#MERRIN! THE DEATH WITCH!

[milesplayshu]

actually despise star wars jedi survivor

[lichniche]

Necromancer Tournament

i got sick so im extending the submission period! the 15th is the new deadline!

to reiterate, here are the rules:

im not gonna define necromancy, if youre not sure if somebody qualifies submit em anyway and i will either decide or if im unfamiliar or unsure too we will hold a prelim poll

submit as many people as you want but only submit each person once

real people allowed lmao ?? but i hold veto power

no ocs (sorry)

submit to the ask box! one per ask preferable!

PLEASE INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE MEDIA THEY ARE FROM

all polls will be tagged #necromancy tournament and #tournament poll and all non-poll but still tournament relevant stuff will be tagged #tournament stuff

all polls will run for one week

NOW

here are the current submissions!

anyone in orange has been submitted by multiple people

anyone not in the no category or the maybe category is guaranteed a spot unless someone raises an objection, the orange highlighting is just informative

if you are familiar with the source material and want to dispute any of these please do. if you have an opinion on anyone in the maybe column and whether they deserve to be included please share

Magic the Gathering:

Liliana Vess

Gisa Cecani

Lim-Dûl

Ratadrabik

Elder Scrolls:

Vastarie (Elder Scrolls Online)

Mannimarco (Elder Scrolls Online)

The Untamed / MDZS

Wei Wuxian

Xue Yang

The Bible:

Jesus Christ

The Witch of Endor

Dungeons & Dragons

Acererak

Azalin Rex

Vecna

World of Warcraft:

Arthas Menethil

Kel'Thuzad

The Adventure Zone

Barry Bluejeans

Lup

Abhorsen

Chlorr of the Mask

Sabriel

Guild Wars

Zhaitan

Trahearne

Palawa Joko

Marjory Delaqua

Skulduggery PLeasant

Solomon Wreath

Lord Vile

Misc:

Henry (Fire Emblem Awakening

Ned (Pushing Daisies)

Aesop Carl (Identity V)

Xykon (The Order of the Stick)

Rasputin (real life/Don Bluth Cartoon)

Edward and Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Dorian Pavus (Dragon Age)

Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson)

Suzie Costello (Torchwood)

Herbert West (Reanimator)

Lewis Bernavelt (The House With A Clock In Its Walls)

Neferpitou (Hunter x Hunter)

Roger de Camden (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Joshua (The World Ends with You)

Pisces Jealnet (The Wandering Inn webnovel)

Malistaire Drake (Wizard101)

Mary (Trash of the Count's Family)

Delilah Briarwood (Critical Role)

Shang Tsung (Mortal Kombat)

Kotaro Tatsumi (Zombieland Saga)

Licorice Cookie (Cookie Run)

Wasp (Archivist Wasp)

Soren Baltimore (Camp Here & There podcast)

Wendell and Wild (Wendell & Wild)

Orochimaru (Naruto)

Amors (Death and the Maiden webcomic)

The Lich (Adventure Time)

Zanbar Bone (Fighting Fantasy)

Snap & Jacks (Snapdragon graphic novel by Kat Leyh)

Santa Claus (Puppet History ? real life ? its unclear)

Watcher (DeadEndia) (comics)

Ty Blackthorn (Shadowhunters)

Dr Hix (Discworld)

Maybe:

Steven Universe

Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Maya Fey (Ace Attorney)

Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein)

Sauron (Lord of the Rings)

Takuto Maruki (Persona 5 Royal)

Claudia (The Dragon Prince)

Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)

Norman (Paranorman)

The Marionette (fnaf)

Merrin Meredith (Septimus Heap)

Uni (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Bermuda von Veckenschtein (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

No:

The Doctor (Doctor Who)

The Master (Doctor Who)

Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files) (decided by vote)

The Locked Tomb:

Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Palamedes Sextus

Coronabeth Tridentarius*****

Ianthe Tridentarius

John Gaius

if you are familiar with the source material and want to dispute any of these please do. if you have an opinion on anyone in the maybe column and whether they deserve to be included please share

here are my personal submissions (with duplicates included- if a submission is orange it was submitted by multiple of YOU, i did not take my own list into account)

Johannes Cabal (Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer)

Grimora, Scrybe of the Dead (Inscryption)

Militsa Gnosis (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Lord Vile (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Samhain Corvus LaCroix (Hold Me Closer, Necromancer)

Dorian Pavus (Dragon Age)

Henry (Fire Emblem Awakening)

The Necromancer (West of Loathing)

Novice Necromancer (Skyrim)

Xenia of the Autumn (Lovestruck: Reigning Passions)

Sabriel (Abhorson)

[marinersubmariner]

I finished Jedi Survivor, gotta blab about it!

SPOILER SPACE

BODE?!??!??!? I kept thinking he was gonna die, especially in the lead-up to the final Dagan fight—they gave him so many hallmarks of a tragic death that I never suspected a classic video game companion betrayal (one of my favorite things!!!)! So that twist threw me for a LOOP, not just the betrayal but then the reveal that HE WAS A JEDI TOO WHAAAATTTTTT!!??!?!?! Absolutely bananas.

It's funny because Dagan's death felt pretty anticlimactic, and I knew the game wasn't over yet so I was like… what else is there? And I still couldn't have anticipated how OH SHIT the "what else" part could be.

Because then it's PLAYABLE CERE!!!! Which was so fun because she felt SO powerful to play as, and the whole time I was reeling about the betrayal and why am I Cere now what the fuck what the fuck what the fuccckkkkk. And then as soon as the door opened on Vader I instantly got teary-eyed because I knew exactly how that was gonna end. Of COURSE you're out-of-left-field playing as Cere for her last stand. ;___; Of COURSE they couldn't include Vader just for the player to narrowly escape again. ;___; Cere wasn't even my favorite character and she felt so distant in this game, but having her death take place amidst the destruction of the archive that she'd been building that whole time, plus HER LAST WORD BEING "TRILLA," plus BEING MURDERED BY VADER EXACTLY LIKE TRILLA... way to make it as painful as it could possibly be!!!!!! I gotta say, not only do these games make Vader VERY scary, they also make me hate him more than ever. FUCK YOOOOUUU MURDER MACHINE

I am shocked they went all-in on Cal/Merrin just because… romance in Star Wars????? Since when??? Hahahahaaaa…….. I kid, I kid, we have fun. I love them. Although my main inclination in the first game was Cal/Trilla (it was immediately after TROS and the extreme Reylo of it got to me!!) and somewhere along the way I had gotten the impression that Merrin was a lesbian (or maybe that's just the default Nightsister vibe). But truly I consider everyone in SW to be bi/pan/ace/anything but fully straight, so honestly, whatever. Related side note: I was really pleasantly surprised by the directness about how many supporting characters here were gay!

I LOVED the first kiss followed by the totally bonkers portal-jumping battle, that was such cool teamwork. And the end of the game was sooooo saaaad but thankfully they both lived and so now I'm real emo about the orphan Jedi and the orphan witch and how far they've come since she tried to kill him. 😭

Backtracking a bit I REALLY enjoyed Dagan getting dumped out of the bacta tank, getting pissed off, and IMMEDIATELY bleeding his crystal. It was very ooooohhh SHIT dude making some major life decisions here!! So cool! So dramatic! Escalated so quickly! I'm pleased that I did end up enjoying Dagan a decent amount, because going into this I was annoyed by a) not liking Cody Fern's face and b) not liking the High Republic aesthetic.

Honestly I was very ready to dislike both Dagan and Bode because I was really not happy with the previews showing they added a bunch of dudes while hiding Merrin and Cere, and Trilla being dead…… blugh. But thankfully trailers are misleading and there was plenty of Merrin. (and her surprise entrance was THRILLLINNGGGG) And the dudes were alright and they wound up dead anyway. So! …Hm.

IT WAS SO SAD. I'M SO SAD. The "Ghost Star" lullaby was so pretty and haunting and it messed me up BAD, because of course I'm not just thinking of this game I'm thinking of all my dead Star Wars friends (and obvs one ghost in particular…….. sob). There are so many. Star Wars is littered with corpses. AND IT'S SO SAD.

Cal using the dark side was craazzzyyyyyy and when the first prompt for it came on screen I was like "uh oh!!!! I don't wanna." Wild how becoming more powerful in a video game can be so fun and so upsetting at the same time. I did actually die in the final fight with Bode because I refused to tap into the dark side when prompted, lol. I was like "maybe if I don't do it something different will happen!" Haha, nope! USE THE DARK SIDE OR DIE. Which is an interesting moral quandary for Star Wars, because if the dark side is always more powerful 100% of the time, and there are certain situations where it's either fight a dark side opponent or die… what does the Force really want you to do? Stick to the light side and be defeated? Is the ultimate end goal of the Force for everything to die and become one with it? AH JEEZ

Part of me expected Tanalorr to not work out in the end, because "magical top secret planet where we can hide and be safe forever" is obviously too good to be true. But I also think every pre-OT story is always having to find an out for why these characters weren't around for the OT, so in that sense of course Tanalorr had to work out! It's the perfect loophole for this time period! It just felt like every story beat was pointing to the dream of Tanalorr being too much of a corrupting influence—Dagan lost his arm, Santari, and then his life because he refused to let go, and then Bode did the same, and I thought it would come down to Cal also facing that dark path and being forced to give up the dream, like by having to choose between Merrin and Tanalorr. In Grail quests you always have to give up the Grail! But no, now they're really gonna live in the ethereal weird forbidden promised land. FEELS CREEPY BUT OKAY

On the one hand I do kind of wish there had been more planets to explore—it felt strange for the journey to be less expansive than Fallen Order. But there was still so much to do on Koboh and they had some cool locations in there nonetheless. I'm just greedy for ~*~galactic exploration~*~! Anyway they made up for it with the strong story, because I think the plot and character work in this one were even better than Fallen Order.

