#and certainly not the last

[dolphin1812]

Waterloo may be a digression, but Hugo’s giving it the feeling of having a plot by focusing on specific “characters” in this chapter. He still holds to his point on the overall chaos of battle by switching rapidly between them; the first paragraph alone covers various men and battalions, most of whom die suddenly within that very paragraph after being introduced. In addition to the randomness conveyed by this rapidity, Hugo specifies the unexpected ways in which many of them were killed as well. To offer just one example:

“A sergeant of the English Guards, the foremost boxer in England, reputed invulnerable by his companions, had been killed there by a little French drummer-boy.”

The “invulnerable” is suddenly killed at the hands of one who appears weak; experience and strength only offer so much protection against this form of carnage. 

This section honestly feels like parts of Homer’s Iliad (as well as the mythology around it). The “weak” killing someone “invulnerable” resembles Paris taking down Achilles after the events of the epic and towards the end of the Trojan War. Similarly, the “listing” of deaths is common in several books of the Iliad where the focus is less on the feats of individual characters than the totality of the war itself, with many of the fallen characters being given a brief description of their deaths at most. Some examples from this chapter are:

“ Baring had been dislodged, Alten put to the sword.”

“ out of three lieutenant-colonels, two lay on the earth,— Hamilton wounded, Mater slain. Ponsonby had fallen, riddled by seven lance-thrusts.”

And here’s an example from Butler’s translation of Book XV of the Iliad:

“ Hector killed Stichius and Arcesilaus, the one, leader of the Boeotians, and the other, friend and comrade of Menestheus. Aeneas killed Medon and Iasus. The first was bastard son to Oileus, and brother to Ajax, but he lived in Phylace away from his own country, for he had killed a man, a kinsman of his stepmother Eriopis whom Oileus had married. Iasus had become a leader of the Athenians, and was son of Sphelus the son of Boucolos. Polydamas killed Mecisteus, and Polites Echius, in the front of the battle, while Agenor slew Clonius. Paris struck Deiochus from behind in the lower part of the shoulder, as he was flying among the foremost, and the point of the spear went clean through him.”

There’s a similar trend of giving quick lists of deaths, with occasional background (”lieutenant-colonels” vs “leader of the Boeotians”) or information on how they died (”seven lance-thrusts,” “point of the spear”). Overall, it’s quite gruesome and monotonous, making the battle as a whole feel senseless, gory, and dull in contrast to the “heroic” exploits of individuals, who are praised for participating in this same activity because they’re somehow considered distinctive (like Napoleon and Wellington here or any of the major Greek or Trojan heroes in the epic poem).

As in the rest of the epic, some characters are given moments of “glory” that highlight their courage and/or strength. In this chapter, Wellington stays standing in the middle of a rain of bullets even as his aide dies by his side, not flinching in the face of the French forces. While this certainly adds to the drama of the chapter, it also glorifies Wellington to an extent (which, of course, further raises the tension).

Spoilers below:

It’s notable that Hugo doesn’t only use this language for Waterloo; he takes this same approach to describe the deaths of most of Les Amis. He even makes the comparison explicit, quoting the Iliad immediately after they die. And of course, where Enjolras goes, classical metaphors will soon follow. He was the only one not wounded (suggesting invulnerability, like Achilles), and he’s also called “Apollo” (a deity) before he dies. Hugo certainly wants the reader to view their cause as glorious (hence the descriptions of Enjolras), but he also wants to underscore the pain and senselessness involved in any form of battle. It’s less “battle is awful and should be avoided at all costs” and more “we should live in a better world where les Amis wouldn’t have died like this, fighting for basic human dignity.”

[egophiliac]

buckle up lads we're going BACK INTO THE BOOK

[demaparbat-hp]

There is no such thing as personal space between them.

[hinamie]

bunch of portraits

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

This wine tastes like pigs blood!

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[tempo-takoyaki]

Right in time before the end of mermay, here is my third prompt for SVSSSAction and donated by lxchelthegodess on twitter! As you may know I absolutely adore mermaids, so I definitely had to give my all for the Bingqiu Little Mermaid AU. One day too, Luo Binghe shall be part of prince Shen Qingqiu's world...

[rookinthecrownest]

I think the thing that Gets Me about Veilguard is just how much of an impossible task it had heaped on it from EA from the start of its inception.

It’s arguably supposed to be a soft reboot for the series while ALSO being a follow up to Inquisition. These are two fundamentally incompatible goals in my opinion. This game had to walk the most insane line of any video game in recent memory. I guess EA wanted to have their cake and eat it too.

