#and them dying is in fact an extension of that tragedy

[the-catboy-minyan]

idk I'm literally on the verge of blocking everyone who's cheering for death in my feed. yes he was a terrorist, why tf are you cheering for death.

[cosettegf]

i love the penumbra podcast and i love second citadel and i really enjoyed listening to the finale but i feel. weird about the way this show treats its female characters???

[66sharkteeth]

Weekly thoughts!

Hooboy, the big episode! First off, I think everyone knows by now that you probably shouldn't read these if you haven't read the latest episode, but I ESPECIALLY mean that this week! Talking about some way bigger than usual spoilers.

Phew, this was a big one, both from a writing and drawing perspective. I actually spent a full day on that last panel alone, but writing it took way longer than usual too. Going back and forth between Bell's speech and Jericho's backstory played perfectly like a movie in my head, but it was really hard to portray it as a comic and it was one of the few times I was struggling with the limitations of the format. I think I pulled it off though, since everyone seemed to follow along fine! So while it was probably just a neat scene to everyone else, I'm rather proud of that haha.

As for the actual contents of the episode, I'm also glad everything hit w/ the majority of the audience for the most part. I know a handful were confused about if that was Bell or Jericho who did that, but to those people, I remind you it's been loooong established Jericho can control his extensions (Bell, Charlie, and Claude. Remember, they all took injections of Jericho's blank space?). Also on that note, Bell does not have her own scion... Only Rex and Jericho do. Bell, Charlie and Claude all took injections of Jericho's blank space, thus get to borrow some of his power. I recommend re-reading ep 80 if you need a refresher.

I do consider this ep kind of a big reveal of Jericho's true colors. I mean, you guys have known he's the main villain for ages now, but this is the ep that reveals his "better world for blanks" act is kind of a façade and what he's really seeking is a worse world for humans. The fall of humans benefitting blanks is just kind of a bonus. I'm glad a few people caught onto this with the fact that one of the worst horrors he experienced was having his autonomy taken away from him, then he proceeds to do just that to Bell.

And speaking of Jericho's horrors- Before this season launched, I dropped a bunch of hints about upcoming things. One of them was that the most disturbing scene (in my opinion) was coming up. I was actually referring to what happened to Kallie. I'm not sure if it was as disturbing to everyone else (I totally get like if Claude's leg thing fucked people up more), but being evaporated into nothingness but not dying was an existential dread that really fucks me up haha. If it fucked even a couple of other people up, then I did my job.

I don't have too much else to say about the contents of the episode. It was so hard to bite my tongue for weeks as everyone predicted pretty much every character but Desmond was gonna get it. I'm sorry I don't have too much else to say about him right now given what happened, but I definitely will in the upcoming weeks.

I guess the only other note I have is I might as well address something that bugs me slightly- It's definitely a minority but there's a handful of people who seem done with the series because "too many things go wrong." To which... I'm not sure what to tell ya. I'm fine with critique and criticism to be clear, but honestly, this is one thing I'm actually really confident I'm good at balancing. I'm not sure where people are coming from with "nothing good ever happens in this series" when this season alone has had probably the cutest and fluffiest scenes. Rex has a canon girlfriend, he had his first kiss with her, Desmond was reunited with his sister and learned to accept himself, Lyss learned to move past her trauma and accept blanks, Rex was reunited with Shnee, Rex's scion turns out to be a puppy dog w/ a crush. I'm aware a lot of these got kind of crushed with this latest ep...but that's.. kind of. the. point??? That's how you write tragedy and impactful scenes??

I dunno, maybe this is personal to me because it's ALWAYS bugged me when someone tells me they think a show is bad because it's "too dark." Like no... It's not *bad* because it's too dark, you just don't like dark themes, and that's okay. I TOTALLY get if CoB has gotten too dark for some people- it's definitely hit some hard themes and subjects, but I don't like to accept that as a critique. It just means it's not for you and that's okay. There's a ton of other great comics that are more light-hearted! I think the TLDR of this is it will always annoy me when people say something is bad just because it's not their taste.

Now. That said... everyone is completely valid in their hate of Jericho. I, however, still love him.

[high-mackrels-musings]

Star Crossed Lovers: How Revenge of the Sith adapts Pyramus & Thisbe

*This is another adaptation of an essay I wrote on reddit found here

Back when I was in college I took a class on myths, and for my final essay of the class I was given the assignment to find and contrast an Ovid myth with another piece of media. Now, being who I am, I immediately tried to tie it to Star Wars. And I found a sort of comparison between the tragic tales of Anakin and Padme and Pyramus and Thisbe. The tragedy in their love is similar, but there are differences. And Lucas, and by extension Stover who wrote the novel, shows the influence from Ovid’s tale and manages to at the same time change the way the love story of Padme and Anakin is told. And the parallels were interesting enough for me to share my thoughts here.

Who are Pyramus and Thisbe?

For those who have read Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the story of Pyramus and Thisbe ought to be familiar enough. Pyramus and Thisbe are two Babylonian youths whose families live next to one another and utterly despise one another. This of course puts the two at odds with their feelings. Pyramus and Thisbe both love each other. And they manage to find some refuge by speaking to one another through a small gap in the walls, “In the common wall that ran between their houses, there was a narrow cleft made by the builders and unnoticed since. Love misses nothing!” One should note the way then that the love of Pyramus and Thisbe is portrayed by Ovid. There is a sense of the purity of love.

Unlike many of his other stories within Metamorphoses, there is no focus on grotesque violence. Rather the true tragedy of “Pyramus and Thisbe” comes from the way others prevent their love. Because their parents refuse to allow them to be together Pyramus and Thisbe resolve to run away together. They both agree to meet under a mulberry tree, but unfortunately, when Thisbe arrives, she sees a lioness and flees leaving behind her veil for Pyramus to later find bloodied by the lion’s jaws. He believes that the lioness has eaten her. The misinterpretation of symbols, as Pyramus, stumbles upon the bloodied cloak. And he says, “On this one night, two lovers come to grief! For she, far more than I, deserved long life!” Lost in grief he strikes himself down plunging his sword through himself. And in doing so effectively dooms Thisbe who arrives later to see her dying lover. She too takes her own life, but not before begging the gods for their sacrifice to be heard, “And may our wretched parents, mine and yours be moved by this petition to allow joined in the same last hour by unwavering love, to lie together in a single tomb.”. And their prayers are heard, which shows Ovid’s overreaching theme of the legacy of love. Pyramus and Thisbe’s love lives on as their ashes are shared in the same urn, and the gods change the color of the mulberry berries to red.

How This Relates to Star Wars?

So, one may see in fact the parallels here between Anakin, Padme, Pyramus, and Thisbe. The idea of two lovers who desperately want to be together. Anakin and Padme are both forbidden to be together, as Jedi are prohibited from being married, Ki-Adi Mundi aside, Like Pyramus and Thisbe both have had to hide their brief moments of love. And both resolve to run away together, as seen in the Revenge of the Sith novel. So, if the bare-bones structure is there how do they differ?

One must keep in mind that both are tragedies. But the way these tragic moments manifest come in a different way. Instead of a bloody veil in a lioness’s jaws, Anakin receives visions of the impending death of his beloved. These visions haunt Anakin. The love between the pair can hardly be said to be healthy. Anakin has feared the loss of his loved ones since the death of his mother saying in Attack of the Clones, “Well, I should be! Someday I will be. I will be the most powerful Jedi ever. I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying!” And in the Revenge of the Sith novel Anakin’s fears are described as a sleeping dragon that haunts him, “That is the kind of fear that lives inside Anakin Skywalker: the dragon of that dead star. It is an ancient, cold dead voice within his heart that whispers all things die …” His jealousy is also present in the novel as we see how he greets Padme and believes there is another in her life, “He took her by the shoulders now, his hands hard and irresistibly powerful. ‘There’s someone else. I can feel it in the Force! There is someone coming between us-” This is a further sign of his unhealthy love, and Lucas and Stover show this love which contrasts the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Anakin is resolved to not allow Padme to die. And in a desperate search for power, he turns to a false promise, and he transforms into Darth Vader. Unlike Pyramus who literally kills himself Anakin’s death is a metaphorical one. Gone is the Jedi Knight Anakin skywalker replaced by the Sith Lord Darth Vader. And this effectively kills Padme who when she learns that all the terrible things he’s done say to him, “I don’t know you anymore. Anakin you’re breaking my heart.” And of course, Padme later dies having lost her will to live. Thus, while Anakin did not kill himself directly as did Pyramus. The death of his identity as Anakin and transformation into Darth Vader does kill Padme.

So How Are They Similar?

So, while we have seen how Lucas and Stover show the difference in the love story, and the parallels of the bloody veil and Anakin’s dreams, one might be inclined to ask how then they are similar?

Thisbe herself pleads to the gods that their love is remembered, and her desire is granted as the Gods allow for the mulberry tree’s berries to forever be stained red for the blood they shed beneath the tree. Revenge of the Sith also reveals to us that there is a legacy in the love of Padme and Anakin. The film ends by showing us the scene of Luke and Leia, the children of Anakin and Padme, being split into two separate families so that one day they too will take up the mantle. And Stover’s novel ends with the words, “The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins- but in the heart of its strength lies weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.” And it will be so as Luke and Leia will go on to save the galaxy. And their children would go on to protect it, and their descendants would do the same. Love in both stories has a legacy that would be felt after their deaths within the Legends continuity.

Conclusion:

While I cannot say with any authority that Lucas or Stover have ever read Pyramus and Thisbe, the influence of the text is still felt in this work. And one can see how Star Wars has positioned itself into a new form of mythology that may inform us, and do its best to teach us the lessons. The simple love story changed into something more complex about the nature of love and jealousy. And that is an important lesson which can be taken away. And this entire exercise was a fun way to interact with my favorite fictional series in a more academic setting.

