#I accept no other alternative

[moghedien]

It’s funny to me that (at least for me idk if this is always the case) the timing of Shadowheart dying her hair in camp corresponds with the same night the githyanki attack camp and you learn who the dream visitor is and all that

Like imagine Shadowheart in fucking camp trying to discretely bleach her hair with some berries and herbs she scavenged because you are NOT near civilization and she’s like trying to fix her patchy ass dye job before everyone wakes up and while she’s simultaneously trying to give herself layers or some shit and then the Absolute just starts blasting her brain and random githyanki attack the camp?

Like imagine mid revelation of this whole thing. You’re in the astral plane. Orpheaus is there. The Emperor is there. Shadowheart is there desperately hoping no one comments on her terrible looking roots and her crooked bangs

[aroaceleovaldez]

i am a firm believer that Nico either got his ears pierced by Thalia with a hot unbent safety pin or at a random mall with a piercing gun when he was 10. there is no way he went about getting his ears pierced in any normal, safe manner. dude went to Claires. these are the only options.

[trappedinafantasy37]

There are multiple gods in the game that you can directly interact with and they all have ties to the narrative. You can interact with Shar via Shadowheart. You can interact with Mystra via Gale. You can interact with Myrkul via Ketheric when he takes on the avatar form. You can interact with Bhaal via Durge and in the fight with Orin. You can interact with Bane after killing Gortash and using "Speak with Dead" in which the soul you speak to is not Gortash, but Bane himself. I would include Vlaakith in this list but Vlaakith is not a god, she is a lich presenting herself as a god. And, of course, there is the Absolute which doesn't really become a god until it ascends into the Netherbrain (although that is debatable).

But, did you know that Lolth will also interact with you? As far as I am aware, Lolth is the only non-story related god in which you do have interactions with. One of them is only available if you are a Lolth-sworn drow, and the other is only available if you are a Cleric of Lolth (you do not need to be Lolth-sworn for it).

The first instance is in the goblin camp with the spiders in the pit. This does require that you are a Lolth-sworn drow and that you have the ability to speak with animals. When talking to the spiders, you will have the option to present yourself to the spiders as Lolth herself. If you fail the persuasion check, Lolth gets pissed off as she was listening to you and is not happy that you tried to present yourself as her. And she tells the spiders you are an imposter and they attack you. But if you succeed the check, Lolth doesn't do anything and the spiders will think you are Lolth. So, Lolth doesn't really have a problem with you pretending to be her. But if you are going to pretend to be her, you better do it right. If the spiders think you are Lolth, you can ask them about what's going on in the goblin camp and the spiders only talk about one thing. They immediately tell you that there is another drow in the camp who has forgotten her way and that she is forsaken. And, as I said, Lolth is here. She heard the spiders admit this. Lolth does nothing about it.

The second instance is in the Underdark with the Phalar Aluve. When you interact with the sword, you have two different checks, a Strength check and a Religion check. If you do the Strength check, you can just pull it out of the stone and be on your merry way. If you perform the Religion check, the narrator will tell you different things depending on certain conditions. If you are a Lolth-sworn drow and/or a Cleric of Lolth, the narrator will tell you that the religious rite to pull the blade from the stone is blasphemous as it pays honor to the weak. If you are of any other race and/or cleric of any other god, the narrator will tell you that the sword is of Eilistraee and the rite pays honor to the fallen. The religious rite is that you spill a little bit of your blood and the sword will rise out of the stone on its own. If you do this as a Cleric of Lolth (you don't need to be Lolth-sworn) you will feel hundreds of spiders crawl all over you as Lolth is warning you not to do shit like that ever again. Not only did you perform the religious rite of another god, you performed the religious rite of a god she hates. And she is letting you know how much she hated that.

These are the only two instances in the game that I have found in which Lolth interacts with the player but there are plenty of other moments in which Lolth could interact with you, but doesn't (such as with the Phase Spider, the baby spiders in Grymforge, Kar'niss, or the dead spider in the Gauntlet of Shar). Of these two moments where Lolth does interact with you, one of these instances is in the goblin camp, and the other is in the Underdark not too far away from the goblin camp. I don't think it is much of a coincidence that these two interactions occur in close proximity to Minthara. Almost as if Lolth has a reason to be in that area specifically to watch and monitor things, and you just so happened to be there. And the only things that compel her to interact with you is because you pissed her off. But, as long you don't piss her off, she will do nothing and she will say nothing.

