#can you believe I actually researched flower language for this

[starpros-sunshine]

OK FOLLOWING UP ON THE BARD THING i think eichi definitely invited wataru to perform at a noble party before. because they'd usually have musicians and so? so ok picture this. it's eichi's birthday so his parents want him to hold a ball and he usually thinks those are annoying but then he gets an idea. make it a masquerade (for the drama). invite wataru as both a performer And his partner for the ball. he's an actor! and everyone is of course impressed by wataru's performance but they're even more impressed because the always polite but unreachable tenshouin heir is expertly dancing with a masked stranger (i love the fact that eichi's specialty in his profile is ballroom dancing). and then they're annoying and overdramatic in public together but no one can figure out Who That Is

and also i know you said that shu was a tailor but i think it would be funny if he also were a noble (his family is also of high standing in canon i think) so he can be there to judge eichi. harshly. i havent figures out yet how to make him besties w wataru but ! it can work

!!!!

This got soooo long again so this is once more put under read more I am so sorry

The idea with the Masquerade comes up while Eichi complains to Wataru about his parents pretty much forcing him to throw a ball for his upcoming birthday (they already planned the whole thing and didn't reallly give him a choice in the matter) and how much of a hassle he thinks that is because of all the superficial politeness between people that everyone knows are gossipping about each other behind each others backs and how sick he is of the pretending to be well acquainted with these people he's talked to maybe once or twice and all the ladies that wish to dance with him and that want to suck up to him because of his families wealth and how really this is all just one big farce to "save face". So Wataru suggests "why not make it a masquerade ball" to spice things up a little bit maybe, take some of the stiffness out of it. And Eichi says he wants to invite Wataru because what's a public event without proper entertainment? Wataru agrees of course and they come up with all of these overly grandiose ideas and scenarios (most of them are utterly absurd. One they genuinely consider involves Wataru pretending to kidnap Eichi and causing a scandal (Eichi woud miraculously reappear the next day and they'd gaslight everyone into thinking that never even happened and all the people are just imagining things)).

Wataru mentions that he'll be gone for an evening to play at the noble's ball to the elderly inn-keeper couple over dinner and they make a really big fuss about it and tell him to dress nicely and to watch his manners because "Remember, you can't just drop from the ceiling with those high society people like we let you do it here they're very sensitive about manners you have to make sure to watch your manners!" and for a minute he wonders how it got to the point that his landlords started to treat him like they personally picked him up from the street when he was a child.

I like to think he met Shu when he was out on the street doing a little street performance to earn some extra money for himself and Shu, the way that he is, came by, looked him up and down, and then started a conversation with him about music as an art form and that somehow turned into a philosophical discussion and at the end of that they each went their own ways with the knowledge that there was a new friendship formed that day.

And maybe he's the one that sews Watarus clothes for the ball because if you spent most of your life as a traveling bard living hand to mouth from your music you won't really have the money for fancy clothes (Eichi still insists on paying for Wataru here because he wouldn't need to spend so much money on fancy ballgowns if it wasn't for him in the first place and also he just wants to treat Wataru to something nice and sees this as his chance seeing as Wataru declines most gift offers me made before). Wataru tells him about the entire thing and Shu scoffs because dislikes Eichi (still need to come up with a way to explain that disdain but I will come up with something trust me!) but his parents force him to be there too so "he might as well" (it's obvious he still puts in a lot of care "because of his pride as an artists" (because Wataru is his friend and he wants him to have something nice)).

Shu only has to be there because his family guilt trips him into going and he doesn't see the point in opening that can of worms again ("We already let you pursue your foolish dream of sewing clothes like a commoner this is the least you could do for your family.")

And then at the actual event he's in some secluded corner together with some other people who only attended as a mere formality because they also do not like the Tenshouin family but they have to be there because they're important and aristocrat politics are weird that way I suppose.

Meanwhile Wataru does his usual thing and charms everyone with his beautiful beautiful voice and his elegance and charm and oh he is so agreeable as a performer. Eichi has to handle the usual "pleasantries" (nothing pleasant about those tries) and he exchanges the one or the other suffering glance with Yuzuru when nobody pays attention that just screams "God when will it end". Yuzuru shoots him back a look that conveys the exact emotion of "my condolences" and then he goes on to look for Tori who's 1.53m figure has disappeared in the group of people and when he finds him he's talking to a gentleman that's about a head taller than him and the mask obscures his face but judging by the hair and the slight "animosity" between them he's talking to Tsukasa, so Yuzuru decides he's in good hands and leaves to do his own thing. (do they know they're talking to each other? Who knows! But they'd probably manage to start bickering either way.)

And eventually it gets to the actual Ball bit of the Birthday Ball Event where they actually dance (there's an actual orchestra there now and they play very lovely music). And almost everyone asks to dance with Eichi at least once. Eichi does not want to waste his time and energy on these people who are just interested in him for his money so he always makes up something about being preoccupied or a little tired or something that gives them no other choice but to back off. Suddenly Wataru appears behind him and does a little "boo!" and Eichi didn't expect that so he startles and almost drops his glass and tells Wataru not to do that anymore at public eventshas while Wataru has to stiffle a laugh because he thinks Eichi is cute when he pretends to try to be firm with him. After he's done with his "scolding" (you can barely call it that. he was very soft on Wataru.) Wataru asks him for a dance this time and he's very chivalrous about it - he goes all out really - he kisses his hand and offers him a rose while he does a little bow and asks if he "may have this dance with the lovely star of the evening" (and oh Eichi wants to kiss him so bad right then and there but in a room full of people that are worse than a committee of vultures that is very much not an option). Of course he agrees and they move to the dance floor and suddenly a Lot of eyes are on them because Eichi Tenshouin, whom a good chunk of pursuers have already given up on - because let us be real. It will never happen. The man hasn't shown interest in anyone at any moment in time and lives together with the Himemiya heir and his butler as far removed from the rest of the aristocracy as one would be able to - is waltzing with this masked stranger and it becomes very obvious very quickly that Eichis constant declining of dance offers was not for a lack of expertise because those two look breathtaking together.

Eichi actually dips Wataru once and some people wish they had hired an artist to paint the scene (because I'm a sap and wataei is beautiful I don't care I'm being self indulgent here)). And they talk but nobody can understand what because of the loud music and they curse the orchestra - which is still playing very lovely music (it's heavenly really) - for it.

After their dance is over Eichi goes back to declining every dance offer he gets with the excuse he's exhausted and needs to rest a little before he can dance again (the "I don't wish to dance with you" is implied and in the room but most people chose to ignore it to spare their ego and decide to take him at face value) and Wataru disappears to somewhere, nobody really knows where but somehow he's nowhere to be found. Until he sneaks up to Eichi a second time and does the whole "Boo!" thing again and Eichi almost drops his glass yet another time and as he turns around to "scold" Wataru again Wataru shushes him and takes Eichis, who is more confusedd than anything by now, hand and sneaks out of the ballroom with him.

Eichi asks where they are going and Wataru doesn't answer he just keeps walking and Eichi decides to just trust the process and suddenly they're on the Balcony again, not a cloud in the sky and the only sounds to be heard are the muffled instrumentals from the orchestra that started playing their next piece. The only lightsource being the moonlight reflected by the new years snow. And Wataru turns around, he's not wearing a mask anymore, and he does his little bow and kisses Eichis hand, hands him a rose he had appear from nowhere - a white one this time - and does his entire "May I have this dance with the lovely star of the evening" spiel again. It's the same routine really but it's different somehow. More intense. Because he says it with more sincerity than he did when they were around more people. And Eichi doesn't even have to reply before he finds himself whisked into this waltz yet again, somehow in the leading position. And then they dance and they dance and it's just the two of them, the stars as their only witnesses. And as the orchestra finishes their piece and the music fades out Eichi dips Wataru again and they kiss and it is so sappy and they are so so so so sappy.

They stay out on the balcony a little while longer but they retreat back inside rather timely seeing as it is still january and the night and as the following consequence of those two circumstances actually pretty cold and they'd both rather Eichi not get sick (he already got Watarus coat but then they'd also both like it very much if Wataru also didn't get sick either so they migrate back into the empty, dimly lit hallways of the mansion rather quickly)

(meanwhile at the actual ball people have noticed Eichi missing and started to ask questions, poor Yuzuru has to repeatedly tell people Eichi probably retreated into his quarters already, seeing as it is rather late and he was rather tired "Please excuse the young master for his failing in notifiying the other guests, he told me he didn't wish to interrupt the nice atmosphere and preferred to leave unnoticed".)

After the festivities died down Yuzuru and Tori go to check up on Eichis room because he's been gone without any notice and it would probably be useful to know if their kind-of-roommate just went away to fool around with that strange bard man they've been seeing sneaking around their mansion from time to time that Eichi seems to be oddly fond of or if the should actually be worried about his well-being. After they knock and get no reply Yuzuru just opens the door and he and Tori are both greeted with the view of Eichi asleep in his bed and next to him the also seemingly fast asleep figure of Wataru who's braid got considerably more lose during the course of the evening and who's also seemingly wearing some of Eichis sleepwear.

They both decide they have seen enough they do neither need nor wish to see more. Yuzuru, who has been in this situation before doesn't even have it in him anymore to react in a specific way. He just lets out this big sigh because he doesn't get paid enough for all of this as he directs Tori out of the room. Tori who has not been in this situation before has a Lot of questions now because he doesn't know this man but he's apparently closer to Eichi than most other people and he doesn't know how to feel about that but happy is probably not it.

(The following day Eichi has to listen to a (rightfully) disgruntled Yuzurus passive-agressive-yet-somehow-still-very-polite-sounding-Yuzuru-complaints about him just disappearing like that and leaving it to Yuzuru to take care of his mess (Eichi promises him to make up for it and that if Yuzuru has any favour to ask he's very welcome to come to Eichi about it). Tori really wants to ask about the strange man Eichi was so involved with but between not really getting a word in while Eichi and Yuzuru are talking and not really knowing how to take the exceedigly good mood Eichi is in (he's had "A very nice evening". With utmost certainty it was for reasons other than him actually enjoying the mingling witht the high society at social function he was obligated to host, Tori guesses), he kind of clinks out here and decides to simply take matters into his own hands when he gets the chance.)

[sha-n-dowbannedlol]

Alhaitham — Nothing ever goes according to plan

It is no secret that Alhaitham is a man of many talents and extreme knowledge—however, one thing that he is willing to admit that he knows little to nothing about is the Art of Romance. Which is why when he caught wind of the budding feelings that he had for you, and when he realized that he actually wants to do something about said feelings, he turned to the one thing he knew he could trust; books.

(No matter how much Kaveh claims to be an expert on the topic, Alhaitham would much rather eat his own shoe than to approach his roommate for advice.)

Which lead to his situation now. The book in his hand was surprisingly quite heavy, a few inches thick with red leather as covering. He almost lets out a scowl as his gaze traces the gold lettering spelling out the title of the book.

Introduction to the Psychology of Love and Attraction.

"Give them a bouquet of flowers"

"Which flowers would be optimal for a confession?" The forest ranger's ears twitch, looking at Alhaitham with a raised brow, quoting the gray-haired man's words, "What's gotten into you, Alhaitham?"

The Scribe inwardly cringes, he knew he should've just went into the House of Daena and researched himself, but when he managed to catch the sight of a certain former botanical scholar turned forest ranger, he couldn't stop himself from approaching him and asking the question. Tighnari furrows his brows to think, before turning his back to Alhaitham and tending to one of the many flowers planted in Pardis Dhyai.

"Red tulips declare love, begging the recipient to believe in your confession. Gerbera Daisies shows desire for a relationship. Sunflowers can be used to tell someone their presence brightened up your life. Garden Cosmos may mean to cherish the one you love. Geranium can send the message that they make you happy, and daffodils can represent self-love or a plea; 'please respond to my love'. Or you can just go with the usual red roses." Tighnari responds without a moment's pause, his voice leveled and neutral, just stating facts and information for Alhaitham to absorb, "Though, these messages may vary depending on the source material you've read, but these are the first ones that came to mind."

