#especially characters with hebrew names even

[softness-and-shattering]

Golden Enclaves/scholomance spoilers

Speaking of Ibrahim and Yaakov. When El asks how Yaakovs doing and its obviously extremely painful to Ibrahim because they cant safely live together. The Dubai enclave opening up to anyone with the mana to help immediately. Waiting waiting waiting and then Yaakov is there, and he brought his slow-moving older relatives and theyre last in and El starts faffing around with chalk to give them time and then theyre there and theyre hugging and they made it and they can live here together now and be safe and be in love and Ibrahim hadnt even known if he'd got the text yet I absolutely bawled my eyes out.

And when Yaakov ran out the scholomance wearing his worn tallit 😭😭😭

There are so few good Jewish characters in general, and he's queer and he gets his happy ending with his "supposed to be his enemy" lover the both of them and they mean so so so much to me!!

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Debunking the Claim that Bucky Barnes' Dog Tags "Prove He Cannot Be Jewish"

In 2021 and 2022, when discussing the fact that MCU!Bucky (henceforth referred to simply as Bucky) is based off of Arnie Roth, a gay Jewish man and Steve's childhood best friend, I received pushback from fans telling me that Bucky can't possibly be Jewish due to his dog tags; citing a behind the scenes picture posted by Sebastian Stan to his instagram story.

Transcription of the dog tags:

James B. Barnes (Legal Name) 32557038 (Serial Number*) T41 42 (Tetanus Immunization) O (Blood Type) R. Barnes (Next of Kin) 3092 Stockton RD (Address) Shelbyville IN (Location) P (Religion Marker)

*A serial number starting with a 3 indicated that the servicemember was drafted into the Army, it's important that we do not forget that Bucky didn't chose to fight.

During World War II the dog tags of American service members would have had one of the following regulation religion markers:

P for Protestant (the marker we see on Bucky's dog tags)

C for Catholic

H for Hebrew, this being the marker for 'Jewish'

NO (or left blank) for No Religion

For Jewish servicemembers fighting in Europe, being discovered to be a Jew by your captors–especially if you were captured by the Nazis–carried considerable risk and could mean the difference between life or horrific torture, experimentation and possibly even death.

Some Jewish service members, justifiably incredibly fearful of what could happen if they were found out, would either omit a religion marker altogether or, after getting their tags, would attempt to obscure the 'H' marker in some way so it could not be read by their captors.

While this saved some lives, it was not a perfect and fool-proof system, and we have no way of knowing how many times it failed.

In 1943, the year Bucky was drafted, the Army introduced a more official (and more widely adoptable, and thus widely adopted) option to protect Jews in its ranks:

Through the European Theatre of Operations United States Army, Jewish servicemembers could elect to have the 'H' marker for Hebrew on their dog tags replaced with a 'P' for Protestant.

This would offer Jewish servicemembers a more convincing layer of protection if they were ever captured by the enemy, because, unlike an obscured religion marker (or that lack of one) which could itself draw suspicion, a set of dog tags printed with a 'P' would be entirely indistinguishable from the dog tags worn by a gentile and would be less likely to draw suspicion.

Due to this option being made available to Jewish people serving in the United States Armed Forces, the 'P' marker on Bucky's dog tags not only does not definitively prove that he's really a gentile, in actuality its presence provides even further historical support in favour of him being a Jewish man.

Sources and Additional Reading:

Jewish GIs and Their Dog-Tags by Rabbi Akiva Males - Hakirah

A Star of David for Pvt. Benjamin Garadetsky - Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

U.S. Army WW2 Dog Tags | WW2 US Medical Research Centre (med-dept.com)

Do You Know the History of the "Dog Tag" (jcveteranscouncil)

Beyond The Battle: Religion and American Troops In World War II (uky.edu)

World War II and American Jewish Identity

European Theater of Operations, United States Army - Wikipedia

Pride Month 2022, 40 Years of Arnie Roth and Michael Bech - Marvel Comics: The Queer History Behind MCU Bucky’s Backstory

J.M. DeMatteis, the creator of Arnie, confirming the character's use for MCU!Bucky

Full screenshot of Sebastian Stan's post of the dog tag

How to Decode a WWII US Army Serial Number | Amy Johnson Crow

[jewishbarbies]

good news though! The actor who plays Superman in the new Superman movie is a Jewish man! David Corenswet is his name, he’s Juilliard trained, and a Jewish man from Philly.

I don’t know if you’re a comic fan like me but a lot of Superman’s mythology is drawn from Jewish faith and beliefs. The character isn't supposed to be Jewish but he's definitely heavily inspired by the creators faith. The characters he was inspired by at his creation were John Carter of Mars, Samson and Moses according to his creators two of which are prominent characters in Jewish faith.

Additionally his original heroic role as a defendant of the oppressed during the 1930s considering what Jewish people were going through was very deliberate. Especially when his role was inspired by the Golem from Jewish faith which is usually a being created from Clay made to protect the innocent, marginalized and oppressed within a society, particularly the Jewish people within those communities. Which is literally what Clark initially did, before settling on his alien origin he was even supposed to be an actual Golem made from newspaper.

Even his name and disguise are Jewish coded with his Kryptonian name Kal-El being Hebrew in origin and his disguise as Clark of slicked back hair hidden in a cap being something that Jewish men often did to hide their curly hair and avoid prosecution.

So while Superman as a character is definitely not Jewish a noticeable amount of his Mythos are inspired by Jewish faith due to his creators being Jewish.

So I think it’s pretty cool that Superman is being played by a Jewish man. Kinda comes full circle, don’t you think?

yesss I’ve been making people angry being happy about it on twitter. i don’t think there’ll be much judaism in the movie but it does look like we’re getting a Real superman and not another grimdark dudebro fantasy, so that’s really good. also heard Christopher Reeve’s son is gonna make an appearance in some way and that makes me happy.

[hamliet]

Oshi no Ko's Angel of Light: Kamiki Hikaru

So, I wrote a review of Oshi no Ko previously, just not on this blog. I talked there about the meaning of Hoshino Ai as a name (it's literally hoshi no eye, Ai spelled in katakana to reinforce that it's a loanword, meaning starry eye, and of course, eye/ai is a homonym for love) and how Oshi no Ko uses wordplay and puns to introduce its themes.

Naturally, I wanted to talk about the other parent, whose name is just as significant.

Kamiki Hikaru is literally "god of light/shining god." Well, okay, sort of. It's technically "kami of light," and kami doesn't translate super well into English. It's often referred to as a god in Shintoism, but it's not quite the western perception of a god. Spirit is another popular translation.

Of course, this references the supernatural themes of the story, as well as Hikaru's role. See, "angel of light" is what the Christian Bible calls Lucifer, the Christian devil. Pretty fitting for Hikaru's role in the story as the main villain.

But wait! There's more! Lucifer itself, as a name, refers to the planet Venus, known as the morning star. Which, of course, is the "star" we see in the story associated with Ai.

(Yes, the story is very much using distinctly Christian allusions alongside Shinto ones.)

Hikaru, like Lucifer, is known to, well, want everything for himself. That doesn't mean he wants all the worship of the world like Lucifer literally did according to mythology. No, instead it's far more insidious but no less disturbing: he sees himself as entitled to dictate how the world runs. He decides whose life is worth living, and makes others pay for mistakes of people they don't even know. He's playing God, in other words--exactly what Lucifer did to fall from heaven in Christian mythology (it's not actually super biblical hence why I'm using "mythology").

Lucifer is also called "Satan" obviously, which literally means "accuser" in Hebrew. That's kind of the perfect summary for what Hikaru sees himself as: he's visiting his hatred of an abuser he has every right to hate on everyone and everything that remotely reminds him of her.

The thing is, as said above, Hikaru does have the right to hate Airi, just like Aqua has the right to hate him. But following the path of revenge is Not The Way.

So, is Hikaru Satan?

No. He's a person.

The Path To Hikaru

Hikaru is not all that different from the other characters we know and love--Ai, Ruby, Kana, Akane, and especially Aqua. Fitting since they're all idols of sorts (yes, Akasaka is constantly using religious references to add social commentary to the idea of an "idol" as a false god/object of worship). They're also all actors.

Hikaru is what Aqua risks becoming. No, seriously. Hikaru was traumatized as a child via rape that led to the creation of a life.

