#Unferth

[dunkingtruth]

dumb as fuck

[cryptocollectibles]

Beowulf 6 Issue Complete Set (1975) by DC Comics

Written and drawn by various.

[haljathefangirlcat]

My dealer: got some straight gas 🔥😛 this strain is called “Beowulf” 😳 you’ll be zonked out of your gourd 💯

Me: yeah whatever. I don’t feel shit.

literal years later, when I least expected it: dude I swear I just saw Cain's spawn lurking in the fens

My buddy the narrator pacing: Hrothulf is plotting against his uncle

The thing about Beowulf is... I never quite got the hype about it. (Yes, we're not Supposed to use words like "hype" about world literature Classics, especially from ancient times, or to make light of them in general. Shut up and contemplate the fact that social media posts expressing nothing more than personal opinions and feelings aren't generally meant to be the same thing as academic work to be shared between academians in an academic context.) Ofc, I understood its historical value, including in terms of linguistics and philology. But in terms of "would I pick this as reading material to obsess and fall into a research hole over"? Despite trying a few times, I never quite got past ALL the references to God every other line. ("Snorri was an Evil Zealot who set out to knowingly and purposefully Christianize Norse mythology For The Evulz" crowd, I will tattoo each and every single one of those all over your body so you can't look into a mirror without accidentally reading one ever again.) The apparently disjointed "Beowulf fights Grendel and then Grendel's mother in Denmark. Years later, after going back to Sweden and becoming king, he also fights a dragon but this time he dies" narrative didn't really appeal to me, either. Nor did the presence of (afaik) exactly one (1) named female character. (Wealhtheow, babe, in hindsight I'm so sorry.)

I'm not sure what changed, exactly. It's just that, some time ago, I finally got around to reading Grendel by John Gardner, and I loved it and thought "wow, this would have made me either bawl my eyes out or stare off into space for like five-to-ten minutes after finishing it, had I read it as a teen." And after that, I found myself thinking "well, now I should probably get to know know the original story," and finally picking up my copy of Tolkien's translation of Beowulf, and realzing there actually was a lot going on in the story, and getting way too engaged in the looming "Hrothulf kills Hrothgar's kids" subplot that doesn't even really resurface in any later material about Hrolf Kraki (though those aren't exactly free from fucked-up family dynamics, either...), and going "!!! Volsungar mention!!!!" at the bit about Sigemund and Fitela despite already knowing about the Sigemund and Fitela bit and the whole "who actually killed the dragon first/in which tradition" question, and losing my mind at the bit about Hama and the "necklace of the Brosings" and "Eormanaric's hate" because, yeah, I already knew about that one, too, kind of, but recently I've gone into a little bit of a Brisingamen deep-dive, and a while ago I read a really interesting commentary and translation of the Hildebrandslied that had quite a lot to say not just about the specific hatred/enmity of a powerful king for an adventurous hero but also about the shift from Odoacher to Ermanric as Dietrich' von Bern's enemy, which ofc (?) got me thinking about Eormanaric/Ermanric/Jormunrek's apparent widespread reputation for being an asshole, something there probably has to be some accessible paper in English about somewhere out there...

Ahem. Anyway, I also found myself alternating reading Tolkien's translation with watching Grendel Grendel Grendel, the weird and very simplified and toned down but still somehow very enjoyable and sad kids' movie adaptation of Gardner's Grendel. And Beowulf & Grendel, the one without any magic where Grendel's a traumatized Neanderthal on a quest of vengeance that's somehow also quite a good watch despite the wonky editing, the cast and crew being possibly cursed by the Norse gods, and ofc, the time-displaced Neanderthals. And Animated Epics: Beowulf, which I might have actually watched once as a child, thinking about it. And Simon Roper and Jackson Crawford's read-along, featuring interesting linguistic, literary, and historical notes as well as Australian!Hrothgar, Beowulf making it exceedingly clear that "some of my best friends are Danes!", and some unforgettable exchanges such as "I used to tell my students the story about that time I almost drove off a cliff when they were worried about their exams to make them undestand that I, too, had experienced the fear of death :|" "I'm glad you didn't perish :)" "Thanks. :|" (I'm on the Fits 8-11 video, btw. Even if, when it comes to Tolkien's translation, I'm already at the part where Beowulf says goodbye to Hrothgar and sails back to the land of the Geats. Look, I remebered thos videos existed somewhat belatedly.)

