!”

Theme song(s):

In The End by Tommee Profitt

Fourth Of July by Sufjan Stevens

No Time To Die by Billie Eilish

Steve Harrington — The Childhood Best Friend

On the evening of September 8th of 1979, Steve Harrington lost his best friend. He remembered being twelve years old and his mother sitting him down to explain to him the concept of ‘death’. He remembered sobbing into his pillow once he understood; he’d never see Isla Weir again.

And then, he did. On the morning on November 6th his supposedly dead best friend walked into Hawkins High School. A little taller now and a hell of a lot more guarded but he still recognized her. He would know her anywhere; in death and at the end of the world. But with her return comes to cruel reality that they’re nothing more than two ghosts of the children they’d once been.

Quote(s):

“Don’t call her that. She’s not a freak.”

“You expect me to let a lady walk home alone? With all the crazies in this town? Come on, just let me drive you.”

“No, I just... everyone looked for you — I looked for you. For months. I-we were worried about you. Everyone was.”

Theme song(s):

Two Ghosts by Harry Styles

I Lost A Friend by FINNEAS

Movies by Conan Gray

Supercut by Lorde

James Weir — The Desperate Father

When Isla Weir disappeared during a game of hide and seek, James Weir lost everything. But he’d do anything to get it back. To get her back.

After six months filled with dead end leads and too many bottles of scotch to count, James stepped down from his position as chief of police. Instead, in his desperation, he sought answers from Hawkins National Laboratory. Gaining employment as a security officer, he slowly and immorally work his way up the chain of command. In his desperation he lost more than he ever bargained too; his ethics, his freedom, even his wife. All of it, gone.

But just when he was ready to dive off the deep end, follow his wife into the sweet dark abyss that was death, he got the answers he’d been searching for; his daughter was still out there — trapped in an alternate dimension. And too find her, all he had to do was sell just a little bit more of his soul to Martin Brenner.

Quote(s):

“My daughter just came back from the dead, nothing makes sense anymore.”

“They threatened Isla, Jim. Isla. They threatened her life.”

“Found you, squirt!”

Theme song(s):

I’ll Be Good by Jaymes Young

[deluweil]

Ok, so I finally watched the episode - (I slept in really late today, it was amazing)  and learned how to do an under the cut - because this is going to be very long - I will not start with buddie, or how sweet exhausted Madney are, or how I feel bad for Albert who has the same grievances as Buck did while recuperating, or how I was happy to see more of Mrs. Lee.

I want to start by how completely shattered I was by watching Nia leave, I literally had to pause because I was crying like a baby and couldn’t bring myself to move on and change the mood. 

I am happy that Nia’s mom is just a woman who had trouble to provide for herself and her baby, especially with the pandemic hitting around that time, and that Nia will be happy and safe with her mom, but I was absolutely heartbroken for Hen and Karen and even while I’m writing this I’m tearing up again.

I do love that while Karen managed to bring Hen around to foster kids again, I actually asked out loud “what about Denny?” - I love that they sat down with him and asked for his opinion, because this involves him too. 

Which is btw, in complete parallel to Edmundo not asking or talking to Christopher about how he feels about him dating again, or bringing her to the house to crash movie nights - because it involves him too and we get no resolution on that particular end to this day.

I have to say that the side stories, while emotional in nature - the flashbacks of complete strangers felt unnecessary - and after pretty much crying my eyes out for Nia and the Wilsons, the side stories felt like a waste of time.

Watching Athena and May finally ‘have it out’ over May’s suicide attempt from S1 was so overdue, and I’m glad we got to see it. Athena’s overreaction and May’s lack of understanding where her mom is coming from was a stepping stone for Athena to have a talk with Bobby that allows her to forgive herself if only a little and for May to show growth on two fronts - 

1. she gave a second chance to a high school bully. - High school is a breeding ground for bullies and victims, it’s only when we see the world through the eyes of an adult, especially through May’s who’s working in dispatch and having weekly therapy sessions - I love that she is being the bigger person here and allows that horrible girl - who may have changed into a better adult - another chance.

2. Working in dispatch also allows May to go back to the worst day of her mother’s life and hear just exactly what happened, and that allows a second kind of growth - she shows compassion and understanding towards Athena, she now knows what happened and how her steel made mom shattered to pieces because she thought she lost her daughter. - I love how May comes into the house and just hugs her mom and apologizes - the story was very well written.

Madney - was super adorable, my own sister recently had a second baby, brother to a 2yo toddler who’s new favorite word is ‘No’, so the exhausted parents sight was very familiar. 

I love that both of them returned to work, personally I don’t know if I would have been able to leave so quickly after giving birth (here maternity leave is 3 months most mothers extend to 6 months or even a year.) but it’s good, in my eyes, that both parents got to get back to normal life, breath some air outside crying, feeding and diaper changes.

Also important to remember - it really does take a village, and I’m glad they showed it here too. I absolutely adore Mrs. Lee, she’s a sweetheart. I found it so funny when Chimney, in his exhausted state said “strangers” and seconds later realized he insulted his adopting mother, I really laughed a lot. 

I also love that Albert moved in with the Lee’s, he will finally have a place where he will not feel guilty about lying and resting while the rest of the house members deal with a newborn baby on top of everything. I hope his return to normal will be easier than Buck’s. On the plus side he’s not working yet so no one can tell him no. ;)

Buddie had me breathing new life this episode, the “she looks like Buck when he’s gassy” (like dude why do you know that?), the “I’ll take it as a complement” retort and Eddie’s fond smile response.

Eddie looking to Buck with the saw with a confident look, to get the lady who was unfortunately pinned to the donkey off with the door. I have to point out that Eddie’s uncertain, sympathetic, I know how you feel look, when the lady talked about no matter what she does it’s wrong - giving me all the signs I need to know that things with Christopher are not ok. and exactly as the fics tell it, Chris is not happy with his dad’s life’s choices right now and it bleeds into everyday life stuff too.

The quarter life crisis- I loved that call!! - Buck says it’s a real thing from experience - God knows we all saw it (also I may have had it myself 😂) and Eddie (or was it Ryan?) laughing again with that fond look of his when it involves Buck.

And the best part  - can’t you both be good cop? - Buck and Eddie’s simultaneous “NO” was so Awesome!! I watched it again and again and again and laughed a lot. But what stood out the most it that no one retorts that Buck is not a parent, or ask how he could possibly know that, there was only slightly confused look from Chimney, who looked thoughtful 0.01s later and a Bobby knows look, Hen doesn’t even dignifies these moments with a response anymore because she definitely knows! 

Also loved Eddie flirting with Buck a moment later saying “curious to see what your definition of too much discipline is.” - Yes my loves that is very much flirting, there will be no discussion here. - I love that Buck’s response is a smile and a tilt of the head to the side, you can see Buck’s expression even under the mask.

It wasn’t a lot of buddie, but the scenes themselves were huge, in my eyes buddie is alive and well and if you can’t see it, I advise you to go to station 19, check out the brother connection between Miller and Gibson, or Strike Back’s Scott and Stonebridge, or Teen Wolf Scott and Stiles then compare it to Eddie and Buck’s, and only after you’ve done that come back and tell us we’re seeing things 🙃

I would have addressed that poor excuse for a scene (1-2 seconds was it?) between Edmundo and she who I refuse to name (rebounds are usually forgotten very quickly, I already forgot her 😈) but the only 3 things worth mentioning is that: 

1. That scene in the promo where she cuddles up to him and looks happy? They cut it in editing.

2. Christopher interrupts them, as always. She allows him to join them even though it’s a school night and she didn’t even look at Eddie before she did.

And last but not least - The amazing Christopher in being seated, By Eddie, between them. - Also he (Eddie) does not look happy about it, he’s fond with Christopher, but looks confused as hell by her allowing it without asking Eddie. 

Now Buck - Buck would have looked to Eddie, and should the answer would have been no, he would have bargained, as we know he does when he babysat last time, and Buck would have gotten Christopher back to bed. - Just saying.

Overall it was a good episode, I liked most of it, kind of reminded me of S1 energy, it felt good. (you know, except for the obvious)

[rainecreatesstuff]

LAMP Soulmate AU Bulletfic thing

Word Count: 2569

TW: Mentions and implications of abuse, mentions of anxiety, descriptions of panic attacks, mentions and implications of death + illness

They’re all connected in different ways

Virgil is connected to Patton through that thing where marks on your soulmate’s skin appear of yours too

Roman through a thing where on your eleventh birthday at 11:11pm a name will pop into your head and wow its your soulmate’s

And Logan through the string thing

Roman is connected to Patton through a timer on his wrist

And Logan through a tattoo-like mark on your wrist that says your soulmate’s first words to you

Logan and Patton are connected through a soulmark (A tattoo or raised pattern on your skin that is also on your soulmate)

Patton is blind

so in this au different soulmarkers develop at different ages

So when V’s little he’s super excited to meet his sm, bc his parents are soulmates and everything he’s seen abt them is so sweet and exciting!

He turns six and doesn’t develop a timer, which is what he was hoping for

But that’s ok! There are tons of other soulmarkers!

And then he doesn’t develop a soulmark when he’s seven

Or a sentence on his wrist when he’s eight

And he can see colours

So he’s starting to get nervous

And hey! Mom’s sick, and in the hospital, and she’s just not doing too swell

But then when he turns nine, a beautiful red string has been tied around his ring finger when he wakes up!

And wow! Mom look, I have a soulmate! Just like you and daddy!

And then a few months later he’s doing his homework at the kitchen table and the string goes limp before shriveling up and turning black

The doctors have no explanation, and V’s anxiety has really started to kick in

Mom doesn’t seem to be getting better either

So when he turns ten, he is fully aware that this is probably his last chance to develop a soulmarker

He writes on his forearm the night before his birthday

It says “Hey, I’m V! I guess we’re soulmates?”

When he wakes up there’s nothing new

Which is fine! Because that means his sm is probably in the same time zone as him!

But then he keeps waiting and

Nothing

Nothing for a week.

Eventually his dad convinces him to wash it off

Then on his eleventh birthday he knows how uncommon a soulname connection is, but he needs to try

So it’s 11:10 and he’s sitting at his desk with a marker ready to write it down and then-

Roman Prince

Roman prince? What do you mean Roman prince? That’s not a name! What the hell?!

So he’s really sad and anxious and stuff because he doesn’t have a soulmate and, yknow, that’s kinda upsetting for him

And hey, your mom really isn’t doing too well, we have to visit her after school, okay?

At first Virgil doesn’t understand why mom’s being so dramatic or why she keeps telling him she loves him

Then it hits him

And now he’s sobbing and hugging her and shaking and he can’t breathe he can’t breathe he can’t breathe

Fun fact! Turns out this is a regular thing and he has really bad anxiety.

And mom has been put in a medically induced coma

So a year later dad decides to pull the plug

Virgil’s anxiety has gotten really bad

He’s just not in a good place

High school goes by without much happening

Now he’s going to university! How exciting and stressful!

Roman, too, was entranced by the idea of soulmates. His parents aren’t soulmates, but they encourage his excitement about them!

And when he turns six, he develops a timer on his wrist! Score! What a romantic way to meet the love of your life!

Or friend of your life

His moms are so excited for him! They get him new paints and take him out to dinner to celebrate.

