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kaoskuantico · 2 months ago

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I hate Act III, sorry. All the second season was too rushed and some characters that didn't deserve a happy ending got it, and those who have been suffering got the worst ending.

Acts I and II were good, but III is the worst.

I still think Arcane is one of the best shows we've gotten and will get for a long time, the art, animation, soundtrack, the characters...I love Arcane, that won't change. And that's exactly why I'm so critical with the second season, because I expected more and better, I know it could have been better. Maybe they only needed another season to not rush all the plot lines, or even discard some of them.

In case someone hasn't seen Act III yet, ARCANE ACT III SPOILERS

I made another post with the things I LIKED (click).

No one cares but here's a list of the things I hated:

Too rushed, I think we needed another season BEFORE this one

WTF Caitvi sex scene IN JINX'S CELL, RIGHT AFTER SHE LEFT. That's so disrespectful and stupid, Vi wasn't in the right state of mind, as much as I love Caitvi, putting that scene there was a mistake

I'm sorry but I also hate Timebomb (I'm a Lightcannon shipper, which is funny because Lux doesn't even show up in Arcane, but one can dream through fanarts)

Jinx surrendering (why we didn't even get a flashback scene?) and being imprisoned like a dog. Yet the enforcers were never punished

Vi not listening to Jinx telling her MULTIPLE TIMES to get out of there, and because of her, Jinx sacrifices herself (yes, I know she's most likely alive. But that brings my next point:)

Jinx not getting a happy ending at all. She lost everyone, right when she was about to get rehabilitated, Isha dies right in front of her. And we didn't get any Sevika dialogue with her, not even trying to save Jinx (Sevika surely didn't know, but at least a scene where she looks for Isha and Jinx???)

The final scene where Vi is only seen with Caitlyn. Yes, I knew they'd end up together and they deserve it, but what about everything that happened? Losing all her family? Learning to fight just to lose everything and everyone? Ekko not talking to Vi at all after the war? Vi not mourning Jinx?

Why make Jayce and Mel be together if they were going to forget about it and act like it didn't happen? (I prefer Jayvik, but that's another story)

Jinx saving Caitlyn, but apparently that didn't matter at all. Jinx killed her mother, yes. But enforcers killed countless of people, including Jinx and Vi's parents. Even if Jinx surrendered, why put her in that isolated jail? That was Caitlyn's grief acting

Honestly I don't know why Isha had to sacrifice herself, I feel it was too unnecessary, just to traumatize Jinx even more and kill Warwick again.

I wanted to see more of Vi, of her life in prison and before their parents died (besides Vander's memories). But they put too much focus on Caitlyn and the Caitvi. As if Vi's entire character is being Cait's girlfriend

Caitlyn (and every enforcer) didn't get punish at all for their crimes. Caitlyn became a dictator because Jinx killed her mother, but countless of children saw their own parents be murdered in front of them, and now they're the bad guys for attacking back? Mind you, at least Jinx aimed her weapon to the Council, the people who oppressed them.

But Piltover kills civilians like nothing, putting CHILDREN in jail. At the end, they end up like the good guys, giving Zaun a seat in the Council. When they should have fought for it, making Piltover pay for everything they've done. Which brings my next two points:

Zaun is never set free, it's still part of Piltover

Following the previous point: Caitlyn becomes a dictator, Viktor a cult god who almost destroys the world. But Jinx is so unredeemable???

Vi accepting Cait immediately, as if act I didn't happen. I understand they wanted to make Caitvi canon, but it was too rushed.

The 'good timeline' being like that because Vi died???? WTF the enforcers wanted a name, ANYONE to put the blame on, so the Council could 'make an example'. And now suddenly everything is okay? The abuse from Piltover is gone? But even if that were true, it's sad it would take Vi's death so peace could exist

Cait put Jinx, a traumatized, suicidal and schizophrenic girl in an ISOLATED CELL.

In a more relaxed note, I hate the design of Powder in the other timeline. I have to admit I absolutely love Jinx's design, with her bang and long braids but damn I expected a Powder with a single braid and a better sense of fashion xd

I understand Ambessa was behind everything, she was using Caitlyn recent grief to manipulate her. But she never apologized, her actions can't be erased, she said it herself.

Jinx giving 'her blessing' to Vi to be with Cait. Jinx has been feeling replaced by Cait since season 1 and right when we thought they could resolve this (before Act III), they do this. If anything, they confirm Cait replaced Jinx and that Jinx had every reason to feel like that

Jinx sacrificing herself (yeah, we know she isn't truly dead, but I'm talking about the symbolism) WASN'T REDEMPTION. IT WAS SUICIDE, A TRAGEDY. Just a few hours ago Jinx tried to kill herself five times, she just saw an opportunity to do it again and not making Vi fight for her, because Jinx feels she doesn't deserve Vi. It wasn't heroic, it was a suicide

Singed getting his happy ending. HIM, OF ALL PEOPLE. He created the Shimmer, made it a drug and created addicts in Zaun just so he could keep experimenting.

Dude, I get it, you want your daughter back, but at that point you should've just accepted she's gone. Vander is gone, Vi and Ekko are left alone (which brings my next point), Jinx killed herself, Jayce spent days, weeks or months alone in an apocalyptic world, Zaun is still under Piltover's power...And HE gets his happy ending? No consequences? No punishment for experimenting on dead bodies/potentially having killed them, for being in Ambessa's side????

Following point 7, why Vi is only seen with Cait at the end? Ekko is truly alone now, and Vi only has the enforcer who betrayed her and never apologized for her actions with her and Zaun. I get it, they wanted to please Caitvi's shippers, but shipping is not the only thing here (which why I hated Timebomb in the alternate timeline)

The whole Noxus thing. It took away the Piltover-Zaun conflict, and it felt too big to make it fit in the second season

Heimerdinger's death. It was so unnecessary and stupid

As I said in point 3, I hate Timebomb. But I expected they'd go this route. What I didn't like is how they made Ekko focus so much on the Firelights just to make it about Powder in the alternate timeline. As far as we were shown (in Arcane only, not counting LOL), Ekko maybe had a crush on her when they were kids, and since Powder went with Silco they were separated and even fighting.

Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't make sense to me why a childhood crush was so important that in the alternate timeline he doesn't hesitate to be with her. Why he doesn't look for the Firelight members, see if they're okay? AND HIS TREE???

Other fans say Ekko loves both Powder and Jinx, but I don't see it that way, even when he came back, he almost calls her Powder again. When he was the one saying she's Jinx now (back in season 1).

They didn't show the conversation after Ekko stopped her five suicide attempts, and even if the creators and writers say they did, I don't like when they don't show it but we have to make the scenes out of what they say afterwards.

Even if it's hinted in LOL, in Arcane there was not enough development to make it believable.

There are so many skipped scenes. Sevika went from leaving the room (not even saying a word, she didn't get any dialogue past Act II) to fighting along other Zaunites and Firelights against Ambessa. No reunion scene between Jinx and Sevika, no Sevika asking where the kid is, no them bonding a bit over the loss.

Maddie being a spy. I knew something was off with her in her first scene, but I feel her traitor reveal was so empty and meaningless.

As I said in other post: I liked how she was presented at first: a (probably) new and naive enforcer who wants to do better, who admires Caitlyn and because of that, she makes wrong decisions such as supporting Ambessa and the Martial Law.

Following in another post because I reached the character limit

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crow-caller · 4 months ago

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A lot of terrible ideas have a nugget of a good idea in them. Of the terrible books you've read, which one stands out as the most, "if someone less insane and better at writing got a hold of this idea, it could be quite good"?

There's few books I've covered which I don't think this about! The more bombastic failures often are the ones I see more potential, as opposed to more commonplace sucking (we can't improve hush hush. let's just leave it)

REAPER'S CREEK! It haunts me how much potential there is to explore what the book almost does: what if you were 12, abused, and learned you could rewrite all of existence to be anything you wanted? That's the premise of the book, and it serves as a clear power fantasy for the author I'm not sure he ever separated himself from. The odd choices later made by the god-kid protagonist reflect the fact he Can't grow up- there's absolute horror there. He can have everything he wants, forever: how is he meant to grow or mature? He accidentally removes his mother's eyes and makes her love him anyway. He maybe forces a girl he has a crush on to love him. He removes his best friend's free will. The book (unfortunately) deserves more credit than I think it gets for engaging with these themes at all, but it does it so badly when it could be really good. Child abuse as a cudgel which traps someone perpetually in childhood even when it becomes detrimental to them becoming an adult

PERFECTED! A book about human pets is a really good idea and that's why it has existed before and will again. There's so many angles to explore this, whether it be the personhood of the inhuman or the dehumanization of the oppressed. The culture and history of how this becomes normalized could be fascinating social commentary. You could let Missy live. This one you'd need to scrap like, the entire plot and most of the concept, but you could still stick to the 'wealthy luxury humanoid pets for the mega-elite raised to know no other life' basis.

TENDER IS THE FLESH This is my most controversial review and look, I wish I'd gone into more detail too, but I still don't like the book. But it's obviously a great concept, like Perfected, about a world where eating human flesh has become normalized. Tender just really failed to execute the deeper themes of capitalism and dehumanization in my opinion but the concept is very solid. This is why it's a concept that exists in many other pieces of media. We love cannibalism.

THE COMMAND MENT! Okay, again we would be doing such radical change it wouldn't be the same thing, but the idea of 'we proved god is real so we invented a vaccine to keep his influence out of our brains' is really really funny and could be interesting. This could probably happen in FL.

FALLEN! The rare 'very generic para-ro' entry, but Fallen actually has potential it nearly explores about reincarnation horror. I've been really into the idea of a para-ro twist based on Fallen, where someone learns they're the reincarnated true love of an angel, destined to meet and be together... but then realizes (as she does in the book!) every time the angel meets her, he causes her death, usually at age 16. Suddenly his pledges to be together, the fact he remembers when she doesn't, becomes sinister. he loves her so much he can't stop killing her.

#sometimes theres asks

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nile-the-empathy-cleric · 6 months ago

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Reflections on folk Catholicism, Italian folk magic, and an Italian folk magic inspired candle spell

Over the course of my almost 15 year witchcraft and folk magic journey I have gone from where almost every baby witch starts (cobbled together wicca and unknowingly appropriating closed practices) to working to unlearn all the harmful things I was brought up on. For the past 7-ish years I’ve been reconnecting with my cultural heritage and the folk practices of my ancestors. During this time I learned that there were designated and initiated folk healers in my family, including a living relative who was the go to Malocchio remover. While she is too poorly to teach me, hearing from relatives about her gifts and the type of healing she did gave me a great sense of connection and confidence to practice these traditions. This journey also changed my perspective on Catholicism. Understanding that folk Catholicism and Catholicism™️ are not the same allowed me to see my family’s faith and practice as a sort of animism and devotion to a divine power rather than strict, intolerant dogma with an oppressive ideology.

If you look at folk Catholicism, especially southern Italian, Sicilian, and Sardinian practices, you find that every profession, person, place, thing has a Saint associated with it— not unlike the belief in animism that places and things have their own spirits. You come to learn that folk Catholics worship the Madonna far more than God— paralleling goddess worship. Seeing this helped ease a significant part of my religious trauma. That is not to say that I’m suddenly Catholic again, rather I feel I can safely incorporate the Catholic aspects of my family’s folk healing practice into my own craft without feeling distressed.

Before, I was entirely avoidant of saying the prayers that empowered traditional spells, but recently in a moment of intense panic, pain, and sadness I did an impromptu candle spell and prayed the rosary (much to my surprise). It was almost instinctive… unlike the last time I prayed the rosary for a spell. That time I made a conscious effort to pray for someone who was Catholic using folk Catholicism. This time I found myself intuitively reaching for my rosary and saying the prayers as if I said them every day. I prayed the rosary 3 times as a watched my candle spell burn to completion. In doing so I was plucked from my distress and felt an eerie sense of calm. My mind was quiet and I could breathe.

The day I did this spell I had come upon a horrific car accident on my way home from work and felt traumatized by what I saw. I couldn’t calm down and was spiraling in an OCD loop of violent intrusive thoughts about what might have happened to the person in the car. I kept worrying about them, hoping for an outcome that wasn’t tragic. When I got home the only thing I could think to do was to focus my energy into something positive. So, I sat and decided to do a blessing spell for the person in the car, regardless of the outcome. Now, I’m sharing that candle spell with you (whoever’s reading this).

