#also this might be a little left field or an unpopular opinion but i think eboys are like the teen versions of fuckboys??

[ratasum]

How do you feel about Gorrik?

GIVE ME A CHARACTER;

How I feel about this character

I love him! He's a great character, and according to autistic friends of mine, also great autistic representation! It's also nice to get more asura rep that increases the diversity in personality types and fields of knowledge that they can have out there.

Also getting Inquest representation that WASN'T just Yahk or Kudu was interesting, especially in the sense of someone who left and managed to survive. Great for worldbuilding!

Also he's adorkable.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Behold! The Dragonwatch Polykrewe! Other than his relationship with Taimi, our main timeline has him in the full polycule with Qirri and Zanthe as well (no one said I couldn't mention ocs!). It ended up working out well in the end, and they all just kinda live in their little apartment together (I say little as if that place isn't massive for a bunch of asura).

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Rama. That's his bro, his bestie, his sweet cheese, his good time boy. Jokes aside, though, I think Rama is an excellent balancing force for him, and I genuinely hope we can see more of the two of them having detective adventures.

Or at the very least that they might go back to doing little short stories and give us a Friends Detective Agency Snippet.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Putting him (and Ankka) in Thaumanova was a mistake. There were other ways to have them know each other in the Inquest t han shoehorning them into that event, especially since it creates some uncomfortable questions regarding Taimi and Gorrik's respective ages. The Thaumanova disaster took place a year before the personal story starts, and both he and Ankka look like they were in their teens at least, and Taimi's 12 when we meet her two years later.

So.

Yeah.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish they'd pulled out his and Taimi's developing relationship more. It seemed to just appear at the beginning of EoD and speedrun to an ending. I'd have liked to see their relationship grow a bit as opposed to just slamming headlong into it.

(It had the weird side effect of feeling like it was a way to make Taimi seem like she'd "grown up," by making her Interested In Boys. Which just felt off to me. I don't even dislike them together I just wanted more development than they got.)

[inktaire]

Thoughts on subcultures? (Like punk, emo, but also the more modern ones: eboy, vsco)

I love the idea of subcultures because they develop as a way to fight against the norm and to create a community for people who share similar thoughts, styles, and values. I can’t speak for any subculture in particular, because I’m not informed enough to talk about their history, but my understanding of them is that they usually hold more radicalized and, typically, more progressive views than the majority of society.

Punk and emo, from what I’ve gathered, have also given a platform to talk about depression or other mental health issues in a way that never really came up before. So much emo music is, well, emotional. Punk seems to be founded in going against the very fabric of society and questioning authority. People who listen to the music are able to resonate with it and feel heard/seen/empowered by the artists in the industry.

I also love the fashion that came out of these subcultures, influenced by the music and vice versa as well I’m sure. Although, emo did have some cringey moments like the ‘2007 rawr xD’ phase.

Anyway, more modern subcultures seem to still be coming out of a shared experience of breaking away from society. From what I can tell, both the vsco girl and eboy trends are founded on gen z’s inability to cope and comprehend how massively fucked up the world is and its impact on them. They’re in the same line as the sadboy/sadgirl aesthetics. On the outside, vsco girls and eboys don’t take anything seriously, but if you listen to the new generation’s music or read their poems, it’s so easy to see how depressed, anxious, and terrified of the societal and global collapse they are.

I think an easier way of phrasing this is: Climate change is fucked. The economy is fucked. Society is fucked. Our mental health is fucked (because of everything we have to deal with among other reasons). We can’t fix shit, so sksksks let’s make tiktoks before we all die.

(I might be wrong, given that I’m not from the generation that vsco girls and eboys are centered around, but this is what I’m getting from it).

On another note, I do think that some aspects of the vsco girl and eboy subcultures are harmful. There is so much pressure to wear makeup, be attractive, be fashionable and be beautiful in these subcultures. Eboys and vsco girls alike tend to put a ton of emphasis into their appearance in a way that subcultures like punk and emo never did. Punk and emo had styles that developed in ways that were considered outrageous to most people. However, vsco girls and eboys rely on current beauty standards and trends.

I think a huge part of this is that these subcultures developed on the internet and social media, platforms where everyone can see you and judges you for your looks right away. Don’t get me wrong, even I think their style is super cool, but it shows how much kids have to grow up. This speaks to a bigger social issue of sexualizing young girls (and now boys) and beauty standards, it is not the fault of the subculture specifically. However, I do think that the subculture greatly exacerbates this effect.

Send me a”thoughts on ___” ask

[fideidefenswhore]

a little out of left field, but how do you think anne might be remembered if, say, she had died giving birth to elizabeth (or another daughter or short-lived son)?

well, if it was shortly after elizabeth's, for one, she wouldn't be remembered as an evil stepmother, or at least not to the degree she has been, namely because even by hostile sources, she hadn't really done anything yet... by that time we have, i think, three reports, all chapuys: 1) anne "vituperated [mary] strangely" (specific connotation, but vague on content) 2) anne "sent two of her people to listen" to a conversation between mary and her father and this prevented them from speaking longer (there's a report of this by a different source that says they spoke together "alone [...] for three hours" and doesn't mention anne or her servants at all, so...) 3) anne said she would make her a maid of honour, 'give her too much dinner' (poison?) and 'marry her to some varlet'.

as far as reform, she would maybe not be remembered as the mother of the reformation as she is now, and unfortunately probably not to any great degree for her charity and how hard she fought and at what personal risk, to divert funds from the dissolution to 'better uses', because it had really only just begun as queen (but we do see movement on reform and intercessions even beforehand, so there's that) ... on the other hand, if henry continued on the path they had envisioned up to that point, some of that would probably remain, both for good and ill:

The trouble with trying to disentangle any truth about Anne Boleyn is that she, like Wolsey, was blamed for some of Henry's most unpopular policies, then and since. Henry's reasons for seeing his marriage to Katherine as invalid were complex and most people's opinion was little touched by them, being straightforwardly repulsed [...] The hours spent dancing attendance on Anne, lavishing her with gifts and titles, designing palaces to house her, all undermined the solemn dignity of Henry's kingship. To many, Anne made Henry look a fool. And in retrospect to many with strong Catholic loyalties, Anne was the woman for whom Henry deserted the Catholic Church, leading to the destruction of Catholic England, and was and sometimes still is reviled [...]

Wooding also discusses how he did not step back from "his programme of reform" by the end of 1537, and speaks to how most of "Henry's favourite ideas" were Anne's, as well: "reform of corruption, education, charity, humanist learning in the universities". So, it almost seems like in the event of Anne's death at an earlier stage, who his next wife was would not matter as far as that programme went:

Despite the fall of Anne Boleyn, who with her family had embodied the new spiritual enthusiasms shaping Henry's ideas, and her replacement by the much more conservative Jane Seymour, there was no interruption to Henry's pursuit of religious reform.

The only thing I would agree with caveats is this:

Henry's interest in humanism and reform had not been a result of Anne's influence; rather his existing interests had led him to find her intellectual leanings all the more beguiling.

Yes and no, Henry had showed a marked concern and interest for these things before Anne's influence, however, he was certainly open to more of these ideas due to her influence. There is no other Tudor queen of whom we hear of him engaging in open religious debate with, not just occasionally but frequently, and certainly none that brought him illegal texts. So, even if her reign ends much sooner, I believe there is a great likelihood that she would still be considered the standout in historiography.

Yet, there would still probably be stigma attached to her reputation, even if not to as great a degree...a lot depends on what would happen in the aftermath. I don’t believe Henry would return to his first wife, so he would probably still be seen as heartless and Anne, too, for being the primary mover of his ‘desertion’, but there’s also the question of if Clement would even declare on the validity of the marriage at all in those circumstances. If he married another ‘heretic nobody’, then maybe...

[damnhotmsimmons]

Assuming the cm revival is still happening, here's a list of what I want in the revival and what would make it better:

Tara, Luke and Matt getting more screentime and decent characterization

No more Reid angst and unnecessary drama(*cough*15x06 & 15x10*cough*cough*)

Garcia being in the revival, whether she returns to the BAU or not, it would be nice to see what she’s up to whether it’s about her new job or date and relationship with Luke

Garvez, seeing the development of their relationship since the end of 15x10

Resolving the Garcia stalker storyline from 15x04, maybe Alexei Stanovich resurfaces and Garcia needs the BAU’s help to stop him. Maybe it’s also coincidental that he resurfaces the moment Garcia starts a relationship with Luke

Letting Paget go gray when playing Emily again. The crappy wig has got to go

Have the team struggle to adjust to Garcia’s departure, maybe a callback to 11x20 or 6x03 when Garcia walks past JJ and Morgan’s empty office. Maybe Emily, JJ or Reid walk past Garcia’s empty office, which was once filled with light and colors

Emily struggling to find a convenient replacement for Garcia, which is tough as Garcia is irreplaceable but the team are not able to complete cases without a technical analyst

Have a realistic timeskip, maybe a few years have passed since 15x10 and we see how much has changed since Garcia left and so much has changed

More friendship moments with the ladies(and yes, this also includes Tara)

More Luke and Tara friendship moments

Give Tara more to do, I mean she was the only one who didn’t have an episode in the final season and I felt that Aisha was underutilized in that season especially when she’s been on the show since season 11

Same thing also applies to Matt, sure he has gotten some focus in three episodes in the last season but he was still underutilized and characterization from cmbb was ignored. Kinda jarring especially when some of those writers came from cmbb

Assuming that the revival will continue and knowing that Daniel has commitments to another show, maybe give Matt a proper send-off, just don’t pull an NCIS. Leave it open ended incase he’s able to return

If they want to revisit past cases, maybe resolve the escaped prisoners storyline, the one with the Romani family in 4x13 or bring back the unsubs from Lo-Fi/Mayhem since we didn’t know much about them and their motives. The latter could also be beneficial for Tara, Luke and Matt since Tara can use her forensic psychology skills when it comes to profiling the unsubs, Luke being from the Bronx indicates that he has some familiarity with the streets in NY and Matt utilizing his tracking skills and connections

Since the revival will be on Paramount+, I’m hoping that means the revivial gets a decent budget. I’ve never seen any original series from Paramount+(CBS All Access then) but I notice from gifs and commercials that the quality of those shows look good and I’m hoping the same applies to the revival, which means better lighting and no more of that ugly yellow filter

I’m also hoping that means better quality in the writing, maybe get new writers that understand the characters and show well. Fire the writers who suggested Jeid

Better wardrobe, it seemed that the quality for the wardrobe aside from Garcia’s went downhill

Be more consistent and acknowledge the character’s ptsd. I hate how they have the characters act like things are suddenly alright after one episode

no more gross and creepy unsub like the guy seeing the goat man or cutting off faces like wtf?!

give the revival a tone similar to the early seasons. Use the early seasons as a reference

another episode like 15x04. Since the revival will focus on one case as opposed to the usual “case of the week” type, maybe there’s room for a breather episode, and we see the characters on their day off, a little break from whatever serious storyline 

Let Rossi retire, honestly, he’s way out of his prime and it’s getting obvious that he’s too old to be going on the field especially when he got ambushed by Everett Lynch who is much younger than him. Honestly, the finale should have ended with Rossi retiring, especially as he’s been in the BAU since the beginning and it make sense that it ends with him leaving and moving on while the rest of the team move on without him

unpopular opinion, I think the show can last without Rossi/Joe

More Willifer moments and Katt moments. I’d also like to see Matt and Kristy taking care of baby Rose. I’d also suggest JJ and Matt bonding with their kids but that seems uncertain since depending on when the revival will be greenlit for production, there’s a chance that the kids grow out of their roles(JJ’s kids might not be that affected but Matt’s kids definitely will). Unless they either recast the kids(which isn’t uncommon for some shows) or have a timeskip which explains the kids being a bit older than in s15

Fix JJ’s character, I hate how the writers ruined her by making Jeid happen. AJ is a great actress and she cares about the character. Maybe have her interact with the newer team members, build up more of her friendship with Tara and Matt. I’m not sure how the writers can fix her characterization but I wished they push the whole Jeid storyline out and focus on her as a character

I’d love Hotch and Morgan to be mentioned or acknowledged, making it clear that the team still keeps in touch with them even though they’re no longer working for the BAU. Cameos would be nice but that depends on Shemar’s availability due to commitments to SWAT and the whole situation with Thomas during filming of s12

Guest appearances from other former characters would be nice but also unlikely since Gideon and Stephen are dead, Kate is mostly forgotten(plus Jennifer is on 9-1-1), and while Elle returning as an unsub would make an interesting storyline, it’s clear that Lola has no intentions on returning to CM(based on her IG stories)

seems like Blake, Jordan and possibly Seaver are the only likely candidates that have a better chance of returning as a guest but that depends on the actresses decisions and if the story allows it

Maybe learn from 15x05 since it was the highest rated episode, and has more ratings than the finale. Maybe the writers can learn from this and realized maybe they shouldn’t focus too much on Reid and Reid angst. There’s seven other characters, make the revival focus on all of them 

An update of Reid’s personal life, if he and Max are still together, and no angst

Getting to see the new BAU Jet

More BAU family bonding moments, whether it’s them having drinks, eating dinner together or celebrating something like a Garvez engagement, Rossi’s retirement or Matt’s first book being published

Retaining the opening title sequence. It’s not CM without it

 I know I might get my hopes up for this and be all disappointed if this post was all for nothing. Still, a girl can dream

Tagging: @illegalcerebral, @dreatine, @marvelfanlife, @jaqren, @yeoldespacebuns, @ropoto. Feel free to add anything incase I missed something

[lumiereandcogsworth]

Belle!!