And then he wakes up on his eighth birthday to words on his right wrist

It says “If you could stop talking, it would be vastly appreciated.”

He’s a little pissed

His moms take him to the doctor bc “wtf why does he have TWO soulmarkers?!”

The answer is that he has two soulmates

It’s uncommon, but possible

So while he is ecstatic and ready to parade his soulmarkers around the school, his moms are a little less happy and a little more worried

They may have made the suggestion that he wears long sleeves most days, those ones that he hates because they will not roll up

But he did what they asked because they’re his moms, and he loves them very much

And then a few years later on his birthday he’s typing up a short story for school

It’s due the next day so he’s rushing through it a little bit

It’s still amazing

But anyways, he’s writing, and he suddenly just gets the name “Virgil Miller” stuck in his head

He doesn’t think anything of it bc he’s writing and that’s normal

He ends up naming the main character Virgil 

Logan grows up in a bit of a run-down part of town

His Mami and Dad are soulmates (he doesn’t think they should be)

They fight a lot, and sometimes Dad’ll hurt Mami, especially at night when they think he’s asleep

And he’s heard Mami on the phone with his Tia, talking about court cases? And laws, and soulmates?

Needless to say, he isn’t all too enamoured with the idea of soulmates

When he’s seven he gets a soulmark, some bumps over his heart, which is a little distressing

He’s never met this person, but he’s supposed to spend his whole life with them?

He’s very scared that his soulmate will be like Dad

And then he develops the words “Bold of you to assume I can stop talking” on his right wrist

And then a string when he’s nine.

He doesn’t tell his parents about any of them. “Soulless” people existed, and he knew his Mami was hoping he was one of them.

And then later that year Mami sits him down and tells him that she’s going to live with his Tia until she can find her own apartment, and that she and Dad aren’t together anymore

Logan cries for a while, and tells her about all the things he’s heard, and the bruises he’s seen, and begs to go with her

Mami says she was hoping he would

His Dad finds out the day before they leave and he hits Logan

Multiple times

And when his Mami steps in, Dad scowls and yells and stomps away and Mami picks Logan up and they run to the car and leave

When they get to his Tia’s he hides in the guest bedroom they said is his and he takes a pair of scissors and

Snip snip, he’s 33% more “soulless”

He steals Mami’s concealer and puts it on his wrist everyday to cover the words there

The only one he doesn’t cover is the soulmark on his chest, which he almost never sees because of his shirt

Whenever anyone asks, he just tells them he’s soulless

He tries not to get too close to people, but he usually fails and so he has a very small, very tight friend group 

Oh also he’s a grade ahead of his year

Patton’s family is very well off

He’s the oldest of four brothers

He’s trans, but his family is v supportive and helped him transition as soon as they found out

His service dog’s name is Cookie and she’s a golden retriever

He’s had her since he was eleven, and he loves her very much

Because he’s blind there’s certain things he didn’t know about growing up

For example, nobody told him about soulmates until he was nine

Which really explains the weird ticking he hears every once in a while, as well as the strange, tiny bumps on his chest (which spell out “Loved” in Braille)

He doesn’t think about it too often, but he’d be lying if the idea didn’t entrance him

He didn’t think he’d ever meet his soulmates, though, and if he did, he wasn’t sure they’d want the responsibility of a blind soulmate

On the day he turns ten, there’s this little tickling on his forearm, like butterflies gently taking off on him

He doesn’t really think anything of it, though

Despite being blind, Patton is super capable

He can’t cook by himself, but if he’s supervised he does a really good job. He’s the most prepared for “real life” out of his siblings, which is strange, considering he’s the oldest

He goes to public school, where most kids are really nice (sometimes antagonistically nice), but there were also some rude kids

“You don’t really need that walking stick, you’ve got a dog, and we need it to play our game!”

The amount of times he’s had to explain that no you dumbass I do still need the stick is ridiculous

But he keeps a smile on his face and forges through it

And then in grade eleven Roman’s studying in the hallway when he sees some kid being bullied

Well, not bullied, but definitely teased. Something was wrong, anyways

He’s been on edge all day because his timer keeps going down

But he’s not really thinking about it rn

So he goes over and gets the idiots to leave and

Holy hell did heaven drop an angel? They must have, because look at this boy with his golden hair and tanned skin and freckles and

Beep beep motherfucker. It’s soulmate o’clock

And Roman is just so happy

“H-hey, I’m Roman!” “Oh, hi, I’m Patton! Did... did your timer go off?” “Uh yeah! It did!”

And Patton

Just grins so wide and there’s tears, and he leaps up and hugs Roman so tight

And Roman is so freaking happy!!!! He asks Patton for his contact because duh and Pat’s like

“Uhhh well I can’t text”

“Why?”

“..... I’m blind?” “OHHHHHHH”

So they figure they can talk over the phone because Patton does have a phone for calling

So they have a cute first date and they fall in love and everything’s good and dandy and Roman’s going to college but Patton’s found this real nifty job that just so happens to be right next to Roman’s college so they move in together and Patton knows about Roman’s other sm and Roman knows about Patton’s other sm

And Roman’s in a lecture now

And he didn’t really notice but he’s been muttering

And he’s just kinda sitting there when he hears it from the guy next to him

So he looks up and here’s this ethereal looking dude with gorgeous brown eyes and dark hair and

“Bold of you to assume I can stop talking.”

He curses every known god for making his first words to his soulmate be a meme

They excuse themselves from class because holy shit

And Logan introduces himself shakily

And Roman asks for his number

And they go on a date where Roman tells him about Patton and Logan mentions having a soulmark over his heart

Logan is really hesitant to join their relationship bc he was hoping he would never meet his soulmates

So they don’t put a label on it right away

But they go on a few dates and hang out a bunch and Logan realizes that he actually really, really likes these guys and he doesn’t really want to live the rest of his life without them

So he talks to them and tells them about some of the stuff that happened when he was a kid

Roman and Patton are horrified but they hug him and promise that they will never lay a finger on him if he asks them not to 

And Logan just has a moment of “These guys love me. Like actually love me. And want me to be happy. And I think I feel the same?” 

So on their next date Logan asks both of them to be his boyfriends and obviously they say yes

And basically they’re just all really in love

They move into a bigger apartment together at the beginning of year two

So then they’re all cuddling one day when Logan tells them about his string

And so the other two are like “oh shit is there another???”

And Roman says that on his eleventh birthday he just suddenly had this name pop into his head but he just assumed he’d wanted the name for a character so

And Patton says that after getting his soulmark AND a timer he didn’t think to check for anything else

So they’re all kinda like well whoops let’s hope we still meet them!

And Patton’s at his job one day when this guy walks in and he’s one of the new employees

Pat’s got his seeing eye doggo with him but the vest is off cuz they’re both on break

And so V’s like “oh cool dog can I pet him?”

Bc usually he would never just go up and ask but he literally can’t stop himself because here’s this adorable dude in front of him and the universe is screeching at him to say hi

And Pat hears his voice and immediately falls in love

“Oh, yea sure! She’s my eye dog, but she’s on break so it’s all good!”

And V meets Pat and his dog

And they end up exchanging numbers because they are coworkers and well

Yknow

So a couple days later, after him and Patton have been talking a lot, Pat invites him over

So V goes over and meets Roman and Logan

And he hears Roman’s name and

Holy shit

And of course Roman is also freaking out because the name Virgil just really hasn’t left his head since he thought of it

So yknow

Logan’s a little unsure, but then the two get talking about astronomy and he doesn’t care if they’re not soulmates he is going to marry this guy

And they all get really close really fast

And then one day Virgil offhandedly mentions the string thing

And Logan freezes and just

Shows V his right ring finger, where they can both see this rotting string that’s still tied tight around it and

Fuck V can’t breathe are you kidding? right now?

So they help ground him, and Logan explains everything

And Roman tells him what’s up

But they’re not really sure how he’s connected to Patton but then he just

Grabs a marker and draws a heart on his hand and

It’s right there on Patton’s hand holy s h i t

So they take Virgil on a date and stuff and they make it official

And Virgil’s a little nervous bc like those three have been together for a while now and he feels like he’s intruding

But he talks to Logan and L understands bc Roman and Patton had been dating for 2+ years when he found them

He promises that V is not intruding and that they all really love him

And Virgil just full on starts crying because he hasn’t felt this loved since before his mom died and he loves his bfs so much

They find their bfs and just cuddle all night

Virgil moves in with the rest of them at the beginning of third year 

They get their happily ever after for the most part

Hopefully y’all liked this! I think I’ll be posting more writing on here, bc I have TONS of wips stacked up in a google docs and I’d like to get them out of there lmao

[justagirlsearchingforamuse]

Hot Take: Maggie is entitled to her feelings and just because he changed doesn't mean he still didn't take Glenn away from her, doesn’t mean that he stole the love of her life, it doesn’t mean that him learning to be better will earn her forgiveness or make her anger disappear. That’s my one and only problem with Negan stans (coming from someone who also kinda stans him and enjoys his character a lot as well.) is that when it comes to other characters especially Maggie not liking him they equate it to he’s been doing good and she should just not kill him. Even though I don’t want him dead, I understand why she does and it doesn’t make it right or it doesn’t make it wrong, but he took away her partner in such a brutal and traumatic way, she never got to say goodbye to him and her final moments with him are that of terror and horror. Please stop saying she should just forgive him or stop giving him shit when not many people like him, some people similar to Maggie believe he should’ve died and that she should’ve been killed rather than put in a prison. That many people wanted Negan dead, so many people think that because he’s actually working towards change and is helping defend this place, it’s his home already and that he should be treated better. He’s treated with basic respect at the very least but no one has to forgive him or like him, he’s hurt a lot of people and has terrorized these people in the past and has almost destroyed their home that they have worked so much harder for than he has for this place. He literally comes in at the tail end and doesn’t contribute until people think he’s changing and when you can actually trust him. These people are taking huge chances trusting this man who has hurt so many of them and they have every right to hate him. I don’t wanna hear that I hate him because I want to see the writers actually get his character right (even though they probably fucked up what was one of the best and most interesting characters in the universe, both comic and tv show wise.) and I want him to be given constructive criticism. I want to see him grow and understand that they don’t have to forgive him but at the very least give him some respect, imo Alexandria has never been his home and it will take years for this place to even become that. But I never see people bring up Rosita as well and the fact he murdered a man she loved and cared deeply about, do you expect her to forgive him for killing Abe? She doesn’t have to and shouldn’t be forced to or shat on for not kissing his ass and for not liking him. People think that what he did in the past shouldn’t impact how people view him but it did and continues to, Maggie will probably never forgive him for that but she’ll learn to live with it for Hershel and for a happier future. Negan is the last person anyone should be talking about when it comes to morality as well as bullying and stuff like that as he did it in the past to the same people. Negan wasn’t a likeable guy and some stans don’t see that, yeah he can change and I can see him evolving and growing into a better person for himself and for his own sake. Stop undermining what he did and the pain he caused so you can praise him or whatever the hell, I don’t expect them to treat him with praise, I won’t be surprised if Maggie does go through with it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he dies. Because the amount of shit he put these people and other communities through is heavily undermined by Negan fans, yeah Alexandria took away a lot of valuable people and has hurt his people too but no one is saying they didn’t do that. Hell, one of the worst things they did was kill those 30 men even though they were asleep, they took away a valuable resource. But moral of this argument, stop undermining Maggie’s feelings and anger towards Negan because he’s getting bullied which isn’t that bad. Y’all do the same thing with Joel Miller, undermining and reducing the pain that the female protagonist has experienced because of something he took away from said protagonist, man doesn’t ask for forgiveness or says some bad shit to her and she deserved it. Or she should forgive him because it happened a long time ago and he’s changed when in reality, these women don’t have to forgive him for shit when they took something from them and left them with trauma and a lot of other shit. Stop undermining female character’s feelings and anger towards an attractive man because he’s changed or because he’s helping her, she doesn’t have to do shit for this guy besides giving the bare minimum which is respect. Negan’s redemption arc shouldn’t include anyone forgiving him unless they want to, his redemption arc should’ve focused on him letting go of the past, realizing that he’s hurt the people of Alexandria and that they have every right to still be hurt about it. His redemption arc should be about him and him realizing his wrongs and evolving into a better person because he wants to, not because of Maggie, because of anyone else. He doesn’t deserve these people because so many people would’ve killed him without a second thought or would’ve tortured him in prison, they would’ve made his life a living hell but all they do is maybe bully him and don’t kiss his ass. Yes, Negan is an interesting character and he’s trying to change but people need to realize that his impact upon people with his cruelty, Maggie’s last moments with Glenn and the trauma that these people have suffered by his hands won’t disappear and they don’t have to forgive him or treat him better than they already do. Argue with ya mama, I’m out.