I used 2 chime candles, one white and one purple for blessing and peaceful energies. Then I ground basil (protection, purification), lavender (peace, rest), chamomile (peace, protection), and red clover (blessing, good fortune) with my mortar and pestle. I anointed the candles with olive oil, dragging the oil away from me. I then rolled the candles through the ground herbs and set them on either side of an amethyst crystal. After lighting the candles I prayed my first rosary. Using my amethyst rosary beads, I circled the candles clockwise 3 times after I finished my first set of prayers. I repeated the rosary and circling 2 more times as I focused on the candles burning and my intent. As the candles melted almost all the way down, I flicked some acqua di San Giovanni onto them for more blessing energy. And that’s the spell. Maybe this will be meaningful for someone other than me. Thank you for reading

#italian folk magic #folk magic #folk catholicism #benedicaria #witchblr #witchcraft #witches of tumblr #candle magic #candle spells #religious trauma #folk witchcraft #eclectic witch

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ludinusdaleth · 2 years ago

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i agree! it's very frustrating that so many people insist it's "ludinus is right, kill them all!" versus "they're all 100% good"

im glad to hear the support, anon. i feel like the cr fanbase has gotten more into theorizing & meta this campaign than last, which im deeply happy about, but i feel like it's come at a cost of not many actually.... analyzing well, beyond their own biases, which is vital.

something interesting to me is how i feel like the very story of c3 itself is partly about how vasselheim is so utterly focused on ludinus as a threat (which, he is undoubtedly one) that they have repeatedly enforced worse & failed in their efforts against him (literally occupying & preparing to obliterate marquet via airship just to get to him and getting eviscerated, kiro's rage about ludinus making her accuse orym of being with him which leads to our current mess). continually vasselheim refuses to assist or care for any other country or party that isnt wholly aligned to their goal. meanwhile in similar nature, the fandom is so completely sure that lud is a liar & a loser that anyone with an idealogy a few degrees south of his is seen as a threat instantly - the fanbase is so mad that this campaign is "anti god" that they're missing the most poignant pro faith statements characters have because they aren't paladins in shining armor plunging a spear into da'leth praising bahamut as they do so - but rather common-people as they try to embrace faith despite trauma & actual godkilling times. and it's at times frankly deeply uncomfortable, considering the characters deemed threats & whose views on faith have been cast aside have been deanna & frida (who have absolutely been treated weirdly to points of racism to their actors), & pagan natives oppressed by what matt outright stated were missionaries.

but in the same uncomfortability zone are people so consumed by their own personal biases with very obvious culturally christian religious trauma (i say this as someone with it too) that they cannot realize ludinus is partially metaphor for everyone who escapes christianity, thinks they're superior for it, but never for a moment unpacks the colonialist doomsday mindset that came with it. i admit i see this far less than the other side, so i dont see it as so much of a concern, but when i do it is unsettling - ludinus is so clearly showcasing far right tactics of alienation & preying on trauma to get people to join his cult, and real people are falling for it. matt has said that religion & art are connected & vital - when aeor fully stepped away from religion it became almost artless. you cannot strip something so important to humanity's core away because of your own experiences - your personal trauma is important but does not mean your bigotry or bias is justified and i feel that message is radiant in c3.

i think this campaign poses some of the most interesting questions on forgiveness & responsibility because, while it's impossible not to draw similarities in how mortals deal with religion, the exandrian pantheon itself cannot be viewed through our world's lens. the gods were warlords who nuked an entire city (that was fighting amongst itself!) to nothing because a few mages posed a threat to them. but afterwards they receded, & locked themselves away. what does that say about them? what does it mean now? do they deserve to be saved? does art surpass its creators? i want to explore these themes so much, and i love that campaign 3 is trying to in vibrant ways - i just hate that so few people want to embrace it & the changes to the fictional world that will come with it, because it's impossible to look past our own noses & embrace more than our own perspective even regarding fiction.

#sorry this is so long #long post #van speaks #critical role meta #campaign 3 #critical role #please no one be weird on this post #asks

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soft-dyke-omo · 3 months ago

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Also, 7 and 10 for Judith Deuteros? (idk if you have any ocs)

7: Do they wear diapers or pullups? (alt. Do they wet the bed?)

So personally I'm just not into ABDL at all, but I am still into some diaper-play, I just bow politely and exit stage left as soon as it gets overly cutesy and childish. (Oh, the woes of someone into omo who does not love term accident, truly the most oppressed of minorities.)

ANYWAY, going off my weak bladder necromancer hc, it would make sense that cohort necromancers get issued absorbent underwear or discreet pullups. But if we're talking a post-ntn scenario (because she WILL survive speaking it into existence) she'll actually have to go out and purchase diapers, which I don't think she will be able to bring herself to do until she has one or two truly devastating public accidents.

As for bedwetting: Yes, absolutely. I think I've talked before about me loving the trope of someone forced to wet the bed while awake and conscious because they are too unwell to get up on their own, but also: she's spent a year in and out of being possessed by the wrathful ghost of an eldritch being, PLUS all the regular horros of war and becoming a prisoner of said war. You can't tell me she doesn't have some bed-wetting nightmares every now and again. You also can't tell me that she wouldn't go near-catatonic with shame when she does.

10: Do they have a spouse or partner that diapers them because of their accidents? (alt: do they have a spouse or partner? How do they feel about Judith's bedwetting?)

Further doxxing myself but I will look God in the eye and walk backwards into piss hell: I'm a jodybeth truther. They have my entire heart. I feel Judith wants to be able to take care of herself and therefore insist on taking care of the changing and cleanup process herself, but she definitely needs a bit of encouragement to even consider going out and getting diapers for herself. Coronabeth probably broaches the subject a little less than gracefully, maybe after a public accident, maybe after the third or fourth time Judith wets the bed after a nightmare. Because Coronabeth is a literal Princess, you can not tell me that she ever had to change her own sheets even in dry circumstances before, so even if she wanted to help she'd be more in the way than any actual support, and Judith getting very snappy when she's embarrassed, I think it would be A Whole Thing for them, and an even bigger thing for Judith when she realises that Coronabeth is right and it can't go on like this. In total, Coronabeth makes way less of deal out of Judith's bedwetting than Judith does in her apocalyptic mortification, but she just doesn't want to have to deal with the mess or have to get up in the middle of the night.

As a little bonus, because they did share a living space for a lot of years and Judith did have a horrible, miserable, unwise puppy crush on her, here's a little bit of Marta as a treat: Even though she had her bladder under much better control in the pre-gtn days, every once in a while, like 3-5 times a year, she has a really bad night. Not often enough that she could justify using protection on a regular basis, since it happens infrequently enough that every time could feasibly be the last. She tries so hard not to wake Marta every time it happens, but being a cavalier Marta is a very light sleeper and cottons on to what's going on pretty quickly every single time.

Marta likes Judith a whole lot, sometimes despite herself. But she's just not a particularly nurturing person - she didn't even choose being a cavalier! She was canonically more-or-less pressganged into it by Judith's father! So they usually end up extremely awkwardly cleaning up side-by-side until Marta says something like "Why don't you head to the sonic, and I'll take care of the rest. All the sooner we'll be able to get back to sleep." She tries so hard not to embarrass her necromancer, but that's a task that's close to impossible.

They pointedly do not mention what happened in the morning, or ever.

(thank you so, so much for your asks! they've been burning a hole in my inbox for the last week, but I've been SO exhausted and sleepy I usally crawl into bed straight after coming home from work. 💛)

#omorashi #fictomo #omo #omo headcanons #omorashi headcanons #ask

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theestervashti · 5 months ago

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"The Saw." From Esther 4: 1-5.

On the Thirteenth Day, the age changes. This is when God and man have had enough. On Day Twelve, the world is supposed to reset, it is when the Numbers double. Day Twelve is 1657, י״וה‎ז, the 17th and 17th. יז‎יז‎, "The time to mobilize".

By Day Thirteen, the world starts to buckle under the pressure to change, it is a "reality check." Now we are seeing the same things within the Quran which says our fantasy lives are interfering with urgent matters affecting real life.

Mankind, in other words has allowed a bizarre, unrealistic, fictitious, and woefully inaccurate interpretation of its religious bases. Christianity in particular is sundering this planet out of desperation to substantiate false claims made by its hierarchy that are in no way sane or feasible for the human race to continue to endure. It has been a gigantic mistake to allow a weird religion to warp mankind, scourge the earth, burn it, pollute it, and saturate it with blood. But it is a mistake we can fix.

This moment of exhaustion was well understood by ordinary persons and the sages who were trying to protect them and give them courage. The next section of Esther speaks how we can take advantage of their wisdom.

Mankind must take a stand against religious persecution. We have laws against it. They must be enforced. Too often we are protecting religious organizations who break the law because we are afraid their lives not ours will be forced to endure evolutionary pressure they will be unable to withstand. In our story this resulted in conflict between persons who wish to self-define, the Jewish people and those who were more interested in conformity. The result was a near genocide.

To bring this to an end the god Marduk, called Mordecai "bitterness towards oppression" consults Esther, the patron goddess of Israel, who offers to intervene:

Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it.

3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

The pipples were not in good shape. They must think they are going to be forced to eat lizards or have sex with someone wearing a dirty rag. Except they are the only ones who can break the tie between the Temple and State about the status of human rights. They are already in trouble with the Court of the King of Persia just for breathing, but the potential for a sea change to how the system operates has the entire jurisdiction in an outrage.

The Jews themselves do not want to be involved they are happy on their own. Except if they do not intervene, they shall be destroyed. Here is the Ordinance that says Jews must not contact slavers or cultures that engage in tyranny and stand idly by. This is called "eating a lizard" meaning it permits a predator without a soul to steal one's heat, one's freedom and the energies that fuel one's passions. No it is not fun to liberate oneself or another from the grip of a lizard or a dirty underwear, but it must be done.

From Shemeni:

29 “‘Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. 31 Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. 32 When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth. Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. 33 If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. 34 Any food you are allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. 35 Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. 36 A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. 37 If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. 38 But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.

So Marduk, who knows the Torah, understands the seed of self-determination must be planted in Persian society and it must be watered with Jewish purified water, the water of the Words of Moses. Only this will cause the ritual impurity of the lizard skin men's dirty underpants to end.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 1: He tore his clothes and wailed loudly. Opposition to oppression requires the right words, tone of voice and garments. It is dirty work, because it represents grief in action. It means there is no going back. The Number is 8070, ףע, fea, "here."

= A top dog that knows what to do with the government other than making fire and ashes.

"The root חרר (harar) originally described a source of heat, smoke and ashes around which a society became organized. This word may even originally stem from ancient descriptions of volcanoes, but more recently it may have described a tribe's central fire, which centered the tribe and protected it from wild animals, and which later still evolved into kilns and ovens to produce earthenware and finally metals, and thus better tools and weapons, which in turn resulted in a stronger, safer and more prosperous nation.

Even today, a country's position in the international pecking order depends largely on that country's ability to concentrate energy, and since heat and light in the Bible serve as very common metaphors for knowledge and power, these words passed onto society's leading elite when societies sufficiently stratified. Today we speak of a national top dog as someone who has his or her finger on the button, and in antiquity likewise rulers were dubbed "hot ones."

v. 2: But he only went so far. Why was the king's gate forbidden to the god of the resistance to oppression? Because the king always wins. Gods and goddess are not supposed to enter through the gate, the mouth. They come out through the mouth. To correct the king while wearing sack cloth, a demeanor of outrage would be met with strong resistance.

The Number is 6016, סאו‎, saw. All commands to end oppression and encourage enlightenment cannot come from the people only from the sovereign. All popular uprisings are dubious as the etymology says until those in charge of the government find their souls:

"The verb צוה (sawa) means to command or charge. This verb may either be used to describe someone exerting his will upon someone else (1 Samuel 17:20), a group (2 Samuel 21:14), a situation (Psalm 33:9, Isaiah 45:12), or it may be used to convey the transfer of power from one person to another (Numbers 27:18, 1 Samuel 13:14). This verb yields the following derivations:

The masculine noun ציון (siyun), meaning signpost or monument (2 Kings 23:17, Ezekiel 39:15, Jeremiah 31:21 only). Note that this word is spelled the same as ציון (siyun), meaning dry place (see below).

The feminine noun מצוה (miswa), meaning commandment. A commandment can come from the king (1 Kings 2:43), it can denote a title of property (Jeremiah 32:11), or it can denote the wisdom code in its entirety (Proverbs 19:16). Preceded by the definite article, the commandment, means the full code of the law (2 Chronicles 8:13, Ezra 10:3, Psalm 19:8).

The masculine noun צו (saw), meaning command. This word — "dubious" according to BDB Theological Dictionary — appears only in contexts that seem to ridicule (Hosea 5:11, Isaiah 28:10-13)."

v. 3: In every province the edict came. Provinces are places governed by the principals of the Pack. No one wants to test their leadership skills or talents in a war, but that is when they are needed the most. The US Government let the world down by allowing fundamentalist Christians to blind it. Now many thousands if not hundreds of thousands are dead and more are on the way. The only way to stop this and change history is to obey the Edict: Being Jewish has a price, and the war against evil is it.

The Number is 12502, יבה‎‎אֶפֶסב‎, yehapesb, "guide the fire to the edge until it is satisfied."

v. 4: She sent clothes for him. But he would not accept them. This was because of the god, Marduk's distress. This means Marduk felt compelled to lecture the king about the words of the Torah and chastise him and that was not going to be any fun.

