#especially with the stanza about the past

[mythicalartistx]

"It's so annoying that I want to fall asleep clinging to you every day"

I need more needy Riku like PLEASE GIVE ME Riku just wanting Sora so much and he feels annoyed that he wants that

I'd literally go insane if in game he references Chikai

I honestly don't get how people think it's not from his POV??

And it doesn't even have to be inherently romantic.... Well some lines are

Actually yeah it's kinda gay

Like a LOT. His whole character is after all

Discussing the meaning of Chikai again but this time on how it is about Riku

Starting with these stanzas,

He never cared for destiny. Destiny tried to screw him over. He lost the kingdom key something he was supposed to have.

But we come to the next stanzas where he ask if you're happy with me?

All his fears and doubts and insecurities throughout the series are shown here. In the second game he couldn't believe Sora wanted him to come back.

He had this understanding with Sora in the dark realm and when he says don't get my hopes up too much.

He just can't believe he would still want to be his friend/remain with him.

Eternal vow, he made a promise to protect his precious friend or it could be relating to necklace theory.

He mentions rings of same color. Man he wants to kiss him. I love you Riku you're so silly

And he wants to fall asleep clinging to him.

He doesn't make promises because they can be broken and wants a vow something eternal.

Then we have the line rings will be the color of sunrise. Riku walks the road of dawn, he is the light.

And finally we have these lines. "Lay your heartbeat on mine" More needy Riku. I love it, so cute.

Then let's celebrate we live in the moment could honestly be any time where Riku is with Sora. Like when they're okay because they're together such as in the dark realm.

Now we will talk about this stanza. It shows him crying of the past.

Like he regrets the past and what he did. He's crying because of it. These stanzas I cannot see who else would ever believe that besides Riku.

A light stream from open door, he's literally the light. It could also refer to him walking by Sora's side to the door of light.

Riku often worried about Sora and wants him as his friend or even something more.

Finally we have the final stanzas.

Riku wants Sora to kiss him. And once isn't enough. He says please give me you, he wants him. Chikai translated lyrics are just so much.

And the last line sound of sunrise, could also be him referencing the dawn again. Side to Side they're together laying on the beach. They've done it in the past and they done in several times.

Like several lines is just cute lines, but some of the line is about him. Especially the one about the past. Like that's not about Sora it's not about Kairi. Some people think it's her POV.

Like she doesn't remember the past and doesn't have feelings towards it.

[pinksugarscrub]

O Sweet Juliet

Tom Holland! Peter Parker x fem! reader

Inspired by @heihei.edits on tik tok! Thank you again for your permission to make a story of my own. Thank you to @froggheadd for allowing me to use their art 💕 (i'll upload the banner asap!)

Word count: 946

~

“Pete?”

Your voice so soft it's barely above a whisper. Peter immediately perks up and drops his pencil. Like he's been waiting to hear your voice. His eyes search yours as he smiles.

“Yeah?”

“What’s this?”

Scooting your stool closer you ignore the loud squeak it makes across the lab's tile. Peter meanwhile slides his study guide away to the edge of the desk to make room for your textbook, English.

The pages contrast the formulas and theories Peter has been studying for over the past hour.

Normally the two of you would use a timer to keep from overloading your brains. But with finals coming up and an important mission soon after, you had to cram as much information as you could. Ned would also have joined but declined under the excuse his Lola needed him.

He really was your wingman when it came to Peter. You did however, owe him a cartilage of web fluid to mess around with for missing today's study session.

You trace your finger along stanzas before finally reaching line fifty-two. Reciting it before referring back to the essay prompt for your last paper.

“I understand Shakespeare was using pathos but how exactly does that connect to this?”

Peter leaned over you and despite the close proximity he felt so far away. His chin almost resting on your shoulder as he scanned the text. Romeo and Juliet, a “classic”. What? You can't help it if MJ degrades the play every chance she gets.

“Well…” He licked his lips before pulling away. Flipping through the pages as he continued. “The story is about love being blind, right?”

You nod as you look at him quizzically but still with enough patience that you don't interrupt.

“Young love specifically.” Peter finally stops on the prologue. Sticky notes littered in the margins much like the rest of your textbook. Definitions and context mostly.

“Shakespeare sets up this narrative from the beginning.”

The rest of his words fall on deaf ears as you admire him. Peter hasn't noticed that when concentrated, he taps his foot incessantly. Biting his nails as he articulates his next thought. His lashes fluttering remind you of how jealous you are over them.

