#but here it’s an allusion to me

[shadowbanki]

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write your url by only using emojis

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[flying-fangirls]

As a music, religion, and literature nerd, the Dies Irae has been one of my favorite go-to pieces of trivia for a long time, which means that this line:

Has been driving me batshit BONKERS since part 42! And also as a semi-professional media analysis yapper, I figured I might as well dive into the exact reasons I jumped up and audibly gasped upon first hearing this line and have subsequently lost my mind since then. So!

Here is why I think that the Dies Irae is the perfect analogy for John and Arthur:

Religion

Let's start with the most straightforward meaning: "Dies Irae" is a Latin term, and it translates to the "Day of Wrath." Or otherwise known as the Judgement Day, the foretold second coming in Catholic canon, when Christ will "come again in glory to judge the living and the dead." It's at this Last Judgement where God will wield perfect justice to send the worthy to everlasting peace and the unworthy to everlasting punishment. (everyone say "thank you" to excessive childhood Catholic lessons for burning this into my brain)

There's a kind of irony to the fact that Arthur so vehemently rejects Christianity and religion as a whole, and that John spends much of his arc trying to distance himself from the role/identity of a god, yet both are given this incredibly religious title, effectively restricting them from ever forgetting the presence/influence of religion in their lives.

This title has a couple layers though, because we have to consider why it's the Day of Wrath specifically that represents Arthur and John. Now, I don't think I have to tell you that those two are bursting with anger 80% of the time. But I am going to tell you that those two are not just angry, but moreso "divine fury" incarnate.

The Day of Wrath, the Final Judgment, is the final and eternal judgment of God on all: "For now before the Judge severe / all hidden things must plain appear; / no crime can pass unpunished here." (Dies Irae, Dies Illa). The final Judge, the all-powerful God, can see the objective morality of every single person, and is thus the sole, rightful determiner of fate.

This assumption of their right to perfectly and single-handedly decide others' worthiness shows up over and over, not just John and Arthur's actions, but also in how they describe these judgments.

When Arthur kills the widow on the island, it's not because she was dangerous, but because she was a cultist who "deserved" to be punished.

When John and Arthur need to get rid of Mr. Scratch's stone, John says they should give it to "criminals" who are "deserving of this curse." Even though, just moments before, Arthur refused to give the stone to Oscar because to do so would be to cursing him to a fate of eternal suffering.

And I can't go into every single detail about the entire Larson plotline because this post would double in size, but it obviously needs to be included here. Possibly the strongest tie between this arc and the idea of the Dies Irae is Arthur's conviction through it all. Arthur vows that he is going to kill Larson in divine retribution not because he wants to, but because he has to. He even goes so far as to admit that killing Larson will be a mistake, a cruel and overly-bloodthirsty action that goes against his compassion. But killing Larson isn't a choice to Arthur, it is the unavoidable punishment for Larson's sins and Arthur is simply the enactor of justice. Just like the Final Judgment, there is no sympathy, no hesitancy— the judgment is absolute, divinely ordained, and cannot be stopped no matter how undeniably horrific it is.

If we look at the Catholic Catechism, principle 2302 states that it is sinful to kill out of desire, but that it is "praiseworthy to impose restitution" and use violence to "maintain justic." So even if Arthur has intent to kill, his actions count as divinely sanctioned. He is acting as the hand of God's punishment.

Over the course of Season 3 and 4, Arthur's fiery rage dies down to a more gentle simmer, but his conviction only seems to grow, and John follows suit. Despite previously reprimanding Arthur for his unquestioning wrath, John eventually becomes just as convinced that Larson "deserves" to face a wrathful reckoning. The "fact" that Larson is wholly unforgivable and is fated to receive eternal punishment becomes more indisputable in their minds, and they both stop questioning the morality of their intentions, entirely convinced of their judgment.

Throughout the story, Arthur and John insist upon the importance of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, and say that these are the values that guide their every action. Yet, time and time again, they approach certain people with nothing but wrath and resentment. It's a sharp contrast to the benevolent figures they make themselves out to be, and Arthur and John are often blind to the contradiction because, in their eyes, they are still following those values in every action. And in the moments when they do recognize their horrific words or actions, they still cannot let their judgment go, convinced that it is their "duty" either way.