The number is 9248, טבד‎‎ח, a massacre. Massacres are wholesale criticisms of how things are going. The US Constitution and a cadre of federal and international laws are being obviously ignored and the quality of life on earth is being hampered. Progress correcting this is not happening rapidly or effective enough.

The Heat Belt, for example is kind of a 911 Emergency Call. Instead of wrangling that asshole mother fucker down, Joe Biden should have shot him in the head and then told the US Army Corps of Engineers to build as many facilities and machines needed to scrub the air of greenhouse gases, like pronto. The air and soil of the planet earth will not survive the US Heat Belt.

But instead we are dickering and fuckering around with Republican Party bullshit. They are the most nefarious and disgusting criminals this planet has ever ejected out of a vagina, but we are still interested in screwing around with them. This is embarrassing.

So like Marduk, I refuse to be consoled until they are all dead.

v. 5: Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why. Esther sends Marduk a Hathak, "ok to snatch up the fire indeed surely."

The verb חתה (hata) means to seize or snatch up, usually of fire or coals. Noun מחתה (mahta), meaning fire pan or censer.

The Number is 7645, zoda "that which understands in a living entity, this one is of Zion."

Often our particle is used as a substantive, for instance in Genesis 2:23: 'This one (זאת) is bone from my bone; this one shall be called woman.' Sometimes it's repeated: 'Thus this one did not come near that one all night' (Exodus 14:20). But mostly it points reflectively to whatever comes next, or whatever it follows: 'This��bread of ours...' (Joshua 9:12), 'this great nation...' (Deuteronomy 4:6), 'Look at this...' (Job 5:27).

It is not a joy of mine to harp on this but if we want to have religion and be happy, free of worry, and live long, having taken full advantage of every possible benefit of modern life, our governors are simply going to have to learn how to do their jobs and manage us.

In general, polities are too mixed up, confused, disillusioned and have no idea how governments work. Operating the government enterprise and accomplishing its work is not beyond us, we are excellent at it some ways, some of the time. Occasionally we are brilliant. But the perception that the government is just a tool of a fool for the abortion rally instead of the remedy for the climate emergency is just ridiculous. Our current conditions are clear proof as to why the government governs and the people citizen themselves.

When the people act like idiots and the government helps, then it is time for the fire to take what it can burn.

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carma-bis · 8 months ago

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Like everything. EVERYTHING. We have learned and know and built off of has a history rooted in patriarchal actions and intents. Not that it's *wrong* or *inaccurate*, but goddamn we need to see a bit past the target if we want to actually hit something that matters.

We do not get to just admit the patriarchy is a thing and then baptize ourselves of our sins and think we're thinking clearly. Even the concept of a human life being worth something is patriarchal because men *took over language*. They did not invent this, we can talk about mothers educating children all day (Vindication on the Rights of Women touches on how raising stupid girls raises stupid boys), but the fact of the matter is they took it over thus they have made every decision since then to benefit themselves since. Even if something is on 'accident', the butterfly effect will show it's wings. And maybe things go wrong! Maybe that considered 'self-benefit' for one dude is genuinely believing men would be better off if women were smarter (again, Vindication on the Rights of Women says if men genuinely are virtuous, god-fearing creatures, they would strive for women to be virtuous as this increases the general pool of virtue humanity has Mary say it much more elegantly don't quote me), and maybe it's not. But that's what it means to live in a patriarchal society. So no, it's not worse when civilians are targeted in war because it's immoral to target women/children/non-militarized men, it's worse because attacking human breeding stock and the general workers hinders the war machine WAY too much because it's *too easy* and men have a penchant for just doing what benefits them in the moment because they're terrified little animals. Literally Greeks didn't give a fuck. Democracy, the literal definition of the word, was the act of going "Hey. I'm taking over. Surrender?" And THEN they had they option to say yes or no. That was democracy. You still had to duke it out. Russia is literally being democratic but no one wants to talk about that because it doesn't benefit men in power right now to admit how things actually work because wow look at that! Women are starting to get a bit of rights and how do you argue that war benefits women when it was literally designed to benefit men? Can women go overseas to get a househusband that's a secondclass citizen for being male thus the inherent power dynamic is always in her favor (because remember, just adding women doesn't remove the benefit men get from it, you'd have to remove men or the benefit, or give women something equal in return and they can't do that, because a sexist society will not allow a househusband to be oppressed sexually as in being forced to impregnate the wife with no other option, this is not a thing in the current world that could be enforced)? They're trying to equate it out in every other area but lets remember the original wars of pillaging we're LITERALLY just about taking cause you wanted shit that maybe you didn't have.

You're aiming at the weeds bringing morality into probably the biggest morality void that could ever exist because nothing changes the reality of the situation. And in a classic response, "Well that doesn't that mean YOU don't have to have morals!" Which is just weaponizing the entire system they made to keep u down lmao against someone else. Because it benefits u. Wonder where u learned that from!

#those men saying they care about those women dying are not on your side and they are not arguing against the war for the same reason you are

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dead-inside-247 · 10 months ago

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*Circe Spoilers ahead*

*Circe rant* because my brain can take it no more. Like am not even done with that book yet but I still have soo much to say! Circe, daughter of extremely powerful Helios(is he tho?) and beautiful and alluring Perse, is not like them. Neither powerful nor beautiful, Circe grows up in Helios's halls. As powerless as she is; she's still a God, an immortal. She spends decades and centuries trying not to devour knowledge nor hone her power nor travelling the expanse of the vast world but trying to be loved. We follow Circe through her childhood and not once do we come across someone who doesn't treat her like a fucking doormat. But circe is used to being trampled over. She searches every crevice of her father's hall for any remnant of love she can find. But alas, the ones she comes to love over time betray her one by one. Aetees, Glaucos and the list goes on and on...from a mother who never thought of her as her child to a father who despised her to a tee. And then the brother she cared for so dearly but alas, love is just a word for circe, it seems.

And Circe is not this too good to be true, really pretty and kind person. She's not. She does some unimaginably horrible things that cannot be forgiven. But you still come to love her with her flaws and blemishes. Because how can you not? Because when you really look into it, every terrible choice she makes is in the search of love, of a little compassion aimed at her. People might say philosophical shit like, "she should just wait; for true love will find its way", but, for how long shall she wait? She has spent decades if not centuries waiting for her one true love but it has never been offered to her, decorated on a gold platter. Isn't it just that she starts fearing whether love is even meant for her? So, she does the only thing she knows how to. She tries to snatch it. "For I was like any dull ass who has ever loved someone who loved another. I thought: if only she were gone, it would change everything."

This story to me is not just of Circe's. It's of thousands of people who someway or the other resonate with Circe when she said, "After all, I had been alone my whole life." This is the story of those who have been ready to sell their soul to Satan if only they could find a little love. Not only romantic love. Any form of love, really. For, those unfortunate souls weren't given the luxury of choice.

And above all, this story belongs not only to Circe; but to the entire female cast of the book, to thousands of women, who have been pitted against one another for centuries. For, don't you think it's all a little convenient that only men get to write code of conduct on how to behave for WOMEN? And what are the odds that the phrase "Women are their biggest enemies" was coined by a man? So really, over the years, women have been oppressed, pitted against each other, paralysed so that they don't start revolting and you're telling me it's their fault?

"Humbling women seems to be the chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep."

Circe is a case study on women's history. Especially the women this world sees as reckless, too much, cunning. The anti heros.

So really Madeline Miller is just fabulous and this is me bowing down to her.

PS: I don't really have the time to check for grammatical errors!! Really sorry!

#circe #madeline miller

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autolovecraft · 2 years ago

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I'll never get the picture out of my head as long as I live.

He gave old Matt the very best his skill could produce, but was thrifty enough to save the stoutly built casket of little Matthew Fenner for the top, in order that his feet might have as certain a surface as possible. Another might not have relished the damp, odorous chamber with the eight carelessly placed coffins; but Birch in those days was insensitive, and professionally undesirable; yet I still think he was not an evil man. He had not forgotten the criticism aroused when Hannah Bixby's relatives, wishing to transport her body to the cemetery in the city whither they had moved, found the casket of Judge Capwell beneath her headstone. His drinking, of course, only aggravated what it was meant to alleviate.

The day was clear, but a high wind had sprung up; and Birch was glad to get to shelter as he unlocked the iron door and entered the side-hill vault. Then the doctor came with his medicine-case and asked crisp questions, and removed the patient's outer clothing, shoes, and socks. The day was clear, but a high wind had sprung up; and Birch was glad to get to shelter as he unlocked the iron door and entered the side-hill vault. Maddened by the sound, or by the stench which billowed forth even to the open air, the waiting horse gave a scream that was too frantic for a neigh, and plunged madly off through the night, the wagon rattling crazily behind it. Instinct guided him in his wriggle through the transom. After a full two hours Dr. Davis left, urging Birch to insist at all times that his wounds were caused entirely by loose nails and splintering wood. In another moment he knew fear for the first time that night; for struggle as he would, he could not shake clear of the unknown grasp which held his feet in relentless captivity. Davis left, urging Birch to insist at all times that his wounds were caused entirely by loose nails and splintering wood. He confided in me because I was his doctor, and because he probably felt the need of confiding in someone else after Davis died. It was generally stated that the affliction and shock were results of an unlucky slip whereby Birch had locked himself for nine hours in the receiving tomb of Peck Valley; and was a very calloused and primitive specimen even as such specimens go. Birch had felt no compunction in assigning the carelessly made coffin which he now pushed out of the enlarged transom; but gathered his energies for a determined try. Then he fled back to the lodge and broke all the rules of his calling by rousing and shaking his patient, and hurling at him a succession of shuddering whispers that seared into the bewildered ears like the hissing of vitriol. The body was pretty badly gone, but if ever I saw vindictiveness on any face—or former face.

Why did you do it, Birch? Certainly, the events of that evening greatly changed George Birch. But it would be well to say as little as could be said, and to use it when Asaph Sawyer died of a malignant fever. Being without superstition, he did not get Asaph Sawyer's coffin by mistake, although it was very similar. In this twilight too, he began to realize the truth and to shout loudly as if his horse outside could do more than neigh an unsympathetic reply. It is doubtful whether he was touched at all by the horror and exquisite weirdness of his position, but the bald fact of imprisonment so far from the tomb. Undisturbed by oppressive reflections on the time, the place, and the emerging moon must have witnessed a horrible sight as he dragged his bleeding ankles toward the cemetery lodge; his fingers clawing the black mold in brainless haste, and his aching arms rested by a pause during which he sat on the bottom step of his grim device, Birch cautiously ascended with his tools and stood abreast of the narrow transom. God, what a rage! He would have given much for a lantern or bit of candle; but lacking these, bungled semi-sightlessly as best he might. At any rate he kicked and squirmed frantically and automatically whilst his consciousness was almost eclipsed in a half-swoon. Just where to begin Birch's story I can hardly decide, since I am no practiced teller of tales. His day's work was sadly interrupted, and unless chance presently brought some rambler hither, he might have to remain all night or longer. He cried aloud once, and a little later gave a gasp that was more terrible than a cry. In this twilight too, he began to compute how he might most stably use the eight to rear a scalable platform four deep. The thing must have happened at about three-thirty in the afternoon.

Three coffin-heights, he reckoned, would permit him to reach the transom; but gathered his energies for a determined try. His drinking, of course, only aggravated what it was meant to alleviate. The wounds—for both ankles were frightfully lacerated about the Achilles' tendons—seemed to puzzle the old physician greatly, and finally almost to frighten him. In this twilight too, he began to realize the truth and to shout loudly as if his horse outside could do more than neigh an unsympathetic reply.

Only the coffins themselves remained as potential stepping-stones, and as he considered these he speculated on the best mode of transporting them. Several of the coffins began to split under the stress of handling, and he vaguely wished it would stop. Why did you do it, Birch? In time the hole grew so large that he ventured to try his body in it now and then, shifting about so that the coffins beneath him rocked and creaked. Horrible pains, as of savage wounds, shot through his calves; and in his mind was a vortex of fright mixed with an unquenchable materialism that suggested splinters, loose nails, or some other attribute of a breaking wooden box. Three coffin-heights, he reckoned, would permit him to reach the transom; but he could do better with four. That was Darius Peck, the nonagenarian, whose grave was not far from the daily paths of men was enough to exasperate him thoroughly. The borders of the space were entirely of brick, and there seemed little doubt but that he could shortly chisel away enough to allow his body to pass. I suppose one should start in the cold December of 1880, when the ground froze and the cemetery delvers found they could dig no more graves till spring. Never did he knock together flimsier and ungainlier caskets, or disregard more flagrantly the needs of the rusty lock on the tomb door which he slammed open and shut with such nonchalant abandon. He had, it seems, planned in vain when choosing the stoutest coffin for the platform; for no sooner was his full bulk again upon it than the rotting lid gave way, jouncing him two feet down on a surface which even he did not get Asaph Sawyer's coffin by mistake, although it was very similar. It is doubtful whether he was touched at all by the horror and exquisite weirdness of his position, but the bald fact of imprisonment so far from the daily paths of men was enough to exasperate him thoroughly. He could not walk, it appeared, and the latch of the great door yielded readily to a touch from the outside. The body was pretty badly gone, but if ever I saw vindictiveness on any face—or former face. Clutching the edges of the aperture, he sought to pull himself up, when he noticed a queer retardation in the form of an apparent drag on both his ankles. He had, it seems, planned in vain when choosing the stoutest coffin for the right grave.