As a result he's pretty anti-life as a whole, and especially anti-woman. He's constantly seeking revenge on women, hence his murder-happy spree. The problem is that he's not seeing these women as individuals: he sees everyone and everything as a representation of Airi, the person who assaulted him.

Also, society as a whole's attitude towards male victims of sexual assault, especially male victims of attractive women, means that Hikaru would not be seen as a victim. One of OnK's major themes is how messed up society is and how it dehumanizes people via fitting them into roles, and this is a perfect example of the harm that can come from it. Hikaru would be seen as a boy, and all boys clearly want sex. A famous actress slept with him? Lucky him! Even though this never came out publicly, Hikaru absolutely knew this was the case and it certainly plays a role in his grudge against the world.

Even though Airi is dead (probably as a result of him provoking her husband by revealing that he wasn't the father), he still isn't satisfied. No, Airi is still everywhere. Killing the perpetrator, making them pay, did not erase his trauma.

If Aqua kills Hikaru, his trauma will likewise not be erased. Not his trauma as Gorou, not his trauma as Aqua. Hikaru's death will fix absolutely nothing in his life besides stopping more murders, but there are ways to do that that, y'know, don't involve killing. If Aqua kills Hikaru, he will lose the best part of Gorou (valuing life) and the best part of Aqua (the future Ai wanted for him, a future with Kana and Ruby).

Aqua, You are Your Father

Aqua, you are your father. It's almost like the entire series has been trying to give you this message and you keep ignoring it. (By the way, because I know I'm going to get asks about this, I am NOT saying Aqua and Hikaru are moral equivalents. Not at all. I'm just saying that Aqua is walking a path that will end with him being just like Hikaru if he doesn't get shoved off said path.)

From being the violent stalker who attacks someone who has never felt loved in his first acting job after Ai's death to scenes like this:

The story is asking Aqua to take a good long look at himself, and he's trying desperately to avoid doing this. Why? Because he's also playing God, same as his father, same as Satan in Christianity. He thinks he is responsible for everything; a natural, childish attitude that people grow out of as they age.

Of course, Aqua is not nearly as toxic in this as Hikaru--he's not attacking innocent people--but the root of this is still a belief that he somehow controls what happens, when he doesn't. He doesn't at all.

Aqua, too, is just a person.

But Aqua struggles to understand what it means to be a person, to be Hoshino Aquamarine.

He struggles to see other people as people, too. This ranges from sabotaging Ruby's auditions to how he treats Akane to his protecting Kana without considering what she wants. It's been brought up multiple times in the story so far:

Aqua also fundamentally does not see Ai as a human being, either. Unlike Ruby, who calls Ai "Mama," Aqua only ever calls her "Ai," her persona. Aqua and Ai are foils to Kana and her own mother, in that Kana's mom lived through Kana only to abandon her, and Aqua is living through his mom... but ignoring what she would actually want.

(Ruby isn't flawless or perfectly healthy, and the story certainly doesn't frame them as good twin bad twin, but Ruby's overall worldview is absolutely more in line with what the story wants to endorse.) That's why we have lines like this, where Ruby reveals that she has a healthier view of their mother than Aqua does. She knows Ai was flawed.

This is extra notable because he has 0 problems calling Hikaru his father. It's almost like Aqua is drowning in self-hatred, in feeling unloved, in the idea that he brings bad luck just by existing.

He'll call out Ruby for her negative traits, but Aqua thinks he deserves them. Aqua dehumanizes himself, the same way he dehumanizes Ai, and he has to see both his mother and himself people before he can step off this path.

Essentially, what he tells Ruby here is exactly what he needs to realize, but he has not done so.

The root of Aqua's God complex is that he cannot move past his trauma. It's actually psychologically realistic that a child who experienced such an event would be stuck in a childish mindset wherein they feel guilt for not being able to save their mother.

But it's not just Ai that Aqua couldn't save. It's Sarina, too. She is the one who introduced him to Ai, after all. He didn't move on from her death in his past life, either, which can probably be traced back to his own tragic birth circumstances--the idea that he only brings death, because his mother died giving birth to him. Gorou even states that he became a doctor to help people like his mother, but the point is also that he wanted to bring life, not death.

Except, he isn't God. Neither Gorou nor Aqua are. He can't save Sarina, and that isn't his fault. But Sarina ends up okay as Ruby, not through his own intervention. Aqua couldn't save Ai, but that's not his fault.

The point I'm making here is that Aqua needs to heal the hurting child within him. The story has also brought up the theme of children suffering at the hands of the entertainment industry numerous times:

His path towards healing would involve taking a long look not just at the hurting child in himself, but the hurting child in Hikaru, too. Which is not the same as excusing. After all, we already saw what happened with Aqua thought his dad was dead: despite the supposed justice and his proclamations about being free, he was still every inch the trapped, terrified, traumatized child afraid to live. Killing Hikaru won't be any different.

Becoming Human

So, is there hope for Aqua?

Yeah. A ton of it.

Despite the tragedy of Ai's story, every other arc has ended optimistically. The story's optimism, also, is fundamentally rooted in humanity. Every character, even the ones who seem like exploitative jerks like the producers who edited Akane to look bad and the self-centered mangakas, end up having their thoughts and motives explored, and we see where they are coming from. Not only that, but they have the best of intentions.

Frankly, this is true to life as well. Precious few people see themselves as the villain. Almost everyone thinks they're doing the right thing. It's very human.

The end of the reality dating show arc is kind of what I expect in the end here. There, all contestants came together and pooled their unique individual talents to exonerate Akane. I would expect Ruby, Miyako, Kana, and Akane (who herself has finally realized that she can step into her own personhood instead of trying to be Ai/whatever Aqua needs and vowed to stop him) to come together to save Aqua from himself.

Aqua is incredibly loved, and he doesn't seem to understand this. Love is what enabled Ai to die smiling. A lack of love, feeling undeserving of love, is what torments Sarina/Ruby, Aqua, Kana, and more. The bastardization of love is what torments Hikaru.

Love allows someone to be themselves, truly, to individuate. This is what Aqua needs to learn:

He also doesn't need to earn the love of those around him, nor the love of Ai. She loved him just because he was her son, and all she wanted was for him to be happy and to live.

Imo, it's pretty unlikely Akasaka plans to end the series with Aqua becoming Hikaru 2.0. My guess is that Hikaru will be stopped because of Aqua, and he'll even likely die, but not at Aqua's hand. I suspect Akane, Ruby, and especially Kana (the one person Aqua has consistently placed above Ai) will help save Aqua from himself.

[al-zel]

Explaining every H:SR characters name, Part 1-- The Astral Express Crew!

I’ll put a symbol →(!!!) on every section that has a potential spoiler.

Stelle: A shortened version of the French name Estelle, meaning “star”. This name was derived from the Latin word “stella”. As for how it applies to the character, I’m sure it’s meant to show that the trailblazers true place is among the astral express exploring the cosmos. It might also be a reference to the Stellarons appearance.

Caelus: Derived from the Latin word “caelum”, Caelus is a name that means “sky” or “the heavens”. This name also belonged to the Roman god of the sky. It’s a little more convoluted than Stelle’s more straightforward name, but I think it holds the same narrative meaning as Caelus (the god) has heavy ties to the planet Jupiter, fitting the space theme. It's also the most yellow planet aside from Venus, (which is more associated with the color green due to how it appears in the sky anyway).

March 7th, DH, WY, and Himeko under cut!!

(!!!!) March 7th: It is the day March was found, but the specific date can bring some symbolism to mind. The month of march signals the beginning of of spring, a season full of new growth and revival from the stasis that winter brings. This fits into March’s character arc in her companion quest, as the garden of recollection locks away her past, essentially saying that It’s not something March should be remembering or looking for, implying something awful or traumatizing has happened to her. This shows that without those memories, March may have turned from a cold, "icy" character into a warmer, healthier one. 7 is also a lucky number, as it was very lucky that March has survived so long drifting in space and frozen, even if it was in 6 phase ice.

(!!!) Dan Heng: The character 丹 (Dān) simply means red, although it can also be pellet, powder, or cinnabar. I think this is mainly to tie in with Dan Heng’s maple leaf theme. The character 恒 (Heng) means “constant” or “persistent”, a nod to Dan Heng’s collected and steady nature compared to his eccentric companions. It may also be a reference to Dan Heng’s rebirths as a Vidyadhara or the number of years he spent inside of the Shackling Prison as Dan Feng.