I'm not sure how to piece it all together but I liked the small late-game talk of Vader and the Inquisitorius acting outside of regular Imperial command, when you're undercover and you get the scoop that there's a rivalry with the ISB and that the Jedha attack that happened was not the Jedha attack that was planned. Empire/Sith infighting, Vader vs. Tarkin and Krennic, how does stifled ISB employee Dedra Meero fit into all this, hm hm hm much to think about. Bode was a former Jedi being used by the Empire but he wasn't an Inquisitor—it was the same thing in the end but the particular type of tragedy was different. Wizards in the Empire but the Empire hates wizards, which type of leash are they gonna put you on and who's actually holding the leash?

Fav saloon regulars: TURGLE, of course I knew everybody loved Turgle, what a goober, A+, amazing frog; Caij, because apparently it's a biological imperative that all Nautolans are cool as hell; best bartender Monk; and I particularly enjoyed all the conversations with Tulakt and Moran.

Of course I was thrilled when I first encountered Skoova, his little hover fishing schooner was the BEST. Just an absolutely stellar amount of funky alien dudes in this game.

The powerful heavy swings that the crossguard stance uses…… hehehehehehehehehe. Where did they get that idea I wonder!!!!!! The only thing is that I don't like how small and thin the High Republic-style quillons are, so the aesthetic isn't as satisfying and proportional as Kylo's saber. You gotta beef up those crossguards fellas!

I didn't know that there was an interim story to explain why Greez has a prosthetic arm now, so I was like "did I really forget THAT MUCH of Fallen Order?" Even I can't keep up with all these Star Wars! I liked Greez a lot in the first game (MY PLANT GUY!!!!) but I really loved him even more in this one—he seemed much softer than I remember with his devotion to Cal and their whole family unit. And his braided hair of course delighted me.

And speaking of delightful new hair: Merrin's haircut! I LOVE HER SO MUCH. They gave her so much great deadpan humor while also enhancing her emotional maturity, so not only is she still super cool she's also soft and nice when it's called for, and I'M SO GLAD SHE DIDN'T DIE.

Kata is extremely cute and I'm already dreading her looming apprenticeship and the long-term outcome of who makes it to the next generation. I'm always having to remind myself of the bigger picture that Cal is older than Luke. And I certainly can't handle the thought of old Cal or dead Cal, but when you add kids into the mix, that's where this is headed!!!!!!

I took so many goddamn screencaps I'm probably only gonna post a minuscule fraction of them, but there were so many good aesthetic things and fun details to look at. And honestly part of my excessive snapping away involved lofty notions of using things as fanart reference. I LOVED all the new hair and wardrobe options because I absolutely just used Cal for Ben Solo AU cosplay. 🤪😎🤩✌️💀 The windswept hair is so good!!!! I mean I mainly chose it to look like Ben but it also just looked really good on Cal, to the point where it's hard to see him with short hair anymore, although I really should try out some of the goofier looks. (so many facial hair options that I hate and look stupid on precious ginger babyface!!!)

I just get soooooo excited about being able to explore and take pictures inside a Star Wars thing, and play dress-up and pick hairstyles and decorate and do all that silly life sim stuff but in space! Games capture such a unique experience of discovering worldbuilding minutiae, and I love having the ability to just look at things and take in the environment at your own pace, it makes me so happy. Even the goofy LEGO game gave me that feeling. It's just so nice! I love wandering! Observing! Interacting! Running my little guys around! Having my own experience that can't be easily ruined by a shitty story!

It's made me reminisce about playable Kylo and Rey in Battlefront and how I wish you could combine them with the exploration/story/gameplay style of the Jedi games and the [nearest approximation of] post-canon Ben Solo of the LEGO game, and THAT would probably be my ideal Star War (outside of, you know, a new movie that checks off every single item on my impossible wish list hahahaaagdhagdsf). Dress them up and customize their lightsabers and their home base and their spaceship and give them a droid friend and a garden and take them on new adventures on new planets… The Dream 😭

I actually started ruminating on whether I can do screencap mashups of Battlefront character models in Survivor outfits/environments, because I can't do mods, I am just a simple photoshopper and console gamer, but I want to pretend!!!!!! The problem is I don’t really like the Battlefront faces because they all look dead in the eyes. :/ The idea I settled on is that I might do some straight-up redraws instead. (WE'LL SEE. But the fact that I'm even mentioning this should tell you how completely lost in the sauce I am.) I briefly went looking and of course people have made Ben Solo mods for Survivor, but what you really gotta do is graft Cal's customization options onto Bode's body type or else it doesn't look right. Y'KNOW?!?? Size… matters……… I'm so sorry Yoda

Anyway!!!!!! Excellent gaming experience despite being terrible at Jedi parkour! Now back to tending my garden, hunting down post-game Force echoes, and rearranging Cal's wardrobe

[luckyjak]

i said I wasn't gonna complain about the star wars video game

And yet, HERE WE GO.

Spoilers for the video game Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and it's prequel, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order under the cut. I'm only like...7 or 8 hours in Survivor, though, so don't spoil me, either.

how do the people who make star wars keep making these stupid ass plots?

I realize part of star wars is to embrace the silly, but this is just as bad if not worse than the Rey Palpatine and "somehow Palpatine returned" shit from the sequel trilogy.

how do I write for star wars? I mean, seriously. THIS was the best villain they came up with? A guy from the Old Republic (who was kept alive in a BACTA TANK somehow even though being FROZEN IN CARBONITE IS A LEGIT THING IN STAR WARS!!!!!!!) (who, again, has no connection at all to the current crisis nor any of the characters) wakes up, immediately falls to the dark side, and oh, it turns out the bad guys of this place work for him? somehow???

holy shit that is bad. as in, poorly written. that is the best villain they came up with? SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE who worked at this game studio saw that idea and went "yeah that's a good one!" and gave it a stamp of approval????

If I were Cal I would have quit right there. I would have leaped off the cliff to my death. I would have found a small child, given them my lightsaber and said "You'll probably be better at this than me, good luck." I would have shut myself off from the Force. I'd abandon my quest and then just left to find Merrin and say "hey can I be your househusband? Being a jedi is just not for me, I think."

ESPECIALLY considering how GOOD the Second Sister was written in the first game!!!! what a flipping downgrade.

in good news though, guess who I just ran into again

i cannot wait for her and Cal to get married and have a trio of red haired witch daughters.

[tremendouskoalachild]

Chapter 2 is a Merrin POV?? 😳

Gotta say, Merrin gnashing her teeth is a very sexy image.

And the two Jedi are cool with this? I guess I would make allowances for babygirl Merrin too but damn.

Girl, same.

Girl, same.

I did wonder how they were going to approach the Nightsisters after Merrin's introduction - since TCW overwrote the whole "there are many Force-using witch clans on Dathomir, and the Nightsisters specifically use the dark side and are unambiguously evil outcasts" thing and made Dathomir seem like a sparsely populated wasteland firmly under the Nightsisters' control (not to mention the weird species retcon shenanigans). Merrin seems like a good kid, so is their magick darkside? Usually but not necessarily? Was Talzin a corrupting influence on an isolated unique Force culture that happens to have a red death-obsessed aesthetic? Is the implication that Merrin basically got spared because her evil family were genocided??

Like here, where Merrin refers to herself as dark, in contrast to Cal's light. I seriously hope they go somewhere with this and we don't end up with another grey jedi scenario...

Cool description.

Casually burning an enemy to death. That's my girl!

Brood-y. So it's not Cal's POV but the narrative style of the book I guess. Sure why not. Or maybe Cal has infected Merrin with his way of speaking.

People wearing helmets drinking through a straw will never not be funny to me. And hey, gender neutral pronouns for the stormtroopers. I still think the metaphor works better if the Empire only employs white men but I'm pretty sure that ship sailed years ago. Then again Merrin might just be respectful.

Oh and the POVs switch mid-chapter. Bye Merrin. 😒

Stormtrooper armor smells sugary when cut by a lightsaber? Jesus christ.

Also Cal you don't have to add "for them" if you already said "odds against". I get what you're trying to say though.

Cal being careful not to steal master Kenobi's catchphrase. Appreciate it.

The droid also gets neutral pronouns, only to be called "it" in the next paragraph. Nice going, Cal... take some lessons from Merrin please.

Not Cal perpetuating the stormtroopers have bad aim stereotype. Honey, they hit pretty consistently in the game and you would have died so many times if I hadn't lowered the difficulty enough for my shitty reflexes.

I could watch Merrin do her thing all day.

Good to see the whole dark side Nightsister thing addressed, even a little bit.

[nghtsistr-a]

ARCHIVED — FIND ME @nghtsistr

“LOVELY-EYED, DEATH-TOUCHED, WITCH — pretty, otherworldly and vaguely threatening.”

#𝐍𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐑. ── a private and selective, mutuals only writing blog for NIGHTSISTER MERRIN, of star wars jedi: fallen order and survivor. ── loved by kaia (she/her, 25+). also writes @bndruidh & @saorsadh. discord available on request ♡ *currently iconless*

carrd. memes. pinboard.

[soulsanitarium]

49 years ago The Exorcist had a premiere

In the Ancient Mesopotamia serious diseases were diagnosed as the effects of either various demons, a ghost, witchcraft or an angry god. For the success of the cure it was important to know the exact nature of the illness. The purpose of various rituals employer by the exorcist was both to purify the patient, thus freeing him from the impurity and sin he might committed, and to restore the relations between him and the gods. Moreover the demon (or ghost) had to be expelled or the sorcery undone. One way was to offer a substitute for the patient, usually a goat or pig. (Thomsen 2001, 71.)🐷

🧔‍♀️Jesus of Nazareth exorcised demons, healed the sick and raised Lazarus from the dead and predicted future events, just like miracle-worker. But his motivations were different kind, compassion, not merely to impress or gain money. Power came from God. (Luck 1999, 124–125.)

😇An exorcist speaks with the authority of God to cast out demons. In contemporary Catholicism, exorcists claim to confront the devil not only with the authority of God, but also with that of the church, which they themselves have received by an explicit license. (Young 2016,5).

