#I should become a religious fanatic

[pretentious-ravioli]

[multifunctionalnitroglycerin]

The Radiant Dawn, Leona of the Solari – an analysis

Leona, Leona, what to do with you, oh Radiant Dawn, daughter of the Sun-forgers? You who scorn love so, in the face of duty?

What with the latest season of Arcane having fully come out, and many of us still grasping to comprehend the ending of that wonderful series (I will maintain that it’s probably one of the best pieces of media I have ever had the joy of consuming), I got to thinking about another military dictator that leads a scourge against her lover’s people. So, strap in and grab your drinks, cause this is going to be a long one.

I have seen some funny posts juxtapositioning Violyn/ Caitvi and Leodia, and while one cannot deny the first glance similarities in the stories, especially with the new route Piltover’s finest took, the premise of their stories is at its core different.  BUT today we will not explore the similarities and differences in the premise of the broader systems that both stories take place in, but rather take a deeper look into our beloved obstacle of a Targonian “cult leader”, Leona.

            Now Leona’s character in league is rather…unremarkable at first glance. More of an obstacle than a worthy adversary, a mindless cultist that perpetuates the oppression against her peoples’ sister tribe, too blind to see past that, even when her lover begs her to. Personally, I prefer to think of Leona as an unremarkable character with remarkable potential, should Riot decide to ever do anything with it. The roots of a good story have already been planted. Because yes, in Arcane we also talked about oppression, class stratification, abuse of power, and a twisted corrupt judicial system, but now, in Targon, we’ll talk about cults.

I am no expert, but cultism and totalitarian regimes do have a few common points in the way they function, thus the perceived similarities between the two storylines. However, I feel in the hands of capable writers the Targonian storyline can become a beautiful story about religious fanatism, and cultism, the struggle of individuality, and how challenging it is to escape from them, if at all… (I do like some tragic lesbians, sue me. A happy ending that does justice to the inherent tragedy of those two will have to be earned, and if a tragic ending is what does them justice, I will accept it.)

It’s high time we got this party started though, isn’t it?

Leona is born in the Solari tribe of Targon, a tribe that venerated the Sun more than any other upon the mountain. Which at first glance seems innocent enough, right?

Cults in principle, and to my limited understanding, are authoritarian systems that revolve around a particular belief, that have rules and dogma and encourage their members to isolate themselves from would-be questioners of their faith. By taking a look at what we know about the Solari, most of these terms seem to be fulfilled. An authoritarian system based around the worship of the Sun, with strict rules, rigid principles, and rituals, led not by one charismatic leader, as many cults are, but by a council of elders, that determine what is acceptable and what not in Her worship. While they also take care to mindfully curate the available information in the temple and discourage or silence those that oppose their teachings.

Leona is a child born to the Sun-forgers Melia and Iasur, and takes to her parents’ faith with a stride, comfortable in its rigidity and its unrelenting structures. She is reportedly as seen both through her bio and the letter to her parents in “Rise with me”, a near perfect acolyte, her devotion, and excellence in seemingly everything but that one oration class, inspiring envy in her peers, and admiration in her elders, all of them certain that she would one day become a Ra’Horak, a holy warrior of the Solari.

The thing is, that children growing up in cults are a tricky thing to write despite its supposed straightforwardness. Especially if you want to create a character as complicated as I hope Leona will turn out to be. The basics of it are things we already know; children are extremely vulnerable to adult influence; their minds are sponges and their parents’ world is their world. They listen, observe and absorb the behavior, the views and opinions of the people around them, and accept them as reality, because they are children and do not know any better. As one might imagine, the extent of fanatism that Leona grew up with is variable, depending on how her own parents acted and how deep in they were themselves. Now I am a bit rusty on Rakori and Targonian lore, but if we take the short story “Rise with me” into account, I think it is safe to say that Melia and Iasur were in pretty deep.

Another thing to note about children that grow up in cults is that the cult leader and the cult’s needs come first. Which means that the child rarely enjoys their parents’ attention, much less love and affection. Something that in my humble opinion would drive some of them to strive for perfection and trying to satisfy their parents’ every wish and every whim, in hope of getting even a hint of affection. That is something we can see rather clearly in the story if we want to examine a bit Leona’s relationship with her Dayblessed parents.

Before we dive into that, however, what we can summarize from all of the above is that Leona is, in principle, a person that likes rules. Someone that grew up heeding them. That thrives in hierarchical systems, and well-structured environments, with clear denominations for right and wrong, for what one should and should not do. According to the bio this rigidity brings her comfort, and solace. Because it is familiar and comfortable. It’s what in all probability she grew up with. Moreover, Leona is a perfectionist. Something we are told, through her bio, and her own letters and diary, but we can also see when looking at her through the lens of Diana’s eyes.

To continue with my previous point, though, when looking at her relationship with her parents…well, I’ll let you figure this out on your own. We only have her diary entries and letters sent and unsent to garner information from, but that is enough to paint a detailed enough picture of what her relationship with her parents entails. Even without looking at it from the “child that grew up in a cult” angle, we can see there is little affection between them. Even from her first letter, we can feel the clean-cut, prim and proper courteousness of their communication, accompanied by the hints of affection every child holds for their parents. It is, however, far from warm, or heartfelt. It seems more like kind interest, than any real investment, in her parents’ or siblings’ wellbeing and then proceeds to become a report on her achievements and perceived weaknesses. Even the title of the section, the opening of the letter, “Letter from a devoted daughter” holds no personality, as if Leona’s entire being can be compressed and described by those two words.

We do get a similar impression from the letter Polymnius sent to Melia and Iasur. The letter itself contains the priest’s thanks for the new lanternglass crafted by the sun-forger, and also devolves to a report of Leona’s progress after his communication with all of her instructors, and his observation of her skills in battle. Now on the one hand, Polymnius could be just a family friend or the priest responsible for communicating with the acolytes’ families. On the other hand however, one might start questioning just how much control Leona’s parents can exert over her life, even in their absence. Do they hold sway with the priesthood? Are their immense expectations passed on through priests and teachers, adding more and more to the pressure Leona faces every day? To be strong, devout, worthy and good? And again, the letter ends with  “I know you would be proud.” I am sure they would Polymnius, I am sure they would.

            At this point I’d like to point out that he is probably the only person that worries that Leona is taking her duties far too seriously and needs to take a few steps back to relax and delight in the Sun’s gifts. (And honestly, same.)

Moving forward we have the Letter from Sunsworn Priestess Nemyah to a shining pupil, that once more applauds Leona for her achievements, with little to no fanfare. And again we note that sense of depersonalization, of Leona being defined by those characterizations, by her achievements, her rights and wrongs. 

            And then of course we get into the fight between Leona and Diana and the disciplinary letter sent to her by her parents. Which honestly goes about as well as you would expect,

We know that you are capable of better and expect you to rise to the occasion. Leaders in Her Light do not run into impediments that they cannot overcome, nor do they get hindered by such earthly mischief as “a shouting match at school.”

And of course

…will speak with you about how better to secure your future then.

So much for parental love… If anything, it’s a declaration of disappointment, with clear expectations and measures to be met, We know you are better than this, we expect you to be better than this, leaders do not fumble. Sounds particularly loving, doesn’t it? Definitely not like they worry about their reputation, and their image in the community more than their daughter’s wellbeing and most certainly not like they have her future already decided for her. A future they can benefit from, of course.

I will try to keep this at a reasonable length and will not overly analyze Leona’s own unsent replies, for they are pretty straightforward. They are characterized by Leona’s anxiety, fear and guilt for disappointing her parents and failing to reach the tremendous expectations they have set for her.

            So to sum this part up, Leona was raised by overly strict parents, in an environment in which she received little to no affection and positive reinforcement, even for her achievements that far exceeded those of her peers. She has also been burdened with a set of rather impossible expectations, that she strives to reach no matter what. We saw that Iasur and Melia are quick to discipline her and voice their disappointment, rather rancidly might I say, and yet made little to no mention of Leona’s multiple achievements that have been noted by multiple instructors as well as Polymnius. As for Leona herself, one might say she is afraid to be herself and express her own thoughts. Even when she writes a letter that truly encompasses her thoughts and feelings, in that same letter she resolutely states that she will not send it.

