#but the thing with guinevere and lancelot is ALWAYS that despite their connection to him THEY'RE the ones that make human mistakes

[lydiacatfish]

there's a bit in the new camelot soundtrack (i'm not sure if it's in the original or not because i haven't seen it) where arthur realizes "i'm not a man... i'm a king" and it just breaks my heart!!

[to-many-towered-camelot]

magical adultery

I don’t know how many modern Arthurian adaptations there are where Guinevere and Lancelot’s affair is due to magic rather than choice (I’m thinking of BBC Merlin, but maybe there’s others? Anyway there’s a wider trend in Arthuriana that’s worth discussing)...

But I’ve always thought that narrative choices like this in modern adaptations are...interesting, because they’re made to preserve any shred of empathy the modern audience has for Lancelot or Guinevere as characters, since we’re generally primed through pop culture to view Arthur as a fantastic, moral leader (with the corollary that cheating on him is an awful betrayal). And we’re also primed to view Lancelot and Arthur as close friends, and Arthur as a good spouse, so Arthur is especially blameless and very wronged in our eyes.

(Guinevere my beloved 🥺)

Somehow, as a modern audience, it’s harder for us to tolerate Guinevere especially for loving/sleeping with someone who isn’t her husband, when in the middle ages it was not shocking at all for a woman much younger than her arranged husband to...not be keen on him, to the point where there is an entire literary tradition centred around this (leaving aside the fact that Arthur also cheats on her first and tries to execute her multiple times but w/e, how medieval lit responded to things like that often wasn’t very kind to the woman). Part of this is because we have different ideas of how marriage functions societally, and around love/sex/relationships. As modern readers/viewers we expect specific things from married women as the heteronormative default - joyful/loving fidelity, rather than obedient fidelity, i.e. we expect women to be incredibly emotionally invested in relationships, often far more than any male partner - and we forgive the men in these situations far more easily than the women (...this is nothing new I admit). 

So BBC Guinevere needed to be completely ensorcelled and blame-free or she would never have been allowed to end up with Arthur (adultery is not allowed on the BBC apparently?? 😂 what story did they think they were telling asdgf ghjk???). As the former love-interest, Lancelot was literally not allowed to even be alive for Guinevere and Arthur’s relationship to go ahead...just to make it super clear that Guinevere loves Arthur and only Arthur. It’s so interesting how our expectations for women’s behaviour evolve, and how in some ways - despite cultural differences between the middle ages and now - they haven’t really changed that much.

[It’s like as our perceptions of Guinevere’s situation changed (arranged marriage with an older man is now fair game for criticism, and we no longer necessarily view women in that situation as having any sort of ‘duty’ to their husbands or ‘owing’ them anything...lol theoretically, this sort of misogyny is still very much a thing), we changed her situation to keep the emotions we associate with her the same. We judge and condemn her for “betraying” Arthur - so now she married him willingly, and he’s a good husband, and her own age. We rage at her for “ruining” Arthur and Lancelot’s relationship - once that of a lord and vassal (leading to a decay of the Round Table and breakdown of those homosocial bonds, etc.), they are now best friends who have been torn apart by a love triangle. All this because misogyny is a historical constant and god forbid we show any empathy for Guinevere...it’s apparently easier to restructure all of these character relationships than it is to view her in a sympathetic light.]

BUT ANYWAY the whole point of this long, rambly post: I’ve never realised that you can connect this phenomenon of blameless adultery back to Tristan and Isolde, and their caused-by-a-love-potion-so-they-really-genuinely-couldn’t-help-it situation (like, connect thematically, not causatively). 

Even back when medieval romances were being written, and people loved adulterous love (like, it’s the backbone of the courtly love tradition), they still didn’t always love the women involved in it (e.g. Guinevere, apparently one key causative agent in Camelot’s downfall, because something something Eve something something apple something something women are the root of all evil and a plague upon men). But there isn’t really that same attitude towards Isolde - she’s the ultimate wish-fulfilment in an already wish-fulfilment genre, in that she both ~gives in~ to loving a man who is not her husband, and also literally cannot be blamed for it (i.e. therefore can still possess those Good Old medieval virtues that she as a woman is supposed to have).

So Isolde fills the same niche as BBC Merlin’s Gwen, in that she loses her autonomy and so conforms to societal expectations of a “good” woman while still fulfilling the narrative role we want her to play (i.e. adulterous). And this is the only way she can avoid punishment for participating in this narrative (...uh, not that Isolde escaped punishment, lol, but you get what I mean...also I haven’t touched on how modern audiences reacted to Angel Coulby as Gwen but I, um, do wonder whether this contributed to how ”perfect” Guinevere had to be in order for wider audiences to tolerate her 😬 which is a whole separate conversation in itself)

[shreddedleopard]

10 Reasons it would make narrative sense for Levi and Historia’s character arcs to conclude together.

I’ve been wanting to do this for ages, but I’ve been nervous of the backlash. Feels like it’s now or never though, and theorising for/analysing stories is one of my favourite things to do - I’m clearly missing those literary analysis essays from university days. So please excuse me if you think I’m deluded - I probably am - but the analyst in me won’t let me be until I’ve got this all out of my system.

Beware, it’s a long one. There's some thoughts on chapter 130 nearest the bottom!

1. Childhood Parallels - The Abandoned Children

Levi and Historia’s childhoods mirror one another - there are striking similarities, but then also sections that fit together to complete each other, as though they are matching jigsaw pieces. The characters start out in worlds that are opposite - Historia has the comforts of a safe home, food on the table, and fresh air and sunshine. She has all the physical nourishment she needs, but she does not have her mother’s love. On the contrary, his mother’s love is the one thing Levi does have, otherwise living in poverty underground. Both their mothers, however, appear to be using sex and the idea of love as a means to survive or way to try and improve their circumstances, and it is out of this necessity that both end up being born.

Levi is clearly affected when he first hears Historia’s tale of her childhood - Isayama shows this through the fact that Levi’s plate is the only one left untouched at the end of her story. He has been so sucked in by what she’s relayed, and probably saddened, that he hasn’t been able to bring himself to eat as the others have. Historia’s story rings true with some of his own experiences, but also highlights the world he may have found himself in without his mother’s love.

Remember, Isayama consciously thinks about each panel he’s drawing - he wouldn’t include a small detail like that without reason. We see more of these instances of small but significant stylistic choices and minor details as we progress. Isayama stated in an interview that he wants to give fans an ending that fans would never guess, but that when they look back, the clues were there all along.

Continuing on with the theme of their childhoods and Isayama’s stylistic choices, let’s take a look at two significant moments:

Both characters, although experiencing different forms of deprivation initially (Physical vs. Emotional Nourishment) were abandoned at crucial moments in their lives - when they were looking for validation from their primary caregivers and the people who should have been responsible for demonstrating affection. Historia was abandoned when, after reading and taking onboard information she read in books just like her mother, she reached out to hug her, and Levi was abandoned at the moment he demonstrated that he’d absorbed everything Kenny had taught him. The parallel between these images is very powerful.

Kenny is a character that highlights more parallels between Historia and Levi.

Kenny’s words highlight the literal lack of growth in height for both Historia and Levi - both are particularly short, and also look youthful - but we can also take the words to suggest that the characters are still very much defined by what happened to them in their pasts, and have yet to step away from their demons and achieve closure on what has happened to them as children.

At this point, we can definitely say that Isayama has chosen to tie both Historia and Levi’s stories together through their childhoods - their backstories are revealed alongside each other, in the same arc of our story, and in terms of experiences, they are both identical and mirror opposite at different points.

2. Shared Values

Despite being deprived of affection for large portions of their childhoods, both Levi and Historia appear to have experienced glimmers of kindness in their darkness as well, and this has shaped some of their values and behaviours.

Levi experienced his mother's love for a short while until he lost her - we know how deeply she cared for him from her refusal to give him up despite Kenny’s advice to her when she fell pregnant. Historia had Frieda’s kindness instilled in her, even though she's not able to consciously remember her actions until later. 

Both display an affinity for animals, with several manga and even anime-only scenes where we see them being affectionate and kind to their horses. We don’t see this as prominently with any other characters.

But one of the biggest shared values is their desire to protect children. I've posted on this before, but here are a few examples of Levi being driven by this value:

It’s clear Levi has a soft spot for children. And Historia? We know her feelings on children from her first action as Queen - realised with the support of Levi.

3. Kenny’s failure … Levi’s success?

These next scenes we’ll focus on represent the moment that Levi and Historia are set up to undergo that ‘growth’ Kenny was referring to earlier in the uprising arc. Note Isayama’s choice of words here, and the symbolism of the whole scene. Kenny doesn’t tell Levi, ‘I couldn’t be someone you looked up to,’ or ‘I wasn’t fit to act as your father figure,’ he literally says ‘I can’t be some kid’s dad.” What does he do then? He shoves the titan serum at Levi.

Isayama pays great attention to this - dedicating several panels to the weighty moment, and Levi’s expression. It’s very dramatic. Notice how the word ‘Dad’ even has it’s own speech bubble. It’s almost as though Kenny is passing the mantle on to Levi - passing that responsibility on to him. It feels as though the passing of the serum replaces the missing words, ‘but you can.’ Isayama didn’t have to have Levi ask that question in the moment before Kenny passed the serum on to him. He could have positioned it so that the discussion about dreams was the precursor to the serum being passed over - which in my head, for the context of the scene, would make more sense. But he didn’t; he chose to have Kenny say that exact line to Levi - to admit his inadequacy as a father figure, with that focus on the word dad - and then hand the item over to Levi.

By itself, the scene could be seen as highlighting the ways that Levi is already a better father figure than Kenny. He has been somewhat paternal in his role as a Captain. But it’s the very next scene that brings Historia immediately into focus.

