#King Arthur sidebars

[forest-enchantress]

Katie McGrath in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

All of these gifs were made from scratch by me for roleplaying purposes. Feel free to use them as sidebars and reaction gifs. PLEASE DON’T CLAIM THEM AS YOUR OWN.

[atopvisenyashill]

New AU: Aerys drops dead the day after Aegon is born. Joyous new beginnings. Only as king, Rhaegar can't sneak off with Lyanna and disappear. What then? I suppose he could pull an Unworthy move and just publicly install Lyanna as his mistress in the Red Keep but dealing with the political fall out of angry Baratheons and Starks?

Okay so considering the prevailing "Jon is legitimate" is that Rhaegar married Lyanna in a Valyrian marriage, I think it's very likely that Rhaegar does something like publicly install Lyanna as his mistress and completely ignore the political fallout. Especially since Lyanna's buy-in for this relationship is that she's trying to get away from her betrothed, the main way Rhaegar can get her away as King is just making her his mistress.

(which, like, sidebar here but "jon is legitimate because rhaegar married lyanna in a valyrian wedding" doesn't make him legitimate? Poly marriages haven't been a thing since Maegor and Valyrian style weddings haven't been a thing since Rhaenyra and both of those monarchs are wildly unpopular. Just because that mormon from Sister Wives, Kody, "married" a bunch of women doesn't actually mean he is considered legally or socially married by the country at large - in fact he had to move out of the state because him and his wives were getting harassed so much! I think it's fine to argue that Rhaegar was attempting to legitimize Jon but the very fact that he had to legitimize Jon somehow means Jon is not legitimate and there's not a person in the entire goddamn world except maybe Aegon and Dany that would view Rhaegar plural marrying as a legitimate wedding ceremony that puts Jon into the line of succession. If it was that goddamn easy, Aegon the Unworthy would have just married his mistresses instead of legitimizing them on his deathbed. Anyways rant over).

I think Brandon is hotheaded enough to challenge Rhaegar to some sort of duel for Lyanna's honor (similar to Daemon challenging the sealord for Laena's hand) considering he's also the one who came to the Red Keep and yelled for the crown prince to "come out and die" and that's when things get fucked and messy. Maybe Rhaegar insists he can fight on his own, maybe Arthur Dayne steps in. If Brandon wins, Rhaegar looks so stupid but if Arthur wins - in what will almost definitely end in one or both of their deaths - I just do not think Rickard is going to take that shit lying down. Not to mention we have no idea what Lyanna is doing here - the thing is she and Rhaegar want very different things and I have to wonder what the hell he said to her to make her willing to fuck him because it seems so incredibly at odds with what she wants which is to simply not be married to Robert. But if everyone knows she's Rhaegar's mistress? That's not exactly better?? And if she goes to her family and is like "He just wants a kid" well that's gonna raise alarm bells! Anyways I think the answer here is "Rhaegar is stupid and Brandon is rash" aka Rhaegar does something insane like make Lyanna his public mistress or second wife and Brandon and Robert challenge him to a duel IMMEDIATELY and it all goes to hell from there.

[hanzajesthanza]

book depository is closing april 26th, 2023

book depository, an online book retailer, is sadly closing next week. i wanted to make a post for my fellow american fans of the witcher, for whom this business closure limits our access to polish publications.

book depository was where i personally bought the polish editions of the witcher books, because no other retailer that would ship to the US that i could find carried them. probably because of this, they have also been the known resource to buy the books linked in the sidebar of r/wiedzmin.

disclaimer that this post isn't to sell anything or judge people for buying or not buying, it’s up to one’s personal preference whether they purchase the physical copy of a book or not. i just wanted to let everyone know that if you were already planning to buy the witcher books or related titles (especially the polish editions), this could be a last opportunity to purchase with this specific retailer.

there are also other releases available, such as the fonopolis audiodramas on CD, which all seem to all be 43% off right now:

and there are also titles that have not yet been officially translated into english, sapkowski-related and witcher-related, which might interest you:

malady and other short stories: short stories by sapkowski, including witcher-related stories "road of no return" and "something ends, something begins"

the world of king arthur: essay by sapkowski about arthurian legend

claws and fangs: short stories not by sapkowski, 'official fanfiction' set in the witcher world

witcher, phenomenal history: a comprehensive look at the cultural phenomenon of the witcher, from short stories and saga, to comics, to games, to the musical, to other adaptations

and, if you don't care about polish releases, perhaps the recently-released english hardcovers by orion may interest you, since they all, save for the last wish, seem to be 25 to 30% off right now:

you're still able to place orders up until 7 PM EST on april 25. their FAQ about their closure can be found here.

[greenerteacups]

Re economy question it tickles me how the Ministry looks like the biggest employer of Wizarding Britain…their economy is a mishmash of preindustrial commerce and landholding held together by a kleptocracy

The number of people employed by the Ministry is like, absurd. To the point where I assumed it was overrepresented for Plot Reasons. Like, we need Arthur to have a Ministry job so he has the inside scoop on Bertha Jorkins and a bunch of stuff in fifth year, we meet a lot of Aurors because this is a story about a war, a lot of the bureaucrats who get involved with Harry's hearing/school administration are a result of the Umbridge Arc, and I take it as implicit that most of all jobs Just Happen Somewhere Else, because like.