So insofar we have an affection-starved, rule-loving perfectionist, that probably hasn’t had any positive reinforcement since she was like 5 and has her parents and everyone around her connect and define her worth as a person though her personal achievements and services in Her light. It would be safe to assume that from a point on, Leona herself starts putting herself in those boxes, limiting her sense of self and worth to the glass ceiling of their expectations, adding more and more expectations on herself, back bending further and further back, until inevitably reaching her breaking point. And of course, this is all she has ever known. The rules, the hierarchy, the expectations, the dogma, is what she grew up with, is what feels familiar, and in a twisted sense, “right”.  We could thus somewhat explain why Leona holds her duty in such high regard. She has come to define herself and her worth as a person, through it. It’s all she has ever really known.

            Not to say that things are as bleak as they seem at first glance. For there is one shining light in Leona’s life, one guiding beacon that tries to break her out of the glass cage, at least at the point in time when Rise With Me takes place, and it is none other than Diana.

            Now, according to Leona’s bio, she saw in Diana an ever-curious spirit devoted to the search for meaning, and the truth, and that’s sth that holds up in the short story as well. Diana’s ingenuity and unique perspective of things, her being the one dissonant voice in the harmonious chorus of the elders’ teachings, intrigue young Leona.

When looking into the respective missives that Leona sends to Diana in respects of their shared oration class, starting from the first one even, we can see that despite all the greatness she has achieved, all her triumphs, and graces, she remains shy, and humble. Even knowing that she is amongst the best of her peers, and the priests’ favorites, she does not brag, does not demand, does not exert any power or control. Instead, she approaches her faults humbly and asks for Diana’s – the outcast’s - help in a respectful manner. She does not let her shortcomings define her or hinder her. She recognizes them as something to improve, and humbly asks for help from someone she believes she can benefit from, someone that will help, and not just shower her with mindless praise.  She recognizes Diana’s ingenuity and applauds her argument construction; while pledging to help her in return should Diana need assistance herself.

Leona is humble and kind. Though to a certain degree we might even consider her having a bit of a people pleasing attitude accompanied by a slight lack of confidence. Perfectionists as a rule hate making mistakes or seeming inadequate. It’s a big blow in their confidence and the sense of self they have constructed around the concept of said perfection. After living for so long in an environment of such heavy expectations, it’s no wonder one might start second-guessing themselves, no matter how good they are, even for the smallest of mistakes.

            Back to Leona though, she is humble, kind and considerate, perhaps even to a fault. There is this sense of her not wanting to impose on Diana’s schedule, on which she rather insists. She doesn’t want to be trouble, she does not want to be a burden, and of course she then offers her own help in return should it be needed, which is the decent and honorable thing to do.

            Leona’s diary entry where she considers asking Diana to the festival is what also gives us a glimpse of the person behind the armor, behind the rule abiding student, behind the mask of achievements and perfection. To no surprise, we get a more in depth perspective of Leona’s own thoughts and feelings, as long as her take on “how to ask the girl I like out without coming across like a total fool, or indoctrinating asshole?” She is anxious, thoughtful and tender, considerate and sweet in her approach, and a little bit hopeless, but I think we can forgive her. She is downright smitten and hasn’t realized how much just yet. She even goes through with one of her plans to ask Diana to practice with the shields, and well, forgive me if I say it is adorable.

            Diana’s presence in Leona’s life and story, however, is not important because the will-be Aspect of the Sun is absolutely smitten with her, or even because she encompasses the total opposite of what Leona is (which let’s be honest, she doesn’t. They are complimentary to one another, not opposites), but because Diana makes Leona think.

            That’s the reason Leona approached her in the first place, her ability to think and construct cohesive and compelling arguments. Something that Leona herself is lacking in, because alongside most of the other Solari acolytes, she lacks critical thinking. An essential component of trying to construct an argument of any sort - if you do not want to parrot something you learned in a book once.

            Diana’s arguments, thoughts and criticisms on their given materials have Leona thinking, examining what she is taught, and what she says in oration class herself. Diana teaches Leona how to think, she teaches her how to construct arguments, how to reinforce them, to find fallacies in arguments and counteract them. In her quest to learn how to defend her point, Leona starts learning how to look deeper into things, to examine their essence, and construct counterpoints. And we can see that she starts thinking about it, if only superficially. She doesn’t go full out critical thinking, or questioning everything she has ever known, it doesn’t work like that, but the seed has been planted.  “Why do you think I need to go deeper than that when it’s widely known already?” It’s not much but it is a start to the path of critical thinking.

And then after an undetermined amount of time, comes their shared ascension. And that’s where the discrepancies in the story start. Mind you the bio was written a few years before the short story came out, so the characterization obviously is not entirely in line with what we know.

            This Leona is one that debates with Diana still, but wants to persuade her not to look further into their faith, and just accept it as it is. At Diana’s sharing the secret of the alcove, Leona is a stone wall of resistance urging her friend away from the climb, afraid for her wellbeing should she inspire further ire from the Solari. When Diana inevitably climbs the mountain, and while her first instinct is to alert the elders, Leona resolves to help and protect her friend instead and follows after her into the night. Against all odds they manage to reach the peak, and she is wreathed in golden light, fighting tooth and nail to keep her sense of self intact. And she wins.

            At this point, I think we can all see the difference between bio-Leona and the Leona that the short story sets the foundations of. Obviously for the sake of storytelling and with some tweaking these two could co-exist as canon versions of Leona in different times of her life. We could potentially be talking about a tragic story about how religion and blind adherence to duty and tradition drive a wedge between two people that very much love each other. Or the bio could be a bit of a “historical account” of what happened, and Leona having had to care for Diana after her punishments one too many times puts up a wall of resistance, an ultimatum of the “I don’t want to lose you” kind.

            No matter the case, and despite of what Riot might decide to do to expand on their story, and either give us a critical thinking Leona, or a very good reason for not having a critical thinking Leona, the point is that Leona is incredibly loyal to those she cares about.

            And now comes the point of the ascension. The critical point in their story, where instead of going with Diana, and living their happily ever after away from the system that tortured them both, albeit in completely different manners, Leona chooses to stay.

            And I think sometimes when thinking about Leona, we do not always recognize that this is the point where everything is going down. This is the point where everything we have so far discussed comes into play. Because their ascension is a traumatic experience. One that upends everything Leona has ever known. The process of their ascension is traumatic, the very essence of it, bloody terrifying. Because it is a jump into the unknown. It challenges the truths that she has constructed her whole sense of self around, demolishes the very principles that she grew up enforcing.

            There is this interaction in Legends of Runeterra, where Diana urges Leona to understand that Day needs Night, referencing the visions they both saw upon Targon’s peak. And what does Leona reply? “Visions from memories not my own.”

            Full-blown denial. Not that I particularly blame her initial reaction. Because what is it that we have here? We have that affection-starved perfectionist that grew up in a cult, that wounded inner child that has come to tie her worth as a person to the degree of her personal achievements. We have that honorable, rule abiding, and duty loving person, a person that finds solace in strict structures and hierarchies, that thrives in them, thrown into absolute CHAOS.

You have Leona, that rule abiding idiot, that transcends her own limits that takes that one calculated risk to follow Diana and save her from the mountain’s clutches and ends up with watching a blast of divine light slamming into Diana. She goes to help, and before she can help a blast of divine light slams into her, filling her head with a second divine conscience, with visions and memories of other Sun Aspects, of times when truly the people of the mountain were united. And then the onslaught ends, and she faces a Diana different from the one she knows, a Diana dressed in the colors of the enemy.

            So Leona, bearing all of the characteristics we mentioned above, is bloody terrified out of her wits. She is faced with such terrifyingly foreign notions, with such stress, that what is she going to do? She regresses back to what she already knows. And what she knows are the elders and the Solari, and the priests, the rules, the scriptures, the dogma. In face of that terrifying truth she regresses back to the perceived safety of that toxic and unhealthy system -that on top of everything is a cult- that she grew up in.

            Now this brings forth this thought about ignorance. Because Leona is ignorant of the truth. She is, however, intimately familiar with the narrative she has grown up with. People are familiar with their ignorance, and oftentimes they choose to bear the ills of what they know than to fly to others that they know not of. And thus, they are cowards. (Hamlet anyone?)

Leona is a prime example of that. Instead of sitting down and considering the new information, the truth revealed, the unknown future ahead, she clings to her ignorance, to her half-knowledge of the story, because it is familiar, and safe. And she is bloody terrified of the new unknown that Diana proposes they follow.