Historia looks suddenly so much maturer here, and the way the scenes sit immediately after one another feels too much like foreshadowing.

If you want the full effect of what I mean here, just rewatch this section of the anime!

We are presented with parallels between them once again. The focus of the crown and power of the monarchy being bestowed on Historia parallels the gift of the serum from Kenny to Levi - drawing on the ‘titan science’ element of the Ackerman heritage, perhaps?

Let me take a moment here, while we have these two visual representations of the Ackerman and Royal bloodlines side by side so perfectly, to point out that Isayama chose to answer a question in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine regarding the nature of a child born of both these bloodlines in 2018:

Q: If a child were to be born between two people from the royal family and the Ackerman family, which blood would take precedence? 

A: I think that both [of their bloodlines] would be reflected.

4. Blood Lines, Identity and Destinies - the Acker/Royal connection

We are still missing some information about the Ackermans, and Mikasa’s own Ackerman powers and behaviours have been a focus in recent chapters, prompting more questions. This suggests that the role of the Ackermans will be important in the story’s finale. With that said, lets have a look at what information we have about them so far in relation to the Royal Family:

- They worked closely with the Royal Family at one time, even being described as their sword and shield until they fell out of favour.

- They cannot be controlled by the king’s vow or have their memories tampered with. For this reason, they became enemies of the crown and the two bloodlines became at odds with one another.

Do either of these scenarios sound familiar in a romantic setting? The knight and princess trope has been hugely popular in fiction for as long as stories have been told - Lancelot and Guinevere is a well known classic. And two feuding families finally brought back together through love by the younger generation? Romeo and Juliet, anyone?

Okay, so maybe I’m reaching here. But Isayama has opened the discourse around this connection between the two bloodlines without concluding it, so I am certain it will have a part to play in upcoming chapters. Why create two characters from said bloodlines with such satisfyingly parallel but awful childhoods, if not to use them in some way to conclude this part of the narrative in the future?

5. The Beast Titan.

Another common plot point that Levi and Historia have is Zeke. The Beast Titan is a defining element in both their arcs. Levi is driven forward by his vow to kill Zeke, and this is repeated to the point where we expect this to be realised, or at least to see some satisfying resolution between the two. Historia’s situation is defined by her vulnerability to being turned into a Titan in order to consume Zeke. This threat to Historia’s life as a normal girl is also repeated across the later story arcs, just as Levi’s vow and apparent destiny to face off again with the Beast Titan is. If we link back to the knight princess trope, we could suggest that Historia is the metaphorical princess, Levi is the metaphorical knight, and The Beast Titan is the metaphorical dragon. The dragon must be slain in order to protect the princess, and the one to do this is always the gallant knight, or the hero. We know that Levi has been labelled Humanity’s Strongest, and even a hero, before.

It has been Levi’s destiny from the start. What's more, what is the crux of Zeke’s plan for Eldians? 

Euthanasia by preventing reproduction. Zeke’s ideology basically directly opposes the values of Levi and Historia - who wish to save as many children as possible.

6. The Smile

If there is one scene Levi fans lost their heads over, it’s this one. The Smile. Who was responsible for getting the sullen Captain to smile? None other than Queen Historia. The one time we get to see a genuine smile from him, in all 131 chapters of SNK, is when Historia playfully punches his arm. I think by this point, it is absolutely fair to say that Levi has a soft spot for her, although I’m not suggesting this is anything romantic at this stage due to her still being a child. What else is interesting about this scene? Let’s look at it from Historia’s point of view. She’s still a 15 year old girl. I’m hardly suggesting she’s got deep, meaningful feelings for a Captain so many years her senior. What I am suggesting, is that clearly there is the beginnings of her seeing him in a different light, and feeling some sort of fondness towards him too. This is also the stereotype of innocent, youthful infatuation - how many times have we seen teenagers play-fighting or bantering with the object of their affections? Something might just be stirring in Historia towards the Captain as she begins her transition into adulthood.

7. THAT (deleted) Scene

Okay, so we can’t very well talk about the smile in the context of this topic without addressing this scene:

There were a few scenes cut to make the uprising arc in the anime more streamlined. This is one of them, and again, has been one of the most talked about. People either love or hate this scene. In the manga, it absolutely sets up some major character growth for Historia, when she goes from being scared and allowing Levi to threaten her into taking an action, to standing up to him atop the wall at Orvud district, throwing his own words back at him. In contrast to Historia’s willingness, Levi becomes more receptive to her perspective and backs down, which also shows his growth. (More on that shortly!)

So, if it adds to the narrative around Levi and Historia, and is a key part of their development as characters, why did Isayama let the studio remove it? It must be because their influence on one another’s growth is no longer important to the story, correct?

If you ask me, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Isayama has stated there were some elements of Uprising that he was unhappy with. Just, for a moment, think how this scene would fit into the bigger picture of a relationship (whether that be deeply platonic or even romantic) between Historia and Levi. Could people get behind that knowing that once, he handled her so roughly? Does keeping this scene as canon for the anime open a can of worms in terms of what is and isn’t acceptable (even more so than the age gap already does) when it comes to a relationship? Could Isayama be seen as glorifying abuse and suggesting that female characters are likely to develop feelings for men who have treated them so poorly in the past? I completely understand Levi’s reasoning for acting this way in this scene, and I loved the set up and pay off later in the arc. However, I do believe that animating this, and then having them become much closer later in the story, could make a backlash likely.

My conclusion to this particular section is - if their influence on one another as characters was unimportant, and the payoff of them reaching a stage where they bring out the best in one another wasn’t relevant to the rest of the story, then The Smile shouldn’t have made it in, right? So much of the set up was removed that it would have been far easier to scrap the scene than to try and figure out another reason for Historia to punch Levi, and make him smile.

That punch was important. It remains for a reason.

8. Levi’s Echo

So, since we discussed the impact of Levi’s words on Historia in the previous point, and how Isayama uses them to illustrate her character growth, let’s jump ahead all the way to chapter 130. We’re now post time skip, where Historia is nineteen. She’s matured now into a young woman - a woman old enough to acceptably conceive a child. This is the chapter which caught everyone’s attention due to Historia’s words to Eren regarding the idea of said child. But first of all, I want to focus on a scene which appears a couple of panels before her question:

‘It’s not as if I’ve just been tending to cattle all this time.’

What does this line mean? The only thing we know in terms of what Historia has been doing in the time skip is that she set up an Orphanage that Levi was also very much invested in and supported her with. So she’s not only been tending to cattle, but ... tending to orphans? With the Captain’s help?

Remember how we said that Isayama doesn’t include subtle details unless there’s a reason. Having Levi support her with the orphanage as a way to show how much he cares about the poorer children wasn’t needed - we already know from several instances discussed earlier that he cares about that topic deeply. So surely this must have been a small detail to set up for a later reveal?

This line alone is interesting, but not necessarily enough to suggest a big influence from Levi. But it’s the next line that grabs attention:

‘There’s no need to fight or run.’

What does this echo?

In my mind, the reason served by this dialogue in 130 is twofold. It works with both the literal events of the deleted scene, and also with the reader’s knowledge that the scene was disregarded later:

1. There is no reason to run or to fight, because Levi is on her side now. When he originally spoke those words to her - run from me or fight me - they were used in reference to what he and the corps were going to make her do - ie, become Queen. Now, they are not forcing her to do anything - they aren’t making her comply with the 50 year plan of producing as many royal children as possible and turning herself into a titan. Instead, she’s empowered by them, and very importantly, him, to make her own decisions while they try to figure out an alternative. (Why do I say him? I’ll cover this in the next point). And yet ... she still chooses to bear a child. A child born of love, not necessity. This is the difference between the birth of her child, and her own birth. And funnily enough, Levi’s birth, too. 

The cycle of history is being broken.

2. Her words serve as a reminder that in the revised version of events, Levi never even forced that choice upon her in the first place. He’s always been her ally and treated her with care and respect. Even more reason for her to value and care for him in return. There really is no need to run or fight - from the military police, because she will bear a child, stopping them from turning her - or from Levi, either. 

9. The Hooded Figure

As promised, let me explain why I say that Levi empowers Historia (yet again) to make her own decisions. My good friend Key made a wonderful discovery regarding the hooded figure panel, and honestly, based on the evidence I’ve seen, I’d be prepared to bet a whole lot on this next claim:

Levi is the hooded figure who warned Historia of the plan to turn her.

I’ve shared Key’s original post previously, but here’s the gist, with some added observations.

Levi from the hallway; Levi from that iconic scene, fits the dimensions of the hooded figure perfectly, without having to adjust the panel sizes. 

The jacket worn is lighter in colour than Eren’s standard black one, but is reminiscent of the jackets worn by the Levi Squad in the uprising arc. The only other clue we’re given to work from is that the figure has their hands in their pockets.

Hmm ... you know who else has a habit of stuffing his hands in his pockets?

So if Levi is the one who warned Historia, is that why she subtly uses his words when talking to Eren?

Let me return to chapter 130 once more, and just invite you to read the following panels from a different angle.

10. Mikasa-Eren/Levi-Historia Parallels

Alright, so this is a bit of a head-mash, but just consider what I’m about to say. In our panels with the Historia-Eren-Zeke conversation, Mikasa is never mentioned by name once. Zeke mentions ‘this Ackerman girl,’ however there is no confirmation that Eren was in fact talking about Mikasa when he asked Zeke about the Ackerman traits ...

Isayama only shows us the conversation with Zeke after Eren has just spoken to Historia about her fate and what the Paradis government want her to do in terms of bearing children. If these are just all memory fragments of Eren’s, why would discussing this with Historia suddenly make Eren think of a conversation about Ackerman traits with Zeke?

