#about ornstein

[localcuttlefish]

Sick irredeemable fall-from-grace character arc bro!! What are we feeling for the ending, insanity, atonement by violent victory, or death/rebirth?

[cornlocamotive]

How I have missed thee, Ornstein

[transekiro]

nameless king and dragon slayer ornstein yaoi who else agrees

[chicxibalba]

cool four knights of gwyn headcanons

the age of fire lasted for thousands of years. kingdoms rose and fell, people lived and died. the only constants were the lords, anor londo itself, and ultimately, each other.

the dragonslayer, ever the busybody, took great pride on his cooking. what began as a necessity for survival turned into a genuine passion. you will never see him with a smile, but you will see one close enough when he's taking care of you with a hot meal.

the hawkeye is almost totally singular in his kind. born from the archtrees themselves far to the north, he was always compelled to wear a mask of some kind. his faceless visage was unsightly and unsettling to newcomers, even in spite of his good heart.

the lord's blade was never quite normal, or not as normal as she wished she were. she is a habitual liar, seeding falsehoods on reflex. it's easier to dress up the truth, to sweeten it, to just not be yourself. she wishes she could be honest with those close to her. it's safer for them is she's not.

the humble knight, a medial born among mortals, was born well after the dragon wars. his colleagues would never let him forget this, even when he went on to slay dragons of his own. the knight would never feel completely appreciated in his time, at least, not until the Abyss began to eat him alive.

the dragon slayer lived to serve. he served the Firstborn, he served his Lord, he served his compatriots. he and the lord's blade had known each other for a long time, since before they were even knighted. they served together in the war, became intimate. he feels the worst about how he was unable to prevent what she's become.

the hawkeye never understood romance so well. call it a cultural dissonance, or something else, but the drive isn't there. he has those who his is close with, though, from the blacksmith to his fellow knights. he is happy to let one rest with him, lay on him, tell him about their day. he never touched them back, not with his giant hands. not unless they ask.

the lord's blade is well acquainted with pain. she was born into it, living by it, in the form of a thousand cuts, burns, tears. her skin is painted in them. pain is satisfying, pain is cathartic, pain is pleasure. pain means that she is doing well. one day it will conquer her, but until then her every ache is a badge of honor.

the knight had always found himself the subject of the attentions of the other three. how couldn't he be? he'd always had a certain heart about him that simmered their suspicion and distance into true appreciation, brought them closer to him and to each other. his jokes, his wisdom, his love. the world was lighter with him.

the dragonslayer has family out there--sisters, nephews, nieces. he isn't acquainted with any of them anymore, and lost track of them quite a while ago. some intermarried with humans, gave birth to children with stunted mortalities. he himself always wondered if he could be a father, and raise a child better than his own had. his vows forbid it, but if things were different, together with his companions...

the hawkeye was fascinated by faces. lordranian giants had faces: humans had faces; gods had faces. they had eyes, noses, mouths. they blinked, smiled, growled, flushed red, drained pale. there was a little envy there, in how the dragonslayer might kiss his hand, or the lord's blade might share with him a truly rare smile. in how the dear knight might share a cup of tea with him, and describe its flavor. the faces he wishes he could share back, he whittles into wood.

the lord's blade wants to give back. these people in her life, these rocks of hers among a morbid blur, are all she has. she doesn't know how to. she doesn't even know where to begin. she has to be invited into love, into intimacy, and gradually warmed to it, before she even thinks herself worthy of it. in the end, she barely makes it. it's worth it all the same.

the knight hid when he first began to fall sick. he hidea his cold shivers, his inky-black coughs, his violent panic attacks. he catches himself in the mirror one morning. he's pale, utterly ashen, out of breath from the lightest exertion. his hand lays over his heart--it's racing. that sullen green ring hugs his finger, the symbol of his covenant with the Serpent. they can't know what he's done. they can't know what he's sacrificed to do the good he's always wished to do. they can never know what New Londo took from him the night it fell, and what he took from it in turn. they would despise him. hate him. throw him out. and then, just like in the beginning, he would be nothing.

[lupawolfe76]

When I started DS1 I expected to love Solaire, and don't get me wrong, he's great, but, why did no one tell me about Laurentius?

True Best Boy was stuck in a barrel and gives you a piece of his soul.

[fluffypichu876]

ornstein being the most graceful yet jankiest boss ever lol

[ancientmyrddin]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dark Souls (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Artorias the Abysswalker/Dragon Slayer Ornstein, Artorias the Abysswalker & Dragon Slayer Ornstein, Past Nameless King/Dragon Slayer Ornstein Characters: Artorias the Abysswalker, Dragon Slayer Ornstein Additional Tags: Flashbacks, Friendship, Shapeshifting, POV Second Person, Past Relationship(s), Banishment, Prompt Fill, Faraam is the Nameless King, High Fantasy, Dragon Ornstein, No Dialogue, Touch-Starved Series: Part 2 of at the precipice of some unknown ordeal Summary:

Faraam does not leave Anor Londo quietly after his banishment, rending his bonds wherever he has built them.

