#all of the posts of loki being the god of stories is related to the time stone

[chonkymoth]

I'd like to present an idea to the masses...........

[darkserenity24]

DarkSerenity's Fic Masterlist

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵! 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘥 18+, 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘋𝘕𝘐❗𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥.

𝑴𝑪𝑼

《 Loki Laufeyson x Female Reader 》

⤜ Series

Freedom and Forgiveness - (Part 1) Complete When the infamous God of Mischief escapes his cell in the basement of the Avengers Tower, he accidentally comes across you while looking for revenge.

Freedom and Chaos - (Part 2) In progress The God of Mischief discovers a new sense of purpose beyond himself, but when this newfound direction spirals out of control, chaos ensues, and something much more twisted is formed.

Haunted - In Progress Being a housekeeper at the Odinson Manor was nothing but a job to you. That’s until one Odinson brother changes everything, and the other tragically ends it.

⤜ OneShots

Strong You have a thing for your new boyfriend and he has a thing for you.

Birthday Bash No one’s more surprised than you when your archnemesis turns out to be your savior.

《 Steve Rogers x Female Reader 》

⤜ OneShots

𝑳𝒂 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒕 Death himself has come for you, and you have no other choice than to surrender to his whim.

𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒎𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒂 You've been granted a life many would envy, complete with a devoted husband who showers you with affection around the clock. Yet, despite it all, an inexplicable sense of absence weighs heavily on you.

𝑶𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔

《 Rafe Cameron x Female Reader 》

⤜ Series

Conceal and Carry - In progress You return to the Outer Banks to wrap up some familial unfinished business, only to be caught up in something so much more sinister.

⋙ I do not give any permission for anyone to copy, imitate, or translate my work. Same thing with fan art. If you want to post anything related to this story, please ask me first. Thank you.

⋙FAQs & Rules

20 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘳 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘺. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦. 𝘯𝘰, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘯𝘰, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘦. 𝘐 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨. 𝘐𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥. 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦. 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.

@ultraviolet-aria 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 🤍

[kydoesthings1]

McGillis and the Pied Piper

because February 24th’s Wordle was piper and I am procrastinating on school work

At 16:57 of S2E21 (E46) Gaelio says this to McGillis before charging him.

(Gaelio is speaking through the comms offscreen.)

(Apparently this line was also used in a game. I forgot which one. I don't play Gundam games.)

Gaelio literally says something along the lines of "Are you still going to play the pipe of Hamelin even when the battle is going like this?" Not sure why this is the subtitle. But they mostly mean the same thing so maybe I'm just nitpicking.

To refresh your memory a little, this is when the Revolutionary Fleet is very clearly losing to Arianrhod, and McGillis just made his pep talk and this iconic frame. They are preparing to retreat and regroup when Gaelio shows up to fight McGillis.

Gaelio referencing the Pied Piper of Hamelin (Hameln, same thing) is of course connected to McGillis's and thus his love of myth/folk tales. Because of McGillis's influence, Gaelio also has a strong liking for stories. He names himself and Gundam Vidar/Kimaris Vidar after Vidar, the Norse god of revenge and silence, son of Odin and slayer of Fenrir (Fenris, same thing but IBO uses Fenrir) the monster wolf son of Loki during Ragnarok. The same side story 'Eve of Vidar' also tells us he used to hit on girls using Norse mythology fun facts, including Yamazin Toka when he was a test pilot for the Schwalbe Graze.

Although these are relatively common knowledge for us, the viewers, they are probably niche facts however many years in the future the Post Disaster timeline is (in UC0079 Hitler and WW2 is considered "middle ages" despite being historically quite recent for us). This is one thing Gaelio and McGillis have in common and it is because of McGillis.

(Also this is kind of a weak diss? Like if you're gonna insult McGillis why compare him to something so cool. "Snake on the moon" - now that's an insult. But I digress.)

But what is the Pied Piper exactly? The Pied Piper, or the Ratcatcher (der Rattenfänger) is a legend of the town Hamelin in Lower Saxony of Germany. There are dozens of variations of this tale, but I'll only be talking about the most popular versions that relate to the events of IBO.

In 1284, Hamelin had a rat problem. Basically there were a whole bunch of rats, and they made life suck for the townspeople, as large numbers of rats tend to do. According to Robert Browning's poem, the people were mad at the mayor for not being able to solve the problem, and were about to kick him out. Then a man wearing a coat of many bright colors (Browning's version says yellow and red, both in McGillis's palette at some point) and holding a pipe showed up. The Piper promised to get rid of all the rats in exchange for 1000 guilders. He then played his pipe and all the rats came out and followed him into the river Weser and drowned.

The townspeople did not follow through on their end, however, and came up with all sorts of excuses to not give him the promised 1000 guilders. This angered the Piper, and he played his pipe again, and this time all 130 of the town's children came out and followed him away dancing and they never returned, nor were they ever seen again. Versions disagree on what happened to the children. In the Grimm Brothers and Browning's versions they went to Transylvania. Others say they went to a land like paradise in a cave. Others say they drowned in the river like the rats.

So how does this relate to McGillis and IBO? Well actually it's pretty obvious - Gaelio is simply saying McGillis is luring Isurugi, the Revolutionary Fleet and Tekkadan to their doom with false promises.

However, the point of this post is to point out some interesting details of this parallel. The Piper lured the children of Hamelin away as an act of revenge on the adults of the town because they didn't pay him what was rightfully his for his service. McGillis's coup can be framed as revenge on the corrupt system of the world Gjallarhorn maintains, and those who personally victimized him.

Interestingly, some accounts describe the Piper as "a miracle of God" and that he was sent to test the townspeople, and punish them when they didn't keep their word. Others call him the devil in disguise, who intended to trick the people and take their children. This is like how McGillis can be seen as a charismatic leader aiming to change the world for the better, or a ruthless, cold-blooded, lying, backstabbing, power-hungry traitor who will stop at nothing.

Additionally, Bael, the demon king, is a fallen angel who was cast out with Lucifer for rebelling against God, and Gundam Bael's gunpla box describes it as "a demon with the appearance of an angel" (this could also apply to McGillis himself).

In many versions of the story, some children are left behind. Which ones exactly vary, but Browning's focuses on a boy with a broken leg who couldn't keep up with the other children, so he was able to tell the villagers where he saw them go. The boy said they went into a portal on the side of the mountain, and on the other side was a paradise where everything was beautiful and peaceful. The boy was very sad he couldn't join his friends there because now he was all alone and couldn't return to that land.

Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?

In the epilogue, Gaelio is in a wheelchair and his bandaged neck suggests that his Alaya-Vijnana implants had been removed fairly recently. Supplemental info reveals that McGillis injured his spine during their fight at Edmonton, and Gaelio was only able to be up and about in S2 thanks to his AVS.

If the land the Piper and the children went to is Heaven, then this could be read as Gaelio being the only one not to follow McGillis into death, and being the sole survivor of his friends (for the sake of this argument Julieta doesn't count because Gaelio wasn't fighting for or against her).

An important difference is the boy longed to follow the Piper, while Gaelio rejected McGillis because he schemed to kill him and his friends.

The Piper's other name, the Ratcatcher? Tekkadan are space rats?

Also McGillis's true name Montag, presumably his surname before Iznario's adoption, is German for Monday, hinting at his heritage, and the Piper is a German story (obviously).

The Pied Piper is a legend that originated in the Middle Ages, and Gjallarhorn's leadership, ideology and overall aesthetic is reminiscent of that.

There is a version of the story that the Piper will return in 300 years. Which he did not do, but 300 years? McGillis, the self-proclaimed successor to Agnika Kaieru after 300 years?