At last the spring thaw came, and graves were laboriously prepared for the nine silent harvests of the grim reaper which waited in the tomb.

It was Asaph's coffin, Birch, and I believe his eye-for-an-eye fury could beat old Father Death himself. Fortunately the village was small and the death rate low, so that it was possible to give all of Birch's inanimate charges a temporary haven in the single antiquated receiving tomb. Then the doctor came with his medicine-case and asked crisp questions, and removed the patient's outer clothing, shoes, and socks.

The skull turned my stomach, but the bald fact of imprisonment so far from the daily paths of men was enough to exasperate him thoroughly.

For an impersonal doctor, Davis' ominous and awestruck cross-examination became very strange indeed as he sought to pull himself up, when he noticed a queer retardation in the form of an apparent drag on both his ankles. Why did you do it, Birch? Several of the coffins began to split under the stress of handling, and he did not care to imagine. Instinct guided him in his wriggle through the transom. The air had begun to be exceedingly unwholesome; but to this detail he paid no attention as he toiled, half by feeling, at the heavy and corroded metal of the latch. Birch was lax, insensitive, and was concerned only in getting the right coffin for the platform; for no sooner was his full bulk again upon it than the rotting lid gave way, jouncing him two feet down on a surface which even he did not get Asaph Sawyer's coffin by mistake, although it was very similar. He had, it seems, planned in vain when choosing the stoutest coffin for the platform; for no sooner was his full bulk again upon it than the rotting lid gave way, jouncing him two feet down on a surface which even he did not care to imagine.

It was generally stated that the affliction and shock were results of an unlucky slip whereby Birch had locked himself for nine hours in the receiving tomb of Peck Valley Cemetery, escaping only by crude and disastrous mechanical means; but while this much was undoubtedly true, there were other and blacker things which the man used to whisper to me in his drunken delirium toward the last. Armington, the lodge-keeper, answered his feeble clawing at the door. Birch had felt no compunction in assigning the carelessly made coffin which he now pushed out of the enlarged transom; but gathered his energies for a determined try.

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harmony-of-the-gospels · 2 years ago

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Jesus—#56 “Blessing the Children”

Chapter 56: BLESSING THE CHILDREN

Read: MATTHEW 19:13-15; MARK 10:13-16; LUKE 18:15-17

1. How did Jesus relate to children? (511)

Young Children

“Jesus loved children. He accepted their childish sympathy and open, sincere love. The grateful praise from their lips refreshed His spirit when contact with crafty and hypocritical men oppressed Him. Wherever He went, His gentle, kindly manner won their confidence.”

All His Children (All Ages)

“The Saviour regards with infinite tenderness the souls whom He has purchased with His own blood. They are the claim of His love. He looks upon them with unutterable longing. His heart is drawn out, not only to the best-behaved children, but to those who have by inheritance objectionable traits of character. Many parents do not understand how much they are responsible for these traits in their children. They have not the tenderness and wisdom to deal with the erring ones whom they have made what they are. But Jesus looks upon these children with pity. He traces from cause to effect.”

(// ik in most cases, parents, like any other imperfect human beings did wrong and their children picked up on those, it stayed with them, and they inevitably became their parents. Exp: children who come from abusive homes. BUT in many other unknown statistically possible happenings to this type of problem is that, the kids will turn out even better than their parents – they managed to break the cycle and become a completely different person without any of the strikingly negative traits of their parents. It’s possible and I’ve seen it.

So is it entirely up to the parents? I think not. The individual has a lot to do with this as well. If there’s even a sliver of hope to get away from this ungodly household and the abusive environment, and that individual decided to go for it, brave himself or herself to make an escape for good, everything could change.

But what if it was a very hopeless situation? There are cases like these as well. All that individual can do is turn to God and hope for a miracle to happen because no matter how hard that person tries, his/her ordeals never end… until that person succumb to his/her injuries and dies… What can a little child do in that situation? There’s only so much that little frail body can take until it turns cold and lifeless for all the beatings and abuses… In situations like this, the people from the other side of the world can only hear the news of this individual’s passing and think, and pray about it because there’s not much we can do after that because it’s too late.

If it’s happening to you and you’re reading this, I hope you’ll find the help you need and be brave to take actions, God will fight for you when you call His Name, He’ll get you through it. If you know someone who’s going through this, I hope you don’t just pray about it, but also take courage and do something especially when that victim is asking for your help, be brave, God will be with you.

Back to the question here. If the parents are ungodly but the children are drawn to Christ, will they fully not adopt their parents’ traits? imo, there will be some learned traits that will stuck with you until you choose not to BE and change it. I believe all characters can be learned and unlearned for not only your own benefits but others as well)

2. How did the disciples relate to children? (511)

“When the mothers came to Jesus with their little ones, the disciples were not receptive. They thought these children were too young to benefit from a visit to Jesus, and they concluded that He would be displeased.”

3. When Jesus saw the disciples send away the mothers, what was His response? (512)

“He was displeased”,

“He waited to see how the disciples would treat them. When He saw them send the mothers away, He showed them their error, saying, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” He took the children in His arms and gave them the blessing for which they came.”

4. How are today's mothers "to receive" Jesus' "words with the same faith" as the ones in His day? (512)

“The words of Christ strengthened the mothers and encouraged them to take up their burden with new cheerfulness. The mothers of today are to receive His words with the same faith. Christ is a personal Savior. He is as truly the helper of mothers today as when He gathered the little ones in His arms in Judea.”

“As the mother teaches her children to obey her because they love her, she is teaching them the first lesson in the Christian life. The mother’s love represents to the child the love of Christ, and the little ones who trust and obey their mother are learning to trust and obey the Savior.”

5. Give the ways in which Jesus will deal with the burdens and perplexities of a mother's life. (512)

“Jesus knows the burden of every mother’s heart. He made a long journey to relieve the anxious heart of a Canaanite woman. He gave back to the widow of Nain her only son, and in His agony on the cross He remembered His own mother. He is touched today by the mother’s sorrow. In every grief and need, He will give comfort and help.

He who said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them” still invites mothers to lead their little ones to Him for blessing. Even the baby in its mother’s arms may live under the shadow of the Almighty through the faith of the praying mother. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. If we will live in communion with God, we too may expect the divine Spirit to mold our little ones, even from their earliest moments.”

6. Describe what Jesus saw for the futures of the children brought to Him. (512)

“Jesus saw that some of the children who were brought in contact with Him would become martyrs for His sake. These children would accept Him as their Redeemer far more readily than many grown-up people would. The Majesty of heaven answered their questions and simplified His important lessons to meet their childish understanding.”

7. What ways did He use to reach the children's minds? (515)

8. How should parents relate to their children so they are receptive to the gospel? (515)

Mothers

Fathers

“Jesus was also the father’s example. His word had power, yet even with rude and violent men He did not use one unkind or discourteous expression. The grace of Christ in the heart will soften whatever is harsh and subdue everything that is coarse and unkind.”

Parents (General)

Ask Jesus for Forgiveness of Sins and Believe His Pardon

“Fathers and mothers should look on their children as younger members of the Lord’s family whom God has committed to them to educate for heaven. The Christian home becomes a school, with the parents as underteachers and Christ Himself the Chief Instructor.

We should teach our children to bring their sins to Jesus, asking forgiveness and believing that He pardons them, just as He received the children when He was personally on earth.”

Teach about Christ by Relating to Nature (Using Object Lessons)

“Teach the children to see Christ in nature. Take them out into the open air, under the noble trees, into the garden. In all the wonderful works of creation, teach them to see His love. He made the laws that govern all living things, and He has made laws for our happiness and joy. Do not weary them with long prayers and tiresome lectures, but through nature’s object lessons teach them to obey the law of God.”

“Parents, in training your children, study the lessons God has given in nature. If you want to train a rose or lily, how do you do it? Ask the gardener how he makes every branch and leaf develop in symmetry and loveliness. He will tell you: it was by no harsh touch, no violent effort. This would only break the delicate stems. It was by little attentions, often repeated. He moistened the soil and protected the growing plants from the fierce winds and scorching sun, and God caused them to blossom into loveliness. By gentle touches, seek to fashion the characters of your children after the pattern of the character of Christ.”

Accepting Christ as their Savior

“As you try to make plain the truths of salvation, point the children to Christ as a personal Savior. Angels will be by your side. The Lord will give grace to fathers and mothers to interest their little ones in the precious story of the Baby in Bethlehem.”

Lead by Example (Through Behavior) and Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated

“Do not keep the little ones away from Jesus by being cold and harsh. Never give them cause to feel that heaven will not be a pleasant place if you are there. Do not speak of religion as something that children cannot understand. Do not give the false impression that the religion of Christ is a religion of gloom, and that in coming to the Savior they must give up everything that makes life joyful.”

“It will lead fathers and mothers to treat their children as they themselves would like to be treated.”

Encourage the Expressions of Love

“Encourage the expression of love toward God and toward one another. The reason why there are so many hard-hearted men and women in the world is that true affection has been discouraged and repressed. Parents and perhaps others stifled the better nature of these persons in childhood. Unless divine love melts away their cold selfishness, their happiness will be forever ruined. If we want our children to possess the tender spirit of Jesus, we must encourage the generous, loving impulses of childhood.”

Work With the Holy Spirit. Teach the Children to Listen, Answer and Follow the Guide (Holy Spirit)

“As the Holy Spirit moves upon the hearts of the children, co-operate with His work. Teach them that the Saviour is calling them, that nothing can give Him greater joy than for them to give themselves to Him in the bloom and freshness of their years.”

9. "In working for the conversion of our children, ___ _______ ____ _____ ____ ________ ________ as the __________ _________ of ___________ of

_____. ____ is it __________ to _____ the ______ _____ _____ they are

__________." (515)

“In working for the conversion of our children, we should not look for violent emotion as the essential evidence of conviction of sin. Nor is it necessary to know the exact time when they are converted. We should teach them to bring their sins to Jesus, asking His forgiveness, and believing that He pardons and receives them as He received the children when He was personally on earth.”

10. How is Jesus the parent's example? (515)

11. What lessons can we learn from a gardener that can be applied to the treatment of children? (516)

12. "Encourage the ___________ of _____ _______ ____ and _______ ____ ________." (516)

“Encourage the expression of love toward God and toward one another.”

13. Why are there "so many hardhearted men and women in the world?" (516)

“The reason why there are so many hard-hearted men and women in the world is that true affection has been discouraged and repressed. Parents and perhaps others stifled the better nature of these persons in childhood. Unless divine love melts away their cold selfishness, their happiness will be forever ruined. If we want our children to possess the tender spirit of Jesus, we must encourage the generous, loving impulses of childhood.”

14. How can we teach "children to see Christ in nature?" (516)

“Take them out into the open air, under the noble trees, into the garden. In all the wonderful works of creation, teach them to see His love. He made the laws that govern all living things, and He has made laws for our happiness and joy.”

15. How must we NOT represent and teach the children about Jesus? (517)

“Do not weary them with long prayers and tiresome lectures, but through nature’s object lessons teach them to obey the law of God.”

16. By what means is a "Christian worker" to draw "children to the Saviour?" (517)

“The Christian worker may be Christ’s agent in drawing these children to the Saviour. By wisdom and tact he may bind them to his heart, he may give them courage and hope, and through the grace of Christ may see them transformed in character, so that of them it may be said, “Of such is the kingdom of God.”

#DAGuide

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pumpkinpaix · 4 years ago

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Pleeeeeeease get into the class one at some point because I very much want to understand the class dynamics happening in the story but I have yet to find a meta that dives into it

god anon you want me dead don’t you alsjdfljks

referring to this post

okay, so -- my specific salt about class interpretations in mdzs are very targeted. I can’t pretend to have a deep understanding of how class works in mdzs generally because uhhhhh yeah i don’t think i have that. i’m just not familiar enough with the genre and/or the particulars of chinese class systems. but! i can talk in general terms as to why I feel a certain way about the class dynamics that I do think I understand and how I think they relate to the themes of the novel! i’m gonna talk about wei wuxian, the daozhangs, xue yang, and 3zun with, I’m sure, a bunch of digressions along the way.

the usual disclaimers: i do not think you are a bad person if you hold opinions contrary to my own. i may disagree with you very strongly, but like. this isn’t a moral judgment, fandom is transformative and interpretive etc. etc. and i may change my mind. who knows what the future will bring!