Now that is not to say that everything we have discussed boils down to Leona is a coward. Though that is partly true. But she is also a kid that grew up in a system that fostered that kind of cowardice. She is someone that grew up in an environment of cultism and religious fanatism, and she grew up ingrained to it. Contrary to Diana as one might point out. And these are all things we need to take into account when handling a character like Leona, and care that we do not flatten such immense complexity of conditions and circumstances, such depth of thought and emotion to “brainless genocidal cultist”. 

(Now if you ask, why does Diana have critical thinking, why did she not get ingrained and lost in that system despite growing up in it for as long if not longer than Leona, what is it that makes her different from the other cult kids, I have absolutely no idea, but that’s not the point of this particular post.)

To finish this off, the point of this post is not to excuse Leona of all the horrible things she has done, or even to argue that she is not a genocidal cultist- she very much is, and the point is definitely not to say that it is not her fault and she was just a product of her circumstances. We all are products of the circumstances that surround us, but we are not passive participants in those conditions. No, the point is to try and understand where Leona might be coming from, and to demonstrate that even the simplest and most obtuse of character concepts can have an intricate and complicated story behind them.

If you did manage to reach the end of this, congratulations! Have a cookie and don’t forget to hydrate!

[joaniejustwokeup]

DP x DC Prompt:

Summoning circles are more complicated than people give them credit for. They’re a bit like a mix between a thumb print, a name, a phone number, and a recipe; and at the same time, nothing like any of those things.

In reality, most summoning circles in spell books and ancient texts are incomplete, representing only a fraction of a particular spirit’s identity.

A complete circle will actually be a series of different summoning circles, with each concentric ring representing an aspect of the spirit’s identity and having individual requirements and/or offerings needed. Ghosts have an innate awareness of them and are able to draw and describe their requirements from any sort of inward reflection.

Ghosts will often give out incomplete circles as a means of communication and transportation. A single ring of the circle will only open the door, and each ring added makes the pull and connection to the summoner stronger. Ghosts will also sometimes use incomplete circles to mark and monitor their haunts and as a way of claiming territory.

A complete summoning circle will occasionally but inevitably change over time, as parts of the spirit’s identity change.

The circle will always be a closely guarded secret. This is because, much like giving your true name to the fae, giving out your full summoning circle will allow the summoner to not only capture you, but to command and control you.

After Danny was shown Dan’s future where he killed the world, he made Jazz memorize his complete circle and told her to use it if he ever turned evil. She thought he was being ridiculous, but learned the spell when she saw how frightened he had become of himself.

When the summoning circle of the Ghost King was added to his identity, he tried to make her memorize the new circle, only for her to flat out refuse, saying it’s not healthy for him to make these kind of contingencies. They get into a really bad fight and Danny flies off determined to find someone he can trust with his circle should he turn evil.

As he’s flying over his town he feels the slight tug on his consciousness indicating someone is trying to summon the Ghost King. He lets his awareness bleed through the summoning just enough to see that… yup it’s cultists again. At least there’s no sacrifices this time.

He’s about to shrug the summoning off like he has so many others when he suddenly sees someone fighting through the cultists. Oh! Make that several someones.

With a giddy sort of eagerness Danny watches Batman and his sidekicks cut through the crowd of religious fanatics, even taking down a couple that looked like they were using ghost-based magic. He’d always admired the Dark Knight, but seeing him fight in person is something else.

It’s as the hero is tying up the cultists and checking their injuries that a lightbulb goes off in Danny’s head, and, after a moment of steeling his determination, he lets himself be pulled through the summoning circle.

The Bats all tense up as the circle at the center of the room grows brighter, readying themselves for another fight. Danny tries to smile reassuringly as he feels his form materialize, though they likely can’t see it in the bright flash of light that accompanies it.

He frowns when he realizes the summoning had dressed him in his royal armor and cloak, the crown of fire burning above his head and ring of rage glaring from his right hand.

He tries raising his hands in an “I am not a threat,” pose, before realizing it looks exactly like the Box Ghost’s “Beware!” pose. He tucks his hands under his armpits, then awkwardly waves at the group of vigilantes.

“Hi there! Wow that was really cool- Thanks for taking care of these guys for me.”

The vigilantes once again tense up as Danny steps out of the circle towards them. Danny smiles sheepishly.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I really need to talk to you, Batman.”

Batman steps forward, approaching Danny as he stands just outside the circle, a living shadow that looms larger than life. Still, Danny senses something soften in his gaze as he looks over the teenage Ghost King, stopping just out of reach of him. Danny gazes back at his childhood hero, hoping he’s making the right choice.

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Thoughts on religion in the wizarding world? I'm guessing there would be sects of existing religions as well as their own. Maybe they think their magic is divinely given and muggles are heathens? Or they're supposed to 'enlighten' or 'watch over' the muggles like some angel complex?

there was definitely people worshipping harry potter. And/or voldy like there's already religious overtones why not make it in universe?

Hi 👋,

Kinda mentioned what I think about religion in the wizarding world here and here. since the Statute of Secrecy was introduced so late (1692) it means most wizarding communities would be practicing some magical variant of the local muggle religion. In the case of Britain — that would be Christianity.

The fact wizards are buried in Christian muggle graveyards, that Bill and Fleur's wedding is a Christian wedding with a little magical flare, that they celebrate Christmas, and that they have godparents — are all facts that indicate the UK wizarding world is predominantly Christian.

As for more personal fanatical worship we see with Harry and Voldemort, that's something that could just happen in any community, regardless of whether they are religious or not. Ideologies can become fanatical religious worship of the ideology and its leader even without any religion or gods present, so I don't think it has much to do with it. Completely atheist groups and organizations have become fanatical to the point of religious faith in the past, I don't see why wizards would then be different and need religion/god/gods to worship someone/something.

I think there could be some wizards who believe they are better than muggles due to religious reasons, but we don't really see evidence of that in the UK. The beliefs most Death Eaters spew don't seem to have a religious basis but be more similar to eugenics, considering how much they talk about blood and purity (like the Nazis, who were very anti-religion, btw. Like, I don't know how aware you are, but the Nazi party prosecuted Christians in Germany, they believed the state and its leader should be the religion and not god). It's about blood more than about religion in my opinion.

What I do think is interesting is how certain ancient wizards (like Merlin and the founders) are treated somewhat like religious figures, like saints ("Merlin's beard" and such). So, it kinda makes me want to headcanon Merlin and the founders are considered saints in the Magical Church or whatever it's called. That they have a whole additional set of legends and saints built atop the muggle Christian faith (or any other religion wherever those wizards are).

I wonder if there are wizards in the Vatican? If there really is a strain of Christianity that's like "The Church of Magic" or whatever. I mean, Harry describes there is a wizard priest who presides over Dumbledore's funeral and Bill and Fleur's wedding. He needed to get this priesthood somewhere.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said a slightly singsong voice, and with a slight shock, Harry saw the same small, tufty-haired wizard who had presided at Dumbledore’s funeral, now standing in front of bill and Fleur.

(DH, 127)

The above "small, tufty-haired wizard" is a wizard priest.

It also means there are wizards of any other muggle religion based on their location with some magical flares added (Jewish wizards, Muslim wizards, Hindu wizards, you name it). Probably different wizarding communities (different countries or areas) have slightly different variations of said religious practices, just like we see with irl semi-secluded cultures. Like, the magical church of France is likely a little different from the magical church of England (I wonder if the magical church of England is Anglican or if it's an older institute and therefore catholic and remained so through Herny VIII's reforms, which happened before the Statute of Secrecy. I assume some wizards are catholic and some are protestant in the UK regardless, again depending on where they are from).

[edenhasfeelings]

The Death of Media Literacy, Religion, Misogyny, and Cognitive Dissonance

Spoilers for Dune Part 1 and 2 and the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I'll admit, I have not read the Dune books yet, but I am a huge fan of the Dune movies. Not only did Denis Villeneuve just make two incredible, epic movies with a lot of nuance, gorgeous visuals, and an incredible score by Hans Zimmer, but the story itself is really compelling for a lot of reasons. My mother had tried to get me into Dune when I was younger, but at the time it wasn't my thing. I really liked Part 1, but Part 2 was something else entirely. I was gripping my seat the whole time, genuinely enthralled by everything happening. But I came out of the theatre with one definite conclusion: Paul Atredies is not a hero. I shared my thoughts in the car, and while my boyfriend agreed with me and my father had no opinion, my mother adamantly refused. She read the first book in college, and loved the 1984 version of the film (watching that, in my opinion, was like slow cooking your eyeballs over a campfire, but it was cool for the time period I guess). She was insistent he was the hero, and then tried to say that they changed the story to make him seem more like a villain, but he wasn't in the first book.