I can't be bothered to write a separate piece on Gaelio's legs so I should also mention that Vidar, the Norse god defeats Fenrir by stepping on his lower jaw with his shoe made from all the collected pieces of leather people cut from their own shoes, and grabbing his upper jaw and ripping him apart at the mouth.

Vidar's special shoes are like how Gaelio says he’s carrying all the wishes of Carta and Ein, and the AVS Type-E also serves as his literal feet. (Also he wears very striking white thigh-high boots that are very hot. What they're not is part of the Gjallarhorn uniform, just to make this connection, in addition to exacting revenge in style.)

In many carvings, Vidar is shown stabbing Fenrir through the heart also, and Gaelio/Kimaris Vidar defeats McGillis by pinning him against the Arianrhod flagship and stabbing him/Bael through the torso.

Proposed origins of the Pied Piper

Now obviously there was no piper guy dressed in goofy clothes that stole all the children of a town with magic music. There are several theories about what the legend is based on. This has nothing to do with IBO anymore and I just thought it was fun so feel free to stop reading if you don't agree.

Plague: According to this theory, all the children died because of illness and the place they went to is a mass grave. The Piper's many-colored clothing represents the sores and discoloration of skin of those who contracted the illness, and he is the personification of the plague/death. Rats are carriers of fleas, which spread the plague. 1284 is a bit too early for the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) though, so it may have been something else.

Emigration: The emigration theory suggests that much of the people of Hamelin moved to eastern Europe in search of better opportunities as only the eldest son had inheritance and the others could only be serfs. In this theory, "children of Hamelin" are not actual children, and it's just a figure of speech to say they were of a certain place. This correlates with some versions where the Piper and the children he took were sighted in Transylvania.

Human trafficking/the Children's Crusades: In these two theories the Piper is the recruiter/trafficker and the story was made up by the town to please their officials.

Dancing mania: There have been records of dancing mania in about the same time period in the surrounding region, and children were among the affected. Dancing mania can sometimes result in death due to exhaustion. It was originally attributed to a curse by a saint (St. John or St. Vitus) and you had to pray to them to lift the curse. Modern explanations for dancing mania are neurological disorders or collective mental disorders.

Pagan ritual: supposedly the pipe music and dancing children are part of this ritual that took place in the mountains, and the children died from a landslide or similar accident.

"You're reading way too much into Gaelio's one line" no actually I am reading exactly the right amount into it and everyone else isn't reading into it enough

[vines-of-mine]

Awakening as an Alhaitham Fictionkin

I'd sort of felt this coming for some time, though I couldn't put a name to it. It started when I realized Sumeru was my hearthome. The first thought I had was "Well, it has to be psychological because if fiction can be real somewhere then I have to change how I view fanfic writing and that's scary. It also can't be related to a kintype because that's new and scary." I've started to learn that when my first thought upon learning something about myself is what it can't be, it's just what it is in disguise.

The rest of the post will be under the cut, because this is a WALL of text. This was hours of meditation summarized, so it's a pretty big post.

So I eventually reshaped my worldview to be a little bigger. I may have needed a lot of help from Loki, and it took some time, but honestly it's the most on-brand worldview I could adopt as a witch that works with Loki. Fiction just being reality somewhere else, infinite realities that sometimes find each other in fiction; it's a very chaotic idea, and a very Loki way to handle reality.

I knew it was a kintype, I just didn't know what. Of course; I started in Sumeru. I don't use meditation in my practice as much as I would like to, especially since it typically gets me some pretty good results. In part, I'm pretty sure that's why I don't utilize it more often. It gets... overwhelming. Plus, I'm still dismantling internalized societal bullshit that tells me that my own spirituality is "crazy." That being said, I meditated with one major location in Sumeru in mind at a time.

First, the city. It was mostly things I had already known, but this time it had this air of... an almost oppressive atmosphere, because of the Akademiya. I hesitate to say that I had a negative view of the Akademiya, because I think there's room for much more nuance than that. It's just something that, no matter where you are in Sumeru, you can feel the weight of. We are the nation of wisdom; where answers are sought. If we don't have them, no one does. The worst thing one can hear in Sumeru is "I don't know," and it's also the worst thing one can be forced to admit.

Then there was Ghandharva Ville. It was....interesting, in a way I have yet to figure out. I would say it was an experience of Tighnari, if I thought I might also be him, but I feel very strongly that that's not right. I felt an ear flick when a twig snapped in the ambience video I was listening to, and suddenly I was tuned in harder than I've ever been before. I got overwhelmed. My senses were heightened, but they weren't in my room anymore. I could feel the breeze, feel everything happening in the forest around me. It was nonhuman in a way I've never been before, something far more animalistic than my draconic kintype. It felt like I was aware of the tiniest creatures scuttling on the forest floor and the birds in the trees, all of it. I had ears and a tail, which is yet another reason why I'd say I would call this an experience of Tighnari except I've confirmed with my cards (tarot for those confused) about 15 times that, yes, it was an experience of mine as Alhaitham. I had ears and a tail, supposedly, though I'm not sure what kind. Then why are the Seelie court statues winged? I have questions. So many of them.

Gods, this is such a wall of text and I haven't even gotten to the parts where things became clear. I apologize for the attention span of anyone who stumbles into this.

Vimara village was uneventful aside from the detail that I had boots, which was ridiculously specific and a random thing to be so sure of. Pardis Dhyai was where things got interesting. First I was kicked out of my own meditation because Sumerians apparently ward their conversations and I wasn't invited to my own damn memory (long story, I'm not bothering with the details unless someone wants them.) When I went back, I was brought into a back room for scholars by someone that I couldn't tell who at the time. By the time I realized it was Kaveh and got some details of his appearance, it was clear that the fuzzy conversation was frustrating to me as it happened. He eventually moved from across from me to beside me, and put his hand on my arm and was so clearly worried. It was some sort of "We're here for you" conversation. ("We" including Cyno and Tighnari, because we were at the very least close. Possibly others, but I'm not sure.)

I'll be honest, I panicked and left because it felt like a private moment and then I felt like a bit of an idiot when I realized that it's my own memory. Whoops. Oh well! If I was avoidant of feelingsy things in that lifetime, I'm allowed to be in this one too. Rip me.

By then I was sure in my identity as Alhaitham. I knew who and what I am, and after a break I knew exactly what the next memory was going to be. Next meditation was me talking to Kaveh in our home, and telling him what I was. Because I'm not canon-compliant Alhaitham, no, that'd be too easy- I come with Seelie baggage! Yippeeeee /s

I'll leave the explanations to a minimum, but the way I work as a Seelie is that I do still have a Court. Not a statue, but a person. Mine is Kaveh. I can't sleep, save for when my body hits utter exhaustion or when I'm near my Court. I spent a lot of my early life in Teyvat sleeping in classes I shared with him and generally infuriating my teachers by getting high grades anyway.

Teling Kaveh what I was/am, and what he was to me, though... didn't go particularly well. I don't think I understood then, but looking back at it is pretty clear. He just kept emphasizing his own autonomy and personhood, that he was his own person and he had a life outside of me. Back then I was agreeing, caught off guard by the reaction, not sure what he was getting at. Now I can see that it was because to a human, "You are my Court" doesn't translate so clearly as "You are my soulmate" so much as it seems objectifying, like a demand that one be a resting place.

It's not a particularly satisfying place to "leave off" but it's where I am. I have no idea how that turned out, but I trust that it ended well somehow. No matter how it ended, really, I'm in this life now. So now I'm working on integrating what I know about myself, and hopefully this weekend I'll be able to read or do some project to feel more myself.