When Minthara was being tortured by the Absolute, she prayed to Lolth and begged Lolth to give her the strength to fight her enemies. But Lolth does nothing and Lolth says nothing. In fact, that was the full extent of Lolth's "punishment" for Minthara, nothing. All Lolth did was not answer Minthara's prayers and not show up when Minthara needed her the most. Lolth did not torture Minthara like the Absolute did, Lolth did not turn her into a drider, nor did Lolth eat her. All she did, was nothing. And yes, Lolth is known for abandoning drow and no longer interacting with them. A drow has to do something incredibly awful in order for Lolth to just back away from them entirely. But you cannot convince me that Lolth is going to let one of her Baenre's go so easily. It's not as if Minthara has done anything truly awful either to make Lolth that mad.

According to Minthara, she herself has sinned against the Spider Queen, but it's not as if she chose to abandon Lolth, she was forced away and mind controlled into being devoted to another god. But would this make a difference to Lolth? Does it really matter if Minthara was compelled to have faith in another god besides Lolth? It isn't until Minthara is freed and feels the absence of Lolth that she chooses to no longer follow Lolth. Minthara even mentions how turning against Lolth is a big no-no in Menzoberranzan. Minthara herself at one point has hunted down and killed those who turn their backs from Lolth so she knows the same will be done to her if she were to ever return home. In fact, if you are a Lolth-sworn drow or a Cleric of Lolth, you are given unique dialogue options with Minthara to kill her because she is a traitor to Lolth and these options continue to show up until you recruit her into your party and she joins your roster. Despite all of this, Lolth does nothing. Minthara spews anti-Lolth rhetoric left and right, and Lolth does nothing. If you take Minthara to the tabernacle, she will spit on a shrine to Lolth, and Lolth does nothing.

Minthara is also able to walk through the Gauntlet of Shar, which is in the Underdark, and Lolth does nothing. Sure, you could argue that its connection to the Shadowfell and the fact that Shar is there via Shadowheart is enough to keep Lolth away. The lore of DnD does not make it quite clear what the relationship between these two goddesses are. But I am willing to bet that Lolth is smart enough not to step on Shar's toes because Shar would annihilate her. However, there is a small little section of the Gauntlet where it actually does spit you out directly into the Underdark and into Lolth's territory. Minthara can walk right out there just fine, and Lolth does nothing.

But most importantly, Minthara's default ending is her returning to the Underdark with the sole purpose of destroying House Baenre and then killing Lolth. Destroying House Baenre could lead to a chaotic and political disaster in Menzoberranzan, and Lolth does nothing. Minthara quite literally wants to kill Lolth and has intentions to do so after taking House Baenre, and Lolth. Does. Nothing!

If Minthara goes into the Underdark and destroys House Baenre, this will cause chaos and death. And the Baenre's won't be the only ones she has to destroy, but any and all allies of House Baenre in which they do have a lot. And Lolth will feed off of all the death and carnage and chaos that Minthara is about to bring to Menzoberranzan because Lolth loves chaos more than she hates traitors.

Maybe, Lolth has not abandoned her as Minthara thinks she has. Maybe, Lolth has done nothing and said nothing because Minthara has not actually upset her. Maybe, Lolth has done nothing and said nothing because Minthara is already doing everything Lolth wants her to do. And all it took, was making Minthara think that Lolth abandoned her. There was no need for Lolth to answer Minthara's prayers, because Minthara always had the strength to fight her enemies.

[chonkymoth]

I'd like to present an idea to the masses...........

[pilferingapples]

it's inevitable, and even desirable, that adaptations won't ever fully capture the full meaning and every nuance of an original work. Different mediums are best for different things; and , just as importantly, different aspects of a story are relevant to different audiences. But hewing as close to the original as possible can still create a powerful statement.

Which is all to say that I think it would be excellent if an adaptation of Les Mis nowadays managed to convey --indeed, to really drive home--the theme of "you need to overthrow Napoleon III" .

[daemon-in-my-head]

I've somehow created this really weird schrödingers durgetash where they're constantly yearning for each other but not for the version that stands before them and instead for a past version which both of them know was equally as fucked up but at least back then they were still oblivious to the malice and broken trust between them.

They adore each other but they also hate each other just as much. Every single word is doubted twice, thrice but in the end they still give in. They're convinced the other one has ulterior motives but how bad could it really be and well at least for a while its gonna be nice right? It's cold calculations and plans upon plans and desire for revenge but also, they still used to be great together once and what if that time could come back if they just bleed enough for their own twisted version of justice to be fulfilled? Yes they both felt betrayed by the other and someone has certainly caused a great amount of grief for the other, but in-between there were nice moments and they could rly use one of em now that all else went to shit.

