#and I have been reading a lot of medieval theory about blood and the body lately

[kimocus]

[ Caroline Walker-Bynum || Dungeon Meshi || Dracula || Ana Mendieta || Sister-book of Adelhausen (ca. 1318) || Robert Wun || Anne Carson (1986) || St. Caterina who drinks from the blood of Christ (1594) || Carolyn Walker-Bynum || Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) ]

[iphoenixrising]

DickTim Week 2021: Day 5 Winged!Talon Tim au

So. another dual prompt and I really regret nothing about this one tbh. I took tomorrow’s Talon and today’s Wings and made a Winged!Talon!Tim fic. Of course, I talked to the wonderful babes on Capes & Coffee about a what if combination and this just, whew. Careful, it might break your heart a little, but damn if it isn’t an interesting idea.

Not beta read, so don't be a hater :D

Previous Talon!Tim universe posts: The initial idea, Babe and I talking it out, Talon Training Ask, Ra’s vs the Court, Talon and Ra’s, Talon and Ra’s take 2, Talon and Shiva short.

**

Watching B take on the new and improved Talon is really the entertainment of the year.

Once upon a time it had taken all of them plus more to take down as much of the Court of Owls as humanly possible. Of course, like rats, the Bats knew there would be no way to get the entire Court or all the Talons, not when the upper echelons of Gotham had spent the better part of 200 years creating, storing, training, and obtaining more.

Politicians were investigated, corrupt cops removed, and criminals burrowed underground once word of what the capes did to save the day got passed around.

For the first time in years, crime in Gotham was at an all time low.

But, as the coin flip dictates, nothing good lasts forever. Trouble is always brewing below the surface to eventually rise to the top and try to take over.

Case in point:

The Bats of Gotham have come up against a new threat wearing the signature Talon armor, and the call goes out to all available capes for help taking on the undead mercenary before another crime family ends up in the Obituaries rather than Blackgate.

The fact the Court is still up and running after the Batfamily took them down in a fiery blaze that ended with all their Talons gone, Sensei exposed, and most the ruling families imprisoned or poisoned by Lincoln March, is like a kick to the abdomen after they closed that particular book. Worse, with a new Talon soldier is sighted running around Gotham, another circus kid has been kidnapped and turned into the right hand of the Court of Owls. Dick, with his absolute survivors guilt, is the one to make going after the Talon and whoever is still behind the scenes a top priority.

Which is how they find themselves in the middle of Knight’s Stadium facing down a Talon that is too short to be March. Red Hood, Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Black Bat pretty much got their asses handed to them in the first twelve minutes. Pretty hard to understand until you take into account the new and improved Talon facing them now is terrifying in a completely different way than most undead assassins are.

He knows them.

He knows them in ways that lets him fight fast and furious with vicious accuracy, striking at weaknesses few of the vigilantes of Gotham realized they even had.

He isn't as big as Lincoln or even Cobb, not nearly as old. He hasn't been kept in cryostasis waiting for the next generation to need his skills. He doesn't have creaks in his joints from being put on deep freeze too many times.

This one is silent and efficient, obviously trained in multiple types of martial arts, is highly proficient with or without the standard Talon knives, is a master tactician, counters the majority of their moves with alarming consistency–

and the fucking Talon has wings.

Honest-to-God wings.

Everyone had assumed the metal monstrosities on his back were weapons of some kind, but the glint of steel in the streetlight flash a warning before the lumps moved in an arch, extending far out past his shoulder blades, slicing into Red Hood’s body suit with a razor-sharp edge, shredding the armor like paper.

It’s not enough he’s got weapons obviously made specifically for his skill set, it’s not enough he’s an assassin and doesn’t hold to the same standards of non-lethal combat, it’s not enough that he can use his wings to fly or to fight like he’s using another limb to kick the shit out of them, and it’s not enough that he effortlessly counters so many of their attacks that he has to have some kind of inside information on all of them and their fighting styles.

The knives are definitely a thing when the Talon can throw them hard enough to penetrate parts of their suits in between armored plating, which further drives the theory that this is a person they’ve dealt with before. Intimately. Few people in the world know how their suits are made. Even more, few people know particulars enough when their suits are constantly reconstructed.

The only thing on their side that tipped the scales in their favor–

–the Batman.

The wings threw him off his game, obviously, but not enough to stop B from holding his own with swift and merciless force.

It's like watching a dance of fast and furious fists, blades in Talon's hands glinting deadly in the night, finding B's suit over and over and over until he's made it to blood and bone. He takes every hit the Batman can dish out, head snapping back, left, and right with the volley of jaw-breaking blows and bone-shattering kicks.

None of it gives the Talon pause. When a move makes him drop a blade, another is already in hand, cutting into their body suits, wings flipping out to defend or distract, sweeping moves and well coordinated attacks.

The unnatural appendages are like another arm, another leg, an extension working on the same central nervous system, regardless as to how the Court managed to make it happen.

A jump kick off a trash can is a lucky shot as a wing catches B in the ribs hard enough to knock him into the wall of Mike's Famous Hotdogs. The only thing saving the Dark Knight from a concussion or permanent brain damage is the plating in his cowl.

It gives the Talon enough time to make a final bid for a battered Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin struggling to their feet again, eyes for their fallen mentor.

Before he can lunge forward to start the attack yet again, the Talon just stops, pauses like he’s stuck or something, and in the span of a breath, both wings extend fully, flap powerfully once to propel him up into the Gotham night.

O tries her best to track his flight through the city, but no one’s arms are working well enough to toss a tracker on him.

She loses him over Cape Carmine, slams her palms against her system in frustration, makes sure she gets as much footage from the confrontation as possible.

After some sleep and a whole lot of bandages and ice packs, the Bat family meets in the Cave to watch the footage, breakdown the Talon’s fighting style, his weaponry, and make theories on his identity.

O helps out with readings she has of electronic pulses she managed to capture coming from the armor over his wings. She thinks she might be able to use it to track him if they can get close enough for her equipment to ping the signal again.

B makes a trip to Arkham since Freeze apparently hasn’t stopped producing the formula used to put Talons in cryostasis.

It’s not until Gotham’s power grid has a massive surge that O and the Bats can pinpoint a possible location, all of them invested in one hell of a fight to get the last rats still scurrying in the underground.

The plan of attack comes together smoothly once they’ve scoped out the location, seen the shady activity, and together, they make one hell of a plan.

**

And because, you know, Gotham, it is completely normal for the Court of Owl's headquarters to have a skylight.

Natch.

For this one, they've got Batgirl and Black Bat, Red Hood and Robin, Nightwing and B, a real family affair.

O's quiet voice over comms leading them through the maze of traps and empty rooms, abandoned libraries and spooky ball rooms. The laboratory isn't the most horrific they've all ever seen (because the Joker's summer place is literally the stuff of nightmares), but a few of them do gag on the smell alone.

The plan, however, goes horribly awry when the clear sounds of tormented screaming echoes from right under their reinforced bootheels.

Black Bat's fists clench hard, her breathing wheezes out when the tone, the utter agony goes right through her.

A shudder slides up Robin's spine as all of them turn toward the noise.

Without a flicker or a word, the Batman moves, strafing in the shadows toward the sound. He can't assume it's an innocent civilian with something the Court wants, but he's betting on the fact that scream will lead them to whoever is running the show.

The medieval room has bars and reinforced locks, implements hanging on the wall. The cement brick is stained rust colored with old blood, the vestiges of training, and the awful realization they've found another hidden niche in the city that always existed right under their noses is punctuated with the abrupt drop in temperature, with the sudden charge in the air, with the zzzzcrack snapping beyond the door, replaced with a muted buzzing Robin can feel in his back teeth.

B is already on his way to the roof, Batgirl down through the floor vent while Nightwing picks the locks with fast precision, knocking the tumblers around.

Robin and Red Hood stay close to the reinforced door, balancing on the balls of their feet, katana and .45s at the ready.

Black Bat takes the high road, ceiling tiles giving way under her Bat-a-rang. She gives a sharp nod before she's up and gone.

"All right. Ready?" Nightwing stands, cracks his neck, flips his escrimas in both hands, works his shoulders to prepare for the strain of each blow he plans to give.

"Ya betcha ass," Hood murmurs low, a cut figure with both guns at his sides, gloved fingers on the trigger guard.

"Don't disappoint," Robin snarls, "either of you."

"Nice pep talk, squirt," Nightwing snickers.

"Tt, back up your mouth with action."

"Better shuddap, Demon. Golden Boy ain't fuckin' 'round. Neither is the Bat. We get one more chance a' this asshole. We ain't gonna blow it again, ya feel me?"

"Finally, something we agree on, Hood."

"Other than N's shitty mullet?"

Nightwing swiftly glares at them both over his shoulder, unconsciously putting himself front and center of the trio, ready to be the first in once they get the signal.

– which is the sound of the glass raining down from the heavens.

Three booted feet kick the door hard enough to take it off the hinges, lying against the faded stains like a fallen body.

First step in the room is the complete opposite to what they'd all been expecting.

The two Owl masks aren't the usual, but a perversion of the originals, crudely drawn yawning mouths complete with fangs dripping blood.

But.

The boy on his knees, arms in a binder holding the appendages hostage at a painful angle, is dripping the real thing. Rivulets down his chest and where his back is partially visible. Some from the base of the wings going into the back of his shoulder blades where the skin is torn and raw.

The bar gag shoved in his mouth doesn't take away from the splatters on his chin, the bruising on his face, the swollen eye. But it's his wings that makes the Bats falter from the initial rushing attack.

His wings are without the armor, are bound straight up above his restrained body with hooks grotesquely puncturing through the downy softness, desecrating the beauty with blood and gore. The angle makes the pull to his back where the wings are part of him just another agony on top of atrocity.

"Fuck," from the first Owl mask, and a swift move frees the Talon's bound arms, the appendages flopping uselessly to the floor, only his trapped, tortured wings keeping him up on his knees.

The second Owl shoves the first back, "let him take care of them. Let's get out of here!"

The first Owl snarls out something low and foreign, the phrases rolling off his tongue.

The words lock into place, and the Talon's head snaps up, snarling around the gag in his mouth.

When his face is finally, finally visible, the protectors of Gotham are frozen in their tracks.

Familiar violet-blue eyes, too-long blue-black hair, cut jawline and pointed nose. Tiny scar on his right cheek from the time he caught Ra's al Ghul's ring across the face.

"Jesus Fucking Christ," is barely heard through the Red Hood's synths and in no way fully expresses his utter horror at what these dirty motherfuckers have done.

Robin wretches, bile burning the back of his throat once those eyes swing up to the masked parody of the Owls and his bare upper body is visible through the blood and sweat on his chest, when the scars peeking through on his collar bones form a half-visible Y-incision, when the coloring of the bared wings now makes sense (robin's wings, Damian Wayne thinks with his heart beating pitter patter fast, and his stomach in knots, they put robin's wings on him...).

And the hurt, agonized noise coming out of Nightwing's chest is the only noise he can make when those dimmed, dazed eyes swing from the Owls back to the vigilantes frozen in their spots, when there's no spark of joy or fondness or stubbornness he's so used to seeing staring him down.

The errant thought, the first instinct, is the only humane way to deal with this new Talon is to put him down for good wars with the man behind the mask that only wants to reach out, wants to pull the Talon into his body and curve over, to scream at the injustice of it all, to rail at himself for not even suspecting.

Another switch flipped and the hooks release his wings, blood splattering on top the old stains.

"Get them! Don't fuck it up this time or you won't get another chance," the second Owl shoves the Talon's injured shoulder in the direction of the horrified vigilantes.

They don't even bother to take the gag out of his mouth before setting him on his target.

A flap of wings, and the Talon is on his feet again, swaying only slightly. He's in the boots and pants from earlier, the rest of his uniform tossed carelessly behind him by his tormentors. A sweep of his feet and the knives glint in bare palms, a whisper of a sound.

The curved, clawed blade glints in the overhead light when the Talon raises it and cuts the strap of the bar gag in his bloody mouth, turns his head to spit it out without looking away from the vigilantes.

The Batman, grim and stoic in the face of this surprising turn of events, gives the barest nod. From her hiding spot behind the complex machinery, Black Bat takes off after the running Owl members, leaving the rest of the family to deal with their former third Robin.

The wings flinchingly flare out and their former bird hunches over, ready for the attack.

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait,” the Red Hood removes the helmet, leaves the domino underneath. He keeps one hand out in peace, slowly dipping down to put his helmet on the ground. “Is us, Tim. Timmy. Baby Bird. Is us. Yer family. Gotta lookit us, yeah?”

For the first time, the Talon speaks, “who’s Tim?”

And then he lunges.

**

The fight happens very differently this time.

The former power behind the punches is obviously dulled with the Talon’s identity reveal. He doesn’t hold back, is utterly ruthless with his attacks. He takes out B’s right knee, puts Hood down on the stained floor, knocks Robin into the wall with crushing force, and slams Batgirl’s head off the operating table.

He stands over Nightwing, wicked blade in hand and robin’s wings spread wide. He takes a knee, the sharp edge right above N’s adam’s apple, staring down impassively into the whiteouts.

“Timmy,” N spits blood, grunting when one knee pins his arm down. “Timmy, please. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I love you and I’m sorry they did this to you.”

Those eyes don’t change in the slightest. “You should not have tried to oppose the Owls.”

“We beat them once,” Nightwing gasps, “and you helped us, Baby Bird. You were with us then, don’t you remember.”

“I was nothing before the Court perfected me,” the Talon replies emotionlessly.

“You were perfect before they ever touched you.”

“No,” and the Talon leans down, puts them a breath away. “The only thing you and those others do is put the criminals back in prison, back in Arkham for them to escape again, for them to kill and destroy over and over again. Like this, I can stop them permanently.”

“Oh Timmy,” and behind the whiteouts, Nightwing’s eyes spill over, his vision wavery. “Timmy–”

“Don’t call me that. Stop calling me that.”

“You know me, you know us. You have to remember–”

“Lies. All of it lies!”

Nightwing’s chest stutters, his fist clenching, “it’s not. None of it is. Not even this–”

And he’s fast enough to grab the back of the Talon’s neck, to lean up enough against the blade pressed against his throat, can bring their mouths together, can kiss him like he’s dying and the Talon is the only thing that can save him.

It’s sloppy and awkward because the Talon doesn’t know what’s happening, gasps against the vigilante’s mouth. The tongue sliding over his, the muffled moan in his mouth sparks something in the back of his brain where the Court of Owls could never touch.

When Nightwing pulls back, stares up at wide violet-blue eyes, when the blade falls away to clatter against the block, when the Talon’s mouth trembles and tears fill his eyes, when his wings flutter and falter, fold in on them both, when his voice goes hoarse with, “D-Dick?” Nightwing throws both arms around his waist and holds on.

[fishoutofcamelot]

I saw your r recent contribution to the post about hard vs soft magic systems and I agree wholeheartedly. You also mentioned having a bunch of worldbuilding and stuff about the magic system, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to share some?

(For reference, this is the post in question)

Certainly! While the worldbuilding/magicbuilding hellscape i was describing in the notes is actually in regards to an original-content wip I've been working on, i also have a LOT of headcanons regarding the BBCM magic system too! (Do not ask about my wip's magic system, because i won't be able to shut up about it)

WARNING: long post ahead and mobile won't let me include a cutoff/read-more line. If you're not interested, get ready to scroll down like your life depends on it (and it does).

So! First things first. Here's what we know about the BBCM magic system:

Magic requires spells, most of the time. This seems like a no-brainer, but still an important distinction. There are a lot of magic systems that don't require vocalized spells - Avatar: the Last Airbender, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Ninjago, to name a few. Spells are rather common for wizard/witch/medieval fantasies, and are typically used to control and channel the intent of the magic. This suggests that the magic of BBCM is some kind of force or energy that needs spoken commands to control.

Spells are repurposed words from Old English, aka the language of the Old Religion. (Let's ignore the obvious anachronistic nightmare of the fact that Old English is exactly the same language they would've been speaking in this time period.)

The use of a spell causes someone's eyes to flare gold, plus that fancy wooshing sound effect that Arthur miraculously never hears. This suggests that magic somehow changes your physiology, although it could be also just be a side effect of channeling.

However, magic doesn't always require a spell. Though never fully explained, it appears to be something only innate magic users are capable of - Merlin, Morgana, Mordred. It is something less controllable than spellwork, typically governed by moments of strong emotion rather than logical intent.

The show consistently flip-flops between the idea that magic is something you're born with, and that Merlin is rare for being born with magic. It's never clarified just how someone acquires magic. Gaius asks Merlin where he studied, suggesting that it's something you can learn, while Balinor claims that you either have it or you don't. Though not confirmed fact, i suspect it's similar to how it works in the show Supernatural. There, some witches are natural-born, while others are taught (and some get their powers from spooky demon deals).

It has a life-for-a-life policy. Basically like the Law of Equivalent Exchange from Fullmetal Alchemist, a life cannot be created without another one being sacrificed first. This rule only canonically applies to creating life/the Cup of Life, and any other possible applications aren't addressed.

