#but what about the son of a practically literal goddess???

[laelelinae]

please do twin dad!kuroo hcs

Have a good day/night

Twin dad Kuroo HC!

Not proof read!

HUHUHU I LOVE THIS!! GONNA MAKE A LITTLE BONUS!

Working on the rest of your requests soon💞💞

when he first found out your pregnant (you surprised him) he literally flew out from the sofa like IT WAS SO FUNNY

Literally started celebrating and jumping around hugging you,spinning you around 😭

LMFAO PROBABLY TOLD KENMA AND KENMA WAS LIKE “oh so you did the taco and burrito” (ykyk. 😣)

He surely went to pregnancy checkups,did your cravings together,always service you and just comforts you when your sick🫶🏻

But the thing is..he noticed your belly was WAYY bigger then how normal pregnancy bellies

Soo..when one of the checkups..

“Congrats ma’am ,you have twins”

His jaw DROPPED to the GROUND!!

He was literally jumping around like a literal rabbit ,telling everyone.

After knowing is twins instead of one child ,probably went more intense caring about you.

Soo..during the gender reveal party..well iconic,it was a cake

Kenma was holding his laugh in for some reason (docs told Kenma about the gender)

Honestly kuroo didn’t mind any gender in general ,is his and yours kid. He would just love them to death.

And..when you cut the cake..it was pinks AND blue?!

Boy,Kenma laughed like a monkey💀and he said

“Is a boy and a girl”

KUROO FUCKING FLEW OUT OF HAPPINESS ONG.

..okay after months of literal hell,you gave birth and Kuroo was holding his shit in to not cry.

. . . .

After a few years,your kids are 5 years old now!

And the boy surely was more attached to you yet he loves his dad,and the girl surely was attached to Kuroo more

Kuroo has tea parties and dresses up as a princess with your daughter AWWW!😭🫶🏻🫶🏻

He probably plays volleyball with your son,sometimes your daughter if she’s willing to.

Doesn’t have favorite,loves both equally a LOT.

Spoils the kids so much you lecture Kuroo about it

They have their own room with their favorite color (kuroo took HOURS to decorate them and make them good)

Brings the two to get ice cream often😭

Probably brings them to parks and his friends volleyball matches

His friends loves them :) (not the Drake way)

ESPECIALLY HINATA AND KENMA(SURPRISINGLY?!)

Made your kids called Kenma their uncle!! (Lowkey Kenma felt proud)

Honestly didn’t want to watch the kids grow up,he loved them running around the house.

OH YEAH!! The girls first word was papa and the boy was “mama” LMFAO

Always gives the best surprise to your kids,your kids loves your dad and Kuroo loves them too <333

BUTT when they were teenagers !! (13)

The type to say “no girlfriends or boyfriends till your 30”

“Dad,what the hell” THATS ALL HE GOT IN RESPOND

The type to also say “back in my days!!😔”

Whenever your not home,probably eats the most unhealthiest shit ever with them

Probably owns a “best dad ever shirt” AND A FUCKING MUG

The type to make dad jokes 👎

Probably tells his son about his teenage years in secret since his daughter probably does not gaf

Your son is probably more calm and mature but has a silly side and your daughter has a more bold and silly girl in general yk?

Leaves the daughter to you once she hits puberty yk? Girls girls <3

Probably practice volleyball with the two often!

Whenever Kuroo brought some stuff home from groceries and your kids try them and say like “oh ! This js pretty good dad!”

Next day,he buys PACKS of them 💀

When you guys were just all in the living room together he randomly mentioned how hard it was to ask you out on the date

And your daughter went like “of course dad,your a literal loser and mom is a literal goddess”

Your son calmly agreed 💀

He was SO OFFENDED!!

He would still pick them up even when they are in middle school,he sometimes would drive them to school!

Probably might not be the most emotional support father but he tries his best! <3

Literally would beat up that person if they ever make fun of your kid 💀

Goes on morning runs with your son whenever he can

Your kid still love their “uncle” kenma LMFAO

And your so glad kuroo gets along really well with your kids <3

Oh god you just love them 😭

[enixamyram]

I have such a strong adoration for the idea of Ares and Aphrodite as a couple.

First, you have Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty. She is literal desire and could have practically any mortal or immortal she wanted, yet it's Ares that she wants in the end. And while Ares is described as being handsome, it's pretty clear that is not what draws Aphrodite to him. There's something about him, something deeper than his good looks, and the idea that she loves him even when it's said that the others on Olympus (even his own parents) all hate him. It's just such a powerfully romantic idea.

And then you have Ares, the God of War, described as being brutal and bloodthirsty. Yet despite all of that, there is a softer side to him that not many people really take in and yet it makes itself clear every time for Aphrodite. She's beautiful, yes, but there's obviously more to it than that. He's not simply in lust with her, he's in love with her, meaning like her, he sees past the basic attractiveness and there's something much deeper that draws him in. They're both judged for their outter appearance but see each other on a much deeper level than that.

(You also have the fact that Aphrodite is/was a War Goddess which again makes their connection all the more fascinatingly sweet.)

And you know one of the other things I love about them? Their unhealthy moments are somehow just as (twistedly) sweet as their healthy ones: I mean Aphrodite was so jealous of Ares relationship with Eos that she cursed her with insatiable lust for men. Meanwhile Ares was so jealous of Aphrodite's relationship with Adonis that he killed him. They're perfectly imperfect together!

Not to mention their whole general story - falling in love, forced to seperate when Aphrodite was given to his brother instead, sneaking around behind her husbands back so they could be together, having children including a daughter who is literally the Goddess of Harmony and a son who is the God of Reciprocated Love - you can't get more of a classic love story than this!

[dootznbootz]

I saw something that said that if Odysseus had to choose between himself VS. Penelope and Telemachus he'd always choose himself. How he'd be miserable and he would try to weasel his way out of it but if it really was no other option he'd still do it and...

Odysseus is an incredibly selfish man, that's not wrong. And he definitely has his cruel streak. But his whole thing is his unconditional devotion and loyalty to his family while basically being a rat bastard to everyone else. He literally puts himself in danger for them multiple times, even just in their NAME multiple times.

But this is the same man who pretended to be INSANE for at least a MONTH so he wouldn't have to leave them. I guess you could say it's because he's a coward or because of the prophecy but if he didn't care he wouldn't have saved his son. But even with all that, to have a mad king? That leaves your kingdom vulnerable. There could've been a fucking usurping. Ithaca doesn't have much fertile land and yet he destroys some of it. Even then in some versions, it's him literally running to scoop up his baby, "hearing thundering hooves past his head". Putting himself in danger in multiple ways as SAVING HIS SON MEANT HE WAS GOING TO WAR. WAR ISN'T SOMETHING YOU CAN GUARANTEE THAT YOU'LL COME BACK FROM.

EVEN IN THEIR NAMES, HE PUTS HIMSELF IN DANGER FOR THEM. Calypso asks what is so lovely about his wife that makes him not want her, a beautiful goddess. Said goddess has been abusing him for years yet he still says that he will ALWAYS go back to them putting himself at risk just DEFENDING Penelope and he's literally dragged back to her grotto immediately after. He even tells her the only way he would stop trying to get to them is if he were dead.

He is deeply hurt by her rejection but even then HE ASKS FOR A SEPARATE BED. He calls her cruel and stubborn and he's tearing up but he never threatens her despite her rejection could literally end bad for him. Paris for example, after Helen rips into him about how Menelaus was the better man and warrior who didn't back down, he basically tells her "Hey! You should be happy your husband's alive! ...Get in the bed."

Like??? he puts them first often, even if it means his own discomfort!!!

I don't think he would let Penelope or Telemachus suffer so he would be free. That feels like the fucking Tele-GONE-y to me. You can keep his "rat bastardness" there because if he was for example, being dragged to Hades or something, he'd give Penelope a look and they'd probably have a plan for him to get out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ He's sometimes said to be the son of Sisyphus. Who's to say he wouldn't do that as well? And if it was him "doomed to eternal damnation". He'd be trying the whole time to get back to them. (that'd...honestly be a perfect punishment for him.)

Idk, They're selfish about practically everything but each other

[knightofthenewrepublic]

Percy would have worked with Octavian, but the Augur never gave him a chance

(or Why Octavian's actions weren’t justified)

As people spend more and more time critically examining the Riordanvese (often to a fault, it must be said) one of the most common revisionist arguments is to try and absolve the mortal villains of the consequences of their action; usually by exaggerating their motivations. That includes the argument that Octavian was so quick to war partially because he was treated poorly by the Greeks. Particularly by Percy Jackson. 

But does that actually hold up?

People will argue that Octavian was not evil, because attacking Camp Halfblood was justified from his perspective; he thought they had broken a truce with New Rome and attacked it. And that would be a fair argument, IF that was the only bad thing Octavian had done, or even the worst thing. It wasn’t. And Octavian had begun trying to trigger conflict well before that. Percy, on the other hand, did his best to prevent it.

The first scene where Percy meets Octavian, is also the first time we see his sinister side. And that is of course when he tries to blackmail Hazel into supporting him for Praetor.

Now there is an aspect of the context of this scene that I think a lot of people overlook; their ages. Octavian is 18, or near enough, and Hazel is 13. This is a guy old enough to vote, (the only one of them who isn’t a child soldier) blackmailing a girl too young to get a learner’s permit. Just before this, Percy says Octavian reminds him of someone; which is obviously a reference to Luke Castellan. This type of nearly grooming behavior would have really reinforced that impression; which explains Percy’s hostile reaction to it.

