#catherine marion

[jadeseadragon]

Catherine Marion, Huia and Chrysanthemum

[bestmothertournament]

Propaganda Under Cut:

Catherine Bordey (Mother of Camille): Cares fiercly for her daughter and provides a motherly figure and advice for many of the young police officers in Honore.

Marion (Mother of Bloom + Daphne): Marion often acts as a voice of reason between her stubborn daughter and husband. She is more willing to be flexible in regards to royal protocol as long as her children are happy.

Mina Harker (Mother of Jonno): When Mina came back for Jonno and realised that he had been swept up in his father's beliefs about vampires and believing it to be a delusion she stayed to try and her son come to terms with reality. When the truth came out she apologised for not believing him. And when he becomes close to Vlad Dracula she becomes worried about him knowing the danger that this could bring him and trying to make him understand the risks that allying with vampires could bring.

[venusianpulp]

Your Femme Fatale Persona Based On Moon Sign...

Just for fun, astro observations. Enjoy! This is based on the manifestation of... "they made me do it". So, while I dont agree this is the Femme Fatal "homeostasis" of each moon sign, I believe that, at one's darkest hour, these are the specific persona's each of us would take on...

Aries Moon - Lara Croft (Tomb Raider): Strong, independent, and fearless, the Aries Moon femme fatale is a daring adventurer who isn't afraid to take risks. Like Lara Croft, she's always ready for action and thrives on challenges. Additionally...

The Bride (Kill Bill): Driven, vengeful, and skilled in martial arts.

Aeon Flux (Aeon Flux): Athletic, daring, and rebellious.

Taurus Moon - Satine (Moulin Rouge!): Sensual, alluring, and grounded, the Taurus Moon femme fatale is a master of seduction. Like Satine, she knows how to use her beauty and charm to get what she wants while remaining emotionally steadfast. Additionally...

Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Some Like It Hot): Sexy, charming, and pleasure-seeking.

Regina George (Mean Girls): Popular, manipulative, and materialistic.

Gemini Moon - Catwoman (Batman Returns): Clever, adaptable, and enigmatic, the Gemini Moon femme fatale is a master of disguise. Like Catwoman, she's quick-witted, elusive, and always keeps others guessing. Additionally...

Jordan Baker (The Great Gatsby): Clever, charming, and unpredictable.

Marion Crane (Psycho): Secretive, impulsive, and multifaceted.

Cancer Moon - Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard): Emotionally intense, nostalgic, and manipulative, the Cancer Moon femme fatale is a complex character. Like Norma Desmond, she may cling to the past and use her vulnerability to control others. Additionally...

Annie Wilkes (Misery): Obsessive, nurturing, and unstable.

Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction): Clingy, possessive, and emotionally demanding.

Leo Moon - Foxxy Cleopatra (Austin Powers in Goldmember): Confident, dramatic, and alluring, the Leo Moon femme fatale knows how to command attention. Like Foxxy Cleopatra, she's bold, charismatic, and always steals the spotlight. Additionally...

Marilyn Monroe (The Seven Year Itch): Charismatic, flirtatious, and attention-seeking.

Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit): Seductive, enigmatic, and theatrical.

Virgo Moon - Catherine Tramell (Basic Instinct): Intelligent, calculating, and mysterious, the Virgo Moon femme fatale is a master of manipulation. Like Catherine Tramell, she uses her intellect and attention to detail to outmaneuver others. Additionally...

Tracy Lord (The Philadelphia Story): Perfectionist, analytical, and critical.

Amy Dunne (Gone Girl): Cunning, organized, and vengeful.

Libra Moon - Gilda (Gilda): Charming, sophisticated, and flirtatious, the Libra Moon femme fatale is a social butterfly. Like Gilda, she knows how to use her charm and beauty to captivate and influence others. Additionally...

Madeleine Elster (Vertigo): Elegant, charming, and mysterious.

Daisy Buchanan (The Great Gatsby): Charming, indecisive, and idealistic.

Vesper Lynd (Casino Royale): Sophisticated, diplomatic, and elusive.

Scorpio Moon - Phyllis Dietrichson (Double Indemnity): Intense, secretive, and seductive, the Scorpio Moon femme fatale is a master of psychological manipulation. Like Phyllis Dietrichson, she uses her sexual allure and emotional depth to ensnare others. Additionally...

Cersei Lannister (Game of Thrones): Power-hungry, manipulative, and intense.

Brigid O'Shaughnessy (The Maltese Falcon): Mysterious, alluring, and deceitful.

Sagittarius Moon - Beatrix Kiddo (Kill Bill): Independent, adventurous, and philosophical, the Sagittarius Moon femme fatale is a free spirit. Like Beatrix Kiddo, she's a skilled warrior who follows her own moral code and seeks justice on her own terms. Additionally...

Nikita (La Femme Nikita): Rebellious, independent, and adventurous.

Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo): Unconventional, daring, and justice-seeking.

Capricorn Moon - Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada): Ambitious, disciplined, and powerful, the Capricorn Moon femme fatale is a formidable presence. Like Miranda Priestly, she's a master of her craft and expects nothing less than perfection from herself and others. Additionally...

Evelyn Mulwray (Chinatown): Reserved, ambitious, and secretive.

Lady Macbeth (Macbeth): Ambitious, manipulative, and ruthless.

Aquarius Moon - Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction): Unconventional, independent, and mysterious, the Aquarius Moon femme fatale is a true original. Like Mia Wallace, she marches to the beat of her own drum and isn't afraid to break the rules. Additionally...

Mathilda (Léon: The Professional): Unconventional, intelligent, and rebellious.

Clementine Kruczynski (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind): Eccentric, free-spirited, and unpredictable.

Pisces Moon - Nina Sayers (Black Swan): Imaginative, emotionally vulnerable, and self sacrificing. Like Nina, she uses her damseled distress and emotional depth to draw others into her web of desire and deceit. Additionally...

Melissa Robinson (The Last Seduction): Deceptive, adaptable, and seductive.

Laura Hunt (Laura): Elusive, enigmatic, dreamy, and idealization.

[medievalandfantasymelee]

👑🌹The Queen of Love and Beauty🌹👑

Round 1 (4 of 6)

The Queen of Love and Beauty shall hold the honour of presenting unto the winner of the Tournament his Champion's Coronet.

Vote for the lady who, to you, best exemplifies feminine dignity, grace and loveliness

The six contenders with the most votes will advance.

Row 1 - Lady Marian Fitzwalter [Olivia de Havilland], The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - Lady Marion of Leaford [Judi Trott], Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986) - Lady Marian [Audrey Hepburn], Robin & Marian (1976)

Row 2 - Guinevere [Angel Coulby], BBC’s Merlin (2008-2012) - Morgana Pendragon [Katie McGrath], BBC’s Merlin (2008-2012) - Morgana Pendragon [Eva Green], Camelot (2011)

Row 3 - Aliena [Hayley Atwell], The Pillars of the Earth (2010) - Æthelflæd of Mercia [Millie Brady], The Last Kingdom (2015-2022) - Marian of Knighton [Lucy Griffiths], BBC’s Robin Hood (2006-2009)

Row 4 - Catherine of Aragon [Maria Doyle Kennedy], The Tudors (2007-2010) - Djaq [Anjali Jay], BBC’s Robin Hood (2006-2009) [1] - Roberta Steingas [Clare Foster], Galavant (2015-2016) [1]

[pupsmailbox]