MY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes happy to :) also putting under the cut bc yeah i went off naturally <3

first impression:

it was this moment in which i chose to stan:

gosh. literally an icon. anyway when the movie was coming out and they announced it would be emma i was like nice that’s perfect!!! even though i wasn’t hyped for the movie before i watched it, i was still like yes very good decision. and she KILLED IT thank you have a nice day

impression now

MY SHE!!!! EFFERVESCENT!!!! MY BELOVED!! MY QUEEN!!!!!!!!! i love her so much. painfully defensive of emma’s performance and the yellow dress so jot that down. i just love her SO dearly. my badass thorny queen.

favorite moment

goodness. GOSH. i have a very soft spot for her reaction to the library after adam walks off. the little noise she makes. she’s such a cute little dork!!!!!! also i can’t find a gif of the exact moment but it’s right after this when she twirls around and makes the little noise?? ANGEL??

but i love all of her. her curiosity and her no-thoughts-head-empty bravery and her stubbornness and her KINDESS… ugh. i love her

idea for a story

i love working with her wrestling with entering into royal life. it’s just so opposite of how she lived, and how she expected to live out her whole life. like sure she’s a dreamer but i just don’t think she actually expected to marry a prince🤔 lol. it’s a little out of left field!!!! but obviously she takes every bull by the horns so she jumps into this new life best she can. and of course adam thinks she’s the most amazing human ever so he has full confidence in her. but i think her own self-confidence falters a lot, because she’s just so out of her depths.

i haven’t really said any specific story but i’ve thought about like, her getting to know the ladies of the court, and just feeling so out of place with them. and she decides to start a book club with them and it doesn’t pan out at first but she’s determined! anyway that’s just one example but i like thinkin about those early years as queen and how she gets into it. traveling and learning so much about global economics and politics, reforming the education system, finding ways to help the lower classes because she understands both ends of the social hierarchy now. gosh i could go on, but you get the idea!!

unpopular opinion

it seems to be unpopular to think that emma did well in her role, and that the yellow dress looks good and dances beautifully. so uhh?? sorry you’re boring and enjoy hating things. get well soon besties <3

do you want me to cry? i’m gonna cry if i look at these gifs too long. anyway. look at how they dance together!!!!!!! shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys are so loud!!!!!!!!!!! okay anyway no stay focused. the hand thing in the left gif kills me. what? when adam twirls in the right gif. WHAT? LYDIA PAY ATTENTION NEXT QUESTION

favorite relationship

can you even imagine. is it even a wonder. i’m gonna explode. the landlord and landlady of my head your honors:

have you seen them? can’t believe they’re real. anyway

favorite headcanon

mmmmm so many. she loves baking and cooking, i think growing up with her papa they cooked a lot together. she sings to herself all the time, adam always knows when she’s coming because he can hear her voice echoing in the halls. she goes to bed early but she often has insomnia and wakes up in the middle of the night. sometimes she wakes and bothers adam but sometimes she goes for walks around the castle. or she might light a candle and read. or go get a midnight snack. also one for growing up since you did that for jo!!! she used to climb up on the roof out of her bedroom window and lay up there and stargaze. she first did it when she was like 11 or so. she always thought maurice didn’t know she was doing it but years later he told her he knew and she was like :”0

—

(adam’s version) (maurice!)

[shymeg]

Unpopular opinion I know, but I've been on the fence about Bughead getting back together this season and rather than hope after the bunker scene I'm firmly in the, I'm over it camp. Betty just really shows no concern for Jug at all anymore, she's been down right hostile for the most part and sure the VM was upsetting but incomparable to say having your SO cheat on you w/your best friend which she still hasn't really apologized for, I mean Jug is in the bunker knocking back a drink while -1 of 2

Answer under the cut! It's long, and since the anon had 2/2, I figured it best

Alright, Anon, I put this under a cut hope you don't mind.

I sometimes feel like Jughead is Jess from Gilmore Girls. He'd do anything for Rory. Push her in the right direction. Be happy for her. Lorelei didn't like Jess, kind of like how Alice felt that way about Jughead.

Betty is Rory, the girl next door, bright, who works on the newspaper. The only one she meshes with is Jess. Even though it can be a roller coaster ride, they need each other. Yet, she doesn't see how she treats Jess because he's always there and supportive.

Maybe in this story, Betty grows up. She helps herself. She also sees the guy that Lorelei took forever to see Luke. Sometimes it's the little things, the subtle things. Alice still loved FP, so she hid a secret (yet I'm almost more convinced it was Hal's. However, maybe JB had the serial killer gene, but I think that would be because of Gladys rather than FP.) Perhaps in this story, Betty realizes she needs help. When she realizes this, she sees Jug sees him. Like flashback Jug. She wakes up and hopes it's not too late that she can still be with Jughead because she loves him. Love can only go so far, and she needs to put work in just like he was. Is it too late? Can she be forgiven? Will, she chose the Logan over the Jess? In the end, will she end up alone because even though Jug may have loved her, he knew he deserved more, and he'd always help when she needed it like the friend she made him be, but he's moving on?

I felt this season, and even at the end of season 4, the writers messed up Betty. Made her cold, callous, not caring about Jug or even herself. So un Betty likes, that it makes you wonder.

I'm not a fan of cheating. It's not okay to cheat. So for her to even kiss and sneak around is not okay. I get mistakes, but this to me was a hidden mistake, and that isn't alright.

For her to give his manuscript away because she was high and angry at him was not okay. All these come out of the left field.

That's why fanfiction is excellent because these writers screwed it up. I feel for her.

I also agree that while I'm an alcoholic and for her almost to brush it off like it was no big deal when she, of all people, probably knew that would have been one of her fears. That's why I want to believe she can't see what she is doing or how she is treating him. Thinking he needs her, and so it'll be okay. It also shows how emotionally unavailable she is to him and herself. Plus, if he's drinking like that, he can't be of help to himself or Betty. Therefore maybe she's not the best person right now. He wasn't drinking while apologizing to others; at least, I don't recall it.

I think Jug has always owned up to what he's done. He might not always apologize, but he owns it—kind of again like Jess.

They both have had a lot of trauma they might just simply dealing with it differently. I miss Bughead but if season 5 is going to bleed into season 6 if she doesn't snap out of whoever kidnapped her body and mind I think Bughead should just be really great friends.

Yet, Anon, I feel you. Some days I want Bughead, and I miss them terribly, and other days this show to me is saying Jug move on and have Betty as a close friend. However, I think they both need to see a psychologist.

[purple-dragon]

in defense of chapter 139 (spoilers!)

it's still hard for me to get my thoughts in order so this might be a little disjointed but:

the (seemingly) extremely unpopular opinion: i liked it. a lot.

first let me go over the things i'm !!!! about that don't need further discussion: EXTRA FUZZY CONNIE!!!! jean and connie live!!! jean and connie see sasha and get some closure!!!! lmao this is just the jean and connie show isn't it

okay next. did the chapter feel a little rushed? yes, of course. is there stuff i wish was elaborated on? yeah, no shit. i wanted to see how the battle with hallu-chan ended. i wanted to see historia's side of the story. i wanted to see ymir's side of the story. if yams ever decides to come out with a series of epilogues or something that go more in depth, i would 100% support that. i want more. however, i'm still happy with this chapter because even though it didn't answer all of my questions, it was thematically consistent with the rest of the work. the ending made sense with where the entire manga has been building up to. it wasn't some kind of ass pull that came out of nowhere.

on ymir... i'm a little conflicted on how her story ended. i interpreted her backstory like this: she was in "love" with fritz the only way she knew how to be. fritz slaughtered and enslaved ymir's people, and yet he gave her attention, favor (i'm assuming), and sex (which we know to be rape, but she probably did not). this of course isn't actually love, but to an orphan with quite literally nothing else and no one to teach her differently, it must be love, right? it's got all the right ingredients (but we know it has none of the necessary dynamic).

so with all of that, ymir had no concept of what love actually is until mikasa came along. mikasa, who, much like ymir, loved someone so much that she dedicated her whole life to him. who would willingly lay down her life for him, just as ymir did for fritz. they're incredibly alike wrt the people they love, but with this major difference: mikasa is able to put herself and the world first, even if it means killing eren, while ymir has chained herself, intentionally or not, to fritz for 2000 years. mikasa ends up being the real inspiration for ymir - that's why we saw her smiling at the end of 138, because she sees the real, true love between eren and mikasa, but mikasa is still free, so ymir can free herself too.

actually, now that i've typed all that out, the more i realize that i like it, i just wish we saw it, rather than me interpreting a whole character based on a handful of panels.

now i guess i'll talk about reiner and levi? first off, i'm so so so happy that they both survived. levi was arguably the most damaged character through the whole series, and reiner was actively suicidal - i know a lot of people thought they were going to die as the end to their character arcs, but i'm so glad they didn't. i'm very happy that they both get the chance to rest and heal from everything that happened. reiner gets the chance to figure out what he wants to do with his relationship with his mother (and he's still simping for historia alskdfjasld), levi can live quietly (with the kids!!!!!!). they've both found something new to live for and i love it

also,,, gabi and falco are so cute i love them so much (wish udo and zofia were here too tho,,,)

okay. to the meat of the chapter.

i can't fit all of my thoughts on eren here, i'd have to write a whole essay on him, but i will say a little. i didn't see this chapter as a character assassination at all - i saw it as us finally seeing what was under the hard, cold mask he's been wearing since the time skip. because like, we know eren. at his core, he's the same emotional person he's always been - more grown up for sure, and more of an edgelord, but still him? and he must have been in constant pain, seeing all of time all the time... my poor boy. and even knowing that he has become an irredeemable monster, he still wants to live with mikasa and his friends, winning their freedom at the cost of his own... that's tragic, man. that shit hurted.

"thank you for becoming a mass murderer for us" excuse me??? armin??? sir hello?? is this allowed hello??? armin what the fuck?

also,,, did eren reincarnate as a bird? is that what that was implying? what was up with the birds through the story then?

eren and armin finally seeing the world together... i am in Pain

hooooooly shit, that dina reveal was not at all what i expected out of this chapter. like i knew the theory was out there, but i didn't expect it to be confirmed at all? i've seen the interpretation that eren just directed her into shiganshina, or that he directed her straight to carla, and tbh i like the second one more. it's darker and more messed up and i just think it's neat. ymmv, though.

i don't know how anyone thinks this is a happy ending, rather than bittersweet or outright tragic. like sure, our favorite characters are alive (except the obvious), but the world is still massively fucked and will be for the foreseeable future. 80% of humanity is dead, there's probably even more wildlife gone, and most of nature has been absolutely flattened. ecologically speaking, eren might have pushed this world into a mass extinction. additionally, removing titan powers from the world wasn't a magic ticket to peace - all it did was level the playing field between countries, and we can see that where the alliance becomes ambassadors and it says in the narration "this fight won't end until either the eldians or the rest of the world is wiped out". the equivalent to this would be to magically remove all nukes from existing and stop them from being made in our world - would it magically bring peace? no. of course not. would it put countries on a slightly more equal footing? perhaps.

basically, what i'm trying to say is that the fight hasn't ended, it's only been brought down to a human v human level, rather than human v titan v technology. what the implications of that for the world are, i don't know, and i wish yams had elaborated on that a little.

what eren did, then, with the rumbling, was give back the world's choice. there's no more titan threat, no more of his friends being forced to fight and die in 13 years, no more babies born with their choice to fight already stolen from them. he gave them freedom by eliminating the titans - exactly what he said he was going to do.

also on that note, what is up with the jaegerists? it seems like in and before the rumbling, all the extremists died out? maybe? like floch and his ilk, and that's why they aren't rushing to massacre the rest of the world, but who really knows... i want more post-rumbling worldbuilding...

finally (i think), that brings me to mikasa. i'm... not mad about the way we see her story end, tbh. i've seen people saying she just stays on paradis forever with eren, alone and practically in exile, but i don't think that's it? like we only see the gang 3 years in the future. mikasa loved eren so much, she dedicated her life to him from the time they were 9, and in the end he died because she killed him. let that sink in, y'know? the love of her life didn't just die, she killed him herself. if it were me, it would take me a lot longer than just 3 years to heal from that. and i think that's what we see her doing there at the end - resting and healing from undoubtedly some of the worst moments of her life. healing from grief isn't a quick or linear process; you don't just get over something like that. i know the saying goes "time heals all wounds" but sometimes it doesn't.

if we saw her maybe 10 years down the line, it might be a different story. maybe she would be in a much better place, with her own new family and goals. maybe she would be worse off, still missing eren and stuck in the past. i don't think that would be the case, though who knows? but for 3 years in the future, i think chilling on paradis with the memory of eren was the right place to leave her.

here's what i like to think happens in the future (and this is why i love semi-open endings, because some things are concrete but there's so much left open to interpretation): over the years mikasa heals, as does the world. she goes traveling the world with armin, and sees the rest of her friends often. she and levi are close - you can often find them having tea together. on occasion, she returns to paradis to share stories of her adventures with eren('s grave). in the end, she lives according to her definition of happiness, whatever that may be now, and though she never forgets eren, she keeps moving forward, and much like reiner and levi, finds a new purpose in life.

annnddd... that's all. unless i come back to add something i forgot about later, but we'll see if that happens.

[eurosong]

Undo my ESC 2021 - Semi-final 1

Good afternoon, folks! Every year, I take a look at each semi-final and share what feasible change I would make – as small as changing a few lines of the song or an element of staging, or as big as a different song completely winning a national final – to make it even better (just in my own opinion of course!) This year will be harder than usual, but I’ll try to set aside my conviction that every 2020 artist should have been able to return to see how different SF1 might look. Let’s go!

🇱🇹 Lithuania: PiN was in the Roop's hands, and whilst I fell in love with some of the underdog songs they were up again, most notably Home and Never fall for you again I wouldn't take away the chance away from the Roop. There's nothing I'd change about Discoteque, and I love their nod to On fire, but the way that they also took things in a different direction to last time.

🇸🇮 Slovenia: I may be in a small minority, but I absolutely love Amen and I loved Voda too! Ana Soklič has so much presence and stunning vocals with so much texture and depth; she can sell me pretty much everything. My only change would be to insert Slovenian language lyrics!

🇷🇺 Russia: I was initially really disappointed that we wouldn't see the iconic Little Big on the ESC stage - but I commend the way they wanted to share the limelight with other artists. The unexpected Russian mini-NF ended up being a revelation and very diverse for its size. I liked all three songs, but I think that the best hands down won. There is nothing I have to change to Russian woman, one of the most powerful propositions of the season for me. I just hope juries will value it and we won't see a Telemóveis style situation!

🇸🇪 Sweden: After a year of being happy with the result in Sweden - I was always in Dotter's corner, but who can't love the Mamas? - we return to more familiar terrain of an MF result disgruntling me. Tusse has charisma and talent, but his song is lacklustre at best for me. My fav was, once again, Dotter, and I wish that either she'd taken the win or that the Mamas got their shot at ESC as main artists.

🇦🇺 Australia: I really enjoy Technicolour, one of the more out-of-left-field entries from Oz. I am so intrigued as to what the Diane Warren song offered to Montaigne was like, as I'm certain that this isn't it, but I'm glad she trusted her gut and went for something so distinctive. My one change would be to get rid of the unnecessary key change at the end.

🇲🇰 Macedonia: When there was a nationalistic furore with attempts to stop Vasil from representing MK, I was entirely on his side even though his song for me is one of the least appealing of the edition. I'd still want him to get his chance at ESC - but his Sudbina would have been such a more compelling entry for my taste.

🇮🇪 Ireland: Lesley Roy served nostalgic pop wonderment for the second year in a row, and another song that has etched itself already onto my life's soundtrack. I don't know what I'd change, except perhaps translate one of the choruses into Irish Gaelic - it'd make the message of a return to home even more resonant for me.