"Thank you," The gray-haired man no longer sees any reason to prolong this conversation, "I would appreciate it if no one hears of this conversation,"

"Don't worry," The forest ranger didn't turn to face the scribe, but he did wave Alhaitham goodbye, "I don't think anyone will care enough to ask."

Alhaitham didn't waste any more time and headed to the nearest florist, and with the florist's expertise, it didn't take long before they created the optimal bouquet that he could give you to wordlessly clue you in to his feelings. Sure enough, the florist was quick to notice the language that the bouquet was trying to send and teased Alhaitham about it which he pointedly ignore, giving them the payment for the arrangement and acquiring it from their hands before he headed off.

Much to his dismay, however, he couldn't find you anywhere. As it turns out, you left town earlier in the day for your research, the scholar that informed Alhaitham didn't comment on the obvious disappointment on the Scribe's face as he was informed of your whereabouts. But he eventually shrugged it off, you'll be back soon enough. He can just place these flowers in a vase at home (Kaveh would be sure to have one of those laying around) and give them to you when you come back.

Unfortunately, at the day of your return, Alhaitham was greeted with the horrifying sight of a blank vase.

"Kaveh, have you seen the flowers in this vase?"

"Oh?" Kaveh glances up from his plates he's working on, taking quick look at the vase before looking back down at his work, "I threw them away."

Alhaitham almost exploded.

".....What?"

"They already wilted, what, was I supposed to keep it?"

The architect looks up again, mouth still open and was about to give another jab at his roommate but said roommate has already rushed his ay to the door, and the only thing Kaveh caught sight of was the door closing.

"Weird."

Alhaitham looks on with horror at the sight of the closed shop of the florist, and he fell into even more despair at the sign written at the front of the shop, indicating that they will be closed for quite a while.

To rub even more salt to the wound, you actively sought him out that day because a certain scholar couldn't keep their mouths shut about him searching for you, and here you are now asking him as to why the Scribe of the Akademiya was searching for you—outside of his work hours, even.

"The record you borrowed last time," he lied, "It's already past its due date."

"Ah, of course!"

"Know more about their interests, try to indulge yourself in them"

"the main lead from that romantic novel... I love him! He's definitely my type! My ideal man!"

Alhaitham didn't mean to overhear your private conversation with someone else, but it's not like he cares. It doesn't interest him if a fictional character has managed to catch your eye, at the end of the day, that guy is just a figment of imagination anyway. Just a character made up by a bunch or words written in a page.

He truly doesn't care.

Besides, an ideal is just that. An ideal. Nothing more than a fantasy.

He made his way to the House of Daena, eyes sharp as he examines the spine of various books arranged in a neat fashion, keeping an eye out on certain book he's looking for. It took him half of the day before giving up and leaving the library, the book he's searching for still nowhere in sight. The sun is no longer as scalding hot as it was in the noon when the Scribe exits the Akademiya, making a quick trip from one store to another to search for his book but to no avail. The sun was already setting by the time he finally makes his way home, the book he looked so hard for now in his hands.

Entering his home, he basked in the silence from the absence of his roommate, crossing his legs and opening the book in his lap. He can finally read in peace.

"Which physics book are you reading now?" Alhaitham sighs at the familiar voice that rang, followed by the front door closing as the roommate finally made his appearance,

"It's called 'None of your business'."

"Oh, really?" the sarcasm heavily dripped from Kaveh's words, "What's it about?"

"It's a fictional story about the light of Kshahrewar finally minding his own business for once and not bothering his roommate."

"You-" Kaveh's words die down in his throat in shock, his crimson gaze landing on the book being held in the scribe's hand, the words written at the cover catching his attention, "Wait.. I know that book.."

Alhaitham took that as a sign to leave, snapping the book shut in his hand before getting up and turning his back towards the architect.

"Alhaitham," Kaveh's words were of disbelief, the architect glued to his spot near the doorway,

"Are you reading a romantic novel--?"

"If you're going to be hammering things tonight, do it outside."

He slams the door to his room shut with a scowl.

He can't even read in peace.

He just wanted to know what you like so much about this male lead and he can't even do that with that man around.

"Make sure to look out for them"

thump!

A bag was dropped in front of you, prompting you to look up only to be met with the face of the one and only Alhaitham. You confusion must have been showing because he was quick to answer your question without you even voicing them out.

"My roommate made too much food this morning and he asked me to drop it to you." he lied. He figured there wasn't a need for you to know that he woke up extra early today to gather the best ingredients just so he can cook something he deems to be perfect enough as a gift for you.

All of it was worth it, he concludes, as he sees the glint of pure happiness in your eyes at the sight of free food. You were quick to pull the bag towards you, opening it up to take a peek inside the bag.

"Thank you, please send my re-" you were suddenly cut off, and Alhaitham frowns in concern as the excitement in your features was washed away and replaced with disappointment instead. He blinks as you close the bag once again before pushing it towards him.

"I'm sorry, Alhaitham, but... I can't accept this."

"Why?"

"I'm.... allergic to this."

For the first time in his entire life, he suddenly felt the need to slam his head against the wall. Repeatedly.

How- how in the world did he overlook your allergies?

"I see, that is unfortunate." He didn't allow even a drop of his emotion to seep through his words, picking the bag up once again, "I'll be sure to let him know."

"And of course, go on a date."

"Ms. Nilou has a performance at the Grand Bazaar tonight, Care to join me?"

"Are you... talking to me?" The look of disbelief on your face made Alhaitham sigh exasperatedly.

"Is there anyone else within earshot around here?" He responds, a deadpan look on his face.

"I would love to!" you exclaim in response,

Once again, he is graced by the sight of your wide smile, an excited glimmer in your eyes that never failed to make his heart beat rapidly. His breath hitched in his throat as that beautiful smile was finally aimed towards him, and his thoughts has gone haywire. But of course, you were none the wiser, you never could know what he's thinking with that emotionless look on his face.

However, your smile immediately turns to a frown when you seem to have remembered something, and Alhaitham squeezes his eyes shut as he braces himself for another rejection.

"But... I have an exam coming up, I can't slack off." You sounded so disappointed that he couldn't fault you for cancelling even before plans were made,

"Nothing ever goes according to plan.." he sighs, muttering under his breath. He turns his head away from you, his gaze looking off into the far distance.

You frown at the sight. It occurs to you that you weren't the only one disappointed with not being able to go see Nilou's performance with him. You can't help the guilt that start to well up in your chest at the sad look in Alhaitham's eyes.

"Haitham.." you call out to him, and he turns to look at you with a hum. "Why don't you help me study instead?"

His eyes widen for a fraction of a second in surprise at your suggestion, and you almost blurted out that you were just joking and you couldn't possibly waste his precious time. However, his surprised look morphed into one of soft fondness, an almost unnoticeable smile etched on his lips as his usually sharp eyes now look gentle.

"I guess I can do that."

[liveinfarbe]

Adar and Galadriel reminiscing about their Beleriand days…

These are clips from episode 4 and 7 of season 1. Notice the knife/dagger-parallel.

I've been researching the Silmarillion a little bit, because I think it gives hints about time and place in Adar's flashback account. This got lengthy. I write about the questionable Moriondor assumption by Galadriel and the esteem for flowers, blossoms, willows, glades in the lives of Galadriel and Celeborn, in Beleriand and beyond, and a possible path for hope, forgiveness and growth after trauma, that would lie in a dark Celeborn meets dark Galadriel story: Adar informs Arondir that he's been young in Beleriand once and used to walk down the banks of the Sirion river for miles and miles. He noticed sage blossoms, apparently liked the view, because it left a lasting impression. What I get from this (given the cosmology of that world is actual history and not just mythical) is that it must've happened after the sun and the moon appeared and pulled Middle-Earth out of its darkness, or else there wouldn’t be miles of sage blossoming. It thrives in full sunlight. This puts the account at the end of the First Age, after the Years of the Trees. Interestingly, this is after the "creation" of the Orcs by Morgoth.

Whatever bond and similarity Adar has with the Uruks, he’s apparently not one of those Moriondor that Galadriel talked about to him. I assume the Moriondor concept reflects Tolkien’s idea (he had several) that elves were captured by Morgoth after their awakening in Cuiviénen under the starlight and before Oromë found them and then got corrupted and twisted and thus became the first Uruks. While Adar shares certain physical traits with them, he can’t be one of those first Uruks, because 1.) he lived far in the West, in Beleriand, 2.) the sun had risen, 3.) he’s lived among elves that spoke Sindarin and Quenya, since he speaks it too and not some Avari language, though he could've learned all that in Angband during idle hours, I don't know, he learned black speech too. Anyway, the first mentions of Orcs roaming Beleriand is in Y.T. (Years of the Trees) 1330, but Melkor (at this point in time he's not yet given the name Morgoth by Fëanor) is incarcerated in Valinor. Sauron is in Beleriand though, hiding out in Angband, waiting for Melkor's return, "breeding" Orcs apparently, because their numbers grow and they "roam" Beleriand. This is 200 Valian years before the sun. I'm no loremaster, but I know this is a long time. At this point and later, Adar is still, as he describes himself, young. So Orcs were breathing living creatures before that elf-man became Adar. "Young" I see as meaning before he got captured and tortured and then brainwashed by Sauron as part of the “13 of us” (ep. 2x2).

So something doesn't add up, and Adar implies that in his interaction with Arondir in ep. 1x4. Are the tales of Moriondor a widely spread myth created by Elves, since all accounts about Orcs mostly stem from Elvish chroniclers? Maybe this is what Adar hints at. He says to Arondir

“You have been told many lies. Some run so deep even the rocks and roots believe them. To untangle it all would all but require the creation of a new world.”

He thinks only gods can do that, and he ain’t one…yet. Unlike Morgoth who raised mountains, or other Valar whose wrath sank a whole landmass like Beleriand, and later Númenor. He's just doing what he must, realizing Morgoth's terraforming plan and resettling the Uruks so they can live freely.

The "many lies" that he mentions are reflected in the things that Galadriel - who’s famous as "the scourge of the Orcs", even in Númenor - says to him when she interrogates him in episode 1x6. She’s full of hate and delivers a truly genocidal speech to him that shocks herself in the aftermath. (She acknowledges that somewhat self-critically to Theo in ep. 1x7, and it might be one of the reasons she rejects Sauron's offer later)

The truth about Adar's origin story isn't yet revealed. I think it will be, because the writers put some effort in it, dropped cues and hints in excellent dialogue and made him a multilayered character. Finally, let’s come back to the flowers and blossom mentions in the clips above because they could very nicely tie back to Galadriel and Celeborn in Beleriand and beyond. Adar says he “went down that river once”. Let’s see, if he, for example, came from Doriath and went down the Sirion towards its mouth and saw a lush amount of flowers blossom, he could have come through a region called Nan-Tathren or Tarsarinan that is literally called Valley of the willows. Possibly the home to Galadriel’s “glades of flowers” she danced in.

Why would she dance there and not in Doriath? I don't know, but there's a clear hint that she was in that region and even made meaningful personal connections there. With Ents. And Celeborn, too. Tarsarinan, Valley of the willows, means something to the couple and Treebard, as mentioned in a passage in The Lord of the Rings. The memories of Celeborn, Galadriel and Treebard of that place are intimately entangled.

Then Treebeard said farewell to each of them in turn, and he bowed three times slowly and with great reverence to Celeborn and Galadriel. ‘It is long, long since we met by stock or by stone, A vanimar, vanimálion nostari!’ he said. 'It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending. For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again.' And Celeborn said: 'I do not know, Eldest.' But Galadriel said: 'Not in Middle-earth, nor until the lands that lie under the wave are lifted up again. Then in the willow-meads of Tasarinan we may meet in the Spring. Farewell!

