#Virgil Acheron

[gravedigg]

Enver and Virgil

(Dante and Virgil by William-Adolph’s Bouguereau, 1850)

[nullshocked]

nirvanafanboys.png

Tumblr makes my art look crunchy.

[the-goblin-queen]

Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo

[firestorm09890]

Hey what if the flow Vergillius talks about following is the flow of one of the rivers underneath the City or smth

thatd be pretty awesome. also I was a greek mythology kid, I know the other rivers.

Dante (author) has Charon ferry souls across Acheron in Inferno, and Virgil (also author) associates him with both the Acheron and the Styx. Acheron is also a real river, so it would make sense that people would say that it leads to the Underworld's entrance. Eventually, that changed to Styx, for some reason. Various poets say some of the other rivers came from/flow into this one.

Cocytus is the river of wailing- I wonder if that's the one that goes by Wuthering Heights, since Josephine could hear her dead mistress's voice because of the river and Every Catherine is the wailer of all time. Maybe it's not one of the big five at all, who knows. In Inferno, Cocytus is the 9th Circle of hell, treachery, and it's a big frozen lake instead of a river. Lament.

Phlegethon... surprisingly relevant. It is a river of fire, but in Inferno, it's a river of boiling blood in the 7th Circle (HMMM) for violence committed against neighbors, the self, and god/art/nature. Does Vergilius's EGO have anything to do with this one? Idk

Lethe is interesting. It's the river dead souls have to drink from before they can be reincarnated, so they would forget their past lives. You could call it the kindest river of the five, I guess. It's actually not in Inferno, but Purgatorio, and in that, it's within Earthly Paradise, which is a place on top of Mount Purgatory that represents the sort of innocence held by Adam and Eve before their fall. do with that information what you will

We've all heard of Styx, it's the river that people would swear their most grave and unbreakable oaths upon and is commonly known as the river that Charon ferries souls across to the Underworld. In Inferno, it's the 5th Circle, Wrath, where everyone is fighting each other on the water, and it's described as a swamp.

I have less info on which rivers appear in Virgil's Aeneid, though. Pretty sure Aeneas visited all of them, but I don't know if Virgil wrote about that or if it was someone else. He definitely mentions Lethe and Acheron, though.

I wonder which river spawned the abnormalities like the birds...

also fun thing you might want to know! there's a part of The Odyssey that involves Odysseus talking to a bunch of spirits from the Underworld! Scholars disagree on whether he actually went into the Underworld or if he was just on the very edge but :)

[fawnforevergone]

Quick List of References to Dante's Inferno in "Unreal Unearth" (Part One)

HELLO !!! there is now an updated list since we have now heard the old album so please go check that out instead: [ the ultimate "unreal unearth" reference list" ]

[ PART TWO ]

If I miss anything or get anything wrong, let me know! I'm so interested to know what everyone else thinks, too :]

Another long post, but I simply have too much to say.

THIS WAS MADE BEFORE THE ALBUM RELEASE !!!!

"DE SELBY (PART ONE)" "You take in the blackness of air, the likes of a darkness so deep that God, at the start, couldn't bear." The theme of darkness is a repetitive one in Dante's Inferno, representing sin and it's deceiving behaviour. Particularly in the opening of Inferno, Dante and Virgil have to treck through a thick blackness after entering the gates of Hell.

"DE SELBY (PART TWO)" "Let all time slow, let all light go, I don't need to know where we begin again." DS(P2) is another song that references the absence of light, and would make sense being a continuation of DS(P1). "Let all time slow" references the eternal and infinite nature of a punishment in Hell, and "let all light go", again, show the darkness of Inferno. "I don't need to know where we begin again" is more a repetition of Hozier's own work with his multiple references of death not being the end - "Francesca", "Work Song", "All Things End", "Wasteland, Baby", etc. - but still references the idea of entering a new life after entering Inferno.

"FIRST TIME" "And the soul, if that's what you'd call it, uneasy ally of the body, felt as nameless as a river, undiscovered underground." It appears, in the track list, that we are now moving beyond the threshold of Hell. The mention of "a river, undiscovered underground", is a reference to the river Acheron that runs through Inferno. The river contains a ferry, ran by the Greek Psychopomp, Charon, who escorts the souls of the underworld. Dante is known for mixing different mythologies together in Inferno, so the mentions of "soul" and "river" and "undiscovered underground" all seem to be a reference to Charon and his role in Inferno.

"FRANCESCA" The whole song of Francesca is a reference to the story of Francesca da Rimini, who was sentenced to the second circle of Hell, 'Lust', after caught in an affair with her husband's brother, Paolo. Francesca claims that love has seized her so tightly that she can't stop loving Paolo, not even in Hell. The entire song references this story so I won't pinpoint these lyrics. "My life was a storm, since I was born. How could I fear any hurricane?" The second circle of Hell is plagued by violent winds meant to reflect the passions of reckless love. The winds are so strong that the inhabitants of 'Lust' find themselves thrown around and unable to stay in one spot. Hozier claims to not be afraid of these winds, saying that love has always felt this reckless, even in mortality, and death will not phase him. Whether he is saying this from the perspective of himself or Francesca is up for debate.

"I, CARRION (ICARIAN)" The whole song is very clearly about the tale of Icarus, and even has some mentions to the titan Atlas, "You have held your hands beneath. Once I had wondered what was holding up the ground. I can see that all along, love, it was you all the way down." Icarus and Titans are mentioned throughout Inferno, Hozier again hinting at the mosaic of mythology Dante created. In Inferno, Dante compares his own dread to the plummeting of Icarus, and Hozier now compares his love to the dreaming and hope of Icarus as he flew, making it a fitting song for the 'Lust' circle as well.