🇨🇾 Cyprus: Cyprus and I haven't seen eye to eye for several years now, and it's a shame as they were one of my favourite countries of the 90s. I do enjoy El diablo more than their last trio of songs, but I find it leans too heavy on a clear inspiration from Gaga, which takes away from some of the more original elements of the song. So, I'd rework the chorus, and also change some of the lyrics elsewhere because some lines just flat out make me cringe.

🇳🇴 Norway: I seem to have been in the minority of people delighted at MGP's final results! I had bigger favourites - the rambunctious sea shanty that is Vi er Norge, the kickass empowering Witch woods or the pulsating groove of Playing with fire - but I wouldn't take Tix' win away from him given how meaningful it was for him and what the guy has been through. My change? Revert partially or entirely to the Norwegian version, Ut av mørket; for me, it hits my heart harder.

🇭🇷 Croatia: Sincerely, my biggest disappointment of the NF season potentially - I wish Damir had been internally selected, not just because of my wish to see all ESC'20 alumni return, but because his was the best Croatian song for me since Moja štikla. Tick-tock is harmless but if we can't get a Damir return in this hypothesis, then I'd go for Rijeka, which captivated me with its epicness on first listen and has just risen in my estimation since. Though, given Nina's histrionics after coming second, maybe I'd have Albina perform the song instead.

🇧🇪 Belgium: I was prepared to not be on board with Belgium this year despite my long-lived love for the country - I found Release me, whilst orchestrated beautifully, entirely lacking in dynamism; and I really couldn't stand the way the band dumped Luka unceremoniously. And yet... this lush piece of art is one of my favs of the entire season. And there's something different and singular in Geike's voice. So the only thing I'm changing here are the dudes' attitudes to ESC so that they can value it more, especially Alex.

🇮🇱 Israël: As one of the most naturally charismatic performers of 2020, I had high hopes for Eden's return and the original idea of a mega-NF for her seemed really promising. Instead, we ended up with an uninspired strewing of songs, of which the best didn't even get the chance to be recorded by her. Set me free was my favourite of the three that got to the final, but I feel they've really worsened it with the revamp, in between the hail mary pass of the whistle vote and the extra emphasis on "I'mma". I would have Eden perform Shoulders instead - I don't know how it NQd and think it would allow her to showcase her personality a lot more.

🇷🇴 Romania: I really enjoyed Roxen's selection last year - small but quite diverse, and I felt the best song won. My change would be to have seen a similar national final with 3 or 4 other songs of hers this time, because I'm not convinced in Amnesia anywhere near as much as I was of Alcohol you.

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: I wish they had gone with something at least a bit different rather than this cut, smudge and paste from last year that is so on the nose with its "you loved Cleopatra, so you will love this, won't you?" feel that it even namechecks the previous song. Efendi has a lot of talent and could have shown more diversity here.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: I'm getting used to the surprise revamp of Šum by now, but the question still remains for me, why did they do it? They needed to cut about a minute off the duration of the track, but to me, that doesn't explain why they also had to change the melody in large parts of the song. I'd be tempted to revert to a shortened form version of Šum version 1.

🇲🇹 Malta: Another unpopular opinion, but I'm just not that into the Maltese song this year. The lyrics are great and Destiny has poise and presence and PIPES and I'm sure she'll do well, but the style - a glammed up Electro-Velvet, essentially - doesn't heat me up, and I feel like the different parts of the composition are too dissonant from each other, like we have 2 or 3 songs in one here. My change would be for her to have gone with something more soul-ish in its sound, like AOML was.

And the AQs of this semi

🇩🇪 Germany: How did juries decide upon this, especially when there seems to have been many promising artists in the German selection? No shade against Jendrick who seems like a lovely chap, but the song sounds like the cheerful four chords on a ukulele you hear repeated as royalty free background music on Youtube tutorials, merged with a post-chorus breakdown taken from a Stefan Raab b-side. I would have gotten out my phone book and given Lilly among clouds a call - she gives me the vibes of being able to create something totally show-stopping.

🇳🇱 Netherlands: My original slight disappointment at this was more because of how high I have Grow than any fault of its own. It's another gorgeous composition from Jeangu, with probably the best set of lyrics of the year, and this is going to be a moment. I change nothing.

🇮🇹 Italy: I like Måneskin and their performances at Sanremo were brilliant - but they were far from being at the top of my favourites list. I would have given the win to Madame with Voce, or Ermal with Un milione di cose da dirti. Both would have been my #1 of the entire year, both move me deeply. Madame showcases contemporary Italian style with classic songwriting, whilst Ermal almost created a companion piece to Fai rumore - Diodato wanted to hear the sound of his loved one, whilst Ermal struggles to make a noise and say what he feels about his love.

Join me soon as I take a look at SF2 and its songs (and France, Spain and the UK, the auto-qualifiers from that semi!)

[theangryjikooker]

I’m really curious about what’s your "unpopular opinions" towards Jikook haha I’m kinda stereotypically I’m-not-a-shipper-I’m-a-supporter-UwU type ngl and I guess we’d probably disagree about a lot of things as I personally believe these two are an item and have been for years now…

BUUUT I’m bored and annoyed with Jikook shippers lately! I don’t inow if it’s because of the influx of new fans and so logically new shippers and the fact that Jikook have been as everybody likes to say "loud" since last year but some people are really something else… Analyzing every single moment, every tiny detail, and as you said if you have a different opinion or just simply don’t think they’re together then you’re automatically an anti or an homophobe or another shipper, come on.. I started to follow jikookers a year and a half ago and it was not like that, at like here in tumblr, now it’s mostly either negative or very weird and obsessive, I’ve read many stuff around it that were borderline stalking behavior and it made me so uncomfortable. I unfollowed most of the jikookzrs I use to like, I still come read the tag but sometimes I ask myself why I am even doing this.

Anyway, I’ll come back read what you have to say ;)

I'm pushing this ask to the front of the line because anon basically said they intended to come back and read what I have to say, and anon sounds like a sweetheart. Unfortunately, my asks are getting backlogged because I keep getting interrupted by questionable Jkkrs.

FYI it's okay to be here and to be a full-on Jikook supporter! I'm angry with toxic Jkkrs, not the Jkkr community at large.

To answer your question, I don't want to get into the nitty gritty because I need to save some for content LOL, but for an example: I don't think they live together. Might they be living in the same area/close vicinity? Sure, that's reasonable. Do they meet up and hang out all the time? Sure, yeah. HOWEVER, I also don't think it's an overreach for Jkkrs to think that they're living together. Personally? I like the idea of it, but I don't believe they are. The conflict comes into play with toxic Jkkrs (because apparently I have to continue to specify who it is I'm talking about on this blog) who say with little regard for reality: "They ARE living together. The signs are all there, how blind can you be? BLOCK THIS PERSON, THEY'RE TOXIC WAAAAH."

Excuse me, who made you god? I need to brush up on my encyclopedia of religion! Were you there? Did they invite you over for dinner and retire to the same bedroom? Were you a fly on their wall? Teach me the Animagus spell, I want to see too!

This is what I mean when I say I have an unpopular opinion, but I guarantee you I'll have someone chime in sooner or later without reading what I said, saying I don't know my left hand from my right. Jikook supporters do think they're dating and living together (I believe that's the shipper/supporter distinction, correct me if I'm wrong), but they're also NOT the same people who are passing their agenda off on others, especially those who are easy to influence, as FACT. They're also not the ones who dismiss people who don't think the same way.

I'm not dismissing the possibility of being wrong altogether. Maybe they'll come out one day and say they've been dating all this time since 2017 or whatever, and I'll have to gobble up my words with a single-tined fork for justice of Jkkrs everywhere. Good, I'll be happy for them, and I'll gladly eat my words.

And to add onto what you said, analyzing every single moment and every detail is... unhealthy. Which is what they love to do, but I don't think they realize that when they do that, they're effectively minimizing the interactions that matter way more. How does it minimize all the greater moments? Because by forcing a significance upon moments that don't matter, they're putting the better ones on the same playing field when they're not remotely equal. And when someone like me, for example, comes in and points out all the holes that don't add up, their reaction is the same as if I just targeted an event that was major for Jikook. Like I don't know, take a Xanax or something.

Sad to know that Tumblr used to be better for Jkkrs. I wish I was here sooner.

Thank you for your submission. Hopefully my answer gives you the exciting boost you were looking for LOL. Feel free to chime in anytime!

Also: if you're repeat anons and want to give yourself a fake nametag so I know who you are when you want to comment on anything, please do so I can welcome you happily into my space!

[reallifesultanas]

Portrait of Murad III / III. Murád portréja

Origin and upbringing

Murad was born in 1546, as the son of later Selim II and his favorite concubine, Nurbanu. He was the youngest child of the couple, Murad already had three sisters at birth, Şah, Gevherhan and Esmehan. He spent his childhood in his father's current princely province in relative peace. He had a close relationship with both his parents and as their only son, he was the apple of their eyes. This was especially true of his mother, Nurbanu, who kept her son under close watch.

Like Murad’s father and grandfather, he also loved arts, he loved to read, which most probably was also characteristic when he was a child. Because of this, he was probably a retreating prince who drew attention to himself with his mind rather than his warrior nature. His circumcision ceremony was held in 1557, and the following year Suleiman decided to appoint his barely 12-year-old grandson to his first princely position in Akşehir. According to tradition, Nurbanu accompanied him to the province and tried to help him with the reign. In general, the princes were given their first own province a little later, so certainly the new situation caused quite a lot of difficulty for the young Murad. However, his teacher and mother supported him in everything, so he deftly stood his ground.

The first ordeal

Murad's rather peaceful childhood was soon a distant memory, as his uncle, Prince Bayezid, recruited an army in 1559, and marched to Konya with his sole purpose, to kill Prince Selim and Murad. Murad, as the governor of Akşehir, had at his disposal the army of the province, with which, following his father's order, he immediately set out for Konya to support his father. At just 13, Murad took part in the first battle of his life, but certainly not from the battlefield he followed the events. After two days of strained fighting, Selim and Murad’s troops finally came out victorious, thanks to support sent by the sultan. However, Prince Bayezid fled, so Selim, Murad, and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha persecuted the rebellious prince for months.

However, Prince Bayezid successfully crossed the Persian border, which filled everyone in the empire with terror. Murad and his father could not leave the Persian border for months. Eventually, then, Suleiman and the Persian Shah began to do negotiations, so that Murad could return home to his mother in Akşehir. Then in 1562 Bayezid and his sons were handed over by the Persian Shah to the men of Selim and they were executed. From here, there were no obstacles to Selim and Murad, their succession to the throne was assured.

The crown-prince

As Selim's only son, it was actually clear that Murad would be the future sultan, so his prestige was greatly elevated. Maybe it was thanks to this, that he got a gift that changed his whole life. Probably shortly after the execution of Bayezid, or around that period, 1562, Murad received a concubine as a gift from his cousin, Hümaşah Sultan. The concubine was very pretty and intelligent and immediately became Murad’s favorite, probably his first ever consort. Shortly after their acquaintance, their first child was born, a girl who was named Hümaşah after Murad’s cousin. She was followed in May 1566 by Prince Mehmed. This year Sultan Suleiman died and Murad's father, Selim, became the new sultan.

During Selim's reign, Murad lived in Manisa, managing his province. The main change from Suleiman's reign was that his mother left Murad alone to be with Selim in Istanbul. In Murad's life, Safiye, his favorite concubine, became the number one support and companion from then on. From their relationship soon another son, Mahmud, was born in 1569 and was followed by two daughters, Ayşe and Fatma. Murad was basically loyal to Safiye and lived in a monogamous relationship with her, but at least one case occurred when he produced a child for another woman. For in 1567 he had a son, Selim born to an anonymous concubine. The concubine was a girl raised by a very influential harem servant, Raziye Hatun, but although she was the mother of a prince, she had no privileges, nor could she approach Safiye’s position. By the way, Raziye Hatun was very close to Murad himself, maybe that's why the prince accepted her gift despite his love and monogamy toward Safiye.

In his princely province, Murad formed his own circles, had his own supporters, advisers, and had nothing to do but wait for Selim's death. Selim, meanwhile, produced several children under the pressure of the leading statesmen. Murad met his younger brothers very rarely, if at all, so no deep connection developed between them. Yet it is important to mention that the birth of these children seriously influenced Murad. Well, not because they would have had any chance of stole the throne from Murad, but because Selim and Nurbanu deliberately did not produce more children after Murad's birth for years so that Murad would not have a competitor and would not have to shed his own blood when he ascended the throne. However, for the first time in his life, Murad had to think about the law of fratricide, which must have affected the sensitive-minded prince well.

The young sultan

Selim II died in early December 1574, and Nurbanu ordered his son to come Istanbul in a secret message. Murad secretly waited for one of the pasha's ships to arrive so he can go to Istanbul as soon as possible, but the prince could not find the pasha's ship, so he arrived in Istanbul on the night of December 21, with a different ship. Murad thus arrived in the capital in five days. Although he owed the ship a quick arrival, the prince struggled with very serious seasickness along the way, which made his situation bitter for some time even after his arrival. His most important task would have been to execute his brothers immediately. However, Murad was unable to issue the order. For eight hours he refused to sit on the throne — which would have made him a sultan — or announce his arrival, instead he was consulting with the statesmen on how he could evade the murder of his brothers. I would like to emphasize once again that these are brothers with whom Murad did not have any close bonds. Eventually, however, Murad’s mother, Nurbanu, and the statesmen convinced the sultan that there was nothing he could do against the law of fratricide. Finally, Murad sobbed and issued the order so his baby brothers were strangled, three hours before sunrise.

The deaths of the child princes were of particular significance, as this was the first time that the fratricide took place in Istanbul. For the first time, all leading statesmen, harem servants, soldiers, and commoners experienced up close what fratricide meant. This was the first time, they could see the tiny coffins behind the sultan's coffin. Fratricide used to be an elusive concept, which was known as a needed bad, but the opinion began to change. In any case, Murad did not become unpopular because of the event, everyone was anxiously awaiting what the reign of the young sultan would bring. Although he was not the most militant man and his appearance was slightly short and ill, he was still a promising candidate. He had been involved in a battle, had good control of his province, had several children, was intelligent, educated, and his mother was a respected and beloved person, he enjoyed the support of statesmen and soldiers, and was only twenty-eight years old, roughly as much as his great-worthy predecessor, Suleiman when he ascended the throne.

The first years of Murad's reign were very busy, with ambassadors coming to congratulate him on his accession to the throne. In 1576, for example, the Persian Shah's ambassador himself. This event was of great significance and completely make the life of Istanbul vivid. There was a peace treaty with the Persians, but a kind of passive aggression characterized the relationship. It is for this reason that Murad made great efforts to "scare" the Persian ambassador with his power. When the ambassador arrived, Murad went to meet him with an envoy of 10 to 12,000 people. Murad sent a message to the ambassador that "the parade you see here is only those hens that are in the coop, the others are just grazing on the fields." Such parades always filled the people with excitement, especially as they were accompanied by frequent money and food distribution.