“So…” you clear your throat as you look back to the textbook. What little words you did catch clicking together like cogs. “By setting up how completely infatuated they are-”

“-their deaths become the payoff,” he completes. Smiling even brighter as he notices that look of understanding flashing in your eyes. One he's seen all too often when you work on Stark tech.

He thinks you're just as bad as his mentor when it comes to your inability to take breaks. The restlessness you get from not being able to solve a miscalculation that leads to midnight coffee runs to the seven-eleven around the corner. Not that he's complaining. If anything, he hopes you'll get the craving for something sweet so he can whisk you away. Have you all to himself without the prying eyes of the other avengers.

Peter's quite aware Tony is hovering through the surveillance cameras. He wouldn't even be surprised if the rest of the team was watching them like their own personal home movie. Frankly he's tired of getting teased, especially by Thor.

“Ok…Ok so-” You shift closer and Peter feels his heart lurch in his chest. It's like you affect him so much his own body can't take being near you.

Would you mind if he peppered kisses along your cheeks when it gets too cold? Hold your hands as he stares at you like you're the most precious thing in his life.

He sometimes wonders if you feel the same way but with how easy you seem to make these interactions he thinks not. Maybe you know enough that these teasing touches are a way to torture him.

“-the scene where they first meet. That's the main foundation for how the reader sees them as a couple.”

Peter nods as he tries not to lean in and kiss you. His eyes dancing between your lips and the pencil you keep chewing on.

“Being star crossed lovers heightens the effect and makes us root for them,” you mumble,“and again is why their deaths are so effective at evoking pathos.”

“Right,” he chuckles.

You lean back but not to far. Stretching your arms over your head as you look down at the mess of notes and candy wrappers you made on Tony's desk. If anything it's to hide how hot your cheeks feel.

“Cool, thanks Pete.” You sneak a glance at him with a quick smile before quickly doting down the major points of your conversation. Ignoring how your heart races once he finally looks away.

“Of course,” he hums. Mind lost on the homework he was doing previously. All these numbers mean squat when you're sitting next to him. His grades would absolutely suffer if he had to share more than one period with you.

Peter must have reread ‘what is the missing angle?’ a dozen times between looking over at you while you admire his reflection through the lab doors.

Somewhere Thor is handing over a wad of cash while Natasha grins over her newfound prize. She gives it until prom season when Peter will have no choice but to ask you out on a date while Tony says it'll be less than a week because that's when the mission is. Adrenaline does something to you y'know? And Bruce…well Bruce just smiles against his coffee mug as he sees your hand reach out for Peter's under the desk. He hopes you like the anniversary gift he helped Peter pick out.

[graychrissy]

🌊Digital Detox + Egyptians lucid dreaming method 🌊

Idk what to put on the title of this post so I wrote digital detox and I have copy pasted the main lines.

In the ancient Egypt the Egyptians use to have lucid dreaming alot and it was extremely easy for for them not just Egyptians but it was also mention ancient Indian scriptures.

You’re probably wondering ‘what’s the secret’? The real problem is often NOT your technique. It’s actually another issue that no amount of techniques, articles, reality checks, supplements or uncomfortable masks is going to fix. It’s your ‘inner game’. Specifically, your subconscious motivation and reward circuits, and ‘dopamine cycle’. Travel in your mind for a second, to ancient Egypt.

There were no smart phones, internet connections, computer animated action movies or virtual reality headsets.

Your brain back then would have produced a healthy amount of dopamine as a reward for pretty basic things like eating, working, exploring, and taking some time to relax or meditate

Now our average attention spans are literally less than 7 SECONDS. It’s probably a lot lower than that, and It’s declining every single year with the rise of new, highly addictive and stimulating social media apps and platforms. When was the last time you meditated for over 90 minutes? Have you ever? I’m not saying you have to do that to lucid dream, but this sort of practice was very common 5000 years ago. In fact, it was weird NOT to do that. And herein lies the main problem.