In this conversation, Zeke puts two and two together and gathers that Eren is asking these questions because of Mikasa. He then tells him how much Mikasa obviously cares about Eren, regardless of any��‘ingrained behaviour.’ What does Eren then link this with?

The conversation where Historia asks him what he’d think if she was to bear a child. What does ingrained Ackerman behaviour and Mikasa’s true feelings have to do with Historia’s child?

I want to suggest this possibility: this conversation has nothing to do with Mikasa’s feelings for Eren, and everything to do with Levi’s feelings for Historia.

Eren even confirms that Zeke has the wrong end of the stick with asking him how he will respond to Mikasa’s feelings.

What are you even talking about?

Here, he is not considering how he will respond to Mikasa, because he can’t even contemplate that with what he is about to do, and how long he has left to live (although this may have then prompted his later conversation with Mikasa after the market - where he sees Levi save the boy that he will later kill - do you see how this is all linking together?)

Here he means the lives of Historia, her child, and potentially even Levi, as well of course as Armin, Mikasa and the rest of his friends. Want to know why I think that? Isayama hinted it. Again.

We have the image of Historia, suggesting the idea of bearing a child, followed by the image of the child Levi saved, followed by the image of Levi himself.

Isayama draws every detail in every panel for a reason. If part of his conclusion to this manga involves Levi and Historia intertwined and the birth of an Ackerman-Royal child, it won’t be a massively random idea.

It will contribute to an ending where the clues were there all along, but we never really considered them.

(There’s more, so much more, but I have to stop somewhere or I won’t leave my computer. If anyone wants a part two because you’re thirsty for more of this crap, drop me a comment!)

[raeynbowboi]

The Dragon Prince’s Arthurian Connections

I’ve seen some connections made between The Dragon Prince and Arthurian legend before, but in the past, that was usually more of a cursory glance at BBC’s Merlin from 2008, comparing Soren and Callum to Arthur and Merlin, and also being an excuse to ship them. Whereas here, I want to genuinely examine the similarities between the characters.

In the versions of stories where Arthur grows up in the royal palace, Arthur becomes king after his father is killed in battle when the prince is only 15 years old. Similarly, King Harrow is (at least assumed) to have died in combat with moonshadow elf assassins, leaving the very young prince as heir to the throne. While Arthur couldn’t talk to animals, Arthur is often toted as an example of a good, wise king, who put the needs of his subjects first, and ruled justly and kindly, just as we see Ezran do.

Aside from the obvious being a wizard thing, Merlin was a lifelong friend of both Uther and his son, Arthur. In some versions of Merlin’s backstory, Merlin’s father was an incubus who seduced a mortal woman, but she had baby Merlin baptised, cleansing him of his infernal ancestry. While we know very little about Callum’s father, if he’s intended to be ‘demonized’ as a negligent drifter who abandoned his family, this would loosely correlate to Merlin’s origins. Merlin was also a shapeshifter, and Callum learning to grow wings is a small but neat parallel. This could also mean that Callum’s role in Katollis will be to serve as an advisor to Ezran. He’s also older than Ezran, just as Merlin is always depicted as being older than Arthur.

Lancelot is the bravest knight of the round table, and the best swordsman in Camelot.He is often Arthur’s most trusted knight, as Lancelot’s father supported Arthur’s claim to the throne of England after Uther’s death. Similarly, Soren is an elite member of the royal crownsguard, though I don’t remember if they say he’s just a number in the ranks, or the commander of the crownguard, but he’s also the youngest crownguard in history, which speaks highly of his skill and prowess in combat. He’s skilled enough to be entrusted with teaching the royal princes in swordfighting.

In early myths, Morgan is the kind enchantress ally to Arthur. In these older texts she’s actually not related to him whatsoever. Later adaptations spun Morgan from a fairy enchantress into a human witch, studying under Merlin with a voracious appetite for learning. Despite pop culture depictions, Morgan didn’t hate Arthur so much as she hated Guinevere. When Morgan was arranged to marry a man she couldn’t stand, she became quite... well-known among the young men of Camelot, and Guinevere discovered her liaisons and chastised her (how ironic), leading to a longstanding feud between Morgan and Guinevere. Morgan’s character shifts as the Arthurian myths evolve, and the kind fairy enchantress who helped Arthur slowly became the bitter resentful witch who turned to black magic on a path for vengeance and power lust, mirroring Claudia’s own fall from sweet goofball with a fondness for learning into a dark witch willing to sacrifice everything in the pursuit of her goals.

Now, obviously, the whole Lancelot/Guinevere tryst is made MEGA ewwwwww with this comparison, but if Ezran’s going to marry another royal, Queen Anya is the most likely candidate. She’s of a similar age, probably no more than a year or two apart, and some versions of Guinevere have had her be the brains behind the marriage. She’s proven herself to be clever and capable, and she seems to be a fan favorite character, so an arranged marriage between them doesn’t seem farfetched. Unfortunately, Guinevere really doesn’t tend to do much in Arthurian legends outside of the Lancelot stuff, so there’s not a lot of comparisons to make here. Um, in the Canterbury Tales, Arthur leaves all ‘women’s matters’ to his queen, meaning that if it’s a women’s rights issue, Guinevere gets final say in all legal rulings, so I guess that’s pretty cool and progressive of Chaucer which is... extremely ironic.

Arthur’s father, Uther, is the king before him. Uther dies in combat before Arthur ascends to the throne, but Uther has his own story. Namely, that he falls in love with a woman who is already married, and has with her a son, who becomes the half-sibling to a mage. Likewise, Harrow falls in love with Serai, a woman who has been married before, they have a son, and the prince’s half-sibling learns magic. In this scenario, Queen Serai is Igerna, but Igerna has little to no personality or plot to speak of, so I’m just lumping her into Harrow’s section. Uther is also important to the next character.

A lesser-known villain in the Arthurian mythos, most film adaptations ignore Vortigern because he’s not a villain of Arthur, but a villain of Uther. Vortigern is the royal advisor to Uther’s father Constans, and also his eldest brother, Maines. Vortigern manipulates Maines to make him look weak-willed and to turn public opinion against him. Vortigern then overthrows Maines with the favor of the people, leaving Maine’s brothers, Pandragon and Uther, to slay Vortigern and reclaim their kingdom from the wicked advisor. Pandragon ruled for a short while before dying without an heir and leaving the throne to his brother Uther, who took the surname Pendragon as homage to his dear brother. There’s also loose corelations with Mordred, the traitor who usurps the throne from Arthur when he’s busy declaring war on Lancelot for the whole infidelity fiasco.

While this connection is weak and loose, The Lady of the Lake (Evienne, Nimue, Vivienne, etc.) is a vaguely fey magical woman connected with a very specific lake. The Moon Nexus, which Lujanne guards, is also a very specific and important lake. While she hasn’t given Ezran a sword, nor did she raise Soren, the parallels do exist, however faintly.

[havenigs]

hello, it’s nice to meet you! i’m rin, 21+ and going to she/her pronouns. i’m at gmt+7 (pain) but mostly nocturnal. please take care of my bub well, below is his brief info, i’ll probably polished it in the near future but this is what i have of him atm. 

Name: Arthur Kwon Age: twenty six Date/Place of birth: 6th may 1995, busan / south korea  Height: 174cm / 5”7’ Weight: 65kg Sexuality: bisexual Occupation: youtuber, twitch streamer

( information )

His father, Kwon Ilsung, married his mother, Emilia Martin. He was born in Busan but moved to wolvepine at the age of eleven, because his mother wanted to go back to her hometown. 

His father is a cafe owner in wolvepine, where he often does some live sessions either on thursday, friday or weekend night. His mother is a lead designer of a clothing brand. 

He’s much closer to his father than his mother, since she’s always busy. But nevertheless, he loved them both with all his heart. 

Arthur grew up with supportive parents. He tried a lot of things when he grew up, ranging from swimming to even piano lessons and several martial arts classes too. But the thing that sticks to him the most is singing and dancing. 

Arthur has always liked languages, thus at a young age was taught how to speak English by his mother, Korean by his father and taught himself Japanese during high school. 

His family has 8 corgi dogs, which are respectively named after the Knights of Round Table (because his name is Arthur, get it?). 

The mother’s name is Guinevere and the father is Lancelot, with their six litters from oldest to youngest named Agravain, Gawain, Bedivere, Galahad, Tristan and Mordred. 

Arthur became a youtuber out of a whim. It was for his first year graphic design project where his team has to make a youtube account to showcase their work for the final exam. Finding that it’ll be a waste to just deactivate, Arthur started to upload videos about the daily lives of his dogs. 

To his surprise, it gained quite a lot of views. So he kept uploading about his dogs on a weekly basis, at first he remained faceless but then did a face reveal three years after he started the youtube channel. 

It seemed that his viewers started to show interest in him, so he made a separate account for himself too. But that daily vlogs didn't last very long because of Arthur's introverted and reclusive life after graduation (finding a job is hard), so he switched his content to gaming content. 

Eventually, Arthur managed to gain a lot of money from streaming and becoming a youtuber that he’s able to buy his own place in Stream View along with his eight dogs since his parents are busy. 

( personality )

If one has been watching his vlogs, you’ll know that Arthur is loud, funny and competitive. He’s creative to some extent and very dedicated to whatever that he has put his mind into, whether it’s tending his dogs or playing games. He can also be very competitive and hates losing, he’s not obliged to cheat either.

But outside of his internet persona, Arthur is shy and reserved. He’s humble and nice to people at best until you get to know him deeper. He’s charismatic when he sings on the stage of his father’s cafe.

Very impulsive, especially when it comes to his spending. His life motto is better to regret buying than not buying. Though outside of this, he’s the type to not think much before getting to action.

