#but i love the japanese pantheon so much

[bones4thecats]

hello there!! I don't know if you write for anubis, but if you do can I request for anubis, Loki, qin shi Huang, and Tesla with a reader who have a Japanese porcelain doll-like pretty? She rarely talk and people often think she have a cold personality but she was actually shy and anxious (basically komi reader), thank youu!! :D

A/N: I have just started writing for Anubis, and other characters, you can find them on my Character List, which is linked on my Masterlist! Now, enjoy!

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

🐶 Anubis had first met you because of a Gods' Council meeting, boring I know!

🐶 He watched as Zeus introduced you

🐶 Your quiet and seemingly cold personality actually got him to be centered around you, as he wanted to see you smile so badly!

🐶 He tried getting you to smile so badly, and when he noticed how sweet and kind you were to a child who passed you by when running up and down the temple stairs, his heart fluttered

🐶 Every other God in his Pantheon was after your beauty, but he was after your personality

🐶 Anubis looked at you when you hid behind him, since Zeus was ogling you, again

🐶 Whenever this happened, he'd pick you up and take you back to his home where he would lay his headpiece on your head and let you play with his hair

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

🐍 You and him were polar opposites

🐍 Everybody is very confused and wondering what the hell went wrong

🐍 Loki was the gremlin of the Norse Pantheon while you were the angel of the Norse Pantheon, it just didn't add up

🐍 While many, including you, believed that Loki was just into your looks and teasing you for sheer fun, you all quickly learned that he did genuinely care about you

🐍 Whenever you got nervous and didn't wish to be around people, Loki would hold you in the air with him as he people watched

🐍 He also enjoys to speak, so you don't have to worry about him not liking your silence, in fact, he quite enjoys it!

🐍 Normally after he played a series of pranks, he'd hike himself in a tree and take a nap, now, he finds his new napping spot in your lap, causing you to get flustered and hide yourself

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

👑 He adores your personality with a passion

👑 Qin is more of a social and extroverted person, so you being more of an introvert makes people question exactly how he managed to bag you

👑 And he loves to tell the story to anybody, willing or unwilling, to lend an ear for him to speak

👑 He had met you one day while walking through a market, and he watched you hand a fruit to a hungry child before paying for it, smiling as you patted their head

👑 It took a while, but when you guys got married, he showed even more care for you

👑 Qin would hold you in his lap, allowing you to hide your face in his neck whenever there were a bunch of people in a room

👑 He also enjoys having you design him new bandannas, and while he never wore them, as he feared they'd get damaged, he would hang them up in his and your room

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

🧪 Tesla had been working on a special mechanism and called in one of his colleagues for some assistance on finding a special piece of machinery

🧪 He watched as he called you up and ordered the piece of metal, and he was wondering how much you knew about it all

🧪 And when you arrived and helped him place it in, giving short and very quiet recommendations, he realized how amazingly smart you were

🧪 Nikola and you connected on how much you enjoy quiet and calm environments

🧪 And all the time you guys spent together eventually led to you guys dating and getting married

🧪 Whenever he had to work, you would be either in the same room working on something yourself or at home doing something for when he got home

🧪 As he is a very busy man, he would be out of the house often, which he hoped didn't bother you, but, thankfully, it didn't

🧪 Your quiet personality and his stoic and quiet personality made a great mix, as whenever he was working, you'd just sit there and listen to his light comments as he worked

[absolutebl]

I Feel You Linger In the Air

You ready for this?

The quickest of quick thoughts: I loved this show and hated the ending, but not for the reason you think.

This is gonna be one of my big meta beast-sized posts, skip to the end for the final review.

Some Historical Context for I Feel You Linger In The Air - Thailand 1925-1932

I love history and so here's some info that any Thai watcher would likely know, but the rest of us might not... ready?

The Historical Stage:

Burma (now Myanmar) to the west is occupied by the British.

The French hold Vietnam to the east.

Everyone is bickering over what would become Cambodia & Laos.

China occasionally gets involved from the North (also, lots of immigrants from China at this time accounting for a large percentage of the merchant/middle class)

Eventually, Japan would invade during WWII.

In part, The Kingdom of Siam was kept a "neutral" party because none of the surrounding colonial powers wanted to risk offending any of the other players in the area.

Siam re-negotiated sovereignty in 1920 (from USA) and in 1925 (from France & Britain). But during the time of this show (late 1929) it was back to it's customary type-rope balancing act of extreme diplomacy with the allied western colonial powers that surrounded it.

Recognizing that Thailand was never colonized (although it was invaded), it's boarders were constantly nibbled at and it was "ambassador-occupied" off and on by westerners whose military backing and exploitive business concerns simply outmatched the monarchy, especially in the technology department (as well as by reputation on the global stage at the time).

In other words, the farang in this show (James & Robert) were always gonna be both the baddies and the power players of the narrative. (Farang is the Thai word for non-Thai's of European descent, the word means guava.)

The king of Siam at the time (Vajiravudh AKA Rama VI) was initially somewhat popular but also regarded as overly extravagant since Siam had been hit by a major postwar recession in 1919. It should also be noted that King Vajiravudh had no son because he was most likely gay (which at the time did not much concern the Siamese popular opinion, except that it undermined the stability of the monarchy leaving it without an heir).

He "died suddenly" in 1925 (age 44) with the monarchy weakened and succession handed off to his younger brother.

In 1932 a small circle of the rising bourgeoisie (all of whom had studied in Europe, mostly Paris), supported by some military, seized power from the monarchy in a practically nonviolent Siamese Revolution installing a constitutional monarchy. This is mentioned in IFYLITA in the last few episodes but did not (apparently) appear in the original novel.

Siam would then go through:

dictatorship,

WWII,

Japanese invasion,

Allied occupation,

democratic elections,

military junta,

the Indochina wars,

communist insurgency,

more democracy and popularization movements,

multiple coups,

more junta,

more monarchy,

eventually leading us to the somewhat chaotic insanity of Thai politics we have today. (Which is, frankly, a mix of monarchy, junta, democracy, egocentric popularism, and bribery.)

The Filming of I Fell You Linger in the Air

The director if this show, Tee Bundit (Hidden Agenda, Step by Step, Lovely Writer, TharnType), has never particularly impressed or offended me as a director. I would have called him simply "workmanlike" in execution: not offensive, serviceable.

So much so that I spent some time hunting for info on IFYLITA's cinematographer (who remains uncredited on MDL) because this one, of all Tee's pantheon, is ultra stylish. It, frankly, felt too good for him.

Specifically, there is a repeated visual motif in intimacy scenes of either Yai or Jom being filmed from behind a screen/drape/curtain making them seem more translucent, like a ghost or spirit. While the other half of the pair is filmed with sharp clarity. In the first half of the series this is more likely to be Yai (an unknown and mysterious element), as the show progresses, it's more likely to be Jom (the person outside of place and time, destined to vanish all together). This cleverly conveys story, tension, and foreshadow (future shadow?)

Occasionally we shift over so they both become obscured and then clear again.

This stylized version of dirty framing and filters is used to foreshadow and then constantly remind us about that Jom slipped (and is slipping) through time and the disconnect that causes to his sense of reality and purpose, and to his burgeoning relationship.

For example, the scene where Yai is drunk and asleep in his bed. The first time Jom is sitting in a chair drawing him. Yai is blurry behind the screen while Jom is solid and sharp.

This filming technique combined with dirty and peekaboo framing is being used to give the watchers the impression of looking at something we maybe shouldn't, like we are being creepy and intruding on their private time. After all, they can see EACH OTHER clearly, it's only us who have the visual impairment.

This gives us a sense of doom and discomfort and slight sensation that we shouldn't be there. We shouldn't be watching. But ALSO that we too are outside of time, filtered by the future.

In other words his sense of displacement is being used to trigger ours visually.

It's all quite clever.

It's both beautiful and atmospheric and discomforting and touch stressful. Meaning that it is ALSO a visual vehicle to drive narrative tension. As effective as scary music, perhaps more so in this show (since I personally found the musical motifs and refrains somewhat overused.)

Linguistic corner

The word for reflection and shadow is the same in Thai.

Note on the por/phor/phô honorific in Thai

I have not encountered it before in BL. I am indebted to @embraceyourfandom for the following information;

Phô is a paternal honorific, luang phô is used for respected monks. It basically means father. And is oft seen as male honorific for village elders. It's also used as a male prefix in the names of several occupations like:

พ่อครัว phô khrua (khrúa= kitchen -> chef)

พ่อค้า phô khá (khá= trade -> merchant)

พ่อมด phô mót (mót= person of occult knowledge -> wizard)

พ่อบ้าน phô bân (bân =house -> butler) - most relevant

So, Yai's use is probubly foreshadowing that Jom will be a butler for his house, and is primitively referring to him with this title.

All that said, phô can also be used by a "man who is older/higher on hierarchy to refer to a younger/lower on hierarchy man with intimacy and/or affection."

I think all this has to do with Jom's demonstration of education. Yai figured out early on that one of the reasons Jom doesn't belong and cannot fit in with the servants is that he is more educated than a peasant (of this time period), which for Yai adds up to him being originally from a higher status and possibly wealthy family, especially since Jom speaks English and has travelled (he has a non-northern accent).

There is very little Thai middle class at the beginning of the 1920s since trade is being dominated/dictated by the West, or Chinese merchant operations, and Siam is a monarchy. So for a nationalize Thai citizen educated means military, landed gentry with trade operations (like Yai), royal/political/diplomatic connections, or... none of the above. This changes, especially in the south, throughout this decade (as it did in other parts of the world). So there is a rising bourgeoisie going on in the background but it's not that obvious in Chang Mai at this time.

What Jom's educated lack of status means to Yai is that Jom's family either got wiped out or politically disenfranchised possibly as part of the 1912 attempted coups (or even WWI)? This would be mystifying for Yai because Jom doesn't act like he comes from a military family at all. So his background and status is very confusing for Yai, but Yai does know one thing...

Jom is NOT lower class by the standards of Yai's temporal worldview and existence.