Your brain is ‘fried’ with an overly stimulated dopamine pathway. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that stimulates the feeling of WANTING to keep doing something. It’s the reason you keep scrolling through Instagram, or keep refreshing your Facebook feed to see if there are any new comments or notifications. But it’s also the SUBCONSCIOUS reason you aren’t able to lucid dream easily. In the last decade especially, there have been billions of dollars spent by big tech to essentially ‘addict you’ to their platforms. Why? Money. The more time and energy you spend on platforms like that, the more money they make. So the task has been given to artificial intelligence. The AIs often just get trained and told a few basic things: 1: Get people to spend more time on the platform 2: Get people to keep coming BACK to the platform as often as possible The ‘AI’ pays almost NO attention to what that would do to your mental health, attention span, motivation, emotions, or really anything else. Much LESS attention is paid to the effect it has on your ability to focus, or do things like, say, lucid dream. Now, the ‘dopamine cycle’ is one part of the problem, but it’s actually pretty easy to fix. There are several little pieces to what I call the ‘modern brain puzzle’. Things that just weren’t a problem 5000 years ago. You can see some of this playing out in children today. On average, children or people under the age of 15, find it MUCH easier to lucid dream than adults do. It’s because at that age, their dopamine system has not been damaged too much. This is of course changing now, as more and more children are having access to smartphones, but it’s an interesting point. In fact not only does the dopamine problem affect your ability to lucid dream, it also affects your ability to WANT to lucid dream (consciously and subconsciously). Specifically I’m talking about your motivation and focus. And you guessed it, there’s your number one cause of problems when trying to meditate, practice techniques like the WILD, or recall your dreams.

After reading this paragraph or stanza whatever,I noticed something,as a kid I had lucid dreams alot with just putting intentions.

My first lucid dream was at around 7-8 years old,and I was sinking when I realised I was dream and I tried controlling my dream and even succeeded,and I was probably there for about 10 minutes playing with underwater creatures and mermaids.

And till 7 grade I use to have alot of lucid dreams but after that I was allowed to use phone and so I was always invested in phone like all the time. By the way lucid dream was pretty normal for me and I pretty much forgot about it and never really paid attention to lucid dreaming. And then I rarely had any lucid dreams, probably 4 times ever since 8 grade and I've noticed every time I lucid dream it's always whenever I don't use any social media.

In 9 grade my phone was taken again because my mother noticed my social media addiction. And after few months I again start to lucid dream for fun easily and effortlessly but during COVID I was again allowed to have my phone and then a new laptop so now my life was revolving around social media again and for the past few year I only lucid dream whenever I don't get to use my phone more then 2 days.

Idk bout y'all but I wasn't allowed to use phones or laptop till 8th grade so the only thing I knew was TV which I only watched after coming home so like my mind was most of the te bored because I didn't had anything to keep it entertain which made it easy for me to observe around looking for things to do.

So how can you reverse the ‘dopamine problem’ and several of the other issues modern life has created? By the way: This is NOT about destroying your phone and going back to live in a cave. There are actually several powerful habits you can install, that will let you KEEP using your phone, laptop etc, but without these harmful effects. Here’s the simple solution to more lucid dreams: 1. Reverse engineer your life and remove distractions, manipulation, ‘dopamine hijacking’ and harmful blue light exposure from your daily routine (along with some other ‘problem patterns’) 2. Get inside your subconscious brain and rewire yourself to WANT to practice lucid dreaming, and to effortlessly do reality checks at the right time, without even trying 3. Learn powerful ‘all day awareness’ and ‘lucid living’ techniques that give your brain superpowers in the fight 4. On top of THAT foundation, learn the most effective techniques and concepts, use our tools to stay motivated, and experience lucid mastery within 14 days. Let’s dive a little bit deeper: First, you have to ‘reverse engineer’ the problem. This can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing, but we’ve laid everything out step by step for you. If dopamine addiction is part of the problem, we have to break that addiction first. Then comes your mindset, and your motivation pathways. You need to actually feel GOOD when you practice these things. I see so many people saying they’re struggling to remember to do reality checks, or they just don’t want to wake up at ‘weird times’ to practice. Don’t worry, you won’t have to. It will feel good, and you’ll ENJOY practicing these things. Next, your subconscious mind. It’s SO important to fix your internal beliefs about lucid dreaming, because the chances are you have ‘internal blocks’ about becoming lucid. They’re easy to pick up, but a bit harder to ‘unlearn’. The system shows you how to ‘unlearn’ them, and install new, powerful and self affirming beliefs into your mind. This gives your brain lots more motivation to keep trying. Now, one of the most common things I hear people say is that they can’t REMEMBER to keep doing reality checks. It’s linked to the dopamine problem we mentioned earlier, but it’s also connected to a few other psychological principles that we’ll get onto. We’ll give you a new framework to ENJOY reality checks, remember them without any annoying reminders, and actually get them to SHOW UP in your dreams, 9 out of 10 times. And then finally, we’ll build the most effective techniques, methods and concepts on top of that new, strong foundation. Of course, I’m simplifying this here, but that’s the outline.