Welt Yang: “Welt” is said to be the “name of the world”, but it’s really just the German word for world. “Yang” (杨) is Welt’s mother’s surname, meaning willow, poplar, or aspen, all three of them different trees. I don’t think that either of these names imply anything about Welt’s story, aside from the mantle of "welt" given to him by Welt Joyce, whoch is another post altogether. I think they highlight his responsible, powerful, and thoughtful character, as well as his sentimentality.

(!!!) (Welt Yang) Joachim Nokianvirtanen: Joachim is an abridged or contracted form of the biblical name Jehoiachin or Jehoiakim. They mean "Yaweh will establish" and "raised by Yaweh" respectively. Yaweh is a name of the Hebrew god, with possible roots to the old Semitic root הוה (hawah), meaning "to be" or "to become." This name is a probable reference to Welt inheriting his mentors Herrscher core and becoming the second Herrscher of Reason. His surname, Nokianvirtanen, is not an actual last name, but a mix of two names. The first part, Nokian, is a town in Finland. The second, Virtanen, is a common surname in finland derived from the word "virta", meaning "stream." I don't interpret this surname to have any meaning aside from establishing that Welt is (not confirmed outright, but heavily implied to be) ethnically half Finnish and half Chinese.

(!!!) Himeko Murata (無量塔姫子): Her first name is comprised of the characters 姫 (hime), meaning princess, and 子 (ko), meaning child. Put the whole thing together and it means "princess child", though I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that! I think it's less about her personality and story (especially in regards to Honkai Impact 3rd), but I think it represents her parents live for her, particularly her father's, as he's the one we know most about. The characters for her last name are-- 無 (Mu; nothing/nothingness), 量 (Ra(?); measurement, but with two connotations. First, it can mean a measurement, like weight or quantity, or it can mean "to measure" by estimate or actual documentation, or "to consider."), and 塔 (Ta; pagoda, tower, steeple). I think the most important part of her name is that last part-- in both universes, Himeko acts as a rock or mentor figure to many characters, being a motherly/older sister type towards the young trio of the express, and a teacher and squad leader toward Kiana, Mei, and Bronya, going as far as to strap a bomb to Mei's heart to keep her powers in check (with Mei's consent) should she lose control. 

And that's the Astral Express crew! I'm going by groups of characters divided into: Stellaron Hunters, Herta's Space Station, Belobog, The Xianzhou Loufu, and Penacony! (Characters are ordered by introduction. Characters will be put where they were first shown, despite their relevance in other places. Dr. Ratio, for example, will be put with the HSS characters instead of the Penacony category.)

[tzipporahs-well]

Hey it’s @flangstynerd AKA @scinerdwrites but on a new blog. There’s been a lot of changes in my life in the past couple years, and as a result I wanted to make a new blog for jumblr. Several of my friends are on here and I got inspired just to reblog their stuff :D

What’s Changed:

I converted to Reform Judaism from Catholicism in May of this year. I’ve been doing this conversion journey since November 2021, but I didn’t want to announce it to the internet until everything was done and finalized. After 2.5 years, everything is finally official.

I plan to be slightly more active on tumblr than I have been previously. I named my blog based on my Hebrew name (Tzipporah), and how I wish to provide a treasure trove of info.

I would say my ideals of practice are some kind of cross between Conservative and Reform Judaism.

I’ve acquired some chronic illnesses and disabilities over the years. My body has been tough to me for the last couple years.

I have a Jewish podcast that has several eps already now. Our podcast has a tumblr blog, but please dm me for more info for safety reasons.

What is the same?

I’m still Chinese, Hmong, and queer (pronouns: they/she). I’m still culturally Italian as an adoptee. Those are not going anywhere lol.

Still have several varieties of neurodivergence (autism, PTSD, anxiety, psychosis, some kind of unclear mood disorder). My brain likes playing it rough. I have healed a lot of trauma, but the other stuff is still a wild ride.

Still don’t plan to be super duper active as I have a scientist day job. But if I ever see a great jumblr post from one of my friends or otherwise, I’d be happy to reblog.

Still hold a lot of nerdy interests: Disney fandoms (Tangled the Series, Encanto, etc.), classic literature (Shakespeare, 19th century European literature), certain manga/anime (Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note)

Still can be quite critical of the things I enjoy.

About Me (Jumblr Edition):

Favorite Torah character (first 5 books of Moshe only): Tzipporah (I relate to her so much as someone who came into the tribe and a nontraditional wife; the bridegroom of blood scene is iconic)

Favorite Tanakh character: King Shaul (very relatable for me as I feel like I struggle from similar challenges as him: mental health issues, low self esteem, and paranoia) followed close behind by Esther (she’s a role model for me, and Purim is my favorite holiday)

Favorite Jewish Holiday: Purim (relatable message especially for these dangerous times; also a lot of fun while still being a relatively low stress holiday)

Hamantaschen vs. Latke: hard choice but I have to go with traditional poppyseed hamantaschen. They’re older (~1500s) than the potato latke (late 18th to 19th century) and store better.

Areas of interest: Jewish history, Tanakh discussion, Jewish culture (food especially; I love cooking and baking), Jewish learning (especially more about Jewish life in Israel)

What Jewish value can I improve on? Chesed; I find it hard to always express loving-kindness, and my impatience and temper can get the better of me. I’ve been trying to improve on these for the past two years but 5784 has been especially trying.

What Jewish value is very important to me: Ahavat Yisrael; it is important that we as a people stay united. United we rise, divided we fall. I admire all legitimate Jewish streams (side note: Messianic Judaism is not a Jewish stream)

Important note: If something says #goyim don’t touch, listen and obey! Don’t even try with the antisemitism.

[bastetwastaken]

Character intro: Aviditas/ Avi

"The desires of the heart are powerful, they can lead to both ecstasy and ruin. Lucky for you, I’m an expert in both."

His head rolled to the side as he was overcome with fatigue, but instead of finding an empty room, his eyes fell on a figure sat perched on the back of his sofa. He couldn't work out what it was exactly… some sort of bird…human…goat thing. Maybe he was hallucinating in his final moments. He frowned, trying to focus on the creature he thought he could see but his vision was blurry. "Aw, not gone yet, hm?" The strange figure spoke as it crossed its arms, dark feathered wings fluttering behind it. "That's okay, I can wait." That captivating voice certainly sounded human, but he couldn't understand why whoever was here had so many extra non-human parts. He squinted at it, lifting his head slowly for a better look. The things wings spread out behind it, framing a beautiful human looking figure perfectly. Wait, was this an angel? Had it come to take him to whatever came next? His lips parted and he tried to speak but it hurt his throat and all that came out was a harsh whisper. "What are you?" A smooth chuckle reached his ears and he found himself fixated on the creature before him. It tilted its head and said nothing as for a moment, it simply…watched him. "A Demon, of course." The other said with a smile, unsettlingly sharp teeth on full display. "I was here to finish you off, but it looks like you've done my job for me, I owe you one." A wink. "Come find me in Hell when you get settled in, hm? I'll show you a good time as a thank you~"

The need to know basics:

Age: Around 4786

Pronouns: Any pronouns, demons have no gender so Avi will simply conform to human perceptions of gender subject to his needs.

Sexuality: Yes. Personality: - Talkative - Flirty - Outgoing - Charismatic - Excitable Occupation: - Incubus/succubus. - Entertainer at an adult club on earth

Habits/Mannerisms: - Very lose morals (if he even knows what morals are) - Carries a small notebook with them which contains strange symbols and he writes in it periodically, especially when he hears something interesting. - Often blunt, but not in a harsh way just in the way that he sees things in a simplified way mostly. - Can get very excitable over new interesting things. - Draws people to him. - Able to talk his way out of almost anything.

Background: - Aviditas is a Latin name which means longing, desire, lust. It was given to him just after his creation. - Avi was never human, instead he is a hell born Incubus. He’s never been alive, or known an existence before that he has now. - Life in hell for them isn’t exactly easy. They are expected to do whatever their master says, without question, and he has done this for a long time. - Before a human changes the way he see's the world, he's never had many aspirations and always accepted the way things are as how they should be, but once his mind is opened, he's not sure he can ever go back to blind obediance...

Avi’s demonology comes from the representation of demons in both Christianity and Hebrew text.