“Many Partings” - The Return Of The King - LOTR - J.R.R. Tolkien

Okay… 1.) Treebard's “It is long, long since we met by stock or by stone” sounds a lot like Adar’s words to Arondir "even the rocks and the roots believe them", 2.) A vanimar, vanimálion nostari! is translated as "Oh, beautiful ones, parents of beautiful children"

That last point reminds of Adar's relationship to the Uruks and the rhetoric surrounding it: Adar whose name translates as "father" calls the Uruks "my children", "my sons and daughters", main difference is that they’re not that beautiful, neither is he — but that lies in the eye of the beholder. Does Adar imply the propaganda about Uruks is so pervading that even the eldest Ents believe them? Possibly his old friend Treebard… ?

I mean he's certainly wreaked havoc in the woods, forced the felling of trees, displaying not much respect for the Ents. On the other hand, Adar is shown planting Alfirin seeds, that grow into flowers. He's still very Elvish, full of respect and longing for "new life, in defiance of death".

Finally… Lothlórien, Galadriel and Celeborn's later safe space, is literally meaning "Lórien of the Blossom". Treebard calls it "Dreamflower".

With all that cherishing of flowers - I think even his chain mail shirt displays flowery ornaments - could Adar be Celeborn in a rather depressing and long-lasting dark phase of his life in ROP? Explaining where he’s been all that time since she last mocked him as a “silver clam”? And if he is not, wouldn’t that be a really good story if he was? Adar doing the work could be an arc about hope and the possibility of healing and changing — it’s what Galadriel needs, too, in the long run.

At this point she’s confused and hurting after the betrayal by Sauron, because she liked him more than anyone in ages, but also because she had to witness herself being unreliable and, frankly, unwise. Yes, she’s vindicated for having always been right about Sauron, but the way she went about it fills her with shame, it’s gnawing at her, not primarily because of wounded pride, I believe, but out of compassion for the victims of her actions. Not unlike Míriel after her return to Númenor. It begs the question to them both if it was all needless, if there really is a greater good in what's unfolding now? At this point in the narrative, the Númenorian intervention that Galadriel pressed for must feel like a Pyrrhic victory with grave consequences and implications for the future of Middle-Earth as well as Númenor. It has caused immense trouble and pain already to many other people that Galadriel gave Sauron a clap on the back and an army. She still has to fully confront herself about that, she's still vulnerable to the darkness inside her, because she's hurting. She has Elrond to help and guard her, but other than that, who's there for her? I mean, in the end she has to accept that it's not her who can slay Sauron, she needs to come to that understanding. It's a battle within herself she hasn't yet had the courage to take up because she still can't face her lingering grief at this point in any other way than turning it into anger.

[novlr]

How do you see the deep diving into researching thing when writing something?

Research is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I like to pay attention to little details and leave them as little treats for my readers. On the other hand, it is a fantastic procrastination tool that doesn’t feel like procrastination. The trick is finding the right balance between the two.

How I use research

One of my current projects is set in 1890s Europe. I have found period maps to refer to for cities and countries, train routes and stations, and other details relevant to my work. I have thus far resisted the urge to dig for actual train schedule tables, which I’m sure are out there somewhere. At this point, I don’t think it’s a relevant detail. I could change my mind later, especially if I get stuck on a different fact for the project.

Another of my projects is a far-future novel in which the most dire of climate change predictions came true. I spent months reading textbooks on climate change modeling, running prediction models (which only went out 400 years at that point) and speculating on where things might be in a thousand years. I picked a model for my world state and am running with it. The urge to update my models based on current research is strong, and I’m resisting, choosing instead to go with the world I have built as it serves the story.

These are two examples of productive research that I feel will inform my writing and create a rich, immersive world for my readers. It’s research that’s relevant, intentional, focused, and serves my story.

How I try not to use research  

There are the hours spent researching the precise shade of color for a flower petal mentioned in precisely one sentence. The days spent researching how a syllable I wanted to use in a far-futures language is being used across multiple languages, past and present. 

Spoiler: I think every syllable is being used by every language. I focused on not using something too weird. Looking through my search history, I see deep dives into the colors of the aurora, airship designs, and cuttlefish bioluminescence. All of these were to find flavor for a scene I was describing or a world-building detail. And all of them led into deep rabbit holes of “research” when I was procrastinating. 

If it doesn’t serve your story, it’s probably not worth researching. All it will do is take you away from the important business of writing.

I’m a firm believer in research. It adds credibility to writing. The trick is to know when to come up for air. You can always make another deep dive into research if you find you need more details, just don’t let it distract you from actually doing the writing.

answered by Kimberley Long-Ewing

[miffy-junot]

I really wanted to be kind, I really try to stay away from discourse, but my friend sent me a post containing opinions so rancid that I had to say something. I'm turning off reblogs and I will not name the user who made the post because I do not want any discourse, please be respectful of this.

Time to respond to the words of "Tumblr user X":

Firstly - I know not everybody here is Christian but to make a post being rude to dead people on All Soul's Day is immensely disrespectful, to say the least. Don't you have any graves to put flowers on, any people to remember?

1:

The majority of people interested in the Napoleonic Wars think Junot is a blundering buffoon. You really have to dig deep to find nuanced sources on him beyond the usual "mad general" stuff. There is a niche community of Gen Z Tumblr bloggers who like Junot, by no means the majority of the Napoleonic community - and since Tumblr is very easy to curate, it's on you if you are stuck in this niche bubble.

Let me tell you, Junot does not have a good reputation at all. You can let the topic go, you are fighting against an enemy that you believe numbers in the hundreds when in fact it is a small group of mentally ill teenagers (many of whom are lgbtq+, which is something interesting in itself).

2.

You are an adult, but how did you graduate high school with no skills of reading comprehension? Nobody has ever said that Junot's actions with Laure were "normal and okay". Once again, you are fighting an imaginary enemy.

Napoblr is essentially a war criminal fandom. That does not make it any more or less valid than other history communities, but it means that we have to take a slightly different approach to moralising historical figures. Almost every single person involved in the Napoleonic Wars would be a bad person if you took their actions out of the historical context. Most people relevant to the Napoleonic Wars were sexist, racist, imperialist pieces of shit who turned a blind eye to war crimes.

Because that makes up such a large percentage of these people, being overly judicious about their morality will leave you with the following group of "unproblematic people": a large gathering of peasants and children, none of whom we know the names of.

"Evil" is a very strong word to use, one which denies nuance, but let me speak in your language: all Napoleonic figures were somewhat "evil", if you are unwilling to deal with "evil" people then study art history, or any other subject that doesn't deal so much with moral complexity.

3.

In my opinion war crimes committed as part of your job are still war crimes????????? "Indirectly" or not, there is little difference between ordering an execution and murdering someone with your own bare hands, in both situation you take away a life from the world and there is blood on your hands. Some might even argue that having a callous approach to life and death is even worse!

And like I have said above: endless moralising is counter-productive. There are better ways to use your time, such as researching things that actually fulfil you.

4.

(just a tiny nitpick but please do not use that certain misogynistic term)

"Could have" and "should have" are words that cannot be used in the study of history. Speculation over endless possibilities of alternative realities is meaningless.

I thought we as a society had moved beyond calling addicts "evil", but apparently not! (and again, "evil" is a very charged term that leaves no room for nuance)

For the record, I support abstinence of all the things you mention. Irl I have a bit of a reputation for being a puritan. But even I will not blame somebody's entire morality on that, and call a man "evil" for being an addict?! Where is your sympathy?!

Self-destructive behaviour is a major symptom of both head injuries and personality disorders, but I doubt "Tumblr user X" has the thinking skills required to understand that properly.

And either way, even if it was all "his responsibility", so what? That's his personal life, why do you care? If you don't like it, go away.

5.

Again, I genuinely thought people knew how to be sympathetic towards addicts but apparently not.

The emphasis on "self-restraint" is insane, if you had any restraint you wouldn't be bitching on Tumblr. You are sounding more like a 17th century Puritan than me, the person who gets accused irl of acting like one.

People on Tumblr find Junot relatable. That is why he is cute, because he is relatable. Additionally, it is big part of Gen Z humour to call bad men "babygirl" and to combine cutesy aesthetics with dark stuff, hence the whole coquette/girlblogger aesthetic.

Like I said at the beginning of this post - most people do not like Junot. The people who do are mostly mentally ill young people who naturally gravitate towards this "crazy but make it cute" aesthetic tendency, and the "I can make him worse" sort of mentality.

"Violent tendencies" is a lot to extrapolate from a single incident, but that seems to be something you're fond of doing.

6.

You deliberately phrase this to imply sexual harassment. Here is what happened: he flirted with her and invited her to dinner, she had heard the rumours of his mad behaviour and ghosted him, he got very upset. Nothing physical ever happened.

Additionally, none of his mistresses ever mentioned any violent behaviour by him. In fact, in one anecdote related by Laure herself, Junot's Abyssinian mistress Xraxarane encouraged him to shoot an orange off the top of her head because she was so confident in his abilities with a pistol, and even though he knew he could do it, Junot didn't even try because he was too afraid of hurting her.

7.

Do your research before making snarky comments, I am begging you.

While it is true that men wrote more passionately to each other in those days, "I who love you with the affection of a savage for the sun, I who am entirely yours" is not something you would say in passing. I'm not going to argue that Junot and Napoleon did anything romantic together, but it's undeniable that Junot's feelings towards Napoleon surpass those of a completely platonic friendship.

There are many sources that attest to Junot's fanatical devotion being unusual, not just Laure. And it was not a single remark in Laure's memoirs, but many anecdotes. Junot had many close male friendships, but they all took on a very different character to his friendship with Napoleon - his letters to other friends have a casual, jovial tone; the intense and poetic language used in his letters to Napoleon instead mirror his letters to women.

Is it really so unfeasible to you that, out of the thousands of men in the Napoleonic army, one of them might have developed feelings for Napoleon beyond those of conventional masculine friendships? Statistically, it is impossible that every Napoleonic man was straight.

8.

Okay, I am going to be directly bitchy here.

Tumblr user X, YOU DIDN"T EVEN BOTHER TO READ THE JOURNAL INTIME BEFORE PUBLISHING A POST ABOUT THE INCIDENT.

When, in a discord server, I shared a small piece of the journal intime I had translated that was referring to Junot's affair with Caroline, YOU DOUBTED IT"S CREDIBILITY.

You claim to trust what women have to say, BUT YOU DON"T BELEIVE HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS' CLAIMS THAT HER HUSBAND ABUSED HER. BE CONSISTENT.

And finally: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION OF JUNOT TRYING TO RAPE LAURE AS YOU CLAIMED. NOWHERE IN HER ACCOUNT OF EVENTS DOES SHE ALLEGE RAPE. STOP MAKING THINGS UP, IT IS DISRESPECTFUL TO REAL RAPE VICTIMS.

You pretend to be diligent with your sources, but you are not, you only read things that support your pre-conceived opinion, you make posts based on false evidence. Shut the fuck up about topics you know nothing about.

9.

Gurl we are not bureaucrats, we do not care about military efficiency.

"glorified cavalry skirmish" - is a group of 500 men defeating a force of 3000 men not glorious to you? Those are odds of five to one.

If you don't care about military history, don't talk about military history and get out of the military history fandom.

10.

(fyi it's spelt crucify)

You are fighting imaginary enemies. Bessieres is adored, he is babygirled. Junot is loathed.

Nobody ever said Junot trying to kill Laure was cute. (I would also provide evidence that Junot never intended to kill her, but then I'll get accused of defending domestic violence)

Junot being babygirlified is not a recent thing. What about:

Rapp, who didn't think Junot was a great soldier but still defended him

Foy, who hated Junot but still wrote positive comments about him in his memoirs

Arthur Wellesley, who respected Junot as an enemy

James Forbes (and many others), who hated Napoleon but praised Junot for being kind to Englishmen in Paris

Antoine-Romain Hamelin, who didn't like most people he met but adored Junot for defending and rescuing him

André Delagrave, who wrote very sympathetically about Junot after serving him in the peninsular wars

Laure's letters

Junot's letters to Laure

Junot's letters to his daughters

+many, many more sources but those were the only ones I remembered off the top of my head.