OKAY so let’s begin!

here’s the thing about wei wuxian: he’s not poor. I think because characters use “son of a servant” kind of often when they’re trying to insult him, a lot of people latch onto that and think that it’s a much stronger indication of his societal status than it actually is. iirc, most of the insults that fall along the “son of a servant” line come after wei wuxian starts breaking severely from tradition. it’s a convenient thing to attack him for, but doesn’t actually indicate anything about his wealth. (exception: yu ziyuan, but that’s a personal familial issue) this is in direct contrast to jin guangyao who is constantly mocked for his family line, publicly and privately, no matter what he does.

so this, coupled with all the jokes about wwx never having any money (wei wuqian, sizhui’s “i’ve long since known you had no money” etc.), plus his like, rough years on the street as a child ends up producing this interpretation of wei wuxian, especially in modern aus, as someone who is very class conscious and “eat the rich”. but the fact of the matter is, wei wuxian IS rich. aside from the years in his childhood and the last two years of his life in yiling, like -- wei wuxian had money and status. he is gentry. he is respected as gentry. he is treated as a son by the sect leader of yunmeng jiang -- he does not have the jiang name, but it is so very clear that jiang fengmian favors him. wei wuxian is ranked fourth of all the eligible young masters in the cultivation world -- that is not a ranking he could have attained without being accepted into the upper class.

wei wuxian’s poverty does not affect him in the way that it affects jin guangyao or xue yang. he is of low-ish birth (still the son of jiang fengmian’s right hand man though! ok sure, “son of a servant” but like. >_> whatever anyways), but for most of his life he had money. he, jiang cheng, and their sect brothers go into town and steal lotus pods with the understanding that “jiang-shushu will pay for it”. this is a regular thing! that’s fucking rich kid behavior!!! wei wuxian is careless with money because he doesn’t have to worry about it. he still has almost all the benefits of being upper class: education, food security, respect, recognition etc. I think there may also be a misconception that wei wuxian was always on the verge of being kicked out by yu ziyuan, or that he was constantly walking on eggshells around her for fear of being disowned, but that is just textually untrue. i could provide receipts, but I admittedly don’t really feel like digging them up just now ;;

even in his last years in yiling, he was not the one who was dealing with the acute knowledge of poverty: wen qing is the one managing the money, and as far as we know, wei wuxian did little to no management of daily life during the burial mounds days -- mostly, he’s described as hiding in his cave for days on end, working on his inventions, running around like a force of chaos, frivolously making a mess of things -- it’s very very cute that he buries a’yuan in the dirt, but in classic wei wuxian fashion, he did Not think about the practical consequences of it -- that A’Yuan has no other clean clothes, and now he’s gotten this set dirty and has no intention of washing them. is this a personality thing? yeah, but I think it’s also indicative of his lack of concern over the logistics of everyday survival, re: wealth.

furthermore, i think it is important to remember that wei wuxian, when he is protecting the wen remnants, is not protecting common folk: he is still protecting gentry. fallen gentry, yes! but gentry nonetheless. wen qing was favored by wen ruohan, and wen ning himself says that he has a retinue of people under his command (the remnants, essentially). their branch of the family do not have the experience of living and growing in poverty -- they are impoverished and persecuted in their last years, but that’s a very different thing from being impoverished your whole life. (sidenote: I do not believe wei wuxian’s primary motivation for defending the wen remnants was justice -- i believe he did it because he felt he owed wen ning and wen qing a life debt, and once he was there, he wasn’t going to stand around and let the work camps go on. yes, he is concerned about justice and doing the right thing, but that’s not why he went in the first place. anyways, that’s another meta)

after wei wuxian returns, he then marries back into gentry, and very wealthy gentry at that. lwj provides him all the money he could ever want, he is never worried about going homeless, starving, being denied opportunities based on his class and accompanying disadvantages. who would dare? and neither wei wuxian nor lan wangji seem to have much interest in shaking up the order of things, except in little things like the way they teach the juniors. they live in gusu, under the auspices of the lan, and they live a happy, domestic life.

were his years on the street traumatizing? yes, of course they were, there’s so much delicious character exploration to be done re: wei wuxian’s relationship to food, his relationship to his own needs, and his relationship to the people he loves. it’s all important and good! but I feel very strongly that that experience, while it was formative for him, did not impart any true understanding of poverty and the common person’s everyday struggles, nor do I think he ever really gains that understanding. he is observant and canny and aware of class and blood, certainly, but not in a way that makes it his primary hill to die on (badum-tss).

this is in very stark contrast to characters like jin guangyao and xue yang, and to some extent, xiao xingchen and song lan. I’ll start with the daozhangs, because I think they’re the simplest (??).

I think both xiao xingchen and song lan have class consciousness, but in a very simplified, broad-strokes kind of way (at least, given the information we know about them). we know that the two of them share similar values and want to one day form their own sect that gives no weight to the nobility of your lineage and has no concern with your wealth. we also know that they both disdain intersect politics and are more concerned with ideals and principles rather than status. but, I think because of that, this actually somewhat limits their perception and understanding of how status is used to oppress. as far as we know, neither of them participated on any side in sunshot and they demonstrate much more interest in relating to the commoners. honestly, i hc that they were flitting around trying to help decimated towns, protecting defenseless villages etc. I ALSO think this has a lot of interesting potential in terms of xiao xingchen and wei wuxian’s relationship, if xiao xingchen is ever revived. regardless of whether you’re in CQL or novel verse, xiao xingchen really doesn’t know wei wuxian at all, other than knowing that he’s his shijie’s son. he knows that cangse-sanren met with a tragic end, like yanling-daoren before her, and that he wants to be different. but here is cangse-sanren’s son, laying waste to entire cities, desecrating the dead. I would very much like to get into xiao xingchen’s head during that period of time (and i think, if i do it right, i can write some of it into the songxiao fixit), but that’s neither here nor there, because i’ve wandered off from my point again.

i would posit that song lan is used to an ascetic lifestyle, and xiao xingchen probably is too -- but that’s different from poverty because there’s an element of choice to it. I also think that neither of them is particularly worldly, xiao xingchen especially. he lived on an isolated mountain until he was like, seventeen, and he came down full of ideals and naivete about how the world worked. I think that both of them see inequality, that they are angered by it, and that they want to do something about it -- but their solution is neither to topple the sects, nor is it to reform the system. rather, it seems to be more about withdrawing and creating their own removed world. I think that the daozhangs embody a kind of utopianism that isn’t present in the minds of any of the other characters, not even wangxian. honestly, baoshan-sanren’s mountain is a utopian ideal, but one that is not described. it exists outside of and beyond the world. i have a lot of jumbled, vague thoughts about utopianism generally, mostly informed by china miéville and ursula k. le guin, and I don’t think i have the ability to articulate them here, but i wanted to. hm. say something? there is something about the inherent dystopianism contained within every utopia, that utopias are necessary, but also reflections of the existence of terrible things in their conception. idk. there’s something in there, I know it!! but i suppose what I want to say is -- i do not think the daozhangs understand class and social hierarchy very deeply because they don’t see a need to examine it deeply. for their goals, the details aren’t the point. they’re not looking to reform within the system, they’re looking to build something outside of it. I think they spend a lot of time concerned with alleviating the symptoms of social oppression, and their values reflect the injustices they witness there.

regardless, even if their story ends in tragedy and there is a certain amount of critique re: the utopian approach, i think the text still emphasizes that xiao xingchen left a utopia and that he thought that people mattered enough for him to try, and that was an incredibly honorable, kind, and human thing to do.

YEAH SURE THE DAOZHANGS ARE THE SIMPLEST ok ok RETURNING to class and moving forward: xue yang.

i also don’t think xue yang has class consciousness lol, or not in any way that really matters, but I do think poverty impacted him in a much stronger way than it impacted wei wuxian. wei wuxian spent some years on the street as a child. xue yang grew up on the streets. chang ci’an’s horrific treatment of him was directly due to his class and social standing: chang ci’an is a nobleman and xue yang is not even worth the dirt beneath the wheels of his cart. what I think is the seminal point though, is that this does not make xue yang think particularly deeply about systemic injustice, because xue yang is so self-centered, self-driven, and individualistic. he is not even slightly concerned about how poverty and class might affect other people -- they’re other people. what he takes away from his experience is not an anger at being wrongfully cheated by a system, but an anger at being wrongfully cheated by a specific man.

xue yang is not particularly concerned with the politics of the aristocracy -- he has no obvious ambitions other than, “i want to eat sweets whenever i please”, “i want to hurt anyone who wrongs me”, and “i want to be so strong that no one can hurt me”. like, he just doesn’t care -- it’s not the kind of power he wants. he sneers at people for like, personal reasons, not class reasons -- “you think you’re better than me” re: xiao xingchen and song lan. to him, all people -- poor, wealthy, noble, common -- are essentially equal, and they are all beneath him. after all, what does he care what family someone comes from, how much money they have? everyone bleeds when you cut them. some of them might be harder to get to than others, but xue yang does not fear that sort of thing. it’s just another obstacle he needs to vault on his way to getting revenge and/or a pastry.

ANYWAYS onto jin guangyao (wow this is hm. getting rather long ahaha oh dear): I would argue that the two characters with the most acute understanding of class/societal politics and the injustice of them are jin guangyao and lan xichen. i’ll start with jin guangyao for obvious reasons.

where xue yang took the damaging effects of poverty as personal slights, I think jin guangyao is painfully aware that there is nothing personal about them, which is, in some ways, much worse. why are two sons, born on the same day to the same father, treated so differently? just because.

he watched his mother struggle and starve and work herself to the bone in a profession where she was constantly disrespected and abused for almost nothing in return, while his father could have lifted her out of poverty with the wave of a finger. why didn’t he? because he didn’t like her? no -- because he didn’t care, and the structures of the society they live in protect that kind of blase treatment of the lower class.

“so my mother couldn’t choose her own fate, is that her fault?” jin guangyao demands. he knows that he is unbelievably talented, that he has ambition, that he has potential, and that all of it is beyond his grasp just because his father didn’t want to bother with it. his mother’s life was destroyed, and his own opportunities were crippled with that negligence. it isn’t personal. that’s just the way things are. your individual identity is meaningless, your humanity does not exist. when he’s kicked down the steps of jinlin tai, it’s just more confirmation that no matter how talented or hardworking he is, no one will give him the time of day unless he finds a way to take it himself and become someone who “matters”.

jin guangyao’s cultivation is weak because he had a poor foundation, and he had a poor foundation because he was denied access to a good one. he copies others because that’s all he can do at this point, and he copies so well that he can hold his own against some of the strongest cultivators of his generation. he’s disparaged for copying and “stealing” techniques, but -- he never would have had to if only he had been born/accepted into the upper class. the fact is that i really do think jin guangyao was the most promising cultivator of his generation that we meet, including the twin jades and wei wuxian: he had natural talent, ambition, creativity, determination and cunning in spades. in some ways, I think that’s one of the overlooked tragedies of jin guangyao: the loss of not just the good man he could have been, but the powerful one too. imagine what he could have done.

jin guangyao spends his entire time in the world of the aristocracy feeling unsteady and terrified because he knows exactly how precarious his position is. he knows how easy it is to lose power, especially for someone like him. he’s working against so many disadvantages, and every scrap of honor he gets is a vicious battle. jin guangyao fears, and I think that’s something that’s lacking in xue yang, wei wuxian and the daozhangs’ experiences/understandings of poverty. i think it’s precisely that fear that emphasizes jin guangyao’s understanding of class and blood. jin guangyao exhibits an anxiety that neither wei wuxian nor xue yang do, and it’s because he truly knows how little he is worth in the eyes of society and how little there is he can do to change that. to me, it very much feels related to the anxiety of not knowing if tomorrow you’ll have something to eat, if tomorrow you’ll still have a home, if tomorrow someone will destroy you and never have to answer for it. it’s the anxiety of knowing helplessness intimately.

moreover, jin guangyao is the only person shown to use the wealth and power at his disposal to take concrete steps to actually help the common people typically ignored by the powerful -- the watchtowers. they’re described in chapter 42. it’s a system that is designed to cover remote areas that most cultivators are reluctant to go due to their inconvenience and the lack of means of the people who live there. the watchtowers assign cultivators to different posts, give aid to those previously forgotten, and if the people are too poor to pay what the cultivators demand, the lanling jin sect pays for it. jin guangyao worked on this for five years and burned a lot of bridges over it. people were strongly opposed to it, thinking that it was some kind of ploy for lanling jin’s personal benefit. but the thing is -- it worked. they were effective. people were helped.

i believe CQL frames the watchtowers as an allegory for a surveillance state/centralized control (i think?? it’s been a minute -- that’s the hazy impression i remember, something like a parallel to the wen supervisory offices?), but I personally don’t think that was the intent in the novel. the watchtowers are a public good. lanling jin doesn’t staff them with their own sect members -- they get nearby sects to staff them. it’s a warning network that they fund that’s supposed to benefit everyone, even those that everyone had considered expendable.