[aliciavance4228]

hey so what do you think of the fact that Hades was seen as an anti Zeus and an equal to Zeus

Ovid, Fasti 4. 443 (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) "[Zeus speaks :] ‘My rank is no greater [than Haides]. I hold court in the sky; another rules the sea [Poseidon], and one the void [Haides].’"

Seneca, Hercules Furens 53 (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) "Dis [Haides] himself, who drew a lot equal to Jove's [Zeus's]."

I usually like to use the older sources as well in order compare them. Even in the Iliad and Homeric Hymns to Demeter Hades seems to be treated on equal foot with Zeus, so this is a general idea ancient people had on him, rather than a "1st Century Idea" or "Something completely baseless stupid Ovid randomly came up with." (Though I think it should be also be pointed out the fact that Ancient Greeks feared Hades more, and he started to be actually worshipped by the romans, to put it roughly.)

Homer, Iliad 15. 187 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "We are three brothers born by Rheia to Kronos (Cronus), Zeus, and I [Poseidon], and the third is Aides [Haides] lord of the dead men. All was divided among us three ways, each given his domain. I [Poseidon] when the lots were shaken drew the grey sea to live in forever; Aides drew the lot of the mists and the darkness, and Zeus was allotted the wide sky, in the cloud and the bright air. But earth and high Olympos are common to all three."

Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) : "Aidoneus Polysemantor (Ruler of Many), is . . . your [Demeter's] own brother and born of the same stock : also, for honour, he has that third share which he received when division was made at the first, and is appointed lord of those among whom he dwells."

To me it basically shows how different ancient people's perception was on him, compared to the modern views. I've usually seen people picking two extremes based on the fact that he's the King of the Underworld, where he's portrayed either as:

a) A satanic figure because they apply a Christian mentality on a Hellenistic Polytheistic religion and associate Mount Olympus with Heaven and the Underworld with Hell (and by extension Hades is treated like some sort of a Luciferian type of being; basically Paradise Rot meets Greek Mythology),

...or...

b) A misunderstood guy who unfairly got the Underworld during the division of the Cosmos and deserved better than the corpse cellar. Based on this interpretation/misconception people usually start making lots of headcanons that are further spred as facts, such a "Hades was the one who deserved to be King of the Gods but Zeus tricked him." or "Hades was hated even by his own family just because he was the god of the dead."

The problem in both of these cases is that the Underworld is perceived from a negative perspective, as something inferior, deplorable, therefore leading to this very popular (and shallow) idea that Zeus got the best and Hades the worst. When in reality, the Underworld itself comes with some great peaks as well. Besides the fact that you're disproportionately rich, every person who died eventually becomes your subject. Since Zeus rules the "Aboveworld", I personally like to perceive it as a beautiful metaphor: you start in the realm of Zeus and end up in the realm of Hades (hence the Anti-Zeus).

Ancient people feared him and avoided writing or saying his name because of the nature of his kingdom; because - quess what - people usually don't like dying (and considering the fact that back then lots of them were passing away at very young ages due to disturbing causes I can tell why).

[so-i-grudgingly-joined-this-site]

Signs of Life:

 Season of Mists, “Augustus,” and a Hopeful Interpretation of The Sandman

In my previous essay, “I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it didn’t even matter”: The Awkward Meta-Tragedy of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, I discussed the issues with the common fandom interpretation of The Sandman’s ending as both a tragedy and a suicide.  I highly recommend you read that before this, if you haven’t already, as this is mostly an extension of that essay. 

Near the end of that work, I mentioned how, in searching for an interpretation of the ending that could be construed as hopeful rather than incredibly pessimistic, I came across a significant amount of evidence in the volume Season of Mists.  Quite a bit of this “evidence” I’ve usually seen used by fans to construe Morpheus’ actions as an intentional elaborate suicide, claiming that he was in fact orchestrating his own demise as far back as at least this volume.  However, I believe that it is also entirely possible to construe these same events as showing that he was NOT planning a suicide.

In this essay, I will go over each piece of evidence I collected, and how I believe it can be interpreted in alternate ways.

[Continued under the cut; Google Drive link provided for clearer formatting, but the rest of the text, in tumblr's awkward block form, is also posted after]

[Read properly formatted version on google drive HERE]

It is in Season of Mists that Morpheus first goes back to check on Daniel Hall, for the first time after warning Daniel’s mother Lyta that he will return one day to collect the child for unspecified purposes.  What purposes those are remain a mystery at that point; those who support the suicide interpretation insist that he planned for Daniel to be his successor upon his suicide.  I think this visit makes clear that Morpheus did intend for Daniel to be his successor, but not necessarily specifically for a suicide attempt.  In Season of Mists, Morpheus goes to visit Daniel after explaining to his subjects that he fears he may not survive his attempt to rescue Nada from Hell. 

Since it is repeatedly emphasized just how dangerous he believes the rescue mission to be, especially after pissing off Lucifer the last time they met, it seems just as clear to me that Morpheus might want to have a successor lined up in general.  He saw how horrible things got when he was captured and there was nobody in charge of the Dreaming; having a second in line is just the responsible thing to do.  It doesn’t mean he was specifically planning his death, he could just have been planning what could happen in case of his death.  There is a difference.  Likewise, Morpheus also briefly visits Hob to potentially say goodbye before the trip to Hell.  Once again, this emphasizes how dangerous he believes the mission to be, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s planning on dying. 

Some especially pessimistic fans try to paint the Nada mission in general as Morpheus’ first suicide attempt, before the Kindly Ones plot succeeded, but I don’t think the Nada mission is quite as easy to construe as suicide.  The Kindly Ones plot had a certain intentional air about it; Morpheus knew that finally granting death to his son would provoke the deities in charge of blood debts and in the depths of his depression did little to avert what effects he knew would happen.  By contrast, he actually prepared to battle into Hell to save Nada, righting a wrong from long ago.  Though he expected to have to fight Lucifer, he actually made preparations to do so with clear intent for a successful mission, and made the point of preparing his subjects beforehand.  This is in contrast to the sudden slaughter from The Kindly Ones where he didn’t do anything to avert the furies’ rampage through the Dreaming until the only thing that could stop them was his own apparent death.

Likewise, Lucifer and his arc are important to how one might interpret Morpheus’ fate.  Alongside Destruction, Lucifer is the other example Morpheus has seen of a major universal figure deciding to finally quit the job that wears them down.  In their conversation, which Lucifer explicitly refers to during The Wake, he compares his situation to Dream’s.  Lucifer notes he was also fated to be stuck with his crappy job forever, assigned by a force greater than him that he couldn’t defy.  But then, he realized, he could quit after all.  He just kicked everyone out, closed up shop, and walked away. 

His choice to quit, and especially driving everyone out of Hell before doing so, causes a TON of issues, to put it mildly; Dream’s responsibility of solving them is one of the two main storylines of the arc, with the other being the Nada plot.  The fact that Lucifer’s sudden quit creates such problems, however, does not go unnoticed by Dream.  In a pessimistic interpretation, Morpheus takes this as a sign that he indeed can never quit, because doing so would create far too many problems for reality.  His sense of responsibility to the universe is arguably the “higher power” he believes forces him to do the job.  In an optimistic interpretation, though, it might simply convince Morpheus that he needs to be smarter about his retirement. 

After all, it was Lucifer’s lack of a clear successor that led to the whole ordeal of Dream having to assign someone new the key to Hell, and it was the fact that Lucifer kicked everyone out that caused chaos across the dimensions.  Perhaps Morpheus realized that the best way to quit might be to make sure there was somebody to take over for him, so that operation of the Dreaming could continue without interruption and without having to unleash any residents upon other dimensions.  He’d conveniently already prepared a successor in case anything should happen to him when confronting Lucifer!  Likewise, choosing a successor who is eager to actually do the job averts the frustration and angst he witnesses in the angels who end up having to take the key—God basically forces them to stay there; they aren’t fallen so much as shoved.

While we’re on the subject of other entities successfully quitting, Morpheus also took note of Destruction’s path.  At first glance, it seems he is as blind to Destruction’s successes as he is to Lucifer’s, only seeing him as behaving irresponsibly.  However, as I mentioned in my initial essay on the subject, it’s possible that, after his own quest to find his brother in Brief Lives, Morpheus simply realizes he needs to quit smarter.  If he can go pester his wayward brother, other entities could pester him.

Lucifer says that Morpheus has changed from when they met before.  Whether or not that means “changed enough to realize that he can change his lot in life” or “changed to feel so guilty and depressed over his condition that he now wants to die” is up in the air—or perhaps up to reader interpretation.

At the end of Season of Mists, Nada finally gets to confront Morpheus after being freed from her multiple-millennia-long imprisonment, and the reader finally gets to learn part of why Morpheus was so incredibly harsh in her punishment.  She not only refused Morpheus’ offer to become his immortal queen, but she’d counter-offered that he should become a mortal man to be her king.  Not only had she, a human, refused a request from an Endless, but in asking him to abandon his responsibilities she’d unknowingly asked what he’d probably considered the most insulting thing possible.  Now, having been freed, Nada points out that it’s been 10,000 years; he can still change his mind and leave the job that’s clearly wearing him down.  Morpheus insists he hasn’t changed—possibly even refuses to believe it’s possible—despite the very obvious evidence standing in front of him.  If he hadn’t changed, hadn’t realized his wrongdoings and taken action to correct them, Nada would still be rotting away in that cell!  Instead, he risked his life to free her!

Notably, right after this is when Morpheus cuts some sort of ambiguous deal with the illusion-god Loki.  Did he decide to die, contracting Loki then and there for the plot that would eventually incite Lyta to send The Kindly Ones after Morpheus?  Or, instead, did Morpheus employ a master of shape-changing and illusion to help facilitate an equally elaborate plot that would allow him to change while only appearing completely dead?