[taisestarr]

Lugh Samildánach’ aspects

Here starts the series of posts about Lugh Samildánach’ aspects. I took the epithets that Lugh has from different myths and associated it with the division of Ireland from the ‘Suidigud Tellaich Temra’ (The Settling of the Manor of Tara): 

knowledge in the west — Scál find (“light phantom”) battle in the north —  Lonnbéimnech/Lonnansclech ("fierce striker") prosperity in the east — Lámfada (“long hand”)   music in the south — Ildánach ("skilled in many arts")  kingship in the centre — Samildánach ("equally skilled in all the arts")

This is how I explain the difference between Ildánach and Samildánach. Ildánach as a potential of Samildánach, young Lugh starting his story. Sam means "together" according to this dictionary. It's all aspects together indeed.

Lugh always has all aspects, I separate them for better understanding in devoting and to follow Lugh’s way of self-improvement. Epithets are associated by their meaning and I’ve never seen such mapping before. I consider Lugh's story in myths as a development path. And that's the path anyone could follow with Lugh's support, as he does support improvement by his nature :)

Here are the parts of myths corresponding to the aspects:

Ildánach is a young Lugh that comes to Tara, telling and proving his skills in ‘The Second Battle of Moytura’. All that “Question me, I am…”. Lugh is called Lonnannsclech and Samildánach in that part of myth, I deliberately choose to name him Ildánach and will explain it later. This is an aspect of an artist and the patron of the arts, the favorite handsome young man that everyone’s loving. It’s similar to Apollo. 

Lugh Lonnbéimnech (or Lonnansclech) is a warrior and trickster from the battle itself in Battle of Moytura and in ‘The Fate of the Children of Turenn’. This aspect is rageful, similar to young Odin and other fierce tricksters, Loki in some way.

Lugh Lámfada is a high king after the victory in the Battle of Moytura. This aspect is related to a calendar myth strongly. He does a lot for nature and he is a balanced ruler. He manipulates the weather, the sun’s movement. He is responsible for the harvest and nature's well-being, Lughnasadh is his festival. This aspect was a tricky one to aggregate. I based my research on this great video by Fortress of Lugh — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrLUdqtyxZk and added some parts of myths and legends to it. This will be a long story :) 

Scál find is how I call Lugh’s manifestation after his death. He is the Scál in ‘Baile in Scáil’, and he is called Scál find in this ancient poem https://ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/kings02.html. Also, Find matches Lugh. To explore this aspect fully, I’ve added Lugh’s appearance in myths about Cú Chulainn: ‘Compert Con Culainn’ and a piece of ‘Táin Bó Cúailnge’, where Lugh comes to Cú Chulainn. This aspect of Lugh is very similar to Manannán.

Lugh Samildánach combines all these aspects, just like a high king in Tara must have skills of all 4 parts. And the young Lugh Ildánach demonstrates skills of every Ireland’s part when he comes to Tara: knowledge, battle, prosperity and music.

Lugh is a god of mastering and development. The way he appears in myths is also a path of self-development. There are keys for anyone in myth and I’ll explain all of them. This will be an interesting journey for several months.

[shegeekery]

Dream Therapy (one-shot)

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Loki (TV 2021) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Erik Selvig, Loki (Marvel), Jane Foster (Marvel) Additional Tags: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Dr. Erik Selvig struggles to recover from having a god in his head. A strange dream helps him see things in a new light.

“In related news, a lawsuit has been filed by New York contractors who argue that no-bid contracts are being granted to a small number of well-connected real estate developers, following the large-scale destruction of parts of Manhattan during the alien attacks two years ago.”

Dr. Erik Selvig switched off the television.

Two years. Selvig wanted nothing more than to forget the entire thing, especially his own part in it. My unwilling part in it, he reminded himself.

He’d had two years of therapy, medications, meditation, and trying to lose himself in his work. He was better than he had been when he was arrested for running around Stonehenge sans clothing. He could at least stand to wear clothing now, but he still found it difficult to focus with his trousers on. It felt too restrictive, reminding him uncomfortably of the sensation of being totally controlled.

There was no recognized diagnosis for “possession by malevolent deity”, so they were officially treating him for PTSD. Some of it helped, much of it didn’t. He felt more himself these days, but the nights were bad. In his dreams, Loki was still there. Still threatening. Still taunting him.

As a child listening to the old myths of his homeland, he’d loved the stories about Loki, the God of Mischief. He’d been tickled by the idea that there was actually a god for that. Now, just the mention of that name could bring on flashbacks to a time when he’d been utterly consumed by Loki’s blind ambition and disregard for human life, unable to think for himself and enslaved, body and mind, to Loki’s “glorious purpose”.

He sighed and turned back to his work. He’d been at the same problem for months, trying to account for discrepancies between the standard model of quantum mechanics and the observed behavior of Einstein-Rosen bridges. His friend and former student, Jane Foster, had provided some valuable insights, but he still couldn’t make all the pieces fit. 

I’m too tired for this. He shut his laptop and went through his evening routine. He took his medication, including sleeping pills, and hoped this would be one of the good nights.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

“How is your work coming along, Dr. Selvig?” Loki asked.

Selvig looked up from the graph on his computer monitor. What had he been working on, exactly? He didn’t know, but it was important. Very important.

“I…it’s…coming along,” he stammered. “Just, um, running some simulations.”

Loki glanced at the monitor. Instead of a complicated graph, it now showed a cartoon in which Garfield was taunting Odi.

“I suspect your heart isn’t in it, Doctor,” Loki replied in that quietly menacing tone he so often used. He raised his scepter. “Perhaps we need to ensure that your loyalty is still paramount?”

Selvig jerked out of the chair and backed away. “No! That’s not necessary. Really!”

Loki advanced toward him. “Oh, but I think it is.”

Selvig ran out of the room and into an endless hallway. He looked back, but Loki wasn’t there. He turned to see where he was going, and there was Loki, ahead of him, grinning maliciously. He ran the other way and back through the door, but now he was outside. It was dark, and he was in a nondescript alley. He kept running, turning a corner only to find himself at a dead end. He whirled around to find Loki advancing slowly toward him with the scepter.

“No! Please, not again!” Selvig pleaded.

Loki took another step toward him, then froze. Confused, Selvig waited for the inevitable, but Loki still didn’t move. The god was as still as a statue of himself.

“What’s happening?” Selvig asked.

“Dr. Selvig.” It was Loki’s voice, but his lips didn’t move and the voice seemed to be coming from…everywhere.

“What…what is this?”

“You’re safe, Dr. Selvig,” the voice said. It sounded surprisingly gentle. “This isn’t real. Just a dream. A nightmare.”

“Is this a trick?”

“No. Well, yes, actually. Your mind is playing tricks on you. But it’s your mind, Dr. Selvig. Nobody is controlling it now. You are free — and always will be, if I have anything to say about it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Please look at my eyes, Dr. Selvig. What do you see?”

Selvig looked at Loki. In his eyes, he saw the malevolence, anger, and fierce determination that he remembered. “I see…fury.”

“And behind that fury?”

Selvig stepped just a bit closer, staring at the still-unmoving Loki, for the first time trying to really see him.

“I see…” he stopped, afraid to give voice to what he thought he saw.

“Go ahead. It’s alright.”

“I see…fear?”

“Yes, Dr. Selvig. Fear, and self-loathing. I was terrified — and I used intimidation to hide it, trying to make everyone around me more afraid than I was. I tormented those weaker than I was, to cover my own weakness. I wanted to rule by force and by fear, because I thought I was unworthy of true respect.”

On some level, Selvig understood that he was dreaming— but for some reason that realization wasn’t causing him to wake up as it normally would. The dream still seemed real to him.

