#but it is clearly extremely important

[softlysilverfountainsfall]

There is an oft-repeated scene in the Silm when one of Our Heroes has died fighting a noble but hopeless battle that they chose, and someone, somehow buries them properly AND it is specifically mentioned in the text that the grave lay undisturbed until some far future date (usually the breaking of Beleriand).

This happens to Finrod, to Fingolfin (though his grave was only undisturbed until Gondolin fell), and Glorfindel. For other dead characters, this precise formula does not occur.

(Beren and Luthien die natural mortal deaths and no one knows where they are buried, Feanor spontaneously combusts and none of his sons' burials are ever mentioned, and Turgon dies & is presumably "buried" in the collapse of his tower. Hurin, Morwen, and Nienor aren't buried [edit: Morwen was buried]; Finduilas and Turin are buried but it is not specifically mentioned that their graves were undisturbed afterwards. Barahir is buried by Beren but it isn't specifically mentioned that his grave was inviolate. Aredhel's grave isn't mentioned, neither is Thingol's, Dior's, or Nimloth's. Aegnor, Angrod, Orodreth, and Gwindor die in battle against the enemy but in a battle that came to them (Bragollach and of Nargothrond respectively) and was one they had to fight, not a hopeless battle that they chose and their graves' aren't mentioned.)

You will notice that I have not mentioned Fingon, who was famously "beat[en] into the dust with their maces...they trod [his banner] into the mire of his blood," or any who died in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and were dumped in a pile by Morgoth's forces to create the Hill of the Slain/Haudh-en-Ndengin/Hill of Tears/Haudh-en-Nirnaeth.

The Nirnaeth is, of course, the ultimate noble but hopeless battle, and Fingon especially typifies that. (Relatedly, Azahgal's body is successfully borne away by his troops, presumably for a long-lasting burial place.) The Hill of the Slain is meant to be a symbol of Morgoth's power and a place of dreadful carnage and disrespect for those who fell and should break my argument--

But in one sentence Tolkien turns all that around:

"But grass came there and grew again long and green upon that hill, alone in all the desert Morgoth made; and no creature of Morgoth trod thereafter upon the earth beneath which the swords of the Eldar and the Edain crumbled into rust"

--and the symbol of Morgoth's total victory becomes a sacred, untouched grave of heroes.

[furfurfrou]

I've managed to beat up the train blorbos in the pasio subway extreme battles. Here's the ending cutscene that plays out for those who couldn't make it this far:

Ingo and Emmet I love you very much but I'm going to have to beat you with hammers for the nonsense you just put me through

[clansnaphance]

I'm really not vibing with whatever staff is doing now. Not only does there seem to be a total internal communication breakdown, there also seems to be an absolute disregard for how the players are affected by this.

Like, ignoring the fact that the consistency argument doesn't even hold water, their takeaway from the Fern/Paisley thread seems to have been "oh we gotta change Breakup and Hypnotic too!!"

And then completely reversing Sandsurge Blend on top of that? A gene that's been out for over half a year and was only listed as having the gradient softened, not reversed? Just a total failure to communicate and an absolute bullheadedness in pushing the changes through despite the very reasonable player concerns?

To top it all off, none of these are bug changes, they are style changes. Someone saw these genes before they went live, greenlighted them, and put them in the game. And now, months upon months later, someone else (presumably) says "fuck that, I want the gene to look like this instead" and that complete change is just... pushed through??

Like. Did they learn nothing from the Butterfly debacle, from Obelisk Flair, hell, from the Eyepocalypse?

What the fuck is going on behind the scenes?

[bean-spring]

People complaining about Mel not liking Viktor and being "mean" to him as if this guy didn't hate her guts too and wasn't constantly rolling his eyes every time she opened her mouth.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

the never stop blowing up vhs is where cute twinks go to get harmed

[wonder-worker]

"As for the government of the kingdom, [Edward V] had complete confidence in the peers of realm and the queen."

"According to the Crowland continuator, [Elizabeth Woodville] seems to have taken the king's place in listening to his council immediately after Edward IV's death. It does appear that she expected to have some role in her son's kingship, and the Crowland continuator’s report of the letters sent to her by [Richard of Gloucester] indicates that she had good reason to expect to be able to work with him and the other councillors: 'the duke of Gloucester wrote the most pleasant letters to console the queen; he promised to come and offer submission, fealty and all that was due from him to his lord and king, Edward V, the first-born son of his brother the dead king and the queen'."

"[However], in what was Gloucester's first coup, Edward V was separated from his household and Woodville advisors. When the young king questioned the move, Buckingham was reported to have told the boy 'It is not in the business of women but men to govern kingdoms'. The blunt remark referred to the authority of Elizabeth Woodville as queen and the power she must have anticipated within the new political climate left by Edward IV's sudden death [...] While the veracity of this scene is questionable*, the words attributed to the duke no doubt seemed plausible to Dominic Mancini who believed they exemplified the popular sentiment held by men [...]."

-Dominic Mancini, The Usurpation of Richard the Third / J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 / Alexander R. Brondarbit, Power Brokers and the Yorkist State, 1461-1485

*One of Mancini's key sources seems to have been Edward V's own doctor, John Argentine, who attended to him in the Tower. It's very likely that he was the one who recounted this scene to Mancini, which suggests that it should probably be considered more credible than not.