"EAT YOUR YOUNG" We now enter the third circle, 'Gluttony', and the song is very overt in its imagery of hunger. As far as I'm aware, the song has more political references than it does direct references to Inferno, but the song is very obviously about Gluttony.

"DAMAGE GETS DONE" The minimal lyrics we have for this song don't give me a lot, but I would say they definitely don't reflect hunger, so I think we have entered the fourth circle, 'Greed'. 'Greed' is categorised as one of the sins committed out of a lack of self-control, like 'Lust' and 'Gluttony'. However, Hozier seems to be fighting this idea in the lyrics, claiming, "But I know being reckless and young is not how the damage gets done." The idea of "damage" also reflects the circle of 'Greed', as the punishment for this sin is that the inhabitants are grouped into halves, and each half are forced to engage in an eternal battle that leaves them so injured, they are impossible to recognise.

"WHO WE ARE" I'll be honest, in terms of references, we don't have a lot for this song, although, as mentioned in the next paragraph, "Son Of Nyx" has to be about the fifth circle, 'Anger', so "Who We Are" is either another 'Greed' song or it's a second 'Anger' song. Although, we do have the lyric, "But it sharpens like a knife", which throws me back to the knife imagery of "Take Me To Church", a very biblical song in terms of imagery, and in the fourth circle, 'Greed', Dante sees varying members of the Clergy, so perhaps "Who We Are" is a similar song to "Take Me To Church", and takes place in 'Greed'. TMTC: "You can sharpen your knife", "My lover's the sunlight", "She demands a sacrifice", "Only then, I am human." WWA: "It sharpens like a knife", "We're born at night", "Darling, we sacrificed", "It's who we are." The biblical similarities could present this as a 'Greed' song, referencing the various clergymen who reside there. "SON OF NYX" Though we have no lyrics, we know the song after this is "All Things End", which is about the sixth circle, 'Heresy', so this song has to be about the fifth circle, 'Anger'. Nyx was a Greek Goddess who was the personification of night, once again referencing darkness in this album. Nyx has many offspring, all presenting various different things. Nyx, however, did inhabit the dark recesses of the underworld, respected and feared by even Zeus. We have no lyrics ( although, perhaps it is just this song renamed ? who knows ), so I can't say for certain how this relates, but a Goddess that resides in the underworld seems very fitting for Inferno.

---

Again, if I missed anything, please tell me! I'm already so obsessed with this album, I need to know if there is content I am missing, thank you soldiers. (ง’̀-‘́)ง

[buntress]

༺ ·˚ 𝔐𝔬𝔫𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯 // ℭ𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢 ℑ𝔇 𝔭𝔞𝔠𝔨 ˚· ༻

[PT: Monster / Creature ID Pack]

Req By :: @monsterdogboy

༺ ·˚ 𝔑𝔞𝔪𝔢𝔰 ˚· ༻

[PT: Names]

Abaddon // Acheron // Amon // Azazel // Bael // Balor // Betelgeuse // Bones // Carman // Cath // Cerberus // Cetus // Claudia // Cylla // Damien // Darius // Drake // Elizabeth // Frank(ie) // Fenris // Ghost // Ghoul // Griffin // Grim // Hel // Hunter // Hydra // Issie // Jack // Jingwei // Kelpie // Leo // Lestat // Levi(athan) // Lizzie // Mara // Moth // Ness(ie) // Nix // Oni // Owl // Pandora // Phoenix // Qing // Raven // Samael // Samara // Scylla // Selene // Shadow // Titan // Typhon // Undyne // Ushi // Vamp(ire) // Virgil // Wendy // Wisp // Wolf(gang) // Xing // Yeren // Yeti // Yuki // Zilla // Zu

Note :: As many of these names are from various cultures, please be mindful when picking a name for yourself! Do your research and such <3

༺ ·˚ 𝔓𝔯𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔰 ˚· ༻

[PT: Pronouns]

Bea / Beast / Beasts / Beastself || Blood / Bloods / Bloodself || Bo / Bones / Boneself || Crea / Creature / Creatures / Creatureself || Cryp / Cryps / Cryptid / Cryptidself || Dae / Daem / Daer / Daemself || E / Eerie / Eerieself || Fear / Fears / Fearself || Ghou / Ghoul / Ghouls / Ghoulself || Grim / Grims / Grimself || Haun / Haunt / Haunts / Hauntself || Lev / Levi / Leviathan / Leviaself || Mon / Mons / Monster / Monsterself || One / Ones / Oneself || Phan / Phantom / Phantoms / Phantomself || Rake / Rakes / Rakeself || Scy / Scyll / Scyls // Scyllself || Spook / Spooks / Spookself || Thon / Thons / Thonself || Vam / Vamp / Vamps / Vampself || Wer / Were / Weres / Wereself || Wy / Wyrm / Wyrms / Wyrmself || X / X's / Xself || Zomb / Zombs / Zombself || [REDACTED] / [REDACTED]'s / [REDACTED]self || 💀 / 💀s / 💀self || 🕷️ / 🕷️s / 🕷️self ||| ⛓️ / ⛓️s / ⛓️self || 🧟 / 🧟s / 🧟self || 🩸 / 🩸s / 🩸self

༺ ·˚ 𝔗𝔦𝔱𝔩𝔢𝔰 ˚· ༻

[PT: Titles]

The Monster // The Creature // The Monstrous Creature // The Horror // The Ghoul // One Who Stalks The Shadows // The Wretched // The Dreadful Beast // The Beastial Horror // Vam With Beastial Claws // The Altered Beast // The Balrog // The Haunted One // It Who Haunts // One With Sharp Fangs // The Shadow

Note :: All pronouns can be replaced w/ your preferred pronouns!