For a young man to be educated and yet entirely alone is very dangerous and suspicious. Also, let's be clear, Jom doesn't look or act like a laborer. He red flags "cultured" all over the place.

Yai is paternalistic and caring towards Jom out the gate because Yai has a big ol'crush but also because he recognizes "his own" is trying to survive while isolated and scared.

Yai wants to rescue Jom. Yai is an ineffectual 20 year old gay intellectual. But poor thing sure tries.

Let's Talk About How I Felt About I Feel You Linger in the Air

The historical aspect was great.

I adore historical romances and we almost never get them in BL. I was always gonna be biased towards this show. (As indeed I am towards Nobleman Ryu's Wedding, Tinted with You, and To Sir With Love.) Aside from some classic Thai BL production issues (less than normal, this is very high production value for Thailand) and my issues around the sound track and repetitive repriens (which frankly were more noticeable because I binged the last half) I have no complaints on that score (heh heh).

The surrounding support cast were all quite good and we even got us some lesbians!

The emotional and narrative tensions were excellent.

Any issues I had with pacing came from focus on characters that didn't interest me, but probubly did interest others. I wasn’t wild or particularly interested in the family drama or the side characters/couples, but they were necessary to make this a fully fleshed story with historical context and to give Yai much needed characterization. Also this use of a ensemble cast is very close to Thailand's lakorn heart, even thought this one had way less scenery chewing ludicrous soapy drama (thank heavens).

I was delighted that external threat, stressors, and conflict drove this plot. That's refreshing in BL.

I have no arguments with the chemistry and kisses and sex scenes were tasteful and lovely, occasionally even heart-wrenching, and it's nice to see Thailand especially use physical intimacy to drive plot, and not the other way around.

I love historicals partly because every tiny touch can have such lingering significance, they're very elegant in their chaste physicality. This show didn't need to move into higher heat, but I'm grateful it did because even that was very well done. Thai BLs can often feel clumsy around intimacy, but not this one.

The final sex scene before Jom and Yai separate forever utilizes the ubiquitous director's-favorite-romantic-moments-flashbacks (required of all Asian romance dramas) but with acceleration and tension driven by the noises of sex, which I've never seen/heard done before. In other words: climax of sex = climax of the romance story, I see what you did there, Tee. Clever. Very clever. Bit on the nose… erm… on the… well you know what I mean.

Like all Thai BLs this wasn’t perfect, but for me this is as close as Thai BL gets to high quality romance and that’s what I want the most from my drama watching experience (if not necessarily my Thai BL experience).

But... and you knew the but was coming didn't you?

I absolutely hated the ending.

It wasn't sad, don't worry, but it also wasn't good.

There is a long drawn out separations sequence and then Jom returns to the present, drowning from a car accident. Jom is "rescued" by an moustachioed iteration of Yai from the distant past (who we met once before) and then wakes in hospital. Some time later, Jom returns to the house in Chang Mai where Yai turns up and they reunite.

The end.

There is a stinger featuring Jom once more hurled back in time, only further, meeting the warrior mustache Yai once more.

Okay, that's all I knew and all I saw.

Confused? So was I.

If this had been a regular time travel romance: Yai would have been the EMT or doctor attending Jom when he woke up and their "this time period" romance would commence. With either shared memories, or not.

Had this been set up for audience comprehension in line with the original novel, we should have had flashbacks from both Present Yai (he's not the same one, as it turns out) and deep-past Moustache Yai interwoven throughout the series. Preferably with some focus on Present Yai's quest for reunion with Present Jom AND Present Yai's own experience with visions and memory of his past lives.

A full explanation of the ending is here. This explanation of the 3 different Yais makes me like our ending more. But I shouldn't need to read Cliff's notes from some random y-novel reading fan on Tumblr to understand what's going on in a series!

There is supposedly a special happening with Jom + Present Yai.

There was unquestionably a failure in adaptation in the finale of this show.

As a fan and watcher, what I actually felt was deeply confused and hurt.

I also felt that this was a disingenuous un-earned throw away happy ending, since I had no idea who this new Present Yai was and no investment in his character. I simply didn't believe he was the same Yai (Bright is too good an actor, he was clearly a different older personality).

So the fact remains that past Yai, our Yai, the 20 year old boy we grew to understand and love, is abandoned in the past to suffer alone for the rest of his life. And THAT is an unhappy ending for one half of my beloved pair. Yes Jom gets a new Yai in the present day, but it's not the same Yai. They have no developed relationship, and Jom is doomed to leave even this new Yai and slide into the past once more. That's barely even happy for now for Jom's character.

As a result of my deep sadness for 20-year-old Yai in particular, I'm not going to be able to rewatch this show. The whole thing was rendered not just confusing but the opposite of comforting by the final 15 minutes. I'm tempted to dock it two whole points - one for the ending and the other for the lack of rewatch potential.

But the first 11.5 eps were SO GOOD.

This is one of the only times where I am actually hoping for a second season, while simultaneously being wary of the screen writing and production team's capacity to give us a satisfying one.

Industry wise? I honestly don't think we can hope too hard for a full season 2. This was an expensive show with flawed/limited distribution and little sponsorship. I don't see how they'll get funding for a second season. Unless we see this show up on like Netflix or Viki, I urge you not to hope too hard and be disappointed.

In all honestly?

I started typing up this blog post thinking Thailand was finally, after 5 years, going to earn another 10/10 from me but I just can't in good conscious give it that. It's been days and I'm still upset about that last episode.

And Now My Quick Pitch Review

I truly loved this time travel romance. IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but no as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show should easily have earned a 10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls. Argh. Whatever. 9/10

(source)

This post is also in My Drama List as a review.

[pygmi-says-hi]

writing tips - fictional religion

I'm gonna be honest, writing a religion is probably one of the hardest things you could do as a fiction writer. Religion is such a prevalent topic and so multifaceted. It's fascinating, but hard as hell.

This probably needs to be two parts because of how much information is out there (I'll link some sites below!).

What purpose does it serve?

Why are you creating the religion? Is the main conflict about theological differences? Is it just atmospheric?

Depending on your answer to those questions, it'll change the level of depth required for the development.

If it's a minor addition, don't worry too much about researching all the ins and outs. If it's the main conflict and/or occupation (priest, cleric, etc) of your character and book, you need to put in the effort.

Pantheons

Probably the most common in fantasy, pantheon religions are polytheistic, meaning 'multiple deities.' Pantheons are also commonly misrepresented.

For a pantheon to work, it needs to have balance. Gods are usually associated with common natural, physical, and emotional occurrences. And there are two sides to every coin. If there is a god of death, there must also be a god of life. Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction.

Underdeveloped pantheons have uber-specific deities, like the god of fireballs (stay with me) but no god/dess of harvest? Huh.

Pantheons are not excuses to add a religious element to a character's powers. Realistically, a civilization would have no reason to worship a Fireball god. It doesn't help or support their society.

Religion serves its people. If it doesn't have a benefit to them, why is it there?

Societies often structure their methods of worship around the way they structure the civilization. Think of it like a relationship (bear with me).

If you like making pottery, you're going to give the person you care about little pieces of pottery to show your appreciation. You're not gonna randomly start making side tables and give them an ottoman. If you live long distance, you'll arrange your dates so it's an equal commute towards the both of you, not fifty miles away from anywhere convenient.

The methods of worship need to make sense.

Can I use religion to give my character powers?

Sometimes.

Religion as a basis for character powers or development is interesting, but you need to do some creative thinking for it to read well.

Suppose you want your character to have fireball powers (we'll just stick with the analogy). Rather than having them worship a fireball god to receive these powers, maybe there is a god of fire. They worship the god of fire dutifully, and in turn the deity bends fire to the cleric's will. Then the cleric can choose to make fireballs.

Why do I need to be so careful about religion? It's fiction, right?

Yes, of course it is! And honestly, as long as the rules your religion subscribes to are consistent and make sense regarding the rules of your fantasy world, anything goes. Problems only arise when the religion is underdeveloped and lacks the explanation needed for the audience to appreciate it.

Major tip before you start writing a religion (specifically religious wars). If you are creating a religion based off of a real ethnicity (West African, Japanese, Indian, Latino, Jewish, Scandinavian, etc) PLEASE GOD HOLY MOTHER OF EVERYTHING do your research. What could seem like an innocuous representation could contain a harmful stereotype. "but silas, why do I have to do all that? won't people understand it's just fiction?"

no.

You are deciding to undertake a very precise responsibility of creating mythology based on a real cultural group. that means you need to be respectful. You're using their background, be nice with it.

xox i love you guys!

sites:

Writing Fantasy Religion

Pantheon Religions

[laurasimonsdaughter]

How would you see a Disney adaptation of Momotaro (because for some reason, I see it having a similar vibe to Disney’s Hercules)?

I think that if Disney did decide to adapt Momotarō it would be a lot like their Hercules, for better or for worse :P

Personally I've always enjoyed Disney's Hercules for the jokes and songs, but it feels very much like a "these could have been original characters but we decided to market it with Greek mythology". The actual story of Hercules/Heracles would not make a good Disney movie, so they pretty much made up their own story completely. If Disney tried to adapt Momotarō, I think they'd do the same. Although the "problem" with Momotarō isn't that the story is too complicated (and morally dicey) like with Hercules, but that it's rather too simple:

An old couple in rural Japan work hard and have wished for a child but never gotten one.

The old woman finds an extraordinarily large peach, but when they try to cut it open to eat it, a beautiful child steps out. He explains that he is a blessing from the gods and will be their son. They call him Momotarō, named after the peach.

Momotarō is soon well known for his strength and bravery and when he is no longer a child he proclaims that he will go fight the evil, man-eating Oni who keep leaving their island to plunder Japan.

On the way there he collects a dog, a monkey and a pheasant as loyal followers. They defeat the Oni, take their leader prisoner, and return home victorious with all the stolen riches.