Okay sidebar about the Ministry. Let me talk to you about the Ministry. Can I talk to you about the fucking Ministry? Put aside the fact that there are more named Ministry employees in this story than there are normal taxpayers. Put aside the fact that the banking system being run exclusively by a disenfranchised underclass that you happen to treat like shit is a policy move that ranks up there with "invading the Soviet Union in December." Put aside the fact that this is basically a modern welfare state stapled on top of a market that's still hammering out the kinks of industrial economics in 19-fucking-91. Here's my question, alright:

WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?

Let's do an exercise. In 1990, public sector employment was 27% of the British national workforce (and growing). The population dynamics of Harry Potter are irrevocably fucked, so this is only going to even-sort-of-work if we fudge it, as I'm about to do: I'm setting the number of Ministry workers, e.g. salaried bureaucrats, at 10,000. Base pay for a government bureaucrat in 1990, is, what, £25-30,000? Let's say so. Multiply that by 10k, you get a personnel budget of £300 million. Sounds like a lot of money, right?

Except what the fuck does the Ministry do? The reason employment costs balloon in the late twentieth century is because we see the rise of social services that require a lot more administrators to vet and deliver — social security in the United States, the NHS in Britain, public education, etc., etc. Public housing! This is why Maggie Thatcher goes postal and starts hack-sawing the national budget. But what, exactly, does the Ministry of Magic deliver? We don't see any poverty relief programs being administered to the Weasleys. Pensions are a thing, but only for Ministry workers. Health services? Sure, let's say St. Mungo's is a public hospital, fair enough. And Hogwarts is free for all British citizens, that's cool, that's probably some expense. But those are two institutions. Where's the rest of it? Where are the big-ticket items that justify this huge corpus of employees? A pure regulatory state does not require this much personnel! There's a whole Department for Games and Sports (e.g. quidditch — oh wait, that's a private league sport!), but not a Department of Energy, or Department of Housing? Fuck off! There is not!

That's not even the biggest problem, though. There's a much, much bigger issue with Ministry organization: There's no fucking Inland Revenue! It doesn't matter how the budgets are balanced, frankly, because unless IR is hidden somewhere in a secret department we don't know about, nobody is paying the government for fuck!

Admittedly, this is pedantry, at some point. JKR was frankly under no obligation to explore the finer points of tax collection in her series of children's novels. I get that, I do. But I'm reminded of what George R. R. Martin said about his annoyance with fantasy novels — the fact that you never got to judge these mythical kings and Chosen Ones by their actual leadership choices. You never see what Aragorn's tax policy is like. And in reality, that's much more important than how good you are with a sword. So — especially in things like The Cursed Child, which actually does try to explore the "adult" world of Harry Potter — it's fascinating that there are so are so many parts of the universe that just live in the world of inference.

[moonjunio]

Sidebar, not to derail the excellent point above about the false binary of idol worship/complete rejection…

About JRRT wanting an Arthur figure to rise, you should read “Once and Future” by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora. This comic book series explores what happens when the yt supremacists resurrect Arthur and don’t get what they expected.

“Oh bugger!”

“What do we do now?”

“Wait. Give him time.”

“Oh no.”

(eldritch speech)

“What’s he saying? It sounds like Welsh.”

“Not exactly. It’s likely Brittonic. Old Brittonic. VERY old Brittonic.” He should align to us eventually…”

“We’re here to serve you. We want to be your knights…wait—what the hell is he doing?”

“The sword in the stone.”

“A sword in some stones. A buried sword. It’s hardly the same thing. If your jaw drops every time we see anything with a little fairy sparkle on it, we’re going to be spending half our day picking it up.”

“What does he want?”

“He’s a king. You want to be his knights. You know how this goes. Get kneeling.”

“What are we waiting for? Can’t we rush them or…”

“Only if we want to be stabbed. Honestly dear? We have to work out what their plan is before we have any hope of stopping it.”

“What? Let—augghhh!!”

“What was that?”

“Wait.”

“Hm…Anglo-Saxon.”

“I…don’t understand.”

“Hmm. Well, King Arthur fought a bunch of foreign invaders, it’s true…”

“But those invaders? They were Anglo-Saxons. He is very much Britain for the British. That doesn’t include them.”

Read the rest wherever you get fine comics!

you guys are so annoying. why do i have to see discourse every year that's like "was tolkien really a woke king or was he your conservative uncle?" the guy was a devout catholic and a genteel misogynist who maintained lifelong friendships with queer people and women, and this isn't even paradoxical because that was part of the upper-class oxford culture he was immersed in. tolkien told the nazis to fuck off (and in doing so demonstrated a real understanding of what racism is and why it's harmful, beyond simply "these guys are bad news because they're who my country is at war with right now") but his inner life was marked by internalized racism that is deeply and inextricably woven into the art that he made. he foolishly described himself as an anarcho-monarchist, and it's kind of crazy to see people on this website passionately arguing that he likely never meaningfully engaged with anarchist theory, because...yeah, no shit, of course he didn't. tolkien didn't have to engage with most sociopolitical theory because as an upper-class englishman of his position, he was never affected by any of the issues that this theory is concerned with. what is plainly obvious from reading both his fiction and letters is that tolkien's ideal political system was that the divinely ordained god-king would rise up and rule in perfect justice and humility; he didn't want a government, he wanted a king arthur, even though (obviously) he was aware that outcome was impossible. why is it so hard for people to accept that he was just some guy! his letters aren't a code you have to crack. no amount of arguing or tumblr-level analysis is going to one day reveal a rhetorically airtight internally consistent worldview spanning jrrt's fiction, academic work, and personal writings, thereby "solving" the question of whether he was a woke king or your conservative uncle. his ideology was extremely inconsistent because, at the end of the day, he was just some guy.