The intense, confrontational and dramatic exorcisms that captured popular imagination in films such as The Exorcist, placing great emphasis on the power of words uttered by a priest, are a distinctly modern phenomenon. (Ibid.)🤮

👄Regan truly is like Barbara Creed puts it (1993) a woman as possessed monster. Connections drawn in the film between feminine desire, sexuality and abjection suggest that more is at stake than a simple case of demonic possession.

♀️Feminist theory considers the film Exorcist, a demonization of female sexuality (Välimäki 2010). According to Creed (1993): “The Exorcist is usually seen as involving a case of possession by the male devil. However, I will argue that the devil, in this case, may well be female.”

👹Krzywinska (2000, 39) have a different opinion she talks about fear of the “primal father”. This is originally Freud’s theory from the book TotemAndTaboo, it has been criticized and his way of interpreting history too, but the book was also very innovative in that time. Freud wrote also about one possession case, about J. C. Haizmann (1651/52 – 1700). Freud interpreted the Devil as a father figure for the painter. 🎨😈

🪦I feel also that philosopher Georges Bataille is right when he is talking about Freud’s theory, that perhaps in the center of the fear is not the “primal father” but Annihilation anxiety or dedifferentation anxiety (Tähkä 1993). This is like fear of death and/or rejection.

🧪The demon (unheimlich) is the horror, a normal everyday life is shaken, control disappears and the evil one invades the world. Like the witch in the movie Hagazussa, so in the Excorcist, the woman’s body and its toxicity are at the center.

✝️Doubtful Thomas, Father Karras is living in his own phase of change. His mother is getting older, he has lost his faith and sees only a depressed world around him. Father Merrin, on the other hand, feels the closeness of his death. Regan's mother has lost faith in her work. She wants to keep her child daughter not this monster. All the Hope is in the recovery of Regan. Her room is a gateway to underworld, Witches sabbath with all perversions, sinful pleasures and horrors. The Heart of Darkness. The Ritual is only way out, “primary father “ or Lilith must be cast out from the paradise back to the desert.🏜

[topherromijn]

Topher wasn't thrown off, they simply nodded. "Yeah, would you rather you didn't know and walked through the world with a spring in your step?" They asked. They certainly wouldn't, they were far more on edge now, but at least if something happened, Topher liked to think they were ready to face it. "The swimming pool is nice though, and they say witches are afraid of water, or afraid of getting wet… one of those two." They had yet to make up their mind on who was behind Merrin's death, could be witches, could be ghosts, or demons. But Witches made the most sense.

topherromijn​:

Topher resisted the urge to throw their hands up and pretend to be a scary ghost in order to share the new-comer away. They had never seen her at the pool, and they had seen most if not everybody who visited the pool on occasion, even the smallest little kid. “Uhm, during winter? Very creepy, lately just… very empty.” They pointed at the bike stall. “Did you know someone was murdered there?” They turned back to the stranger. “And then a few weeks later they found her brother dead too, not here, but nearby,” they added. Then shrugged. “If you believe in ghosts, it’s creepy.” 

-

evanora only hummed are the other’s response; she didn’t wish to give away how easily she could be bothered by information of this sort, she was certain the look on her face might give her away but she still held hope her features would remain neutral - for now. the other did not make this easy on her; they kept adding a new piece that only made evanora more nervous; her breath hitched in her throat, and a lump begun to form; her mouth dry and her palms sweaty. 

fuck.

“do you really have to go around saying that to people?” she did not mean to snap; her voice had unintentinally risen just a bit, yet enough to seem uneasy. 

[nonsensetwo]

Cal and the Nightsisters

Merrin: You are trespassing!

Cal Kestis: Look I mean you no harm, I am just looking for something.

Merrin: You bring nothing but death!

Cal Kestis: Bitch you sent those crazy Resident Evil zombie witches after me, helloooo? I'm gonna cut them down!

Merrin: *wtf?*

[hannagoldworthy]

Renegade 4

(So, I went with the dialogue from the actual show in regards to the acquisition of Black Sun, mostly because I wanted to get into Maul's head for that series of scenes. There was a lot to work through; Maul isn't fully finished processing it yet. Also, Savage is starting to integrate himself into the Death Watch way of doing things, just a little. There are hints of not-so-nice things on all three sides of this conflict; I haven't even gotten into some of the worse things Falleen could do in Legends...yet.)

Bo-Katan glared at the young Nightsister through her bucket, squaring her shoulders and exploiting every inch of the Kryze family height genes to be as intimidating as she could.

The girl wasn’t having it. She folded her arms and glared right back even though she had to tilt her head up to do so, and Bo could have sworn her dark irises were streaked with a glimmering green.

“I am coming on this mission,” she said, with that sing-song tone the kriffing jetiise always used before they realized beskar soaked up their creepy Force magic.

“Kid, I know this is a new concept to you, but we Mandos are sworn to protect the weak. That includes not taking children into situations where you’ll be in danger.”

“Your touchingly naïve cultural conventions on childcare aside, I am not a child and I am not weak. I am a warrior and the second-ranked member of my tribe.”

“You’re nine.”

“Twelve.”

“Whatever. Iam the second-ranking member of myclan, and since your clan is a guest of mine, that means I outrank you, end of discussion. You’re staying.”

“You have no right…”

“Merrin!” The largest of the Nightbrothers trundled over, nodding his head briefly at Bo-Katan with an automatic sort of deference. He took a knee in front of the girl; even then, he had to bend his shoulders a tad to look her in the eye. “They do things differently here, remember?”

A pout crept into the girl’s mouth; for once, the little Witch passingly resembled a real child. “They can hardly call themselves a warrior society if they refuse the help of a trained warrior,” she said in the language of Dathomir; Bo had wisely ‘failed to mention’ that her helmet was programmed to translate Paceian. It paid to be able to hear things that were said in secret.

“Yes, but remember they don’t have the ichor of our world to help them,” the male replied easily in the same tongue, “they have to learn things the hard way. Their training takes quite a bit longer as a result.”

The kid rolled her eyes. “Then they should be educated in just what a Nightsister, anyNightsister, can do.”

“I agree. That’s why you need to start with small tasks to prove yourself; then, when they trust you with those things, they can start trusting you with more complicated duties.”

“…I suppose that makes sense.”

“I suppose it does. Why don’t you start with promising to guard the medbay while they’re away?”

She sighed. “Nurse duty again?”

“You’ll get to spend a lot of time with Barriss…”

The girl considered that, nodded curtly, and briskly turned to face Bo-Katan. “You are sworn to protect your weak, you said. In my tribe, the weak were culled so they did not take energy away from the strong; but, as Savage has reminded me, things are done differently here. As a token of good faith, I will guard your weak until you have returned.” Then, before Bo could make any acknowledgement of that line of sheer crazy, she pivoted smartly on her heel and marched off toward the medtent with military precision.

The large Nightbrother shook his head as he got to his feet. At his full height, he loomed a little, and Bo-Katan had to tilt her head up to see his face properly.

“Sorry about that. She means well.”

Bo swallowed back the intimidation that rose automatically in her brain at his gigantic form, and forced her shoulders into a casual shrug. “Kids, right?” she drawled, glad of her armor, which hid her own trepidation nicely from his odd glowing eyes as well as his freakish witchcraft.

His lip twitched in a sad sort of half-smile. “In her defense, her entire tribe got wiped out recently. She’s pretty much the only Nightsister raised on Dathomir left alive; she clings to their ways to keep her Sisters with her.”

“The ancient ways…like ‘culling the weak’ and sending children into battle?” Bo-Katan bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything about rape and slave-trading and worse, because she knew the seven-foot-tall monstrosity in front of her could snap her neck with a thought. Still, despite her care, his eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” he said plainly. “My brothers and I witnessed that firsthand, and more besides; name a terrible thing to do, and the Nightsisters have done it. But Merrin is, as you say, a child. At her age, even the Nightsisters did not have her participate in most of their more terrible rituals.”

“And yet, she has been raised to believe those things are normal.”

“Which is why she must be taught differently,” he said mildly. “Education of your ignorant is another vow your people take, correct? Especially when learning something different will enable an innocent child to better protect herself?”

…Stang. “You got me there.”

He nodded placidly. “Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure we’ve broken her of eating babies,” he said, his face and tone inscrutable. “House-trained her too…though she likes to mark her territory when stressed, so don’t antagonize her anymore.” And then, while Bo’s mouth still hung open in disbelief, the giant nodded respectfully, and ambled into his assigned Warbird for the trip to Mustafar.

Gar Saxon broke out into raucous laughter over internal comms. “WOO, he told you!”

“Gar, will you just shut up.”

“You shut up, Rau. She’s been looking at these guys with a face like she smelled your underwear ever since we saw them; it’s about time he confronted her.”

“Di’kutla cha…!”

“Stow it, the both of you,” Bo yelled into the headset. “Get your heads in the game here! We need to be on our toes against the Black Sun.” She could process the surprisingly articulate Dathomiri male when she wasn’tplanning on recruiting a gang populated by a race of brain-washing reptilians…

***

The Vigos of the Black Sun had grown far too bold in Maul’s absence, setting up a specialized base on Mustafar. They’d eyed this patch of land near the northern pole multiple times, for good reason; the volcanos near here were very fruitful, and the magnetic activity would foil the equipment of most potential investigators. He’d had to clear out their scouts several times while growing up so that they would not cotton on to his Master’s own hidden base. The fact that they had been able to build their fortress now was one of many reasons he was beginning to suspect Sidious had somehow died whilst he was on Lotho Minor, in too much pain to notice anything beyond his perpetually empty stomach; he doubted that his master would have allowed a crime syndicate such a ripe opportunity to obtain blackmail had he been alive.