༺ ·˚ 𝔏𝔞𝔟𝔢𝔩𝔰 ˚· ༻

[PT: Labels]

Aldernomaly // Alderseamonster // Anomalothing // Bloodycreature // Boycreature // Brokemasctoyic // Creaturic // Crypteyeessencez // Cutecreature // Darkforestcreatic // Deerredacted // Eldritchseathing // Ensilásma // Femmonstic // Frankenmonster // Frankenpupic // Fuckedupcreature // Genderjamagix // Girlmonster // Gorturecreature // Hunterbeastic // Huntermonster // Lovecreathing // Mascmonstic // Monfriendgender // Monster4Monster // Monstercoric // Monsterlovic // Monsterslasher // Monstropunk // Monstrumpraeaffectis // Neumonstic // Panwerewolfix // Pomebeastgender // Radioacticreaturic // Reptrickcryptic // Seamonstercutic // Suncreature // Werebuggender // Werevampirive // Zanicesh

Note :: The first letter of each term is a link to that term!

PS: I actually ran out of room for the label section bc there was so many! Oopsie!

[allthedoorsareopennow]

ALRIGHT. LET’S INVESTIGATE THE UDAD PHOTOS. MUCH INFORMATION BELOW. SO MUCH

ok top left. brian is the oracle of delphi, of course in greek mythology the most prominent oracle

bottom left. for some reason the goddess artemis’ name seems to have been misspelled as artimes? I have no idea why. artemis is the olympian that features in actea and lyssa.

bottom right. seems to suggest marius’ lecture will take place in the aristotle institute - aristotle is a famous greek philosopher (among other things, grouped loosely as a polymath)

top right. as you likely know, these are military dog tags, usually intended to allow for the identification of corpses. an enomotarch is the commander of an enotomy, a division of 25-36 soldiers, bound together by oath. this seems to be a term originating in Sparta.

middle right. tipple seems to be a term for alcohol, consistent with the bottle top the term appears on. the toy soldier seems to have made its own liquor brand while in the city. (perhaps DB stands for dionysus bacchus, the greek and roman names respectively for the god of alcohol?)

right. a coin is shown, on one side reading ‘to speed the/journey down’. this likely is about the belief that the ferryman (charon) who takes the dead souls across the river acheron and into the underworld must be paid. virgil’s aeneid claims that if the deceased cannot afford to pay the ferryman, they must wander the shores of the styx (another underworld river, in some stories providing the same function as the acheron) for one hundred years before they are allowed to cross into the underworld. thus having this coin to give the ferryman would literally speed the journey down into the underworld in greek mythology. also depicted on this side is the logo of the acheron. on the other side of the coin is featured a headshot of ashes, with the text ‘a penny’ above (the smallest british unit of currency). I cannot discern the text below.

background. the blueprint for the aegis, which in homer’s iliad is a device carried by athena pr zeus, interpreted as either an animal skin or a shield, sometimes featuring the head of a gorgon, that symbolises protection.

the text on the left appears to read as follows:

‘…[ti]tanium…n for the…ens district…[lig]htning rod

‘spikes - they look badass

‘Durable Ti core

‘Moderator’

Ti is the chemical symbol for titanium. also depicted is a uranium fission reaction. a moderator is something else that is needed in a fission reactor core, so this must be a design for a fission reactor. ‘enriched to 90%’ refers to the uranium - uranium-235 is the most fissile isotope, so the more U-235 you have, the more fission you can achieve. for context, reactors often use uranium enriched to 3.5-4.5% - 90% is overkill by a long way for energy generation purposes. my guess is that this reactor core is designed to provide huge amounts of energy to operate sone kind of lightning device, likely intended for zeus (the god of lightning). it is signed by athena and raphaella la cognizi.

BRING FORTH THE NEXT IMAGE!

another acheron coin is shown. I'm not really sure what’s happening in most of this one.

ANOTHER!

more acheron coins and a half-visible toy soldier’s tipple bottle cap. the focus of this picture is a torn and blood-splattered coaster for Calypso’s, the bar from which the suits kidnapped ulysses.

NEXT!

now this is more like it

a zeus coin is depicted, showing five credits - presumably the official currency of the city

there is a gambling chip bearing the name hermes, perhaps referencing his role as a trickster god

the guitar pick is stamped with the name apollo, the greek god of music and song.

there is a fragment of a newspaper cover - we will get more shots of this later.

the emblem of poseidon is shown to be a trident, a weapon poseidon is often depicted as wielding, representing his status as god of the sea.

wow I wonder what name is on that card it’s mostly blocked I wonder if the next will have the name..

BEHOLD!

so that’s presumably an ID card for a security guard, whose name we can now see is Anippe ?aiad. Anippe in greek mythology is the egyptian daughter of the river god nilus, and is thus a naiad, so the name on the card is Anippe Naiad. I can find little information about her, other than that heracles killed her son.

we also get a look at ulysses here, the the text ‘//ALL POINTS FUGITIVE ALERT//‘ above their mugshot.