[a-sketchy]

the thing about yosuke’s shittiness around here (up close and personal, the campout) is that the vast majority of it isn’t doing literally anything for his character. i completely think yosuke’s shittiness is important to his character, but it’s by and large reflections of his own insecurities and flaws. he’s insecure about his masculinity and sexuality, he’s lame, he’s selfish, he’s obsessed with the idea of women, his mouth moves faster than his brain, he doesn’t like himself, and he cares way too much about the societal ideal of ‘normal’. but it’s really important that he’s self-aware! he knows when the things he says are shitty, he knows he’s lame, he knows he’s selfish, he knows he’s putting up a front of being carefree and normal. but there’s absolutely no self awareness here, there’s no recognizing he went too far and apologizing the next day, there’s no regret, there’s not even any self-deprecation, and there’s absolutely no compassion or empathy like he has in serious moments. a lot of what he says is just mean for meanness’s sake, in an execution incongruous with previous behaviour. it’s not even funny!

[steeltwigz]

Saw a post abt the Sonic movies that was like "plz filter negativity posts better" which is GOOD AND TRUE you should be doing that. Ok. But then they kept going to imply that the criticisms of the Sonic movies are all entirely Personal and Ignorable and not like. Usually abt the horrific copaganda, misogynistic writing, and Paramount's disgusting zionism.... Guys a lot of ppls problem w the Knuckles show wasn't JUST a bastardization of Knuckles' character or thinking Wade was annoying or whatever, but like was focused on the grotesque Zionist message from that one episode 😭😭😭 you can enjoy something and still recognize that it has intrinsic and huge glaring flaws and talk abt them. I think actually you Should be speaking up abt the misogyny, zionism and propaganda the SCU supports and discusses, ESPECIALLY if you like the movies! Its important to be able to recognize these things in media and admit that even media you personally enjoy can be deeply problematic, instead of hiding it away and pretending those HUGE FLAWS aren't issues actually....

[lycanr0t]

i feel very frustrated about the trend of giving chil body hair bc if it was any other anime twink i would be thrilled its just that it seems to only be because people are SO afraid of him looking young they have to make him hairy to justify liking him in ships.

meanwhile it does directly go against canon (he literally is supposed to look like a child. this is integral to both his character and his race's lore as a whole and it makes no damn sense that he would be mistaken for a child if he has body hair i mean. cmon.)

and it's like. some men are hairless. some men look young. when youre a trans man in your 20s-30s its especially common to be mistaken for a teenager, even more so if you're not on t. and short. these traits do not make you less of a man or an adult. :/

[starheirxero]

*slams hands down on table*

XERO????

AHAIAHSIWHF HAIII MINUTE. CLASPS MY HANDS TOGETHER VERY POLITELY. I put Eclipse in a time loop that starts from the first day of October and restarts on the day he dies 😁 The loop can only be broken when he starts to heal from his trauma and ties up loose ends :3

[gnawednoble]

thinking abt how the team reacts to seeing vitale's demeanor change almost instantly when they enter treviso again. bellara's only just met them, she wouldn't clock anything as 'wrong' but they're clearly holding themself differently. harding's only seen them act anything like this when they meet new people, especially if varric/harding also didn't know them. neve's only had a little more time than bellara has, but a trained assassin noticably change how they act? she's not going to view that as anything but a warning sign.

[sunpoweredautism]

i debated a little whether to post this or not considering that I'm basically a tma blog at this point but a while ago i visited Gradara, which is a little medieval village (the Italian word is borgo, saying village doesn't have the same effect) that was built around 1150 ad. Beside being extremely pretty and having a lot of swords and knights figurines, it's probably better known because it was home to a pretty well known couple: Paolo and Francesca.

So i guess in honor of Hozier's song Francesa here's a little photo dump from my trip. (Please ignore how dark the pictures are that's literally who i am unfortunately i was created by DC)

Disclaimer: I'm not a photographer, take what you can

the city entrance

the south tower

Francesca and Ciotto Malatesta's room (restored, it's not the actual one but close enough i guess)

**

The view from their window

Last but not least the chapel. Yes the acoustic is amazing and yes i sang Hozier songs in there (because i was alone and they were about to close, I didn't bother anyone)

Unfortunately most of the castle is restricted because (fortunately) it's undergoing restoration, but you can also buy a ticket for the walkway around the city walls, the one the guards did, which would have been great if I didn't suffer so much from vertigo (yeah the vast is gonna have to fight the spiders for my soul)

Oh and i almost forgot there's a "walk of the lovers" (passeggiata degli innamorati) again about Paolo and Francesca that's literally a trail of hearts

Sorry about the 2014 vibes, i do miss my youth

[tvckerwash]

a yet to be fleshed out scene from my ct lives au is more or less just ct going "I cannot believe I have to go on a mission with these 2 strangers whom I don't trust in the slightest because my former teammates mercilessly slaughtered all of my boyfriend's teammates so now his boss doesn't think he's qualified for field work anymore"

[un-pearable]

this is yet another random academia nitpick i won’t let go of for weeks but someone in the comments of the victor ninov broccumentary claimed that science is a “incredible field that can’t be simplified to storytelling like this” because “it goes against human nature to do” and writing good sci comm goes against scientific integrity.

and the whole statement is incredibly stupid but in true anthropologist fashion i must say what on earth about science goes against human nature. the desire to test a phenomenon and revise your theories based on the results is literally one of the benchmarks for early modern humans. this is the behavior in corvid’s (tool use) that people loose their shit over. communicating findings to others?? collaborative work to reach an arbitrary goal that won’t necessarily have a direct benefit on your immediate life???? that’s how we domesticated staple crops dumbass. it’s science all the way down

[starbuck]

frankly, i don’t know how you CAN’T take dreams seriously… for years i thought i was an emotionless monster who didn’t truly love anyone until my Pop-pop was dying and i dreamed about him every single night without fail and i have never doubted myself again.

[llatimeria]

processed some trauma i think