[cinn48]

#79 May 2024

Steph updates us about the student event where they got to meet a number of local authors and hypes supporting the arts. Candice buys herself an e-reader. We also talk about managing TBR lists and go deep into both of our feminist books this month.

Books

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 

Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kalefa Sanneh 

Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud 

60 Songs that Explain the 90s by Rob Harvilla 

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doer 

Missing Witches: Recovering True Histories of Feminist Magic by Risa Dickens and Amy Torok 

A Feminist City: A Field Guide by Leslie Kern 

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King  

Yes I’m Hot In This: The Hilarious Truth about Life in a Hijab by Huda Fahmy 

The Jewish Deli: An Illustrated History of the Chosen Food by Ben Nadler 

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingals Wilder 

Movies

Suspiria (2018) Trailer (NSFW)  

Mandy Trailer (NSFW) 

Fight Club Trailer (NSFW) 

Links

Wilder Podcast 

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome and student event update from Steph

11:00 Why events are important, and placing a value on them

14:45 Candice update - a new e-reader!

18:50 Managing the TBR

21:45 Steph’s reading update

42:00 Radiohead sidebar and then Fight Club

46:30 Steph and Candice’s feminist book club reads

1:00:00 The rest of Candice’s reading update

---

Find all of our past episodes at Stories From The Village

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Theme music from the Free Music Archive, by The Underscore Orkestra

  New episode from The Village at the Bookshelf

[chloemarievaughan]

May 10-11- the End!

my last full day in Scotland, and I saved some of the best for last! First stop of the morning was a guided tour of Holyrood Palace, which is a lovely palace where the current royal family of the UK (Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, and Prince William, among others) stays when they have working engagements in Edinburgh. There are state dinners and parties as well as other meetings. to get to the palace, I walked all the way along the Royal Mile down to the very bottom, about a 20 minute walk. It was very sunny this morning and I stepped outside and immediately went right back inside to grab my sun hat 😂 I enjoyed the walk and then made it to the palace, noticing on the way that it was free to visit the Scottish parliament so decided to visit that after. I very much enjoyed the tour of Holyrood, which was a well done audio tour discussing the historical occupants, including Mary Queen of Scots and more into the story of her Catholicism and how she eventually abdicated the throne in favor of her son; also went in depth into a murder plot against her. Another room, the biggest in the palace, had a wall full of portraits of the ancient kings and queens of Scotland of old, commissioned by King Charles the II. To reinforce to everyone the kingly pedigree of Charles II, the painter chose to portray every painting with King Charles II’s big nose 😂. The palace is beautifully decorated, outside and in, and again I took a photo in the first room before noticing a no photos sign and getting in trouble with the palace staff. Whoops!

the tour finished up in the abbey ruins from the 1100s beside the palace and then a lovely walk through the palace gardens. I was wanting an early lunch at this point but there was basically a choice between the cafe at the palace or the one at parliament; didn’t specifically want anything from the cafe at the palace and was confused about the line so went next store to parliament, which ended up being a mistake because the food looked way worse 😂 had a little bacon sandwich and chocolate pastry to fortify myself for my hike of Arthur’s seat in the afternoon, and then poked around the exhibit about Scottish parliament (Scotland only had its own parliament since the 1990s! Which is why the building is so new. It was pretty interestingly designed and modern architecture throughout) and I got to actually go in the legislative chamber! I learned that if I had planned ahead you can actually sit in on Parliament while it is in session Monday-Thursday, or get a free guided tour.

Then it was time to hike Arthur’s seat! This is an (extinct) volcano beside which Edinburgh was built, offering great views of the city and also the other volcanic hills nearby. The yellow gorse bushes were blooming all over the mountainside, and it was a beautiful day for a hike; a bit sunny at times making me glad of my hat, but also partly cloudy making it less hot than it could have been. Sidebar: I later realized I should have definitely applied more sunscreen to my shoulders and I have an impressive sunburn that is going to give me some weird tan lines on my shoulders lol. This hike was Steep- my iPhone told me I walked the equivalent of 80 flights of stairs today! Felt like I zigzagged Straight up a cliff which I essentially did for part of it, though there were stairs to walk on- and I had to take many breaks to recover and catch my breath, so I was glad that Grey wasn’t there to have to wait for me lol, it took me way longer than I’m sure it would have taken him lol. I had a liter water bottle but wished I’d had more water. My recovery breaks always came with a great view though :)

I brought a couple pairs of shoes for the trip, including my hiking boots and some athletic sandals (Tevas) which I love for traveling, because I’m always hot when I walk around. However I really wished I had my boots for this walk! my sandals held up okay but I didn’t have the best grip on the dusty soil of the paths. When I got to the top a French guy said he was impressed I made it with sandals 😂 he and his group had brought a cooler with beers to the top which in retrospect was a fantastic idea haha. it was beautiful but very crowded at the top, so I made my way back down; this was even worse with my sandals. Didn’t appreciate the view as much trying to be sure of my footing on the way down haha, only slid once though but was able to catch myself before I actually fall down. At the very base of the mountain there was a little ice cream van making an absolute killing I’m sure, I bought a new water and chugged it immediately. Totally worth the hike but I was super sore and tired at this point, so wanted to walk back to my apartment for a shower.