Here are some videos that may help.

If you want to know more about it or get the steps to lucid dream you can buy the book or go through a long step to get it for free but the procedure is very long and probably only for Iphone user.

You find some good articles ways to do the 'reverse dopamine' thingy.(I donot trust my research on this topic cuz I got confuse)

You may use Adambja's tape to reprogram your subconscious and this hacking the matrix tape the comments under the video was so good and I found this tape on someone's success story. You can use this two tapes to reprogram your subconscious and of course psych-k.

This is pretty much all you need digital detox,observing your surroundings and subconscious reprogramming to change your belief or assumptions.

And this will make you even more motivated that you are working on your goals as many of us have the access of devices it's hard for us to keep up with all this method and it's not like we are always busy if we are we wouldn't be scrolling through Tumblr and Pinterest all the time. If you read the the copy pasted part you'll see what I mean.

Edit: I forgot to mention it 🥲 if we follow do this we CAN HAVE lucid dream everyday.

Egyptians lucid dreaming tea

This will be quick,so I went to my aunt's place with my mother and my aunt's ran out of tea powder/leaves so she used her daughter's blue lotus tea and after getting home I took a nap and I HAD A FOKING LUCID DREAM,so basically I didn't knew that it was the tea until I was doing some research on LD and found out that in ancient Egypt they use Blue Lotus tea and I found some review about it on YouTube and people had very vivid dreams aswell. This tea basically put you in REM which y'all probably know about.

But I don't like tea😐,so if anyone have interest you can try I honestly want to but my hate for tea is on top on the list of top 5 things I hate,you can find them online people even use Blue Lotus in vape😐not encourageling y'all to smoke but if anyone does you can.

[raayllum]

i'm gonna break down the poster later but for now I wanna talk about the poem

As others have noticed the first letter of each line, read bottom to top, spell out "The Red Wedding" which is likely the episode title, so I'm not going to speculate too much on that.

Like we know at this point hardly anything is accidental in TDP especially when there's blatant opportunities to hide clues, so with that in mind, I want to look at stanza by stanza to the best of my ability.

Gnash your teeth, O Dragon Fierce! Night’s not far away

"Gnash" is an aggressive reference to teeth, which makes me think of "ivory draconic" for the Nova Blade, but also of scenes yet explained (the arc 1 intro of human warriors gathered on one side of the border, and Thunder's display of power). However, I think it's likely that what the poem is referring to is even farther back in history, given that "night" might refer to a time period (i.e. the stars leaving) happening soon.

In the sky that watchful eye Does weep and stare and pierce

"White as the star's heart it pierced" and we see eyes in reference to dragons' ire against Elarion. That said, this "watchful eye" could belong to a long ago Startouch elf (Aaravos, Laurelion, Leola?) who cared about what was happening, hence being 'watchful.' Pierce has a less peaceful connotation, but this section of the poem definitely reads as "in the past to me" (I say, preparing to eat my words in the future)

Dance away, O Golden Queen! Eternal fiery flame While shadows jeer into your ear Don’t forge a blade from shame

This, meanwhile, feels like a pretty straightforward reference to Janai in present day. She is both queen and the Golden Knight of Lux Aurea. Dancing is a part of Sunfire proposals, she has fire powers, and she's planning a wedding. "Shadows" could be references to her nightmares from Aaravos and the shadow monster creatures Karim's army is probably going to accidentally turn into thanks to Pharos' lingering corruption. She wields a Sunforge blade, of course, and has doubt/shame surrounding her choices and status as queen as it moves back and forth... so maybe "don't make a harsh choice out of shame/fear of unworthiness?" But we shall have to see.

Now onto what's probably my favourite stanza:

Eight in a line, O Chosen Mine! Ready for a war Endlessly burning Hopefully yearning That love will triumph once more!

"Eight in a line" makes me lose my mind because there's 8 pieces across the board in chess (2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops make 6, + 1 king and queen make 8; as well as 8 pawns, of course). "O Chosen Mine" also makes it sound like Aaravos is the speaker of the poem, which given that he's someone poetry has been written about up until now, is deliciously meta.

"Ready for a war" might apply most straightforwardly to the Sunfire elves, but I don't think we even have eight named Sunfire characters in show, so it must encompass more main players. Perhaps unrest in the Pentarchy, and of course, the Dragang taking steps to try to go to war against and defeat Aaravos.