This rule apparently doesn't apply to animals, as Merlin brought a dog statue to life without killing anyone (that we know of), and Valiant's shield had three live snakes in it. However, it's possible that lives were taken as payment in the process of animation without Merlin's knowledge, but it never happens on screen so we don't know. So either a) animals don't have souls to exchange in the life-for-a-life policy, b) they do but it happens off-screen, or c) those animated animals aren't actually alive.

The Cup of Life infuriates me from a magicbuilding perspective. Ignoring the obvious question of how it came into the druids' possession, its existence isn't clearly defined. Does it require the fancy rain ritual that Nimueh gave it, or was she just extra? Why does drinking from it give you life, while bleeding into it makes you undead and also mindlessly obedient to the sorcerer who made you as such? Were there life-for-a-life consequences for creating an immortal army? Wtf happened on the Isle of the Blessed to allow Merlin to "master life and death", and what does that even mean? All valid questions that never get answered.

Spells sometimes need need a 'source'. Think the staff from "The Tears of Uther Pendragon" and Morgana from "The Fires of Idirsholas." It is unclear what makes these spells different/special.

There is a power hierarchy. Some spells are too powerful for some practitioners to cast, although the reason for this is unclear. Does it drain you of energy/life force? Do you exhaust/overwork your magic muscles? Do you get a little pop-up that says 404 Magic Not Found? Unclear.

Magic is something that can be trained and improved. For example, Morgana gradually became more powerful over time. Merlin naturally had a lot of power straight off the jump and just had to discipline it, but he's a ~special~ case so he doesn't count.

There are some subsets of magic that are definitively born traits. Morgana is a Seer, possessing this capability even before her magic manifested. Likewise, Merlin is a dragonlord, which he inherited from Balinor. Although Balinor did mention that it wasn't a sure thing he would have the ability until he faced a dragon, so there may be some variation in whether or not someone lucks out in the Magic Gene Pool. This may suggest that natural-born magic is hereditary, as both Morgana and her sister Morgause had it. Vivienne and Gorlois both probably didn't have it, otherwise you'd hear Uther bellyaching about it, which raises the question of where they got it? A grandparent, perhaps? Maybe they both carried a recessive magic gene or something...

Unless you're Merlin, magic can be taken away by the Gean Canagh. It's not explained how this is possible, though, as it's never explained how you acquire magic in the first place. But Merlin never lost his magic because he's "magic itself" which if you ask me is just a deus ex machina wrapped inside a headache wrapped inside a heaping load of chosen one bullcrap. But it's canonical lore, so we have to consider it.

Despite my previous complaints, i actually find the idea of Merlin being "magic itself" rather intriguing. Is he a creature of magic, like a dragon or a questing beast? Is his body made of magic, like how a statue might be made of clay? Does it run through his veins like blood? If this is the case, then why didn't he suffer more severe ramifications for losing his magic? Why didn't it kill him? How did it restrict his magic in the first place? Placebo effect? The fanon explanation is that he's "the living embodiment of magic" but that makes my bullcrap richter scale shoot off the charts because that makes NO sense whatsoever. "Son of the earth, sea, and sky?" What does that MEAN?

There is a vivid link between magic and the Old Religion, which has its own beliefs and rituals and deities. Primarily, the Triple Goddess. The Triple Goddess is actually an existing deity in Neopaganism and Wicca. This also suggests the existence of the Horned God, another entity from neopagan lore and her masculine consort/counterpart, but that is never confirmed.

WHO. OR. WHAT. IS. THE. FREAKING. DOCHRAID. She's described as a creature of magic, which suggests that humans/humanoids can be creatures of magic, fueling my theory that 'Emrys' isn't human.

Destiny exists. It is unclear who creates/writes destiny, who controls it, who or what is privy to knowing about it, and what that means for the concept of free will.

The crystal cave is a thing, i guess. It's the heart of magic, is haunted by Taliesin, and is filled with prophetic crystals. I actually skipped the episodes that involve this stuff because i disliked them, so i don't know much about the Crystal Cave. Apparently ghosts can manifest there tho???

The veil is a thing too. It is unclear how some spirits can retain their human figure and mentality, like Balinor and Uther, but others become dorocha. I imagine its also like Supernatural - being a ghost for long enough will drive you insane, and though it takes a while all spirits eventually turn into dorocha.

Creatures of magic exist. These are normal creatures who have magic imbued into them somehow.

Okay, i think that's everything we know. It seems like a lot, but keep in mind that all of those rules are VERY nebulous. But that at least gives us a jumping-off point!

So here's my working theory/headcanon.

Magic comes from a connection to the spiritual energies of the Triple Goddess. Kinda like a third eye, and for the sake of simplicity that's what we'll call it. The druids have adapted a way of life that revolves around faith and magic, likely in an attempt to cultivate and one day attain this Third Eye. Like Gaius, who trained with the High Priestesses, you can study and practice and discipline yourself into acquiring it.

Magic is a cosmic force owned by the Triple Goddess, accessible to anyone with the Third Eye link. Imagine the Triple Goddess as a milkshake and the so-called Third Eye as a straw. The studying and training that people dedicate their whole lives to is basically just looking for/building a straw.

However, some people are just naturally born with a straw in hand, but require practice and study to be able to properly use it. Or like Morgana, it takes a few years for them to even find it/activate it.

Spellcasting is essentially just sucking through the straw, and the vocalized spells gives that Magic Milkshake some purpose/intent/shape.

The bigger the spell, the more Magic Milkshake is required. Some people have bigger/wider straws than others, so magic comes easier for them. But with enough training and practice anyone can widen their straw/strengthen their straw-sucking muscles to cast with the big leagues.

The Gean Canagh devours your straw/Third Eye. Perhaps you have to rebuild a new spiritual connection from scratch, or perhaps it permanently severs any and all connection to the Triple Goddess. Like getting excommunicated from the Church, only worse.

The Crystal Cave was/is the Triple Goddess's home, but she's out of town on a business trip atm so she left the spirit of her most loyal follower, Taliesin, to look after the place. It's super powerful and has all those cool crystals because it's hella steeped in her magic juices.

While most magic users get a standard-issue straw, others get Fancy Premium Membership Straws. Normal joe shmoes like Gilli have plastic straws, while a Seer like Morgana has a metal one or something (can you tell this metaphor is starting to get out of hand?). Those Premium Straws are only hereditary in nature. So there's a Seer Straw, or a Dragonlord Straw, or a Disir Straw, but it's also not a sure thing you'll even inherit it at all. It's all luck of the straw draw.

Creatures of magic aren't just animals that possess straws, though. They've been made/produced using magic rituals and processes and spells. Like Nimueh's afanc, nathairs, wraiths, shades, etc. So probably like a thousand years ago, some especially powerful shmuck came by and invented dragons. Which leads me to an important question: WHO THE HELL THOUGHT THE DOCHRAID WAS A GOOD IDEA.

Im reluctant to say these creatures were invented by the Triple Goddess, though, for reasons I'll get to in a moment.

So this still leaves the whole Cup of Life, life-for-a-life policy thing to be explained. I do believe that the policy is universally applicable to the creation of souls, and i do believe that animals have souls too. But individuals get their souls exchanged for those of equal value. So every soul has a certain weight to it, and you need to exchange souls of equal weight to create one. So when Merlin brought the dog to life, some random dog somewhere dropped dead against his knowledge.

Creating undead armies involves killing them and then resurrecting them. That's what 'undead' means. Zombies. So yes, to raise an immortal zombie army, Morgause's spell probably caused a bunch of people around the world to mysteriously drop dead.

Which leaves two last things to explain: destiny and Merlin.

Destiny is, i think, a combined effort between human choice and supernatural predeterminism. That is, for the most part humans make their own choices, but there are occasions where the Triple Goddess has to step in and do some course correction. Uther starting the Purge was free will, but Arthur and Merlin's destiny was an act of divine damage control. The Triple Goddess sets destiny into motion and informs a chosen few about it.

Okay SO. That leaves Merlin. And this is the bit im kinda excited about.

The Triple Goddess is a reservoir of power, a cosmic force of spiritual energy intrinsicallu linked to the fabric of the universe. People can spiritually reach out and tune into/channel her supernatural frequencies. But as a milkshake cannot suck itself through a straw, the Triple Goddess likewise cannot cast a spell. She can influence destiny, but she can't physically cast any magic on her own. That's why she didn't create the creatures of magic.

So a few years ago, Uther hecked up big time. And people of magic, the Triple Goddess's followers and acolytes and straw connections, were dying in droves. I can imagine that all those Third Eye tethers snapping en masse was painful for her to go through. She relies on the tethers to remain connected to the real world, and if all the tethers snap then she will be cut off from Earth altogether. And Earth requires magic to continue existing/thriving, so that's kind of a no-no.

So, the Triple Goddess knew that the only way to save the world was through divine intervention. Thus began the destiny of the Once and Future King and Emrys. She knew humanity is bigoted so there was bound to eventually be a repeat of Uther, so she made OaFK resurrectable, so they could keep him on the bench in case anyone ever needs him again.

Where does Merlin/Emrys fall into things?

Well. The Triple Goddess knew that saving her people and the world would require an immense magical undertaking, something no ordinary magic user would be able to pull off. But she has the power, if only she could use it. But a human can. So the Triple Goddess decided to be reborn into the body of a dragonlord's son. Merlin. Emrys. Magic itself.

Of course, this whole Being Born As A Human Thing is tricky, and as anyone familiar with reincarnation knows, you don't usually recall your past lives. So she became Merlin, unaware that he was ever the Triple Goddess. (Although she did add a clause saying she'd be destined to remember her past life eventually, which got hecked up for reasons ill explain later)

That's why so many creatures of magic/magic users recognize Merlin by his presence, why thr druids carry such reverence for him. Whereas the sidhe and other individuals don't recognize him, because they are blinded by heresy. They may have a spiritual connection to the Triple Goddess, but do not use her magic as she intended, and she's too busy wearing jaunty scarves to excommunicate them herself.

Why get the Once and Future King involved when she could just save everyone herself? Well, the Triple Goddess prefers to let the humans keep their agency and save themselves, and would rather remain in the role of protector/helper. Its just her nature.

But if that's the case, then why did Arthur's destiny fail? It's simple: Kilgharrah.

Remember what i said about the Horned God, counterpart to the Triple Goddess? Yeah, that's Kilgharrah. Like the Triple Goddess, he's another power reservoir, but he's jealous because people worship her and not him. He is against everything she does and actively seeks the destruction of the Triple Goddess's magic/influence for Jealous Evil Reasons. To stop him, the Triple Goddess enlisted some of her followers to bind him into the body of a dragon (perhaps this is how dragons were created) so he would never be able to do that. Years later, the Purge happened and "Kilgharrah" got locked away, further cut off from his power.

When Merlin walked in, unaware that he used to be the Triple Goddess, Kilgharrah seized his chance at revenge and manipulated Merlin into setting him free. Then, once free, he decided to lay claim to the power vacuum left by the Triple Goddess's quasi-absence. He began controlling destiny in whatever limited capacities he could, using magic of his own to permanently bury Merlin's knowledge of his past life. Then he ensured that Arthur would die and the Triple Goddess's magic would never return. But since he doesn't have FULL control over destiny (his powers are still limited by his dragon form, after all), he couldn't rewrite the bit where Arthur gets benched in Avalon. He's probably conspiring with the sidhe to ensure Arthur stays trapped there forever, or else he would've come back a long time ago.

As for how the Gean Canagh took Merlin's magic...well, yes, it devoured his Third Eye straw, but those are created by a strong spiritual connection to the Triple Goddess. And since he's literally the big TG himself, all he had to do was find himself again (by returning to his old home, the Crystal Cave) to recreate a new one.

Over the last 1500 years, Kilgharrah/the Horned God has been steadily accruing followers and worshippers in the hopes that one will become strong enough to release TG's bonds on him. Then he can kill her once and for all and claim full dominion over the universe, with the sidhe to support him.

I imagine that's how Arthur's resurrection would happen - Arthur and the rest of the dead Round Table are in Avalon when they learn about the treachery and plot to kill Merlin/take over the world, and spend the next few hundred years fighting their way out of Avalon.

Okay, I think that just about covers it. God, that was long. Any questions?

[valkyrae24]

50 Questions Tag

thank you @unstoppableforcce​ ❤️ I had so much fun doing this and it was interesting to know more about you ✨

I’ll tag (no pressure) @galaxy-of-stories @bluebellhairpin ​ @shakespeareanwannabe I hope you guys have as much fun as I had with this! 

1.) What color is your hairbrush?

Brown

2.) Name a food you never eat

I think is called Blood Sausage in english (in México we call it Moronga)

3.) Are you usually too warm or too cold?

My body is very weird. I always have my feet cold but my arms and hands are always warm and sweaty so... I guess somewhere in between? 🤔

4.) What were you doing 45 minutes ago?

I went to the pharmacy with my parents and my dog. 

5.) What’s your favorite candy bar?

Probably Hershey’s

6.) Have you ever been to a professional sports game?

Only once, to a soccer game (but I fell asleep) (in my defense I was like 6 years old 😅)

7.) What’s the last thing you said out loud?

“What do you mean?” 

8.) What’s your favorite ice cream?

Mmmm.... That’s a hard one... Probably cookies n’ cream or chongos zamoranos. 

9.) What was the last thing you had to drink?

A mango smoothie. 

10.) Do you like your wallet?

I looooove my wallet. In fact I have to wallets an I love them both so much, one is a Quesadilla and the other one is a banana so ❤️.

11.) What’s the last thing you ate?

A tamal!

12.) Did you buy any new clothes last weekend?

No 

13.) What’s the last sporting event you watched?

Does the floor is lava counts? 😅

14.) What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?

Butter!

15.) Who’s the last person you sent a text to?

my so 

16.) Ever go camping?

Yeah, every year I go to a medieval camping. (except this year :c)

17.) Do you take vitamins?

I do! 

18.) Do you go to church every Sunday?

My brother and I are atheists so we don’t go to church. (Well, only in Christmas and that’s because of my parents)

19.) Do you have a tan?

My skin is brown so... I guess I have a birth tan? 🤷‍♀️

20.) Do you prefer Chinese or pizza?

Pizza!

21.) Do you drink soda through a straw?

Noup

22.) What color socks do you usually wear?

Blue

23.) Do you ever drive above the speed limit?

I don’t drive 😂

24.) What terrifies you?

Death ☠️

25.) Look to your left, what to you see?

A plant 

26.) What chore do you hate the most?

If I have music, none of them. If I don’t have music, all of them.

27.) What do you think when you hear an Australian accent?

I immediately think in Steve Irwin 😅

28.) What’s your favorite soda?

Coke 

29.) Do you go in fast food or in the drive through?

I don’t usually eat fast food 

30.) What’s your favorite number?

3

31.) Who’s the last person you talked to?

My dad

32.) Favorite cut of beef?

Arrachera

33.) Last song you listened to?

24k Magic by Bruno Mars 

34.) Last book you read?

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco 

35.) Can you say the alphabet backwards?

Not really 😂

36.) Favorite day of the week?

Monday 

37.) How do you like your coffee?

With lots of cream & lots of sugar 

38.) Favorite pair of shoes?

Boots (of any kind)

39.) Time you normally wake up?

8 

40.) Sunrise or sunsets?

Sunsets 

41.) How many blankets on your bed?

Two 

42.) Describe your kitchen plates?

Every plate is different, but they’re mainly white. 

43.) Describe your kitchen at the moment?

It’s super clean.

44.) Do you have a favorite alcoholic drink?

Beer 

45.) Do you play cards?

Yes 

46.) What color is your car?

“Oxford gray”

47.) Can you change a tire?

I’ve never had to, but my dad taught me how, so in theory I should be able to do it. 🤷‍♀️

48.) Your favorite state, province, country, etc.?

Baja California Sur or Oaxaca! ❤️

49.) Favorite job you’ve had?

I worked at a veterinarian hospital for a few months and it was so cool! It had so many specialities and you could see all types of patients and cases 😍

50.) How did you get your biggest scar?

My biggest scar is actually small. It’s in my arm and I got it when I was “practicing” parkour in my house. I tried to climb between two walls, I fell and then I scraped my arm. After that I put lemon on it it hurt as hell  and it got stuck on me forever. The end. 

[a-queer-seminarian]

the Confessions

The Presbyterian Church USA makes use of Confessions to guide our interpretation of scripture and how it relates to our own lives. Here are my notes from my Polity and Heritage class on these Confessions.

(This post probs isn’t gonna be of interest to any non-Presbyterians out there, sorry to spam your feed yo)

Basic facts

The primary Confession is “Jesus is Lord;” all other confessions are an elaboration of that statement of belief.

each confession discusses God, the world, and the relations between the two. One vital component that the PCUSA has determined over the years is the sovereignty of God -- God cares about and is involved in every part of life; there is no part of human life outside of Hir command or care.

This concept opposes the “doctrine of spirituality of the church” that says the church shouldn’t involve itself in sociopolitical issues -- because God cares about suffering and oppression, we must be active in fighting it.

many of the confessions were written in a time of crisis – when the Church has been compelled by things happening within the church or outside the church to say “oh hell no!”