Percy slipped his hand into his pocket, and grabbed his pen. This guy was blackmailing Hazel. That was obvious. One sign from Hazel, and Percy was ready to bust out Riptide and see how Octavian liked being at the end of a blade.

But Percy keeps these urges internal. He doesn’t voice his anger, and doesn’t give any visible reaction. The other two keep talking like he’s not there. This is a pretty good demonstration of Percy’s hard won self control; on his first day at Camp Half-Blood he doused Clarisse with toilet water for less, without even meaning to.

The next interaction he has with Octavian isn’t much better.

“Recruit,” he [Octavian] asked, “do you have any credentials? Letters of reference?” Percy shifted. “Letters? Um, no.” Octavian wrinkled his nose. Unfair! Hazel wanted to shout. Percy had carried a goddess into camp. What better recommendation could you want? But Octavian’s family had been sending kids to camp for over a century. He loved reminding recruits that they were less important than he was.  “No letters,” Octavian said regretfully. “Will any legionnaires stand for him?”

Now just asking this question is obviously standard practice, so Octavian isn’t wrong for that. It’s his condescending reaction that is the unsubtle putdown.

But then things come to a head very quickly, when that night’s game of capture the flag ends in a visit from the god Mars, and the command he delivers; a quest to retrieve the legion Eagle, and free Death.

Now what’s really important here is that, while people often think of Leo attacking Camp Jupiter as the point where Octavian turned against the heroes, THIS is the actual point. THIS is where he goes from being a nuisance to being an antagonist.

It starts in the Senate meeting the next day, when Percy tries to make sense of the situation:

“This Giant, the son of Gaea--he’s the one who defeated your forces thirty years ago. I’m sure of it. Now he’s sitting up there in Alaska with a chained death god, and all your old equipment. He's mustering his armies and sending them south to attack this camp.”

Percy is just repeating what Mars literally told them the night before. Octavian’s reasonable reaction to this is:

“Really?” Octavian said. “You seem to know a lot about our enemy’s plans, Percy Jackson.”

Him, and everyone else who was conscious at the end of the war games.

In spite of being almost outright accused of treason, Percy still keeps his cool. This shows a lot of growth on his part, compared to where he was in the second book of the previous series:

This was so completely unfair, I told Tantalus to go chase a donut, which didn’t help his mood.

After a bit more discussion, Octavian makes his move. First he gets in another insult. 

“Mars has clearly chosen the least likely candidates for this quest. Perhaps it is because he considers them the most expendable.”

And then he argues that the senate should not give any of the support that would normally be given to a quest. The odds of them succeeding are already so low; better to use their resources to protect the camp.

It’s pretty easy for us, the readers, to overlook what a dick move this really is. Of course WE know that the heroes are going to come back alive; but in universe, there is nothing to guarantee that. Even a small magical trinket could be the difference between life and death. And Octavian is trying to deny them that.

This could be understandable, if there was any sincerity to it. A sad but necessary sacrifice for the greater good, to protect the camp. But after arguing that all their resources have to be saved for the battle, Octavian proceeds to do nothing with them. When the giant’s army arrives, the legion simply marches out and fights them with conventional ranks and swords. Aside from a few roman scorpions (large crossbows), no specialized weapons are brought out, no magical items are used, they didn’t even build a wall or a trench. So there was no real reason not to give them anything; even if he sincerely believed the quest was doomed, that was all the more reason to help. The right magical tool might have at least given them the chance to get back alive. Depriving the questers served no purpose other than to make them fail.

You can also see this, in the fact that all Octavian’s stated reasons don’t actually win over the senate. 

The senators’ eyes moved back and forth between Octavian and Reyna, watching the test of wills. Reyna straightened in her chair. “Very well,” she said tightly. We shall put it to a vote.”

No one gives their support to Octavian before this. The senators are waiting to follow the person they see as more powerful, not the argument that was more convincing.

As for motivations, there is only one that Octavian could have; with the election just days away, he wants to prevent a rival for the praetorship.

Is the fulfillment of an epic quest a silly basis for entrusting someone with supreme executive power? Yes, in the real world, it is. But demigods don’t live in the real world; and in their world, everything revolves around quests. Quests drive every important event in the series, and are the ultimate standard by which the skill and power of a demigod are demonstrated. As Annabeth puts it in TLT:

“At camp you train and train. And that’s all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That’s where you learn whether you’re any good or not.”

If Percy returns from a land that wiped out half a legion of demigods, with the long lost legion Eagle, the mob that is Rome will raise him up on the fanciest shield they can find. And Octavian isn’t the only one who has put that together. The very next chapter sees Reyna tell Percy that he could stand for praetor if he succeeds; and we are reminded several times that Octavian is far more politically savvy than she is. If she’s put it together, you can bet that he has.

But going back to the senate meeting itself; we see another example of Percy choosing not to start a conflict with Octavian, even when he seems to be trying to get him killed. Instead, he focuses on the important issues:

Frank jumped to his feet. Before he could start a fight, Percy said, “Fine! No problem. but at least give us transportation.”

Percy is more concerned about succeeding in saving the camp than satisfying any grudges. Octavian is more interested in how many insults he can fit into one meeting.

“A boat!” Octavian turned to the senators. “The son of Neptune wants a boat. Sea travel has never been the Roman way, but he isn’t much of a Roman!”

(The insult proves to be quite a hypocritical one in BOO, when Octavian has boats built to surround Camp Half-Blood.)

Octavian’s next attempt to start a conflict with Percy is slightly more subtle.

They were only halfway across the forum when someone called, “Jackson!” Percy turned and saw Octavian jogging toward them.  “What do you want ?” Percy asked. Octavian smiled. “Already decided I’m your enemy? That’s a rash choice Percy. I’m a loyal Roman.” Frank snarled. “You backstabbing, slimy–” Both Percy and Hazel had to restrain him.

Why is Octavian talking about being enemies? It doesn’t say Percy asked angrily, or Percy growled, or Percy glared at him. It’s a very dramatic reaction.

And Percy has done nothing to suggest that he wants to be Octavian’s enemy. Sure he has grown to dislike the augur, as most people would with someone who insults them and blackmails children:

Nico put his finger to his lips. Suddenly all the lares went silent. Some looked alarmed, like their mouths had been glued together. Percy wished he had that power over certain living people . . . like Octavian, for instance.

But he’s been keeping those critical thoughts to himself. He even avoided arguing in the senate meeting so as not to escalate things. The worst thing he’s done was knocking Octavian out during capture-the-flag which was both a perfectly fair move and a good strategy. Hardly something to base a feud on.

Most likely, this is a freudian slip on Octavian’s part. He’s already started to see Percy as an enemy, for no other reason than he might be a rival. That, or it’s an attempt at gaslighting Percy into thinking he somehow provoked Octavian into trying to get him killed. In any case, the augur hardly seems unhappy to see him, and the two legionnaires at his side, go off to their deaths.

Octavian smiled wickedly. “The last person she [Reyna] had a private talk with was Jason Grace. And that was the last time I ever saw him. Good luck and goodbye, Percy Jackson.”

If he’s happy to see them go, he’s certainly not happy when they come back alive. 

The look on Octavian’s face was priceless. the centurion stared at Percy with shock, then outrage. Then, when his own troops started to cheer, he had no choice except to join the shouting: “Rome! Rome!”

Not the appropriate reaction when Percy is saving the city, not to mention Octavian’s own life. The auger doesn’t have a single kind word to say.

The Roman symbols burned into Percy’s arm: a trident, SPQR, and a single stripe. It felt like someone was pressing a hot iron into his skin, but Percy managed not to scream. Octavian embraced him and whispered, “I hope it hurt.”

Just before this, Octavian kills a teddy bear and reads the future from it, announcing:

good omens for the coming year–Fortuna would bless them!

It has been suggested that Octavian actually had a very different vision at this moment; that he saw the Argo II opening fire on New Rome, and kept that to himself, but turned against Percy and the other Greeks because of that. This doesn’t seem likely. It would serve his purposes better to share that information; and he would have seen that vision in front of hundreds of demigods hardwired to notice small details, none of whom notice him having any visible reaction to it. Besides which, this can’t be the point when he turns on Percy, since he’s already been trying to sabotage him for most of the book.

Now if there is some big conflict between Percy and Octavian, this is the time for Percy to win it decisively. To use his new power and authority to put the auger in his place.

But Percy doesn’t do that.

“Why should we trust these Greeks?” Octavian was saying. He’d been pacing the senate floor for five minutes, going on and on, trying to counter what Percy had told them about Juno’s plan and the Prophecy of Seven.

Rather than simply steamroll over the discussion, and try to use his authority to silence any opposition, Percy allows Octavian a reasonable amount of time to air his concerns, before finally stepping in with his counter argument.

When Percy lays out the details of why they must join the Greeks, Octavian never comes up with a logical counter argument. Instead, when a messenger reports the Argo II has been spotted, he resorts to paranoid rambling.

“Praetors!” The messenger cried. “What are your orders?” Octavian [who is not a praetor] shot to his feet. “You have to ask?” His face was red with rage. He was strangling his teddy bear. “The omens are horrible! This is a trick, a deception. Beware Greeks bearing gifts!” He jabbed a finger at Percy. “His friends are attacking in a warship. He has led them here. We must attack!”