DOLL︰PUPPET ID PACK

NAMES ⌇ abbie. adelaide. adorablesse. adorablette. aerlyn. alena. alexis. alice. amaia. amaya. andrea. angeline. ankou. annabelle. annie. antoinette. anxiette. anxious. apricot. asaka. ash. asha. aspen. atticus. ava. avel. babette. babydoll. bambi. bambina. bambino. bashfelle. bashful. beau. bellamy. belle. bells. bernadette. blu. blue. bluesse. bluette. blushe. blushesse. blushette. boo. bram. bronach. bronagh. brone. button. buttons. cadel. candace. carmilla. carrie. catherine. cessair. charlie. charlott. charlotte. chelsea. chia. chica. chirella. chirelle. chiwa. chuckie. claeg. coffin. colere. commedia. constance. coquette. cordelia. corelle. corette. corsette. cypress. dahlia. dalia. damon. darling. dawn. dearesse. dearest. dearette. dearie. deidre. demure. desdemona. devin. devon. doilie. doily. doll. dollaintye. dollawie. dollerie. dollesse. dollette. dolleyed. dollie. dolline. dollita. dolly. dolores. dottie. drea. dread. drusilla. dáinn. eeria. eldritche. elissar. eliza. elle. elodie. eloise. emerence. emily. essie. esther. evangela. evangeline. evelyn. eveyln. faith. frill. frillette. genevieve. genoveva. gia. gladys. glorie. glory. gorey. gorie. gracelyn. gregory. gretta. gwen. gwenivive. haldor. haunt. hiccup. hyde. iraia. iresse. irette. itishree. jabez. janelle. janet. jannet. jinx. josie. julie. juniper. juno. kailey. kanani. kewpie. kiva. krak. lace. lacesse. lacette. lacey. lacie. lain. laintess. lakka. lalki. lavender. lea. lefu. letta. letum. libitina. lilac. lillith. lilly. lily. loaela. lola. lolah. loletta. lolita. lolite. lolla. lottie. lovelace. luci. lucius. lulu. lute. lyla. lys. madison. mahina. mandy. mannie. manon. many. mara. maria. marianette. marie. marion. marionette. marionne. marotte. marrionette. marrow. mary. maryjane. marzana. maveth. meek. melanie. melodie. melody. merripen. miel. minuette. mold. moldie. moldy. molly. moonie. moore. morana. morgana. morgue. mors. mort. mot. muriel. murmur. muse. nadine. nadzen. nancy. nanea. nanelle. nanette. nappi. naz. negan. nekane. nelly. nemesis. nettie. nicodème. niegan. nimbus. nina. nuri. olive. oliver. olivia. omega. panchaali. parner. pinkesse. pinkette. pinkie. pinky. pinocchio. pippin. poe. poppet. poppette. poppy. porce. porcelain. porcelynn. prantika. pulau. punthali. pupetta. puppet. puppetear. puppetesse. puppetette. puppette. puppyte. putala. quinn. ravanche. raven. realiteer. rebel. ribbon. ribbonne. riley. rion. robert. rose. rubella. ruby. sacrifette. salem. sasha. satin. scarlet. sebastian. sew. sewine. shivani. shiver. sidney. smierc. smiley. smilie. softesse. softette. softie. solikha. spirit. sprout. statuette. stitches. strings. sweeheart. sweetheart. sweetie. sweetiebelle. sweetine. sychar. teacup. tearie. teddy. tempest. thalia. than. thana. theodora. thorn. trembelle. trista. ultima. ulysses. vanessa. vera. viola. visage. whisp. whisper. willow. winston. wisp. wispera. wrathes. zizi.

PRONOUNS ⌇ adorable/adorable. ae/aer. angel/angel. anger/anger. antique/antique. app/apparition. bell/bell. berry/berry. berserk/berserk. bjd/bjd. bla/black. blank/blank. bliding/bliding. blue/blue. blush/blush. bug/bug. button/button. cake/cake. car/carcasse. cheer/cheer. cloth/cloth. coffin/coffin. control/control. coo/croon. cor/cor. cor/corrupt. core/core. corpse/corpse. coy/coy. crack/cracked. cracked/cracked. cre/creepy. creep/creepy. cu/curse. cu/cute. curse/curse. cute/cute. da/dark. de4/de4d. de/dear. de/demure. dea/dead. dead/dead. dead/death. dear/dear. death/death. decay/decay. delica/delicate. delicate/delicate. demon/demon. despair/despair. dirt/dirty. do/doll. doll/doll. doll/dolly. dolly/dolly. dread/dread. dress/dressup. dress/up. d♡ll/d♡ll. eer/eeerie. elegant/elegant. en/energy. end/end. evil/evil. eye/eye. fabric/fabric. fae/fae. fi/figure. fig/figure. figurine/figurine. flower/flower. fragile/fragile. frail/frail. friendly/friendly. frill/frill. fury/fury. gho/ghost. glass/glass. glo/gloomy. gore/gore. grave/grave. grief/grief. grim/grimm. grime/grime. gru/grudge. ha/haunt. happy/happy. haun/haunt. hx/hxm. h♡/h♡m. it/it. joint/joint. joint/jointed. joy/joy. ke/ker. kew/kewpie. kill/kill. kor/kor. kor/korrupt. la/lace. lace/lace. lae/lace. lo/love. lo/loved. lolita/lolita. love/love. mad/mad. mae/mae. mari/marionette. marionette/marionette. me/meek. mi/mier. mim/mimic. model/model. morbid/morbid. mu/mutter. mur/murmur. nap/nap. null/null. ny/nym. patch/patch. phan/phantom. pink/pink. pitter/patter. plastic/plastic. play/play. play/playtime. play/time. plush/plush. plush/plushie. por/porcelain. porce/porcelain. porcel/porcelain. porcela/porcelain. porcelain/porcelain. pose/pose. pose/posed. possess/possessed. pup/puppet. puppet/puppet. rea/reality. rest/rest. reven/revenge. rib/ribbon. ribbon/ribbon. rot/rot. scare/scare. scary/scary. seem/seem. sew/sew. sew/sewn. shi/shift. shi/shiver. shx/hxr. sh♡/h♡r. sie/sier. silk/silk. slee/sleep. sleep/sleep. smile/smile. snap/snapped. sneak/sneak. soft/soft. sou/soul. spi/spider. spi/spirit. spo/spook. spook/spook. sta/stalk. sta/stare. statue/statue. sti/string. stitch/stitch. string/string. sweet/heart. sweet/sweet. sweet/sweetdolls sweetie/sweetie. ta/tap. te/teer. tea/teatime. teeth/teeth. thre/thread. thread/thread. thxy/thxm. th♡y/th♡m. ti/timid. to/toy. toy/toy. toy/toytime. trick/trick. un/canny. unca/uncanny. ve/ver. vey/vem. vi/vr. vintage/vintage. vomit/vomit. wan/wander. watch/watch. whi/whisper. white/white. wilt/wilt. wood/wood. wrath/wrath. yarn/yarn. zzz/zzz. ♡/♡. ⚰️ . 🍨 . 🛌 . 🛏️ . 🥀 . 🧸 .

[coochiequeens]

This is why we still need Women’s History Month.

By Martha Gill

What was life like for women in medieval times? “Awful” is the vague if definite answer that tends to spring to mind – but this is an assumption, and authors have been tackling it with new vigour.

The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society by Eleanor Janega, and The Wife of Bath: A Biography by Marion Turner both contend that women were not only bawdier but busier than we thought: they were brewers, blacksmiths, court poets, teachers, merchants, and master craftsmen, and they owned land too. A woman’s dowry, Janega writes, was often accompanied with firm instructions that property stay with her, regardless of what her husband wanted.

This feels like a new discovery. It isn’t, of course. Chaucer depicted many such cheerfully domineering women. The vellum letter-books of the City of London, in which the doings of the capital from 1275 to 1509 were scribbled, detail female barbers, apothecaries, armourers, shipwrights and tailors as a matter of course. While it is true that aristocratic women were considered drastically inferior to their male equivalents – traded as property and kept as ornaments – women of the lower orders lived, relatively, in a sort of rough and ready empowerment.

It was the Renaissance that vastly rolled back the rights of women. As economic power shifted, the emerging middle classes began aping their betters. They confined their women to the home, putting them at the financial mercy of men. Female religious power also dwindled. In the 13th century seeing visions and hearing voices might get a woman sainted; a hundred years later she’d more likely be burned at the stake.

“When it comes to the history of gender relations, storytellers portray women as more oppressed than they actually were”

Why does this feel like new information? Much of what we think we know about medieval times was invented by the Victorians, who had an artistic obsession with the period, and through poetry and endless retellings of the myth of King Arthur managed somehow to permanently infuse their own sexual politics into it. (Victorian women were in many respects more socially repressed than their 12th-century forebears.)