The Confessions are

provisional – open to being corrected

reformed theology emphasizes our tendency towards idolatry; we are always going to be looking for an easier God to deal with than the true God; we love things more than God -- and thus we have to be ready to realize that what we once confessed is not actually right and fix it

temporal – open to new ways of God speaking to us

relative – scripture first

even so, the confessions should guide us in our reading of scripture

Why do we keep all the old confessions? Even with their instances of sexism, antisemitism, and more?

humility – we do not get to pick what to keep or get rid of

keep even the problematic stuff – to remind ourselves of where we’ve gone wrong in the past instead of pretending it never happened

“A dangerous memory” -- Johann Metz, Catholic:

most forms of oppression and injustice rely on our capacity to forget those who have suffered; thus, memories of suffering are dangerous to oppressive regimes because they interrupt our ways of being

Thus the Confessions do not only guide and prepare us, they interrupt us and force us not to assume the status quo is how things ought to be

By keeping these historical confessions, we are equipped for the future crises we cannot yet foresee

The big question: how much of the Confessions do I actually “have to” believe to be a “good Presbyterian” (let alone to be ordained)?

Yoo’s book shows those arguments in the United States (pp. 5-14) 

Dickinson: worries that the Confessions will start to be on par with scripture

Thomson: scripture is still first, but the Confessions offer nothing new – just tell us the proper way to interpret and live out scripture; also says the Confessions unite us

The Adopting Act, 1729 -- Came to the decision that ministers must subscribe to Confessions to be ordained, but are allowed to have ‘scruples’ – places where they disagree with the Confession

We are a church that respects freedom of conscience 

if it’s not an “essential and necessary” part of scripture, they can still be ordained and that scruple is fine 

but who decides whether a scruple is critical or not?

different presbyteries tend to come to different conclusions about what counts as a scruple -- that’s just part of our polity

Okay, time to dive into each confession, under the readmore.

The Scots Confession

1560

Created in a time of turmoil when religious leaders were being persecuted in fight between Catholics and Protestants

Makes a point to state that they are willing to listen to any arguments that anything in the Confession is not biblical and to change it if that turns out to be true

God ordains leaders (kings, parents, etc.) and we should obey them – unless they make commands “contrary to the commands of God” and fail to “suppress idolatry” and to protect the innocent.

Scots Confession came up with a Third note of the Church – ecclesiastical discipline

Calvin had two notes: preaching of the gospel and administering of the two sacraments

Ecclesiastical discipline is to make sure that good fruits are coming out of the church rather than corruption and “idolatry”

priesthood of all believers

lots of Trinitarian language, emphasis on how we are “by nature” “so dead, blind, and perverse” and how both justification and regeneration/sanctification are God’s doing not our doing

The Heidelberg Catechism

1563

Written to help reconcile the Lutheran and Reformed views of the Eucharist, to find common ground that could unite the two groups

Catholic view of Eucharist

“Heavy Cookies” – Marilyn McCord Adams – term she used approvingly for the Catholic view that the bread and wine truly become the bread and blood of Christ -- not just symbols, they’re heavy with grace

Transubstantiation – accidents stay the same; substance/essence changes

all the accidents could be changed in a thing and the thing would still be that thing: example of a chair: could change the cloth and plastic to wood, but if it is still a human-made thing that one sits upon it is still a chair – the essence makes a thing a thing

the accidents of the bread and wine remain the same so it still looks and tastes the same, but the substance changes to that of the body and blood of Christ

The Lutheran view of the Eucharist

Consubstantiation – substance of bread and substance of body are both present in it

Reformed view of the Eucharist

it’s a “sign and symbol,” a seal, a confirmation of the real spiritual nourishment that God gives us as we partake

The substance and accidents both remain that of bread and wine/juice, don’t change -- it really does nourish your faith to partake, but it’s not really the body and blood of Christ

a symbol participates in what it points to – so it’s “heavier” than the way we think of signs in the secular way -- spiritually weighty but not physically so

Zwingli, meanwhile, had the “lightest” cookies -- for him, the eucharist isn’t even a sign and symbol that nourishes spiritually; it’s just a reminder

Other content in Heidelberg

spiritual progression starts with recognizing one’s own sin

“how great my sin and misery are; how I am set free; how I am to thank God”

Reformed theology is distinctive on sin:

total depravity is the central plotline; focus on what happened long ago (crucifixion) rather than what God is doing in my community right now (God’s transformative and saving power in my particular life)

any belief in our own self-sufficiency is an obstacle to seeing the grace of God in our lives

Those of us who are progressive / leftist are often too optimistic – if we could just have excellent education, resources for all, we could fix everything on our own

BUT the reality that we are always sinning does not mean we should not act: Martin Luther says, “sin boldly, and trust in the love of God more boldly still”

this doctrine of sin should get rid of any notions of purity among Presbyterians

purity politics is not right: you will not find a savior, and looking for one is heretical

Some of the bad things about the Reformed doctrine of sin: hard to have moments when we just feel grace

it should expand grace, but self regard is kind of difficult

Valerie Saiving Goldstein: feminist theologian who pointed out that so much of Protestant theology points out pride as the major sin; but often for women and especially woc, the sin is not self-aggrandizement but self-abnegation

Karl Barth: pride, which is the attempt to justify one’s own life, is the flipside of sloth, which is refusing to step into yourself fully as a child of God

both are a refusal to let God’s love be the defining factor of your identity

refusing that identity involves not believing you have gifts in a situation, etc.

Focus on the Crucifixion

Jesus is seen primarily as the one who fixes sin – hence the emphasis on the cross

Christological to the point that we sometimes don’t focus much on the Spirit, etc.

Heidelberg’s description of what happens on the cross is really interesting, because it’s the stuff we call substitutionary atonement and it’s their misunderstanding of an older theory about the cross

Heidelberg says we deserve eternal punishment because we sin so much; we can’t fix it; it needs to be fixed by a human but only God could possibly fix it – so we need a human who is also divine

Jesus takes the wrath of God: God’s righteousness requires “justice” – punishment – and Jesus takes that on for us

Goes back to Anselm’s satisfaction theory from medieval times – based on a system of honor; the reason our sins are so bad is because we impact God’s honor

God has two options: humanity could be punished, or humanity could pay satisfaction -- God chooses the latter

but Heidelberg changes it: Jesus pays satisfaction is what Anselm says, but that concept has faded away (the concept of honor isn’t how the world works anymore); so Heidelberg says Jesus is punished

change from saying the honor of God is such that God needs punishment or satisfaction and God chooses the one that has no punishment involved – change to saying God requires punishment

so instead of saying, as Anselm did, “God is the kind of God who will bend over backwards to avoid any punishing,” Heidelberg says “God has to punish” – God does take on that punishment Themself, but for Anselm there was no punishing at all!

The Second Helvetic Confession

1562-1566

Early on the confession says we get to decide how much power we give to church leaders, and we are going to measure it by scripture

all that the Second Helvetic says is that “we’re going to question authorities based on scripture”

but from a Catholic viewpoint this was a huge deal, as big as saying popes, priests etc. were not authoritative at all anymore -- because the Church has been the entity handing down the knowledge of Christ throughout the ages; if you suggest the Church could be wrong about authority, its knowledge of Christ is also endangered (apparently. idk)

Providence

Creation is preserved and governed

if God did not continuously sustain Creation, it would fall out of existence

Adam and Eve

this confession blames them for a whole lot huh

all was perfect until they willfully chose to disobey God

If you are perfectly content, where does the impulse to disobey God even come from?

And if God is governing all things in a micromanaging way, why did God govern this as well?

Helvetic puts these in the category of curious questions we are not meant to ask lol that’s so frustrating

 Bible

Protestants had severed with so much, at this point they wanted to keep the Bible a certain thing – a touchstone they could hold on to

Romans is central to Heidelberg and Second Helvetic both

the gospel and the law – third use of the law

grace of God

Emphasis in the Second Helvetic on works

we are to do good works to demonstrate our gratitude for God’s grace and gift of salvation

we do not get any merit for the works; we do get a reward, but it should not be attributed to our merits but God’s grace in recognizing them

The Westminster Confession

1647

This is a big but tricky Confession to know.

There were arguments in the Presbyterian Church about this Confession and whether we wanted to keep it at all

We ended up revising it because its way of reading scripture is no longer the way we read scripture

The 3 main issues that (spoiler alert) the Confession of 1967 worked to fix

the issue of divorce – all divorces were to be condemned according to Westminster, but that just wasn’t the experience; sometimes divorce was the healthy option

the issue of mission – “saving the heathens”

the issue of what happens to infants who die before baptism

When did Jesus put on the salvific role?

Did God ordain Jesus to salvation eternally (before the Fall)? The Super-lapsarian view says yes, he was always going to have the salvific role.

Intra-lapsarian (”within the fall”) view says that the Fall happened and then the Person of God who is Jesus stepped into the salvific role (pretty sure I remember that happening during Paradise Lost)

Presbyterians are permitted to believe either. Shannon says she’s super-lapsarian

part of that has to do with what that would say about the Incarnation: that God was eternally intending to join in with Creation

What we should know about this confession’s content:

Scripture

= the canon lacking the Apocrypha

= the Word of God that reveals everything we need to know about God’s glory, our salvation, faith, and life – either explicitly or in a way that can be deduced

while individuals may interpret some parts of scripture differently, the parts necessary for salvation are clear (i wish man)

As different as they are, Westminster asserts that all the books in the scriptural canon convey one theology, one message about God

the whole is the Law of Love

If you find something hateful in one place, you reject that hate because the whole is about love and grace

Westminster says that scripture should be interpreted by scripture

if there is a part that you can’t figure out, look to parts that are clearer to help you interpret / look to the overall themes (like the Law of Love above)

The Trinity

= the unity of Three Persons who are infinite, sovereign

we are orthodox in our Trinity – the Reformers held on to the Trinity in the way it was figured out in Chalcedon, didn’t mess with that

Westminster casts Jesus as a mediator -- the Person of the Trinity who connects Divinity to humanity/Creation

Creation and Providence

= the manifestation of God’s glory, power, wisdom, and goodness

God created the world ex nihilo

this is God’s world, God’s dominion, and no one shares that stage with God

God “leaves for a season his own children to manifold temptations”

First and second causes:

the first cause of everything is God. God causes everything because God is sustaining creation; and as in Calvin, God is a micromanager

the second cause – at the same time, we are causing it too – a layered causality

when bad things happen you shouldn’t be interpreting it as God punishing you / God being unpleased with you (says Shannon)

feeling God’s absence doesn’t mean you’re not elect

Westminster does claim that God seems to leave us to chastise us or teach us about our dependence on God

God can withhold grace from people and withdraw gifts from people

God can give power over to Satan (eek creepy) – this is double predestination stuff

Sin

Adam and Eve’s fall was permitted by God because God  “purposed to order it” to God’s own glory

Now all humanity’s nature is totally corrupted so that we sin and thus are doomed to God’s wrath -- that’s total depravity, baby

even tho God let it happen, we take the blame for the Fallj

Election

Two doctrines of election are held in tension in Westminster: double predestination vs. God’s grace being sufficient for all

double predestination and Arminianism don’t work together At All, yet the Confession tries to hold them together – basically the Confession just sorta throws up its hands and goes, we don’t know, but we do know that God’s got a hold on us

Either way, we affirm that we do not merit our own salvation

Election in a sentence: God’s already got a hold on your life

Law

6.106 -- the three uses of the Law: lets us know how sinful we are; restrains and forbids sin (helps keep order); and guides toward life

A part of this that’s distinctly Westminster -- the distinction between moral law and ceremonial law

God gave the moral law as grace to Adam; meanwhile, the ceremonial law was repealed by Jesus in the Second Testament

the eternal moral law serves to guide Christians towards how the world should be ordered

The Declaration of Barmen

1934 -- how’s that for a time jump?? it had been nearly 3 centuries since we churned out a new confession!

Special vs. General revelation

General = always available to everyone

example: nature

Special = available to a limited time and place

example: the burning bush

Okay. So. Gotta know a bit about Karl Barth to understand the context around Barmen. There’s a lot more on him in my theology post but basically he blew up Liberal Theology’s whole Thing -- argued that they were attempting to domesticate a God who is unknowable and breaks into the world in completely unexpected ways; he also said that Liberal Theology’s tendency to see God’s activity in our little human movements wasn’t right for a similar reason -- it makes God smaller and more manipulable than Xe is.

Anyway, he moves to Germany in time for the rise of Hitler, including how that impacted German churches -- they were now expected to 1) not allow anyone of Jewish ancestry to be ministers and 2) accept Hitler as revelatory, the latest of God’s great proclamations 

While many Liberal theologians had a problem with this, their theology didn’t give them much to work with.

if you say you see God in nature, in family, how do you discern that this guy is not revelatory?

if you can say that the move to house people and feed them is God’s activity in your world today, how do you say that what Hitler is doing is not what God is doing? he is housing and feeding some.

And so the Confessing Church argued amongst themselves about what to do about the whole Hitler crisis.

should they just tell Nazis to stay out of their church, but let Nazis keep doing their thing unopposed?

do we allow that moment in worship to acknowledge Hitler, without letting Nazism control anything else in church?

full-out rebellion seemed not feasible – especially because most congregants were all-in with Hitler

And so the stage was set for the Barmen declaration.

Barth and two Lutheran pastors – Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches

Couldn’t be outright anti-Nazi because they are pastors of congregations enthralled by Nazis

8.11 “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death”

they were putting their lives at risk by publishing this declaration, because statements like this suggested that Hitler was not revelatory

8.15 “We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords”

8.22 “Fear God. Honor the emperor”

This declaration is not very satisfying to us, but it was a way of saying to the Nazi regime that functioned on fear: “We don’t fear you.”

8.25 “The word of God is not fettered”

My classmate Daniel’s view: this declaration is like a subtweet – we all know who this message is about, but we’re not overtly saying it

How do you say it without saying it, with chances of being heard and not being shut down?

My professor Shannon: “I wish that he had flat-out said, ‘Because of Jesus, we reject genocide.’ But I do see that he was pointing out the central issue: how do we know God? on what do we plant our feet? our ground is Jesus.”

The Confession of 1967

you’ll never guess the year for this one....stumped? it’s 1967

A “Thrilling revival of theology” – Edward Dowey Jr. as chair

This was a time of new decisions: to make a new Confession and compile a book of Confessions

thus the other 10 confessions were adopted at the same time as ’67.

originally, the first step was to revise Westminster; after a few years they decided that wasn’t working and needed a whole new Confession

a 15-member committee – one member per synod -- worked on it

Opponents: Presbyterians United for Biblical Concerns (PUBiC lmaooo); The Layman; the Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Highlights of the Confession of 1967

Belhar addressed the Church; “1967″ addressed the world

named Jesus in new ways, such as “Palestinian Jew”

talked about the Bible in new ways too – Word vs. word

focus on reconciliation as the role of the church

race, war, poverty, sexuality

and yet the language is sexist lol -- it’s since been edited

“life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage”

“With an urgency born of this hope the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world.”

9.47 is shitty – “sexual anarchy”; man and woman marry; anti birth control? lmao what is this Catholicism

A bit more on the reconciliation theme of this confession

back then, the idea that without reparations, reconciliation cannot happen was implicit

nowadays, white people might see the idea of reconciliation as an “out” from doing the hard work – that we can just move on and be together instead of working to confront and right past wrongs

Cliff: this Confession actually arose from a committee on reparations – for African Americans, Native Americans

realized that reparations can’t only be about money – there must also be reparations in our theology

Major changes in how we understand confessions after ’67

a transition to the confessions being more of a guide instead of less prescriptive according to what you believe

changed the ordination questions – and thus changed the authority system for pastors, deacons etc.

new conception: this person, Jesus, is the one revelation who helps us understand scripture

 impacted our relationship with other churches as we made an effort at ecumenism; there was a similar impact on interfaith relations

9.41 “The church in its mission encounters other religions and in that encounter becomes conscious of its own human character as a religion…” – separation between revelation and religion

still says that you have to connect revelation to Jesus Christ; but is a step towards finding a way to work with people of other faiths respectfully

The Confession of Belhar

This confession was written in the 1980s, but was not officially added to our Book of Confessions until 2016

One reason for the resistance was the fact that adopting this confession would mean admitting that apartheid is wrong, and therefore admitting that what Israel was/is doing to Palestine is wrong

Another is just the Western-centricism of the Book -- some people weren’t willing to see a confession written in Africa as useful for the whole Church

Context behind Belhar

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches declared in 1982 that theological support of apartheid is heresy

Apartheid was more a theological concept than political

God created people “separate but equal”

in the Reformed Church, you had 4 different denominations based on race

white, mixed race (this was the group that really took leadership for Belhar), Black, Indian and South Asian

The Confession was named Belhar because that’s the city where they met to write it

near Cape of Good Hope, southernmost part of South Africa

a committee stayed up all weekend working on it

two of the most active people: Dirkie Smit (white) and Russell Botman (Black)

The Confession of Belhar was finally adopted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa in September 1986

A Reformed Confession

reflecting the confessional history of the church

modeled on the Barmen declaration – each section having affirmations and rejection

Accompanying letter says the Gospel is at risk among us:

an unchristian theology of racial separation infects us, our Church, and our nation

a cry from the heart based on truth of Scripture

we call on all Christian people everywhere for all time, to join us in confessing the truth of the Gospel for this time, place, and setting

Adopting the Confession

first adopted in the USA by the Reformed Church in America

in 2010 after 5 years of church discernment

declaring Belhar’s themes as central to the whole church: justice, unity, reconciliation

proposed to the PCUSA in 2008 “as a means of deepening the commitment of the PCUSA to dealing with its racism and as a means of strengthening unity”

we need reparations in our theology

approved by 2010 General Assembly, but only 60% of presbyteries – needed 2/3. Thus it was defeated, not added to Book of Confessions – sent again to the presbyteries with a vigorous program of study

the second time around it got a 90% approval

 Content of Belhar

Articles 1 & 2

begins with affirmation of Trinity (ends with affirmation that Jesus is Lord)

unity is a gift and an obligation

this unity must “become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity, and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered”

Reconciliation was the most difficult of the three themes for the Confession writers to decide upon – how can we reconcile before there is justice?