[thefallenchildofthestars]

the perks of being a wallflower

i haven’t read the book yet and i do plan on it, i swear. BUT the movie comes off netflix today so i needed to watch it. my room doesn’t have a DVD player or i wouldn’t have bothered but it’s laright. 

i love charles, he’s really relatable. not super enjoying the social settings, doesn’t participate in class, doesn’t have any friends. perfect. i like patrick too, he’s the popular OH SAM SAM SAM yes there is sam. the samantha. the trio of friends who you would die to have. 

lmao i wish our high school football team was half as decent as theirs, maybe the games would be tolerable. 

slut and the falcon. living room routine.

god i wish i could do high school over again. i wouldn’t talk to anyone i wouldn’t look at anyone i wouldn’t meet anyone i wouldn’t do anything other than my schoolwork. no dating, no friends, just my family. 

i like the dynamic of him and his sister, it reminds me a lot of aubrey and i. 

oh the cliche’s i live for it. come on eileen is a good song too. but standing against the cement wall drinking shitty punch watching complete chaos unfold. 

and the cast of this movie!!! it’s to absolutely die for!!! i mean emma watson, obviously, speaks for itself. paul rudd as the fantastic english teacher support character. logan lerman? icon. erza miller is a really good actor. 

i would love to do weed brownies in someone’s random basement and talk to random girls about giving marching band letterman shit and how its not a sport and how its pointless to give it to them. 

“are you baked?” “like a cake” 

oh im gonna cry at this movie what the hell. i wanna feel noticed and welcomed. 

here we go the iconic scene, where its emma watson in the tunnel on the bed of the truck. where charle falls in love with sam for real this time, where it’s practically a visual tutorial of how to feel weightless and infinite.

i think that if i do end up switching schools (which will be kind of sad because then i don’t get to go to the cadaver lab) i will live my little indie movie fantasy. 

the rocky horror picture show!!! oh it makes me so happyyy. i want a group of friends like this oh my gosh. 

we accept the love we think we deserve.

okay season change, we are drifting into the christmas season. i wish that someone would study for the SAT’s with me,

below average!!!

i love the aggression towards mary elizabeth.

oh the stupid record for sam. and when charlie first puts on the suit!!! i think that is brendon urie on the wall but like i don’t think it fits the vibe. OH MY GOSH SHE GOT HIM A TYPEWRITER. IM GONNA CRYYYYYYYY.

write about us. i will. 

i just want to make sure that the first person who kisses you loves you. 

i love you charlie. i love you too.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. god this movie fills me up with stupid warm hope about life and love and oh my goddd.

the way that his brother and him talks about his mental health is so important. because im the only one who yk has gotten checked into a hospital (twice, thank you very much). who knows what’s going to happen next and im so sick and tired of not living my life but i also can’t live my life the way i want to while im at east because o people and that’s okay its not their fault, it’s mine really. but it would also be my fault if i never tried to give myself better. try to give myself tunnels and weed brownies and mixtapes and secret santas. 

oh the record. oh the record. 

i’m gonna have to sit down and watch the rocky horror picture show to get full context of the references to the movie but i’ve been meaning to watch it anyways. 

sometimes i forget its set in the 90s. the outfits, the language, the everything. oh god mary elizabeth i forgot she liked him since the beginning of the movie and it’s lame because charlie loves sam. oh just mary elizabeth flirting with charlie is bad. like i just never see them together and them making out is weird and OH IT SWITCHES TO SAM. woah boyfriend? 

i like that he still writes letters to his friend. it’s important to me. she really just bullies him for the things that he likes. and he just like wont break up with her.

OH OH OH YOU KNOW PATRICK he reminds me of conan gray!!! and maybe that’s why i like him so much oh my god. 

WOAH CHARLIE REALLY KISSED SAM INSTEAD OF MARY ELIZABETH bruhhh. like he really should have just dumped her like a week or two later. 

im worried about charlie now, because he’s getting worse again and mary elizabeth isn’t helping. and patrick got caught and now everything is going to shit and holy crap everything is rushing back and everything hurts

hearing the story about patricks breakup with his boyfried and then he kissed charlie and he was so okay abuot it because he knew that he was hurting and he just wanted him to be okay. and then everyone started getting accepted into college.

charlie is getting worse and the blackouts are getting worse and im worried that he is going to attempt and its the last day of his freshman year and i don’t want him to.

this gives very unrealisitc ideas about high school and it makes me very upset. but it’s okay. sam is still with her jackass of a boyfriend. OFC HE WAS CHEATING ON HER FUCK. 

nothing hates u.

charlie kissing sam and calling her beautiful and it makes me so happy that he kissed her. i hate that she is crying when she kisses him goodbye and i hate that she has to say goodbye and now he’s going to be alone again because all of his friends are gone. and i cant breathe and hes in the hospital.

this movie broke me. 

we are infinite.

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

Alright, let’s analyze it on a more specific prospective.

So, BNHA’s Society.

80% of the population have achieved superpower via birth. 20% is factually disabled in this society by lacking, again said superpowers, and face discrimination and mockery.

The Main Character belongs to this category of people, at least at first, and has been bullied and abused all his life over it, authority figures turning a blind eye to it.

Emblematic that one time he was mocked over it with the always charming phrase “Why don’t you go jump off the roof and kill yourself, maybe you’ll get a Quirk in your next life.”

So, oppressed minorities, ones that are so due to birth defects, and who are excluded by the workforce or a safe school environment due to their condition, in a eugenic society that rewards those who, by birth, have achieved the strongest Quirks, or have been given the opportunity to master them.

Let’s not focus on that.

I feel enough people have focused on how fucked that up is.

No, let’s focus instead on my sworn enemy.

Capitalism.

So, the BNHA world is a world filled with people with various degrees of superpower. This has lead to a time of strife back in the days, allowing the rise of satanic figure AFO and his messianic, Cain-like brother OFA, and shit like that.

By the time the series take place, in the 23rd-24th century, things have gotten back into a semblance of “Normality.”

By turning Superheroes into Cops.

The State, once they realize that powers are here to state, set up a system that heavily favours them.

1) You cannot use a superpower in public unless the state gives you a permit for it, under no circumstance. This especially applies to cases of self defense or defense of others. That’d be Vigilantism, and Vigilantism is a crime, as they specifically say during the Stain Arc, where both Midoryia and Todoroki, interns under two pro heroes, use their Quirks to protect two people and themselves from a serial killer. You CANNOT use your powers to save anyone or protect yourself unless the state allows you to do it. This means that you cannot protect yourself in case of a mugging, for starters, or in case someone were to, say, fight back against their r*pist by using their powers, they’d be judged guilty by the system for it.

2) This is SPECIFICALLY so the state, again, can get the MONOPOLY ON SUPER VIOLENCE. It’s the state who decides who gets to use their powers, and it’s the state who decide how they do it. This is enforced via a serieses of Military Academies, mostly private or state high school, specifically designed to mold 14 to 18 years old into future Soldiers for the Cause, military academies leading to a specific, high risk job which highly publicized among preteen and middle school kids with spots, cartoons, merchandise, everything to be sold to the kids so they get processed in those nice academies bigger than an entire city founded by so much government money that will then, in turn, allow their underage child soldiers to intern under one or more top hero during their years there, unpaid, and without adult supervision from the institute..

3) This leads us to the Capitalism. UA alone should, if Aizawa doesn’t snap and mass expels everyone in his class again, graduate 40+ heroes every year. this not counting eventual General Studies students switching courses, and all the other military academies out there. This creates a Market Oversaturation, forcing superheroes to work under a more experienced veteran as a sidekick to earn a living, and creates a competitive and toxic market. Because that’s what this is. Capitalism applied to superheroics. It’s heroes having to sell their images to products, to produce merchandise after merchandise and have it sell, to every day look at the popularity charts and BEG whatever deity out there that they did not get another dive, that they will have enough money to feed their family this month.

4) Agencies are forced to take either government jobs, or find other ways to finance themselves. An example is the agency Momo goes to for her first internship, more a joke than an actual commentary on society, (Because of course Momo gets treated as a joke), where she is conscripted into doing TV commercial by her pro hero. Another pro hero, Mt. Lady, instead uses her interns as slaves to do most if not all of her work for her. This makes superheroing a Business, as exemplified by the existence of a Business Class in UA, an highly competitive one of many corporations of heroes, where the “weaker” and “less interesting” ones are set aside, or outshined by other heroes.

5) This is an unsustainable and broken system. Heroism is seen as a gateway to fame and money, but also fucks you over pretty easily given the dangerous work conditions. Female Heroes have to be on point at all times in order not to fall in popularity, heroes have to have flashy quirks that easily catch the attention not to be reduced to underground ones, people must have safe, good powers, so not to accidentally kill anyone and be labeled a monster by society and her clear cut view of heroes and villains, but they must ALSO have a power so not to be met with Pity or Mockery for their existence, and to top it all off there is a dying maniac sprinting around the country on a limited time limit stealing everyone’s job trying to be the Symbol of Peace.

6) You can’t have a system of endless competition between everyone involved, and then have Goku go around, free of charge, and do most of the work for everyone. Had All Might been at his Full Might, he would have destroyed the superhero economy, already greatly flawed as it is, by doing everything he could to fuck it, without even realizing it. Because who the hell needs a very minimum of 40+ new heroes EVERY YEAR  in ONE COUNTRY when the symbol of peace is there, acting as deterrent? What happens to all those young, impressionable teens who just want to be heroes?

7) As I said before? They become sidekicks. They become wage slaves, unpaid interns to some flashy hero, or are forced into other... less savory sides of the job. After all, their Pro Hero might make or break their career, so who are they to talk back to them? As they are forced to do things they normally wouldn’t do? For a chance at helping people? For a chance at giving their loved ones a better life?