In addition to that, he’s an opportunist. He has confidence in his current skill set that he has and is very open to any opportunity given to him. You’ll probably see him in a few weddings as the main singer of the band or in birthday parties too.

He’s also very clumsy and forgetful, sometimes it shows during his vlogs when he accidentally fell tripping on a pebble or forgetting where he put his phone at.

Arthur repressed most of his emotions a lot. He doesn’t really talk much about himself or his problems but sometimes divert the topic to other people or maybe even games or his dogs. Despite him being friendly and having an out-going personality, he keeps them at an arm's length.

He doesn’t fall in love with people easily, perhaps it’s the hardest thing he can do. Very afraid of commitment, thus why his hesitance of going on a date or even falling in love.

He’s also very dense with romantic advances, like you have to be blunt or else he’ll think you’re just flirting in a friendly way.

He has quite a trust issue with people, only trusts three (3) people in his life with his problems and insecurities.

His life motto is fake it till you make it, thus pushing his insecurities away and hope that he’ll make it out somehow. Most likely to fight with either his blunt words or even his fists if anyone insults his family and friends, he’s mostly selfless and doesn't care what people say about him but it’s not the same if it’s about his family and friends.

( youtuber / streamer details )

He handles two youtube accounts, one for his dogs called Arthur and the Round Corgis, which has over 4.8 million subscribers and his own account, Arthur Kwon, which has around 3.5 million subscribers. 

He uploads to the dogs channel weekly on Saturdays. While he does his gaming streams every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Sometimes he uploads random videos too as a surprise (more like, if he feels like it). 

For his dog content, he mostly uploads his everyday life with eight dogs. Sometimes he does various funny skits with his dogs as the main characters or his attempt to make some ‘fancy’ food dish for his dogs which usually ends up in chaos. 

For his own channel, it’s more random. Sometimes he uploads vlogs, maybe a song or dance cover, and even an ASMR.

Everyone knows that it’s not advisable to listen to Arthur’s streams with headphones because he’s very loud, especially if he plays horror games. 

His streams range from two hours to five at the maximum. He doesn’t really stick to one genre of a game, he either plays the ones that’s recommended to him by his friends and viewers or the ones he is interested in. 

Currently, his favorite game is PUBG, Don’t Starve Together (played along with his fellow gaming streamers) and Genshin Impact--where he’ll stream either of those games in the week.

( trivias )

He has very poor eyesight. He mostly uses transparent contact lenses or glasses when he’s feeling lazy to put them on. 

He actually doesn’t really think much of his sexuality. Though he’s leaning more to men and his parents knew it as he told them about it in one drunken night. (got grounded too because he got drunk).

The type of person who set his own curfews too because his social battery isn’t that long. Also always seek his mother’s approval when it comes to buying expensive things or doing something new. 

When stressed, change hair color. 

He’s not very fashionable, and always sticks to t-shirts and jeans. If you see that he dresses up well and nice, it’s thanks to his mother. 

His favorite food is anything involving chicken and potatoes. He has a great dislike for garlic and cucumbers. 

He can cook to some extent, but the only two dishes he’s confident in cooking are instant noodles and rice. 

He has a black belt in hapkido. 

Has a degree in graphic design, graduated after five years because he didn’t finish his project in time (sad). 

A very random skill that he acquired is fishing and deboning fishes. 

( wanted connections )

these are just the ideas that I come up with at the moment. I'm open with pretty much anything really just hmu! 

best friend

that person who has all his impulse control

coffee friend

secret boyfriend?

hook up  

the dog owner who grabbed his corgi heart

[petrichorblue94]

1) Ahahah don't worry I actually like long answers and I want to apologize because I will probably divide this in more asks. I understand why you don't like the Guinevere of the legends but she probably couldn't just leave Arthur because of the time period, I don't think that divorce was a thing in a time when women were seen as objects and Lancelot and Guinevere are like symbols for the courtly love genre that was all about adultery-

2)(it was about erotic love and it wasn't perceived as something that could be found in marriage). Considering the fact that almost in every piece of contemporary media there is a love triangle nothing can surprise me.- 

3)But I wouldn't like it if they just turn Lancelot's redemption arc in some sort of teenage love story with Nimue, I hope that they will make it more psychological and not "oh they are hot and they should be together" like most of the Nimulot shippers write, honestly the way most of them are trying to make everything in this fandom about a relationship that is not happening yet is really annoying and kinda morbid (I don't even know if this word exists, it makes sense in my language though). -

4)Someone suggested that Lancelot was abused and he needs a soft partner by his side but is the Nimue that we know now the right person? She has her own traumas and problems to deal with. I think that Lancelot needs someone strong, someone wise and who has seen more world than Nimue (because she still has a lot of personal growth in front of her) someone that can carry his pain with him, not a teenager with a sword-

5)(teenage heroine is the word that was used to describe her in all the plots that I found so it's not just me being salty, it's a fact). Lesbian Red Spear would be EPIC and I hope that my girl Pym is bisexual (too much chaotic energy, I recognize a colleague when I see one)

No worries! 

I think that in this version where ‘the sword chooses a queen’ and Guinevere is a biking pirate leader, she could definitely leave Arthur if she wanted. 

I still don’t like the idea of Lancelot and Guinevere despite their circumstances in the legends, sorry. Infidelity is always something I’ve despised mainly because the reason why I haven’t seen my dad since I was a kid is that he had a mistress, married her and then when she got pregnant she made him choose between me and her and their daughter... so one day he just called my mum and told her that he won’t be keeping contact with me anymore. So the fact that Guinevere ran away with Lancelot, a married man with a kid, and that she herself was also married, is inexcusable in my eyes. And I don’t give a damn if there were no divorces in the past (well, there were in the Viking culture if I recall correctly). 

I mean, divorce is the world’s best invention because so many people can leave their toxic/abusive spouses, or if they just fall out of love with them. 

I’ve always considered Tristan and Iseult my personal epitome of courtly love mainly because she never wanted to be married to her husband (all my knowledge about them is from the James Franco movie though). 

(3) I also don’t want Lancelot’s redemption arc to be so closely associated with Nimue. He’s his own person and he’s making a progress without any romance whatsoever. I do think she’ll be a key part in his arc because they’re so closely connected in the legends (she’s the lady of the lake and he’s Lancelot of the Lake and she made him who he is). 

But it’s Netflix and they already made the romance department of the show feel so YA with the whole unnecessary Nimue x Arthur subplot. So I won’t be surprised if they fail in executing Lancelot’s redemption arc correctly. 

I think most of us nimulots ship them because Nimue’s initially pure and soft and gets hardened by circumstances and Lancelot’s corrupted and hard but he gets ‘softened’. Their parallels are so strong. And basically, many of us crave the tension that can be felt between these two characters who haven’t even talked to each other yet. 

At the end of the day, we all have different romantic cravings, so to say. And many girls usually base their OTP on the girl we identify with, with the guy we want to bang the most. So I guess that nimulots feel like Nimue is much easier to relate to than Guinevere. 

(4) Nimue and Lancelot have many parallels and while she’s also traumatised, that’s one of the reasons we ship them. She’ll understand him, she won’t just mother him and tell him something wise and to toughen up when he feels broken, she’ll be able to tell him “I know how you feel. You’re not alone.”  And I don’t think that Guinevere would ever be able to get him on that level, even if she’s older than Nimue.

I don’t think Lancelot needs someone to carry the pain with him, he’s not some weak man who needs a woman to make him better, he just needs understanding and he needs to feel like he has atoned and he’s alright with God again. And that’s his own journey, no lover should be involved in it. I really hope they won’t butcher that but they probably will. Or maybe it will be just him and Percival throughout the series. 

The interesting part of the whole Nimulot ship however, is that Nimue has already loved someone who’s murdered innocent people when he was corrupted - her father, Merlin. Now the Merlin in the legends hadn’t done things like that and the moment I saw that her dad was so similar to the Weeping Monk and that he said that he had ‘many different lives‘ and Nimue forgave him, I knew that they were building the bridge to Nimulot.

(5) Lesbian Red Spear would indeed be epic because she (hopefully) won’t be in any love triangles and will just fuck off to explore the world with Pym (and yesss, bisexual Pym is totally canon) or maybe Morgana. Who knows, maybe instead of the brother, she’ll go for the sister haha. But with those sparks that flew between her and Arthur in the final episode, I doubt that. There’s always fanfiction though! 