Yesterday when he last read the entrails, Octavian said the omens were good. Now, they’re suddenly horrible. That pretty well justifies Percy’s growing disregard for Octavian’s auguries.

Not only that; he is accusing Percy of treachery, while at the same time suggesting they attack a ship that can be seen bearing a white flag.

And this is before a single shot has been fired on New Rome. That false-flag attack by Gaea can not be the inciting incident for Octavian’s hostility to the Greeks. Not if what he wanted to do before it happened is the same as what he wanted to do after it happened. The attack is just what incentives the rest of the camp to support him.

The last interaction between Percy and Octavian is pretty much the first two chapters of MOA, where Octavian does his best to offend the Greeks.

“You’re letting these intruders into the camp!”

When Reyna orders Octavian to go make a sacrifice to the gods, Percy adds:

“Good idea. Go burn your bears Octavian.”

An insulting way to put it; but no more so than calling the Greek ambassadors (including a Roman praetor and Percy’s own girlfriend) “intruders.” And no more harsh than the insults Octavian has used for legionnaires below himself, like Frank and Hazel. And Percy has been given enough reason not to trust Octavian’s auguries any more than he trusts him.

The last exchange between them is about the praetorship:

Octavian snorted. “Which means we have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two! “On the bright side,” Percy said, “both Jason and I outrank you, Octavian. So we can both tell you to shut up.” Octavian turned as purple as a Roman T-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump.

I can only imagine how long Jason has been waiting for someone to say that to Octavian. It has been suggested this is an abuse of power on Percy’s part, but there is no reason to think so. They are surrounded by the senior officers of the legion, some of whom will be on Octavian's side, and no one raises an objection. And it's not like Octavian actually treats it like an order.

“I’ll step aside for Jason,” Percy said easily. “It’s no biggie.” “No biggie?” Octavian choked. “The praetorship of Rome is no biggie?”

No need to go into detail about how the rest of the series goes. Gaea triggers a war between the Greeks and Romans, and Octavian walks right into it. There is no reason to think he was working for her; but he was plainly looking for an excuse to start hostilities.

[homunculus-argument]

Random worldbuilding from The Unfinished Book:

While there is no unified, clearly defined LGBT community, the people who would by our definition fall under that umbrella are heavily associated with religion. While the general cultural assumption is that everyone is at least a little bit bisexual - the idea that almost everyone hypothetically could encounter a woman so handsome or a man so beautiful that they'd go gay for them is aknowledged well enough to be a common theme in poetry and literature - being queer is more or less considered a way in which various gods "earmark" their own.

This is considered a matter beyond obvious - there are whole creation myths of how the gods who created the world grew annoyed about how all the humans they made were too busy having and raising their own children to properly focus on worshipping their gods or caring for society at large, so the gods saw fit to create people who would rather love their own sex, or not desire marriage or children at all, to ensure there are some whose hands and minds are free to focus more on the gods.

The Empire tolerates any and every religious practice that doesn't threaten the state, break other laws or cause public disturbance, so while there are some major gods whose temples are in almost every city, the pantheon of gods whose existence is aknowledged is essentially infinite. The churches, temple organisations and schools of various major gods, goddesses and ambiguous divine entities and their devoted priests and servants aren't simply there, but play a part in society and politics, as bankers, historians, librarians, curators, doctors and educators. Some run orphanages.

One big, major player in the field is the order of the Moon Goddess. They don't literally worship the moon, the moon is simply the symbol of the Goddess, whose realm is the perfect logic and structure of the universe, which cannot be touched or even properly comprehended by the fallible and imperfect human mind. Their philosophy is that there is no such thing as a question without an answer or a thing without purpose, and anything that appears so is simply beyond human grasp. While there are Moon Priestesses who aren't trans women, they are few and far between, and still less rare than trans women who aren't priestesses.

This is considered an example of how clear and logical the Moon Goddess is - the dysphoria of AMAB people is culturally regarded as them feeling a calling, a call that cannot be mistaken for anything else, a puzzle with one logical answer that they must personally find and embrace, which cannot be disputed by any mortal force, and can only be denied and repressed for so long by the Chosen Subject before they accept it. Becoming a Moon Priestess isn't an "I don't know what to do with my life so I might as well do this" choice in life, it was a choice that was made for you before you were born.

In the book, the protagonist encounters a trans man on his journey and they travel together for a while. After discovering the nature of how Terrel is, the protagonist isn't baffled by the idea that trans men exist at all - mainly he is unfathomably relieved that this small and boyish youth who drinks, gambles, fights, fucks and commits murder like a grown man is actually older than himself and not, like, thirteen - but astonished that Terrel isn't religious, and doesn't consider himself "chosen" by any god. He just is, and as far as he's concerned, the gods have nothing to do with it.

Also it suddenly makes a lot more sense that his name translates to "son of a hyena bitch", something that no woman would name her own child. He named himself, and his mother is a huge bitch.

[miquellaluciscaelum]

"Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying".

I warn you! It gotta be long, very long. And it's of course mostly my personal opinion, speculations, theories, ideas about my fav character in this game!

If you are ready, let's go!

A rather interesting and ambiguous set of phrases, especially in combination with the visuals.

I'd like to think about what these phrases mean for Miquella in the context of his character. In the fandom, Miquella is actually a pretty unique character. The main reason is how contradictory people's opinions about him are. He is perhaps one of those about whom we know the least, but at the same time people usually attribute some things and qualities to him with such conviction, as if we have his entire biography laid out on the table instead of a set of very ambiguous descriptions of items that often don't even have a direct relationship to him or they aren't reliably verified belonging to him.

First of all, objectively, Miquella is perhaps one of the most sinless characters in the world of the Elden ring. He is not a warrior who killed for the Golden order. He is not a person who has been proven to have organized and committed a conspiracy to kill another person who is a killer's relative by the way. He did not curse the whole region with rot and slow decay. He wasn't engaged in some super vile heretical practices, wanting to gain at least some power. He didn't even burn Minor Erdtree, do you understand? Hi, Rykard! And most importantly, he was not voluntarily associated with any outer god, who bring mostly destruction on Lands between, at least as far as we know.

We know for certain about Miquella that:

1. The main goal for him was to cure his sister from the curse. He was ready to renounce the Golden Order in trying to seek answers elsewhere, in other branches of magic and faith. It costs a lot. Considering than the closer time came to the Shattering, the more rigid and radical the rules of the Order became under the rule of Radagon. Blasphemy, and this is blasphemy, was punished very severely. Radagon was literally at war with his own son because he had renounced the Golden Order. Hi, Rykard again! And it was Miquella who rejected the Golden order and its practices in order to save his sister, and later most likely completely refused from faith, realizing how much the order was rotten from the inside, from its roots literally.

2. Miquella is a genius. Most likely, he is the smartest of all the demigods and people living in Lands between. His inventions in the fields of magic, engineering, and botany are either rare or legendary items in the game. Prosthetics, armor, needles, lilies, spells. The pure gold needle alone is capable of suppressing the influence of outer gods such as Goddess of Rot and God of Frenzied flame, this actually calls into question their power in the lands between. In this way, this confirms Malenia's words about the most fearsome Empyrean. And indirectly it can make it clear where Miquella's curse came from. Here I agree with @miquella-everywhere that the most likely candidate is Greater Will, which probably saw in Miquella the same threat as in Marika. Anyone who can overcome the influence of at least one god can potentially overcome them all.

3. Miquella is known for hosting all those abandoned, rejected and forgotten by the Golden order. Omens, crystalians, demi-humans, albinaurics, tarnished, assassins, wandering merchants. From his face or under the name of his alter ego Saint Trina, he helped and saved more creatures and people than we know for sure anyone else did. The fact that this content was cut from the game at the final stage of production does not mean that it does not exist.

4. He has a reliably good relationship with most of his family members. He and Malenia feel like two parts of the same soul. He should also have a fairly close and warm relationship with Godwyn, it is shown through the statue in his Haligtree and the description of the sword Golden Epitaph. For a while, he must have had a good relationship with his father, with whom they learned the wisdom of the Golden order together. There is also reason to believe that he had a good relationship with some part of the Carian family. Considering the swords of Miquella's knights, made according to the Carian pattern, and knight Loretta, who guarded Elphael in the end.

5. Miquella definitely has special abilities. Whether it's the properties of his blood, or the traits of his character.

Speaking about this property of endearing people to themselves, I think it is logical to assume that until proven otherwise, that:

- first of all, his role as a CHARISMATIC LEADER. Understand that when his curse revealed, he objectively could not become a warrior like all the other members of his family. He was most likely trained to become a ruler, sage or adviser, commonly a politician. This is charisma training, the ability to win people over, the ability to lead people, the ability to convince and achieve your goals. This does not mean that he is a liar or a manipulator, it means that he is a good person in bad conditions, who uses the tools available to him, can sometimes make gray borderline decisions, but at the same time do it for a better future. In an environment where his curse puts him below everyone else and the military career ladder, the faster way to the top, is inaccessible to him, he has to struggle with acquiring some kind of position even more. In the end before and during the Shattering, by the way, he ruled the entire fucking city with his sister, speaking of charisma and leader characters.

