#because of what I believe about baptism

[a-space-for-mimi]

I find Martin Luther's "love story" so funny. Like, during the Reformation, a bunch of priests and nuns basically paired off with each other (because the Bible doesn't actually forbid clergy from getting married) so they all got married to each other until Luther and Katharina von Bora were left. He didn't want to get married but they did out of spite as a rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church and I find that absolutely hilarious 😂😂😂. If I remember correctly, they were very grateful to each other and glad that they did get married. It'd be funny to write a story based on them. They hilariously fit the "contract marriage" trope 😂😂😂. (If any of you are Roman Catholic, I hope you don't take offense to this. I just disagree with what they teach.)

[icarusredwings]

Thinking about .. eh not much. But the thought of Logan trying to become comfortable in the X mansion again after his x men died keeps coming into my brain, some of the X men subconsciously doing things that THEIR Logan liked and honestly Worst Wolvie feeling so jealous of the love that the X men had for Logan, but not him.

Kurt crawling into bed with him and automatically trying to cuddle him the same way he lays with most of the other x men but hasn't gotten to do with Logan in a long time.

"The fuck are you doing?"

"Oh... uhm... cuddling? Iz kinda my thing..i.. Im the cuddly elf??"

"What?"

"I-ill go if you-" but Logan just grunts and locks his arm around him, finally accepting the comfort of just being held.

So kurt, of course, lays all over him, his tail wagging or wrapping around his leg. I HC that worst wolvie didn't really have a nightcrawler so it's odd for him. I mean.. what grown ass man would want to cuddle? ... well... He did. But he'd never say that. Kurt tells him of the cuddle piles they used to do on top of Logan, and just lay on him for hours. How flustered and harmlessly upset he got. "Oh ja, He told us to get off at least 5 times before he gave up. Vas such fun."

It's now that this Logan decides hes never going to tell them to get off. Never going to push them off of him and storm off... he already did that before.. not again. This is his second chance.

So now, here they are, just.. laying here.. Logan's not even talking. He's learning so much about Kurt just from the way he smells, his heart rate changes, and running his hand down his back. He had tried to run it over his tail like one might a cat, but he only jumped up, and his fur was all fluffy. Did he scare him? Maybe he didn't like his tail touched..

One whiff says the opposite as he tucks it between legs.

"Sorry I... I didn't have a Nightcrawler so.. I swear I didn't know."

"Aah.. that makes sense.. Vell dont do it again mister! He's watching!" And plops back down, nuzzling into his shoulder.

"Who's watching!?"

"You know. Father?"

"....I killed my dad.."

"...." Blinking a bit, Kurt pats his chest with a sigh "Yeah.... our Logan did that too. But I meant God."

"Oh.... Kurt, I dont think a thousand baptisms could make him forgive me..."

The blue man gives him a look of pity and a small smile of remembrance. "Heh... That's funny... he said the exact same thing."

The silence that came after made him wish he would just say something. But he had nothing to say. Just how similar was this world's Logan to him..?

"Who said what? Hey peanut, Whatcha doing?"

The guilt that rushes over him makes Logan try to sit up, gently pushing Kurt off of him, but Wade puts his hand up. "Nah, it's alright."

"Y-you dont mind?"

"Mh-mh. You look comfy, Wolvie... It's a nice look on you. Also Jubilee and Kitty are coming. They told me not to tell you but I didnt wanna watch you accidently skewer some kids."

Yeah. Kids. As if they weren't already in their mid 20s, Wade. Though I guess you're almost 50 so everyone younger then you is a kid.

"Aye! I heard that!"

"... Eh.. Heard what, mien freund?"

"He does that. Don't worry about it." Logan mutters to him, his head snapping towards the door as the two girls burst in, Giggling and jumped in the cuddle pile too.

"Youch! Watch the fur!!"

Logan only grunts and groans from the weight and the fact he was being ambushed. "You girls are a lot heavier from the last time I saw ya" he states, because the last time he seen them, they were just kids. Kids that.. he killed.

"I can't believe you didn't invite us to the function, Logan!"

"Yeah, totally not cool."

Bringing them close, he held their heads in his inner elbows, nuzzling them both with a bit of a sniffle.

Watching them all, Wade smiles, seeing the girls hug back and not tell him off for his tight grip.

"Ewww! Are you sniffing me!?" Katherine complains, trying to push him away. The glossiness in his eyes slip onto his cheek as he playfully growls at her, his grip now a bit too tight for Wade's own comfort.

He observes the way Logan gently nibbles their cheeks, making Kitty gag and push his face away. "Ew! Whens the last time you brushed your teeth!?" She teases.

"Eeehh!!! Abort mission!! Call for back up!" Jubes yells, attempting to get out of the hold, a bit of her cheek a little red from the fang nipping.

Wade could tell that he was getting too excited. Those claws would pop any second. "Logan-" he starts, knowing these two were probably not the best for him to rough house with. Laura would have been a much more suitable play partner but she was far too truamatized to be held down like this without stabbing someone..

"I got you girls!" Kurt says, poofing away, making Logan jump and instinctively let go from the flash sound and visual. He blinks, sitting up and looking for him. "How did he.."

"Magic." Wade smirks, relieved that he let go. Logan would never forgive himself if he accidently killed them twice.

Seeing what he did to her, Logan frowns, running the back of his finger over her cheek. "...Im sorry.."

"It's alright. Didn't even hurt. Besides, You said we were smaller right? Is that why you were playing with us?" Now that he got a good look at them, it felt inappropriate to nuzzle and bite at their noses anymore... these weren't the little pups he used to give noogies and piggy back rides...

Kitty was married now. The ring on her finger suggested it. She wasn't that bratty sassy teen reading boy magazines. And Jubilee was... well.. she was kinda the same. Just bigger. More mature looking.. he bet she looked like her mother.

"Sorry.." he says again, deciding to keep his hands to himself, putting them in his lap.

"For what?"

"You haven't played with us in AGGESS!" Kathrine whined.

"I.. I shouldn't treat you like that.. you're grown now. I.. you're not.. my kids.. anymore."

"Oh bullshit. Rouges almost 30 and I bet she'll wanna rough house with you too!"

He shakes his head, those glossy eyes coming back. Wade couldn't say a thing but the things in his head were a mile a minute. He wanted to say so many things, but this was his moment. Logan's time. Being reunited with his original X-kits.

"No.. i-its alright.. I dont.."

"Nah we'll go get her."

"Oh and Ro too!"

"R-ro..?" He looked almost confused but before he could ask they were already gone.

He thinks now he should speak. "...Havin fun?"

Logan is quick to wipe his face. "Yes... thank you."

"For what?"

"For... giving me a second chance."

He smiles, leaning against the window. "I didn't give you that Logan. You did."

"But you brought me here."

"And you stayed with me. Which allowed me to bring you here. Your choice. Not mine."

"Oh come on you cant believe-"

"ELF ATTACK!" Appearing in the air, Kurt dropped down from the ceiling, swords in hand. Gasping Logans claws finally shown themselves, blocking the attack.

"Jesus Kurt! Are you trying to die!?" He shouts, hairs raised and on edge.

"It would be an honor to die at your hands, mien freund! The professor would have told us to go outside by now, but he's not here anymore. So we can fight in the house as much as we-"

"No fighting in the house!!" Scott calls from the hall.

Wade laughs. "Spoke too soon. Daddys home."

"He is not-" Logan blushes deeply, Grunting and lightly tosses Kurt off of him. "Shut the fuck up, Wade..."

Leaving the room, he grunts loudly, waving his hand at Scott. "We're going.. dont get your panties in a bunch..."

Kurt rolls his eyes, glancing at Wade. "And it begins.."

Sighing heavily, Wade follows them out, his hands intertwined on the back of his head. "I bet I could be Daddy."

"At least get married first before saying such crude things..." Kurt mumbles, tail holding a swird as they went down the hall.