The passive-aggressive action against the Persians was also fueled by the fact that the peace agreement between the two of them was about to expire and Murad had plans with them. In 1578, Murad unveiled his war aspirations to the divan, which led him to openly confront the Grand Vizier, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Sokollu warned the inexperienced sultan from a long and bloody war against the Persians. In fact, Sokollu had a great deal of experience in the campaigns against the Persians, as he took part in many, but the sultan wanted glory and did not listen to the Grand Vizier. Sokollu's influence was so vast and intertwined that it almost threatened the Sultan's person as an absolute monarch. Perhaps this may have had something to do with Sokollu's assassination next year. The war finally began in 1584 and lasted until 1590. It was so exhausting, expensive, that both sides begged for peace, but Murad didn't want to hear about it. He wanted to prove with all his might that he was able to gain glory, just like his grandfather Suleiman. Murad was close to Suleiman and certainly considered him his role model. Eventually, the young sultan happened to go under the patronage of fortune when a new Shah ascended the Persian throne in 1588. The new Shah had to face with so many uprisings that he would have given almost any price for peace with the Ottomans. Murad eventually sent a very unfavorable, almost mocking offer to the Persians, which was accepted by the new shah, so that Murad actually won the war in 1590 and managed to regain the glory of the Ottoman state. However, it faded the glory in the eyes of the people and soldiers that the young sultan himself had not taken part in the war.

In addition to parades and war, Murad also subverted Istanbul by completely renovating the Topkapi Palace harem and relocating almost the entire Old Palace harem to Topkapi. Thus, only the women who were of the late sultans, or were widowed sultanas, remained in the Old Palace. This, of course, was not a process over a few years, but accompanied almost the entire reign of Murad.

Declining popularity

Murad never became really unpopular, but the initial enthusiasm he received slowly left him. However, his mother tried her best to maintain her son's popularity, with more or less success. Murad’s commitment to his mother is well known. Murad made all his political decisions in consultation with her. The fact that there was peace with Venice throughout his reign was certainly also due to Nurbanu's influence. For the sultana, by his origin, pursued a pro-Venetian policy, corresponding personally with the Venetian Doge. In addition, Nurbanu tried to appear at certain events instead of her son, thus maintaining the love of the people. Such was the Friday prayer, for example. According to tradition, every Friday the sultan prayed in a city mosque, thus appearing before his people. Sultan Suleiman followed the tradition almost every Friday, Selim kept it less and less, but he still did it quite regularly. However, at one point, Murad failed to fulfill this obligation for two years. Because of this, his mother appeared regularly on Friday prayers instead. The method proved surprisingly successful.

Murad lived his daily life quite simply and routinely, which is why it is strange that he missed the Friday prayers that would fit perfectly into his routine. Thanks to his doctor, Domenico Hierosolimitano, we know exactly how the sultan lived his life. According to this "in the morning he rises at dawn to say his prayer for half an hour, then for another half-hour he writes. Then he is given something pleasant as a collation, and afterwards sets himself to read for another hour. Then he begins to give audience to the members of the Divan on the four days of the week that this occurs, as had been said above. Then he goes for a walk through the garden, taking pleasure in the delight of fountains and animals for another hour, taking with him the dwarves, buffoons and others to entertain him. Then he goes back once again to studying until he considers the time for lunch has arrived. He stays at table only half an hour, and rises (to go) once again into the garden for as long as he pleases. Then he goes to say his midday prayer. Then he stops to pass the time and amuse himself with the women, and he will stay one or two hours with them, when it is time to say the evening prayer. Then he returns to his apartments or, if it pleases him more, he stays in the garden reading or passing the time until evening with the dwarfs and buffoons, and then he returns to say his prayers, that is at nightfall. Then he dines and takes more time over dinner than over lunch, making conversation until two hours after dark, until it is time for prayer [...] He never fails to observe this schedule every day."

The retreating nature of the sultan, his absence from the people, gradually diminished his popularity. The culmination of this came around 1580, when the sultan's masculinity came to the center of ridicule. There is a rumor that Murad was impotent. Everyone in the city talked about this so much that even historians, writers, and ambassadors regularly mentioned it, and even many mocking poems took wing. Eventually, the sultan’s favorite, Safiye, was accused of making the sultan impotent and was exiled with her daughters after one of her letters were read by Nurbanu. Murad’s impotence soon really ceased and he received plenty of concubines, producing innumerable children. As it shows, Murad regained his manhood, and thus his popularity somewhat restored, although he soon suffered a huge tragedy.

The lone sultan

Murad's mother Nurbanu retired to her own palace in early 1583 after her health had deteriorated thoroughly. By the end of the year, the situation was so tragic that Murad was constantly wearing black. But that was not enough trouble, his relationship with his eldest son gone bad. For Mehmed openly stood by his mother, Safiye, demanding that his father immediately bring his mother back from exile and marry him to repair the damage to her honor. Murad, of course, ugly rejected his son. Their relationship deteriorated to such a level that in December, when Mehmed left Istanbul to travel to his own province, Murad refused to go out to say goodbye to his son. Mehmed waited for days for his father to finally show himself. It seemed that Mehmed had to leave the capital without the blessing of his father and mother.

The status of Nurbanu became critical at the same time as Mehmed's departure, and Murad hurried to his mother. On her deathbed, Nurbanu spoke of nothing but begging her son to repair his relationship with Prince Mehmed. Nurbanu eventually died with her son next to her. Murad was left alone for with the death of his mother, he lost his greatest supporter, his counselor and he was left alone without a mother, a lover and even lost his son thanks to their fight. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about how was his relationship with his other children. Prince Mahmud died around 1580/1, so we don't know much about him and even less about Selim. Murad was perhaps in a closer relationship with his daughters, given that they shared their hobby. Murad was a famous bibliophile and was very interested in astrology, the former of which he certainly shared with his daughters Ayşe and Fatma. Maybe the girls didn't stand so openly to their father for Safiye, maybe he forgave them more easily, but his relationship with them didn't seem to have deteriorated.

Murad may have been a very emotional man who philosophized a lot. Perhaps this is why the introduction of many changes in burials can be linked to him. Basically, the sultans were the only "inhabitants" of their türbe, but Murad decided it wasn't good that way. Knowing how close his own parents were to each other, he buried Nurbanu right next to his father, and even placed his younger brothers rest in Selim's tomb. Interestingly, Mihrimah Sultan, who also died during Murad's reign, was buried next to her father Suleiman, maybe because their close relationship was well known. There are no other possible reasons since Mihrimah could be buried in one of her own complexes, in her husband's complex, or even his brothers complex (Şehzade Mosque complex). So Murad clearly wanted to bury her next to Suleiman.

In the case of such an emotional, retreating man, it is perhaps not surprising that he did not bear loneliness well, and soon after the death of his mother recalled Safiye to his side and, taking the advice of his son, married her in 1585 or 1586. Although they no longer had sexual intercourse as Murad surrounded himself with young concubines, Safiye became his counselor and understanding companion. Murad respected and held Safiye's mind in high esteem, but still far from accepting her advice as blindly as he did with his mother's earlier advice. Safiye's presence may also have been an important factor in the relationship between Murad and Prince Mehmed. The two never became close again, but their relationship wasn't life-threatening anymore, since Safiye regularly advised her son to act as an obedient boy.

Besides Safiye, none of Murad's other concubines were able to intervene in political affairs, however, two other concubines are known to have been able to do charity, suggesting that they may have been Murad’s favorites. It is possible that several of her concubines have been involved in charity, but there is evidence of only these two women. Şems-i Ruhsar Hatun, the mother of Rukiye Sultan, established a foundation in Medina; and Şah-i Huban Hatun also had foundations in her life. In addition, Prince Selim's mother may have had some power, as there is second-hand evidence to that. However, Safiye was the only woman in Murad’s life who could influence him and whom he considered an equal party.

His last years and death

In his last years, he was almost completely locked in the palace, did not attend council meetings, and mostly did not leave the palace at all. This must have been facilitated by the fact that two rebellions took place against him, in 1589 the Janissaries and in 1592 the Sipahis began to revolt. In addition, his health has deteriorated a great deal in his last years. In 1592, the returning Venetian ambassador, who last saw the sultan in 1588, reported that Murad was very obese, resulting in a particularly deformed appearance due to his short stature and that his face was constantly red, he suffered from epilepsy, permanent ear problems, and other health problems. He mentioned that Murad usually slept whole day. The cause of Murad's death is unknown, probably happened due to natural causes. He died in 1595 and was buried in Hagia Sophia.

Used sources: L. Peirce - The imperial harem; M. P. Pedani - Safiye's household and Venetian diplomacy; G. Junne - The black eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire; G. B��rekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; Necdet Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; F. Suraiya, K. Fleet - The Cambridge History of Turkey 1453-1603; Kayaalp-Aktan - The Atik Valide Mosque Complex: A testament of Nurbanu’s prestige, power and piety

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Származása és neveltetése

Murad, 1546-ban született későbbi II. Szelim és kedvenc ágyasa, Nurbanu gyermekeként. Ő volt a pár legkisebb gyermeke, Muradnak születésekor már három nővére volt, Şah, Gevherhan és Esmehan. Gyermekkorát édeapja éppen aktuális hercegi tartományában töltötte. Közeli viszonyban volt mind a két szülőjével és mint egyetlen fiuk ő volt a szemefényük. Különösen igaz volt ez édesanyjára, Nurbanura, aki igyekezett mindenre odafigyelni fiával kapcsolatban.

Murad apjához és nagyapjához hasonlóan igen szerette a művészeteket, imádott olvasni, ami már gyermekkorában is megmutatkozott. Emiatt valószínűleg inkább volt visszahúzódó herceg aki az eszével vonta magára a figyelmet, nem pedig harcos természetével. Körülmetélési szertartását 1557-ben tartották, majd a következő évben Szulejmán úgy döntött, hogy az alig 12 éves unokáját kinevezi első hercegi posztjára, Akşehirbe. Nurbanu a hagyományoknak megfelelően fiával tartott a tartományba és igyekezett segíteni az uralkodásban. Általában a hercegek valamivel idősebben kapták meg első saját tartományukat, így minden bizonnyal az új helyzet elég sok nehézséget okozott Murad számára. Azonban tanítója és édesanyja mindenben támogatta, így ügyesen helyt állt.

Az első megpróbáltatás

Murad meglehetősen felhőtlen gyermekkora hamarosan távoli emlék maradt csupán, ugyanis nagybátyja Bayezid herceg 1559-ben lázadást szítva hadsereget toborzott, egyetlen célja pedig Szelim herceg és Murad megölése volt. Muradnak, mint Akşehir helytartója rendelekzésére állt a tartomány serege, mellyel apja parancsát követve azonnal Konyába indult, hogy támogassa apját. Alig 13 évesen Murad részt vett élete első csatájában, minden bizonnyal azonban nem a harctérről követve az eseményeket. Két napos megfeszített küzdelem után végül Szelim és Murad csapatai kerültek ki győztesen, köszönhetően a szultán által küldött támogatásnak. Bayezid herceg azonban elmenekült, így Szelim, Murad és Szokollu Mehmed Pasa hónapokig üldözték a lázadó herceget.

Bayezid herceg azonban sikerrel kelt át a perzsa határon, ami mindenkit rettegéssel töltött el a birodalomban. Murad és apja hónapokig nem hagyhatták el a perzsa határt. Végül aztán Szulejmán és a perzsa şah egyezkedni kezdtek, így Murad hazatérhetett édesanyjához Akşehirbe. 1562-ben aztán Bayezidet és fiait a perzsa şah átadta Szelim embereinek és kivégezték őket. Innentől nem állt Szelim és Murad előtt semmilyen akadály, trónöröklésük biztosított volt.

A trónörökös

Mint Szelim egyetlen fia, tulajdonképpen egyértelmű volt, hogy Murad lesz a leendő szultán, így presztizse igen megemelkedett. Talán ennek köszönhette az ajándékot is, mely egész életét emgváltoztatta. Valószínűleg Bayezid kivégzése után nemsokkal - de legalábbis nagjyából 1562-ben - Murad egy ágyast kapott ajándékba unokatestvérétől, Hümaşah szultánától. Az ágyas igen csinos és intelligens volt és azonnal Murad kedvencévé vált. Nemsokkal megismerkedésük után megszületett első gyermekük, egy kislány, akit Murad unoaktestvére és Safiye kinevelője után Hümaşahnak neveztek el. Őt 1566 májusában követte Mehmed herceg. Ebben az évben halt meg Szulejmán szultán és vált Murad apja, Szelim az új szultánná.

Szelim uralkodása alatt Murad Manisában élt, ezt a tartományt igazgatta. A fő változás Szulejmán uralkodásához képest az volt, hogy édesanyja magára hagyta Muradot, hogy Szelim mellett lehessen Isztambulban. Murad életében így Safiye, kedvenc ágyasa lett az első számú támasz és társ. Kapcsolatukból hamarosan újabb fiú, Mahmud született 1569-ben őt pedig két lány, Ayşe és Fatma követte. Murad alapvetően hűséges volt Safiyéhez és monogám kapcsolatban élt vele, ám legalább egy eset előfordult, mikor más ágyast teherbe ejtett. 1567-ben ugyanis egy névtelen ágyas fiúnak adott életet, akit Szelimnek neveztek el. Az ágyas egy igen befolyásos hárem szolga, Raziye Hatun által kinevelt lány volt és bár egy herceg anyja volt, semmilyen privilégiuma nem volt, meg sem közelíthette Safiye pozícióját. Raziye Hatun egyébként maga is igen közel állt Muradhoz, talán épp ezért fogadta el ajándékát a herceg.

Hercegi tartományában Murad kialakította saját köreit, meg voltak saját támogatói, tanácsadói és nem volt semmi más dolguk, mint várni Szelim halálát. Szelim időközben több gyermeket is nemzett, a vezető államférfiak nyomására. Öccseivel igen ritkán találkozott, ha találkozott egyáltalán, így mély kapcsolat nem alakult ki közöttük. Mégis fontos megemlíteni, hogy a gyermekek születése Muradot komolyan befolyásolta. Na nem azért, mert bármi esélyük lett volna a trónra Muraddal szemben, hanem mert Szelim és Nurbanu szándékosan nem nemzett több fiút évekig, hogy Muradnak ne legyen vetélytársa és ne kelljen saját vérét ontania trónralépésekor. Azonban öccsei születésével életlben először Muradnak gondolkodnia kellett a testvérgyilkosság törvényén, ami az érzékeny lelkű herceget bizonyára nem érintette jól.