- secondly, the possibility of a special persuasion arose from some kind of natural magnetism exists, perhaps even uncontrolled by Miquella himself. We could all have noticed some insect-like features that Miquella has, wings, cocoons, etc. It is quite possible that there are some special pheromones that soften people's reactions to him and cause instinctive affection, like butterflies have, for example. I.e. partially it may be uncontrollable.

- thirdly, this "gift of persuasion" can be completely hereditary, i.e. it could have come from Marika herself. She still somehow forced the last giant to obey her and guard Forge of the Giants.

That is, his so-called manipulation could be partly uncontrollable, and partly caused by his upbringing and the initial limitations of his position due to the curse, which he absolutely needs to overcome because otherwise he will not have enough knowledge or resources to cure Malenia or himself. Can you blame him for using the tools available to him and perhaps even using his innocent appearance to achieve his goals more easily? I wouldn't. (Honestly, if in the end his darker and more ominous side will be revealed to us, and the guess that he bewitched people will become the truth, I won't start love him less🤣, but now all of these are still just speculations) Moreover, it is not mentioned anywhere that he compeled and controlled people on some cosmic scale, deprived them of their will and forced them to madly love him and follow his ideas. He didn't want to put himself on a pedestal, create a new order, or become an almighty god. If he has the kind of potential that you believe he has, if he is one huge reference to Griffith as you believe, he probably could, but it literally contradicts his whole character, goals and motivation.

But what I absolutely deny and hate is the version that it was Miquella who bewitched Mogh in order to use him for his own purposes and achieve a breakthrough in breaking his curse earlier. I think this is absolutely a piece of SHIT and smacks of VICTIMBLAMING. All Miquella got from his kidnapping was a cursed body; an abandoned and slowly degrading sister, whom he was actually trying to save; a dying rotting tree, he tried to grow with so much effort; and he, who fell under the influence of an outer god, the thing he tried to avoid himself and from which he is still trying to save Malenia. Moreover, we know literally NOTHING about what Mogh did to Miquella while he was with him and in what condition. And believe me, you don't want to know what they write about this in fanfiction and what boarders it sometimes goes beyond. I can't imagine any way in which Miquella could have planned something like this.

Returning to the set of phrases at the beginning of the trailer.

"Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying".

Two interpretations.

One based on his "special influence on people." Then it can literally be said here that he is able to change people's consciousness and worldview for the better or for the worse. To free people's hearts from evil and evil thoughts, perhaps any thoughts in principle. This means that he has great power. Whether he uses it or not is another matter. This interpretation echoes Malenia's words and seems to be the most obvious and quite ominous.

However, when I watched the trailer over and over again and this moment in particular, I realized something. The words about a pure innocent soul and strength contrast very strongly with the visual. He is literally so disgusting and repulsive compared to the image of Miquella that they create in our heads that it becomes strange.

And then I thought, what if there is another meaning?

What if it means that such a pure innocent soul has great potential to make the world a better place, to make people living there better. But the higher you fly, the more painful to fall. The more hope you have, the more terrible to experience the defeat. What if this literally means:

Such a pure innocent soul with enough love in her to purify people's hearts. That makes the end of these aspirations even more terrifying.

And they show us Miquella's bloodied, emaciated hand from the cocoon. All his desires: save his sister, save his brother, save himself, make the world a better place for the abandoned and rejected, let life and abundance flourish, ended here. In the hands of a pervert and his perverted god, in a stinking bloody swamp, buried deep underground without a single ray of sun, deep in a dream that has no end, abandoned and left alone. The road to hell has been paved with truly good intentions.

Fuck, I'm crying. Let me save my boy😭

I really don't understand how you can compare Miquella to Griffith when it's literally the same type of character that Miyazaki uses in every bloody game he creates. If you want to call it a rebirth of the world, let it be. Gwyndolin, Lothric, Kuro, Miquella. A boy cursed or weak from birth, different from generally accepted norms, with great responsibility and duty on his shoulders, a defender of ideals in spirit and a fighter against fate in fact, with problems in the family and a legacy more burdensome than beneficial, but most often with loving brothers and sisters and a strong warrior behind his back, master in magic or science, cold-blooded, but very naive at heart. Unwilling to give in to fate, gods, and the world that always expects something from them. Unwilling to surrender to death. These are very similar stories and there is no place in them for what you are looking for. I just hope that there will be no place for a bad ending in the new story either. 😭

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk about some cute soulsborn femboy✨. I even cried at the end. Hope you didn't get bored in the process. Trailer touched me on many soul layers.

[aggravatetheaxe]

Hi hello tell me about Caesar's dead wife

ty my beautiful friends :)

here is caesar's dead wife

-Legion name Drusilla Minerva; original name translates roughly to "Red-Eyed Sparrowhawk Woman"

-tan skin, auburn hair, eyes same color as hair. styled as the Daughter of Minerva much how Caesar is styled the Son of Mars

-came from a matriarchal tribe who, upon seeing what the Legion wrought, decided to join willingly despite, well, everything. their thought process was that there is a dignity in Choice, even if it is one of limited Choices, and assimilation was preferable to losing all their knowledge (i know that canonically caesar's legion is one homogeneous culture and erases all other identities but realistically this isn't how empires work so. wiggle room)

-youngest daughter of an elder and medicine woman, possesses knowledge of loads of ancient practices including blood transfusion and c-section

-despite the Legion going on and on about how you have to have a young, fertile bride, Drusilla is neither young (objective - she's caesar's same age, so like 30) nor fertile

-it was Joshua's idea for caesar to get married - citing a bunch of different reasons, not the least of which was "hey you should probably have an heir so that if you die this empire doesn't devolve into immediate chaos." caesar was like "ok but......" and never finished the sentence ("but i'm gay josh"). joshua was like don't worry king i'll handle it

read more

-selects a woman for him to court, and hey, it turns out she's actually bad as hell? she's collected, sharp, insanely intelligent (as in wisdom and learned), fanatically spiritual, with a will of iron and a withering stare that could strike any legionary down. caesar is like "she rocks actually, let's do this." but first he has to tell her he and joshua have been, like, A Thing for a long time and he's not going to stop on her account. she's like I Literally Could Not Care Less, the Business of Men Does Not Concern Me. that seals the deal

-ok ok turns out she's actually super cool and they're bffs. yeah they have sex and whatever but when they hold court? definition of a power couple. every fag must have his hag

-joshua is invited into their bed whenever he wants but he's like no :prayer_emoji: adultery is a sin :prayer_emoji: .. Dru and Caesar are like have it your way you fuckin square!!

-she and caesar and josh are the pillars upon which the legion is built. although as a woman she knows her fate is always to be overshadowed, this is something she accepts, like thousands of queens and empresses before her. she's all about protecting her own peace. she's got all the power, comfort, and privilege she could ever want, so like, whatever.

-can frequently be seen spitting venom across the dining table at officers + reminding them of the Mission of the Legion. simply does not tolerate deviation.

-for fertility reasons, she and caesar only ever have one daughter before Drusilla determined another pregnancy would kill her. she's like go ahead and get a concubine who'll give you more children, idc. caesar is like but ... then i'd have to have sex with a . with a w. with a woman. and she's like jesus christ don't be a pussy

-serving cunt at all times. jewel-tone-pilled queens only

-lives at Caesar's palace (not that one- the one in arizona lol) but frequently makes trips out to war camps, sometimes with caesar, sometimes in his stead, sometimes before or after him. she's got a sharp eye and WILL let you know if anything is out of place or if something is not being done right. she's sweeping into camp with fanfare like a goddess, walking down that line of soldiers, and telling at least one to sashay away

-she may be a Woman but the legionaries are so scared of her. and they should be

-Breasts

-enjoys long walks with her entourage, or just her with a companion (usually joshua or a handmaid)

-took a shine to Vulpes, encouraged caesar's choice not to punish him. vulpes is like *points* that's my Evil Mother

-unfortunately took ill with a respiratory illness a decade (give or take) before the game takes place and, despite her best efforts and the efforts of many other healers, was not able to recover

-when it was clear that she was on her deathbed and that the illness would be drawn out, she and caesar agreed that she should commit suicide in the Roman tradition by poisoning. compared to her illness, it was a painless and peaceful death

-caesar's still not over it. yeah he's gay, but that was his best friend in the whole world. and not long after that he lost joshua too. so as you can imagine, he is going through it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bonus about their child, Julia:

[pretend i drew a busty athletic blond babe here]

-Julia is in her late 20s when the game takes place

-tan, dark blond, brown eyes, very obviously caesar's child in her expressions, anchoring facial features, and even her voice. so basically, sexy as hell

-lives in Arizona at the palace, takes care of her half-brothers and -sisters (with the massive help of a bunch of servants and slaves and nurses of course - but she's who they're closest to)

-yeah she's not a man, but she's honestly probably caesar's favorite kid anyway. he's very proud of her beauty and intelligence and is almost (almost) tempted to name her his heir.

-in her ample free time, she's read all the same literature her father has, though she's come up with...slightly different interpretations of the texts. she's like hmm... the legion is kind of not doing the right thing i think? but it's hard to have views that conflict with your culture when you're literally a princess/demigoddess

-would totally vibe with Arcade i think. he'd be like finally someone half sane

-Vulpes has a big fat lesbian crush on her. thank you and goodnight

[scarlet--wiccan]

Is chaos magic like. “Raw” or “undomesticated”magic (if that makes sense)? More wild/untamed compared to what Dr strange/etc does? I’m legitimately unsure if that’s something that’s canon (or at least suggested) or some kind of headcanon that snuck up on me. Also: are there any other casters who prominently use chaos magic? does Natalya?