[elizabeth-mitchells]

so. i'm still thinking and taking too seriously the different possibilities on "Why the Wilderness™ killed Laura Lee?" and especially thinking about the Wilderness killing Laura Lee specifically as a way to punish/hurt/control Lottie

first of all, obviously, this is all going along with the assumption that the Wilderness™ is ✨something✨ real and purposeful and powerful, etc etc

Now, Lottie and Laura Lee were holding hands as the plane went down right? they had a connection before ever setting foot there. fun fact that i want to include here: both of them voted against going down to the lake btw (like jackie, resisting going deeper into the wilderness). but then they reach the cabin! and Lottie starts acting weird, she stays behind, it's her first moment of isolation (i think). she starts to "feel" bad things. she ran out of her medication of course but we can assume it's the beginning of her "hearing" the wilderness

if we keep going along this route, you could say Lottie got officially "chosen" by the wilderness during the seance, and who interrupts it and breaks her out of it? Laura Lee! maybe the beginning of the Wilderness' beef with our girl Laura Lee

if we accept what Lottie said in the s2 finale to be true and the Wilderness chose her because she was the only one that could listen to it, it would make sense that the Wilderness needed her, and it needed her alone, all to itself, believing and trusting only what she heard and saw from the Wilderness

when Lottie goes to Laura Lee to explain away the visions, when she goes along with Laura Lee's baptism and idea that the visions come from God, it goes against the Wilderness' wishes. you could even say that Lottie's vision of Laura Lee's death during the baptism was the Wilderness giving her a final warning, an opportunity. maybe if Lottie had wholeheartedly believed in her visions back then instead of in Laura Lee's words, she would have done something to stop her from getting on the plane

the Wilderness killing Laura Lee was It proving its power to Lottie, telling her to never doubt it again

and, by killing Laura Lee, the Wilderness got rid of Lottie's closest friend, strongest connection, and last tether to sanity and civilization and the group. it had Lottie isolated from the group and free to manipulate and share the messages it wanted, without a translator that believed in other gods

[fatcatlittlebox]

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the showrunners have said in the past how much they referred to the Bible for inspiration and the religious symbolism utilized frequently throughout TROP. Also, how many online critics of haladriel cite the Virgin Mary as Tolkien’s inspiration for Galadriel and how shipping the two is sacrilegious. And while I do agree that Sauron is very clearly modeled after Satan, I think to say Sauron = Satan is pretty reductive. I also don't think this is the only theologic parallel in TROP.

I have said before, and I'll explain here that I think where JDP and McKay were drawing from were multiple religious parables: this includes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In my opinion, this parallel is an interesting and revealing one.

Like Sauron, Satan had “many names.” He was Lucifer once. In LOTR, Mairon was created by Eru and was once fair and good. Hence the opening line of the very start of this series: “Nothing is evil in the beginning." I think this is a founding principle of the show and season 1. It applies to people, ideas and intentions. Where season 1 sought to establish an origin story of sorts, they started with the "original sin”, the “Adam” and the “Eve.” In this case, the “genesis” of it all begins with Halbrand and Galadriel.

And is Halbrand the "Adam" archetype? I believe at this stage, he aspired to be. Sauron literally was reborn and perhaps saw that as a purifying experience. He wanted, in a sense, to be free of sin, the mistakes and flaws of his past. There is this striking image: an opening shot when we encounter Halbrand on the raft. Before he turns to face Galadriel, he cups water in his hand and he bathes his head: the act is baptismal.

Baptism in Catholicism is meant to cleanse the soul of original sin. A return to Adam. A return to purity. And he fits the description. He is "just a man." A "low man", primordial. They wander through Numenor in awe. Halbrand calls it a "paradise," a refuge to find his peace. And I think this is an important parallel to make because, maybe, Sauron didn't initially desire to conquer this new world, but to reclaim his Garden of Eden. To live free of his original sin. He sees the forge immediately and takes this as a sign, an offer: this is his ripe opportunity. Not to dominate and subjugate, but to be reborn as Mairon before Melkor. He is Halbrand seeking to rechart his path had he not have been seduced by Morgoth. And even if this would be a pale facsimile of his unsullied form, maybe it would be enough. But then there is Galadriel, who becomes his “Eve.”

Galadriel appears to fit the role. In the story of the Garden of Eden, it is Eve who offers the forbidden fruit to Adam. And with it the promise of knowledge, of greatness. Galadriel tells him that his current commoner state is the convenient lie, that the greatest act of reconciliation is to embrace his true self. While this advice may seem sound and was intended somewhat nobly, this is the double-edged logic that led to the fall of Man — his ambition. His pride.

Further deepening associations with sin, heaven, purity and evil is the iconography:

This shot is clearly meant to echo the famous depictions of the archangel St. Michael defeating Satan. And the symbolism is really interesting. Because where St. Michael purged Satan from heaven, Galadriel stops Halbrand. She asks him to spare Adar. Meanwhile, Halbrand is shaking with fury that I wouldn't interpret as emotion over the Uruk’s betrayal. He was almost detached and emotionless when Adar was killed later. Here, he is near tears when he proclaims, “You don’t know what he did!” He’s not talking about the Uruk in front of him. He’s talking about himself. Adar is the proxy for his past, his sins, his demons. Were Halbrand to succeed and vanquish Satan in effigy, he would be metaphorically purging himself. You can see he wants to desperately. But that closure is nullified. Galadriel stays his spear and it becomes symbolic of Halbrand’s failed overture at purification.

But mercy is not Galadriel’s folly anymore than it was for Bilbo to spare Gollum. Redemption after sin is not found in erasing the past. It’s not in making the impure, pure again. It is the balance of darkness and light in which justice collects payment. Something that Galadriel mentions twice in season 1 and is shown in Sauron's vision of their union. His world is in balance.

The loss of innocence when sacrificed for knowledge and greater ambition results to pain and suffering. But also allows bravery and hope to flourish. “Life in defiance of death.” The beauty borne from evil. Galadriel beckons to Halbrand with the promise of such harmony and he starts to believe. That peace and paradise in Numenor, his new "Eden,” are not his fate. She is. With the light of the Two Trees ensnared in her being, he would see Galadriel as the embodiment of paradise made flesh. He can live with his darkness with Galadriel at his side. Her light will provide balance. He cannot be free of the stain of his original sin. Without balance, he is destined to replay it like a broken record.

When we first see him emerge into human form, he has clothed his nakedness. It recalls to mind the creation of Man. However, in this version, darkness and shame follow this “Adam” because he has already fallen. And as we progress through 2 seasons, Halbrand devolves with the snake and serpent emerging as the dominant entity. Towards the end of season 1, he dons a serpent's scales as seen in his armor. By the end of the season finale, after Galadriel rebuffs him and effectively casts him out -- look at this shot. He looks like a cobra poised to sink his fangs into her with a poisonous bite (he succeeds in 2x08):

Like the biblical serpent, manipulation is his tool and one he has employed with great skill and ease. Adar, Mirdania, Celebrimbor, the orcs. He tempts them with promises and praise. Adar describes his way as “slithering.” When Adar commands Halbrand to grovel on the ground in 2x01, this is a reference to the serpent in the Genesis story who was condemned to crawl on his belly by God as his eternal punishment.

Later, when Sauron transforms into Annatar, his manner and dress pay homage to this. His headdress, the detail of his robes, his chest plate and his arm vambrances are adorned with coiling snakes. Charlie had said in an interview that this was intentional. This was his metamorphosis.

But with Galadriel, I posit that he “fell” as Adam not by being consumed with schemes of pride and hubris (as in past and future iterations of Sauron). It was that he fell in love. Which is why this parallel with the Garden of Eden is so important. It is a long argued theological debate that the serpent and the forbidden fruit in this story do not just represent greed but also lust and desire. Adam’s sin was not just borne of his vices but also out of love. He loved his Eve more than his God. He turned away from paradise because Eve held their future in her hand, having eaten the fruit before Adam. So he chose to share that unknown fate so long as they remained bound together. Whether in glory or exile. I believe this is the greater “sin” Halbrand committed when he left Numenor, his "Eden," with Galadriel.

I don’t even think he was aware of it at first. He may or may not have believed in her cause but he had complete devotion to her. He did not seek forgiveness from Eru but he asked for hers. He worshipped her and in doing so committed the greatest transgression. Like Adam, he turned from seeking salvation from God and chose to follow his Eve instead. And for Galadriel’s part, the obvious symbol for the forbidden fruit is Nenya. A ring that was literally made from power forged by good and evil in conflict over a tree. But I don’t think that was the real forbidden fruit here. It was when they chose each other in defiance of the gods. What ultimately gave her knowledge of good and evil? Not a ring. It was her binding to Sauron that opened the door and unleashed such power, love, life, beauty and death upon Middle Earth. The forbidden fruit was a forbidden love. That was the reason for Halbrand's preoccupying fear of Galadriel casting him out. It was because he had already been cast out of paradise in his past life. And when Galadriel shut the door to him, she cast him out of the paradise he was so desperate to rediscover.