Of course there are many versions of this tale, I'm most familiar with the translation by Yei Theodora Ozaki. But if Disney was going to take a stab at this they would undoubtedly make additions. For instance:

A whole pantheon of Shinto inspired deities, to look down on the old couple and decide to bless them with a child.

An earlier introduction for the chief of the Oni (the Villain), who gets a prophecy that a child will be brought into the world in such and such place, who will defeat him. He sends three Oni (bumbling comic relief characters) to kill the entire family, but they only find an old woman carrying a peach so they return home confused.

Different introduction to the three animal companions. They no longer just meet each other on the road, Momotarō rescues each of them and they become full animal sidekicks (which they basically already are in the text, they talk and quibble and everything).

One of the noble maidens kidnapped by the Oni, who helps Momotarō to get into their stronghold, will be upgraded to love interest and will go home with Momotarō when he returns to his parents.

Like I said, for better or for worse. But with Japanese artists at the helm it might work!

[zponds]

(Credit goes to JWBtheUncanny on Deviantart)

Ash Ketchum as Cure Master

Ohh yeah, Your eyes are not deceiving you, Ash Ketchum has changed.... for the next Pokemon Anime vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/po… when Sun & Moon finally ends and the Clone's Storyline finally ends, This is the Real Ash Ketchum, And he has been altered to a Degree, And it's sort of a Mix between XY ash and the Sun and Moon version, And.... to be honest.... I do like this new look for him, In-Universe Its possible how Ash altered it this loo may have been the Result of all 55 of the Pretty Cure All Stars inner light changing him.... At first I was afraid Ash was never gonna return in the Anime, But his Japanese Voice Actress put a rest to that claiming his Adventures is not over, It's amazing how much he's changed i.imgur.com/e9cnXq9.jpg

Also... with This new change of the Character and he's' still the same Age as he was in 1997, It's given me the opportunity to proceed with the Cure Master concept with Ideas from the Blueprints fav.me/ddcv5f6 But in the Blueprints as I would call the original Concept, the costume looked too familiar with his Kanto Costume which was the Idea with the Gold symbols of each of the Precure teams from the All Stars Pantheon, So I took some big libraries with the concept and came up with a Costume that's fits in line, His Cure Master Costume is a Set of Precure Armour that takes some inspiration from the Male PreCures from Hugtto PreCure, Even Jonathan Klondike AKA Joe Okada's suit of Armour, I did keep the Symbols of the Respected PreCure teams, They are Engraved in the Armour, In an edition, Ash now has a Sword called Blade of a True Pokemon Master and a Shield titled PreCure's loving Protection... if you look closely to it, You'll see the Angle figures on it are modelled in the forms of Nagisa Misumi AKA Cure Black and Honoka Yukishiro AKA Cure White, He's Research book is now complete with info linking the PreCures with there Respected Zodiacs, And he also has that Shard of the Miracle Star still giving off ever as you can see, Pikachu now possesses a Cloak of Levitation... Which Heartcatch PreCure use... When I was coming up with the Dialogue for Ash I was listening to this www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp-6BS…, So guys What do you thing, Do you like the way I came up with the Design, Please let me know of what you think?

(Messages from Ash Ketchum to the Precure All Stars Pantheon: Hello, It’s me... Ash, The real Ash Ketchum, Hope you get this message, There’s Something I wanna Tell that I keep Neglecting to tell you all at the Trial of my brother and the Ultra-Guardians... I received word from the Headmaster of Magic world, There’s Something about my Contingency Plan I had the Headmaster Of Magic World cast on to keep you and your Respects Home-Towns safe from invaders..... The Cloaking Spell was way more powerful then we originally thought... With some... Side effects.... Picture Miyuki and Akane becoming invisible when Candy was messing with the Camera.... But the First Generation Pretty Cures From Max Heart to Happiness Charge... Some how the Cloaking Enchantment Left Some Energy That has been absorbed into the Your DNA.... so from what Riko and Mirai told me... It’s likely that your Human hosts now have the Ability to become... Translucent willingly, So in the Day or night They could become Invisible and Visible at any time by command... I just thought that all 55 of you should know, Me and the Headmaster are not sure if there's a way to reverse it, but it may prove useful to all of you.... Sincerely Ash Ketchum of Pallot Town.)

[roy-dcm2]

Headcanon - Majora's Origin

I love Majora's Mask. It is nice to the game get the recognition after spending so much time in the shadow of Ocarina of Time.

However, since the beginning, fans have had an obsession about the origin of Majora's Mask. The oldest / most popular theory that often get repeated is - Majora is a DARK GOD rejecting the Goddesses and planning the destruction of everything!

It's a fine enough theory, but I never hear people really expand on the normal origin explain in the game. They never seem to grasp what "Majora's Mask" is - the Mask is very simply a Demon.

A unique demon, but a demon none the less.

First of all, let's take the time to acknowledge that the world of Legend of Zelda is full of demons. Nearly every side game features some kind of powerful demon terrorizing the local population.

[Nightmare art by JMatchhead on DeviantArt]

Anyway, Majora is a Tsukumogami, a type of "spirit" born from an item. (Never forget the Zelda franchise's Japanese influences.) In Shinto, it is believed that items can come alive after a long period of time (usually more than 100 years.) Items that are regularly used and maintained, birth helpful spirits. Items that have been neglected, birth angry spirits.

When you think of it that way, the origin told in the game makes a lot more sense. Majora's Mask is a mask used by an ancient tribe to cast curses. The Mask might have absorbed some of the dark magic that they used, so it was already brimming with dark energy when it was sealed away. Then it remained sealed away for a long time, growing resentful of those that had sealed it away.

(I mean, it might be a hexing mask, but items are happy to fulfill their purpose. If it's been neglected, it's because either no longer good enough to do it's job, or they are ashamed of the job it did before.)

By the time the Happy Mask Salesman found it, it was probably already alive waiting for someone to pick it up.

[Sidebar - the HMS is not a God either. He's just a Mask collector. In a land of powerful masks, that means something, but it's not necessarily sinister. He probably buys and sells regular masks, but keeps rare masks for his personal collection. And his drive for collecting masks did push him to raid an ancient temple for Majora's Mask. But, he was also smart enough on how to transport it. He knew it would be trouble for anyone else. He might have planned a ritual to banish the spirit inside the Mask, if he could get the mask back. However, Link destroyed the demon the old fashioned way.]

When the Skull Kid put it on, it secretly wielded him like a puppet. Fascinatingly, being a hexing mask, the Skull Kid took great delight in cursing people, but hardly ever actually killed anyone. (I struggle to think of anyone the Skull Kid killed directly.) It enjoyed bringing misery to all, likely drawing power from people's despair.

It turned the swamp waters into poison. A terrible blizzard hit Snowpeak. Storms were making Great Bay unpleasant for the Zora, and all Ikana Canyon was cursed to relive a war that no one remembers what they were fighting for. On top of more personal curses like turning Kafei into a kid. And causing great despair from pulling the moon out of the sky.

Finally, it was this increased energy of despair that allowed "the spirit of the mask" to manifest a true form for itself, that you fight as "Majora's Wrath."

And in the end, Link is able to destroy this demon, the Mask becomes an ordinary item once again, and the people of Termina are freed from depair as they greet a new dawn, after that third day.

(btw, some people think "Majora's Mask" created all of Termina, and that this is some kind of pocket dimension. If so, why doesn't it disappear when the evil spirit dies? Because Termina is a real place. It's just another country. There are other countries in LoZ. Just that NIntendo doesn't want to explain things.)

And that's it. I feel it's more concise. Instead of speculating on a cosmic pantheon we will never know, the story is much simpler. The land of Termina was cursed, suffering in despair, so the Gods (Or Goddess) sent the Hero to save them.

[bigsoftmarshmallow]

Okay, so I'm pretty sure you liked one of the posts that partially talks about their backstory, but I don't think you've read anything about Karina specifically.

h/t/t/p/s://www.tumblr.com/aikoiya/721484702337351680/loz-karina-goddess-of-love-passion?source=share

This is pretty important to her as a character, but so it this:

h/t/t/p/s://www.tumblr.com/aikoiya/727413120124993536/loz-gerudo-pantheon?source=share

The thing about a lot of those scenes is that they would mostly only happen before Demise became Demise. Afterwards, he'd be more likely to actively try & r*pe her.

Like, yes. I always wanna give characters a chance, but the problem is that unless a character wants to change, then they won't.

Do not pass go & do not collect $200. The buck stops with you.

Yes, he could reform, but he doesn't want to. I see him as the type whose addicted to the chaos & the hate & the bloodshed & the carnage.

In some ways, he reminds me of the Joker. "Some people wanna watch the world burn."

As Demise, he is too far gone. However, Ganondorf, to me, acts like his Sword of Damocles.

Yes, Ganondorf is Demise's hatred reborn, his Ara Mitama, but that isn't all he is. He's also human. Meaning that he can change given the right influences.

Which means that Ganondorf is both Demise's hatred upon the world & Demise's best chance at any form of salvation.

In all honesty, I tend to take a degree of influence from Shintoism & Buddhism with him. While I don't believe in such philosophies IRL, they do give me new & interesting angles to look at characters from.

And my depiction of Demise takes a degree of influence from Susano-o. And, he's known for having been cast out of the heavens to live as a mortal (though, with the things he could pull, he must've been a mortal sorcerer).

But, the thing is, there is a shitton of evidence to suggest that the actual curse that Demise placed upon Link & Zelda isn't reincarnation. Because reincarnation already existed within their world &, according to Shinto & Buddhist philosophy, every living thing is subject to reincarnation.

It is only further proven by Demise's own words, he uses a very specific term in the original Japanese. Rin'ne, which is the Japanese term for the Hindu word Samsāra, which is the neverending cycle of life, death, & rebirth.

Now, in the English, he said was that, "my hatred will follow."

"Follow." You can't exactly follow something if it's not already in motion.

What I think is that, Demise isn't causing Link & Zelda to reincarnate. I think that that was already going to happen regardless.