But modern storytellers are also guilty of sexist revisionism. We endlessly retread the lives of oppressed noblewomen, and ignore their secretly empowered lower-order sisters. Where poorer women are mentioned, glancingly, they are pitied as prostitutes or rape victims. Even writers who seem desperate for a “feminist take” on the period tend to ignore the angle staring them right in the face. In her 2022 cinematic romp, Catherine called Birdy, for example, Lena Dunham puts Sylvia Pankhurst-esque speeches into the mouth of her 13th-century protagonist, while portraying her impending marriage – at 14 – as normal for the period. (In fact the average 13th-century woman got married somewhere between the ages of 22 and 25.)

But we cling tight to these ideas. It is often those who push back against them who get accused of “historical revisionism”. This applies particularly to the fantasy genre, which aside from the odd preternaturally “feisty” female character, tends to portray the period as, well, a misogynistic fantasy. The Game of Thrones author George RR Martin once defended the TV series’ burlesque maltreatment of women on the grounds of realism. “I wanted my books to be strongly grounded in history and to show what medieval society was like.” Oddly enough, this didn’t apply to female body hair (or the dragons).

This is interesting. Most of our historical biases tend to run in the other direction: we assume the past was like the present. But when it comes to the history of gender relations, the opposite is true: storytellers insist on portraying women as more oppressed than they actually were.

“The history of gender relations might be more accurately painted as a tug of war between the sexes”

The casual reader of history is left with the dim impression that between the Palaeolithic era and the 19th century women suffered a sort of dark age of oppression. This is assumed to have ended some time around the invention of the lightbulb, when the idea of “gender equality” sprang into our heads and right-thinking societies set about “discovering” female competencies: women – astonishingly – could do 

things men could do!

In fact the history of gender relations might be more accurately painted as a tug of war between the sexes, with women sometimes gaining and sometimes losing power – and the stronger sex opportunistically seizing control whenever it had the means.

In Minoan Crete, for example, women had similar rights and freedoms to men, taking equal part in hunting, competitions, and celebrations.

But that era ushered in one of the most patriarchal societies the planet has ever known – classical Greece, where women had no political rights and were considered “minors”.

Or take hunter-gatherer societies, the source of endless cod-evolutionary theories about female inferiority. The discovery of female skeletons with hunting paraphernalia has disproved the idea that men only hunted and women only gathered – and more recently anthropologists have challenged the idea that men had higher status too: women, studies contend, had equal sway over group decisions.

This general bias has had two unfortunate consequences. One is to impress upon us the idea that inequality is “natural”. The other is to give us a certain complacency about our own age: that feminist progress is an inevitable consequence of passing time. “She was ahead of her time,” we say, when a woman seems unusually empowered. Not necessarily.

Two years ago, remember, sprang up one of the most vicious patriarchies in history – women were removed from their schools and places of work and battoned into homes and hijabs. And last year in the US many women lost one of their fundamental rights: abortion. (Turns out it was pro-lifers, not feminists, who were ahead of their time there.)

Both these events were greeted with shock from liberal quarters: how could women’s rights be going backwards? But that only shows we should brush up on our history. Another look at medieval women is as good a place to start as any.

 Martha Gill is a political journalist and former lobby correspondent

[fuckyeaharthuriana]

mordred through time (movies, tv shows, opera and musicals)

Part 2: From 1982 to 2002

Other Parts: Part 1: From 1949 to 1981 -> here Part 3: From 2002 to 2010 Part 4: From 2014 to 2017 Part 5: From 2018 to 2023

EDIT: There is a mistake in the video, Blind Guardian's Mordred's song was released in 1995 not 1989, so I corrected it in the description.

Complete list of part 2 media with extra information and some of my thoughs regarding the evolution of Mordred’s role is under cut.

We left part 1 with Mordred appearing only as a generic villain not related to Arthur until 1960 where White's novel is adapted into a musical. The musical follows the novel enough to introduce Mordred as Arthur's incestuous son with Morgause. Since then the "son" element has been kept in almost every single adaptation. We also have the first tv iteration of Mordred as Morgana's son instead of Morgause: Excalibur 1981.

This is not only the first time we see Morgana as his mother on tv, but also one of the first time ever. I made a list of the evolution of Mordred's mother in novels here.

You can see Morgause is pretty constant until 1980-1982. I have no idea what happened in those years but for the first time we have the 1980 novel "Firelord" by Parke Godwin itroducing Morgana as Mordred's mother instead of Morgause (in this case Morgause is completely eliminated). The 1981's movie Excalibur does something similar (Morgause is eliminated and Morgana absorbs her role), and I am pretty sure it could not have been influenced by "Firelord", given the two events happened so close in time (and less than a year is not usually sufficient to write and produce a movie). In 1982 Marion Zimmer Bradley published "The Mists of Avalon" which does something similar to Catherine Christian's "Pendragon": Morgause is still officially Mordred's mother by adoption.

From this point onwards you will see that Morgause ends up completely eliminated in her role as Mordred's mother from future movies and tv shows.

Full list for part 2 and more info:

1982 Camelot: I wrote a bit about the musical in part 1. This is a stage adaptation filmed live, so it retains all the songs (even Mordred's songs previously cut in the movie) and Richard Backus plays Mordred.

1984 Morte d'Arthur: A tv movie that probably was preserved thanks to Jeremy Brett's popularity as he played King Arthur. This movie is a strange adaptation of Morte d'Arthur, with the actors playing the scenes on a stage with no dialogue. A narrator tells the tale (and the dialogues themselves). Nickolas Grace played Mordred.

1985 Merlin and the Sword: Also known as "Arthur the King", this movie actually exists in two versions, the cut version missing some scenes (Arthur's funeral apparently!). The movie focuses mainly on Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot and Mordred plays the role of Arthur's son (from Morgana) and a kind of minor comedic fumbling villain. He was played by Joseph Blatchley.

1988 New Adventures of a Yankee in King Arthur's Court: One of the many adaptations of Mark Twain's novel, this one is a bizarre Ukranian (Soviet) movie that depicts Hank Morgan as a destructive force in Camelot. The movie is absolutely stunning, but being in Russian I could not understand the dialogue. Mordred plays a very minor role, he is Morgana's son and he is killed by Hank in a treacherous duel (Hank shoots him). His death is what leads Arthur and Morgana to ally to try and defear Hank Morgan. Mordred is played by Ukranian actor Mark Gres.

1989 Mordred's song by Blind Guardian: the correct date is 1995.

1989 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: This is without a doubt my favorite adaptation of Twain's novel. Here Hank Morgan is actually a little girl called Karen. Mordred is a comedic-like antagonist and the main antagonist of the movie, played by Hugo Blick (who is mainly known now as a movie director).

1989 Doctor Who Battlefield: This is a 4 episodes arc in the 26th season of Doctor Who, with the Seventh Doctor being revealed as Merlin. Later on it was adapted into a novel. The episodes are set in modern times, with Morgana and her son Mordred having survived Camlann and travelling through time. Mordred is mainly shown to hate a new knight called Ancelyn who also survived Camlann. Christopher Bowen played Mordred.

1995 Mordred's song by Blind Guardian: So I decided to add the few songs/album that acts like a "Mordred's point of view/as if he was singing" kind of media. The singer here is singing as Mordred. It was also used in this 2016 rap song!

1998 Merlin: Probably one of the most popular arthurian miniseries! It follows the life of Merlin, from his childhood to his elderly years and the second episode mainly focus on Camelot and Arthur. Mordred is Morgana and Arthur's son, magically aged (like we saw in Excalibur 1981) and he becomes the main villain of the story alongside Mab. He is played by Jason Done.

2001 The Mists of Avalon: This is a miniseries adaptation of Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel, focusing on Morgana, Arthur and Guinevere. In my opinion it makes the novel much more palatable and easier to digest. Mordred here appears once more as Morgana's son, but he is a adopted by Morgause and raised to hate Arthur. Mordred is the main antagonist in the second part, and his character here is turned into an almost sympathetic villain. Hans Matherson played adult Mordred (I was obsessed with that man 15 years ago).