I think eventually I might also end up rewatching The 13th Warrior (which I'm gonna go out on a limb and say might be the true origin of the ahistorical Neanderthals in Beowulf & Gredenl, but I remember liking that one, too). And Outlander (my beloved "aliens crash-land in Viking Age Scandinavia and fight each other while being Sad & Tragic in their own ways" one, not the Scottish one) but specifically as a Beowulf reimagining this time around (rather than as "the movie that could have totally had the Brooding Hero, Fiery But Sweet Warrior Woman, and Hotheaded Rival-Turned-Friend invent modern polyamory, because that wouldn't have been weirder than having a character called Boromir" like every other time). Maybe that weird post-apocalyptic Beowulf that was the first to do the "Grendel's mom's got it goin' on" thing, too, at least if I can find that snarky review of it on Youtube again. Probably not the Uncanny CGI Desperately Trying To Be Live-Action 20O5 Beowulf where the titular hero keeps screaming "BEOWULF!!" and "I'M BEOWULF!!!" just in case the audience's intelligence levels can't be considered to be above the average rock's, and that also decided to add a foot fetish/body paint kink note to its cover of Grendel's Mom, though, unless I can find any snarky review of it. (I remember reading somewhere that the director actually hated Beowulf, as in the poem itself, and accepting the bit of info without question. The high heels-shaped feet are just one of the reasons why I wonder if anyone ever asked him if perhaps he hated women, too. At least his work supposedly contributed to the writers of Outlander being told "there's already too many Beowulf movies coming out!" and going "whatever, we're gong to do our own thing! With blackjack and hookers aliens and shieldmaidens", so I should probably thank him for that.)

Unfortunately, while I'm pretty sure I'll be able to avoid writing down a list of Adaptations I Absolutely Need To Check Out One Day Or I'll Die (i.e. Every Single I've Ever Heard About) like I did for The Nibelungs In Their Every Possible Form, all of this had the unforeseen side effect of reminding me that, even when I didn't have much if any interest in Beowulf, I used to have a bit of soft spot for Unferth. I mean, how could I not, when I imprinted on Hagen von Tronje when I was eleven-years-old? Give me a guy who knows all of The Hero's heroic deeds and still doesn't find him all that impressive from their very first meeting, and I'll just "👀" at him. Though from what I knew, this guy in particular seemed to go against his character type by becoming more friendly with the hero and lending him his ancestral sword, which seemed pretty interesting. Especially because he was apparently a fratricide, too? And you wouldn't expect a guy who killed his own brothers and got a "... and that's why you'll go to Hell!" by The Hero over it to have any kind of redemption arc/sudden reveal of hidden depths in any positive sense. And there was also that paper (which, ofc, I didn't bookmark at the time, and now I want to kick myself for that until I remember the title or at least the author...) arguing that maybe him telling off Beowulf about the swimming race was less about him as a person and more about him having a specifc role among the thanes in Heorot that included testing strangers requesting to speak with Hrothgar to figure out if they really were who they claimed to be or if they could actually live up to their reputation...

Again, I blame John Gardner, at least in part. He has a really crunchy Unferth, who definitely reawakened my interest in the character. The on in Grendel Grendel Grendel wasn't half-bad, either, though very different in some respects. But the original, too, ended up being actually so much more fun (meaning, so much more to chew on/rotate in my mind) than I could have imagined from my vague memories.