There also seems thematic significance to the new “redemptive” approach to Hell the angels take.  The sinners find the redemption more painful, difficult, and overall worse than just the punishment.  Perhaps it is because redemption is a change, it requires effort, while punishment requires no change.  Regarding Morpheus’ tendency to blame himself for so many problems in the universe (only a small percentage of which he’s caused), one is left to wonder if the finale is Morpheus punishing himself with death—or, if instead, he endures redemption and changes.  Does he take the easy way out—the coward’s way out, as suicide is sometimes (somewhat insensitively, depending on the circumstances) called—or take the challenge? 

The rewarding happy ending for the rest of the universe takes on a very different sheen depending on which view you choose.  Either it rewards the protagonist giving up, choosing suicide, and choosing mere punishment, or it rewards a change, however hidden from the rest of the characters, and choosing redemption.

Now, the following point I have to make is not from Season of Mists but instead the collection of short stories after it, Distant Mirrors/Fables and Reflections.  However, I was unsure where else to put this point, so I may as well include it here.

Much like the point I made about “Façade” in my previous essay, I believe “Augustus” is another odd, seemingly unconnected story that may have deeper meaning to the overall plot.  At first glance, the only connection to the greater lore seems to be confirming that Dream is sometimes confused for the Greco-Roman god Apollo, in a reference to Orpheus’ parentage in the original Greek myths.  However, at its core, “Augustus” is about a powerful, duty bound king (well, emperor) who suffers from hidden emotional pain, who has to plan an unorthodox way out of his situation without any divine figures finding out.  Sound like anyone else?  This could either be symbolic of Morpheus trying to plan his suicide before any of his loved ones could intervene, or it could be symbolic of his plan to fake his death (or, possibly, kill off only the part of him that is bound to his duties), thus leaving him free with nobody else to try and drag him back!

“Augustus” also includes the idea of two contradictory prophecy books that are both equally true until Augustus decides which book to act upon.  This theme actually reappears in the main plot near the end of The Sandman, with there being multiple Destinies—eventually narrowed down to two—who only whittle down to one once Morpheus’ fate is sealed.  This reinforces my suspicion that this short story is thematically significant.  The fact that Augustus succeeds in his own plot, asserting his own agency and defying the unjust divine will of his abusive uncle, suggests that Morpheus also succeeds in his plan.  What Morpheus’ plan is, of course, is once again up to the reader’s interpretation and optimism level.

There is one last potentially-overlooked point I would like to address.  Season of Mists concludes with what appears to be a quote from author G. K. Chesterton, upon whom Fiddler’s Green’s human form is based.  However, the book quoted does not actually exist; the notation states that it exists in the Library of Dreams, which holds every book both written and, in this case, unwritten.  This adds layers of meaning to the quote.  Neil Gaiman is not deciding to end the arc on a specific passage he found meaningful and relevant; rather, he specifically wrote the passage and the attribution in question.  It’s very carefully crafted.  The quote is as follows:

October knew, of course, that the action of turning a page, of ending a chapter or of shutting a book, did not end a tale.

Having admitted that, he would also avow that happy endings were never difficult to find: “It is simply a matter,” he explained to April, “of finding a sunny place in a garden, where the light is golden and the grass is soft, somewhere to rest, to stop reading, and to be content.”

         --G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was October

Hmm, what’s that about the ending of a book not necessarily being the ending of a tale?  Also, happy endings not being hard to find if you know where and how to look?

Of course the part about a sunny garden with soft grass is a reference to Fiddler’s Green’s landscape form too, but that’s going off-topic.

As I mentioned, the book “quoted” does not actually exist.  Upon searching, it seems that the title is a parody of the actual Chesterton work The Man Who was Thursday: a Nightmare (hey, look at that subtitle!).  Now, unfortunately, I am not currently familiar with Chesterton’s work and have not read this book.  A quick glance at the Wikipedia page, however, reveals some interesting, potentially relevant details.  It is very symbolic and dense…and there is apparently a debate over how pessimistic the book is supposed to be!  Apparently Chesterton himself attributed the work’s dark tone to the bout of depression he was suffering in college and later tried to explain a more positive spin on it, while at least one other analyst continued to insist it followed a pessimistic philosophy regardless of Chesterton’s later statements.  Gee, does that sound like any other literary works we know?  Like, perhaps, the very one this essay is interpreting?

That allusion may have ended up far more relevant than Gaiman ever intended.

Tagging those who might be interested: @serenityspiral @duckland @roguelov @ambercoloredfox @notallsandmen @lizajane2 @onehundredandeleventropicalfish

[superioritea-complex]

new ballets russes

ngl if i ever ended up with a ridiculous amount of money i'd probably found a ballet company, i'd wanna do something new and interesting like the ballets russes did back in the early 20th century- minus Diaghilev being a strange and quite frankly gross individual- I feel like so much of ballet has gotten repetitive, in the sense that we've focused to much on perfection we've forgotten that we are a performing art form- so often we get hung up on body proportions and things like hyper extension and body shape that we end up losing the emotion of the dance completely. I've recently watched dying swan- the og version with anna pavlova and now i can't help but feel newer versions are overly santized, like the concern is to look beautiful and not the real tragedy that is happening on stage. I think it's not only a disservice to audience members but to dancers as well as we are robbing them of developing their creative expression. That and it would also help with the fact that many ballets are quite frankly dated- for example the bolshoi black face scandal for their production of la bayadere (this happened in 2019 btw).

I would love to see a new fantastical adaptation with elaborate costumes, choreography, sets, and music- (bring back camp!!). Plus there are so many myths and cultural things to chose from a ballet could be done on Sappho's life, or on La Maupin (if you don't know who she is PLEASE look her up- she's unhinged and my hero), or even take from more myths like eros and psyche, or apollo and hyacinth, or a full length version of orpheus (i know balanchine did a short version with music by Stravinsky but imagine an entire set for the underworld- like fully fleshed out costumes for hades and persephone- it's actually a shame how minimalist balanchine's sets and costumes are given the inspo (bc they weren't originally!!- look at old apollo costumes vs the more recent ones- like bro HOW did we get here???) or we could start adapting Dostoevskyballet and Kafka like we've been adapting Shakespear (METAMORPHASIS BALLET GUYS- I MEAN COME. ON.) and these are just the ones off the top of my head.

I think now would be a good time to reinvigorate the artform especially with increased interest due to the overall ballet core trend- it could be a great way to bring in more people not only as those who take classes but also as viewers. Also ballet company's have shitty marketing- ofc if you only push the nutcracker for the entire year then you're only going to get people to watch the nutcracker and your other repertoire is gonna flop. duh. By investing a bit in marketing instead of lining the artistic director's pockets (be so fr do u really need a second vacation home?) the company would be more successful overall-( more people to come in and see shows, more artistic outreach, more outreach means more tickets means more money so hopefully better conditions for the dancers, etc. etc.)

tldr. people only say ballet is boring bc y'all have made ballet boring, the lack of artistic expression, lack of new creative sets and costumes, elitism, racism, homophobia, etc. etc. etc. are what have made people less engaged with the art form over the years NOT the actual style of dance itself.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Weighing facts: we know for a fact now that the tragedy has an impact on Carlos. We know Roxana Brusso is present at the wedding but Benito Martinez's name is not visible on the call sheet. I'd expect it to be next to her's. We know Carlos is wearing Gabriel's ring. Weighing up possible foreshadowing: Max asking Rafa questions about Gabriel seemed telling to me. And everything to do with Gabriel has been ominous or poignant this season. 'He's lucky to have you/ Yeah you too', and Carlos having more of a reunion with Gabriel than TK. Carlos opening up to his mom about how he feels about fatherhood because of Gabriel and their relationship only being ok recently. Then Owen and Gabriel cementing their own family bond in last week's episode. Everything points to Gabriel dying I'm sorry to say. I agree with everything you'd said about why it wouldn't make sense and would be way too rushed, but I'm sure they're going to do it anyway for the drama, even when they'll have plenty more going on with Robert/Owen and Judd and Grace.

Ok, I'm not going to deny it looks bad when you put everything together like that and look at it from a certain perspective. But I'm still holding on to hope! I will now counter each point.

First, the call sheet: We're seeing only a portion of a call sheet. We don't even necessarily know the purpose behind the list of names because it seems very incomplete. It's not like every single wedding guest was listed except Gabriel. Also, Roxana's name does not have a report time next to it. The only names with report times are the members of the Strand family. I don't think we need to read anything into his name being absent from this particular call sheet.

Carlos wearing Gabriel's ring: There is a sad explanation for this--Gabriel died and Carlos inherited the ring. But there's also a happy explanation for this--Gabriel gave Carlos the ring to wear for the wedding. Also, Rafa is clearly hiding his left hand in that picture to hide the wedding ring. If Gabriel dying was the huge surprise tragedy of the finale, wouldn't he have also tried to hide Gabriel's ring?

Max asking Rafa questions about Gabriel: There's no way Max has seen the finale yet or has any information regarding the fate of Gabriel. He probably asked questions about Gabriel because Gabriel was in the last episode. Also, the storyline from episode 12 was a major Carlos storyline and Carlos' reasoning behind not feeling ready to have kids was pretty tied to Gabriel. I don't think there's cause to read anything into the meaning behind Max's questions.

Poignant Gabriel storylines: I don't think anything here has to be foreshadowing death. A lot of this season has been about developing Carlos' backstory and his relationship with family. The poignant Gabriel moments have been along that line. There have also been very poignant moments with Carlos and Andrea. (Also between TK and Owen!) Carlos is clearly rebuilding his relationship with his parents. If anything, the comment made to Andrea in episode 12 shows more work to be done on that rebuilding between Carlos and Gabriel. In my opinion, that indicates possible future Carlos/Gabriel storylines, or a nice moment like Gabriel giving Carlos his ring for the wedding. To me, none of this is inevitably foreshadowing Gabriel's death.

Owen and Gabriel cementing their family bond: I don't see why this would necessarily be foreshadowing Gabriel's death. If anything, it indicates the opposite to me. The Reyes family and the Strand family coming together as one is lovely and does not have to mean one of them is dying.