2002 Justice League (and the 2004 sequel Justice League Unlimited): Justice League (two seasons) and Justice League Unlimited (3 seasons) are animated shows (for a younger audience) which adapts some stories from DC (both DC and Marvel have interations of Morgana and Mordred). Mordred is a kid (Morgana put a spell on him to keep him young) and immortal, both him and Morgana are villains who use magic. He is voiced by Soren Fulton.

A small note: All these movies here are for tv! Cinematic releases for arthurian movies in general do not seem to be as prominent. It is kind of heartbreaking noawadys to see the disappearance of cheap tv movies.

[aquaticlime]

ME - DESCENDANTS DR

Parents: Yen Sid from Fantasia and The Enchantress from Beauty and the Beast.

Backstory: My mother was deemed a villain and sent to the Isle of the lost. Yen Sid had volunteered to set up the school system and teach, while there he met my mother and had me. He travels back and forth from Auradon to the Isle regularly. Both my parents decided I should grow up in Auradon and so my father brought me to live there. Nobody knows (except the King and Queen) who my mother is but I continue to visit the Isle with my father periodically to see my mother, although people just think I go to be with my dad because nobody is going to argue with Yen Sid.

I have friends on the Isle and in Auradon since I’ve split my time between the two.

Age: 16

Birthday: December 5th

Roommate: Agnes Hood, daughter of Robin Hood and Maid Marion.

Auradon friends: Agnes Hood, Nezetta Sheridan, Remington Kingsleigh, Maude and Wystan Pendragon as well as Ben Du Beaumont.

Isle friends: Argent Sinclair, Catherine Lefou, Lillian Rourke and Maria Frollo.

More about this DR: during my first year at Auradon prep I become best friends with Ben. Since I’ve been to the Isle a couple times he asks me about the children there and I help him pick the kids who need the most help (the core four) that come to Auradon. Then I’m his royal bodyguard when they arrive.

I have magic powers although I have not scripted them.

Other plot points I’ve changed: Ben is not being crowned King at 16 but instead it’s an ascension ceremony to declare him as the heir. He will also not be love spelled because I just think that’s weird, instead of that plot line the VK’S plan to give Fairy Godmother a truth spell cookie to get the passcode for her wand in the museum. Rosalind accidentally eats it and confess her love to mal and they start dating, which means she gets to be front row during Ben’s ceremony.

˗ˏˋReturn to masterlist ✦ main masterlist´ˎ˗

[thatbiologist]

G’eth Character Name Bank

First Names

Masculine Names

Alfred, Andrew, Arlo, Arthur, Balthazar, Barry, Ben, Benedick, Bernard, Burchard, Cedric, Charibert, Crispin, Cyrill, Daegal, Derek, Digory, Drustan, Duncan, Edmund, Edwin, Elric, Evaine, Frederick, Geffery, George, Godfreed, Gregory, Guy, Harris, Harry, Horsa, Hugh, Humphrey, Iago, Jack, Jeremy, John, Kazamir, Kenric, Lawrence, Leoric, Lorik, Luke, Lynton, Lysander, Madoc, Magnus, Maukolum, Micheal, Miles, Milhouse, Mordred, Mosseus, Ori, Orvyn, Neville, Norbert, Nycolas, Paul, Percival, Randulf, Richard, Robert, Roderick, Stephen, Tennys, Theodoric, Thomas, Tristan, Tybalt, Victor, Vincent, Vortimer, Willcock, Willian, Wymond

Feminine Names

Adelin, Alice, Amelia, Beatrix, Beryl, Bogdana, Branwyne, Brigida, Catalina, Catherine, Claudia, Crystina, Deanna, Desdemona, Elaine, Elinora, Eliza, Enide, Eva, Ferelith, Fiora, Freya, Gertrude, Gregoria, Gueanor, Gwen, Gwendolyn, Hannah, Hegelina, Helen, Helga, Heloise, Henrietta, Igraine, Imogen, Jacquelyn, Jane, Jean, Jenny, Jill, Juliana, Juliet, Katie, Leela, Lettice, Lilibet, Lilith, Lucy, Luthera, Luz, Lyra, Malyna, Margherita, Marion, Meryl, Millie, Miranda, Molle, Morgana, Morgause, Nezetta, Nina, Novella, Olwen, Oriana, Oriolda, Osanna, Pamela, Petra, Philippa, Revna, Rohez, Rosalind, Rose, Sallie, Sarra, Serphina, Sif, Simona, Sophie, Thomasine, Tiffany, Ursula, Viola, Winifred, Yrsa, Ysabella, Yvaine, Zelda, Zillah

Gender-Neutral/Unisex Names

Adrian, Alex, Aiden, Arden, Ariel, Auden, Avery, Bailey, Blaire, Blake, Brett, Breslin, Caelan, Cadain, Cameron, Charlie, Dagon, Dana, Darby, Darra, Devon, Drew, Dylan, Evan, Felize, Fenix, Fernley, Finley, Glenn, Gavyn, Haskell, Hayden, Hunter, Jace, Jaime, Jesse, Jo, Kai, Kane, Karter, Kieran, Kylin, Landon, Leslie, Mallory, Marin, Meritt, Morgan, Nell, Noel, Oakley, Otzar, Paris, Peregrine, Quant, Quyn, Reagan, Remy, Robin, Rowan, Ryan, Sam, Samar, Sasha, Sloan, Stace, Tatum, Teegan, Terrin, Urbain, Vahn, Valo, Vick, Wallace, Waverly, Whitney, Yardley, Yarden, Zasha

Surnames

Surnames, Patrilineal - First Name (Patrilineal Surname)

Ace, Allaire, Appel, Arrow, Baker, Bamford, Barnard, Beckett, Berryann, Blakewood, Blanning, Bigge, Binns, Bisby, Brewer, Brickenden, Brooker, Browne, Buller, Carey, Carpenter, Carter, Cheeseman, Clarke, Cooper, Ead, Elwood, Emory, Farmer, Fish, Fisher, Fitzroy, Fletcher, Foreman, Foster, Fuller, Galahad, Gerard, Graves, Grover, Harlow, Hawkins, Hayward, Hill, Holley, Holt, Hunter, Jester, Kerr, Kirk, Leigh, MacGuffin, Maddock, Mason, Maynard, Mercer, Miller, Nash, Paige, Payne, Pernelle, Raleigh, Ryder, Scroggs, Seller, Shepard, Shore, Slater, Smith, Tanner, Taylor, Thatcher, Thorn, Tilly, Turner, Underwood, Vaughan, Walter, Webb, Wilde, Wood, Wren, Wyatt, Wynne

Surnames, Townships in G’eth - First Name of (Location)

Abelforth, Argent Keep, Barrow Springs, Barrowmere, Bedford, Brunhelm, Bumble, Casterfalls, Dunbridge, Falmore Forest, Folk’s Bounty, Frostmaid, Fulstad, Heller’s Crossing, Hertfordshire, Humberdale, Inkwater, Little Avery, Marrowton, Mistfall, Mistmire, Morcow, Necropolis-on-Sea, Otherway, Parsendale, Piddlehinton, Port Fairwind, Redcastle, Ransom, Rutherglen, Saint Crois, Tanner’s Folly, Tavern’s Point, Wilmington

Surnames, Geographical Locations in G’eth - First Name of the (Location)

Cove of Calamity, Deep Woods of Falmore, Eastern Isles, Eastern Mountains, Foothills, Frozen Peak, Lakes, Maegor Cobblestones, Northern Mountains, Southern Isle, Tangle, West Coast, Wild Wild Woods, Woods of Angarad

Surnames, Nickname - First Name the (Something) 

Bald, Bastard, Bear, Bearded, Big, Bird, Bold, Brave, Broken, Butcher, Bruiser, Careless, Caring, Charitable, Clever, Clumsy, Cold, Confessor, Coward, Crow, Cyclops, Devious, Devoted, Dog, Dragonheart, Dreamer, Elder, Faithful, Fearless, Fey, Fool, Friend, Generous, Giant, Goldheart, Goldfang, Gouty, Gracious, Great, Hag, Handsome, Hawk, Honest, Huge, Humble, Hungry, Hunter, Innocent, Ironfist, Ironside, Keeper, Kind, Lesser, Liar, Lionheart, Little, Loyal, Magical, Mercenary, Merchant, Messenger, Old, Orphan, Pale, Polite, Poet, Poor, Prodigy, Prophet, Proud, Reliable, Romantic, Rude, Selfish, Sellsword, Scab, Scholar, Shield, Shy, Singer, Sirrah, Slayer, Slug, Small, Stoneheart, Swift, Tadde, Talented, Tart, Tenacious, Timid, Tiny, Tough, Traveller, Trusted, Truthful, Viper, Wizard, Wolf, Wyrm

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💖 Sapphic Books Coming Out May 2024

🩷 There's something especially sweet about a sapphic romance. Here are only a few of the amazing sapphic books hitting shelves in May 2024. Which ones are you adding to your ever-growing TBR?