Demons are essentially angels who failed to follow gods instructions, they’re not always inherently evil, more independent actors that aren’t so different from a human in terms of actual morality. However, some demons have their own agenda and can be tempted by primal desires, whilst others are directly influenced by the demons in charge in Hell and actively serve those demons' agendas.

There are demons who worship god, demons who are genuinely good-they’re just very quiet about it.

Avi speaks, reads and writes Enochian, (an occult constructed language which is spoken by angels and demons and other celestial entities, thought to be the first language of christ.) but since his job relies on communication he can also speak any human language as if it’s his own. It’s kind of like the Allspeak of the gods in Norse mythology. He does struggle to read though, often relying on text to speech to use modern technology, and he cannot write any human language. He’s never needed to learn how. Anyone not of angelic/demonic origin won’t be able to understand Enochian, it’s just not able to be perceived by the human mind. It will be possible to see the symbols though if Avi writes them out.

So he’s a demon, but what can Avi actually do?

Only certain kinds of demons can possess people. Avi cannot possess a person or an animal, but he can take their form and mimic them perfectly if he knows enough about them.

For Avi's power to fully work, he has to create a moment of weakness in the target. This is often easy for him to do through temptation. Once the person accepts him, invites him in, or falls for his charm then he is able to use his power on them.

Avis power will make even the lightest of touches feel intense to someone, everything with him will feel so much better than it ever has done with any other person. This is so he can create a stronger desire in someone and therefore have more Lust to feed on.

He can hypnotise his prey to make sure they don’t fully realise what he is. At any point he can blur the lines a little and make the person think he’s just a regular human who’s very good at what he’s doing. This is why he isn’t worried about showing his demonic features even in human form although generally if he’s out in public or doing his human job, he will keep his horns and wings hidden but he likes those things about himself so is reluctant to do so.

Avi can create obsession in a person, it’s a kind of defence mechanism and survival trait. He can make someone willing to protect him, fight for him, keep him safe from other threats to the point where they will willingly die for him. He can make them act impulsively, take risks they might not have done before and even change their personality entirely.

He can create obsession by visiting a person frequently, being intimate with them often and imprinting on them so they feel unable to live without him. He makes them feel like they desperately need him around, and this suits him fine when he needs to secure longer term food or has to hide from something. It will not be clear to the person under his spell what’s going on, but his spell can be broken by his own choice or by force if the right methods are used. (Avi will not be able to do this to a person who’s heart already belongs to another). Obsession can also occur accidentally if Avi is not careful to detach himself from a person.

Avi can sometimes become attached to a human. He tries not to do this, but if it does happen then Avi will become the irrational one. He’ll swear to protect the person, risk his own life to do so and may also stop feeding off others in favour of spending time with the person. - It’s more like an addiction for Avi though than actual feelings, he just follows his instinct which tells him he needs that person and can’t let them go.

Demons have mates, but Avi has not yet found one. He doubts he ever will find one, but this also means that he can accidentally imprint on humans he feeds on and bond with them, although the bonding part has to be consensual. It would be possible for a human to become Avi’s mate, but that would probably have its own issues due to the fact Avi is immortal and if a demon loses their mate, they cease to exist.

Avi can heal himself easily and can even heal others of simple things if he likes them enough. He can also take pain away with his touch and closeness. He has a very high pain tolerance too, it takes a lot to really hurt him.

His saliva acts as an aphrodisiac.

He can sense the true nature of a soul if he chooses to (although he'll likely only do this when it suits his purpose cause it takes effort)

------

Avi is one of the main characters of my fantasy romance between a demon and the human they accidentally saved from death.

The above image was created with Picrew’s “♡ doshi's oc avatar maker ♡“ Link is in the image

[dailydemonspotlight]

Alciel - Day 88

Race: Vile

Alignment: Dark-Law

August 7th, 2024

Bonum est deus... ahem. I'd like to start off this DDS by saying that, holy shit, the SMT wiki has an excellent page about Alciel, with fully cited sources and conjecture that makes sense, as well as providing two sources to pursue. Thank god... and as for a proper introduction,

Gehenna is typically seen as just another version of hell, but it's not quite that simple- rather, it's a separate part of hell, much like the difference between Hades and Tartarus. While Sheol is where the dead go, Gehenna is the home of punishment- where those whose souls have done truly horrible things shall face eternal torment as penance. It's not far off from its rendition in the Binding of Isaac, ironically enough, as it's torture to even exist there. Where there is hell, though, there must be one to preside over it, whether it be one cast below into hell or one who was sent there by the angels to watch over and torment the sinners. According to the Midrash ha-neʿelam, however, there is one being that presides over Gehenna to keep the sinners in and the righteous souls out, and that being is none other than today's Demon of the Day, Alciel.

Alciel, also spelled primarily as Arsiel according to @eirikrjs's writeup on the sources for the demon, is a demon that appears as the gatekeeper to Gehenna. While an admittedly minor character, only really attested to in some very obscure sources, Alciel can likely be confirmed as a genuine character in Jewish folklore. This is only further given credence by the meaning of Alciel, being "Dark Sun," at least in traditional Hebrew. Curiously, though, the original compendium entries about Alciel speak about his original name being "Aciel," which was 'Borrowed from a Babylonian god.' So, uh, what's up with that?

Yet again, for the source of this claim, we must refer back to the post by @eirikrjs, this time originating from the rather controversial book, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. The book in question is, again, seen as a rather controversial work, with dubious sources and a strange focus, but it does have this to say on the topic of Alciel. Again, I have to give all the credit to @eirikrjs and his team for even finding this, so thanks. To quote,

The kingdom of Gehenna was 60 times as large as the world. Each of the "palaces" had 6000 "houses," and each house had 6000 vessels of fire and gall awaiting the sinner. [The] Prince of Gehenna was Arsiel, copied from the Chaldean "Black Sun" Aciel, the negative deity corresponding to the god of light in the celestial realm.

This citation is given to one 'Cavendish, P.E., 146,' but I cannot for the life of me discover who this even is, or what it may originate from. Alas, I'm not fantastic at researching super deep into things, but if anyone can track down what this source was, please let me know. I'm starting to understand those amazon reviews that were roasting the shit out of this book for lacking concrete sources. Still, the given Black Sun of Alciel is a very confusing and interesting rabbit hole to dig into, and as the gatekeeper of Gehenna, I have to give him some props for a good job. A lot of stuff regarding Arsiel is murky to say the least, and I have to give a lot of props and credit to @eirikrjs for his work researching into this topic, especially given the relative obscurity of this demonic force.

For such an important figure in Gehenna, you'd expect him to get a few more mentions, eh? Well, whatever.

Maybe the guy's just camera shy. Could explain why he hides half his head underground all day.

[nicejewishcharactershowdown]

Nice Jewish Character Showdown -- Round Two Analysis

We're so back. Happy Jewish-American Heritage Month! Here are the characters that got eliminated in Round Two -- and since it's been a minute, I'm linking the polls to the contestant names.

James Wilson Status: Canon Jew Mazel tov to Wilson for making it to round two, a definite improvement from last year. In the past year I’ve actually started watching ‘House’ cause of y’all, so I think this counts as a win. And his initials literally being J.E.W. is fucking iconic.

Libby Stein-Torres Status: Canon Jew I’m so glad that the legacy of iconic Disney Channel Jewish Rep continues into the modern era. What a bop.

Fox Mulder Status: Pretty Much Canon Jew “Scully, you’re gonna wanna see this.”

Sidney Prescott Status: Transitive Jew There’s something so inherently Jewish already about the final girl narrative, especially when it’s one portrayed by a Jewish actor. Especially in the ‘Scream’ franchise, where so much of the narrative revolves around not knowing who you can trust, who’s your friend and who’s your enemy. Might be a bit melodramatic, eh. At least the transitive property can apply here, thank you Neve for this absolutely iconic line — “I am a practicing Catholic, but my lineage is Jewish, so if someone asks me if I'm Jewish, I say yes”

Bugs Bunny Status: Transitive Jew Remember how Bugs once literally saved Mel Blanc’s life when he was in a coma? What a wonderful relationship between creation and creator. We could technically expand the Transitive Property out to the rest of Blanc’s character catalogue, but there’s something so right about identifying Bugs Bunny as the representative for the Mel Blanc set.