First you've got the iconic "didn't you look like a total loser against Breca, and isn't that literally all there is to know about you?" "shut up, you're drunk, a kinslayer, someone I have never heard anyone tell heroic tales about, and also, maybe if you were braver Grendel wouldn't keep eating you guys" banter, and I'm starting to realize that might be already more juicy, in terms of both Beowulf's and Unferth's characterizations and their interactions together, than I ever thought it was. Then you've got a line that sounds an awful lot like "everyone could see Grendel's severed arm hanging from the ceiling and that shut Unferth up" and seems to imply some sort of lingering bitterness on Unferth's side when Heorot is in the middle of the celebrations for Grendel's death. But then Unferth actually starts being described in much more favorable terms, almost as if the narrator were pointing out that, despite what the audience might think after his first appearance, there's a reason he's close to Hrothgar and has a good place in his hall... even if at the same time Unferth's praised for his "mighty heart" (something quite different from cowardice), wisdom, and the trust everyone in Heorot apparently has in his mind, there's actually another reference to him having had no mercy for his relatives "in the play of swords" in the past. (Fun little detail: that line comes right after one to the effect of "Hrothgar and Hrothulf were there and no betrayal had yet happened between them"...)

Until, finally, you get Beowulf preparing to go fight Grendel's mother and Unferth giving him his family's swords, Hrunting. And all kinds of entertaining things happen in relation to Hrunting.

You've got Unferth not remembering his first words to Beowulf because he was just really, really, really drunk when he said them, which seems to go well with Beowulf himself calling out his speech as a drunken boast but not with the "that shut him up" line I mentioned before. (Which leads me to wonder: was he actually too drunk to know what he was saying? Or did Beowulf give him an easy out in case he regretted it, which Unferth eventually chose to take to try and smooth things over?) You've got Unferth being "mighty of valour" yet not daring to go after Grendel's mother himself and "forfeiting glory" while giving his weapon to a "worthier" warrior, but his sword getting some lengthy praise nonetheless, to the point of being basically deemed infallible, and Beowulf not only not making any more comments on Unferth's supposed lack of bravery but calling him a man of "wide renown", praising his sword some more, vowing to succeed in his heroic feat with Hrunting or die trying, and telling Hrothgar that no matter what happens, Unferth must get it back when it's all over. And after that... you've got Hrunting utterly failing to kill or even harm Grendel's mother.

Except, that's literally the first time it ever fails at anything? And Beowulf can only kill Grendel's mother when, with the help of God, he finds a magical sword forged by giants, which implies there was no problem with it (and, by extension, with Unferth?) as the whole situation simply needed a little something extra to be dealt with?

Then, you've got Beowulf actually bringing Hrunting back, even if it wasn't much use to him when it really mattered. And praising it again, making sure to publicly clarify, while addressing Hrothgar himself, that no, it really is an excellent sword. And, after some more "the monster is dead!" celebration, Unferth himself (unambiguously "bold", now) having the sword brought over again not just to lend it Beowulf, but to gift it to him.... a weapon that is both nothing to sneeze at and, as Beowulf himself has acknowledged while praising it, a family heirloom. (From a guy who probably already has enough complicated feelings about his family without running around giving that kind of stuff away, to boot!) One Beowulf accepts once more, and gladly, already figuring it will be "a good friend in war, a power in battle" and saying absolutely nothing bad about it (the narrator goes "oh he's so gallant!" at him after that bit, which is admittedly kind of hilarious in itself, but still, imho, not really much to go on if you want to think he's not being sincere) right before he announces his intentions to sail back home.

I'm gonna be honest: I had already read most fics tagged Beowulf/Unferth on AO3 before this Beowulf binge. And now, I've gone and reread them. I've actually read the ones I'd missed the first time around, too. Not that it took me much time at all, but still. WildandWhirling has two really lovely ones. This innuendo-heavy one is a delight to read, too.

I think I might end up writing at least one more. Maybe canon!verse, if I manage not to spiral into researching Old English attitudes to homosexuality, or maybe Modern!AU, if I manage to find a good way to transliterate "sailing off to another country to slay monsters" in this century in a convincing way. Even just to have more than six works in the tag itself. But we'll see...