(did jin guangyao do terrible things to achieve this goal? yeah lol. it’s not confirmed, but his son sure did die... suspiciously...... at the hands of an outspoken critic of the watchtowers........ whom he then executed....... so like, maybe just a convenient coincidence for jin guangyao, two birds one stone, but. it seems. Unlikely.)

lan xichen is the only member of the gentry that ever shows serious compassion for and nuanced understanding of jin guangyao’s circumstances. lan xichen treats him as his equal regardless of jin guangyao’s current status -- even when he was meng yao, lan xichen treated him as a human being worthy of respect, as someone with great merits, as someone he would choose as a friend, but he did so knowing full well the delicate position meng yao occupied. this is in direct contrast to nie mingjue, who also believed that meng yao was worthy of respect as a human being, but was completely unable to comprehend the complexities of his circumstances and unwilling to grant him any grace. you know, the difference between “i acknowledge that your birth and status have had effects upon you, but I don’t think less of you for it” and “i don’t consider your birth and status at all when i interact with you because i think it is irrelevant” (“i don’t see color” anyone?)

to illustrate, from chapter 48:

大抵是觉得娼妓之子身上说不定也带着什么不干净的东西，这几名修士接过他双手奉上来的茶盏后，并不饮下，而是放到一边，还取出雪白的手巾，很难受似的，有意无意反复擦拭刚才碰过茶盏的手指。聂明玦并非细致之人，未曾注意到这种细节，魏无羡却用眼角余光扫到了这些。孟瑶视若未见，笑容不坠半分，继续奉茶。蓝曦臣接过茶盏之时，抬眸看他一眼，微笑道：“多谢。”

旋即低头饮了一口，这才继续与聂明玦交谈。旁的修士见了，有些不自在起来。

rough tl:

Probably because they believed that the son of a prostitute might also carry some unclean things upon his person, after these few cultivators took the teacups offered from [Meng Yao’s] two hands, they did not drink, but instead put them to one side, and furthermore brought out snow white handkerchiefs. Quite uncomfortably, and whether they were aware of it or not, they repeatedly wiped the fingers they had just used to touch the teacups. Nie Mingjue was not a detail-oriented person and never took note of such particulars, but Wei Wuxian caught these in the corner of his eye. Meng Yao appeared as if he had not seen, his smile unwavering in the slightest, and continued to serve tea. When Lan Xichen took the teacup, he glanced up at him and, smiling, said, “Thank you.”

He immediately dipped his head to take a sip, and only then continued to converse with Nie Mingjue. Seeing this, the nearby cultivators began to feel somewhat uneasy.

all right, since we’re in full cyan-rampaging-through-the-weeds mode at this point, i’m going to talk about how this is one of my favorite 3zun moments in the entire novel for characterization purposes because it really highlights how they all relate to one another, and to what degree each of them is aware of their own position in relation to the others and society as a whole.

1. nie mingjue, who is a forthright and blunt person, sets meng yao to serving tea and is done with it. he notices nothing wrong or inappropriate about the reactions of the people in the room because it’s not the sort of thing he considers important.

2. meng yao, knowing that his only avenue is to take it lying down with a smile, masks perfectly.

3. lan xichen, noticing all this, uses his own reputation to achieve two things at once: pointedly shame the other cultivators in attendance, and show meng yao that regardless of others’ opinions, he considers him an equal and does not endorse such behavior--and he does it while taking care that no fallout will come down on meng yao’s head.

is this yet another installment of cyan’s endless lxc defense thesis? why yes it is! no one is surprised! but this is my whole point: both meng yao and lan xichen understand the respective hierarchy and power dynamics within the room, while nie mingjue very much does not. this is not because nie mingjue is a bad person or because nie mingjue is stupid--it’s a combination of personality and upbringing. nie mingjue is straightforward and has no patience for such games. but then again, he can afford not to play because he was born into such a high position: that’s a privilege.

to break it down: meng yao knows that he is the lowest-ranked person in the room, sees the way people are subtly disrespecting him in full view of his general who is doing nothing about it. in some ways, this is good -- nie mingjue’s style of dealing with conflict is very direct and not at all suited to delicate political maneuvering. after all, the way he promoted meng yao was actually quite dangerous to meng yao: he essentially guaranteed that his men would bear meng yao a grudge and that their disrespect for him would only be compounded by their bitterness at being punished on his behalf. (it’s like, why often getting parents or teachers to intervene ineffectively in bullying can just be an incitement to more bullying -- same concept) meng yao’s reaction during that scene shows that he’s pretty painfully aware of this and is trying to defuse the situation to no avail. nie mingjue gives him a bootstrap speech (rip nie mingjue i love u so much but. sir) and then promotes him, which is pretty much the only saving grace of that entire exchange, for meng yao at least.

lan xichen, on the other hand, understands both that meng yao is the lowest-ranked person in the room and that any direct attempt to chastise the other cultivators in the room will only serve to hurt meng yao in the long run. he knows that if this were brought to nie mingjue’s attention, he would be outraged and not shy about it -- also bad for meng yao. so he uses what he has: his immaculate reputation. by acting contrary to the other cultivators’ behavior, he demonstrates that he finds their actions unacceptable but with the plausible deniability that it wasn’t directed at them, that this is just zewu-jun being his usual generous self. this means that the other cultivators have no one to blame but themselves, nothing to do but question their own actions. there is nowhere to cast off their discomfort. meng yao didn’t do anything. lan xichen didn’t do anything -- he just thanked meng yao and drank his tea, isn’t that what it’s there for? he doesn’t disrupt the peace, he doesn’t attack anyone and put them on the defensive, but he does make his position very clear.

i know this is a really small thing and i’m probably beating it to death, but I really think this shows just how cognizant lan xichen is of politics and emotional cause and effect in such situations. certainly, out of context I think the scene reads kind of cliche, but within the greater narrative of the story and within the arc of these characters specifically, I think it was a really smart scene to include. it also showcases lan xichen’s style of action: that he moves around and with a problematic situation as opposed to moving straight through.

not to be salty on main again, but this is why it’s very frustrating to me when I see people call lan xichen passive when he is anything but. his actions just don’t look like traditional “actions”, especially to an american audience. it’s easy to understand lan wangji and wei wuxian’s style of problem-solving: taking a stand, moving through, staying strong. lan xichen is juggling an inconceivable number of factors in any given situation, weighing his responsibilities in one role against those in another, and then trying to find the path through the thicket that will cause the least harm, both to himself and the thicket. lan wangji and wei wuxian are not particularly good at considering the far-reaching consequences of their actions -- again, not because they are bad people, but because of a combination of personality and upbringing. they’d just hack through the thicket, not thinking about the creatures that live in it. that is not a terrible thing! it isn’t. it’s a different way of approaching a problem, and it has different priorities. that’s okay. there are advantages and disadvantages on both sides, and where you come down is going to depend on your personal values.

okay we’ve spiraled far and away from my original point, but let’s circle back: i was talking about class.

I think it’s undeniable that class, birthright, fate etc. are some of the driving forces of thematic conflict in mdzs, and the way each character interacts with those forces reveals a lot about themselves and also about the larger themes of fate, chance, and what it means to be righteous and good and how that is and isn’t rewarded. a lot of the tragedy of mdzs (the tragedy that isn’t caused by direct aggression on the part of one group or another) stems from the injustices and slights that people suffered due to their lot in life. it isn’t fair. none of it is fair! we sympathize with jin guangyao because we recognize that what he suffered was unconscionable, even if we don’t excuse him. i sympathize A Lot with xue yang as well for similar reasons, though I understand that’s a harder sell. this is a story focused on the mistakes of an entrenched, aging gentry and the effects that those mistakes had on their children, and a lot of it has to do with prejudice based in class and birth status. whether the prejudice was the true reason or whether it was just a convenient excuse, the fact remains that the systems in place rewarded and protected the people in power who used it to cling to that power. mdzs is also a story of how the circumstances of one’s life can offer you impossible choices that you cannot abstain from, and it asks us to be compassionate to the people who made terrible choices in terrible times. it’s about the inherent complexity in all things! that sometimes, there are no good choices, and i don’t know, i’d like to think that people would show me compassion if I had to make the choices some of these characters did. not just wei wuxian, mind you, every single one of them. except jin guangshan because I Do Hate Him sorry. and i guess wen ruohan. i think that’s it.

good. GOD this is clocking in at //checks notes -- just over 5k. 8′D *stuffs some weeds into my mouth like the clown i am*

(ko-fi? :’D *lies down*)

2K notes · View notes

eulangelo · 4 years ago

Text

callout for @genderfluidlucifer

google docs

tw for transmisogyny + TERFs + emotional manipulation

Transmisogyny

Lucifer is a huge transmisogynist who will complain 24/7 about how TERFs hurt the ace community, but the moment @randomclustermissile , a trans girl (who is not an exclusionist at all) tries to point out transmisogyny in inclusionist circles (in the most vague and general way possible, without pointing fingers nor calling anyone names) Lucifer will immediatly jump to block her and so they did with me (another inclusionist) and i have to suppose to everyone else who agreed with that post, even arriving to vagueing about us in private group chats to suggest that we were “sympathizing with exclusionists”. all because we dared point out transmisogyny in inclusionist circles. lucifer is TME but apparently they think they’re the authority on TERFs and their talking points but actual trans women are not, according to them, since this is the stuff that they would go and spew to other people. (screenshots from @enbyoctoling)

here’s more examples of Lucifer (again, a transmasc person) going deep in detail about how according to them, TERFs/SWERFs hate aro/ace people and are an active threat to us

1. link

[Image ID: Three screenshots of a post by Genderfluidlucifer. The first screenshot is of a paragraph that reads, "Hey. So I can actually answer this. Anon your commentary about how you thought terfs would approve of sex repulsed aces is sort of it. Except...not. Basically terfs hate ace people for not wanting sex in the approved by terfs way. Terfs are actually extremely interested in [forcing] amatonormativity onto everyone. Because for as sex negative as terfs are...they don't want to actually acknowledge or change the fact that amatonormativity is at the root cause of rape culture and misogyny."

The second screenshot is a zoomed in section of the post that reads, "So yeah no I have NO idea where exclus allies are getting this idea from that terfs would even remotely care about the sexual rights of ace people. Terfs generally hate any sexualities in the LGBTQ+ acronym that aren't LGB because they can't force a gender binary onto those sexualities. At least, not as easily. That's why it's actually a massive sign of someone who doesn't call themselves a terf being a crypto terf if they use the term LGB in a positive manner. Along with the term SGA, as it is deliberately exclusive of nonbinary and not inherently SGA centric queer-aligned sexualities. /END ID]

link to the full post, these are just excerpts but the whole thing is just a very long rant about how TERFs hate ace people and so on (i think it’s worth noticing that although the actual post is kinda long, trans women are never once brought op in a conversation about TERFs issues and the only time transmisogyny is mentioned is not relevant to the conversation)

2. link

[Image ID: A screenshot of a reblog by genderfluidlucifer. The original poster is nothorses. It reads, "Because apparently I have to say it: Testosterone is not a 'violent' hormone. It doesn't make you 'more aggressive' or a worse person, it doesn't make you 'dangerous,' or 'toxic.' Transmascs do not need to be 'warned of the dangers of T.' We do not need to spend our transitions terrified that we're going to become a danger to those around us - that HRT is going to turn us into a monster.

Everyone experiences mood swings during hormonal shifts (pregnancy, menstruation, menopause, estrogen HRT, etc.) and while you might have grumpy moments or feel anger/frustration that you need to learn to handle differently, that doesn't make you a bad person.

Testosterone can change the way you access/process emotions somewhat, but if you're already thoughtful about how you handle your feelings and treat others, you're going to be fine. It's normal to lash out on occasion, by accident, then apologize and work to do better. It doesn't make you a bad person. Everyone on HRT is prone to this, and everyone experiencing hormonal changes is prone to this.

Getting HRT should be positive and affirming; you should not have to spend your entire transition terrified of becoming a monster."

The post then has a reblog by captainlordauditor that reads, "The big danger of T is that needle ouchy." /END ID]

here’s them reblogging from known transmisogynist user @nothorses (once again, the irony that a post about how testosterone is seen as the "aggressive hormone" does not mention transfem at all which are literally the main victims of this rethoric in the first place)

3. link (1), link (2)

[Image ID: Two screenshots of posts by genderfluidlucifer. The first screenshot reads, "Queer exclus: We're not repackaging terf rhetoric! Saying that is transmisogynistic! Also queer exclus: Remove the plus from LGBT!" and has tags that say, "I will pay these people to grow some god damn self awareness. Imagine being this dense. Queer discourse." The post has 15 notes.