8) And all of this? Is played completely straight from episode 2 onward. Much like in Naruto, much like in RWBY the status quo is not to be challenged, society, this society of heroes and capitalism, is not to be challenged. The ones who do so are villains, they are terrorists who kidnap little girls with insane powers to torture a “cure” out of her, they are Serial Killers murdering frauds and legit heroes alike under a misguided view of the world, they are not to be listened to, or to be treated seriously. Why should you? They are evil. They decided to be evil. Society, the government, your employer are telling you they are evil.

9) And evil people have no rights. No, all they have, is a containment cell in Tartarus, strapped to a table, and forced to be tortured psychologically for the rest of their lives, alone, barely sentient. No Lawyer, no Process, no Pity.

10) As a rule, I LOATHE Superhero Decostructions such as “The Boys” (Comic Books, not sure about the show didn’t watch it) or anything else Garth Ennis or Frank Miller ever wrote in their entire life, ESPECIALLY Holy Terror, but BNHA?

BNHA is the universe of a superhero deconstruction... but played like a legit superhero universe.

And that’s fucked up.

PS: DON’T GET ME STARTED ON QUIRK MARRIAGES LIKE WHAT THE FUCK.

[thrillsxchills]

{TW} Orion is obviously one of my more demented children and his whole life is a trigger warning, so please avoid reading this if your triggers contain the following -- depression, abandonment, hallucinations, drugs, violence, substances abuse, blood, abuse/mental & physical, bullying, self harm+un-alive thoughts, dissociating. (That’s a lot & i’m sorry but Orion has a HISTORY.)

Orion is my first and oldest baby I’ve had. He’s developed A LOT over the years, but for the new members I’m going to start all the way from the beginning so enjoy this looong ride. People like Z and Ali remember big bad old orion, that was something 😅

(tw; about death)Orion was an odd kid growing up, he had an usual obsession with death and creepy things. Cemetery's, bugs, and the supernatural. It was hard to make friends with other kids because of his unusual interests and the fact that his family was high class and his father wouldn’t let Orion associate himself with ‘poor people’.

(tw: family abuse) Orion hated and still hates his father with a passion. Nothing Orion ever did impressed his father. He rarely took interest in his one and only son. He only seemed to show up to physically abuse Orion over the smallest things. Orion’s only friend as a child was his mother, she was literally his saving grace.

{tw: abandonment/dissociating) Orion’s mother Cora is sweet and angelic like. However from his father's abuse she became numb and seemed to dissociate often. But Orion still took comfort in his mother's arms. Until one day his mother couldn’t take it anymore. While she wanted to take her son with her, she couldn’t. Orion’s dad’s family was the one with all the money. Cora had nothing to her name. If she took Orion he wouldn’t have a home or all the opportunities that money offered. So she left and it took everything she had left to do it.

(tw: abuse) Once Cora left the picture Orion’s fathers abuse only became worse. Taking out his wifes disappearance out on Orion. Screaming at the top of the lungs asking where Cora was. Orion didn’t know, he was just as clueless as his father but he didn’t believe him.

(tw: substance abuse) that’s when Orion started using drinking and smoking as a coping mechanism from a young age. He’d smoke any chance he got hiding the buds in his dresser drawer and his whiskey bottles in the boxes of his old shoes. It was his only escape from his shitty reality and his father.

(tw: reason for living) that all changed when Jakob Skellington came into the picture. They met at school and formed a quick lasting bond. Orion confided all his secrets and hobbies within Jakob and the boy never judged him. Orion finally found a best friend and a reason for staying alive at that point in time. Problem was their families had a long lasting feud over something stupid. So the two were banned from seeing each other. That didn’t stop them however. The two would sneak to each others house in the middle of the night or sneak off to hang out at Hallow Falls cemetery.

(tw: abandonment/bullying) however the friendship didn’t last long as intended. Because Jack was Orion’s only friend he became possessive over their relationship. Especially when Serena & Zeke entered the picture. They were getting to close to Jakob and Orion hated it. He began to loathe the two. So Orion did the only thing he knew how to do which is what he learned from his father. He began to bully Serena and Zeke to the point that Jack had to step in and defend Zeke and Serena. This felt like a betrayal to Orion. So Orion made an ultimatum. It was him or the two friends Jack barely knew. Jack chose them and Orion has held a resentment ever since. Quickly turning to the Teague's and using them to bully Zeke and Serena through them.

(tw: violence/blood/ suicidal thoughts) now entering his high school years Orion felt abandoned. He had no one but himself. Sure he had the Teagues but he felt that friendship was only extended because they did his bidding in exchange for things. Orion began skipping school more, starting fights for the hell of it. A couple of those fights he almost couldn’t walk away from him. Leaving his body beaten and bloodied in the back ally. Tiffani & Hallie nursed him back to health. But that didn’t stop him. He continued to get black out drunk and start fights. He wanted to feel something/and nothing all at the same time. He wanted to die.

(tw: substance abuse /hallucinations) Orion really thought he was going to die, he was drinking so much that he barely hanging onto his acceptance into Walt by a thread. His father kept bribing the school with money to keep him enrolled. He was known to students as the boogie man/feared by most people except a girl named Hallie. She tried to get him to be a better person. Which it didn’t happen all at once, it was slow. But once Orion realized all the people who had been hurt by his actions. his reality soon came crashing down. He began hearing things. like actual voices talking him. telling him that he was worthless, that he couldn’t be anything more than a monster. he could barely sleep without drinking himself to sleep. he even sought out a pastor to see if his soul was worth redeeming. Here is a self para about that time [SELF PARA HERE] Here is another self para about reuniting with his mother and standing up to his father. [READ HERE] read at viewers own discretion.!

(tw: trauma) It took time but he began to heal from his trauma. Does that mean he’s a better man now? Not exactly, but he knows how to control his temper and not to completely act on his impulsive anger issues that were handed down from his father. He’s not bad, but he’s not good either. He’s reunited with his mother and already forgiven her. He didn’t hesitate that was his mom after all. Him and his father only meet up if they have too after having their showdown a couple of years ago, which is how Orion prefers it anyway. Certain things still trigger Orion but for the most part he’s charming as hell but still intimidating as fuck. He only gets his  hands dirty when he needs too.

OKAY! So that’s a lot and that’s the best I can summarize about my boys development over the last six years! Now for some light hearted head canons,yeah? I think I need therapy from writing all that.

(tw: smoking) you will never see Orion without a cigarette in his hand/mouth. from a young age smoking became a comfort. he doesn’t need it as much as he did back then but its more of a security thing now.

he has a lucky lighter he won from a bar fight. it’s a red zippo lighter in the shape of two pieces of dice. Snake eye’s to be exact.

because of his interest in bugs and reptiles he has a black snake tattoo the looks like its wrapped around his forearm. looks something like this [IMAGE HERE] 

Older Orion has a small tattoo on each of his fingers representing his children. A bat for Axel, Nova is a star, Sage for Sage (but looks more like a flower), and the moon for Draco.

Orion enjoys being isolated/alone that’s when he feels most like himself. despite his background Orion does quite  well in social situations. he adapts to new environments easily and can be quite charming if you’re on his good side.

Orion prefers the more expensive liquor since that's what he grew up with but his favorite and comfort drink is whiskey with ice.

When Orion is alone he enjoys reading/learning about new topics. He’s well educated but most people don’t experience that side of him.

he hates the holidays, for obvious reasons. doesn’t mind Halloween though.

he has a hate/love relationship with the Teague siblings. Logan annoys the hell outta of him, Beckham is stand-offish and Sadie is the only one he truly gets along with. But deep down their Orion’s only friends and he appreciates them. Will he tell them that? Not until hell freezes over.

Orion’s zodiac sign is Sagittarius

Orion doesn’t keep up with his casino daily- the assets yes, but the actual place no. However he does show up every once in awhile to cheat people out of their money. What can i say he’s a gamblin man.

.Spoken Word/Singing is Orion’s favorite music genre. he’ll go to the grave denying that but he relates to a lot of the bands like la dispute, hobo johnson, front porch step. But he enjoys most kind of music. His most recently played song is Self Care by Mac Miller. [LISTEN HERE]

Now when it comes to Sadie Teague things are different. She’s the only person that really challenges him. He admires her perseverance and her will to do things on her own. Their relationship is complicated. Friends? Friends with Benefits? But his feelings are starting to get intertwined, but how to express feelings he’s never felt before?

favorite color is red

Vitani also intrigues him/she’s not annoying like regular happy go lucky people. He enjoys her company, maybe he’ll ask if she needs a job at the casino.

[la5t-res0rt]

Okay but it literally, LEGALLY, isn't classified as sim cp. You don't have to look at it if you want. And none of those things on that list are okay: antis shouldn't be sending death threats, babes shouldn't be either. Name calling is also out of the window because its childish and stupid. And making fun of people or invalidating their identities is wrong too. But I dlnt think you understand that /both/ sides do all that. You cant sit here and have a double standard like that.

oh i understand perfectly well

i just dont think you do

yeah the behavior in both sides can be pretty crummy but if you literally think that people shouldnt be called out for tolerating this sort of behavior that is literally harmful to so many people myself fucking included like oh fuck would i have loved to have never had to look at the content but its all the fuck over the place and so many of the shippers are so fucking entitled and so conceited that they are actively ASKING for it that one chicks ask box is a fucking taunt she lives for the attention good or bad

at this point I have a side that i favor because the other side sent my friend death threats sent me threats of violence belittled my mental health stole my friends art and maliciously reposted and edited their artwork that same side made incredibly upsetting artwork about causing harm to an actor i

the same side that bullied a fourteen year old after they had the nerve to speak up about the shit going on the same side that came for me for not knowing every single detail of said fourteen year olds very complex and not at all my business mental illness

the side that took something that gave me so much comfort and happiness and made me remember the abuse i endured when I was thirteen i hate that the internet is still such a ducking shitty place to be a lonely kid who just wants to be liked

the same side that writes romanticized rape and writes a black lgbt+ character being a subject of abuse the same side who thinks stories of characters of color need to struggle and endure pain for it to be a valid piece of writing or the side that talks down to young people and minors and then turning around and writing graphic content involving a teenage girl

a side that includes a transmed guy who is so vile that i honest to god use the word hate to describe me feelings for him

but yeah the side that pointed out that maybe saying that you basically only view women as sex objects in that you would perform sex acts for compensation with them but not actually pursue relationships with is a problematic statement or maybe the jewish teenager who asked someone to stop throwing the term nazi around THOSE are the real villains of the story theyre the ones that need to be taught a damn lesson jesus h christ

if you are still talking about the rae biphobia fiasco literally none of us ever said she wasnt bi that I know of i know i didnt we simply pointed out that what she said was an inherantly biphobic statement being lgbt+ doesnt mean you cant belittle other identities look at nasti and how he feels about the trans experience as if he owns the damn thing ugh fucking hell you made me mention these people by name thats how cranky i am

basically on top of all the shitty things done to me and my friends I dont want people using their shit triggering content to hurt people like i was hurt

also in the United States simulated cp is only okay if it passes this thing called the miller test and buddy pal chumbo nearly all the work ive had the great misfortune fails at least one of the three prongs of the miller test the whole area is very murky and not well defined but our neighbor nation of Canada (if youre in the us) is full stop no cp of any kind no ifs ands or butts

why dont you go tell nasti to shut his yap about solar or tell rae to gather her cronies and fucking chill and stop bugging me because im getting very sick of having to tell people how i feel and why i do what i do if you really think both sides are that bad why do t you go try and talk to them because im not budging that shit is wrong and i wont sit by in silence as if it isnt

if youre a beetlebabe shipper trying to get my to badmouth antis fine yeah we can be a bit intense and yeah there have been antis who’ve done shitty things in the past but if anyone is caught being shitty its over dude you are ejected from the good graces

and if youre a neutral youre doing a great job at being neutral but it is making me very angry and neutrality is comparable to complacency so im not in your camp at all

thanks again for writing in im not really sorry for being harsh but i really am sick of this shit so maybe go try talking to someone else for a little bit like literally any beetlebabe and see what they say back to you id love to see it

editors note because i couldnt fit this anywhere but if an anti does something wrong in the same vein as the beetlebabes and i hear about it im done with them full stop they dont get my support or anything and i wont state publicly who they are but there are several people that have been cut off because of their behavior

the thing is i dont seem to see the bad stuff they do or maybe i just dont see what they do as bad because in my book telling someone pedophilia is wrong isnt harassment its just a statement of fact anyway if you have receipts of antis being as hateful as babe shippers* im all eyes pal but dont give me the same stuff ive covered because ive made my stance on those things quite clear