I believe that Demise's actual curse isn't so much forcing them to reincarnate (which, how would he even do that; he was never stated to have power over souls), rather I believe he's attached his own hatred to their souls & essentially piggybacking off of a natural phenomenon that takes place on their earth. His curse makes it so that, whenever they are reborn, they'll experience misery in some form or fashion.

Which brings me to my next point. I think that Hylia gave up a whole lot more than what a bunch of fans believe she did.

Thing is, in a world where reincarnation is real, the only way to escape it is the give up on all worldly attachments. Which, I don't think even most deities can boast about themselves.

Especially not Hylia. She is VERY attached. So, when she became mortal, she sort of became subject to Rin'ne like any other mortal. Whether she knew or she didn't, that's a different story, but I still think it to be true.

Anyway, tangent, my bad. I see Ganondorf as being parallel to Susano-o time as a mortal.

And, you know what? He eventually makes amends. But he's only able to through living as a mortal. Or at least, that's the angle I'm going with.

And, in a way, Karina sort of represents Demise's, or Gàlondo's Kushinada-hime. Susano-o's eventual wife. (But only represent her. If she actually was Kushinada, then she'd be transformed into a comb most of the story. XD)

But, bottom line is that, according to Buddhism, it's actually not

Another interesting thing is that, while yes, the Triforce bears a surface-level resemblance to the concept of the Holy Trinity, I think it has more in common with the 3 Confucian Virtues.

And, do you know what those virtues are?

Courage

Wisdom

.

.

.

.

Benevolence.

And, do you know what Conficius believed of benevolence? It is humaneness. Or love for others.

That it starts at the home, but shouldn't stop there.

One could even argue that it is an extension of Aristole's idea that one's relationship with others reflects the relationship that we have with ourselves. In other words, how you view or treat yourself can affects how you view or treat others.

Which makes self-compassion (philautia) rather than narcissism (narcissis) very important. Because arrogance is often times a sign of someone who is secretly insecure.

And, interestingly enough, Karina is a goddess of all types of love & of healthy relationships (among other things), meaning she likely knows what she's talking about.

Anyway, back to where I was. Confucian benevolence is described as a moral sense that begins with one's own family & that strong foundation allows for such feelings to flow outward to one's community & beyond.

So, what happens when one's family or home is not strong. If the filial love isn't allowed to flourish?

Now, that by no means indicates that one can't be benevolent without a good home life or relationship with one's family. But just like how one can still learn how to read later in life, if it's nurtured early in life, it's comes easier.

But yeah, that's my logic.

Sorry for the infodumping.

Is Demise a terrible being? Yes. Do I love him?

... yes...

I really wish I could like me a hero for once. Alas, my heart is forever tormented by villains and antiheroes!

I am always here for your Universe's lore, my dear. You have incredible storytelling and information to give on WHY something should be the way it is in your version of Hyrule! I cannot wait to see more about it!

I actually have all the links you give me saved on my notes app to be able to pull them up whenever I am able to read... AKA when my brain lets me actually sit down to read.

[snowmantita]

"Dear... Please... Don't go, I beg you... I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you..." —Persephone to Hades.

Persephone was to participate in the battles but is replaced by her husband Hades, who is the representative of the gods in the seventh round of Ragnarok as he replaced Buddha after his betrayal in the previous round, facing Qin Shi Huang.

Name: Persephone.

Kanji: ペルセフォネ.

Romanji: Perusefone.

Aliases:

Queen of the Netherworld.

Guardian of dead secrets.

Species: Goddess.

Age: 5000+.

Gender: Female.

Pantheon: Greek pantheon.

Origin: Unknown.

Status: Alive.

Affiliation:

Gods.

Gods fighters.

Relatives:

Kronos (Grandfather) †

Rhea (Grandmother)

Hades (Husband) †

Zeus (Father)

Demeter (Mother)

Adamas (Uncle)

Poseidon (Uncle) †

Ares (Young brother)

Hermes (Young brother)

Heracles (Adopted brother) †

FIRST APPEARANCE

Manga Debut: Chapter 50 (Volume 13).

Anime Debut: -

PORTRAYAL

Voice Actor:

Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese voice).

Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English voice).

Graciela Molina (Spanish voice).

Karen Hernandez (American latin voice).

Appearance:

Persefone takes the form of a tall, beautiful woman with long, elegant copper hair that stands up in several places on her head.

She is tattooed with a leaf pattern on her neck, left shoulder and right wrist, a pair of spiked bracelets and beaded earrings in both ears with several smaller piercings. Her attire is quite formal and extravagant, a short dress with a collar that reaches her upper chest and decorated badges. Lastly, she wears a white cloak and a pair of boots that reach up her leg.

Personality:

Persephone seems to be a very calm and loving individual, she is a very respected and feared goddess along with Hades in the Greek pantheon.

Persephone seems to love Hades and his subdites too much, she believes that among all the bad that they think there is in the Underworld there is something good so she watches over all the beings in that place. Also, Persephone tries to stop in any way her beloved Hades, (Who believes it is his duty as the eldest to avenge his brothers in case they die so he participates in the seventh round of Ragnarok).

Despite being queen, Persephone does not feel worthy of that position due to her kindness and naivety.

It could be seen that when Hades burst into laughter, Persephone looked totally delighted to see him in that state.

After the death of Hades, she was blinded by anger and hatred; thus cursing the humans and the Valkyries while Radamantis tried to keep her serene.

ABILITIES

Physical abilities:

Godly Strength: Although not as powerful she is quite fast among the gods, Persephone possesses immense physical strength that with an accurate strike with her bare hand or with her spear, can be a deadly attack for a human while for the gods it would be a light attack.

Godly Speed & Reflexes: Persephone is able to see all the movements of the fighters no matter how fast they were and showed great speed attacking Radamantis before he took her to calm her down after the death of the lord Hades.

Mental abilities:

Indomitable Will: Persephone has shown immense willpower in trying to stop Hades and after his death, seeking revenge. She has always put her husband's welfare before her own safety.

Intelligence: Because Hades was an extremely intelligent individual, he taught Persephone to be a keen observer of her surroundings and her opponent. She is capable of devising a counterattack while observing the fights.

Fighting abilities:

Apprentice fighter: Persephone is not a deity who likes to fight but possesses a slight knowledge of martial arts, like Hades, she can predict the next move of fighters.

Spear proficiency: Persephone wields her spear with a degree of divine skill and dexterity, being able to deliver countless blows in the blink of an eye with precision.

Supernatural abilities:

Semi-immortality: As a God, Persephone is incapable of dying of old age.

Divine physiology: As a Goddess, Persephone possesses physical abilities far superior to those of any ordinary Human, as well as being immune to damage from deadly weapons. However, she can be damaged by unarmed attacks from individuals with superhuman strength and blows from Divine Weapons.

Techniques:

Hades Serpents (Bonds of the Underworld) (ハデスの蛇, Hadesu no hebi): Persephone by simply raising one hand violently makes snakes appear from the ground and immobilizes her opponent.

Ichor Helios (Blood of Sun) (血液誘導太陽光線, Īkōru heriosu): Like Hades, Persephone thrusts her spear forward while releasing a small electric shock. The force of the attack is such that it actually injures her opponent.

Equipment:

Spear of the Underworld: Persephone's personal weapon consisting of two twisted golden tips and a longer silver central tip, a light lilac colored pole weapon and a golden square tip at the other end.

Quotes:

(To Hades) "Dear... Please... Don't go, I beg you... I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you..."

(To Ares) "Don't you trust my husband? It is foolish of you to think that Hades-sama will lose to a mere human."

(To Brunilde) "Damned Valkyrie, damned humans, we will annihilate you by any means necessary. I will not forgive you for killing my beloved husband!"

(To Zeus) "It's all your fault! At that time when that damned Valkyrie appeared, you should have annihilated the humans and not make this stupid Ragnarok because of your foolish pride!"

(Before Hades is banished to Niflhel) "My love, don't leave me alone, please... Don't leave me, Hades!"

Trivia:

The techniques which Persephone used, were named after Greek mythologies.

Hades was the husband of Persephone and the god of the Underworld.

Pomegranate is a fruit with kernels (seeds) inside. A couple of seeds were given to her by Hades before she left the Underworld, making sure that Persephone was going to stay with him.

Ichor is the blood of the gods and immortals, and became part of ambrosia which Heracles had drank.

[roththeprimordial]

God of War in Shinto Mythology

After God of War Ragnorok, everyone has been wondering what mythology Kratos is going to travel to next. Personally, I believe the two biggest candidates for the next mythology will be either Celtic or Egyptian mythology. However, as of yet, no pantheon is 100% confirmed for GOW 6.

I personally think it would be very interesting to have the next God of War take place in ancient Japan where Kratos and Atreus will travel to Shinto Mythology.

Basic Plot: Over the past several years, Kratos has been traveling around the world and became a beloved god of war who fights for peace. Kratos heard the news about how Atreus, Angrboda, their ten year old daughter Hela, and Fenrir were all stuck in the middle of a civil war between gods in ancient Japan. Once Kratos arrives, he is stuck in the middle of a civil war between the ruling god of Japan and a rebel force of gods who want to overthrow her.

Since Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun and Tsukuyomi is the god of the Moon and night, I thought it would be an interesting contrast and rivalry. Plus, Tsukuyomi is often seen as 'evil' in Shinto mythology while Amaterasu is seen as 'good', I thought it would be good to have the theme of switching 'good' and 'evil' from actual mythological figures.

List of Protagonists in the Game: The main protagonists from previous GOW games and new protagonists.

-Kratos/Sarutahiko: Obviously, Kratos will be the main character in GOW 6. In terms of personality, he is still very stern. However, over time he has mellowed out a lot more. In terms of design, Kratos has a much more samurai-like appearance and still carries his Blades of Chaos and his Leviathan Axe. He eventually acquires a new powerful weapon in his journey called the Scarlet Sword. Kratos in the story sees the atrocities committed by Amaterasu and was told by Atreus how evil the goddess was, as he joined up with Tsukuyomi's rebellion. However it turns into a Far Cry 4 situation, where Tsukuyomi's rebellion is just as bad, if not worse, then Amaterasu. There's also a subplot for Kratos where he meets a goddess in Tsukuyomi's rebellion named Uzume who he starts to fall in love with. However, he's conflicted whether he should try his shot at happiness again, or if he should stay single to honor his deceased wife, Faye.