The plan was simple. Their task force landed without permission or warning, but he, Savage, and Viszla and his lieutenants walked evenly toward the gathering ‘welcome’ party. Commandos equipped with jetpacks scrambled in the air to show that they meant business, but made no overtures of violence other than that. Viszla followed Maul’s advice and removed his helmet, which would allow the Falleen warriors to properly scent him and read his honest intentions for alliance. As a result, they merited the attention of the Black Sun guards, but not necessarily any defense; a nice complement of their best troops assembled to meet them.

“A battalion, Brother,” Savage rumbled, his keen eyes flicking around the fortress.

Maul smiled, projecting his pride through the Force; Savage was progressing nicely in using his Force sight, if he was able to ‘see’ the full complement of Black Sun troops hidden behind the volcanic rock. “They will serve us well,” he said aloud for Death Watch’s benefit.

The captain of the guard met them halfway across the causeway between the fortress proper and the landing platforms. “We request an audience with your leaders,” Maul said before he could be questioned, establishing his dominance immediately.

The captain took one whiff of his utter lack of fear and obvious confidence in his position, and shrugged genially. “It’ll be your funeral,” he said with a chuckle. Maul, Savage, and Viszla followed him, leaving the rest of their detachment on the causeway to guard their escape route, should this not go as planned.

There were five Vigos present, the full complement; doubtless their organization had suffered some upheaval with the war, and their leaders had taken shelter in the most secluded of their properties, as Maul had suspected. He didn’t recognize any of their faces, but he had anticipated that; the Black Sun had had a high turnover even in times of peace, due in no small part to Maul’s actions at the word of his Master.

“Why have you come here?” boomed the man at the head of the table, as if he was not cowering in his own little pillow fort, trying to weather out this war in safety while the lesser echelons of his organization rotted in prison or fought for survival on the streets.

“We seek an army,” Maul replied simply; there really was no point in lying to people who could literally smell his intentions.

“Fools,” the head Vigo said, predictably. “We are not mercenaries. Dispose of them,” he said to the guards at either side of the table. “Keep their ships and weapons.”

“Give me that one’s sword,” leered the Vigo at the leader’s right hand, pointing at Viszla.

Viszla took exception to that, and Savage took exception to a guard’s weapon at his back. Maul remained still as they dealt with the problem, considering the information the Vigos had inadvertently given him. That they needed to keep Death Watch’s ships and weapons indicated that they were potentially running low on supplies themselves, which did not bode well…

When a guard’s limp body smacked heavily on top of the table before him, courtesy of Savage, Maul returned to the situation at hand. “This is your last opportunity to join us,” he reiterated, radiating calm that he knew would be detected.

“Quiet,” the head Vigo growled. “We are the Black Sun!” The others rose menacingly, as if that sentence was a rallying cry rather than a statement of the blatantly obvious.

“Very well,” Maul sighed; he’d given them fair warning. He glanced over his shoulder at Savage for the barest second, and then ducked quickly; lightsaber blades thrummed dangerously over his head. When he stood again, the headless bodies of those who had formerly been the Black Sun collapsed pathetically to the ground, and Savage’s saberstaff floated back toward his outstretched hand.

“It would seem the decision to join us is now yours,” Maul said, turning to the captain of the guard.

The man was terrified, but he recovered well. “After careful consideration, we will join you,” he said, without succumbing to the impulses to gulp or stammer. He would be a more compliant ally than his erstwhile commanders; this agreement was off to a good start.

***

Unfortunately, the state of the Black Sun’s depot was much as Maul had suspected. They had a quarter of their full complement of ships, and only enough fuel to last those ships for a few weeks. The foodstuffs, such as they were, could sustain the army for several months, as Falleen did not need to eat more than once every two weeks or so; still, it was plain that their supplies would need to come from somewhere else.

“We have our army now!”

Maul barely restrained an undignified jump as a beskar gauntlet clapped down on his left shoulder. His Master had liked to touch him unannounced in this fashion, and Maul had never been able to gauge what his goals were in doing so, for he was punished equally if he fought back or if he remained silent. Either way, it had always struck him as infuriatingly proprietary, even more so now with Viszla in his place.

“I have a plan to undermine Satine,” Viszla continued, oblivious to Maul’s discomfort.

Could he not see how empty this depot was? “The army is weak,” Maul replied, shaking off Viszla’s hand. “We are not ready for the Duchess,” he continued, emphasizing Lady Kryze’s true title; Viszla had a habit of using his enemy’s first name as if they had been or were currently familiar, which seemed disingenuous. Perhaps Maul was accustomed to his own family’s professional formality regarding titles and given names, but he was still somewhat concerned that he might be tied up in some form of complex Mandalorian mating ritual, which, if that were true, would be a grievous waste of his valuable time.

Viszla’s expression was of hurt, which was…odd. Normally, his Master had reacted with anger. “With my plan, we won’t need a bigger force.”

"There is only one plan,” Maul said, turning to look Viszla in the eye, “one vision.”

“And it belongs to Death Watch,” Viszla emphasized, as if hisplans had not earned him the scar on his face.

With some effort, Maul refrained from boxing the man’s ears to punish his ingratitude. “Yourvision lacks clarity,” he said, striving for diplomacy. “Without us, you have no army, and no reason to replace the Duchess.”

Viszla’s gaze fell, confirming what Maul had known from the beginning: Death Watch’s grand claim of the justice of their cause, the nobility of their purpose, all of it was a smokescreen for their ambition. This whole operation was Viszla’s grab for power, and nothing more, and it was likely nothing would truly change for his people when he supplanted the Duchess. Deep down, he was more of a petty thug than Maul, who had at least made no foolish pretense at virtue.

“The depth of this opportunity eludes you,” Maul murmured, glossing over the impending argument; there was no need to twist the knife at this point in time. “I suggest that you watch, and learn.” With that, he left; effectively dismissing Viszla, right in front of the rest of Death Watch. The human would learn his place in this endeavor; Maul was doing him a favor by including him in the Collective he had been planning, and it was only right that he receive at least the proper appreciation for his efforts.

When he was sure that he was out of sight, Maul rolled his shoulder, trying to will away Sidious’s phantom touch and having a hard time doing so in the stench of Mustafar. It wasn’t even his bad shoulder; if Viszla had touched the right shoulder, Maul would have bit him. His brothers always announced in the Force when they intended to touch him, as did Merrin, who seemed to have many of the same issues with touch as he did. And Barriss…Barriss had always asked, in one way or another, except for two (frankly adorable) outbursts of temper, for which she had apologized even though he’d not taken offense. If he had ever grown uncomfortable, she took her hands away, or utilized some sort of healing capability to soothe his nerves.

Maul sat in Viszla’s personal Warbird, pretending to supervise as Death Watch and Black Sun loaded the supplies onto the transport when really, he was deliberately recalling the feel of cool fingers on the skin near his collarbone, the pressure of soft lips on his jaw, chasing bad memories away with good ones. Stars; they’d shared a bed for little over a week, and been separated for half that long, and yet he already missed Barriss as if they’d been together for years. He was sneaking another hour alone with her, as soon as he could; maybe then he could put Mustafar behind him, at least for a little while.

***

On the flight home, Savage waited for a quiet moment when most of the Mandalorians on Viszla’s Warbird were asleep, before slipping into the tiny cargo bay. He took out his saberstaff, and with the Force he held it in midair before him; cautiously, he closed his eyes so as to examine the weapon’s composition in his mind, particularly that of its crystal. Feral and one of the Jedi Padawans they had fostered for a while had suggested the idea that Savage might be able to modify his weapon, to make it more his own. He was thinking he might need to make the hilt longer – he had much bigger hands than Dooku had anticipated – but, there was also the possibility that he could heal the crystal, which Dooku had Bled before giving to him. Syndulla had thought it might be as simple as welding the cracks in the stone with the Force, but…

“Did it get damaged in the fight?”

Savage nearly dropped the lightsaber hilt while it was still in pieces; when he was sure that he had not lost anything but his focus, he frowned up at the commando who had distracted him.

For his part, Saxon had the grace to be sheepish. “Sorry. I guess I don’t know anything about these things. I thought you were cleaning it like you would a blaster.”

“I wasn’t.”

Ignoring the clear body language signals that Savage wanted to be left alone, Saxon took a seat across from him on a box, careful to keep a respectful distance.

Savage raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

The Mandalorian shook his head. “I’m assigned to rest during this cycle, but I haven’t been able to sleep; I think the magnetic rock set off my rhythm, or something.”

This had gone on long enough. “Look…I realize you are interested in me, and that’s fine, I’m not insulted, and I’m not going to tell anyone about it. But, just to be upfront, I’m not…”

“Into men? Figures; but it never hurts to ask.”

Savage stared askance at him. “You, uh, accepted that pretty quickly.”

Saxon shrugged. “Well, I reckon you’d have worked out if you were attracted to men fairly early in life, just going on the bare minimum details that I’ve learned about your tribe.”

“That’s putting it nicely,” Savage replied, still watching Saxon askance. Homosexuals in his village were gleaned if the Witches heard any rumor of their orientation…any rumor, no matter who started it or how true it turned out to be. Savage himself had been reported when he gently rebuffed another boy’s advances; it was only the fact that he was the Nightmother’s son that had saved him, and he’d still received a beating when he could not (would not) give them the name of the Brother who had made the report.

The Mandalorian studied his expression, and his grizzled face softened visibly. “How many times have you been hurt because of a conversation like this?”

Savage rubbed at the ridge a Sister had left in the bridge of his nose at the age of sixteen. “Enough.”

“I’m sorry. Truly. You won’t have to worry about that happening with us.”

“That’s…good to know. But, I’m still not attracted to men.”

Saxon sighed sadly, but nodded. “The ladies will love a chance to talk to you, though.”

“I’m even less attracted to women than I am to men.”

“Fair enough. Can I call you friend, then?”

“…Maybe later? I still don’t really know you.”

“Well, I don’t mind getting to know you, if you don’t mind.”

[theparanormalperiodical]

French Nuns And Newspaper Clippings: The Real Stories That Inspired The Exorcist (1973)

The year is 1632.