[wh0reforcoriolanussnow]

Eyes Never Lie || D. Targaryen x oc (Dear Motherhood Series)

GIF by me :) pls give cred if used DIVIDERS by @straywords

summary: Leyla confronts Daemon about Rhaenyra minutes before Aegon is baptised.

a/n: inspired by the episode from the crown where Elizabeth and Philip (Matt) argue about his loyalty. also i dont think that they baptised the children it this period of time but lets just imagine they did for the sake of the story.

Dear Motherhood Series Masterlist

“Why do you look at her like that?” Her voice was strained as she sniffled. The couple had been arguing for about 20 minutes now, the topic? Rhaenyra and Daemon. “Like what?” Daemon spat, fed up about the argument that was going to happen one way or another.

Ever since the young Hightower gave birth to their 3rd child, and Rhaenyra coincidentally came back to court the same day, things felt different. Different between Leyla and Daemon, different between Daemon and Rhaenyra.

“Like-like you’re in love with her!” She furrowed her eyebrows as her lips quivered, she didn’t mean to blurt that out but she was anticipating for her husband’s answer. Daemon physically paused hearing what his wife had to say. “Say something. Please, Daemon” Her voice cracked.

She gave him everything. All of her. And most importantly, she loved him. After everything they went through, facing parenthood together, the ups and down of their marriage. She refused to believe that he had let her go so quickly.

Daemon sighed, massaging his forehead with his freehand. “Leyla, I don’t want to talk about this right now, please my love.” She felt her heart break into a million pieces. Daemon pushing her away stung her. “B-but why? I want to talk about this right now!”

“Please-“ He was cut off by a knock at the door, “Sister, hurry up! it’s all most starting” Alicent called out from the other side of the door. “We’re coming!” Leyla calls back as Daemon looks at his wife with saddened eyes. “I can’t even with you-“ Leyla quickly turned around leaving him there.

Whether or not he chose to attend his son’s baptism and be a supportive and loving husband was completely up to him. The brunette quickly walked to the nursery where the children were. She scooped Aegon from the handmaiden and let out a breath. “You alright, my lady?” Alysanne places a hand on Leyla’s shoulder. She didn’t answer, only looked at her and walked off.

~

The ceremony had begun and there was no sight of Daemon. Leyla felt like a fool infront of everyone. She could feel all their judgemental looks because her husband wasn’t there standing by her side. She looked to Rhaenyra, the Targaryen Princess not even looking her in the eye.

Just before Aegon was about to be blessed, Daemon had slipped into place beside Leyla and their children. She felt a huge sense of relief, atleast the looks would stop, but it didn’t make her forget about the argument they had just mere minutes ago.

Leyla handed Aegon to the maester and looked back at Daemon who was already staring back at her, his expression unreadable. After Aegon was blessed, she was given back to the young Hightower. She looked up at Rhaenyra before kissing her son’s forehead and giving him to Daemon, urging him to cradle Aegon.

Leyla’s eyes connected with her father’s. Otto just staring at Daemon in a gaze she couldn’t quite explain. She always noticed how Rhaenyra’s expression would change whenever Daemon was holding his child, and Leyla wanted to get the satisfaction of watching her watch him holding their son. As expected, Rhaenyra stared at her uncle before quickly looking away.

After the christening, there a celebration was held for Leyla and Daemon’s third child. After bidding her children off to their wet nurse, she approached her father with a tired sigh. “Daughter, how do you like the celebration?” He nodded his head at Leyla.

“Delightful,” She sarcastically answers, taking a cup from one of the servants and downing the liquid. Otto looked at her in disapproval as Leyla’s eyes wander around the room. Her eyes focused on her husband. He was talking to someone, but she couldn’t see who it was as he was blocking the person.

“How is your Husband, I heard you haven’t been waking up to him?” Leyla cleared her throat. She had no idea how he knew that. But it was true, she had not woken up to her husband in their bed for quite some time after she came back.

“Daemon is fine. And He’s just…. busy with things, that’s all.” She smiled fakely at her father, not wanting to alarm him that their marriage was not going smoothly. “Hmm. Busy with things, or busy with someone?” Otto Hightower was no fool.

The two stared at each other for abit, Leyla didn’t know how to reply to that. She only gulped and looked back to where Daemon was. He was busying himself with their children.

“Excuse me father,” She smoothed down her dress before approaching Daemon. “Can we talk, Husband?” She softly says as Daemon looks up form Baelon. “I’m occupied Leyla, can we talk later-“ “No.” She quickly cut him off making herself and Daemon surprised at how quickly she interjected. “Children, go back to Alyssane please” Daemon drops his hand from Baelon with a sigh as the children kiss their father and mother goodbye.

Without uttering another word, Leyla turned on her heels and Daemon followed. They both walked to Daemon’s study. He softly closed the door behind him as he watches Leyla, her back to him. “The only person I have every loved is you.” She spoke, breaking the silence as she finally turns to look at him, eyes glassy.

“And can you honestly look me in the eyes and say the same?” A tear rolled down Leyla’s pink cheek. Daemon stood there, fists clenched. “What is this about Leyla?” He softly spoke, eyes trained on his feet. “You know exactly what this is about Daemon” She stormed up to him so that they were at close proximity.

“I’m talking about her.” Daemon softly chuckled. “You are paranoid. Nothing is happening between her and me.” She rolled her eyes, “Paranoid? Yes, I may be paranoid but I have good damn reason to be! Before we wed. You loved Rhaenyra, you loved your niece. And now she’s back in court.”

“What’s to say you go back to your old ways? I know you Targaryen’s have queer customs.” Leyla folded her arms as tears continued to cascade down her cheeks. “Leyla, please. We have our children, I chose to forget about her a long time ago I found out I was going to be a father.” He raised his voice. “I don’t believe you,” She whispered before pushing past him and opening the door to leave.

Her eyes widen in horror as she stumbles back. Rhaenyra was stood there outside his study. “Leyla-“ “What are you doing here?” She interrupted her as Rhaenyra’s face drops, Daemon came up behind her, his hand resting on her waist—making her slightly flinch to which Daemon ignored—to see what the commotion was about.

“Nyra.” He said, surprised. “Sorry, It’s been quite some time since I returned, the Red Keep is quite big, easy to get lost in” She chuckled as Leyla didn’t believe one word. She had grown up in this castle. There was no way she simply got lost and ended up infront of Daemon’s study.

“Well, I don’t know what business you wish to do here, infront of my Husband’s study.” She raised an eyebrow at the Targaryen Princess. Although their significant height difference, Leyla did not falter. Rhaenyra awkwardly smiles. “Yes, my apologies.” She looks at Daemon briefly before walking off, the two watching her figure leave.

“She’s lived her whole life here and was only gone for what? 3 years? I don’t believe her” She scoffs before walking away from Daemon and returning back to the throne room. It was safe to say that Leyla gave Daemon a well deserved silent treatment for awhile.

[venus-haze]

No Other Gods Before Me (Homelander x Reader)

Summary: Love is everything. Love is God. Homelander is love. Maybe you are, too. 

Note: Gender neutral supe reader, and no descriptors are used. Takes place in season 1 during the Believe Expo. Inspired by Starlight’s comment that she didn’t have a crush on Homelander growing up because “he was like Jesus or something.” I'm sorry it took me so long to write another Homelander fic! Do not interact if you’re under 18, terf or radfem, or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 1k

Warnings: Extremely unhealthy relationship, power imbalance (unclear as to who, as the reader has unspecified psychic powers), warped elements of Christianity. Do not interact if you’re under 18.

Homelander saw them clear as day. The tears welling up in your eyes as you walked down to the baptismal pool. He barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. For all of his pandering, he was never fond of religious types–especially religious supes. You should know better than to buy into this bullshit, a cheap substitute for simple minds that couldn’t comprehend the modern gods that put the miracles of every religious text to shame.

Still, he held out his gloved hand for you to take, and you did, gingerly, as if his physical presence would be too much to bear. 

Homelander had his fair share of admirers, but the reverent gleam in your eyes was nothing short of disarming. His name came from your lips in a soft, pious prayer before you hit the water.

You emerged from the chlorinated depths reborn, staring at him in a moment of blissful awe. “You are love,” you whispered, only loud enough so he could hear. And it stunned him. So much so that he couldn’t protest when you were ushered out of the pool, wet clothes clinging indecently to your skin. You disappeared with your fresh towel, and he resisted the urge to drown the rest of the devout in line to find you.