-Atreus/The Fox: Atreus ever since after the events of the Norse saga, has left Midgard with Angrbota and Fenrir to explore the world. Eventually, he hears how Sindri, who disappeared years ago, was living in Japan under the name of Amatsumara. Atreus traveled to Japan with his wife, Fenrir, and his ten year old daughter named Hela, to look for Sindri. However, he saw that the country was consumed by a war of the gods. Kratos soon hears of Atreus' location and arrives in Japan to help his son. While there, Atreus joins Tsukuyomi's forces to try to take down the tyrannical Amaterasu. Atreus eventually finds Sindri, who is still bitter and angry, however much more mellowed out then before. He's working with Tsukuyomi so he can safe his girlfriend who was captured by Amaterasu's forces.

-Mimir/Kyōrinrin: Mimir mostly remains the same as he was in God of War 4 & 5, he's still a friend of Kratos, a comedic relief, and more. But once in this new strange land, Mimir becomes very interested in the lore and history of the gods, trying to learn as much as he can.

-Uzume: Uzume is a new character and a minor goddess who is the little sister of Amaterasu. Unlike the rest of her messed up family, Uzume managed to get away make a home on Earth. She is a kind and gentle soul who attempts to help mortals on Earth with whatever she can. However, their world was put in danger by Amaterasu and her mad quest to conquer the world. So, she joined Tsukuyomi's rebellion to fight back. She is also a walking encyclopedia of Japanese mythology, telling the player all the lore they need to know. She is also a support AI in the game like Atreus and Freya, and she starts to develop feelings for Kratos.

-Angrbota/Inari Okami: Angrabota will play a much more minor roll, much like how she was portrayed in Ragnorok. However, she remains a massive supporting character for Atreus, and sometimes is brought in to be the AI support.

-Hela/Tanuki: Hela is the ten year old daughter of Atreus and Angrobota. Hela is desperate to prove herself as a strong warrior to her father and is desperate to impress her grandfather, Kratos, who she really looks up to. She is even a support AI who mainly uses throwing knives when she fights. One of her god/Jotunn abilities is to summon the dead and make them fight for her, as a special move.

-Sindri/Amatsumara: Sindri is still upset from the previous events of Ragnorok, as he moved to Japan to get away from it all. He started dating a new girl he met, but she was soon captured by Amateratsu's forces, as Sindri works for Tsukuyomi to try and rescue his girlfriend. When Kratos and Atreus reunite with Sindri, Sindri is still angry at them and wants nothing to do with them. But over time, as they prove their worth and even help rescue Sindri's girlfriend, he forgives them and makes up with them.

-Kuebiko: A kami of knowledge who looks like a scarecrow and works for Tsukuyomi. But once he finds out what Tsukuyomi really cares about, he abandons him.

-Ryujin: A water dragon god who had a powerful spell placed on him by Amaterasu to serve her mindlessly. That was until the spell was broken by Kratos in a battle. Thus, becoming a powerful ally.

-Fenrir/Inugami: Fenrir basically plays the same roll he played in GOW Ragnorok. Mostly just hanging around and assisting whenever the plot needs him.

List of Antagonists in the Game: The main antagonists for GOW 6

-Amaterasu: If you know anything about Shinto mythology, you know that Amaterasu is the chieftain goddess of the Shinto pantheon. And like Zeus and Odin from the GOW series, she's an evil tyrant. Her personality would be very similar to Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She is smart, selfish, cruel, sadistic, a master manipulator, a liar, and a powerful warrior. She rules from the heavens and uses intimidation and manipulation to get what she wants. She would often manipulate and abuse the other gods, especially her brothers Tsukuyomi and Susanoo who both reacted differently to the abuse and manipulation. Tsukuyomi rebelled against her sister and wants to overthrow her while Susanoo is beaten down and broken, like Thor. He was once a hero, but now is the miserable enforcer of Amaterasu.

-Susanoo: Susanoo is the god of storms and the sea. Susanoo is also Amaterasu's enforcer. Susanoo at one point was a great hero who protected the people and saved them. However, his sister would often emotionally and physically beat him down and out perform him. She would claim how much superior she was and make Susanoo feel worthless. She promised him empty lies that if he obeys her without question, she would eventually give back his honor and title to the throne. This manipulation and abuse would break Susanoo, becoming an angry killer who destroys anyone Amaterasu tells him to destroy. However, he still has his son Yashimajinumi who looks over his father and tries to help him out. Eventually, Susanoo rebels against his sister and joins Kratos and Atreus to bring her down.

-Tsukuyomi: Tsukuyomi is the little brother of Amaterasu and the god of the Moon and night. After taking Amaterasu's abuse for years, Tsukuyomi abandoned the royal family and formed a rebellion to overthrow his tyrannical sister. Many other kami and gods joined him, including Kratos and Atreus. However, during the game, it's revealed more and more that Tsukuyomi only wants to overthrow Amaterasu so he could rule just as cruelly with an iron fist.

-The 9th Hachiman: Unlike many of the other gods in the GOW series, Hachiman is actually a title for a god instead of one god in particular. Hachiman is the god of war in Japan with the mantle being passed down to a new god, spirit, or mortal every few hundred years. The previous Hachiman's were greatly respected gods of Japan who kept law and order. Later, Amaterasu saw the god as a threat, as she sent Susanoo to kill the 8th Hachiman and replace him with an unknown god only known as the 9th Hachiman. The 9th is fiercely loyal to Amaterasu and is willing to die for his Empress. Throughout the game, it is believed that Kratos will eventually take up the mantle and become the next Hachiman of Japan. Brining law and order by stopping Amaterasu.

-Oshihomimi: The first son of Amaterasu and her top enforcer on Earth. Oshihomimi is an arrogant scumbag, much like Hermes or Heimdall. He possesses divine hearing, giving him incredible senses and allows him to avoid all attacks by any enemy.

-Raijin & Fujin: Raijin and Fujin were destructive demons employed by Amaterasu to serve her and take care of issues. The two are destructive and only hunger for battle.

-Ōkuninushi: A god of medicine. More of a manipulator and a liar, often manipulating others to submitting to Amaterasu to give them medicines to diseases that he released in the first place.

-Takemikazuchi: A god of thunder, a god of swords, a weapons expert and brutal warrior who serves Amaterasu, all so he can release his psychopathic urges on the battlefield.

-Izanami: Izanami is a primordial goddess, mother of Amaterasu, and goddess of Yami "Land of the Dead". She isn't aligned with Amaterasu, but in some point in the game she will be an opponent.

List of Common Enemies in the game: As you can guess, most if not ALL enemies in the game will be based off of different types of Yokai from Japanese mythology and folklore.

-The Shi: The Shi act as the main enemy type in the game. Like how the Dragur were in GOW 4 & 5 and undead warriors in GOW 1 through 3. They are also not from Shinto mythology and original creations. Their name means 'Dead' in Japanese.

-Oni: The Oni are basically like the Ogres from God of War 4 & 5. Tall ugly humanoid monsters that swing around a large blunt weapon.

-Kappa: Basically very similar to the Grim from God of War 5. Short quick reptilian creatures that jump in and out of bodies of water to attack.

-The Sun Samurai: Warriors picked from the afterlife by Amaterasu and turned into bloodthirsty yokai to serve and fight for Amaterasu.

-Tengu: The Tengu are enemies mostly found in the mountains and fight a lot like the Dark Elves from God of War 4 & 5. Mostly using blades and spears as they hover over the player and quickly attack and fly back into the air to avoid attacks.

-Sagari: A half-horse half-snake hidden weaker enemy that hides in trees and often quickly attacks the player before quickly retreating and backing away. Very weak, but still very fast and deadly.

-Futakuchi-onna: A woman with a monstrous mouth on the back of her head. The monster itself it weak to attack, but it often attacks by spitting acid, quickly biting opponents, and letting out powerful sonic roars that stuns the player.

-Rokurokubi: A vampiric woman with a long neck that keeps her distance from the player. Usually biting them and taking a chunk of health off. Very weak, but is good at keeping her distance.

-Nure-onna: A monster similar to the gorgon enemies from God of War 3. But more of an aquatic version. A half-snake woman that leaps out of the water and attacks the player.

-Hone-Onna: A phantom-like skeletal woman who can extend her bones into blades, hammers, spears, and shields to battle the opponent.

-Yuki-Onna: A beautiful pale woman found in cold and frigid areas who works similarly to the Revenants from God of War 4 & 5. They can transform into mist and escape attacks, possess ice breath, and have sharp claws. The only way to stun them is with arrows or a fire-based attack.

-The Black Monk: A dark skinned and dark robbed monk that uses it's long razortipped tongue to grapple and skewer opponents. Similar to the Licker from the Resident Evil series and the Smoker from Left 4 Dead.

-The Amanojaku: A vile and horrific red humanoid yokai which aren't very common throughout the game, but they are mostly found in small villages with butchered villagers everywhere. The Amanojaku is an evil spirit that made the citizens wrathful and made them kill each other. It also controls an army of brainwashed killers to attack the player. The creature is also the only one that can't be defeated by Kratos' rage move. Since it can absorb Kratos' rage and become stronger and regain health.

-Nue: The Nue are large creatures with the head of a monkey, the body of a tiger, and a snake for a tail. The monster is tough in combat and can breath lightning and fly for a short period of time. It works like the Chimera from GOW 3, you need to kill the monkey head, the tigers body, and the snake or it’ll keep getting back up.

-Bakeneko: A gigantic cat Yōkai that is born from the souls of angry recently departed cats. The monster is a little smaller then Fenrir and can almost be considered a mini-boss of its own.

