#Order of Merit

[zanysmurf]

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo

I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.

So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?

In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.

What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!

Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.

Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.

In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.

My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.

So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?

The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)

Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.

[mann-walter]

Order 66 was not simply wiping out a practical political obstacle. It was also, importantly, an ideologically-charged genocide. I don’t think any shortcoming the Jedi had warranted erasing them from the face of the galaxy, not to mention their younger members: the younglings for example, and younger padawans too. I’m sure they tailed their masters to various meetings and conflict settlements, but I don’t think they would have understood what was really happening—like the more complicated political and economic sides to them. I also don’t really think they had the power to shift anything of significance, making next to nothing happening their fault. They were children by our standards, thrust into a bloody war.

I find it distasteful to say “They had it coming”, disturbing even. And to continue that by saying you’re a supporter of the Sith…

…it’s all a bit of an exaggeration though. At the end, it’s all fiction. But I’m still gonna give you a side-eye.

Just saying though: the Sith is evil both in theory and in practice. If there is anything they adhere to or worship in the galaxy it is power and themselves. They are Social Darwinists and megalomaniacs. They believe Force sensitivity grants them a divine right to rule (oppress) others, it doesn’t help that some of their recruits, like Palpatine, have a “Providence had chosen me to”-sense of their own. This is also enshrined in their creed, which BTW was inspired by Hitlerian thinking with all the “there is only struggle”, the idolization of power and strength, the iron will-begotten victory, and the “Providence had chosen me to”-sense. All that stuff.

[randomnameless]

So because of Leopold's support and the shadow assassinations by the Agarthans and Humbert , it would be irrealistic to have a civil war happen early on (as in it start during the first year of the war) despite how Edelgard's extended lmanifesto (not just the church part) screw over the nobility while at the same time screwing the church that, unlike the nobles, the civilians of Adrestia seem to somewhat give a shit about?

At least if the intent when writing a fanfic is to respect the lore/world building of Canon?

We don't see enough Adrestian civilians to even know what they think about, we heard about "missing" church people in Adrestia, but nothing about the commoners - we only hear in passing iirc Ashe talking about starvation because of the war, but idk if he's talking in general or about Adrestia.

Ferdie'n'Lysithea's paralogue tells us the randoms in Hrym and being bled dry under Ludwig's name (when he's actually framed by Thales!), and even if the game tries to avoid this topic like the plague, I still wonder where all those "war assets" are coming from, especially since the "people working" on those projects didn't hesitate a second to use Adrestians as guinea pigs (iirc Remire is in Adrestia!).

So Hubert's secret police + starvation + whatever is happening thanks to Agarthans riling people up like what happens in Hrym + Leopold being in charge of the army (that is made up of people from other places than just, Bergliez) + Hubert being Hubert, aka willingly take people hostage or threaten them to make their families comply + Supreme Leader (I mean Hubert) jailing/rekting "corrupt" nobles in the first days of her ascension to the throne...

Nopes apparently says Enbarr's people are pretty happy about the war, because they're revanchists and are hell removed from the frontlines - but what about the rest of Adrestia?

I once compared the coronation scene in CF to a coup (because Billy and Supreme Leader are accompanied by soldiers) but it would sort of match, Supreme Leader gets total control of the army through Bergliez's lust of power/conquest, control over the finances because Linhardt's dad is just like that I guess, Hubert oversees everything and, at least in FE16, Arundel still sides with her.

Aegir was neutralised, Vestra Sr was put in a trashcan, and Varley is either reduced to a puppet or to House arrest.

There are no powers left to oppose her in Adrestia, and if commoners somehow managed to rebel, they would have to deal with their very own national army, secret police and random Agarthans... on top of finding enough food to eat to survive while the ressources are given to the frontlines.

But in a way, everything I'm just saying bar the canon facts of :

having Leopold and the Army + Waldemar and the money

Hubert doing Hubert things

opposing big name nobles being swiftly deposed/neutralised just after her coronation (or before in Nopes!)

food shortages

FE16 wise : Agarthans taxing randoms to death/ Nopes : Agarthans killing people randomly

FWIW, AG where we learn a bit more about Adrestia, and how, apparently, Agarthans and bandits (?) are slaughtering randoms there, but the nobles are too concerned by the Kingdom's assault to protect their people, and would rather see them die than divert troops to, just, have the bandits/agarthans stop creating rivers of blood with the bloods of the people they're supposed to protect.