There was still time. Believe Expo wasn’t quite over yet. Surely you’d still be milling about, in some ridiculous prayer circle or buying one of the cheap trinkets the numerous grifters shilled. He’d never read the Bible, not all of it. Bits and pieces to understand what people were talking about, and a few feel-good verses up his sleeve for speeches and interviews. None of it made him understand what all of the fuss was about, anyway. Why his birthday wasn’t a months-long celebration, a cultural phenomenon. All Vought gave him was a TV special and a cake. It wasn’t the spectacular frenzy that people anticipated all year.

His fists clenched. 

He found a volunteer who didn’t look all that busy, and offered a selfie with them before asking a favor. People would do just about anything for him, regardless, but posing his demands as if they were helping him out tended to get things done faster. As soon as the words left his mouth, the volunteer set off to find you. He retreated to his dressing room, waiting impatiently for your arrival.

“Isn’t he wonderful?” you asked, your distant voice growing louder as you approached.

“Homelander’s the best,” the volunteer agreed.

“Don’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“That warmth when you’re in his presence, something divine.”

“Well, he was chosen by God.”

“You don’t get it at all, do you,” you said, disappointment evident in your voice, just on the other side of his dressing room door.

He tried not to appear too eager when you entered, though you were in different clothes than before. Couldn’t expect you to spend the rest of the day walking around in soaking wet clothes, though part of him hoped you would.

“I knew we’d see each other again,” you said, not at all surprised by him summoning you.

He tilted his head, regarding you with suspicion. You didn’t seem like you were fucking with him, but he couldn’t be sure. “In the baptismal pool, you said I was love.”

You nodded. “Love is eternal. Love can conquer anything.”

“Love is God,” he said.

“I prayed to you, because I knew you could hear me,” you confessed quietly. “You’re the one.”

Your sincerity was genuine, the way your heart beat in time for him, tearful eyes glistening with an unprecedented devotion. Without an outstretched, gloved hand, he cupped your cheek, caressing it in his first act of blessing. Anointing you first. A ragged breath emerged from his parted lips. His dove, his lamb, his to guide and nurture the way these abstract figments couldn’t. You would be his Mary Magdalene, his Saint Paul, unceasingly devoted in your worship of him, proselytizing the good word to the masses. 

And why shouldn’t they worship him? Look at him with the same admiration and awe that you did? Power in the blood, his blood, to save and damn as he saw fit. After all, he didn’t need to die to offer salvation. No great sacrifices on his part to provide for those who were worthy. The sky had been empty when he explored it, all the way up past the atmosphere, farther than anyone could possibly go until he reached the vast emptiness of space itself and found himself alone. Homelander wasn’t an unknowable god. He walked among the masses, pandered to their sensitivities because he knew just how small and insignificant they were.

He’d read about the more extreme acts of devotion to gods in the past. Self-flagellation. Human sacrifice. Vows of poverty. Pathetic and desperate attempts to appease a supposedly powerful higher being who did nothing to help his people when they cried out for him. But Homelander was there. And just like you’d said, he could hear everything. He required so much less of people yet offered so much more. 

“You’re the only one who sees me for what I am,” he murmured. 

You nodded gently, your cheek rubbing against his glove. 

He leaned in to kiss you, and you reciprocated without hesitation, pressing your lips to his, allowing yourself unprecedented closeness with the divine. Consume and be healed, forgiven, saved. Kissing you felt purposeful, made his heart race and his brain feel fuzzy.

Warmth washed over him, and for a moment the suspicious part of him wondered if this divine haze was related to your powers. Something about being able to get into people’s heads, mess with their emotions. He wasn’t sure. There was no reason for you to be on his radar before the spiritual encounter.

When you whispered his name against his lips like a prayer, he nearly choked. Devout. Unconditional. He held onto you tightly, lips attached to yours in his own act of worship.

Love was everything. Love was God. Homelander was love. Maybe you were, too. 

[cheerfullycatholic]

I finally got the Jeffrey Dahmer conversion book after USPS drama and I was reading it last night and have been having so many thoughts, mainly about the mercy that Christians refuse to give. It made me remember a Catholic account I used to follow on Instagram. On the day of the first assassination attempt against Trump he was posting updates about it, about how awful it was and how, regardless of what we thought of Trump, we had to pray for him (very true, I was happy to see that). But when it was announced that the shooter was killed, he made a post about how he was dead and in hell. Not in an awful "I'm glad he's in hell" way (at least not blatantly) but like it was 100% fact. So I and others commented "we should still pray for his soul though because we are unable to know that for certain". This guy was a newer convert and has said that he's open to learning more, so I thought maybe he'd ask about that and we could have a discussion, because we literally are not able to know with 100% certainty who goes where when they die unless we're specifically told through an apparition or something like that. But instead of discussion, I and the others who commented were immediately blocked. Later while I was logged out I found that he deleted the post claiming the shooter was in hell and made another one essentially complaining about our comments and saying that murder is a sin so there's no reason to believe he's not in hell (except there is). I was just so flabbergasted lol. Like, he knew me at least a little bit. I had been following him for months and he had liked comments I made in the past. He had to have known that I and the others who left comments were Catholic, but instead of talking about it and being open to showing a shred of mercy, he just shut himself off to the possibility. I wasn't mad. I'm still not. I'm just upset that there seemed to be no thought of mercy. No considering "why did he do it? What was he thinking right before he died? Did he feel remorse? Was he mentally capable enough to understand the severity of his crime? Was he forced into doing it?" It was like this guy was just looking at a list of rules and saying "he broke them, to the hole he goes", when that's not how God works. I mean yeah, it's hugely possible that the shooter is in hell. But we're not supposed to make that judgement, and we're not supposed to want anyone there. We're supposed to pray, and hope for the best. I stopped reading the book last night right before the chapter about the hate Jeffrey's baptism got, and I'm not really looking forward to seeing more examples of mercy being denied and God's love being misunderstood

[alpaca-clouds]

How do gods, vampires and the afterlife work in Castlevania?

Okay, now with Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 I absolutely get to speculate a bit more about how the worldbuilding in the world of this anime actually works.

To catch everyone up with my speculations up until this point, let me quickly get you to speed. So far I assumed the following:

Vampires in this world probably go back to some sort of magic or alchemy, which has to have happened before 1500 BC (given that we know Morana was turned around that time).

There is only one afterlife, where every soul ends up, no matter what they believed in and what they did in life.

At least the "old gods" are real, possibly by some variation of the "clap your hands if you believe" rules. Meaning: It is possible that gods have started to exist, because people believed in them.

So, let me quickly go over the different aspects - on the basis of what we now know from Nocturne season 2.

Vampires

Now, we definitely do not get any answer so far with the question of where vampires come from in this universe. But we got a confirmation for a suspicion that I had all the time: There were not vampires in the Americas before colonial contact. (Though I might note, that this also means that the excuse a variety of people used to make up for the fact that the first four seasons had tomatoes and bell peppers - vampires had already been to America - was also wrong.)

In Nocturne we also do not only see one person being turned into a vampire, but in fact three different people. Tera, Drolta and Mizrak.

From this we can gather that generally speaking the universe works under the established rule of the "baptism of blood", as established in the Dracula novel. Meaning: If a vampire wants to turn someone else into a vampire, that person usually needs to be bitten first, before needing to drink the blood of the vampire. This seems to hold true for Tera and Mizrak at least - though we do not technically see Olrox feed Mizrak his blood, though it seems to be implied.

Drolta in this regard is interesting. Because from the sequence that sees her turned, she does not seem to get bitten. While the vampire injures her, there does not seem to be a bite. She only gets some of his blood and drinks it of her own volition.

I have seen some speculation if there needs to be some will or want involved in the turning of a vampire because of this. Does someone have to want to be a vampire - or at least want to not die? I am not sure, but it is interesting.

We also know with season clearly that whatever we assume a soul is: Vampires have it.

Other than that... We do not know how often vampires need to feed. However, given that we know they can journey over the Atlantic, it is probably not quite as much, given that the travel between Europe and the Americas in the time took about three to four weeks, and if a vampire would need to feed too often, I doubt that would end well. (Vampire feeding for the most part is a very logistical problem - but that is a topic for another day.)

Other than that, it seems that outside of the general inability to go out into direct sunlight, most typical vampire weaknesses do not seem to apply. They can go into churches, they seem to have a reflection in the mirror, and they can cross water no problem.

The Afterlife

So, from the very beginning I have been firm on one thing: While everything the show establishes seems to suggest that there is heaven and hell, I do not believe this. I was very sold on the idea that there is only one afterlife basically since the beginning, but especially since season 3.