NEXT!

the text on the ulysses info that seems to be on some kind of old tablet reads

…1) COUNT THEFT:

…[CYCLO]PS - POSEIDON PROPERTY

…OR CAPTURE: DR-25000

…E BOUNTY

…S:

SPONSORED BY POSEIDON INDUSTRIES

CLICK TO LEARN MORE

this seems to be putting a bounty of ‘DR-25000’ (presumably a currency?) on ulysses’ head for the theft of the eye of the cyclops.

more newspaper.. shall we take a closer look?

across four different images, here is the newspaper:

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS

ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME

LARGEST HOME CIRCULATION

LARGEST ADVERTISING VOLUME

DELPHI 2374

The City Oracle Telephone Number

THE CITY ORACLE

IN THREE PARTS - 46 1…

PART 1 - GENERAL NEWS…

ORACLE OFFICE

292 West Hector Stree[t]

VOL. LVIII KRONOU MORNING, GAMELION 5, 12390 DAILY, 5 DRACH[MA]

OEDIPUS IN INCEST MARRIAGE SCANDAL

SHOCKING NEW REVELATIONS OVER IDENTITY OF HERO DOCTOR'S WIFE AND MOTHER

MAN WHO CURED THE SPHINX TRIES TO PLEAD IGNORANCE - WILL SEEK TO FIND REFUGE OFF WORLD

(columns on right):

INSIDE

NARCISSUS DENIES PLASTIC SURGERY CLAIMS

HERMES TO UNVEIL NEW HI-SPEED MAGLINES

FORTY DEAD IN SUB-LEVEL 54D EXPLOSIONS: WHO IS “GUNPOWDER TIM?”

TWENTY YEARS FROM ILIUM: WILL THE SCARS EVER HEAL?

Oedipus Rex, the doctor hailed as a hero after successfully curing the disease ravaging the sublevel slums, has been revealed to have been married to his own mother for the last eight years, in what is being hailed as the social scandal of the decade.

Mr. Rex previously claimed to have grown up in one of the City's most troubled orphanages. However, a source within the Acheron has claimed that Teiresias, one of the network's most trusted interfaces, revealed his true origins yesterday.

“I didn’t know,” Oedipus told The Oracle, “I’d always believed my parents to be dead. I had no way of knowing they were even alive, let alone…”

Oedipus’ wife and mother, Jocasta Rex, has been unavailable for comment. She was last seen boarding a transport line to Outer Thebes, an area known for the number of suicides it attracts.

It is known she had been married once before to Laius, Mayor of one of the Thebian districts at the centre of the Sphinx epidemic. It was repoterd that he disappeared shortly before the announcement of the cure, under circumstances described by City PD as ‘suspicious’.

CONTINUED PG.5

HERACLES ACQUITTED ON MISTRIAL TECHNICALITY

The City High Court finally came to a ruling today in the case of Heracles, the notorious figure at the centre of the murder trial which has gripped the City for the last four weeks.

Heracles, who worked for the House of Zeus as head security for fifty years before resigning under unknown circumstances last Theozenios, was found not guilty of the brutal slaying and dismemberment of his wife and two children.

According to sources familiar with the case, he was found lying unconscious in his home, surrounded by the bodies of his family, holding in his hand what was at first thought to be the murder weapon. However, forensic evidence regarding the blade was judged to have been inadmissible, and his insistence he was defending his family from an attacker swayed the jury.

Heracles has been unable to identify the assailant against which he was struggling. This is not the first time Heracles has been involved in accusations of violence. Rumours persist that he may have been the infamous “Thunderbolt of Zeus” while working with the company, despite no connection ever being proven between the Olympian patriarch and the unknown hitman.

CONTINUED PG.9

TRANSCRIPT ENDS

Delphi and the oracle are referenced several times.

A drachma is a greek unit of currency, hence why I have guessed that as the unit of price for the newspaper.

Teiresias, the one referenced as revealing Oedipus’ parentage, is a blind prophet of Apollo from Thebes, known for clairvoyance and being transformed into a woman for several years. he is referenced as being one of the first brains volunteered into the acheron in the fiction, and holds and manages all the knowledge of the acheron.

Theoxenia seems to be a descriptor for greek mythology stories in which characters show benevolence and hospitality to strangers who turn out to be disguised deities capable of reward. These stories encourage people to treat anyone they meet as potential disguised divinity.

ONWARD!

another oracle of delphi ad, the corner of the newspaper, and part of hades’ file on oedipus..

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS (pencil markings in orange)

Name: Oedipus Rex not given surname

Occupation: Doctor (Retired) Disgraced

Age: 52 No records- abandoned at birth. Estimate Height: 5’10” Weight: 132l[b]

Hair: Chestnut Eyes: N/A self-blind[ed]

District: Thebes

Abandoned by wealthy but paranoid parents at birth. Olympians secret[ly] pulled strings, used him as poster [child] for failing orphanage scheme. Notab[le] for successfully researching the cause/[…] for the Sphinx - exceptional intel[ligence] shown. Worthy candidate for "Trial [by] Wits". Currently seeking to leave T[he] City after publicised patricide and maternal relations; will likely pla[…] ball given ample funding. EXPLOIT

END TRANSCRIPT

the tab at the side reads WITS. as well as oedipus’ fingerprints, there is a dirty handprint in the top right of the document. the newspaper appears to be stained with rings of tea or coffee.

at first I thought the photo of oedipus featured in hades’ document was this one, but it doesn’t quite match. it’s a good photo anyway.

NEXT

gunpowder tim’s dog tags from earlier are visible at the base of the photo again. A different part of Oedipus’ file is shown, showing a handprint and the start of a date on the photo of Oedipus, beginning 08/12. a map is shown too, with crosses through two locations and a circle around another. from what I can see the streets seem to mostly have fairly generic names.

sadly I have now reached image limit. when I have made the next post, I will link it here.

update I realised some of the stuff guessing cut off words and such that I did is pointless because the full documents for a bunch of them are in the goddamn cd book thing. and I kind of can’t be bothered to finish cause it feels like half the stuff I did was pointless. if you would be interested say so and maybe I will do more. but otherwise. nah

[rainswept]

“Most classical accounts, including Pausanias (10.28) and later Dante's Inferno (3.78), portray the Acheron as the entrance to the Underworld and depict Charon ferrying the souls of the dead across it.”