Everything else is headcanon/AUs/fanfic/however you want to call it.

So bar those points... Adrestia just exists and it's a damn shame, because even Begion managed to get its pseudo civil war between Sanaki and the Senate where commoners/people supported one over the other, but in Adrestia? Bar the BE peeps and a few dads, you have the feeling no one else exists.

FWIW, in the non CF routes, the opera company joins Billy's army iirc, so maybe they're not loyalists? And represent some people who aren't that gung-ho about the war?

i have that random headcanon that in Nopes, Manu and Mittelfrank are used for spying stuff, and actually, through Yuri and Manu herself, give intel about what happens in Enbarr to the CoS while the opera workers try to sabotage as much as they can some stuff in the Imperial Army... but that's just an AU lol

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Just some unimportant ponderings for your mv x ev crossover. You mentioned them possibly going after Astel as a false lead and I got caught in a spiral on how tf they get there without the ranni quest. So if we want a fun detour we can say they are looking for mentions of a fallen meteor. Arthur, who has dabbled in Carian magic, makes a logical leap that a place of astrology and knowledge would be a good start. No academy key so that's not an immediate option, but the Carian study hall may have information. Perhaps they do get info there, maybe not. Their proximity to Ainsel river and the fact that it sits down there and is accessed only through the Ranni quest really can be stretched to there being some sort of lead to find in either there or the manor. They head to Ainsel river pursued by runebear. Ants. Void creature throwing rocks. Stumble their way accidentally to lake of rot overlook. Arthur falls down as a plot device. Back in the rot... again. Fight some fucking rot cultists. Fall down in the coffin. "Arthur! There is a huge fucking Void monster! Arthur! It's about to sh-!

PURSUED BY RUNEBEAR WHKJWHWJH also the amount of falling into things arthur does. incredibly correct. falls the whole way down from the overlook and gets another rot bath™ and somehow survives. trips into an open coffin and it turns out to be the lands between's only public transit vehicle. that's arthur for you. or maybe he was just so fucking exhausted from fighting/running from the dragonkin AND the tree spirit AND the cultists that he was just like john, listen, i'm gonna fucking, i'm just gonna take a nap. in the coffin. it looks so comfy. yes i know i can't see it you described it as comfy. well you said it could physically hold me which is basically the same thing. fucking. shut up, i need this. and then they fall off a cliff Again this time in a coffin. or, possibly more believably, the pests in the area knock them out and put them in the coffin for some ritual purpose known only to them. or to say 'get out of our cloister you weren't even invited.' OR they have to hide in the coffin from the pests. idk why i'm so hung up on getting him into the coffin but i guess we have a lot of options now

ok wait more Plot Thoughts about this. the astel in ainsel is already so like, Barely overtly relevant to the ranni questline as it is, that i almost feel like it would make More sense if they were pursuing astel on purpose rather than just running into it completely accidentally while helping a living doll take over her step-mom's civilization. i think caria almost definitely has a connection to the eternal cities, so maybe while they're in the study hall they find references to the ill-starred monster from the void that totally wrecked one of them. and obviously they're like oh shit, a monster that came in on a meteor and destroyed a city?? this has GOTTA be what kayne wanted us to kill. it's a slam dunk!! and then it's. still. the wrong. fucking. meteor monster.

[zooophagous]

Egon and his stupid genetics have taken most of the spotlight today, but I also discovered my two newts, Dumb and Ass, doing what I assume is their best attempt at making more newts.

I don't expect that this will be a successful venture but I will certainly keep everyone apprised of the newt situation should it change.