The reason are two: Firstly, we know of at least one vampire in this world (Morana) who very much predates the concept of hell, which only came up in the 4th century. Sure, technically you can argue that Hinduism and some other religions also have a hell or a "bad place" to go after death, but generally, hell as known in Abrahamitic believes only came up in the 4th century. Given this is the case and this world does not ignore the fact that the rest of the darn world exists, it would make a lot of sense if hell was not real.

Secondly, we know the stories of two people ending up in hell, that in my understanding should not be there. That is Lisa for once, and also FlysEyes. I am sorry, but for what sin is Lisa supposed to be in hell? And she definitely is in the same place as Dracula, who definitely should be in hell, given the whole genocide and murder hobo thing. The same holds true for FlysEyes. Did he betray his friends? Yes, but he did so under torture. I am sorry, but I am not gonna assume that God really was so darn petty. Isaac also points that out in the dialogue.

However, Nocturne does bring up another possibility. And this possibility is, that this works rather under a varation of the "Clap your Hands" rules, specifically the one that American Gods seems to use. Which is basically: There is tons of different afterlives, and you will end up in whatever afterlife you align with the most. The reason for this obviously is, that we definitely know that the Ancestral Plane (a variation of which is part of a variety of both African and Asian religions) is a thing, as well as the Duat from Egyptian mythology.

And if we go by those "Clap your Hands" rules, it is obviously possible that FlysEyes ended up in what he perceived to be hell, because he felt guilty for betraying his friends, while Lisa might have wanted to go to hell, to meet with her husband again eventually. This would be interesting of course, because it would then mean that Mizrak would indeed have ended up in hell - just because he felt that he should.

The big question is, what this means right now for Forgemastery. We know at the very least that even vampire souls can be called back through it - both Drolta, and the resurrection of Dracula in the end of SV S4 proof this. But do souls for Forgemastery actually have to come from hell, or could forgemastery actually draw them from any hell whatsoever? That would be interesting to know.

Gods

In terms of the gods, Nocturne definitely so far implies some things about them. We definitely know now, that at least some of the "Old Gods" (I kinda love that the terminology used is the same one I keep using - not gonna lie here) are real. Namely we definitely know that Sekhmet, and Ogun exist, as well as Karfu and Papa Legba. If we all are not wrong about Olrox's background, Quetzalcoatl also very much exists or existed at some point. We also absolutely have some implications that at least some of the Christian demons and devils seem to exist to some extent. We already saw those fallen angels escape hell back in season 3, and now we have some more implications for maybe some other devils might exist for real too.

Ironically speaking though, we have so far absolutely no proof in one direction or the other, whether the Abrahamitic God with a capital-G exists in this world or not. Which I kinda understand - it is an iffy question to deal with in writing.

The question is, by which mechanic the gods exist. Does it work by "Clap your Hands if you Believe"? Or is there another mechanic that keeps them existing and presumably immortal? What happens to Gods, if nobody is left to believe in them? What happens if even their names are forgotten?

I talked a lot already about the Gaulic gods, who are a really prime example for this. There is plenty of gods from the Celtic pantheon of whom we found depictions in art, where we do not have the slightest idea how they are named, what their function was and so on. We know: "Someone painted this deity onto some pictures/made some statues" but that's all we know. What would this mean for this world?

It would be an interesting thing to find out. I wonder if we will ever learn this, should there be a season 3 or possibly another Castlevania series.

[donaig]

This is going to be a long read! Definite spoilers for those who haven’t finished the first three books so there’s another warning for those of you whom that applies to!

—The Tower is Limbo—

I theorize that the Tower is Limbo and that it is connected in some way to Cannan House due to that being where Jod “ascended” and the location being the strongest connection for human souls because of it. Possibly as the power source Harrow references in GtN. Possibly that is where the extra souls were pulled from to make Teacher and his companions, and also why they’re a little bit batshit. It would be very Jod to be like, “I wasn’t sure what to do with all the souls I ate, so I popped them all in a mind tower on the liminal plane to worry about later. Then once I felt better I pulled the ones I wanted to bring back the most piecemeal, ya know… Jenga.”

I posit the Tower is also connected to Hell in some way, or that Limbo and Hell are one and the same in TLT and I’m just making the connection messier than necessary. I also think Teacher knew about the Devils (see below) when he says, “there are worse things down there” when referencing the labs because part of him was pulled from there and he remembers being in Limbo!

Word Origins: late Middle English; Latin: limbus, 'edge' ‘border’ ‘boundary' ‘hem’ ‘limbo’

Word Definitions:

[1] (in some Christian beliefs) the supposed abode of the souls of unbaptized infants, and of the just who died before Christ's coming.

{a} an abode of souls that are according to Roman Catholic theology barred from heaven because of not having received Christian baptism

{b} In Catholic theology, Limbo, referring to the edge of Hell

[2] an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.

{a} a place or state of restraint or confinement

{b} a place or state of neglect or oblivion

{c} an intermediate or transitional place or state

^Varun:

“You left them too long!” - Referring to the souls that Jod had not placed back into flesh vessels and had become corrupted after so long a time left in limbo.

^Devils:

I theorize that the Devils we are introduced to are the unembodied souls that Jod “left asleep” after the resurrection in Limbo, The Jenga Tower. They became corrupted after so long being in Limbo and their envy of the living made them want to possess their bodies and met out some punishment. They are only able to possess and use freshly dead bodies because the soul is -gone-. They can infect a damaged body, but can’t take over until the soul is gone. I can’t think of a better phrasing for this, but I think they’re able to travel the river and pop up where they smell death.

After being “freed” (see Gideon/Kiriona below), the Devils sought out fresh bodies whose souls had departed to possess. I posit that the Devils possessed the bodies of the freshly dead soldiers on Antioch where they are first introduced to us as a scourge due to it being the first major plane of war/death after my Gideon/Kirona theory. I know the fleet was blown up, but those bodies were most likely also blown up and unable to be inhabited.

I theorize that they hit the Ninth House first because that’s where Alecto’s body was stored and the closer her soul came to accepting death while she was galavanting around in Nona made *something* weaker so they could possess the freshly dead old folks there.

*In the case of Collum Asht, his body was left soul-vacant while he was being siphoned and became a prime target for possession in Cannan House which I believe is directly connected to The Tower.

The appearance of the Devils give off a serpentine vibe. Flappy long tongues and sharp teeth. The eyes are the windows to the soul ya know. And they are pissed and -hungry- for life.

[1] The Leviathan is often an embodiment of chaos, threatening to eat the damned when their lives are over. Christian theologians identified Leviathan with the demon of the deadly sin envy.

^Alecto:

I theorize that Alecto is the Leviathan to Jod. We know she is set up to be his end, as she was his beginning. I posit she is the gatekeeper to The Tower, likely unknowingly due to her origin as Gaia, and her little vacation left that gate open and unguarded. Which means… yet another “tomb” unlocked.

I previously posited that Alecto was based on a humpback whale in a previous post (I don’t know how to link it here but it’s in the group!), and her abilities as The Drinker can definitely be classified as a sea monster.

[1]Leviathan also figures in the Hebrew Bible as a metaphor for a powerful enemy, notably Babylon (Isaiah 27:1). Some 19th-century scholars pragmatically interpreted it as referring to large aquatic creatures, such as the crocodile.[5] The word later came to be used as a term for great whale and for sea monsters in general.

^Gideon/Kiriona: Jebus

I theorize that when Gideon sacrificed herself at the end of GtN, her soul dipped into Limbo and “freed” the souls trapped there which is why we only start to see Devils after her “resurrection”. I’m unsure of how/if her soul being spliced will play into this but I do think it was split at least into two (a piece in Harrow absorbed for Lyctorhood and the second in her own body as the Child of Jod (the part that dipped and returned)).

[1] The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Christ's descent into Hell as meaning primarily that "the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into Hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead."

—The River is Purgatory—

I theorize that The River is Purgatory because that’s where all the ghosts are waiting to be called back by Jod. We all know our beloved author uses Catholicism like a sneaky guide book in TLT and I found this quote, “the church's understanding has typically been that purgatory has a temporal (temporary, terminating, non-eternal) component with only God being outside of time” when I was spiraling down the rabbit hole and gasped due to just how well it fit! The River is supposed to be a temporary holding place for the souls of the dead, poor hungry ghosts, and we know Lyctors and Jod traverse The River as a way to collapse time and space to get from place to place when needed. We drove along with Nona as she did the same thing!

I’d also like to note that most of the “fire of purification” references are mostly in art and not in the theological sources I looked through. It’s just as likely to be water as water is used as a purifying substance in many different religions. Baptism is a very good example of this.