Az ifjú szultán

II. Szelim 1574 decemberének elején elhunyt, Nurbanu pedig titkos üzenetben rendelte fiát Isztambulba. Muradra titokban várt azt egyik pasa hajójával, hogy hajón mielőbb Isztambulba érjenek, a herceg azonban nem találta meg a pasát, így egy másik hajóra felkéretszkedve jutott Isztambulba december 21-én éjszaka. Murad így öt nap alatt megérkezett a fővárosba. Bár a hajónak köszönhette a gyors érkezést, a herceg nagyon súlyos tengeribetegséggel küzdött végig az úton, mely megérkezése után is jóideig megkeserítette helyzetét. Az lett volna a legfontosabb feladata, hogy testvéreit azonnnal kivégeztesse. Murad azonban képtelen volt kiadni a parancsot. Nyolc órán át nem volt hajlandó ráülni a trónra - amitől szultánná vált volna - és kinyilatkoztatni megérkezését, helyette az államférfiakkal tanácskozott arról, hogyan tudná kikerülni öccsei meggyilkolását. Még egyszer szeretném hangsúlyozni, olyan testvérekről van szó, akikhez semmilyen szoros kapcsolat nem kötötte Muradot. Végül azonban Murad anyja, Nurbanu és az államférfiak meggyőzték a szultánt, hogy nem tehet semmit, a testvérgyilkosság törvény, neki is így kell tennie. Végül Murad zokogva adta ki a parancsot és gyermek öccseit megfojtatta a napfelkelte előtt három órával.

A gyermek hercegek halála különös jelentőséggel bírt, ugyanis ez volt az első eset, hogy a testvérgyilkosság Isztambulban történt meg. Első alkalommal tapasztalta meg testközelből az összes vezető államférfi, háremszolga, katona és közember, hogy mit is jelent a testvérgyilkosság. Először látták a szultán koporsója mögött haladó apró koporsókat. A testvérgyilkosság korábban egy megfoghatatlan fogalom volt, tudott de szükséges rossz, azonban a vélemény kezdett megváltozni. Mindenesetre Murad nem lett népszerűtlen az esemény miatt, mindneki izgatottan várta, hogy mit hoz az ifjú szultán uralkodása. Bár tudott volt, hogy nem a legharcosabb természetű férfi és külseje is enyhén beteges volt, mégis ígéretes jelölt volt. Részt vett már csatában, jól irányította tartományát, több gyermeke is volt, intelligens, művelt volt, édesanyja is tisztelt és kedvelt személy volt, élvezte az államférfiak és katonák támogatását, és csak huszonnyolc éves volt, nagyjából annyi, mint nagyérdemű elődje, Szulejmán, mikor trónralépett.

Murad uralkodásának első évei igen mozgalmasan teltek, követek érkeztek gratulálni trónralépéséhez, 1576-ban például maga a perzsa şah követe. Ez az esemény kiemelt jelentőséggel bírt és telejen felforgatta Isztambul életét. A perzsákkal béke egyezmény élt, azonban egyfajta passzív agresszió jellemezte a viszonyt. Épp emiatt Murad nagy erőfeszítéseket tett, hogy "megijessze" hatalmával a perzsa követet. Ennek érdekében 10 - 12 000 fős kísérettel érkezett majd megüzente a követnek, hogy "a felvonulás amit itt látsz csak azok a tyúkok, akik az ólban vannak, a többi éppen a földeken legel". Az ilyen felvonulások mindig izgalommal töltötték el a népet, főleg, hogy gyakori pénz és ételosztás kísérte őket.

A perzsák elleni passzív agresszív fellépést az is táplálta, hogy a kettejük közt életben lévő békeegyezmény hamarosan lejárt, Muradnak pedig tervei voltak velük. 1578-ban Murad a divan elé tárta háborús törekvéseit, amely miatt nyíltan szembe került a nagyvezírrel, Szokollu Mehmed Pasával. Szokollu óva intette a szerinte tapasztalatlan szultánt egy hosszú és véres perzsák elleni háborútól. Tény, hogy Szokollu nagy tapasztalattal rendelkezett a perzsák elleni hadjáratokról, hiszen rengetegben részt vett, a szultán viszont dicsőséget akart, és nem hallgatott a nagyvezírre. Szokollu befolyása olyan hatalmas volt és mindent átszövő, hogy szinte veszélyeztette a szultánt abszolút uralmát. Talán ennek is köze lehetett 1579-es meggyilkolásához. A háború végül 1584-ben elindult és egészen 1590-ig tartott. Olyannyira kimerítő, költséges volt, hogy mind a két fél békéért könyörgött, Murad azonban hallani sem akart erről. Minden erejével bizonyítani akarta, hogy képes dicsőséget szerezni, ugyanúgy mint nagyapja Szulejmán. Murad közel állt Szulejmánhoz és minden bizonnyal őt tekintette példaképének. Végül a szerencse pártfogásába vette a fiatal szultánt, mikor 1588-ban új şah lépett a perzsa trónra és annyi felkeléssel kellett szembenéznie, hogy szinte bármi árat megadott volna a békéért. Murad végül a perzsák számára igen kedvezőtlen, szinte gúnnyal felérő ajánlatot küldött, amit az új şah elfogadott, így Murad tulajdonképpen 1590-ben megnyerte a háborút és sikerült újra dicsőséget szereznie az Oszmán államnak. Azonban árnyalta a dicsőséget a nép és katonák szemében, hogy az ifjú szultán maga nem vett részt a háborúban.

A felvonulások és háború mellett Murad szintén felbolygatta Isztambult azzal, hogy a Topkapi Palota háremét teljes körűen felújította és szinte a teljes Régi Palotabeli háremet átköltöztette. Így a Régi Palotában csak azok a nők maradtak, akik a néhai szultánok asszonyai voltak, vagy megözvegyült szultánák. Innen ered a Régi Palota gúnyneve, a Könnyek Palotája. EZ természetesen nem egy néhány év alatt lezajló folyamat volt, hanem szinte Murad teljes uralkodását végig kísérte.

Népszerűségének csökkenése

Murad sosem vált igazán népszerűtlenné, de a kezdeti lelkesedés mely fogadta, lassan alább hagyott. Népszerűségét minden erővel igyekezett azonban fenntartani édesanyja, több kevesebb sikerrel. Murad édesanyja iránti elkötelezettsége jól ismert. Murad minden politikai döntését édesanyjával konzultálva hozta meg. Az, hogy uralkodása alatt végig béke volt Velencével, minden bizonnyal szintén Nurbanu befolyásának volt köszönhető. A szultána ugyanis származása révén, Velence-párti politikát folytatott, személyesen levelezett a velencei dózsével. Emellett Nurbanu igyekezett fia helyett megjelenni bizonyos eseményeken, ezzel fenntartva a nép szeretét. Ilyen volt például a pénteki ima, a hagyomány szerint minden pénteken a szultán valamely városi mecsetben imádkozott, ezzel megjelenve a népe előtt. Szulejmán szultán szinte valóban minden pénteken követte a hagyományt, Szelim egyre kevésbé tartotta, de néhány hetente/havonta azért megjelent, megmutatva magát. Murad azonban egy ponton két évig nem tett eleget ezen kötelezettségének. Anyja emiatt helyette jelent meg rendszeresen pénteki imákon. A módszer meglepően sikeresnek bizonyult.

Murad mindennapjait meglehetősen egyszerűen és rutinszerűen élte, emiatt is furcsa, hogy a rutinba tökéletesen beilleszthető pénteki imákat kihagyta. Orvosának, Domenico Hierosolimitanonak köszönhetően pontosan tudjuk, hogy milyen rutin szerint élte életét a szultán. Eszerint minden reggel a nappal együtt kelve, elmondta első imáját, ami nagyjából fél óráig tartott, ezek után újabb fél órán át írt. Hogy egy kis szórakozást is adjon magának, ezután minden reggel nagyjából egy órát olvasott, majd elkezdte audienciáját a divan tagokkal a hét négy napján. Hogy kiszellőztesse fejét az audienciák után egy órán át sétálgatott a kertben, társalgott a törpéivel és szemügyre vette a kertben jelenlévő állatokat. Az ebédig hátralévő időt pedig munkával töltötte. Ebédjét nagyjából fél óra alatt fogyasztotta el, majd újabb sétára indult a kertbe, ami adig tartott ameddig csak jól esett neki, majd utána elmondta imáit. Ezután felkereste asszonyait, gyermekeit és velük töltött egy-két órát, majd az esti imára távozott. Az ima után vagy lakrészébe tért vissza vagy a kertben sétált újra, esetleg olvasott. Vacsora előtt újra imádkozott, majd megvacsorázott, mialatt sokat társalgott vacsora partnereivel. A vacsora sötétedés után két órával ért véget, ekkor újra imádkozott majd aludni tért.

A szultán visszahúzódó természete, néptől való távolmaradása fokozatosan egyre csökkentette népszerűségét. Ennek csúcsa 1580 körül jött el, mikor a szultán férfiassága került a gúny középpontjába. Szárnyra kelt ugyanis az a pletyka miszerint Murad impotens. Olyannyira mindenki erről beszélt a városban, hogy még a történészek, írók és követek is rendszeresen megemlékeztek róla és számos gúnyos versike kelt szárnyra. Végül a szultán kedvencét, Safiye szultánát vádolták meg azzal, hogy ő teszi impotenssé a férfit és száműzték őt lányaival együtt, miután egyik levele Nurbanuhoz került. Murad impotenciája hamarosan valóban megszűnt és rengeteg ágyast fogadott, megszámlálhatatlan gyermeket nemzve. Bár, ez mutatja, Murad férfiasságát visszaszerezte, ezáltal pedig népszerűsége is valamennyire helyrebillent, hamarosan hatalmas tragédia érte.

A magányos szultán

Murad édesanyja Nurbanu 1583 elején visszavonult saját palotájába miután egészségi állapota alaposan leromlott. Év végére a helyzet olyan tragikus volt, hogy Murad állandóan feketében járt. De ez nem volt elég gond, legidősebb fiával is nagyon elmérgesedett viszonya. Mehmed ugyanis nyíltan kiállt édesanyja, Safiye mellett, követelte apjától, hogy azonnal hozassa vissza édesanyját a száműzetésből és vegye feleségül, hogy helyre hozza a tisztességén esett csorbát. Murad természetesen csúnyán elutasította fiát és elzavarta. Kapcsolatuk olyan szintre romlott, hogy decemberben, mikor Mehmed saját tartományába utazott volna Murad nem volt hajlandó kimenni elbúcsúzni fiától. Mehmed napokig várta apját a városban állomásozva, remélve, hogy végül megmutatja magát. Olybá tűnt, hogy Mehmed apja és anyja áldása nélkül kell, hogy elhagyja a fővárost.

Nurbanu szultána állapota Mehmed távozásával egy időben válságossá vált, Murad pedig édesanyjához sietett. Nurbanu halálos ágyán másról sem beszélt, csak könyörgött fiának, hogy hozza rendbe kapcsolatát Mehmed herceggel. Nurbanu végül úgy hunyt el, hogy fia végig mellette volt és zokogott. Murad anyja halálával egyedül maradt, elvesztette legnagyobb támogatóját, tanácsadóját, valamint fiával is elmérgesedett viszonya. Sajnos nem sokat tudun arról, hogy többi gyermekével milyen viszonyban lehetett. Mahmud herceg 1580/1 környékén elhunyt. Lányaival talán közelebbi viszonyban volt, tekintettel arra, hogy osztoztak hobbijukban. Murad híres bibliofil volt és nagyon érdekelte az asztrológia, melyek közül előbbiben bizonyosan osztozott lányaival Ayşével és Fatmával. Talán a lányok nem álltak ki annyira nyíltan apjukkal szemben Safiye érdekében, talán nekik könnyebben megbocsátott, de úgy tűnik, velük nem romlott meg a kapcsolata.

Murad igen érzelmes férfi lehetett, aki sokat filozofált. Talán épp emiatt köthető hozzá a temetkezésekben is igen sok változás bevezetése. Alapvetően a szultánok egyedüli "lakói" voltak türbéjüknek, ő azonban úgy döntött, hogy ez így nem jó. Tudva, hogy saját szülei milyen közel álltak egymáshoz, Nurbanu szultánát halála után közvetlenül apja mellé temette, sőt trónralépésekor kivégzett öccseit is Szelim türbéjében helyeztette el. Érdekesség, hogy uralkodása alatt hunyt el Mihrimah szultána is, akiről köztudott volt, mennyire közel állt Szulejmánhoz, valószínűleg épp ezért temettette Szulejmán mellé Mihrimah szultánát. Nem igazán van más lehetséges magyarázat, ugyanis Mihrimaht eltemethették volna egyik saját mecset komplexumába, férje komplexumába vagy akár testvérei komplexumába, a Şehzade mecset komplexumban. Murad mégis Szulejmán mellé temettette, bizonyára okkal.

Egy ilyen érzelmes, visszahúzódó ember esetében talán nem meglepő, hogy nem viselte jól a magányt és édesanyja halála után nemsokkal visszahívta Safiyét maga mellé és fia tanácsát megfogadva 1585-ben vagy 1586-ban feleségül is vette. Bár szexuális kapcsolatuk nem volt többé, hiszen Murad ifjú ágyasokkal vette körbe magát, Safiye lett tanácsadója és megértő társa. Murad tisztelte és nagyra tartotta Safiye eszét, korántsem fogadta meg olyan vakon tanácsait, mint korábban édesanyja tanácsait. Safiye jelenléte fontos lehetett abban is, hogy nem mérgesedett tovább Murad és Mehmed herceg viszonya. Az asszony ugyanis rendszeresen látta el fiát tanácsokkal, és igyekezett őt engedelmes fiúként mutatni Murad felé.

Safiye mellett egyik ágyas sem tudott politikai ügyekbe avatkozni, azonban ismert két másik ágyas, akik jótékonykodni tudtak, ami arra utal, hogy Murad kedvencei lehettek. Nem kizárt, hogy több ágyasa is jótékonykodásba fogott, bizonyíték azonban csak erről a két nőről van. Şems-i Ruhsar Hatun, Rukiye szultána anyja Medinában hozott létre egy alapítványt; Şah-i Huban Hatunnak pedig szintén alapítványai voltak életében. Emellett Szelim herceg anyja is valamekkora hatalommal rendelkezhetett, ugyanis vannak erre utaló közvetett bizonyítékok. Azonban Safiye volt az egyetlen nő Murad életében, aki befolyásolni tudta és akit egyenrangú félnek tekintett.