I suppose, in the end, the whole point of this random, almost stream-of-consciousness post (besides freeing up my head from at least some of my recent Beowulf thoughts) might have turned out to be just that, no matter who they are, fangirls will, indeed, always make them gay. (... I say, as if this was a surprise and I didn't already ship a number Nibelungenlied-and-adjacent gay ships I got into way before any of this.) It wasn't its original purpose but *shrug* I'll take it.

Then again... come on. All that talking about swords. *grin*

[margridarnauds]

So, I'm listening to "The Ninth Hour", which is a "rock-noir reimagining of the epic poem Beowulf that explores the intricacies of humankind's relationship with power and violence" that has a female Beowulf. And overall? I don't NOT like it, but it feels like it missed a trick by not having an Unferth-equivalent, since Unferth's taunts and attempts at diminishing Beowulf's feats would hit so differently with a female Beowulf -- probably *why* they removed him, because they might not have wanted to attack that angle, but it feels like...if we're using a female Beowulf....it's something that we kind of have to address as far as the way that the OG poem is framing heroism and masculinity.

[violentdevotion]

i tried to read patricia lockwood's 'saving a life' and found the tone an especially insufferable white woman brand of writing where every semi serious statement is punctuated by a 'im so silly and goofy!!!!' impression of a joke. so i searched her name on tumblr to see if anyone else is a hater like me, and she's the one behind the miette tweet ! which isn't entirely surprising

[readreadbookblog]

The dog and i spent the day in our cages, he in his smaller one, I in my bigger one, and we were quite content. at a certain moment he grew impatient and at a different moment i did, but we were each other there to comfort the other both times. as night came on we crouched and listened for the man of the house to come home and rattle our bars Yesterday (174), Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories by Deb Olin Unferth

[sodisco]

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Reading Tolkien’s annotated translation of Beowulf, and learning all kinds of things about LOTR and the Silm from it!

First:

Leave here your warlike shields [from Beowulf]

[Tolkien’s commentary; bold mine:] Note the prohibition of weapons or accoutrements of battle in the hall. To walk in with spear and shield was like walking in nowadays with your hat on. The basis of these rules was of course fear and prudence among the ever-present dangers of a heroic age, but they were made part of the ritual, of good manners. Compare the prohibition against drawing a sword in the officers’ mess. Swords of course also were dangerous; but they were evidently regarded as part of a knight’s attire, and he would not in any case be willing to lay aside his sword, a thing of great cost and often an heirloom.

This gives me some perspective around Tolkien’s probable intended tone for the moment in Meduseld in The Two Towers where Aragon strongly protests against being told to leave Andúril (a sword of very great value and ancientry, and very much an heirloom) with the door-warden. From a contemporary perspective it’s easy to read it as Aragorn being unnecessarily prideful and combative, but this passage strongly indicates that Tolkien intends it to be Théoden who is being unreasonable in that event, an indication - along with many others in the scene, prior to Gandalf dislodging Saruman’s influence - that Théoden is being discourteous and behaving in a manner unworthy of a king who is recieving heroes offering aid. (The fact of Meduseld being a ‘golden hall’ like famous Heorot in Beowulf may be deliberate to strengthen the parallel.)

Second (immediately following the above commentary):

But against this danger [from swords] very severe laws existed protecting the ‘peace’ of a king’s hall. It was death in Scandanavia to cause a brawl in the king’s hall. Among the laws of the West Saxon king Ine is found: ‘If any man fight in the king’s house, he shall forfeit all his estate, and it shall be for the king to judge whether he be put to death or not.’