Word Origin: Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French purgatorie or medieval Latin purgatorium, neuter of late Latin purgatorius ‘purifying’, from the verb purgare (purge).

Word Definitions:

[1] An intermediate state after death for expiatory purification. Specifically : a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God's grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven

{a} a place or state of temporary suffering or misery

[2] A state of final purification after death and before entrance into heaven for those who died in God’s friendship, but were only imperfectly purified; a final cleansing of human imperfection before one is able to enter the joy of heaven.

{a} This purification is entirely unlike the punishment of hell in that a soul in purgatory is de facto destined for heaven, but must undergo cleansing from all sin before spending eternity in the unbridled presence of God.

—

Please forgive the wonky way this is written, but this is how my brain works (*insert groan here*) when I hyper fixate on figuring something out. There are a lot of notes that are smashed together from multiple sources and some that are blatantly copy/pasted, but I’m not writing an academic paper here so forgive the laziness! Also I have absolutely no clue on how to mark things as spoilers or go back and edit my post as of right now on my phone, which is dumb but alas this is me. And I’m not a theological scholar by any means, so I did try my best to make my ideas as clear as possible with the religious themes.

[wrinkly-fucking-qtip]

Mickey vs I Love You

Against popular opinion, I do believe Mickey's "I love you" in 5x06 was the first time he ever said it. Let me explain.

His type of hesitancy with the phrase is not that of fear out of someone listening. No. It seems to me, he noticed Svetlana was in his shared space after he says "I love you" and does a double take when finishing the voice note with "call me back." While I do like to think that he could've said his first "I love you" somewhere within the aftermath of 4x11 and early s5, the only reason I don't think that is because it feels too easy... I think Mickey was too in his head in the aftermath, thinking of how fucked this all turned out. The baptism, the coming out, the brawl, them returning home to wash themselves clean, the sex (implied because they wake up naked together the morning after) it's too much...

Such an admission would be lethal for his brain chemistry at the moment. "I love you" is the peak of vulnerability, where he already is painfully aware of everything he has endured, on top of being completely aware of his feelings to the point of unease, like clothes sticking to your skin. Suddenly you know the shirt there, even though it always has been, just subtly.

I believe that during these times, Ian was probably "comfortable" with saying it. Sparingly. Again, it's too much, it's all too real, and even though Mickey literally sacrificed his life that night, a huge call to action due to the ultimatum, he let fear be his enabler. For saying "I love you," though... it's too close. He can do everything else, a man of action as he always is, and saying things like "what you and I have makes me free" which, you could argue is MORE of a big deal, Mickey chooses very specific words, and they all mean too much coming from someone like him with such awful background, and that's where his comfort lies. Letting Ian know about his feelings through actions, not the words. And knowing how much Ian loves to use them, words, he knows the weight behind them. It's still too much and he feels it.

Not long after, Ian's depressive episode is in full effect. How could he ever find the chance to say those words? Ian is practically paralyzed, and the events from the night before are still fresh, and now he has to process this entirely new thing? Too much yet again. I said earlier how Ian would say "I love you," but very sparingly. I like to think the first time he said this to him, maybe early s4-s5 transition, once the depressive episode cessed, Mickey had the same silent reaction Lip did when Mandy said it to him, but for entirely different reasons. It's like his entire world became this miniscule thing within the pools of his heart, and Ian could read his expression instantly. It wasn't a silence of rejection, he was almost in awe.

And some sick part of me wants to think if he gets scared because he knows there's been strange behavior on Ian's end, that of course, he doesn't understand to its capacity, and maybe Ian says this as a result of that, or if he does know Ian wholeheartedly means it, he loves this boy, as much as Mickey loves him, but still unable to vocalize it. Would he be able to discern between the two?

"You don't have to say it back" spoken in a whisper. Mickey still lost in Ian's eyes. They probably hold each other. Ian acknowledged this dazed boy before him. He knew what the words meant. Jumping back to the "you love me, and you're gay," he was done imposing his feelings onto Mickey, done projecting (not forever, but for a while). Mickey can do this on his own terms, when he feels he can, when he deems it ok to feel it all at once, recognize that everything is, in fact, all too real. And the moment came, although bittersweet.

Cause Ian wasn't there face to face to hear it, he left, and he was manic, the possibility of loosing him due to some negligence suddenly being too real. Familiar even. Things that became too much all of a sudden. So why now? Because the stakes are somehow higher this time. The fear of the unknown is higher. Mickey is dealing with a version of Ian he can barely recognize. When in 4x11, he already knew what he could lose, and his odds against Terry, he already knew what he was going to deal with, as much fear that overcame him, he knew. This? This he does not know.

And I'm thinking about the fact that so much has happened now, this slow, gradual observation of Ian losing himself, Mickey might think that it's now or never. Maybe an "I love you" is enough to snap Ian out of it? Saying it because he has no clue of Ian's whereabouts, and with extreme thinking, that he probably may not see him again for some time, the same way 3x12 happened. And it's like the words come out like a punch to the gut even though his brain doesn't know those words came out. Just look at his face. That's a legitimate face of hesitancy of admission. (courtesy of ajcrowleys)

Everything became too real again, and this one big word couldn't be held back any longer. He hears himself say it, finally admitting what he knew was true all along, just like a shirt. But who knows if Ian heard the voice mail. I think yes, at some point... maybe... but it breaks my heart.

I'd definitely would like to know other opinions, I have so much to say about Mickey's "I love you's."

[asexualandalwaysshipping]

I feel like I’m being gaslit into thinking that Jilco is completely unfathomable as a ship.

Like I know it’s a pretty questionable pairing but they’re pretty questionable people. I just think the potential is not completely out of the question but people act like it’s deplorable to even consider the possibility. They hide behind the flimsy excuse that “it goes against their dynamic” when I think it would be completely in character for these two people with clear rejection and co-dependency issues to develop inappropriate feelings for each other. I went into arcane completely unaware of this ship and even I could pick up on the weird tension between the two and thought to myself “ooh, they (the writers) wouldn’t go that far, would they?” People would rather limit their ability to interpret media than even acknowledge that fictional worlds don’t always reflect the same ethical standards of reality.

I’m online now seeing all these people saying it’s sick to interpret their relationship that way when I’m pretty sure not one romantic couple (canon or noncanon) in this show is completely void of unhealthy dynamics. I’m just so confused because even if you don’t agree with it or it goes against your morals, why insist that it makes no sense at all when others might pick up on the breadcrumbs that you choose to ignore? I literally got a jumpscare during the baptism scene because I was so sure Silco was about to lean in to kiss her because the angles and the distance didn’t tell me to assume otherwise. Does that make me delusional? I don’t even know if I completely ship them but I do know that I enjoy the ambiguity of their relationship and just labeling them as simply “father and daughter” doesn’t feel like it completely encapsulates what they mean to each other.

I dunno, I’m always going to be strongly proship and anti antishipping because I like to believe every person has a reason for shipping the pairs they do that might not actually reflect their real live values because, hello, it’s fictional. If it can be agreed that a writer doesn’t condone half of the things they write about it’s safe to say the same can be said for a shipper who ships certain pairings.

[jotadoul]

i mentioned freid a little in this post. frêj, or فُرَيْج, furaij, means "liberation/relief from suffering."

mahad's name is arabic and means "one who is great." i'm totally pro-duke freid, even when he's being a stone cold bastard. he's dripped out and hot as hell and is an excellent complex character. the whole freid arc is impeccable, a stunning midway point to reset and explode your expectations.

so, freid is visually inspired by india during the mughal empire (a misnomer as mughal means mongol, and while the dynasty was persianised turkic, they weren't solely mongol) a multicultural empire in which the emperors were muslim. one such emperor was shah jahan, who commissioned the taj mahal as his wife's tomb. the taj mahal is a good example of what makes the era distinct, which is all of the islamic and central asian influence in the overall art and architecture while also clearly south asian. the building roofs in freid though do seem inspired by thai architecture, with the tall peaks and chofa. so they may be pulling from the yuan dynasty also.

amazing cinematography. this whole scene is very economical labour-wise, but the shots don't feel that way at all. they made enough clever, striking decisions in the imagery that it feels as natural, believable as any other.

my man genghis' trident and shiva's trishul

has anyone heard of aenon? it was a place of baptism. aenon is a hellenised (ancient greek) version of the semitic term for "spring" or "natural fountain", ayn, which is also a prefix used to denote places where water can be found.

the duke's mech is named chafaris, or spelled chafariz, a portuguese word meaning fountain, which comes from the arabic ṣihrīj, meaning water tank or cistern. the first ever arabic dictionary, "Kitāb al-ʿAyn " or "The Source" is using a specific definition of ayn— "a water source in the desert" ⛲

i've said it before and i'll say it again, escaflowne is a merging of eastern and western concepts and ideas following the silk road and the history of various occupations in the region; it is not as simple as "well it's europe with some japanese flair," at all. it's inspired by nepal and tibet, and because it's inspired by nepal and tibet, that includes the rich history of the place. mecha series are almost innately political. if you want to focus on portuguese, here: spanish, portuguese, and italian all took major contributions of art, architecture, and vocabulary from arabic, and all these europeans had an invasive presence in MENA and asia. the muslims of iberia were in portugal until the 1200s. muslim spain lasted from the 700s to 1492, the toledo school was established to translate from arabic into latin. mughal/timurid empire was from the 1500s to the 1800s. portuguese india was from the 1500s to the 1960s. basra (... basram?), a port city of iran, was under portuguese control from the 1500s to 1600s. hm... maybe we can kinda ballpark some things from this :^)

oh by the way! do these shapes look familiar to anyone?

no...? how about... this:

uh oh!