It could happen. I'm not denying that. I just don't think it will, and I certainly don't think it's inevitable based on what we've seen. It doesn't feel right to me. If I'm wrong, I will file away this post along with the detailed post I made the day before the premiere extensively listing all the reasons why Carlos couldn't possibly be married to Iris. But until then, I'm going to keep the hope alive!

[tewwor]

* & VERSE MASTERLIST — EUN .

Full descriptions under the readmore.

apocalyptic variations

royalty

forest spirit

hunter

crime / witch

APOCALYPTIC VARIATIONS — SURVIVAL OF THE WEARY .  

** NOTE: this verse can be melded to just about any apocalyptic scene regardless of fandom. There might be a few tweaks here and there for specific details, but the following will typically remain the same:

Eun is primarily categorized as a survivalist. Given his already extensive background of wildlife ( both animals and plants ) and geography, he’s extremely adept in recognizing dangers, shelter, etc. 

Tough as the world may have become, Eun still carries on with hope. True, it might be an uphill battle to cling to such an aspiration, but that’s his burden to bear while trying his damndest to uplift morale. 

There’s a 90% chance he’s looking for his brother as a goal. 

Still quite the pacifist, but there’s more understanding that the world has only gotten crueler. Thus, he allows himself to pull out all the stops to deal with unsavory situations accordingly. He’s proficient in close combat, mid skill with blades and guns.

ROYALTY.  

*** NOTE: This verse is shared among both brothers and differs on what information was restricted from Chanyeol. Their demeanor also remains true to their main verse.

Eun’s top priority has always revolved around Chanyeol’s safety from day one, as he was unable to deny the knowledge that his brother bore royal blood.

This resolve even extended to the threat made by his step-father, the king, once Chanyeol’s existence was made known decades later. Eun took it upon himself to ensure that no harm would come Chanyeol’s way even if that meant dealing with the assassination attempts on his own.

With the help of others ( that he toes the line of being indebted to ), word spread of ‘the tragedy’ that was the king’s death. Although the heinous act was orchestrated by none other than himself, Eun acted none the wiser to everyone — even Chanyeol. 

He had high hopes that the dabbling in royal affairs would stop there, but his brother decided to make it known that there was, in fact, an heir to the throne. Thus, Eun refuses to let another serve as the crown prince’s retainer and keeps a very close eye on anyone that attempts to get close to Chanyeol.

FOREST SPIRIT .

The time reads 7:21 PM and the sun finally rests her weary head. Blood orange apricot starbursts across distant ridges until the entire sky’s stained a rotten plum. Beneath such calamity lies the ruin of cinders and soot and incomplete hope. 

Eun dies where he loved most. Out in the woods, in this national park, he’s grown to cherish as his own home. He dies doing what he loved most. Keeping others from harm’s way, saving them to continue on with their life. 

On occasion, you’ll hear a jolly tune weave through the spindly tree top and beneath dappled spots of sun. Wait long enough and you’ll see him. A man with mopish hair, geared in uniform and likely inspecting some flora or another. Greet him and you’ll be met with overflowing amiability. A kind smile shines and reminds you of a friend from distant past, a deeply liked relative of lost contact — someone close and familiar and trusting. 

Start conversation with him and you’ll learn clusters of aureate wisdom of the world around you. If you’re lost and in need of help, he’ll be the first to help guide your wary steps to the forest’s edge. Yet no matter how comfortable this genial man might be..  You can’t dismiss the unease. A sense of danger that flutters deep within you, but unable to pinpoint why.

Always disappears without a word before sunset, but don’t be foolish enough to think that you’re alone. A man of dying embers and acrid winds come into view as the horizon splashes red.

Essentially, Eun’s a friendly spirit that helps lost travelers during the day. At night, he busts into this fiery thing that seeks to upkeep the forest’s best interest & health. And if that means he needs to dispose of the souls that harm it.. Then so be it. 

HUNTER .  

When Eun moved across the states, he honestly thought that he was going to continue his mundane, yet modest, life. Except the longer he worked as a forest ranger.. the more odd things got. At first it wasn't much to shake him. Faint figures in the thickets, something that sounded like a whisper that the dry winds carried... it was all easy to ignore. That was until he came across something he simply couldn't come to terms with.

There had been reports of a few missing hikers. It wasn't uncommon until the bodies were found weeks later; all disemboweled and ruined beyond recognition. Everyone chalked it up to an unfortunate animal attack, but something bugged him about the way his fellow rangers treated the accidents. They seemed to be neutral with the occurrences- too neutral. Of course, he assumed it had to do with how long they've been on duty, but that feeling stuck with him.

It'd been by pure chance that he came across the source of it all. Eun had been making his usual rounds when he felt something off. The complete lack of bird calls, how heavy the air suddenly felt and the lightest crunch of needles underneath careful feet. He had all but stopped where he was; hand already on the buckle of his sheathed knife just in case.

Then the growling started.

It wasn't the typical sound of a coyote or wolf, mind you. It was deeper, more guttural than anything he had come across. Slowly, he turned in an attempt to spot the creature, but all he saw was a sudden blur; much too close to add up with the distance he had assumed the being to be at. Eun had tensed in expectation to feel pain, but all that happened was the loud crack of a gun. An ungodly screech followed suit, and he was left unscathed. Confused, he opened his eyes and saw that two other rangers were in the distance- both of which were grim faced. The body of the creature was dealt with while they filled him in on what just happened. They had hoped that he wouldn't come across the others during his time here, but it was practically unavoidable at this point. Once a person sees them, they're forever changed.

From that point on, Eun was trained to seek and deal with the otherworldly that lurked within the great reserve. Decades passed before he decided to retire and move back to his hometown in order to look after his sickly mother. After her passing, he was left to his own devices once more. And while his skills and senses are still just as sharp, Eun isn't too keen on hunting things that don't cause direct trouble.

CRIME / WITCH — BLOSSOMS FROM BLOOD . 

tw: buried alive

Eun was born to a couple that never had the intention of marrying. And while that was a mutual agreement, no one had expected his father to just up and leave a few days after he was born. Only in her early twenties, his mother did her best to raise him on her own. Naturally, there were a lot of ups and downs throughout his childhood and early teens, but they both loved each other at the end of the day.

His mother fell in love with another man 12 years later, and this time they saw things through completely. Wedded after a handful of months and out came his little brother, Chanyeol; loud as the trumpets blasting on high. Barely settled in his young adolescence, Eun knew the importance of family. Had it ingrained that the Hans take care of their own no matter the cost — they only had themselves to rely on, after all.

So it only made sense how Eun took it to heart when he stumbled upon his step-father’s whispers of adulatory. He, of course, made sure to get concrete evidence while a decision formed piece by piece.

Passive, aggressive, unknowing.

It’d only been a year since his mother’s remarriage. Only a single year, and the honeymoon phase was slit from the back. Deep seated rage began to boil the longer he ghosted his step-father’s footsteps. Higher and higher the anger simmered until it came to an abrupt halt. Once a close call where his mother almost found out was all it took for Eun to finally take action.

Clever was he to practice personalized script and leave a neatly folded note at the kitchen table. One last shred of that foul man’s presence before disappearing forever. Not of his own violation, though. Of course not. But it didn’t matter the moment he asked his step-father to come out back. *** tw: buried alive start *** The fireflies look especially bright tonight— come look and see. Watch as the ground gives way beneath your feet without a moment’s notice. Witness how the silver moon slims into a pinprick when dirt and clay and root and rubble swallow the rest of your days. Understand the mistakes of your actions as the world turns without pause, unbothered by your absence. *** tw: buried alive end ***

Now a family of three, Eun continued to watch over his family. He worked his ass off throughout the rest of his youth to help burden some of the financial weight. Took up whatever odd job he could when he wasn’t legal to work— even past then when he was of age. It was hard to balance his life, lend a shoulder for their mother to lean on, and be a father/brother figure to Chanyeol. Yet he never gave up and always pulled through to the best of his abilities. Even as his brother wrapped himself in danger, found a little too much comfort and joy the deeper he descended.

So he, too, descended after their mother succumbed to sickness. He has to keep an eye on the remaining members of his family — even if that means climbing the ranks for power and perfect the disappearance of those missing; somewhere deep where light never reaches.

[spiderhamper001]

Acceptance of Rage

Rage.

An intense feeling of anger. It's unique to every person and for me it burned. Filled my veins, deafened my senses, clouded my mind.

It tires to consume… everything. 

Everything.

Some think anger is darkness invading. That it poisons the mind, blackens the heart, and turns even the kindest of men wicked.

It is my belief that it isn't darkness invading but an extension of ourselves. It does not blacken your heart, it is your heart and just like your heart It can not be removed, only taken care of.

My father was a patient man. He rarely yelled, rarely cried, he was always kind, and always loving. To me my father was perfect, everything a man should be.

Wise.

Strong.

Empathetic.

He was also an angry man though you wouldn't know it because unlike so many he had mastered his anger.

I was so lucky. So incredibly blessed and I knew it.

Who wouldn't want a father like him?

If I became even a quarter of the man he was, I think I would be a pretty good man.

Yet… yet…

Yet as he grew older, he grew sicker. Decades of smoking and drinking and back breaking labor finally catching up but It didn't change anything, not really.

Not for me.

He was still the incredible man I desperately wanted to emulate but a part of me, a part I so desperately wished didn't exist, grew angry at him.

Resentful.

How dare he fall victim to the passage of time? How dare he sleep all morning, all afternoon, and all night? How dare he need help breathing?

How dare he?

How dare he?!

…How dare I feel this way about the man who did nothing but love and support me? How dare I belittle him, even just in my own mind, for being less than superman?

How dare I?

How dare I?!

how dare I…

He died on a cold October night. It both came as a surprise and didn't. It was my mom who found him but it was me who was pumping his chest, terrified I was hurting him, killing him, begging in a God I didn't believe in not to take him away.

Of course, despite my begging, he died not long later.

Rage didn't begin to describe what I was feeling. How do you describe that a piece of your soul had been lopped off? That despite your still beating heart and your ever expanding lungs you felt like you were dying?