In Part 35, Arthur says "Just because you can't make the hard decision, doesn't mean it's wrong." This is exactly how John and Arthur view themselves. They know that some of their actions are harsh and violent and painful, but they are don't view that violence as wrong, because they are enacting that violence in justice. They move through life with carefully-selected destruction, culling the world of those they view as unforgivable sinners, and punishing them with divine righteousness. Arthur and John carry righteous fury in their every step, bringing the Day of Wrath down upon the world around them.

Now, there's already a ton of meaning just in this religious allusion alone. However, there's another application of the Dies Irae in modern culture, which brings us to the second side of this title:

Music

Back in the 13th century (sounds like a familiar setting...), friar Thomas of Celano wrote a poem for and about the Dies Irae. The poem was recited at Requiem Mass (church services to honor the dead), and it ended up being set to a Gregorian chant tune.

Over time, this melody has been used by a variety of composers, but the one we're focused on is Hector Berlioz. In 1837, Berlioz used the Dies Irae melody as part of his narrative symphony, Grand Messe de morts, in order to communicate that the main character had died. Then a lot of other composers saw that and said "Hey that's a cool idea!", and started also using this melody to represent death in their music. Nowadays, it's a fairly staple part of modern film and musical storytelling. If you've listened to literally any major soundtrack, then there's a good chance you've heard this motif (or a variation of it) used before. It's often subtle, sometimes loud and obvious, but no matter what, it reveals the inevitable presence of death. (essentially, the Dies Irae=death)

Now, obviously there's something tragically ironic about Arthur being likened to a musical motif when he tries so hard to distance himself from it, and there's something tragically ironic about John being associated with such a dark piece of music when he shows so much fascination and joy toward the art. Again, though, we've got some layers here. Yorick doesn't just compare Arthur and John to the Dies Irae, he literally defines them as the Dies Irae, a full embodiment of it.

Even before the story started, Arthur lost both of his parents, his friend and wife, his daughter, and his best friend.

John, when he was part of the King in Yellow, knew only how to harm and attack. In the Dark World, he falls back on this fearful lashing out with violence, harming even more people.

And throughout the story, John and Arthur seem to bring devastation to everyone else around them: Lilly the buopoth, Oscar, Noel, Collins, Daniel, Larson and Yellow.

The arrival of Dies Irae musical motif in a film always indicates that death is approaching or that is has already struck— a host carrying its blight to spread onto others. Just like the musical motif, the arrival of Arthur and John foretells the near-arrival of death. They play a duet together— John and Arthur, and death— always singing and dancing around and with each other.

These two never succumb to death, always finding a way to slip through its fingers and survive every situation. But they cannot escape death's presence because they are death's partner— singing the melody to death's subtle harmony. They cannot escape death because they are its host— destined to carry and spread devastation to death's victims. From the moment you meet John and Arthur, you know that death is inevitably approaching just a step behind, waiting to strike you down.

Whether it's the religious or musical side, we can see that John and Arthur are the literal embodiment of these allusions. They carry these powers and ideas in their every action and word, in their every step, in their very breath and blood.

Arthur and John. The hands of God's justice. The enactors of divine fury.

Arthur and John. The hosts of blight and destruction. The partner of death's song.

The man himself. The voice inside his head.

The Day of Wrath. The Dies Irae.

[lil-lemon-snails]

"I can't ignore what's under dancefloor boards, The rhythm of my heart a dead-as-disco beat, But I still move my feet, to slip out of this groove, I'm free" ~ 2econd 2ight 2eer, Will Wood, The Normal Album

I have been plagued with visions of LDR Sun every time I listen to this song and I NEEDED to get this out of my system @spadillelicious when do we get to smooch the boy pLEASE

v textless version and close ups under cut!! v

[iridescentscarecrow]

on another note i'm so glad they finally let sunday be a fucked up little guy its what he deserves <3

[quibbs126]

I find myself hoping that the next iterations of Transformers shake up Optimus and Megatron’s backstories a bit more

I mean sure, Transformers One shook it up a little, having them both be miners and the creation of the Decepticons being a lot more spontaneous and for somewhat different reasons, but it still follows the general current backstory. They were friends before the war, Megatron created what would become the Decepticons originally to fight for change and equality in a corrupt Cybertron, their ideals start shifting as Megatron wants more forceful means and Optimus more peaceful, they split off and the war starts up from their disagreements on the situation. Megatron tends to take Optimus’ splitting off personally and Optimus still holds some amount of feelings towards Megatron due to their shared history. Also, Megatron is usually a gladiator or miner and while Optimus is more flexible, he’s usually a file clerk/archivist or in Earthspark and One’s case, a laborer