*threats of violence belittling mental illnesses harassing a mentally ill 14 year old making fun of eating disorders and many other bad things

(Note: pointing out the inherant biphobia of a phrase is also not harassment)

bye

[chrysalispen]

xxx. cups opened in thousands for their blood,

AO3 Link HERE.

also i’m slapping a big old content warning on this for torture

====

Nightfall was approaching and that meant it was time to set aside the day’s work.

Frieda Miller set aside her knitting needles and sighed, flexing her cramped hands before rubbing absently at the swell of her growing belly. She had hoped that the Hearer might countermand some of Aurelia’s orders, only to discover much to her chagrin that the old man’s advice was even more stringent. As tempted as she was to simply disregard it - she had four children, after all! - she wearied of lectures. If it put the conjurers at peace and left her the management of her home at least, she supposed she could play along until the babe was born.

But Frieda wasn’t one to simply sit about waiting for something to happen, and in the meantime, there were some things she could do even from early confinement.

The rickety whirr of the spinning-wheel made her smile. She pushed herself carefully upright, stretching her stiff back as best she was able.

“Bran,” she said, “you can stop for today, there’s a good lad.”

Her second-youngest looked at her with wide eyes. He was a solemn and softspoken boy, bless him, more like Rauffe than any of their other sons--more prone to thoughtfulness than his brothers by far and strangely conscientious for a child of but six summers. Hearer Ewain had once said that he had an old soul, and she believed it without any shadow of a doubt.

“Is it time for dinner, Mama? I’m hungry.”

“Yes, love. Your Da will be back soon enough to take the pies from the oven as he promised. Why don’t you go wash up and see if he’s coming down the lane?”

She smiled as she watched him go. Aye, she thought, a good dutiful lad.

The sounds of water splashing into the basin by the door filled Frieda’s ears while she busied herself with examining the cloth and yarn spools Bran had worked according to her instructions. His first few attempts had been as disastrous as she had expected, but he was patient and stubborn in equal measure and by all appearances, he seemed to be taking her lessons to heart. She was pleased to see that the spool of hempen yarn he’d completed looked fit for use. He’d make a good weaver, if that were of interest to him.

“Mama,” Bran called.

“Yes, my love?”

“Miss Aurelia is at the door.”

Frieda paused. “She’s come back? Did she bring that little girl with her?”

“No, Mama. There’s a man with her. Can I let them in?”

“Of course, darling.”

Frieda had expected to see Sergeant Epocan shadowing the novice conjurer’s heels -- despite her vehement denial that there was anything between them, she suspected that if Aurelia Laskaris gave the poor man half a reason to think he had a chance he’d take it in a heartbeat -- so she was very surprised to see instead a tall, dark Highlander ducking into her doorway. The man looked pale and exhausted and his right arm was immobilized in a sling.

“Well, come in, Aurelia! You know you’re always welcome here. Though I hope you didn’t come by to check on me before you did anything else. The sergeant says you’ve been out in the field on business for the Conjurers’ Guild.”

“Yes. Frieda, I’m so sorry to impose. I know it’s late-”

She grinned. “All you’ve interrupted is my boredom, love. Who’s your handsome friend?”

“This is Sewell, a patient. I’ve been treating him for the past sennight. He’s a refugee from Ala Mhigo and he’s got nowhere to go, not even any clothes.” Aurelia hesitated. “I need to confer with Sergeant Epocan, but in the meantime, I was wondering if you knew anyone with a spare bed that might be able to take him in? It would only be a temporary measure, of course- no more than a sennight at most.”

“...In the village? Probably no one. But since it's you doing the asking, I could find room.”

A mixture of surprise and distress flared her eyes wide. “What? Oh no, Frieda, I couldn’t possibly ask you to-”

“To what? Do a small favor for my favorite conjurer?” At Aurelia’s helpless stare, she smiled. “I see he’s only one good arm at the minute, but he’s got two good feet and I can use them. What do you say, Master Sewell? I’ll have my husband lay a pallet here in the common room and you can help me with my weaving until Conjurer Aurelia and her friend can figure out something a bit more permanent. If you’re willing to have a woman and a little boy as your taskmasters, that is.”

“Ma’am,” Sewell said, dipping his chin. “I’m not looking to impose. If it’s too much-”

“It’s no trouble at all. I’m bound to my bed until this little one decides to arrive and there’s work still to be done, so extra help will be welcome in any way I can get it. Pull out those pies I’ve got in the oven before they burn and you can have one.” She squinted critically at what remained of his linen undershirt, tattered and stained with sweat. “And we’ll see about replacing that rag you’re wearing while we’re at it.”

“Ma’am,” he protested, “there’s no need for that-”

“Hells, not another one! Don’t you start with that bleedin’ nonsense,” Frieda scoffed. There was a conspiratorial twinkle in her eye as she added, “Mistress Laskaris always says she ‘can’t possibly accept’ this or that and I make her accept it anyroad. You might as well save your breath.”

Aurelia hid her smile behind one raised hand.

“Mama, do we get a guest for dinner?” Bran piped up.

Frieda beamed at her son, her mood as sunny as Aurelia had ever seen it. “We do, darling! Master Sewell will be helping us with the weaving for a few days. Could you put an extra chair at the table for him and go wake up your brother?”

She exhaled with relief as the little boy all but bounced away, smiling so painfully it almost hurt. In her near-sennight of navigating Rhaya Wolndara’s reserved civility (and later the woman’s icy fury), she’d half-forgotten the cheerfully loud and rambunctious chatter of the Miller household-- never mind that of its benevolent mistress. The village’s master weaver, for all that she had her faults, had proven a true friend.

“Thank you so much, Frieda,” she said. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“There’s naught to repay. None of that.” The older woman’s wave was dismissive. “Now go find the Sergeant. He’s been moping all over the place with you gone, so I hear.”

==

Keveh’to almost thought he was seeing things.

Wailer Lieutenant Aubaints had been less than impressed when he had reported nearly two bells late back from the Druthers, and after dressing him down for making a drunken disgrace of himself he’d been posted to back to back wall duty shifts the last three nights. Thus it took him long moments to react at the sight of a familiar crown of kerchief-bound golden hair, even as the Garlean looked at him with a tired, rueful half-smile that didn’t meet her eyes. He bent nearly in half to look down from the lip of the stone and mortar scarp, blinked furiously, and squinted again.

“They’ve put you to the grindstone, I see,” Aurelia called, hands braced upon slim hips.

Keveh’to barked out a sharp laugh, his lips stretching in a grin. He vaulted his way off the top of the wall on his way down to meet her, heedless of the startled exclamations from the two villagers already on their way up to relieve him.

“You’ve come back!”

“Of course I did. It was so dreadfully boring without you that I couldn’t bear it.”

“Boring without me there for you to bully, you mean,” he said. Aurelia scoffed, but despite her smile he could see something worrisome lurking in her dark blue eyes. There was nothing of that sunny brightness in their depths, and his own grin faded to see it. “I’ve a lead on that scuffle near the village a fortnight ago. Seems there was a witness after all.”

“Oh?”

“You’re never going to believe who it is.” He hesitated. “Can we get somewhere quiet? Where we won’t be overheard?”

Aurelia eyed him.

“I’ve someone you need to meet, at that,” she said. “At the Millers’ place - but as it’s something I don’t know that I want the village to hear either, the creek will be as good a place as any.”

They made their way back towards Ewain’s cottage in an unhurried quiet. Most of the villagers had retired for the evening to their stew pots and their beds, but some few milled about the main thoroughfare yet, and a few even lifted their hands in a wave of recognition. It struck her then, how much friendlier everyone in Willowsbend had become - even towards Keveh’to - and how it had taken a sennight away from the town to see the change at all.

The creek burbled softly within its banks as he opened the low-slung gate for her and followed behind, and with a sigh, she dropped onto the cool grass.

“What a bloody week,” she muttered.

“That doesn’t half describe it. Do you want to go first or should I?”

“By all means.”

Keveh’to nodded and dropped to the grass at her side. The tip of his tail twitched next to her hand, but he was staring into the growing darkness of the forest on the far side of the creek.

“The witness is Noline,” he said suddenly.

Aurelia gaped at him, jaw slack. “What- wait. What? Noline Brassard? The laundress who’s engaged to Trevantioux and has moved their wedding date back three times? That Noline?”

“The very same.”

“Does that mean that Trevantioux-”

“No, I don’t think he’s a witness.” Keveh’to grimaced. “...I was in the Druthers, asking around to see if anyone might have seen imperials in the area. The Redbelly Wasps have a couple of henchmen with lovers in this village, as it turns out. But unless the Hearer’s assistant is leading a very colorful double life, I think it far more likely that his fiancee has been seeing a bandit behind his back.”

“Hells below.” She let out a long sigh. “I never thought I would ever say this about him of all people, but poor sod.”

“Now you see why I didn’t want to tell you. At any rate, I’m trying to think of a way to question her about that night in the-”

“I don’t know that it’ll be necessary. I said I have someone with me you need to meet, right?” Aurelia grinned at him, a hard and mirthless thing. “He told me what happened. The whole thing. That Ixal scout may simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time-- it seems there was a unit of imperial soldiers that came through here chasing a deserter. One who somehow ended up in the care of two Miqo’te, one of whom was in the Amdapori ruins trying to gather healing herbs when she accidentally drew the ire of a forest guardian.”

“Thal’s balls, are you having me on?”

The corners of her lips remained drawn and tight. “Did I mention that I ran afoul of them myself? They came to the girl’s house looking for him.”

“They didn’t- I mean are you-”

“I’m fine! Obviously we drove them away, else I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you right now. As it happens, I found a novel use for one of the most disgusting leatherworking reagents you can imagine.” She tore a handful of grass from the dirt and sifted it between her fingers. “They’ll all have to withdraw to their castrum or else stink like an overfilled field privy for the next fortnight; ‘tis only what they deserve.”