Utolsó évei és halála

Utolsó éveiben szinte teljesen bezárózott a palotába, a tanácsülésekre sem járt el, a palotát magát pedig főleg nem hagyta el. Ezt bizonyára elősegítette, hogy két lázadás is történt ellene, 1589-ben a janicsárok, 1592-ben a szpáhik kezdtek felkelésbe. Emellett egészsége is nagyon sokat romlott utolsó éveiben. 1592-ben a visszatérő velencei követ - aki 1588-ban látta utoljára a szultánt - arról számolt be, hogy Murad nagyon meghízott, ami alacsony termete miatt különösen deformált külsőt eredményezett nála, emellett arca állandóan vörös volt, epilepsziával, állandó fülproblémákkal és más egészségügyi gondokkal is küzdött, szinte egész nap aludt. Murad halálának okai ismeretlenek, valószínűleg természetes okokból kifolyólag hunyt el 1595-ben. Az Hagia Sophiában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Felhasznált források: L. Peirce - The imperial harem; M. P. Pedani - Safiye's household and Venetian diplomacy; G. Junne - The black eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; Necdet Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; F. Suraiya, K. Fleet - The Cambridge History of Turkey 1453-1603; Kayaalp-Aktan - The Atik Valide Mosque Complex: A testament of Nurbanu’s prestige, power and piety

[ofcloudsandstars]

Amber and orchard for the fall asks!

amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

Hahaha this is like cracking open pandora’s box. I feel like I have too many. 

I think my primary one though is I absolutely despise capitalism’s affect on witchcraft. I DO NOT think it’s made it more accessible for people, I feel like the only very minor positive thing is that you can now tell people you are a witch and into tarot cards and they won’t find you as weird anymore. Otherwise people don’t realize how capitalism is a force that actually strips culture of it’s meaning in order to sell it for profit and it’s affects on this practice has left a lot of damage not just to some aspects that are sacred but towards the earth since it’s a practice that works really closely with nature. 

(added a read more to spare you poor scrolling souls from my rant lol)

Anyway what crapitalism does is it takes a culture and turns it into an easily consumable concept- almost like a brand, so that as long as you slap something ‘witchy’ seeming together then it qualifies as that brand. It boils everything down to an aesthetic. And no one has to actually believe in it anymore, or practice it or make any effort towards learning it or incorporating it into their lives. As long as they buy into the brand or embody the aesthetic then they count. Sometimes you can try to express that some traditions and materials and such do have meaning (I mean of course they do no one just sat around and made this shit up) people kind of have this nihilistic view that’s fed from this weird modern capitalist society that like: nothing truly has meaning anymore. But it’s like they are feeding this consumerist culture by repeating this mindset and gaslighting others when they appropriate magical practices or other cultures that are still very much alive and still tended to (often by indigenous people still being prosecuted) that are focused on working with the earth. 

Then you see this ripple effect on places like instagram or the big mainstream like magazines and shit and do not get me wrong cause there are a lot of cool and creative people that practice this that are on there but there is so much cashing into this field now and oversaturation that comes with seedy and shady background stories that show creators being completely disingenuous because they really just want to make money. And then going back to my point that this practice works closely with nature, capitalism exploited the fact that we like working with certain herbs, woods, crystals etc and is overharvesting and mining and tainting the very tools that we want to work with, with greed, pollution, child slavery etc. And it’s irritating cause you can make your own tools and don’t have to import anything and you can tell everyone how bad some industries are but they don’t listen cause they are buying into capitalism’s lie that they can sell you anything at a price, even if it’s sacred. Then if you try to defend your point they tell you that this is the only way it can be accessible to everyone, but it’s NOT accessible to everyone, it strips it away from people that could be working with these tools for generations and protecting the climates that these guides and resources for the tools grow in. It also disempowers people in their craft to begin with because witchcraft is about finding that connection to your own power and magic and the bridge with the universe’s power and magic and when you venture down into this practice you will find tools and guides local to you and find ways to make your own magical tools but capitalism disempowers us by telling us that we are not legit until we can put a price tag on it. So people don’t believe in their ability to find the sacred in themselves or nature, they just keep consuming whatever herb bundle or tool capitalism spits at them because it’s the only way to feel legit in this culture. 

And then since it’s seen more of a title or aesthetic and less of a way of life or set of ethics or practice, you have people interested in this spiritual or witchy community that don’t do any work or want to work on themselves that bring their shadow baggage into it. So you get racism seeping into it, homophobia, I also am so fucking confused how TRANSPHOBIA has made its way into here like transfolx are magical by just existing they are walking manifestations and works of alchemy like wtf; and like if you guys were friends with any queer people and hung out with them, they get the idea of magic, ritual and manifestation so well cause so much of their daily life already embodies some of that. But that’s a whole other topic. I vibed well with my queer friends on this and they were the only ones I could talk to about it before witchcraft became mainstream. 

 Then in general it’s seen as like radical if you tell people that are supposedly practicing witches that our energies should be focusing on restoring balance and we should put our energy towards healing nature or towards human rights (since humans are apart of nature) you will literally have witches being like: don’t tell me what to do!!! Like!! Gurl wtf lmaoo I don’t know how people claim to be empaths or into this but they don’t see that maybe if there was a so called “Great Awakening” to “Empower Ourselves” that’s probably what the fucking point was? Not to say that you need to spend every waking moment protesting (another contribution of capitalism- showing some kind of documented proof on social media that you stand for something instead of little daily actions embedded into your everyday life) but you can find ways to change your daily patterns to make space for the societal change that’s coming to bring in a more compassionate world and better community. But since we are so indoctrinated in this consumerist culture, so many people don’t know how to incorporate their values into their everyday lives anymore. It’s all about quantity and showing off on social media. And that negatively impacts witchcraft cause witchcraft is a daily practice you do little things for everyday that just gets embedded into your everyday life, but people get confused and think to be legit it’s something you gotta buy into or show off as proof with stylistic rituals and of course for many people that’s exhausting or financially inaccessible. 

And for the sake of clarity cause the internet hates using critical thinking sometimes, of COURSE you can have a fun and flashy craft I’m not saying you can’t, but there is a massive imbalance here I am pointing out with how people are developing insecurities because they cannot attain this aesthetic overnight without dropping a shit ton of money. Yes witchcraft is very aesthetic-heavy but that’s because it’s a really creative practice that people pour their creativity and energy into and capitalism saw a way to put a price tag on it and now it’s confusing everyone else that’s mistaking this as something else to consume in exchange for money. 

And then I hate that I feel often I cannot talk about this cause instead of people using their critical thinking braincells and realizing how bad capitalism is, they somehow turn this conversation into thinking that I just don’t like when a culture becomes mainstream cause not everyone should enjoy a culture or whatever and it’s like fucking hell of course I would LOVE more witches and to have more people into celebrating nature or finding their own magic and connecting to the universe and whatever, but capitalism isn’t helping at all. It’s separating us from it’s connection and the meaning behind it’s practice. (Also one day I dream of living in a witchy town or community so yeah, the more the merrier, but right now with capitalism, this method is not the way to get into this practice lol). 

You really see the negative effects of capitalism marketing witchcraft because people now treat it as like this commodity they can jump into without finding a way to genuinely connect with it cause it’s all just a gimmick until the next zeitgeist. This either manifests in two ways where they think they can just buy a book or read some posts and not do any work on themselves or thinking on stuff like cultural appropriation so when they start experimenting they might bring harm to themselves by evoking spirits that do not want to work with them, or taking in some sacred herb or substance that can fuck them up leaving deep psychological damage or death- or they can harm others in a myriad of ways. 

Then the other way it manifests are people feeling like witchcraft is suddenly inaccessible because you need money to practice it because capitalism put that veil over their eyes. It’s now another thing gatekept by money. So they try to reclaim it by being like: it’s just a title you can slap on yourself; but they give capitalism more power because that’s what capitalism was doing all along by stripping the meaning. Stripping it down to a concept that only matters as a label that evokes a brand or idea but not an actual practice. In a way it’s very counter culture to not buy into the aesthetic or put in effort anymore. Even if you want to put in effort you feel like you are not good enough cause you will never fit capitalism’s standards of quantity and money to spend to showcase it on the internet to feel legit. So people develop this no-effort approach to it. And ONCE AGAIN for clarity for the internet’s lack of critical thinking and jumping to conclusions I am NOT referring to anything like spoony witchcraft or energy based witchcraft (I am an energy witch primarily thank you very much) I am talking about people calling themselves witches but then when you want to sit down and chat about the craft they have a blank stare cause they were never serious and sometimes judge you for how much you cared about it cause they don’t really believe in it anyway. Not even cause it’s woowoo it’s cause capitalism doesn’t make you believe any anything anymore. The only thing it wants you to believe in is money and what you can consume with it.  

And then when people online try to talk about this and point out it’s a practice these guys get angry with you like you are gatekeeping but it’s like BITCH it’s a FREE FUCKING PRACTICE like GO TALK TO A TREE go COLLECT A ROCK YOU FOUND IN THE CLEAR STREAM OF A BABBLING BROOK and maybe you’d CALM THE FUCK DOWN. Capitalism making it seem like you gotta buy all this shit to be seen as legit is not what this practice is about and it makes me upset how there is like this massive group of people that want to access this culture but are so lethargic about actually doing anything because they are disenchanted and it’s really because they are mentally bogged down by capitalism’s grip on it making them feel like they aren’t shit cause they can’t afford all that bullshit that ain’t gonna help them anyway so they just call themselves witches to get them 2 drops of serotonin and feel included but never really go anywhere beyond that cause capitalism strips the fucking joy and meaning out of everything. The only reason why this bothers me is cause I could be staying in my lane drinking my herbs and shit and chilling but then people either judge me for the effort I put into my practice’s aesthetics thinking I am shallow and buying into this or they think I am being reckless and dangerous believing in something not real by practicing a craft that tbh has a lot of dangerous aspects to it so it’s not rated E for everyone. Like you can fit it to what you want it to be since it’s your journey but it’s always been a bit edgy in some ways and it’s annoying when you get people judging you now for your lifestyle or they wonder why you are so invested cause they don’t get it. 

Anyway that was a rant but you asked for it lol. 

orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn.

Get some more weed 

Thanks for the asks lol. Kept the last one short haha but it’s true I have been trying to manifest for a while after my quarantine rations went out. Here are the autumnal asks if anyone else wants to ask or reblog them!

[iturbide]

Do you have any OCs? Give us your opinion of them!

I

wait

is this for the character break-down

...I’m tentatively going to guess ‘yes’ and do one because frankly I have too many OCs and also gun wanted someone in particular so

I’m gonna do the foxman himself

How do I feel about this character?

I love Todd?  I love Todd.  He’s...kind of ridiculous when you think about it honestly because he’s going by a pseudonym (Todd Renard) that literally means “Fox Fox”; Sylvie is 100% correct in calling him Foxman (and everyone else who inadvertently joins in is also correct in doing so).  He’s gone through a ton of shit and he’s super jaded and cynical about the whole wartime situation, but he also doesn’t have a way out anymore so he’s just struggling through as best he can and doing his best to keep people alive.  He’s bright and he’s thoughtful and while he does tend to look at things from a tactical and analytic stance, he genuinely cares for his crewmates as people rather than chess pieces (even though most people think the opposite is true).  I just really genuinely enjoy his dry wit and somewhat black humor and he’s really fun to play with, even if I don’t do it often. 

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

It’s Trish.  I can’t deny it, and it’s hilarious for the fact that they hate each other so much at the beginning.  Trish thinks he’s full of himself and a know-it-all and he thinks that she’s got an attitude (which she kind of does around him because she thinks he’s full of himself -- it’s one of those vicious cycles).  They bicker a lot and almost any time they’re together they will get into an argument, minor or otherwise -- but the more they work together the more they really bond.  Eventually she realizes that he really has been looking out for her rather than talking down to her this whole time and while she takes issue with how he expressed it (and several other things -- I mean it, they argue a lot) she appreciates that.  He also really respects and admires her skills and always has, and the fact that she is able to convince him to get more target practice in because of it is a bonus in his favor.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Sylvie, hilariously.  Despite the fact that she is the most irreverent little brat you’re likely to ever meet, Todd knows exactly how to get her to do what he wants: not by treating her like a kid (like most people do) but by being honest about her skills and her capabilities and putting them to their best use.  She’ll definitely talk back to him sometimes, but when push comes to shove she’s always in his corner.  Also I really like him and Ivan and how they have opposite views on the whole situation they’re in: Todd is a cynic who’s seen the absolute worst of this damn war, Ivan’s an optimist who just wants to do what he can to help.  Todd knows just how badly the system can and will chew people like Ivan up, so while he’s able, he really wants to protect him from that...and really, they both learn from each other.  Ivan gets a taste of realism from talking to Todd, while Todd gets a little bit of his own lost idealism back -- just enough to imagine that maybe he can make a difference, no matter how small it is in the grand scheme of things.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

This is literally my personal character how does this work

uh

okay I’m not gonna lie I think that his name is hilarious and I’m 85% certain that it’s something he came up with as a kid and then just never let go of.  He deserves to get ribbed for it because honestly he could have and should have picked something less stupid why did you do that how can you be so smart but such a dumbass at the same time Todd.

(Admittedly his real name is probably 5x more embarrassing than his stupid psuedonym he concocted when he was 13 so it might be slightly more forgivable.)

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

...wait don’t I control canon?  Can’t I literally make anything happen? 

Does stuff I’ve thought of but haven’t written out yet count as canon?  Because if not, I’ll be honest, I really want him to get blindsided by something.  Just completely out of left field, something he never could have foreseen or anticipated.  Maybe it’s because he’s generally pretty chill and has plans and back-ups, but genuinely surprising him and catching him off guard would be perfect.

Give Me a Character    

[deeplyuninterested]

30 Question Ask Game

@bvrgundybxtch tagged me to answer 30 questions! Thank you for tagging me!

Favorite Baby Names - Literally no idea. Idk, Bobby? lol Definitely not Bobby.

How People Perceive You – Snub and cold.

Switch Friend Code - Buy me one and I ll put any nickname you tell me too. 

Describe Your Style – Mostly serious and conservative but I promise that’s probably one of the very few things I am conservative. Also I avoid colorful stuff. Oh and I love sweaters in winter.

Best Fruit Flavor For Candy – Watermelon I suppose.

What’s Under Your Bed – My bed has it’s own drawers. Mostly underwear, bedsheets, light blankets and stuff.

Best Disney Princess   Villain. Definitely Maleficent like @bvrgundybxtch but I also like Ursula.

Baudelaire Sibling You’re Most Like - Probably Violet, but not really I guess.

Magical Element You’d Want To Wield – Hard one. Probably wind and water yeah.

Weirdest Celebrity Crush – They are all pretty mainstream I think, I m boring like that lol.

What Reminds You Of Home – Sunny weather and jasmine scent?

Share A Bit of Wisdom – Devote yourself to some sort of art and try to help others. Life is much simpler than we think.