Like I mean, it’s not a bad backstory. But I think it’s been their general backstory for the past 15 years or so. By this point I think we can maybe change things up a little more

[ianthewife]

who else out there being tormented in your guilt-ridden nightmarescape, being haunted by the consequences of your own actions and having doomful premonitions of your inevitable downfall?

basically Faulkner having a lot of feelings over what he has done to Carpenter and Sister Thurrocks (and drawing all the wrong conclusions)

[marshmelonlover]

One of my favourite parts of "Persuasion" is when Frederick says to Anne "You did not use to like cards; but time makes many changes." and then she responds "I am not yet so much changed." and then he says "It is a period, indeed! Eight years and a half is a period!" because this is such an important part of the book. It's when they both truly realise that neither of them is the same as they were 8 years ago. They're not 19 and 23 anymore, but 27 and 31. They both have scars and are more mature with a better understanding of the world and, more importantly, each other. And all part of each of them wants to do is go back to the beginning and rewrite the story from the start so they aren't separated and have to go through over eight years of emotional agony, but they can't, so they have to write a new ending. And they do.

[i-cast-zone-of-truth]

So something I really like is how Thich Nhat Hanh defines love in Teachings On Love (I mean, it’s Buddhism, but that comes in a lot of varieties, many of which center concepts differently than this one, etc).

Any way. Pretty much the first thing he does in the book is explain The Four Immeasurable Minds: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. None of those are defined exactly the way i’d have thought, from a culturally Christian perspective. And in more than one of them he stresses the importance of understanding the beloved. In fact, to the point that understanding is a PREREQUISITE to being able to love someone at all well. And seeking that understanding as a skill that can be cultivated.

What I’m getting at is: the more Zhuo Yichen understood Zhao Yuanzhou, the more he loved him. Even more so, the more Li Lun understood Zhao Yuanzhou, the better he was able to love him. Zhao Yuanzhou, although he came at his new friends with a lot of benevolence, hurt them by assuming about them instead of trying to understand. And that’s really real. (Wen Xiao was miles ahead of everyone with this skill).

I’ve tended to think, ok if I love someone I’ll want to understand them. But it’s really turning out to be that understanding is necessary for love that feels like love to the other person to be possible in the first place.

[dykecadence]

i scrumpt

[doodlejoltik]

surprise rei moment in the UB meet and greet story

being adrift in an unfamiliar and sometimes actively hostile world, viewed as strange and different and powerful. having to actively strive for acceptance. knowing what can come from fear and distrust, knowing rejection.

wanting to help bridge that gap.

(he won't let it happen to anyone else, whether person or pokemon.)

[leofromsomewhere]

clone wars update: just finished the bad batch arc and im so sad because all i can think is-

who has to be the one to tell echo what happened to fives?

[momentomori24]

I like to headcanon Shin as a hardcore atheist (complete opposite of Hiyori who's a very religious person). He can't see himself believing in a higher power, not when his plights and tragedies and suffering were always met with indifference by whatever higher power may exist. But not by Sou Hiyori-- his guardian angel all throughout high school. His protector and his tormentor. His saviour and his captor. Someone he devoutly followed for years after having found him. Someone he looks up to; someone superior (always "Hiyori" while he's still "Shin", never his equal). Someone whose teachings he takes to heart and lives by. Someone he seeks out instinctively in his hour of desperation and need. Someone whose hand-me-down he wears dutifully around his neck to keep him close at all times. Someone who will praise him for his obedience and dependency and punish him for his defiance and independence. Someone he loves and respects and fears all at once. The moon can't shine without the sun, and Hiyori all but shone upon him when he couldn't find the light within himself. Shin doesn't believe in God, but loving Hiyori is the closest he's ever gotten to religion. I think it's poetic, in a way.