“So that’s why you came back? Where is he now?”

“At the Millers’. Frieda took him in- you know how she is.”

“He can’t stay here. It’ll put the entire village in danger.”

“I know. We’ve got to get him moving again. If there were a larger settlement where he could claim sanctuary, they wouldn’t dare come after him. I thought about Gridania, but the elementals are too likely to refuse him a-”

“What about the Twin Adder?”

“What about it?”

“If he’s got fighting experience, he can join a Grand Company. We’re short on people in all the rebuilding efforts even with the prisoner labor. I can put in a good word for him and let my superiors know he may have current information about the Garleans’ movements. Did he tell you why he ran?”

“He was about to end up with classified information, I gather, but the whistleblower who meant to give it to him died before that happened and the evidence was destroyed. He fled into the wood and killed one of his pursuers while trying to get away.”

“...and that’s where the casings in that clearing came from.”

“I imagine so. My guess is that he’ll never be left alone. He killed an officer, so they’ll either shoot him on sight or make an example of him with a tight noose.”

“Well, he’ll be safe with the Adder,” Keveh’to said firmly. “Let me get in touch with my captain and have him go up the chain of command. These things have to be authorized- but I’ll wager it won’t take more than a day or two for that to happen. In the meantime…”

“In the meantime?”

His smile was as rueful as hers. “Speaking of Noline,” he said, “her gifting is at the end of the week and the entire village is invited. There’s a party we’ll be asked to help prepare- the Hearer will bless their upcoming union and request the well wishes of the forest, and then there’s a feast and gifts for the betrothed to start their new lives. As Ewain’s apprentice, it’s most likely you’ll be expected to attend.”

“Are you mad? We can’t just let them go ahead with this if she’s-”

“Yes, we can.” At her incredulous stare, he frowned. “...Don’t look at me like that. You know full well it’s not our place to say anything to Trevantioux about his personal life.”

“I would want to know if my future wife had lovers behind my back!”

“And he will find out, I’m sure, but until he does we keep our mouths shut,” Keveh’to snapped. “Seven hells, Aurelia, you’re not the saviour of the godsdamned realm! You can’t just walk in and turn everyone’s lives upside down. We are outsiders here. If Trevantioux asks I’ll be more than glad to tell him, but neither of us were supposed to have been involved enough to come by this information in the first damned place!”

“If he finds out--”

“Tell me: if you were still at home and you knew the Emperor was being unfaithful to his wife, would you let her know?”

“Of course I wouldn’t, but that’s not the same at all!”

“It is exactly the same.” Unexpectedly, he took her hand and squeezed. “Please, Aurelia. Let’s not stir any more pots than we must. We’ll get your deserter to safety and let the Grand Company deal with any imperial incursions, but this- I’m not in the business of sticking my nose in other people’s bedrooms.”

“I think it’s a mistake not to say anything,” she said. “But I don’t suppose there’s a good way to tell him.”

“Don’t worry yourself about Treventioux, all right? He’s a pompous fool, but he’s one just clever enough to know when it benefits him to be used.”

She sighed, feeling the rough warmth of his hand withdraw.

“I hope you’re right.”

~*~

It had been a near sennight since Miss Aurelia and Master Sewell had left, leaving Vahne and her aunt alone once again. And in that space of time, it had taken precisely a day and a half of relative solitude for Vahne Wolndara to decide she hated it.

She was dreadfully bored.

Not only was Vahne bored, which at the tender age of not-quite-fourteen summers was quite nearly the worst thing she felt one could possibly be, she was furious with her Aunt Rhaya for sending away the first real friend she had ever made on her own. Her chores were quiet, the cabin was quiet (save for the crackling of the wax paper at night when the wind blew in from the north), dinner was quiet, everything was quiet.

She hated being quiet. But she wasn’t going to give her aunt the satisfaction of breaking her silence saying thus, and so it went: a cold and stifling impasse that went on and on, and Vahne was determined that she would not be the one to blink first.

On the evening of the fourth day, over an uncomfortable and - of course - silent dinner, Rhaya finally set her fork on her plate.

“Vahne,” she said, “I am not going to ask you again. Eat your mashed popotoes.”

Vahne gave a noncommittal grunt but did not answer.

“If you want to keep throwing a tantrum over a matter that doesn’t concern you that’s your choice, but you should know that woman was not who she told us she was.” When Vahne still didn’t speak, Rhaya sighed. “That’s the way of life, you know. People will find ways to disappoint you when you blindly trust them. You’ll learn when you’re old enough--”

Vahne glared at her.

“You never wanted to trust her in the first place,” she accused, cheeks flushing as her brow knitted in a scowl. “You never trust anyone .”

Rhaya’s eyes narrowed. “Miss, you are walking a thin line.”

“Don’t ‘miss’ me! You know it’s true! You didn’t like her from the start. Just because she’s an outsider--”

“She’s not just an outsider!”

“You never trust me with anything!” Vahne exploded. Her eyes burned with angry tears and she hated herself for it, for wanting to cry like she would have when she was much younger. “I can’t even have any friends because you won’t let me. You always want to act like I’m a baby who doesn’t know any better. Well, I’m not!”

Rhaya slammed her folk on the table with a loud clatter that startled her ward into silence.

“I have sacrificed more than you will ever know,” she said, in a low, tight voice. “I don’t have friends either, Vahne! Do you know why? It's because I’ve spent the last eight summers raising you and keeping this roof over our heads!”

“Fine! If you hate having me here so much, then I’ll leave,” Vahne shouted. “That way you won’t have to worry about me ever again!”

“Go seek your bed,” her aunt hissed. “You are banished from the table for the rest of the night.”

Vahne shoved her chair back from the table so violently that it fell over when she stood and stormed down the short hallway. There was the sound of a slamming door, then silence reigned once more. Rhaya ran her fingers through her hair, then buried her face in her hands.

I made the right choice, she told herself again, angrily. I know I did.

Her only answer was the night wind, crackling the wax paper she’d put up in the emptied panes with each self-sustained gust.

Hells with it. She’d speak with the girl once the washing was done.

With a grunt she stood and began to clear dishes from the table to the scullery tub, knowing the sound would be audible throughout the cabin. The sounds of running water filled the space, and in due time she began to busy herself with the soothing repetition of washing and drying. Quite often, Vahne’s way of trying to make peace after one of their arguments was to venture back out - against Rhaya’s instructions - and help her with some chore or other. It didn’t always work, especially if her niece was upset enough to make a point of avoiding her, but it was reliable enough that she thought it worth the attempt.

The crackling rustle that came from outside some few minutes later brought her idle scrubbing to an abrupt halt. Rhaya went very still, her ears swiveling back and forth, flickering as she listened for the sound again, and felt a chill creep slowly down her spine. Her great-grandmother had built this cabin, had fought literally tooth and nail to keep the lands around it against repeated incursion by Gridanians, by poachers and bandits and birdmen, and Rhaya had kept the land as her mother and grandmother and great-grandmother had, fought for it as they had-

-and she had never, until now, felt uneasiness at the knowledge that she was alone. Ever since those godsdamned imperials had arrived a sennight ago for the man who'd been lying abed in his sickbed, hidden in her root cellar-- and now she was going to have to see to the source of that noise just to give herself some peace of mind.

She exhaled loudly, feeling angry all over again.

Her bow and quiver were not close enough to reach but that didn’t mean she was entirely unarmed. Rhaya hung the dishrag with great care over the lip of her scullery, reached for one of the knives slotted neatly near her cutting boards, and slipped on quiet feet into the common room, tucking it as best she could in her right hand. Save a single light in the window, the room lay semi-dark and silent.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

Nothing at all-

-save the creak of an errant floorboard.

She froze mid-step, tail lashing in agitation.

“...Vahne?” she ventured. It was possible the girl had decided to come in the room and sulk where she could be seen-- not likely, but possible. But there was no response.

Rhaya’s grip, clammy with cold sweat, shifted on the grip of the knife. She reached for the door, threw the bolt, and opened it the barest crack.

The loud and familiar yowl she heard from the field made her sigh, her shoulders sagging as the tension flowed out of them and her incipient fear turned to a flood of relief and disgust. Twelve’s sake, she thought, it was just one of Vahne’s barn cats. Hunting mice in the wheat sheaves, no doubt.

“Go find your dinner, Shadow,” she muttered, moving to shut the door---

---and a large hand clad in a scarlet-trimmed black gauntlet thrust into the space between the door and its frame.

A gasp rattled from her throat as fingers curled about the edge of the door and slammed it open, then hoisted her into the air by the front of her dalmatica. Rhaya retaliated in the next instant, lashing out with the knife she still held securely in her grip. She heard a deep voice cry out, cursing as the blade slid through carbonweave and into flesh, but her assailant didn’t drop her so she sawed into the offending limb again. This time he made a sound much like the cat had: a high and piercing yowl. Hot, liquid crimson ran in rivulets from his sleeve and soaked into her shirt and down her bare forearm.

“One of you help me get this bleedin’ door down!” the man screamed. "Take her down!"

The Miqo’te’s foot shot out sideways, lodging herself in the door frame so that there was no possibility of entry, withdrew the blade, and prepared to slide it just beneath his armpit. One deep stab in the right place would pierce the lung--

A metal-clad foot connected with her knee in a heavy, brutal kick.

The pop and wet snap of the joint and bone as both collapsed beneath that force reached Rhaya’s ears even as she screamed, a combination of agony and rage. In her thrashing in the man’s grip, her fingers - already soaked in her first attacker’s blood - slipped from the wooden handle. Her only weapon hit the floor with a loud rattle.

As the big man fell back clutching at his arm and swearing, his accomplice dragged her out the front door. Her leg felt as though someone had dipped it in molten pig iron: nothing but white-hot burning from her hip to her toes. She scrabbled desperately against the man’s grip, trying in vain to free herself. The foot on her unhurt leg kicked wildly, aiming for where she thought his ankle might be, but the impact of a wooden patten had no effect on the armor that protected it.

Yet another voice shouted something that she didn’t catch - some order or other. Her stomach gave an unpleasant twist of dread as three, four more black-and-scarlet clad soldiers skittered into the house like shadow-clad insects. Twelve, how many did they bring with them...?

Alarm, tinged with horror,

(!!!!! oh gods no Vahne---)

flashed through her mind like the fin of a trout breaking water.

Someone waved, shouting in heavily accented Common: “No use, my lord. They’ve already cleared out. We even checked in the root cellar. It’s empty.”

She heard the frustrated growl moments before the imperial soldier clamped his arm about her throat.

“Where are they,” his guttural voice snarled in her ear. It sounded strange -- faraway, thin, and shallow, as though someone were speaking through a can.

Rhaya Wolndara let out a strangled sob and did not reply, renewing her struggle. Her blood-soaked fingers were too slick to give any purchase, and her nails began to warp and bend beneath the unyielding outline of the decorative brass gilt. It shone with a dull light from the waxing moon, the light blotted in places where blood had stained the chasing.

Her captor shook her so violently she could hear the chatter of her own teeth.