We are in a remote commune in Northern France. The situation is bleak: an outbreak of plague has started snatching lives again, and King Louis XIII is ordering the walls around Loudon to be torn down. The locals are more divided than ever.

But things are about to get worse.

Way worse.

The local nuns are beginning to act strange.

It started when one young nun claimed she had a vision of a dead priest. Suddenly, all 17 clergywomen are reporting similar visions. They then begin cussing, shouting, and displaying more and more aggressive behaviour.

17th century nuns do not act like this.

Oh no, this was something unholy. This was demonic possession.

331 years later, this little-known historic tale would feature as one of the main inspirations behind horror’s most iconic movie.

Yep, the film that still gives you nightmares of young girls walking down stairs crustacean-style is based on a true story. But it’s worse than that. It’s based on two tales of alleged possession, several real-life people, and a demon many still worship today.

*nopes the f*ck out*

Let’s Talk About The Exorcist

Let me just clarify something: the exorcist is not the creepy, possessed ‘lil girl. An exorcist is a person that performs exorcisms - so here, it’s the priests.

The Exorcist was originally a book written by William Peter Blatty. Adapted to a film series (and a TV show) starting 2 years later, they both shared a close plotline. Well, to begin with, anyway.

A statue of a demon is found in an archaeological dig of northern Iraq. The discovery unleashes a mysterious spirit/demon/god called Pazuzu. On the other side of the world, a young girl begins exhibiting strange behaviour. Regan, a typical 12-year-old American girl, refuses to eat or sleep and becomes aggressive. All the while, strange things happen around the house.

The doctors provide no answers to her behaviour, so the mother of the supposedly-ill child turns to religion instead. She finds help in the form of a priest who is experiencing a crisis of faith and consequently doesn’t believe this is demonic possession. But a couple chats with the girl convinces him that yep, she’s bunged up with a demon. So, he asks the bishop if he can perform an exorcism. A priest fresh off that dig in Iraq is shipped over and they get to work. During the final exorcism, one of the priests opts to save the possessed girl by asking the demon to possess them instead. The possessed priest chucks himself out of the window and as he falls to his death, regains his faith in God.

The Exorcist is one of the most famous horror films - if not, the most iconic - of all time, from the traumatic FX makeup of a possessed Regan to sequences ‘80s America wasn’t ready for.

But The Exorcist was not a stand alone film. Contrary to popular belief, what followed was 4 (soon to be 5) sequels ‘n’ prequels that unravelled a deep, dramatic plotline. There’s a reason we don’t hear about them.

In the following films we see the aftermath of Regan’s exorcism and emerging doubts about whether she was in fact really possessed. Political and theological themes rise to the surface, looking deeper at the priests that conducted the exorcism rather than the victim. At the same time we take part in an archeological dig, meet a serial killer, and get a front row seat to a battle during WW2.

It’s a wild ride. But this ride is brimming with reality.

Blatty directly cited inspiration from a number of sources, most famously the 1949 demonic possession of Roland Doe that he first heard when studying at Georgetown University. But he has also claimed that many of the characters who navigated the possession of Regan were based on real people.

Take Father Merrin, the exorcist leading the exorcism: he was based on a British archaeologist that excavated the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls (ancient manuscripts written in Hebrew) had been found.

But the nature of the exorcism that filled out a majority of the film were informed by the work for Father William S Bowdern, a Jesuit priest who exorcised Roland Doe himself.

However, it wasn’t just the mortals that were inspired by real, historic figures.

Pazuzu Is An Actual Worshipped Demon

Without Pazuzu, there would be no possession. Without Pazuzu, there would be no exorcism, nor the need for an exorcist.

We only see the demon in flashes - but these moments inherit a history that takes us back as far as 3500BC. Pazuzu was an ancient Mesopotamian or Assyro-Babylonian god that was the king of the demons of the wind. He brought storms and drought, and although recognised as an evil spirit, he also drove away other evil spirits. He strives to protect us from plagues and misfortunes, and his rival, Lamashtu, causes harm to mother and baby during childbirth.

He is known as both a demon and a god, but in The Exorcist is recognised more as the former.

We do catch a couple glimpses of Pazuzu, but we only see his face clearly when he begins to take over young Regan. The pasty white face and blood red eyes don’t fit ancient lore: Pazuzu is traditionally depicted as having the head of a lion, the body of a human, the talons of an eagle, a pair of wings, a scorpion’s tail, and a ‘serpentine penis’ (I can’t work out if this is the penis of a snake or a penis that looks like a snake and like I don’t wanna know k).

The Exorcism Of Roland Doe

It’s one of the most famous cases of possession - and we don’t even know who the victim actually was.

In 1949, American newspapers began to pick up on the story of an exorcism in Maryland. A teenage boy was at the centre of mysterious poltergeist activity after the death of his spiritualist aunt. She was the one that first introduced him to an ouija board.

After typical paranormal activity took place, priests were summoned to exorcism him. During these exorcisms, furniture began to move by itself, the boy began to attack priests with rogue bedsprings, he began to speak in an unknown voice, the mattress he lay on began to shake, and words like “evil” and “hell” began to appear in scratches upon his body.

It was a very similar state to the one Regan was in during The Exorcist.

Roland Doe (a pseudonym, obviously) to this day has remained anonymous, and - if alive - he would be 86 years old.

Despite this being the most known case of alleged possession - rivalling only that of Anneliese Michel - it has received a large dose of skepticism and debunking. The supposed location of the exorcism and some personal details of Roland Doe have been contested. Plus, many believe Doe was actually a spoiled, attention-seeking bully who simply repeated Latin phrases heard at school in order to create some elaborate prank.

Regardless of whether it was real or not, it is a landmark moment in paranormal history.

And 300 years before a 14 year old lutheran began to growl Latin at his family members, a group of women began to show similar signs of a haunting.

The Possessed Affair Of Loudon And Aix-en-Provence

I’ve already introduced you to the possessed nuns of Loudon. But it turns out The Exorcist also took inspiration in another French convent: Aix-en-Provence.

The nuns of Loudon pinned their possession on the demon Asmodai and gave a number of different answers as to who summoned it. Some claimed it was either a priest named Peter or Zabulon (a biblical figure). But a week after this, a man named Urbain Grandier who had amassed a lot of power and a strained reputation in the community was considered the culprit.

Soon after the nuns first exhibited strange behaviour, they were hidden away and the symptoms stopped.

The accusations levelled against Grandier were clearly inspired by political motives as he had publicly attacked the cardinal’s work and the taking down of the wall. But locals say he would appear at random in the convent with no one sure as to how he got inside. It was even claimed that he had made a pact with the devil - from which a physical contract was supposedly uncovered - and that he had attended witch’s sabbat.

The priest was executed for sorcery and given ‘the boot’ (a method of torture).

Loudon and Aix-en-Provence are considered cases that fit in well with wider witch trials taking place across western Europe in the 17th century. The possession of the Ursuline nuns of Aix-en-Provence were similar to that of Loudon - but were just a tad more mental.

20 years before Grandier was convicted, a young woman, Madeleine de Demandolx, confessed to the superior of the convent that she had been intimate with the local priest. She was sent away to Aix-en-Provence to get some distance but soon began to do some rather out-of-character things.

She would have convulsions and soon the other nuns began to do the same. It appeared to be contagious.

But things got hella weird when the nuns gathered together in a holy cave that Mary Magdalene was meant to have once lived in (Sainte-Baume) to be exorcised. Instead of just shaking, they all tried to outdo each other in symptoms of possession.

Once would cuss fervently; another would speak in a deep, demonic voice.

A political story soon unravelled full of accusations, executions, and even Madeleine being released from jail at 77 for her alleged witchcraft.

So - are you ever going to watch The Exorcist after this?

(Me neither.)

If you liked this post, go on and let me know with a like ‘n’ a reblog. And if you want to hear somethin’ spooky every Saturday, go on and hit follow!

[aion-rsa]

How Alias Anticipated Modern Superhero Storytelling

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J.J. Abrams’ spy drama Alias, which turns 20 this week, was a lot of things: high-octane action-adventure series, twentysomethings relationship drama, occasional National Treasure homage. It was also, surprisingly, a spiritual predecessor to today’s hyper-saturated superhero movie and TV universes: A preternaturally gifted fighter, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) inhabits comic-book-esque alter egos to infiltrate secret missions related to ancient artifacts and promised immortality, all while ensuring that her nearest and dearest don’t know how many times she’s saved the world—or which side she’s really on.

Like the series’ MacGuffin-generating Nostradamus figure Milo Rambaldi, Alias has proven to be somewhat prophetic itself about what makes for the kinds of superhero stories that land today. With some 20th-anniversary hindsight, let’s look back at what made Sydney’s story so super and what lessons Abrams’ ridiculous(ly fun) series can still impart to the current crop of superhero sagas.

The Secret Identity as Kiss of Death

The highest priority that spies and superheroes share is that they cannot get made—that is, have their identity as a larger-than-life individual linked to their “normal” selves. They must always keep their personal and professional personas separate, lest they risk losing the people who know both sides of them. Alias establishes this difficult lesson in the first half hour of the pilot, when Sydney reveals her true work (she thinks SD-6 is just a covert branch of the CIA) to doctor fiancé Danny, only for him to blab about it later and get bloodily taken out in their bathtub. It’s the first time that SD-6 treats its sweet protégée harshly, making clear the consequences of her actions should she open up to anyone else in her life. And then she defects to the CIA, which will be a death sentence for her if SD-6 ever finds out.

Yet beyond the specter of grisly assassination, what the series really digs into is Syd’s growing ethical dilemma about being a double agent where it concerns the actually good people at SD-6, primarily her longtime partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) and sweetly awkward Q stand-in Marshall (Kevin Weisman). It would be too easy if the series were only about her getting long-game revenge on SD-6 director Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin); the real conflict comes from Sydney lying to Dixon’s face on every stakeout, knowing that he still thinks he’s working for the good guys and she can’t ruin that fantasy for him without potentially turning him into collateral damage.