No hate to my mom, it's been a long while since she read the first book, and me and her are going to actually read the whole series soon. From my understanding and the research I've done, Frank Herbert wrote Dune as a cautionary tale against white saviorism and a commentary about America stealing oil from Middle Eastern countries and their subsequent colonization. I've also heard it was meant to be a standalone originally, but because people were portraying Paul Atredies to be the hero so much, he then wrote Dune Messiah to further drive home the point he was originally trying to make. But even without the knowledge of the books, it was apparent to me that he was not meant to be a hero in the movies. Of course, it isn't spelled out for you, and Timothée Chalamet does have some really epic, badass moments. But one of the biggest clue that you can have to what's going on is Chani, and how she reacts. She loves Paul, and she supports him, but she doesn't support him becoming a religious figure that leads her people because she feels as though that level of fervent religion is dangerous and not right; she says that a born and raised Fremen should be the one to free their people. You also see a huge shift from how Paul acts in the first movie and the first part of the second movie to how he acts after he drinks the Water of Life. In the first movie and first part of the second, he refuses to fulfill any prophecy, and tells them that he is not the one they are looking for. He is only wanting one thing: to avenge his father and his house. He even gets into an argument with his mother, Jessica, and he tells her that the Bene Gesserit were the ones to perpetuate this prophecy for their own gain. He knows it isn't real, and that it isn't divine, and that he was raised by Jessica to fit the qualifications for this prophecy for her own gain and the gain of her order. He knows what will happen if he takes up the mantle of Lisan al-Gaib: holy war spreading across the galaxy in his name. But when he feels like he has no other choice but to drink the Water to rally the Fremen to fight the Harkonnens, things instantly change. He becomes arrogant and demanding and self-confident, completely uncaring of how Chani feels and becoming solely focused on becoming Emperor. The line "lead them to paradise" felt really, really gross upon delivery, partly due to Hans Zimmer's masterful score. It feels damning.

While looking like a white savior story at very simplistic face value, Dune: Part Two is in fact a critique of it, even without the addition of Dune Messiah. The other big thing that the movie critiques is religion, especially blind faith at the cost of your critical thinking skills, religious fanaticism and idolization, and how religion is taken advantage of by people in power or people who want to be in power. Now I've seen a lot of tone deaf critiques of Dune, and a lot of ignorant comments made, usually in regards to the racial and political elements of the story. I have also seen a lot of people who get it and were able to help me expand my reasoning for the feeling of wrongness I got from people thinking Paul is a hero. But nothing compares to the TikTok I saw today. Someone blended the audio of Timothée Chalamet's Wonka character introducing himself, with the scene after Paul drinks the Water and goes to rally the Fremen to fight for his cause. The first image in the slideshow was an image of Wonka with the caption "Being raised in a religious household and calling yourself 'a Christian'." The second slide shows Paul in the midst of his religious fanaticism in the movie, with the caption "After being born again and having your entire worldview change." Absolutely no hate to this creator if you know who I'm talking about, but this video quite honestly had me gagged, for lack of a better term. I was absolutely shocked at not just the usual lack of media literacy that revolves around this movie and so many others, but the fact that they were so far gone from the point of the movie and Paul's character entirely that they thought it was a good idea to post that online in reference to their own faith. Paul Atredies took advantage of a prophecy that he knew was engineered to control the Fremen to do exactly what the Harkonnens wanted to do, just in a different font. His intentions might have been good to start, but ultimately, because of Jessica and the Bene Gesserit (specifically the Reverend Mother, as she talks to him in his visions and pushes him forward), who he realizes he is being manipulated by, he ends up where he is: a religious idol who (Spoiler for Dune Messiah) leads 61 billion souls "to paradise" and causes irreparable damage to the galaxy.

As someone who was raised Christian, I can tell you without a doubt that religion in general, but especially Christianity, can heavily damage your critical thinking skills and media literacy. When you look at everything from the lens of, "Ok but how does this piece of media validate my feelings and beliefs regardless of intention, subtext, or true meaning?" you end up falling into some really dangerous territory. Paul is not meant to be venerated in any way, shape, or form. He's a badass character and Timothée Chalamet did an excellent job portraying him, but you should not be comparing yourself to him, especially in the context of your religious journey. That is incredibly dangerous as you then shut your eyes to the true message of the story: white saviorism is bad, colonialism is bad, exploiting entire peoples for resources of any kind is bad, and spreading and using religion to control people is bad. Of course if you phrased bluntly any of these things to religious people they would (probably) agree that those are bad things. But when you put it into the context of film/literature/music/etc, and then you have no one spelling things out for you like you're used to people doing for you in your religion, and you've already tossed your critical thinking skills out the window in order to avoid doubting your faith, you end up supporting and turning a blind eye to the bad things that you would otherwise disagree with if it was made simple for you. Even if you have no ill intention, even though it was just a silly TikTok, the ease in which people delude themselves by refusing to look any deeper into media causes such mass amounts of complacency and allows history to repeat itself. It is repeating itself right now. When we learn about the Holocaust in school, everyone would say that if they were Germans living in Germany, they would have opposed the genocide of the Jewish, Romani, and queer people during WWII. But here we are, watching the genocide of the Palestinian people live on our phones, and yet people are still sitting in denial and complacency, and often using the Bible and religion as an excuse for why its' ok.

Steering away from the topic of religion, another clear example of media illiteracy recently was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I both read the book and saw the movie (full book review posted on my book review blog @385bookreviews). While in the book you get Coriolanus' raw thoughts and it is made more obvious that he is not a good person even without the influence of Dr. Gaul, the movie still does a really good job of showing his decline into the person we see in The Hunger Games trilogy. And yet somehow, even with the context of the first three Hunger Games books (and the four movies), somehow people were still painting Coriolanus as the misunderstood good guy of the story. The latent misogyny that came out of so many people, especially women and girls who claim to be feminists, by saying Lucy Gray was manipulative and everything was her fault, was honestly appalling to watch. There is always room for personal interpretation of media, however that is widely different from purposefully ignoring canon information and editing the text to adhere to your own cognitive dissonance. This can once again come back to religion, as I believe people of every organized religion also practice this habit of picking and choosing whatever they want from their holy texts and then conveniently excusing the rest of it. Media illiteracy is shown in another way with the Hunger Games series fans as well. A lot of people can go to the movies or read the books and root for the rebelling protagonist and recognize perfectly the plot of the story: government bad, so good people rebel and fight for their freedom, and those are our heroes. And yet these same people will then turn around and ignore genocide because "the oppressed people attacked first, they should have stayed peaceful".

While not all media reflects real life, or is meant to be taken as seriously, The Hunger Games and Dune are definitely not two of those series. By ignoring the context and subtext and purely engaging with things as fiction, and then ignoring the real life applications and implications of the work, we are being purposefully and consensually blinded and allowing ourselves to become mindless cogs in a capitalist machine. We all need to learn to think for ourselves, now more than ever, and that starts with our media consumption.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Who was the last deadly victim of the Spanish Inquisition?

Technically, the last victim sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition was María de los Dolores López, a Sevillian nun killed in 1781 for heresy. However, things didn't stop there.

The Spanish government of the Three Liberal Years (1820-1823) technically abolished the Inquisition, but the Inquisition continued the same now under the name of "Faith Tribunals". The same men who were inquisitors continued to do the same job as members of the Faith Tribunals, and the Inquisition's prisons simply became the Faith Tribunal's prisons. De facto, everything stayed the same until 1834.

Then, who was the last person killed by these fanatic tribunals?

It was this man: Gaietà Ripoll i Pla. A teacher sentenced to death in the city of València in the year 1826.

He was born in Solsona (Catalonia) in 1778. He fought in the Peninsula War against Napoleon's invasion, but in 1810 was captured as a prisoner of war and taken to France. There, he met Quakers and converted to Deism (belief in God that can be observed through empirical means, but not follower of one specific religion or Church). Four years later he came back and became a teacher.