Unfortunately for me I had to walk all the way back up the royal mile to get back to my apartment, but had a pleasant walk ducking into touristy souvenir shops, weaving in an out of the huge crowds and listening to the buskers playing bagpipes and watching the magicians doing tricks on the street. Speaking of magic, I had to stop for a butter beer at the Elephant House, a cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter! It’s on Victoria Street, which claims to be an inspiration for Diagon Alley. The butter beer was Disgusting, a nasty cream soda- I’ve had much better at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but I couldn’t resist haha. Went into one of the Harry Potter shops to browse too.

I stopped for a very quick falafel wrap for lunch and then showered and rested a bit for my last hurrah in Edinburgh: another chocolate whisky tasting! it was in a bar called the Tipsy Midgie (Midgies being the Scots word for a midge, or biting fly, that apparently gets quite bad in the summers in Scotland. Luckily we missed midge season!) this bar was about a 20 minute walk away, and I took a path that went past a few sights I hadn’t seen yet, including the National Museum of Scotland and the Greyfriars Kirkyard, a cemetary with Harry Potter connections: JK Rowling used to walk through the cemetary and took several characters names from the names on the Graves, including Tom Riddle (Voldemort himself). then onward to the Tipsy Midgie! They do ever changing whisky pairings with chocolates and you can book them in advance with at least 24 hours notice by emailing the bar. I enjoyed my first chocolate whisky experience so much I thought a second would be well worth it. The bar itself was small but very cool. This time it was 5 whiskies paired with 5 chocolates, from the 5 major whisky regions of Scotland, Speyside, the Highlands, the Lowlands, the Islands, and Islay; again arranged from a light sweeter whisky- the Tamnavulin Tempranillo Cask Edition, paired with a strawberry cheesecake white chocolate, to an Ardnamurchan Rum Cask paired with a dark chocolate with rum filling (my favorite kind of chocolate is dark chocolate, but honestly it went the least well with whisky; the sweeter notes of the rest of the white and milk chocolates made for much tastier combinations) all the way to the peatier Kilchoman 2010 vintage from Islay, with the smoky peat flavor going excellently with a peanut butter and jelly truffle. I had an incredible time at the tasting- there was a table of perhaps my parents aged Americans next to me who were just starting their two week Scotland trip, and I could tell they thought I was about 18 years old as they were chatting with me haha, thinking I was very brave to be so young and out and about on my own drinking whisky 😂 also liked talking to my waitress Sarah, who designed the tasting and picks out the best whiskies to go with the chocolates- I asked where she got the chocolates and she told me a local chocolatier named Finley, not exactly helpful if I wanted to buy any chocolates lolol. and also I met the proprietor Colin, who told me that the bar had only been open 18 months! Which explains why it was in a bit of a weird area, more residential and less of a touristy place. When he heard it was my last night in Scotland he brought me a free bonus tasting of the 6th whisky region in Scotland, a Glen Scotia from Campbelltown. I did not necessarily need a 6th whisky at that point haha but it was a really good one so of course I thoroughly enjoyed it! Very smooth. No bonus chocolate pairing though ;) I walked back to my apartment enjoying the sights of Edinburgh for the last time, and was a bit tipsy while packing and tidying up the airbnb. I had an early night, and woke up to head for the airport bright and early, leaving before 6. It was nice and bright outside, and I found a way to walk that avoided lugging my suitcase around on the stairs, thank goodness. Took the tram to the airport and checked in without incident- though my luggage seriously gets picked every single time for additional screenings. As usual I have very normal things in my suitcase lol! (In Toronto my bag got pulled again and the worker asked me if i had bottles of maple syrup in my bag- no, it was whisky lolol) slept a lot on the plane and wrote this last post on the way to my layover in Toronto. Should arrive in Columbus around 3 o’clock and then have a day to recover and back to work on Monday 😭

From the Isle of Skye to the Loch Ness to castles, churches, history, and mountains with wonderful train rides and delicious chocolate and whisky pairings, I had such a wonderful time in Scotland! I couldn’t possibly recommend it more and I’m sure I will be back again! :)

[jessicalprice]

you got your known Minoans and your unknown Minoans (part three)

(reposted, with edits, from Twitter)

(part one, part two on Tumblr)

So, in Part One of this I talked about the Boston Goddess and how she’s probably a forgery, and in Part Two I talked about Arthur Evans and how much of a prat he was.

Now onto how we got a “Minoan” civilization.

"Minoan" refers to the idea that Crete was led by King Minos, who ruled a mighty maritime empire from the island. He's mentioned by Thucydides and Herodotus, and IIRC, there's been stuff found in Mesopotamian ruins made with materials that may have come from Crete. (A reference in the Tanakh supports the idea that trade--and battle--with Cretans was going on for a long time.) So it's likely that the ancient Cretans, during the period that we now call "Minoan," were part of an active, interconnected Mediterranean society that stretched from Persia to Greece, that they were a powerful maritime culture, and even possibly had a king named Minos.

(Irony sidebar: in all of this Victorian rush to prove the superiority of European culture over that of the ancient Near East and Africa, they're lionizing a dude who's the son of Europa, a Phoenician (Canaanite) princess. Like, the very NAME comes from a Middle Eastern woman.)

So anyway, because Diodoros distinguished between two different kings named Minos, Arthur Evans decided that "Minos" was actually a title like "Pharaoh" rather than a name (because that's... way more likely than being named for a great-grandparent?). Thus, "Minoan" could be used to refer to the culture of Bronze Age Crete. Voila. The Minoans. 