“why would I share communion with the murderer of my children?”

are they willing to give up all that power and privilege?

“Absolutising of diversity”

 taking natural diversity – people come in different shapes and colors etc. – and building race in order to exploit it

“Our Confession”

while this confession was made in one context, we claim it as ours too – it’s about our own need to confront racism, etc.

the confession is making a difference in the world

contribution to Liberation Movement in South Africa

inspiration for justice struggles across Africa

importance to Palestinian Liberation Struggle

adoption by other churches in the USA and worldwide

A Brief Statement of Faith

The last one!! We made it folks!!

So this one was added to the Book of Confessions in 1991 -- before Belhar, but was written after Belhar

Context

It was written after the two largest Presbyterian Churches in the USA reunited in 1983

It “does not pretend to be a complete list of all our beliefs, nor does it explain any of them in detail” -- made to be confessed in public worship

“It celebrates our rediscovery that for all our undoubted diversity, we are bound together by a common faith and a common task.”

Content

“In life and in death we belong to God.”

Trinity affirmed

Churches are not a “refuge from the world”; we are called out into the world to do ministry

We are Fallen, we sin, we “threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care” -- “Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.”

“Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.”

In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

[girlobsessed21]

The 100 season 6 - theories and predictions.

No episode this week, I know, it sucks. So, I’ve decided to do jot down some thoughts and conspiracies I have. Feel free to argue with me. I love hearing I’m wrong and why.

Episode 6 is called Memento Mori, Latin for "remember that you will die", is the medieval Latin Christian theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.

Episode 7: Nevermind -  used to tell someone not to worry about something because it is not important.

Episode 8: The old man and the anomaly aka Gabriel and time travel.

Episode 9: What you take with you - when you die?

Episode 10: Matryoshka: also known as Russian nesting dolls, stacking dolls, or Russian dolls, are the set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another.

Episode 11: Ashes to ashes -  derives from the English Burial Service. The text of that service is adapted from the Biblical text, Genesis 3:19 (King James Version): In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Episode 12: Adjustment protocol

Episode 13: The blood of Sanctum

All of the above refers to mortality and death. The entire season will thus focus on both the continuance and destruction of the primes. 

Murphine in cahoots

Luckily Murphy loves Emori, because that hookup would have made me nauseous. I HOPE IT DOESN’T HAPPEN. Okay, he will do whatever it takes to avoid hell and get eternal life. Call me a big old Murphy marshmallow, but I refuse to believe he’ll put his family in harm's way. 

Josephine will have to promise their safety in order to gain his co-operation. The rest he doesn’t care about. Including Clarke. I know he saved her during the eclipse but he needed her help to rescue Bellamy. He seems pretty mad at her, I’m sure he doesn’t want her dead, but she’s not on his list of top priorities.

Josephine needs to learn how to create nightbloods and only Abby knows how to do that. And Abby will swim across the Atlantic to save Kane. Ding Dong, create another nightblood to save Kane, but who will that be? One of McCreary’s crew, a fellow Wonkru warrior or will Abby sacrifice herself? Not sure if a man can utilize a woman’s body.

She is so determined to save the love of her life, that she ignores the gravity of her own daughter writing with the wrong hand. Further, she has already expressed her opinion on how Kane deserves to live while they don’t. She bears a lot of guilt for the things she has done. But Abby wasn’t comfortable with their experiments in Becca’s lab. It will take a lot of persuasion; can she be convinced to take another life?

Maybe Murphy and Josephine will tell Bellamy that there’s a way to bring Clarke back to get him on board. They’ll have to temporarily kill her parents to continue with their scheme. Russel is firmly against Josephine’s breeding plans and creating new nightbloods means murdering red-blooded people. 

Head over heart Bellamy would not be okay with this, but I think he might lose his head over the loss of Clarke. More on this later. Jordan will do whatever it takes to save Delilah, so he might board this “saving” ship too. Raven will torture herself when she finds out about this and probably go above and beyond to help bring her back. Echo and Emori might be indifferent.

Josephine vs Clarke

A lot of you have argued against my Mount Weather theory last week. I’m still not convinced it’s not time travel via the anomaly but I’m not psychic. So, my other option is that Josephine will experience Clarke’s past as dreams. Bellamy explains, in trig, that it’s how his victims haunt him. Perhaps a little foreshadowing.

Russel was in a hurry and distraught to clear the host (kill Clarke) and bring his daughter back. In my 6x05 review, I did a bit of research on the meaning of Gabriel’s biology terms and came to the conclusion that Clarke is not dead, only in a deep vegetative state. Gabriel stressed the fact that they had to wait for the serum to reach the claustrum. Perhaps it didn’t take full effect.

Josephine did not sleep her first night back, but when she does it might be restless and filled with Clarke’s demons. Clarke Griffin is a fighter, trust her not to back down. Not to give up. She’s gonna taunt you until you wanna crash the Ferrari. We know both Jake and Maya comes back, so this is probably where we’ll see them. Unfortunately, in the process, she’ll have to relive it herself.

The crazy smoothie that cleanses the body of all evils

Ingredients:

1 x Red Queen

1 x Terrorist

1 x Rebel named Xavier

1 x Old man

1 x Temporal Anomaly

Mix all the ingredients together and you have the perfect solution for a prime pest problem. Octavia and Diyoza are desperate to find Gabriel and if it means time traveling through the temporal anomaly, then so be it.

Octavia’s hand aged when it came into contact with the temporal flare. So, I’m fairly certain they’re either going back or forward in time. IMDB shows Hope as a little girl in 6x08, which means Diyoza visits the future and Octavia might go back to the bunker to slaughter Bloodreina.

Once they make it through, they finally encounter the old man himself, who has all the answers with regards to the primes, Sanctum and ridding Clarke of the devil that possesses her.

I have a strong idea that this will be how the Blakes bury the hatchet. Octavia will help Bellamy and the others to revive Clarke. Meaning Bellamy will see the good that still exists inside her. Even when he couldn’t see it, I never gave up hope of Octavia returning. A lot of you did not agree with his decision to abandon her, but I think it’s the best thing he could have done for her.

Madi vs Sheidheda

I’m still not sure what’s going on here. I’ve seen some theories about using her bone marrow in an attempt to create other nightbloods. It could be, but they have a lot of nightbloods to put to use. And Abby won’t use Madi, that’s for sure.

Also, Madi has machinery strapped to her head in the trailer, which made me think that Josephine doesn’t know how to reverse engineer “memory chip” technology like Gabriel did and will need to explore the flame to create one for Murphy.

Or perhaps Josephine fails in convincing Abby, finds out that Madi has Becca’s memories in her head and tries to download them from the flame? 

Either way, Madi’s nightmares are enhanced during the experiments and she will obviously battle the dark commander for power. Without Clarke and Gaia’s guidance, she might lose, become him and in turn the villain of season 7. I just hope it doesn’t cause her death. Can you imagine Clarke returning to find Madi’s gone? She’s had to live through numerous deaths: Jake, Finn, Lexa, Marper, Jasper, please don’t do this to her.

The romance section

I don’t think we’ll see Delilah again. Jordan will do everything in his power to bring her back, just like Clarke, but I have a feeling she’s gone. For good. So, RIP Jolilah.

Emori is also on my deathdar for some reason. It’s no secret that I ship Murven, but I really don’t mind Memori. They’ve had their problems in season 5 and Murphy’s fear of dying might push them apart again.  Look, some people die each season and so far it seems like there’s no further story for Emori.

Raven and Murphy have always been better when they’re in the presence of the other, but I like them as friends as well. Murphy somehow calms Raven and she inspires him to do better. 

I know it’s harsh and I want Raven to be happy, but unless Raven and Ryker are endgame, I hope they don’t set them up romantically. The writers probably had a bit of a muddle with Shaw leaving for another show while wanting to give Raven a happy arc this season. Somehow, I do think all the primes will be killed (the blood of Sanctum) with the exception of Ryker since he seems a bit hesitant towards their living style. If that’s where it’s heading then I’m fine with it because they did have instant chemistry and a lot of it. More than she had with Shaw. Don't @ me. But please show it to us over time.

Please don’t hate me but I don’t think Niyalah and Octavia will become romantic either. As far as I know, Jessica Harmon is working on Izombie and I think her death is soon. Besides Octavia has to mend in herself before she can focus on relationships with other people. Including her brother.

I spy with my little eye a Becho breakup

I’ve feared that Bellamy and Echo might be a long term pairing many times before, and I’ve even sort of accepted it because I refused to let it ruin the show for me. Now, more than ever, I believe they’re on their way out. In the 6x06 promo, Echo is in the woods, searching for Octavia? She may even team up with them.

Echo does not understand Bellamy’s complexity in a way that Clarke does. On the ring, they lived in harmony, whereas now they have countless tribulations to overcome and they’re not the same people. 

Also, there’s been continuous scenes where she’s shown as inferior and submissive to both him and Clarke. They bark the orders and she follows, Emori even called her out on it in 6x02. A relationship can only last between two equals.

If that’s not enough, there’s no way in hell, no mountain too high, no river too deep for Bellamy Blake to bring Clarke back. He’ll fight who has to be fought, kill who has to be killed, leave no stone unturned. One of those obstacles might even be Echo trying to convince him she’s gone. Bellamy will refuse to lose her again. When Echo sees this, she’ll realize what Clarke means to him and either confront him or cut him loose.

There is no more beautiful romance than Bellarke

Think of all the most romantic books you’ve read or movies you’ve watched. What was the trope? I bet you’ll find it in Bellarke.

Titanic - “You jump, I jump right?” - “If I’m on that list, you’re on that list.”

Beauty and the beast - Enemies to friends to lovers

Tangled - Deep, longing looks during firelight 

Love in the time of cholera - A love triangle due to logicality and comfort vs love

Romeo and Juliet - A girl from a wealthy family falls for a boy from poverty. Both willing to die for the other.

The Notebook - “I wrote you one letter every day for a year.” - “When you were on the ring, she called you every day for six years.”

The Time Traveler’s wife - Two lovers constantly separated by time and space but love always prevails.

I can sit here all night. The fact of the matter is that they love each other. Of course Bellamy notices that Clarke is not herself first. Even after six years apart, he is attuned to her and knows her on such a deep and intense level that he can’t be fooled. 

When she leaves to head to the school, he follows. He allows himself to be vulnerable with her when she apologizes. Clarke’s biggest regret is leaving him to die. She trusts him to bring her child home safely. He trusts her to bargain for their safety. Bellamy stares while she dances with someone else and asks about it later. Then his reaction to her overshare of the details is a mixture of confusion and jealousy. 

But the best part of all is the horror and heartbreak when he finds out he’s lost her. Again. That part of his heart, only reserved for Clarke, will now come to the surface and there will be no more denial.

To wrap up, I can only speculate based on what I’ve seen and heard. So, I can’t include all the characters that have been MIA. Indra most of all. I miss her. Please let me know if you think I’m crazy. I’d love to hear it.

[fortunatelylori]

I think one of the reasons some people hate Sansa is that she represents real people, women mostly, during the medieval times. Even now. People won’t be so annoyed with her or call her useless if this was just a period drama. But they added the fantasy side, with dragons and assassins. Along with women that possesses these. Why couldn’t Sansa do the same? Sansa is the reason why I watched GoT in the first place. I saw myself in her. I don’t have dragons or fighting skills, I only have my mind

Hey, nonnie!

I saw myself in her. I don’t have dragons or fighting skills, I only have my mind

This right here is the reason why I love and identify with Sansa, as well. I’ve never been a fighter. Dragons don’t exist. I’ve always been feminine and proud of it. And I was encouraged from a young age to use my brain to get out of problems. Seeing a character like that on screen is interesting for me because it feels realistic and her slow burn arc makes me feel like I can actually see her developing as opposed to having been granted the fantasy equivalent of super powers over night. 

I thought it might be interesting if I actually talked a little bit about the reasons why I feel Sansa is such a divisive character within the fandom as well as one that is, frankly, overlooked by most of the GA, despite her growing importance to the plot. Because while some of the reasons can be dismissed rather easily, at least one of them is an issue of execution (particularly within the show). 

The issue of femininity, agency and use of sexuality

I’ve grouped all of these together because the root cause for them is the same: Patriarchy, which in turn encompasses such wonderful things like misogyny and victim blaming. 

Sansa’s femininity will always be used against her not only because feminine qualities are seen as lesser than masculine qualities (which is why characters like Arya and Brienne get the stamp of approval from misogynists everywhere) but also because she doesn’t “use them properly”. By that I mean that she’s a beautiful girl who does not weaponize her sexuality and, also, doesn’t put out. And within a patriarchal mind-set that’s the ultimate crime. And that’s further exacerbated by her foil Maergery, whose sexuality is her greatest asset and weapon, as well as by D*ny and her use of sexuality in order to flip the tables on Drogo. 

Sansa doesn’t do that. Instead, she goes as far as to dare to withhold her sexual favors and affections from fan favorite Tyrion which enrages the truly vile of this fandom. How dare she? Doesn’t she know that if she wants to be a feminine girl, she is obligated to give her body away to the men lusting after her? Why is she so stupid? Look how Maergery is playing the game and has Joffrey under her thumb! That Sansa, she’s soooo useless! I mean, we’ve been watching this show for 7 seasons and we have yet to see Sophie Turner’s boobs! The outrage!

This argument can go die in a ditch. I actually love that Sansa has retained autonomy over her body and has refused to use it in order to get out of problems. I’m genuinely tired of seeing “smart” or “important” female characters depicted solely as either women with masculine pursuits or “enchantresses”. I want to have a cerebral female character who uses her brain to win over or defeat her foes and Sansa Stark is developing in exactly such a character. And I love it!

She’s one of only main characters who isn’t magical

You’ve touched on this in your ask and while I agree that, in many ways, Sansa is meant to represent the reality of medieval women stuck in a system that was working against them at every turn, I do think GRRM did Sansa a disservice by eliminating all connection to magic from her arc. 

That’s because all of the remaining Starks are magical to a degree. Bran, of course, is the one with the most magical abilities in the family (and probably in the whole series). However, Jon is pretty magical as well. Not only is he a warg through his connection with Ghost, he is now resurrected as well as the blood of the dragon which makes him, in part, the product of magic. Arya, for her part, is not only a warg but also possesses magical abilities through her Faceless Men arc. 

Sansa’s connection with magic was severed irrevocably when Lady was killed and even prior to that, we never see that warg bond with her. In that sense, she’s the plain Jane of the family and thus seen as less important or special. Which coupled with her lack of fighting skills as well as her prolonged victim arc, makes her seem inconsequential and disposable. This is unfair, of course, because in every other respect, she’s a wonderfully developed character (particularly in the books) but this is a fantasy series. I think GRRM should have retained some sort of magical qualities for her. 

Tyrion, among the mains, is probably her closest analog because he’s not magical either. However, GRRM has imbued him with almost super-human intelligence (an aspect of his character that his fans blow out of proportion even further). Despite that, however, there is still a tendency to try to make him magical in some way to justify his importance, hence the theory of Tyrion as the 3rd head of the dragon. 

She feels like an outdated character

I say “feels” because she isn’t really but the “princess in the tower”/”damsel in distress” archetype that Sansa most resembles has, by and large, fallen out of favor with modern audiences. 

They used to be all the rage and writers always had such a female character. Sansa, in a sense, shares literary references with Ivanhoe’s Rebecca or Robin Hood’s Maid Marion. Personally I love those characters but the archetype has been used a lot in the past and almost never done right. It’s become a prop in a classical hero’s journey type plot, instead of a character in its own right and Sansa, on the surface, feels very much like that type of character. 

Of course, GRRM has really utilized that archetype in the best way possible and instead of making Sansa a prop, he’s exposed us to the reality of the pretty damsel stuck in a tower, to her drama and her tragedy, to her fight for survival and eventual escape. 

But people, by and large, have decided to hate the archetype instead of demanding better stories based on it and because of that, they simply bristle at its mere existence. 