Percy Jackson Status: Interpretive Jew This one’s a bit of a brainchild, so stick with me. Is it transitive from the (underappreciated) performance of the ICONIC Logan Lerman? Yes. Is it because of all the world-saving trauma he went through at such a young age? Yes. Is it because of the iconic motif of water in Judaism? YES. Is it the way Percy always gets blamed for trouble, even stuff he had nothing to do with? Yes. But most importantly, the chutzpah. The way he, and his friends, talk back to the Greek Pantheon. The way they question authority, and the way he in particular paves his way against the fate chosen for him. Constantly fighting for a better world, even if it’s gonna put him in more danger by pissing off some powerful people. I could talk about this for hours, so pull up a chair and start listening to the Lightning Thief musical, there WILL be an essay portion to this quiz.

Seymour Krelborn Status: Canon Jew Have you EVER seen a more nebbish horror musical male lead than Seymour?

Sharpay Evans Status: Transitive Jew Once you find out Ashley Tisdale’s Jewish, the Jewish American Princess vibes radiating off of Sharpay Evans become impossible to ignore. You just KNOW she grew up in the same Hebrew School class as Troy (another Transitive Property Jew thanks to the ICONIC Zac Efron!)

[lemonmaid]

How Obey Me Charaters would react to you mispronouncing their names.

Reader is Gender Neutral of course.

Lucifer:

"I can see that you have been paying attention in class, look no more. You and Mammon are going to be spending the entire night separated and focus on your school work untill you can speak Hebrew"

He doesn't even give you the correct pronunciation, he wants you to learn by yourself. Like when your parents are helping you with math homework.

Mammon:

"Tf did you just call me? Nah nah nah, listen it is pronounced ma•muhn or ma•mon, you can just be screwing around like that. You could summon a demon like that".

You two spent the whole night trying to learn how to pronounce his name correctly, which ended up with him just teaching you demonic language because "your language is difficult".

Leviathan

"Um, I didn't know that we are on a first-name basis... this is awkward. Please just call me Levi, no point in trying if you're going to say it wrong. It's also pronounced, luh•vai•uh•thn. Get it right normie"

He was really jealous, this wasn't the MC moment he wanted with you, especially when you are first watching anime together, "oh you can pronounce (random anime character name) but not mine?"

Asmodeus

*smiles*

"Oh okay, (butchers Y/N)! Yeah it isn't that nice to be called the wrong name, especially if your going to be in MY ROOM ON MY BED. Anyways, it's pronounced, As•Mo•Dee•Us".

He would never let this go, "sorry what was that I thought my name was "Assmadayus"". He is a fucking bitch.

Satan

"I see you are failing your studies in Hebrew and Latin, seriously, did your species just decided to stop speaking universal languages? Not everyone speaks English you know. Sound it out with me, Say•tin"

You two didn't talk for a week, he wanted an apology, like, he wasn't letting that shit go.

Beelzebub

"Huh what?"

He genuinely didn't noticed, it wasn't untill Bephine pointed it out.

"Oh, it is actually pronounced Bee•El•Zuh•Buhb. It's okay I understand your some of your species got rid of some of the ways you pronounced things"

Belphegor

"Please don't even try, I don't even go by that. It's kinda the equivalent of your parents calling you by your middle name. If you really want to know it is, Bel•Fuh•Gor".

Bruh didn't even care, y'all went back to sleep.

Hey guys I really enjoyed writing these for y'all, especially with all the new free time I have! (Lost my job!)

Anyways since I am not busy you can ask or request anything!

Fandom I will write for,

Obey me

Twisted Wonderland

BHNA

Chainsaw man

JOJO Bizarre Adventure

Omegaverse

Genshin Impact.

[archivalofsins]

It's Haruka's Birthday! Happy Birthday to him~ Unlike someone who didn't say it at least I did.

Now onto flower languages! Yamanaka tweeted this for Haruka's birthday. Since we have all the Milgram characters birthdays except Es and Jackalope. We can look up the remaining birth flowers.

A hint to which flower chart he's using is in the flower he lists for Haruka. Where I'm from Haruka and Amane's birth flowers according to the old farmer's almanac would be Rose and Honeysuckle.

So, what's he using? Well, the more in depth Korean one of course~

Unlike the farmer's almanac which covers the month wholesale the Korean one has a flower for each day of the month.

Haruka June 22

Viburnum 가막살나무 - Love is stronger than death.

Outside of the meanings listed by Yamanaka Viburnum is used to symbolize pride and is given to someone to honor their achievements.

Amane June 27

Passion Flower 시계꽃 - Divine love.

Amane even has a piece that resembles the flower on her cake art. Outside of meaning Divine Love it has heavy ties to Christianity.

"The name 'passion flower' refers to the passion of Jesus and the genus therefore has a particular relevance at Easter. Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique structure of the plant as symbols of the last days of Jesus and especially his crucifixion."

Mu July 5

 Lavender 라벤더 - Strong fragrance

To the surprise of no one outside of meaning Strong Fragrance Lavender has strong ties to France.

"The term lavender comes from the old French word, lavender which is imitative of the Latin word lavare (“to wash”). This flower represents serenity, grace, and calmness. The biblical meaning of lavender symbolizes purity, devotion, and love; that’s why lavender is referenced more than a hundred times in the Bible by the name of nard or spikenard by Hebrews."

"Lavender’s purple color also represents calmness and serenity."

In the Old Farmer's Almanac Mu's birth flower would be the Larkspur and Water Lily.

Kazui August 5

 Heather 엘리카 - Loneliness, solitude

Through the power of k-pop-

I've found out that the website I was getting the birth flowers from spelled the English name of Kazui's flower wrong. Also, it can mean loneliness, beautiful solitude, or soulmate. In the west, this flower would be referred to as Heather and its meaning would be good luck, admiration, and protection.

Kazui's birth flower according to the farmer's almanac would be Gladiolus and Poppy.

Yuno September 2

Mexican Ivy 멕시칸 아이비 - Change

Look I'm not even going to hold you finding the meaning of this specific version of ivy in English is difficult. At least for me it is maybe someone else can find it. However, when I look it up all the internet is giving me is the meaning of ivy which is a completely different flower. So, moving along.

Yuno's flowers in the farmer's almanac would be Morning Glory and Aster.

Mikoto October 6

Hazel Tree 개암나무 - Reconciliation

Yeah, you and I read that right it's a tree. A tree that has been tied to Celtic myths and was said to line the border between the human realm and that of the gods.

"Hazel has a reputation as a magical tree. A hazel rod is supposed to protect against evil spirits, as well as being used as a wand and for water-divining. In some parts of England, hazelnuts were carried as charms and/or held to ward off rheumatism. In Ireland, hazel was known as the 'Tree of Knowledge’, and in medieval times it was a symbol of fertility."

Mikoto's birth flower according to the Farmer's Almanac would be the Marigold and Cosmos.

Shidou October 24

Chinese Plum Blossom 매화 - Noble heart

This is also considered a tree, just not such a normal one.

"In Chinese philosophy, the Plum tree’s blossom is a symbol of winter ending and a herald of spring. The tree’s pale pink blossoms are cherished because they bloom vibrantly and so bravely amidst the winter chill. They symbolise perseverance and hope, as well as, beauty thriving in adverse circumstances."

"Plum blossoms represent good luck, prosperity, hope, courage, beauty, and purity in China. In Japanese traditions, they also symbolize hope in addition to renewal and vitality."

Good plant for the guy lying and replacing with hope, huh? Shidou's flowers in the Farmer's Almanac would be the same as Mikoto's.

Kotoko December 15

Winter Daphne 서향 - Immortality, honor.

Winter Daphne was also used as,

"A way of telling a love, “I would not have you otherwise.”."

Here's some more information on the flower.

Mahiru January 17

Rumex 수영 - Friendly

Rumex doesn't just mean friendly it has been stated to mean,

Affection, Matrimonial Tenderness, Close Relationships, Friendships and appears again on December 4 meaning Love.

Mahiru's flowers within the Farmer's Almanac would be Carnation & Snowdrop.

Last but certainly not least-

Futa April 19

Larkspur 참제비고깔 - Clear, fair.

Futa's was also misspelled in English on the website I was using so I corrected it.

"The Pawnee tribe of North America believed in a mythological figure, "Dream Woman," who cut a hole in the sky to look down on Earth beings. Crumbs from the blue sky fell to the ground and became larkspur. And like lily of the valley, larkspur is also associated with the Virgin Mary and is said to represent her tears. Larkspur is symbolic of a beautiful spirit, swiftness and generally of positivity and strong bonds of love. It is also associated with lightheartedness and youth, possibly because it grows in summer where carefree days are spent away from school."