“Why are you telling me this? Or…am I telling myself this?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s true and that you know it’s true. What I did to you was unforgivable. You’re a decent man, Dr. Selvig. None of it was your fault. Not even a god can withstand the power of the mind stone. Even so, you managed to sneak in an off-switch for the Tesseract’s force field while under my control. That’s a testament to your unusual strength of character and of mind. I underestimated you.”

“How do I make this stop, then?”

“That’s up to you, Doctor. Do whatever makes sense. If you want to hit me, hit me. Or vent your own rage in some other way. Here and now, you are the strong one.”

Selvig stood before Loki, hands balling into fists, feeling his own anger rising to replace the fear. Loki’s body remained frozen, but his eyes were now tracking Selvig’s every move. The urge to pummel him was overwhelming — but now that he’d seen the growing fear in Loki’s eyes, he couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit sorry for him.

He took a step back. “No.”

“No?”

“I don’t need to hit you. That’s what you’d do, but it’s not me. Just…get out. Leave me alone and don’t come back.”

Loki simply faded away, leaving Selvig standing alone in the alley, which soon began to fade as well. Selvig felt himself floating, feeling more at peace with himself than he had in a long time. He was floating in a bed of seaweed — no, not seaweed; the long, thin strands that cradled him with warmth were glowing with a soft, greenish light, rocking him gently and lulling him into a more peaceful slumber.

He didn’t even startle when he heard Loki’s voice once more.

“One more thing, Dr. Selvig. In the morning, you may want to take a closer look at the rate of decay of particles entering the Einstein-Rosen bridge. I think you may find it interesting.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------

“Erik, hi! How are you doing?” Jane Foster always started their phone conversations that way these days.

“I’m doing great! Listen, I just sent you a rather long document, but the short version is…I think I’ve cracked it! I found a way to square the Einstein-Rosen bridge with the standard model!”

“Seriously? That’s huge! I’ll check it out as soon as I can! What turned it around?”

“I looked at the rate of decay of particles entering the stream.”

“Woah! I didn’t even consider that. What made you think of it?”

“Would you believe it came to me in a dream?”

[cleabellanov]

It's a countdown!! (is it though?)

Last Thursday, thorofficial posted the first *oddly* related Loki thing from a series of such posts that had my kind spiraling, so welcome to me putting it here.

Last week, I thought we'd get a surprise and Thor would make an appareance in that post credit-scene already, but that wasn't the case. Instead, the clock started ticking.

🕖

This starts, as any other stories that we know of, at the beginning. It starts with two brothers that don't know a lot about the world and will, inevitably, shape it after the words of their father. They don't know they're not blood brothers yet, but are growing up as they were.

Loki is being told that they were both born to be king, and he believes it, not seeing the lie in beLIEve yet. But it is true, he too was born to be king, only not in Odin's eyes. Odin, aware of this fact...doesn't really care. Not enough to treat his sons equally, only enough to keep Loki as a bargain for when times ask for it. In the first Thor movie, Loki's villain arc begins, once with the pain of finding out who he truly is. More than that, in this first movie, we get to see her rage unfiltered. The "What happened on Earth that turned you so soft" and "Tell me", for example. He is the God of Mischief, but mischief has its dark side as well.

That being said, it makes sense for these messages (so to call them, if I may) to start here. And the clock!! It is at 7:00, and how many days were there left to the finale? Seven. But hang on, it's set to drop more!

🕕

We all remember all too well (2 h 23 minutes version) that The Avengers 2012 was the next movie Loki was in. Now we are one hour/ day closer - see how the clock is now at 6 instead of 7. And it's a double countdown: to the season 2 finale AND to Loki's journey on the original timeline.

The sequence that was posted is significant for the movie, it's when we first hear Loki say the famous: "I am burdened with glorious purpose". But with unusual blue eyes and sweat dripping off their forehead, not to mention the tripping and overall tiredness of these first scenes; this also seems to come with a lot of pain.

And ohhh lord, there is a lot of pain bottled up in their character in The Avengers movie. The desire for a throne (together with the need to prove himself), the revenge, the mentaining of the illusion by fear and hurt...the constant manipulation Th@nòs put him through.

🕓

But that could make a whole other post. The desire for a throne, remember? "What's wrong with wanting something, Loki?". Well, when he tried to get back promise to be king, something that was claimed and was, truly, his birth right, Loki was told his birth right was to die. It feels ME with rage to even picture that scene!!! Imagine being the one who is told this, then put in a cell "for the rest of your days", all after the battle of New York.

And this is the point where the clock in the caption is one hour/ day closer, at 5'oclock...

🕒

Ohhh well, isn't this a beautiful image? The "your savior is here", Loki and Thor having a more lighted relationship, even though Thor thought his brother was gone at the start of the movie. This is a very important sequence, because it shows Loki finally turning back to his brother and to Asgard, on a ship to take them away from the ultimate destruction of Ragnarok. It's the first time we get a glance at the God of a Mischief using her villanous traits more for the good side, and it's amazing. With the time being 4 o'clock, there are only 4 days separating us from the finale. Just like the flow of time: never feeling regular, sometimes I wish I was closer, sometimes farther away.

6. 🕑

Oh, look at that! We're getting closer to midnight? But what does it mean? Once the clock strikes 00:00, what happens? Could it be hinting to a reset..?

In today's post, we saw Loki picking up that Tessaract and escaping the avengers, which would ultimately cause the events of Season 1. This is the last time we saw him on the original timeline and the first introducing TVA, or variant, Loki. This right here was their nexus event, the something that changed everything. According to the TVA, that wasn't supposed to happen, it was wrong. But under who's rules? Season 1's socialist-like approach, hwr's script, the flow of time itself, those are all behind us now. Everyone can write their own stories, right?

bonus: mini-theory

My theory is that, instead of altering the story, they're going to ask all their different variants in these specific points in time for help. What would they do? And imagine the power of all these Lokis, or making them work on a team! Either way, I see it as a captivating thought.

It's more likely that this episode will center more around the TVA than the past and the Sacred timeline. But even so, the countdown is still there!!! WHAT ARE YOU UP TO MARVEL

As long as everyone is fine by the end, I am happy.

I hope you enjoyed my insomnia activities and thanks for reading ✨

Also thank you to the Gif creators, those look amazing

[hard--headed--woman]

this may seem random but I was scrolling your blog and one of your recent posts was about what got you into radfem ideology and I wanted to add my own story cause it was similar.

I remember having blogs on here for various fandoms and being around when the push to headcanon every other character as trans came about. coincidentally, it was always the taller, broader women that got labeled as trans women (but always in some progressive light like they were bestowing them the "honor").

at first, I just kept myself out of it. I didn't know enough about being trans to add my own opinion. but then, on my blogs, I would get asks about "gender headcanons" (do you remember those? jfc) and I would feel pressured to make at LEAST one trans, if not nonbinary, even though it all seemed so redundant.

I ended up removing myself from fandom culture completely until very recently. I keep my opinions separate from my new fandom blog, for my own sanity, but it does irritate me to see that this obsession with every character being queer is still alive and well. and yet us actual gay people are just supposed to pretend it's not a trend.

Oh my god the gender headcanons 😭 I literally hated them. I remember when I was deep into the Loki show fandom ; it was literally impossible not to headcanon Loki and Sylvie as trans, non binary or genderfluid. That was ALL people were talking about. Just because Sylvie is a strong and badass female character, she of course had to be a trans woman or at least some sort of non binary. And obviously you couldn't say you disagreed, or you were an evil TERF. People would spam the tags and the discord servers with this, and send you asks to ask you what were your gender headcanons, and you couldn't say you just saw them as normal women and men.

