#Lesser Lights

[jamesfrain]

Lilit Lesser as Lady Mary Tudor Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light | Episode one 'Wreckage'

[dailytudors]

QUEEN JANE & THE LADY MARY

As portrayed by Kate Phillips and Lilit Lesser

[BBC’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light Promotional Material]

[vaguely-concerned]

how much have the crows actually been sanitized outside of the very narrow view you get of them both in place and in time in veilguard, and how much is caterina deliberately putting her most presentable and pr friendly foot forward because she needs HELP with both the grandson and the antaam situations and is already playing from a weakened overwhelmed position. is she going to show off all the dirty laundry the crows undeniably have in front of the people she's courting for an alliance? is rook going to be looking a gift crow in the beak too closely when help is offered, go digging through that laundry basket on their own initiative on principle, knowing what you might find further down in it isn't pretty and might still be sharp, while the world is burning? is it entirely coincidental that the people caterina picks to interact with you most is teia -- the youngest, most charismatic and notably most weirdly idealistic of the talons -- and viago -- who is perhaps none of these things naturally but is dependable and logical and sharp and also down so cataclysmically bad for teia that when she runs in shouting 'TEIA YES!!! >:D' he sighs with longsuffering resignation and goes '...viago also yes. I suppose. under duress, let the record note' and follows.

surely parts of how each house functions would be left largely up to the individual talons, right? as long as they produce crows capable of doing the job and keeping up with the competition, I doubt the first talon micromanages how they get there (...for good or ill. lots of dead fledglings buried under that laissez faire policy, probably). they're very far away from a monolithic structure, they're constantly competing merchant houses/families striving to gain the upper hand held in check by little except 'if enough of the other houses shake hands and gang up on us for pushing our luck we're fucked, so don't push it too far'. like I believe lucanis says at one point, even calling them an organization is stretching the definition to a breaking point in some ways lol this is fully herding cats territory. all this to say that in this game we spend most of our time in teia's house. andarateia cantori, of the firm genuine conviction recognized as mildly unhinged by all the other talons that the crows truly are her family, who loves them with her whole unstoppable foolhardy thinks-she-will-die-young-and-live-eternally-in-song-and-story heart for it. teia, who won't leave the cantori diamond even to go home to sleep because she doesn't want the fledglings to have to see the place empty. do I think the way teia cantori would run her house is indicative of the average experience of being trained as and living as a crow? no. obviously. why are people seeming to assume that so immediately? sometimes I do wonder if I'm going insane.

between that and the antaam situation -- which turns the romanticized image antiva already is eager to reach for with the crows (the same way european literary tradition through the ages sure LOVES a knight, no matter what knights were actually like when you had one kicking around in real life) into an effective and recognizable symbol of resistance from an outside force (at least these awful little guys are home grown in a way we're kind of proud of despite it all and also they are deeply inescapably cool)... perhaps indeed a symbol of resistance and freedom that momentarily covers for a multitude of sins. I don't think we need to draw definitive conclusions about what the crows are like universially, historically or in different contexts from what we see in veilguard. sort of like the british in the pop cultural understanding being 'the good guys' when we think about WW2, and the sheer ludicrousness of that characterization of the british empire seen in any other context or angle lmao. I DO think there are some genuine writerly '*handwaves established ugliness aside aggressively* just uuuuuh don't worry about it! not important right now! you can feel at least ok hanging out with the cool theater kids but with murder they're like. comparatively chill in this context it's fine and they're fun' going on too. and you know what. they are fun. invenci is unfortunately objectively right, but the crows are sooo much more fun. and in fiction land that trumps all. absolutely baffling writing choice when you read through to the political/ideological conclusion that's reached from it of course (sort of accidentally? I think???), but would it really be a bioware game without a few of those. it's how you know you're home (derogatory and affectionate)

in short there are writing problems by god are there real problems here. obviously. and it'd take smarter and more knowledgeable people than me to properly untangle all of that. glorifying organized crime is a time honoured tradition in fiction that perhaps... shouldn't be quite so much and is uh risky, you're always playing with fire there. but I frankly don't think the 'de-edgeifying' for lack of a better term is that much of an inescapable one or that it erases what we knew of the crows before, we're just getting the angle on them in one very specific time and place in history and with specific individuals involved setting the tone. eight little talons killing off most of the established leadership beforehand so it's mostly only teia and viago who get to keep their full power base (even caterina and the dellamortes takes some losses in the apparent death of lucanis before the start of the game) probably figures into that somewhere too lol

[chinzhilla]

𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔶-𝔒𝔫𝔢 𝔇𝔞𝔶𝔰 𝔬𝔣 ℌ𝔬𝔯𝔯𝔬𝔯 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺

I thought we could help him. But I was wrong. It's time we cut out the cancer.