How do you explain the burning fury that sat in your heart that refused to be dosed no matter how much you begged and pleaded for it to disappear?

How?

My father taught me that anger can not be bartered with, can not be rationalized, and it Can. Not. Be. Ignored.

He was right.

Try all you like. I know I have.

I say this as a man who has been forced to deal with a tragedy and still has not moved past it. I say this as a man who lies in bed crying, wishing with all his being that my father was still walking beside me. I say this as a man who looks at his reflection and wonders what if I had said goodnight one last time, hours before my mother came home and saw the man who taught me how to be a man barely breathing?

Would he still be alive? 

Would those few extra hours have saved him?

Probably.

… Most definitely. Though I guess we'll never know, will we?

I will have to forever live with the fact that I could have saved my father's life, and may forever live with the anger that knowledge brings. 

Though I get to choose how I express that anger. I get to choose how I deal with it. I get to choose the type of angry man I am and I choose to accept it. 

I will not bottle the anger and I will not hide from it and I certainly will not use it as a weapon against others.

I know many men who lash out like wild animals when enraged, who become cruel and vengeful at those who fan their flames of rage. 

I know men who grow cold in their ire, become little more than emotionless dolls who refuse to face their temper with any semblance of courage.

And I know men who sit with their anger until it becomes a drowning sadness that drags them to the bottom of the sea, never to return again.

We may not get to choose what we feel but we always have a choice in the actions we take while feeling them.

My father lived a good life. He had a loving wife, a successful daughter and, if I dare say so, a good son. 

My father lived a full life; one full of mistakes, of triumphs, of lost chances, and fulfilled dreams.

My father wasn't born a perfect man and he didn't die as one either. Like all of us he was forced to grow, and to learn. 

He died an imperfect man, as we all do but he did die a good man and I suppose that is all we can hope for.

He died in his sleep. Free of pain and grief. 

He is mourned wholly and missed dearly.

I am an angry man, a rageful one. I am angry at many things, some deserved and some not but my anger does not define me, just as it didn't define my father.

I won't let it. 

It may burn but it will not consume.

When my time comes I will die as an imperfect man, a man who has made mistakes, who triumphed over his obstacles, I will lose chances to improve my life and I will fulfill some of my dreams. I may die with a loving wife, a successful daughter, and hopefully, a good son but even if I do not, I will die a good man.

A wise one.

A strong one.

An empathetic one.

As my father before me.

More short stories like this can be found on my patreon: Spiderhamper_

[atwistedtalehq]

CHARACTER NAME: lestat de lioncourt CHARACTER FACECLAIM: cody fern CHARACTER AGE/DOB (if from enchanted forest, general age okay): november 7th 1882 / changed august 18th 1903 CHARACTER PRONOUNS/GENDER IDENTITY/SEXUALITY ETC: he/they, bisexual/romantic/polyam CHARACTER FANDOM: the vampire chronicles / merged into ouat monsterland OC OR CANON: canon WHICH LAND ARE THEY FROM (examples: earth, enchanted forest, wonderland, monsterland [frankenstein, dracula, vamps etc], neverland): monsterland CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY: lestat was the youngest of three sons– five other children having not survived childhood. as the youngest child, lestat stood to inherit no lands or fortunes. as such, lestat set about forging his own path in life. from 12, he began education in a monastery and decided he would enter the order as a brother when the time came. however, this was opposed to his father and brother’s ideas, and they proceeded to pull him from his education.

another attempt at building his own life came around the age of 16, when lestat disappeared with a travelling group of actors. he fell in love with performing. however, it didn’t last long. as days later he woke up to the actors gone and his brothers to take him home.

it isn’t until his twentieth year that lestat finally finds true freedom. he meets and befriends and violinist named nicholas, and upon his mother’s insistence that lestat know freedom, he travels with nicolas.

here, he gains a job as a backstage assistant in a theatre, while later being offered a shot at going on stage and becoming a professional actor. however, it is not long into this that something drastic happens. a change lestat was wholly unprepared for, when a man named magnus enters his life.

magnus kidnaps lestat and very soon after, he is made into a vampire. however, his maker quickly commits suicide and lestat is left to grapple with eternity on his own, adapting to his new life. however, as magnus’ only fledgling, he inherits all his wealth. and so, lestat buys the theatre he used to perform at, but tends to avoid contact with the human world he was once a part of, including nicholas.

in fact, it is during this time that lestat first gets a glimpse at other worlds: a mistake one night, leaving him falling through a portal to another world.

earth.

and somehow, later, others from his life back home come through and connect with him: his mother being one of these.

it isn’t until a while later that lestat’s mother, gabrielle, arrives in paris, dying, that a further change occurs in lestat: he forges his own first fledgling, changing his mother into a vampire to save her.

for months, they travel and live together, eventually taking in nicki and changing him too. many different events occur over this time, including lestat meeting and coming to know of armand and then by extension, marius. inevitably, this leads to lestat being fed some of marius’ ancient blood to regain his strength after burying himself in the ground for a time after his mother leaves him.

shortly after meeting marius, he takes him to see those who must be kept – akasha and enkil, the first vampires and rulers of their kind who appear as living statues. marius explains then how vampires came to being, and the next night, when lestat is alone, he visits akasha and enkil to try and wake them inspite of marius’ warnings against this.

his plan actually works, and akasha allows lestat to drink her blood as she drinks his. that is until enkil awakens in a jealous rage and attacks lestat. thankfully, lestat is saved by marius. marius then tells lestat to leave the island and although reluctant, lestat agrees. and this… is where he comes to new orleans. and meets louis de pointe de lac.

from here, the events unfold as is known: lestat, louis and later claudia spend some 60 years together, before going their separate ways. their time together is beautiful, but clouded with tragedy and pain.

over the years, there are a couple of occasions where lestat and louis reunite, but never for very long. perhaps… that is due to change.

especially now lestat is drawn back to storybrooke, a place where he can practically feel the magic coming through.

OOC INFORMATION: 

MUN NAME/ALIAS: alex

MUN AGE: 28

MUN PRONOUNS: he/him or they/them

[xremusx]

Okay seemed like such a subjective word when it came to how someone felt. When Remus thought about the fact that he might not have been okay, there was always a part of him that thought that maybe that wouldn't be the case eventually. Then there was the much bigger part that believed that he was always meant to be suffering to an extent. Strong beyond belief was something he could call himself, but really he'd been suffering for a long time now. He couldn't even say that it had started before his death when it had started far before that. Far before Draste had found them along Tiber river. Far before Mars himself had sired them. He'd been young when he'd realized his life was not ever meant to be okay. That damn prophecy always reared its ugly head.

Perhaps not being okay worked for Remus though. It felt like it was supposed to given how everything seemed to be working against him no matter how he looked at it. He was meant to suffer which meant the people around him were meant to suffer. Romulus always had it better, didn't he? Remus was the dead brother. He was the one that lived in his own twin's shadow his entire life. Even now, he was sure people would look at him and think that he was nothing but an extension of Romulus. If the terror were to be lost, then there would be no fanfare. Nobody would notice but the people that really knew him. Nobody would care except for the people that love him. That seemed to be something he was more okay with than the concept of actually being okay.

One thing was for sure though. He didn't want Marius to not be okay. He didn't want his demon to suffer. They had gone through enough and Remus wanted to make sure that wouldn't be the case again. He wouldn't leave Marius and the abomination wouldn't leave him. Unfortunately for both of them, they loved each other. It was really a tragedy. When someone loved another as long as he had loved Marius, there was nothing that person would not do for the one they loved. Remus would break down this entire realm to make sure that Marius was merely content. And that was simply because a terror loved an abomination.

It was pretty funny when he thought about it. How two wretched creatures could love each other so. Perhaps it was that darkness that contributed to their willingness to kill for each other. Remus would claw Sathanas from the pits of the Inferno and make him into less of an archfiend than he was if he dared to take Marius from him again. Not that it had been the archfiend's fault in the first place that the demon had been taken from him, but he'd blame everyone but himself for why they had been apart for so long. It had been both of them though. Both of them that had been at fault for their separation. Remus for dying. Marius for...well, honestly the demon had just been petty and embracing their typical demeanor of being wrathful. What could the terror expect other than that?

"Mm, you could never ruin my life, babe." He maneuvered as much as he could with Marius' arms wrapped around him to face the demon. His hand rested on the other's face, eyes still closed. "What else did you find in your How to Comfort Your Husband for Dummies book?"

Remus had been at the fates of cruel Gods, those who paraded around as puppeteers who were destined to navigate the once vampire's life for him. The terror never much delved into the past, only the mere recollection how Marius was once at the mercy of being his thrall, that it had been such bond which wrought the beginnings of their relationship. Still, within all the torture that forged Marius within the Inferno, the Wrathful had learned to be inherently perceptive. Anyone insightful enough could glance upon Remus and see that he'd gone from being told what to do, demanded, ordered, and instructed, to feeling lost once the cards had been placed unto his own hands. Remus had fought against those that wished to control him, he'd conquered and vanquished them, but at what cost to his own navigation throughout life?

Marius smiled fondly as his arms wound tightly around their husband; in a twisted way, Remus' fated death, Marius' inevitable tether to his rebirth, had been everything that Marius could not be without now. A serpent eating it's own tail, one could not currently exist without the other, and throughout each hardship Remus' faced, the terror would have to remember that he'd not be without Marius so long as the abomination could walk alongside him in this mortal plane.

The Wrathful simmered quietly, they'd never been proficient in heartfelt matters, but when Remus spoke, when the terror tossed and turned each night, Marius shared his grief, his deep sated rage, and his love. Love was perhaps the greatest affliction to be burdened with, and as Renfield rotted upon their couch, practically catatonic, Marius could seethe and wince at the pain Remus was outwardly crippled by. Marius had been a son once, a child, but the abomination was left with no memories of what had once been, the tender and sacred bond of parent and child; the wretched fact that Remus would give his entire life if it meant the hollowborn would be okay. Marius did not understand it personally, but the abomination had come to slowly, begrudgingly, accept it.