The issue of Sansa’s POV in the show

This is, honestly, the reason that pains me the most and it’s really a combination of how the show has chosen to portray Sansa and well as the fact that the show is now further along than the books. 

This is one reason where I can’t really place the blame on the audience, particularly the general audience. 

For a very long time, I wondered why people weren’t really paying that much attention to Sansa in the show. And I don’t mean youtubers or people on reddit etc. I’m talking about normal people watching this show. I have a lot of friends that watch GOT and love it. They’re definitely not involved in the fandom nor are they specifically fans of one character in the show. They simply love the story and find it entertaining. 

We’ve had conversations about GOT from time to time and they’ve never mentioned Sansa once. They don’t hate her, btw. They simply don’t think about her very much or consider her important within the context of the story. 

And I believe the reason for this is because Sansa started out as a pawn in the Game of Thrones, an arc that lasted for 4 seasons. That’s a long time for a character to have limited to no agency and also enact change in the plot solely through the machinations of other characters. 

However, it’s not an issue that can’t be overcome particularly since Sansa has an ascending arc where she goes from pawn to player. The beginning of her “player” arc is marked by her descending the steps of the Eeryie dressed in her Littlefinger dress. Unfortunately, this is also the moment that marks the creators’ choice of cutting the audience out of Sansa’s POV for long stretches of time. 

Since season 5, they’ve played a hide and seek game with Sansa where we get glimmers of her POV for a short time (her marriage to Ramsay, her reunion with Jon) only to be cut out as quickly as possible in order for the writers to play up the Dark Sansa red herring. 

I believe this reluctance to make Sansa understandable and transparent to the audience is affecting the way the general audience views her. In order to get a handle on Sansa’s character from season 5 onward, you need to watch the seasons a couple of times, think about her character in depth, read some metas as well as be predisposed to like her to begin with. Honestly, that’s too much to expect from a general audience who simply don’t engage with this show as in depth as we do. 

As such the character of Sansa has become, I believe, to most of the GA a mystery wrapped up in a riddle, where questions are raised but never answered, where looks and gestures are left unexplained. The GA is not going to do heavy lifting to get to know this character so they’re simply going to ignore her and focus on the dragons instead. 

This is a huge disservice to Sansa, in my opinion. Because she’s increasingly important to the plot but I doubt season 8 is going to make the GA get to know her enough to root for her. I fear that the fate of show Sansa is to be the Ginny of Game of Thrones. People are just going to be utterly confused how this character that the creators never gave them much reason to care about ends up married to Jon Snow and becomes queen. 

And that, I have to say, makes me very sad. :(

Thanks for the ask! 

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Sooo... You said you are not a medical expert, but perhaps the history of medicine? medicine and doctors overall in Napoleon's era and around it?

So I actually can’t speak too directly in French medicine in the Napoleonic period. However, I’ll regale you with what I do know from the early modern period in general.

NB: I’m working roughly from 1400—1820-ish. This is also very high level; I’m speaking broadly and obviously there are distinctions to be made based on time and place (and culture). 

I’ve broken it down into major sections and dumped it behind the Read More because I got a bit carried away. 

Thank you for the ask! And if anyone wants to know more about something below, or something I didn’t mention, hmu. 

The Humours 

The human body was still understood to be composed of, and ruled by, the humours. For readers who aren’t familiar humours were introduced by ancient Greek physicians (Hippocrates onwards, though its origins may be earlier, possibly from Egypt) and used as a means to explain the workings of the body. 

The nut-shell version is that there are four humours: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Each of these biles corresponds to a temperament. 

Black bile = melancholia 

Yellow bile = choleric

Phlegm = phlegmatic

Blood = sanguine. 

The humours also correspond to elements, qualities, age, and organs. 

Black bile = earth & cold and dry & adulthood & gallbladder

Yellow bile  = fire & warm and dry & youth & spleen

Phlegm = water & cold and moist & old age & brain and lungs 

Blood = air & warm and moist & infancy & liver

If you were ill it was thought that there was an imbalance of the humours and so treatments worked to try and balance out the humours. 

Everything had a place in the humours from food to rank to gender to medicine to mental health. 

E.g. Gregorio Dati, wrote to his son that he should not eat melon because melons grow close to the ground and therefore are cold and wet - if he must eat melon let him have it either with a dry wine (hot and dry) or with prosciutto (hot and dry) to counter balance the negative effect of the melon. 

Men were hot and dry; women were cold and wet. If a woman wanted a girl she should eat fish; a boy she should eat fowl or venison. 

The food you ate that is good for you depends on your rank and your rank corresponds to where on the great chain of being you are that therefore corresponds to what you need to do to best balance your humours. If you eat above or below your station it was believed to make you sick. 

It’s fantastically complex. 

Medicine Men (and women)

In general doctors, of any kind, weren’t regarded super highly. There’s a reason there’s a long history of jokes running along the lines of “how many did you kill today, doctor.” this wasn’t helped by the fact that for much of the medieval and early modern period there was not necessarily a clear distinction of “doctor.” Many people proscribed medical advice but not all were trained physicians; this changed with the increase of university-trained physicians intent on solidifying their legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Naturally, for a patient in the early modern period the quality of medical care received depended entirely on how much you could afford. 

Physicians were university educated and the most respected class of medical man. They were called upon for external issues. You would write to them, or they would visit, and you would explain your symptoms. They might take a urine sample, or some other assessment, before prescribing your treatment. Not only were they the most respected class of medical man they were also the most expensive. 

Surgeons went through a varying degree of definition. Up until the late-18th century they were often the local barber (hence barber-surgeon) or some other trade as well as surgeon. They would do the manual labour of medical treatment such as treating broken bones, stitching, basic dental work (tooth extraction) and sometimes trepanning, among other things.  

However, the late-18th-century saw the rank of surgeon shift slightly as they were beginning to be reasonably well educated, often apprenticed to a surgeon or surgeon-apothecary in their teens, before facing examination in London. If they passed they would become a licensed member of the Company of Barber-Surgeons. 

Navies and armies across the board generally employed surgeons over physicians since they needed medical men with practical skills. In these circumstances surgeons also acted as apothecaries and physicians which began blurring the lines between the professions.  

Then there’s the apothecary who had a disreputable reputation until the early 19th century when it began becoming a more respectable trade. Apothecary doubled as a sort of local GP if there was no physician or surgeon available. They were also the ones to mix and creates pills, potions and the like. 

Cunning folk/wise women & men were alternatives sought out if the above options of medical treatment weren’t working out.   

Folk Remedies 

For much of medieval and the early modern period there was a strong relationship between medicine, magic and religion. Often people would go through different approaches to health problems until one of them worked. 

E.g. In Italy there was a case in the early 1700s of a woman in Naples, Domenica Jurlaro, who was very ill with a complaint of pain in her vaginal area. Her mother had reached out to a physician but there was no luck with him, then she turned to the local cunning woman, or wise woman, who tried a series of cures none of which worked. Domenica’s mother, then fearing witchcraft or a curse of some kind had been placed on Domenica, called in the local priest to perform a blessing in order to lift the curse and heal Domenica’s health problems. 

In the early 18th-century (and earlier), especially amongst the lower classes, this would not have been an unheard of progression nor considered strange. Of course you go from the physician to the local cunning woman to the parish priest - you’re ruling out all possibilities. 

Illness could be earth bound or caused by otherworldly means. 

“Folk remedies” were par for the course of medical practices, everyone usually turned to family known treatments first before sending out for a professional. In the case of Domenica, in Naples, the cunning woman prescribed a cure an enema of sage and other herbs as a remedy. In London, in January of 1750 The Gentleman Magazine recommended applying a live toad to the kidneys if you were suffering from a “retention of urine.” (Napoleon maybe should have tried this. And drinking water.) 

Folk remedies, like professional medicine, were informed by the humour theory although more abstractly, as well as by tried-and-true remedies passed down and around. Not entirely unlike today where we still apply similar things when dealing with daily colds such as gargling with salt water, taking a shot of extra-proof liquor, drinking tea with lots of lemon and chili, eating chicken soup and so on. 

Hospitals 

In the Medieval period dedicated monasteries and hospices served the purpose of hospital in that they served the sick but also served as places for travellers to stay over and for the poor to have an occasional roof over their head. Italy also had dedicated confraternities run by dedicated religious laymen which provided medical support to the poor. 

In England after the dissolution of the monasteries public hospitals, founded by wealthy philanthropists and/or the crown, filled the gap left by the absence of monasteries and hospices. Some of the medieval hospices that survived and were taken on by the crown and turned into public hospitals include Bedlam and St. Thomas’. 

The space that hospitals made where both poverty and disease became readily associated; as well as transience and disease; foreign travellers and disease and so on; facilitated a poor reputation of hospitals and further helped to marry the associated between poverty and disease. Unintentionally early modern hospitals catered to and enhanced the othering of the transient and impoverished regardless of their health status. This is also why many medieval and early modern hospitals bore names like Saint Thomas’s Hospital for the Sick and Poor (founded 1173). 

Some hospitals began specializing as time went on. One of the most infamous is Bedlam (Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, now known as Bethlehem Royal Hospital founded 1247) which specialized in mental health (although in its colourful history it served as, among other things, a temporary jail space for prisoners and a traveler’s hospice); The New Locke which focused on venereal disease (founded 1746); Saint George’s (founded 1734) for the sick and lame etc. 

18th-century England did see a change in the purpose of hospitals from catch-alls for the poor and diseased they became focused on as much treating people as research and transition that would eventually give birth to modern research hospitals.

Some more reading: 

https://earlymodernmedicine.com/ - general early modern medical history

http://thechirurgeonsapprentice.com/ - info on early modern surgeons 

http://practitioners.exeter.ac.uk/ - a project with U. Exeter to map a picture of medical practitioners in early modern England, Ireland and Wales.

http://www.fashionablediseases.info/Blog/?p=9 - no longer active but their archived posts are interesting 

Dr. Johnson’s London by Liza Picard 

The Sin of Insanity, edited by Jeffrey R. Watt

Bedlam: London and Its Mad, by Catharine Arnold

Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health & Healing, edited by Jennifer Evans and Sara Read

Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe, by Mary Lindemann

“Food and Social Class in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy,” in Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to Present, Allen J. Grieco. 

“Hospital food: practice, social differences and medical theories in the mid Quattrocento,” by Allen J. Grieco 

“Medieval and Renaissance Wines: Dietary Theory and how to choose the ‘Right’ Wine,” by Allen J. Grieco 

(Grieco wrote about food, health, and society so really anything by him. He does a good breakdown in one of his essays on the Great Chain of Being, the humours, class and health. I forget which one though.)

“Plague and the City: Methodological Considerations in Mapping Disease in Early Modern Florence,” by John Henderson and Colin Rose

“Mapping Fear: Plague and Perception in Florence & Tuscany,” by Nicholas A. Eckstein. 

A couple primary sources: 

Anonymous, “A Catalogue of Medicines with their Prices set down by a famous Doctor and Physician for the good of the Nation,” cures for children’s worms, nocturnal emissions, 1685. 

Nicholas Culpeper, “Health for the Rich and Poor Dyet Without Physick,” 1656. 

Jane Sharp (midwife, one of the few whose writings are extant), The Midwives Book 1671.

Roger Bacon, “Of Meats and Drink, Which do More Agreeably Restore the Natural Moisture, that Daily is Consumed,” The Cure of Old Age and the Preservation of Youth, 1683. 

[goingmedieval]

On Medieval Health Care and American Barbarism

As I’ve noted several times, I generally try to ignore whatever is currently passing for ‘governance’ in America at the moment, cuz I just ain’t got the patience, or ability to do all that emotional labour. However, they will keep on doing things that call back to the medieval period, so we’re gonna have to talk about it.

So currently in America, which is defo a first world country and for sure very prosperous and a good place to live, there is some debate about whether or not sick people should be driven into bankruptcy, given the audacity of their instance on being ill. (Have they tried not getting ill? IDK.) 

Some Americans, who are for sure good Christians and well into Jesus, need you to know that no one should be obligated to help sick people pay for medical care. To whit:

How charming.

This idea – that health care is something that requires a) payment, and b) is an individual, not a community, concern is what we’re going to talk about today.

Now, as you may be aware, European medicine was underpinned by the idea of humorism which was central to Hippocratic medicine. Hippocratic medicine itself was developed from the tradition of Greek natural philosophy. Hippocrates, obviously, gave his name to the discipline, but the Hippocratic Corpus – a series of sixty some essays on medicine – was developed by several authors and compiled around 250 BCE. Galen then came along sometime around 129 AD and updated the ideas slightly, and notably had some influence on theories of anatomy and pharmacology, but was still a stan for humor theory.

As the theory went – the body held four humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. These humors, in turn corresponded to the four seasons, the four elements, four temperaments, and four stages of the life cycle like so…

More or less, the idea was that if your humours were balanced you would remain healthy. If something got out of whack, you got sick. To get better you needed to get those humors back into balance. A lot of this idea was based on observation. If you were so sick to your stomach you were vomiting bile it sure did look like you had too much and your body was trying to rid itself of it. Bad cold? Same thing with phlegm.

Medieval medicine took this classical basis and ran with it. Classical medical texts were copied and edited in monasteries and monks also wrote their own works on herbal medicine and botany based off their own observations. As groups of devout Christian men with access to medical knowledge, monks considered it to be their religious obligation to provide medical care for members of their communities. 

As a result, most monasteries ended up having a sort of informal hospital. Because they were actual fucking Christians.

There were a lot of other groups practicing medicine in the medieval period however. Barber surgeons, famously, did a lot of medical work that involved cutting people. Basically if you were able to keep a razor sharp enough to shave someone, odds were it was sharp enough to do minor surgery. Homeboys would do stuff like blood letting, dentistry, looking after soldiers during and after battle, and also keeping your cut fresh AF.

Barbers were medical professionals and for sure got paid. However, the medical services they provided were generally in reach of your average (read: peasant) medieval person. There was also something for the ladiez to do medically – that is look after other ladiez. (Did you know that half of all people in the medieval period were actually women? No for real. I’m serious.)  Midwifery was some real shit, and basically one of very few professional options for individual women at the time. (Fuck yeah the other option was sex work – shout out to my girls.)

Midwives were typically apprenticed at a young age in order to learn the trade, and had to have a reference from their parish priest as to their good character in order to do so. They then learned all about assisting the labour process. Labour was an exclusively female medical event – with men being excluded from the birth chamber. Midwives were certainly professionals, but the great majority of people (again, peasants) could still afford their services.

There were also straight up apothecaries who were sort of like modern day chemists/pharmacists who made drugs and medicines. By the thirteenth century they had their own guilds, and they often worked alongside other medical practitioners in order to establish what drugs should be made or  

There were, of course, also dedicated physicians in the medieval period. There were several schools that taught medicine, including the much-celebrated Salerno, and later Montpellier, which is still in operation.

These institutions trained doctors including the famous Rogerius who wrote a killer book called The Practice of Surgery (Practica Chirurgiae) round about 1180, and also came up with the term ‘lupus’ and Giles de Corbeil who wrote a series of influential medical poems on the urinary tract and pulsology. The university system was making some pretty good advances in medicine, if slowly. People started doing more work with human dissection and learned more about anatomy. (Fun fact – high medieval Europe did not totally ban human dissection, but Pagan Rome did. Bring that up when people say the medieval period was backwards.)

The medical schools were drivers of medical thought and research and the people who trained in them often ended up working for the elite. You had to go to school for years to be licensed, and it wasn’t cheap, so you charged.

That’s where the trouble started.

After the Black Death showed up, people were not too enthused about medical practitioners. If they knew so much, why couldn’t they stop the plague?

 People began cracking down on non-licensed medical practitioners. If these people were actually skilled in terms of medicine then for real, why TF was everyone dying on the regular? Soon laws began to propagate stating that only licensed, i.e. university educated physicians could practice medicine. This fucked shit up.

Suddenly a lot of people who had been offering health care services couldn’t. The barber who pulled out your rotten teeth? Not licensed. Apothecaries who knew everything about how to create drugs? Part of a guild that learned through apprenticeship, not university. The monks who had killer medical libraries, actual running hospitals, and gardens full of medicinal herbs at their disposal? Only educated in the cloister.

It was even worse for women who could not go to university. In the medieval period all students had to take holy orders in order to join university, meaning that they were clergy members, if only for their time in school. Women couldn’t do that. That meant that there was no legal way for midwives to practice, despite the fact that only women were supposed to be involved in the birth of children.

So the ranks of people who could legally provide medical care suddenly dropped. Meanwhile, the only people who could legally provide it needed to see that cash money in order to provide medical care because they made a huge investment of time and money to get where they were. 

In some instances, where you lived also determined whether or not you could get medical care. A trained physician would want to stay where the greatest number of potential (wealthy) clients lived. They, therefore, tended to stay in cities, or revolve around courts where their educational investments paid off. No one was going out to the country side to see to the peasants, you feel me? Moreover, the peasants couldn’t drag themselves off to a monastery for help when they got sick anymore, because monks weren’t supposed to be practicing medicine. There just wasn’t anywhere to go for help. By the early modern period, then, the poor had been stripped of a lot of the options they could exercise before.