The word is also occasionally used as a synecdoche for Hades itself. Virgil mentions Acheron with the other infernal rivers in his description of the underworld in Book VI of the Aeneid. In Book VII, line 312[13] he gives to Juno the famous saying, flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo: 'If I cannot bend the will of Heaven, I shall move Hell.' The same words were used by Sigmund Freud as the dedicatory motto for his seminal book The Interpretation of Dreams, figuring Acheron as psychological underworld beneath the conscious mind.

acheron ‘introduced’ us to penacony and the ‘dreamscape.’ we’re in hell. i don’t know if this means anything but.. knowing hoyoverse, maybe aventurine was right about her not being what she seemed.

also which hsr player got to the wiki 💀💀

[aeneiddaily]

preemptively So Sorry about the amount of words i'm about to send but i am genuinely sick in the mind over palinurus.

Book 5 establishes the themes of sacrifice via Anchises's sacrifice of. well. his life. Virgil also spends the ENTIRE book establishing the camaraderie of the crews, because up to this point aeneas hadnt. been paying much attention to their interpersonal relationships

Palinurus is established over several books as a very serious coxswain who cares deeply for his crew, through similar snippets of personal life virgil gives to other crew members like ilioneus or achaetes

apollo tells aeneas he's going to have to lose someone- "Unum pro multis dabitur caput." (one life that will be given for the many). Aeneas accepted this- despite not knowing who- and had them raise their sails.

then, instead of having a more obvious choice of god like hermes or thanatos (psychopomps), the gods sent somnus to initiate the sacrifice. and it's fucking cruel, he's tempting him with rest-- something the crew hasn't truly gotten in a long time-- then sending him headlong in the ocean, not to die, but to starve and dehydrate and sunburn until he washes up on Avernus.

aeneas, not having seen that exchange but hearing the fall, accuses palinurus (who is currently drunk off the fucking LETHE thanks somnus) of complacency as he drowns. probably out of frustration but come the fuck on aeneas he was the Only man awake

and, a note on palinurus's death at avernus. coxswains were not.. particularly high up the food chain in terms of command structures on a bireme ship? like. yes, they're the commanders of the rowers, and palinurus was pulling double time by also being the navigator, but he would not be the guy carrying much of any treasure, & to float for that long he'd have to take off any armor he was wearing, AND he was given a burial by an unknown person in avernus later (enough time for one to determine, say, palinurus wasn't carrying an infectious disease), so personally, i don't believe they actually killed him "for treasure" as palinurus claims, i think palinurus just said that to make aeneas feel bad<3

palinurus and aeneas's exchange in the underworld is in no way a friendly one.

aeneas asks if apollo lied to him about him reaching avernus alive, and palinurus goes on to illustrate aeneas's own complacency in his crewman's death. palinurus makes it a point to point out the wedge aeneas has driven between himself and his crew- "I worried less for myself than I did for your ship" not for aeneas, for the ship and the other people on it. he points out directly to aeneas's face how much aeneas bends to the gods' will.

it's the shit Achaetes would never say to aeneas, but we can see his and aeneas's relationship deteriorating rapidly because of just how little aeneas thinks of them in specifics or by name as the books go on.

"Give this wretch your hand and take me with you through the waves / that at least I might rest in some quiet place in death" DIRECT fucking parallel to the imagery dido uses of aeneas carrying her ghost. aeneas will never be free of all these spirits.

id also like to point out the choice to have palinurus physically in the acheron rather than at the shore with the other unburied. implies palinurus blocked aeneas's path to chew him out.

all that to say i will never be regular about palinurus ever at all <3

[mrrebbit]

food for thought with regards to the recent honkai updates: i find it very interesting that the path of remembrance is being fully debuted on amphoreus, a grecoroman inspired planet. there seems to be a strong emphasis on memories, so i have to wonder...

will lethe, the lake of forgetfulness from the underworld, have a hand in things?

from good ol' wikipedia:

Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, is one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld; the other four are Acheron (the river of sorrow), Cocytus (the river of lamentation), Phlegethon (the river of fire) and Styx (the river that separates Earth and the Underworld). According to Statius, Lethe bordered Elysium, the final resting place of the virtuous. Ovid wrote that the river flowed through the cave of Hypnos, god of sleep, where its murmuring would induce drowsiness. The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid (VI.703-751), Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated The river Lethe was said to be located next to Hades's palace in the underworld under a cypress tree. Orpheus would give some shades (the Greek term for ghosts or spirits) a password to tell Hades's servants which would allow them to drink instead from the Mnemosyne (the pool of memory), which was located under a poplar tree.[2] An Orphic inscription, said to be dated from between the second and third century B.C., warns readers to avoid the Lethe and to seek the Mnemosyne instead. Drinkers of the Lethe's water would not be quenched of their thirst, often causing them to drink more than necessary.

if so, it does kind of make fuli's whole association with water and memory bubbles themselves a little more funny, doesn't it..........

[gravedigg]

μέλος-φάντασμα

And then, you get shipped back home a little less than you were when you left.

[nullshocked]

Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Rape/Non-con Additional Tags: Trauma, Toxic Relationship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Recreational Drug Use, Dubious Consent, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Non-Linear Narrative, Suicide Attempt, Forced Prostitution, Oops all original characters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Forgotten Realms Setting

He stares at the metal table. It’s old, in need of repairs. It wobbles a little when he bumps against it, rust creeping around the edges that don’t see as much thorough cleaning. At some point it must have been new, he thinks. Polished and pretty. Maybe the waitstaff would wipe down the surface and the metal would reflect back at them. Now the surface is dull and scratched.