This adds context to the incident in the story of Túrin in The Silmarillion where Saeros taunts Túrin in Menegroth and Túrin responds by throwing a heavy drinking-vessel at him and injuring him (it’s indicated the injury is serious, so I’d take it along the lines of him giving him a broken nose and knocking out some teeth.) It is stated in at least some versions of the story that death is the punishment for drawing weapons in the king’s hall, in line with the historical customs mentioned here. This gives a further emphasis that what actually happens - Túrin is not punished at all and Mablung strongly reprimands Saeros for provoking him - illustrates that Túrin is, Saeros’ behaviour notwithstanding, in very high favour in Menegroth. (Saeros as the king’s counsellor is also in roughly the same position as Unferth in Beowulf, who taunts the titular character - Beowulf responds heatedly but without violence. Tolkien may be setting up a deliberate contrast here.)

Third:

The word hádor is an adjective meaning ‘clear, bright’…it is almost always found in reference to the sky (or the sun or stars). But that association is in description of brightness…

This was one a lightbulb moment: oh, in the name of Hador Goldenhead (the ancestor of Húrin, Túrin, and Tuor in The Silmarillion), ‘Goldenhead’ isn’t an additional name/epessë so much as it’s a glossed translation of ‘Hador’! The guy with bright, golden hair.

Fourth: Going back to the Rohirrim - Edoras, the name of their capital city/royal court, is basically just the Old English for ‘courts’:

under was very frequently used in describing position within, or movement to within, a confined space, especially of enclosures or prisons, ‘within four walls’. Cf. in under eoderas (eoderas being the outer fences of the courts), ‘in amid the courts’….‘eoder’ means both ‘fence (protection)’ and ‘fenced enclosure, a court’.

I’m also learning a lot about Beowulf - Tolkien’s notes are clarifying a lot of tone and nuances, not to mention the political/diplomatic relationships between the different kingdoms, which were confusing me - but it’s amazing how much it reveals about ways that Tolkien’s knowledge informed his legendarium!

[elrallin]

Intro+Pinned

Hello hello! I'm El Rallin.

I write predominantly sci-fi and fantasy, with a focus on post-apocalyptic and post-post-apoc. As a queer person, I write a lot of stories with queer characters.

I'm an editing and publishing undergrad working part time as a copy editor for a scientific journal. I'm a huge nerd about the history of the English language, particularly Old English, which I will happily nerd about at any given opportunity.

Open to tags and asks! (Including tag lists for WiPs. And feel free to info dump to me about your projects in asks/similar.)

I often vanish for large chunks of time, during which the blog runs on a queue. I also just queue a lot of posts in general! If I vanish it's because disabilities+life are kicking my ass, and I'll return, though it mmmmay take a little bit. xD

WiPs

Fallen to Ashes - currently drafting

Post-post apocalyptic novel centering on a young drone pilot trying to get hired by a local vigilante crew to help make a positive impact on the city she has grown up in. Meanwhile, said crew's mission in the city is forcing them to either think in new ways, or give up and withdraw back to where they will be safe.

Bone-House - 24 hour novel project

Taylor, a newly hired library worker, discovers that they can see ghosts at the same time as they themself are starting to become one. Now, they need to work to save some library relics, including the bones of a ghost that has taken a liking to them, before the relics are permanently removed, and the library claims Taylor's bones to replace those that have been taken.

Voices Belonging to Monsters - summer project

A Beowulf retelling set after a viral apocalypse has permanently altered life on Earth, focusing on what it means to be a "good king" and to inherit a legacy. Told from the PoV of a Wiglaf/Unferth character who is overshadowed and overwhelmed by the legacy of a heroic leader.

Once, We Were Dragons - outlining

In a world where dragons were killed by a conquering empire, their descendants are still struggling for peace. A young half-human boy and his family flee for one of the few safe havens. Meanwhile, a human girl starts to challenge what she was taught about the world and her place in it.

I have other projects that I'll occasionally make mention of, and some characters, but these are the things that I'm working on getting drafted this year!

[abelinthelandofnod]

hello world, meet Unferth! he is a necromancer taxidermist of unspecified origin.

he smells of bog water and formaldehyde.

his body is 65% original parts!

his favorite color is pink.