He taught children in Russafa (nowadays, this town has been absorbed by the growing city of València and has become a neighbourhood of València), in a house built by the neighbours and also giving private lessons. Russafa was a very rural town, where most of its inhabitants worked in the fields and did not know how to read nor write.

Writings of the time show that Gaietà was very respected by the neighbours, who praised his integrity and goodness, but the fact that he did not go to mass caught people's attention. When a local woman asked him why he didn't go, he answered that he knew more than the priests. After some time, some neighbours told the Archbishop of València that this teacher was not following Catholicism's rules and wasn't making children pray in school.

He was arrested in October 1824 and jailed for two years in what used to be the Inquisition's prison in València, which was now the Valencian Faith Tribunal's prison. The inquisitor (now president of València's Faith Tribunal) Miguel Toranzo wrote that Gaietà refused to accept the truth of Catholicism and that he told children in his school that they should not say Ave María Purísima and that it's not necessary to hear mass in order to be saved.

To sentence him to death, the tribunal used the Medieval Partidas laws from Castile, which sentenced to death those Christians who had walked away from Catholicism to become heretics or Jewish. He was sentenced to be hanged and burned, but the sentence added that "nowadays no nation in Europe burns or materially sentences men to the flames", thus "the burning can be represented by painting flames on a bucket, which the executioner will place under the scaffold so that the prisoner's suffocated body will fall in it".

And that's how it went. He was hanged in València's Market Square, fell on the fake-flames bucket, and his body was thrown to the Túria river.

During all the centuries that it lasted for, the Inquisition/Faith Tribunals caused unimaginable amounts of suffering and death, not only to the people they were torturing and killing, also to their families, their friends, their neighbourhoods (consider the fear and trauma inflicted on everyone who saw it happen and knew it could happen to anyone), their whole communities (was the mostly-illiterate town of Russafa not better with the work of this kind-hearted teacher who gave its children a formal education?), and even the whole of Humanity (we have lost countless works of art, of science, philosophy, medicine, new ideas that could bring us all better times). Even after the end of the Inquisition/Faith Tribunals, even after the end of the Spanish national-Catholic dictatorship (1939-1978), there is so much that we can never get back that was taken by religious fanaticism / Christian extremism.

Translation of the plaque: València's City Council restores this plaque which was in this square between the years 1906 and 1940, in homage to Gaietà Ripoll i Pla, a freethinker teacher who had his school in Russafa and who was the Inquisition's last victim.

[slotumn]

Take:

Rhea and the Central Church's problem isn't that they're the stereotypical unhinged religious zealots calling to kill heretics at the drop of a hat, it's that they're the establishment who have become impotent, complacent, avoidant, and more concerned with appearances than action. Rhea and the Central Church's failure wasn't them being "too ruthless," or "going overboard," it was actually being too soft and passive and doing too little too late in matters where it's literally their responsibility to act.

For more specific examples, Rhea gets accused of being excessive wrt Western Church and Imperial troops at Holy Tomb— but my take is that the real problem wasn't her being ruthless, it's that she didn't do it earlier when it really mattered.

Some of those "earlier" within recent years of canon include: attempted assassination on Rhea a few years back, guy with connections to imperial family (Volkhard) who used to be a big donor to the Church suddenly changing his attitude overnight after fucking around in a rival nation, Western Church becoming radicalized heretics. If Rhea channeled her Saint Seiros days and got pissed and cutthroat about those things and made the Church take major action over it as soon as it came onto radar, they probably wouldn't have gotten played as hard by the Slithers as they did.

You can't even call the Church investigating those overreaching into the nations' internal affairs or anything; "why was a Kingdom noble involved in a plot to assassinate the archbishop" or "why is a branch of our Church getting into heresy" or "why the hell are some people claiming Central Church was behind Tragedy of Duscur" are all perfectly fair matters for them to look into. And if an in-law of the Adrestian imperial house stayed in the capital of a rival nation for a year doing god knows what for undisclosed reasons, then I think he's hardly in a position to accuse the Church of being weird if they prod at him and go "hey it's been a while what have you been up to lately."

Yet the Church seemingly didn't investigate those in depth/honestly confront the parties involved, and even covered up the truth in the case of the Christophe incident. The motivation there was that they wanted to keep up the appearance that the Church is Doing Totally Fine™ and that the public can trust them to be Reliable And Normal™ even in times of turmoil— which really just seems to mean that they want to avoid admitting and reviewing their own fuck ups, or having visible conflicts/tensions with other major factions/within themselves for the sake of PR. And this eventually bites them in the ass because some of those other factions do not reciprocate this conflict avoidant attitude, not to mention that covering up the symptoms doesn't get rid of the problem.

All that to keep up appearances, and ultimately the result is Western Church and Empire seeing them as easy targets and being proven right about it. If you actually stop and think about the implications of Central Church having what should be very high security places (Holy Tomb and Mausoleum) in their home bases infiltrated and terrorized twice in one year, Rhea's personal reaction after it happens is basically the least of all the problems there.

So yeah the Central Church has decayed complacent impotent stupid establishment syndrome, not volatile crazy fanatics syndrome. And Rhea, at the time of canon as the Church's leader, has the problem of being fatally avoidant and thumb-twiddling until things get to the point some scary yelling isn't going to fix the situation, not being an aggressive control freak. (Again I think she would have been a better in-universe leader if she was proactively controlling shit at the time of canon instead of waiting for Sothis to come back and fix everything!)

The reason why I'm being pedantic about this is bc there are multiple ways religions and religious institutions can fail, and I think the fact Central Church's failure isn't them being the stereotypical unhinged fanatics actually makes things way more interesting— especially when contrasted with the fact that there are the actual unhinged fanatics in-universe (Western Church), and those guys hate the Central Church.

Also imo most everything I've diagnosed here still applies post-timeskip in CF— the Church is never proactive in a way that matters, and their final lashing out in Fhirdiad was never going to be enough to make up for their inaction before. They had a whole country on their side for five years and apparently they didn't do much with that, after the Empire already declared war on them. Hell, the Empire even takes a detour conquering the Alliance and they're just sitting there. Like damn Rhea if you were actually serious about winning the war then you should have been cultivating insurgents to send into Adrestia and burn Enbarr. Not sitting around in Faerghus then burning Fhirdiad at the last minute.

Tl;dr

Broke: Church Evil

Woke: Church Stupid

[backtothe99]

(18Trip Translation) Tao Kinouchi Novel: Back to the 99 - Track 3

all novels have spoilers for information about the characters revealed in the main story, proceed with caution!

CW: This chapter references Tao's parents' neglect, their religious fanaticism and one instance of a doomsday theory (prophecy)

Tuesday, June 29, 1999 / 3

“I’m home.”

I always get a little nervous when I say these words after I come back home.

I used to worry my parents would come out from inside the house and say something–

And now, I worry what my little brother, an elementary school student who is probably waiting in here… might think.

My house is a strange one.

If I had to put it bluntly, I’d even say it’s abnormal.

I hear the sound of an electronic device coming from the end of the hallway.

That alone tells me that my little brother is the only one in the house.

If our parents were here, he absolutely wouldn’t have come out of his room.

When I looked down at the floor, I saw my brother’s sneakers in the same place I had seen them in the morning when I left for school.

… Looks like Taiki didn’t go to school today either after all.

I felt a little disappointed as I realized that.

No. I had decided to treat him as normal as possible, whether he went to school or didn’t.

… Although I’m not so sure if that’s the right choice to make.

When I entered the living room, I found my brother sprawled out on the sofa, playing on the SNES.

His pajamas were scattered all over the place, along with packets of snacks and instant noodle containers.

Even in this state, our parents wouldn’t even spare a glance at Taiki.

As usual, there’s a 5000 yen bill on the dining table.

Our parents will probably be late again because of a religious gathering. I don’t really know much, but it seems they’re high-ranking members.

“Taiki, what do you want for dinner?”

“Pizza. The usual.”

Taiki answered my question without even looking at me.

The usual would be teriyaki chicken and mentaiko mochi.

I called the pizza place from the home landline and placed the order.

I call them so often that I registered their number as an abbreviated number.

2 is the pizza shop, 3 is the ramen shop, 4 is the soba shop…

I sat on the sofa and made sure to avoid Taiki’s legs, my brother sat up and silently handed me the other controller.