Similarly, the moments in which Sydney’s two (or three) lives begin to collide have other heartbreaking consequences: While the scene in which her best friend Will (Bradley Cooper cast as the friendzoned buddy, amazing) gets kidnapped and sees Syd saving him, is one of the decade’s best laugh-out-loud moments, it also leads to Will going into the Witness Protection Program. His life ends, in a sense, because Sydney couldn’t keep everything compartmentalized. And we haven’t even gotten to the awful fate that befalls her best friend Francie (Merrin Dungey)…

What Alias Predicted: The beating heart (or arc reactor) of many a superhero story is this tension between selves—which means that the big reveal of a secret identity has to be carefully timed and deliberately presented. It’s as emotional as Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) mask getting ripped away when he saves the subway car of people in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, as big as Spider-Man: Far From Home doxxing that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in a commentary on fake news, or as pure and simple as Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) outing himself as Iron Man in the very first installment of the MCU. You cannot unring that bell, so it better be a memorable moment.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Rev the secret identity stakes back up! Captain America: Civil War ably took on the game-changing Marvel Comics arc of the same name by having heroes collectively unmask, and movies like Spider-Man: Far From Home are still playing out those ramifications. But mostly we see the dangerous ramifications of heroes doxxing themselves, without really digging into the strain for heroes to constantly have to lie about the things that truly matter to them.

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Campy Disguises and Clever Aliases

If you’ve watched Alias or were even vaguely aware of it, no doubt the first thing you envision is Sydney in black leather and bright red hair, a.k.a. her iconic look from the pilot. Her non-SD-6-sanctioned, under-the-radar disguise (impersonating Will’s sister) displays her ingenuity and establishes the series’ brand: attention-grabbing hair paired with increasingly ridiculous outfits, from chain mail waitress ensembles to rubber dresses. She’s played punks, rich bimbos, alluring businesswomen, escorts, and all manner of female personas upon which her marks would project their assumptions—all of which belied her true strength and cunning.

Even when future episodes riffed on the color wheel with teal, magenta, purple, and good old-fashioned blonde wigs, it was still within a clear spectrum established on that pivotal mission, when she channels a silly girl who cares more about the color of her hair than her safety, only to pin her torturer with the same chair to which she’s bound.

What Alias Predicted: I would hazard a guess that Natasha Romanoff’s first appearance in 2012’s The Avengers—a seemingly helpless redhead tied to a chair, about to be nastily interrogated—was a nod toward Sydney’s triumphant pilot mission. What’s more, despite the first ten years of the MCU leaning toward sleek costumes, later phases (like WandaVision‘s cheeky Halloween callbacks) have realized that they can embrace the bold colors and campy designs of the comic-book source material.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Better to lean into the bold colors and campy designs of the comic-book source material than to go for more sleek and cool. WandaVision did this, albeit cheekily and using the excuse of Halloween, but the nod toward Scarlet Witch’s original outfit was well received. Because any superhero can look cool in leather, but only the standouts can rock color.

Rambaldi Artifacts, Immortality, and Clones

While replicating the romantic dramas of Felicity, Abrams was also playing with early iterations of his signature “puzzle box” narrative style: The pilot has Sydney chasing after the mysterious Mueller device, which turns out to be… a floating red ball… which bursts into water the moment she tries to remove it. That head-scratcher of a device is only one of many inventions belonging to Milo Rambaldi, a fictional Renaissance-era philosopher whose sketches and writings all pointed toward the ultimate endgame: immortality. You know, just normal spy thriller things.

The series saw Sydney and co. chasing after all manner of Rambaldi MacGuffins, from a clock to a kaleidoscope to a music box to flowers that either demonstrated proof of eternal life (by never wilting) or amped up human aggression. Through all of this, it becomes clear that Sloane helped found SD-6 in order to collect all of Rambaldi’s artifacts and capture immortality for himself—even and especially at the cost of people like his daughter, Sydney’s half-sister Nadia Santos (Mía Maestro).

Before we get more into Rambaldi’s prophecies about the sisters, we can’t forget the parallel fever dream of the series: clones! Or, rather, secret agents genetically modified to look like anyone—which means everyone is a suspect. This constant paranoia quickly got out of hand on the series, but its first reveal was perfect TV drama: There’s not an Alias fan who doesn’t remember “Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream” and the complete devastation that followed—the knock-down, drag-out fight that destroyed Sydney’s apartment just as badly as Danny’s death, but also Sydney’s heartbreak upon realizing that her best friend was already long dead.

What Alias Predicted: The Infinity Stones themselves are less interesting than in various superheroes’ personal connections to them: Loki (Tom Hiddleston) tempted by the tesseract in Thor: Ragnarok; Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and the Guardians of the Galaxy channeling their friendship to withstand the effects of the Power Stone; Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) stages of grief as she copes with trying to keep the memory of Vision (Paul Bettany) alive even without the Mind Stone. In short: grounding the most out-there plotlines in the personal ensures they will always land.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Ground the most bonkers of plotlines in the personal, and they’ll always land.

The Chosen One and the Passenger

This is when the Rambaldi business started getting less National Treasure levels of charming and more outright weird. Turns out the team wasn’t just recovering a treasure trove of artifacts, but also Rambaldi’s prophetic writings—including the mysterious “Page 47,” which featured a drawing of a woman known as the Chosen One… who bears quite the resemblance to Sydney herself. That would be easy enough to dismiss as a strange doppelgänger coincidence, but then comes the reveal of “Project Christmas”: When Syd discovers that she didn’t just stumble into the spy life on her own, but was actually trained as a sleeper agent from childhood, it only amplifies her fears that she has no true agency over her life.

Further Rambaldi writings center Sydney and Nadia into predestined roles as the Chosen One and the Passenger: supposed foes who are fated to clash, with one dying. Nadia getting injected with “Rambaldi fluid” in order to tap directly into the long-dead man’s consciousness (contained within another artifact known as the Sphere of Life) only earns her some nasty apocalyptic visions. But despite their genuine friendship that comes from bonding over their fucked-up childhoods, Sydney and Nadia are forced into that preordained confrontation when the latter is injected with a compound that reduces her to a mindless killing machine… all while a giant red ball is hovering over a city in Russia, because why not. Even after Nadia dies, and is brought back to life, then dies again, with her ghost haunting Sloane as he finally attains immortality, she remains a presence on the series.

There are certainly echoes to Black Widow and how it handles Natasha and adoptive sister Yelena’s (Florence Pugh) strained reconciliation after the older sister got out of the Red Room while the younger was still caught in its web. Their bickering banter about vests and poses, their differing memories of their false childhood, and their respective feelings of abandonment are what elevated Black Widow’s standalone outing—and made it even more tragic, on multiple levels, that this was the only time we would see the two of them in a movie together.

What Alias Predicted: Sister stories are gold! The Rambaldi storylines would mean nothing if they didn’t hinge on a tragically preordained confrontation, just as the MCU’s Red Room depiction seemed overdone until it was presented within the context of multiple generations’ differing experiences with its bloody legacy.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: More stories about sisters! With Nat dead not long after she and Yelena had just started to bond again, it’s vital that Yelena’s future MCU appearances show her still grappling with the little time they got together.

After all, the best superhero stories are the ones that can feel just as fresh now as they did 20 years ago.

Alias is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The post How Alias Anticipated Modern Superhero Storytelling appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ih3u0c

[holdbeast]

11, 19, and 40 for the Star Wars asks! also, hope you're doing good in these crazy crazy times 🤙

11. Which planet would you want to call home?

There is only on acceptable option, and that option is Naboo! As far as I can tell, literally every other Star Wars planet is in the middle of nowhere, a horrifying death world, peak capitalism, or all three together in some horrible dystopian stew.

14. If you could change one thing from the Star Wars universe, which would it be?

I mean. There are so many things I could talk about here re the sequel trilogy, it’s hard to pick just one.

I’m gonna say: if they had to go with an evil clone/strandcast villain, get rid of Snoke and make the villain Evil Clone Leia.

The sequels get so much better if Kyle Ren’s defection is about his mommy issues, Luke becomes a hermit because he can’t handle the Evil Clone Leia situation, and the army battles are Leia vs Leia.

40. If you could make your own Star Wars trilogy/series, what would it be about?

I think I‘d set it in the future to give things a clean slate --, say 150 years after the sequel trilogy. Give me brash young Jedi Knight Grogu Djarin going on crazy adventures throughout the galaxy. And, plot twist, now there are neat new settings to explore like idk, the Mandalorian Protectorate, or some kind of crazy witch kingdom founded by Merrin, or whatever.

The Sith are all but forgotten in this setting, but Grogu? Grogu remembers. And he can see that someone is pursuing Sith history the way dear old Master Luke once looked for Jedi artifacts…

[cosmiciaria]

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order review! (Spoiler free)

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (SWJFO) appeared out of fricking nowhere and to everyone's surprise, it was a striking success? How? But… EA was so bad at making SW games!! I don't see micro transactions and… is this… actual… plot… with actual… good characters?? I'm shooketh.

So, yes, SWJFO is a good game! It's not perfect, it has its flaws, yes, but considering where we come from… Battlefront II I'm looking at you.

The game takes place between Episode III and Episode IV. I won't say it's a "bridge" between those two Episodes because it isn't, and some may argue that talking about Jedi in the middle of those two pieces of media doesn't take you anywhere, since we all know what happens next, but let me explain to you: the story fits so well. So well.

We follow Cal Kestis, your average ginger Good Boi, who's a padawan in disguise. It's been five years since Order 66 and he's been hiding all this time in Bracca, a junkyard, where he works mostly enslaved by the Empire. His good pal Prauf tells him he should go outside and explore the galaxy, since he's young and cute probably, but Cal is so scared of being found and he's suffering such a huge survivor's guilt that he doesn't take any action to leave that planet.