All of this helped to create the system that America is experiencing today. Healthcare became a luxury – something that the rich elite had recourse to, and which everyone else had to do without.  It is also a hugely modern ‘system’. No one is compelled by their religion to take care of the sick, despite the fact that America loves to call itself a Christian country. We compel bright young people who want to make money to go to med school, because there is a huge financial incentive. Being a medical doctor gets you paid. We do not tell them they have a responsibility to treat the sick when they are trained.

This health care system also routinely marginalises people who provide medical care but are not physicians, in particular those who are providing medical care in one of the traditionally ‘feminine’ roles. Nurses and midwives have much much more patient contact than doctors do, but are paid nowhere near as much. Hell, in America you might be paying out the nose for medical care and only ever see a nurse practitioner anyway, such are the vagaries of for-profit healthcare. So the nurse-practitioner ain’t getting paid, but you are still paying, and somehow all of this is fine and good.

None of this is to say that medical practitioners shouldn’t be paid for their services.  It’s a hard job. You have to learn a lot. In the UK we really treat our junior doctors terribly and they deserve so much more. In the medieval period people still managed to treat people at all levels of society and still make a good living. The people who could afford to give away free health care in the medieval period (monks) had really comfortable life styles. The lower-level practitioners like barbers and midwives made their living on volume. There were options for patients and practitioners to enhance their quality of life.

Overall, then, while medicine has moved on from the medieval period and is much more effective – the healthcare options that many people in America have are actually much worse in comparison to what was available seven hundred years ago.

Perhaps even more distressing for enthusiasts of using ‘medieval’ to mean bad (which you should never do), is that America is a less caring society than Europe in the year 1300. Medieval Europeans were subject to strict class systems, many were unfree, and most lived lives of grinding poverty and work. Most people weren’t allowed to move down the road if they wanted to - but they were still considered deserving of health care.

Tell me one more time who the barbarians are.

[berserk-confessions]

A post made as an answer of some Berserk confessions seen on this Tumblr (which is quite nice…Thank you creators). It would be good that people stop to use Ad Hominem attacks (No i am not aroused by the rape of Caska. No I do not feel insecure about my manhood reading those pages…which I skip when I go for a guilty round of Berserk indulgence) against people who see there is a problem in the way the rape of Caska is pictured (in the manga and the following adaptations in anime) and wonder if it has to be understood as Caska feels pleasure while being raped by Griffith reborn during the eclipse. I think most of the Berserk’s fans forgot that it is not only about the topic but how a topic is treated in a media or by an artist that matters. Yet they shouldn’t forgot that the way an artist treats a topic, is not necessarily a hint to the artist’s opinion or psyche.

In fact, regarding how good Miura is at his art, I would say that the ambiguity is perfectly intentional (And there a lot of ambiguities in Berserk). Plus, such theory fits the universe of Berserk and the psychology of the involved characters. Then, it fits the media subculture of many Japanese young men (manga, anime, novels, movies with rape porn) who are also the demographic for Berserk. It fits a part of Japanese sub-culture (modern, ancient?) where women never show their lust but their body will respond to the sexual stimulus against their will. It could refers to the downfall of a warrior maiden (Japanese figure) as Caska to a dirty woman once she had sex with Guts (Strangely after she became a much weaker, moody, sexualized, useless character). Also, it could refer to the  reality of the usage of rape as a subtle weapon of dominance. It could only be the commercial reason to target the demographic or an inherent reason to the story or both. Or the unfortunate fact that Miura draws a rape scene of a female such as normal porn manga (In the Qliphoth, women raped by trolls are also staged like they just have a sex party…Seriously…?).

Fans forgot that Berserk is before and after all a Seinen manga, set in European Medieval inspired universe because Miura likes it (and maybe because it could have been original at that time). Berserk is simply a manga, something made to be read like for entertainment…as beautiful, thrilling, intriguing or emotional it is…it is not an essay. Miura did and does an amazing work on his art and the story so far (although there are quite some incoherencies)…yet there was (because now the Berserk phenomenon goes beyond Japan) a demographic, a sale target, a crowd to please…and yes Miura does a bit whatever he wants to…as extreme it is, especially now with his weight in matters of business but…Remember Toriyama.

Personally, I find the rape scene too long, borderline rape porn used in the Japanese media industry. It is strangely staged by Miura who really knows how to treat such scene with decency (E.g. : The rape of Guts, the prostitution of Griffith). I remember it being boring after 2 pages…because we just want Guts to fuck the face of Griffith à la Kenshiro, Hokuto style! And as the way it started…fully hardcore…I do not need more to understand that it shall be a terrible experience for Caska and Guts…yet there are panels where obviously there is something wrong…for sure not a rape of defenseless woman by a psychotic asshole in the depth of Hell…

Now, if someone find any proof from Miura to contradict this theory…and not from fans blindly in love with Berserk as a kind of bible…I will be glad to read you. Strangely even the last   anime movies (and I am sure that Miura has his saying in those) were quite explicit about Caska moaning like she was pleasured…by Griffith (Oh and the blood from the vagina is obviously something very Japanese…)

Now, if I wanted to use a counter Ad hominem, I would say that many of those who use such defense to disprove the theory of the ambiguity of the rape scene are actually the one who could read the whole thing… one or many times, feeling sorry and yet (as quoted by some fans of Berserk) couldn’t stop reading the 13 or 20 pages of rape fantasy in a kind of morbid voyeurism…Fans, it is a manga, you can just skip the pages.

[therandombanjo]

Songs From 2018 (one per artist)

Another mixed bag of stuff i either enjoyed a lot, thought was excellent or interesting (regardless of taste… sort of), emerging artists to maybe look out for, and generally music that for whatever reason connected with me in some way, including the odd earworm i just couldn’t shake. Hope you enjoy some of this too and find something new to be taken by. There’s a spotify playlist (below) for easier listening but for the music that wasn’t on there, i’ve posted links next to them so do check them out! Spotify:

(As ever…. as i don’t tumblr or blog or anything (besides this list), this won’t be seen by many (if any?) people so if you like it or think it’s of any worth in any way, please do share this along)

In Alphabetical order:

The 1975 - Love It If We Made It

700 Bliss - Ring The Alarm         (Moor Mother & DJ Haram collab)  

Advance Base - Your Dog      (Owen Ashworth is a longtime favourite and always love what he puts out. Such a gifted lyricist and such an empathetic deliverer, just always cutting deep, just always sounding uniquely him. The records & artists he’s putting out on his Orindal footprint are really impressive too - Julie Byrne, Gia Margaret, Dear Nora - so do keep an eye out on those releases)

Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert - Quantum Theory Love Song

Alasdair Roberts w/ Amble Skuse & David McGuiness - a. The Fair Flower of Northumberland b. Johnny O’the Brine (One of my favourite records this year, a quietly inventive old folk beaut from one of my favourite singers on earth. Included two as a. exemplifies his singing that i love so much and b. better highlights the inventiveness of the record)

Alison Cotton - All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre

Amen Dunes - Miki Dora

Anderson .Paak - 6 Summers

Angelique Kidjo - Once In A Lifetime        (From her complete re-imagining of the Talking Heads classic Remain In Light record, with all her Benin spirit infused)

Anna & Elizabeth - Mother In The Graveyard

Anna Calvi - As A Man

Aphex Twin - T69 Collapse

Aqueduct Ensemble - Cut Grass I

Arctic Monkeys - Four Out Of Five        

Armand Hammer - Alternate Side Parking       (Elucid & Billy Woods)

Arp - Reading a Wave

audiobooks - Call of Duty Free

Barry Walker - Late Heavy Bombardment

Beach House - Dive

Ben Vince - What I Can See     ft. Micachu

Big Red Machine - Forest Green          (Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) & Aaron Dessner (The National) project. I’m likely never not gonna be into Justin’s work, he’s always stretching himself with virtually no regard to expectation and always finding interesting and new spaces)

Birds Of Passage - Another Thousand Eyes

Black Midi - bmbmbm      (Heard about them non-stop all year, about being this incredible live band, and all teenagers, so been intrigued for quite some time. Virtually no online presence, remaining somewhat mysterious, and only a couple of pieces to go by, but curious to see what’s coming from them) https://soundcloud.com/speedywunderground/sw024-black-midi-bmbmbm

Blocks & Escher - One Touch     

Blood Orange - Saint

Bodega - Name Escape

Bonny Doon - I Am Here (I Am Alive)       

Bruce - Elo

Capitol K - Fennel Dance

Cat Power - Stay

Channel Tres - Controller

Chris Carter - Cernubicua

Christina Vantzou - Some Limited and Waning Memory

Christine & the Queens - 5 Dollars

Colter Wall - Wild Dogs

Cool Maritime - Mossage

Cornelia Murr - Man On My Mind

Courtney Marie Andrews - May Your Kindness Remain

Damien Jurado - The Last Great Washington State

Daniel Avery - Slow Fade

Daughters - Long Road, No Turns

David Thomas Broughton - Drifting Snow       (An old, unreleased recording lying around, brought out as a seasonal single, and i think it’s beautiful. My favourite live performer, and i would encourage anyone who sees this to check him out both on record and if he's ever in a town near you.) https://davidthomasbroughton.bandcamp.com/track/drifting-snow-seasonal-single

The Dead Tongues - Pale November Dew

Dear Nora - Simulation Feels       (12 years away, and back after renewed interest in their re-issued Mountain Rock LP last year courtesy of Owen Ashworth’s (Advance Base) Orindal Records)

Deux Trois - Roy

DJ Koze - Muddy Funster     ft. Kurt Wagner       (It’s probably fair that “Pick Up” is the best song on the record, but I’m a sucker for Kurt so liked this one a lot too)

Dolphin Midwives - Mirror

Doug Paisley - Drinking With a Friend

Drinks - Real Outside

Durand Jones & The Indications - Don’t You Know

Earl Sweatshirt - Nowhere2go

Earth Eater - Inclined

Emily Fairlight - Body Below      

Empress Of - When I’m With Him

Eric Chenaux - Wild Moon      (Most likely my favourite record from this year, if not any it feels right now. I’m fully begulied by it. Fair play to you if you recognize the sounds you hear as a guitar!)

Erin Rae - Bad Mind      

Erland Cooper - Solan Goose

Ezra Furman - Suck The Blood From My Wound

Fatoumata Diawara - Kanou Dan Yen

Field Report - Every Time

Flasher - Who’s Got Time?

Frog Eyes - Pay For Hire

Fucked Up - a. Normal People or b. Came Down Wrong   ft. Jennifer Castle & J Mascis

Gabe Gurnsey - Ultra Clear Sound

Georgia Anne Muldrow - Blam

Gia Margaret - Groceries     (Wonderful debut on Orindal)

Glenn Jones - The Giant Who Ate Himself

Grouper - Driving

Hailu Mergia - Tizita

Haley Heynderickx - Oom Sha La La

Hatchie - Sure

Helena Hauff - Hyper-Intelligent Genetically Enriched Cyborg

Hen Ogledd - Etheldreda       (The great Richard Dawson’s experimental group, connecting the ancient/medieval with the present in a way that definitely rewards with more listens)

Hermit & The Recluse - Sirens       (New project from the rapper Ka, who continues to fascinate, with producer Animoss. This time the concept record combining his personal street stories with Greek mythology, with Orpheus vs The Sirens)

Hilary Woods - Kith

Homeboy Sandman & Edan - #NeverUseTheInternetAgain       (Nice to hear Edan once again after so long, and especially with a favourite of mine in Homeboy Sandman)

Ian William Craig - Discovered In Flat

Idles - Danny Nedelko         (Probably my favourite song of the year, and one of the most beautiful, impassioned & dearly needed statements of love & community we need right now. The video moved me to damned tears, it’s so beautiful)

The Innocence Mission - Green Bus

Institute of Landscape Architecture - Melting Landscapes       (field recordings documenting Alpine glaciers and their changing landscape) https://landscapearchitecture.bandcamp.com/releases

James Blake - If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead

Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel

Jean Grae & Quelle Chris - Gold Purple Orange

Jeff Tweedy - I Know What It’s Like

Jennifer Castle - Tomorrow’s Mourning

Jenny Hval - Sleep

Jeremy Dutcher - Mehcinut

Jerry David DiCicca - Watermelon

Jessica Pratt - This Time Around         (Massive fan of Jessica and this is without doubt one of my absolute favourite songs this year)

JFDR - My Work (String Version/Live)

John Prine - Summer’s End

Jon Hopkins - Emerald Rush

Joseph Shabason - Forest Run       (From his 2nd record, Anne, a touching record on his mother’s Parkinson’s Disease featuring interviews with her over his ambient, sax-effected work)

JPEGMAFIA - 1539 N. Calvert

Julia Holter - I Shall Love 2

Julia Jacklin - Head Alone

Kacey Musgraves - Slow Burn       (I was late to this record, but i may have listened to it more than any other come December-time.)

Kadhja Bonet - Delphine

Kamasi Washington - Fists of Fury

Kathryn Joseph - From When I Wake The Want Is

Kelsey Lu - Shades Of Blue

Khruangbin - Maria También

Kim Petras - Heart To Break       (There’s actually a chance this is my favourite song of the year)

Kurt Vile - Bassackwards

Lambchop - The December-ish You

Landless - The Trees They Grow Tall

Laura Cannell & André Bosman - Golden Lanes At Dusk

Laurence Pike - Life Hacks

Leikeli47 - Girl Blunt

Let’s Eat Grandma - Falling Into Me

Lisa O’Neil - Factory Girl [trad]        

Lizzo - Boys

Lonnie Holley - I Woke Up In A Fucked-Up America

Louis Cole - Real Life     ft. Brad Mehldau      

Low - Quorum

Lucinda Chua - Whatever It Takes      (experimental cellist & composer who, as well as making expansive, looped soundscapes, also writes and sings in an equally spellbinding fashion)

Lucy Dacus - Night Shift

LUMP - May I Be The Light        (Laura Marling & Tuung’s Mike Lindsay collab)

Maarja Nuut & Ruum - Kuud Kuulama

Maggie Rogers - Fallingwater

Makaya McCraven - Butterss’s

Malibu Ken - Acid King           (Aesop Rock & Tobacco collab)

Marie Davidson - Work It         

Marisa Anderson - Cloud Corner

Mary Lattimore - It Feels Like Floating

Maxine Funke - a. Boy On The Bow or b. One Step a. https://maxinefunke1.bandcamp.com/track/boy-on-the-bow b. https://maxinefunke1.bandcamp.com/track/one-step

Mich Cota - Kijà/Care                (Two-spirit Canadian Algonquin artist who, after seeing her supporting Baby Dee at Cafe Oto very recently, had me excited for the bangers to come!)

Michael Nau - Funny Wind

Milo - Stet

Miss Red - Dagga

Mitski - Nobody

Moses Sumney - Rank and File

Moulay Ahmed El Hassani - Yak Ennas Mlklil Darou Labas 

Mount Eerie - Tintin In Tibet      

Mountain Man - Rang Tang Ring Toon      (8 years since their last record, and so good to hear their harmonies once again. Ever as beautiful and transportive, but this time more wiser. It’s a really lovely record and such a needed balm)

Nap Eyes - Every Time The Feeling

Nathan Bowles - Now If You Remember          (Didn’t know this was a cover, originally by Julie Tippetts, but it lodged itself in my head pretty good. Aquarium Drunkard rightly suggested an album or two back that, if Banjo Futurism is a thing then Nathan Bowles would likely be leading the pack. The remainder of this record definitely reflects that)

Nathan Salsburg - Impossible Air

The Necks - Body https://thenecksau.bandcamp.com/album/body

Neko Case - Hell-On

Nils Frahm - My Friend The Forest

Noname - Ace       ft. Saba & Smino

Nostrum Grocers - ‘98 gewehr         (Milo & Elucid collab)

Oliver Coates - A Church

The Orielles - Bobbi’s Second World

The Other Years - Red-Tailed Hawk

Ought - Desire

Our Native Daughters - Mama’s Cryin’ Long      (New group project with Rhiannon Giddens, of Carolina Chocolate Drops, inspired by New World slave narratives and reclaiming/restoring black women’s stories)

Panda Bear - Dolphin

Parquet Courts - Wide Awake

Penelope Trappes - Burn On

Peter Broderick - Words Of Love       (An unreleased Arthur Russell song Peter got to record after befriending friends and family of the great man. Part of a free album Peter released of Arthur Russell covers at Christmas featuring one other unreleased song. Do check it, it’s lovely)

Phosphorescent - Christmas Down Under        (I could pick many from this record, but the sci-fi-like presence in the vocals gives it a strangeness and position i really loved)

Preoccupations - Espionage

Pusha T - Come Back Baby

Richard Swift - Broken Finger Blues        (Such a dear and sad loss. I actually included this song a few years ago when Aquarium Drunkard featured it, so feel like i should select a different one from this most-recent record.... but dammit if it doesn’t highlight the very best of Swift’s talents).