Cover Songs Better Than the Original – There are many but nothing compares to “Hurt” by Johnny Cash imho. And although “I need a hero” by Bonnie Tyler is legendary on its own, Nothing but Thieves did an awesome cover too, so it’s worth mentioning.

Guilty Pleasure Song - Nah I don’t feel guilty, I support everything with all my heart lol.

Best Book(s) You Read Last Year – I started reading Homer’s Iliad, so yeah, that’s the one probably.

Best Game(s) You Played Last Year - Europa Universalis 4 for sure.

Coffee Order – I don’t drink coffee :/ I am a tea person.

Favorite Fictional Couple – I rarely like couples lol I can’t think of any.

Favorite Superhero Movie – X-men the Last Stand and Avenger’s Infinity War. Guardians of the Galaxy were also really cool.

Unpopular Opinion –  I am an atheist, left-wing, vegetarian in Greece. Even my very breath is an unpopular opinion around here (especially the vegetarian part lol).

I Hate – Capitalism, disorder, unpunctuality, uncertainty.

Scars – I removed a mole from my back and the scar is still kinda fresh. Also my big toe nail seems like broken in the middle as long as I can remember myself.

Last YouTube Video - A meme brought me to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWDDVuxFboI .

Last Netflix Show – Brooklyn 99 and I must say I m a little disappointed by season 6

More People Should – start listening to experts in each field.

Common Skill That You Don’t Possess – I can’t whistle

Can You Pick the Mean Dialog Options In Games – ....what?

Favorite Video Game Cast - no idea too.

Pokemon That Deserve More Love – Venomoth for sure! Beedril and Muk also belong here.

Next Thing You Plan To Buy – Little ancient greek gods statues for my new bookcase

I tag... no one. I d like to tag some people but they might not be in the mood for it so... yeah. However, anyone reading this can say I tagged them and I ll confirm it!

If you don’t have an answer to a question, just make up a question of your own! Also, feel free to skip doing it altogether. That works too!

[quirkless-and-embarrassed]

Todoroki Shouto

I felt like doing a character meme!

Favorite thing about him:

Is it cheating to say everything? It is? Okay… I love how he’s painfully kind while also painfully bad with people. I love how he swore not to use his fire half, and he took that oath so seriously that he felt pulling Midoriya aside to apologize and explain (in depth) was necessary. I love that his hand trembled when he went to see his mom—especially that he was so afraid of being like Endeavor, he couldn’t bear to show his face to her for years in case she mistook him again. I love how he learns from his mistakes, whether it’s combat-related like blocking his field of vision against Stain or emotional like realizing how his spiteful focus on Endeavor has blinded him to the needs of people around him. I love how he doesn’t feel the need to posture and act like he has the answers: he can openly admit he doesn’t know and that he needs to reflect more to find the right path for him. I love how rude he is. I love how he unquestionably leapt to Midoriya and Iida’s aid in Hosu. I love his fight against Midoriya.

Least favorite thing about him:

Hmm…most of my problems are with Horikoshi, not Todoroki. I like that Todoroki’s reaction to Endeavor vs the nomu was complex, that he was afraid for Endeavor, cares about him, and is ambivalent about the idea of Endeavor’s “redemption,” but I wish his love for his dad had more of a foundation—from what Horikoshi shows us, I have no idea why he cares about Endeavor other than a vague, dissatisfying “he’s my dad” feeling. Why are Todoroki’s feelings more complicated than flawless loathing? What’s the basis for his ambivalent affection towards Endeavor? I wish I knew more.

Okay, for about Todoroki specifically in-universe…I guess I wish he would talk a little more. He seems like he struggles with finding a middle ground between saying nearly nothing and oversharing.

Favorite line:

That’s a nasty scar you got there *SLUUURP* and are you All Might’s lovechild. I also loved it when Todoroki glared dramatically at Endeavor and then failed hard at introducing himself to the kids.

…And I love the line where Bakugo stridently claims no, he will not tell stupid Deku his brand-new, top-secret hero name, and Todoroki cluelessly asks, “Could you tell me, then?”

BROTP:

Midoriya, Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, Iida—I think those relationships really speak for themselves <3

This fic made me love Todoroki and Kaminari, please give me Todoroki working on his sense of humor and he asks Kaminari for help, only to repeatedly and ignorantly roast Kaminari while attempting to learn.

Also, Asui and Todoroki are really underrated; I feel like they’d have understated but interesting chemistry. They’re both exceptionally blunt, and unlike some of the others, Asui is perceptive+grounded enough to notice how awkward and uncertain Todoroki is (instead of the coolest, handsomest boy in class image). I’d LOVE to see them talk about their siblings, since Asui is the oldest and she takes care of her mini frog siblings, and Todoroki is the baby of the family who’s trying to figure out his relationships with Fuyumi and Natsuo (and eventually, Dabi). Oh, and Asui has more respect for authority than Todoroki does, so also seeing them clash over that would be interesting.

Or! Maybe Todoroki finally, accidentally catches Hagakure in one of his area ice moves and feels really bad about it, so Hagakure teaches him to watch out for her by making a game out of sneaking up on him. She also exercises some teenage flirtation in his direction and he has no idea.

Or imagine Jirou trying to figure out if Todoroki has feelings for Momo and accidentally becoming friends as she susses him out and realizes he’s an irredeemable dork instead of ice prince badass. She’s appalled he doesn’t know much about music!

OTP Rarepairs:

Todoroki/everyone basically, so it’s more interesting to talk about my todo rarepairs than run of the mill ships. 

Todoroki/Shinsou is cute…they both enter class 1-a with the attitude “I’m not here to make friends” and get hit with a match versus Midoriya in the Sports Festival—oops! They both became heroes partly from antagonistic spite, to defy Endeavor / the stereotype of brainwashing, which throw long shadows over who they fear they could become, and despite being on the quiet side they’re both pretty dramatic. Idk much about Shinsou’s backstory, but he definitely has a bit of a depressed, wary aura about him together with his fiercely idealistic, “I will never be like that” attitude, a combination that would resonate with Todoroki.

Probably at first Shinsou would be pretty cold to Todoroki, since even after being accepted into class 1-a he’d have some lingering resentment for those who are naturally blessed and admission was a slam dunk, and, in an effort to prove himself against the quietest of the strongest students, he’d make it his mission to provoke+brainwash Todoroki. Despite himself, Shinsou gets attached as he tries to figure Todoroki out, and he realizes the sorts of obstacles this “naturally blessed, slam-dunk admission” student had to overcome to get here.

In short, I’m a sucker for it ok, brotp or otp i’m down, but also in this case the romantic element of seeing themselves in each other gets to me bad.

Second rarepair, Todoroki/Hawks—hear me out ok!! These two would have the funny elements of Hawks/Endeavor but without Endeavor’s grossness. Even after he makes pro, Todoroki admires Hawks as the number two hero whose playful, casual MO is radically different from his own, more solemn style, and Hawks delights in being obnoxious and pokes fun at the straightforward, a bit dense Todoroki every opportunity he gets. Todoroki recognizes Hawks’s playful demeanor and knows he’s joking, but…being a dork…he doesn’t know what to say, so he just responds with total seriousness. Hawks is perceptive enough to know Todoroki noticed the joke, and Hawks’s awareness of that transforms Todoroki’s awkwardness into a dry, deadpan sarcasm, and the two of them can actually, like…have banter.

Working with Hawks semi-regularly, Todoroki has to rise to the challenge of meeting Hawks’s quips with enough insight and empathy to intuit the bleaker truths behind Hawks’s facade as this guy who doesn’t want to work too hard. Todoroki grew up as Endeavor’s tool, Hawks grew up as the hero commission’s tool; Todoroki responded with defiance, Hawks responded with salty compliance; Todoroki prioritizes his personal moral compass over the law/government, Hawks prioritizes the government over both his moral compass and the law; and Todoroki admires All Might, whom Hawks professes not to be so fond of, while Hawks admires Endeavor, knows Dabi, and all the obvious issues that brings up—so I think these two have tons of common ground to build a rapport and also clash with each other in ways that would be interesting for their development. For example, Todoroki can tell Hawks it’s your power and encourage him to take hold of his own destiny instead of being used, and Hawks can help Todoroki work on the shortage of social acuity he inherited from Endeavor.

I love the brotp but the otp has such comedic potential fused with such tragic potential, like by taking hold of his fate Hawks makes some choices Todoroki can’t forgive, and by helping Todoroki learn to connect to people Hawks opens him up for a world of pain when things go south, I can’t resist.

NOTP:

As long as the execution is good, I’m good. A ship that I hate in one person’s hands, I might love in another’s.

Random headcanon:

Todoroki is the #1 cockblocker in Class A. Nobody kills romantic tension like Todoroki wandering in, oblivious to what he’s just interrupted.

Also, Fuyumi gave him The Talk.

Unpopular opinion:

Hmm…not sure how unpopular this is, but while Todoroki understands that Endeavor abused Rei, but I don’t think he understands that Endeavor abused him too. Clearly Todoroki understands that it was bad, but now he’s one of the best students in one of the best high schools in the country instead of on a psych ward (Rei) or in the ground (Touya), so he doesn’t realize just how bad it was. Sort of a, “I was strong enough to take it, so it wasn’t really bad, not like how he was to my mom.”

Also, I love tododeku and I love dadzawa, but I’m frustrated by the number of fanfics that portray Todoroki as meek and crushed under Endeavor’s boot, in need of rescue.

Okay, one last one, because I’m not sure how unpopular any of these actually are. I think Todoroki is actually pretty anxious to fit in with his peers? Like he seems pretty aloof and doing his own thing, but I think it’s more due to uncertainty over what to do than because he’s that naturally withdrawn.

Song I associate with him:

Unbreakable by Miracle, Ember by Katherine McNamara, and Brave by Riley Pearce come to mind.

Favorite picture of him:

OKAY HERE ARE A FEW

VS Midoriya – Todoorki’s whole awakening, self-actualization sequence is beautifully, beautifully animated. I love the flashes to black and white and the graceful, profound arc of Todoroki raising his left hand.

Ch43 – His haunted expression when he extinguishes his fire, forfeiting to Bakugo.

Ch63 – He looks so sweetly earnest when he realizes he screwed up by disregarding Yaoyorozu’s opinion, and he immediately takes action to fix it.

Ch112 – His badass expression when he and Inasa wordlessly team up.

Ch164 – His sour, cross expression when Endeavor embarrasses him.

I had to make some painful choices on which scenes to leave out, but I think five is enough.

I’ve also done these questions for Bakugo, Uraraka, Endeavor, Amajiki, Sir Nighteye, and Shinsou!

[justkimberley]

HSMTMTS Thoughts Episode 7

Episode 1   Episode 2    Episode 3   Episode 4   Episode 5  Episode 6

This one is also kinda long (~2200 words)

Nini and Ricky doing a fantastic job harmonizing in Start of Something New

the dance routine around them is absolutely crazy and all over the place

So it seems that Seb is just their resident piano player (side note, who ended up getting Kelsey??)

Big Red with the flashlight trying so hard to keep it on the disco ball

EJ interrupting because of the bell. Does anyone really love Thanksgiving that much??

Also I always forget that American Thanksgiving is like a month later than Canadian Thanksgiving and I was hella confused for a second.

Ricky is so surprised that Nini is complimenting him

Ashlyn as Robotics Team captain! (side note Big Red gives her an impressed look after he overhears that she’s the captain)

Also: debate team, baking club, high priestess of the Renaissance Faire

We love a multifaceted lady

Miss Jenn/Mr. Mazzarra trying to have a ‘my horse is bigger than your horse’ banter except neither of them have the horses they claim to have

“With whoever could possibly love you,” lol ok Miss Jenn went for the head

“Late night party” - party starts at 8 that’s adorable

“Small group or…” “PARTY AT ASHLYN’S HOUSE!”

It’s really interesting learning about Nini’s Lola (? I think that’s how it’s spelled, which is what I believe Filipino people call their grandmother’s), and her story

I’m just really proud of Ricky’s Dad. Like he was in such a bad place 2-3 episodes ago and now he’s taking care of himself and Ricky (even if it isn’t a grandiose Thanksgiving) he’s trying and I think he’s doing great

“We roll hard” I just really love this line

“I suppose if you’re lonely, you could always just… randomly text my drama teacher,” “Too soon… RIck,” “... yeah okay”

That was pretty funny. Also, it seems like Ricky’s okay with his dad dating?

Ricky’s mom waiting for him to call

I don’t know how I feel about this to be honest. I feel like maybe she should have tried to call him first and then if he didn’t answer or want to talk to her, that she should wait for him to make the next move then.

EJ’s truth arc is very funny to me

Big Red and Ashlyn

“I promise not to steal your phone if you promise not to throw a basketball at my face,” “No, the only thing I’d ever throw at your face is a brighter spotlight cause, I like the way you sing

Oof they’re so cute, we love little crushes

Also this might be an unpopular opinion but y’all need to calm down about the whole ‘Ashlyn and Big Red are GAY and they only THINK theyy like each other’ thing. #1 It was never confirmed for them to be gay. #2 You can still have wlw and mlm head-cannons for them! Bi, Pan, and other multiple gender attraction oriented people exist, even if you forget about us sometimes.

They are a cute little pairing of people who are always looking out and taking care of other people. It’s okay for them to do things for themselves.

Ricky debating calling his mom, it took a lot of courage and then Todd picks up.

Hangs up immediately, it almost looked like he was going to have a panic attack. That would be so hard, such an extreme shift

I guess the reason he was more okay with his Dad dating was that his Dad was open and honest with him about it. Calling your Mom only to find out that she has a boyfriend that a. She never told you about b. He knows about you and c. is trusted enough to be left alone with her phone while she showers? Is a lot, and probably means that she started dating him before the split was official.

Ricky going to call Nini and then deciding against it. Why doesn’t he feel like he can talk to Big Red about this kind of stuff? Why does he always go to Nini first?

Gina shows up, those are good looking cupcakes

She made him a hat!

She looks so hesitant before she gives it to him!

Gina’s like ‘look dude, I know something’s wrong, spill the beans’

Ignore it and push through - I understand where she’s coming from but you really shouldn’t ignore your problems, it usually just makes them worse

“Do what makes you happy,” “... Give me that hat,”

Adorable, also do what makes you happy is good advice so we’re a little all over the map here

“That’s too big,” “I’ll grow into it,” (adorable)

Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzarra’s whole interaction is hilarious.

Don’t burn down my shop! - holy shit, foreshadowing buddies

Ashlyn is so cute! She’s so happy when people compliment her

“I highly recommend not telling someone you love them for the first time on instagram” - yup! That’s what I said in the first one of these I did.