[melnchly-a]

@messianique​ sent: we had guin gush about arthur, so can guin gush about LANCE NOW? what does she love about him? why does she love him so much? how does she come to even fall in love with him in the first place? what makes her really decide to have an affair with him despite her also loving her husband???

gosh OKAY. 

i think her initial attraction to lancelot is that he’s Different, and then - - just slightly further - - there’s something in him that seems a lot like the part of herself she has to hide in order to be the type of queen she thinks she’s supposed to be. something that doesn’t quite fit in court, something wild. i do also think that there’s a part of her that?? sort of just intrinsically likes the qualities that make you relate him to dogs asdfghjk there’s a deep-rooted love and loyalty to him once that’s won, and though she sees that first with his dedication to arthur, she likes it immediately. and then it just? it just takes her being herself to soften him toward her, and that love and loyalty turns toward her, too, and though she doesn’t know that’s what’s happening intellectually, she feels it. they’re very much alike, and the times she’s spoken to him or been with him alone, she doesn’t feel the same pressure to be the high queen. there’s a freedom to being with him that she can’t help but like. as things develop between them, i think she also really likes the contrast in the way he is with her: how passionate they are together, the fact that he doesn’t treat her like she’s made out of glass, and yet when there are quiet moments he can be stunningly gentle. 

she falls in love with him sort of in the background of her own mind/heart, if that make sense. sort of slowly at first, then in a way that she doesn’t immediately recognize as love, and then all at once. it starts off by just knowing him at court/seeing him with arthur, then getting to know him more closely/personally when he’s the one to rescue her from kidnapping attempts, then the start of their affair. i do think a lot of that is mostly attraction with like? foundational elements of becoming a Real Relationship, but a lot of the more deep emotional connection happens after the affair actually starts. not that it isn’t there before, that connection. it certainly is. it’s just the beginnings, though, and then they strengthen over time. 

as far as her deciding to have an affair, that’s...more complex than anything else asdfg. we talked briefly about this, but i really do think there’s a part of guinevere that at least inwardly resents the way arthur puts camelot before her. it starts to feel like that happens every time, and while she would have known going into the marriage that he’s a king, that he would have to prioritize his kingdom over even her, i don’t think she fully knew the extent to which that would happen. so while lancelot always being the one there to guard/rescue her from the kidnappings/kidnapping attempts is not the real impetus for her jumping into an affair, it reflects what she’s already starting to resent. lancelot, on the other hand...doesn’t do that. he’s the one sending knights back to swear to her, he’s the one coming to her rescue, etc, so while i don’t think that’s an active part of her decision-making it’s definitely an underlying factor. 

and then, of course, as i’ve spoken on before, lancelot is the first person guin really got to choose, and the dancing around before/at the start of the affair is the closest to a courtship she’s really ever had. her marriage to arthur was much more contractual, without much of a courtship period happening beforehand. 

and, last, there are a few facts, considering that guinevere does have a.) an impulsive streak, b.) a fondness for physical touch as an expression of love, c.) a much more....frank? i guess? view of sex/sexuality than would have been a standard in a kingdom like camelot at that time. idk where it comes from, tbh, but it’s just. part of her. 

so when all of those things combine AND they have the opportunity, she does kind of just. jump into the affair. i don’t know whether she expected to last as long as it did, but she absolutely walked into it with her eyes wide open. 

lastly, i think? from the beginning, at least for guinevere, the loves she feels for lancelot and arthur is just....both very distinct and very much the same all at once. she really does see them as halves of a whole, and loving both halves means loving the whole. intellectually she knows that having an affair isn’t what she’s supposed to be doing, that it goes against the vows she took, but even those vows are so tied up in her internalized resentment at not having a choice in her life. so she really just. doesn’t feel she’s doing anything wrong by loving. and, in her mind, hidden love isn’t really love at all, so why wouldn’t she act on it? 

ASK ME HEADCANON QUESTIONS ABOUT MY MUSES : ACCEPTING!

[diaryofanobsessivefangirl]

Masterlist of Ships Subtropes

Dynamic tropes

Puppy love

Romance between children.

Examples: Gendry x Arya, Arnold x Helga, Mike x Eleven, Shaoran x Sakura

Childhood Acquaintance

They meet when they were children, regardless of the frequency or how close they were. They may have been raised together, may have saw each other every now and then, or even just once.

Used to be Friends

Examples: Petyr x Catelyn; Erik x Christine; Mina x Lucy

Used to be Lovers

Couples that were officially together (At least had sex) before everything went to hell. Ships that only flirted, such as Anna/David (The Guest) and Jackson/Lisa (Red Eye) are not included.

Examples: Athos x Milady; Tom x Elizabeth (The Blacklist); Dolores x William

Love Makes You Evil

A character who was originally good but did things for love that turn him to the dark side.

Examples: Anakin, Petyr Baelish and Claude Frollo

Love Makes You Crazy

A character driven to the brick of sanity because of love.

Example: Claude Frollo from Notre Dame de Paris and Ram from Princess Daisy

Not So Different After All

Opposites/rivals/enemies that actually have many hidden similarities. They are canonically each other’s shadow and are compared as two sides of the same coin.

Example: Anne x Vincent, Steerpike x Fuchsia, Kylo x Rey, Jackson x Lisa

Love Beyond Death

Meeting in the after-life, meeting reincarnation or person coming back from the dead.

Example: Catherine x Heathcliff, Petyr x Catelyn, Dracula x Mina, Naraku x Kikyo

Dragging You to the Gutter with Me

A villain turns a heroine into a brutal lonely broken thing only he can understand what it’s like to be, and still she won’t come to him. So what keeps them together is also what keeps them apart. Read more.

Example: Naraku and Kikyo; Alina and Darkling; Petyr and Catelyn; Dolores and William

In Love with the Mark

A man who works for some really big, bad guys. He may or not believe in their ideology; that is not the point. He is there for the money and he prides himself of his professionalism. For some reason, this organization working on the shadows have “business” to deal with this ordinary everyday woman. So he is hired to stalk, threaten, or even kill her. Turns out, Stalking is Love, and he develops feelings for his target. That doesn’t stop him from keeping up with the job, thought. He had to be undercover to get closer, so cases of Used to be Lovers/Friends are probably included. You will likely hear from a character In Love With the Mark the quote “It wasn’t personal.”

Example: Jack/Angela; Jackson/Lisa; Vincent/Anne; Tom/Lizzie (Jacob/Masha); Skye/Ward

The Queen and her Champion

Woman occupies traditionally feminine roles of power and the man is an example of masculinity for others. She uses clever words, social understanding and schemes. He is her sword and her armor, but nothing more. Because of their different stances, he is bound to be close to her he protects, but never with her.

Examples: Maly and Alina; Zelda and Link; Lancelot and Guinevere; Rhaenyra Targaryen and Criston Cole; Daenerys and Ser Jorah; Every Elizabeth Tudor romance, Queen Anne and Aramis; Lucrezia and Cesare; Cersei and Jaime.

Art Inspires Love

When character A realizes or falls (more) in love with character B after watching him dance, sing, or doing something artistic.

Examples: Frollo/Esmeralda, Christine/Erik, Hap/Prairie, Isaura/Leôncio, Anne/Vincent, Sandor/Sansa and Babydoll/Blue Jones.

Supernatural Connection

The characters have a psychic or physical connection. Maybe they can communicate through telepathy or can feel each other’s presence and emotions when they are nearby. There might be a spell connecting their hearts in a way one can only die when the other one does. Maybe they are twins. Whatever the reason, these characters are bonded in a way no one else could be.

Examples: Kylo x Rey, Nuada x Nuala, Darkling x Alina and Cersei x Jaime.

The Frollo Effect

A guy falls in love with a girl he is suppose to reject, repulse or dehumanize, and fights against it. By trying to suppress it, her converts love into hatred against her and himself, and probably punishes both hoping it will make the feeling go away. It does not work and the guy starts doing things he never thought he was capable of in order to deal with this unbearable need. He is usually proud, rational and very in control of himself until she comes along. Her initial dismissal as a suitor commonly starts out as social expectation - in which the characters are from divergent social segments and ideologically separated -, but it’s always a expectation the guy has over himself, regardless if anyone else imposes this on him.

Examples: Esmeralda x Frollo (Gypsy and priest), Amon x Helen (Jew and nazi), Isaura x Leôncio (Slave and master), Daisy x Ram (Sister and brother), William x Dolores (Host and guest) and Hap x Prairie (Subject and scientist)

Bonding undercover

When the bad guy pretends to be a normal person long enough to befriend the good girl and make her fall in love with him. This is usually how tragically two-sided vxh happens, because she gets to know his other side before the bad one gets in the way, but they can still have a happy ending because it also establishes they could have the base for a healthy relationship if only he could abandon his malicious quest. This only happens when the girl develops deeply romantic feelings for him; if it's only a crush or devilish attraction (Red Eye, The OA and Agents of SHIELD) than it doesn't count. She must be sobbing on the floor when this is done. May also involve an amnesia period in which the antagonist approaches the hero as an old friend or a lover.

Examples: Steerpike and Fuchsia, Christine and Erik, Kiara and Kovu, Elizabeth and Tom, Dracula and Vanessa

Generation Parallel

A love story doesn’t end up well. Years later another generation repeats the first one in a slightly different manner. Most of the time, the parallel between the two affairs means the characters from the first one have the chance to develop as we wished they would, and that their love might have grown roots under a different field. Sometimes it just means shit happens no matter the circumstances, and that people will make the same mistakes of their elderlies despite that they should have known better by now. If we are talking about the first generation’s offspring (Incest not necessarily included), it might mean their love is on their DNA and they would fall over and over again under different names and places. In any case, this trope is the romantic side of History Repeats Itself.

Very common theme in incest, because their birth requires a previous affair between their parents, but it only counts if it is a story on its own, full of ups and downs, and people talk about it. If it’s not mentioned or important to the plot, there is no point in calling it Generation Parallel.

Examples: Jaime and Cersei (Joana and Tywin), Arya and Gendry/Jon (Lyanna and Robert/Rhaegar), Catherine and Hareton (Cathy and Heathcliff), Abby and Henry (Wakefield and Sarah), Rey and Kylo (Padme and Anakin), Isaura and Leôncio (Almeida and Juliana), Leonardo e Marina (Pilar e Murilo).

Roaring Rampage of Romance

Love that starts a war and the main plot. Characters that destroy cities and galaxies because Love Made Them Evil, because they are trying to be with whom they love or to secure their safety and happiness. It might be on purpose, in which they have foreseen the consequences but choose to take them anyway as a means to an end, or it was accidental. There may be decades of conflict and the count of a hundred corpses, or maybe a famous massacre with a handful dead extras. Maybe a murderer is hunting down everyone on an Island so that he can be alone with his beloved. Anyway, innocent people that had nothing to do with them nor interfered with the couple’s happiness will suffer the collateral damage.

Common trope among royalty, since marrying or bearing the children of someone you were not supposed to could have disastrous consequences to the State, still people would do it for love.