Contemporary 💖 Here For the Wrong Reasons - Annabel Paulsen & Lydia Wang 💖 Perfume & Pain - Anna Dorn 💖 Cheryl - Jillian Fleck 💖 A Little Kissing Between Friends - Chencia C. Higgins 💖 Lavash At First Sight - Taleen Voskuni 💖 The Game of Giants - Marion Douglas 💖 We Were the Universe - Kimberly King Parsons 💖 Oye - Melissa Mogollon 💖 The Summer Love Strategy - Ray Stoeve 💖 Noah Frye Gets Crushed - Maggie Horne 💖 Halfway to Harbor - Nicole Melleby 💖 Sunhead - Alex Assan

💖 The 7-10 Split - Karmen Lee 💖 Trust & Safety - Laura Blackett & Eve Gleichman 💖 Second Night Stand - Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters 💖 How It Works Out - Myriam Lacroix 💖 April May June July - Alison B. Hart 💖 The Ride of Her Life - Jennifer Dugan 💖 One Night With the CEO - Emily Hayes 💖 Dulhaniyaa - Talia Bhatt 💖 A Girl Can Dream - Emily Barr 💖 I Want You More - Swan Huntley 💖 Exhibit - R. O. Kwon 💖 Only a Bridesmaid - Haley Donnell

💖 Thirsty - Jas Hammonds 💖 Housemates - Emma Copley Eisenberg 💖 Don’t Be a Drag - Skye Quinlan 💖 True Love and Other Impossible Odds - Christina Li 💖 Murray Out of Water - Taylor Tracy 💖 The Redemption of Daya Keane - Gia Gordon 💖 Blame My Virgo Moon - Freja Nicole Woolf 💖 From Where We Are - Nicole Zelniker 💖 Cabin Fever - Tagan Shepard 💖 Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness - Guy Babineau 💖 Meet Me in Berlin - Samantha L. Valentine 💖 Behind You - Catherine Hernandez

Paranormal/Horror 💖 Primal Hunt - L.L. Raand 💖 Blood on the Tide - Katee Robert 💖 We Mostly Come Out at Night - (ed) Rob Costello 💖 Flowers from the Void - Gianni Washington 💖 My Darling Dreadful Thing - Johanna van Veen 💖 When the Devil - Emma E. Murray 💖 Honeybites - I. S. Belle 💖 My Favorite Thing Is Monsters - Emil Ferris 💖 The Worst Perfect Moment -Shivaun Plozza

Fantasy 💖 The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields 💖 The Fireborne Blade - Charlotte Bond 💖 Chained Destinies - D. Jordan Redhawk 💖 Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea - Rebecca Thorne 💖 Grand Slam Romance: Major League Hotties - Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous 💖 Snake Charming - Genevieve McCluer 💖 The Witches of Silverlake - Simon Curtis 💖 Death’s Country - R. M. Romero 💖 Snowblooded - Emma Sterner-Radleygh 💖 Bird Suit - Sydney Hegele 💖 Farzana's Spite - Felix Graves

Historical 💖 The Good Women of Fudi - Liu Hong 💖 Spitting Gold - Carmella Lowkis 💖 Adrift - Sam Ledel 💖 A Heart Divided - Angie Williams 💖 A Liaison with Her Leading Lady - Lotte R. James

Mystery/Thriller 💖 The Deadly Spark - Roxie Key 💖 The Advice Columnist - Cade Haddock Strong 💖 The Lilies - Quinn Diacon-Furtado 💖 Loyalty - E. J. Noyes 💖 Clean Kill - Anne Laughlin 💖 Have You Seen This Girl - Nita Tyndall 💖 The Last to Pie - Misha Popp

Sci-Fi 💖 The Sunforge - Sascha Stronach 💖 Road to Ruin - Hana Lee 💖 Exile in Guyville - Amy Lee Lillard 💖 The Lily of Enarah - Arden Brax 💖 The Z Word - Lindsay King-Miller

[wunjotheork]

A Date

Around 1100 words.

Sex happens but nothing explicit.

Put her things in a bin bag. Not much. Couple of clothes. A toothbrush. Then drop it outside the front door. She's gone now. Fuck you, Stinky.

Need a shower.

Alone with my thoughts. Keep remembering our fight. Need to stop. Turn off the light. Lean against the tiles. Close my eyes. Focus on the cold water. The sound. How it feels on my skin. Boring. Touch myself a bit. End up more frustrated than anything.

Need company.

Grab my phone when I'm out and drying off. Check this month’s new number. Marion… From the bar, right? Doesn't matter. Send a text. Get dressed. Weather is hell so shorts and tank top it is. Get a reply. She's good with going out for a coffee in an hour.

Perfect.

Go check my face. See the bruise. Ignore it. Sunglasses will do. Trim the goatee. Brush my tusks. Ready to go.

Meet her at Pey Berland at the tram station. Shit. Forgot she was a dwarf. Or maybe I remembered the wrong girl. Who cares? She has a nice smile and pretty green optics. Love her dress.

Her name's actually Marie.

We grab a coffee in a café in front of the cathedral. Sun's way too hot but there's no more chairs inside. On the covered terraces we go. The shade is a small comfort. We chit-chat. She's telling me about her life. Don't really care but I still pay attention. She works in a small boutique. Selling lingerie on Saint Catherine Avenue. See exactly where.

She asks about me. Decide to be honest. More or less. Tell her I'm a bouncer in a club. She laughs, nods, and asks to see the bruise I'm hiding badly. Take the sunglasses off. She compliments my eyes. I smile. She's cute.

The afternoon goes on. We order other drinks. Lemonade for her. Water for me. Don't see the time pass. End up enjoying her company. Wouldn't mind seeing her again.

Getting hungry though. Realise I skipped lunch with how angry I was. Check my watch. A bit more than 4pm. Don't wanna leave her. But everything has an end. She must sense it. Out of the blue asks what I'm doing tonight. Says we could have dinner together. Tell her about a nice little restaurant not too far away. Says she wants me to cook.

Oh.

Did say I wasn't half bad.

We leave the café. Walk through the neighbourhood to get to a grocery store. Switch sidewalks to stay in the shade as much as possible. Short break for her to spray sunscreen on the both of us. My shaved head gets extra attention. How nice.

The AC in the shop is too damn cold. Best way to get sick. Quickly grab some real salmon and pasta. Checking out for soy every time is a pain but no choice. She smiles. Thinks I'm fancy. Tell her I’m allergic. Got some cream left in the fridge. Parsley on the windowsill. Wine in the cellar. Don't need to buy much. Still cost a small fortune.

The lady offers to pay. Thanks, but no. I'm a strong and independent man. She laughs. Makes me feel good.

We arrive at my address. Show her the building. And my door in the piss alley. Type the code. Climb the stairs. She stops to admire the little courtyard. They always do. Historic buildings are full of surprises. Get to the third floor. Bin bag's still here. Turn the keys. Close the door behind her.

We're in.

And the flat feels cool!

Swap shoes for slippers. Lead her to the living room. Turn around to offer a glass of water. Her dress's already on the floor in the hall.

Ah.

Would drop the bags if food wasn't so expensive. Rush to the kitchenette to throw them in the fridge. Her laughter resonates on the high ceiling. She keeps laughing when I throw her on the couch. Bedroom's too personal. Quiets down when I start taking care of her. Then our moans fill the room.

