#capacity history

[branwinged]

seeing some prophecy discourse which has once again reminded me why i personally find the prospect of dany as the prince that was promised really compelling. and it makes the targaryens so much thematically richer. like, they only survived the doom through the power of prophecy and then the visions marked them forever and this thing, this blessing which gave generations of targaryens some existential meaning eventually morphed into a curse which brought so many of them great misery—"my brothers dreamed of dragons too, and the dreams killed them, every one." (aemon, affc) and in due course almost ended their line once again with rhaegar. but then dany happened.

almost four hundred years since the doom when prophecy saved them and nearly killed them again on the trident, dany was born. dany who carries echoes of all her targaryen ancestors within her. she's aegon the conqueror come again but she's also maegor the cruel when she promises the khals who had hurt her khalasar would die screaming. she's rhaenyra in her struggles to wield power and establish legitimacy as a woman, she shares her sense of egalitarianism with egg, and she drinks from the cup passed from rhaegar, i.e. inherits (what he once thought of) his narrative destiny to help defend the realms during the long night.

dany who is both their beginning, since she's the first targaryen created and introduced to us on page and the narrative end point of their dynasty. which reflects all the way into her arc being cyclical by design as it calls back to the foundation of the valyrian empire in essos—during the fifth war the freehold torched old ghis with dragonfire so nothing would grow there again and centuries later this girl, the last dragon, is going to help plant trees there again. it's not about retreading old ground or rejecting her house words but about redefining what it means to be the blood of the dragon. which is not to say all that came before her was meaningless since this recontextualisation is only possible through the three centuries of ancestral history weighing on her. and dany's very existence echoes back in time because the prophecy itself has influenced the lives of generations of targaryens. three hundred years of history, all the glory and the horror concentrated in this one person-point. the prince that was promised not simply as a figure of the long night but as someone who is the apotheosis of their house. dany as both their beginning and their end, because the iron throne is presently a symbol of stagnation, a world in stasis, and it has to go. no restoration, instead the old world dying in fire and a new world being born in the aftermath.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Wei Wuxian eats a watermelon. Yep!

[peaceloveelvis]

𝘛𝘰 𝘋𝘢𝘥,

𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘱. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 - 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 - 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 - 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.

𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 - 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 - 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 - 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 - 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘌𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘴

A poem from Elvis to Vernon on Father's Day

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

Batman beyond the white knight is apparently a universe where jason??? Is the first Robin?? And dick uses the name as his stage name until he becomes Robin?? Am I the only one that thinks this is extremely disrespectful??? Like What were you fucking thinking writers??? Just where did the name come from then??? Like where did Robin come from then??? If Dick isn't the first??? Role reversal doesn't mean other people would somehow have a connection to that name. The connection comes from Dick. The meaning comes from Dick. You can't have Robin without Dick. Those two are one and the same. Everything about Robin came from Dick. Everything that made people look at this kid and go, 'What a Boy Wonder! He can do anything.' comes from Dick. Like you can't have Nightwing without Clark Kent because that's the origin. That's where it came from. Those are its bones. Is anyone else so tired of seeing things just get taken and taken and taken from Dick without any regard to his character or legacy?

Edit: there's a reply in the reblogs I'd like to address. The idea of jason being batman's first sidekick- it actually doesn't work. It won't work with Tim, Steph, or Duke either. The whole reason batman gets a sidekick is because bruce takes in Dick and the reason why he takes Dick in is because he sees himself in Dick in a way he'll never see himself in the others. Jason is a poor kid from the streets, bruce will never identify with that. Dick is a prodigious circus star. Bruce will also, never identify with that.

But.

Dick has just watched his parents get murdered right in front of him due to a senseless act of violence, his entire life changes in an instant in the worst way possible, and he's all alone and hurting and angry and shocked and will blame himself for not being able to save them and that- that Bruce knows intimately. That is why he takes Dick in. They are the same, 17 or so years apart. If you took Dick out of the equation, they never met, but jason still steals the tires off the batmobile- Bruce would just get those tires back and tell the kid to go home or take him to a shelter or something. Bruce would care about him the way he cares about all of Gothams street kids or orphans, but not anything more than that. There's nothing special about Jason until he knows and cares for Dick, because Jason reminds him of Dick. And Dick opens his heart up in a way no one else has managed since his parents died. The next closest is probably Clark.

And being the first sidekick, really being the first child hero, is obviously a daunting undertaking, a lot of responsibility, something that requires perfection in order to be taken seriously by the adult heroes and the public at large. If Robin had been mediocre, no, if Robin had been just 'good', there would've been a lot more pushback, an outcry, a dismissal of batman himself from the OG heroes. The first sidekick has to be Perfect.

Who is literally known for being a perfectionist? For working himself to the bone but seemingly effortlessly? For always knowing the answer, the right action to take, to read and adjust himself and others accordingly in order to produce the best team effort, who has an athleticism and physicality Bruce instantly realizes he, himself, does not possess? Who is known for being the poster child of the ideal child hero/sidekick that grows into the ideal adult hero as well? Dick is the only one that could've been the first sidekick. He was So Good at being a hero while being a child, he opened up the door for other kids to do the same.

You can't switch these roles up without changing something fundamental to the characters. And then. They wouldn't be those characters.

[mollypaup]

It makes me really sad when I hear people say they could never learn something. It might take longer than most people but I do genuinely think anyone could learn anything.

[zahri-melitor]

Speaking of JSA, and the incredibly optimistic solicits listing that has the Johns run getting both issues 11 and 12 out in September:

Given Geoff Johns HAS been in the middle of yet another one of his 'and that deadline hurt me personally' projects, I'm running through my memory and trying to remember exactly how many times it's been clear that his executive function has wandered off with the pixies and struck him with Worst Writer's Block:

Blackest Night was late delivered iirc and then Brightest Day ended even more delayed on top of that - like close to a year late to my memory (to the point it screwed over Morrison's plans for Batman RIP-Return of Bruce Wayne in terms of timing of events and they had to awkwardly pad for time to fit stories around each other)

Current JSA run has been averaging one issue every 2-3 months.

I'm pretty sure I've heard of other examples from him, but peacing out of the fandom for over a decade means I wasn't around to listen to the complaints when it happened; anyone else got suggestions?

[weed-cat]

.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

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[skitskatdacat63]

I have to write a relatively long German paper, and man its just so difficult for me. The pro side is that I can pick any topic I want, so of course I picked Charles VI. But I've literally not written any German in months, and I'm almost 100% sure our prof doesn't actually read them. I should just write and submit boy king fic....

[froody]

when someone makes an “Appalachian gothic” post and there is a picture of a cornfield, you know damn well they’re not Appalachian

[galpalaven]

i'd love to passion project a fantasy IF based on East and Southeast Asia someday...

[mastersoftheair]

not-so-fun-fact: during ww2, "the average age of the crew of a B-17 was less than 25"

[bijoumikhawal]

"historically polygamous societies loved to wage war and slavery to dispose of excess men and emphasize female conversion" okay all those things are true of monogamous societies too. Western Europeans are famously probably the best at war and slavery from the current standpoint and they're monogamous. And from the way you wrote that I can tell you were thinking of the middle east so what the fuck

[adeliasecretfiles]

would you guys believe me if i said i discovered the penguins of madagascar like... four months ago

[rosesbelle]

forever a little peeved cybird made joan of arc a man. shouldve just been butch