"In the language of flowers, the larkspur holds the symbolic meaning of strong love bonds, dedication, sincerity, positivity and an open heart."

Open this door and check if you want to.

Futa's birth flowers within the Farmer's Almanac would be Daisy and Sweet Pea.

[lycanpunk666]

From the prompt of @nosuchthingasdeadlanguages … All the DCAS characters and my headcanons for them. For the sake of ease, in order: Gender and sexuality headcanons (Tis the season and also tumblr marked this post as mature for some fucking reason), general headcanons, and post-canon.

Repost since tumblr genuinely appears to be acting strange about it.

Jake: Cis gay guy. I think he’s into pop punk, and I think that he went to therapy once the show’s over. Possibly more than that depending on how the season ends. Christ this guy needs it.

Alec: Cis Aro ace-spec guy. To elaborate on this, I think that it took him awhile to find out since he kind of just thought that he had something mentally wrong with him and got together with his ex wife because of societal pressures. They were good friends, it’s just that everyone kept saying how they should be a couple, so one day he asked her out. He still isn’t sure how to feel about finding out he’s aromantic, especially since he’s not fully asexual. But he’s working through his issues. Post-canon, he and Connor become close friends and briefly live together.

Fiore: She’s 8, too early to tell anything. I think her family’s Catholic, as implied by the nature of some of the things they’ve allegedly said to her, and the fact that she was sent to a boarding school with nuns pre-All Stars. Post-canon, she probably goes back to that boarding school and just seethes. I feel like she’s gonna grow into a very unhappy teenager and an even unhappier woman. But she IS going to be absolutely terrifying and incredibly skilled in whatever job she picks.

Ashley: Cishet ally. She’s musclier than her sprite shows. No way she’s a farmer and she’s THAT skinny, that woman has abs that could shatter steel. Post-canon she works on putting up some better boundaries with Jake and also becomes friends with Tess.

Tom: Cis gay guy. He’s a really dorky dancer and really likes 80s pop. Also, he’s entirely driven by a gnawing desire to do good for the world, or at least know that he’s helping people directly. It’s not just a need, it’s genuinely a calling, and he’s doing what he believes is best for himself and for the world. Also, he was a skilled prodigy with a bunch of practical skills it took for spy work, which had to do with why he was out in the field at such a young age. Post-canon, he tries and fails to join the FBI (due to his terrible reputation it’s really hard to get hired for anything but cop stuff). He might eventually get to be a detective, though. Hopefully.

Ellie: Cis bisexual but uses any pronouns. She’s punk, and her favorite artist is Joan Jett. Post-canon she kind of has a really dismal future, so I think they live with Gabby as they manage to scrape by with her help and go to fashion school.

Gabby: Trans lesbian! In season 1, she was in the middle of getting a job as a forest ranger. By all stars, she got the job. Post-canon, she lives with Ellie, but their relationship is slightly strained.

Miriam: Cishet ally. She’s Jewish, indicated mostly by her name being a common Hebrew name, but honestly I just really like thinking about it. Post-canon she still has Jake living with her and has not worked up the courage to tell him to get his own damn apartment.

Grett: Cis bisexual. It took her ages to figure it out, though, and she’s still working through some internalized homophobia and biphobia. She’s definitely not perfectly okay but she’s doing better than she was. Also, she can play multiple instruments, including the piano, violin, and flute. Post-canon she continues working on that professional self-help stuff that was mentioned in All Stars.

Tess: Cis polyamorous bisexual. She’s a burnt out gifted kid- like legitimately went to a school for gifted students in her early years due to her talents in reading, writing, linguistics, and art. Post-canon, she dates Ally. They’ve got loads of chemistry, it works.

Ally: Trans polyamorous bisexual. Idk she’s got tgirl energy yknow? This is based on nothing. Anyway she’s got crazy good analytical skills, she was the top of her class in math and literature. She tends to apply it with video games but she’s really good at applying her knowledge. Also she’s autistic. Post-canon, she and Tess date, AND Ally goes to therapy so she can work on her terror around how people perceive her!

Hunter: Cis polyamorous bisexual. He’s not a very good student but he IS very smart. He LOVES puzzles, his favorite kind are 3D ones like wooden puzzles or rubix cubes. Awful social skills though. Post-canon he doesn’t really go to therapy but he does genuinely try to put in more effort into listening and understanding other people.

Yul: Cis and bi-curious. Or “Is there any way to be bisexual without being a part of the lgbt community. Because I don’t want to be a part of it.” God this dude has so many issues, I just wish he had more depth. Not necessarily to make him sympathetic, I just wish he was more than a bigoted bowling pin to knock down. So I think he’s just very squeamish. He goes out of his way to avoid things if they make him even a little bit uncomfortable (which goes poorly considering he’s on Disventure camp). Cough hack cough also DC’s writing for his homophobia was clumsy and not well thought out.

Connor: Cishet ally. But I feel like a reading of him being transhet is a wonderful take that has a fun direction for his worries about growing old. I think he grew up somewhere similar to Hollywood, or generally somewhere where your prime years are glorified and you’re told your life is essentially over once you grow old. He and Alec live together for a bit as I said post-canon, and Connor adopts a kid. He sort of wants a wife still, but he’s accepted the possibility that that might not happen.

Riya: Cishet, but I don’t think she’s homophobic actually (unless I’m misremembering something or missed something). She’s just a dick lmfao she doesn’t care if you’re gay. I feel like she actually really likes American food but doesn’t eat it often because it’s often greasy, and ruins her pores. Post-canon I have… no clue what she’s doing. Ngl i doubt her career was affected by what she’s done in All Stars, it might even have been enhanced by it.

Lake: Cis lesbian. I really really like her but I don’t know how season 2 ends yet, but I do think that she gets a bit wild with the wigs she gets (in terms of styles and colors). She gets really creative with them. Post-canon I’m not quite sure, she just continues to make serious bank with her books since she’s already a popular author.

James: Cis gay or bisexual, I’m not sure which so I might actually say he’s Achillean. He was very skilled academically, and he’s done with college and has a degree in business. I’m not actually sure what he’d do with it, he makes decent money being an influencer. (Why,,, tiktok though. James my beloved you can do better) Post-canon I have no idea, I need to see more of season 2 to say for sure but I do know that he and Aiden are endgame.

Aiden: Trans gay guy. He’s pretty average ngl I have nothing much to say about him. But I do think that he’s almost always trying to do the right thing, but “the right thing” is just what he perceives as such. Not necessarily what’s actually good for everyone else. He can get so stuck in his own beliefs that it can cause him to make snap perceptions of others and I think that this specific idea can get real complex quick. Black and white morality. Because when things get GREY then it gets COMPLICATED and DIFFICULT. It’s so much easier to see someone do something bad and just accept that they’re a bad person. He could be so interesting if you think about it like this guys I do not understand why the DC fandom loves him so much as is. Post-canon he lives with James. Idk what else he’d do.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Again, loving up some underloved fandoms here on Ciaossu-Imagines, so throwing out some headcanons I have about The Mighty Ducks characters! I hope anyone familiar with these movies will enjoy them!

Starting with Averman, he’s definitely Jewish. I think he and Goldberg are really good friends because both of them are Jewish. They attended Hebrew school together, their parents are good friends, and honestly they really rely on each other around the holiday season. Neither boy is ashamed of being Jewish or anything, but especially around the time period those movies are set, Hannukah was not as popular or as talked about as Christmas was. And when all your friends are talking about Christmas and their plans and the gifts they’ll get and all the celebrations you hear about are Christianity based, it’s hard not to feel a little left out so both boys’ kind of really like having another friend they can talk to about their Hannukah plans who will get it. Bonus headcanon but I think Averman has a bigger love of hockey and was the one to get Goldberg into the sport.

Hot take on Adam – I don’t think he’s this abused kid trying desperately to please Daddy. I think that while his father might have high expectations for Adam, his father isn’t really abusive. I think a lot of the pressure that Adam feels – and boy, does he feel a lot – is pressure that Adam puts on himself. I do see Adam as having some issues with perfectionism, with being way too hard on himself, and he struggles with anxiety and a need to be perfect but it’s because Adam himself knows that he’s got a lot of talent and he doesn’t want to waste that talent.