And the more I think about it the sadder I become for the original team who worked on Joplin. From what I’ve seen of the art book, Joplin was going to be about as firm a sequel to DAI as you could get - with references to rescuing whoever was left in the Fade, having Calpernia and Imshael as companions, having to fight Solas’ agents, etc.

Then EA makes them scrap it for live service. Fine. But wait - now we’re scrapping it again. Back to single person RPG but you also kind of need to distance yourself from the previous games as much as possible while still somehow being a follow up to the previous game.

New setting, few returning companions, and new Big Bads in the form of Elgarnan and Ghilanain to get a clean slate. Any mention of what’s happening in the South (where we spent 3 whole games!) needs to be relegated to letters and codex. ** I dont have the art book yet, so I dont know if these two were supposed to appear in Joplin beside Solas - or if Solas was supposed to be the sole antagonist in that iteration of the game.

But.. I hope you see what I mean when I say this game had a monumentally, borderline impossible task ahead of it. And when I think of it that way, I think it did as good a job as it possibly could. Especially since the actual development time was closer to 3ish yrs to get what we know of as datv today even though it’s been 10 whole years since DAI.

I hope it’s successful enough to get DA5, but who know’s what’ll happen.

I wish everyone except the EA execs who meddled with this game’s development and are seemingly trying to kill dragon age a pleasant day. I have a cynical detective I need to romance 😔

[consultingfujoshi]

something something puss trying to outrun the literal personification of death for the whole movie whilst perrito walks around always wearing the sock his family literally tried to drown him in as a sweater, something something accepting that life is short and literally growing into your own mortality and making the most out of the hand youve been dealt

[quil12]

One of my favorite details about the Persona dancing games is the fact that all of the protagonists' respective first dances have a move reminiscent of the way Personas are summoned in their games

The most obvious is Makoto's finger gun in Mass Destruction

Then you have Yu crushing a pretend tarot card at the very end of Specialist

And finally Joker ripping off his mask in Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There

I just think it's neat

[onebizarrekai]

do endgame progression barriers mean nothing to you, ralph

[ruporas]

on the run!! (ID in alt)

[dandp]

The way we've manifested almost every piece of content we've wanted over the past year or so except for when we get convinced we're getting a new day in the life and we whiff so fucking hard every time

[andorerso]

rebelcaptain + the hunger games au

When Jyn Erso was eight years old, her mother died and her father left to become a gamemaker for the Hunger Games. Adopted by Saw Gerrera, her mother's friend, she became Jyn Gerrera and was forbidden from ever revealing her true identity to anyone. Ten years later, it's Jyn's last reaping. Saw, the forgotten victor of the 32nd Hunger Games, had rejected every reward the Empire offered him, preferring to live as a recluse at the edge of the forest in District 12, as opposed to the luxury in the Victors' Village. It's been decades since anyone in the district even recalled that Saw was once a victor himself, but he had made sure to teach Jyn all he knew of self-defense and combat training. It's the only thing she has of him left since his passing two years ago. Now, Jyn just wants to get through her last reaping and survive. But when she hears the name of the young girl she trades with sometimes, Jyn doesn't hesitate to volunteer in her place. She has nothing to lose, except her life, and every reason to believe that with Saw's training, she has a chance at winning the games. A chance that 12-year-old Kerri Andor wouldn't have. Things get a little more complicated when Kerri's brother is picked as the other tribute. Jyn is good at surviving, but Cassian, with his quiet cunning and surprising talent with a bow and arrow, could be a threat. Not to mention that Jyn knows he's the sole provider for his young sister and aging mother; a family who needs him. Who may die without him. Nobody is waiting for Jyn back home. When their mentor's plan to make them seem like star-crossed lovers triples the attention and sponsors they receive, Jyn is forced to play along with the scheme and pretend she has feelings for Cassian. Worst of all? She's not sure where pretending ends and where genuine feelings begin. The gamemakers say they can both go home if they're the last two tributes standing, but Jyn knows better than to believe the pretty promises of the Empire. Soon, she'll have to make a choice. Will she do anything to survive? Or will she let Cassian Andor go home to his family - even at the cost of her own life?

[wardensantoineandevka]

It's SO funny that Travis made Bertrand to die in The Search for Grog, Matt legitimately tried very hard to kill him but failed through no fault of his own, Travis brought him back for Campaign 3, he and Matt designed to on-rails kill him and did so successfully... and now he's back as the example character for Daggerheart character creation. Sir Bertrand Bell is forever.

[lilbreed1ngdoll]

all i want is to get railed into oblivion after work

[horrorshowcliche]

trying to get back into digital art