It all seemed to be like another ordinary day of work, dismembering old ships and searching for useful parts, when the wing that Cal and Prauf were working on suddenly falls from the body of the ship, and Cal, who hasn't been using his Force since the execution of the Jedi, is forced (pun intended) to save his friend from falling to his death. Prauf understands the stakes, and swears to keep the secret.

However, destiny seems to hate him, because the Inquisitors (the Second and Ninth Sisters to be more precise), an order of Jedi-turned-to-dark-side that serves the Empire, arrive at Bracca, looking for a remaining Force-wielder who hides among the workers. Prauf steps up for his comrade, only to be impaled quite literally in front of Cal. Cal loses his composure and snaps at the Second Sister, revealing his nature as Jedi, and so the hunt begins.

Cal faces the Second Sister, who menacingly swings her lightsaber with red emitters, but he's too weak to defeat her. Just when we thought that everything is lost, a new spaceship arrives: the Mantis, and a woman reaches out from the main gate, asking us to jump. Cal doesn't think twice, bids farewell to a very angry Second Sister and jumps into safety.

Inside the Mantis, Cal meets his saviors: Cere, a former jedi who purposely cut her link with the Force, and Greez, a lateros who is the owner and driver of the ship. Cere goes straight to the point: she's been looking for Cal (or any other Force-sensitive to be honest) for years now, because she has a clear plan: to rebuild the Jedi Order.

From here onward, the game opens up. You'll be visiting Bogano first, which is the sanctuary more or less of Cordova, a dead character that will have a great impact on the whole story. Cordova was Cere's master, and he's worked and compiled information about the Zeffo sages and other interesting mythos from around the galaxy. Cordova swears that in the ancestral chamber in Bogano, sealed by ancient technology created by the Zeffo, lies the Holocron: a cubic thingy only readable for Jedi, that holds key information about the names of the kids who are Force-sensitives. With this list of names, Cere plans to bring back the Jedi and strike back at the Empire.

So the main objective is to get this Holocron, but to get there, you'll have to go to many planets and explore many nooks and crannies. I won't spoil it for you, because I try to never spoil in my reviews, and like I said before, it may sound like this goal doesn't make any sense since we know they don't succeed in rebuilding the Order (hell, not even with Rey and it's been a whole generation since then), but hear me out: the story still fits so well! PLEASE TRUST ME IN THIS ONE

So instead of talking about the plot, let's talk about the characters!

Cal will be your main character. I read that some people think he's boring, ok, I can take that. The reality is that there's so much more to him than just his dashing appearance (alright, maybe I am biased, since I love red hairs) and his kindness and good-boy-ness. Cal is deeply regretful by his actions during Order 66 and he can't forget nor forgive what happened to his master. He feels remorseful and blames himself for the outcome of the purge. He has a scar on his face that constantly reminds him of it. He's a clear case of survivor's guilt syndrome, and it doesn't take one much to see it. I won't say when or the context, but there's a moment in which he has to ride a escape pod, and he looks around, nervously, as if he's going to suffocate, because it reminds him of the purge – man, there's a lot not said that really touches you. I don't need a character to tell me that he's sad. He can show it to me and that's exemplarily well done with him.

Another example of a sad character, more in-your-face this time, is Cere. A former master, now devoid of the Force, Cere wanders the galaxy with a clear goal in mind. But in her past, she hides torture and some too-close-for-comfort connection with the dark side. She wants to redeem herself and she trusts that this sacred mission will, not wipe out, but compensate for her mistakes. Cere is a great north in this game and she always supports Cal in everything. Her unconditional trust may seem overwhelming at first, but she's careful and she knows with what they're all dealing with. Besides she's badass af.

Greez is a less warrior character but much funnier than the rest of the cast. As the owner of the Mantis, he takes care of this ship as if it were his daughter. He has a knack for cooking and even though he tries to hide it, he does have a soft spot for Cal. Maybe his past of gambler and addiction makes him come across as the one who doesn't give a damn of what's going on, but if that were truly the case, he wouldn't be here, trying to rebuild the Order as well. He has by far the best lines in the script, and he's so unintentionally funny. There was this scene, out of context, where Cere and Cal were having an argument while eating, and he was sitting in between, in the background, adding peppermint or whatever spice to his dish, but the thing is, he never stopped throwing peppermint to his dish because he was watching them argue. Damn. I love him.

Merrin is introduced later in the game, but she does play a large role in the story. Born and raised in Dathomir, Merrin is a Nightsister, an order of 'witches' let's call them that have twisted the Force and use it in a different way than the Jedi. After General Grievous (as much as we assume, because he's mentioned as "armored man wielding lightsabers") wiped out all the life in Dathomir, Merrin remained as the sole survivor of her planet, roaming around the corpses of her sisters with no goal whatsoever. She resents the Jedi and has sworn to fight them even if it cost her life. This led her to get in with a bad crowd… but she'll find a better purpose after she meets Cal (And if you ask me, this SHIP HAS SAAAAAIIILLLLEEED).

And last but not least, the Second Sister, who, as I said before, was a former Jedi who was forced into the dark side, now hunts the remaining Force-sensitive that have escaped from the purge. She seems your ordinary villain at the start of the story, but slowly the plot will be unfolding a lot of details about her past and how she became an Inquisitor, making her as much, if not more than, important like the rest of the cast.

If there's thread connecting all these characters, is their broken pasts. These are all broken characters who now must face the consequences of their decisions, however much they don't want to look that way. They have to reconcile with their pasts and overcome their fears. They have all suffered, but in this suffering they found strength. And each other.

And I cannot not mention BD-1, your companion droid. He has personality, you can't deny it. Every time Cal went like "How is it going, BD-1?" and the droid threw his "Boops-beeps", please, they're having a profound conversation DON'T INTERRUPT THEM.

As far as gameplay goes, this game borrows from other great creations of the PS4 era: Uncharted (you'll be climbing and doing parkour a lot), Tomb Raider (sliding down and tomb raiding, yes), Dark Souls (meditation/save points where you can level up your skills and also whenever you die you lose your exp gained, but not the ability points. You can recover that exp though), and Sekiro (parry. Parry a lot). This may seem to all of you like the game lacks originality, and while it's debatable, I still think that it has a lot new and original gameplay to offer, specially when it comes to Force wielding and lightsabers. Oh, yes, you're a Jedi (padawan, actually), you'll be using the Force! The game tries really hard to integrate the Force not only in combat, but also while you explore and while you solve puzzles. The more you level up, the more powerful your abilities become, and it comes a point when you feel unstoppable. The Stormtroopers might sound cocky at first, but when you start pushing and pulling, oh, yes, fear the Jedi! So yes, the game may look like a copycat of previous works in the gaming industry, but it does make a good use of all those mechanics, while still throwing something new elements into the mix.

The level design is ASTOUNDING, sometimes I turned around one corner and appeared somewhere I thought it was like miles away from my place, and I was marveled at how well everything interconnects with everything. The level of detail also is so meticulous and well crafted, like there are so many little things that if you stop to stare and pay attention you'll be so mesmerized by them. Some of the places are so eye candy, even Dathomir with their "I AM DEATH" vibes has such a beautiful color palette, that I couldn't help but take a thousand screenshots. This game looks gorgeous, and it shows. You know, when a game has a photo mode, you know the devs are convinced of its beauty.

But, like I said earlier, the game isn't without flaws. While I praised the intricate level design, there's also one thing I hate a lot: backtracking. Yes, in these huge maps, there are no fast travels. You can create shortcuts and such, but, if you want to get to that 2% that was left unexplored in that particular area, you must return to it by foot. This is a huge let down for me. I did the game with a guide, so I grabbed most of the collectibles during my first time in each planet, but still there were some things that I missed, and I had to go all the way there to revisit places with the only purpose of grabbing that stupid chest or filling that small percentage of the map, while trying to survive against the enemies, since everything in this game, everything, wants to actively kill you. Damn, Cal was wanted.

Another huge drawback for me that it normally doesn't bother me much were the low framerates. I played it on normal PS4, not the Pro, and the rendition of the game wasn't good. I wasn't even fighting or doing a lot of stuff on screen, I was just climbing and chilling, and still the framerates would fall like under 20. When there a lot of things going on screen, the game suffers from it and it makes you know that the play station is giving its all to make it function. I believe this isn't a problem for those who have a nice computer and play it with the highest specs, but as I know that there are people out there who really care about the performance, I had to at least mention this.

Also, do not come here thinking that this is an open world game. Yes, granted, you can travel from planet to planet with no real rush and take things with time, but the maps are mostly linear (except for the interconnections between each area), and once you explored or got all chests, that's all there's to it. Now that I have completed the game and platinumed it, the planets feel barren, empty, like there's no real life breathing through the leaves or the rooms. And I think I know what this game could've benefited a lot from: sidequests. There are no NPC's here, except for some Wookies at that moment in the story or your crew members, so there's no one to give you a sidequest. But even without NPC's, they could've thrown sidequests from the different collectibles that you come across in your path, or maybe when on arriving at a certain place. There's like one thing that gets close to a sidequest and it's exploring a crashed Venator in the planet Zeffo, but that's all there's to it: more of the same killing, climbing and cutting ropes. If you're a rookie collector, then yes, this game got you covered, for there are over 200 collectibles (I think over 300 actually, considering echoes and chests and scans), but it's not like there's anything in between these, except for enemies. No banter with your crew members while you walk around, some occasional beep boops from BD-1 only.

I think those are my main complaints, but all in all I believe that the good compensates the bad. The last "mission" is reaaaaally good, and they did something I really like, which I won't spoil. I'm just going to say that I'm so glad with the decisions they took. The relationships between the characters grow vividly before our eyes, and we see Cal develop from a frightened fugitive into a fighter. There are moments in the story and in the gameplay where the game made me go like "whoa", I was truly amazed by what was going on. The acting is flawless, the music gets under your skin and the vistas are just dreamy. There so many easter eggs to appease even the most hardcore SW fan! They could polish all the things I said, but if there's another SW game developed by Respawn and with that writing team, I'll be there to buy it.