If the character is causing the rampage in search for something else, like power, and to secure his beloved is an incidental bonus, it isn’t considered Roaring Rampage of Romance, unless he is doing it because Love Has Made Him Evil. Alina/Darkling and Nuada/Nuala, for instance, don’t fit this category.

Examples: Penny Dreadful, Inuyasha, ASoIaF (Rhaegar x Lyanna, Jaime x Cersei, Petyr x Catelyn), Harper’s Island, Westworld, Notre Dame de Paris, Wuthering Heights, The Phantom of the Opera, Bram Stroker’s Dracula, Apollo and Cassandra, Star Wars (Anakin and Padmé)

Taboo Tropes

Incest

Self-explanatory. Cousins will not be considered incest in here. I’m brazilian.

Subtrope: Decadent Aristocrats

Ho Yay

Homosexual couples

Age gap

Ships with age gap between then, 10 years at least. Supernatural/immortal beings won’t be taken into account unless the other part is a child or coming of age.

Wife Husbandry

A man adopts or temporarily takes care of a little girl. She may or not develop a precocious crush on him. Little girl grows up into a extraordinary and desirable woman. She had him on a pedestal all these years and has been saving herself for him. Man is distressed bc he can’t reconcile the image of the child he cherished as a father and the provoking woman she turned out to be. He mostly resists her advances, but they work that out by the end.

Example: Older!Mathilda/Leon AU, Nancy/Hartigan (Sin City), Veronica/William (Final Girl)

Development Tropes

End game ship

Is not everyday an OTP becomes end game

AU ship

A.k.a. “Canon? Who needs canon?” ships. OTPs that had a lot of potential but were ruined by canon. So either I ignore the end they were given, either some parts in the middle. Unlike Not Canon ships, these were meant to be romantically involved, but the way it was executed ruined it.

Secondary Interest ship

That One Scene ships are the ones with nothing shippable except for one or two scenes. Sometimes is not even canon and are more anti-recs than anything, but it’s still about villain x heroine, so it’s relevant to this blog.

Not canon

Word of God stayed silent and, according to my best judgment, the subtext was not enough. If something sexual or romantic happens between the characters but isn’t based on desire, such as the villain seducing the heroine for his advantage, it’s not canon.

Example: Scream (Billy/Sidney), Kim Possible (Kim/Shego), Mulan (Mulan x Shan Yu), World Without End (Carys x Edward), Sky High (Layla x Warren), Star Wars (Obi-Wan x Padmé), Richard III (Anne x Richard), Tesis (Angela x Bosco)

[ahomeganeyatsu]

SHEITH - KINGSMAN AU Drabble

So ever since I saw that Shiro Mafia AU (which I honestly thought was a Kingsman AU) by @lordzuuko I have been itching to write something for it. And here it is. This is for Cathrel, thanks for creating such beautiful art dude.

Be warned I have no idea what it’s like to be a Spy orz so forgive the inaccuracies.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to DreamWorks.

(๑•̀ㅂ •́)و ✧

They’re shoved up against an alcove. Chests rising and falling as they try to quiet their breaths to not give themselves away. The smell of gunpowder, sweat and blood stick to their skins. Despite the issued guns Merlin gave them and the efficiency it gave to getting the job done much quicker, Keith preferred his blade and hand-to-hand combat training. Galahad told him he should learn to use the damned gun if he wanted get things done faster and saving him time or earning him extra to get the mission done. Keith thinks the man was a bit of a hypocrite considering Keith had seen feeds of his missions and watched him incapacitate guards and obstacles with his bare hands.

Keith strains his ears to catch the sound of fading footfalls. He hears the men speak in their guttural sounding language, it sounded German but not quite. He waits a few beats more to make sure the coast was clear. He tries ignoring the warm breath ruffling the hairs on his nape or the large hand on his waist. Or the fact that there’s warm liquid seeping into his suit. He grits his teeth, buries the screaming voice inside of his head and focuses on their current situation.

“K… Keith,” a voice whispers close to his ear. Keith ignores the labored breathing and steps out of the alcove pulling his companion along with him. They run and Keith spots a door, part of him tells him to keep moving. Their comms were down and Pidge wasn’t there to guide them. He does know that she’s doing everything in her power to restore the connection. Still, he knows he doesn’t have much time. But he also needs to do something first before they even begin to move.

He tries the door and he’s not surprised to find out that it’s locked. He digs through his pockets and takes out the lock-picking set Pidge had given him. He makes quick work of the door and pushes inside, Lancelot following suit. The room they got into was an office. There’s a large desk - complete with a desktop computer - near the windows, a couch, a bar in a corner and the generic things you would find in what seemed to belong to a high-ranking office worker.

Keith walks to the bar and grabs one of the bottles of alcohol. He digs through the drawers for a first aid kit and lets out a satisfied grunt when he does find it. Lancelot is leaning on the desk and Keith lays out the things he’ll need on the unoccupied space. He gently removes the hand putting pressure on the bleeding wound and checks it.

It’s not too deep, thank goodness. Keith shuts the voice up that’s telling him this is all his fault and mechanically starts cleaning the wound and patching Lancelot up. He could hear the grunts and hitched breathing as Lancelot bites off the sounds of pain. The idiot was still acting tough. Not that Keith would be any different. He is ignoring the twinge in his leg. Or that some of the blood staining his suit wasn’t Lancelot’s or the goons they had faced.

“Hey, Keith.” Lancelot calls him. But Keith only frowns and continues to wrap the bandages around his side. “Come on, Keith. You can’t still be mad at me. I said I was sorry.” Keith’s lips almost quirk at the definite whine tainting that deep smooth voice.

Focus, Kogane, he scolds himself, mentally shaking his head. He needs to get this done. Needs to make sure that he’s doing this right. Needs to assure himself that he’s doing something right. That Lancelot’s going to be all right. So concentrates at his task.

He scowls as the bandage loosens at Lancelot’s movement. “Shut up and stay still,” Keith growls in frustration as he pulls the bandages a little tighter in retaliation.

Lancelot grunts and even if Keith isn’t looking, he knows the man is frowning at him. “Be a little gentle, please? I know I probably deserve it for eating your caramel flan but I was too hungry and I’m an idiot for not checking if it had a note. I promise I’ll beg Hunk to make you some more.”

“It’s not about the damned caramel flan,” the younger man huffs as he finishes wrapping the bandages neatly.

“Then what? Is it Black? She didn’t grab your favorite hoodie, did she? You know how she likes your scent on it. Or did Lance get into your nerves again? Want me to talk to Hunk?”

“Dammit Shiro. It’s none of those things!” Keith shouts, fists clenching and unclenching as the guilt gnaws at his insides. “I shouldn’t have pushed Galahad to let me come with you. Our mission was to gather intel. We were supposed to be in and out within fifteen minutes. Plug the thumb drive into the terminal and let Pidge’s program do its thing. But I insisted on checking the shipment that had just arrived and I almost jeopardized the mission and got you injured.”

He feels hands reach out and grab his own. He tries to pull away but Shiro is stronger and his hold tightens a little as he pulls him closer. The fight eases out of him and he grounds himself with the warmth of Shiro’s hand. Shiro always did have that effect on him. Keith was a raging storm and Shiro was his calm. When he feels himself getting ready to spring free like a dragon in chains, Shiro was the only person to settle him down.

“You didn’t get me injured Keith,” Shiro tells him gently running his thumbs over Keith’s bruised knuckles. “I did that to myself.”

“But I—”

Shiro’s hand moves to hold his chin and tilts it so he’s meeting Shiro’s eyes the first time that night after he got wounded. “I did it to protect you. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I didn’t think of a better way to stop it so I ran in front of that knife. Because if I didn’t, it would have killed you.”

Keith worries his lip, still refusing to accept that it wasn’t his fault that he had almost gotten both of them killed. “I could have handled it.”

“The man was aiming to pierce your lung.” The hardness in Shiro’s voice is enough to tell Keith that what he said is true. Even if Pidge is an amazing Merlin-trainee, there wouldn’t have been enough time to send an extraction and along with medics to get them out of there. He would have died on the way.

Shiro lets out a sigh and cups the younger agent’s cheek. “Keith not all missions go the way you planned them out to be. It’s part of our skill set to be able to adapt to any changes in the mission,” Shiro reminds him. “It’s why we’re great at being a Kingsman.”

“I know. I just— I was sc—”

Keith finds himself wrapped up in Shiro’s arms and his face pressed on the crook of the man’s neck. “Shh. I know. I know. I thought I’d lose you too.”

He buries his face closer to the juncture of Shiro’s neck and lifts his arms to wrap them around Shiro as well. His hands grip the material of the back of Shiro’s suit, careful not to jostle his injury. He grounds himself in the fact that Shiro, although injured, was all right. He would heal from this and he’ll be back to himself and in the field in no time. It was all Keith could hope for. Still, it scares him knowing that Shiro’s been doing this for years. That this knife wound was but another addition to the of scars decorating his body. It’s Shiro’s training that kept him alive this long. And that really is the least of it.

“Hey you know what’ll get me right as rain?” Shiro whispers.

“What?” Keith asks in a muffled voice.

“You familiar with that thing they say that kissing makes the pain go away?”

Keith extracts himself from the hug and stares at Shiro with incredulity. “I’m not kissing your boo-boo away Shiro.”

Shiro rolls his eyes exasperated. “I meant me, Keith. Kiss me.”

“You are ridiculous,” Keith deadpans. “Couldn’t you just have said that in the first place?”

“I thought you’d get what I meant, all right?” And Keith can’t even believe the fact that Shiro, youngest Kingsman to ever grace the ranks with a 90% success rate on missions, was pouting at him. “Come on, baby. I’m in pain here. Just one kiss and it’ll make the pain go away,” he pleads layering it with his signature puppy-eyed stare.