[allthegothihopgirls]

just finished reading death in the family properly and. whoo the racist undertones are racist undertoning. but uh. wanted to say that i cannot understand why people hated jason back then because like. he’s just a kid. he’s a KID. shaking 80s fans by the shoulders he’s a CHILD. he’s not gonna be a mature adult he’s gonna be a little weird and a little annoying even!! but he is a KID.

also wanted to ask your opinions on the jason has chronic pain headcanon? i personally as someone w chronic pain really enjoy it because it makes sense and i am a firm believer that we need more representation of invisible disabilities like some chronic pain is (and mine is) but ive heard a few people say they don’t like it

— baptism anon

right?? like yeah i think jason dying was the most beneficial thing to ever happen to his character, and he also had next-to-no defining traits as robin apart from being a dick grayson carbon-copy + replacement... but i don't get why people hated him.

~

jason w/ chronic pain!!!!!! oh boy i have feelings about him... i LOVE.

especially when it's death-induced.. a bit like phantom feeling/pain, but instead it is. very. real. like, he has chronic joint pain in places where joker hit him a few too many times etc. personally i reject the 'lazarus pit made him squeaky clean' canon, so on top of him keeping all his scars, and being more frankenstein than man.. chronic pain fits in very well.

i also definitely enjoy headcanons of him with chronic migraines.. not because i'm projecting.

i think it's a pretty agreed-upon headcanon that jason isn't a fan of medication in the slightest, due to his mother's death (only making exceptions when he's sustained more than a minor injury on patrol or a mission and is being tended to).

so i propose, stubborn jason w/ chronic migraines, who will never admit to needing actual medication. obviously he isn't going to be stupid about it, he won't patrol if it's too bad, and maybe tries to ward it off with some regular ibuprofen. but he is so against being properly medicated for prevention or treatment, and gets super defensive if dick or bruce suggest it to him.

he's always in varying levels of head hurt™ and just. lives with it. in the comfort of his own apartment he's definitely not a stranger to herbal teas and heat packs though.. however at the same time he's 100% beating himself up whenever he can't just power through.

i don't think he'd actively tell anyone either. dick figures it out from the way he'll rub at his temples post-patrol, or maybe a couple of unclosed search tabs on a computer 'whydoesmyheadalwayshurt' or 'home remedies: how to naturally prevent migraines'

for bruce finding out i have a bit more of a developed idea. jason's gone out patrolling with a migraine, against his better judgement. he's on comms with bruce, who's getting his assistance on a case he's been tracking. seemingly out of nowhere he hisses a little in pain, and bruce is asking what's wrong.

jason grows defensive quickly and spurts out a routine "imfinedontworry" but was apparently not convincing enough because before he knows it bruce is asking "status?" ..and he swears there's a microchip in him somewhere that forces him to give a truthful answer, because it's not like he wants to tell bruce his head's hurting, because that's just plain embarrassing. he doesn't want people thinking that he can't handle pain that miniscule.

between that and the other times he's been asked "red hood, report" and stated his condition, adding on a "head hurts a bit too, but that's just normal".. it wasn't difficult for bruce to suspect something unusual.

moving away from migraines, i think he also experiences chronic joint pain. compared to the previously mentioned, it's easier to play joint pain off as 'normal' and convince himself there's no cause for concern. he's 100% in denial of having an actual issue, which i'd like to think somewhat comes from bruce experiencing the exact same thing, and jason watching him absolutely refuse to admit any weakness it causes him.

he ends up believing it's just something that happens to everyone (well, at least everyone who dresses up and fights crime on the regular). jason's confused when dick's asking him if he wants to stick around for a chat post-patrol, because is dick not also desperate to go home, ice his joints, and spend time doing stretches to ease his pain before finally getting some sleep?????

i don't think he'd realise that it isn't a normal thing until he's called out on it. maybe he makes an off-comment about 'never feeling 75%, let alone 100%' comfort-wise, and damian remarks how that is. an issue. jason's instantly defending himself "yeah well that's just what happens when you've been in the business for this long-" and dick chimes in to point out that he doesn't feel like that. from there i think he goes to an even larger effort to hide any pain he's in.

big believer in jason being a cane user too. i think babs is the one who convinces him to start using one, after the events of this panel ↓ ↓ ↓ 

you cannot tell me that she's letting that comment slide: "that book looked... useful" plus "i don't think i've ever been okay", ok jason mr 'i really resonated with this and now i'm having revelations' todd.

she's 100% sitting his ass down for a real talk about whatever he has going on.

and i think afterwards, babs suggests that he really considers mobility aids. to which i think he ends up being very accidentally ableist, in the 'but those are for old people' way. it takes... a lot to reverse his somewhat internalised ableism, and get him to at least try a mobility aid out.

he grows less opposed to it as he realises that it's not something he's obligated to use all the time, and that it works. so he uses a cane around his apartment, and around the manor when he gets to be confident enough (he's a bit worried of people asking questions, but no one even bats an eye, because it just makes sense).

i have a whole other set of thoughts about the batfamily + how they go about jason using a cane... but i think i've gone on for long enough.. my apologies

in conclusion... chronic pain!jason todd is a HUGE headcanon of mine. love it a lot.

[mikkeneko]

I decided to make this its own post for two reasons: one, I didn't want to derail a post that is about Judaism with a discussion of a different faith and two, it was really only one of several posts I've seen recently that stuck out to me as being "man, this is way off-base."

This is not so much about "people are saying mean things about this religion and it hurts my feelings!" but it is definitely about "people are making statements that represent a wildly skewed and inaccurate picture of the reality, and I can't tell whether they're being hyperbolic on purpose or think they're genuinely telling the truth." This is not a question of whether any given church is good or bad; this is a question of whether there is or can be a distinct entity that serves as a single unified church or faith in American Christian tradition (spoiler: No.)

Here's the basic message: Any discussion of "the Christian god" or "the Christian faith" or "American Christianity" needs to be taken with a big honking asterisk that there is no single portrayal of God, or Christianity, or spirituality and faith that conveys accurate information about the entire breadth of American Christianity.

There is no single American Christian Church. None. The single biggest branch of American Christianity, Southern Evangelical Baptist, makes up at its broadest 30% of all American Christians (12% of the overall population.) The rest are split between Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Adventist, Congregationalist, and a dozen other even tinier branches, before you even get into the more far-out variants that people have ongoing arguments as to whether they even really count as "Christian." (LDS, Unitarians, and possibly Mennonites fall into this category.) Most of the major branches share a lot of common ground, but there's an enormous amount of variation -- they disagree widely on concepts such as the existence or nonexistence of Hell; the mechanics of conversion or salvation; the requirements of baptism or confirmation; whether prostylezation is required, encouraged or even permitted; what kind of sexualities are or are not accepted; God as an active or non-active role in the world; how 'sin' works or if it's even a thing; the existence or not of saints; the divinity or not of Christ; or even the idea of an anthropomorphic God at all. Some are progressive, some are fundamentalist, some are fundamentalist in ways that are completely at odds with the popular perception of what those fundaments are. I personally know one Methodist pastor who also believes and teaches about God as a "oneness of the universe" and have met others who conceive of God as "that which spans the space between the limits of our understanding and the limits of our universe." You cannot categorically state that all American Christians share a common notion on any of these topics.

Other statements I've seen recently that just made me go "what? no?"