Carlos - “The party may begin!” - I totally thought he said “The party made me gay,” the first time I watched it so uhh yeah

Big Red is lactose intolerant

Carlos’ board game is amazing

“High School Musical the Choosical,” - fantastic name

Everyone is so accepting

Ashlyn and Big Red choosing to be on the same team

“South Side Knights -” “It’s the West High Nights,” “the West High Knights”

Ej is like a compulsive truther now. And it’s kind of hilarious

His face when he says “She laughed!” is hilarious and kind of adorable

“I gotta go join the party, and admit some terrible things, you ladies, catch up!” - I wish we got to see what he was admitting to, I find this whole thing quite funny

I’m glad that Emily and Nini got some reconciliation, I know Nini felt guilty even though it wasn’t her fault

That is not a good cockney accent

Why did Ricky enter alone when him and Gina walked together?

And he left her to open the door on her own with all those cupcakes?

“Buddies,” “We,”

Ricky and Gina both laughing about YouTube, cuties

Look, feelings are feelings and you can’t help what you feel, but pushing someone away and insisting to remain only friends means that you shouldn’t be upset when he makes a new friend

Mr. Mazzara and Miss Jenn

The plug socket is in the frame, more foreshadowing

“He won’t.. Not… fall” this show loves it’s double negatives huh? I don’t not love you, he won’t not fall etc.

“Ok but the center of gravity is off,” YES to different kinds of intelligence being helpful in fields other than the main one people associate them with

Carlos thinking people are going to keep judging him and the theater people being as accepting as possible

EJ is a gleek

What I’ve Been Looking For to the rhythm of Get Your Head in the Game is hard! (Catch me on the piano later trying to figure it out lol)

It just turns into a terrible rap

EJ - “That was terrible,” Seb -  “I’m so happy”

EJ vs. Ricky - “without laughing… or killing each other,”

This is a good parallel to the basketball scene, once again they get kind of aggressive, but this time they also joke around and no one gets hurt

Also I would love to see them become friends, I mean they both need to grow a little before that happens, but I have hopes

They missed the ‘neeee howww’ part of it, I really wanted to hear them do the high voices

EJ’s little “mehh” that sounds like a duck kills me everytime

Gina and Nini awkwarddd

“I do have high hopes for a junior year at East High” oof babey :(

“It must be nice sometimes though, right?” - nini does not understand

This actually gives us an insight as to why they don’t understand each other. Nini would love nothing more than to start a new life with no drama and Gina would love nothing more than to have a life that lasts longer than a couple months before being restarted.

Gina/Nini apology very exciting, hopefully they can actually become friends

“It’s all good,” from Nini seemed disingenuous, I don’t know if it’s because of the Wonderstudy thing or the Ricky thing. 

The sleepover thing I was so worried that it would be a mean spirited thing but I’m so glad it wasn’t

Nini sits on Ricky’s lap when she goes back to the game room and I don’t know if it’s intentional or not but it’s kind of like she’s trying to lay her claim back on Ricky.

Gina looks so happy when a. Carlos calls her in and b. the happy dance about the sleepover! (why’d they have to ruin the happiness??)

Mr. Mazarra returning the favour

“It’s beautiful,” “Math often is,” dudde I feel you I fucking love math

“I cannot stress to you enough how uncomfortable that would make me feel,”

“You know what we should do?” “Break off eye contact sometime soon?”

I’m dying

“It’s about a robot!” this is… pretty adorable. She just wants to make a genuine connection with him

Also are they going to do a romance route with these two? Because I can see them setting it up but also imagine if they just become like… best friends? I feel like they’d be unstoppable.

Musical Choosical Handbook of Rulesicals

“I thought you had never actually played this with people-” “Honey not today of all days,”

Carlos and Seb are the only couple with no bad drama and I’m living for it (please let them just stay happy)

Oops! I knew that jersey question… also it’s definitely the answer Big Red would now because he’s only watched the movie with no words (at his allergists office)

“And do people usually talk like that?” “No they do not.” - gold

EJ the compulsive cheater and also compulsive truther makes a comeback (I seriously find this so funny I don’t know why)

“I love to pop and lock and jam and break,” oh GIna

She’s so happy about winning

Not realistic, you know that the second she called her mom at least someone would be like “pass the weed,” (you know because friends are awesome and also terrible)

“Can you take me off speaker”

Some people are like ‘oh no is she in trouble?’

I kind of hate that it looks like Nini looks sort of happy about Gina’s mom asking her to take her off speaker - I really don’t want Nini to turn into a catty person.

Ricky is concerned

Why did her mom tell her this right now? She should have waited until the next morning, like that wouldn’t have hurt anyone and it would have let them form stronger bonds. And Gina would have had her first sleepover and also they might form strong enough bonds to try and stay in contact with her

Ricky is worried for her, he’s like, ‘You made me feel better, so I’ll go make you feel better’

Nini’s looking upset that Ricky’s being emotionally aware for once? Like dude, he’s grown up a lot since BEFORE summer break? That’s like six months ago I think at this point?

Ricky just wants to help Gina feel better because she made him feel better

She doesn’t understand that they can stay friends even if she leaves and I just :(

“Please don’t do that” he’s so overwhelmed

“My mom moved out two weeks ago and she’s already got a new boyfriend, sound familiar?” Oooh low blow Ricky bud.

“Really don’t need advice from a .. buddy right now,”

Ok but then who does Ricky want advice from? I’m so confused. This boy needs to get a better support system and learn how to use it. Romantic relationships should not be your only outlet for your problems.

Red and Ashlyn

“I hope Gina’s gonna be okay,” - Big Red is so sweet!

They’re so cute

“Hey Big Red? Don’t forget your dip,” - oh she was so going to ask him out and then lost the nerve

Write something for yourself.

It’s a hard thing to do, dude. It’s also hard to let yourself feel so vulnerable, even if it’s only you that’s going to hear it

Gina packing, I feel so sad for her, she’s finally made some good friends and now she has to leave again. She kept the badge! :( 

EJ losing followers and being cancelled, at least we know why now

It seems like a lot of EJ’s self worth comes from how others think of him. So losing followers is probably a pretty big hit. I wonder if he’ll keep going with his whole truth thing when it has these consequences or if he’ll just go back to what he was doing before. I hope that he has a positive arc but, will it go downhill from here? I hope not.

Ricky about to apologise to Nini (why did he erase it, he probably should have sent that) - side note: their conversation before was them asking each other if they were going to the party

It’s interesting that Nini had pictures of EJ and Ricky up still

Gina’s crying face is making me cry

“Hey mom, it’s me, I miss you so much,” tears

Nini hanging up pictures of her grandma and the musical. She’s really trying to move forward from boys huh?

Is nini going to apply to the theater school??

Electrical fire???????? WHy??

[ruffiorocks]

unpopular opinion (long post)

This might be unpopular but its irking me a little bit, im actually completely OK with Lena punching Kara in the face. 

Its not so much that Kara kept her identity a secret, that on its own doesn't warrant a smack or a punch (if they had been dating then it absolutely would) because that’s beyond disturbing behaviors, 

No for me its, as i’ve mentioned before the way that Kara treated her as Supergirl, especially in season 3. 

Now yes Kara has been lovely to Lena as Supergirl, the same as Lena has to her. they have actively saved each others arses on more than on occasion. 

BUT season 3 and 4 gave us a look at what Kara can be like when she feels her authority is being questioned. Kara was instantly p**sed at Lena for daring to keep Reign a secret, no regard for WHY just accusations. Honestly why Kara was there while they interrogated Lena is beyond me, she doesn't actually have a DEO rank? But whatever. She instantly got p**sed that Lena had some leftover kryptonite (we know she made it) and immediately took it as threat, even though Lena IS her best friend. What irked me the most about season 3 was that Kara didn't really give a lot of thought to Sam, in her beef with Lena it was always Kara, Kara, Kara. The fact that Lena did all of this FOR SAM to protect her went completely over Kara’s head. 

Kara also got p**sed that Lena dared to have tech that she didnt know of or approve of. Lena literally told Kara that the force field on Reign’s cell prevented Kryptonian’s looking through it, so what was the first thing Kara does? Why she tries to look through it and gets p*ssed that it caused a bit of pain. She instantly rounded on Lena and saw something SHE personally could nosy through as a threat. I mean Lena could literally just have used this so she wouldn't be spied on in the shower by passing Kryptonian’s. Just because Kara does have X Ray vision doesn't mean shes entitled to be able to see everythong (*cough* Batgirl *cough*) This scene was basically like telling someone not to put their hand in the fire because it will burn, only for them to instantly do it and then get upset with you for built the fire in the first place. 

I was beyond happy that Lena brought Kara down a peg or two, ive said it before but Kara is rarely seriously questioned by anyone and it seems to have gone to her head. Kara’s authority is mostly what shes bestowed on herself, much like Superman. 

But anyway, Kara seems to have realized she’s been a colossal ass and jumped to conclusions, because she has a really awkward exchange with Lena and says she hopes it wont ruin their friendship. See my issue here is that Kara thinks she can attack Lena but because she has had a change of heart its still all good? yeah... no. Lena tells her what for again, poor love tells her she has friends that trust her, not knowing the very woman she is referring to is the same woman shes talking to. 

Kara then gets pissed that Lena gives Kara whats ‘left’ of the kryptonite.  I mean you were upset she had it and now you’re upset shes giving it to you? Once again the fact that this could help her fight Reign and save Sam when she and the others have spectacularly failed goes over her head and she attacks Lena again, who quite rightly tells Kara that lots of things in the world could hurt her but she goes on with life and doesn't whine about. Kara seems to think that NOTHING on Earth should ever be allowed to exist that could hurt her or any other Kryptonian completely forgetting  recent Kryptonian attacks, one of which she did herself oh and the current one. This is pretty God like behavior. She also doesnt have issues with DEO having weapons that  can hurt other aliens, as long as it isn't her.  Kara even pulls the ‘Luthor’ card on Lena. Note through all this its always Kara who has the issue with Lena, Lena has no issues with Supergirl until she attacks her. 

Kara thinks she has the authority to tell Lena she isnt coming to the dark valley to try and save her friend Sam, i mean why is Kara calling the shots here? She does redeem herself a bit when she tells Reign to take her instead of Lena, but honestly? Kara would have done that for literally anyone, this isn't because its Lena. 

Lena even returns to the DEO the moment Kara is in danger of dying. Lena has pre-made suit that even has the House of El crest on it! 

Remember also, that even after the interrogation, Alex asked Lena to just tell her why she didnt let on about Sam and Alex was absolutely OK with Lena’s explanation and didnt harp on about it, this is Alex Danvers whose life is dedicated to protecting Kara’s. 

Kara then did the ONE thing that i thought was so below the belt. She meddled in Lena's relationship and put it at risk. She quite literally went to Lena's boyfriend, a man who not long ago wasn't going to give her the time of day and wanted her in prison no matter what and Lena had to learn to trust, and Kara asked him of all people to betray Lena’s trust. Kara could have asked any DEO agent, but no, apparently James, the one person she SHOULDNT have asked to betray Lena was the only one who would do it? Im sorry Kara you dont do that under any circumstances. Kara is dumb anyway because she trusts James! He literally breaks into L Corp, then he lies to Kara and then drops her in it with Lena? There was NO reason for him to do that, he just wanted the best of both worlds. 

Kara gets pissed that Lena dared to make Harun El for anyone other than the mighty Kryptonian’s that have decreed that this substance they dont understand, arent even close to understanding and has the power to keep civilizations alive is NOT allowed to be used for the benefit of humans, but a human is allowed to  make it for the benefit of Kryptonians and only kryptonians, Yeah, Argo would be a floating city of dead people if it wasn't for Lena managing to figure something out in about a week that the entire race of advanced scientists o Argo weren't even close to doing. The fact is Kara jumps down her throat again, but this time its Alex that comes to Lena’s defence. 

The problem when it comes down to it, is that Kara is too quick to assume the worst in Lena, when she used to be the exact opposite. This is shoddy writing and OOC but unfortunately its what happened. Kara thinks she has authority over all things and the fact is she just doesnt. 

Getting James to betray Lena was the worst one for me, and the one that warrants a smack or in this case a punch in the face. If my best friend asked my significant other to betray my trust because she decided she couldn't trust me oh and then acted like she had nothing to do with it while i vented i would think about punching her and if it was the other way round she would probably think the same, and she would justified because that isnt friendship. 

Kara was Jekell and Hyde with Lena, she even looked her nose down at her in season 2 when she and Superman landed on L Corp’s balcony to talk to Lena and Lillian, the look Kara gave Lena has stuck with me because it was so superior, like because she was now standing with Superman she had more authority? Was she trying to measure up? 

Then there’s the fact that Kara has no issue letting Lena think her ass is in danger, or letting her think shes been blown up! 

Kara knows the amount of betrayals Lena has faced, but she just kept on going  and it was wrong. If she had no intention of telling Lena and letting her be the only one in her new found family that apparently wasn't trusted enough then she should never have gotten so involved with Lena in the first place. 

Kara ignored Lena after Mon El left, then only came to her when she needed her help, essentially her money and her influence. Then once shed asked for it she fobbed off Lena’s attempt to reach out to her. Lena actually does use her power and her own money to save Cat Co and Kara is just  like ‘oh ok, but i quit’. It was using Lena and it was harsh, even if Kara did say she would go back. Then you have Kara’s blatant disregard for Lena as a boss. 

The fact is Kara picks and chooses her attitude to Lena, she should pick ONE not have multiple personalities, choosing to support her on minute, ignore her the next or accuse her of misdeeds in another. 

Now think about what Lena is thinking? Kara lied about who she is, Lena is going to know a Super came to investigate her the moment she arrived in National City, this same super integrated herself into Lena's life and they got close, but Lena is probably wondering why that was now? If Lena had befriended Kara knowing she is Supergirl you know it would have been instantly treated as suspicious. Kara treated her like she was bad even after Lena helped save her and the world several times. Kara used the relationships Lena built against her. Kara acted like she had dull authority over her, she let her think her life was in danger or she was dead more than once. Yeah id be pretty p**sed to.Lena may even wonder why Kara pushed her to date James of all people, someone who wasnt a fan of hers, but then suddenly was? Oh was that so he could stay close to Lena and be used against her? To spy o  her? Lena ‘s feeling arent something Kara can just play with depending on how the mood hits her, actions have consequences and treating people like this isnt cool.

Its a lot for Lena to process, and its not like she can ask kara about it, even when Kara knows Lena knows she cant trust the explanations Kara may give her. 

If Oliver punched Barry the fans would just be like ‘ahh man! They’ll make it up’ 

Batman and Superman fight, ‘ahh man! They’ll make up’. 

But Lena punches Kara? ‘Oh my God abuse!!’ 

i dont think Lena is punching Kara because of the secret itself, shes probably punching her because of all the s**t that came along with it. 

(if you dont agree fine, but dont send hate)