Remus tried to diffuse something which bordered on sickeningly lachrymose, but Marius vied to understand the life Remus had lived in their absence. Marius had been so petulant, so absorbed, he'd missed a fleeting moment where Remus had been shackled by parental obligation, had made the ultimate sacrifice to raise another when the terror had been coined as nothing else but a monstrosity. Ren was certainly screwed in his own way, Marius wouldn't say that Remus had raised him perfectly; but the love pooled nauseatingly between father and son, it stacked up high in the apartment and was impossible to ignore.

"It may not be much to you," initially snapped, the demon tempered their words to a softer resonance, "but it's what I once told myself, everyday. Words can mean everything when you have nothing," a wry smile was produced as Marius squeezed Remus tighter. "Though I mostly told myself that, banking on the idea that I'd come face to face with you again; ruin your life." Their anger had twisted them up so completely and yet they'd melted upon first seeing Remus, they'd become his fucking husband; the terror had always had his teeth in the abomination, from vampire and thrall to terror and demon. It'd been a wound that had never closed, something they'd learned to live with, something they even learned to dig deeper into as they shifted impossibly closer and their chin rested upon Remus' shoulder.

[marwankenzarisgaylittleearring]

“I’d like to end up as a tree”

Marwan kenzari (31) won a gold calf last year for his role in the movie Wolf. As of next week he is to be seen in Bloedlink (/reckless), opening’s act of the Dutch film festival. “It’s not my place to say I’m good.”

Bloedlink

“Acting offers the chance to become well acquainted with the complexities of being human. The Moroccan kick-boxer Majid in the movie Wolf had a fascinating interior life. His character was even easier to understand when he said nothing at all - I don’t think I’ve ever had as little lines in a movie. Rico in Bloedlink is completely different. He accidentally finds himself swept up in criminal business, but he’s actually just someone who’s had a whole slew of bad luck. In the movie his character undergoes a few very surprising U-turns. In my portrayal of him, I interpret all those different sides as honest, I find that interesting. In the movie, Rico does some paradoxical things, but he means all of them. Of course that’s simply not possible. That’s what makes him fascinating and tragic.”

Journey

“If I’m a good actor? That’s not my place to say. Sometimes you do the most interesting things you think are worthless in the moment. A movie is a collaborative journey, which, in the case of Wolf, I underwent with director Jim Taihuttu among others. Although I secretly did think during shooting: this will be fun. Wolf is an honest movie. The kick-boxing, the hits to the body, very little of that is pretend. Not that everything should be real in a movie, but this story required that. At a certain point I felt: this could be something really fresh in Dutch cinema. And it was.”

Peanut Butter

“Ever since that role, which I trained for quite extensively, I’ve found it increasingly important to stay in shape. It wasn’t a complete transformation; even beforehand I would exercise six times a week. But now I’m slightly addicted, yeah. It makes you mentally stronger, too. If I’ve been training on a Sunday at 7 am and then at 8 am I’m outside again, showered, refreshed and in shape while the rest of the city’s asleep, I’m 1-0 ahead. Scratch that: 10-0. I pay attention to my nutrition as well. Bread for example gives false energy. But I’m not always so strict. I get plenty of enjoyment from a good, white slice of bread with calvé peanut butter. And then fold it over, don’t cut it! You shouldn’t cut a sandwich, everyone knows that. Then you miss the first bite.”

Toneelgroep Amsterdam

“After the acting academy in Maastricht I was immediately invited to Toneelgroep Amsterdam. I was with them for three years, but found my attentions pulled towards film during that period. When the actors from TGA are - rightfully - expected to be fully available. We “broke up”, though that sounds too serious, with full, mutual agreement. I see the company as family and will be playing in Angels in America at the end of the month, in New York. Director Ivo van Hove has been very important for my development. I admire his knowing exactly what he wants, but also his ability to be unsure and searching, and to be able to be vulnerable about that. But I have to be fair to myself. I’m 31 now, and these are my most important years in film. While I hope to be an even better stage-actor when I’m fifty. I’m slightly further ahead in film than on stage. That development is tougher, needs more time and possibly total dedication. Stage is the motor in the actor’s car; film is a different muscle. But if Ivo calls me in two, or ten or forty years, he’ll be the first stage director I’ll say yes to.”

Pierre Bokma

“As the son of Tunisian parents in the Hague painters-quarter I didn’t come into automatic contact with theatre. As a kid I was mostly interested in football, the emotion you see on a player’s face when he scores - fantastic. At a certain point I realised that movies can affect you the same way, even though you know it’s fake. That’s the magic of acting. Through contacts I ended up with De Nieuwe Amsterdam, an in-between theatre course for teens for whom the leap to theatre school was perhaps a bit too big. I learned everything there: playwrights, Dutch actors, repertoire. You’re also taught which acting schools exist. And I thought: where did Pierre Bokma go to school? And Fedja van Huêt? That was Maastricht. It also appealed to me that they implemented Bijltjesdag: you might still be sent away halfway through the first year. I decided: if I’m going for this uncertain profession, maybe the best trial by fire will be going to a school where you aren’t sure if you’ll be allowed to stay. I was allowed, in the end. At the theatre academy I came into contact with art, philosophy, poetry. All of that was new. But it didn’t feel as if I was behind, I only saw it as a fantastic source of riches; as if I could try on all sorts of new glasses.”

Huntersfamily

“I never thought that this path wasn’t laid out for me, I just always let myself be lead by my passion and my dreams. My parents are happy for me; I have a good connection with both. My father is an amazing person - an accumulation of beautiful ingredients. He’s honest with himself, doesn’t spare himself and laughs a lot, that’s important to me. He might be made out of simple components, he’s from a huntersfamily, but for me these are the components that build a strong character. My dad can tell beautiful stories, about his life in Tunisia, about his old friends who aren’t with us anymore. Every year death takes someone new, and in that way a beautiful group of people slowly disappears, the protagonists of a generation. One lives close to the elements there, I find that fascinating. It’s so different to our life here. I’ll also never interrupt my dad when he starts on a story like that. Even if I’ve heard it before.”

Vampire

“I’ve always said: I want to play a woman, a vampire, a Moroccan kick-boxer. I’ve succeeded in doing the last one. A vampire is a wonderful character. The beauty of their faces, the sensuality, the tragedy of never going outside during the day, and of course their never ageing; never dying, in fact. I’d like to never die. When I was a kid, I suffered a lot of nightmares. About falling and never landing. I had a hard time in the dream world, I wasn’t a big fan of night. It was, I think, a sort of inexplicable fear of dying. At a certain moment I grew familiar with those dreams, figured out how to influence them. I could for all intents and purposes check-out whenever it became scary. I became the director of my own dream world. When I was twelve, I fell in love, and then I was over it. I still have nightmares, like everyone else, but now I find them fascinating instead of threatening. Beautiful how your mind can make a story out of all sorts of ingredients. Sometimes I call my mother to talk about what a dream might mean. For example, I recently dreamt about my grandmother. ‘She thinks about you and loves you,’ my mother says.”

Tree

“I still know fear and uncertainty, but they don’t hinder me anymore. They’re two trusted companions now, who walk with me. They keep me sharp and hungry, and in a good way, they keep me on my toes. As long as they don’t hold me back, they can be here. Fear of dying is now simply fear of no longer living. If a way to live until you’re 377 is discovered tomorrow, I’ll be the first to sign up. I’d like to end up as a tree. Then you only need to have a care for wind, rain and sun.”

[mari-monsta]

hi i just want to say it's such a pleasure to follow you bc youre so right about stuff all the time. love the way you think about characters and narratives and themes etc. unrelated but I listened to hadestown again today and if you have literally anything else to say about ml/hadestown crossover i am ALL ears but i am all ears whenever you speak regardless xoxo

HEHE THANK YOU it was an absolute PLEASURE to receive this ask yesterday morning and I treasured it and saved it to answer until now because i was busy watching lil nas x twerk on stage yesterday and also working

ANYWAY this is high praise and it always makes me SO happy to hear people like my character interpretations and my blorbo ramblings. Please note I am sending this to my friends to tell them that I have proof i am so right about stuff all the time :) thank you for enabling my blorbo illness. I would also like you to know that I love ur thoughts and reactions to things in ur tags and also ur content is so immaculate 🙇🙇

OKAY SO I have SO MUCH thoughts i am dying to share them maybe I will use a cut now for people who don't want to hear me talk extensively about hades town but HERE WE GO

So first of all Gabriel agreste has to be hades. The Control the trying to keep his loved ones under his thumb the fear his Need to know that the rug won't be pulled out from under him. His desperate attempts to bring the love of his life back into his arms but subsequently pushing her father and father away. I Do Not Know how you have Adrien be Orpheus or Eurydice with his as Hades but it has to be like this it just has to!!!

Then for Adrien and Marinette being Orpheus and Eurydice I just its so HARD because they're both like nothing alike either of the characters but at the same time their failings and fears and stuff are all the same??? The inherent tragedy of it all. it BLEEDS love square i just couldn't let it leave me alone even though it doesn't quite fit.

Now the reason I have SUCH a hard time assigning them one role or another is this. Clearly Marinette generally more closely resembles Eurydice upon first glance because of the way she guards her heart and her hesitance to commit. Marinette is much more likely to be the one whos turned cynical and jaded against the world as they are in canon now. She's been canonically less likely to think to believing in the inherent good in people like adrien and also Orpheus seems to.

Adrien in turn fits Orpheus as an inherent romantic and loyal to a fault. Naïve and captivating in a way that you truly believe he believes in the possibility of the world to be good and good things to be manifested from it. Adrien has that easily captivating side of him and its easy to imagine him singing songs that move everyone.

However, despite the fact it's not always her first instinct, Marinette has been more than shown to have the power of captivating people like this.