Jack knows the feeling.

-

Chapter 3 is up on AO3 nowwwww.

[unwelcome-ozian]

I was searching your blog for information on Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy) but couldn't find anything. I remember reading about it on here a while ago, so I was wondering if you could direct me to those posts (if they still exist)? Thank you!

There would be nine levels modelled after each circle of hell, a tenth level as the centre of hell the top level would be The dark woods.

The dark woods: The nine circles would be: First Circle (Limbo) Second Circle (Lust) Third Circle (Gluttony) Fourth Circle (Avarice) Fifth Circle (Anger) Sixth Circle (Heresy) Seventh Circle (Violence) Eighth Circle (Fraud) Ninth Circle (Treachery)

Numbers in the system:

Three: relates to sin. The three main types of sin are incontinence, violence, and fraud. Nine: A multiple of three; the number of circles in Hell. Ten: The perfect number is the nine circles of Hell plus the vestibule. Thirty-Three: A multiple of three; the number of cantos in each part. Ninety-Nine: The total number of cantos plus Canto I, The Introduction. One Hundred: A multiple of ten; considered by Dante to be the perfect number.

There are seven major monsters:

Minos, Cerberus, Plutus, Minotaur, Centaurs, Harpies and Geryon.

The three infernal rivers:

River Acheron Styx Phlegethon

The three rivers form Lake Cocytus.

Other:

Demon guards-gate keepers Angels-Open the gates

Three beasts:

A leopard, a lion, and a wolf. The three beasts are metaphors for three different sins: the leopard represents lust, the lion pride, and the wolf represents avarice. They should be placed on the corresponding levels as

The sun represents Heaven, as well as God’s energy and happiness. There should be no sun on level 5.

Some parts in the system from the script would be: Dante, Virgil, Ulysses, Muhammad, Lucifer, Guido da Montefeltro, Charon, and Beatrice.

Example level 7:

Three rings:

Sins of violence take three forms: other people (one's neighbour), oneself, or God (Inf. 11.28-33). Those who perpetrate violence against other people or their property--murderers and bandits--are punished in the first ring of the seventh circle, a river of blood

Those who do violence against themselves or their own property--suicides and squanderers inhabit the second ring, a horrid forest.

A barren plain of sand ignited by flakes of fire that torment three separate groups of violent offenders against God: those who offend God directly (blasphemers: Inferno 14); those who violate nature, God's offspring (sodomites: Inferno 15-16); and those who harm industry and the economy, offspring of nature and therefore grandchild of God (usurers: Inferno 17).

Areas:

Nether hell Phlegethon Wood of suicides Abominable Sand The great barrier/Waterfall Located In Cantos: XII-Murder; XIII-Suicide; XIV-Blasphemy; XV-XVI-Sodomy; XVII-Usary

Parts/Alters

Centaur Alexander the Great Atilla the Hun Harpies Pier Capaneus Brunetto Latini Geryon Old Man of Crete Programmer added parts/alters Suicide Self harm Punisher Some internal programs specific to seven

Centaurs Programming- If parts attempt to leave the area they are shot with arrows.

Boiling Blood Programming-Parts that attempt to leave or break programming feel as if their skin is boiling.

Phlegethon Programming-Punishment programming. Parts are punished by being placed in the river. The depth they are placed into the river correlates with what rule they have violated.

Self-hatred Programming-Form of silence programming/depression programming.

Suicide Programming-(Script specific)

Spiritual Programming-Belief/group specific.

*Typically the script for the Divine Comedy is used in Germany.

Oz

[atiny-for-life]

Full CIX Storyline Explained - Part 5

CIX's Full Storyline Explained - Masterlist

'HELLO' Chapter 3. Hello, Strange Time

From here on out, we'll be moving in different territory. Instead of the realism-based concept of the first album, we'll now move onto a concept based on Dante's Inferno and the 9 Levels of Hell.

CONCEPT VIDEO 1 : 火

火 is the Chinese character for fire

Byounggon has been associated with fire since the last Chapter so this is very fitting

it's unclear to me which layer/circle of hell this is supposed to be as there's really only one associated with fire which is the 8th trench in the 8th Layer: Fraud, but the people punished there are fully turned into fire as punishment for lying for personal gain which wouldn't align with the story

alternatively, we can ignore the fire and look at the people climbing over each other to get to the top which would fall in line with Layer 5: Wrath where people who were constantly angry or mean in life are drowned in mud and constantly trying to push others down to get back to the surface

personally, I believe Layer 5 would make more sense since Byounggon seems to have a lot of build up anger which was strong enough to overpower any kind of guilt or sadness toward Yonghee's situation

CONCEPT VIDEO 2 : 水

水 is the character for water

Hyunsuk is placed inside a boat, people clawing at him and the wooden edges to get in with him

there really isn't any circle of hell associated with boats, though Dante and Virgil do use one at times to move around the place but Hyunsuk ain't on a mission from God so he shouldn't be getting that privilege

there's really only one place where we see regular souls utilize a boat and that's on the way into Hell where Charon transports the souls to Hell's entrance across the river Acheron - since this also aligns with the character for water, I'll assume this is where he's at

within the story itself, we do find out during the Save Me Kill Me era later on that he committed petty theft at one point which would qualify him for the 8th layer of Hell, specifically section 7 of this layer in which people are tortured with snakes which is fun