“Blackthorne and the Garlean woman,” he repeated, slow and icy and deliberate. Her cheek met cold steel and tempered glass. “I know you know where they’ve gone. Where are they?”

“Go to the seven hells,” she bit out, gagging and coughing. His free hand closed about her blood-soaked arm. Pinching metal and a heavy grip wound about her wrist.

“You should know that your deserter friend made a most excellent point,” he said blandly. “And if you won’t tell me what I want to hear--”

Rhaya yanked her hand towards the weakest part of his grip with all her might, but that resistance only made him bear down. Steel edges dug into the meat of her palm and she froze, heartbeat racing in the tips of her ears, flattened against her head and flickering with every burst of speech and static from that faceless helm.

“--I think you shall see that I find myself quite willing to take her advice until you do.”

All it took was one single, violent twist. The sound of breaking bone was consumed in her agonized shriek, flung into the night wind like a wolf’s howl.

“Reduced to the beast you are in truth, and so quickly. What a pity- yet I doubt that will be sufficient.” Unable to speak, the huntress writhed when the Garlean’s inexorable grip tightened, sobbing and still kicking in an attempt to free herself. Still squeezing, he twisted her hurt arm behind her back and up.

“Mm. Another, then?”

She felt her fourth digit pinched between the Garlean’s thumb and forefinger like a rabbit caught in a trapper’s wire.

“Perhaps I should have my subordinates flush out the child. Surely that would make you pliable.”

Rhaya near felt the blood curdle in her veins; so frightened was she by the prospect of this man getting his hands on Vahne that her struggles stilled for a brief moment.

“Tell me where they are.”

“Leave her alone! She’s only a--”

He bent and twisted and the bone snapped like a twig beneath his fingers. Rhaya’s answering scream came at a pitch and a volume so piercing it could have shattered crystal, her one good foot kicking wildly.

“Madam, these people are criminals. Why are you protecting them?”

“I told you I don’t know where they went! They left nigh on a sennight past. That’s all the information I have, now leave the girl be!”

The Garlean had moved to her ring finger, grasping it by the joint. Her eyes had gone the size of saucers, watching him do it. She knew what was coming, and she had already begun to tremble violently in the vise of his arm. Her pattens rattled against the steel plate of his armor.

“You are bringing all of this pain on yourself, savage,” he hissed in her ear. ”Now tell me. Where. They have gone. Otherwise, I promise this will go very, very badly. For both of you.”

“No no no no please by the Twelve I swear I don’t know, I don’t know,” the pain had reduced her to a shrieking mantra, she could feel him twisting, pulling, the joint grinding and displacing and she no longer cared for her pride, sobbing under the weight of the pain and in horrible anticipation, “I don’t know I don’t know I don’t bloody know oh gods please don’t--”

“Lord Cinna!” someone shouted. “Over there! Ten o’clock!”

Her eyes tracked the sharp snap of her captor’s chin and caught the flash of a white linen shirt: A small and spindly figure on swift feet, sprinting away from the house. Streaking into the fields and toward the deep forest beyond, with the single-minded determination of a barn cat in sight of its prey. Her tormentor released her, his attention successfully diverted.

Rhaya Wolndara fell to the hard-packed earth, curled about her hurts and coughing from a bruised throat as she took small sips of air. Her chin swiveled in the direction she’d last seen her young niece. Shadowed and helmed figures in black and scarlet reared upwards from their hiding places in the fields, like fell and ancient ghosts baying upon the heels of a soul marked for their ferry-boats.

Voice hoarse from her own screams, she cried out, the sound of it thin and cracked:

“Vahne, run!!!”

~*~

The moment she heard running water, Vahne had known her aunt was clearing the dishes.

Aunt Rhaya hadn’t wanted children, but she’d got one, and she’d tried to raise her sister’s only child as she’d been raised. One of Vahne’s first memories was trying to show off to her aunt how fast she could run from the front of the cabin to the end of the fields. She had instead tripped and fallen in the dirt and skinned her knees and cried. Instead of noticing her swiftness, her aunt had yelled at her for ruining her pinafore.

That was the first time she had shut herself in her room and refused to come out. Until she heard the sound of water in her aunt’s scullery and the clink of dishes, and had felt guilty, and had crept out to join her with a washcloth. They hadn’t spoken, just washed, and by the time the chore was done together she had felt calm enough to forgive her aunt for yelling. Thus it had gone, in the years since.

Cleaning the dishes was always Aunt Rhaya’s roundabout way of asking Vahne for a truce. Or it had been, in the past. But this time Vahne’s anger kept her firmly attached to her bed. She sat stoic and still upon the mattress, fingers digging into the coverlet as she heard the clatter of dishes, willing herself not to go. Aunt Rhaya was wrong, and Vahne didn’t want to mend things with her. Not right now. Once, she thought angrily, just once, her aunt could come to her, instead.

That was when she realized the clatter had gone silent and the water stilled, far too soon. She frowned, ears flickering with curiosity even as she stubbornly kept her attention on her book of adventure stories. I’m not going in there, she thought. I’m not telling her I’m sorry because I’m not.

I’m not sorry for what I said. I’m not. I’m not. I’m not.

The creak of the front door.

I’m not--

A man’s shout, the sounds of a scuffle, and a high-pitched scream of pain in what was unmistakably her aunt’s voice-- followed by the sound of footsteps clattering over the deck and spilling into the common room.

Her heart started to pound and fear clenched her stomach.

Someone was in the house. A lot of someones. And by the sound of things, it was unlikely that her aunt had even expected them, let alone invited them inside.

Rhaya had raised her alone, amidst the constant threat of someone or other attempting to take the land for themselves. Some were friendly enough, all things considered, though Vahne had suspected as she grew older and saw and understood more that her aunt was likely paying a portion of their goods to some of the stronger gangs for the promise that they would leave the homestead alone.

But her aunt wasn’t stupid. She knew better than to trust bandits and poachers, especially after what had happened to her younger sister. When Vahne was seven summers of age, Aunt Rhaya had taken her aside to give her strict instructions.

If anyone ever comes inside the house and I didn’t invite them, she remembered the long-ago lessons, you know what to do. You get in a hiding place and stay still and quiet until I come and get you myself---and if you think I can’t keep them from finding you, you get out through a window and go find help. Do you understand?

Yes, Aunt Rhaya.

Someone shouted from the front of the cabin. They’d found the root cellar--

--and someone was heading down the narrow hallway. Her heart took a terrifying leap into her mouth. There wasn’t anywhere to hide in her room, nowhere that would keep her from being found. Vahne jumped onto her mattress and her hand flew to the window latch.

She only had a few moments, she thought, fiddling frantically at the small mechanism.

“Hallway clear,” a voice called, in a funny accent she didn’t recognize. “Checking the back. Anything down in that root cellar you found?”

“Nothing,” someone else shouted back. “Once you’ve checked that room go report to Lord Cinna. He’ll get the woman to talk one way or another.”

“Understood.”

There was a creak as the doorknob began to turn.

The latch gave under her fingers and the window slid open, blessedly silent. Vahne planted her foot on the sill and wriggled through the small opening, her tail lashing to ensure that she kept her balance, and jumped down from the sill into the hard-packed dirt.

A small shock of pain lanced through her ankles at the landing, but no one was waiting outside to grab her. She didn’t waste any time in hiding, immediately darting behind the nearby midden and trying to ignore the smell of it. One tense moment passed, then two, but there was no shout to raise the alarum. Her escape had - thus far - gone unnoticed.

Screams and frantic pleas drifted into her ears and fear ran icy fingertips down her spine. Vahne had never heard her confident, self-sufficient aunt sound like that before. Ever.

She crouched all but paralyzed behind the pile, her mind racing as she tried to decide what to do. She couldn’t stay here all night, she knew. They’d find her eventually- and it sounded like they were about to do something really bad to her aunt. Even if Vahne was still mad at her, she couldn’t bear the thought of her hurt or… or worse.

Like Mum had… like what had happened to Mum. She had to do something.

Go find help, her memory echoed. Do you understand? Go find help.

“Miss Aurelia,” she whispered.

Aunt Rhaya! Look at me! Let me show you how fast I can run! Are you watching?

Soil kicked up from her heels as she darted across the yard from the compost pile and into the endless waves of wheat. She heard angry shouts from the strange people in their strange clothes, the sounds of the crickets and the birds, the distant rumble of thunder--

--and above it all, her aunt’s cry,

“Vahne, run!!”

She didn’t dare look back. She sprinted between the gaps in the rows and tore a path through the wheat as if the hounds of death themselves snapped at her heels, straight into the waiting and depthless black arms of the wood. Willowsbend. She had to get to Willowsbend, as fast as she could. She had to find Miss Aurelia.

She had to save her aunt.

==

Argas rem Canina exhaled as they watched the small figure flit past them into the forest, her simple white shirt fluttering like the wings of a water bird. The first leg of the plan had been successful. Time to open the link and relay orders.

He pressed the switch next to the helm speaker.

“Operation Gold Finch has commenced,” he said. “Bird-watchers: you are to track the target to her eventual destination and confirm the presence of one or both deserters. Follow at a safe distance and do not attempt to apprehend or engage. I repeat, do not apprehend or engage.”

“And the prisoner?” Phoebus pyr Cinna asked. There was an icy note in his voice, one that hadn't abated since they'd set out on this raid, and with a frown Argas made a silent note to document and discuss the man's attitude with Lord Fabian very frankly once all was said and done. It wouldn't do to allow insubordination, subtle or not.

“Bring her. Let’s keep all of our cards ready to play if need be - we may need her for leverage.”

Static crackled over his helm's internal speakers with the man's sigh. “If I may remind you, 'twas your request that we be granted the freedom to levy harsher penalties against these savages. Whatever else she was, the woman was harboring-”

“Did I say we wouldn’t make an example of her, Cinna? Burn the house,” he said flatly. “And the fields. Leave a cleanup detail to make sure the fire remains controlled and does not spread to the surrounding forest. For the moment, I think that will suffice.”

“Understood.”

"Understood what, pyr Cinna?"

"...My lord."

Satisfied that the reminder had been made, Argas told himself these measures were necessary even as another part of him recoiled at their cruelty. The woman had brought it on herself. She and her deserter associates had had their chance to cooperate, and instead had caused him injury and nearly killed one of his subordinates. Such defiance was unseemly and not to be countenanced- and she was quite fortunate he had been inclined towards mercy. He knew plenty of others who would simply have hanged her from the nearest tree they could find.

The imperial presence in these wild lands might be a sleeping tiger, but it was still a tiger. It still had its fangs and its claws, and it would bare them both when necessity required it to do so.

Phoebus pyr Cinna does work quite fast, he thought. I must grant him that much. Very efficient. A repugnant man, really, but very efficient.  

Fabian rem Corbinus clearly liked him, a great deal more than Argas himself. Small wonder he now stood in jeopardy of losing his command of the mission.

Within moments he watched threads of flame and smoke commence their ascent towards the cloak of the night sky. 

He toggled the switch on his helm and tugged on his medicus’ arm. Lavinia jen Salvitto stood, helping him to his feet, and the pair made their way towards the wide dirt path to wait on the optio and his prisoner as the fields, too, began to burn.