And, okay: We had to call them something, and we don't know what they called themselves because they left behind no writing that we can read.

We might, however, have tried our best to call them whatever they called themselves, or at least what their contemporaries called their culture, which according to Egyptian and Neo-Assyrian records was probably Keftiu or Kaptara. I guess a British guy needed to name them?

Rule Britann--I Mean, Minoannia

Anyway, Evans had a model in mind for his attempts to reconstruct this society, and that model was another "benevolent" island empire: the British Empire and its ruler, Queen Victoria. With some flourishes from Egypt and Mesopotamia, of course.

He definitely had a very specific project in his fascination with the area, and that was to prove that ancient Europeans were as literate as their Near Eastern/African contemporaries. So he was on the hunt for script, carved gemstones with "alphabetic"-looking symbols, anything. 

Now, I dunno, it might be worth stepping back for a moment here and asking WHY this particular signifier was so important. Our entire conception of what makes a "sophisticated" or "important" society is largely based on what records they leave behind. And we tend to focus on writing because the modern West is a very writing-centered culture. But cultures that don't center writing aren't necessarily less sophisticated (and we might even question what we mean by "sophistication"). They're definitely not objectively "better." They're just easier for us to understand, because unless their descendants are still maintaining those oral traditions, we don't know what they are.

The Best Tablet Is a Tabula Rasa

The Minoans did employ a writing system, of course, but it hasn't been deciphered. So all we really can know about them comes from their art, architecture, objects, etc. They can't talk to us the way, say, the Sumerians can.

Ironically, despite Arthur Evans' obsession with using the Minoans to prove ancient European literacy, it ended up being far more convenient for him (and other Victorians of his mindset generally) that they didn't have any writings we could read. 

Blank slate. 

He could make them into whatever he needed them to be, because there weren’t any of their own words around (that we can decipher) to contradict him. 

So anyway, giant palace at Knossos, CLEARLY King Minos's palace. Evans found some inscribed tablets there and decided they must be the Law of Minos. Evans declared Minos "another Moses or Hammurabi, receiving the law from the hands of the divinity himself..."

They were deciphered after his death, and turned out to most likely be Mycenaean, not Minoan. They were also inventory lists, not laws.

He found a big chair, called it the "Throne of Ariadne," but later changed his mind and decided it was the seat of a priest-king, and declared it "the oldest throne in Europe."

He wrote volumes about how (in Lapatin's words) it was a "peaceful European island nation, led by an enlightened aristocracy, ruling a maritime empire and producing sophisticated, refined artworks." You know, like England, or at least England in the minds of the English.

He compared it to Florence under the Medici, to the princely establishments of Germany, to places in France. And of course, everyone else took up that note. The figure in this fresco was dubbed La Parisienne.

Image: La Parisienne, who looks Parisian, I guess.

And Evans wrote "there has come into view a primitive European civilization, the earliest phase of which goes back even beyond the days of the First Dynasty of Egypt." Hor-Aha took the throne around 3100 BCE, but okay, I guess?

So anyway, Evans believed that the Minoans were superior to their successors, and to the Mycenaeans of the Greek mainland, who he characterized as completely dependent on the Minoans. Citation needed, as we poor unenlightened Internetters would say.

I Promised You Isadora Duncan Being Insufferable, Didn’t I?

But of course ancient Greece was all the rage, from Leighton's paintings of Greek ladies chatting to Isadora Duncan and Nijinsky bringing classical influences into dance.

Image: Leighton painting of very blonde ancient Greek women.

And the Minoan art style was so pleasingly modern! Like Art Noveau! Put a pin in that. We’re coming back to it.

So anyway, Isadora Duncan. 

She showed up at Knossos, where, upon seeing the Grand Staircase, she "could not contain herself and threw herself into one of her impromptu dances." She sounds utterly insufferable, no?

Image: Isadora Duncan, when no one actually asked her to dance, probably. 

Her whole thing was being scared of ragtime because Black people (I'm not making this up). Like, she was Henry Ford and square dancing before Henry Ford and square dancing, so it’s probably not a huge surprise that she was all over “archaeology” “proving” the superiority of white people. 

Pretty sure what everyone ACTUALLY liked about her was her costumes, but I digress again.

The Nice Thing About Gaps Is You Can Fill Them With Anything You Want

Back to the art. 

So cool, right? Looks almost modern! Almost Art Nouveau.

Interesting how these ancient frescos happen to have an art style that looks so much like an art style that just happened to be popular when they were discovered. 

Almost Erté-like, you could say:

Or maybe a little bit Harry Clarke?

Just a bit?

I’m just saying:

What if I told you we really had no idea what that fresco looked like?

The thing is, there was barely any of it left:

You can see the fragments that were left in the above image (and even those are “restored”). There wasn’t much to work with.

Evans brought in Émile Gilliéron, or rather, the Émile Gilliérons, a father-son team with the same names, to restore the fresco, working from earlier “restorations.” 

The guys did beautiful paintings, no argument there:

The only problem is that these “restorations” were used to better understand Minoan culture and, like, this fresco (known as the “Saffron Gatherer” was actually of a monkey? 

Yeah, turns out, based on art from other nearby areas, saffron gathering was done by women and leashed monkeys, not boys.

The Émiles may also have straight-up forged a bunch of artifacts there, according to Lapatin. 

So anyway, Arthur Evans wanted to find a European civilization that was more ancient and sophisticated than the ones in the East, and he just happened to find one that couldn’t speak for itself, and just happened to have art that proved its “sophistication” by looking familiar and modern, but just exotic enough to feel like it might be ancient.