Fandoms are so obsessed with gender. I read fics sometimes, OK, I like it, actually. And when you look for fanfictions you literally cannot spend two seconds without seeing tags like "trans Ronald Weasley", "genderfluid Nymphadora Tonks" and shit like that. Crazy.

People are obsessed with making characters "queer". They'll turn every character into some nuance of trans or non binary, often poly and pansexual too. Everything about the characters then becomes related to "queerness" or "gender" - the way they act, dress, speak, everything they do, say or like. They're no more depth or intersting personalities, it's just "queer uwu". And you have, of course, to headcanon some characters as trand or enby, or you're boring and possibly terfy.

Also I agree with you - I notice it's always the characters that are even just a bit gnc that get headcanoned as non binary, especially female characters. Sylvie isn’t a nice pretty little princess who gives up on everything for her man and her outfit isn’t sexualized ? Trans. Tonks has short hair ? Non binary! This masculine female character ? Trans of course. Sooo annoying.

I removed myself from fandom spaces too lol. Because of their obsession with gender, but also their misogyny in general. Female characters are treated like shit by fandoms. They get ignored, vilanized, killed off/pushed out of the way for male characters, treated like sexual objects... I just decided to abandon my side blogs and to leave the fandom discord servers I was in. I can't enjoy fandom in such conditions.

[snowflakesnsundry]

Okay listen up nerds

i am so fuckin sorry ive been gone so goddamn long I've been a bit of a mess. I ended up losing my job but weirdly it's kinda been the best thing to happen to me in a while. It had gotten really unhealthy for me-which isnt the point of this post but...

I have just finished Loki seaon 2 and I gotta talk about it right now and in unreasonable depth

STARTING with the end.

Firstly, for any of you who have not read Jason Aaron's "King Thor" series. I reccommend you do right now.

When i started my fic I read every single Thor/ Loki comic i could get my grubby little hands on- and out of all of them, there was just one that tore my fucking heart in half- Aaron's King Thor run.

And I am not kidding when I say it's beautifully written- but I am also not kidding when I say this is exactly where our season 2 ending came from- just.... well.... look-

In the story, the God Butcher has swallowed the universe until only one singular star remains; dying and soon to flicker out. It can survive if there is something to re-start it. Something, or someone to provide it with power

FUCKING LOOK AT THE VISUAL PARALELLS IN THAT LAST PANNEL EVEN???

Honestly when the God Butcher showed up in Thor: Love and Thunder it made me nervous because of this ending, because it is heartbreaking and beautiful particularly within the context of the story-

-begin brief tangent-

-because heres the thing.

The Loki in the comics is not as kind and fuzzy as the one in the TV show and movies- the newer comic loki has taken a lot of ques from Hiddleston's Loki, but thats sort of the exception to the rule. In the comics he is constantly lashing out at thor with hate and anger and rage- its an inescapable centuries long cycle for them.

But even as Loki has betrayed Thor to the God Butcher, even as the universe is breathing its last breaths and fading into darkness... we get this:

These two brothers, enemies for countless lifetimes... in their last moments, they reach for one another until there is nothing left and i was INCONSOLABLE.

If you haven't read the Thor or the Loki comics, you dont have to read them all- but I do encourage you to at least read this one run. It's 4 "books" (and contains a lot from Aaron's run as a writer for Thor as this was his last series before moving on) but its worth it for this moment- particularly as it relates to the TV series

-end brief tangent-

Regardless, I think we have all heard about Hiddleston chasing Owen Wilson down to tell him every last thing about the Loki lore so I swear to god he knows about this and the fucking writers did this on purpose stg.

Anyway- the use of this particular plot was beautifully exicuted and we love the comics being blended into the MCU in such a lovely way.

I have more thoughts overall but this has been clawing at me all goddamn night and I had to share it with you all.

Watching has gotten me back to writing, and I hope to be back fully very soon.

<3

[buffyfan145]

I knew I was going to get Haladriel thoughts reading "The Witch's Heart", which is a retelling of Norse mythology from Angrboda's (Loki's first partner/wife), POV but OMG this really is weirdly similar at times. It's well known Tolkien based Sauron/Mairon off of Loki and I know more about Sigyn since she's normally the most well known of his wives (and of course his other Marvel love interests) but I see Galadriel in both of them. 😏 LOL Also it's interesting all this is happening at the same time in this book as normally Loki's with Angrbody thousands of years before he even becomes a god and then marries Sigyn after they're parted, but so much more drama this way.

With Angrboda she's a witch that's been outcasted from all the others and especially Odin. She ends up being a feared witch in the woods that most are afraid of, similar to how Galadriel was talked of by the men that didn't actually know her as well as from the other elves. Angrboda ends up having 3 children by Loki (all with his green eyes): their daughter who almost died Hel (Hela) and later becomes the ruler of Hel or the underworld of the dead and in the book also falls in love with Baldur (Odin's son adored by everyone and now a very common thing in adaptations even though they weren't a couple in the original myths); Fenrir (Fenris) the large wolf and Jörmungandr (Jorm) the serpent and both boys play a part at the end of the world after they're taken from their mother. It ends badly between her and Loki making them enemies as their children are taken away and he ends their marriage revealing more of his deceiving. Angrboda's also has foresight like Galadriel too and knows how the world is going to end and how Loki plays a huge part in it but doesn't tell him. So their story goes more like how we know Galadriel and Sauron's does.

Then there's Sigyn. She's depicted here just like in the myths and Marvel as being a blonde-haired goddess of loyalty/fidelity. Regardless of what Loki does she forgives him and still loves him, and eventually turns against the gods when one son Váli kills the other Narfi (Nari) after the gods turned him into a werewolf and the torture they put Loki through. In Marvel she learns to use magic from Loki and I'm curious if the same happens in this book since I have some more left to read. Also at one point Angrboda has a vision of Loki leading an army on a boat to fight the gods at Ragnarök and Sigyn is the one by his side and reminded me so much of this scene with Haladriel. LOL 😀

So I'm really enjoying this book, and there's still a lot of romance in it as well, and Loki looks more like how the Norse myths described him with reddish hair and green eyes, and we know that's similar to "Rings of Power" Halbrand/Sauron (and still Tom's when he has red hair), and now getting this including the other gods calling him "The Shapeshifter", "Mischief Maker", and "Father of Wolves". I posted before about Loki and Sauron but there does seem to be a lot of similarities between them, which Tolkien likely planned, but for both his wives/partners in the myths to be so similar to Galadriel is great. And I'd totally rec anything Loki or Norse mythology related to read being a LOTR fan and Haladriel shipper.

[chthonicgodling]

(April’s)Huevember - Day 22!

featuring: Cinthy & Krokos

[in which I’ve made my very own #Huevember wheel this year (that you can use too! Pls tag me I’d LOVE to see!) - unabridged version continues, including a wide array of Elysium’verse characters across the rainbow!]

PURPLE DAYS BEGIN!! my official ™ fave of the month is still coming up but literally all the rest of these pics from now til the End end are my faves honestly I. love every one of these. starting today with some GHOSTS 👻 - Flower Shades Hyacinthos “Cinthy” & Krokos! ok the lore info on this post got ridiculous I’m so sorry — for once I’m actually gonna stick it behind a cut to spare u all from this essay lmfao??? AUGHH

I’ve given my whole Flower Shade spiel twice prior (most recently on the 8th for Karpos & Kalamos’ pic) so I will spare you all lmao - Cinthy’s untimely demise turned him into. well. yknow. Hyacinth. (Actually, *annoying mythological facts voice* it’s larkspur but honestly that’s stupid so—) and Krokos’ own death turned him into…. crocus. duh duh. Hello. duh.