It's not perfect, but it's good. Give Cal a chance!

[jmkitsune]

me playing fallen order so far-

-oh fuckin hell Cal is me as a Jedi >.<

- ...did I just get adopted by a tiny gambling addicted cook and this woman with a shady past?

- I just met you BD-1 but I’m gonna die for you...but til that day I’ll live my best life WITH you! you’re the best little guy.

- Cere, Greeze...I found a bogling...we’re keeping it, it’s adorable :D

- Greaaaaat Dathomir...nothing bad happens...OH HELL UNDEAD THINGS! WHY IS IT ALWAYS UNDEAD STUFF I HATE MUMMIES!

- uh oh..NO NOT ORDER SIXTY SIX FLASHBACK!! IT HAS THE MUSIC FROM THE MOVIE TOO WHY!?!

- Merrin...you’re...oh crap I wanna protect you, oh you’re coming with us, Cal and Merrin are precious and they need to get away from their painful/tragic/traumatic pasts together, they both survived so much

- sometimes family is a gambling addicted cook of a father, a mom who cut herself off from the force and has a fucked up past she isn’t ready to deal with, a former padawan with MAJOR guilt issues brought upon by trauma, the cutest droid you’ll ever meet, a nightsister witch who digs the ging, and a bogling

and that’s ok- cause ohana means family AND FAMILY MEANS NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND!!

- anyone touches this broken but still good family I’ll destroy a deathstar with a bigger death star! don’t fuck with me, its star wars there is ALWAYS a bigger death star

[hopelessamericanwriter]

Warrior - Ivar Fanfic Part II

“I can’t believe this!”

Blaine growled through tight gritted teeth. Her slim jawline protruding out even more. It was the most menacing I had seen her. I had to do my best to stifle a giggle. She paced back and forth in front of me swiftly. I was sitting on a cot watching her in silence. She then turned and looked at me.

“Are you not worried he’ll kill you?”

Shrugging I used my hands to gesture words to her saying,

“I win either way. Either by being spared the brutality of these people or killing my long time enemy.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed whilst folding her arms close to herself.

“Neither of those are good reasons-”

I held my hand up to signal my interruption, again spoke to her with my hands.

“Yes they are. All my life I have been branded a witch and an outcast. For once I am somewhat in charge of my destiny. Either fight or die. I am no longer the generals silenced mistake.”

She sighed and flopped her arms at her side.

“Merrin you’re blind! These people are not welcoming you, they are sentencing to death now or death later. You won’t win. You are lower than maggots to them. Just because you found a liking to their king does not mean he’ll protect you.”

I balled my fist beside me and clenched my jaw. Angrily I signed at her.

“Just because I find his looks pleasing does not mean I’d bow before him or die in battle for the sake of him. I’m doing this for me and you. ”

Just as she was about to speak Ubbe appeared with a torch in hand. The flicker of the flame illuminating only half of his face. I gulped at the eery sight from the other side of the bars.

“Ivar has summoned you both. I shall escort you to the great hall where you will fight. If you win and prove yourself to him, Ivar will grant you a place in his army and Blaine shall be with you. You lose you die, but if you don’t perish from the fight you shall be sacrificed to the Gods.”

I nodded and so did Blaine. With that he nodded for another guard to let us out of the cell. We followed him out of the darkness.

“I have all the faith in you Merrin. Please, give him what he finally deserves.”

She whispered in my ear right before Ubbe opened the large and heavy double doors that swung smoothly open to reveal people dancing, drinking, and talking. I couldn’t hide my smirk. As I peered around the room I already saw Fionn standing in a circular opening, while Ivar sat on his throne with a woman next to him. ​His queen.​ My heart sank, but it didn’t discourage the rage that built as I neared the opening. My eyes locked to Fionn’s, both of us reading that one another was eager to start. I had noticed the people had taken seats or stood along the walls. It was very crowded and all were whispering amongst one another.

“That Christian condemned her a witch.”

“Ha! She doesn’t look scary enough to even be close to witch! He’s mad!”

The two ladies snickered to one another. I didn’t know whether to be thankful or insulted. Here I wasn’t anything, where as back home I was feared and hated.

I took one last deep breath as I stood across from Fionn and as I opened my eyes, a glare with a hint of a smirk rested happily upon my face. He tilted his head up in defiance.

“Silence!”

Ivar’s voice boomed through the room. All eyes but mine and my opponent were glued to their king. He stood from his chair.

“Tonight we celebrate not only a glorious and bountiful raid, but a chance to see and settle a score. In this fight there shall be on one victor. Bring them their choice of weapon.”

One man from each side approached us with either and axe or a sword. Fionn without hesitation grasped the sword. I calmly looked at my options.

If I am to win any sort of favor acceptance. I must show them my skills.

I smiled and grabbed the axe. It was much heavier than our weapons from home, but the weight felt good and strong in my grasp. I heard the crowd murmur, going from compliments to betting my certain doom. Even Fionn seemed to view it as a disadvantage. Little did he know.

“Fight!”

As soon as Ivar’s words left his mouth Fionn was already charging and screaming. Just at the last second I quickly dodged his blow. He nearly ran into the wall. He turned and I could see the furry in his eyes. My smile grew began to grow even more sinister. I extended my hand motioning with my index finger for him to come at me. He again screamed and charged me. This time I did not budge. He brought the sword back behind his back and forced it down onto me. I brought the axes blade up to meet his sword as I went with the blow to reduce impact. The noise of the blades echoing throughout the room. Many gasped and other cheered. Again he tried from any and all sides. Each time his anger grew, because all were failing. I stepped onto his foot and he cried out, while he was unaware i quickly sliced the blade across his abdomen. Perfectly slicing through his skin and clothing. Immediately it bleed and he cried out in pain.

I instantly felt a hunger I had never known or felt before. Seeing him pained made me feel powerful. I finally inflicted hurt into someone, and he deserved it. He charged me once more and I ducked so he rolled across my back. I felt his blood stain my shirt. As his body came crashing down I used my foot to step on his wrist, forcing him to release the sword and it go skipping across the floor. He laid there and stared up at me. His eyes wide. I glared down at him.

I sensed a presence moving from behind me. I quickly turned and punched Meredith, she was instantly knocked out cold and lying sprawled out on the floor. A few meters from her hand was a dagger. Fionn tried to stand, but I pounced on him and shoved the blade against his skin and saw blood start to coat the axe as I pushed it in.

“Finish him!”

Ivar boomed. I screamed and raised the axe and swiftly brought in down, beheading him easily. His blood spewed out onto my face and clothing. I roared out and the crowd was on its feet cheering for me. I saw from the corner of my eye Meredith stirring. Slowly I stood and sauntered over to her. She looked at me confused, then seeing the blood and looking at her now slain husband. She let out a shrill cry. I picked up the dagger she had lost and stabbed her in the heart, pushing the blade in til her skin was to the hilt. Her mouth hung open she gasped out.

“Monster.”

I smiled and kissed her forehead before withdrawing the blade, sliting her throat. The crowd again burst into roars, then quiet. I turn to see Ivar standing at his throne with a huge grin. I can’t help but let the small smile form.

“It looks like the Gods have favored you. You have proven to us all that you are a capable fighter in spite of no voice. You still have much more to prove, but I am eager to see you in battle. You are not free, but you and Blaine are now apart of my army. As long as you fight for me, you shall live a peaceful and thriving life. Do you accept.”

I nodded slowly. Somehow his grin grew bigger. Suddenly her majesty slammed her cup down and fled the great hall. I felt an ache of guilt. Blaine was right. I have to stop my infatuation over this ruthless man. But I felt his eyes burning into me. When I gazed up I saw he looked as if he hadn’t even noticed his queen was gone. As he approached me everyone had gone back to celebrating. Soon Ivar was soon very close to me.

“My slave will help you get clean and provide you with clothing, as well as Blaine. I will see to it that you are comfortable and happy. It’s so nice to finally having a suitable warrior in my midst.”

He leaned in closer.

“Especially one as pleasing to look at.”

My breathe got stuck in my throat. My eyes went wide and I felt my knees wanting to buckle. His voice was bone-chillingly low, but filled with so much lust and desire. Goosebumps were all over my body, and a feeling in my gut that I had never felt arose.

I finally let out a soft gasp and my eyes fluttered. He leaned back, his bright blues piercing into my soul. And with a smirk he turned and went off into the crowd. I plopped down onto a bench but I was soon in Blaine’s vice-like embrace.

“Oh Merrin! You did it! You’re alive! And both of those vile beings are gone!”

I laughed and accepted her embrace more warmly. Ubbe sat next to me and patted me on my back.

“Not bad for a Christian.”

“Oh we’re not Christian.”

Ubbe looked at her shocked, but also pleased.

“How so?”

We both shrugged and I signed to Blaine.

“What did she say?”

“Merrin said we were outsiders. Her being deemed a witch and I blood to the witch were exiled from the church. Plus Merrin’s father never forced faith on either of us.”

Ubbe nodded in satisfaction and took a long gulp from his cup.

“Drink, you deserve it after a win like that. Not only taking down your accuser but another who disagreed with you.”

He pushed a cup to Blaine and I. I looked at it nervously.

"We have never celebrated in this manner your-”

“Please call me Ubbe. Save all the courtly talk to Ivar. Don’t worry, you don’t have to drink it all. Don’t want to hurt yourself.”

He gave Blaine a playful wink and she blushed. I groaned and quickly took a long drink. It was cool, but had a rather odd taste. Not horrible, but not good either.

As the party came to an end, a young woman came over to me. “I am here to lead you both to your rooms and bath ma’ams.”

I nodded and followed her.

I think I could get use to this.

-

A/N: SOSOSOOOOOO SORRY MY DEARS! I did not mean to take this long! I do hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think ❤️❤️

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