"Endlessly burning" has a couple different meanings, given that 1) fire cannot burn forever, 2) it seems humans were gifted sun magic first way back when, and 3) fire/burning has a more positive association with light. "Hopefully yearning" has a positive connotation, even if people on both sides can have hope for various reasons ("There is one weird hope" from Claudia in 4x01 vs Ezran's "There is a hope" in 3x03, etc). To yearn for something is to have "a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something that you cannot have or get easily" and we know that wishes and wants are something that can go from good to bad in TDP's world, especially when it comes to Aaravos.

The characters are hoping/working/wishing that "Love will triumph once more," the way it did for them in 3x09. This reflects back into love > control, narrative of love > narrative of power, etc. It also caps off this stanza of "eight in the line" having the game motif, and then triumphing also indicates winning the game.

But, of course, they can't. Not in S6, anyway.  😈

[henrysglock]

Local Man Uses The Cyclical 27-Year Torment Nexus To Try And Change His Fate [EPIC FAIL COMPILATION]

You probably guessed that this is the time-travel post I've been slaving over. You'd be right. This is the newest and most formal iteration of my long-standing time loop theory (I have drafted flowcharts back from February that actually predicted a dimension/time fuckery event in 1943 in relation to Brenner, which was made canon by TFS). So...Let's just dive right in. Note: I'm planning to keep calling TFS Henry "Henry" here just for simplicity's sake.

Now, fair warning: There are a few big "bear with me"s in this post. I promise they make sense, I just need you to hear me out.

It all started with Henry's self-proclaimed superhero name: The Stardust Spider.

Some of you may have seen my original post about The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars (here).

Before anyone says "Oh, but that album didn't exist yet", a reference in 1959 about a Bowie album that wouldn't be recorded until November of 1971 is in keeping with TFS's habit of directly referencing things from the '70s that "don't exist yet".

However, all that aside, there's a specific piece I want to return to, because it bugs the living daylights out of me.

There was a cut song that was meant to go on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars titled "Shadow Man":

For obvious reasons in relation to Henry in The First Shadow, this song already stuck out.

Specifically, though, these few stanzas hit me weirdly:

You should call and see who answers For he promises to come running Guided by the truth For the Shadow Man is really You Look in his eyes and see your reflection Look to the stars and see his eyes He'll show you tomorrow, he'll show you the sorrows Of what you did today You can call him foe, you can call him friend You should call and see who answers (see who answers) For he knows your eyes are drawn to the road ahead And the Shadow man is waiting 'round the bend ('round the bend) Shadow man is waiting up ahead

The Shadow Man is you from the future. He's waiting up ahead to show you the the truth/the consequences of your actions.

Considering that the TFS version of Young "Henry" has a direct connection to both the Shadow and Dimension X from a young age, and he also experiences what seem to be Vecna-type visions, this becomes particularly interesting to me...Especially seeing as said fates are not only possible for future "Henry", but also canon for future "Henry". (See: Vecna guy vs Mindflayer guy)

So, when I see an almost comical number of lines in TFS relating to rewriting known, undesirable endings (here are a few of my favorites):

And when we revisit some of the on-film classics:

I start to think it's time we revisit the concept of time-travel and trying to change your own fate.

It's always hard to know where to start with posts like these, so I'm going to kick things off with the technical aspect: The Cycle.

Something I've talked about in the past year, mostly on Discord, is this concept of a time loop. Not just any old time loop, though. A 27 year cycle, specifically.

Not 20, not 30...

Now, we all know the TFS timeline is messy as hell and doesn't actually align with anything that's possible in filmed canon...or within its own time span, even.

For example, the attack on Mr. Newby happens both some point after October 1st, 1959 and before November 20th, 1959...but the papers for the incident report it on March 20th, 1958:

The timeline we're given also largely fabricated, as I pointed out in relation to the newspapers with dates that don't actually exist.

However, much like NINA, the sequence itself being fake doesn't mean the events didn't happen. It's just not happening in the time frame we're told it's happening in:

It's a set of real events, just portrayed on a different time scale.

So, with all that in mind, I want to lay out a timeline, starting from Season 4 and moving backwards in time:

— Vecna opens the rifts, and El opens a gate to Dimension X in NINA, both in 1986. The March 1959 Creel Murders occur exactly 27 years before the Rifts and NINA's Dimension X gate open in 1986...at which point the Mindflayer is shown to be active.