Krokos and Cinthy died, separately, in the EXACT SAME STUPID WAY, and also their personalities are SOOO polar opposites from each other so drawing them next to each other is exceptionally hilarious to me-

Krokos was dating Olympian Hermes when he died in a FREAK DISCUS ACCIDENT rip - death by frisbee🤦🏻‍♀️ and tho they’ve long since “”formally”” broken up they did part ways on good terms and consider themselves friends…………. With benefits in current days fgkgkg

and then, Cinthy!!💞💞💞💞 Cinthy is NOT as much of a background character like the other Flowers, since in current canon he’s actually engaged to Gany, with whom he’d been secretly…💞close friends💞 with during his own mortal life, back when Gany was tethered to Zeus and Cinthy himself was dating the Olympian Apollo. Cinthy’s own death via discus accident was… a little more complicated, as it came at the hands of another god and…. Maybe even more than that one god - if anyone had known about his relationship with Gany at the time….. hm. Well.

….meanwhile Elysiumverse!Apollo is an actual villain in here, like. in my list of Elysium Villains with Thanatos and OrigiMel. by the time Gany fell into the Underworld, Apollo and Cinthy had already kindave grown apart BUT Apollo’s absolute rage (and following related actions) over discovering that the Elysium palace was “keeping” Gany, and that Cinthy was choosing him over him, was the final “mask off” trigger to expose ✨his real horrible self✨ and needless to say that breakup was. uhhhhhh. rough.

BUT that was years ago and now they all live happily ever with Cinthy reunited with the ACTUAL love of his life snotty Olympians be damned

despite being a natural brunette (maybe) when he was alive Cinthy was constantly dying his hair different colors every week and when Meli & Loki turned Elysium’s shades solid (long story) years ago, he jumped right back to it; although his go to default is usually like, blurple-pink. When Krokos turned solid the first thing he did was make Cinthy dye his hair bright purple! Also fun fact Cinthy was the person who first dyed Chal’s hair red :-)

idk why tf I felt the need to do all this on this post but. jazz hands here you go. STAY TUNED TOMORROW ETC- all the hUevemebr posts are in this tag!!

[majachee]

GOOD EVENING ! I don't know anything about your OCs but I am willing and eager to learn. May I get a quick introduction to them ? :D And also if they're part of a or several stories I'd love to hear about them hohoohoho

OMG OMG YESSSSS!!!!!

Basic concept: A majority of them are all based on mythology, the pantheons all co-exist and have varying degrees of interaction. The concept of fate and pre-determined destiny has a chokehold on their godly society(s), for better or for worse depending on your ranking. When apocalyptic-level anomalies that defy established destiny start happening worldwide; some dive deep into blind, destructive panic while others see it as an opportunity for their own personal, often selfish, agendas. >:))

Mythology is my special interest, okay LES GOOOO MORE DETAILED ELABOROATION HEHEHE

Main character is based on Sun WuKong... his name is Sun WuKong. He's younger than his literary counterpart and meant to be more of a young adult with murderous instincts natural curiousity about the world around him while still being incredibly knowledgable about his own background, easier for the readers to learn more about the world and story naturally through an equally curious character!

He finds himself joining a small group of gods and past heroes (near the end of his Journey) who explore the aforementioned anomalies in order to learn more about them, and hopefully recruit more members in order to come to a solution. Despite the apparently positive and earnest intention, some members seem to have their own ulterior motives that might be... less than beneficial.

WuKong is loud, impulsive, naturally curious, intelligent, and has a very extreme way of thinking regarding morality and ethics. Both good and bad.

My character based on the Six-Eared Macaque is, much like his original counterpart, meant to work as a foil for WuKong in the beginning chapters. He is WuKong's age (supernatural equivalent of 18-20 years old) and had a much more harsher, stricter upbringing in comparison. He is someone who is incredibly insecure and projects those perceived flaws of his onto others, which is what lead to him hunting down and fighting WuKong before being struck down. Doesn't help that he only knew the other monkey via rumors.

Macaque is often manipulated by older gods and finds himself being coerced into a group that exploits the anomalies and the exposed loopholes of fate and prophecy for their own, very specific agenda; Vengeance. The members of this small yet loud group felt mistreated and likewise exploited by the gods on top, and now see these events as an opportunity to strike. As time goes one the leaders of this group (Loki, Boreas, and Ate) use more extreme methods to keep their members in check, as most of them have been emotionally manipulated into joining.

These two groups clash for the entire story, but it's subtle before they directly meet in Midgard and the land(s) of the Æsir.

Some examples of these anomalies include; Ra disappearing mid-day, Fimbulwinter sweeping over Scandinavia while Baldr is alive and well, unrest in the collective underworlds and a great plague coming from the Mediterranean.

There's more info in my oc tag and lore post tag, but half of it is outdated (mainly world building + story, character related stuff is p much the same.) BUT YEAH !! That's the basis of my main oc story + my silly monkey boys with Issues(tm)

I've been working on these characters since early middle school, help.

[angedemystere]

Norse Retellings - Sigyn and Angrboda

A/N: This post has been sitting in my drafts for almost a year, but my opinions are the same. At some later date I might reread The Witch’s Heart to reassess.

I’m jotting down some thoughts I’ve mulled over after finishing Cat Rector’s The Goddess of Nothing at All. It’s a retelling of the Norse myths through Sigyn’s perspective, making tweaks here and there to the stories on the grounds that some details were altered in the later accounts to make her husband Loki more of a villain and herself more of a clueless or complicit bystander. 

Reading this book naturally reminded me of Genevieve Gorchec’s The Witch’s Heart. It does something similar but with Angrboda, Loki’s other wife or mistress, depending on how you interpret their relationship. In that book, she’s definitely Loki’s wife. Both books choose to make a wife/lover of Loki into the protagonist, and I’m not sure which version I like better. They each have their pros and cons, but my biggest problem is how similar these characters are despite being from different races and different parts of the Norse myth narrative.

Both of these leads deal with three major issues or arcs: 

self-discovery or actualization

being in a relationship with Loki 

protecting their children

You can see how sharing not one but three of these can make them seem so alike. There are, fortunately, finer details that distinguish them a bit. 

To start, they initially have different motives. Sigyn in GoNAA wants a title to make her a “real” goddess, but Odin has denied it to her for flimsy reasons. She’s so desperate to win his favor and feel empowered that she recruits Loki as her teacher in seidr in exchange for getting him out of exile from Asgard. Angrboda in TWH escapes the Aesir after being “executed” by them to live a peaceful, solitary life. This is complicated by her amnesia, which leaves her uncertain of her own identity. I think Sigyn’s motive makes her more proactive than Angrboda in the beginning. 

However, Sigyn’s drive for a title falls by the wayside as she gets wrapped up in Loki’s sheningans and, later, the trials of raising a family. I suppose it offers commentary on how, no matter how much Sigyn wants recognition for herself, her story is more about Loki and her children. The ending promises a bit more for her, so there’s that. 

For Angrboda, she isn’t as proactive until later in the story, and it’s still only tangentially related to discovering her identity. Like Sigyn, her arc gets swallowed up by Loki and her children. But Angrboda’s real disadvantage is that she has little involvement in the other Norse myths apart from the ones about her children being taken by the gods and her giving Odin information about Ragnarök. This means she hears more about things than participates in or even witnesses. Sigyn has more to do, so more of the myths directly impact her. Rector also tweaks the story about Angrboda and her children (Hel, Fenrir, Jormungandr) to let Sigyn be more involved, which Gorchec does not do in TWH. 