Getting hot in here. Remember about the fan. Can't take my hands off her. Don't want to. Hard to think. Only her. Marie. Marie.

Marie.

Wake up from a nap. We both fell asleep. Skin against skin. Sweating so much. Don't care. Hold her closer. Could go turn on the fan. Impossible. Her face against my neck. Her hand up and down my chest. Would be a crime to let go of her. Pause. Smile on her lips. Her optics on my eyes. Look down. Then back to her.

Ready for round two?

Except it's way too hot to fuck now. Hate summer. Still manage to take care of her. Got lots of skills. Give the lady what she needs and wants. Asks about me. No worry. She's more important.

Heat unbearable now. Have to let go. Turn on the fan and fetch a bottle of water. We nearly empty it.

Cuddling a bit more. Chat about our day. Laughing together. She checks her interface. Around 9pm. Sun's still out but it's getting late. What about diner? Another day? OK. Disappointed. Don't show it. Tell her where the bathroom is. Frown when I hear the shower. Kind of rude not to ask. Don't have much water this week.

Whatever. Not gonna ruin a good afternoon.

Comes back for a final chat. Watch her slip her dress back on. Reach out a hand to sneak a finger under the fabric to feel her skin. Like her. Don't want her to leave. But I know the music.

She gives me a soft kiss on the lips. Tells me it was great. Promises to contact me again. Liar. Grabs her things and leaves with a wave. Hear her close the door.

Alone.

Get off the couch. Grab my clothes and throw them in the laundry basket. Quick wash. Catch a glimpse of the marks she left on me in the mirror. Was too lost in her to notice. Don't like it. Can easily hide them if needed at least. Fetch some clean underwear.

Stomach roaring now. Make cream salmon for one. Eat. Clean the dishes. Nothing else to do. Don’t feel like going out. Standing like an idiot in the living room.

Silence.

What do i usually do to pass time? Thoughts of Stinky come rushing back. Realise I forgot how to live alone. Getting angry again. Need a smoke. Open the window. More heat gets in. Sounds of the city too. Watch the drunks and happy who pass through the alley. Ignore the weirdo living in front who's trying to chat. Want to throw the ashtray at him. Definitely watched us. Need to buy curtains.

Sun's out.

Light another one. Thinking about opening a bottle. Not feeling sleepy. At all. Guess the night's gonna be long.

[mask131]

The fantasy in modern Arthuriana (2)

This is a loose translation of Claire Jardillier’s article “Les enfants de Merlin: le merveilleux médiéval revisité” (The children of Merlin: Medieval magic revisited), for Anne Besson’s study-compilation.

II/ Wizards and witches

The fantastical elements within modern rewrites are often embodied in the most visible way by a few key characters. First and foremost among this magical cast is, of course, Merlin the enchanter, but also regularly the bard Taliesin, despite his lesser presence within the Matter of Britain. Taliesin indeed only appears obviously tied to Arthur within the Welsh sources, especially “Preiddu Annwn”, where he is part of the expedition led by Arthur to steal away the cauldron of resurrection from the Otherworld. We can make the hypothesis that is it because of the historical rewrites of the Arthurian legends that the character of Taliesin gained such an importance, since it is in the Welsh sources that he is most frequently seen, sources that modern rewriters especially love due to judging them more ancient and thus more “authentic” and more Celtic than the chivalry romances and knighthood romans of France and England. Since Wales resisted more strongly to the Saxon invader, then to the Normand influence, modern novelists like to use the “Mabinogion” and the Welsh poems to historicize their Arthur. Taliesin usually stays within his traditional role of bard, in accord to the historical and bibliographical information we have about him. While quite brief, these information naturally designate him as the symbol of the Arthurian legend within a “realistic” rewriting, as a character between the history and the myth.

[In the “Hanes Taliesin” mainly, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest and which follows her “Mabinogion” translations, we discover the two births of Gwyon Bach/Taliesin, is exploits as a bard within the court of prince Elphin, and some of his poems. The historical Taliesin seems to have been a bard at the court of Urien Rheged during the 6th century, and the poems attributed to him were preserved within the “Llyfr Taliesin” (The Book of Taliesin). It notably contains the famous “Cat Godeu” (Battle of the Trees) and the previously mentioned “Preiddu Annwn”. These Welsh poems, like many others, were translated and published by William F. Skene within his “Four Ancient Books of Wales”]

As such, within Fay Sampson’s “Daughter of Tintagel” cycle he becomes one of the five narrators that relate the life of Morgan. A first-person narration that give a voice to a secondary character of the medieval corpus is a fundamental trait of modern Arthurian literature : as such, we can hear Kai, Pelleas, Bohort, Rhys or Bedwyr, characters whose point of view is rarely given in legends, alongside the manifestation of more novel characters, such as Derfel, a shadowy warrior turned saint in the 6th century who narrates Bernard Cornwell’s “Warlord Chronicles”. [Respectively, Kai is heard within Phyllis Ann Karr’s The Idylls of the Queen and John Gloag’s Artorius Rex ; Pelleas within Stephen R. Lawhead’s Arthur and Courtway Jones’ In the Shadow of the Oak King ; Bohort within Dorothy Jane Roberts’ Launcelot my Brother ; Rhys within Gillian Bradshaw’s Kingdom of Summer ; Bedwyr within Catherine Christian’s The Sword and the Flame and Stephen R. Lawhead’s Arthur.]

Within Stephen Lawhead’s works, the role of Taliesin is more developed since he becomes the father, and so the precursor of Merlin (within Marion Zimmer Bradley’s, he is Merlin’s first incarnation). In his trilogy, the bard Talesin paves the way for Merlin, who will surpass his father in his role as the companion of the major hero, Arthur king of Britain. It is precisely this dimension that is often used by modern Arthurianists. [Stephen R. Lawhead wrote in reality five novels, the last two being a flash-back to episodes from between book 2 and 3. This Arthurian cycle is especially concerned with the questions of filiation, legitimacy and predestination. As such, Taliesin announces and foreshadow the coming of his son, a sort of messiah for the Britons, but Merlin himself works for the coming of Arthur, the savior of Britain as much on a spiritual level (the writings of Lawhead are distinctly Christian in tone) as on a political level. It is probably why we also see here a weird and exceptional element introduced, as Arthur is made the posthumous son of Aurelius, and not the bastard of Uther. Here Arthur is the product of an union blessed by the Church, and as such he descends from the first High-King, not from his replacement out of a “side-branch” of the family.]

We also have to note that modern rewrites love to tell what happened during the life of characters in the form of prequels – in this case, the youth of Merlin, which is rarely detailed in the Middle-Ages outside of his birth and his encounter with Vortigern. It was the case within Mary Stewart, the first author who was concerned with the wizard’s youth, and who sems to have deeply marked modern Arthurianists, since the same pattern can be found in other novels, including those of Stephen Lawhead. This concern with “what happened before” is not exclusively Arthurian, and can be seen within other contemporary sagas – Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blueberry… It is a tradition as old as the various “Childhoods” texts of the Middle-Ages. [Mary Stewart wrote “The Crystal Cave”, “The Hollow Hills” and “The Last Enchantment”. As a proof of the intertextuality of Arthurian novels, “the last enchantment” is an expression reused and exploited by Bernard Cornwell in the last part of his trilogy, where a dying Merlin, entirely devoured by his own student Nimue, preserves a “last enchantment” to allow Arthur and a few others to escape the battle of Camlan]