This is where I get stuck too, because I cannot see Adrien EVER turning a blind eye to Marinette in her time of need the way Orpheus does. Now, I 100% believe it wasn't his fault and that he had no idea. But I just CANT see Adrien ever getting sucked into his work so thoroughly that he wouldn't be able to realize Marinette was crying out for help to him.

DO you know who does do that though? That's right. Marinette does. Marinette is canonically a creative type that can easily get so sucked into her duties and her efforts in protecting everyone that she loves she subsequently pushes them all away and neglects them in the process. Like I said though I'm not blaming either character for this I'm just stating their similarities. Marinette also cares to a fault but very differently than Adrien does.

And do you know who's been known to lay down and die about it when he thinks there's no hope? That's right. It's Adrien. Something something the tracks chant to songbird are basically kuroneko something something I hope you understand because otherwise I'll sound insane.

THEN we have the second act. This is where everything is turned on its head. Eurydice has signed her life away to Hades and Orpheus thus begins to question all his faith in humanity and the inherent goodness of the world, the betrayal breaks him. Now I think this works just fine for either Marinette or Adrien. But it's the climax, where Orpheus is leading them all back to the mortal world and has Eurydice and the workers following behind. As much as Adrien has the capability to believe in the good in others and sometimes inspire it, he's never had quite the leadership capabilities that Marinette does.

If ANYONE would be leading a revolt against the cruelties of the world instead of laying down and taking it it would be Marinette for sure. And if anyone would follow her through hell and back to help her do it it would be Adrien. But Marinette doubts. She doubts so much. Such a big part of the reason Marinette started pushing Chat Noir away during season 4 was that she was afraid of him. Afraid of leading him astray and having him leave her first, so she pushed him away before he could do it. But he was never going to leave her, and he proved that all along. He'd always believe in her and be on her side no matter what mistakes she made along the way. The only thing he doubts in her is her care for HIM. So Marinette is 100% the one who'd be so strong as to be able to walk through hell and back all alone. All alone until she gets to the very end because she doesn't think her kitty has been behind her all along, and is shocked and overjoyed to find him right at her back as always.

Definitely it could go the other way too but.... HNGNNGNGH season 4 narratives,......

Anyway edrklemsdlkvmeklmrfe I hope you don't mind the long rant too much I don't know if you expected me to dump like 7 paragraphs on you i hope you enjoy???

[robininthelabyrinth]

anything with jin zixuan marrying into the jiang sect, instead of jiang yanli marrying out?

ao3

It wasn’t that Jin Zixuan didn’t love his mother – he did, he truly did. He loved her, he supported her, he stood by her side in every argument. He would do anything within his power to help her get everything that she wanted.

It was only that he took a very reasonable look at the circumstances and realized he couldn’t. He couldn’t get her the one thing she’d always counted for.

He couldn’t win the right of succession to be Sect Leader Jin.

Maybe if his mother had managed to stop his father from bringing home all his bastards – there were nineteen of them, all together, and those were just the ones that were willing to admit it so who even knew – he might’ve had a better chance, given that he was after all the sole legitimate son. But legitimacy only took you so far: he was neither the oldest of the children, nor the most capable, nor the most cunning. He wasn’t even the best connected, despite his maternal family’s support; that honor went to another one of his siblings, born to an especially well-connected family through unspecified circumstances that might or might not involve rape but which sufficient money had plastered over.

The only thing Jin Zixuan had going for him was his legitimacy, but his father had long ago taught him - however inadvertently - that there wasn’t anything magical about a wedding ceremony that made him better suited to the role of sect leader.

What’s more, in his heart of hearts, Jin Zixuan didn’t even want it.

He wasn’t – he didn’t really like fighting. Or politics, or scheming, or any of it. It just wasn’t his personality. He didn’t like games of influence, he didn’t like backstabbing people that trusted him, he didn’t like gossiping and slandering and not being able to believe in people’s good faith and any of that, and no matter how much his mom pushed him, he didn’t think he’d ever like it. 

But that was what Lanling Jin did, what Jilin Tower was like, and if he wanted to take up the Sect Leader’s seat and reside in the Fragrant Palace, he had to get over himself and accept that that’s what the rest of his life would be like.

Forever.

Until someone murdered him and took his place, anyway. It almost felt inevitable, sometimes. 

Or, because he really truly didn’t want the job, because he really truly didn’t want to die, he could try to think of something else. Some way out.

For example, he could, and did, go to Jin Ziyao and ask him for help.

Jin Ziyao stared at him, eyes narrow and calculating as they so rarely were – he was very good at keeping a bland polite smile on his face, the best at it of all the people Jin Zixuan had ever met, and he’d met a lot. 

“That’s an interesting thing to say, brother,” he said, gently eliding as always the fact that they were the same age, born on the same day to different mothers. “Very interesting indeed. I must ask, though - why are you saying it to me?”

“Because you’d be the best at the job,” Jin Zixuan said honestly. He really thought so: Jin Ziyao was smart and clever, cunning enough to wear a kind face and tricky enough to actually pull off the impression of actually being kind, since people were more willing to forgive kind people, but also ambitious and ruthless enough to survive and maybe even thrive in the political world the way Jin Zixuan wasn’t. “And because you’re smart enough to come up with a way for me to get out of this without dying, if you wanted to.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere. Why would I want to?”

And that was the rub, wasn’t it? Jin Zixuan was the legitimate son, the rightful heir, and his father, their father, was just as likely to name Jin Zixuan as the next sect leader no matter how unfit for the role he was on nothing more than that basis as he was to name anyone else with a much stronger claim. 

It was in everyone else’s best interest to kill him, if they were ambitious.

Maybe not his sisters. They wouldn’t inherit no matter what happened to him.

(Sometimes Jin Zixuan wished he was lucky enough to be born a nobody, little Jin Ziyu, who just wanted to play with make-up and avoid all contact with his maternal Mo family. Nobody cared about Jin Ziyu, and everyone liked it that way.)

“You know my position,” Jin Zixuan explained. He didn’t need to say it out loud; he was bitterly aware that it was basically his only personality trait: legitimate heir of Jin Guangshan, the rich boy everyone thought would be the next sect leader unless someone else got in the way. “My support could be worth something to you.”

“Especially if it’s sincere,” Jin Ziyao murmured, looking thoughtful, contemplative. It wasn’t an outright no, anyway, or at least not yet. “And you would be sincere, wouldn’t you?”

“There’s a reason I said that I’m not fit for the role,” Jin Zixuan replied, his voice dry to hide the fact that his heart was in his throat. Jin Ziyao was the one most likely to succeed in finding a way to get him out of this mess, but he was also the most likely to figure out a way to kill him without being blamed for it, too.  There was a reason he’d come to him, but that reason was the danger - who was to say that Jin Ziyao wouldn’t decide it’d be safer to kill him, and to use this to accomplish it? He could be signing his own death warrant. “And even if you’re smart, competent, good at managing things, well-connected, and well-liked, you can still use my help.”

Jin Ziyao had only a single fault: his mother had been a prostitute. People still judged him for that, something which made no sense to Jin Zixuan whatsoever – it wasn’t Jin Ziyao’s fault what his mother did before he was born – but it meant he lacked legitimacy even more than the others. 

Having the legitimate son backing his claim would be a strong argument in favor of overlooking that.

“You know your mother won’t like it,” Jin Ziyao said. Testing, probing; he hadn’t agreed yet.

“I know,” Jin Zixuan said simply. “But I hope that she’d like me being dead less.”

He wasn’t actually sure about that. His mother loved him, yes, but he had never entirely determined if she loved him for himself or as an extension of herself – a symbol of what she would be fighting towards. A sign that her struggles with her husband had a purpose, that all her humiliation would one day be worth it.

That one day, when he was sect leader, she would become the true power in Lanling through him. 

(Jin Zixuan didn’t know what she imagined would happen to all his illegitimate brothers and sisters in that situation, and he didn’t want to; it put a sick feeling in his gut to think about it – which he supposed meant he did know, after all, what she would want, but was instead choosing to ignore it.)

Jin Ziyao studied him for a long moment, presumably trying to analyze his sincerity and how firm he was on the idea. 

Jin Zixuan didn’t rush him, knowing it was a gamble on his side as well: it would be worse for him to help Jin Zixuan out of the line of succession only for Jin Zixuan to change his mind down the road. It would make him look bad, make him a target for the others, and the backstabbing nature of Lanling politics meant that luring someone in with a request for aid was exactly the sort of trap someone might lay out.

Sometimes, Jin Zixuan was really, really tired of Lanling.

Maybe something of that showed on his face, because just when he was starting to lose hope, Jin Ziyao abruptly nodded – almost to himself – and said, “All right. How about your marriage?”

“What about my marriage?” Jin Zixuan asked, puzzled. 

He’d been engaged to his mother’s best friend’s daughter since before he was born, and amazingly enough the engagement had held despite everything – probably because they had barely met, to be perfectly honest. And also the fact that being surrounded by brothers that hid daggers in their smiles gave Jin Zixuan enough experience to realize that he was being deliberately incited when his so-called friends started telling him that he deserved better than a girl most often described simply as being nice.

After all, he’d already started doubting by that time that he even deserved the accident of his legitimate birth, so forget deserving any girl.

Also, being nice sounded…rather nice, actually. Certainly a relief, assuming she was actually nice rather than just pretending to be the way so many of his sisters were.

(None of them liked her, which suggested she might be.)

“You should get to know your intended better,” Jin Ziyao said. “Visit her more often.”

Jin Zixuan really wasn’t seeing the connection between that and his request for assistance, and Jin Ziyao’s gaze softened a little bit, though Jin Zixuan wasn’t sure if it was with sympathy or merely pity.

“It’ll make it easier for you,” he clarified. “For when you marry in.”

Marry in?