Charlie’s actually got a few hidden skills but the one that ends up surprising most people is that, at one point in his life, Charlie got really into magic and he’s pretty good with a couple of tricks, mostly sleight of hand stuff.

Tammy did enjoy playing hockey, I won’t pretend that she didn’t. But I think when it came down to it, she enjoyed figure skating a lot more. There was more pageantry in that sport, more creativity and more glamour in her mind and I think she left the Ducks before the second movie because she really did want to focus on figure skating and competing in that area. She did win several medals, but I think she largely left the sport around the time she started college.

Julie reads…for fun. While she loves being active and has various hobbies and interests, she’s been a life-long bookworm. She learned to read early, and gobbles books up. She normally gets through at least a book a week and does read a wide variety of things, though she has guilty pleasure reading that she’d be embarrassed if anyone found out about, such as romance novels and the Hardy Boys books.

Guy hates carrying change around with him. There’s just something about the weight of it and the clinking sound it makes in his pocket as he walks that drives him insane. He prefers to carry bills for cash and usually lets the salespeople keep his change wherever he goes.

Surprising thing about Goldberg…the boy is not only gifted with a green thumb, but he genuinely likes taking care of his plants. He only got them because his parents wouldn’t let him get a pet…they didn’t think he was responsible enough for a pet so they bought him a rather high-maintenance houseplant to take care of first so that he could prove that he could be responsible for another living thing. Turns out that he enjoyed caring for the plant so much, even giving it a name, that he ended up wanting more plants instead of an actual pet.

Jesse has a tendency to argue just for the sake of arguing. He legitimately enjoys arguments and I have this headcanon that he found the debate club during high school and it’s the most at home he’s felt since playing with the Ducks. Like, those are his people, that’s where he belongs. He gets really involved with debate throughout his high school career and I think he wants to go to law school after graduating.

Terry Hall…still hasn’t gotten the grasp of gum honestly. Not saying the kid is stupid, because he certainly isn’t. It’s just that he cannot, for the life of him, remember that gum is for consistent chewing, not eating, especially if the gum in question is a really fruity, sweet flavour.

I really do think that Karp is someone who is really easy to take advantage of. He gets bullied a lot as a kid and he’s someone who just naturally is the kind of person who really wants to make others happy and to have others like him. He’s a very generous friend but the fact that he’s willing to do almost anything to have his ‘friends’ like him means that he gets put into some pretty brutal situations and gets used throughout his childhood and teen years.

I think Peter’s an army brat, or something along those lines. Something tells me that this kid is someone who moves around a lot throughout his life because of his parent’s careers. He’s used to never staying anywhere really long enough to form completely solid relationships. He’s used to always being the new kid and needing to impress and be tough enough to both make friends and avoid bullies. I also think that while he really would like to settle down in one spot long enough to make serious friendships, the idea of doing so kind of scares him.

Luis taught himself how to juggle when he was a kid. He’s also really skilled at hackeysack.

Connie has the habit of pacing around when she’s deep in thought. There’s just something about moving that helps her think better and if she really has something on her mind, she tends to go running or jogging. The tougher the problem is, the faster and further she tends to go as she loses track of where she is or how far she’s gone.

Dean can burp the alphabet. Forwards and backwards. He’s really quite proud of this.

Fulton’s worst habit? He’s really bad at sitting and staying still for long periods of time and he starts fidgeting when he has to do so. He’ll stretch, move around in his seat a bit, crack his knuckles, but the worst is his leg because he’s definitely one of those guys who bounces his leg when he’s bored or restless, almost aggressively so.

Dwayne really likes to sing. He’s not horrible at it by any means, though a little tone-deaf. He’s a huge fan, because of how he was raised, of any older country, with Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Conway Twitty being favourites of his.

Russ has the tendency to get cold really easily. It can come out of nowhere too, with no real reason for him to have a chill or to be cold. He just is. He tends to always carry an extra layer with him as a just in case.

Ken has weird eating habits. He has to eat all of one thing before he can allow himself to eat the next thing on his plate. For example, if he has fries and a burger, he’ll have to eat all the burger before he’ll start eating the fries. He can’t bring himself to mix and match his food and not even he knows why.

[kkglinka]

Heh, so, I come from a fandom where character names have major significance, which means I promptly checked for that with Warrior Nun. I already knew a lot of catholic lore due to reasons, which meant I could guess certain character arcs, but boy howdy am I glad I checked some hunches.

Ava Silva, given the show's setting, would be Eve (rather than one of the convergent latin or germanic origins, with different meanings). Eve is the english translation of 'chavah', which is more description than name proper. Which in turn (very) roughly translates from hebrew as "giver/protector of life". This role of the mother remains unchanged by expulsion from Eden.

Notice how the halo always gives out quickly if used for violence, aggression or the taking of life, but ramps up like a champ if protecting and/or healing, even if it appeared to have gone empty moments earlier? While it is controlled through mental state, especially the one triggered by meditative thought, it clearly prioritizes the preservation of life. Eg; when Suzanne fell into despair and probably felt like dying over the prior Mother Superion's death, the halo made a quick exit.

Shotgun Mary: Mary Magdalene, the apostle of apostles, was the closest to Jesus (the halo-bearer) and witnessed his death. Eventually gets conflated with Mary of Bethany, and subsequently slandered every which way. Since the show's character seems to have a criminal background, she's likely meant to be both of them.

Lilith: From jewish mythology and folklore. The first woman, created to be equal to man, and rejecting subservience. Lots of story variations for her. Might've hooked up with the archangel Samael, after which she could not return to the garden of eden because that angel was kind of a demon, and subsequently becomes the mother of all demons. So show Lilith was first in line of halo succession, was robbed of that role by Ava, went to another realm, hooked up with a fallen archangel, but ultimately refused subservience to him.

Sister Beatrice: Saint Beatriz da Silva (*coughs pointedly*), a beautiful and accomplished illegitimate child of a nobleman, raised in a royal court, but wound up imprisoned in a tiny cell. (A proverbial closet, one might say). Went on to found a new order after she was freed. I don't think I even need to add to this one.

Sister Camila: Saint Camilla Battista, a vivacious young noblewoman fond of musical arts, who experienced numerous visions, and struggled with temptation. Show Camila is indeed slightly whimsical, musical, and enduring unwanted visions of an ex-archangels (and therefore arch-demon) and his pitiful idea of temptation.

Miguel: the Archangel Michael who appears at the moment of death, offering salvation. Yup, goes to the show's version of Eden, comes back super-powered, but his function is to mete out death. Pretty straight-forward.

[yuriisclumsy]

𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐕𝐈𝐈 — 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔

𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐕𝐈 | 𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐕𝐈𝐈 (you are here) | 𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈 (𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏)

Authors note: I think you guys are going to like this one! There will many new characters for the city!

Characters

Amalia Luxford

Age: 18

Birthday: April 4

Weapon: ???

Element: ???

Region: ???

Occupation: ???

About Amalia

–Amalia loves to joke around with people. Don’t take a lot of what she says at heart, most of the time, she doesn’t really mean it.

–Is a social butterfly.

╰Leave her alone for two seconds and she already knows the entire market square.

Vimlar Tridalia

Age: ???

Birthday: March 13

Weapon: Claymore

Element: Anemo

Region: ???

Occupation: General of the Upholder

About Vimlar

–Vimlar Tridalia, otherwise known as General Tridalia, founder of Tridalia Academy.

–Likes to take naps on rooftops.

╰Has indeed fallen on multiple occasions.

–Will only listen to her Grace’s orders.

–He’s a really fun guy to hang out with…if you can find him.

╰This man is so difficult to find that Head Butler Arias describes it as “Finding a needle in a haystack.”

Head Maid Zu

Age: 279

Birthday: May 5

Weapon: Broom

Element: ???

Region: ???

Occupation: Head Maid

About Zu

–Zu is a collected young woman. Many of the maids regard her as Madam Zu when outside of work as a sign of respect.

–Works closely with Head Butler Arias.

–She has very bad timing.

╰Once, Vimlar and Arias fall into each other by accident, Zu walked in the moment they were in a very sensual pose. Now there is a rumor that Sir Vimlar and Head butler Arias are in a secret-love-relationship with each other.

Head Butler Arias

Age: ???

Birthday: February 15

Weapon: Sword

Element: Pyro

Region: ???