Ornstein, who forsook his fellow dragons to be with him, struggles under the sudden weight of his departure.

---

When you sleep, in your cold and empty bed, you dream of the skies. You feel your wings touching the clouds; your great and powerful legs propel you from the side of the mountain where you all once lived, and you take to the skies. You feel no cold, you feel no heat, you see no light nor dark. You cannot conceive of Faraam or Lord Gwyn or of anything beyond this flight. You see your family; you hear their roars echoing inside your head. When you wake up, they still echo.

[diniidjarin]

@ornstein tagged me for a q&a (thank you! i miss tag games -w-)

Tag 9* people you want to get to know better.

Currently reading:

Asimov's prelude to foundation sits on my bedside yet untouched because i'm still not done with a guide to the plants of carpathia and their historical & modern uses, and i'm not done with that because i'm too busy waiting for new chapters of time to orbit: unknown. you know how it is.

Last song:

aside from "music i happened to hear while doing other things", i've been putting on paranesian circle to banish bedtime overthinking

Currently watching:

Ahsoka, against all odds.

Current fic:

oh shit i should check on my ao3 subscriptions. i halfheartedly started a handful of spiders beter/miguel fics looking to scratch a brain itch a while ago then forgot to keep up with the ones i liked. or what they were called. like some kind of philistine

was this about writing? (takes a long drag on a rolled up piece of paper containing nothing but my grocery list) haha funny you should ask, ...nothing. the wips are not in progress. i only jot down some disjointed vignettes as they come to me 🙃

Next on my watchlist:

absolutely no clue. forgor my letterboxd password too. i should get through the rest of animated star wars someday though so that's on there :v beyond that i'm a creachur of opportunity rather than plan

Current obsession:

no time for all that i downloaded skyrim again after 7 years and spend the entirety of my free time doing fuck all leveling up sneak & archery like a good filthy casual. will report back once the current bout of addiction wears off

Tagging: @imaginaryanon @nocasdatsgay @disco-tic-wonderland @screwtheprinceimtakingthehorse *and the follower reading this if you want to share. :>

[clown-femme]

Having brain rot about a character who doesn't even belong to me. Being normal.

[redsixwing]

Gimme me Ornstein for the Character bingo!

Character bingo here.

Somehow I DON'T have a bingo on Ornstein? Seems like I ought to, I sure like to think about him a lot.

The lack of respect and asshole behavior come entirely from his boss fight, wherein he usually mops the floor with me more times than I like. (And he's somehow still one of the most fun bosses around.)

It's all about the fealty! And the aesthetic. Solar golden lion hits harder than Super Smough.

[paranormal-potatoes]

Teague: sorry what? i was distracted by the 11 foot tall twink

Ornstein: what is that and why are you looking at me

Teague: a twink is–

Gehrman, shoving his hand over Teague's mouth: nothing. don't mind him, he's chronically stupid. it's terminal

Teague: *muffled noises*

translation: fuck you let me seduce the twinks

Gehrman: no. behave. or I'm telling what you did last sunday

Teague: *remembering last sunday when he accidentally broke one of Maria's favorite mugs*

Teague, muffled but loudly: FUCK

[goji-pilled]

this post is for all of you just waiting for me to march into the haligtree (if i can find it in that godforsaken snowstorm ugh)

let it be known that malenia is either gonna be my target after the fire giant, or after maliketh.

either way shes coming before godfrey and radagon/the elden beast, even if it will easily take me hours with the way i know myself just so you dont start to wonder if i dont post about my playthrough for a bit 😭🙏

[transekiro]

someone please draw ornstein sunbathing with a thong on thanks

[sarcasticdolphin]

.

[tokay-blog]

I needed a distraction x)

Because of these sketches, there was a headcanon about prime Ravage. He's a beast who befriends Soundwave as a kitten (i.e. he's not part of Soundwave like Laserbeak).

However, Ravage was caught and put on a chain to be a wild beast in the arena. And that was the reason why Soundwave went into gladiators. He was given the condition that he would get his pet if he became the champion of the arena.However it's not a place you can walk away from of your own free will but where fighters fight until they die of exhaustion or are killed in battle.

Ravage was killed before Megatron started his revolution, so it was an additional reason for Soundwave to join the decepticons and despise the autobots.

(Actually on the second sketch it's just a random beast x) With random weapon. And only then did the headcanons already go. So it's not so much Ravage here, but just a hint of him)

And now we remember who Ornstein is transforming into in Part 9 x) (he's a lion, but he's basically a big black cat too)

[mariacallous]

The first thing to say about the hate and scorn currently directed at the mainstream US media is that they worked hard to earn it. They’ve done so by failing, repeatedly, determinedly, spectacularly to do their job, which is to maintain their independence, inform the electorate, and speak truth to power. While the left has long had reasons to dismiss centrist media, and the right has loathed it most when it did do its job well, the moderates who are furious at it now seem to be something new – and a host of former editors, media experts and independent journalists have been going after them hard this summer.