And please don't disrespect Laure's own wishes and opinions. What about the highly affectionate language used to refer to Junot in her letters about her grief over his death? What about her letter to Berthier complaining about Junot being defamed?

Please be respectful here, I don't want any discourse. I shouldn't have to say this but please do not share this with "Tumblr user X", I don't want to have anything to do with that person ever again.

a little side tangent on the infamous incident between Junot and Laure:

When Junot went to break off his affair with Caroline Murat, he took two duelling pistols and khanjar (a Middle Eastern style of dagger) with him in case he was confronted by Murat and things got messy. This is very important - Junot had lethal weapons easily accessible to him and was willing to use them to kill his rival. So if he genuinely had every intention of murdering Laure, why didn't he shoot her? Why didn't he stab her with the fatal khanjar rather than a pair of scissors? Speculation on this point is useless, but it's vital to know that he could have easily killed her, but he didn't. I'm not defending his actions in any way, Junot certainly did something awful, but he did not intentionally plot to murder her.

[luffyvace]

TSUYU ASUI HCS (๑╹ω╹๑ )

It’s Tsu’s big day!! And I haven’t written for her yet! So here’s some hcs<3 I love Tsu she’s the first ever mha character I found out about!! Isn’t it funny her big day is right after shoto’s?

enjoy tsu stans! She’s a bit underrated so here’s some more content 💛

Tsu is such a caring lover!!

like I 10/10 recommended dating this lovely young lady

you two love to have private outings if that makes sense

like going outside to a private place

your special place

like near a beautiful peach tree maybe

with lots of flowers and small animals

and of course she loves the water so the beach!!

but more so when there’s less people, she prefers to go really early to see the sunrise

Tsuyu’s love language is gift giving, quality time and small little physical touches

she likes giving you cute little cheek/hand kisses

and kissing your nose

💗💗

no fair [your name] I want her :(

HOW’D YOU BAG HER?!

Tsu gives you bracelets with meaning like, she’ll research the gem that represents love and buy you matching ones

i feel tsu would also be into crystals so she’d buy you ones for protection and good luck <3

you help her take care of her many plants every day

she and momo also makes sure the dorm plants stay healthy

its canon tsu would have a boho room (horikoshi confirmed it since we didn’t get to see her dorm)

search up boho I actually like it a lot

Though she prefers to hang out in your room

or go out somewhere

she’s not easily impressed by typical things and isn’t afraid to voice that

she wants you to be honest with her too

she tells you she doesn’t like typical restaurant dates that are noisy with chatter

And if you get her flowers at least think about the potting and if she likes those kinds

try not to see her as being meticulous she just has her preferences and expects you to respect that

And you do, so she appreciates it!

trust me her love in return is definitely worth it!!

she likes to hold hands as you walk to and from school together

actually she just likes to hold your hands everywhere

when walking to the school, gas station, beach, walking in the halls, lunch, anytime!

Anytime is hand holding time!!

kissy are more so for in private tho 😗

she a lil shy frog (＞人＜;)

Tsuyu also love sleep, cuddle and nap together

especially in winter

You keep her all warm and snuggled up into a blanket

hot air blowing in your room

she really appreciates that you do this for her

she usually likes to keep it out her face but if you have some time she might let you play with her hair!

not all the time tho

but sometimes it does feel good

Tsu can also knit, I feel

she would make you two matching sets of knitted gloves, hats and sweaters

even more so in winter

they look really cute too

its not the basic knitting

go on Pinterest, knitted clothes can be made really fashionable people just only think of the granny designs 🤦‍♀️

asui also encourages and reminds you to do your homework and not only focus on hero studies or hobbies

she will help you and is rather intelligent as well

which I believe is true about frogs

btw don’t ask her if she eats bugs she’ll slap you with her tongue

if you study with her/get tutored by her your grades are sure to show improvement

she’s so proud of you!

any of your accomplishments in fact!

shes super supportive and any event or sports your want her at she’ll be there!

She helps you save up for any equipment you may need or whatever!

even just being there cheering you on!

she even brings the girls with her sometimes!

she really enjoys seeing you happy

but don’t be mistaken if it’s something she’s seriously uncomfortable with she’ll let you down gently about it

but your not upset because 9/10 she accepts your decisions

I just hope they’re not reckless ones

If it is it might lead to arguments if you don’t start caring for your own safety

she gets scared for you if you aren’t for yourself and it puts stress on her if you don’t bother to change

the relationship might stop there

Asui isn’t picky but she certainly has her boundaries

On a lighter note

tsuyu is a pretty good artist!

she’s one of those artists to give you a drawing of yourself on your big day!

or for an accomplishment!

she has drawings all over her room and she blushes if you admire them

you can beg her all you want to let you go through her old drawings

shes never letting you

btw she will probably introduce you to her reptile friend from middle school

the relationship also ends there if you discriminate her

shes a mutant type too, you can’t do that to her

if you like her tho you guys become a trio!

her friend cries if you accept her as well

tears of happiness of course

tsuyu would cry if class 1A threw her a party for her day

she doesn’t mind if class 1B is there or not but if her reptile friend is that’d make her day!

I feel she would like vanilla ice cream cake with a thin layer of strawberry icing

the gift you got her was a crochet set

your reasoning was so she could learn to both knit and crochet,

maybe even teach you so you can do it together :)

ENJOY!! I LOVE TSU SM SHE SUCH A SWEETIE

HAPPIEST OF TIMES TO YOU TSUYU!!

[ringsandwings]

A completely unnecessary analysis of the flowers surrounding Bag End: sunflowers, snapdragons, and asters.

I got this idea after reading a ton of adorable Sam and Frodo fanfic involving the language of flowers and getting a little obsessed with floriculture. I went on a hunt to find any flowers that were actually mentioned in the books and found this very small passage in chapter 1 of Fotr, describing the flowers surrounding the outside walls and windows of Bilbo and Frodo’s home. so I took the different meanings and symbolisms of the three flowers mentioned, and found fun ways to relate them to either the story or the characters. Please enjoy this unhinged interpretation that absolutely nobody asked for!!

Starting off with the sunflower! These mean, undying loyalty and adoration. This symbolism originates from the Greek myth of the nymph Clytie, and her unrequited love for the sun god Apollo. When she realized her feelings would never be reciprocated she spent several days not eating or drinking, following the path of Apollo’s sun chariot across the sky, until she eventually turned herself into a sunflower, perpetually facing the direction of the sun and waiting patiently for Apollo to return to her. Alternatively sunflowers can also mean everlasting, specifically everlasting friendship, and obviously joy and happiness. Their symbolism at Bag End is particularly precious with the theory that Sam planted these flowers. I love the idea of him using these to declare his undying devotion to Frodo even if Frodo doesn’t notice it! It’s giving you want me and you just don’t know it yet. But if that’s not your cup of tea, then these could also symbolize devotion to the Baggins’s, Sam’s lasting friendship for both Bilbo and Frodo, or just good vibes. 💖

Next are snapdragons, which I think have the coolest symbolism! They can mean two things, either grace or deception, but the exact meanings are very specific. Snaps can thrive under really harsh conditions, they can grow in cramped rocky areas and survive in subfreezing temperatures, so they specifically symbolize grace under pressure or in difficult situations. And while they do mean deception in the language of flowers, they’re mostly used as an apology flower for deceptive behavior, or used as protections against it. During the medieval period which is roughly the timeline Lotr was set in, these flowers were seen as guardians against evil forces and were typically planted by gates and around wealthy residences like Bag End. I freaking love the idea of these flowers being symbolic of the bravery and perseverance of the Baggins’s, but it might be more likely that either Bilbo or one of the Gamgees knew about their protective qualities and either the gardeners planted them out of reverence, or Bilbo sweetly chose these for Frodo’s protection.

And lastly Asters! These were my personal favorite to research and play around with because they mean so many different things and literally have the perfect backstory. Asters got their name from the Greek word Astrea, which was also the name of the Greek goddess of innocence and justice who created them in myth. The most popular version of this myth is that Astrea was so distraught over the lack of stars in the sky, when her tears fell to earth they created the star shaped aster flowers. Shortly afterwards, she herself fled into the sky and became the constellation of Virgo. Virgo is, of course, Bilbo and Frodo’s star signs, and the Astor is an official September flower. These flowers symbolize faith and valor, but in the language of flowers they symbolize innocent love and undying affection. I am choosing to believe these were planted by Sam on purpose, purely because of their meaning, but there’s one more piece of backstory that literally connects these flowers straight back to him. Asters were also an emblem of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and her planet is the ruling planet of taurus, which just so happens to be Sam’s star sign! *loses shit*

This was a little longer than I thought it would be, but I hope someone finds this as adorable as I did :-) PS, I don’t actually think Tolkien meant anything buy these super random flowers and same goes for the character of Sam, this was one sentence in the beginning of the book that I took way too far lol! It’s not true and I know I’m reaching, but just let me be delulu 😘😘

[klunkcat]

tagged by @goodlucktai <3333

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

45 lol but i have I think. 30 wips that exist somewhere on my computer at any given moment. alas.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

701,032

which..... is like far too many words per fic actually imo

3. What fandoms do you write for?

honestly whatever currently grabs my brain stem changes a lot but i think my top ones are tmnt and stranger things (what a wild combo actually). Actively atm I have a trigun wip and a tmnt one

4. Top five fics by kudos?

A Kiss is a Kiss (But it's never like this) - 6,528

(something happens and I'm) head over heels - 3,518

Green with Envy - 1,880

Forget the mess I'm in - 1,791

Weak Point - 1,366

5. Do you respond to comments?

literally I am the WORST for remembering to reply I'm so sorry. I must say that I do read all of them in my email and screenshot them and cry

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

angsty endings are too much 4 me I believe so strongly in hurt/comfort but....

Impossible Things and the Tin Can I think is the most like, conceptually tragic series I've written

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Comfort is a requirement but I think but like Stepping over the line is basically just an extended meet cute so nothing really sad happens at all lol?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Actually genuinely have never gotten a rude comment in my life I did once get someone being hyper pushy about new chaps when I was like.... 19? Sometimes comments veer I think towards misunderstanding unreliable narrator elements and can be a little intense as a result

9. Do you write smut?

ehhhhhh closest I've ever gotten was dancing around the topic lol

10. Craziest crossover?

omg me and tai have gone down some rabbit holes and made a tangled/good omens fusion among other things, which was cute 2 me

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've gotten some requests, not sure if they got uploaded anywhere?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I did once many years ago but we didn't end up finishing it from what I remember!

14. All time favourite ship?

oh god I mean. ineffable husbands and wangxian invented romance. big mckirk and vashwood fan despite what my published fics would tell you. stsg ruined my life this year. I'm really big on platonic friendships though personally

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My google docs are a cesspit of fics I will never finish. Once made a wangxian softball fic that will never see the light of day but I think of it fondly

16. What are your writing strengths?

Might actually be a weakness and not a strength but boy do I love prosey metaphor nonsense. Sometimes I think it works other times who's 2 say.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fighting scenes man, combat is hard as hell.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

in general I dooooon't write it too much just because I don't speak anything beyond like. grade 2 level spanish so.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

tmnt :' )

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Oh tricky. Stealing tai's idea of a top 5

Forget-Me-Nots - :') big ol love u to tai for this

Both the Sweet and the Bitter - so sorry to anyone who follows me for ST fics because I'm probably never going to write for it ever again or finish this but a dear friend of mine helped me with this story and it means a lot 2 me as a result. The flower metaphors were fun to research.

Plain White Beach Houses - also same as the above but idk pacific rim au....house metaphors.... I love this series a lot

change up, high inside - wanted to write a softball fic for my whole life basically and this is more or less me just waxing poetic about the sport if I'm honest

Feedback Loop - this fic was actually insane like. took me I think a full year to write out? There's a lot of stuff in this that I lol cannot reread anymore for reasons but damn if it wasn't a learning experience to write all around

Tagging @eternalglitch @byrdybyrd02 @jinbugs if u want to besties!