That the USA was founded by religious extremists and That's Why America is Like That. Only one or two of the original settlements were founded for this purpose. Some were founded with an explicit purpose of total freedom of (or from) religion; others were entrepreneurial ventures with nothing to say on the topic of religion at all. When the guiding documents of the American state were put together the clause of freedom of religion was included front and center precisely because they didn't want religious extremists to be steering the ship.

That the majority of USAmericans are in cults and don't even realize they're in cults. This requires both an extremely broad definition of “cult” (to encompass pretty much any branch of Christianity, not only the more extremely evangelical ones) and severely over-estimates how many people in the US are practicing Christians (less than half.)

That the "Christian God" is intended to function as a "Great Uniter" into which other faiths can be folded; This is not a Protestant thing. Most Protestant faiths are not syncretic to the degree Catholicism is (or at all,) since there wasn't a motivating political entity backing their creeds to make them so. Again: Not all branches of American Protestantism require, encourage, or even permit prostylezation.

On that note: Not all Christians are Catholic. This isn't news, right? People know this, right? This is one of those things that I always assumed was very common knowledge, and was very surprised to run into people who were not aware of this (who either think that all Christians or Catholic, or else that Catholics are not Christian at all, depending on which side of the equation they're approaching from.) Protestant and Catholic Christianity are very very distinct entities both spiritually and politically, and in the USA, Catholic Christianity is a minority religion and is mostly (though not exclusively) practiced in minority demographic communities. Of 46 presidents so far only one has been Catholic, and a lot of the opposition to JFK's appointment was people being suspicious of his Catholicism since it was thought that his loyalty to the Church might supersede his loyalty to the US. American Christianity is mostly Protestant, not Catholic, and Protestant Christianity does not function at all the way Catholicism does. We had a whole Reformation about this. Any take that refers to "The Church" in America as a single united entity that dictates theology to its outreaching branches is... off-base.

What certainly is true is that a number of individual churches in the US have organized around the aim of consolidating social and political power, have worked at advancing their members to positions of power in order to protect and promote their interests, and thus are over-represented and have outsized influence on the political sphere. The ones that do this, as well as the ones that put emphasis on proselytizing and on money-making, tend to self-select for being the most visible and infamous because their business model is expansive by nature. That's certainly the case for the SEB in the American South, or the LDS in Utah. I really get the feeling when people use these broad terms that they are thinking either of the SEB (again, not even a majority among American Protestants!) or of the Catholic church (even less so!)  But not only do not all Americans agree with those beliefs, they don't even agree with each other.

[stars-in-a-jam-jar]

I loved Buddy this episode. Exactly the energy I love to see. He remains Completely Mostly-Deliberately Fanatical, but to the point where even the people who coerced him into joining their new religion are like 'You're!!! Doing it wrong!!!!' And Buddy's just like 'I have faith in Bakarath :)' I love him, I love that for him, I love Buddy Dawn so much, please don't die, Buddy, I just wanna have you floatin' around being a silly little uses-his-high-wis-stat-to-deliberately-fail-all-insight-checks-on-himself guy forever.

I wanna see Buddy at the end of this approach Fig like a little lost puppy asking her about Ankarna, but not in the soft explorative way that Bucky is curious about Kristen's relationship with Cassandra, in a way that's like 'I've been in a right tumble dryer lately and was wondering what exactly The Correct Worldview to attach my entire soul and sense of self to is.'

Want him to be a complete mess most of senior year as he keeps looking for new things to attach himself to. Every few weeks he changes his style to reflect the new thing he's trying on as a replacement for developing an independent sense of self.

Want him to be three quarters of the way through senior year before he even thinks to talk to Jawbone. That or they've been having mandatory councilor sessions all fall, and it's only as the Moonar Yulenear is coming up that Bucky starts Acting Like A Person for little flashes, where his entire attitude and personality is not some ironclad manifestation of what he believes The Correct Person To Be is, and instead he just. Genuinely loudly laughs at a joke that a few months ago he would've simply given a polite sensible chuckle to and said 'Oh, that's a good one'. He lets his face fall into a bored exhaustion in a class and the teacher asks him if something's wrong and he snaps back to, but it still happened. The omnipresent 'Good God Fearing Boy' persona slipped and he was a bored teen for a second. He tries a heavily caffeinated drink in the same way one might try a beer for the first time and suddenly he's being a little silly twirling his staff around and stumbling over his sentences a little more as his brain whirrs.

He cries and he breaks something and there's this icky complicated cocktail of emotions because getting angry is bad and being upset is bad; he was taught that all his life and then it was proven correct when he was resurrected by a false manifestation of a dead goddess worshipped in her true form by the archdevil of rebellion who spent the entire school year playing mindgames with the bard in Buddy's party who were using him.

But Jawbone keeps saying it's important to feel your feelings, which is a very silly thing of Jawbone to keep emphasizing, because Buddy always feels his feelings, it's not like he just unilaterally fends every emotion off as if it'll be his inevitable downfall. There's The Good Feelings and The Bad Feelings, and The Good Feelings come from The Good Things and The Bad Feelings are temptations into evil he must not indulge. He chooses to identify with the Correct Feelings To Be Feeling, obviously. Because you're supposed to do that. And anger and upset are never correct. It was a lesson he had to learn the hard, painful way because he was a stupid, flimsy kid who needed to see the real truth up close and personal. That's why all that stuff happened to him. Why the Rat Griders were so dismissive of him. Why Kristen was trying to build bridges with him.

So why did he just shatter the mug his grandfather gifted him after his baptism when he remembered how Oisin and Ivy seemingly constantly side-eyed him every time he spoke. At least it felt that way. Buddy's very used to constantly feeling observed, he probably just imagined that.

They're not exactly alive to ask anymore.

What do you MEAN my silly post about how I think Buddy's insistence that Bakarath is For Sure The Name You Guys is cute and funny turned into ANOTHER Buddy Dawn fanfic???

[stillness138]

So Jinzee's video about the trailer brought me to a realization, it's kinda neat that Ciri has an association with the cat school in the light of this new direction.

Everyone is still screaming crying throwing up that Ciri having undergone the grasses is way too lore breaking but here's the counter argument again; her entire plot in the books is about her and only her getting to decide what to do with her life and with her body.

And not to get derailed too much but diverging from what Sapek or even cdpr themselves said before doesn't have to be a bad thing. Think about Thronebreaker - it's a great adaptation of Baptism despite not literally having the same storyline or the same characters because it's ultimately about the same things, a perilous journey to save what you care about the most, familial relationships and a family-like unit brought together by circumstance, how much war sucks. I think this new game is going to be about autonomy, something looming over Ciri's entire book arc. And again, it's okay to "break lore" in service of a good, meaningful story that still carries the spirit of what Sapek was trying to say; the witcher books certainly aren't about "adult women can't be turned into witchers", they are about, among other things, family, abuse, and making choices.

Jinzee in her video proposes that perhaps the lynx school is going to be a group of people who choose whether to undergo (likely altered/adjusted, re: the future potential of Uma's uncursing) mutations and that made me think about Gezras and the story of the cat school in gwent. Because it doesn't appear in the ttrpg it seems it was written specifically for gwent by the mysterious lorekeeper, so it is cdpr approved at least. I talked about Gezras quite a bit already (here, under Thaler) and concluded that his and the cat school's story is beside revenge about reclaiming the trial as something that gives mistreated people means to protect themselves. Autonomy and even ability to choose. It's not perfect in the cats' case, not at all, these are back alley mutations that leave them fucked up forever, but the concept is not unheard of.

I don't think Ciri would have forced anyone into it. The lack of much of a choice (Geralt does talk about choice being a factor in the trial but is it a real one when you're a literal child given up by your caretakers) is what makes it an abuse cycle and she's had enough experience with abuse - and with falling into a spiral where she becomes a perpetrator - to avoid doing it again (she also has an on-page mini arc of getting out of that spiral, with Vysogota, but it would be interesting if the game explored her history, especially the years spent in the Arthurian world). Maybe her mutation will be a one-off like i initially thought, but if not, choice is a word already attached to her by the game director and indirectly by the trailer itself. That girl's autonomy is a point in it too. She believes she has to sacrifice herself but only because she's been told as much by people around her. In that sense it's personal for Ciri, and probably why it's the plot of her first trailer to begin with.

And i guess the best closing words i can muster is that it also is just that, a first trailer - we don't know the plot of the game and can only speculate what it's going to be about and how it's going to explain the trial and even the medallion for that matter. Not to have expectations too high because cdpr is definitely prone to comically wasting their potential, but so far it's really not looking bad. The ground for good storytelling and even apt political commentary is there, we will have to wait to see if they walk it.