Part Four: Evans Worldbuilds a Matriarchal Religion (but don’t worry, it was just an “inferior” stage of development before patriarchy)

[citrus-cactus]

Ooooof, sorry for the long ramble, but I've been thinking about this post for a while, and it took me a while to respond! I've been champing at the bit to do another Macbeth-only rewatch (hopefully soon... those screenshots aren't going to take themselves!!).

I'm honestly still trying to sort out my feelings on "Pendragon," because it's just never been that strong of an episode in my opinion. Backdoor pilot plot, pretty "meh" animation, the Manhattan clan is just kind of "there," things that should be interesting and exciting (the Lady of the Lake lives in Central Park, Macbeth does a fair bit of magic, and a dragon, apparently??) feel very rushed, the action is not well-choreographed, and overall there's just not enough "good" to make up for the episode's flaws (sidebar, but I actually think this episode does become a bit more interesting from a lore perspective now that the Dark Ages comics exist. I'm not sure if you've read them so I won't spoil anything, but the final issues did made me go "huh!" in a way that is relevant to this episode).

Second sidebar, I am sorry for being critical of this episode if it actually is someone's favorite! It's just always been a bit of a slog for me, and I think that's mostly down to some plot and pacing issues. I do like Griff pretty well, though!

But, going back to the criticism: Macbeth. It's TRULY unfortunate that this is his last significant appearance in the series proper. He leans pretty heavily into (as Xanatos once put it) 'cliched villainy,' with his "mwahaha I will have this power for myself" thing (I mean. He doesn’t actually “mwahaha,” but hopefully you know what I mean). I DO think it's likely he's in the habit of collecting certain artifacts and magical items, for 'this might be useful down the road' and 'if I have it no one else does' sorts of reasons (I actually have a hypothesis about why he was interested the Scrolls of Merlin specifically, in "Lighthouse," when he thought the scrolls were actually magic spells). But yeah, why was he so fixated on this harmonic convergence thing, particularly after the events of "Sanctuary?" Buddy, what are you even DOING with your life right now?? I do think you're right, in that even HE doesn't know, and he's looking for a purpose/still recovering from having his heart broken and being massively betrayed by Demona, YET AGAIN.

I do kind of love that, once it becomes all about the sword, he ends up being all "yeah, why ISN'T this referring to me?" in regards to the 'timeless king' stuff. Because him being the (former) King of Scotland DOES very much seem like a point of pride for him, and why he turns down Arthur's offer at the end. This man has not been an active king since 1057 AD and yet he still (in some part) thinks of himself as one? I find that fascinating and I do actually love that for him (also YES, "Macbeth, Son of Findlaech!" He IS proud of where he comes from!!). I also imagine that pride complicates his idea of serving a (former/once/future?) King of England in such a direct capacity... even Arthur, who he respected as a legend. From Macbeth’s perspective, it’s easier to idolize a legend in the abstract than it is to accept that Arthur is alive and awake and doing his own thing in modern times, in the same world that Macbeth inhabits.

I also love in "Avalon" Part 2, where he and Arthur square off. Up to interpretation, I suppose, but based on how Macbeth and Demona talk to each other in "High Noon," I don't think it was part of the Weird Sisters' spell that made him say the things he was saying to Arthur. There's a part of Macbeth that wanted to fight him and see how they compared! And he doesn't even remember that he already had that chance! Sad (and maybe even sadder that he was bested—twice! ;_;) But he doesn't lose respect for Arthur, even though, at the end of “Pendragon,” his pride is a bit wounded. But apparently Macbeth and Arthur do meet again in the SLG comics from the early 2000s! They're f... they're friends, maybe, a little bit? I want to read that issue SO BAD just to see if there’s any more context to their conversation. But they do seem to share a little "immortal king support group" moment, at the very least!

So yeah, believe it or not, I am trying to think about this episode in a more positive light (or at least, with a different lens/more granularity than I had in 1997), and talking through it helps! I hadn’t thought about the Demona/Macbeth parallel in regards to wanting things but maybe not fully thinking them through, but that does seem to be on display for Macbeth here! And "destiny exists, but it means nothing for him." …Oh. Oh NO!!!!!!!! But... yeah............ T^T

I’m endlessly watching all the Macbeth centric episodes because I cannot stop

The city of Stone arc is a favorite of so many, and after you know his backstory it just makes everything about Macbeth fascinating to me.

In Pendragon, we see Macbeth challenge King Arthur, a figure that he presumably respects given his admiring speech about Camelot in Lighthouse, and it feels so far from what medieval Macbeth world do. I think that’s why most people took issue with this episode after seeing the person he was in City of Stone, not to mention after Sanctuary after Goliath helped him out of that bind with Thailog and Demona. Past Macbeth probably would have leapt at the chance to help Arthur reclaim Excalibur (although after he became King perhaps his support would have been measured), not covet the sword for himself.

What did he even want the sword for, anyway? I doubt it was to be the one true king (though I love that moment where he declares himself as such shouting “Macbeth, son of Findlaech” — he still takes pride in being his father’s son 😭). He clearly saw a moment of hope when he realized he was a “timeless king”, a chance that maybe after 900 years his existence would finally have a purpose, finally mean something. Like Demona, he is so lost to himself in some ways he doesn’t stop to think about why he wants it or what he’ll do with it once the power he’s after is his, he just throws himself at it headfirst. (It reminded me a lot of the moment in Mirror after Demona successfully summons and chains Puck—she spent so much time planning to steal the mirror and summon him and she still hadn’t bothered to think of what she’d wish for! She had to stop and think about it! Girl.)