[sinha-ri]

House of Leaves easter eggs I've found in Ch II by Zampano

1. "The labours of men are genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind"

the beginning quote is actually from Frankenstein (I can't tell if its by the guy himself or someone else) to finally let the reader know he will go through with his creation. Because as horrific as it might be, his research will do nothing but benefit mankind in the end. I haven't read enough to fully know how this fits in, but it can be a reference to how the House is the creation of Frankenstein here.

2. The 10th footnote, footnoting a guy criticizing Navidson for being a fraud and jeopardizing his career over this film. The publisher of said article has "Eddie Hapax Press"

Hapax, if searched up, is actually Hapax Legomenon. The definition is "a word/expression that occurs only once within a context" usually referring to language or text. Essentially a word only exists in one single text, used one time. Its unsure what this can be a reference to yet, but my leading theory is it could be the house itself. The only thing is house is consistently used throughout the text, but there only exists 1 House and the Navidson Record doesn't exist outside of Zampano's essay. Not even his references. Hence this is Zampano's Hapax, something that only occurs in his text (again, i could be wrong but this is my leading theory so far)

3. Footnote 16, footnoting what Navidson is trying to preserve of Karen through film and that he truly didn't mean to be mean, references an article titled "Omens & Signs" which is published by Taema Essay Publications"

Taema is actually a god figure used in Samoan mythology and folklore. Taema was originally a conjoint twin, but while swimming away from their birth home, they were split in two. They soon learned tattooing. When coming home, Taema stayed with tattooing while her sister became the god of war. However, Taema's name originally belonged to a god who was the Goddess of War instead and seen as an omen for war. While there's no war going on here, it's still important to see Taema's name was seen as an omen. Furthermore, the tale of them being conjoint twins that went their separate paths is interesting and can be seen as reflecting Karen and Navidson. They're married, joint together, yet they are so separate as people and paths.

4. Footnote 18, aka Traunt's long ass rant, on page 16 has a major reveal, but I'm here to talk about when he's breaking down talking about Birds of Paradise, stating, "I mean we'd all be so lucky to wind up a punching bag and still found our creates full of Birds of Paradise. No such luck with this crate."

While birds of paradise can be taken literally to the actual birds, it also references a flower titled Bird of Paradise. You've most likely seen them if you're american (idk about other countries lol). they're those orange flowers that look like the head of a bird.

The meaning behind this bird, is actually "Joy". While Traunt was most likely talking about exotic birds to make him rich, it's a double meaning to joy. He wishes to find joy, something he believes is luck or to come sooner or later. But it's a great admission he isn't doing well.

5. Footnote 22, referencing how Navidson puts himself in a bad light in his own film of life, is shown to be published by "Ascencion Gerson"

Gerson is actually the name of a french school (? its only in french but i assume so) while Ascension is a reference to a painting of Jesus ascending, this being one of the top results when you google Ascension Gerson

It's almost comparing Navidson with Jesus, a humble person who doesn't belong in a negative light even if its of his own saying. Although this could be a stretch and complete coincidence LOL

There may have been more, but this all i found my first read through!! gonna be doing these for every chapter :3

[aerospas]

Hi, I hope you doing good. Can I request matchup for Star Trek? I'm genderfluid, bisexual with male preference.I have long black wavy hair. I have thick black eyebrows, brown eyes. I always have rosy chubby cheeks. I have braces. My body is curvy with very big chest and little tummy. My eyebrows are constantly furrowed. Also I'm 172 cm. I'm Libra. If you interested, my mbti Infp and my enneagram 5w4. I always have poker face. I'm very outspoken, stubborn. I always doing my job alone. I find it difficult to express my feelings and prefer to isolate myself. My best feature is that I know a little about everything, I always surprise people. Those who know me for the first time describe me as cold, scary, quiet, unapproachable and distant, mature. But at heart I'm compassionate and helpful, works for the good of people. And they often think I can't speak and I'm deaf but I'm not. People say I'm extremely chaste. When I enter an environment, I listen to what people say and get to know them well, I decide if there is anyone worth talking to. I'm only close to two or three people. They describe me as cold, soft inside, calm, sarcastic, resourceful and knowledgeable. I am usually a rebellious person. I am the person who stands against injustices and lies in an environment. They say I make clever jokes and I'm the mom-friend. Actually i like to help everyone and it works automatically without me noticing. I will help anyone by giving my all. And i hate phsyical touch. My love language is words of affirmation. If I talk about myself, I've always been on my own. I have family problems, I was never close with my father. Even though we are side by side with my mother, we are distant. I'm just my own mom and dad. That's why I've always focused on academic achievement for salvation. And I think I'm very good at it. My hobbies are drawing, sewing, writing and researching, especially about mythology, cultures, politics, history, fashion. I like to visit second-hand and antique markets. I'm someone who doesn't like to waste money but cares about clothing. I always wear my headphones and listen to music, i listen every genre. I like silence, soft colors, being alone, flowers (especially honeysuckle), spring and breeze. I don't like crowds, noise, children, loud talkers and shiny things. I always wear colorful clothes with floral prints or all black. I also wear interesting earrings and different printed socks. And finally, I don't really have an ideal type. I love every person. I like the fact that there are different people. And I don't believe in love. If I'm going to be with someone, I'll be happy if we have respect, compassion, and loyalty to each other. It is enough that we are in harmony with each other. If I am with someone, I am clearly their mother.-🧠

from the original series, i'd pair you with, doctor mccoy!

with your outspoken and resourceful nature, mccoy might initially be taken aback, but he'd soon appreciate your depth of knowledge and your compassionate heart beneath your closed-off exterior. your willingness to stand against injustices would resonate strongly with mccoy, who's never one to shy away from speaking his mind. he might tease you for your serious demeanour, but deep down, he'd admire your determination and independence. your shared love for diving into research — whether it's about medicine, cultures, or history — would provide endless topics for discussion. mccoy's gruff warmth and your hidden softness would create a dynamic where both of you support each other in your quieter moments, finding solace in shared understanding and mutual respect.

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: i wasn't sure what series you preferred, so i chose my favourite!

[shirefantasies]

Hi, I hope you doing good. Can i have a matchup for LOTR and/or HOBBIT please 💐 Firstly English not my first language. I'm autistic. I'm genderfluid, bisexual with male preference.I have long black wavy hair. I have thick black eyebrows, brown eyes. I always have rosy chubby cheeks. I have braces. My body is curvy with very big chest and little tummy. My eyebrows are constantly furrowed. Also I'm 172 cm. I'm Libra. If you interested, my mbti Infp and my enneagram 5w4. I always have poker face. I'm very outspoken, stubborn. I always doing my job alone. I find it difficult to express my feelings and prefer to isolate myself. My best feature is that I know a little about everything, I always surprise people. Those who know me for the first time describe me as cold, scary, quiet, unapproachable and distant, mature. But at heart I'm compassionate and helpful, works for the good of people. And they often think I can't speak and I'm deaf but I'm not. People say I'm extremely chaste. When I enter an environment, I listen to what people say and get to know them well, I decide if there is anyone worth talking to. I'm only close to two or three people. They describe me as cold, soft inside, calm, sarcastic, resourceful and knowledgeable. I am usually a rebellious person. I am the person who stands against injustices and lies in an environment. They say I make clever jokes and I'm the mom-friend. Actually i like to help everyone and it works automatically without me noticing. I will help anyone by giving my all. And i hate phsyical touch. My love language is words of affirmation. If I talk about myself, I've always been on my own. I have family problems, I was never close with my father. Even though we are side by side with my mother, we are distant. I'm just my own mom and dad. That's why I've always focused on academic achievement for salvation. And I think I'm very good at it. My hobbies are drawing, sewing, writing and researching, especially about mythology, cultures, politics, history, fashion. I like to visit second-hand and antique markets. I'm someone who doesn't like to waste money but cares about clothing. I always wear my headphones and listen to music, i listen every genre. I like silence, soft colors, being alone, flowers (especially honeysuckle), spring and breeze. I don't like crowds, noise, children, loud talkers and shiny things. I always wear colorful clothes with floral prints or all black. I also wear interesting earrings and different printed socks. And finally, I don't really have an ideal type. I love every person. I like the fact that there are different people. And I don't believe in love. If I'm going to be with someone, I'll be happy if we have respect, compassion, and loyalty to each other. It is enough that we are in harmony with each other. If I am with someone, I am clearly their mother.

You sure can have a matchup 💐 and your man is…

Beorn! 🐻

You are tired of the world. Tired of all its hustle and bustle and rules and unnecessary noise. It isn’t like you have family back in any of those towns and cities anyway. Nature is your true domain, the place where you can be yourself and feel harmony, stroll through fields of fragrant blooms without prying eyes…or so you think. A small patrol of orcs catches you off guard, brandishing their scimitars and chasing you deeper into the woods you had sought solace in. Your legs pump as fast as they can, but it is hardly enough. Just as you think your burning, heaving chest will give out and fail you, though, a great bear bursts from the woods, making short work of your would-be tormentors. Before your eyes the beast shrinks down, becoming a great man, and bids you simply “Come with me.”

Had you more energy you’d have tried to fight, but as it is you practically shake from the adrenaline and still feel a burning in your lungs; nodding, you just follow him down a trail and across a field to his cottage. Distant, in bloom, populated only by livestock and bumblebees. You like it. Tentatively you smile up at the towering, bearded man. “You have no home, do you?” He asks. You shake your head and he sighs. “That is what I thought.” It seemed he isn’t much one for company, either. No complaints leave his lips, though, as you set down your small pack of possessions, or as you scan the interior of his home, taking in every nook and cranny. “We eat in an hour,” the man simply says.

Beorn. You learn his name over the meal, confirm your suspicions that he, too, has his reasons for isolating from society. Tell him how beautiful his home really is as he speaks of protecting nature’s gifts and feeling no remorse for those who sully them. Respect flows through you at his words, keeps you nodding as he speaks.

When you emerge the next morning, this time clean and in a long dress of floral print, you notice the way Beorn’s bushy eyebrows rise, his expression softens. You practically challenge him as you go outside, exploring and gently tending the livestock. He says nothing, though, save following you and giving you the occasional nod at your kind treatment of his animals. “Keep my house safe,” he tells you at the end of the day, “and I keep the woods safe.” In his way, you realize, he is asking you to stay, and you agree. He makes a nicer meal this night.

Your motions in the kitchen are something of a dance, Beorn and you all but intuitively moving around the other, working in perfect rhythm. His people have many old songs to learn, and you vow to sing them as best you can as you work. Beorn cleans and bends some old metal scraps, strings a pair of acorns into new earrings for you. Payment for repairing all his blankets, he says, but you catch the faintest of smiles on his lips. Spring explodes across the meadows in great flowery bursts. Soon in your pastures a new calf is born; in a wave of excitement and celebration, Beorn lifts you up by the waist and spins you around. Both of your serious expressions bursting into true joy, utter freedom of care and concern, for the first time in too long. Some may call your life simple, your relationship confusing, but you know what you are to each other deep in your hearts of hearts and you want for nothing that your woods, your little cottage, and each other cannot provide.