Malignant (2021) dir. James Wan

[no-name-is-me]

Trying to explain how Near being a woman would effect Light more than it would effect Mello (I'm talking to a brick wall)

[a-noodle-named-daemon]

Deep cleaned Daemon’s terrarium today and he provided some very helpful assistance 👷

[green-like-the-sky]

sir thomas more (anton lesser) refuses to sign the oath of supremacy | wolf hall

princess mary tudor (lilit lesser) signs the oath of supremacy | wolf hall: the mirror and the light

[year-of-the-rabid-dog]

Palestinian Artists/Record Labels on Bandcamp

{ELECTRONIC}

00970

377

Bilna'es بالنا��ص

BOUNCYDUCK

BRUT_FORC.e/TRAUM.a

Cyber Witch

Double Dunks

Loris

NaJazz Project

Sea Level Records /تسجيلات سطح البحر 

Toumba

{EXPERIMENTAL}

Dirar Kalash

Dunums

Garden of Gethsemane

Irritable Syndrome

Mamzera

Maya Al-Khaldi

Never A Land Without People

Phonodelica

Raymond Haddad

{FOLK}

Akram Abdulfattah

Arhan Afndy

Gazelleband

Marwan Abado

Rim Banna

Samah Mustafa

Sounds of Palestine

{INDIE/ALTERNATIVE}

Bassam Beroumi

Discoverer

Eddie Violet

Haya Zaatry

Mafar

Maysa Daw

Shadi Zaqtan

{JAZZ/RNB}

Drink Sage

Majazz Project / Palestine Sound Archive

{METAL}

Bahal Amma

{RAP/HIP-HOP}

Asifeh

ERROR

Exist Records

Moody Kablawi

Shabab

{FUNDRAISER/SOLIDARITY PROJECTS}

"A Better Tomorrow for Palestine" by naru records; profits made will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians

"Archivio Futuro x Gaza" by Archivo Futuro; profits made will be donated to the Gaza Emergency Appeal by the UNRWA

"By the People, For the People" by House of Afandi Records; profits made will be donated to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Dunums & MANAS' Self-Titled EP; profits made will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians

"For Palestine" by Paralax Editions; profits made will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders

"For Palestine" by Toumba; profits made will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders

"For Those We Lost" by Lowlives Collective

IAFG - Vol. 1 by IAFG - International Artists For Gaza; profits made will be donated to Gaza Freestyle

"For All" by MidnightRoba; profits made will be donated to the Gaza Emergency Appeal by the UNRWA and Medical Aid for Palestinians

"ت​ر​و​ي​د​ة م​و​ل​ا​ل​ا​ة - ح​ر​ي​ة" by 1; profits made will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians

"Rap Across the Wall-Palestine" by Musicians Without Borders; profits go towards workshops organized by MWB to help platform lesser known Palestinian artists and provide music programs to Palestinian children (Bara’em Ghirass)

"RE-INSTITUTIONS" by BALLAMONA; profits made will be donated to Save the Children: Gaza Emergency Appeal

"Resist to Exist" by Avon Terror Corp x Exist Records; profits made will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society

"The Olive Tree" by Turquoise Coconut; profits made will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians

[notbecauseofvictories]

[ Washington D.C. — August 2024 ]

[temporary-tats]

A Yorse in your yard? Its more likely than you think! Really loved making this (incredibly cracked) ko-fi request for @notoftheskaal - thank you very much for your support, and for making me draw this haha!

(My links and my ko-fi, should you wish!)