No, that is not a description that has ever been clearly or consistently applied to chaos magic in the Marvel universe. This notion of low magic vs. high magic-- or "wild" and "undomesticated," as you put it, vs. elevated or sophisticated-- is not uncommon in fantasy, and sometimes, in real-life occult traditions. I find that it often carries racist connotations, and given how often Wanda is the only woman of color in a room of magic characters, I'd prefer to avoid playing into that concept here. Wanda's mastery of witchcraft, and specifically, chaos magic, has, at times, been described as amateur or undirected, but that's literally because she lacked experience. She' was on a learning curve from the 70s to the late-90s. She's long-since graduated from that stage.

I've written about the varying depictions of chaos magic and its properties before. [x] [x] In contemporary comics, we understand chaos to be a primordial, naturally occurring, universal force and a foundational element of seemingly all magic. Typically, it appears to be volatile and difficult to control. In older comics, it was associated solely with Chthon and the Darkhold, and was primarily characterized as dark, spooky, and kind of underworldy-- literally "chthonic". In the 80s and 90s, as Wanda learns more about her powers, she comes to understand that chaos magic, besides twisting probabilities, can transcend many boundaries that other forms of magic cannot.

Most recently, I think a distinction is beginning to form between Chthon as a god of chaos, and the magics he wrought, and chaos as a primordial force or magical element. Although Wanda recieved her powers from Chthon, and as a result, has always been vulnerable to him, it is probably most accurate to say that they both have the same elemental affinity. She's tapped into the same force that he embodies.

In comparison to Doctor Strange, it's not a question of refinement, just a difference of origin. The sorceries Stephen practices are largely derived from the teachings of the Vishanti, specifically Agamotto, the son of the Elder Goddess Oshtur. There's a whole saga and mythology there, just as there's a whole saga and mythology of how the Darkhold was written. Broadly speaking, most of the mythical or cosmological concepts in the concepts are not competing in a hierarchy, they're just operating in different lanes, and I think that's important to remember.

Billy's powers are also defined as chaos magic, and he inherited them directly from Wanda.Besides him, though, there aren't any characters who have a natural affinity for chaos magic in the same way that Wanda does. She received that power as a result of Chthon's interference, so it wasn't a part of her magical lineage. Natalya was a witch, and by all accounts a formidable one, but chaos magic was not one of her abilities. If you're questioning why or how Billy inherited that power, unfortunately, there are no clear answers. We do know that Chthon specially altered Wanda's "mutation" to act as a conduit for chaos magic, so it's likely that Billy inherited this trait and gained access to chaos magic without Chthon's direct interference.

So, who else can use it? As Chthon's daughter, Victoria Montessi has a natural affinity for his power. She's sensitive to the Darkhold's magic and is one of the few people who can handle it without being corrupted, but the text never explicitly describes her as a chaos magic wielder. In Mighty Avengers (2007), Chthon was able to possess Pietro in the same way he previously possessed Wanda, implying that Pietro has a similar affinity, although this has never been explored further.

The text has never been entirely clear as to whether or not the spells and such written in the Darkhold are technically chaos magic in the same way as Chthon or Wanda's personal powers. But the Darkhold has been trafficked all over the world and given rise to several cults. Notable sorcerers throughout history, such as Morgan Le Fay, have used it, and many monster and demons have been born from it, or from Chthon himself. Modred the Mystic is a longtime devotee of Chthon and once transformed himself into a living Darkhold, of sorts.

In the Contest of Chaos event, Agatha stole Chthon's heart and was using it to craft a new version of the Darkhold. She also demonstrated to ability to channel, direct, and harvest Earth's naturally occurring chaos magic. So while she doesn't have an innate affinity for this power, the way Wanda does, with skill, cunning, and the right materials, she was able to wield it. In the end, she succeeded in creating a new Darkhold, but it took on a life of its own in the form of an adolescent boy. The child-- who, frustratingly, is still unnamed-- has cast several spells that were presumably written in one or both versions of the book. Is that "chaos magic"? It might not be the same as what Wanda does, but I have to imagine that it counts.

[justmenoworries]

I think not enough people in the Greek Mythology Fandom™️ talk about the fact that Athena was kind of a Pick Me and Ares was kind of a feminist, actually.

Modern depictions of the two really like to make Ares into a dumb brute who hates all women because obviously God of War = Mysoginist Macho and Athena is a Feminist Icon because she is a woman and also a War God.

When, according to mythology Athena:

Was the biggest fucking Daddy's Girl and took her father Zeus' side in damn near everything. Y'know, the god who is notorious for assaulting women, both divine and mortal, knocking them up and then doing nothing when his jealous wife comes after them.

Said in The Euminides that her emerging from Zeus' forehead means she has no mother and so she has no love for women and will always rule in favor of men

Was practically the mascot goddess of Athens, one of the most anti-women cities to ever exist, even by ancient Greece standard

Did nothing when Persephone was kidnapped by Hades despite being present

while Ares meanwhile

Was the father and patron of the Amazons, a whole culture of badass warrior women

Once went on trial because he brutally murdered a son of Poseidon for sexually assaulting his daughter Alcippe (Ares won that trial, by the way)

Is literally the only male god in the entire pantheon who has never sexually assaulted a woman, all of his relationships were consensual (the bar is in Tartarus here, but nonetheless)

Has Gynaecothoenas, which translates to "the god feasted on by women", among his many epithets, from the time the women of Tegea (Arcadia) took up arms against and defeated a Spartan invasion, then organized an entire feast in honor of Ares which only women were allowed to partake in.

That's not to say Ares doesn't have negative qualities and that Athena doesn't have positive ones. I just find it really interesting the assumptions Greek Mythology Fandom™️ tends to make about these two just from knowing what their basic deal is.

Like, obviously Athena must be a feminist, since she's a badass female warrior and has a high position in a society as notoriously patriarchal as the Greek pantheon.

And surely Ares, the god embodying the brutality of war, must be dripping toxic masculinity, hate women and endorse violence against them.

Right?

[stellae-de-baphometis]

Hello!! I am extremely new to demonolatry as I have very recently discovered it and I would like to know if you have any resources for beginners to read/watch that are helpful. Don’t worry about it if you don’t or if you simply don’t feel like it, I don’t mind!! Ty and have a nice day!!!!

Hey there! Terribly sorry for answering this so late. Xx So I've only been into Daemonolatry for about a year now, though I have learnt a lot thus far and I'd be more than happy to share some really important pointers to aid you in walking this path. ^.^

⭒☆·━━━━━━━•( 🌑 )•━━━━━━━·☆⭒

So first and foremost before I get into the main blogpost, I really cannot stress this enough...

Please educate yourself on closed practices and steer clear of cultural appropriation in your personal practises. There are a group of people in the Daemonolatry community who appropriate the heck out of Jewish daemons, especially Lilith. Judaism is a closed practise and therefore it's only respectful to not incorporate Judaism into your personal practises. Appropriating Judaism is actually a form of anti-Semitism, so please be mindful and respectful of these things! 🖤

I'm ashamed to admit this but I actually used to think it was completely fine to appropriate Jewish daemons last year, thanks to subreddits like r/DemonlatryPractices who would constantly try to push propaganda about Lilith being a "Mesopotamian Pagan Goddess" and other excuses for appropriating her. That same subreddit decided to attack me when I merely mentioned (on a completely different subreddit, mind you) that I disagreed with them appropriating Lilith, and in turn I got witch-hunted so that's great lmao. 🤡

Please avoid that subreddit at all costs, it's an absolute cesspit of cultural appropriation and passive anti-Semitism, and honestly they exhibit cult-like behaviour if you do so much as simply disagree with the appropriation of Jewish daemons. It's pretty disturbing... But yeah anyways sorry for rambling lol.

I'd also recommend avoiding people and organisations such as S. Connolly, V.K. Jehannum, Satan & Suns/Sons, BlackWitchCoven, The BecomeALivingGod Forum, The Satanic Temple, Joy Of Satan Ministries, The Order Of Nine Angles, scarletarosa (a user that literally exists here on Tumblr... yikes), etc. They engage in Jewish appropriation, and some of them even have ties to Nazism, racism, and other forms of bigotry too.

Some other Jewish daemons/spirits that you should avoid appropriating alongside Lilith are; Naamah, Agrat Bat Mahalath, Eisheth Zenunim, Samael, Abyzou, and the Grigori / Watcher Angels.

There are many other closed practices too, but if you'd like to do further research I can leave that up to you. ^.^

Okay sorry about that huge ramble lmao, just thought I would get that out of the way before getting into the main post because I think it's an important point to make and I don't want you to fall down a cultural appropriation apologist pipeline like I did at the beginning of my practise lol. Xx

Anyways, let's talk about The Infernal Divine!

+: GIF Credit :+

⭒☆·━━━━━━━•( 🌑 )•━━━━━━━·☆⭒

So we'll start with some really basic stuff. What exactly are daemons?

It's not commonly known outside of Daemonolatry that daemons themselves actually predate Christianity. The term 'demon' (alternatively spelled 'daemon') comes from the word 'daimon' which originates way back in Greek mythology. Daimons were a type of tutelary deity as well as guiding spirit whose divine nature was that of both mortals and deities. They were also sometimes regarded as bringers of knowledge, wisdom, and destiny. In this sense, they could be considered deities in their own right.