“I wanna play Spitz.”

“I don’t wanna play that with you, you’ll beat me to shreds. Let’s keep playing Poyo Poyo.” He said with no hesitation, so I followed his lead and we started a battle.

For a while, we were both silent, and the only sounds in the room were the sound of slimy characters bouncing and the flashy sound effects of combo attacks.

But I always worry at times like this. Would it be better if I talked to him?

Should I tell him that he should go to school? Or do I want him to tell me something like, “Nii-chan, you should've come back home earlier”?

— It’s been two weeks since Taiki stopped going to school.

I’ve been living my life as normal, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Moreover, I haven’t been able to consult anyone about this. Not even Goz.

“... Did they say anything today?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I asked him that.

“They probably just prayed today too,” was his cold reply, “I don’t think you noticed because you were sleeping, but they were out of their minds when they left this morning. They were saying something about the coming of the end.”

"Oh... Because of King Anglomois's prophecy, I guess."

The world will end on the seventh month of 1999.

They say that's according to a great prophet from ages ago. That prophet is Anglomois, and the prophecy is called The Prophecy of the Great King of Terror.

Because of that, our parents have become more and more fanatic lately.

There are also a lot of TV specials on prophecies that seem to be indoctrinating people into taking them seriously.

Goz, simple-minded as he is, got a bit scared.

But I'm more scared of my parents, who believe in these prophecies and have been losing their minds every day, than I am of the world's end itself.

Ever since  1999 started, they have been saying things like this:

"Tao must be the only one allowed on the Ark."

"Tao is God's child, after all. The chosen one must survive."

... Taiki is usually nearby whenever my parents say crazy things like that.

And every time I think to myself and question their nerve, "How can they say that? I'm not their only child.  Have they really forgotten about Taiki?"

" ... You know the bankbook grandma left behind? I saw mother take it yesterday. That's bad, right. She probably donated the whole amount."

I froze after hearing what Taiki said.

Our grandmother who passed away a few years ago was a decent person. She left the bankbook to our parents on her deathbed and told them, "Use it on Tao and Taiki's education, okay?", I know this, because I saw the conversation happen in real time.

" ... They even put their hands on grandma's bankbook?"

A dry laugh came out of me before I could stop it.

"It's unfair that children can't choose their parents."

"..."

Taiki pouted, but I couldn't say anything back.

On the TV screen, cute, colorful slimes stuck to each other and popped.

"... I can't imagine myself going to high school or anything like that." Taiki whispered.

"High school's... fun."

"Maybe for you, Tao-nii."

"If I fail the entrance exams, I probably won't be accepted." Taiki continued, and I had nothing to say back. I did think that was the case, too.

It makes me frustrated beyond what words can describe.

"Once I graduate middle school, I'm gonna work and save up money. Then I'll start a company that distributes news on the internet. I'll expose everything our parents and their cult has done."

"You need to go to high school to start a company."

"I'll make money by playing games instead of studying."

"There's no job like that. If there was, I'd be doing it."

"You'd be making millions, Tao-nii."

For the first time in a while, Taiki laughed innocently.

As I felt joy and relief, Taiki dropped his controller.

Then, he groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Taiki!"

I dropped my controller and put my arm around Taiki's shoulder.

My little brother's thin body shook, and he was drenched in sweat.

"Does it hurt? Where? Your stomach?"

"... I don't know, everywhere... Like usual, I think."

When I put my hand on his back to soothe him, I could feel his heart beating rapidly through the skin where his spine was exposed.

I quickly picked him up and carried him to his bed.

This is making my head hurt. This isn't the first time it's happened to him.

It happens several times a month, sometimes more than once a week.

I was worried, so I took him to a doctor, but they told me the cause was unknown. The tests were also inconclusive.

Later, they told me it was a psychosomatic illness.

Basically, it was stress.

Every time this happens, Taiki gets a fever. This time was no different.

I tried looking for an antipyretic, but it seems the one we used last time was the last one. I was at my wit's end, and wondered whether I should go out to buy some.

But when I went to Taiki's bedside and placed my hand on his burning forehead, he grabbed the hem of my shirt without saying anything.

Seeing my little brother like that, in pain and with tears in his eyes, I couldn't bring myself to tell him I'm leaving to get some medication.

I started to become aware of my powerlessness.

... Why does Taiki have to go through this?

It'd be better if I was the one ignored by our parents.

If it was me, he wouldn't have to endure this pain.

... I'm cold-hearted. Because of that, I gave up on our parents a long time ago. I don't get so stressed that it'd show on my body...

But I can only say that because, no matter how twisted, I'm "loved" by them. I'll probably never understand how Taiki, whose existence was ignored ever since he was born, truly feels.

"Nii-chan's gonna prepare an ice pack." I said and left Taiki's side. I could tell he was watching me leave with anxious eyes.

I went down to the kitchen on the first floor and put ice in a plastic bag. My heart ached with frustration.

Right then, I heard my phone's carefree ringtone.

"...  Sorry for making you go out of your way to buy medicine. You're a huge help."

I opened the front door and bowed my head.

The call was from Goz. He just wanted to talk about tomorrow's classes and other mundane things.

He noticed I sounded gloomy and asked me what's wrong, so despite hesitating, I managed to ask him to buy some medicine for Taiki.

"C'mon, it's fine. ... Is your little brother okay?"

"It happens all the time... I gave him the medicine just now, so he'll probably fall asleep soon."

The reason for his fevers is his mind, so sometimes taking medicine doesn't fix it. But just taking them seems to make Taiki feel more at ease.

"Hey... This is just something I overhead, but... Is your brother not going to school?"

I let out a gasp. But I was sort of expecting him to ask me about it.

Goz has relatives that live nearby and have a kid in the same class as Taiki. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd heard about it from them.

I fell silent, and Goz took it as confirmation.

"Aren't you gonna tell your parents about it?"

"... There'd be no point."

"But refusing to go to school is just..."

We were supposed to just have a normal conversation.

When I heard words such as 'refusing to go to school' and 'parents', I felt something take over my chest.

I don't know how to describe what I felt. It was something like frustration, or anger.

Whatever it was, it wasn't something that should've been directed to Goz.

But next thing I knew, I was yelling.

"Don't talk like you know what's going on! It's got nothing to do with you!"

As soon as those words left my mouth, I realized I was directing my feelings towards the wrong person, but I couldn't apologize.

Because Goz flinched, and then had an immediate retort.

"I see how it is! My bad for being concerned! Take care!"

He left the room after saying that.

The front door closed with a loud bang.

And at that moment, a wave of regret washed over me.

"What the hell am I saying..."

Goz was just worried.

He may know my parents are strange, but he can't imagine they'd be so awful that they'd ignore that their son misses school or gets sick.

I just sat there, slumped over and clutching my head. I pulled on my own hair.

... I just want to protect Taiki.

I just want to be "normal" friends with Goz.

But no matter how much I try to pretend, I'm not normal at all-- I'm that fraud boy, after all.

For a while, I believed nothing was going to work out.

Novel directory: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 / 1 | Tuesday, June 29, 1999 / 2 | Tuesday, June 29, 1999 / 3 | Wednesday, June 30, 1999 | Souta Gozu

[valkyrievanessa]

just finished rereading Magi The Labyrinth of Magic, this manga is amazing, the way this manga is not popular should be a crime, because i love it so much!!

Like, this manga have so much good things that is kinda hard to say them all, the story, the battles, the characters, the world, etc. everything is good.

it is my favorite mangá? no, of course not, my favorite manga is Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni), and it is by a big difference, but Magi, between the battle shounen, is one of the best.

The Female characters in Magi are amazing, like, not all of them, but the ones with more focus are really good. I have some problems with how Morgiana arc went, like, her entire story in magi ended up spinning around Alibaba too much and that upset me a little bit, but she still is a good character. BUT, she is not the only female character that have focus, Arba, Kougyoku, Sheba, scheherazade, etc. they are really great, even if they don't stay in the manga for too much time, they are still great characters.