Taglist: @lokilover476 @fuckyoumakeart @mossthebogwitch @ibabblealot @kilibaggins @joonies-word @stormchaser819 @pirate-lord-of-narnia | Reply/Ask/Message to join 🥰

[thebestofoneshots]

hi i hope you doing good. Can i have a "✩ Star" for Marauders Era please 💐I'm autistic. I'm genderfluid, bisexual with male preference.I'm okay with Poly!Marauders. I have long black wavy hair. I have thick black eyebrows, brown eyes. I always have rosy chubby cheeks. I have braces. My body is curvy with very big chest and little tummy. Also I'm 172 cm. I'm Libra also a Slytherin. If you interested, my mbti Infp and my enneagram 5w4. I always have poker face. I'm very outspoken. I find it difficult to express my feelings and prefer to isolate myself. My best feature is that I know a little about everything, I always surprise people. Those who know me for the first time describe me as cold, scary, quiet, and distant. And they often think I can't speak and I'm deaf but I'm not. People say I'm extremely chaste. When I enter an environment, I listen to what people say and get to know them well, I decide if there is anyone worth talking to. I'm only close to two or three people. They describe me as cold, soft inside, calm, sarcastic, resourceful and knowledgeable. I am usually a rebellious person. I am the person who stands against injustices and lies in an environment. They say I make clever jokes and I'm the mom-friend. Actually i like to help everyone and it works automatically without me noticing. I will help anyone by giving my all. And i hate phsyical touch. My love language is words of affirmation. If I talk about myself, I've always been on my own. I have family problems, I was never close with my father. Even though we are side by side with my mother, we are distant. I'm just my own mom and dad. That's why I've always focused on academic achievement for salvation. And I think I'm very good at it. My hobbies are drawing, sewing, writing and researching, especially about mythology, cultures, politics, history, fashion. I like to visit second-hand and antique markets. I'm someone who doesn't like to waste money but cares about clothing. I always wear my headphones and listen to music, i listen every genre. I like silence, soft colors, being alone, flowers (especially honeysuckle), spring and breeze. I don't like crowds, noise, children, loud talkers and shiny things. I always wear colorful clothes with floral prints or all black. I also wear interesting earrings and different printed socks. And finally, I don't really have an ideal type. I love every person. I like the fact that there are different people. And I don't believe in love. If I'm going to be with someone, I'll be happy if we have respect, compassion, and loyalty to each other. It is enough that we are in harmony with each other. If I am with someone, I am clearly their mother. -🧠

If you want to participate in "TBOS' 400 Followers Celebration" too, you can look at this post for all the options of prompts you can choose form &lt;3

☆ Star: send a short description of yourself and I’ll tell you who I ship you with!

Hey darling! I soooo ship you with Regulus Black. When you two first met, he didn’t know what to make of you, the shy new Slytherin kid. The shyest in your group, he noticed that easily. But there was something about you that sucked him in. Even if whenever your eyes crossed in the common room you would just stare at him for a second and then turn your head, not even making a single expression, nothing.

He was the first to approach you, but he didn’t try to talk to you, in fact, he just walked closer to you as he spoke to Barty, he had realized you liked to listen to what people might have to offer before exchanging a word with them. Barty had tried to talk to you several times before, but you hadn’t replied, so he thought of you as a very rude person. But that day, when Regulus asked if you could pass him something, and you replied with a sweet “sure, here you go,” he was shocked.

“So you can talk?” Barty teased.

“Leave them alone,” Regulus had warned him, with an icy stare, bordering on a threat. Barty had shut up in an instant and he never dared bother you again.

Your friendship with Regulus had developed slowly, you appreciated how he always noticed whether you were presenting as a girl or a boy, and used the correct pronouns with you. It was sweet, and it made you trust him even more. He once invited you to Hogsmeade, and the two of you walked together through the crowded areas, shying away from them and deciding to walk inside an antique store instead. There he purchased a necklace that had caught your eye. You found it laying on your bed, inside a box with a note inside.

There’s something about you that I just can’t put my finger on, there’s nothing like spending time with you, talking about anything and everything like we do sometimes… I enjoy walking with you and looking at you while you’re so focused on getting the strokes of a drawing right, when you’re too preoccupied with getting the seam of a garment to look perfect, or even when you’re just staring at the fire like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Thank you for being a part of my life (Y/N). -RAB

You smiled, a little giddy after reading such sweet words, and you knew they were true, you had seen the way Regulus looked at you, you weren’t blind, but you had also noticed how respectful he’d been about his admiration, how he’d retracted his hand after reaching out for you several times, as not to startle you, He had watched you, learned your boundaries, and he stuck to them like they were the most important rules on earth.

“I loved your note,” you told him when you saw him again after that. “I also really like spending time with you, It’d be lovely to do it more…” you told him, a little smile developing on your lips.

A/N: Hey hun! I really hope you enjoy this little ship, I read your little prompts and it absolutely screamed Regulus to me, btw I hope I didn't write anything triggering, I tried to be extra carful <3

Side note, I'm so so so sorry for taking so long to deliver this, it's been like a week I know, but I've been working on Gilded Constellations and also a new episode of The Five Senses (that will be dropping later today), bedsides my day job getting a bit heavy on the workload, so it's taking me a bit longer than I expected to deliver the "400 Follower Celebration" gifts. But rest assured, they will all be delivered, I promise.

Much Love, Lilly xx

[xx-justsomeguy-xx]

Tell us about Dola!

shsjshs idek where to start with Dola ;w; thank u for giving me an outlet for talking about her LND incarnation omg I hope you know what you’re getting into when you asked this…

so like!! in general she’s my OC that I use everywhere bc I just like her too much to even care about making other OCs because to me she’s like… the ultimate cool doll >.> she tends to retain a lot of her traits each time + I try to keep as much of her original conflicted artist background as possible while still making it make sense with the lore of the universe I’m putting her in

So in LND as MC, she still has Caleb + Josephine, is a Hunter, and ofc has the aether core in her heart but strays from canon in that:

Art has a huge place in her life because her parents were renowned artists and she was primed to follow in their footsteps. She ends up dropping it sometime after she was orphaned though, and only picks it up around high school age and in secret

Gets dreams of fragments of her past lives with Rafayel, but she can never recall the face of the man that’s always in her dreams once she wakes up. Trying to sketch out the man’s face is her main reason for getting into art again, and it snowballs into her making art inspired by her dreams in general

She knows a lot about Lemurian myth and history because she dreams about the place + this one Lemurian so much that she had to look into it, and by extension is fascinated by the sea

Which also means that she did actually attend Rafayel’s lectures at her university when he became a visiting professor there. They kind of only have one proper conversation throughout that entire year though.

Her heart issues affect her more than they affect MC in canon, so the UNICORNS treat her a little differently to work around it. Largely that means she doesn’t go on as many missions as MC seems to? And is often deployed a support/the human radar bc of her Evol rather than a frontline fighter.

Doesn’t feel that strongly about being a Hunter once she actually is one? Tbh I think she kinda hates a majority of the work and commitment that comes with it but feels she can’t just quit after spending so much time working towards becoming one. Xavier and their training sessions together are kind of the main things keeping her there (+ she has fun killing Wanderers)

She’s not as bubbly or cheerful or bratty as the canon MC is. Her personality is a lot more reserved and introverted and she LOVES studying + learning, but there’s still a bit of playfulness there. There’s actually so many parts of the main story, Tender Moments, and Bond/Memoria that I’m changing or outright excluding because they just don’t work out for her the same way they do with canon MC sigh >.>;;

LOVES plants and flowers. In every iteration I have of her she’s at least half covered in floral tattoos and her home is always full of them! Very into flower language to an extent that I’m not ahdjsjs she makes me research a lot of things…

Kind of obsessed with death (mostly because she believes herself to be on a short timer) and is a little fucked up? Will join Rafayel in his quest for vengeance and will believe his murders are all justified if she finds out about them tbh.

^Okay I feel like that’s a lot ahdjshsja >.> in LND I wrote her with Rafayel in mind as the endgame >.> Zayne’s more of a bestie/brother/secret third thing, and Xavier… I guess to her he’s a friend but he definitely is in love with her? And Dola eventually becomes aware of that and isn’t quite sure what to do about it.

Gosh anyway!! Thank you for being interested ahdjshsjs she’s been my baby and muse for like… 3-4 years at this point? I have so many thoughts about her like you wouldn’t believe ;-;

(i have a whole inspo blog for her ahdjshs it’s @dolasach >.>)

[deadcactuswalking]

Super Mario 3D Land: Pacifist Run

So, I really like Super Mario 3D Land. Nintendo’s 2011 effort to create a 3D platformer on the 3DS resulted in a breezy, pleasant game with the aesthetic of a messy toy box. It’s incredibly easy to pick up and for someone who barely plays video games, it’s comforting to have, I’ve 100%’d it twice, which is twice more than I think any other game I’ve played. I’m… not very good at video games. But you know what game I am good at? Super Mario 3D Land. What I never considered, however, is if I could beat the game completely harmlessly. You can’t, it’s not possible, the main point of the Mario game is that Mario jump on the turtle and win, but let’s see just how much you can avoid.

content warning: language, gore, constant talk about murder and/or manslaughter in reference to cartoon animals (I believe this is what the ESRB considers "cartoon mischief")

Ground Rules

Let’s make this clear. There is an obvious and evident villain of the game, Bowser, and he is a criminal. By all means, it is just and moral to defeat Bowser, who has a large civilian military that encroaches onto Mushroom Kingdom territory and several forts that contain prisoners held without reason – Toads – not to mention he kidnapped the Princess. It’s difficult to call one man versus an entire bestiary a ‘war’, but if police were to catch Bowser, I believe murder is reasonable force considering his strength, stature, weapons being built into his shell, and his impressive amount of people going to bat for him: he’s like an organized crime boss, so if Toadsworth was an officer back in the day, you’d best believe there would be a shoot-out. ACAB includes Toadsworth, by the way.

Speaking of organized crime, I think Boom Boom and Pom Pom would also legally be considered as members of the criminal gang in the way that other enemies cannot. Generally, despite being referred to as ‘enemies’, the characters across the game are more obstacles that hurt the player, but not always intentionally or even reasonably. Like, why should that stupid idiot mushroom bumping into you actually substantially harm you? It’s of completely unreasonable force to stomp on it until it dies. Even those who go out of their way to harm Mario can kind of be explained away. Hammer Bros and Rocky Wrenches use construction gear as weaponry, and assuming they are aware of the ability of Mario and Luigi to jump abnormally high and murder them via one jump, whilst a hammer or wrench will take two to three hits to kill the player, this is reasonable force. Piranha Plants and Chain Chomps bite you, but they’re stray animals. You don’t kill a stray dog for no reason other than it could potentially harm you, and Piranha Plants are, well, plants, with teeth. We don’t kill those, we research those. We will look at more specific exceptions as they appear.

Thirdly, I cannot use power-ups, really. If I gain a Fire or Boomerang Flower, which would be silly because it would be dangerous for me to use them, I can’t actually shoot any enemies, only blocks and coins – which aren’t off-limits because I don’t believe Bowser turned Toads into them, and even if he did, that’s their L, not mine. Get good. I can’t use the Super Star because it would essentially be like running around enflamed onto the streets, and I can’t use the Tanuki Suit. Because of woke. I can however use a Super Mushroom and grab 1Ups (not that I need them, I have like 300 lives) because eating mushrooms may be gross but not really unethical. I’m also not taking warp zones because that feels like cheating. This isn’t a full walkthrough though, I’ll only acknowledge the edge cases and times where I will have to commit an unlawful killing. In Super Mario 3D Land, of course. This is not my diary of real-life murders. I’d put that on WordPress. Let’s-a-go!

World 1

The first two levels, as you’d expect, go largely without issue. I’m playing on a 100% file just to make it easier and less time-consuming, and speaking of the player’s experience, we face the first enemy that you could consider malicious, however it’s clearly not to Mario… or Luigi, I’m playing as Luigi because it’s funnier, and will be describing the player’s character as Luigi from here on. Regardless, we have several Inky Piranha Plants in the level of World 1-2, and they spit ink at the screen which slightly obscures your view of the game. YOUR view, not Luigi. You could definitely say that spitting ink at a camera within the vicinity of spiked balls is dangerous, but for the cameraman, not necessarily the guy in front who is scared for his life on a bridge near spikes, and couldn’t care less about a bit of cave painting.