-Adolescent Omukade/The Infested: The infested are dead yokai and humans who are possessed by massive yet adolescent yokai called Omukade. Omukade adults are giant centipedes, but the adolescents are the size of average to large sized snakes. They're parasitic and burrow themselves into the throat and spinal cord of dead and paralyzed humanoid hosts and take control of them. They operate the body to attack the player. If they get agitated enough, they will burst out of the host head and writhe around, a colossal and violent centipede sticking out of the host's neck hole. They are very similar to the Plaga Guadana from Resident Evil 4.

List of Bosses & Mini-Bosses:

-Jorogumo: A woman who seems harmless at first, but quickly transforms into a massive half-spider half woman that tries to kill the player. More of a mini-boss who often keeps her distance, sticks to walls, shoots the opponents with webs to stun them, spits poison at them, and if the player gets to close or stands still for too long, Jorogumo gets a quick bite that takes out a big chunk of health and poisons the player. Slowly draining their life bar.

-Jubokko: Basically a man-eating tree. The tree uses it's branches to attack the player, along with spitting thorns and poison at the player. The tree has several soft weak-points on it. When all the weak spots are destroyed, the enemy dies.

-Akkorokamui: A colossal red octopus that acts as a boss. Being very similar to the final boss fight from God of War: Ascension.

-Gashadokuro: A colossal skeleton made out of hundreds of angry souls that stands around 60 feet tall. The enemy will be one of the toughest mini-bosses in the game with very powerful attacks and only a few weak spots that are hard to hit.

-Shuten Doji: A specific colossal Oni who is far bigger and stronger then the other Oni in the game. Maybe a side mission to find and kill him in order to get a reward.

-Kuzenbo: King of the Kappa and a mini-boss side enemy in the game.

-Yamata-no-Orochi: Orochi is a mini-boss during some point of the game. After being killed by Susanoo, it regenerates and returns as Kratos fights and kills it.

-Adult Omukade: A massive maneating centipede dragon hybrid that is nearly the same size as Jormungandr.

-The 12 Heavenly Generals: The 12 Heavenly Generals will basically be like the 'Valkyries' or the 'Berserkers' from previous God of War side bosses. The 12 Heavenly Generals are made up of the Boar, the Dog, the Rooster, the Monkey, the Sheep, the Horse, the Dragon, the Rabbit, the Tiger, the Ox, and the Mouse. All are heavily armored and powerful samurai-like mystical warriors. They were gods who visited from foreign lands, before being captured and brainwashed by Amaterasu to fight for her.

New Weapons: Just like every other God of War game, Kratos gains new and powerful weapons in this game.

-Scarlet Sword: A long blood red katana that was forged by Sindri and several other local blacksmiths. Bathed in the blood of a god and enchanted in order to become the perfect weapon for a war god. The sword gets stronger and stronger whenever it's used. Healing the user over time and making them much stronger in return.

-Grasscutter: A legendary sword originally used by Susanoo, then gifted to Amaterasu. Which is then stolen and given to Kratos to use. The weapon once used can manipulate the air and create powerful wind currents that can tear through stone with ease.

[thevampiremarie]

Okay, so, Sandman hc request:

In the comics, we see Morpheus interact with Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, and even Japanese god/s. What other pantheon/tradition do you imagine him dealing with? Which gods/characters in particular? And/or how do you see him fitting into other cultures' pantheons? Based on previous discussions, I'm thinking particularly Filipino or Chinese traditions, but please pick whatever culture/pantheon you like!

OH YEAH THIS IS UP MY ALLEY

(Note: I am not well read on every mythology I mention - I am mentioning some that I don’t know as a way to open up a conversation in the fandom on how we can view Dream (and all of the Endless) in less Eurocentric ways. If I get anything wrong, I can accept it, as long as we can keep expanding all the ways the Endless can be and all the people they can represent ❤️)

Something I always felt was lacking in Sandman was like. I mean this is beef I have with classical studies/classical mythology in general. The ancient world was SO CONNECTED and to view only the Greek/Roman/Egyptian people as connected is a deeply unfortunate retcon

I mean. Lmao treehouse spoilers I guess??? But not really.

I definitely think Morpheus has interacted with Chinese gods, Hindu gods, Sumerian gods, Aztec gods/gods of the Mexica, among others

I also (and this wasn’t included in the scope of your ask but imma do it anyway) firmly believe he has been involved in a variety of urban legends/copypasta, even when he was in the bubble

So going off of his association with Apollo, one of the foremost Greek gods, god of the sun/healing/arts, I think one name Dream could have been known to the Mexica is that of Piltzintecuhtli

Piltzintecuhtli is (according to the internet) the god of the rising sun, healing, visions, medicine plants (like hallucinatory mushrooms). He can be called the Youthful God.

So this is something I’m going to have in treehouse I just decided it but… I believe that to the Chinese people, Dream has appeared in the shape of a blue dragon.

According to legend, we were taught calligraphy by a dragon horse who appeared to Fuxi, a great hero and progenitor of Chinese culture

And dragons in Chinese culture aren’t just beasts. Dragons are gods, they’re spirits of great intelligence, culture, rain, good luck, victory, power, they were the arbiters of the Mandate of Heaven (which granted emperors of old the right to rule)

So I believe Dream would have come to us as a dragon god, one who might have influenced the development of calligraphy, and I will be making him a dragon at least once in treehouse

Lastly, I HC Morpheus as being responsible for The Backrooms™️ creepypasta

“If you're not careful and you noclip[a] out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms, where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in

God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ASK FRIEND I LOVE YOUUU

[cepheusgalaxy]

I wad stuck in Totsuka and Megan and in what their world looks like, so i had a talk to my brother/cowriter and now I have some ideas to work with.

First of all, the races. I used to think that it would be a lot of hard work to make lots of different races in a world, but man, that's fun

There are five races (for now, might add one or two later depending on how it goes): The dragons (although its probablybetter to refer to them as 'dragonborns'), the humans, the fae, the vampires and the shapeshifters.

The vampires get energy/their life force from blood (obsviously). The humans, from their stomach (may change that). The fae, from their environment (like. mostly anywhere). I haven't decided yet for the shapeshifters, but then the dragonborns get their life force from the sun.

I wanted to have a logic behind all the races, and then we decided to make a mithology: we are gonna inpire it on our favorite pantheons (greco-roman, nordic and japanese). The Main Deity (like zeus/jupiter or odin or amaterasu) is gonna be the Sun Deity and they blessed the dragonborns maaaany many many millenia ago, so that's why their energy comes from the sun. We still have yet to dig deeper into that.

Then we have the magic system: It's pretty simple, actually. There are two kinds of magic:

Spiritual magic (nonsense, clairevoyance, mind reading, anormal phenomena)

And Material magic.

Now, material magic has two subtypes. Chemic and Physical. Physical magic is manipulating effects of physic, like explosion and making things move, and Chemic magic is manipulating chemical phenomena. Like... poisioning. Degradation. Human body functions. I don't know much about it but I thinm most of the things that happen in the world are under one of these two things. So I divided magic like that! Each race has (generally) an inclination to either or another (Material or Spiritual). The fae are more prone to have ease with Spiritual magic (at least it comes easier to them), the humans, Material, the Shapeshifters, Material, and the vampires, Spiritual. The dragonborns are blessed so they have a natural inclination to both equally.

And lastly, the main idea behind having a lot of races is that my brother loves shonen anime and One Piece and draws most of his ideas from there. He wanted to have a powerful and officially extinct race, and kne of the main characters (totsuka) is a direct descendant of them.

He wanted the race to be like, the sun people, and when I questioned him about how they would be like and suggested a lot of things (werewolves, clairvoyants, elves...) we reached the dragonborn idea. They're not proper dragons nor dragonborns, but it's where I'm drawing their inspiration from. Prob gonna chanhe in the future

[fallloverfic]

FG anon here! I hadn’t thought of him potentially being Ares! I didn’t get that vibe from him. I could never figure out which “pantheon” or which myth he’s from. But yeah I feel like whatever his intentions for Seth, I think he needs some resource relating to war— whether it’s for the sake of his homeland or for himself.

Also I didn’t know the fandom didn’t like him haha. He’s one of my favorite characters. This fandom is so tiny, I have actually heard nearly nothing about him positive or negative 💀 or maybe I’m on the wrong platform for Ennead fandom?

Hallo again! (this got long so putting it under a read more)

Yeah I still lean towards Apollo because of the golden eye thing. It's just strange to me that both Ra and FG are like the only two known god characters with golden eyes, and Ra is a sun god (so maybe FG is a sun god, too, hence, Apollo, plus the medicine thing, and his focus on getting laid). But most of his actions, particularly leading an army, make sense for him to be Ares. His personality otherwise matches Apollo. But also why would Apollo be leading an army, or be ready to declare war? Ares is the god of war. It also makes sense that a god of war would focus on how "weak" another god of war is, and the way he talks about Egypt as a weak country and sizing up their gods for their abilities kind of matches someone with a martial background. So he could be Ares! He could be Apollo! He could be neither of them!

I'm glad he's one of your favorites! FG is a very fun character! I find his relationship with Seth entertaining and engaging, and I'm curious about what power Maat is going to grant him. I also feel like he's going to be involved somehow in the final battle with Osiris, and I'm curious how that'll play out. But also, there are plenty of FG fans, FGSeth fans, and fans of him with other characters! Tumblr is generally a dead place for this fandom, though it's more active than like... deviantart, pillowfort, and kind of Blue Sky Social. There's a lot of really lovely fanworks of him, though not as much fic on places like here or Archive of Our Own. International fandom is still most active on twitter, so you're going to see way more stuff with him and other characters (along with the vitriol, unfortunately) there. The second best place to go for stuff with him is probably pixiv. Then maybe instagram. There were some active folks on tiktok for him but I avoid tiktok for this fandom cause it's mostly art theft and bad edits.