Arba is a female villain so great, like, Shinobu Ohtaka was a god writing this woman, this Psychopath, religious fanatic woman is just an amazing villain from start to end.

this cruel and evil woman, i think Shinobu Ohtaka really liked her, because the amount of effort she put into drawing her, every fighting scene of her is beautiful and crazy, she might be one of my favorite villains of a manga, like, for real, this woman is amazing. But she is not my favorite character of this manga

Kougyoku is my favorite character from Magi. Princess of the Kou Empire, daughter of a prostitute with the king and by the end of the manga, empress of Kou. This character, this kind and honest girl, that falled in love with Simbad at the first sight, she grow up so much in this manga, she becomes more conffident, she becomes someone capable of ruling an entire nation and her journey is beautiful, like, i love her so much, the best character of this manga full of amazing characters.

Well, most of the characters of this manga is well written, and their stories are amazing. Simbad, Hakuryuu, Alibaba, Aladdin, Morgiana, Sheba, etc. all of them are amazing.

Read Magi, is a great story, like, a really great story.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/8/2024 PART 1: THE FRONT ROOM

October 8 was another rabbit hole day of my Blogtober program, and I have managed to refrain from slapping a snarky nickname on this little marathon of American race-centric horror movies that raise some uncomfortable questions. Can white guys make compelling movies about Black anxieties? Can Black directors get away with making white actors say things white people shouldn't get away with? The answer is...it depends on who you ask!

And if you want to know why I'm capitalizing one word and not the other, it's because I generally agree with the AP statement about the lack of meaningful cultural commonalities between white-skinned people--other than generalized privilege, of course. In my mind, it is useful to talk about whiteness in political contexts, but it is not so useful to talk about a "White" ethnic identity unless you are into white pride, which I would prefer not to validate. I understand that this is not a perfect solution, and many people feel that the lowercase "w" supports the delusion of whiteness as the universal default for humanity. I do not want to invite a big heavy debate on my silly little movie blog, but you should feel free to comment with links to worthwhile discussions on this subject, as long as you are doing it in good faith and you are not a white supremacist asshole.

Anyway. I was very curious about THE FRONT ROOM, if only because it had one of the messiest trailers I'd seen in a long time, and I saw it a LOT because of all the cool movies that hit theaters this year. It seemed like just a stream of gags and zingers, which made me think there probably wasn't much to the movie...and there is not! THE FRONT ROOM is a wacky, gross, semi-comedic, kinda-religious horror experiment that doesn't seem to have a real goal in mind. If there's a message, I guess it's that even if a person has a lot of excuses for being an asshole, you don't necessarily have to forgive them.

Brandi plays Belinda who, while on the verge of giving birth, suddenly becomes the primary caretaker for her aged mother-in-law Solange (Fuck Yeah Kathryn Hunter). Solange is a Confederate throwback, religious fanatic, and general pain in the ass; quite a lot of the movie is just drenched in shit and piss because of her mischievous refusal to deal with her incontinence. The threat she poses grows to outrageous proportions as Belinda experiences bizarre hallucinations--or are they supernatural experiences?--and Solange schemes to alienate Belinda from her husband (Andrew Burnap) and baby.

It is never really clear whether Solange has uncanny powers, as per the Ken Russell-flavored visions that assail Belinda, or if Belinda is just losing her mind. The film also feels a little anti-climactic without a real showdown or revelation of what is actually going on here. The thing that holds it all together is Kathryn Hunter's performance as the racist matriarch, which is a feat of comic contortions matched by some truly fabulous voicework. Snootier readers will recognize the Shakespearean actress from Joel Coen's THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH in which she plays the Old Man and the Witches, and she is the best thing in that movie too. Let's take a moment to jack off to appreciate this sick picture of her as Richard III, like oh my god.

Blame for THE FRONT ROOM'S lack of vision falls to Sam and Max Eggers, the half-brothers of Roger Eggers, who you can guess are white. They said that the film was partially inspired by having to care for their aged grandfather, a "Southern gentleman...of a certain generation" who they characterize as "very progressive for how he grew up." This ambivalent description may give us some hints about why Solange's racism is handled in such a glib way, and why we're left without a clear sense of whether she is literally an evil witch, or just an old bitch, or a flawed human being who is understandably suffering. The Eggers' primary focus seems to be elder care--something that can be an extremely daunting prospect in a culture that disdains disability, and hides or ignores death and all that leads up to it. That subject doesn't get a lot of deep reflection either, but recent signs point to a coming shift from grief horror to elder care horror. Just you wait and see!

[jarenka]

In "Vader lives" plot I really like to see him interacting with other people. These interactions may vary widely because of person's experience with Vader and their stance on high-ranking imperial defectors. I don't think there will be a lot of people thinking that Darth Vader can change his mind and become a good person. There are people who think that Vader is too dangerous to live and Rebellion should execute him for their own safety. There are people who think that Vader's crimes are too serious to be pardoned even in exchange for crucial information about Empire. There are people who think that it's more important to have this crucial information about Empire than to properly punish Vader. There are people who think it's really useful to have such a famous Imperial as a defector (they are very disappointed that Anakin don't want to parade around in Vader's suit and talk about his defection in media).

I think former Imperials will be even more hostile to Anakin than regular rebels who didn't suffered from him directly. I think a lot of them have a mindset "I served Empire but at least I'm not like all these Truly Evil Empire Fanatics like Tarkin, Vader and so on". Also I can also imagine their anger over the fact that Vader is very civil with rebel now, he can interact with people without terrifying and killing them! Why can't he do it with Imperial military.

Also, Anakin trying to live normal life, there are a lot of things he can do again and have fun. He was angry and miserable for 20+ years. Now he can watch holodramas/go to the theater/draw/cook/whatever. People around him either don't believe that he likes painting and doesn't plan to lead former Imperials, or think think he is lying about being Darth Vader. Also people expect him to be super religious in a very weird way. Whatever their culture have as "this creepy and really intrusive person from a religious cult".

Once Rebel Alliance Intelligence even send to Anakin one of their agents in disguise of former Imperial officer who wants Vader to join them to fight Alliance. They want to know if he can be convinced to follow this path. For their total surprise Anakin pretends to know nothing about Vader. He is like: "Wtf? It's a joke? I am just a regular cargo pilot. Vader died on the second Death Star, everyone knows it". He was so convincing that agent started to question his own sanity. After it Anakin hit agent on the head an carried him to local militia or whatever they has. He genuinely thought it was an imperial officer.

[booksarenifty]

Thaddeus Stevens Quotes that are Still Relevant

One of my favorite historical figures has some quotes that still carry relevance to our current age

Context: Thaddeus Stevens was an American politician in the 1830s-1868, including serving as a U.S. Representative. He was a member and eventual leader of the Radical Republican faction.

For decades, he was an outspoken supporter of:

immediate abolition in all U.S. territories without compensation for slaveholders

suffrage for Black Americans

full racial equality for Black Americans before the Confederate states should be readmitted to the Union

women's suffrage

legal protection for BIPOC and Jewish people (as well as other marginalized racial/ethnic/religious groups)

interracial marriage (he himself had a common law marriage with Lydia Hamilton Smith, a black woman)

land rights for indigenous people

women being allowed to hold public office

free public education

the ideology that the government has the responsibility to help the poor

While all of these ideals are much more well-accepted, Thaddeus Stevens was a member of a fringe group in his day.

P.S. If some racist asshole tries to defend or excuse the slaveholders of American history with some, "They were men of their times," bullshit, tell them about this man. Thaddeus Stevens was also a man of his times.

ON TO THE QUOTES

“He cheerfully pays the tax which is necessary to support and punish convicts, but loudly complains of that which goes to prevent this fellow from becoming criminals, and to obviate the necessity of the humiliating institutions.” -April 11, 1835

“There can be no fanatics in the cause of genuine liberty. Fanaticism is excessive zeal. There may be, and have been fanatics in false religion – in the bloody religions of the heathen. There are fanatics in superstition. But there can be no fanatic, however warm their zeal, in the true religion, even although you sell your goods and bestow your money on the poor, and go on and follow your Master. There may, and every hour shows around me, fanatics in the cause of false liberty – that infamous liberty which justifies human bondage, that liberty whose ‘corner-stone is slavery.’ But there can be no fanaticism however high the enthusiasm, in the cause of rational, universal liberty – the liberty of the Declaration of Independence.” -June 10, 1850

“I can never acknowledge the right of slavery. I will bow down to no deity however worshiped by professing Christians – however dignified by the name of the Goddess of Liberty, whose footstool is the crushed necks of the groaning millions, and who rejoices in the resounding of the tyrant’s lash, and the cries of his tortured victims.” -May 4, 1838

“I have done what I deemed best for humanity. It is easy to protect the interests of the rich and powerful. But it is a great labor to protect the interests of the poor and downtrodden. It is the eternal labor of Sisyphus, forever to be renewed. I know how unprofitable is all such toil. But he who is earnest heeds not such things. It has not been popular. But if there be anything for which I have entire indifference; perhaps I might say contempt, it is the public opinion which is founded on popular clamor.” -July 28, 1866

[snazzycicada]

If I had a dime everytime Travis Fimmel was in a science fiction show playing a solider who should have died and then becomes an unhinged religious fanatic obsessed with a women who is evolutionary beyond him I would have 2. Which isn't a lot but its weird that it happened twice

[doelet444]

After the 2024 election, I hope Americans will realize it’s not pro-abortion vs pro-life. It’s pro women’s rights vs pro-birth.