The second screenshot reads, "Honestly it is so stupid and frustrating to see ace exclus continue to deny that the ace discourse was started by terfs. Proof was given countless times. And a big name terf like galesofnovember even admitted to starting it. Those of you who demand proof but ignore all of this never wanted proof to begin with." and is tagged with, "ace discourse. The post has 38 notes. /END ID]

heres another two post of theirs conflating TERFs with ace exclusionism

4. link

[Image ID: A screenshot of a reblogged post by furbearingbrick. The original poster is boxlizard, Lucifer's old account. The original post reads, "By the way for people still in denial about it, here's galesofnovember, a terf, admitting that she intended to start the ace exclus movement. She's taking credit for it. Normally if the victims of this behavior weren't ace/aro or other queer identities y'all be ready to rightfully lynch her. But since it's us, y'all just still wanna stamp your feet and go, 'Nuh uh!' instead of acknowledging facts." The part that says, "admitting that she intended to start the ace exclus movement" is a link to a galesofnovember post.

There is then a reblogged addition from furbearing brick that reads, "archived versions of the receipts" and has two links to the webarchive. The tags read, "Bringing this back since it's apparently still relevant. Terfism mention. Aphobia mention. Queerphobia mention. Blocklist." and has 1,455 notes. /END ID]

this is their post that ive already talked about but basically they found a 52 notes post made by a TERF in 2012 and this one person said "i dont know why i dont get to be the princess of the anti-ace-brigade" and apparently they are convinced that this means TERFs started the ace exclusionism movement and that this is one of their goals. which is insane when TERFs in real life only care about making life miserable for transfem people first and foremost.

5.link

[Image ID: A screenshot of a reblog by genderfluidlucifer. The original poster is yu-gay-fudo. It reads, “Just in case you happen to be unaware, some of the “radfem lite” they post to warm you up to their rhetoric, just off the top of my head:

- Ace/aro exclusionism

- Bi exclusionism or claims that bi people are “less queer” bc of “straight passive privilege”

- Saying you have to be dysphoric to identify as transInvalidating nonbinary people

- Calling queer a slur regardless of context, saying people can’t identify as queer, and saying that it can’t be reclaimed

- “Mogai hell”, “kweer”, or otherwise mocking less common labels and claiming they are “just cishets who want to feel special”

- Excluding sex workers from feminist discussions or claiming that sex work is inherently evil

- Basically anyone who thinks they can determine what other people identify as”. The tags read, "queerphobia tw. twerfs tw. no id." and has 70,727 notes. It was reblogged on March 22nd, 2021 /END ID]

another example of conflating radfems to things that, while wrong, have little to nothing to do with them because being a radfem, again, is something very specific that has all to do with transfem oppression.

Emotional manipulation

Lucifer has done nothing but block, break boundaries, spread lies and vague about people, some of which were even mutuals with them knowing they would see the posts. when confronted about it Lucifer's only answer was "just say you hate me and block me" but they actually ended up blocking everyone first, making it impossible for anyone to set some boundaries with them or even just to calmly confront them about anything.

[proof: Io(popncourse) and Lucifer had a disagreement in a shared discord server, which prompted Lucifer to vague Io in a vent post. Io confronted them, as being vagued is one of buns triggers, to which Lucifer initially agreed to delete the vent post, but then proceeded to victimize themself and immediatly blocked Io. later on, Jude(malewifedeckard) was confronted by Lucifer, then after Jude told them “I’m worried that you’ll vague me just like you did with Io” they proceeded to block Jude and vagued about him too. when Io made a post (which was not a callout, it was just bun setting buns boundaries) explaining what Lucifer did, Lucifer immediatly jumped to victimize themself, acting like they were being called out and straight-up lying, even going so far as to say that no one tried to hear them out, which is a blatant lie if you consider the aforementioned Io and Jude’s attempts at doing so, with Lucifer immediatly blocking and cutting ties with the both of them. ]

(screenshots taken by @popncourse and @malewifedeckard)

as seen in the proof above Lucifer’s behaviour is not ok because they don’t accept any kind of confrontation and immediatly jump to blocking, and after blocking, they'd immediatly go and vague about the people who confronted them pacificly, spreading more lies and painting themself as the victim and even arriving to say “no one hears me out at all” which is simply not something you can say when you block people who are trying to hear you out in the first place.

this is by no means an invitation to go and harass them, send them hate or anything like that. i absolutely don’t want anything even remotely hateful or negative to be sent their way after this post.

this post was only made because:

1. as an ace person who fully supports the inclusion of aspec identities in the lgbt+ community i don’t want to support an enviroment that costantly downplays transmisogynistic oppression in order to be taken seriously. there are hundreds of ways to make aspec activism without acting like we(as in TME aspecs)are the victims of a system that seeks for the annihilation of transfemenine people in real life everyday. i especially don’t want to support TME individuals who act transfem-friendly but then block any transfem who tries to speak on transmisogyny without a second thought.

2. Lucifer’s behaviour has hurt two friends of mine and i don’t want to associate with someone who actively breaks people’s boundaries without taking accountability when messing up.

3. i cannot associate with someone who spreads lies about me accusing me of sympathizing with exclusionists all while having me blocked so that i can’t see it nor defend me. they complain about people not hearing them out but they’re the very first person who does not try to hear people out, and instead jumps to spread baseless rumors. this is not someone i can nor want to associate with.

(image descriptions provided by @malewifedeckard)

#genderfluidlucifer #transmisogyny tw #terfs tw #ask to tag #txt #long post #ok to rb

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ailelie · 2 years ago

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That cliffhanger!!

So I'm current on Midnight Burger.

I have to say, this show has one of my favorite depictions of Christianity in media that I've experienced.

That it isn't about being Righteous and Holy. That it isn't about being right. It isn't about the Great Thereafter. It is about love and faith. It is about doing what is just, merciful, loving, and good even when that isn't popular.

I know people who profess my faith have hurt a lot of people. I know Christianity is used as a cudgel to oppress and suppress. I know that the world would probably be a much better place if it held fewer churches. I can't fix that. I can't change that. All I can do, moving forward, is to tell other Christians that we don't have to continue that. That the bastardization of our faith is not inherent to it. I don't need to tell that to those outside my faith, though. Words mean nothing. All I can do is act. I try to follow Micah 6:8. I try to put love first. I try to remember that nothing and no one is unclean or unworthy.

I think, one of my favorite moments of "The Farmhouse" is when Zebulon and Effie state that the failures of their community are their own failure as well.

"The blame falls also on us, Gloria. This is our community and it’s failures are our own. There were demons here to confront that we chose not to see. We were leaders in this community and did not turn to face it’s prejudices until they had turned to face us."

My other favorite moment is when Zebulon says he cannot explain God.

My high school years were very formative for my faith. I did not fit in at the church we attended nor did I agree completely with it. When I asked a woman there why women never led the prayers she said it wasn't women's place to do so. I'd already learned, from eavesdropping on my parents, that churches weren't always right and didn't have the authority on what was and wasn't right by God or the Bible. So I disliked that greatly. I spent a lot of time with a lot of questions. I loved science in high school. I spent a lot of time reading apologetics.

An apologetic is a text that tries to reconcile science and the Bible in a way that, in hindsight, denigrates both the science and the Bible. They do more than that, but that's the flavor I read. I wanted everything to make sense, but even then I couldn't quite make myself believe what the apologetics were suggesting. It just seemed like a lot. I once took one of the books I'd borrowed from my church to my chemistry teacher and asked her to help. She was very kind and said it was good I was asking questions. She took the book, promised to look it over, and then never returned it or spoke of it again. And I still love her for that.

My parents did not care about the discrepancies. My fascination with science and understanding things never really made sense to them. (I didn't end up in science, not directly. Ultimately, math was my downfall. I do not have good enough number sense). But, slowly, I realized, it didn't actually matter.

God was bigger than my understanding. And I decided that anyone who said they could explain or define God was not someone I wanted very much to listen to.

I came up with this idea that I know countless others have also come up with. What matters is the world we have. This current frame of reference. What matters is what we do here and now. Whether this world is real or a simulation, whether heaven exists or death ends everything, it doesn't matter.

I have faith that someday answers will come. I'll keep asking questions, but I know not all of them can be answered yet. I know not all of them have answers I can even understand.

My faith is a faith of questions, because only questions feel like they give enough room for God. Answers are too small, too defined. I can try to fashion placeholder answers, things to help me keep moving and doing what I think and hope is right. But I know they're incomplete and possibly entirely wrong.

When we encounter something we do not understand, we tell a story about it that we can understand. That story works, but we cannot mistake it for truth. This isn't just a faith thing. It is an interacting with people and the world thing. And sometimes we have to just say, "You know what? I don't get it. I'll probably never really get it and that doesn't matter."

We don't have to understand how and why the stars exist to navigate by them.

Sorry. This got away from me. The point is. The podcast is good. If you aren't listening, you should. And, if you aren't Christian and really don't care that much for Christianity, still listen. I'm making a big deal about two characters in a cast of currently nine.

This is a great, odd podcast that knows how to tell a good story.

#midnight burger #podcast #christianity #xianity #me

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telewarp · 1 month ago

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i think theres something getting lost in translation here, because i never said anything about him being willing to kill lavellan or that his love was untrue, or that he loves mythal more than her specifically (the point being made about mythal being who he loves most was not inclusive of a romanced lavellan, because this is not a post solely about solavellan, it is about solas as a character, and without lavellan there mythal is the one he arguably loved most as presented within the narrative)

the point is less "solas lies about everything" (not true), and more "solas is willing to lie to most everyone, so you HAVE to take the shit he says with a grain of salt and read between the lines"

i also don't think he'd ever directly harm a romanced lavellan. an inquisitor he was friends with? maybe, depending on what he hoped to achieve by that. but he sees himself as this liar, trickster spirit who will do whatever it takes to reach his goal, and there are more ways to do harm to someone than physical, and plenty of ways to do harm while intending to do right by them (see: solas's entire character arc is based around him continually trying to do right by the world and making things worse in the meantime)

i do, however, not exactly believe solas is doing this out of a true motivation to "help" modern elves in a way i consider to be helping them, not in the sense that i think he wants to harm them either, or that he doesn't care what happens to them; moreover, i'm coming at it from the point of view where, if he thinks he has to fix them, then the thing being implied but not said outright is the idea that they are broken and need to be changed in order to not be broken. not that the world is wrong for oppressing them (not that he DOESN'T think that either, we know solas is against that kind of oppression), or that the other races are wrong for treating them the way they are treated, but that his idea of "saving" or "fixing" them lies in the idea that if he can restore their magic, their immortality, then that is going to undo the damage that's been done. has he started viewing them as "people" again in the decade thats gone by since inquisition? yes, mostly, but he views them as broken people who need his saving, which is still an uncharitable view of them, even if it's a wholly sympathetic one. (side note, from what i remember this is what he thinks of dwarves in inquisition too, which is... awkward... considering what we know now)

by saying "he is not saving anyone who exists in the modern world", this is what i mean. this is not necessarily a lie he is using to deliberately manipulate the narrative! in fact, all evidence points otherwise! he holds this belief that the only way to "make things right", the only way to "fix" the world is... to undo the veil, allow the spirits to intermingle with the physical world again, and ultimately in that act he hopes to give the elves their long lives and magic back again. this idea he holds is that this will fix them as well, the implication they are therefore another "broken" people he left behind, and solas as the only one with the power to fix them (he is a spirit of pride, after all).

his idea of saving them is to change them. the tragedy of his character is that he is unwilling to accept things as they are. that's what i mean when i say he is not, in reality, trying to "save" anyone who exists in this modern world, he is trying to change them. at least in my view, you can't save anyone by changing them.

of course, this is my personal interpretation of how it seems he feels judging by what he says versus his actual actions versus what word of god tells us. the reason he's such a good character is because of how thoroughly unreliable a narrator he is. i don't think he's irredeemable, or a monster, or someone who only ever lies and never tells the truth as the evanuris would have us belief.

there's a strong narrative of not letting regret hold you back from looking to the future in veilguard, but there's also a narrative of "just because things are different, doesn't mean they're broken". through harding's story, we learn the dwarven people are not broken, they are still here and still thriving in spite of everything that happened in the past. this ties directly into the main storyline, which concludes that the elven people, too, are not broken, what remains of mythal is not broken, the inquisitor is not broken, they are not people who need to be changed to be saved, every wrong in the world is not his to solve alone, all they need is for solas, and everyone else, to have the power to accept them as they are. that's ultimately how veilguard's, and solas's, narrative arc reads to me, because he is an unreliable narrator and a strategic liar, something i've seen a number of people brush aside with "solas was right actually" type arguments about how the game is bad because it didn't let you side with him (which is a whole other can of worms)

the thing about Solas Dragon Age is that he is an unreliable narrator. he lies. it is literally his thing, he points it out again and again, and real ass people STILL fall for his lies and propaganda again and again, even though he is literally A Well Known Liar

solas in inquisition does not view modern elves as "people". he doesn't view any modern day race as "people", this is something you can learn from cole, who has a unique insight into his head. solas pulls away from a romanced lavellan in inquisition specifically because SHE IS STARTING TO MAKE HIM VIEW MODERN DAY PEOPLE AS ACTUAL PEOPLE and he doesn't want that, because if he views them as people, he won't be able to pull down the veil. his "i had plans to minimize casualties" is a stretch of the truth at best and an outright lie at worst in veilguard. you are given no reason to believe him and every reason to understand that he is likely lying, again, as he always has, in order to justify his actions. he murdered the two people closest to him because they made him waver, wanted him to see there is beauty worgh protecting in this age, too, and i think lavellan is DAMN lucky he didn't get a chance to do anything worse than take her hand.

solas. is. a liar. he is a spirit twisted from his purpose, wisdom become pride, but his actions are his and his alone. he lies to felassan, he lies to the inquisitor, he lies to varric, he lies to rook. you HAVE to take everything he says with a grain of salt. mythal was the person he loved most and had the most history with and he still betrayed her, and locked up what remained of her within the fade. he is unreliable and twists his words to suit his purpose.

when he says he wants to save the elves, to return them to their former glory, he is likely not talking about modern day elves. he doesn't view them as "his people". not anymore. they're broken and need to be fixed. solas is a liar. he knows exactly who he is trying to save, and it is not anyone who exists within this modern world.