Poor Macbeth doesn’t know what he wants after City of Stone or Sanctuary — he doesn’t want to live but doesn’t necessarily want to die anymore, he found love but it was a trap, destiny exists but it means nothing for him.

Someone get this man an immortal therapist or like one friend

[richincolor]

Most Anticipated November Reads

The year may be winding down, but the YA scene sure isn't! As I head into the holiday season, I've been keeping an eye on some books I've been looking forward to all year that are coming out in November. Here are my top three, most anticipated November reads:

Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Monique Gray Smith, Nicole Neidhardt (Illustrator)

Out now!

Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things―from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen―provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.

Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon

Out November 8th!

Atlanta is blanketed with snow just before Christmas, but the warmth of young love just might melt the ice in this novel of interwoven narratives, Black joy, and cozy, sparkling romance—by the same unbeatable team of authors who wrote the New York Times bestseller Blackout!

As the city grinds to a halt, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life. But will they be able to make it happen, in spite of the storm? No one is prepared for this whiteout. But then, we can’t always prepare for the magical moments that change everything.

From the bestselling, award-winning, all-star authors who brought us Blackout—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—comes another novel of Black teen love, each relationship within as unique and sparkling as Southern snowflakes.

Bloodmarked (Legendborn #2) by Tracy Deonn

Out November 8th!

The shadows have risen, and the line is law. All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new:

A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped. Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected.

When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death. If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

What are your most anticipated reads for this month? Share with us!

[forest-enchantress]

Millie Brady in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

All of these gifs were made from scratch by me for roleplaying purposes. Feel free to use them as sidebars and reaction gifs. PLEASE DON’T CLAIM THEM AS YOUR OWN.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Boxing Day

Huh. You learn some really interesting historical shit, and a fair bit about how low your country of residence has stooped, when you look up a simple little thing like “How did Boxing Day start?” to add a little historical sidebar to a Tumblr post.

Well, for starters, I always kind of wondered which were the twelve days of Christmas, specifically. Well, apparently we should be getting or giving turtle doves today, because it is the second day of what is liturgically known as Christmastide.

Anyway, Boxing Day started here in the UK, and mostly you’ll find Commonwealth countries ceiebrating it today, and some other parts of what were considered part of the British Empire (except for the US, who apparently yeeted that into the harbour along with the tea or something, I dunno). In Europe, it’s St Stephen’s Day. Now, here in its country of origin, Boxing Day is a Bank Holiday, which means reduced shop opening hours, reduced bus service, and everybody stays home and eats leftovers, basically. Most of the countries I know about, though ... whether or not they call it Boxing Day specifically, it’s a shopping holiday; kind of like Black Friday, just with a different sort of historical revisionism attached. I mean, when I was a kid, my father told me that we called it “Boxing Day” because we boxed up all the gifts we didn’t want, picked up the gift receipts, and headed out to exchange them. That never quite rang right to me - I was pretty sure that Boxing Day existed before gift receipts, at least - but I never bothered to look up what it actually meant. Until today.

Boxing Day is supposed to be a day about giving to the poor, servants, or any less fortunate. It’s a day where people gave a parcel to their household staff, postal worker, errand boy, people like that. But before that ... aaaaaaaand now I know what the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas is all about. The church would give alms to the poor on St Stephen’s Day (or the Feast of Stephen), and the ‘Good King Wenceslas’ of the carol is based on an actual person - Saint Wenceslaus 1, Duke of Bohemia, who was canonised for his generosity and charity after his death. According to legend, he was assassinated by his brother, Boselaus the Cruel. Apparently Wenceslaus is some kind of Arthur figure, complete with myth about his resurrection and discovery of Very Important Sword (under a stone, though, sensibly enough). Gotta love the Czechs.

Anyway, point is that today’s supposed to be a day of giving to the less fortunate, and in this country at least, to those who worked so hard for you all year, for far less than you make. And what’s happening today? Massive queues outside Selfridge’s as people hunt for bargains, and strike action by public transport workers who don’t want their jobs downsized to oblivion and maybe to be paid enough to live on. Honestly, I don’t blame anyone for wanting to get the things they need as cheaply as possible at this point, and insane Boxing Day sale prices are probably the only way a lot of people can afford some things. But while Boxing Day hasn’t been about giving for a long time, the fact that it’s currently a day to claw just anything needful away from those who have been taking from us all year just to add to their hoard of money so large that it’s functionally meaningless ... it makes me really sad.

So there you have it: another historical snippet and piece of socioeconomic commentary by everybody’s favourite tick in the “Other” box crammed into human form, Thess. Happy Boxing Day, or St Stephen’s Day, or whatever you celebrate. I may not be able to give you all a parcel or meaningfully provide a tangible gift, this is supposed to be a time for appreciating those who work hard with little or no reward for the ultimate benefit of others. So I’m going to appreciate you guys; everybody on this hellsite. You don’t do this for profit. You don’t do this for fame. Yet you provide stories and songs and artwork and fun trivia facts and tutorials on everything from science to history and way, way beyond. You provide support of the emotional variety so often. You give what’s so often taken for granted - enjoyment, comfort, carefully-researched facts, and ... I guess hope? Hope that not everyone in the world is a complete shitbird. So thank you, Tumblr and those who lurk within. For being you.