Some artists I'd recommend to follow for works with him:

おぜ | oze__0 (twitter) (pixiv)

GSY_DM (twitter)

くろいうさぎ | emm_usagi (twitter)

ぽん𓃩2/3大阪オンリーC19 | pondiru_3 (twitter) (pixiv)

ヒユウ | hi_you_2 (twitter) (poipiku)

kumorkumo (twitter) (pixiv)

leejun35 (twitter) (instagram)

いと | knito110 (twitter) (pixiv)

りょう | wwvsand (twitter)

nab𓃩ﾅﾌﾞ | nab_003 (twitter) (pixiv)

ginger_ennead (twitter) (they're sort of focusing on a different fandom right now, but if you browse back through their stuff, they made a lot of lovely FGSeth comics)

ナツメ (pixiv)

りょう (pixiv)

hako_enad (twitter)

よみの | yominofox (twitter)

おかや | okaya_enad (twitter)

And there's way more of that. FG fanartists are some of the most dedicated in the fandom, and produce a lot of the fanworks. If you're browsing, I would look under these tags on different sites: FGSeth (English), FG/Seth, FGxSeth, FG x Seth / 이국세트 (Korean = Exotic Set) / 髭セト (Japanese = mustache Set). Also a lot of multishippers do lovely art of him, so just look around if you're interested!

And to be fair, every character in the fandom is hated by somebody lol There are people who hate Horus (he's the main reason the Seth x happiness "ship" exists, because people don't even want him to end up with Horus for a dozen reasons), and there are plenty of people who hate Seth. FG is probably about on par with being hated as Isis? But I don't recall any situation where people sent their hate about Isis to Mojito, which people have done with FG. It kind of fluctuates. But yeah, top hated characters in the fandom are probably... any of the mob characters (including Kuentamen, Fenu, the older enslaved person Seth helped escape), Osiris/Isis/FG/Nephthys, I think Hathor and then Horus and Anubis, then Seth. The awful side of fandom kind of rotates on its "villain of the week" vitriol. When FG was in the spotlight, it was FG, and there were harassment campaigns against FG fanartists, doxxing, one person was stealing artwork and redrawing it as Horuseth, another person was editing FG into Horus from comic panels and spamming Mojito about them, but they did it a little with Osiris and Anubis as well. But when FG went away and Anubis came back, it was sort of Anubis, and then when the spotlight went back onto Horus, it was Horus. Now it's kind of back to FG cause he's back again and Horus is leaving Seth to go to Heliopolis while Seth and FG go to Khemenu/Hermopolis. I imagine when Osiris comes back for more than flashbacks, it'll be Osiris again. Who knows? People have too much time on their hands.

But who cares? Mojito loves all her characters, and has repeatedly said so. That thread I posted in the last ask was about her expressing her love, and she's talked about a planned FGSeth extra after the story is over. And here's some nice art by her of him with Horus, Seth, and the camel on the hiatus announcement.

[arcstral]

—  Mars; A Peaceful God of War(?)  —

The corruption of Marth's original name as well as the connotation attached to its origins is always a topic of fascination for me. Dubbed Mars after the Roman god of war, the inability to perfectly translate Japanese characters into English phonetics likely twisted the '-su' sound into a '-th' and that became the Marth we know today. In Japanese he's still named Mars and this in turn gives him an entirely different first flavor as a character than the western mistranslation, which can be considered very polarizing if one isn't aware of Greco-Roman pantheon specifics.

At face value, Mars, god of war, is not really illustrative of the kind-hearted and idealistic exemplar that modern day Marth represents. Closer inspection of his role within the four Archanea games does wonderfully to map out the key characteristics that make Marth, or Mars, so deserving of his name. A name that, at some points, even seems exceedingly suited to him at that; a veritable aptronym.

And it must be due to this scene, right?

The unwavering aplomb in the face of a fast approaching enemy host? The dedicated profession of his statement to not only defeat, but also totally destroy and “crush” imperial Archanea, fueled by his vindicated anger and moral superiority in this war at having his kingdom invaded by the suzerain he swore to serve?

Only a little. His faithful accuracy to Mars lies more namely in that Marth is twice-fold the commander of a vast liberation army and beacon of hope for the disillusioned people of Archanea, their military messiah the 'Hero-King' as in line with the hope-filled image of Mars—the patron god of defensive and offensive peacemaking, or use of the army as a facilitator for lasting peace. This as opposed to the Greek variant, Ares, that waged war negatively for anarchy, is an obvious and illuminating selection.

Nyna:  Grust’s artillery…Our opponent is mighty.

Marth:  Nonetheless we must face them head-on; they stand between us and Altea.

Nyna:  That hunger for danger worries me, Marth. Humanity’s hopes rest on your shoulders. I would sooner not see them crushed.

Marth:  Which? Humanity’s hopes, or my shoulders? …Have a little faith, Nyna. The enemy ballisticians can strike from afar, but they’re powerless up close. All we need to do is move in and silence them before they do too much damage. Watch!     (Chapter 13: Wooden Cavalry)

True to his etymological roots, and reflected by pieces of his dialogue alongside, Marth is not by any means an unremitting pacifist. He’s a trained commander, a necessary swordsman, and the military aspects of his character number many regardless of his peace-loving traits. It can be easy to overlook how committed and unswerving he is to his tactics just as well as to his own amicable ideals, but laid out before the player is stark evidence.

Coexisting with the noble prince is a determined, self-certain, and sometimes even cocksure commander. For one, there’s not a lot of meaning or intent to misconstrue with either the exchange he shares with Nyna when faced with the famed wooden cavalry of Grust, or even less, the very certain words he has for Cain in response to the knight’s report that imperial Archanea was closing in on their location.

Grust and imperial Archanea respectively were extolled as the most powerful armies in the world. These things mean nothing to a man like Marth who is backed by great extraneous purpose, a kingdom to save and a war to end much greater than his own fears.

Marth:  I'm truly glad that you came back unharmed, Cain.

Cain:  Yeah, somehow I managed to shake off the enemy and escape here.  But the enemy is already approaching from the north.

Marth:  Don't worry. We will crush them.   (Chapter 8: Soulful Bridge)

From his portrayal in the Maki Hakoda manga to Dragalia Lost to the animated OVA as well as the many expressions of his self-sacrificial nature in Shadow Dragon, Marth is not above using his emotional or physical well being for the sake of furthering his campaign. Furthermore, the Jagen of the manga adaptation states that Marth moves decisively, striking down the commander of an army and thus disabling its chain of command, removing the reason for the enemy soldiers to fight.

The manga insight, more importantly, illuminates the heart of Marth’s approach across most of his iterations. His desire to see the least amount of casualties amongst both allies and enemies leads to him employing strategies that will end his battles as quickly as tactical ability can allow. In the FE12 remake this line is reallocated to Kris, but originally it’s Marth who suggests the quickest route to Pales by cutting through Adrah Pass which is well aligned with his desired element of speed and highlights his military acumen.

Marth:  We must defeat Grust once and for all. If we march south without finishing them off, we have our rear exposed.

Nyna:  Then you mean to invade.

Marth:  Yes. And this time, General Camus will be there to meet us. I am sure of it. ‘Camus the Sable’, they call him. Many extol him as the most able warrior alive. It will be a fierce battle…but one we cannot avoid.

Nyna:  You are certain we must face him?”

Marth:  We have crippled Grust, but they will regroup and stand in our way again. No, we need to stamp this fire out before the wind catches it and starts spreading it anew.     (Chapter 19: Manakete Princess)

War to Marth isn’t won by overwhelming numbers or vast discrepancies in military technology or advancements, it’s the clever and never wasteful targeting of goals and expeditions. He cuts no corners and lays out no lace or frills on the explanation of his warpath. When Nyna asks if he means to invade Grust, he puts simply that he does without wavering at the semantics. At Castle Helena he launches another preemptive strike on the Grustian occupational forces stationed there, seizing gold and provisions to curb the army’s life flow.

He doesn’t only wage defensive warfare, but also more aggressive stratagems if he believes it will be a means to convincingly less bloody ends. The cleanest end to their war. His quote in FE11 especially invents the most lucid core of his approach to battle. He means to fight and he means to fight well; this in turn identifies just how precisely efficient he can be when exercising his role as commander over the Archanea League.

Malledus:  Sire, we are nearing the Macedonian border.

Marth:  Did you send a messenger?

Malledus:  Yes…but…

Marth:  They will not yield.

Malledus:  No reply came, sire…

Marth:  I knew they might not switch and join us, but I had at least hoped to avoid bloodshed…So be it. Macedon stands between us and Dolhr. And Gotoh is here somewhere as well. If the battle must be fought, I mean to fight it well.    (Chapter 21: Clash in Macedon)

His strict adherence to utility is softened by his consistent behavior of allowing his opponents to flee, reiterating to his soldiers never to pursue those who throw down their weapons or show their backs. His messenger to Michalis and his words to Camus—though both failed attempts—were inducted with the intention of parley and armistice. Marth is far from a purist, but he is a moral and pacifistic leader who is repulsed by human death, protracted war and suffering, and peace is his goal. That is where the distinction lies.

Mars, the Roman god of war, is the military god of moral war practice. True to his name, Marth is good at war but refines his temperament with the vision he has for peace. He’s good at war, but behind the hardened face of a commander is a sensitive man who deeply dislikes fighting. Be it the contrast between his gentle face and bellicose-sounding origins, or his aptitude and personality, there’s a dichotomous yet informative quality lying beneath the surface of his original name, ‘Mars’.

[volumehypeplay]

Favorite Shows of 2022 With movies behind us, we can now talk shows (not TV); since if we are being honest, most of us don't watch them on our TV's and most of them arent even on TV channels. I tuned in to around 30 shows in 2022, and once again settled on 7 to highlight from the year. I chose not to include The Boys S3, as I tried to include shows that were new to 2022 not simply an additional season. With that we can begin the countdown (once again in no particular order).

↓

Pantheon I mentioned Pantheon a few weeks / months back and I only want to say a few words. Arcane was the best animated show of 2021 and Pantheon is just as good. Different, sure. But the storytelling they manage to achieve in just 8 episodes is fantastic. A must watch for any sci-fi fan.

Severance Not sure if its a co-incidence I managed to book end my year with two fantastic sci-fi shows, but the one to kick everything off in 2022 was Severance.