Occupation: Head Butler

About Arias

–His full name is Arias 

–Has been working for her Grace for a while.

–Personally attends to any disturbance or mistreatment within the castle.

–Sir Leopold’s second cousin once removed.

╰[You have to search this one up… Trust me].

–Enjoys feeding birds.

╰When her Grace found that Arias likes birds, she requested that majority of the birds be feed by him. He took the animal keepers job.

Spot

Age: ???

Birthday: ???

Weapon: ???

Element: ???

Region: ???

Occupation: ???

About Spot

–Spot is not his real name.

╰The name began because of a spot he has on his left eye.

–He is a mysterious individual. He often enjoys a cup of coffee in a quiet Cafe.

 ╰He has a favorite Cafe he regularly visits. Spot is also really fond of the lady that serves him whenever he goes there, briggin gifts and such.

 ╰Can he just ask her out already? It’s annoying me to an extent I didn’t know existed.

–Speculations are he works for a secret organization, although this has not been proven.

 ╰Many of his fans say it’s true, even if they have no evidence to support otherwise.

???

Age: ???

Birthday: June 19

Weapon: ???

Element: ???

Region: ???

Occupation: Novelist Assistant

About ???

–This person is very committed to assisting her employer with anything she needs, especially if it has to do with the quality of the novels.

–Do not, and I mean. DO. NOT. Tell her that one of the novels her employer wrote is bad. She will fight you. In a physical way of course.

╰She has a history with getting arrested for this very reason.

NPC’s

Madam Adler

Age: In her 50’s

Birthday: December 3

Weapon: None

Element: None

Region: The Divine City

Occupation: Owner of Adler’s Tavern

About Madam Adler

–Madam Adler’s full name is Maria Adler.

–She enjoys partaking in conversations with the customers. Madam Adler lost both her son and husband to a terrible disease, so she donates generous amounts of mora to orphanages and nurseries in the city. This goes to the point of granting her the title “Elke Adler'' by the people.

╰[The name Elke originates from the Dutch language and carries the meaning of “noble” and “kind,” or “of noble birth.” In another light, the name also means “possessed by God” in Biblical scriptures and in Hebrew “oath of God”].

–Madam Adler met Master Crepus two years after she lost her husband and child when she attended a wine event, hosted and for those in the business.

 ╰They became such good friends that many of Diluc’s and Kaeya’s memories of festivals in Mondstadt had her in the picture.

–After Crepus passed away Madam Adler traveled on a whim, leaving everything to her employees to take care of, and dashing to Mondstadt to comfort the grieving Diluc and Kaeya.

 ╰She actually arrived a little to late, as she was unable to stop the fight between the two brothers. In fact, she found out years later after Kaeya had a slip up while tipsy. Poor them, they had to listen on in shame as Adler scolded the two boys.

Adler’s Tavern

–Adler’s Tavern is a common place for drinking and dancing. Not only bards perform, but all kinds of musicians come and perform for the audience, getting massive tips from the patrons at the tavern.

╰If there is one thing that they love more than beer and wine, is a lively atmosphere accompanied with good music.

– Madam Adler has been in business for a long time. Inheriting it from her late father, she has maintained the local brewers in business for almost three decades.

╰Without her, they would have lost their livelihoods. The brewers are always thankful to Madam Adler.

Felix

Age: 28

Birthday: June 30

Weapon: ???

Element: ???

Region: ???

Occupation: Knight in Training

About Felix

–Felix is a serious person, often not enjoying the company of others.

–Is one of the highly anticipated trainees to join the Knights of Favonius.

╰The knights are putting their bets on how quickly he’ll climb up the ranks and be granted a squad to manage.

Helena

Age: 24

Birthday: September 26

Weapon: ???

Element: Dendro

Region: ???

Occupation: ???

Michail

Age: 32

Birthday: September 11

Weapon: None

Element: Dendro

Region: The Divine City

Occupation: Royal Animal Keeper

About Michail

–Michail is the animal keeper for her Grace’s animals, and student animals when they have nowhere else to leave them.

╰He takes good care of all of them.

–He has a new assistant, assigned to him by her Grace after she learned that he had too much workload on top of him.

About the Animal Haeven.

–The Animal Haeven contains some of the rarest and almost extinct animals; there are a few species that are only seen here in the Animal Haeven.

Sir Leopold

Age: ???

Birthday: March 23

Weapon: Sword

Element: Pyro

Region: The Divine City

Occupation: ???

About Sir Leopold

–Sir Leopold is a powerful man in the political scene.

–Keeps Arias constantly updated on family issues.

Ilse

Age: 20

Birthday: October 19

Weapon: Catalyst

Element: Hydro

Region: The Divine City

Occupation: Royal Animal Keeper’s Assistant

About Ilse

–Ilse is very timid.

–Loves animals.

╰She loves them so much she quit studying in VOXIA, Academy of Mages, the moment the opportunity of the position was given to her.

–Is a very talented mage in her own area. Earning her spot in the Top 10 mages in school.

╰She focuses on enchantations.

Ellias

Age: 19

Birthday: November 8

Weapon: Sword & Spear

Element: Electro

Region: The Divine City

Occupation: Captain of Squad 17 of the Upholders

About Ellias

–He was the top graduate of Tridalia Academy last year. Many of his colleges and juniors look up to him for his achievement ever since he officially became an Up-holder.

╰He’s been the talk of the town for a year.

–One of his downfalls is his obliviousness.

[Fun Facts]

–Vimlar is a softie.

–Spot is a member of the underground intelligence network.

–Spot’s name is actually an alliance. If so, what is his real name?

–Head Maid Zu was the one to spread the rumor of Sir Vimlar and Arias in the Castle. Why? Sir Vimlar had stolen her last piece of pumpkin pie, so for revenge, she took advantage of the accident. Head Butler Arias was just a sacrificial lamb.

–For Diluc, Madam Adler is a mother figure that has been there for him in difficult situations.

╰Has expressed gratitude to her by buying expensive gifts for her. She gets mad whenever she receives them, saying it’s far better to spend the money on other things.

–Diluc also refers to Madam Adler as Aunt Elke, honoring her title as a noble and just person.

–Madam Adler has already put Diluc and Kaeya in her will. And no. They can’t do anything about it.

 ╰They beg every time for her to take them out of the will, but she refuses to.

???: Hmm...

???: Where did that little rascal go?

???: Up to no good, I imagine.

???: But this quietness is pleasant...

???: I won't look for the little one for now.

???: *Sits back on a chair on the beach and enjoys a coconut*

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚜: @udretlnea, @taurus-caeli. Re-blog or Comment if you want to get added into the Tag section for The Divine City: Arc. Back to The Divine City: Arc Master-List. Go to Story, a related series.

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[wingsfreedom]

Rui Shi and Renkai: the Lions

I often use Chinese as the standard language when translating possible meanings for the names since the world building is culturally inspired by it and it's also the language that is used in the official writing system in-universe (even though the characters are English speakers lol) BUT it's important to note that the languages that many names belong to are deeply diverse, in Gladiator and especially canon. There is a Japanese name (Sokka), Arabic wrong-sounding name (Katara), Spanish name (Azula), English pun name (Toph), Greek, Hebrew or a female name of Persian origins (Sozin)... est. So no one can stop me!

Let's start with Rui Shi, a Chinese name:

Rui Shi, Auspicious Lions of Chinese mythology 瑞 ruì: lucky; auspicious; propitious; rayl (acoustical unit) 獅 shī: lion

On the other hand, we also have a (presumably) compound name with Renkai. What is so interesting about his name is that the first half got a lion meaning too in Germanic language:

(Note that the deep "r" does not exist in JP, Chi and Germanic languages for the matter but it's not our fault that the characters are English speakers, maybe his parents have different accents in-universe.)

The name was decided before birth: if the child was a female, she would get the 'lotus' meaning and if it was a male then he would get a 'lion' meaning... and he is a boy and a Rui Shi wannabe, so it's decided. Also, "scowling as a furious lion" ch.358

Kai on the other hand can be any of the meanings on this list.

Return to the Lion meaning I find it interesting how the site parallel Lenn to Shishi i.e the Imperial Lions in Chinese mythology that are often found in palaces and tombs. They were thought to protect the building from harmful spiritual influences (*Si gritting his teeth*) and harmful people that might be a threat. [source: wiki]

In conclusion: badass.