[mad-hunts]

okay, so i know this is a million years late, BUT we're just going to act like i just posted that post about how i believe barton would actually come to peace with death rather quickly in the event that he was dying okok / j [ahahhh, i'm just messing around with you all (': but anyways, allow me to get back into talking about it; like i'm sure you all are reading this for LOL]

nahhh, but i honestly was working on this for a little bit longer than i thought because i wanted time to really try to explain my thought process the best i could, you know? because that is not the kind of thing that people would probably expect from a villain character... though, with good reason, of course. and the fact that barton is actually afraid of dying does make it a little more unexpected, in my humble opinion. however, i promise that everything about this will make sense by the time i'm done explaining it.

so, no matter the scenario, i've always seen barton as a character who's very stubborn and who's resolve and/or goal to 'fix' as many people as he can is the right one most if not all the time. this is, of course, due to a variety of factors: one being that this sort of ideology was introduced to barton at a young age, and he never learned how to 'break out of it' so-to-speak (though he knew it was harmful). another one is that he's been exposed to a lot of terrible sights over the years and believes that humanity isn't inherently good, like batman, for example.

no. i'd say that barton is much more pessimistic and tends to expect the worst out of people automatically. as a result, this has kind of implemented the delusion upon him that 'well, if everyone's already bad anyways, then who's to say that these people don't in some way maybe deserve it?' so yeah. that second thing is a lot to unpack there on its own, i believe, but that is the general basis of what kind of character he is.

but here comes the double-layered part of it: barton had never wanted for his life to turn out this way, with him self-sabotaging and hurting people all throughout it. he sees 'normal' people after all, especially those who are happy and often becomes jealous of what they have, in fact. barton had fallen into the unfortunate trap of growing up in a household that praised him for hurting people... and when he was introduced to winslow, it felt like he'd gotten whiplash because he was nothing like wesley.

he couldn't break out of that terrible way of thinking, but of course, one can't blame everything on their past and must take responsibility for what they're doing. barton in this scenario of dying chose to go down a path of becoming a god damn serial killer just like his father; effectively becoming similar to him in some ways even though he didn't want to. and at his time of dying, i think that barton would have this moment of clarity that is a bit complex, but that i'll try to explain the best i can here.

this would be that he hasn't done any 'good' in his life much, if at all, but in the event that barton had time to spend before he died and was aware he would... he could do one good thing, and that would be to — although this wouldn't even begin to make up for everything he put them through, barton wouldn't be expecting that or their forgiveness — make his kids promise to break that cycle of violence in their family because they could still make something good of themselves.

they'd still have their whole life ahead of themselves, after all. barton wouldn't be claiming that it'd be easy or anything like that, but he'd want for them to be able to live a simple life like he secretly wanted to. and it'd be alright if they only thought of barton once in a while, or even never again because he knows that what he's done to them can't be undone. but the thing about death is that it makes you realize stuff like what you put out into the world is what you'll get back; and you have to do this life right, because you only get to live it once.

so, yeah, he wouldn't have any unreasonable expectations that he'd be making up with them or act like he's a saint now because he's doing this. but he could at least do this one thing for them after an adjustment period because facing your own mortality is probably scary, as i can imagine.

and it'd make anyone really think about what they want their legacy to be. and does barton want his to be his kids continuing the family business by killing people + thus condemning themselves to a life of staying awake late at night, just like him, thinking about what could've been? no, though it might take him some time to realize that, too.

now, if barton was dying suddenly and didn't have much time to do anything, then things would be very different. if any of his kids were present for it, then he'd tell them not to cry and that they'll be okay without him. probably better, actually, because barton believes he's never been the 'nurturing' type. but he'd ask them to grant a request for him and that would be to live the rest of their life/lives in a way that they could be proud of. with anyone else, i think that barton would come to peace with it by saying that he's done a lot of things he regrets (again, a moment of clarity) but one of the best things he ever did was have his kids.

so, telling them to pass on a message for him that he loves them and accepting it because he's just caused suffering + as well felt like he'd been suffering for a good portion of his life, so maybe it was just... time for him to move on? that'd be the way he'd react to that. which is... yeahhh, it's got a little bit of a kick to it, but once again; complexity is basically barton's middle name and he's not going to expect anyone to treat him any differently for doing this.

even in death, i don't think barton would want pity and would likely laugh at himself for thinking this would 'never happen to him,' as a matter of fact. but he would be genuinely calm and sentimental in a way that's very rare for him. so, yeah.

this was one long ass analysis, but if you made it to the bottom, i want to say that i appreciate you and love you to the bottom of my heart MUAHHH!! y'all are amazing and i just want to say RPing with my moots on here is always a blast for me 🩷 plus, i'm so honored that you're interested in my probably overcomplicated (LOL i kiddd, but IDK. he might be) OC that i made based off of a comic book batman villain that's appeared in like... two batman comics, haha. it really makes my heart happy.