[thewatercolours]

You all know that my students get way gushier, longer, more detailed comments ever since I took up with you fanfic/fanart lot, right? Not so much the essays - while I try to be encouraging, there's just a way you write comments on essays. But I always provide an alternative, creative option, and have to be careful not to slip into tumblr accent and actually make sure there's a bit of constructive criticism amongst all the "HIS EXPRESSION! THE LITTLE DETAILS ON HIS COAT! This is just fantastic, Student's Name, and I always love when you turn in a creative piece! And I can tell exactly what moment this is too - this must be the moment Unferth challenges him! Honestly this is exactly how I imagine Beowulf..."

[agnesandhilda]

I'm not done reading beowulf yet but unferth gets such a raw deal from the narrator it's hilarious. yeah beowulf defeated grendel sicknasty style with the help of the man upstairs and it made unferth, that raggedy bitch, finally shut up

[raurquiz]

#otd #startrek #voyager #heroesanddemons #janeway #chakotay #tuvok #kim #paris #belannatorres #kes #emh #neelix #Freya #Unferth #Hrothgar #startrek57 @TrekMovie @TrekCore @StarTrek @StarTrekOnPPlus @TheKateMulgrew

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE. Repost with the information of your muse, including headcanons, etc. if you fail to achieve some of the facts, add some other of your own!

NAME: Hriob Riebe Zagel, past incarnation was known by Krakonoš/Rübezahl depending on the region, other past (known) incarnations include Gammal vän Kunskap, Vǫlundr, Unferth, Fergus MacRoich, and Humbaba of the Cedar Forest. 'True' Names and identity are extremely important to Hriob, not only due to his Fae nature.

NICKNAME: Being of Fae nature, nicknames are both important and paid little attention to. Hriob has been known to others as Rob, Robby, Hiro, 'Oh no its You Again', and a variety of similar nicknames. On rare occasion, Hriob will 'borrow' one of his predecessor's preferred aliases, 'John', when he wishes to remain as anonymous as possible.

TITLE(S):  Hriob's more proper titles, againLord of Fantastic Weather, Prince of Gnomes, King under the Mountain, The Brewer of God-Booze, the Lonely Forest Sage, Herr Erlkönig

AGE: Apparent physical age is set somewhere nebulously between 27 and 31. However, due to a number of factors, including a non-linear experience of passage through time and space, and extremely reduced aging rates from multiple factors, Hriob's 'True' age - discounting his past incarnations entirely, is closer to over a hundred years at least but still unknown even to him. With his past incarnations, he is at least well over 4,000 years (with Humbaba being recorded during the 3rd Dynasty of Ur circa 2100 B.C.E.) with estimates going as far as over twice that time frame.

SPECIES: Human-Fae Hybrid. Specifically, Hriob is a Greater Fae Lord - a being on par with the likes of King Oberon and Queen Titania - with incorporated traits of other magical entities, inhabiting a human body with a number of small 'tweaks' as symptoms of his long-term presence within it. He can transform into a far more bestial, Chimeric-looking form when emotionally charged or in dire circumstances, but he tends to prefer being 'as human as possible'.

SEX: Male

NATIONALITY: Czech/German/Polish. Exact percentages are, if known, not disclosed publicly.

INTERESTS: Nature, animals, science (especially physics, biology, metallurgy, and computer science), philosophy, culinary arts (especially baking and brewing),

PROFESSION: Normally, Hriob is 'self-employed' - running an entrepreneurial enterprise selling alcoholic beverages of his own design through a craft-brewing business, specializing in magically and alchemically over-charged varieties of such, but overall he considers this a 'side-hustle' in the long term: a surprisingly profitable hobby but a hobby nonetheless. His true 'profession', such as it is, is a Servant of Gaia - the Collective Life Force of the Planet(s), a Scholar of the Arcane, and a self-made Humanitarian worker specializing in problem-cases involving those tied up with the mystical world.