Rector has more success with Sigyn as a protagonist because she’s willing to play around with details from the myths and cast it as the “true” story (or at least Sigyn’s version of things) so that Sigyn can have a greater presence. Gorchec keeps more closely to the original myths, apart from making Angrboda also be Gullveig, Heid, and Hyrrokkin. As with Rector’s Sigyn, these changes allow Angrboda to participate in a few more incidents in Norse myth. I wish she had been willing to take it even further, especially when revealing Angrboda’s backstory beyond the hints we get. Whereas Sigyn’s concern for her family ultimately overshadows her personal ambitions, which in itself can make sense as a character arc, Angrboda’s search for her true identity never disappears but also doesn’t gel with her concern for her family. These two desires keep interrupting each other for attention in the narrative. 

All that said, Sigyn and Angrboda in their respective retellings are portrayed as, for lack of better words, the “better” partner to Loki. Angrboda in GoNAA is little more than a witch with a vendetta against the Aesir; that’s the only reason she partners with and has children with Loki. This actually makes her more interesting in my opinion. She does care about her children, but she sees them as tools for revenge, too. Sigyn, by contrast, becomes a more nurturing mother to Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungandr (and Sleipnir) despite not being biologically related (and feeling betrayed by Loki). 

Sigyn in TWH ... well, we don’t have much to say about her except what the original myths suggest. She’s Loki’s faithful wife, but she’s understandably appalled by his relationship with Angrboda. She seems naïve and lashes out at Angrboda for being Loki’s “mistress” with monstrous children. While Angrboda never meets Sigyn’s sons, she too takes care of Sleipnir for a time. 

In short, Rector and Gorchec are not interested in making the “other woman” more likable than, or even as likable as their heroine. It makes sense, but this contributes to the “sameness” these retellings share. Sigyn and Angrboda are both well-meaning women who fall in love with Loki, love their children, are betrayed by Loki, fall out of love with him, then come to forgive him by the story’s end. They and the “other women” start out disliking each other but develop begrudging empathy. 

I think, in the end, while the protagonists could stand to be more uniquely developed beyond familiar “heroine of myth retelling” tropes, Rector is more successful at lending texture to her rendition of Asgard and the other worlds, which definitely doesn’t stick with Viking-Age technology or atmosphere. I rather wish Gorchec had allowed Angborda to interact with more characters, even if they had to be original. I like her portrayals of Skadi and Gerd, but we could have seen more of the giants to better understand their culture and how the perceptions of the Aesir could have been skewed. I prefer the more faithful “ancient” vibe of The Witch’s Heart over the anachronistic world of The Goddess of Nothing At All, but it needed more concrete depth and dimension, not just teasings. Same goes for Angrboda herself. Our leading ladies can be more complicated.

[lokavisi]

As long as you don't think Tom Hiddleston *is* Loki. Like, actual Loki. Cause that's a problem. That said, I agree that Marvel's stories are a great way to draw people's attention to the gods. It's how I got interested.

If you spend time with Loki, you'll know where Marvel's interpretation differs from the real thing. Even so, Loki and the other gods can still shine through in those performances. (Personally, I don't see Odin coming through. Marvel's Odin is kind of a piece of shit with little redeeming qualities. But that's just me lol) I do find watching the Loki series in particular to almost be a devotional act. Actually, I'd say it is a devotional act for me personally. Marvel Loki's character arc in that show and the themes that develop, relate so much to work I've done and messages I've received from Loki. I'm summarizing here, but in season two, Sylvie asks Loki, "What do you want?" After hearing his response, she says, "But what do you want?" And I'll be damned if I haven't had that conversation with Loki a million times. That's just one example. I could honestly write a master post on all the ways I see and hear Loki through that show. But never in a million years would I say that Marvel's Loki *is* Loki.

Tangentially related story (this is my ADHD at work here lol), when I started working with Loki he appeared to me like Hiddleston's Loki. I was confused as to why because I knew that he isn't that character. But he said he understood that I was anxious about never being able to know when someone was him (because he's a shapeshifter), so until I could really recognize his energy he used a face that I already associate with his name so I'd know it was him. It was really kind of sweet. Very affirming that he was willing to do that so that we could foster a relationship together. ❤️

just a reminder— it’s very narrow minded to assume that every Lokean who also likes Marvel thinks that Loki is just Tom Hiddleston.

- people can very easily figure out the difference. one simple google search of “Loki” led me to where i am today.

- don’t undermine the value of Marvel basically making their own fan fiction of the Norse Gods. it allows so many more people to learn that they exist!!! it’s hard to understand a pull to a God if you don’t know that they exist!!!

- gatekeeping is hatekeeping and honestly not punk rock at all. also not swag money. 0/10

i’ve been steaming all day about a post that called Loki Laufeyson “Marvel Garbage.” yer wrong matey. arrrr. now walk the plank.

[infinity-squared-comics]

Happy Transgender day of visibility! To celebrate, here are some Trans media recommendations (some of which are available on this very website)

The Deep & Dark Blue

The Deep & Dark Blue is a graphic novel that has achieved some notoriety for being banned in certain countries for the simple act of Transness. It stories the tale of a pair of twins, Hawke and (Grayce), heirs to a noble house who were forced by an inheritance scheme to hide in an all female order of weavers, who, with their blue thread, weave the very future itself. Because of this, they must act as girls. Except, Grayce is a girl. Transness. Also there’s a gender-affirming magical tapestry. I read this while egg, and related to it on a level I couldn’t quite describe yet. It’s really good.

Sleepless Domain

More gender affirming magic! In the world of this webcomic, girls and only girls are gifted mystical powers to fight monsters. So it was pretty neat for Zoe Blecher to gain these gender-affirming superpowers. I’d probably call Zoe a deuteragonist. She’s not one of the main characters, but she is a fairly major one. The story does not make much of a big deal of Zoe’s Transness, and we only really find out when one of her cousins over shared and explains Transness in general in that cute simplified way that children understand things.

https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-19-page-29

Transcendent

More trans, more magic, although none of it has anything to do with gender. Despite being a magic user, the main character Olive still needs HRT. From aliens. Yeah there are aliens, but I only remember them coming up once. Nbd. It has a great balance of wonderful stories about gender stuff and wonderful stories having nothing to do with gender. Every single one of the stories is wonderful. It’s one of my favorite comics, and can be found right here on tumblr

https://allthingstranscendent.tumblr.com/post/617598276930289664/introductions

El Goonish Shive

This webcomic is not technically on tumblr but it can be viewed through tumblr. It does… not to great with gender stuff at first, but as the author improves so does the representation, in terms of both gender and orientation. It currently has the second most Gender cast of any media I consume (for the life of me I can’t figure out the first)

https://egscomics.tumblr.com/post/680206699132534784/sandwich

The Owl House

Great show, has an older Enby character, screwed over by Disney (also please more spoilers I’m not caught up with season 2B)

She-Ra and the princesses of power

Available on Netflix, this wondrous show has one (1) cool non-binary shapeshifter person, and one (1) major Trans female character who was confirmed outside of the show itself (for safety purposes)

Steven Universe Future

Shep. There probably would’ve been more explicit Trans rep if the higher-ups had allowed, but oh well, still an amazing franchise (this installment in particular handles trauma really well)

Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard

Alex Fierro is a genderfluid icon. So is xer mom Loki, but he’s especially evil in this so… also great pan realization from Magnus himself later in the books.

Shameful self promotion

I feel kinda bad about this, but this is supposed to be a full list of trans media, and I happen to specialize in trans media. I’ve got Infinity Squared, a pixel art comedy comic made up of 1. Wordplay 2. Geek culture references 3. Queer jokes and most often 4. Two or more of the above. I’ve also got spectrum force, a pretty cool hand-drawn comic in which a bunch of color-coded trans youths battle physical manifestations of the fear that comes from hope, and then shoot them with arrows. It’s fun, we have fun.