In World 1-3, most of the level is fine but we come across a tragedy: the forced end-of-level kill, or for the Irish, FEK. I debated whether there was a way to avoid this but it seems not: when you touch the flagpole to finish the level, the five Biddybuds in front of it – they’re little ladybugs – vanish and die simultaneously. I decided that using the Fire Flower to kill them would be even harsher and less ethical as it would be a more painful death and their friends and family would have to watch the moment before it happens to them too. So I’d rather they die peacefully walking around a flag than know those who love them are no longer around to mourn them. That was morbid, but we will swiftly move onto the ethics of castle levels.

Unlike other levels of the game, taking place in grasslands, deserts, caves, mountains, forests or… unclear liminal spaces in the sky wherein blocks and platforms inexplicably reside. These are public spaces, home to much wildlife as well as what can be assumed as permanent, sentient residents such as Toads or even Coin Coffers, which due to their understanding of money’s value, seem to have more human-esque emotional intelligence compared to the more animalistic Goombas or Koopas. However, Bowser’s castles are either forts or homes, and regardless of how you categorise them, those who reside in them are morally grey. For the purposes of this, whilst I obviously don’t agree with the “just following orders” doctrine, I do agree that those who reside in a household do not always reflect those who own the property. Even then, Fire Bars, Lava Bubbles and Thwomps are mostly indestructible scenery and potentially not even sentient. Dry Bones are already dead – you don’t go to a history museum and jump on the skeletons.

Now each castle before World 8 ends with a Tail Bowser, and just like the Fake Bowsers from the original NES games, these are other enemies in disguise, and not really Bowser. We know from Mario’s previous ventures that he is capable of defeating Bowser, but if we stick to the idea that this is one timeline for this one game, Luigi’s use of the switch here to defeat a replica of Bowser, which counts as an unlawful killing, proves that he could potentially defeat the real Bowser, and therefore grants damn near all of the enemies in the castle some level of immunity. By all means, this is either a military incursion or downright home invasion by Luigi – Draglets can breathe fire and Hammer Bros can throw their titular weapons because it is reasonable force to defend a property from a guy who can and will kill your boss. Or at least a version of him. You could even argue that from this point on, any enemy has full reason to kill Luigi because of his unjust actions in murdering a cosplaying Goomba. I’m not here to prove the innocence of any given enemy though, and you can easily avoid all of these enemies anyway, I’m here to discuss how Luigi could sidestep committing unlawful killings, so let’s go to World 2 to see what it has in store.

World 2

World 2-1 introduces Fire Piranha Plants which can shoot fireballs into other enemies – Luigi is not responsible for the cruelty of the animal kingdom. He is responsible for jumping on the flagpole and killing three innocent Piranha Plants in that level and three Paragoombas in the next. World 2-3 introduces the Propeller Hat, a suitable alternative for cannons, which I will discourage use of on the grounds of limiting carbon emissions, but if necessary, they aren’t going to directly lead to deaths, so it’s okay. Also, cutscenes force you to use them before entering an airship level, so they are actually unavoidable.

What will lead to deaths is World 2-4, as there are ‘Baddie Boxes’ – seriously, that’s what they’re called – that spawn Goombas infinitely, and will do so even if there is not a platform under them. Infinitely spawning enemies are likely inauthentic and artificial, created by Bowser – whose head is on these boxes – to harm Mario or Luigi. Killing a Goomba from a Baddie Box or, more accurately, letting one fall into the abyss, is not unlawful, as firstly, it produces a scientific abomination in the form of constantly reproduced Goombas, not an actually contributive member to that area’s biodiversity, and secondly, Luigi didn’t plant the box there, and new Goombas will continue to be reproduced regardless as if they are disposable, whilst if you kill a naturally spawning Goomba at the start of, say, 2-1 and go back, it’s still gone.

That same logic applies to the machinery in airships. I would say that Bowser is likely the manufacturer of these airships, or at least his private military or artillery company is, because his head’s on it. Real egomaniac, this guy. It’s like if Pablo Escobar sold action figures of himself. Boom Boom and Pom Pom are stationed in these airships but I would say they are intelligent and malicious enough to count as compliant to a much further degree. You fight them in a designated chamber with no beds or decoration, and in later airships, they’re coated in spikes or flames. They don’t live here. They hide here to kill you when you get there, and their airships are decked out with flamethrowers, Bullet Bills and Bob-Ombs, which I personally do not think are living. Motion-sensor bombs are motion-sensor bombs regardless of if they have legs or not, and Bullet Bills are just large bullets either shot aimlessly into the abyss or acting as a homing missile. This is artillery with googly eyes, not life. However, Rocky Wrenches are construction workers and whilst they are constructing a military vehicle, it’s very unlikely for them to be throwing wrenches as anything but a precaution. They can’t even see with those fly-ass shades on. As long as they’re throwing wrenches, you can’t kill them. That is an important distinction.

World 3

The cannon seems mandatory in World 3-1 but you can use the eco-friendly Propeller Hat to skip this and climb over the pyramid without killing anything. I think it’s okay to stand on Thwomps but try and avoid the smaller Thwomp creatures, the Wallops. Leave the kids out of it, man. There are also snake-like block creatures called Blokkabloks in this level; I didn’t even notice them on my run-through but I say they’re fair game. They’re man-made objects consisting of blocks, spikes and coins: you don’t have to kill them, but if you wish to, I believe the run still counts as pacifist. In fact, this entire world can be completed without any unlawful killing. You can swim with the fish in 3-2 and run with the bees in 3-4 with relative ease and whilst the tightrope-walking with Fuzzies in 3-4 and the mad rush to avoid killing Biddybuds across white chocolate and cookies, which I’m going to assume was farmed and produced as ethically as possible, are made a tad more difficult, it’s absolutely possible. Not even the airship gives you much trouble. This is immediately reversed in the next world.

World 4

World 4-1 is genuinely a bit difficult when tasked with avoiding killing any enemies, as there are Biddybuds bunched around everywhere, Piranha Plants on levers, etc. It’s a forest bundling with biodiversity, but just make sure to toe carefully. It’s all for nought at the end because there’s a classic FAK with five Para-Biddybuds (they’re the ladybugs from earlier, but with wings). I should note that if the enemies are out of frame when you touch the flagpole, it won’t kill them on screen and you should be fine, but this is rarely actually a relevant tip: they’re either completely unavoidable or you can’t manipulate the camera that way.

World 4-4 is our first Ghost House level, and considering it’s a Ghost… House, I can assume that either it’s a House with Ghosts in it or a House owned by Ghosts. Ghosts can’t sign mortgages because they are intangible, meaning that it’s likely just abandoned and the first option is correct, so Luigi is not committing a home invasion necessarily, he may just be trespassing. All the enemies in this level are already dead but also none of them are unavoidable or easily killable by normal means, so let’s just put a pin in that confusing logic. Other than 4-1, this world goes without a hitch in the pacifist run. A Boomerang Bro is in 4-5, I think it’s fair to see he simply wants to play catch, so you can’t kill him. You can kill the Rocky Wrench in the airship though, specifically the one that throws a Bob-Omb at you. He’s not unavoidable, but still, fuck that guy, he throws bombs. Kill him. It’s in your right to.

World 5

World 5-1 is a Goddamn bloodbath. The first half of the level takes place in a desert with stray Goombas, Boomerang Bros, Pokeys and Sandmaarghs all clearly just hanging out in the wild. However, you enter a door to a dungeon which consist of a rising underground platform – clearly not naturally occurring and similarly unnatural appearances from spiked balls. It could be very possible to avoid those spikes as well as not letting them hit the enemies that appear on the platform like the Boomerang Bros and Sandmaarghs, however the gauntlet is a relatively small platform that gets incredibly full, and the spikes hurt Luigi too, so he would be putting himself in harm’s way to direct the creatures outside of the spike ball’s paths, especially considering some of them are giant spike balls and all of the enemies here are not in a natural habitat but a gauntlet likely planted by Bowser. If anything, Bowser is liable for these deaths, of which there are four: in my run, one Boomerang Bro and three Sandmaarghs perished. I’m sure that could be shortened to two or even one Sandmaargh, but I feel like it is unavoidable to not see at least one enemy perish, and to top that off, we contribute to carbon emissions with the ending cannon. 5-2 is also a dungeon, but this one seems more like a cave or temple, meaning that it’s either at least somewhat natural or a private place of worship, so I don’t blame Bowser for any deaths there, I think it falls squarely on murderous Luigi. The Legend of Zelda tribute level goes smoothly without any killings anyway, but 5-4 does not.

5-4 has you in increasingly tight positions with Morty Moles taking up all available space and Monty Moles coming out of the ground from nowhere. Neither pose a real threat playing through the game normally but are incredibly tedious in a pacifist run considering the limited movement space. I’m sure if you get the rhythms of the Morty Moles completely correct, you can avoid any harm, but the average player is likely to step on the heads of three Morty Moles when jumping across the section populated by that mole posse. Thankfully, these take two hits to kill, so you can safely flatten them and it only counts as grievous bodily harm. Yippee! Additionally, if you really want to ensure no-one gets hurt but yourself, there’s the option to run through the moles and damage-boost to the other side, which isn’t to your benefit and doesn’t change how many enemies are killed but does mean you don’t stomp on anything. I personally think either method is valid for a pacifist run.

As for 5-5, there are Para-Biddybuds near the Flagpole but for once they can be taken out of frame and led to safety if you land on the ground and miss the top of the flagpole. The castle level is also a standard ordeal, as you’re forced to kill one Tail Bowser, which happens to be a Magikoopa this time around, but all other enemies are very avoidable.

World 6

World 6, much like World 3, is completely doable in a pacifist run, but there are some oddities and novelties I’d like to point out. World 6-2 is yet another dungeon of unclear ownership but given its pyramid theme and considerable similarities to 3-1, I can only assume this is preserved for historical reasons and not because anyone other than Blokkabloks and Pokeys reside there. Again, you can probably kill Blokkabloks here, but they’re avoidable enough. 6-3 is yet another Ghost House with several theme park-esque attractions and a library, but given the presence of (again, avoidable) ghost enemies, I doubt these are still running as functioning businesses and even if they were, they’re clearly not successful if all their customers are dead. 6-4 introduces Prongos, whose spiked helmets seem like genuinely unreasonable force, and they do attempt to lunge at Luigi, but when they fail to hit, they land hopelessly in the ground with their ass out, so I say they’re off limits too. Not even the airship level has anything unavoidable, though once again, feel free to kill the bastards who throw bombs, that seems reasonable to me. Also, if you weren’t convinced on Boom Boom and Pom Pom being malicious yet, this airship has Pom Pom throw boomerangs at you in a chamber engulfed in flames. She’s not playing around.

World 7

Fun fact: you can beat World 7-1 in four seconds by just jumping over the pool of water you’re supposed to travel through. It’s easier with the Tanooki Leaf, but as regular-degular Luigi, you can wall-jump off a cliff face and beat the level without even touching the water. This is actually useful in the pacifist run, as it means you don’t need to kill a Piranha Plant that blocks a pipe to the exit from the underwater area, and instead just need to walk far along enough that the Piranha Plant on another pipe near the flagpole is not on camera.

World 7 is probably my favourite world in the game, with some of the most unique level concepts and environments, genuinely tricky and precise platforming, and naturally, given its peculiar, gimmicky levels, most of which use some manmade obstacle course aesthetic, including 7-3’s mixing of it with an organic nighttime setting, this leads to some unique levels for this challenge. Apart from the skip I just mentioned which is some bizarre level of forgetting to playtest, there’s another dungeon of unclear ownership or origin, a tightrope walk that has some close moments with Biddybuds but is otherwise safe, and 7-4, a literal clock.

Probably my favourite level in the game due to its gorgeous and unique texturing as well as a fascinating three-act level structure that has some genuinely risky jumps, it also has a peculiar challenge for the pacifist run as it forces you to get hit by yet another Morty Mole. I tried to see if there was a way I could avoid the Morty Mole in the limited space you have, but the second one you’re forced to encounter involves you either jumping on him twice or damage-boosting through him due to the small container you’re both trapped within. Either way, the Morty Mole can live and there is a flagpole soon after so don’t worry about dying. This clock is also covered in Bob-Ombs which prove their need to be excluded from the run by the fact that some of the Bob-Ombs in this level can fly but still end up falling into pits and sitting there on platforms just allowing themselves to self-destruct. They’re either clearly manmade non-sentient machinery or just utterly stupid: literally or figuratively brainless.