It was Keith’s turn to roll his eyes in exasperation. “I can’t believe I’m engaged to a dork.”

“But I’m your dork, my lovely Guinevere,” Shiro retorts with a boyish grin nuzzling Keith’s cheek. “So kiss?”

“As much as I hate to interrupt your romancing. The wizards are back online and we’re ready to get you out of there,” Pidge’s voice crackles to life into their comms.

“Couldn’t you have awaited a few more seconds?” Shiro huffs in slight annoyance.

Keith could have sworn Pidge cackled. “Dude, it’s not my fault I’m doing my job right. So shut up and listen to me carefully,” she shoots back, making Keith snort. They check their weapons and ready themselves to leave. Pidge is shooting off directions in their ears to get to the extraction point without getting caught or delayed.

Shiro meets his eyes, gun in his hand. “Ready?”

Keith nods, “Let’s get out of here.”

[lancelotdulacofcamelot-blog]

⊗ {free to choose whoever!~}

Send me ⊗ for 3+ headcanons about your muse and mine.

((ooc: gonna just be basic trash and go with lancoria, since i know the most about her…))

1. The first meeting is weird, partly because Lancelot’s reunion with Arthur will always be weird, but also because Lancer Artoria isn’t exactly hiding the fact that she’s female.  He would recognize her instantly (she’s still Artoria, after all), but it’d take him a moment to believe it.

2. Saber and Lancer wouldn’t connect quite as easily as they perhaps should for one key reason; since Artoria didn’t hide the fact that she was a woman in that continuity, she was never married to Guinevere.  The entire crux of Lancelot’s angst is something that, in her timeline, would never have been an issue in the first place.  Even so, it doesn’t take long before the old rapport is reestablished, because the boundaries of time and space can’t affect a strong friendship.

3. Lancelot and Artoria have actual jousting contests every so often.  Despite not being the Lancer here, Lancelot always wins, because his sheer combat prowess is one of the most absurd things Camelot ever knew.  Artoria takes it in stride and just works that much harder to beat him one day.

[aion-rsa]

Cursed Season 2: What to Expect

https://ift.tt/32rw8Vi

This Cursed feature contains spoilers for both the Netflix series and the illustrated novel of the same name. Read our spoiler-free review of the series here.

Netflix’s Cursed puts a feminist spin on the legend of King Arthur by centering its origins around a woman – Nimue, the future Lady of the Lake. Its first season contained a little bit of everything, from romance and action to politics and magic, with a finale that featured several big character revelations and ended on a major cliffhanger. While Netflix has yet to announce a season 2 renewal for the show, it certainly feels as though Cursed has plenty of stories left to tell. After all, no one’s even referred to Nimue as the Lady of the Lake yet!

Save for a few – admittedly, very intriguing – tidbits, the bulk of Netflix’s Cursed is fairly faithful to the novel upon which it is based. Therefore, we don’t have much to go on by way of a roadmap for what the second season could look like. (That, naturally, may change in the weeks and months ahead, since it seems like a pretty safe bet that the book series will continue, regardless of whether there’s a second season of the show.) But there are a few hints to be mined from the ending of the book, and from the bones of Arthurian legend itself, that might provide us some clues.

Here are our best educated guesses for what we can expect to see in Cursed Season 2.

Nimue Survives

There’s not much fun in the idea of a second season without our leading lady, is there?

Cursed Season 2 will have to sort out precisely what’s happened to Nimue, last seen plummeting toward what may well be her death – or potential eternal supernatural imprisonment – after being shot full of arrows. This is a fantasy series, though, so no one should be really surprised when she inevitably survives. The show is very careful to never show us a body, after all, and leaves us with a final image of Nimue drifting through blood-tinged water. It’s really the how of it all that will be the question.

Read more

TV

How Katherine Langford Shakes Up Arthurian Legend in Netflix’s Cursed

By Lacy Baugher

But we have a pretty good idea of what that will probably look like, too. The Cursed TV series ends a few moments before the novel upon which it is based does. The book not only confirms Nimue survives her fall but several other key factors as well, including what appears to be her assumption of the Lady of the Lake mantle. While in the water, Nimue can still sense the Sword of Power and vows to protect it until “a true king rises to claim it.” But instead of transforming into some sort of otherworldly being, an injured Nimue eventually washes up on the shores of the Minotaur Mountains, where she’s surrounded and taken off by a mob of the lepers that serve King Rugen. Whether he will help her or try to use her against Merlin is anyone’s guess at this point.

Merlin’s Magic Tips the Scales

Wild with grief after Nimue’s apparent death, Merlin regains the Sword of Power, reclaims his magic, and murders a bunch of Red Paladins. What’s next for the famous wizard? Probably not helping the Viking king that engineered his daughter’s murder.

Merlin originally allied with Cumber, promising him the sword in the hopes of both keeping Nimue alive and unseating King Uther. Cumber’s betrayal – joining forces with the Red Paladins and ambushing the escaping Fey – means Merlin’s now an enemy, and the only real question is whether he’ll use his newly returned magical abilities to just kill Cumber, or if he’ll decide that Uther should keep his crown as well. Whatever happens, Merlin seems set to claim his place as the real power behind the throne. And that could ultimately prove a boon to Arthur down the road.

We’ll Get to Know The Weeping Monk

The shocking revelation that the murderous Weeping Monk is Lancelot came in the first season’s final moments, leaving audiences little time to process this information. In the world of the original legends, Lancelot is kind of a big deal. He’s most widely remembered for his affair with Guinevere – which brings about the downfall of Camelot – but he’s also the greatest knight of the Round Table and a model of Christian chivalry. (The contradictions are what make it all so fun.)

One has to assume that any Cursed Season 2 would need to focus fairly heavily on turning this character – who spent most of his screen time brooding and executing complex fighting maneuvers – into an actual three-dimensional person. If the intention is that this Lancelot, who murdered a countless number of his Fey brothers and sisters, will one day become Arthur’s most trusted champion and a hero all can admire? Well. He’s certainly got a long way to go.

A Love Triangle – or Possibly Quartet? – on the Horizon

Things will probably get real messy on the relationship front pretty quickly in Season 2. While Arthur and Nimue’s love story feels like it’s barely gotten started, their connection is sweet, romantic, and seems to make them both better people. Arthur, at any rate, has certainly learned to be a leader by watching his girlfriend do it first. Yet, his last-minute meeting with a Viking woman known as the Red Spear means potentially more than a bit of trouble in paradise.

Because the Red Spear’s name is Guinevere. Yes, Cursed reimagines the most famous (and controversial) female character in Arthurian legend as a battle-hardened warrior who wants a crown for herself. Let me count the ways that I am here for this. Because although Guinevere is well known as a major player in this legend, her character is another that’s often not fleshed out terribly fully. Despite the fact that her decisions eventually bring down a kingdom, we’re given precious little idea why she makes them. So there’s something intensely appealing in an opportunity to see her get some real agency within her own story, as Nimue has.

Read more

TV

Netflix’s Cursed Reinvents the Traditional Once and Future King

By Lacy Baugher

Because much like Nimue, Guinevere also has a destiny, and it involves a future as Arthur’s wife and Lancelot’s mistress. Given that she spent approximately five minutes fighting alongside the former and hasn’t met the latter yet, we’re clearly a ways away from that future. But speculating about how that might come to pass – and how Nimue will react upon meeting Arthur’s new lady friend – is definitely entertaining. Largely because it feels as though Cursed could go in any direction with this group, even as they’re all fighting toward the same ends.

Could We Meet the Actual Green Knight?

Putting a stake in the ground now – there’s no way that Gawain is actually dead. Sure, we did see a body this time – sort of –but in a world that’s brimming with magic? Anything’s possible.

One of the most intriguing fusions in Cursed is the decision to merge the character of Gawain, one of the most famous Knights of the Round Table, and the Green Knight, a man sent to test and challenge Gawain’s chivalry, who also happens to be literally green. (And can also withstand being beheaded.) But it seems quite likely that Gawain’s himself may become a true version of the Green Knight in Cursed, resurrected by the magic of the Fey greenery in Season 2.

There’s Probably More to the Leper King

Out of all the predictions in this list, this one feels the most outlandish. But throughout Cursed it’s difficult not to draw parallels between Ruben, king of the lepers, and the Fisher King of Holy Grail legend. In the Grail story, the Fisher King – sometimes referred to as the Maimed King or the Wounded King – is the last surviving member of the bloodline charged with guarding the famous chalice. He’s always grievously injured in some way, and usually unable to stand. Sometimes the lands of his kingdom are as blighted as his body. Various knights journey to his castle to try and heal him, but everyone fails, except for Percival (and in later versions, Galahad.)

Leper King Ruben isn’t nearly as incapacitated as the Fisher King of legend, but he is physically suffering, and he keeps a horde of ancient, magical, and/or singularly valuable items in his castle vault. Don’t be surprised if one of them turns out to be a particularly powerful cup.

The post Cursed Season 2: What to Expect appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[profgandalf]

Gender Differences: What a Great Idea!

Applying the concept of gender dynamics to our understanding of Literature.

Note: to be clear, this discussion functions with the binary concept of gender.  I know that homosexuals are real as are individuals who are bi, but they still fit into one of the two.  If you are a gay guy, you’re a guy, and if you’re a gay girl, you’re a girl. “Sorry Tumblr”

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;

male and female created he them."

Genesis 1: 27 (English-KJV)

"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and

 he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman,

 and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall

be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Genesis 2: 21-13 (English-KJV)

". . .neither was man created for woman, but woman for man."