Directed (and created) by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, this show felt like a cultural phenomenon in my small bubble... it was everywhere. Taking a concept we've rarely seen, placing it during a time-period where many couldn't leave their home and wanted escape. Severance struck gold. Beyond its amazing performances, THAT final episode and a story that actually had a pay-off at the end, it was the art direction and atmosphere that truly drew me in. The cold, mundane, colour barren offices of Lumon paired with a soundtrack that would throw you off center without warning, made the actors unnerving performances (especially Milchik played brilliantly by Tramell Tillman) all that more captivating. It was a show I couldn't wait to watch every week and I only pray that they take as much time as they need to deliver a just as good season 2.

Tokyo Vice A show set in a 90s Tokyo directed by Michael Mann? IN. Though Mann unfortunately only directed the opening episode, the tone he set was brilliantly continued in every subsequent episode. For those unaware, the story follows Jake Aldestein (played by Ansel Elgort) who is the first non Japanese reporter hired by the prestigious Yomiuri Shimbun paper. Through his neivety Jake gets embroiled in the Tokyo underbelly; with both the Yakuza and Japanese police taking the character on a wild journey. I'd feel bad without mentioning Shô Kasamatsu (who played Sato) as the standout of the show. His charisma and style commanded my attention even surrounded by a seasoned actor like Ken Watanabe - I'll be super interested to see what he does next. If you're a fan of crime shows, I highly recommend Tokyo Vice. (oh and the way language is used in this show, is so so good).

Players This show was so much better than it had any right being. Players, a mockumentary on the esports scene (league of legends specifically) was quite possibly the most emotional and hype show of the year. The creators managed to take the fall of Nightfall, the introduction of Organizm (as the hot new thing) and invest us in their relationship in no time (from the train-wreck lowst, to the down right inspiring highs). I somehow managed to get enjoy a show, about a game I had 0% interest in, purely based on it's characters and writing.

If you love workplace comedies and have any semblance of an interest in esports, Players might just be for you.

The Bear What happens when a fine-dining chef returns to his hometown in Chicago to run his fathers small eatery? Chaos, rage, shoot-outs, hilarity and some amazing food (thats' what). The Bear is a hyperfocused dramedy, immaculately led by Jeremy Allen White (playing the lead Carmen), throughout 20ish minute episodes where we see Carmen journey from his return to Chicago, to hopefully elevating his dad's eatery to something profitable. Each episode is jam packed with high-heated clashes between characters, especially those between Richie and literally anyone else, but there is one specific episode (a one-shot 15minute nerve-jerker) that will have you absolutely stunned. Definetly give this one a go and I recommend binging it if you can (its little over 2 hours I think all together) to really experience the madness.

Black Bird I've been mourning the loss of Mindhunter for what seems like 3 years, but finally a show has come that tickled the itch Mindhunter had left. Written by Dennis Lehane (of Gone Baby Gone, Shutter island and Mystic River fame), Black Bird tells the story of Jimmy (a low-level drug dealer) becoming entangled in a plot to catch a notorious serial killer. No show made me feel so uncomfortable, so on edge, so nervous as the interactions between Jimmy and Larry. The show acted as an acting masterclass by Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Houser, with both using each other to elevate themselves. The scene where Larry so calmly and eloquently spills his guts about his doings with the girls to Jimmy, leading to Jimmy's complete breakdown in his cell was incredible to watch. Very few scenes stuck with me, like that did.

Abbot Elementary Lastly for something a bit more lighthearted. I was hoping Blockbuster would fill my work-place comedy sized hole this year (lol no chance), but thankfuly, we took a chance on Abbot Elementary and were rewarded handsomely.

Like any great workplace comedy, it's all about the characters and thats what Abbot nails so, so well. Created by Quinta Brunson, this show turns so many teacher tropes into relatable characters; from the crazy and unqualified Headteacher (Ava), to the stoic but weird teacher (Gregory). I loved coming in every week, to see what this group of people would get up to, and how at the end of the day they always wanted to do right by the kids (well almost). I know season 2 is currently airing (and sounds just as good) but I / we decided to wait till its all out, as once you start Abbot Elementary is really hard to put down.

Enjoy

[frogeyedape]

17 and 6! ^^

Is there an award for longest delay in answering an ask? (Don't answer that. Unless you want to) Thank you for submitting!

17. Do you prefer fairy tales, fables, legends or myths?

You know, outside of critical writing/analysis, I tend not to worry about the distinctions too much. I did a lot of anthology reading as a kid, mostly fairy tales, legends, and myths...but then there's also Aesop's Fables, another staple of my young reading career. I went through a long phase of finding the myths & legends of various cultures (how quickly so many of these turn into studies of pantheons! What is theology vs what is folk tale of deities?)--I had Arthurian and Norse handy, Egyptian was easy to find, Roman vs Greek, Celtic, Chinese & Japanese, Native American. Do bestiaries count? Cross cultural tales of dragons has been a particularly long lived interest...if we count dragons, unicorns of course count so...obviously zombies as well?? (Zombies vs Unicorns is such a fun book)

I forgot...I very much wanted to believe in fairies. Fairy stories are the best. Modern retellings & reimaginings are an absolute blast!

6. Do you have a favourite book with folklore or folk/fairy tales?

As I think on this more I have to ask--real world folklore/fairy tales, or in-book lore/tales? I really love both. Picking favorites is hard...there's a special place in my heart for Mercedes Lackey's 100 Kingdoms fairy tales, and for the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. There's some fantastic in-fiction lore in so many of Brandon Sanderson's books (cosmere and not), and The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is *chef's kiss* excellent exploration of the impact of lore made real (and so much more).

[aquaburst3]

I completely agree. To add on to this, I also think the way that both Honest Fellow and Rollo were handled are symptomatic of a much larger issue—the character stagnation and Yana's utter unwillingness to let them face any consequences for their actions.

It's not even with the one shot villains. You see this play out all the time with the main cast. All of the OB gang get a slap on the wrist for their actions. Everyone instantly forgives them, including people like Kalim and Ruggie who were almost MURDERED. (Kalim I kinda get, because he's a ball of sunshine and is deep in denial about a lot of things. But Ruggie? You think he would be at least upset at Leona for almost Thanos snapping his ass.) It's not even just for OBs either. Malleus faced zero consequences or is even properly called out for his actions during the second Halloween event or deciding to tag along, despite damn well knowing it would make Jamil's life harder and that he couldn't refuse him.

So in that sense, the way that Honest Fellow and Rollo got away scott free is super annoying, but not surprising. It happens all the time with the main boys, so why not them?

However, this problem hampers the writing on all fronts. Unless you are writing a flat arc, characters need to change and grow, especially in a coming of age story like TWST should be. So instead of learning and growing like real people, they always remain the same and never face any repercussions for their actions. It's asinine, since they realistically would, even if they are based on villains. Hell, you think it would make it even more so, since they are based on villains and would be more revengeful and not merciful.

Another factor is that Christianity is a minority religion in Japan to the point where Japanese people view it like how westerners see the ancient Greek pantheon—"exotic" mythologies to explore in fiction. Japan is very humongonist racially. My theory is that Yana or whoever else was in charge of this event was looking at the Christian elements like cool add-ons like what happened in Evangelion. So I think a lot of the choices in regards to that event wasn't done of malice, if anything it's more out of ignorance.

However, that still doesn't excuse Yana or any of the other developer's actions. They knew the game was being distributed internationally, and were walking on a tightrope in regards to adapting Frollo, one of the most terrifying and real villains, to an eventual western audience. Even if it wasn't they should've been more respectful and done a lot more research.

Like you said, people can love the game, but still criticize it, especially for how it handled adapting certain characters and how that means for marginalized communities. If anything, calling out it is another way of showing you love it, because you want it to improve.

Also, it's cool to hate certain characters thanks to the actions of their OG counterparts. I mean, on top of Rollo, I'm not a fan of Honest Fellow (twst Honest John) thanks for Yana slapping on characteristics of the Coachman onto him where he is gleefully in charge of the whole operation (minus a boss at the last second...which is fucking asinine in of itself) when he was forced to do it in the original. You can bet your ass that if I ever write my own take of this event to my own fic there will be some changes in that regard as well. Others might be the same for different ones, and that's fine. Everyone has their own different lines and boundaries. Mine is how it adapted Rollo and Honest Fellow.

So what are your thoughts on feelings in the recent JP event that has two characters are a twisted version of two Pinocchio villains that committed human trafficking and how nobody is giving them a bigger backlash compared to Rollo?

I guess a part of it would come from the tone. I haven’t watched Pinocchio in a long ass time, but I remember those two not actually being a huge threat. I could be completely wrong though. I thought it was some other guy who would traffic the kids and they became donkeys?

Whatever whatever, I should have made it more clear with that post, but I was talking about why I personally do not like Rollo as a Mexican Indigenous person. While not Romani and not having their specific experience, I very much am affected by Frollo’s character. I know what it’s like to have my people villainized and targeted for literally no reason. It’s a matter of personal experiences.

Not to mention that Rollo himself just is objectively a bad person, also villainizing a whole group of people (mages in this case) and tried to get rid of them all. And proceeded to not grow as a person by the end of it. Very yikes when you know about his counterpart.

However, people are allowed to like Rollo, but I also think they should be critical of the decision made of making a TWST version of Frollo in the first place. Both opinions can coexist.

I frankly know nothing about the new characters, I have no idea if they should be hated or not. I don’t interact with new events till they reach the English server cause I personally like playing through the experience myself. But like if you are uncomfortable by the actions of their OG counterpart then it’s fine not liking them.

I mean all of the villains did bad things, it’s why they are villains. Frollo just hits too close to home for a lot of people, and it’s why I think Rollo was very controversial back when he was announced. Like there can be people who hate Trein because his villain is literally an abusive mother. That can also hit too close for some people. (Idk if there are Trein haters, it’s an example).

This is just a long ass way to say: I don’t know yet shdhsges. I don’t even care enough to learn their names yet.