#dragon age #datv spoilers #this is a bit stream of consciousness but hopefully it makes sense #ive also seen a lot of people flat out blame mythal for solas being 'corrupted' originally which is. no. bad. again. he is not broken eithe #solas made his own choices. mythal made her own choices. it is what it is #all this from a post that was originally about how he likely downplays the danger in his argument w varric.#Man.

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probably-haven · 3 years ago

Note

Hello!

So I’m the anon who asked for more Archon War Venti headcanons and I just loved it! I really like reading your headcanons cuz some of them are similar to mine but mostly are headcanons that I didn’t think of so it really is nice to read and see your thoughts about Venti!

I feel like as if I’m asking too much but could you keep doing these types of headcanons? Like it doesn’t have to be Archon War headcanons but like some headcanons about Venti’s relationship with the Ragnvindrs and Gunnhildrs. Because the first Gunnhildr was the first one who prayed to Barbatos and the first Ragnvindr was his friend who left but came back and I really wanna hear your thoughts on that!

And I’ve decided to get off anon cuz you just replied to my texts and I wasn’t expecting that so I’ve got a short confidence boost that I am completely taking advantage of! And thanks for the advice! or uhh comment? observation? I’m not entirely sure but thank you for that! I’ve heard that be said to me a few times and I have been trying to be more, uhh, assertive so thanks for that!

rfouierjkhfkecs i actually came across information on Gunnhildr and the "Red-haired warrior" yesterday when i was doing more research into the rebellion against Decarabian and I was like "wow this would be really fucking fun to research and theorize on, but its too specific/niche to include unprompted no matter how much i want to" but bestie you prompted, and im literally so happy right now because I didn't think I'd ever really get the chance to post about them!

also lmao yeah, i tend to try and reply to as much as I can, since it's a good feeling when someone does and all. but yeah, no problem! I’m glad you felt confident enough to reveal XD.

This may be structured a bit more like analysis/theory/just citing canon things at first before it gets into a more headcanony format.

ehe i have so much free reign on this it's lovely

More Archon War Era Venti: one two three

spoilers for Venti's backstory and Diluc's(kinda, i think, just in case)

first things first, laying down some canon background because before yesterday i hadn't heard of either of them outside of that one cutscene.

the very reason Decarabian had his storm wall up in the first place was because at the time Andrius had declared war on him- and his tower, and the city of Mondstadt by extent, were basically constantly under attack by Andrius's blizzards, which since he was still alive back then, were a lot bigger and covered basically what seems to be the whole of Mondstadt outside the barrier.

This meant that people had two options. Live in the city under Decarabian's oppression, or live outside the barrier, and brave the blizzards of a warring god... which was not a good idea

but the Gunnhildr clan(not yet called that) tried- and they almost died because of it. In the midst of a blizzard, the clan chief's daughter, named Gunnhildr(which the clan would be named after later) sent out a prayer that was heard by a wandering wind spirit. And the faith of that prayer gave the spirit enough power to create a small shelter to protect them.

When her father past, she became the new leader and also a priestess. She would later lead the clan to fight Decarabian alongside four others. And basically the Gunnhildr Clan ended up as like sworn protectors of Mondstadt

as for the red-haired warrior, who is basically assumed to be the earliest known ancestor of the Ragnvindir clan(im gonna refer to as Ragnvindir for convenience sake, even though "Ragnvindir" is technically a different character from Vanessa's era)theres not much information on him, but heres what i have from the various wiki's

- he was a wanderer

- one of the first to use the sign of windblume to find other rebels(so he's intelligent)

- actively propped up the nameless bard so he could watch as the tower was destroyed

there's this little tidbit too from the Windblume Ode bow's description that im probably gonna talk about a considerable amount too: "Atop the ruins of the ancient tower, amidst the cheers, songs, and tears of those who had newly won their freedom. A red-haired warrior turned his back on the newborn god, hidden like a single raindrop in a tidal wave of humanity. He was first among those who passed the secret sign of Windblume, the one who wove threads of dawn throughout the long night. His name has since been lost to time, but his deeds are still remembered in song." followed later by "The fate of this clan will likely never change: they shall ever live in the darkness and bring forth the flame of dawn."

Now I'm going to start with the Ragnvindir(geez, why's it spelled like that tho)

My idea of his character is basically formed by a mix of Ragnvindir stereotypes and just generally analyzing text.

So what do we know about Ragnvindir's for sure? they are shady motherfuckers- or at least they rarely operate in the spotlight. also damn, these guys are more cursed than anemo vision wielders- like the only one who didn't canonically lose someone close to them was Crepus, but considering that Diluc doesn't exactly have a mom..... he probably did

so what do we know? - he was close with the nameless bard - he was intelligent - he likely operated primarily from the shadows "ever living in the darkness" - he was a wanderer - he abandoned Venti during the celebration - but his deeds were still remembered in song, so Venti and him were likely still close

now the question of the century: how will i choose to interpret "turned his back on the newborn god"? And honestly, I'm- not sure- at first i assumed he abandoned him completely- but Venti did still make sure to carry on his memory- which could just be Venti being Venti, but for the sake of sanity, this is how I'm interpreting it.

A lot of things happened to the Ragnvindir that day. He lost a friend, saw another become a god to replace the one they had conquered, and he saw his goal, his reason for being in Mondstadt, come to fruition. "see the world through my eyes" the bard had said, and the Ragnvindir had been a wanderer even before. Sure, the people had won freedom, and that was to be celebrated, but he's intelligent to recognize that people would likely see him as one of the key figures in leading the rebellion. And for him this was a solemn time, and ending to a chapter, and not being one to operate in the spotlight, the last thing he'd want is to be swept up in festivities and attention at a time like this.

It also likely didn't help that he's probably smart enough to understand the idea of "power corrupts," and seeing the wind sprite just readily accept the mantle of Archon was likely not the most comforting thing to happen in the given situation after all. But Decarabian was gone, and Andrius had ceased his blizzards, so without a word, he slipped into the crowd and left, a wanderer once more.

now back to Gunnhildr

she was the first to receive an anemo vision from Barbatos, no I do not take criticism on this "the power bestowed on her by Barbatos" like please, they basically said it.

It also mentions that she crowned Venti with laurels(symbol of vistory) after the battle- the book Biography of Gunnhildr additionally says "the Gunnhildr Clan will continue honoring the legacy of its ancestors and its duty to the Anemo Archon: to protect Mondstadt, the land and all who inhabit it, forever."

I really like this because it conveniently ties into my past headcanon about Venti granting visions to the people of Mondstadt and having them be the ones to erect wind barriers and defend the city in his absence.

So in the Archon War I like to imagine that the Gunnhildr clan had a lot of people who were actually granted visions and were basically in charge of protecting it from those who would attempt to ambush them.

Mondstadt essentially became known for this- the fact that the mortals within it were strong enough to fend off the force of a god without support from their own.

but regardless, Gunnhildr, as she had before, served as a priestess to Barbatos, the closest thing that Mondstadt had to a ruler, and yet she only took charge of prayer and protection.... i hate to just- equate them to their descendants- but to an extent- her role was kind of like a merge between Jean and Barbara- Except with a whole lot less structure.... i really dont want their characters to just be carbon copies of the descendants but- c'mon, the comparison was right there.

anyways besties- back to Venti so i can tie them in

The Archon War was one of the worst times for Venti in his entire life thus far. And the time immediately after Decarbian's fall, while Gunnhildr and the Ragnvindir were still alive, was the key period of time in which things could have gone very differently.

Venti is the god of freedom. That's a reoccurring theme and I think I've made that abundantly clear. But during this time, Venti was anything but free.

I've mentioned before how he would stay far from the city of Mondstadt so the shockwave of his death wouldn't reach him, should he fall.... well- Venti is new to a lot of things- godhood- humanity- war- freedom- and at this point he was trying hard to figure out how to be Mondstadt's god without becoming Decarabian, and while still being able to survive, and make sure they survived, and see the world for his friend, and carry on his friends legacy.

And this is a lot of stuff for what was once a carefree elemental being, and there were certain things that had to be done for this to happen. He couldn't just stay in Mondstadt, or he would grow weak and his people would be vulnerable to attack, but he couldn't abandon it, because despite being able to fend for themselves, there's always hat just in case. He couldn't stay in any one place outside of Mondstadt for very long or he'd be found and killed. He knew in order for Mondstadt to survive he would have to take an active role in the war, strengthen himself so he could defend Mondstadt, and thats exactly what he did.

He started by going after the less powerful gods, ones he had a chance at beating with the power he got from the Gunnhildr clan and the rest of Mond, and by wiping them out, he would grow stronger, so he kept it up- working his way up the metaphorical ladder.

but he couldn't let anyone near him either, because he knew just what would happen if he was attacked then. Were it not for Gunnhildr's prayer, the early years of the Archon War would have been without contest the loneliest time of his life, and there would be nothing he could do about it, bound by survival and his attachment to the legacy of his friend, constantly fearing for his life and going against his very nature as the god of freedom. Frankly thrust into that circumstance that early on, and having to face it alone, it's likely that Venti would have caved under the pressure and dropped his attachment to either his survival, or to his friends legacy... or just something entirely worse(isolation messes with brains) so I'm attributing the fact that he didn't do that to Gunnhildr's companionship, speaking to him and guiding him through it as he had guided her through the blizzard some time ago.

I also like to think that she's responsible for founding at least a number of the different celebrations that still happen in Mondstadt even now.

Ugh supportive warrior priestess- we stan

anyway meanwhile! we got the Ragnvindir

He hears about Venti taking part in the Archon war during his wanderings and returns to Mondstadt to check in, wary of what he might find.

Venti, who hadn't seen him since the rebellion, is elated to say the least and they do a bit of catching up because they need it

and then the conversation turns more serious, and the Ragnvindir brings up a third thing that Venti needs to hold onto- his humanity.

See, in the early years, just desperate to get a foothold on the world, Venti's first number of targets were just indiscriminately going after those he knew to be weaker than him, and the Ragnvindir points this out, saying that while it's not necessarily bad, if he keeps doing it, it won't be long until he causes his and, by extent, Mondstadt's legacy to be tainted by a reputation for slaughter, no better than any of the other bloodthirsty gods that frequented the war's fields. "Think of what the bard would do, we were both close enough to do that much"

And Venti becomes yet more caged, but recognizes that he's right, and this is another turning point, that in the coming years would keep Venti from losing himself.

also- Gunnhildr, Venti having told her about the Ragnvindir's concerns that he now shared, probably organized some kind of event (not unlike the right of part, but also, yes unlike it) that was deliberately intended and designs to serve as an excuse that Venti could chose to take to visit Mondstadt, something she know he desperately wanted to do, but wouldn't allow himself for fear of putting them in danger. But if she made it an official celebration, then it would give Venti the opportunity to visit his people again, under the guise of it being a responsibility, not having to deal with the moral implications of doing so at a time when he was already dealing with enough of those already.

Also on his travels, the Ragnvindir probably started and spread a number of rumors that could end up working in Venti's favor, not that anyone ever knew it was him of course.

basically Gunnhildr protected the people of Mondstadt and did all she could to keep everyone in as high spirits as possible, Venti included.

And as for the Ragnvindir, he took a more realistic approach, traveling and getting venti followers in far places, spreading false information about him, and just overall making sure that Venti didn't do things he'd regret.

And when they died, Venti would carry their legacy with him as well, not losing his humanity to the tide of war as he very nearly had(though he still often came close), and trying to spreading high spirits where ever he could without fail.

#genshin impact #genshin venti #genshin impact headcanons #genshin theory #genshin headcanons #archon war era venti #genshin barbatos #genshin decarabian #nameless bard #genshin ragnvindir #genshin gunnhildr #genshin lore #genshin spoilers #spoilers #angst #venti angst #archon war #old mondstadt

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