[jojossillywalk]

do you ever think about how polnareff lost his mom young and canonically admits that he has no family back in france, his memory version of sherry says that he'd have done anything for her, one of his prominent memories is buying her an umbrella, and his memory version brings up his regret about one time he flipped at her when they were kids.

and how he initially takes avdol having concern for him as patronizing and how he is very insistent that he's been "alone from the start" and his admittedly extremely inconvenient habit of going off by himself by reflex becomes minimally less funny

[jamesfrain]

Lady Mary Tudor reunites with her father after their reconciliation. The Tudors 3x01 | Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light 2x01

Mary's capitulation was greeted with "incredible rejoicing" at court. Restored to favor, she was acknowledged as the king’s daughter once more and offered a sumptuous new wardrobe and a choice of servants. Cromwell returned to Hunsdon with “a most gracious letter” from the king and, “kneeling on the ground,” begged Mary’s pardon for his former harsh conduct.

Three weeks later, Mary journeyed to Hackney for a secret reunion with her father. It was their first meeting for five years. She had been a young teenager when Henry last saw her, and she was now a woman of twenty. Chapuys wrote that the kindness shown by the king to the princess was “inconceivable, regretting that he had been so long separated from her.” He showed her “such love and affection, and such brilliant promises for the future that no father could have behaved better towards his daughter.” Jane Seymour gave Mary a diamond ring and Henry 1,000 crowns for her “many pleasures.” They spent one night together and parted on Friday, July 7, with Henry promising that she would be brought to court to take her place immediately after the queen. (Whitelock, Anna. (2009) Mary Tudor: Princess, bastard, queen. London: Bloomsbury.)

edit suggested by @fideidefenswhore (you're the best)

[alilyamongroses]

Kate Phillips as Queen Jane Seymour, Damien Lewis as Henry VIII and Lily Lesser as Princess Mary in season two of Wolf Hall

[dailytudors]

Lilit Lesser as The Lady Mary

[BBC's Wolfhall: The Mirror and the Light Promotional Material]

[tackletofset]

Dark Rise theories I disagree with and why:

Sarcean r*ped Anharion: I find it perplexing that many people still believe in this lie. It's canon that Anharion "had GIVEN himself" to Sarcean, and "the feeling of being taken, melting heat, and the fall of hair around him like black silk" is a very poor way to describe a noncon situation.

The on-and-off Collar switch: What makes you think that Sarcean wouldn't be dead by Anharion's hands the second he "switched off" the Collar, if it was as coercive as they thought?

Will and James will "dissolve" after getting their memories back and morph fully into their past selves: The memories serve as key to make decisions about their present and future. In order for Will and James to decide for themselves, they must understand the full truth of Sarcean and Anharion without the biases, prejudices, and agendas of those around them. Pacat has made it clear that Will and Sarcean will ultimately choose different paths, despite being two incarnations of the same person. The former chooses to rule, while the latter prefers freedom, and both choices are valid given their respective situations. The endgame should be putting Sarcean and Anharion to rest so that Will and James can move forward: Will must reconcile with his past in order to navigate his future.

Anharion's real name was a deadname: I say this as a person under the trans* umbrella. "Anharion" wasn't a name he had chosen for himself; it was an insult coined by the Light side. Perhaps he had come to embrace it out of spite. Just as Melkor (Mighty Arising) was dubbed "Morgoth" (black foe) by his enemies, and Mairon (The Admirable) was later called "Sauron" (the Abhorred), I believe Anharion's real name will be revealed in Book 3, with a positive meaning. I can't wait to call him "Queen (Real name)."

Will or James having to k*ll the other/k*ll themselves: Pacat intended to break the pattern where queer protagonists always met tragic ends. It was one of her motivations for writing Captive Prince and also emphasized a lot during Dark Rise interviews.

We will have a sad ending: Pacat stated in a December 2021 Q&A that a "happy ending [was] guaranteed" for the aforementioned reason.

James has no agency: James has plenty of agency, even amidst his complicated situations, with many people constantly attempting to violate his boundaries. James has consistently made his choices and desires clear. The unconventional nature of his choices, which may not always make sense to others, does not diminish their validity.

Sarcean was fully evil: "The Dark King did Nothing Wrong" nuff said.

[carlyraejepsans]

spoilers for infinity train s2 but while I've been enjoying the pacing and character focus a lot more compared to s1, i gotta say. not a big fan of the series introducing a black character solely to bring up the subplot of the train denizens being treated as subhuman and show her taking part in that dehumanisation. that's kinda ass

although they did pair her with a policially correctness mandated whiteboy, so my guess is HE will take the fall as the villain while she gets the character development and redemption instead. still. perhaps not the best character subplot for the only black girl in your cast