[leverage-ot3]

parker in the inside job is so real to me

parker, who has had a very complicated relationship with the concept of ‘family’, who blew up her abusive foster parent’s house, who bounced around the foster system before ultimately making a run for it

who was caught pick pocketing a world-renowned thief and taken in under his wing where he molded her into the best thief that ever existed, where he then ‘released her into the world’

archie took her in, yes, but he didn’t really take her in. he kept her at arm’s length, letting her live in empty warehouses and learning how to pick locks and beat security systems instead of going to school or learning what familial love was

he raised her, but only barely

and leverage did a great job of adding subtleties to her to have her come off as neurodivergent, most likely autistic. she was never what society would deem as ‘normal’, especially back then. and then archie tells nate to his face that she would never fit in, not anywhere

(and nate is mad. eliot is mad. rightfully so.)

parker is different from most people, thinks differently and acts differently. but that’s not wrong, and not her fault. but archie couldn’t see past that and take her in as she truly was, not when he had an ‘actual’ family at home. she wouldn’t fit in and that was something he wasn’t willing to risk, try or explain

and then archie calls parker asking for her thoughts on the steranko situation and she doesn’t even hesitate because his family is on the line. his real family. and he’s her father in a way no one had ever been before and looked after her in the only way she knew how and that meant something to her and she couldn’t have something like that happen to him

not on her watch

[cluescorner]

I cannot imagine being a Damian stan right now. You've got both Zdarsky's bullshit (where he clearly doesn't give a shit about your boy) and The Boy Wonder (where Juni Ba clearly gives so many shits about your boy) coming out on the same day. The whiplash must be insane. I hope y'all get some nice warm soup for your efforts jfc

[sickviking-fr]

With the attention Disney is getting recently, a resurgence of posts bemoaning their live action remakes and a return of The Muppet Post, I feel the time is right to share again my idea for a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood live action remake featuring:

Lust, played by Miss Piggy

Envy, played by Pepe the Prawn

Pride, played by Fozzie Bear

Greed, played by Rizzo the Rat

Father (and Van Hohenheim) played by Sam the Eagle

Gluttony, played by The Swedish Chef

Sloth, played by Sweetums

Wrath, aka Fuhrer King Bradley played by Liam Neeson

[willshaper]

Ohmg... moash interlude tomorrow

[mortysmith]

rick becomes super into multiversal travel after prime introduces him to it, very hyperfocused on it and the opportunities it presents (like how the gotron episode establishes that rick can get carried away unless someone reels him in). diane might initially be supportive of this but as rick's appearances around the house become more shoddy, she gets fed up and they separate. after a much more complex deterioration of their relationship obviously rick considers this a win at the time, since he's now free to dick around and do whatever he wants, essentially adopts prime's life philosophy and hangs around him. him and prime would eventually have some sort of falling out, which leaves rick extremely bitter and annoyed. he ends up spending most of his life alone, still living by his pop nihilistic ideals because he thinks this is what he wants. eventually he'd still end up squatting in prime's dimension and realizes that he actually Prefers this family life. his infatuation with prime could develop into resentment when he realizes that he essentially robbed rick of a comfortable, idealistic life

[retributory]

when you think about it clive and flora are actually perfect narrative foils on complete accident. like what's up with that. professor layton and the completely imagined literary devices

[mytho-maniac-108]

Reading the Iliad part 3

How could they kill Pandarus??😭😭

He left behind his horses and walked all the way to Troy because he thought they would not have enough food in a besieged city and then Homer killed him??

[darlingod]

Did Heartless by Marissa Meyer also fuck anyone else up? And now it is wise you don’t reread or even so think about the book?

Because me too. No one prepared me for that. Not at fucking all.

[sunnysatyr]

There are still people willing to argue that working from home is more or less as expensive as going to the office every day because you would spend on electricity, water, toilet paper, etc. what you don't spend on gasoline.

Like... have you seen the price of gasoline? At least in Spain I spend on supplies and services for the house not even a quarter of what it costs me to go to work one month, 40 km a day round trip (plus car maintenance, insurance and taxes).

I mean, yeah, working from home costs me money, but I even save money on CLOTHES since I can work in my freaking underwear. Maybe it's just me and my privilege, me and my preference, and that doesn't invalidate theirs, but from my point of view... it's just nonsensical for jobs that can be done from home.

[ongreenergrasses]

tell me why the leading coalition on domestic violence in the STATE is exclusively using “victim” in this presentation