Be it Taliesin or Merlin, the first way the question of the magic implants itself within the narrative device is about the relationship between the king and his wizard. The magical element is thus tied to the political power, weighed down by a reality which, if not historical, is at least coherent. This heirloom is directly tied to the medieval sources, even if it is not obvious at first. The idea of an Arthur raised as a boy by Merlin owes much more to T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King” than to the medieval texts, where only a slow and complex evolution allowed the association of those two characters now seen as undividable. [White’s work is a set of five novels, first published separately, then compiled as one work in the 50s, and to which the last novel, The Book of Merlin, was added in 1977. This work is a precursor of all the rewrites that happened from the 60s onward, especially the first book that tells of Arthur’s childhood and his education by Merlin. It was a best-seller, and the adaptation of this first novel into an animated movie by Disney (63’s The Sword in the Stone) amplified its impact]. Indeed, within Geoffroy of Monmouth, Merlin and Arthur follow each other in the text… but never meet. It was within later rewrites, Wave, Lawamon, and in the French “Lancelot-Graal”, that the king and the enchanter will develop a more intimate relationship, culminating within Malory’s Morte Darthur. [In Geoffroy’s tale, the two characters at least never meet within the context of the tale. A doubt is allowed since in most of the manuscripts, Merlin makes a brief apparition at the very end of the “Historia”, where an “angelic voice” talks to Cadwallader, telling him that “God wishes that the Britons stop ruling within Britain until the moment that Merlin prophesized to Arthur” ; this sentence implies that Merlin might have been the king’s prophet, a role that will become more and more obvious in later rewrites]

This is due to the two characters, Merlin and Arthur, originally belonging to two distinct traditions. Once they became connected thanks to Geoffroy’s Historia Regum Britaniae, the two characters got closer and closer, and gained many interactions, just as Merlin’s interventions became more and more fantastical. This is very clear when we look at an episode shared by all the medieval Merlinian tales: the moving of the stones of Ireland to create Stonehenge. Within Geoffroy’s, it is a mechanical process. Within Wace, an unexplained way. Finally, within Lawamon, it becomes a powerful spell that makes the stone “as light as feathers”. Modern authors follow this tradition and often reuse this episode, or a similar one, in what we can call “the motif of the dancing stones”. In the same way, within Lawhead’s novel, a child Merlin proves his powers to an assembly of druids by making the stones of a cromlech levitate. Stonehenge plays an important role for Cornwell: it becomes the place of a ghost-filled ceremony during which Merlin gives Excalibur to Arthur. Even among comic books, Merlin makes stones dance before amazed mortals. [It is within the first volume of the BD series “Merlin” by Jean-Luc Istin and Eric Lambert, “La colère d’Ahès” (The Wrath of Ahès). The dancing stones of Istin and Lambert are quite similar to the ones described by Lawhead, and the scenarist confessed having read the “Pendragon Cycle”. We find in this “Merlin” the same habt of syncretizing religions as within Lawhead’s works (father Blaise is a former druid, and offers Merlin as a symbol of the union of religions).]

We find back here what we said before: the historicized Arthurian literature of the 60s-80s greatly deprived the medieval text of their fantasy, and since the 80s-90s we have a slow re-appropriation of the medieval magic within novels that still, however, wish to be historical. In other terms – the stones are dancing again, but they are always dancing in a mentioned 6th century.

Before Lawamon, Merlin only acted during the lifetime of Aurelius and Uther, before disappearing for no reason after Arthur’s birth. However, the encounter between those two historical characters was too tempting to be avoided, and we can see a true shift between Geoffroy and Malory (for example), which today leads to the many tales in which Merlin acts as the teacher, tutor, or even adoptive father of Arthur. This filiation is helped by two elements. On one side, that is an elliptic moment covering Arthur’s childhood in medieval texts, and we go from him as a baby to him as a young fifteen-year old king. [We find within Lawamon the beginning of an explication: child-Arthur was raised by elves at Avalon. This idea was reused by Parke Godwin within the novel “Firelord”.] On the other hand, we can see that all of his next of kin die around the same time. In front of this absence of parents, it is very tempting to remove Ector (the father of Kay and the tutor of the royal child in the tradition) and put in his place a more familiar and impressive character, Merlin the wizard.

We talked before of the habit of “prequels”: the cyclical temptation of modern novels, which in a way mimics the Arthurian medieval tradition of a condensed and fractioned writing of the whole Arthurian legend (usually in three volumes), favorizes the writing of the origins, of the “before Arthur”. The introduction of Merlin, but also of Taliesin, proves this attraction for what Anne Besson calls an “Arthurian prehistory”. For Stephen Lawhead, the link between the various generations (Taliesin, father of Merlin, Merlin spiritual father of Arthur) insists upon the greatness and the predestination of the king of the Britons, the bearer of Light. Even when the Arthurian tale is limited to a single novel, it is not unusual to see it begin with the generation before Arthur: it was the case with Victor Canning’s “The Crimson Chalice”, where a third of the novel follows the events that led to Arthur’s birth (even though here Arthur’s parents are named Tia and Baradoc, and bear no resemblance to Igraine or Uther).

To all the reasons described above, we must add the fictional temptation of having characters coexisting to allow a powerful confrontation. But this temptation also bears a prevalent trait of the modern Arthurian fiction, and of its dialogue with the sources. Indeed, it is not uncommon to see a rearrangement, to various degrees, of the links that traditionally unite the characters. As such, in most sources Ygerne is the wife of Gorlois and the mother of Arthur, but she can be his half-sister and the mother of Medraud within Rosemary Sutcliff’s “Sword at Sunset”. The same Ygerne becomes Gorlois’ daughter, not his wife, in Stephen Lawhead’s work, as the author plays with the writing of the myth, has his Merlin-narrator laugh about the mad rumors that circulated about the siege of Tintagel “I have even heard it said that Ygerna was Gorlas’ wife – Imagine that!”). The marvelous does not escape this kind of more-or-less extreme shifts: the case of the female characters, of their relationship to magic, and of their role within history is especially revealing.

[shions-new-blog-of-stuff]

75. "memory" (OC)

The train came to an eventual stop, the announcer calling out the stop. Catherine's aunt Mindy looks over at the young girl, quietly coloring a picture of a cat.

"We're here, sweet pea," Aunt Mindy says, leading a young Catherine off the train. "Watch your step," Mindy adds.

Catherine looks around at the bustling station, not letting go of her aunt's hand.

An older gentleman in a blue suit stands up from the bench and walks with confidence towards the two.

"Pop Pop!" Catherine calls out, bolting to the man, who immediately kneels down to hug her.

"You remember your Grandpa Marion?" Mindy asks with a smile.

"Y-ye-yes, Auntie."

"I'll be the one taking care of you from now on, poppet," Marion says, fixing the ribbon on Catherine's dress, "I have a room all set up for you."

Catherine nods, only understanding some of what he said.

Mindy waves them off and Catherine never lets go of her grandfather's hand until he placed her in the backseat of his car, adjusting her seatbelt and booster seat.

"Are you hungry?" Marion asks, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Yes Pop Pop..." Catherine replies.

The two stop by a McDonald's, Catherine happily munches on a burger -- getting ketchup all over her face.

Even in the present day, Catherine still has the Happy Meal toy she got that day -- a Playmobil "Umbrella Girl" figurine, which stands on top of her jewelry box.

@mishwanders @baldursbasics @notrattus @clayderogatory

[cressida-jayoungr]

Coeli's Picks: Monochrome, part 2 (Gloria Swanson Edition)

One Dress a Day Challenge

Coeli wrote: "And now for a whole lot of Gloria Swanson, because she might have had the best film wardrobe ever."

In chronological order. (This list includes a couple of reposted images, but @coeli1000 suggested them in the first place.)

Male and Female (1919) / As Lady Mary Lazenby

My American Wife (1922) / As Natalie Chester

The Impossible Mrs. Bellew (1922) / As Betty Bellew

(See previous post here.)

Zaza (1923) / As Zaza

"Dig those painted stockings!" (See previous post here.)

Madame Sans-Gêne (1925) / As Catherine Hübscher

The Trespasser (1929) / As Marion Donnell

Indiscreet (1931) / As Geraldine "Jerry" Trent

Music in the Air (1934) / As Frieda Hotzfelt

[medievalandfantasymelee]

Candidates for the title of

🌹Queen of Love & Beauty🌹

Candidates were given priority based on the number of submissions they received (in brackets behind their names and credentials). After all candidates with multiple submissions were entered, single submission candidates were admitted in order of submission.