CONCEPT VIDEO 3 : 沙

沙 is the character for sand

we see Seunghun dragging his feet through dirt, chained to a group of other wanderers

another one that's pretty confusing

if we go with the concept of "sand", we'd have to move to the 7th Layer of Hell: Violence, but wandering a sand pit with fire rain would specifically imply he committed violence against God and I don't think that's the case

if we're going with the wandering aspect, we'd find ourselves in the 8th Layer: Fraud, specifically trench 9 where people how sowed division among others are forced to wander in endless circles while getting limbs chopped off that'll regrow only to be chopped off again when they reach that same spot on the next circle

if this is really where he's at, it could be a hint toward where the story is headed in the upcoming album (that is, if they're really picking up where we left off in Chapter 2)

CONCEPT VIDEO 4 : 氷

氷 is the character for ice

Jinyoung's chained up in a frozen room with snow piled up around him

this is luckily one of the two most straightforward ones we've got: we're smack-dab in the middle of the 9th Layer, specifically in the third section of said Layer: Treason against friends

in the original story, the people here were frozen in a lake up to their necks, leaving only their heads exposed but I respect the creative freedom to craft a more visually appealing scene

it's clear that Jinyoung ended up here as a result of how he'd treated Yonghee leading up to the incident

CONCEPT VIDEO 5 : 木

木 is the character for tree

we've got Yonghee in the middle of the woods and with scratches on his face

this is also very straightforward: we're in Layer 7, section 2: Violence against the Self

the people who're punished here are turned into trees which grow fruit that is then eaten by the Harpies living in these woods; whenever the Harpies damage a tree or pick a fruit, the trees will bleed and scream because, to the punished, it'll feel like having limbs broken or torn off

obviously, Yonghee landed here because of his tendency to self-harm and his attempted suicide

is this morally right? clearly not, but Dante was a self-obsessed weirdo obsessed with Florence for some reason so his opinion doesn't matter

[fawnforevergone]

Dante's Inferno References in Hozier's song "First Time" (+ a lil' song explanation) !!

Guys, I know I did the whole "Dante's Inferno references in 'Unreal Unearth'" already but I have thought of more things particularly with "First Time" and it's context of being in circle one, 'Limbo'.

Firstly, important context that 'Limbo' isn't so much a punishment as it is a placeholder in Inferno. It's for the unbaptized and virtuous pagans, essentially those who did not believe in God and therefore could not enter heaven, but also didn't do anything bad enough to be punished in the other eight circles. The punishment is to live eternally in circle one whilst feeling an infinite sensation of emptiness that is meant to represent the lack of God in their lives.

Now, moving onto the song and the GENIUS that it is.

"And the soul, if that's what you'd call it, uneasy ally of the body, felt as nameless as a river, undiscovered underground." The lost souls of Inferno find their way to their assigned circle by using the 'transportation system' of the five rivers of the Underworld. The first river that Dante and Virgil encounter is the river Acheron that Charon, the Greek psychopomp that transported souls through the underworld, delivers them down to arrive at Limbo.

Another one of the five rivers of the Underworld is the well-known river Styx that souls had to cross over in order to enter the afterlife. All of these things are referenced in this one lyric.

"And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the river Lethe." Here, Hozier mentions another one of the five rivers. Those who drank from the Lethe would experience mental oblivion, unable to remember anything. Souls who were to be reincarnated usually drank from this river in order to forget their past lives. Hozier is also referencing the idea of being reborn, as he does throughout this whole song, but instead he's reborn by the relationship he has with his partner.

"As it was, and ever shall be, unearth without a name." This lyric seems to be a reference to the 'Glory Be' prayer - "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." As aforementioned, Limbo's punishment is a never-ending emptiness; It's described as sorrow without torment, something so deprived that rational minds couldn't comprehend it. Hozier's "unearth without a name" mirrors the prayer's "world without end", showing that Limbo has the same infinity that God intends the world to have, but Hozier cannot even put a name to the feeling of Limbo, only that it is underground.

"Some part of me must have died/Some part of me came alive the first time that you called me 'Baby'." This lyric repeats throughout the whole song with minor changes, and references back to that idea of being reborn that Hozier establishes from the very start of the album with "De selby (Part 1)". The album compares Hozier's relationship with his partner to the journey of 'Inferno', and here we see Hozier effectively 'dying' as the relationship begins, allowing him to enter Limbo reborn as who his lover made him.

"These days I think I owe my life to flowers that were left here by my mother. Ain't that like them, gifting life to you again?" Since we have the context that Hozier is now 'dead', this lyric can be seen as his mother leaving flowers on his grave, literally gifting his body life. In the following lyrics, Hozier compares his life in Limbo to the life of the flowers gifted to him.

"This life life lived mostly underground, unknowin' either sight nor sound, 'til reaching up for sunlight just to be ripped out by the stem." Flowers are birthed beneath the soil on Earth, as Hozier has been reborn beneath the world in Hell, both lives lived underground. The theme of darkness that is regularly visited in both 'Inferno' and the album is shown here "unknowin'...sight", where the darkness of Inferno simulates a sort of blindness. The second half of the lyric references that loss of hope in Limbo, mirroring it to the idea of a flower being torn away from its only purpose of growing - similarly to how a soul is torn from its only purpose of living.

"Sensing only now it's dyin', drying out then drowning blindly, bloomin' forth its every colours in the moments it has left." The literal meaning of this lyric is the act of pulling flowers from their roots to simply put them in vases of water. The metaphorical meaning is Hozier attempting to hold up hope in Limbo. "Unreal Unearth" is very clearly a breakup album, and "First Time" tells us the compressed story of the relationship from beginning to end. We can take this song as Hozier beginning to lose faith in his relationship but desperately holding on, the way flowers know they're dying in a vase but continue blooming nevertheless.