So… yeah.

[mannazandwyrd]

On a possible lost name of Loki:

I have speculated previously that, in order to incorporate new ideas into heathenry, we not only need to be reading current scholars’ work and revising our ideas to fit the currently available evidence into the Religion With Homework(™); we also need to find ways to evaluate unverified personal gnosis (UPG) and shared gnosis (SPG) from devotees for possible incorporation into new theology. With this blog post, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is.

I have a longstanding UPG (from multiple pendulum-and-alphabet-board conversations with Loki over the course of months, confirmed by other divination methods) that Loki was once also named ‘Aceilon’. Loki tells me it’s pronounced with a hard C, Ah-Keel-on. (Yes, I have very enthusiastic permission from the aspect of Loki who I interact with to share this ‘lost name’.)

There doesn’t appear to be a shred of independent evidence for that name ever being used (although perhaps I’m not looking in the right places). So, how does one evaluate this new piece of information?

Well, we could discard it immediately based on it being UPG. We could ask for independent confirmation from other devotees, which would make it SPG, still a fairly tenuous status.

Or we could measure it against what we do know about Loki. My last post looked at a number of possible etymologies of Old Norse ‘Loki’. (Probably not all those etymologies are completely sound. I am Not A Linguist and not able to evaluate them myself.) William Sayers, in “Norse ‘Loki’ As A Praxonym”, notes that many of the names of deities and other entities in Old Norse myths give us information about those who bear them.

So, if ‘Aceilon’ is a lost name for Loki, it should reflect Loki’s personality and other qualities in its etymology.

I’m not sure what language ‘Aceilon’ would be. It may have the form of a Continental Celtic god name, or one from an even earlier bronze- or stone-age culture. We do know that Norse mythology probably resulted from the meeting of multiple belief systems during the Migration Age or earlier, so a non-Germanic etymology isn’t out of the question, but it would still likely have a Proto-Indo-European root.

(‘Aceilon’ may be related in some way to the Greek mythical figure Achilles, but Old Norse ‘Loki’ likely predates Achilles’ stories, given that some of the proposed roots of ‘Loki’ are proto-Germanic… so I’m treating Achilles as a distraction.)

Let’s start with the suffix of ‘Aceilon’: -on as a suffix meaning “one who [preceding verb]” is currently found in French and was also used in Old French - possibly, via Ancient Greek, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-os (creates nouns from verb stems)) or a diminutive (in French, Old French); some of the French words with this suffix derive from *-onos, the corresponding Celtic singulative suffix (seen in some pre-Roman Continental Celtic male deity names, with -ona as the female form), which probably has the same PIE root.

Okay, so using that gives us a working hypothesis that ‘Aceilon’ means “One Who [Verb]s”, where the verb was ‘aceil’ or ‘akeil’ or ‘ceil’ or ‘keil’, or the root words that became those sounds. What survivals of such a verb could exist?

1. It could have survived in Gaelic as ceilidh, a party of neighbours with music or stories, which comes from an Old Irish word céile meaning companion, follower, or servant [fitting for the travel companion of Odin, Hoenir, and Thor, and for the plot-driver of so many stories]. The Old Irish word in turn comes from proto-Celtic *kelyos, further etymology uncertain but possibly from PIE *ḱey- ‘to lie down, to settle’ [which ties in with Sayers’ notes on Old Norse lúka as a root of Loki], which is related to PIE *tḱey- ‘to cultivate, to settle, to live’ and PG *haimaz ‘settlement, village, house, home’ [interesting in light of Eldar Heide’s discussion of Loki as a house/hearth wight or vätte].

2. It may have survived into modern German as keil ‘wedge, (heraldry) pile’, from protoWestGermanic *kinan, protoGermanic *kinana (split, crack open, germinate), from PIE *ǵeyH- (“to break open, germinate”). [Loki as a fertility deity, or the one who breaks open situations where there is an impasse?]

Keil is also a city in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, established as a Danish village on Kieler Förde (German) and Kiel Bugt (Danish, ‘Keil Bay’), a harbour on the Baltic sea, not far from Hedeby/Haithabu where worship of Sirius/Lokabrenna was recorded.

3. English ceil (as in conceal or ceiling) could be another survival, and things get quite interesting with its PIE root: *ḱel- (verb) to cover or (noun) incline, with the sense of a hill. [Loki as a chthonic deity, consistent with Liberman’s etymology of Loki.]

The following words all come from PIE *ḱel-:

- Ceil (English, Irish, verb) ‘to hide, conceal’ , from Old Irish ceilid, from Proto-Celtic *keleti; compare Welsh celu, Latin cēlō, Old English helan. [In Loka Tattur, Loki is the only deity who succeeds in concealing the boy to protect him. In addition to its meaning, Ceil is a homophone with seal, one of the animals Loki transforms into.

- Hel (Old Norse, Loki’s daughter and her realm) from *haljo (Proto-Germanic) ‘netherworld’

- Hella (Frisian), Hylja (Old Norse), and Hill (modern English) from *huljaną (Proto-Germanic) ‘to cover, veil’

- Holda (Old Swedish), Hallen (and thus Frau Halle?)(Low German), Halda (Old Norse) from *haldaną (Proto-Germanic) ‘to hold, to keep’ [Holda/Holle/Halle might be be related to Loki’s mother Laufey or daughter Hel, and a disguised Loki says “Let Hel hold what she has.”]

- Proto-Germanic: *helmô (handle or boat helm) [Loki steers/helms the ship in Loka Tattur and at Ragnarok]

- Modern English Hall (as in house) from PG *hallo [Loki as a hearth deity]

- Proto-Germanic *hēliz ‘deceitful, treacherous’ [Loki’s main attribute in Snorri’s Eddas]

- Proto-Germanic *huliso ‘case, covering, pod’ [the acorn Loki carries Idunn home in] and cognates in Italic languages meaning ‘outside, aspect, color’ [the gift Loki-as-Lodurr gives to humanity in the creation myth]

- Middle English helen (to conceal, clothe, shelter, protect, etc) from OE helan from Proto-Germanic *helana (“to conceal, stash, receive stolen goods” [Loki as thief of Freya’s necklace]

- Old Saxon helian ‘to heal, to cure, to save’ [Loki saves a child in Loka Tattur; there are some UPGs in the community of Loki as a healer but that’s not an attested description.]

- Old High German helen ‘to brighten’ [or illuminate, as with a (pine) torch - kenaz.]

- Proto-Germanic *hul(th)az ‘gracious, loyal, devoted, inclined toward’ [This could be Loki’s wife Sigyn’s description.]

- Old Norse kyllir (sack, scrotum), Latin coleus (testicles), via Greek [...and then Loki tied his balls to the goat.]

For transparency, I discarded modern English keel as a survival of the root of ‘Aceilon’ because its’ PIE root isn’t a verb, and modern French echelon because the sk- sounds in its linguistic roots didn’t match the sounds we need to find.

Without any cherry-picking I have found three possible Proto-Indo-European root words for ‘Aceilon’ that are verbs, with descendant words that can be used to describe Loki, and in one case a family member. Which suggests that ‘Aceilon’ may indeed be a lost name of Loki, and the UPG is worth sharing for further evaluation.

Hey mutuals who are linguists, please feel free to tear this to shreds. As I said, I am Not A Linguist, and I welcome your critiques. I’m really curious if any of these three proposed roots stand up to academic scrutiny, despite the weird circumstances around the proposed name’s emergence.

I do hope this exercise points toward ways that pagan monastics can evaluate and discuss the validity of devotees’ personal gnosis for inclusion in new theological writings.