[davidmann95]

Finally, Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Let’s dispense with any pretense right up front: CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths is thoroughly dopey, punishingly cheap, and unselfconciously corny in the most heavy-handed ways. It is also, similarly in the spirit of wanting to be direct, probably my favorite live-action DC thing other than The Dark Knight. It’s pure, uncut, unapologetic dork superhero joy injected right into the jugular, every single ambition that a primetime network television soap/procedural/mini-MCU homunculus adaptation of the biggest comic book event of all time could have ever conceivably achieved and far beyond. Not in question that I substantially prefer it to the source material, and it’s if nothing else worth regarding as the singular achievement that it is and will remain: when the movies get around to a Crisis someday, the shared ongoing TV/cinematic universe paradigm means there aren’t going to be fistfuls of actors from past interpretations to draw from the way this could for much longer. This was in all likelihood the one shot to do this in the way everyone wanted it to be done, and it held together.

Not that much in the way of deep analysis to offer, and I already discussed the first three episodes, so let’s just get into it:

* Malthus! Low on the totem pole of shock DCU minutia, but I was mighty pleased.

* Not nor have I ever been much of a shipper, but “Do you trust me?” “With every cell in my body.” is the gayest thing I have ever seen, my lord.

* Literally everything with Lex in here is solid shining gold.

* For all the elements I had assumed were givens that didn’t happen - not that I was bothered by much of it other than I really do wish Danny Trejo had been here - Ezra Miller putting his money where his mouth is was in my dang joke category of stuff that was obviously never going to happen. What an absolute delight, and moreover I had thought in the first place “This scene really feels deliberately structured such that it would fit as a scene in the Flash movie, especially given this is where this version has the idea for the name? But that seems so unlikely!” and then Guggenheim confirmed that the CEO of WB specifically asked for that scene to be included, so I guess the Flash movie is going to be a covert sequel/companion piece to the friggin’ CW Crisis! Even if Gustin’s possibly only in the one bit though, I do hope this means Tom Cavanaghhas at least a cameo.

* The killer dumb as hell line aside, Oliver vs. the Anti-Monitor was conspicuously the best special effect in the whole thing, they clearly blew a lot of the budget on that.

* Wolfman got to be the one to tell them the Earths had been merged! And kudos to him co-writing the Arrow episode, which was probably the best of the lot from a pure storytelling/dramatic standpoint; when I say this was leaps and bounds better than the original Crisis, that’s not a knock on him.

* BEEBO. And Sargon the Sorcerer! But BEEBO. Hopefully him appearing at the height of all this and being a thing the non-Legends have to deal with is a sign of the weirdness continuing to be upped across the board.

* The final plan to defeat the Anti-Monitor is the most beautiful Silver Age nonsense, to the point that I’m fine with the last battle basically being in a Vancouver back alley the way I’d said they’d written themselves out of being able to do a year ago. And while there’s an argument to be made that from an in-universe perspective it should have been Flash to deal the final blow given this has been built up on his show since day one, it feels right that Supergirl as his biggest classic casualty scored the win. Either way, the idea of a teeny-tiny Anti-Monitor bein’ all grumpy in the Microverse for all eternity is a delight. Apparently some complained that he was a boring stock villain in this, but folks, I got some bad news about what they’re drawing from.

* Heat Wave is living his best life and we should all be so blessed.

* Given his backseat role as essentially the most important of the non-central characters, all I was truly rooting for with Hoechlin’s Superman in terms of strutting his super-stuff was getting one good hit in against the Anti-Monitor, and then it turned out he was one of the only three (or four if you count Oliver) who did out of the 50+ or so superheroes in total here, so I was a happy camper. And itty-bitty Superman was funny right away, but even funnier when I realized that was basically making Hoechlin an Atom to go with Routh’s Superman. Can’t wait for the show.

* I assume that as I’ve seen others suggest Earth-12 is meant to be the HBO Green Lantern series and they simply used the related footage they had available, but that movie of all movies therefore getting a shout-out in here is both hysterical and somehow perfect: everything has its place.

* Routh lives, in what might be a brighter rewritten timeline! This could easily be his sendoff and it’d be a perfect one, but I’d of course be more than pleased for him to fill a Kal-L role in Superman & Lois.

* “The first of our heroes”? Did Green Arrow precede Superman, which would be a change in at least one of their timelines? Wasn’t Black Lightning a hero awhile back? Or is this just in the sense of him being the first public human hero? The real answer is that it’s an acknowledgment of his real-world role as the guy who kicked all this off and the logistics don’t matter.

* Justice League! Justice League! Justice League!

* Wonder what the next crossover’s going to be? Easy answers would be something with Superman in the lead now that he’ll be fully in the fold (I understand the 90s crossover Panic in the Sky! was meant for much the same purpose of positioning him as a leader in-universe), or a Dark Nights: Metal adaptation with Batwoman center stage, but the producers have been adamant that the next entry will be something smaller. Maybe a set of mini-crossovers of two or three shows in blocks, or a subplot building across multiple shows that culminates in one or two big episodes with the League banding together. I’d love for their first adventure as a formal team to be fighting Starro (he could emerge as a Lovecraftian threat ala how Morrison treated him in JLA, only for J’onn to link them up to his mind and he turns out to be the hilarious doofus bully from Metal, but the first big crossover was already an alien invasion that involved a bunch of superheroes being mind-controlled, so there is the concern that it could come off as redundant. I’m still in favor of it though, as it could get us a live-action Jarro.

So there we go, there was a live-action Crisis on Infinite Earths. Whereas its source was dopey junk food in service of tearing down a lot of cool stuff, this was dopey junk food in service of delivering and setting up more cool stuff to come, so I’ll stand by this being the better of the two. What a start to the decade; I grew up with 2020 as The Year Of The Future in the same way I know many did with 2000, and nothing could be more of a signifier that we live in a changed world as far as superheroes’ place in mass-media from when I was a kid than this.

[teratonomy]

How did you come up with all the binomial names?

By drawing a pentagram on my bedroom floor and sacrificing a goat to some eldritch monstrosity, in exchange for arcane knowledge.

Honestly, my approach to creating binomen varies from monster to monster. I always set out with the intention of keeping the names as grammatically correct as possible, in line with the declensions for Greek and Latin. I do my best to adhere to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, but at the end of the day, I’m just one nerd with no formal training. I’m very much an armchair linguist, and while there’s nothing wrong with being an autodidact, it does make me prone to second-guessing. Doesn’t really help that I don’t have a list of acquaintances to consult, who would actually be able to give me reliable feedback.

Sometimes, though, I think a little inexperience makes the naming process more authentic. Because scientists are people, and you can never underestimate the capacity of people to be Extra As Hell.

Let me give you a few examples:

In 2004, entomologists Kelly B. Miller and Quentin D. Wheeler reclassified a genus of leiodid fungus beetles as Gelae (/ˈdʒɛli/). Yes, it is pronounced exactly the way you think it is. The species in this newly-christened genus include G. baen (“jelly bean”), G. belae (“jelly belly”), G. donut (“jelly doughnut”), G. fish (“jelly fish”), and G. rol (“jelly roll”). The authors said that they were merely wordplays without any taxonomical jargon; a “whimsical arrangement of letters.”

And then there’s the lovely Heteropoda davidbowie, described by Peter Jäger. The name was selected for a few reasons: (1), the colors and patterns on the spider’s face resemble the painted face makeup David Bowie wore in his early career; (2), the name references the song “Glass Spider,” as well as his album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars; (3), the species has an estimated 500 individuals left, so Jäger hoped that giving it a catchy name would draw headlines and help with conservation efforts.

Allow me to introduce you to a trilobite described by Samuel Turvey in 2005. Its name? Han solo. Turvey called it that because a couple of his friends dared him to name a species after a Star Wars character. And while you might roll your eyes at that, the name is actually really clever. The generic name Han is a reference to the Han people, the largest ethnic group in China (where the trilobite was found); the specific epithet solo refers to the fact it’s the sole species belonging to that genus; and like many trilobites, the fossils tend to be extremely well-preserved, similar to how Harrison Ford was preserved in carbonite.

I could literally go on for days. There’s even a website dedicated to compiling all of the ridiculous names out there called Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature. The person who does the heavy-lifting is a bloke named Mark Isaak, and they deserve mad respect.

There’s a point I’m trying to make, I swear.

You see, if professional scientists with degrees can get away with making nerdy references and butchering the grammar of Latin and Greek, THEN SO CAN I.

Sometimes I’ll give monsters really cool or epic-sounding names that try to capture a quality about them, whether that’s their appearance, geographic range, behavior, or some historical fact pertaining to their discovery.

Some of my favorites include:

The verdant qurupeco, Cantio sirenius. Its name means “siren’s song” in Latin, a reference to the high fidelity of its vocal mimicry.

The dire miralis, Pyrothalassion basileus. Its name translates to “Greek fire emperor.” Its generic name comes from an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine navy. Remember the wildfire from Game of Thrones? It’s basically that. The name felt pretty appropriate for a sea-dwelling dragon that breathes fire.

The black nargacuga, Xyrafiptera cervarius. Its name means “razor-winged deer-hunter” in Latin, a combination of physical descriptors and behavior. It also sounds rad as hell.

And then…we have those names.

The disufiroa, Apparentia absurda. You can take a wild guess what that translates to. I mean, just look at this thing. It’s got weird, inverted, spike-things on its chest. No idea what the fuck those are for.

The harudomerugu, Retentio incredulitatis. Its name is the closest I could get to “suspension of disbelief” in Latin. By now you might have noticed that scientific names are basically my way of bullying the Frontier monsters, because seriously, what the hell, Capcom?

The baruragaru, Stercusanctum currite. Okay, so this one isn’t me taking the piss out of the Frontier design team, because I actually like this monster. Its name is based on my reaction when I first saw the G3 trailer: Jesus Christ, what is that thing? The baruragaru was given the dubious honor of being named “holy shit, run,” because if I saw that thing in real life I’d be trying to put as many doors, walls, and preferably continents between it and myself as possible.

The great jaggi, Magnaraptor ebrius. Also known as the “drunken great thief.” Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of NCHProductions and wanted to sneak in a fun reference to their videos. Whenever they animate the great jaggi it’s always drunk, so I named it in honor of its alcoholism.

The pariapuria, Haustranguis amphibious. Its name means “amphibious bucket dragon” in Latin, and there’s a reason for that. You see, The Encyclopedia wasn’t just intended as a fun creative exercise, but as a learning tool for people interested in zoological classification. In taxonomy there’s this thing called a wastebasket taxon—when a species is incertae sedis, or of uncertain placement, it might get dumped into a poly- or paraphyletic taxon. Academically, this is what’s known as “this thing is weird and I don’t know where it goes, so for now I’m putting it in time out.” When I first tried to classify the pariapuria I couldn’t really figure out what it was related to: The tigrexes? The nargas? Neither? And then it hit me: I didn’t have to have an answer. Instead, I decided to put it in a wastebasket taxon. It’s meant to be a nod to the harrows of IRL taxonomy, and just how much of a clusterfuck it can be sometimes. As for why it’s called “bucket dragon,” and not “basket dragon,” well. I couldn’t exactly find a translation for “basket” in Latin, so I asked myself, “Okay, what’s the next best thing?” And thus we have bucket dragon.

Isn’t taxonomy fun?