People who are pro-birth don’t actually care about the lives of those children nor our women after birth—even a very republican fanatic of politics I know personally acknowledges this. This should not be a political decision nor a religious one, it’s a medical discussion, too. Doctors see thousands of women come in with life threatening complications and babies with serious, debilitating birth defects - who will be forced into a world of pain, then thrown into the depressing system that is American foster care.

60 sexual assault victims will be forced to give birth every day. Child victims too, are now forced to give birth. Recently a parentless child in Florida was denied an abortion because she was not “mature enough” to do so. Yet she is mature enough to carry, give birth to and raise a child? A 28 year old woman in Georgia was denied a life-saving abortion and died. A victim of rape, a child no less was denied an abortion by the court multiple times. Another victim, 10 years old, needed her parents take her from Ohio to Indiana to recieve care. Even if Trump voters don’t care about this and these victims don’t matter to them and continue to be natalists despite it all—they too will still be forced to carry unviable fetuses, forced to carry despite lethal infections, forced into death due to the endless complications that come with pregnancy and birth. Reps denying the facts retort that it will never happen, that they wouldn’t let women die. Meanwhile the rate of maternal deaths in Texas (the most restrictive state in this regard) increased 56% in recent years, comparing it to the 11% nationwide during the same time period.

it’s actually insane how it’s become a crime to give women rights to their health, their bodies, their future. It’s happening, it could absolutely happen to you, your friends, your family. This is only just the beginning of women’s rights being stripped away.

[yanderes-galore]

Nizat 'Kvarosee, Romantic/Platonic intentions. Scenario where during his exile on Netherop, he captures the darling from the similarly stranded UNSC forces and keeps them as a pet - at first as a psychological warfare thing against the humans but eventually forming a twisted attachment. Optional: the inclusion of prompts #2 and #14 from your blog's prompt list, since I read through them and thought those would be fitting for this and your prompts deserve more love in these requests. - Scale Anon

I watched lore videos and read his wiki entry on Halopedia so I think I got this >:) Hope you enjoy!

Yandere! Nizat 'Kvarosee Prompts 2 + 14

"It's an honor for someone such as me to take you in and love you!"

"It's too dangerous in the world. You need me, you should know that!"

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Kidnapping, Dehumanization/Degrading behavior, Obsession, Delusional behavior, Covenant religion, Manipulation, Violence, Slight worshipping, Implied darling is on the verge of mind break, Forced relationship/companionship.

Out of everything that has happened during his exile on this planet... you may have been the best thing that's come of it.

At first your capture was meant to a message. A message that eventually he'll win this war against Petrov and break the humans fighting against him. However... it has been a long time since Nizat had any company other than the Sangheili he was stranded with.

Despite being a dissenter, Nizat felt incredibly religious during his exile. He began to view your meeting with him as fate. You were a gift from the Gods... all for him.

Nizat had learned human language to speak with you. Instead of treating you as a prisoner... he began to be softer. He doesn't want to kill you as you're defenseless. Instead... he treats you like the gift he believes you are.

His fellow Sangheili find his behavior strange. Their leader is so fanatical about this human prisoner. All to the point of treating you like some pet.

Nizat began to adore you once he saw you as a gift from the Gods. He began to see you as a companion... one he loves more than most things. He never let you get far... often dragging you around like one would do a pet.

He made sure you were as comfortable as you could be on this hot planet. Even as his Sangheili brethren perished... Nizat found comfort in you. You may not wish to be with him yet he can't just toss aside a divine gift!

Nizat worships you as his human. You are meant to comfort him in his exile, aren't you? He hates that you keep fighting him... don't you see it's meant to be?

"It's too dangerous in the world. You need me, you should know that." Nizat tries to reason with you. The heat outside could kill you if he doesn't provide for you! Despite you being placed in his lap as he sits with you in private... you struggle against him.

How long had it been? Weeks... months since he's caught you? Your determination was becoming tiring... he wishes you'd just give in.

Nizat catches you whining and trying to squirm like a scared animal. Like most Sangheili he found humans weak... but not entirely deserving of being killed. In fact he found you quite beautiful in your own alien way.

"I'll take care of you, my gift... just relax into me, alright? I'm not going to hurt you. If anything, you're hurting yourself." The Sangheili tries to comfort you by holding you closer to his chest.

For now... you give up and allow him to coddle you. He really is the only sense of comfort you've had in a long time. Sighing softly you lean into the Sangheili, allowing him to crane his head into the crook of your shoulder. You hear the Sangheili give a growl of approval before squeezing you closer.

Thankfully this was out of sight from anyone.

"It's an honor for someone such as me to take you in and love you." The Sangheili whispers into your ear, nuzzling into your shoulder. The feeling is scaled and strange but you don't fight it. Do you have any power in this situation anyways?

"You are my divine gift... the Gods have not forsaken me completely for my sins." Nizat coos, indulging in the comfort you give. "I'd never let anyone take you away from me...."

You then hear him growl behavior, this time it's threatening instead of comforting.

"If anyone ever does try..." Nizat muses and you feel his claws dig into you. "They'll die brutally by my blade, I can promise that, my gift."

You say nothing and only stare at the ground, quietly accepting your fate.

[mass-effect-galaxy]

I have completed the playthrough with the House Baenre Retrainer who was sent after Minthara by Minthara's mother.

It was an unusual experience as Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs go.

For the start, I had a proper background story for a Lolth-Drow. And, given that BG3 is first of all a roleplaying game, putting more thought into your Tav seriously improves your gaming experience.

Playing a classical rouge was a lot of fun in Act 1: selfish, greedy, cunning, ruthless, but not malicious or ambitious. I took her as a faithful follower of Lolth, but not very religious; certainly no fanatic.

Things got a bit more problematic in Acts 2 and 3 because playing the "dark side path" means basically skipping most of the side content. These parts are not even half as polished as Act 1. In Act 3, I had cut myself out of nearly all sidequests that way.

In Act 3, we anyways entertained Minthara's prefernces, such as allying ourselves with Gortash and going after Orin, Yenna be dammed.

I tried to use Minthara in the dialogue with Gortash where we become allies, but agreeing to his proposal made her an "oathbreaker" instantaneously.

Besides Minthara, the only companion I kept around was Shadowheart, but only for her special content. Most of the time, I had two of Withers's mercenaries, modded to be drow: an ice-mage and necromancer (she was actually supposed to be man, but the one thing that I could not change was the voice), and a bard and sharpshooter.

All three proper Menzoberranzan drow with lower-class backgrounds and in exotic outfits.

Playing this game without proper companions is an interesting change. It's certainly not "proper BG3", but also somewhat less stressful and much faster. You should give it a try.

On the downside, I had some issues with the way how BG3 handles XP and the lack of level-scaling. Most XP is awarded in encounters, not on game-progession. As a result of the above problem that a lot of encounters in Act 2, and most of Act 3, are only accessible through the "light side path", I was seriously behind in terms of level in the late game:

I entered Act 3 on level 8 (usual 10) and reached level 12 literally in the last battle.

From a headcanon/roleplaying aspect, I wasn't all too happy with the way a romanced Minthara talked with Jezzara. Even when lying together, the enormous difference in status (Minthara is royalty, Jezzara a thug from the gutters of Menzoberranzan) should be reflected in their way of talking. Even in bed, Jezzara would address Minthara with something like Ilharess, or any other drow equivalent for "my lady".

But that's just headcanon.

Oh yes, and I accidentally made the Emperor the Absolut because I misinterpreted the last dialogue option.