This varies but generally holds true for other verses: One verse has him effectively retire from his self-imposed jobs, Another has him shift focus to Education specifically as well as Vigilantism, but there is a Specific Timeline where he expands his one-man efforts into a full, highly specialized and exceptional organization of roughly-like-minded individuals.

BODY TYPE: The best description for his figure is trapezoidal, meaning he is somewhat top-heavy with broad, wide shoulders, but despite being rather stocky and solidly built he is not perfectly square either. In regards to musculature he fits the 'Strongman' typology, being large and not especially tone in his physique but far from 'overweight' - instead being covered in large, thick layers of softer, 'working' muscle.

EYES: Soft Slate/Stormcloud Grey. Have an Icy Azure coloration in the right light, either from the presence of a tapetum lucidum in his retinal structures, ambient glow from use of magic, or both.

HAIR: Very dark Red hair, more like the dark crimson of drying blood than what most people consider 'red' hair. This shade darkens and saturates further in the presence of bountiful ambient life and/or magic, and conversely lightens/washes out as the area around him becomes more 'dead' in either respect. His hair style is essentially all-but-untameable bedhead with wavy, almost feathery locks reaching as far down as mid-neck at their longest.

SKIN: Very pale and light skin, marred with many old scars of all kinds, but especially those left by stab and slash wounds. The hands in particular are rather calloused and rough, from countless kinds of activities including cooking, woodworking, metalworking, rock climbing, leather-working, and handwriting.

POSTURE: Usually upright and strong, almost tree-like, with a penchant for expressive, animated arm-sweeping when excitable. Has a bit of a slouch when sitting somewhere for too long.

HEIGHT: 7'10". Transformed 'Monster' state reaches 15', 17' when antlers are counted, with a wingspan over 45' from tip to tip.

VOICE: Hriob has a low, deep baritone for his normal speaking voice, but has been known to reach low tenors and deep double-bass at times when pushing the limits of his range. While extremely loud when shouting, his average tone often comes across as both soft and breathy, yet oddly resonant and clear to listener's ears.

While there are multiple possible voiceclaims for him, ranging from Villie Valo of HIM to Yoann Lemoine of Woodkid, but at moment the best fit is Vincent "Jake" Jones of the band Aether Realm.

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: While variations exist for most any given timeline, most often Hriob sticks to a simple formula with his clothing; a nearly-full-body underlayer, with comfortably warm or potentially reinforced clothes on top, ending with a notably large cloak and walking stick of some variety. His secondary outfits almost always are some variety of formalwear or suit, though some verses reverse the priority of both outfits.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Verse dependent. Some verses allow for limited polyamory, but generally he sticks to single-target devotions.

COMPANIONS: Verse dependent. At present in most verses he has three different Familiars bound to him; an Owl, a Swedish Valhund, and a Piebald Bull Moose.

ANTAGONISTS: Verse dependent

STRENGTHS: Kind, gentle, strong paternal instincts, takes promises seriously, extremely potent empathy, Physically powerful, durable, and enduring to superhuman levels, extremely quick reflexes, highly adaptable, intelligent, and cunning. Master of many forms of magic and related arcane topics. Effectively immune to disease, toxins, and poisons.

WEAKNESSES: Chronic Interventionism, prone to manipulating people even if with good intentions, emotions can run rampant even if honed with logic, powers and strength of power/health are all co-dependent on the presence of ambient life and magic around him.

FRUITS: Hriob primarily favors berries like blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, as well as citrus such as Grapefruits and Blood Oranges. Other fruits of note include Pomegranates, Apples, figs, and cherries.

DRINKS: Herbal teas of many varieties, especially self-made blends. Black and Green teas are secondary to herbal blends, but not unappreciated, with Chai, Oolong, and Earl Grey being close favorites among those varieties.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: Hriob is supernaturally immune to the effects of alcohol, but nonetheless heavily prefers most form of beers, especially Mead, as his primary form of beverage outside of teas. He is equally decent with wines and other harder spirits, with Rum being a standout favorite among those, but for the most part he prefers lighter grain-based alcohols... with the seasonal exception of a heavy focus on Eggnog around the Holidays.