Longtime journalist James Fallows declares that three institutions – the Republican party, the supreme court, and the mainstream political press – “have catastrophically failed to ‘meet the moment’ under pressure of [the] Trump era”. Centrist political reformer and columnist Norm Ornstein states that these news institutions “have had no reflection, no willingness to think through how irresponsible and reckless so much of our mainstream press and so many of our journalists have been and continue to be”.

Most voters, he says, “have no clue what a second Trump term would actually be like. Instead, we get the same insipid focus on the horse race and the polls, while normalizing abnormal behavior and treating this like a typical presidential election, not one that is an existential threat to democracy.”

Lamenting the state of the media recently on X, Jeff Jarvis, another former editor and newspaper columnist, said: “What ‘press’? The broken and vindictive Times? The newly Murdochian Post? Hedge-fund newspaper husks? Rudderless CNN or NPR? Murdoch’s fascist media?”

These critics are responding to how the behemoths of the industry seem intent on bending the facts to fit their frameworks and agendas. In pursuit of clickbait content centered on conflicts and personalities, they follow each other into informational stampedes and confirmation bubbles.

They pursue the appearance of fairness and balance by treating the true and the false, the normal and the outrageous, as equally valid and by normalizing Republicans, especially Donald Trump, whose gibberish gets translated into English and whose past crimes and present-day lies and threats get glossed over. They neglect, again and again, important stories with real consequences. This is not entirely new – in a scathing analysis of 2016 election coverage, the Columbia Journalism Review noted that “in just six days, The New York Times ran as many cover stories about Hillary Clinton’s emails as they did about all policy issues combined in the 69 days leading up to the election” – but it’s gotten worse, and a lot of insiders have gotten sick of it.

In July, ordinary people on social media decided to share information about the rightwing Project 2025 and did a superb job of raising public awareness about it, while the press obsessed about Joe Biden’s age and health. NBC did report on this grassroots education effort, but did so using the “both sides are equally valid” framework often deployed by mainstream media, saying the agenda is “championed by some creators as a guide to less government oversight and slammed by others as a road map to an authoritarian takeover of America”. There is no valid case it brings less government oversight.

In an even more outrageous case, the New York Times ran a story comparing the Democratic and Republican plans to increase the housing supply – which treated Trump’s plans for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants as just another housing-supply strategy that might work or might not. (That it would create massive human rights violations and likely lead to huge civil disturbances was one overlooked factor, though the fact that some of these immigrants are key to the building trades was mentioned.)

Other stories of pressing concern are either picked up and dropped or just neglected overall, as with Trump’s threats to dismantle a huge portion of the climate legislation that is both the Biden administration’s signal achievement and crucial for the fate of the planet. The Washington Post editorial board did offer this risibly feeble critique on 17 August: “It would no doubt be better for the climate if the US president acknowledged the reality of global warming – rather than calling it a scam, as Mr Trump has.”

While the press blamed Biden for failing to communicate his achievements, which is part of his job, it’s their whole job to do so. The Climate Jobs National Resource Center reports that the Inflation Reduction Act has created “a combined potential of over $2tn in investment, 1,091,966 megawatts of clean power, and approximately 3,947,670 jobs”, but few Americans have any sense of what the bill has achieved or even that the economy is by many measures strong.

Last winter, the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has a Nobel prize in economics, told Greg Sargent on the latter’s Daily Blast podcast that when he writes positive pieces about the Biden economy, his editor asks “don’t you want to qualify” it; “aren’t people upset by X, Y and Z and shouldn’t you be acknowledging that?”

Meanwhile in an accusatory piece about Kamala Harris headlined When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?, a Washington Post columnist declares in another case of bothsiderism: “Voters want to blame someone for high grocery bills, and the presidential candidates have apparently decided the choices are either the Biden administration or corporate greed. Harris has chosen the latter.” The evidence that corporations have jacked up prices and are reaping huge profits is easy to find, but facts don’t matter much in this kind of opining.

It’s hard to gloat over the decline of these dinosaurs of American media, when a free press and a well-informed electorate are both crucial to democracy. The alternatives to the major news outlets simply don’t reach enough readers and listeners, though the non-profit investigative outfit ProPublica and progressive magazines such as the New Republic and Mother Jones, are doing a lot of the best reporting and commentary.

Earlier this year, when Alabama senator Katie Britt gave her loopy rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address, it was an independent journalist, Jonathan Katz, who broke the story on TikTok that her claims about a victim of sex trafficking contained significant falsehoods. The big news outlets picked up the scoop from him, making me wonder what their staffs of hundreds were doing that night.

A host of brilliant journalists young and old, have started independent newsletters, covering tech, the state of the media, politics, climate, reproductive rights and virtually everything else, but their reach is too modest to make them a replacement for the big newspapers and networks. The great exception might be historian Heather Cox Richardson, whose newsletter and Facebook followers give her a readership not much smaller than that of the Washington Post. The tremendous success of her sober, historically grounded (and footnoted!) news summaries and reflections bespeaks a hunger for real news.