Guinevere [Angel Coulby], BBC’s Merlin (2008-2012) [17]

Morgana Pendragon [Katie McGrath], BBC’s Merlin (2008-2012) [11]

Lady Éowyn of Rohan [Miranda Otto], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) [10]

Lady Marian Fitzwalter [Olivia de Havilland], The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) [9]

Isabeau of Anjou [Michelle Pfeiffer], Ladyhawke (1985) [8]

Arwen Undomiel [Liv Tyler], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) [7]

Galadriel of Lothlórien [Cate Blanchett], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) [7]

Princess Buttercup [Robin Wright], The Princess Bride (1987) [6]

Lucrezia Borgia [Holliday Grainger], The Borgias (2011-2013) [6]

Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia [Karen David], Galavant (2015-2016) [5]

Lagertha [Katheryn Winnick], Vikings (2013-2020) [5]

Sorsha [Joanne Whalley], Willow (1988) [5]

Lady Æthelflæd of Mercia [Millie Brady], The Last Kingdom (2015-2022) [4]

Princess Gwendolyn [Angela Lansbury], The Court Jester (1955) [4]

Maid Jean [Glynis Johns], The Court Jester (1955) [4]

Lady Marion of Leaford [Judi Trott], Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986) [4]

Rebecca of York [Olivia Hussey], Ivanhoe (1982) [4]

Alicent Hightower [Olivia Cooke], House of the Dragon (2022-) [3]

Aliena [Hayley Atwell], The Pillars of the Earth (2010) [3]

Queen Cersei Lannister [Lena Headey], Game of Thrones (2011-2019) [3]

Princess Daenerys Targaryen [Emilia Clarke], Game of Thrones (2011-2019) [3]

Danielle de Barbarac [Drew Barrymore], Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) [3]

Devasena [Anushka Shetty], Baahubali (2017) [3]

Elizabeth de Burgh [Florence Pugh], Outlaw King (2018) [3]

Queen Guinevere [Vanessa Redgrave], Camelot (1967) [3]

Hürrem Sultan [Meryem Uzleri], Magnificent Century {Muhteşem Yüzyıl} (2011-2014) [3]

Lady Jocelyn [Shannyn Sossamon], A Knight’s Tale (2001) [3]

Princess Lili [Mia Sara], Legend (1985) [3]

Lady Margaery Tyrell [Natalie Dormer], Game of Thrones (2011-2019) [3]

Marian of Knighton [Lucy Griffiths], BBC’s Robin Hood (2006-2009) [3]

Lady Sansa Stark [Sophie Turner], Game of Thrones (2011-2019) [3]

Sheng Minglan [Zhang Liying], The Story of Minglan (2018) [3]

Queen Susan the Gentle [Sophie Winkleman], The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010) [3]

Lady Anne Neville [Claire Bloom], Richard III (1955) [2]

Lady Anne Neville [Phoebe Fox], The Hollow Crown (2012-2016) [2]

Brienne of Tarth [Gwendoline Christie], Game of Thrones (2011-2019) [2]

Bronwyn [Nazanin Bonialdi], The Rings of Power (2022-) [2]

Queen Catherine of Aragon [Maria Doyle Kennedy], The Tudors (2007-2010) [2]

Contessina de Bardi [Annabel Scholey], Medici (2016-2019) [2]

Egwene Al’Vere [Madeleine Madden], The Wheel of Time (2021-) [2]

Queen Eleanore of Aquitane [Katharine Hepburn], The Lion in Winter (1968) [2]

Queen Elizabeth Woodville [Rebecca Ferguson], The White Queen (2013) [2]

Donna Giulia Farnese [Lotte Verbeek], The Borgias (2011-2013) [2]

Queen Guinevere [Cheri Lunghi], Excalibur (1981) [2]

Jadis, the White Witch [Tilda Swinton], The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010) [2]

Jeanne d’Arc [Renee Falconetti], The Passion of Joan of Arc {La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc} (1928) [2]

Joan of Arc [Milla Jovovich], The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) [2]

Kate [Laura Fraser], A Knight’s Tale (2001) [2]

Lady Kate Percy [Michelle Dockery], The Hollow Crown (2012-2016) [2]

Queen Lucy the Valiant [Rachael Henley] [2]

Queen Madelena [Mallory Jansen], Galavant (2015-2016) [2]

Queen Margaret of Anjou [Sophie Okonedo], The Hollow Crown (2012-2016) [2]

Lady Mary Boleyn [Charity Wakefield], Wolf Hall (2015-2024) [2]

Moiraine Damodred [Rosamund Pike], The Wheel of Time (2021-) [2]

Morgana Pendragon [Eva Green], Camelot (2011) [2]

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen [Emma D’Arcy], House of the Dragon (2022-) [2]

Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem [Eva Green], Kingdom of Heaven (2005) [2]

Eliška Pomořanská [Jana Brejchová], A Night at Karlstein {Noc na Karlštejně} (1973) [1]

Lady Marian [Audrey Hepburn], Robin & Marian (1976) [1]

Ophelia [Jean Simmons], Hamlet (1948) [1]

Aykız Hatun [Hande Subaşı], Diriliş: Ertuğrul (2014-2019) [1]

Roberta Steingas [Clare Foster], Galavant (2015-2016) [1]

Tamina [Gemma Arterton], Prince of Persia (2010) [1]

Princess Isabelle [Sophie Marceau], Braveheart (1995) [1]

Alexandra [Geraldine Viswanathan], Miracle Workers: The Dark Ages (2020) [1]

Isabella of Valois [Emma Hamilton], RSC’s Richard II (2013) [1]

Jade Claymore [Erin Kellyman], Willow (2022) [1]

Anne Boleyn [Genevieve Bujold], Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) [1]

Mu Nihuang [Liu Tao], Nirvana in Fire (2015-2018) [1]

Padmavati [Deepika Padukone], Padmaavat (2018) [1]

Queen Isabella [Tilda Swinton], Edward II (1991) [1]

Djaq [Anjali Jay], BBC’s Robin Hood (2006-2009) [1]

Below is a list of Honorable Mentions...

Anne Boleyn [Natalie Portman], The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

Aslaug [Alyssa Sutherland], Vikings (2013-2020)

Aviendha [Ayoola Smart], The Wheel of Time (2021-)

Catherine of Aragon [Charlotte Hope], The Spanish Princess (2019-2020)

Cecilia Algotsdotter [Sofia Helin], Arn: The Knight Templar (2007)

Doric [Sophia Lillis], Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023)

Queen Elizabeth of York [Jodie Comer], The White Princess (2017)

Jiang Yanli [Xuan Lu], The Untamed (2019)

Guinevere [Julia Ormond], First Knight (1995)

Hafsa Sultan [Nebahat Çehre], Magnificent Century {Muhteşem Yüzyıl} (2011-2014)

Hatice Sultan [Selma Ergeç], Magnificent Century {Muhteşem Yüzyıl} (2011-2014)

Queen Isabella of Castile [Michelle Jenner], Isabel (2011-2014)

Isolde [Sophia Myles], Tristan + Isolde (2006)

Joan of Arc [Ingrid Bergman], Joan of Arc (1948)

Kira [Lisa Maxwell, Kathryn Mullen], The Dark Crystal (1982)

Queen Mab [Miranda Richardson], Merlin (1998)

Maleficent [Angelina Jolie], Maleficent (2014)

Lady Margaret Tudor [Georgie Henley], The Spanish Princess (2019-2020)

Marian Dubois [Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio], Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)

Lady Mary Tudor [Sai Bennett], The Spanish Princess (2019-2020)

Empress Maude [Alison Pill], The Pillars of the Earth (2010)

Morgaine [Julianna Marguiles], The Mists of Avalon (2001)

Queen Ravenna [Charlize Theron], Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Rebecca of York [Elizabeth Taylor], Ivanhoe (1952)

Rosie Cotton [Sarah MacLeod], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Sharako Lohar [Abigail Thorn], House of the Dragon (2022-)

Tár-Miriel [Cynthia Addai-Robinson], The Rings of Power (2022-)

Ygritte [Rose Leslie], Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Yara Greyjoy [Gemma Whelan], Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

[a-rare-jewell]

Part 4

Modern day Fancast for Henry V

Part 1 ( other parts in reblogs)