7-5, another one of my favourite levels with its wooden platforms being sawn apart by razors, puts us in a unique dilemma because once again, we are indirectly the cause of deaths by allowing Goombas to remain on platforms we know are going to be sawn and fall into the abyss by the unavoidable sawblades which we can’t manipulate. However, it’s also out of sight, out of mind: when we jump on a flagpole, and the enemies are out of frame, they are still unloaded, and presumably die, we just can’t see them. The player acts as the cameraman as well as the person steering Mario or Luigi, so if the death is not caught on CCTV, there’s little evidence. In the same way that there’s no evidence that we killed the Biddybuds in World 5, as long as I’m fast enough, the player didn’t catch the Goombas falling to their deaths on camera, so as long the airship is no challenge, I’m counting this as an entire world win for the pacifist run… yeah, the airship’s bullshit too.

So firstly, there are Magikoopas all over the place, and I fully think they’re lawful to kill. Not only do they pretty much only ever appear in Ghost Houses, airships and castle levels across the series, but they’re clearly more in kahoots with Bowser and crew due to not just their prominence in these levels, but how Kamek, the leader of the Magikoopas, is one of Bowser’s most loyal minions who even raised him as a child and is incredibly close to Bowser’s own offspring. With that said, my logic is to largely ignore the wider canon and associate them more so with what they do in the level, and sadly, Magikoopas use pretty reasonable force, being magic, which does not exist in real life so has no real comparison, in stark contrast to the Rocky Wrench at the end of the level who once again throws bombs. The morally grey Magikoopas are avoidable, barely, but this guy isn’t, and whilst I’d usually consider him a lawful killing, he blocks the pipe to the boss battle, and is even accompanied by a wrench-throwing mole. Maybe, just maybe, they tag-team Luigi to prevent him from being tag-teamed by Boom Boom and Pom Pom in the boss chamber. Is this bomb thrown out of kindness? Is it reasonable force considering the Rocky Wrench is down in one hit? If we don’t stomp on him and instead throw his bomb back at him, is it fairer? Does the airship setting and increased amount of organised enemy layout constitute a battle of war? There were just too many questions. So I asked a Polish guy, and he said it was lawful. Fuck you, Rocky Wrench.

World 8

Finally, we are onto the last moments of our semi-peaceful adventure. We stand at the last frontier, and the levels do get tougher. There are some trickier jumps, enemies and obstacles are much more plentiful and in some cases, quite bound together in clusters. Just because the levels are more difficult in an average vanilla playthrough, however, does not necessarily constitute an increased difficulty in this challenge, and World 8 surprisingly enough goes by without much of a hitch outside of some now standard ethical questions like Rocky Wrenches which are completely avoidable in 8-3, the castle-dwelling Magikoopas and some spiked balls which you’ll have to be careful and fast to ensure they don’t hit unsuspecting Spinies in 8-1. There’s also a completely pointless cannon in that level as you can both jump to it with the Tanooki Leaf or just use a nearby pipe to get to the flagpole.

Like most worlds, there are some questionable potential home invasions in both the castle levels, the ghost house and 8-5, which is an unclear fortress obstacle course consisting mostly of voids of nothingness, but I question the need to debate the morality of Luigi actually entering these levels when you can easily avoid every enemy contained wherein. Also, there are massive fuck-off Banzai Bills in 8-5 so I can’t imagine this place existing for any other reason than to kill me. Notably, both castle levels – in this world, called ‘Bowser’ levels to differentiate them from more generic castle-themed levels – have the actual crime boss Bowser as the closer, meaning that neither level features an unlawful killing of some random disguised as the villain. Speaking of the villain, albeit tedious, due to that auto-scrolling bone-coaster section at the start and a lengthy Bowser fight I actually had to retry a few times because he kept killing his own Goombas, the final level is absolutely possible, albeit with some offscreen Goombas falling to their deaths in the later sections. He’s obviously liable for those though, considering they’re his employees and he’s destroying the workplace. Just saying. Not Luigi’s fault. Luigi did nothing wrong. Except for the innocents he murdered. Also my control stick started acting up due to how much I played so that’s another death added to your toll, you green-hatted murderer.

Death Tally

If you add morally grey and edge cases, arguably lawful killings, and murders for which there is no clear photographic evidence, the case looks a lot worse for our green fella. However, there are eight clear-cut cases wherein Luigi has been forced to kill to save the Princess, and considering the sheer amount of enemies in the game, that’s not too bad, with most of those being flagpole or switch deaths. If you’re wondering what the other two are, despite the preventable case of 5-1, I’m counting it as I don’t see deaths as avoidable, and I’m also counting the Rocky Wrench in 7-Airship since regardless of the weaponry at its disposal, I fail to see how the Rocky Wrenches are either objectively morally in the wrong nor intelligent and/or capable enough to fully know the gravity of their actions. I think that whilst they can be explained away, they are still not as black and white as say, Bowser or Boom Boom, and hence deserve to be in the objective final kill counter.

Of course, I’d love to see this in action by more technically-talented fans and players. I’m pretty good at the game casually, but I’m no speedrunner who knows all the glitches and tricks, I’m not a modder who knows the ins and outs of enemy behaviour, and I’m not even close to technical enough to try and do a tool-assisted run wherein I can do some frame-precise movements to dodge a Morty Mole or manipulate RNG to ensure the Sandmaarghs are spared. Additionally, I’m not even trying to tackle the special worlds. I have attempted to apply real-word logic to this silly game, and that’s not remotely possible in the bonus worlds which contain repeated, modified editions of prior levels, cosmic clones of Mario and Dry Bowser. It would be way too confusing. But if you got this far anyway, thanks for reading this dry ramble through the first eight worlds of a game I love and cherish, trying to harm as few of its obstacles as possible. I know I review music here, but this was a fun little challenge too.

Credits

I played this on my old 3DS hardware, not an emulator, and I do not possess a capture card because I’m broke so the images provided are from the Super Mario Wiki, not my playthrough. I also cross-referenced my knowledge of the game with their info because they cite their sources very clearly and I consider it one of the most professional fan encyclopedias: it is useful, impressive, organised, usable, constantly improving itself and most importantly, it’s not the SpongeBob one. The images used in this article, including the assets in my logo, are courtesy of Nintendo, but were uploaded by these strong Mario Wiki soldiers: Immewnity, Shokora, 3D Player 2010, 2257, Wildgoosespeeder, L151, PikaSamus, Bro Hammer, The Forgotten Beast, YamiHoshi.nl and user simply called “Mario” so perhaps even the man himself. The picture of the four-second time on 7-1 is from KingBoo97’s tied 2021 world record of the level, available on YouTube.

[natti-ice]

Hi, I hope you doing good. Can I request mini challenge with Marauders? I'm genderfluid, bisexual with male preference.I have long black wavy hair. I have thick black eyebrows, brown eyes. I always have rosy chubby cheeks. I have braces. My body is curvy with very big chest and little tummy. My eyebrows are constantly furrowed. Also I'm 172 cm. I'm Libra. If you interested, my mbti Infp and my enneagram 5w4. I always have poker face. I'm very outspoken, stubborn. I always doing my job alone. I find it difficult to express my feelings and prefer to isolate myself. My best feature is that I know a little about everything, I always surprise people. Those who know me for the first time describe me as cold, scary, quiet, unapproachable and distant, mature. But at heart I'm compassionate and helpful, works for the good of people. And they often think I can't speak and I'm deaf but I'm not. People say I'm extremely chaste. When I enter an environment, I listen to what people say and get to know them well, I decide if there is anyone worth talking to. I'm only close to two or three people. They describe me as cold, soft inside, calm, sarcastic, resourceful and knowledgeable. I am usually a rebellious person. I am the person who stands against injustices and lies in an environment. They say I make clever jokes and I'm the mom-friend. Actually i like to help everyone and it works automatically without me noticing. I will help anyone by giving my all. And i hate phsyical touch. My love language is words of affirmation. If I talk about myself, I've always been on my own. I have family problems, I was never close with my father. Even though we are side by side with my mother, we are distant. I'm just my own mom and dad. That's why I've always focused on academic achievement for salvation. And I think I'm very good at it. My hobbies are drawing, sewing, writing and researching, especially about mythology, cultures, politics, history, fashion. I like to visit second-hand and antique markets. I'm someone who doesn't like to waste money but cares about clothing. I always wear my headphones and listen to music, i listen every genre. I like silence, soft colors, being alone, flowers (especially honeysuckle), spring and breeze. I don't like crowds, noise, children, loud talkers and shiny things. I always wear colorful clothes with floral prints or all black. I also wear interesting earrings and different printed socks. And finally, I don't really have an ideal type. I love every person. I like the fact that there are different people. And I don't believe in love. If I'm going to be with someone, I'll be happy if we have respect, compassion, and loyalty to each other. It is enough that we are in harmony with each other.

I ship you with… James potter!

You seem to be very sure of yourself and opinionated which I think James would be very fond of! He would find your “cold” exterior very attractive, he likes someone who’s a little rough around the edges. Also I’ve always thought he’d be into mythology, any kind really, and you having a shared passion with him would make him like you even more!

Join my 700 celebration!

[rafesfavslut]

hi i hope you doing good. Can i have a matchup for marauders era please 💐 Firstly English not my first language. I'm autistic. I'm genderfluid, bisexual with male preference.I have long black wavy hair. I have thick black eyebrows, brown eyes. I always have rosy chubby cheeks. I have braces. My body is curvy with very big chest and little tummy. My eyebrows are constantly furrowed. Also I'm 172 cm. I'm Libra. If you interested, my mbti Infp and my enneagram 5w4. I always have poker face. I'm very outspoken, stubborn. I always doing my job alone. I find it difficult to express my feelings and prefer to isolate myself. My best feature is that I know a little about everything, I always surprise people. Those who know me for the first time describe me as cold, scary, quiet, unapproachable and distant, mature. But at heart I'm compassionate and helpful, works for the good of people. And they often think I can't speak and I'm deaf but I'm not. People say I'm extremely chaste. When I enter an environment, I listen to what people say and get to know them well, I decide if there is anyone worth talking to. I'm only close to two or three people. They describe me as cold, soft inside, calm, sarcastic, resourceful and knowledgeable. I am usually a rebellious person. I am the person who stands against injustices and lies in an environment. They say I make clever jokes and I'm the mom-friend. Actually i like to help everyone and it works automatically without me noticing. I will help anyone by giving my all. And i hate phsyical touch. My love language is words of affirmation. If I talk about myself, I've always been on my own. I have family problems, I was never close with my father. Even though we are side by side with my mother, we are distant. I'm just my own mom and dad. That's why I've always focused on academic achievement for salvation. And I think I'm very good at it. My hobbies are drawing, sewing, writing and researching, especially about mythology, cultures, politics, history, fashion. I like to visit second-hand and antique markets. I'm someone who doesn't like to waste money but cares about clothing. I always wear my headphones and listen to music, i listen every genre. I like silence, soft colors, being alone, flowers (especially honeysuckle), spring and breeze. I don't like crowds, noise, children, loud talkers and shiny things. I always wear colorful clothes with floral prints or all black. I also wear interesting earrings and different printed socks. And finally, I don't really have an ideal type. I love every person. I like the fact that there are different people. And I don't believe in love. If I'm going to be with someone, I'll be happy if we have respect, compassion, and loyalty to each other. It is enough that we are in harmony with each other. If I am with someone, I am clearly their mother.

𝐈 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐔𝐒 𝐋𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐍

idk why but you give the biggest remus vibes ever

much taller than you so lowkey would occasionally tease you for it

i feel like while your love language is words of affirmation, he lowkey struggles with it, but secretly likes it very much