Contrary to popular belief, daemons are not evil and never were to begin with. It was only until the coming of Christianity that daemons as well as other gods were vilified and ostracised due to the cultish, radical, monotheistic mindset a lot of Christian extremists held back in the day. Lucifer himself was a "demonized" Roman god also known as Phosphorus, associated with light and the planet Venus. From that description alone, I don't really get evil vibes lol.

In my opinion, our world cannot simply be split up into just black or white, and daemons are no exception. Daemons aren't evil, but they aren't completely love and light either; They're neutral. Much like humans as well as the universe itself, the Infernal Divine are various shades of grey, and all daemons are unique and differ in personality.

⭒☆·━━━━━━━•( 🌑 )•━━━━━━━·☆⭒

So with all this in mind, what are some good resources that don't endorse and/or engage in appropriation of closed practices?

The YouTube channels ESOTERICA and ReligionForBreakfast have great information on the history of various religions and practises!

~ Book Recommendations ~

Livre des Esperitz

Dictionnaire Infernal

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

Pandemonium: A Discordant Concordance Of Diverse Spirit Catalogues

I personally am working towards being a daemonolatry resource myself, but I haven't been able to post much lately due to my mental health issues. I also took an active break last year, as it was pointed out by a friend of mine that my belief of thinking it was fine to appropriate closed practises was obviously problematic, and so I took time off from posting in order to educate myself and delete any problematic blog posts I had made endorsing that in the past.

But nonetheless, I hope that what I was able to provide in this post was helpful! I wish you well on your spiritual path. 🖤

❀ ~ Many Blessings ~ ❀

-Korv

[papatundespainknife]

based on the backstory and personalities of the Mikalesons, do you have any headcannons about Mikaelsons + religion?

oh HECKIE YEAH

i think it's honestly SUCH an interesting topic and concept seeing as how their all you know immortals n shit and magics real and etc etc. unlike say, btvs where Willow literally invokes Osiris, tvd doesn't really make any solid references or claims about the whole Deity Situation until apparently legacies but I haven't watched it yet and sounds Kinda Dumb so I'm ignoring that lol. But the rule of thumb with shows like these seems to be that once you say draculas and witches are Super Real then it's open season for Zeus enter stage right like it's an episode of Xena. Which when you look at the Mikaelsons....... Wild.

I think that Freya, Finn and Rebekah are the most unironically straight-forwardly religious and I think they've stuck to the norse/scandinavian beliefs they grew up with. Freya both because of the 1,000 years of Napping Nonsense but also because she's a witch and that's the school she was taught in so she's sticking with it. Finn for similar naptime reasons and also because he doesn't see a reason to change and didn't even when they were in France and hanging out with christians. For Rebekah it's like pure sentimentality. She likes a lot of the aesthetics of mainly catholicism (the swagiest of sects) but at the end of the day she's still out here making offerings to Freya (the goddess not the sister fdjkgdfsdfs) because she's a sappy little sentimental bitch and that's what brings her comfort. I don't think she's particularly religious which I think Freya and Finn are but she enjoys the celebrations and finds comfort in the actions/words/rituals/prayers/etc.

Kol and Elijah are more wiggly in their beliefs. Kol still calls back to his roots a LOT but he's also expanded out over the years since he's still a witch at heart and a curious cat. He's less interested in following any one religion and more in what resonates with him. So his believe system is very eclectic. What he believes in he believes in 10000% and is dead serious about. He's also experimented and educated himself about world religions the most out of all of them. Dude could probably teach a clss tbh.

Elijah is the one who's actually been the closest you can be to an atheist in a world like this. He's had periods of like, religious nihilism and periods were he's a little more hopeful about it. He's just spent so much of his life trying to be the Good Reliable Son and like Niklaus praying for divine intervention both with their father and with Niklaus only to get shit in return that it broke him and he just stopped and abandoned all religion/spirituality and focused only on the tangible. Hope's birth fucking shakes him to the core lol. Generally tho even after her he's still more in the like, "not my scene but i do love a good festivity" camp.

Niklaus is an evangelical's idea of an atheist where it's not "i don't believe in god" but instead "i feel god personally slighted me at my bday party so now i'll hurl rocks at him for the rest of my life out of pure spite". his sense of abandonment, unwantedness and paranoia doesn't stop at the threshold of religion. Ofc, he's old as dirt and literally has his own coven that bitches KEEP FORGETTING HE HAS so he's not in doubt that the divine exists. But Thor didn't protect him from his father's abuse so fuck that guy and jesus didn't fix SHIT for him so equally fuck him.

Wouldn't be shocked tho to see him "ironically" do rites/sacrifices to Odin via shit like the death of an enemy/creatively using old school practices for physical/psychological torture bc he's Like That. Does he also end up carving a mjolnir into Hope's crib and giving her a little one on a necklace? yes but this ain't about that hush.

Kol and Niklaus are also the most likely to have an affinity for gods like Loki and his children for reasons I feel are obvious lol. The holiday arguments this creates between them and Finn are unhinged.

[rainbowfroots]

KNB CHARECTERS IN THE PJO/HOO UNIVERSE:

I’ve had this headcanon stuck in my head for so long, I just had to share it.

Kuroko: Is definitely a son of Hades (the god of the underworld) like do we even need to ask ourselves why? Kuroko literally talks non-stop about how he’s a shadow in canon. I can already see him shadow travelling everywhere just to jump out and scare Kagami half to death. Being a son of Hades, he would get along with hellhounds too which makes total sense as he has a pet dog (Nigou) in canon. He would also have the power of summoning skeletons and speaking to the dead which I think would be AWESOME.

Kagami: Would probably be a son of Ares, the god of war and bloodshed. Children of Ares in PJO have mostly been described as taking action first and then facing the consequences. Kagami very much fits this bill. He is extremely passionate about what he does and is fairly competitive, which also makes him the perfect son of Ares. He would love the thrill of battle and would spend most of his time in the sword practicing arena in Camp Half-Blood. He also picks fights and gets riled up quickly, which is a very Ares trait to have. Also his hair is RED so he’s practically MADE to be an Ares kid.

Kise: Is 100000% an Apollo kid. There is no question about it. Apollo is all about radiance, being the god of the sun (also archery, medicine, the oracle, poetry, etc). His kids also have a tendency to be good at multiple things, which is a trait Kise shares. He is confident, the ladies love him and he loves to show off (All things Apollo admires). He would have fun practicing his archery, and though he may not be the best healer, he would be a pretty decent one. He’s also blonde which seems to be a common Apollo kid thing.

Midorima: Is probably a son of Tyche. She’s the goddess of fortune as well as chance. Midorima is obsessed with his horoscope, makes sure he has his lucky items and believes in superstition to a certain degree. These are things Tyche would appreciate. Midorima would be skilled in archery, preferring long-ranged weapons but also would have the power of cursing people with luck (whether that be good or bad would remain unknown until it would come into effect but it would give him a chance in the most hopeless of situations).

Aomine: Probably would be a son of Ares. This was difficult but after a lengthy deliberation, Ares it is. Though not as rash and reckless as Kagami, Aomine is still pretty reckless when it comes to proving himself. He lets anger drive him at times, which would prove useful in a fight. He’s skillful at what he does, which would make him a versatile fighter. He’s overconfident, almost to a fault and like Kagami, would never back down from a fight. Ares kids are passionate and that’s something Aomine definitely is.

Murasakibara: Could be a son of Hypnos. Murasakibara gave me a hard time, because he seems to fit everywhere, yet nowhere (sorry Murasakibara). But out of all the cabins, he seems like he would fit in with the Hypnos cabin. They are a slow, purposeful bunch. Hypnos is the god of sleep, and so his children spend a lot of time asleep. This could explain his laziness when it comes to most things. They also have the power to walk in peoples’ dreams which I think is simultaneously the coolest and most terrifying power ever!

Akashi: Is definitely the son of Nike, goddess of victory. Nike kids don’t know when to quit. They do not stop until they win and are crowned as the victor. They almost always want to be right (and usually are). They are very competitive as well. Akashi fits this to a T. He would probably make sure his cabin would win capture the flag. Every. Single. Time. The other campers would be tired of it.

Momoi: Is the daughter of Athena. Are we even surprised? Athena is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Her children always have a plan, know how to do their research and come up with solutions. If you thought children of Nike were always right, then the children of Athena are ALWAYS right. She’s smart, resourceful, witty and loves making plans. Momoi would fit right in with the Athena cabin.

Nijimura: Would be the son of Iris. Iris is the goddess of the rainbow and Niji literally means rainbow so, talk about being fated. Nijimura would look intimidating but would be the biggest softie. The Iris cabin get along with pegasi really well so he would spend a lot of time at the stables. And yes, the entire camp would have a crush on the man.  

Haizaki: Is a son of Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. Haizaki is a person fueled by spite and revenge, which would make him the perfect candidate for a son of Nemesis. Though not the most forgiving of parents, she does try and keep the balance in things, even if that means doing things that may not be the most moral. Haizaki would grow up hearing the phrase “an eye for an eye” and it would become the motto he would live by. He would be a great fighter, though maybe not the best example of someone with a moral compass.