Marry in. The Jiang sect was a Great Sect, with enough power and influence to make unreasonable demands – and his father desperately wanted the alliance with them. If they could be convinced to demand that he marry in rather than having Jiang Yanli marry out, pointing to their smaller numbers or the tragedies that had befallen their sect…

Jiang Cheng would like having his sister around. He was also notoriously standoffish around women, and had viciously rejected any effort to be matched with one of the illegitimate Jin girls; it might even be possible to suggest to his father that allowing Jin Zixuan to marry in would mean that there was a chance that Jiang Cheng would be willing to leave his sect to a nephew surnamed Jiang, winning the Jin sect both an alliance and inheritance all at once.

Best of all, it had to be him. The Jiang sect had only agreed to the engagement because of Madame Yu’s friendship with his mother, not for any political reason; if his father tried to substitute him with someone else, they might break it entirely…

And someone who married out couldn’t be the heir.

“You’re a genius,” Jin Zixuan told his brother, who smiled crookedly in acknowledgement. “What should I do? Do I just – go over there? Send a letter? I can’t write letters…”

“Let me think about it,” Jin Ziyao said. “I’m sure I can come up with something more subtle than you.”

[fayevalcntine]

I don't mind at all, though I hope you won't mind me rambling in response:

I think you're right about Andrea, I couldn't completely guess whether he's presented as the Count's servant or his ward, but it would make sense for him to be presented as such if Edmond maybe wants to tear apart Danglars and Villefort's arranged marriage agreement for Eugenie and Albert from both sides: have Andrea be considered a more 'worthy' proposal than Albert for Danglars' daughter, and have Albert be 'seduced' by Haydée. As for the inclusion of Benedetto, I don't disagree! I think that including him in this film as another proponent of revenge isn't a bad idea in the slightest, in fact I kind of agree with his potential storyline more than Haydée's because it would offer a unique tragedy when it comes to how far members of the upper class would be willing to discard any obstacle in their way. As for the death, Pierre Niney, the actor who plays Edmond, shared some kind-of-spoiler-ish photos on set back when they first started filming and one of the photos had fake blood being applied to what looked like the floor of the court house, while the other showed a monitor where Haydée seems to be kneeling over Andrea's body (in the trailer it's actually Haydée screaming 'no!' in that setting). Now I'm not 100% sure if he's taking Edouard's place when it comes to a Villefort child dying or not, but if he isn't, and Edmond's machinations end up with both him, Edouard AND Heloise dead, I'm not sure how the movie will then try to justify us still rooting for him if all of this also happens before the ending? Mainly because the Fernand/Edmond duel has been repeatedly teased as 'the final duel'.

As for Noirtier and Villefort, I agree. I think his character (and by extension Valentine and the rest of the Villefort family) are in their own way very interesting and all very important within the context of Edmond's revenge plan.

I don't think Valentine has been listed at all within the casting on IMDB or any of the official cast lists for the film, and given how reviewers mention Eugenie but not Valentine, my bet is still on the movie making Albert/Haydée the new Valentine/Maximilien. Which.... I have a lot of thoughts on Haydée as a character and how a lot of script writers (and even some fans of the book) neglect to see that she is in her own right very important to Edmond but also within the larger scope of the story itself because there's a lot of similarities between their stories, particularly in them losing a beloved father, having their lives completely robbed from them, before some chance encounter with a stranger (Abbe Faria for Edmond, then Edmond for Haydée) leads them to gain freedom and the chance for revenge for what was stolen from them. I don't disagree with criticisms aimed towards the book about her feeling maybe one-note and there being so little of her, but there's a lot that any writer could use from the text in order to expand her role and make her a bigger accomplice for the Count while also possibly objecting to his obsession for revenge overtaking every family member connected to the three men in question, without her needing a weirdly inserted romantic subplot featuring Albert. Even in the book, Haydée struggled with the idea of avenging her father because of her religious beliefs, but she never went after Fernand's family because she had no issue with them, she wanted his crime of murdering her father to be known and heard. All this could easily be done in between highlighting her loyalty towards Edmond, and what she represents to him, but of course in order to do this, you'd have to then focus on more than one woman in Edmond's life being influential in his journey, which you can't if you want to sell this supposedly significant lifelong romance between him and Mercedes. One of the press releases that featured interviews with all the actors mentioned how Edmond's last scene with Mercedes had him telling her to "wait and hope" (his last lines to Maximilien in the book), in between talking about how Mercedes' love makes Edmond 'remember love', and I have the suspicion that this movie makes another significant CoMC adaptation mistake where, even if they attempted to center the women in the story more, they end up dismissing what their actual feelings were for the sake of swapping them out. Mercedes' actress was also quoted as saying that she "would've been prepared for a second chance with Edmond, but he gives her no choice in this", which.... Mercedes in the book was heartbroken way prior to their last scene because she realized he had agreed to a duel with her son, and what that meant to her. I'm not sure why the women in the film all sound like they're throwing aside everything for the sake of a man's love, but it's certainly a Choice from the scriptwriters' side.

As for Edmond's ending, I can only assume that Mercedes's love will be hinted at as one of the possible reasons he may go off on his own while 'hoping to be redeemed', but that defeats the purpose of a lot of elements of the original book's ending and even neglects the severity of his state. It ends up feeling like these script writers don't actually care enough for the character to show both the positive and negative sides to him once he escapes from Chateau d'if, and instead opted for "how far will this man go before he realizes it was Too Far".

(Forgot to mention this in the original post but another thing that's been bothering me is the idea itself of Haydée either thinking she can only get back at Fernand by 'seducing' his son, or Edmond pushing the idea onto her. If her character's backstory remains her being sold into slavery where she was 'raised' to be a docile one for a man of higher status, it just makes Edmond look insanely weird to even think "ah yes, she can seduce Albert" as a plot.... it twists even the most basic aspect of their relationship in the book where Edmond allowed her to do whatever she pleased. At most he would be intentionally vague about what Haydée was to him in the audience of other people (daughter, ward or 'slave'), but he never made her behavior reflect this.)

Anyway I've been kind of following the press releases for The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) (French) movie and some potential spoilers that I kind of want to air out:

The film seems to be marketed as "much darker" in terms of focusing on the revenge aspect, which I don't mind, but some other stuff give me pause as to how they're gonna handle The Count as a character because the way the actors talk about him, he almost sounds weirdly irredeemable, or rather just completely incapable of still loving and caring about people? Which is the exact opposite of how he behaves in the book..... he wants to be cold and completely detached but fails each time because he a) forms close connections with people like Haydée and Maximilien, even comes to deeply respect Albert despite trying to talk himself into not caring about the boy and b) is meant to question his own revenge plot because it inadvertently causes the death of an innocent child

Apparently Haydée is 'torn between her loyalty for the Count and the love of her life' with said love of her life being.....guess who? Albert de Morcerf. There's no mention of a court scene so far where she accuses Fernand of being a traitorous officer and murdering her father, instead Edmond apparently gets her to seduce Albert but then Haydée falls in love with him for real? I once wrote a post complaining about this type of idea I've seen others mention as a "potential fix" for the plot but taking aside my issue with Albert/Haydée as a pairing in any sense, in this context it's almost doubly bizarre and I feel like the writers took so many different elements from the book, namely Albert's blind trust and admiration towards the Count and the forbidden love story between Maximilien and Valentine, and decided to go for a much more digestible change for the story, I guess? The actress who plays Haydée also mentions that she wants to "break free from the Count's psychological grip", which..... you can say a lot of stuff about Edmond/Haydée as an overall dynamic, particularly in him inserting her in his plan for revenge, but the big thing noted in the book is that Haydée makes the decision herself to testify against Fernand, and even thinks that the Count will disapprove of her for this. He also does genuinely care for her and wanted her to inherit everything he owns should he die.... the whole point of him taking her in is that he wanted her to have the life she was entitled to before Fernand's actions stripped it away from her.

The film also seems to have merged several different characters related to Villefort into one, namely Benedetto/Andrea and Bertuccio, since Andrea (in the film) is also under the Count's wing and seems to accompany him as a possible servant in some scenes. This isn't a bad idea in theory, though I'm pretty sure that he ends up dying when he goes after Villefort at the court house, so I presume he's also supposed to represent Edouard's death? My main question is when this scene even happens in the film because apparently, there's a final sword fight (likely the one between Fernand and Edmond), so the death that makes Edmond question his entire plot isn't even at the end of his plan?

This brings me to my next point which is why are Fernand and Edmond even doing a sword duel in the first place.... apparently the film has Fernand come from a rich family already, and he's known and been friends with Edmond prior to his imprisonment, so w/e, classic trope of CoMC adaptations at this point. But the duel and Haydée's 'seduction' plot just makes me think that for all the apparent attempts at centering her as a character more, these writers took out a significant scene related to her character that means a lot FOR her, namely the court scene, and instead centered Edmond's feelings of betrayal towards Fernand. I know that this is likely to also focus a lot on Edmond's lost life with Mercedes, but Fernand isn't even such a significant focus of Edmond's ire in the book as much as the other two men are.

The movie doesn't seem to end with Mercedes and Edmond getting back together, which I at least appreciate if this Edmond is "much darker" than even in the book, but if he isn't with her or isn't dead by the end, what exactly is the point of him going off alone? I presume this is the ending if Haydée/Albert are supposed to represent Maximilien/Valentine and the Count "gives them support" for being together, but Edmond was pretty much contemplating suicide until Haydée stopped him in the book. The point is that his focus on avenging the past was his only assumed reason for living, but there's a chance for him to simply live on with those who genuinely care about him as he is now. Without him trying to make amends through Maximilien and Valentine and Haydée indicating she will only live if he lives, I can't really see the film making a good argument for why Edmond wouldn't contemplate suicide instead of living on.

Apparently Villefort has a Bonapartist sister (I presume this character is meant to replace his father in the film) whom I also think Edmond saves from a shipwreck that has been shown in the trailers. I've zero clue how this movie is going to fit a new character in this while doing all of this to the other more significant characters, but that seems to be a general trend with this scriptwriter duo.

Only minor positive thing so far is that Eugenie IS included for once, and they didn't omit her being a lesbian.