SMOKES: Hriob does not enjoy the smell of any kind of smoke, save perhaps incense or woods used to cure or roast meats. Tobacco and Marijuana both are hard passes for him in such a form.

DRUGS: Hriob does not touch pharmaceuticals or recreational drugs outside of Alcohol, in no small part due to his effective immunity to nearly all of them. His

DRIVER'S LICENSE: Hriob, for several reasons, has almost unanimously been disallowed from operating any vehicle of any kind, but generally prefers walking anyways. For long distances, he generally uses his mastery of Space-Time Magic to effectively teleport himself to where he needs to be directly. If in an Urban setting where appearances need to be maintained, he will use Public Transport.

Tagged By: @chronicparagon

Tagging: @gingerhoneycakes @cosmicdreamt @thxpatriarch @project115 @forbiddenwoodlands @airxn @hraunwyf @swansongtm @arcanescholxr @bleedinghearth @melodiadraconis

[readreadbookblog]

Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories by Deb olin Unferth

Wait Till You See Me Dance, by Deb Olin Unferth, is a book of mostly short stories with a few long ones. When I mean short I do mean short as in lots of the stories are half a page long stories, almost reading more like poetry than a narrative tale. I, personally, do not like that style and see it as meaningless pretentious bullshit. Part 1 and 4 of the book are all long stories and they are for the most part readable and enjoyable. Parts 2 and 3 are where they are so short that I found myself rereading them to see if I had missed a twist or some profound meaning or statement, which really no I did not, they were just short bad stories.

My personal favorites stories of the bunch were the long ones of course. The title story, is a good one as there are some dark turns in the story and at the end you reflect and connect the dots together and understand a bit more (imagine if she left her in the hole, shivers). ‘Stay Where You Are’ is about a nonstop traveling couple that get caught captured by a guerrilla soldier and boy is it a tense story with great detail and inter dialogue of the characters. I do find the soldier’s part of the story a bit clique but overall the story is a great read. ‘The Vice President of Pretzels’ may be short but it leaves a haunting feeling with the amount of years that pass by with the story’s ending. I can imagine the years going by until finally one day without notification it stops, eerily. Two other stories I enjoyed were ‘The Mothers’ and ‘Final Days’.

There are other stories but really they are not bad expect for the fact that the short stories are essentially just very short meaningless gimmicks. Forgettable and useless I would describe them. The long stories are the highlights even if they don’t all hit. ‘Voltaire Night’ for it’s hype and built-up has a terrible ending that does not justify the title of saddest tale a person could have made up. The interview chapter seems more like the author, Unferth, confusing her work habit and style to an editor that just hits the spellcheck button on their program before declaring the book fit to publish. It kinda of reminds me the King Missile song.

I enjoyed the long stories and found the short ones as just throw away trash and filler. I did not find any theme or connection for the reason that the stories were written or published beyond here are a bunch of stories written by Unferth that were published elsewhere but now in one convenient book. There are a number of women protagonist but again I didn’t see any theme with them. I’ll look forward for any other works by Unferth but will stay clear from anything not ten pages or longer.

[hummelig]

my fav books

I just gave someone a list of my fav books and I guess Imma post it here too enjoy please give me ur unfiltered opinions

The Setting Sun (Osamu Dazai), Earthlings (Sayaka Murata), Effie Briest (Fontane), Solitaire (Alice Oseman), Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo), Woyzeck (Georg Büchner), Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe (Ödön Horvath), The Kangaroo Chronicles (Marc Uwe Kling, better in German), Steppenwolf ( Hermann Hesse), Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 (Cho Nam-Joo), Animal Farm (George Orwell), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon), Eating Animals (Jonathan Foer) and Barn 8 (Deb Olin Unferth)