Himuro: Would probably be a son of Hecate, the deity of magic, pathways and the mist. Himuro comes off as very mysterious. He keeps to himself mostly, but if you get on his bad side, he isn’t very forgiving. This seems to be what the children of Hecate are like. In canon, Himuro is known for his Mirage shot. As a son of Hecate, he would actually be able to cast illusions. He would also be able to curse people (Kagami has been turned into a toad more times than he can count) and can manipulate the mist.  

[astrowaffles]

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS

well. you did ask.

(cut for the people who don't want to scroll past my ramblings)

SO. I can't tell you about everybody so I'm going to tell you about the most developed family so far: the family of the male lead, Kerwin Delaney.

This is the family tree (red is the line of succession):

It's a world that's pretty much like a Korean manhwa historical world, so some unnamed time period (probably like the late 1700s/early 1800s if it's not just a mishmash) but it's not accurate - as you can see, women can inherit titles. This tree is a biiiit of a spoiler because we don't learn that Lola inherits the title until right at the end of the story. Until then, it's presumed that the eldest, Kerwin, will inherit the title. Nothing is solidified until the eldest turns 21; Kerwin is probably like 18.

In this world, the 4 grand duchies are the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the royal family maintains the balance in order to prevent, y'know, the end of the world. The Delaneys are "death" - they rule over Ortem, which is a mix between the words 'orcus' and 'mortem' but turned out more like I just took the m off mortem. "Delaney" means 'dark challenger' which I thought was good enough.

Morana Delaney

My favourite Delaney is Morana, the grand duke's younger sister (and therefore Kerwin's aunt). Morana is named after a slavic goddess of death & winter; her nickname is "princess of death" because, well, she's from death family and she was the 'princess'. She's renowned for her beauty, even though she has the trademark Delaney white hair, which everyone thinks is super creepy. She was supposed to marry the king in order to maintain the balance of power (each grand duchy takes turns at this) but the king was too scared of her, so he ran off with the daughter of a Marquis and Morana was home free. She now lives in one of the Delaney vacation homes - and didn't bother trying to get married again. She doesn't want to! She lives her iconic rich girlboss life, running businesses under the Delaney name and helping the Grand Duke whenever life gets on top of him. 10/10 Morana is my best creation.

Adrian Delaney

Adrian lost his wife very early on, but does his best not to let that get in his way when it comes to doing his job(s) - running the duchy, and raising his four kids. He's a really good dad, actually, because I didn't want him to be a stereotypical 'duke of the north'. He also has the Delaney white hair, though it's dark streaked because he's a bit older now - in his early 40's I think. He's a capable duke, and though he expects Kerwin to take on the title he doesn't stop Maveth & Hadeon from taking heirship lessons alongside their older brother, because who knows what will happen in the future? However, after the loss of his wife he and his sons became extremely overprotective of Lola, insisting she would just live a life of leisure forever, so she didn't take lessons.

Dolores Delaney

Lolaaaaaa!!! Her name means "sorrows" because, through no fault of her own, she kind of makes everyone sad since she looks so similar to her mother. Her white hair has a barely-there lilac tinge to it that only really appears in certain lights. Lola is a once-in-a-lifetime genius, and she secretly teaches herself all the heirship skills she needs to eventually step forward and join the 'struggle' (it's just a fair competition/test) for the heirship once Kerwin announces that he's not going to take it on. Lola has a quick temper and is especially irritated by her brother's overprotectiveness - ESPECIALLY Hadeon's, since he's literally younger than her??? He's practically a baby??? She's the one who should be protecting him???

Kerwin Delaney

Our male lead! In an attempt to prevent the stereotypes of a northern duke male lead, Kerwin is by no means an omnipotent genius who knows everything and can do everything. Of course, he's extremely capable & confident, but this comes from his experience and hard work. Kerwin is more of a golden retriever than a black cat, and will eventually give up his heirship to marry the female lead (the heir to the throne, therefore writing the wrongs of the previous king (he refused to marry morana)). Kerwin's a good big brother and a responsible son, as friendly as is suitable for a duke's son, but insecure of his 'creepy' white hair (basically, he doesn't wanna be scary or isolated). Kerwin is absolutely my son, because he was the ONLY ONE who had a name & personality before the world was built. One could argue, my world was built around him, because he's been hanging out in my mind since FOREVER. I can't remember if I ever published it, but he's appeared as an OC in fanfiction before. I just love him.

Maveth & Hadeon Delaney

These guys... don't really have personalities yet. Maveth is about 15 and Hadeon no older than 8, although to be honest I'd like him to be closer to 5 if that didn't mess up the mother's-death-maths so much. I'm still working on it! Maveth is a skilled swordsman and Hadeon doesn't really have any noticeable genius or vocation yet, though he may develop one in the future. At the moment he just hangs around Lola as her 'guard' because he idolises his big brothers, and they want her protected.

Thank you sm for the ask!!! I love this world and I'm really enjoying building it.

[transandor]

o right here's that conway family backstory for yall. its not perfect or entirely well thought out but . y'know 20 minutes of annoyed rage and a need to prove myself will get what you get

helgrind believed he was never good enough for spark or ianite: ianite clearly favored and leant on martha more, attributions to eldest daughter syndrome and also just hoping to raise a young goddess into perhaps taking her place, whereas spark was kind enough but stern in the way men who think they know what's best is, the kind of men who run navies and conquer lands and build cities and are the sole champions of lost goddesses. helgrind inevitably took over the kingdom, but literally only because martha "passed" on the position herself (was more or less pressured into finding her magic and studies through travel) and not because anyone thought he was fit to be king. he was constantly warring himself on whether he wanted the acceptance and aptitude of his parents or if he just flat out hated them. freya was a genuine kindness in his life, and calmed a lot of his anger. she was understanding, and fair, and intelligent. the both of them declared themselves godless, and she was the closest thing to a wizard the realm had, but not quite one.

by the time the twins are born, spark and ianite are practically gone entirely from helgrind's life, but he doesn't mind at all. the twins take startlingly after their grandparents, though, except alva's hair is a light brown whereas andor's is almost a white platinum, which means he had a Majority of the magic from helgrind's bloodline. he tries not to feel anything about this, but by the time andor can speak it's clear his grandmother has been visiting him- maybe not purposefully, but martha had many "nightmares" at that age too. it was a sort of twist of unfortunate destiny. freya dyed andor's hair brown to match his sister's, and did what she could to help andor with the magic he clearly couldn't control. helgrind kept seeing more and more of the family he wanted to forget in his son and his feelings of distress and anger kept welling up- never towards any of his family now, but he was getting distant. the boomerang was something freya had given andor to help teach him how the winds would work in his favor if he asked nicely of them- he has to ask the winds, though, she taught, and not the gods. they knew of the gods, but they tried to keep their relationship and bloodline a secret.

when freya and alva get taint sick, helgrind, unaware that it was his own mother's grief, at first, prays to her in the first time in so long. when nothing happens, and his wife and daughter eventually do die, he becomes a bitter, empty shell, and unfortunately all of his grief becomes anger. his son reminds him now of too much- his parents, who ignored him, his sister, who abandoned him, and now his dead wife and daughter. on good days, helgrind barely acknowledges his son- on bad days, andor is subject to fits of horrid fury and anger- it's never physical, but there are a few times where andor feels it would be close. eventually mianite reaches out to his nephew and promises that there are ways of ensuring this does not happen again.

andor has long since figured out- for the most part- his magic and prophecies are signs of being one of ianite's chosen. he knows he's not her champion, but he deigns to worship her anyways, in secret, once he learns more on the history of the town he's grown up in.

[strawberryblacktea25]

Trojan War Musical Jukebox Musical?

***Copyright laws did not exist in antiquity for mythology so they don't exist for a retelling of it today as well***

Jokes aside, ok no imagine this - A retelling of one of the most well known stories, originally sang, reusing songs from previous musicals. Fascinating concept already. I would change the lyrics of some of the songs to make it fit better with the Trojan cycle.

Ok Ok Ok Helen right? Give her and Clytemnestra Defying Gravity. Helen/Elphaba and Clytemnestra/Glinda. Sung the moment Helen flees with Paris to Troy (bonus points for having Paris just kinda sitting in the background like "ok girl sing your heart out our whatever; WE GOTTA GO").

Helen is talking about how she wants to leave the stifling life of a woman in Greece. She "chose" her husband when she was so young; how could anyone expect a child to make such a decision that will effect the rest of her life forever (a little bit like college these days huh)? She just kinda picks and doesn't realize fully what she just trapped herself in. She- a daughter of Zeus- is nothing more than a trophy wife; a vessel for children. She sees her brothers (one praised for also being a son of Zeus!!!) go and have adventures on the Argo. She wants that; She craves that glory and adventure too. But she can't have it. Why? She was cursed to be born with tits and a womb I guess.

She never wanted to be a mom. She wants to see the world; earn a name for herself. Her husband does not think she should. I'm not going to make Menelaus this comically evil abusive husband. He's not a "bad husband" but he's still entrenched in the patriarchy of the culture. He's very traditional and expects his wife to behave the same. He has power, she is the beauty (the MOST beautiful actually), she is the one who produces the heirs. He, like her own sister and the rest of society, try to gaslight her into staying put and looking pretty (those are deemed her "true" powers; not fighting or adventuring or whatever) Like, when they have Hermione, I don't imagine Menelaus "being upset they had a daughter instead of a son" type of gross. Instead he would be like "ah cool we now of a resource to marry off and increase our political power!" type. He's not abusive but he ain't progressive yaknow?