[himehikoshrine]

Biblical Naming Puns in Quartz Plays

Both Levi and Isaac are biblical names whose meaning is explained in the text of Genesis. Shown here in the JPS translation, which includes in line explanations, in Genesis 29:34 we get Levi being given for its meaning as "to attach," or "to join." It shares a route with the word for wreath, so it could be said to have 'to join in a circle' connotation, which works very well with the etymology of kielce and circus, as well as the gear metaphor. He is the ringleader after all, another word that includes the connection to circles and rings.

Isaac comes from the word "to laugh". Shown is Genesis 17:19, though the incident it's referencing happens earlier. A fitting name for a clown, and even more fitting given some lines on Isaac's route, too. But again, this is a name picked based on the pun given in Genesis for it.

These are similar to Jacob in Mary Jane, which, according to Genesis 25:26 is a pun on the word for "heel". Mary names him that after getting the idea to make a doll out of corpse parts after picking up a heel off the beach.

Mary is almost certainly a biblical reference of a name, as well, but it isn't on the origin of the name and explanation for the word play involved.

These are all pretty specific references, but the pattern makes me fairly certain that all three are intentional.

Fun fact - Isaac is the father of Jacob who is the father of Levi, so this also represents three major generations of Genesis.

Whatever else he's got going on or shoved in that weird genius head of his, the Bible is clearly something in Neji's reference pool. Pretty deep-cut references too. With the "Raham" in Jire's poem, these represent some pretty close original textual readings. Some of the phrasing in the Jire poem also suggests at least a passing knowledge with Japanese Catholic liturgical phrasing or at least imitations there of.

But Neji's references don't stop here. The Oh Rama Havenna names seem to be based of Latin instead. He's dabbling in Greco-Roman mythology references elsewhere, Japanese mytho-history in I Am Death, linguistics, latin, possibly middle english, world literature, historical references and beyond. A fascinating place, Neji's mind.

So while I can totally see a reading that there's some religious background Neji is not telling us, I can also see him reading the bible from cover to cover with translation posts just for his reference pool "to make the greatest performance ever!"

[heroswine]

ok so i hadn’t been watching hermitcraft for a while & i’m getting caught up so i’ve only just now watched the bot battle and…. the rendoc sniffer costume………… i can’t

[an-unraveling-unknown]

You ever do something not thinking much of it, but after you do it you realize it was actually like a genius move?

This happened to me with my story: Started it off with a fairly standard conflict; someone wants what Tuon has. But afterward I was like "Oh shit, this is a prime opportunity to show his unyielding guardianship!" But not only that, I also realized that it did a great job at reflecting his flaws and sort of foreshadowing them to the reader

Oh man THATS SO GOOD!! It is so nifty when things work out like that, I hear you- long story relatively short, you betcha.

I had something like that with Aeonian, my Tav for Baldur's Gate 3. One of their quirks that I put down on paper early on was that the places were their muscles would be are rock hard - mainly because of the fact that they're cramming a monolithically sized form's worth of matter down into a humanoid body thats eight times smaller, hence putting a lot of strain on their body as a whole, but also à la a statue for a physical form.

"Statue for a physical form.... death and rebirth themes*......statue made of rock. wait."

Because I cannot escape my hyperfixations, geology was thrown back in my face in whence I was immediately reminded of the ROCK CYCLE:

-which can be pretty well-applied to the whole death and rebirth thing, not to mention a nifty little guideline as to how their character arc can go as well as Aeonian's place as a story in of themselves (long story, involves statues though) and their tendency to 'erode' themselves per se if it means getting where they need to be. Metamorphosis also links pretty cleanly here too, not only because of the metamorphic rock and its processes but because of parallels between Aeonian (embodiment of death [at sea]) and Thanatos, the greek personification of death, who is usually represented by way of butterflies.

I'm real bad at explaining things so I apologize if none of this made a lick of sense, I promise it's a lot clearer in my head and please feel free to ask for clarity on anything!! this is probably some of my favorite character work I've done so far

*dionysus+being the literal embodiment of death [at sea,] longer story

(Please talk more about Tuon he is SO cool and I talk too much, that's some really good character writing)