[thegoodthegrandandtheugly]

[normalbrothers]

the idea of getting a peaky blinders themed tattoo is so hilarious to me i would not do that, but i'm imagining a guy rn getting that silly undercut and then tattooing 'by order of the peaky blinders' on one of the shaved sides and how big of a beeline i'd make around him, etc

[eggsnatcheskneecaps]

So... The MP3 I've had since elementary may have finally given its last breath

[little-candy-store-of-horrors]

I receive Cursed Header Image you receive Cursed Anime fanart @oldfritz

Favourite Details:

[usefulquotes7]

Those who think they have some merit treat misfortune as an honour, in order to convince other people and themselves that they are worthy of being victimized by fortune. François de La Rochefoucauld, Moral Reflections

[unexpectedgeese]

Smirke’s taxonomy is good, actually. Fight me.

No ok but like I WILL go to bat for the Smirke Taxonomy of fears you guys have no fuckin clue what’s up. Neither did Smirke but like

OK SO. The Smirke taxonomy makes no fucking sense if you’re using it as a straight-on categorization of fears. Control and spiders? How are those the same thing? Why is FIRE its own damn category? Yadda yadda BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT.

Because yeah, Smirke was trying to categorize fears– But what he actually did is categorize HOW THEY MANIFEST.

Like;;; human fear is infinitely varied and complex. You’re never going to be able to slot it into simple categories. We’re afraid of EVERYTHING– the unknown and the known and the concrete and the abstract and the truth and the untruth and spiders and heights and being forgotten and it’s like!! A nuanced outlook on how the fears manifest in avatars and the like is crucial for any actual study but it’s a NIGHTMARE for filing systems. Could you imagine running an archive and having to pinpoint the exact fear for every single statement? “Ooh, is this story where a man is killed by spiders driven by a fear of spiders themselves, oor more what spiders imply?” You’d never get anything done!

But What you CAN do. Is categorize the fears not by what they’re fears of, but by how they manifest in the real world. Because! The manifestations of the fears are driven by the way we as a society talk about our fear! And so grouping fear manifestations and avatars into categories based on how we talk about them is a GENIUS way to circumvent the complicated-ass fear identity question in favor of a more pragmatic, top-down approach to the varied dreads that stalk our everyday lives.

Like, when you’re addicted to something? You’re ‘caught in your own web’. When you don’t know what’s going on? You’re ‘being kept in the dark’. Having a mental health crisis, well, I think you might be ‘spiraling’, my friend! 

Are the everyday struggles of life getting you down? You’re ‘under a lot of pressure,’ seems like. ET CETERA ET CETERA! I could go on! But the POINT is– the language we use to talk about and understand out fear can be used to group said fear into categories based on how it manifests, and SMIRKE’S TAXONOMY IS PERFECT FOR THAT.

And not because that’s how it was intended– No, Robert Smirke is STILL a fucking hack, I’m not disputing that. His whole ‘balance’ schtick was stupid as hell. BUT ALSO! 

Because his taxonomy is so popular among avatars and such, the very EXISTENCE of ‘the entities’ as a concept has skewed the cultural zeitgeist in such a way that Smirke’s taxonomy is more correct now than it was when it was created.

Which!! Is so cool!! Like. Yes, the Smirke taxonomy is objectively a really shit way to classify fear. Most individual ‘entities’ have conflicting fears associated (being watched and watching yourself? C’mon, Eye. You can do better), and there’s some odd overlap too (there are SO MANY fears that incorporate ‘the unknown’ in some way). But when attempting to classify the  physical traits and such of a manifestation/avatar? Smirke’s got you covered, baby!

To summarize: While Smirke’s taxonomy sucks ASS when you try to apply it to the psychological specifics of any given avatar, or fear, or what have you, it’s great for classifying the physical. The cut-and-dry 14 entities give a really good intro to the world of fears, work great for any kind of filing system, and give a good big-picture view of avatar politics. 

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

0 days since bringing myself to tears writing something for Overmorrow

[pharawee]

I'm super sad today because an ikea delivery that I was really looking forward to vanished not once but twice. Who would even steal a little indoor greenhouse? :(((((((

[planet4546b]

overall enjoyed fiona and cake. plot lost me a little in the middle (i think i’m becoming tired of multiverse stories, even though this was a rather charming version) but thematic material was just gutting. samira was there too