Richmond Fontaine - Horses In Las Vegas https://richmondfontaine.bandcamp.com/track/horses-in-las-vegas

Robby Hecht & Caroline Spence - Over You

Rocheman - Parades I & II        (Caught/discovered Rocheman supporting Jenny Hval earlier this year in a church, and was really into it so I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes from here)

Rosali - I Wanna Know

Rosalía - Pienso en Tu Mirá

Rosanne Cash - She Remembers Everything

Roy Montgomery - Outsider Love Ballad No. 1   ft. Katie Von Schleicher

Saba - Life

Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes - BOA

Sam Lee & Peter Wiegold - Rambling Boys

Sandro Perri - In Another Life 

Sarah Davachi - Third Hour

Sarah Louise - Bowman’s Root

The Scorpios - Mashena

The Sea & Cake - Any Day

Seabuckthorn - Disentangled

Seán Mac Erlaine - Cotter’s Dream

Serpentwithfeet - Bless Ur Heart

Shad - Magic    ft. Lido Pimienta

Shannon & The Clams - The Boy

Shit & Shine - You Were Very High

Sidi Touré - Djirbi Mardjie

Sidney Gish - I Eat Salads Now

Snail Mail - Heat Wave

SOB x RBE - Paid In Full

Soccer Mommy - Your Dog

Sons of Kemet - My Queen Is Harriet Tubman

Sophie Hunger - I Opened A Bar

Sophie Hutchings - Repose

Sorry GIrls - Waking Up

Sourakata Koita - Ha-Madi     (I don’t usually include too many - if any - reissues, but i love kora music and this record, “en Hollande” (’84), was a great discovery this year)

Stella Donnelly - Boys Will Be Boys      (I was sure i had this in last year’s list when it was a single, but appears not so including it now with the album release).

Steven A. Clark - Feel This Way

Suuns - Make it Real

Swamp Dogg - Answer Me, My Love

Szun Waves - Constellation

Terje Isungset - Blue Horizon     ft. Maria Skranes   (all the music is played by intruments made of ice)

Theo Alexander - Matter of Balance

Tierra Whack - Black Nails or Hungry Hippo      (A record of 15 one-minute tracks, full of ideas and all kinds of fun. Check out the “Whack World” short film for the record) 

Tim Hecker - Keyed Out

Tinashe - Throw A Fit     (Came across this song randomly via a Youtube video of dancer Jojo Gomez, and the attitude of it all just kind of thrilled me)

Tirzah - Gladly

Toby Hay - Bears Dance

Tom Demac & Real Lies - White Flowers

Tomberlin - Seventeen

Tracey Thorn - Queen

Tracyanne & Danny - It Can’t Be Love Unless It Hurts    (I think, actually, that Jacqueline off the record would edge my choice here, but i needed a little more Tracyanne (Camera Obscura) in here to highlight the two of them)

Tropical Fuck Storm - You Let My Tyres Down     (Aussie band made up of various Aussie bands, most recognizably Gareth Liddiard of The Drones, with an excellent debut record “A Laughing Death In Meatspace” that along with their name fits the music on this record. It’s acerbic, feral, sardonic, and plain great)

Ty Segall - Every 1′s A Winner        (Just an absolute killer Hot Chocolate cover, of all things!)

Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton - Heron Dance

Valee - Womp Womp     ft. Jeremih

Valotihkuu - Walking Through Dew Drops On The Lawn

Vera Sola - Small Minds

Vince Staples - FUN!

Virginia Wing - The Second Shift

Witch Project - Manifest

Womans Hour - Don’t Speak       (So great to hear them finally return)

Wooden Shjips - Red Line

Y La Bamba - Mujeres

Yo La Tengo - a. You Are Here and b. Ashes

Yoshinori Hayashi - Overflow

Zilla With Her Eyes Shut - Whatever It Is

[dannydare17]

The Real Dracula: Vlad the ImpalerBy Marc Lallanilla, Live Science Contributor | 

Few names have cast more terror into the human heart than Dracula. The legendary vampire, created by author Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel of the same name, has inspired countless horror movies, television shows and other bloodcurdling tales of vampires.

Though Dracula is a purely fictional creation, Stoker named his infamous character after a real person who happened to have a taste for blood: Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or — as he is better known — Vlad the Impaler. The morbid nickname is a testament to the Wallachian prince's favorite way of dispensing with his enemies.

But other than having the same name, the two Draculas don't really have much in common, according to historians who have studied the link between Stoker's vampire count and Vlad III.

The real Dracula

By most accounts, Vlad III was born in 1431 in what is now Transylvania, the central region of modern-day Romania. However, the link between Vlad the Impaler and Transylvania is tenuous, according to Florin Curta, a professor of medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida.

"[Stoker's] Dracula is linked to Transylvania, but the real, historic Dracula — Vlad III — never owned anything in Transylvania," Curta told Live Science. Bran Castle, a modern-day tourist attraction in Transylvania that is often referred to as Dracula's castle, was never the residence of the Wallachian prince, he added.

"Because the castle is in the mountains in this foggy area and it looks spooky, it's what one would expect of Dracula's castle," Curta said. "But he [Vlad III] never lived there. He never even stepped foot there."

Vlad III's father, Vlad II, did own a residence in Sighişoara, Transylvania, but it is not certain that Vlad III was born there, according to Curta. It's also possible, he said, that Vlad the Impaler was born in Târgovişte, which was at that time the royal seat of the principality of Wallachia, where his father was a "voivode," or ruler.

It is possible for tourists to visit one castle where Vlad III certainly spent time. At about age 12, Vlad III and his brother were imprisoned in Turkey. In 2014, archaeologists found the likely location of the dungeon, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Tokat Castle is located in northern Turkey. It is an eerie place with secret tunnels and dungeons that is currently under restoration and open to the public.

Order of the Dragon

In 1431, King Sigismund of Hungary, who would later become the Holy Roman Emperor, inducted the elder Vlad into a knightly order, the Order of the Dragon. This designation earned Vlad II a new surname: Dracul. The name came from the old Romanian word for dragon, "drac." His son, Vlad III, would later be known as the "son of Dracul" or, in old Romanian, Drăculea, hence Dracula. In modern Romanian, the word "drac" refers to another feared creature — the devil, Curta said.

According to "Dracula: Sense and Nonsense" by Elizabeth Miller, in 1890 Stoker read a book about Wallachia. Although it did not mention Vlad III, Stoker was struck by the word "Dracula." He wrote in his notes, "in Wallachian language means DEVIL." It is therefore likely that Stoker chose to name his character Dracula for the word's devilish associations.

The theory that Vlad III and Dracula were the same person was developed and popularized by historians Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally in their 1972 book "In Search of Dracula." Though far from accepted by all historians, the thesis took hold of the public imagination, according to The New York Times.

The Order of the Dragon was devoted to a singular task: the defeat of the Turkish, or Ottoman Empire. Situated between Christian Europe and the Muslim lands of the Ottoman Empire, Vlad II's (and later Vlad III's) home principality of Wallachia was frequently the scene of bloody battles as Ottoman forces pushed westward into Europe, and Christian forces repulsed the invaders.

Years of captivity

When Vlad II was called to a diplomatic meeting in 1442 with Ottoman Sultan Murad II, he brought his young sons Vlad III and Radu along. But the meeting was actually a trap: All three were arrested and held hostage. The elder Vlad was released under the condition that he leave his sons behind.

"The sultan held Vlad and his brother as hostages to ensure that their father, Vlad II, behaved himself in the ongoing war between Turkey and Hungary," said Miller, a research historian and professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.

Under the Ottomans, Vlad and his younger brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts. Vlad also became a skilled horseman and warrior, according to Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally, former professors of history at Boston College, who wrote several books about Vlad III — as well as his alleged connection to Stoker's Dracula — in the 1970s and 1980s.

"They were treated reasonably well by the current standards of the time," Miller said. "Still, [captivity] irked Vlad, whereas his brother sort of acquiesced and went over on the Turkish side. But Vlad held enmity, and I think it was one of his motivating factors for fighting the Turks: to get even with them for having held him captive."

Vlad the Prince

While Vlad and Radu were in Ottoman hands, Vlad's father was fighting to keep his place as voivode of Wallachia, a fight he would eventually lose. In 1447, Vlad II was ousted as ruler of Wallachia by local noblemen (boyars) and was killed in the swamps near Bălteni, halfway between Târgovişte and Bucharest in present-day Romania. Vlad's older half-brother, Mircea, was killed alongside his father.

Not long after these harrowing events, in 1448, Vlad embarked on a campaign to regain his father's seat from the new ruler, Vladislav II. His first attempt at the throne relied on the military support of the Ottoman governors of the cities along the Danube River in northern Bulgaria, according to Curta. Vlad also took advantage of the fact that Vladislav was absent at the time, having gone to the Balkans to fight the Ottomans for the governor of Hungary at the time, John Hunyadi.

Vlad won back his father's seat, but his time as ruler of Wallachia was short-lived. He was deposed after only two months, when Vladislav II returned and took back the throne of Wallachia with the assistance of Hunyadi, according to Curta.

Little is known about Vlad III's whereabouts between 1448 and 1456. But it is known that he switched sides in the Ottoman-Hungarian conflict, giving up his ties with the Ottoman governors of the Danube cities and obtaining military support from King Ladislaus V of Hungary, who happened to dislike Vlad's rival — Vladislav II of Wallachia — according to Curta.

Vlad III's political and military tack truly came to the forefront amid the fall of Constantinople in 1453. After the fall, the Ottomans were in a position to invade all of Europe. Vlad, who had already solidified his anti-Ottoman position, was proclaimed voivode of Wallachia in 1456. One of his first orders of business in his new role was to stop paying an annual tribute to the Ottoman sultan — a measure that had formerly ensured peace between Wallachia and the Ottomans.

Vlad the Impaler

To consolidate his power as voivode, Vlad needed to quell the incessant conflicts that had historically taken place between Wallachia's boyars. According to legends that circulated after his death, Vlad invited hundreds of these boyars to a banquet and — knowing they would challenge his authority — had his guests stabbed and their still-twitching bodies impaled on spikes.

This is just one of many gruesome events that earned Vlad his posthumous nickname, Vlad the Impaler. This story — and others like it — is documented in printed material from around the time of Vlad III's rule, according to Miller.

"In the 1460s and 1470s, just after the invention of the printing press, a lot of these stories about Vlad were circulating orally, and then they were put together by different individuals in pamphlets and printed," Miller said.

Whether or not these stories are wholly true or significantly embellished is debatable, Miller added. After all, many of those printing the pamphlets were hostile to Vlad III. But some of the pamphlets from this time tell almost the exact same gruesome stories about Vlad, leading Miller to believe that the tales are at least partially historically accurate. Some of these legends were also collected and published in a book, "The Tale of Dracula," in 1490, by a monk who presented Vlad III as a fierce, but just ruler.

Vlad is credited with impaling dozens of Saxon merchants in Kronstadt (present-day Braşov, Romania), who were once allied with the boyars, in 1456. Around the same time, a group of Ottoman envoys allegedly had an audience with Vlad but declined to remove their turbans, citing a religious custom. Commending them on their religious devotion, Vlad ensured that their turbans would forever remain on their heads by reportedly having the head coverings nailed to their skulls.

"After Mehmet II — the one who conquered Constantinople — invaded Wallachia in 1462, he actually was able to go all the way to Wallachia's capital city of Târgoviște but found it deserted. And in front of the capital he found the bodies of the Ottoman prisoners of war that Vlad had taken — all impaled," Curta said.

Vlad's victories over the invading Ottomans were celebrated throughout Wallachia, Transylvania and the rest of Europe — even Pope Pius II was impressed.

"The reason he's a positive character in Romania is because he is reputed to have been a just, though a very harsh, ruler," Curta said.

Vlad's death

Not long after the impalement of Ottoman prisoners of war, in August 1462, Vlad was forced into exile in Hungary, unable to defeat his much more powerful adversary, Mehmet II. Vlad was imprisoned for a number of years during his exile, though during that same time he married and had two children.

Vlad's younger brother, Radu, who had sided with the Ottomans during the ongoing military campaigns, took over governance of Wallachia after his brother's imprisonment. But after Radu's death in 1475, local boyars, as well as the rulers of several nearby principalities, favored Vlad's return to power.

In 1476, with the support of the voivode of Moldavia, Stephen III the Great (1457-1504), Vlad made one last effort to reclaim his seat as ruler of Wallachia. He successfully stole back the throne, but his triumph was short-lived. Later that year, while marching to yet another battle with the Ottomans, Vlad and a small vanguard of soldiers were ambushed, and Vlad was killed.

There is much controversy over the location of Vlad III's tomb. It is said he was buried in the monastery church in Snagov, on the northern edge of the modern city of Bucharest, in accordance with the traditions of his time. But recently, historians have questioned whether Vlad might actually be buried at the Monastery of Comana, between Bucharest and the Danube, which is close to the presumed location of the battle in which Vlad was killed, according to Curta.

One thing is for certain, however: unlike Stoker's Count Dracula, Vlad III most definitely did die. Only the harrowing tales of his years as ruler of Wallachia remain to haunt the modern world

[renegaderoots]

BASIC INFORMATION

♚┋FULL NAME: Theodor De Vries ♚┋PRONUNCIATION: Theo-dor (German pronunciation) ♚┋NICKNAME(S): Teddy, Theo ♚┋TITLE: The Gargoyle  ♚┋OCCUPATION: shop owner / contract killer  ♚┋~AGE: 36 ♚┋DATE OF BIRTH: 15 August ♚┋GENDER: Cisgender ♚┋PRONOUNS: He/Him/his ♚┋ORIENTATION: Homoromantic Demisexual  ♚┋NATIONALITY: German  ♚┋RELIGION: the best to describe it would be...a religious atheist?  ♚┋SPECIES: Human ♚┋AFFILIATION: technically, his son. Realistically, the Morrison family. ♚┋GENERATION: third  ♚┋THREAT LEVEL: for somebody born to be a vicious killer willing to fight dirty, Espen’s threat level is low. He isn’t aggressive or malicious, nor does he take any pleasure in violence. 

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

♚┋FACE CLAIM: André Hamann / Chris Hemsworth  ♚┋EYE COLOUR: Green ♚┋HAIR COLOUR: dark blonde  ♚┋DOMINANT HAND: ambidextrous  ♚┋HEIGHT: 184 centimeters or 6′0 ♚┋WEIGHT: 158 lbs ♚┋TATTOOS: Just...too many to possibly list. Think up every imaginable gothic cliché in existence and you’ll probably find it somewhere on his body - along with a cupcake on his left butt cheek because he’s an idiot.  ♚┋SCARS: predominantly burn scars. ♚┋PIERCINGS: snakebites  ♚┋GLASSES: in theory, yes, but the lazy bastard doesn’t even know how to put on two matching socks so, like, what do you expect here?

PSYCHOLOGY INFORMATION

♚┋JUNG TYPE: ISTP ♚┋SUBTYPE: Logical ♚┋ENNEATYPE: 7w8 ♚┋MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral ♚┋TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine/Choleric ♚┋SCHEMA: VH, SI, NP ♚┋INTELLIGENCE TYPE: Visual-Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Logical-mathematical  ♚┋~IQ: 132 ♚┋NEUROTYPE:  Unsure as of yet.  ♚┋AT RISK? Well, I mean, solely based on environmental factors, there’d be ample reason to believe he may be at risk. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

♚┋HOMETOWN: Cologne, Germany ♚┋CURRENT: Dublin, Ireland ♚┋LANGUAGE(S): German (mother tongue), Dutch (native speaker level), Irish (lower-intermediate level) ♚┋SOCIAL CLASS: upper middle class ♚┋DEGREE: Master’s degree ♚┋SUBJECT(S): Forensic nursing  ♚┋PARENT #1: Gerrit De Vries, deceased ♚┋PARENT #2: Beatrice De Vries neé Hoffmann, deceased ♚┋SIBLING(S): Lena De Vries, deceased, Alexander De Vries, deceased ♚┋MAIN SHIP: Espen/Sam (bromance) ♚┋RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single ♚┋CHILDREN: Oliver De Vries, alive, three years  ♚┋PET(S): none ♚┋ADOPTED? Yes. After his parents’ death, Espen was adopted by his paternal grandfather.  ♚┋RAP SHEET? Nothing yet. ♚┋PRISON TIME? Not yet. 