— Mothergate opens through to Dimension X at some point between November 1983 and October 1984, this being somewhere between 16-28 months prior the Rifts opening. The paper about the attack on Mr. Newby, dated March 20th, 1958, is released exactly 610 days, or 20 months, prior to the Creel murders on November 20th, 1959. It's not necessarily the exact dates that are important here (again, these dates are relatively unreliable), but the gap between the dates.

When put in accordance with filmed dates (i.e. setting the release of this paper exactly 610 days prior to March 22nd of 1959), the paper for the attack on Mr. Newby would have been released on July 20th, 1957. This would be in line with Edward Creel's move to Hawkins in the spring of 1957...while also occurring 27 years before July of 1984, at which point Mothergate is open, and the Mindflayer is active.

This July date is especially funny to me considering we get "throwaway" lines like this...with shots in filmed canon from summertime:

Top: Joyce and Jim beginning their investigation into the attic attack. Hopper Sr. is questioning why Joyce and Jim are investigating, rather than attending school. Bottom: Alice and Henry with the rabbit death scenes in filmed canon, the setting showing full foliage and both children in summer clothing. "Is it summer break?" I don't know. You tell me, Chief.

Per TFS, Henry went missing in a cave system near his home town of Rachel, Nevada (hold that thought) at some point in the year prior to the attack on Mr. Newby. We've been told that Dimension X was involved in this event in Nevada, something happened there that left "Henry" altered physically. He was also flayed at some point around this time.

This all coincides with Henry's dramatic mood shift from a "normal and good" boy to one suffering from Mindflayer-induced psychosis. This change happened in tandem with the Nevada incident, dating back 10 months prior to the attack on Mr. Newby:

If we set Henry's initial disappearance in line with filmed canon like before, it becomes September of 1956, which is just over 27 years before Will's disappearance in November of 1983, at which point we know at least one gate is open.

We also have 1952, at which point TFS Henry would be 7 per his age as a 14 year old/freshman in play canon. This exists in a 27 year interval against 1979, when El opens the original gate that sends One to Dimension X, where he subsequently shapes the Shadow into the Mindflayer.

Here comes the first "hear me out".

My questions are:

Since Henry/Vecna/The Mindflayer/etc. in general don't show any capability for opening gates before 1986, then how the hell is the Mindflayer possessing anyone in 1959?

How did "Henry" get involved with Dimension X in Nevada in the 1950s?

Unless, by some chance:

Dimension X exists all the time simultaneously (i.e. it's a space outside time)

The gates exist simultaneously across time and space in the Right Side Up in 27 year intervals. By which I mean: A gate that opens in, say, 1983 would exist simultaneously in 1956, so on an so forth.

There's the disappearance of Captain Brenner and the USS Eldridge in 1943, which would, interestingly enough, align with 1970, the supposed year of El's conception.

Then, 1952. Now, I'm not sure what's special about 1952, when TFS "Henry" was 7, because they don't actually say what happened to make that year important! They make a point to show it to us, though, meaning something happened...we just don't know what. All I can say is that 1952 does exist in a 27 year interval against El's 1979 gate. Hold that thought.

Those addressed, let's fast-forward 4 years: 1956/1983.

Now, to be fair, there is some uncertainty in my mind about whether this specific gate incident stems from Brenner's involvement with Project Rainbow in Nevada pre-1957*, or if it stems from Mothergate in 1983, or if they created some kind of wormhole between the two locations 27 years apart...but that's a concept I need to explore more thoroughly in a another post.

In short, though: Did a singular El open a singular Mothergate? Did El open mothergate? Did Mothergate actually open on November 6th, 1983...or are we just supposed to assume it opened the same night Will went missing/the demogorgon came through? We're never given a concrete date for when Mothergate actually opened.

* In TFS, Brenner claims he's dedicated his life post-1943 to Project Rainbow with the goal of finding Dimension X, and that he's doing so in pursuit of knowledge regarding the circumstances of his father's death in connection with the Philadelphia Experiment. The USS Eldridge, Brenner Sr.'s ship, disappeared into Dimension X briefly on October 28th, 1943. "Brenner Sr." was the sole survivor. "He" returned to the Right Side Up with a completely unique blood type, supposedly altered by his travels into Dimension X. This is what ultimately led to him succumbing to his injuries, due to his body rejecting all forms of blood transfusion. