#and this doesn't even include any of the theories or extrapolations people make. this is just going off of what is on the screen or from
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it is kinda funny to see ppl go "whoa!!!!!!!!!!!! why are you talking about incest/gore/sexual violence/cannibalism/assault/human rights violations/etc" in this space bc like. sir. have you ever a) looked past the aesthetic-y nostalgic filter of the show to take notice of what you're actually watching sometimes, or b) seen any of the films that the duffers themselves have said they're drawing direct inspiration from for this show. be serious............... and on byler tumblr, too, like....... will is one of the top three darkest characters on the show and you wanna get scared and act like this isn't the place just bc stranger things has a lot of jokes in it. as if this has ever been a kids show. logan succession voice You Are Not Serious People.
#stoker is on the s4 dna board and you want to come into my office saying stuff. clown behavior.#and this doesn't even include any of the theories or extrapolations people make. this is just going off of what is on the screen or from#the duffers directly. booooooooooooo 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
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You’ve dealt with your share of Evangelical Christians on this website, and you tend to be right about things, so can you give me your thoughts on a pet hypothesis I have on Christians (particularly Evangelicals) and lack of empathy?
My theory is like this: Christians believe that anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord (anyone who is a Christian) goes to Heaven, and everyone else goes to Hell. This means that good non-Christians, including people they interact with every day, will be tortured forever in the afterlife. This is distressing for most people, because they naturally empathize with non-Christian people who they have positive interactions with. Most people can extrapolate these good interactions to the billions of strangers in the world who aren’t Christians. If they have empathy for these people, they can put themselves in their shoes, and the pain of their eventual torture in the afterlife weighs on them.
This pain that is caused by empathy can be resolved in two ways: either the Christian dedicates the rest of their life to evangelism to save as many souls from the fires of Hell as possible, or they just cut off empathy to non-Christians so they can stop feeling this pain. Most Christians aren’t missionaries, so they just stop caring about other people. This doesn’t mean that they necessarily become cruel or impolite to other people, they just stop putting themselves in other people’s shoes/imagining life from another perspective, because that would be painful.
Once you’ve cut of empathy to a group of people for one reason (religious differences), it’s easier to cut off empathy for other reasons, or even to become bad at empathy through lack of practice.
Anyway, that’s just my hypothesis from being raised Evangelical. And I want to emphasize that this hypothesis is about empathy, not compassion, though they are related.
This all follows logically, and may apply to some individuals, but I don't think it can be relied upon in a diagnostic sense, if you get me?
The 'why' of what's going on in any given person's head doesn't matter to me unless that person is a close and personal part of my life, someone confiding in me because they want to better understand themselves and/or want to change and grow. I don't really feel motivated, personally, to explain the motivations and rationale of another person's bad behavior - I care about making the behavior stop and preventing it from happening again.
The only value in understanding why someone arrives at a place of diminished humanity (because that's what Evangelical Christianity does, really) is in either helping them regain it (applicable only in close personal relationships) or if it in some way guides a policy that prevents their diminished humanity from hurting others.
"You told Sally she's going to hell; we do not do that here. If you do that again, you will not be welcome here. Sally is not required to associate with you or accept an apology even if you want to give one."
is more important to me than
"You told Sally she's going to hell; why did you do that?"
The above is useful in understanding, as a person who's been hurt, why those people hurt you. It's a self-healing technique and entirely valid for that.
It's not useful for fixing the problem of evangelicals who think this way or preventing them from doing harm.
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I like how Elriels don't have to read 30 other SJM (and non-SJM) books to understand the connection Elain has with Azriel. It's on the page, in black and white. There's no twisting of words or reached for foreshadowing or claims of extrapolation going on. We use current canon moments that already prove Elain & Azriel are into each other.
Anti-Elriels, on the other hand, are out here doing the MOST to both disprove Elriel moments and trying to tie together any two random theories in an effort to point to some scrap of "evidence" in favor of their ship.
For example, Elriels often point to the TT & Hybern rescue in ACOWAR to show how Azriel cares for Elain. Even more explicitly stated, in his own POV VC, Azriel is ready to get on his knees for a taste of Miss Elain Archeron.
That is explicitly stated. In the text. The logical reaction would be....to believe what is printed on the page LOL???
Antis will see that moment-read it-process it- and then immediately add on a "Well-but actually".
Meaning, they'll say something like
"Well he might've offered her Truthteller... but actually Cassian offered her a knife too."
"Well he might've saved her from Hybern - but actually Cassian said they'll save Elain first"
"Well, he might've been begging on his knees to try to taste Elain - but actually it's just lust."
Every single Elriel moment they've had some kind of defense for. Everything has to be disproven ... in order to pave the way for their ship.
They are out here trying to disprove explicitly stated moments in the text... while at the same time turning around and saying stuff like:
"Elain asked for sunlight... she asked for Lucien... because Lucien's name means light and he's the heir to the Day Court."
"Something sparked in Azriel's chest... he and Gwyn are mates."
Like how are they out here saying the most - despite having zero things explicitly stated in the text. Y'all are relying on THEORIES while trying to disprove ACTUAL Elriel moments.
Like I'm sorry, but it's a little ridiculous. That's like if I saw "Elain & Lucien are mates" and said
"No actually they're not because Lucien just wants a mate. He thought Jessiminda was his mate and he loved her for so long that now that he has an actual mate he doesn't actually love Elain he really just wants a mate."
"No actually they're not mates bc azriel let out a cry before Elain got dunked in the cauldron - therefore he was crying out for her clearly. And so Lucien & Elain aren't real mates"
Or when "Lucien is compared to flames and Vassa is a firebird so he can't be with Elain because clearly like calls to like so..."
I was gonna include more Gwynriel & Elucien positive, could be romantic (if you squint and forget all you know about romance) moments but they literally don't HAVE any
Like I could sit here and make so many illogical arguments to act like what's canon isn't canon.
But I don't have to. Because Elriel has actual moments together that confirm their growing feelings for each other. The BC gives us an added layer of conflict and forbidden love trope. The talk of rejected mates in the books is foreshadowing that we might explore that plotline as well. The setup is all there, and people are just refusing to see it at this point.
#elriel#acotar#elain x azriel#elain archeron#azriel#pro elain#elain#antielucien#antigwynriel#pro elriel
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Any opinion on a character that focuses too much on approval/disapproval, I tend to dismiss. You know, unless it leads them to conclusions that I think are right for other reasons that they just didn't explore. Or, I would feel that way if I'd seen that, but I haven't.
If you're whole theory of the character is based off the approval system and doesn't take their actual story into account, you tend to be wrong.
Partly, this is because it's tricky to confidently know why a character reacts the way they do, though that's a fun exercise on its own. Every once in a while I'll read an explanation that completely nails it, but for every one fandom theory written by someone who actually sounds like they get the characters, I read about twenty from people who sound like they are maybe 12 hours into the game, or even familiar with the characters purely from marketing material they saw on Facebook.
Like, I do think speculating about certain moments of approval/disapproval is fun, and also, totally inevitable, but I only consider it on a case by case basis and not when it's extrapolated into something immutable.
IE - I think it's interesting that when you find Halsin in the bear cage you can throw rocks at him with the Goblin children and a) no one disapproves of this, including our animal lovers and our Halsin saviours and b) Astarion approves.
A bad example of analysing this would be "well b) Astarion is just evil and I guess a) the other characters think the bear is in jail for good reason" or more likely "idk a) it's not that deep unless its Astarion then its b) definitive proof he's irredeemable"
So,
a) I think they each have their own individual reasons for tolerating it, and its first important to note that at this point, none of them know the consequences of you doing this, because if they did, you'd see some disapproval for sure: Shadowheart appreciates subterfuge and commitment to it, so even though she doesn't like to see animals get hurt, she doesn't react and also has a high tolerance for situations in which a group mentality forces you to do something cruel. She has to. Karlach wants to give you the benefit of the doubt, so she probably tells herself that it was just a mistake. If you'd known what would happen, you never would have done it, maybe you thought a little extra pain and rage would motivate the bear, she knows something about that.
Wyll I legitimately think that when surrounded by Goblins, Wyll's ability to power through unpleasant situations and his rage goes way way up, and empathy consequently goes way down. He only ever gets nasty when it has to do with them. He's too focused on his enemies to consider much else.
Gale may love animals, canonically, but like I remember one time I was talking with someone who told this story about having to shoot a feral dog on his property when it went after his chickens, and this guy was clearly traumatised that he had to do this, but our clueless acquaintance just dismissively said "well you did what you had to" and proceeded to kind of invalidate the conflicted feelings our buddy was having about it. Gale is somehow both of them. I don't think he'd throw the rocks, unless forced. I think he'd be upset at having to hurt an animal under any circumstances. But I don't think he'd feel much if someone else did it. Bears are capable predators, bears can handle a few rocks.
Lae'zel doesn't disapprove because violence, pain, cruelty on its face aren't offensive to her, and she doesn't have a particular love for animals. Alternatively, I also think it makes sense she doesn't approve either because although she does approve of some acts of cruelty, I think she prefers when there's a discernible purpose to it, or something impressive about it. and
b) Astarion approves because he begins the game in the paradigm that acts of cruelty are how you gain and demonstrate power, and that being kind gets you punished. You can either prove him right or prove him wrong through your choices in the game, but I don't think it's an accident that these moments become less and less frequently as you progress the story, regardless of the path you choose. You can challenge Astarion, and even shift that paradigm for him. Takes time though, and at least when you first meet him, he's very comfortable with you being a bastard because it affirms that paradigm and the dynamic that he's used to. It's notable then, that on the flip side, he's vocally uncomfortable with you being kind, but his approval still steadily climbs if you keep him in your party and don't treat him poorly, even if you are kind to everyone you can possibly be kind to, and you always have him with you, his approval still climbs at a regular rate. Basically, I think its reductive to say that he's just entertained by violence and cruelty. Like, yeah, one point awarded for noticing that about him---he absolutely is evil aligned, gold star. Why's that? Why does he approve of cruelty? And what does it say that as he finally spends the first weeks of his life able to make his own choices, he seems less and less inclined to approve of the cruel acts that you commit? There's loads of these moments in act one, less in act two, and in act three you have to go hunting for them and mainly find them in big story events that you will only find when you are RPing evil.
I think it supports the theory that he's got a kind of mechanically enabled redemption arc, but it doesn't prove it. The game is meant to embody 15K different realities and AUs, they had to make it so that the character would have different version of themselves for you to interact with, depending on your choices.
And I guess that makes the emphasis on NPC choices that much more interesting to me. Removed from Cazador, Astarion's arc naturally bends away from cruelty, unless you act as his new master which you are totally permitted to do.
#bg3#baldur's gate 3#astarion ancunin#astarion#baldur's gate 3 astarion#bg3 astarion#baldurs gate astarion#baldurs gate 3 astarion
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It's hilarious to me BPP that all the people saying HYBE doesn't want Jimin nominated along with Jungkook in Western awards have nothing to say when Billboard reported HYBE submitted all BTS members for consideration and nominations at the Grammys. Thank you very much for this blog. You nice keep going.
***
Oh I find it amusing too. I've been around long enough that it doesn't surprise me the sorts of theories that gain traction with certain types of people. But it's still amusing to watch this happen every couple years, with every new wave of people who join the fandom.
I keep saying, all the theories from solo spaces reflect their insecurities and anxieties rather than anything that's actually happening based on the facts as we have them. Jimin not getting a nomination doesn't mean his work wasn't submitted, but because akgaes live in a miserable, sick terror that everyone is out to get their fave, including his band members and HYBE, they presume Jimin's lack of nominations must be because HYBE intentionally neglected to submit his work to control him, boost their bottom line (literally counterproductive ergo irrational but I digress), or because HYBE hates him. There's no long-dated history or verified pattern of behaviour regarding award submissions to support that theory, but that doesn't stop people already afraid based on scenarios they've relived over and over in their heads, from latching onto it for dear life.
When faced with irrefutable proof that HYBE has submitted Jimin's work for the Grammys, i.e. a confirmed example directly applicable to BTS, and not an extrapolation based on what happened to another artist in another award show years ago as akgaes were asserting for Despacito, it does nothing to dislodge their conspiracy theories. It barely even registers in the web of mismatched accusations, vitriol, and hate they've weaved together in the last 6 months about Jimin, Jungkook, BTS, and HYBE.
Like another Anon said, trying to reason with them is about as effective as trying to talk to a Q-anon believer who thinks there's truth to Pizzagate and it's proof children are being trafficked by the rival political party they hate.
Belief is a very fascinating thing.
People throw around words like "cult" in fandom but the groups of people that consistently show this thinking and behaviours:
a propensity for conspiracy,
doomposting,
strict adhesion to groupthink to the point an akgae can write '"I know all and see all" in a bid to coerce their followers to not frequent my blog since I'm a taekooker who hates Jimin, and their followers will just nod their heads and think that's a very normal thing to say....
caustic hateful language,
people usually located at the fringes of any main fandom space,
....and other sociopathic behaviours, these sorts of people are the least self-aware and yet most eager to throw that word around. Yet another quirk of things you see in fandom that make this space oh so entertaining.
Anyway, good luck to the members. It makes me proud to see them all able to present their art for consideration at the Grammys. All seven members have worked hard and deserve to have their albums given a fair chance, and I hope they all succeed.
#bts#jimin#jungkook#jikook#yoongi#namjoon#hoseok#taehyung#seokjin#bts chapter 2#grammys 2024#bts fandom#bts solo stans#fandom behaviour
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how do you analyze characters yourself and/or what resources (wikis or other stuff(?)) do u use to like,, figure out their inner workings and nail them down as like. this is this character in [canon universe], this is how they act, so then for you can go, okay. if they were in [au scenario] they would act like this.
also what guidelines do u set for yourself to keep the silly guys in character when ur writing them ,
u seem very knowledgeable about these things so i had to ask
I reread the source material, mainly, wikis tend to skim some details. I tend to treat characterization in a very ADHD conspiracy theorist way where I extrapolate and try to find links between small moments. WIkis are useful for gathering small moments I might have forgotten, which I need to do because ADHD conspiracy theories get out of hand VERY quickly and I need to control that impulse.
I've accidentally made the same tweet about it more than once so Minegishi & Shimazaki are probably good examples. A lot of people default to Shimazaki being a soulless child-beating asshole, but all of the people in Claw do that. What I find relevant:
He does this for fun, and hasn't really come across anyone who can stop him, making him complacent in how much powers are worth
He focuses very hard on Teru, the only psychic strong enough to fight him
He is the one who instigated Serizawa's hazing in the omake
He asks Minegishi to stop being mean to Serizawa when he commits to the bit too hard, it made him uncomfortable
When he sees Serizawa talk to Touchirou like he's the boss of a company, he's uncomfortable and weirded out
So what I get from this is that he has an inflated perspective of his status in the world due to his psychic powers, and enjoys flaunting that, but in social situations he's pretty mild and doesn't enjoy antagonism or misleading others.
AKA he probably would not beat the ass of a regular middle-schooler and maybe not even a psychic middle-schooler but if the middle-schooler has psychic powers AND wants to stop him he'd LOVE to beat their ass because it means winning in a duel using what he thinks makes him special, reinforcing his status, which ties in with the general theme of Claw. Somewhat of a foil to Teru and a reinforcement of Touchirou's perspective here.
When writing fics, my first instinct is to keep this web of factoids in mind and see if there's any other details that can slot in. For example, what if Shimazaki is uncomfortable with actively misleading others because he's blind and he's often had that done to him? Not like he has any trauma about it or anything, it just puts him off a little.
Blindness is a REALLY juicy factor to extrapolate from though. Like did he have the resources available for his disability? How much has he depended on his powers? He definitely seems like the kind of dude who gave up on schoolwork. I mean, why worry about work? Why worry about accommodations? He's hot and can fucking teleport. Stuff like that.
Meanwhile Minegishi
Has killed people. Has the only canon kill count in claw arc
is used as an example of a "bad person" for Mogami
Incredibly serious and grim among the group but joined in on Shimazaki hazing Serizawa and doubled down immediately
Minegishi turned over a new leaf just from being vouched for
Minegishi was angry with Touchirou for discarding Serizawa even though they knew Touchirou was ruthless
Afterward, they changed their mind about using plants as tools
According to the databook, Minegishi 19, so if they were in Claw when Serizawa joined they joined at 16
After re-integrating with normal life they express gratitude
The vibes I get from these details is that Minegishi is antisocial but likes feeling included, and Touchirou recruited them when they were very vulnerable. They could have benefited from a workplace with friendly coworkers but Suzuki wanted them to Kill. (Another strong reason for Mogami to single them out. See something you don't like king? 💔) And also Minegishi has Super Autism.
I like the idea of Minegishi and Shimazaki hanging out because the traits "extremely aggressive and cruel with his strengths but socially a normie who tries not to push it, made it deep into adulthood this way" and "cold and utilitarian with their strengths but socially straightforward with a sahara-dry sense of humour, is young enough to not be sure of their sense of self" is an incredibly disjointed combo. I need them to be best friends. I think Shimazaki doesn't really care if people hate him and is blind so he's immune to Minegishi's attitude and Autism Death Glare its perfect
Sorry, lost track. Anyway just collect small facts about the character and do your best to connect them into their greater characterization. Don't be afraid to put your thumb on the scale for the importance of certain traits, every author does it
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been bitching a lot lately about geats lately
and specifically ace and how disappointing of a character he is because he's a perfect gary stu and not even annoyingly full of himself in a fun and interesting and HUMAN way like sento is, and it made me wants to go back and look at geats fic i started way back in the early season when i thought we would be getting an interesting and compelling characterization for ace through the season and now i'm annoyed at how charitable i'd been for his character and how much better he would have been
like we were getting flashbacks of his mother that was clearly taking place in the past and he had that coin, and i was like actually i hate the idea that he's immortal (a big theory around then) and given how hazy and dream-like the memory of his mom looks, what if it's half-remembered past life memories (god i'm so fucking annoyed i was mostly right there), and i wrote:
“I don’t want to stay here,” Ace says before he can stop himself. “I want to go—” Here he falters, his memory stuttering, giving him images of a place he’d long forgotten and can no longer recognize. It rattles him, and his breath catches in his throat. “...Home.”
imo it would have been a lot more interesting to see ace trying to recover his own past memories to look for clues for his mother, instead of him having perfect recall. ace having all the answers and knowing everything is such a boring trait in a main character.
and THEN i was reading his insistence on calling everyone by their rider name as him trying to put distance between himself and the other characters because he's seen too make people die to the games to want to get attached, and extrapolated further to make it so he refused to be vulnerable and wrote:
Ace’s first instinct is to not give the truth. His hackles are raised and every nerve in his body is screaming at him to not show weakness. “I don’t have a headache.”
i wanted ace to be the type of person who doesn't want to like others but he can't help himself, and wanted to see him slowly give up on trying to put distance between him and neon and keiwa (and later michinaga i guess) and wrote shit like:
[Neon and Keiwa go to check up on Ace, startling him] It’s just those two. Ace relaxes, then is disturbed at how quickly his defensive instincts leave him when they’re around.
do you have any idea how excited i was during the boost mark II arc when ace kept falling asleep and refusing to admit anything was wrong because using boost mark II was so hard on his body it was exhausting him??? i thought it was finally happening! i thought we were finally getting an arc where ace has to admit he's human and has human flaws! but then some twink from the future gives ace a get of jail free card and oh my god i really think all the future characters bog down this show and should have not been included
absolutely fucking hilarious that the "ace has a dead dog backstory" from the vs gotchard movie is not only the most compelling part of ace's characterization, it's compelling because it does EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED. ace kept insisting he doesn't do pets because he loved his childhood dog so much he refused to get attached to any other animal because he was heartbroken when his dog died. imagine that!!!!!!
i dropped geats shortly after the geat IX arc and i will say the best part of geats are the suits. geats IX is a sexy suit. we should all be grateful that's when i dropped geats because if i'd watched the bujin arc i would still be foaming at the mouth over how much they fucked up keiwa's arc. hilariously i think my keiwa characterization is more different than the show than my ace characterization because APPARENTLY i was portraying him with a completely different set of base values. literally have no fucking clue how this happened
i had this idea for a canon divergence au for geats where keiwa is in the games first, trying to think about how the dynamics would change if he was the veteran and ace was the newbie, and i still really like that idea but (spoilers for a fic i'll never write) it was supposed to be a surprise time loop fic where ace ends up resetting time with the fic ending where the show began, and i refuse to write it because i ended up hating how the show turned out. which is so annoying because that idea right there is incredibly cool!!!! ugh geats why did you do this to me
at least neon exists, even if her show is Like That. i think i will name a future cat after her.
#text please!#tossing this under a cut because i did my time in the tumblr fandom discourse mines#i just wanna complain i'm not gonna bother with people who wanna tell me i'm wrong lmao#if you're wondering the fic i was quoting was about ace getting a concussion and keiwa and neon taking care of him#i still think they are a good ot3
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Servamp Theory Game
This is a “summary” with an explanation of every reference in Servamp, spoilers included !
Hello guys~ ! Holy heck, it litteraly took months to make. Like, I started in September (I’m also lazy since lots of weeks though). So, as you may know, Servamp has a lot, and I mean, a lot, of references coming from a lot of different things such as myths from various mythology, plays, books, poems and else. I tried to find and explain them as best as I could, even though I'm not an expert about some of them.
Also, this has been written the BIG HELP of my dear friend @amaranight ! All of the tarot cards and the Mikuni parts are from her ! I want to thank her A LOT for the help and also for the emotional support XD
Remember, this is not an exhaustive list. I don't know all of them, though I tried to find the most I could. Also, I didn't want to say wrong things so there are references I wrote less about, even though I still searched a lot for every of them. Yes, there are things probably already have been explained somewhere in the fandom.
ALSO ! The manga isn’t finished yet. I’ll edit this post when there’s a new reference or if some of you have things to say to complete what I say or if modifications need to be made.
Forgive me if there’s typos, spelling mistakes or whatever. This post is really long and there’s still things I couldn’t correct, and note that I’m french so English isn’t my first langage, so pardon me if some things sounds weird.
Here is a table of contents
Alicein family and Servamps
Greed Pair
C-3 Arc
Tarot cards
Basically, that’s how I cut this thing. There are some things that aren’t related to the C-3 but happen in the arc so I also put them under it.
This is a very long post (+10 000), everything is under the cut !
Alicein family and Servamps
Lust Pair
I found something about Misono and Lily’s attack. When they fight Belkia (vol. 2, chap. 7/ ep. 3), Lily "cuts" Belkia's head. When doing so, it is written "Good Night Sweet Dreams, execution block of the Red Queen". The first part doesn't mean anything, it's just saying good night because Belkia ends up... knocked down.
What's interesting is the second part : "execution block of the Red Queen". Given that it's about cutting heads, I thought it could be something about Alice In Wonderland, which would fit the Lust Pair. (I mean, Lily's mail is "Alice-In-The-Garden"). But when I searched, I learned that it wasn't that. In Alice In Wonderland, the queen who's always like "Off his head !" is the Queen of Hearts, and not the Red Queen. In fact, there's a Red Queen in Through The Looking Glass (Kind of a "volume 2″ ? of Alice in Wonderland). But she's not like the Queen of Hearts, she doesn't cut head and all.
So I kept searching and I found who is the Red Queen. It is Marie Stuart, queen of Scotland (1542 - 1587). She was put to death because she was plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, queen of England. Her head had been cut off on the scaffold.
That's not all. Her last word were "in manus tuas domine commendo spiritum meum", which means in english "into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit". After "cutting" Belkia's head, Lily says "The thing I destroy is not the body, but the mind." So, it kind of connects with her last words with the spirit thing.
Most of all, in the anime when Lily cuts Belkia's head, things are written in japanese and there a crown that's put on one of the Kanji, I screened it.
This is the same crown as Marie Stuart. (In one of the paintings of her, she wears a crown like that, made of gold with a Christian Cross.) This is all I had to say about this one.
Mikuni Alicein
East of Eden - 1
In an official art, we see Mikuni (and others) reading. Mikuni is reading "East of Eden". Though we don't know the author, we can easily guess who it is. First because there isn't any other known books with that name, and second because you'll see that all fits.
It is "East Of Eden" from the author John Steinbeck. (1902 - 1968). it's a book that refers to the verse of the Bible about Caïn and Abel, but we'll talk about it later. This book talks about two families : the Trasks and the Hamiltions and interwoven stories. We can do some parallels with Mikuni's family.
Mikuni / Adam, son of the first marriage of their father, who remarried with a maid and had another son : Misono / Charles. The oldest, Mikuni / Adam leaves the house to engage in the army / C-3.
Another parralel : the mother of Mikuni / Adam becomes crazy because of a supernatural thing. (Religion in the book, the Servamp of Envy in Servamp.)
Some themes are quite similar too. In the book we have : individualism, Mikuni thinks he's better alone, without people to bother him in his projects, and freedom, which is what Mikuni assumes to have when he leaves the house.
The parralels are pretty hard to tell if you only read a summary of the book. You can find one online if you want to know more about it, but it might confuse you. I advise you to read the book if you want to fully understand all the parralels.
East Of Eden - 2
This time, I'm talking about Caïn and Abel. For those who are unfamiliar with that story, it's a biblical myth. Caïn and Abel are the sons of Adam. (Adam, like Adam and Eve.) The brothers don't get along, and Caïn ends up killing Abel. He is known as the first killer of the World. To punish him, God bannishes him and makes him immortal (with the Mark of Caïn, but it doesn't matter here). Then, Caïn leaves and go to the East of Eden, more precisely to the Land of Nod.
So, first of all, his doll is named Abel. I think it already makes things pretty clear. Second, we know that Servamp has a game, who takes place in Mikuni's shop, who is litteraly called “The Land of Nod”.
Do I need to say more ? "Nôd" means "to wander". When Mahiru first meets Mikuni (vol. 2, chap. 9 /he doesn't say it in the anime) he says to him "I'm just a poor antique dealer, whose hobby it's to travel the world". He is wandering.
That all we had for these two part of East of Eden. Even if these fits with Servamp, there are still differences, things are not exactly the same. But, it's like that for each references, everything isn't exactly like in the books / myths.
My Fair Lady
Now it’s about Mikuni’s attack. When he fights with Tsurugi in chapter 44, we see his attack, which is called “My Fair Lady”. It comes from the musical / operetta of the same name. I won’t talk about it because it doesn’t matter now. What’s interesting is the reference of the musical.
It is inspired by the greek mythology. More precisely bya myth from the Metamorphoses, a book by the Roman poet Ovid. The myth we’re talking about here is the one of Pygmalion and Galatea.
So, Pygmalion wasa telented sculptor who decided to stay single. Though, he dedicated himself to his work and created Galatea, a statue of a woman. He found his statue so perfect that he deeply fell in love with it. Aphrodite, the goddess of love took pity on Pygmalion and decided to give life to Galatea. The sculptor lived happily with her.
Now, think about Mikuni and Abell, his doll. Though they aren’t in love, it fits the story. Look at Abell’s form when Mikuni attacks :
She looks like a woman that could be a statue. Also, look at how Mikuni treats Abell. Once again, there isn’t love or anything, but we see that he cares a lot about her. About the judgment thing, I think it’s just because of the title, my “fair” lady, with the idea of justice and all. Okay, maybe this one is a bit extrapolated but when we think about it, it makes sense.
Alice in Wonderland
So, I'm going to talk about the whole Alicein family and their servants now. They are all, or almost, from the famous book Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Caroll. Though, apart from Misono and Lily, they others don't really have a character development or even a backstory, so we can't really develop. And even, at this point of the story, we didn't know a lot about Misono and Lily either.
So, firstly, Misono is Alice, and Lily the White Rabbit. Misono is "the center" of the family and the others focuses on him, he has all the attention. It's not really a common point with Alice, just that they are the "protagonist" of their story. Also, Lily's item is a pocket watch, like the White Rabbit. Lily is the "supernatural creature" that kind of drags Misono into other supernatural things, even if Misono already lives in a house full of vampires.
For Dodo, he's a reference to The Dodo. Yeah, it was a bit obvious. Though, only their name is similar. The Dodo being a caricature of the author, and isn't well developed.
For Mitsuki, she's a reference to the March Hare. This time, it's in the name again. In kanji, her name is "三月", "Mitsuki", which means March. So yeah, March Hare.
For Hattori, he's a reference to the Mad Hatter. Once again, the almost only thing they have in common is their design. But, in Through The Looking Glass, there's another character that is Mad Hatter, but called "Hatta" (why, I don't know). Hatta / Hattori,you see.
For Yamane, she's a reference to the Dormhouse. If you only saw the movies by Tim Burton, she's called Mallymkun, or just Mally. This time, the two have the same "fighting style". Mally fights with a pin, and Yamane fights with that, which looks like a big pin.
For Julie & Marie, they are a reference to Tweedledum & Tweedledee. Just because... well, they both are twins. I told you, these ones aren't that complex.
For Mikado, he's a reference to the White King. The people in the Alicein family call him the King already. He's the White King, and not the Red King, because he's on the "good" side. (The Red King being on the "evil" side, as an antagonist).Alice and the others are with him, like Misono and the others are too.
That's all we know for them. For Mikuni, he has his own reference to something else, that I already talked about here.
Greed Pair
Shakespeare
You waited for it. Even though Lawless does quote Shakespeare a lot, his character is a reference to one play, Hamlet. Now, I'm going to explain what's Hamlet about, in the big lines : Hamlet's father, the king, died a week ago. He was killed by his brother, Claudius (but nobody knows), who becomes the king and marries Hamlet's mother. Hamlet learns that Claudius killed his father and only wants one thing, revenge. His thirst for it will drive him crazy. He loves Ophelia, and some people tells that it's the reason he's crazy, because he doesn't have her. In the end, he's killed by Ophelia's brother, Laertes, by a poisoned rapier.
Now, I'm going to compare the characters from the plays to the characters from the Greed Team, by explaining their character traits.
Hamlet - He is melancholic, bitter and very cynical. He is full of hatred for his uncle's scheming and so loses faith in humanity. Though, he's thoughtful and studied at the university. On one hand, he's hesitant and doesn't know what to do, and on the other hand he's very impulsive and do rash acts.
Lawless is a lot like Hamlet. When he meets Kuro again after all these years, he isn't angry and serious, he does bitter and sarcastic jokes. He doesn't take it seriously. We can also see him as melancholic, sort of. He is stuck in the past and refuses to turn the page. A major difference is that he's full of hatred for humanity, and not someone in particular. The other common points are his "bipolar" tendencies. When he's with his eves, at least the ones before Licht, he's rather calm. (Like, he doesn't kill every moving thing). But at the moment he gets bored, he becomes impulsive and violently kills them. When he was back to the castle, after the others decided to kill sensei, Lawless was very lost and didn't know what to do.
Ophelia - She'd the daughter of Polonius, a friend of the king. She is a beautiful, sweet and young woman. She obeys her father and the other men in her life, as long as she thinks it's for the good. Her father doesn't want her to be with Hamlet. When her father dies, she's the one who becomes mad. Not long later, she's found dead in a river.
Our Ophelia is also like the one from the play : sweet and caring for the others. She does what she's told to, like when she accepts to marry the prince of the other country, because she thinks it's a good thing to do. What changes is that our Ophelia doesn't become crazy, and she doesn't drown in a river.
Guildenstern and Rozen Kranz - They are Hamlet's friends since he is young. Though, the king turns them against him when he tells them that he's crazy. Later, Hamlet is send to England and the two have to go with him, the king wrote a letter saying that Hamlet shall be executed there. When Hamlet finds it, he thinks that his friends betrayed him. Which is wrong, they didn't know about the letter. So, Hamlet changes the names on the letter and escapes the ship they're on. The two ends up being executed in England, by mistake.
We can't really make parralels between them, exept that they're good friends. Maybe for Guildenstern who was with Lawless for a long time. Appart from that, they aren't really similar.
Now, I want to talk about the scene where Lawless goes back to the castle, or what remains of it. (chap. 34, vol. 7 / ep. 10). Because it is, for me, one of the most interesting scene with Lawless.
So, what happens ? When he returns to the ashes of the castle, he sees Ophelia's statue falling into pieces. Then, he hug the bust of the statue. That's from here that he becomes crazy. He starts dancing and singing. He sings "she is dead and gone, lady. She is dead and gone...", "Lord, we know what we are, but not what we may be !", and "Sweets to sweet, farewell !".
Now, what's interesting : in Hamlet, it's not Hamlet who says all that nonsense. No, it's Ophelia. After her father died, she goes in the Queen's room and says "he is dead and gone, lady. He is dead and gone". She talks about her father. She then starts talking nonsense. She talks about a baker's daughter who became an owl, and says that "we know what we are, but now what we may be". Then, she starts singing and dancing.
Lawless is quoting Ophelia in his madness. (Litteraly quoting, he’s a fan of Shakespeare and probably already read Hamlet). When he says, "she is dead and gone", he compares his love for her with the Ophelia from the play's love for her father, who was known to be immense. And I find that beautiful. Sad, but beautiful.
I also want to make a parralel with Hamlet and Lawless's duel with Higan. (Chap. 36, vol. 7 / ep. 11). It is like the duel between Hamlet and Laertes, Ophelia's brother. He wants to kill Hamlet because he thinks it's his fault if his sister died. (Technically, it is. Hamlet killed Ophelia's father, but not on purpose). They fight with a poisoned rapier and both of them die at the end, because of the poison. The "atmospheres" are similar. Though, this scene is more a reference to next thing I'm going to talk about.
The Phantom Of The Opera
Also an obvious reference, but this time with Licht in it. I’m now going to talk about The Phantom Of the Opera. More known for its musical comedy, it comes from a book with the same name, written by Gaston Leroux (1868 - 1927). Basically, someone is damaging the opera, the people are calling him "the Phantom". However, plays and comedies are still playing. Christine, a singer, will sing in an upcoming play. But she's afraid because, at night, someone comes in her room and sings to her with a beautiful voice. She calls him her “Angel Of Music”. She tells that story to the viscount Raoul De Chagny, who secretly loves her. They both find out that this "Angel" is really the Phantom, a man named Erik. He has an hideous face and is considered as a monster, he lives under the Opera. In love with Christine, he kidnapps her and drag her under the opera. Soon, Raoul comes to save her. A swordfight happens and Raoul wins, but doesn't kill the Phantom.
So, while fighting with Higan, Licht starts playing the theme of The Phantom Of The Opera on his piano. Because of the magic, both Higan and Lawless are wearing capes and masks, which are the costume of the Phantom.
I guess we all assume that Lawless was the one compared to the Phantom ? Because it's wrong. Lawless tells to Higan "I have a verse that fits you perfectly. 'Ah, secretly, secretly. The loathsome gargoyle who burns in hell, but secretly years for heaven !'".
This quote is talking about the Phantom. Lawless is comparing Higan to the Phantom. The ugly beast with a beautiful voice. So, does that make Licht Christine ? It would make sense. Christine was kidnapped by the Phantom, Licht was kidnapped by Higan, exept that he isn't in love with Licht. Raoul fights for saving Christine, and that's, sort of, what Lawless is doing : he's moving forward. He doesn't want Licht to get killed. That's also in this scene that Hyde is telling himself "I want to change !". He, now, wants to protect what's important to him, like Raoul protects the one he love. (My mind wants to scream "LAWLICHT" do damn fucking loud but I'm going to stay serious). So, the "final duel" between Lawless and Higan is also a reference to the swordfight between the Phantom and Raoul.
I thought Licht was compared to "The Angel Of Music", that would makes sense. I mean he's an angel pianist. But no, the Angel of Music is the Phantom of The Opera. Well, after all, everything isn't like in the reference, so I guess it's still refering to Licht.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
This reference is not only about Licht and Hyde’s attack, but rather about themselves. It comes from the novel "The Strange Of The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", written by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894). It talks about the Dr. Jekyll, a famous Doctor known for his kindness. Philosopher obsessed with dual personality, he creates a liquid that separates Good from Evil in someone. Except that when he drinks it, instead of being two people, he turns into Mr. Hyde, who looks like Dr. Jekyll but smaller, more hideous and a lot uglier. Jekyll chooses to turn in Mr. Hyde at night so he can do whatever he wants without being reconized. In the end, he randomly transforms and the others are about to find out, so he kills himself.
This novel is about he duality of Humans. The Good and the Bad, what is one and what is the other. It's about the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so different yet the same person. There's not a "right" one and a "wrong" one. It's the two perspectives of the same reality, seen by two different opinion. The two faces of a same coin.
It's exactly like Licht and Lawless. They are the two opposites and they perfectly complete each other. Licht is the Angel and Lawless is the Demon. Licht is the Good and Lawless is the Bad. Licht is the introvert and Lawless is the extrovert. Licht is the optimistic and Lawless is the pessimistic. Licht is the dreamer and Lawless is the stuck-in-the-past. Licht and Lawless' versions of the world couldn't be more different, but neither of them are “right” or “wrong”. Just two points of view. Even in their character design : Licht's hair has a white stripe, Lawless's hair has black stripes. In his hedgehog form, Lawless is black and his stripes are white, exactly like Licht.
In their attack, it's almost as if they were really the same person doing the same attack, when they almost can't stand each other.
And also, I mean, their fucking name. Licht JEKYLLand Todoroki and HYDE.
C-3 Arc
Oh dear, the C-3 is so damn full of references. Their spells have, generally, some verses of a true poem/nursery rhyme, some verses invented by Tanaka Strike to fit the charachter and things like that. Some of their spells are easy to find where they come from, but some other are either hard as hell or just aren't a reference to something. There's some where I didn't find anything, so I tried to interpret it, because why not. There’s also all the norse mythology things, not gonna lie it was a pain to write.
Tsurugi Kamiya
Norse mythology
At the C-3, his code name is Baldr. Baldr is a God in the Norse Mythology. He is loved by all, handsome and gracious. At least, most of the versions say he's like that, but they forget to mention his love for fighting and for war. Some people even say he's a God of War. One day, he begins to have dreams of his death. People laugh at that because he's an immortal being, so they just throw things at him. He is finally killed by Hodr, his brother. Hodr didn't mean to kill him : Loki, the guileful trickster of the gods, made an arrow with misteltoe (that can kill Bladr) and told Hodr, who was blind, to throw it at Baldr, and he did it without knowing it would kill him.
Knowing that Hodr is Yumikage's code name, it would mean that Yumi's going to kill Tsurugi. We can't say if it'll happen or not. The death of Baldr is very famous though. It could make sense, Yumi and Tsurugi are almost like brother, but it doesn't mean anything.
spell
When Tsurugi uses his spell (vol. 8, chap. 44.) it's "against" Kuro. It puts a kind of necklace / choker around their neck. A string of around 200 meters stops Kuro from running away and Tsurugi has power on him.
The spell is : « I want you to read pictures books to me by my bedside. I want you to pat my head and say 'goodboy, good boy'. Then hold me kindly, and say you love me. I am your treasure. 'Neverland' don't leave me alone ! »
I didn't find where it comes from. Not even some verses. Still, we can say that this poem talks about a child who doesn't want to be left alone, and to be loved, probably by the love of a parent. We can say with because of the pictures books by the bedside, who's usually a parental gesture. This poem is rather childish, and that's one of the reason we can relate it to Tsurugi, who couldn't grow up. He basically stayed alone, but with Touma. Even if he has bad influences on him, Tsurugi doesn't want him to leave him alone.
Another interesting thing is the "Neverland". Neverland is the magical land in Peter Pan. Once again, we have the parralel with the child who couldn't grow up, exept that Peter Pan didn't want to grow up.
Other
Here's a little thing I noticed. I don't really know how to call it or if it's even a reference but anyway.
In that pic (chap. 48, vol. 9), the white bubbles are Tsurugi's words. The two first are a quote from Martin Luther (1483 - 1546). Well, it's not the exact quote. The exact one is "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."
This quote talks about the fact that you should be happy now, instayead of wasting your life searching happiness. It has a sense, I promise.
What's interesting is the "I wonder what kind of tree it was...". The tree represents the "happiness", Tsrurugi is asking himself how to be happy. He doesn't know how to be. He wants to stop asking himselft how to be happy and plant that tree. But, which tree does he need to plant ?
Also, maybe a small parralel to The Mother's farm with her apple trees ? I don't know.
Yumikage Tsukimitsu
Norse mythology
His code name is Hodr. We don't know a lot about this god, compared to the other ones. Though, we know he was seen as very strong, even too strong.
The most famous story about him is the death of Baldr, as I explained earlier in Tsurugi's paragraph. I'm not going to repeat it here. Though, I want to point something. It is said that Hodr was blind, when he killed Baldr. Buuut- he wasn't really. Buuuut- maybe he was. People aren't really sure about it, it depends of the versions. Though, most people tend to say that he wasn't really blind and that it was rather for the symbolism.
He is killed by Baldr's avenger, Vali. Vali almost has been made to kill Hodr.
Spell
His spell creates a kind of sphere, like a moon, of light. He can throw them and it seems to be very powerful. We see it he's fighting Touma. (chap. 70)
His spell is : "Who killed Cock Robin ? You said it was you. Cast away the green eyes ! Flee, cowardly Lion ! Everyone shall grieve your absence. The tree is swaying from the flight of birds, making the hanging craddle fall down. Kill your mother, kill your father, kill your friends, kill your teacher. Kill everything and end up alone. Crawl the sky drowned in spilled blood. Cry for the Moon."
So, so, so. The first two verses come from a nursery rhyme called "Who killed Cock Robin ?". Yeah, it was pretty obvious. This rhyme talks about the death of the Cock Robin, who was killed by Sparrows. Basically, the animals of the forest talk about his death and what will happen next (who will burry him, etc). It has many interpretations. One of them being the death of Robin Hood. But it's not the one I'm going to talk about now. The other one, is the death of Baldr by Hodr. Baldr/Tsurugi would be the Cock Robin, killed by Hodr/Yumi, who would be the Sparrow. Here again, the sparrow didn't kill him on purpose. It was by mistake.
Seriously, all tends to say that Yumi will end up killing Tsurugi, by mistake, yes, but still. Tanaka please ;;
We can notice is the "cowardly lion", a character that comes from The Wizard of Oz. The "green eyes" could be the Green Witch, but she doesn't have green eyes. Though, it is said that the “green eyes monster”, in Shakespeare’s plays represents the Jealousy.
Now, here's something else. The verse "The tree is swaying from the flight of birds, making the hanging craddle fall down." I think it's a reference to the nursery rhyme "Rock a bye baby", who's... one of Touma's spell. You know what, I'll talk about it in Touma's part, to get it less confusing. I'm putting a little (1).
Jun'ichirou Kurumamori
Norse mythology
His code name is Thor. Well, I think you all know who's Thor, at least his name. Still, I'm going to developpe. Thor is the god of lightning / thinder. He is the warrior. He's the loyal and honorable fighter of the other gods and their world. His sense of duty and courage are unshakeable. Doesn't that sound like Jun ?
Also, Thor has a charriot carried by goats. What is Jun's tarrot card ? The charriot. He also has his famous hammer. I'm going to talk about it right after that.
Spell
His spell can "summon" a big hammer. Like, a really big one. This hammer is obviously Mjölnir, Thor's hammer. In theory, only Thor should be able to hold the hammer. That's maybe why he's that big in that scene, like only the one who casts the spell can hold it. Here, he's fighting against Tsurugi. (chap. 53, vol. 10)
His spell is : "Let's talk about the past. Let's talk about when you smiled. Let's talk about when you got mad. Let's talk about when you were here. I still can't believe in all those things we called the past. Ring a Ring, the Wheel of Fate !".
I didn't find where any of those verses come. If they come from something XD. But I still have things to say there. I believe that this spell talks about Tsurugi, a bit. Since Jun is fighting with him, it's almost as if he's "blaming" him. Jun is talking about the past, when he smiled, got mad, was here, etc, so, when he had emotions. Maybe, when they were younger, Tsurugi was less... sick ? I don't know how to call how Tsurugi is doing now. In the past, when Tsurugi still had, at least a little more, emotions. But here, I'm just speculating.
There's another thing I want to say here. Touma is watching the whole scene on his screens. He says "even if he's not as good as the previous Thor, he's using Mjölnir better than I thought he would". That implies that spells can be transmitted from one to another.
Touma Taishi
Touma doesn't have a norse mythologic reference. He has more spells than the others, though. Most of his spells don't have an affect on himself, but on Tsurugi. Like, a boost of power. Let's go in chronogical order.
Spell - 1
In chapter 53, when Tsurugi is fighting with Jun, Touma uses one of his spells.
It goes like : "You were born in a room with no windows. Today is the senventh you'll crawl on the ground. Instead of crying like an infant, scream out. Clutch your throat and yell. Breath five times in one second. Meanwhile, a single adult will die. 'Baby in the Dark', 'the black bird of Kensingston'".
The only reference I see is the "black bird of Kensingston". It comes from the book "The little white bird, or adventures in Kensingston Gardens". Written by James Matthew Barrie (1860 - 1937). This book is where Peter Pan comes from. In the first chapters at least, the next is someone else. As most of you know, Peter Pan's story is in Neverland. But in the beginning, Neverland was just the Kensingston's gardens in London. Barrie changed the name afterward.
Though, the title of the book says "white bird". But in Touma's spell it's "black bird". Touma could be compared to a darker version of Peter Pan, probably his shadow, given of one of his last spells.
One of the interpetation of Peter Pan's shadow, is that it is his inability to grow old. It would represent the spirit of a dead one, who's still tied to earth. For the first thing, it could Touma and Tsurugi. Tsurugi is Peter Pan, the one who couldn't grow up because of his shadow, Touma.
For the rest of the spell. Touma is probably refering to Tsurugi, also because his spells can make Tsurugi "stronger" to fight. But, it could also be referring to Touma, for we also know that he had a bad childhood.
Spell - 2
In chapter 70, Touma and Tsurugi are fighting against Yumikage and Kuro. (Well, Tsurugi doesn't want to fight with Touma, but he forces him).When Yumi attacked them with "cry for the moon", Touma fights back with his spell. Once again, the spell affects Tsurugi, and not really Touma.
The spell is : ... well there isn't really one. I mean, not a long thing. But that seems already enough. It is "Rock-a-Bye-Baby ! 'sleep, little one, go to sleep'".
So, Rock-A-Bye-Baby is a nursery rhyme. The most common version used today is "Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock, when the bough, breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all."
This nursery rhymes has some interpretations, but no one really suited the story in any sort.
Though, it talks about chidlren. That's probably why it fits with Tsurugi, who's still like a little child. I don't have anything else to say, exept maybe that the last thing "sleep, little one, go to sleep" comes from one of Mozart's lullaby. Same in that case, the only parralel is the child state of Tsurugi.
HANG OOON, THE LITTLE (1) IS NOW. So, in Yumi's spell was the sentence "The tree is swaying from the flight of birds, making the hanging craddle fall down." I think the hanging craddle is the same as in this nusery rhyme. We have the same idea of the wind who makes a craddle fall down from a tree. Maybe it's only a coincidence, maybe not. Still, I find it funny to tell.
Spell 3
Now, we're in chapter 74. Touma is fighting against Tsurugi, Kuro and Mahiru. Tsurugi is still a bit fighting against Kuro and Mahiru, because of Touma's previous spells. This time though, Touma's spell has an affect on himself, and not on Tsurugi. He can turn himslef into a shadow and attack people.
The spell is : "Do not open the lock, do not go outside. There's no place for you in the world. Tonight as well, monsters with the same face are bringing agony. Laughing in a world where I do no exist, there won't come a day when I can forgive you. The world is full of pain. Daddy Long Legs, 'nobody knows'".
Exept the litterature reference that I'll explain just after that, let's talk a bit about the spell in itself. It could be refering to Touma and Tsurugi, but it's rather for Touma I'd say. It talks about him. We know that Touma mostly had a shitty childhood, and let's say it a shitty life. I think the "onsters with the same face are bringing agony" sentence is referering to humans in general. He is full of hatred toward the others, he won't forgive them, as it's said. I don't think I need to say more, it speaks about itselft.
Now, the daddy long legs thing. Daddy Long Legs is a book written by Jean Webster (1876 - 1916). It talks about a girl, Judy who lives in a very poor orphanage. They live thanks to donor donations. When she's around 17, she wants to go to college, but she can't because of money. But, a mysterious donator offers to pay for her studies because he thinks she can become a wonderful writter. The only condition, she ahs to write a letter to him every month. She named him "daddy-long-legs because she never saw him and knows nothing about him, she only saw his shadow. To college, she has two friends. A kind and humble girl and a rich / snobinard girl. She not friend with the second in the beginning, but later.
Judy is obviously Tsurugi. He lives only from what he's given. (Even clothes, like Judy). And the Daddy-Long-Legs is Touma, even if now he's not someone good for Tsurugi, we can't forget he litteraly saved him and helped him a lot in the past. Also, Judy has two friends, like Tsurugi. The more humble one, like Jun, and and the snobinard one with whom she becomes a friend only later, like Yumikage.
Also, Touma has fucking long legs man.
Shuuhei Tsuyuki
For now, the only references we have for Shuuhei is his spell and his tarot card. Well, I wonder if he could be Loki, from the norse mythology, because Iduna calls him like that. But I don't see any parralel he could have with Shuuhei, so I'm not gonna speak about that, because, well, I just have nothing to say.
Spell
While he is fighting with Shamrock, in chapter 62, he uses his spell that he seems to have inherited from his father. Shamrock says they have the same eyes, and his power are a thing with the view, so maybe he inherited it.
The spell is : "I am thy law. Thou art a demon. Thou art corrupt. Fall from the rye field's cliff. Where no one will find you. You cannot return, even if you hold tightly to the 6 pence that you gave me. Four and Twenty black-birds. 'nobody in the rye'".
His spell gives him the power to have an unobstructed bird's view. He can know the position of objects and people and their behavior up to 10kms away, this power is called "Hayabusa", or "Hawk Eyes". The hawk is one of the bird that has the sharpest vision.
The "four and twenty black-birds" come from a nursery rhyme, who's not really one but we'll call it like that, who's called "Sing A Song of Sixpence". The rhyme goes like :
"Sing a Song of Sixpence, pocket Full of Rye, four and Twenty Black Birds, baked in a Pie. When the Pie was opened, the Birds began to Sing, wasn't that a dainty Dish, to set before the King ? The King was in the counting, house counting out his money, the Queen was in the Parlour, eating Bread and Honey, the Maid was in the Garden, hanging out the Clothes, when along came a Blackbird and snipped off her nose"
It has many interpretations, but the one that I find the better and who fits more Shuuhei is that the rhyme was Blackbeard's Alert.
Blackbeard was a famous and succesful pirate. Unlike most of the others, he paid the member of his crew. He paid each man 6 pence a day and a packet of rye whiskey. Like every crew on a ship, there was around twenty-four men. Given it was Blackbeard's crew, they were called the black-birds. Thanks to his many sources, he could usually know exactly were a ship would be.
(Blackbeard was the King, the Queen was his ship, the Maid would be the ship about to be attacked and it was in the garden, a specific area which was useful for Pirates. It was hanging out the clothes, meaning under sail. The black-birds were Blackbeard's mean hidden in the ship/pie.) The part in parenthesis isn't really important for the explanation, just for culture, if that interests you.
It fits Shuuhei because of Blackbeard's ability to know where every ships would be. The men are also the called "birds", and the hawks are birds. Also maybe, Shuuhei used to have black hair. And blackbeard had, well, a black beard.
Shamrock
We don't know much about him. We know a bit about his past, like the fact he was german. Like some subclasses, he has a special attack. In that case, it transforms him into a kind of... beast, that seems to be a bird, at least. Which species, I don't know. A kind of hawk, maybe.
His attack is called "Die Verwandlung. 'the nighthawk star'".
"Die Verwandlung" is a german novel written by Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924). In english "the metamorphosis". Basically, here's what happened. Gregor Samsa, a salesman, one day, wakes up, transformed into an insect. He has a sister and his two parents. Because of his "insect" state, he can't go to work and ends up fired. His sister is the only one who tries to help him (like, to feed him and all. He's not a little insect like we see everydays, he's a human sized insect). His parents are too frightened to help him. One day, his father throws an apple at his back, which ends up causing an infection. Now, even his sister stopped help him. He will die alone in his room because of the infection, he thinks of his death as a sacrifice to help his family to move on.
This novel is about the transformation. Gregor Samsa was abandonned because he became an insect. He was still the same man, but had another body. And because it was ugly to see, disgusting even, the others let him alone. It fits Shamrock, somehow. He didn't became an insect, but a vampire. Though, Tsubaki didn't let him. Yoshimasa did, but he wasn't a vampier yet. But we can still make the parralel of the abandonment. That's all I had to say for that.
"The nighthawk star" is a popular Japanese children's story written by Kenji Miyazawa (1896 - 1933). Here's a summary of what happens. There's a Nighthawk, who is a nightjar (another species of bird, but who isn't an hawk). He is bullied and hated by the others because he is descibed as "ugly". The "real" Hawk dislikes him because the nightjar has "hawk" in his name and demands him to change it. But the Nighthawk refuses. He is very sad to see that the others hate him just because of his appearance. He ends up dying, alone, while flying. He became a star and shines.
We have the theme of the reject because of the appearance back, and the theme of the birds that goes with the Tsuyuki family. It could be that the "real" hawk is Yoshimasa or Shuuhei, that hates the nighthawk/nightjar, so Shamrock, because he is an ugly beast/monster.
Shuuhei does hate him because he is a vampire. (Well, also because he killed his father, but the fact that he is a vampire has something to do with it). Yoshimasa didn't hate him, we can say that he abandonned him, but before he was a vampire.
Because of his attack, Shamrock does transform into something else. The two of his references reflect what happened/happens to him, and one if it is tied to the Tsuyuki family. Now, I'm done with him. Let's move on.
Wrath Pair
I didn't know if I can call Iduna and Freya like that, but for now I will. Their references are related. They have references to the norse mythology and an attack. Let's begin.
Norse mythology
I'll begin with Iduna.
Iduna, mostly called Idun, is the goddess of youth and fertility in the norse mythology, pictured with long blond hair. We don't know a lot of things about her, sadly. In her best-knows, and only, tale, she is the owner of a fruit that gives immortality. People accord to say that this fruit was apples. Whoever eats one of her apples finds his youth back.
Take makes a parralel with Freya's backstory, we knew she married a man that planted apples. Also both Idunas have long blond hair. Apart from that, there's nothing else to say. Let's go with Freya now.
Freya, also written Freyja, is the goddess of love, fertility and beauty. Her name would be a derivative from the german word "Frau", which means "lady". We have more stories about her than about Iduna, but it'd be too long to tell them. Also, they're not interesting for this post and for the parralels we're trying to make.
Freya und Iduna don't really have stories in common. Well, there's one book. It's called "Freya, Iduna & Thor : vom Charme der germanischen Göttermythen" (Freya, Iduna & Thor: from the charm of Germanic myths of the gods, in english). It's a book of some tales for chidlren about the gods. But it doesn't really speak about the two goddess together.
Attack
When Freya und Iduna are fighting against Shamrock, in chapter 76, they have a special attack called "Maiden of Orleans ! 'war maiden, take the sword !'".
Their special attack creates a bunch of light swords. Freya is fighting with them while Iduna seems to control the swords as well.
"The maiden of Orlean" is a reference to Joan of Arc, who had that nickname. She was a french girl who was born in 1412 and died at age 19 in 1231, burned at the stake. She was considered a heroine in the history of France and a saint by the Catholic Church (though she had been canonized like 500 years after her death).
At this time, the Hundred Years' War was going on between France and England. At age 17, Joan of Arc, who was the daughter of farmers, began to have hallucinations. She thought the angels (such as St. Micheal) told her she was the one who had to save France from the british. She went to see the future Charle VII, son of the previous France's king. He accepted that Joan join his troops and gave her and an armor. In the end, at age 18, she led the the French army to victory in the battle of Orléans. She was captured one year later by the British and had been burned alive.
The parralel obviously the fact that "Hey, I'm a girl and I can kick your fucking ass". (A sentence is better than a hundred of words, sometimes. XD). Because, I think y'all can agree with me, Freya is fucking badass, like Joan of Arc was. Iduna is strong too, but here it focuses more on Freya. She's the one with the swords and the shield, who were two of Joan's attributes.
Johaness Mimir Faustus
Norse mythology
This tall scientist is a reference to Mimir. He is the counselor of the gods and known to be exceptionally wise. We don't have a lot of sources on him, and the ones we are have are contradictory. For example, we don't know if he was a God himself, or just a Giant. Tanaka Strike seems to have choosed the second option, because Johaness is the tallest of the manga, with 2 meters and 11 cms. (Or 6'9'', in feet. Basically, fucking tall.) The vikings thought of him like "the one who helped the gods retain the wisdom of tradition".
Though Johaness is more seen as the "crazy scientist", we know he has a lot of knowledge, especially over vampires. His words also help Mahiru a lot, sort of, he acts as a counselor. So yeah, some people could consider him as a wise, in some ways. I already talked about his height, but I still want to say again that us, people, call tall people like him giants.
The Lion and the Unicorn
There's something else about Johaness but I don't really know where to put it. Given that it's Johaness who talks with Mahiru, I'll put it here. Also, it happens in the Greed Pair Arc, sooo yeah kinda confusing
So, in chapter 29, Johaness helps Mahiru to... hum, should should I say this... get into Kuro. Well, his mind. And before throwing him, Johaness says "I'll recite a poem for your journey !"
Here's the poem : "The Cat and the Unicorn, were fighting without the crown. The Cat beat the Unicorn, all about the town. Some gave them no flowers, and sent them out of town."
This poem is adapted from this one : "The Lion and the Unicorn, were fighting for the crown. The Lion beat the Unicorn, all around the town. Some gave them white bread, and some gave them brown. Some gave them plum cake, and drummed them out of town."
The real peom (who's a bit longer, but the last four verses aren't interresting here), also called nursery rhyme, is about the United Kingdom. As you may know, the Lion and the Unicorn are one of its symbol. Even before the unification of England and Scotland, in 1603, the Lion was England's symbol and the Unicorn was Scotland's smybol. When they unified, they combined. And this nursery rhyme was created.
Though, the rest of the poem, well... doesn't really have a signification. Some people say there was a battle between the two country and that England (the lion) beat Scotland (the Unicorn). but they officialy unified as equals. Soo, I'm kind of lost with this.
In Johaness' version, it is the Cat and the Unicorn. The cat is obviously Kuro, but for the Unicorn... I can't really say.
This one is kind of confusing. The rhyme talks about "fighting for the crown", but there wasn't a war or anything, they unified, as I said, as equals. It's pretty hard to make parralels when you can barely understand the base.
I did some research and asked friends, and it appears that the Lion and the Unicorn are two characters from Through the Looking Glass. (Who're also a reference to the original rhyme). It was surprising because the Alice's references are rather for the Alicein, but here it's in the Greed Pair arc, said by Johaness and to Mahiru. But hey, that's the only clue I have so let's go that way.
The Lion and the Unicorn are fighting for the White King's crown, which is pretty absurd because both of them are on the White side. There, the Lion is pictured as a rather slow, even stupid, but the better fighter. The Unicorn sees Alice as a monster, but he says he'll believe in her if she believes in him first. The Unicorn also "attacks" Alice, but the Lion protects her.
We know the Lion/Cat is Kuro. Now, here is my interpretation. I don't know at all if it really meant. I thought that Lawless could be the Unicorn, and Mahiru Alice. (Even if Alice is already Misono, buuuuuut, this and the Alicein aren't related, not in here.)
It could make sense, with Lewis Caroll's version and the Servamp one, combined (?). Kuro and Lawless are on the same side, sort of : they're against Tsubaki. They aren't fighting for a crown. Lawless doesn't believe in Mahiru, he stills thinks humans life are meaningless, etc. Though, Lawless doesn't talk about believing in him later. Also, Lawless attacks Mahiru, not the first time they meet, but after, in the concert hall, and Mahiru protects him.
In both versions of the rhyme, they end up kicked out of the town. But I don't see anything that speaks about that. Not even in the original meaning the rhyme. I guess it's just... there, with no meaning behind.
Now the question is why the fuck does Johaness tells Mahiru that, when he doesn't even know what the fuck is going on between the others and Lawless. I'm talking about Johaness' later, he's a reference to a wise being, so we can say he doesn't tell things with no meaning. Once again, it's only my interpretation there, but Johaness could be telling Mahiru that the fights between Sloth and Greed are absurd, just like the Lion and the Unicorn's ones (at least those from Lewis Caroll's).
Mahiru Shirota
So, the sunshine finally's got a reference to something. Bye bye norse mythology, we're now in greek mythology.
In chapter 75, Mahiru and Kuro are fighting against Touma. Mahiru's attack/spell is "Elpis". (I don't know how to call that. It is formuled like a spell, but spells are only for magicians, if I'm right. So maybe it's an attack with Kuro, or maybe Mahiru has magician blood ? Anyway, it doesn't matter here) It is a reference to Pandora's myth, with the infamous Pandora's box. Basically, here's the myth in the big lines.
Pandora was said to be the first woman. She was created by the gods, beautiful and sweet but also curious. She was what we could call a poisoned gift for the human, given by Zeus. She was sent with a small box, but with the ban to open it. But, because of the curiousity, she opened it and all the sins were released in the world.
She was so sad and cried, her husband came to comfort her and asked what happened. She opened the box again to show him, but this time Hope came out. (Depending of the versions, people says it was Hermes, another god, placed Hope in the box without Zeus (the god of the gods) knowing).
"Elpis" is Hope. It is the way to call it, and also the personification.
This myth means a lot of things. One of the most important, it tells you that you shouldn't be curious. I mean, see what it did. Also, when Pandora talked to her husband and showed him the box, hope came. She opened up to him, and it helped.
We already saw these black boxes in the manga. Everyone has their Pandora's box. Touma's one already opened and the sins came out. Touma says it himself, he's a bad person. It is said the key of his box is lost, so the box can't open anymore, can't release the hope. But, here's Mahiru. His spell made the key. Now the box will open again, and Touma will be able to release his Hope. (With a bit of chance, still). He and Mahiru will probably talk (or talking while fighting, we'll see). Maybe Touma will open up to Mahiru and, like the lesson the myth teaches us, find hope.
Nothing more about the sunshine boy, for now at least.
Yggdrasill
This time, this isn't a reference to a character in particular. Rather to... the C-3 in itself. As you all know now, the C-3 is full of references to norse mythology. Let me explain, in chapter 42, we have this picture :
I don't know why there's a bunch of triangles on the ground, but that doesn't matter. The interesting thing is the tree. It is Yggdrasill, the Tree of Life, also called the World Tree. It is in center of the Norse spiritual cosmos, and the it leads to the nine worlds of the said cosmos. The Tree is connected to the worlds in all ways : if the Tree is bad, the worlds are bad. It is said that the Tree has three main roots, one leading to Asgard, the world of gods, to Midgard, the world of humans and to Helheim, the world of the deads.
It's not surprising to see the Tree in the C-3. After all, there's so many characters with a reference to the norse mythology in it. The C-3 probably represents Asgard, the world of gods, because all of the references are gods. Asgard is the fortress of the Aesirs (the people of Asgard). The C-3 is also kind of a fortress, and also the home for some of the members, such as Tsurugi (Bladr).
C-3′s building and Servamp - Eve distance limitation
Okay so I really didn’t know where to put that, but I wrote something about the Servamp - Eve distance limitation and about the size of C-3′s building here.
Gilbert Weasel
His attack is called "Forbidden Lover ! Dying in Venice !". He seems to be able to "shot" water. It is pretty powerful, even if it doesn't sound like it. So, this is a reference to the book called "Death In Venice", by Thomas Mann. (1875 - 1955). Here's a summary.
A writer, Aschenbach, goes in vacation in Venice. In his hotel, he sees a Polish teenager called Tadzio. Achenbach falls in love with him, finding him just... perfect. Though, they never spoke a word to each other, just stares. When he learns that Tadzio has to go back in his country because of a disease that spreads fast in Venice, Achenbach goes to look at him one last time on the beach and then dies, of the said disease that he catched.
We understand the "forbidden lover", now. The forbidden love between a 14 years old boy and a man. Though, there isn't a real link between this story and Gil. Except maybe the fact the italian is often seen as "the lover, the romantic" in a lot of stories, and Gil and Ray are both kind of gentlemen.
We also have the thing with the water. As you may know, Venice is called the city of water, and the story of the book happens in Venice.
Ray St. Crazy Rabbit
Ray's attack is called "Illumination ! Betraying the Sun and the Moon !", it seems that Ray can prevent the person from moving, for some seconds, in a small space, as if taking a picture. All colors, light and black, disappears from this small space.
For this one, it's more complicated than for Gil's. "Death in Venice" is a famous book, and was pretty easy to find. If Ray's attack has a literary reference, it's more hard to find, if you don't know the book at all. It's also complicated to search, because the sun and the moon are very common in italian litterature. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If it does refer to something, I didn't find. But, I had another idea. As I said, it's almost as if Ray was taking a picture.
His attack is like the old way of taking pictures. Look, the time is stopped in a small space, and Before having the photo, we only have the negative, that we'll have to develop. If mangas were with colors, we could easily tell if it is the negative version of the old pictures, or just something in black and white, which would be something else then. The negative version of a photo reverse the colors, here, it works.
Tarot Cards
A lot of characters, almost all from the C-3, got references to Tarot Cards. All the following has been written by my amazing friend, I'll go character by character. For almost every of the, their tarot card was said in a chapter title, exept for Mikuni, it is the cover of a chapter who’s the same as a card.
Yumikage Tsukimitsu - THE MOON
Indicates that you are kind of "lost in thought", that you have something to overcome even though you refuse to face it directly (because it's in your subconscious). = Yumikage is shown to be kinf of self-conscious about the choices he made. Despite not helping Tsurugi at first, because he didn't think he could / didn't really want to care, but he was still always there for him
The Moon shines less bright than the sun, but its light is more persistent. In the night as in the day, it's the moon that you can see. In the end, it's the moon that shows you the way between the Towers, helping you to deal with your tamed aspects and your wild aspects = Yumi's role is very important for Tsurugi. Mahiru did a great job reaching out to Tsurugi, but, at the end, Yumi's the one really pushing Touma (the Tower) once and for all, so as to soothe his friend's anxietes.
Taishi Touma - THE TOWER
Chaos and destruction = Touma is no good news. It seems nothing good can be coming out of him. He tries to take everybody down with him.
Solid but shaky = Touma is a strong opponent, if not the strongest. However, his core is based on false, or at least biased assumptions. Is he really the monster he claimed to have become ?
Desperate situation but it is possible to be saved = Touma claims to be a "purebred villain", and seems to have done everything to be one and to stay as such, but is there really no way to make him realize that he's blinding himself, living a life that will destroy him ? Maybe he has already realized it. Persevering in his wicked ways will without a doubt lead to a disaster (for him and everyone else), but maybe the sun will clean the tempest.
Iduna Nobel - THE STAR
Highly feminine card, water everywhere which means fertility, renewal. = Iduna is one of the few female characters. The chapter named "The Star" focuses on her bond with The Mother, another female lead.
The Star also follows the Tower in the Tarot Deck = After the chaos Touma made, Iduna is there to fix her superior's bullshit, which she can do with her loving and pure energy.
Inner resources and and intuition = Iduna is shown to be able to adapt very quickly. She is a scientist, and a talented one, very creative.
Hope and faith = She seems to be quite good at helping people and guiding them on a better path. "You're open minded and want to help the others, and you should not feel down about it. Even if you do, you have to stand up and show that you can handle the situation". Which Iduna does quite well for someone who hasn't gone through some personal shit and is not used to fight.
Tsurugi Kamiya - THE HANGED MAN
Martyrdom, sacrifice to the greater good = Tsurugi's relationship with Touma (or how Touma abuses Tsurugi). He is to become the ninth Servamp, and his life doesn't matter as a human being, for he has to serve this higher purpose.
Ultimate surrender = Tsurugi's passivity regarding, like, his life in general. He doesn't choose things. They are imposed to him, and he doesn't care because he judges it's not his role. He is willingly serving Touma.
Break, new perspectives, letting go = However, at some point, Tsurugi really suffers of his situation. The Mother, his friends and Mahiru make him realize that maybe he's not really doing what's best for him. Maybe he just has to take a break and let go of everything stalling him. But, he has to be ready to make this decision, and not to be forced to, or he'll just end up killed, like the Hanged Man. If he takes the leap, things are sure to go better, though it won't come from nobody but him.
Mikuni Alicein - THE HIGH PRIESTESS
Highly feminine card = Mikuni, do you have something to tell us ? XD This card maybe as well be about Abel, at this point.
Sacred knowledge, secrets, silence, subconscious, withdrawal = Mikuni is the guy knowing the most of stuff (with Johaness, maybe). But he doesn't share them easily, if not at all. Even his own self is full of secrets, maybe even for himself. It's more likely than you think that the guy pulling the strings from behind is actually the one having the most troubles to settle with himself. He will help you if you're ready to hear him, but it is not said that following him will grant you what you were looking for, maybe Mahiru will do as well to trust himself more than relying on Mikuni.
BJ - entrance of the Temple of Solomon (B = Boaz, "in his strenght", J = "he will establish"), duality = Very likely, Mikuni holds the answers our main characters are looking for. However, they are his strenght, that is, he is the one making "good" use of the,. The heroes have to be ready to face him. Moreover, he's ready to do anything to prove his point, and has a kind of God Complex. "He will establish", no matter what it takes.
Jun'ichirou Kuromamori - THE CHARRIOT
Lack of direction = Jun has gone through hard times, and didn't know what to do in crisis. He was really despaired when he was left alone with his son, when his wife died.
Brave warrior, determination, willpower = Jun has faced life with all his strenght, despite having lost his wife and having to raise his kid alone.
Mahiru Shirota - THE MAGICIAN
Numer one = Mahiru is the protagonist, aka the most important character. It's also the number of new beginnings and opportunities. The infinity symbol and the snake biting his own tail around the magician's waist also stand for the unlimited potential and the blossoming of ideas and intentions in the character.-
White robe for purity and red cloak for worldly experience and knowledge = Despite being only a child (at least it's how he considers himself), Mahiru has experienced a lot of things in his life and acts in a very mature way, especially in the way he takes responsibility for things/ of the others.
The magician brings you the tools, resources and energy you need to make your dreams come true, he's a source of inspiration for many people who are still insecure about what they should do/ who they should be, and make them realise that what they want to achieve is possible if they make efforts to do so. The magician will help you gathering everything you've learned so far + establishing a clear vision of what you can and want to do = Like Mahiru with Kuro especially.
However the focus, to be efficient, must be on one thing it's easier and allows you to eliminate whatever disturbs you = "Thinking simply" is Mahiru's motto. The Magician can also help to question one self.
Shuuhei Tsuyuki - THE HIEROPHANT
The Hierophant is the masculine counterpart to the High Priestess (Mikuni’s card) = Even if we don’t know a lot about their relationship, they are linked. Mikuni offers his help to Shuuhei (though it maybe isn’t a good idea)
The other things don’t really fit Shuuhei, but he isn’t that developped yet so maybe there’s more to come.
#servamp#Servamp Theory Game#servamp theory#shirota mahiru#servamp kuro#licht jekylland todoroki#servamp lawless#alicein family#servamp lily#mikuni alicein#misono alicein#tsurugi kamiya#kurumamori junichirou#Tsukimitsu Yumikage#c-3#servamp c3#tsuyuki shuuhei#long post#it took so much time help#servamp jeje#kuromahi#lawlicht#tarot cards#touma taishi
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Respectfully (because I agree with what you are saying here, I think it's great commentary) I think you are misreading my point. Granted part of that is my fault for using an analogy that involves children, I see why you would extrapolate that to think I'm implying people engage with non-normative ideas out of naivety, but that is genuinely not something I believe. It's the confidence of the kid-on-the-wall that I meant to point to, not their childishness. Maybe I could have said a construction worker at the top of an unstable ladder, who knows that it's fine because it's been fine every time they've pulled this risky manoeuvre before. The point is that it's easy to lose perspective on potential danger on the basis that you currently feel secure. It's necessary to have stable external reference points, and not to rely solely on an internal gut check (which, as you pointed out, is easily misled by e.g. workplace culture, patriotism, an overbearing family, any system which instils and reinforces a carefully tailored prejudiced version of reality). I don't think you're all little kids playing with fire while I sit on my lofty throne of wisdom, I think we're all playing with fire all the time, including me, and that makes fire safety important. But the post is out there now, and I can't do much about the wording.
Similarly, I am not trying to argue that normativity and truth value are correlated. I'm arguing the opposite. I'm saying that the more a certain set of ideas becomes normalised in a given social environment, the less intuitive it is to deconstruct and critically examine them. The reason I made this post at all is that I am concerned by trends towards conspiratorial thought in social circles adjacent to my peer groups, which become self-reinforcing as they make their way into the fabric of accepted reality for a given group of people. You are right that social isolation is dangerous, but it's a specific kind of social isolation that I think can be unintuitive to people who aren't primed to look for it - it's not necessarily synonymous with loneliness. It can present itself as the remedy to loneliness, in fact. And just because these aren't new trends or new patterns of exploitation doesn't mean people aren't still encountering them for the first time.
There is a huge scale of behaviour and experience that falls in between 'enjoying a kooky belief' and 'going off the deep end', and that's what I mean to illuminate by bringing all of this up. Being really into UFOs doesn't mean a person is inevitably going to slide into right wing 'space marines on mars' ideas, or anti-semitic conspiracy theories, but it does make awareness of those exploitative thought systems relevant and important. 'Inoculation' is a concept that has been gaining a lot of traction in anti-radicalisation work over the last decade or so. The idea is that when people are shown how cult recruitment, disinformation, false conspiracy narratives etc. work, what they look like, and where they are likely to be encountered, those people actually become more resilient to ideological exploitation. It's not accusatory, any more than getting a measles vaccine implies you would otherwise die of measles. It's precautionary, and it makes it statistically that much more likely that e.g. a forum full of UFO enthusiasts includes a significant number of people who are ready to identify and shoot down veiled anti-semititic tropes. It makes engaging with fun, kooky (and even potentially real and important) fringe ideas that much safer.
Anyway, I think we essentially agree on most of this. My original posts were really just me venting some frustration to my own blog, and weren't written with the idea of laying out my grand nuanced personal thesis of intellectual exploration. I certainly didn't mean to come off patronising, but I guess that's inevitably what happens when you vagueblog about hundreds of strangers in big general terms.
seeing really deeply troubling swings toward esotericism in certain leftist circles over the last couple of years that do not presage anything good. remember, just because thought patterns are aesthetic does not mean they're true, healthy or constructive.
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