VICES / HABITS

♚┋SMOKES? like a chimney.  ♚┋DRINKS?  Yes. ♚┋DOES DRUGS?  Used to, yes. Stimulants (i.e. ecstasy) and hallucinogens like LSD ♚┋IS VIOLENT? Not at all, ironically enough. This is so hard to believe because Espen’s family consisted primarily of criminals, including former intelligence agents, one might be quick to falsely assume that their natures - violent, predominantly - are irrevocably ingrained in his being; but this couldn’t be further from the truth. If at all necessary, Espen will only react defensively, thus defending himself physically, when there’s no other way.  ♚┋HAS AN ADDICTION? Not anymore.  ♚┋IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE? Yes. ♚┋HABITS: perpetually confused about what clothes are - likes to walk around his flat completely nude. Unsurprisingly, he also sleeps without any clothes on. Cannot sit on chairs like normal people. Hello bad blood circulation.  ♚┋HOBBIES: sewing, alternative fashion, taxidermy, reading (mostly Gothic literature because he’s extra like that), taking care of baby bats, vblogging, weaponry, medieval history, travelling around the world to visit castles, tarot card reading, make up (both theater and alternative), book reviews on youtube, gaming ♚┋TICS: grunting (especially when stressed or extremely anxious. It’s happened before that that’s all he does while he completely shuts down normal communication.)  ♚┋OBSESSION(S): none ♚┋COMPULSION(S): has to arrange food a certain way on his plate lest he won’t eat it 

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

♚┋HOUSE: Gryffindor  ♚┋VICE: Wrath ♚┋VIRTUE: Temperance ♚┋ELEMENT: Fire ♚┋ANGEL: Uriel  ♚┋MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE: Vampire ♚┋ANIMAL: black cat  ♚┋MUTATION: time manipulation  ♚┋WOULD SURVIVE POST-APOC? No. Sadly, he has morals. 

STATUS INFORMATION

♚┋DEVELOPMENT: Semi-developed ♚┋SHIPPING: Shiplocked. Not to a particular ship, mind you, but because of Espen’s background and personality, it would be ooc for him to commit to multiple ships (even if they’re regarded separately).  ♚┋VERSE: Multiverse ♚┋VERSE TYPE: crime, slice of life ♚┋CANON: crime ♚┋PLOTTING: open  ♚┋CREATION DATE: August 2017

CHARACTER SUMMARY

After five minutes, you’ll have no better descriptor for Espen other than fucking weird – and rightfully so. Everything from his demeanor down to his most perfunctory mannerisms, the man defies social conventions without even trying all that hard. Raised to patch up his mother’s career as a discharged intelligence agent, Espen grew up isolated from his peers, trained and groomed mostly and certainly not treated like a son. Eventually, their renegade ways caught up with them; the result being murder in the first degree. Following these events, he was adopted by his paternal grandfather and Theo became Espen. All tragedies aside, his golden heart and warm eyes give away his personality at first glance. There’s compassion in his actions that shouldn’t be feasible given that his body count is heavy. Now that there’s another life in the picture, namely his kid, Espen is determined to find the exeunt to his tragedy. Good morals and good character, unfortunately, don’t mean shit when you’re indebted to a crime cartel.

APPEARANCE DESCRIPTION

Physically, the guy is average and contrary to what one might believe, he doesn’t really stick out from the crowd save for his colorful sleeve tattoos. Standing 6’0 tall, Espen isn’t exactly a frightening, towering figure either. How he manages to stay fit with the serious sweet tooth that he has is a mystery, but his build is, without doubt, rather muscular. His accent is quite a minuscular detail yet, still, a faint German accent can be heard. What will certainly turn some heads, however, is his clothing. True to his decade-old fondness for the Goth subculture, you won’t ever see him wearing anything that isn’t various shades of black. When he can be bothered to dress up, Espen likes to wear a combination of Edwardian and Trad Goth attire, though the classic ’90 aesthetic of the vampire is also something he wears daily. Due to his appearance, his demeanor is key and he knows this. You can’t just be withdrawn or aloof looking like him, so he goes out of his way to be kind and courteous – especially towards elder people.  Since his wardrobe is black and then black, his light brown hair and green eyes are accentuated even moreso, his look always attentive. And when you’re close enough to him, you will smell a few drops of a vintage perfume for women, namely Guerlain Shalimar; a coveted assortment of vanilla, tonka beans and castoreum musk.  

PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION

Espen is the pinnacle of wasted brilliance and proof, as he says, that one’s IQ is relative if there’s not a grain of ambition in your body. That’s pretty much his lot in life; a double-edged sword, if you will, with which he has accidentally stabbed himself more than once. His intelligence is only outmatched by how much of a fucking sloth he is. He’s Snorlax personified, essentially, and if nobody actively pestered him to be productive, the guy would probably just suffocate in his own filth. As the common genius stereotype would suggest, Espen is emotionally inhibited and socially inept, unable to function in social settings. This, while somewhat true, isn’t entirely accurate either. Sure, his tact is less than ready to tango and he often comes across as remorselessly crude because he has only a rudimentary grasp on what is socially acceptable. Simultaneously, however, he is not content to just build a wall of silence around him. No, Espen tries his best to tune in to what others are partial towards, reacting accordingly. There’s also always a kernel of humor in his interactions, one that might imply he doesn’t take anything seriously. Because if he does, it matters. Be that as it may, a cold, malicious asshole he is not. He could be; would have enough reason to be – yet he is not if his numerous flaws can be reined in. Even his humoristic take on pessimism is charming. He’s the type of person who knows his odds, yet still does the thing to crack others up. In contrast to this, though, Espen isn’t idealistic – he knows the world is a shithole. Often a devil’s advocate and a complete shut-in when stress hits him, emotions still make him feel insecure and incompetent – every emotional response might be the wrong one, after all.

SKILLS / COMPETENCES

Espen doesn’t really care for languages, yet can communicate on native speaker level in three languages – English, Dutch, German. Where he really shines is his creativity and fashion sense. He loves giving baby bats fashion advice, quickly one to offer help when things are tough at home, too. Of course, he shouldn’t be underestimated either. Though not proud of this skillset, per se, he is nonetheless adept at social engineering, sociology, basic psychology, martial arts, vehicle and foot surveillance, marksmanship, and, naturally, hand-to-hand combat. As mentioned above, giving in to his benevolent and amiable side, Espen pursued a master’s degree in forensic nursing. Beyond that, he is also excellent at forgetting important dates, being late, being tired and eating everyone’s food. Oh, yes, and an obscure knowledge of medieval and Celtic history to boot, he’s really into medieval markets/costumes.

INTERPERSONAL MANNER

In a word, odd. Just plain fucking odd. Here he is not even able to survive without somebody constantly kicking his ass to get his shit together; here he is with barely an idea what decorum is and he still tries to be kind, even though it’s technically not in his nature to be any of that. Although Espen may come across as secretive, private and somewhat shy at first, any worries are forgotten as soon as mischief, fun, or sweets are involved. Now, ever since his family died, Espen has been somewhat clingy with the few people he has in his life, much like a cat demanding instant and constant attention. He doesn’t take well to being ignored, and won’t stop until he has your undivided attention. As for romance, Espen isn’t really made for that; not in the conventional sense. A very solitary creature by default, it is very hard for even him to tell whether what he feels are genuinely deep emotions or just what he feels compelled to feel. Either way, if you express interest, Espen will go to great lengths to ensure you feel nothing but wanted and validated.

INSPIRED BY: the guy on Lie to Me, Edmund (King Lear), Deadpool tbh 

[jekyllandhydemk2]

Week 9

The murder of Danvers Carew 2.0

The street was silent, with only the sounds of my footsteps to fill it. The frost stuck to my coat, my misty breathe mixed with the smoke from my cigar. I felt each draw sent a warm current flowing through my body, forcing a cracking smile onto my face as if it wasn’t my own.

I’m searching for something, someone. I need to see them, our sort of meetings were frowned upon by my others, the ones that knew. It seen as a taboo, done only in secret, in hidden dark rooms where no one could see or hear, always at risk.

As moon became the center of the sky, I searched the streets, finally catching a glance of someone, standing in the moonlight looking up. It wasn’t who I was looking for, their tall board appearance was different but still alluring, his body was of a man in his mid 20’s but his hair that of older gentlemen. I hid from his sight, I felt my starting to race heart as I saw but I didn’t move to greet him. I moved to call him again but my body still wouldn’t move, I stayed still, hunched over, grunting quietly, watching.

The man ahead of me seemed lost in his own mind as I moved slowly towards him. I feel a crooked grin appearing across my face as I approached. My hand grips tightly around the body of my cane, I feel my pulse start to race faster. My body approaching him from behind, I straighten my back and raise hand.

He turns around and looks at me in the eye, I realise it’s him.

Time pauses as I stare into his eyes, the days we spent together, the long nights we spent embraced hidden away. High society would have us locked up with real monsters or worse if it ever went public of what we were. I feel something struggling against me as I try to drop my cane my grip only gets tighter, my face starts to hurt as I feel the smile on my face get larger, the skin around my lips starting to tear, as the pain gets worse I feel myself getting weaker and lose the battle for control.

My cane strikes down, crashing against his head. Blood spraying against my coat as body continues to bash against my will and break the body below me. A monstrous laugh breaks from my lips, a cigar falling from my mouth onto the mangled body below me. The cane is thrown to my side, my hands wrap around his head, squeezing, crushing, cracking his skull, for the one final scream.

I awoke, sweat coating my body, I’m shaking. It takes me a minute to realise, I’m in not in my own room

This is not the first time I’ve woken up here.

I feel cramped, it feels like the low ceiling and the dark red walls enclosing on me. Blood covered my clothes and hands, I wiped my face to find even more gore, my stomach wrenches as last night's events force themselves into my mind, as if by another.

The man I killed, his face still fresh in my mind, Danvers, an old lover, and friend. We were supposed to meet and talk about the past. We missed it, and wanted to live it again, even for a night but Mr Hyde didn’t approve.

---

The analysis of Short Story inspired by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

This is essay I will be analysing my own adaption of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the form of a 500 word short story. I after reading the book, I took a short few pages from the book, the murder of Mr Danvers swapped to the view of another, Dr Jekyll instead of the maid.

When reading the book, I found a few chapters which gave me a interesting view into the characters which might not have been perceived at the time by the author or his wife. These few modern views of the story lead to me write an adaptation where Dr Jekyll is homosexual but must hide it due to victorian society's view of homosexuals, while Mr Hyde is Dr Jekyll’s want and need to be straight so he can fit in with said society and be happy while doing it, since it wasn’t only frowned upon but a prisonable offence. I touch on this subject in my writing, “It seen as a taboo, done only in secret, in hidden dark rooms where no one could see or hear, always at risk” and “High society would have us locked up with real monsters or worse if it ever went public of what we were”

One of the most known cases that showed victorian society’s  view of homosexuality and how it was treated in the era, Mason(2015) states that...

“...The famous imprisonment of author Oscar Wilde in 1895 for being a homosexual paints a picture of sexual repression and hostility towards same-sex relationships in 19th-century England.”

This quote I believe helps paint a picture party what it was like to be homosexual in the victorian era. If man was caught doing “buggary” or homosexual intercourse, that person would be taken to trial, then either locked up, forced to undergo a series of medieval conversion therapies or in a worse case scenario sentenced to death.

One of the lines that gave me the idea for the homosexual themes in my adaption, was one by Mr Utterson when he describes Dr Jekyll with such dedicated detail, Stevenson, R.(1886, P.23) states that-

“Dr. Jekyll was no exception; and as he now sat on the opposite side of the fire — a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness”

This loving detail gave me my first piece of inspiration, in my mind, Mr Utterson seems to adore the man more than anything, more than a friend would. This set the idea in my mind about some of the characters being homosexual or apart of the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Another line by Mr utterson dreams about Dr Jekyll, Stevenson, R.(1886, P.15) states that-

“...Or else he would see a room in a rich house, where his friend lay asleep, dreaming and smiling at his dreams”

Taking inspiration from another media and take on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in more of a Bruce Banner and the Hulk way was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Illustrated by Kevin O’Neill. During a Dinner party scene between Hyde, Captain Nemo and the coachman, William Samson Sr, Hyde brings up his origins stemming from Jekyll wanting to “purge” himself of sin and upon the coachman’s comment on how a doctor mustn't have many sins to purge, Hyde reveals his alter-ego (and possible by extension his own) sexuality in relation to men, Moore, A. O’Neill.(2002) states that

“...Oh and he played with himself, sometimes while he thought about other men…”

Even though the writing Alan Moore is a bit eccentric, He also adds to my own idea of Hyde being created to make Jekyll straight or that Hyde was his need/want to be straight, Moore, A. O’Neill.(2002) states that-

“Anyway, what that silly bastard did, he thought he quarantined all these bad parts, what left would be a ****ing ANGEL…”

I believe the Mr Hyde from League is stemming from Jekyll’s repressed sexuality, and his history of violence against women which is shown in volume 1 of the book. When looking for a murderer, Wilhemina Murray and Allan Quatermain are sent to find Hyde--at this point a man they believe to be just Dr. Jekyll who has been murdering prostitutes in Paris. With Alan Moore’s flare for dramatic violence this could be seen as his way of demonstrating Jekyll’s frustrations with women, sexuality and his own urges for the same sex. If I chose to continue this adaption, I’d like to incorporate this, I would turn down the abuse of women for my own version, Alan Moore writes abuse of women, like it’s as normal as breathing.

Between reading the book and writing my own adaptation to the story I started thinking of the types of animation that could be applied to a the original story and my own, since the original has already been shown and retold so many times using live action while it has only been told a few times via animation.

All forms of animation could work well, we have the classic traditional 2D which has been done before in 1986 by Maricia Hatfield and by Warner Brothers during 1955 in the Bugs Bunny short Hyde and Hare but I think how both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are animated could be taken a lot further with some hybrid animation to show how each of the different sides view the world around them, and how they are viewed as well. Since Jekyll and Hyde are shown to be such different characters, and from my view even the way they see the world of Jekyll and Hyde could be different which leads me to the idea of hybrid animation.

My story relies on Hyde being Jekyll’s want/need to be straight, which in my mind could make Hyde almost the distorted version of Dr Jekyll to himself, translating from Jekyll and his worlds type of animation to a different one. This could be shown by Dr Jekyll being a in CG world which would be quite shiny, clean going along with how others see him, while Mr Hyde could be in a stop motion puppet based around Jekyll’s cg model but made out of plasticine allowing the constant change of Mr Hyde’s appearance as he gets ‘stronger’ taking on more of Jekyll’s physical traits as Jekyll believes he’s becoming straight while Jekyll himself is becoming more like Hyde, shorter, more deformed similar to what Hyde explains happened to himself in ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2, Moore, A. O’Neill.(2002, P.22) states that-

“I mean, when I started out, good GOD, I was practically a ****ing dwarf. Jekyll, on the other hand, a Great big strapping fellow.”

While also being a call back to the original lecture of Jekyll and Hyde, in the book ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ which is set a good few years after the original book, Hyde is now a giant of a man, while Jekyll is average size but extremely un well as shown by O’Neill.(2002, P.7 V1, P11 V2) illustrations below left (P.11 , right) (page 7, chapter 2, volume 1)

To show the passage of Jekyll to Hyde, using shape theory in these animations, Jekyll in this version would be made up of mostly circles with a few squares spotted about at the start, while Hyde would take on more equal mixture of triangles and squares showing off his strength and evil by being what Jekyll needs him to be. Near the end of the animation it would end with Hyde becoming the ‘straight’ Jekyll taking on the more circles into this design, while Jekyll would have lost his parts of his circles in his shape for having lost such a big part of himself, making himself and Hyde more similar unlike what happened in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

In conclusion I believe I established the scene well and informed the viewer of the story and background of the time, all while trying to keep the viewer involved.

The backup for my inspiration could have had more behind it, I based it off the short parts of the main text, influences from previous writing and a modern look on it. I really like the concept of Jekyll behind a homosexual and Hyde being his side of himself he created to make himself straight, but I also like how Alan Moore writes Jekyll and Hyde, Moore, A (2002) states that -

“...Separating us in the first place, all because he wanted to be pure. ****ing Idiot”

While for the League, it was to separate Jekyll’s good and evil side, which explained why Mr Hyde was described as young, dwarf-like, since Jekyll was meant to be mostly good, and his evil in that story was new and hadn’t existed for long. My story had a version where Hyde was all of Jekyll’s want/need to be straight, leaving Jekyll completely gay until Hyde destroys everything and everyone that he believes make him gay.

Bibliography

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.1986.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821767/ .[Online]

Emma Mason.07/04/15.The Victorians’ surprisingly liberal attitude towards gay men.[ONLINE].http://www.historyextra.com/article/sex-and-love/victorians%E2%80%99-surprisingly-liberal-attitude-towards-gay-men.[Accessed-01/02/2017]

Moore, A. O’Neill.(2002).The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1.New York City, Vertigo Comics.(P.7)

Moore, A. O’Neill.(2002).The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2.New York City, Vertigo Comics.(P.11, 22)

O’Neill.(2002).League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1.[Book].http://www.comicsrecommended.com/images/others/loeg1_002_earshot.jpg. 2002.[Accessed - 01/01/2017]

O’Neill.(2002).League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2.[Book].http://www.comicsrecommended.com/images/others/loeg1_002_earshot.jpg. 2002.[Accessed - 01/01/2017]

Stevenson, R.(1886).Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. London, PlaneteBook [online].http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/The-Strange-Case-of-Dr-Jekyll.pdf.[Accessed-28/11/2016].(P.15, 23,

Timeline of LGBT history in the United Kingdom.NDF.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_LGBT_history_in_the_United_Kingdom.[Online]

YOUTUBE.(11/05/2014).Hyde And Hare 1955.[Online].https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA7b1fuMTSQ.[Accessed-01/02/2017]