[beholdingslut]

pleas maddie write us this meta on how Gay King Arthur was ..... not that i don't believe u i mean im not blind but i wanna hear ur thoughts on it .

alright well let’s talk abt every male relationship in the movie and also how the mage is a lesbian

uther/bedevere: it’s hard to talk about these two with any depth because of the way the movie developed the characters, but one of my fave shots in the whole film is when uther and bedevere are on either side of the broken bridge and they’re staring at each other and uther tosses morded’s crown into the depth and it’s like they’re the only ones that matter to each other like give! me! a! prequel! also bedevere clasping uther’s arm right before he goes into battle. uther’s relationship with his wife didn’t seem like the warmest marriage, so it makes sense that bedevere would be there for him instead. also that bedevere is instantly #down to support the born king aka uther’s son. 

wetstick/backlack: they literally raised blue together it’s canon, probably while arthur was running around doing whatever it is he does. anyway one day backlack comes home with this tiny baby and arthur’s like i cannot deal with this because even in his youth he was a prep school bitch but wetstick is like alright i guess i’m doing this. the way they always seemed to move in tandem, around arthur, around each other. thibking about wetstick’s face when arthur carries blue out of the house and blue is screaming and backlack isn’t with them and it’s just a bit devastating.

vortigen/mercia: holy shit like serious king and lionheart vibez. mercia is the one who comes to him while he’s crying and reminds him of what he has to do. mercia is the one who gets to see him perform magic (during which his expression was like “tfw ur boyfriend makes u suffer through his magic show again and it’s not even that good”). that moment when mercia straight up puts his hand on vortigen’s arm and says “be careful” and vortigen seems to pause for a moment and it’s just. gay. also when backlack was like “even mercia came to londinium” kinda reminded me of (and don’t laugh at this comparison) in breaking dawn when one of the cullens was like “even the wives have left to tower” to see the volturi’s greatest threat like. the person that’s always closest to the king leaving their side in order to defend them

[semper-legens]

220. Silver on the Tree, by Susan Cooper

Owned: Yes Page count: 195 My summary: The Dark rises for the last time. The Pendragon must find the sword, with the youngest Old One at his side. And the Drew children each face their own trial. Will the prophecy come true, or will the Dark evermore rule the land? My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

And finally, the last of the Dark is Rising sequence. Here’s my post about it from last year. After how much I love The Grey King, this book always seems like a bit of a let-down to me. Not that I think it’s bad or anything, it’s just...big? There’s a lot going on and I feel like it’s far less focused, given that we have to split our focus between the Drews and Will and Bran. Even when we’ve had a book with both the Drews and Will, it was largely from the Drews’ POV, and so it felt a little less confused than this book does. I’m being overly negative here, I think. I do like this book. But still.

There’s a lot going on in this book - for the first time, we have all of the kids together in one place. Bran is introduced to the Drews, in particular. But that’s kind of undercut by the fact that Bran and Will almost immediately wander off into their own quest, and the Drews are left out of the limelight until they all come together in a magical train at the end. (Sidebar, what is it with kids’ books from this era and magical trains?) I’d have liked to see all of the kids working together more, their interactions with each other - what Bran thinks of the Drews outside of his weird apparent crush on Jane that doesn’t really go anywhere.

Part of the thing in this book is that each of the kids has their own test and trial that they have to face as part of the quest. Bran and Will have to find the light sword, Jane needs to stand against the afanc, Barney and Simon get transported into the past and has to survive. I don’t think all of these are the most effective they could have been - Barney and Simon are saved from their scenarios by a deus ex Old One running in to get them out of trouble. Jane and Bran and Will all manage to get through their own scenarios just fine, but other than Bran and Will, all of their scenarios seem like tests for their own sake. Maybe it’s just me, but it felt like padding in a way.

Finally...John Rowlands, my beloved. John Rowlands is really the heart of this book. I absolutely love that, despite all the magic and the quests and the Old Ones and the Things of Power, it ultimately comes down to one human man’s decision. John is asked whether Bran should be allowed to stay in the present or be returned to the time of King Arthur, where he was born. He asks what language they spoke then, and is told Latin. He thinks about it, and muses that Bran doesn’t know much Latin. The Old Ones and magical beings don’t understand why he’s asking, but the root of his thinking is clear - if Bran was in the past, he wouldn’t be able to communicate with others. How can he be expected to live there if he can’t talk to anyone? It’s such a small concern, but so human, and so emblematic of John and his beautiful humanity.

Tomorrow, join me for my last post of the year as I wrap up all 220 (!) books I’ve read!

[maurawrites]

Charlie Hunnam GIF Pack (’King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’)

In this here gif hunt you’ll find 189 gifs of Charlie in the movie ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’.  All these gifs were made by me, so please don’t claim as your own. Do NOT put into other gif hunts. If credit is given, you may use them as sidebars, crackships, gif icons etc.  You do not need to ask me for permission, as long as your credit back to me. WARNINGS FOR VIOLENCE, BLOOD, INJURY, DEATH

Made for @tasksweekly task #008: Historical and task #044: Fantasy

[isolaradiale]

As tales of old had once foretold, King Arthur is risen once again! Arthur Pendragon, Servant Class Saber of the Fate franchise has arrived, in accordance with the reserve! All necessary pages can be found via the nifty lefthand sidebar buttons!

Welcome!

You’ll be staying in CONDO 412 

You’ll keep your magic resistance!

You’ll be given a wooden sword!

Enjoy your stay!

--Mod Lyra