1 Corinthians 11:9  (English NIV)

EMILIA

'Tis not a year or two shows us a man:

 They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;

 To eat us hungerly, and when they are full,

 They belch us.  

OTHELLO

       Why did I marry?. . .curse of marriage,

       That we can call these delicate creatures ours,

       And not their appetites!            

DESDEMONA

EMILIA            

       But I do think it is their husbands' faults

       If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties,

       And pour our treasures into foreign laps,

       Or else break out in peevish jealousies,

       Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us,

       Or scant our former having in despite;

       Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,

       Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know

       Their wives have sense like them. . .

       Then let them use us well: else let them know,

       The ills we do, their ills instruct us so        

I would note that I consider this speech by Shakespeare one of his best examples of negative capability and that it matches the famous speech by Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.Act 3 Scene 1 Lines 49–61

Introduction

Humans have always been fascinated by the fact that there are two kinds of us: female and male.  We are alike in so many important ways, and yet it is our differences which constantly confound us.

The Cause of Tension  

"The woman whom thou gavest to be with me. . ."

"Ew!  You actually LIKE Girls?!"  This raw response of a seven year old boy to a friend who has been "consorting with the enemy" reveals the underlining hostility which seems to permeate the relationship between the two genders.  Oh, we may change our tune when we get older.  Biological attractions overcome boyish disdain, but it must be admitted that on some level many men never get over their boyish opinion of women.  Thus, the term misogynist (one who hates women) has been in our vocabulary for quite some time.  The question we might want to consider is "why?"

Duh! For One Thing, We're Different!

This Image taken from 10 Things Men Never Want to Hear Their Women Say

One of the central reasons why men and women frustrate one another is that in some ways we are just plain different.  For a light-hearted look at this check out Matt  Groening’s “Women speak in estrogen and men listen in  testosterone.” Whenever I teach this section I ask the students (just as I asked you) what differences exist between men and women.  Here are some of the typical responses

Men

Rational                                                       Practical (Concrete or Bone headed)                        

Insensitive

Steady

Communicative Challenged

Physically Stronger

Single Minded and

Hierarchical in tasks

Primarily interested in act of procreation

Women

Emotional

Abstract (Transcendent or Nebulous)

Empathetic

Uneven (cycles)

Communication Addicted

Physically Weaker (but able to handle pain better)

Simultaneous Multiple Perspectives on Tasks

Primarily interested in the emotional nest (romance) needed to maintain the products of procreation (children).

Please let me state here that I do not stand behind this list as an absolute definition.  At best these are but generalities.  My mother is a former math teacher whose rational skills have navigated us through many a map and have left me checkmated more often than not.  In my own marriage my wife is far better with math (and money) than I am.  And when we were joined, she was the one who brought all the practical power tools to the marriage.  I brought books.  What this list does do is show at least the perceptions of differences between the sexes.

The question which often confounds scholars is how much of this difference is artificially created by culture and how much is biological innate to our beings.

The debate is pretty heated about this.  The only true biological differences with which most agree is that women have the equipment to bear children and men, in general, have more upper body strength.  These differences are enough to lead into the next question of abuse since lack of strength and the connection to domestic work has left women often at the mercy of men.

Abused Power = Breakdown in Communication

It is a sad fact that among humans whenever there is an imbalance of power there is the potential for abuse.  It happens between grownups and children.  But historically it has especially occurred between men and women.   When such abuse takes place communication and understanding break down.  (One does not usually want to understand those whom one subjugates.)  So in many households there have been two adults living under the same roof with two different agendas.    How the weaker has achieved her ends has caused for an even greater division between the genders.

Some may claim that the subservience of women is God's Law.  This is a debatable point with Christians arguing on either side.  However, what some might call God's ranking system--which never condoned the abuse of women--can not explain the world-wide existence of female inequality.  There are so many social expectations around the world which violate Judeo-Christian expectations.  Thus, to claim God's law is responsible for male female inequality ignores the simple fact that even in places where God's will is barely known, women are still kept at a lower station then men.  Thus I conclude that Male dominance is not based in God's will: the cause must the use or abuse of power.

Let's face it, if all women were as strong as this young lady (Shelley Beattie) on the left appears to be, the number of domestic disturbances would probably go waaaay down. But most women are matched with men who are physically stronger than they. 

(Note: Please don’t fuss about how attractive you do or do not find Shelley; the fact is that this kind of conditioning involves training, a lot more than what most women and most men want to put in each day.  The point is that most women do not have this kind of physical strength.  Sadly I just learned that In 2008, Ms. Beattie committed suicide.  Very sorry.  According to the Wikipedia article about her, after her retirement Shelley not only starred in the TV show American Gladiators, but she worked with people with physical impairments (she suffered herself from deafness), made drums and jewelry, and worked as a personal trainer, clearly a special person lost).

Thus, women have lacked the power to achieve their goals directly.  When conflict interests occurs they have found other means to reach their ends than direct conflict.  See the lecture on   The Taming of the Shrew  specifically   Shakespeare's Good /Bad and Bad /Good Women. to see both methods examined as part of the analysis of the play.  Briefly women have two choices:

Confront the oppressive patriarchy directly–and be     branded a shrew (or in modern evangelical circles “a feminist”) or…

Submit and give verbal support that the male should be dominant and then subvert that power via manipulation be it sexual or psychological.

The Depiction of the Tension

The study of literature reveals the importance of the tension between genders.  Unfortunately until recently most of the canon has been determined and created by men.  So there are few female forces through history to help give alternative perspectives about the nature of, forgive the cliché, "the battle of the sexes."  (Note, the existence of this cliché shows how old the problem is.)

The Anti-feminist Tradition

Medieval literature abounds especially with antifeminist themes which they based on certain scriptures.  In a civilization which looked to scriptural narrative to explain who the world worked as it did, women were often blamed for the fall of humanity because Eve first gave in to the serpent.  Because they are weaker than men, women are often shown using guile and deceit to bring about the ruin of their opponents.  In some of the Arthur legends they play the role of enchantress and temptress.  And it is no small matter that Queen Guinevere love for Lancelot eventually brings Camelot down.

There exists also a long tradition negatively portraying women who contradict their husbands directly.  These developed into a "stock character" often called a shrew.  Such characters usually were only two dimensional and lacked development beyond just a joke.  One of the most famous examples of this appears in medieval mystery plays involving Noah's wife who insisting on her right to gossip with her friends even while poor Noah is attempting to get her safely on the ark.

These shrews also are portrayed as sexually overt.  Thus in The Roman De La Rose (the Romance of the Rose) there is an old woman who gives advice to a young bride on how to abuse her husband sexually.

The Wife of Bath in Feminist Tradition

Chaucer's Wife of Bath is both an affirmation of the medieval concept of the shrew as well as a rebuttal of it as the poet engages in a tour de force of the male imagination in "negative capability" (Keats).  He may start with a stock character-- a stereotype based on male fears-- but he then continues to reveal and develop her personality and examines her first from the outer qualities people see, then to her own experiences as framed by her testimony in her prologue (the longest in the Canterbury Tales) and finally to her own tale in which elements of her personality may come through without her overt knowledge. 

This is strong psychoanalysis for what is in essence a figment of an artists imagination and yet, in a very real sense, Chaucer shows a woman first physically, then through her mind and finally through her heart.  For more of this go to Chaucer's Multiple Levels of Revelation of The Wife of Bath

Shakespeare's View in Taming of the Shrew

Meanwhile, in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew he presents a wonderful study in contrast between two types of women (two sisters) with two different ways to deal with a oppressive patriarchy.  Bianca is all sweetness and all the men love her.  However, as the play progresses she is shown to be manipulative and not nearly so honest as her older sister.  Katrina meanwhile, confronts directly the male dominated society she finds herself in, but she also finds herself trapped in the cage of rage.  She is branded a Shrew and in fact fulfills that nature. This will be developed further in another lecture Shakespeare's Good /Bad and Bad /Good Women.

The Modern Feminist Tradition

Writers within this tradition embrace a wide variety of approaches to the question of women's place and power in culture and society.  Most of these approaches are allied by their critical analysis of patriarchal (male0dominated) and phallocentric (male-centered) institutions and practices.  Furthermore works may be analyzed by their interests in promoting women's issues and concerns.  These concerns rise to the forfront of literary concerns with the late 18th and early 19th century and have continued on to the present.  Among our readings the short story "A Jury by Her Peers" (written in the first part of the 20th century) is especially notable since it was written by a woman (Susan Gadspell). responding in a subversive way to the domineering and condescending attitudes of men 

The social parameters clearly shape the course of action that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters.  At first glance "Roman Fever" written by another woman,   Edith Wharton, a little later than the first (1934) does not at first seem to fit the Feminist tradition.  However, part of the difficulties these two women share is that in their world, affluent New Yorkers, they are defined by only their roles as wives and mothers.   In "A Rose for Emily" this same gender tension (complicated still further by the roles of a daughter to a domineering father) is at the root of the problems Faulkner depicts the aristocratic Emily Grierson.  Finally the struggle between sexes over what will happen to a woman's body finds a critical analysis in  "Hills Like White Elephants" by Earnest Hemingway

 Conclusion

Thus gender tensions should be kept in mind while reading our selections of literature.  Don't be afraid to object to what may be an inaccurate assumption by an author about the nature of a gender.  Also ask yourself whether negative capability actually exists which allows the author to transcend the limitations of his or her gender perspective.  Consider also the roles of the sexes in today's world and compare them with the times being depicted.  Even stories based in the 1930s find a world different than our own.  Consider the classic film A Christmas Story (Ralphie wants a bee bee gun).  The entire controversy over the leg-lamp could only occur in a house hold in which the wife did not feel she had the power to object honestly and overtly.