"To share the space with simple living things, infinitely suffering, but fighting off, like all creation, the absence of itself. Anyway." Again, this references the ideas of flowers dying in a vase whilst trying to live cut off from their roots. The idea of "infinitely suffering" gives us that imagery of Limbo, but "fighting off...the absence of itself" also emphasises Hozier's attempts to rekindle this relationship the way flowers ignore the prospect of death in the hopes of living for a few moments longer. This little "anyway" at the end gives us the impression that, like Limbo, this is hopeless, and, as the flowers will, Hozier's relationship will die.

"When I was young I used to guess, 'Are there limits to any emptiness'?" The whole third verse shows us the final breaking of the relationship, but this lyric shows us that specific hopelessness that is felt in the decay of love. It really wraps up the idea of Limbo in this relationship; this soft acceptance that their love has died no matter how hollow it makes Hozier feel.

I personally think he is once again a MASTERMIND. Relating the death of a relationship to the wilting of flowers, especially flowers forced to stay alive, is perfect, like are you kidding me. Anyway, yes! That's my extra fathoming of "First Time" because there is simply too much to say.

If anyone else has anything to say, please lmk because there's nothing more I love than a Hozier deep dive :]

[xmystophalesx]

Best New Heavy Metal Releases Week of November 25th, 2022

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I was definitely thankful for that bit of extra time off from work to get through another strong week of releases. Will be a bit of a theme this week as there are more than a few albums that are just simply a blast to listen to. Especially in the “best of the Week” highlights section. Another flawless segue, so let’s get to a few of those aforementioned highlights.

Vambier-Prost Mortem (Heavy/Hard Rock)**

Good time hard rock with songs all about alcohol with those lyrics firmly planted tongue in cheek. Just a fun album all the way through.

Terrorhammer-Gateways to Hades (Black/Speed/Thrash)**

I would have like the production to be a little better on this, but I just had to have it as a highlight. This album just fills that old school fast as fuck Thrash/Speed Metal genre to the point of bursting.

Induction-Born From Fire (Symphonic Power)**

Completely new band to me and with this album, I will definitely look for more from them. If you are into Power Metal even slightly, give this one a listen. There is something really addictive about this album.

Hei’An-Imago (Progressive/Post/Black)**

One of those albums that has a lot going on and the more you listen, the more you unravel more layers and things you may have missed previously. This may not be an instant favorite, but it will reward you with multiple listens.

Sword-III (Heavy)**

Good old-fashioned Heavy Metal is the order of the day from Sword and once again they deliver an album that has everything you could want from the genre. Catchy songs, killer riffs, sing along choruses, blazing leads and when the album is over, they leave you wanting more. Considering their last album was released almost 35 years ago, this is one hell of a comeback!

Getting close to Christmas, just remember, Heavy Metal makes a magnificent gift! Buy some of these albums and help support all this incredible work. Until next week, and as always,

BANG THY HEAD!!!

All worthy of a listen if you like the genre

*= standout in that genre

**=best of the week regardless of genre

Best of the Week

Riot in the Attic-Those Who Don’t Belong (Hard Rock)**

Vambier-Prost Mortem (Heavy/Hard Rock)**

Sword-III (Heavy)**

Leather-We Are the Chosen (Heavy)**

Blackrain-Untamed (Glam/Heavy)**

Terrorhammer-Gateways to Hades (Black/Speed/Thrash)**

Hei’An-Imago (Progressive/Post/Black)**

Induction-Born From Fire (Symphonic Power)**

High Command-Eclipse of the Dual Moons (Thrash/Crossover/Punk)**

Standouts in their Genre

Sirrush-Molon Labe (Death/Black)*

Sisters of Suffocation-Eradication (Death)*

Evinity Project-Evinity Project (Melodic Death)*

I’ll Be Damned-Culture (Heavy/Hard Rock)*

Carnal Savagery-Worm Eaten (Death)*

Aviscerus-Visceral Depths (Melodic Death)*

Savage Soul-Suffering World (Death/Thrash)*

Once Awake-Once Awake (Melodic Death)*

Djevel-Naa Skrider Natten Sort (Black)*

Walk in Darkness-Leaves Rolling in Time (Gothic)*

Whirlwind-1714 (Heavy)*

Te Deum-Reflexia (Death/Doom/Melodic)*

Bad Sister-Where Will You Go (Hard Rock)*

Lucifericon-The Warlock of Du’ath (Death/Black)*

Nazghor-Seventh Secular Crusade (Black)*

The Riven-Peace and Conflict (Hard Rock)*

Judicator-The Majesty of Decay (Power/Progressive)*

Nomadus-Axis Primordial (Progressive Thrash/Groove)*

Elder-Innate Passage (Hard Rock/Psychadelic/Stoner)*

Depressive Witches-Distant Kingdoms (Black/Black n’ Roll)*

In the Woods…-Diversum (Progressive/Avantgarde)*

Jade-The Pacification of Death (Atmospheric Death)*

Virgil-Acheron (Death/Black)*

Worth a listen if you enjoy the genre

Esse-Letanias Al Verdugo (Melodic Black)

Black Lava-Soul Furnace (Black/Death)

Opened Paradise-Eclipse (Gothic)

Dark Nightmare-Beyond the Realms of Sorrow (Epic Heavy)

(Echo)-Witnesses (Melodic Death/Doom)

Krell-Deserts (Hard Rock)

Critical Extravasation-Order of Decadence (Technical Death/Thrash)

Zagtar-Primordial Mother (Groove/Thrash)

Anomaly-Somewhere Within the Pines (Death)

Archetype X-Regression (Melodic Death/Metalcore)

Detraktor-Full Body Stomp (Thrash)

Carnivora-Petrichor (Melodic Death)

Very close this week but pick of the week goes to Sword with a truly excellent album. THIS is how you make a comeback!