Enter Paris. Bro is the adventuring type. Loves exploring. I mean he was a shepherd/farmer who magically discovers he's royalty and is flung from the rural land to urban Troy. He even met some gods once (Ares first who gave him a positive vibe check and then three goddesses); man's the stereotypical hero (with no divine blood!). Imagine like charisma stat maxed out (probably had to pick it up for survival too). He is sent by Priam on a convoy for whatever reason to Sparta cause of it.

He was promised by the gods power, love, or military prowess. Since he was literally a Shepherd at the time he picks the wife. Problem is, it isn't immediate. He thinks he's a little cheated and finds it ironic how he practically gets the power point first. The enter Helen.

They fall head over heels for each other. It isn't immediate but they get to talk on the convoy mission since the head of the house is out on like a lass minute thing off somewhere else. The two vibe and get along. Helen loves hearing about his life/adventures and expresses wanting to do the same. He would love to have a permanent partner by his side doing so.

Then she wants to leave with him (defy gravity if you will... she is the daughter of the literal sky king after all). Let's say Clytemnestra is there cause while Menelaus is away, she wants to give her sister company and not be alone. Clytemnestra, at this point, is very entrenched in what society expects of her. Despite not being the one with divine blood in the family, she married a powerful man, is fertile (had three kids so far!!), and avidly looks forward to fulfill her duties as mother (like giving her daughter away for marriage :D). That last part makes the "I hope you are happy and don't regret your decisions bit" SOOOO extra fun.

Anyway before leaving the sisters talk. Helen tries to convince her sister to come and free herself, Clytemnestra is like "no you have delusions of grandeur". They would probably also talk about their kids. I am having Helen leaving Hermoine behind. Again, she never wanted to be a mother and was practically forced to have a kid. Part of why she is leaving is cause she knows she'll be expected to have another. Helen wants to leave all of her previous life with Menelaus behind. Also, raising a kid while traveling (which BTW unfortunately does not happen much cause the Greeks effectively surround Troy for ten years... again "hope you won't regret it") is not ideal. Helen does not wish harm on the kid, probably asks Clytemnestra to take care of her.

Anyway, Helen is done "accepting limits" and tells her sister if she "cares to find her, look to the EASTERN sky". She knows the society in Greece would not accept her and try to "ground" her. They will debase and defame her, calling her "wicked" for her rebellion. In fact, at the end, the guards start running toward the ship screaming exactly that. Now, I'm not imagining Troy as being this feminist safe haven, there definitely will be people there as well who will label Helen a whore or whatever. But I do imagine the culture there being a little bit more accepting to the idea of a woman having the autonomy and authority to make their own decisions (something that seems very threatening to Greece). Most of the Trojans end up being sympathetic to her plight (though maybe less as the war drags on).

Crazy idea right? Now I want to see everyone's face when Achilles drops the first line of Candy Store to Agamemnon. (Achilles is very Heather Chandler coded don't get me started)

[luminouslumity]

Some more retellings I read recently! I've actually alluded to having read DoS before, but wanted to wait for TSoP to come out before making an actual post first. And unlike last time, I wasn't a big fan of these books. Though in hindsight, I probably should've known that when I saw the cover for DoS; no, but seriously, Greek is a beautiful language, but seeing it used as font will never not hurt the little linguist in me. Also, Nestra... No. Just no. And as for the books themselves? Well, what I like to do when reading or watching an adaptation of a work is to look at it two ways: first, does it work as an adaptation, and second, does it work on its own? And in the case of Heywood... not really for both.

I do want to give credit where credit is due though, I actually did enjoy Heywood's writing as well as how she incorporated some pretty minor details from certain sources that I haven't seen any other retelling use (ex: Menelaus having a son by a slave woman, something that's actually mentioned in the Odyssey), but that's as far as my praise goes, at least as far as her first book is concerned.

Another thing to keep in mind is that her books are one of those retellings that strip away the mythological aspects entirely for the sake of telling a historical narrative and I honestly have yet to find one that actually does this well, because without the presence of gods or monsters, you run into some really stupid contrivances at best and quite a few gaping plot holes at worst. Then we get scenes like Helen literally kicking and spitting on Eileithyia's rock because she doesn't want to get pregnant again and Iphigenia getting sacrificed because the priest Calchas wanted revenge after he blames Agamemnon for his sister's death, and a part of me honestly can't help but feel uncomfortable reading scenes like this, almost like it's mocking an ancient religion that many still acknowledge and practice to this day. Oh, and just so no one misunderstands me, I'm taking issue with Helen basically insulting a goddess specifically, even if that goddess is physically absent.

TSoP does seem to tone this down, or at the very least, it's not to the extent that we saw in DoS from what I noticed, though it's also completely possible there was something I had missed. One moment that does stand out to me though is when Danae internally compares the light coming from a torch fire to a golden shower and then we immediately get the reveal of Perseus' actual father, which I actually thought was pretty funny. It helps that Myron himself was really sweet from the little we knew him, which also makes me sad because there really didn't seem to be any reason for Danae to lie to Perseus about who his father was. It's not like Danae was ashamed of Myron or anything, either; it's one thing for her to want to keep her past a secret from her son for now, it's an entirely other thing to lie to him and say his father was a god!

And speaking of the characters, I actually really liked Claire's version of Helen, I just hate that it comes at the expense of turning her into a neglectful parent even before she runs away with Paris (thankfully, her actions aren't exactly glorified, either; actually, I feel like I would've enjoyed this plotline alot more had it been executed better), as well as turning Menelaus into a distant husband and Leda into an awful mother. Meanwhile, Agamemnon is horrible even long before he sacrifices Iphigenia, and Klytemnestra once again never kills Kassandra in cold blood, even though the entire point of the myth is to show the senselessness of violence and vengeance and how her grief had corrupted her in the years her husband had been away at war.

I am once again asking, what's wrong with being direct?

And as for TSoP, the characters here are certainly a lot more enjoyable personality-wise... but that's also an issue, because it all comes at the expense of turning Perseus—whose entire quest revolved around saving his mother—into an entitled brat. First because he thinks he's a demigod, then because he finds out he's the grandson of a king and has a prophecy to fulfill. In fact, he doesn't even go on a quest at all, just sent away because his mother actually wants to marry Polydectes and he won't stop throwing a tantrum about it. Then we just skip to him meeting Medusa and then killing her after she rejects his feelings for her, "saving" Andromeda from what was basically a symbolic sacrifice, mistaking the hospitality feast he's given for a wedding banquet in honor of himself and his supposed new bride due to the language barrier, killing her actual betrothed before she finally decides to go with him, killing Polydectes when he refuses to stand down, and then nearly killing an old Acrisius before finally listening to what his mother and wife want and letting his grandfather live.

That's it. That's the book.

And I liked the use of the Prophecy Twist at the end and also how Danae refused to forgive her father for what he had done, but really, whatever positives I have to say about either book aren't really enough to outweigh the negatives.

And I mean, compare everything I just said about TSoP to the original myth; an evil king wishes to marry a beautiful princess who'd been rescued from the sea (or he already has married her in some versions), but she has no interest in him, so he sends her demigod child, who was protective of his mother, on a quest to slay an unslayable monster in hopes of getting him out of the way for good. With help from the gods, he manages to succeed and even rescues a princess on the way back after she's nearly sacrificed to a sea monster as punishment for her mother's vanity. Afterwards, he saves his own mother by presenting the head of the monster to the other monster and turning him to stone, before later killing his grandfather by accident! And it wasn't even Medusa's head that took him out, either, but a discus!

See how sweet and simple the original is? But no, instead we get Perseus who keeps throwing these violent tantrums because he isn't getting what he wants, made worse by the fact that his character has about as much depth as a rock. In fact, why have this be a retelling at all? This solution can pretty much apply to just about any other one too, but for TSoP specifically, it could've very easily been about someone who grew up being inspired by the tales of Perseus, maybe even facing a similar situation to him and becoming desperate to escape it, and then later becomes their own downfall by the end of it. That would've been much more interesting, methinks!

And before anyone brings up the Medusa thing, the version everyone talks about actually comes from much later sources, specifically Ovid, who was Roman, and a pretty spiteful one at that; in fairness, the Greek poet Hesiod does describe her as having been a mortal who had sexual relations with Poseidon, but even then, he makes no mention as to whether the encounter was consensual or not, just that they did it in a meadow—yeah, not a temple, a meadow. Other Greek and even some Roman sources also have her always be a monster, even being descended from the mother of monsters herself, Echidna.

As for Athena changing her into a Gorgon for her own protection, I can't find an ancient source anywhere that states this, never mind that it's not like women wouldn't have been immune to her curse, either. And as awesome of a concept as a monstrous figure being seen as a patron for women is... that's not exactly true either. Ancient Greece didn't have women's shelters, for one thing, and though it's true that engravings of her head can be found on buildings, they can be found everywhere else as well, including on tombstones. That's because it was actually used to ward off not any specific human, but evil spirits instead. Because nothing was seen as scarier than a Gorgon. Also, there were several deities whom women prayed to (and still do!) for protection, including Athena herself, so praying to Medusa—who they would've considered a monster—wouldn't have really made much sense. Again, cool concept, but it kinda falls apart once you think about it for more than five seconds.

But yeah, these certainly aren't the worst retellings I've read, but still there's nothing particularly outstanding about them, either. Not in a good way, at least.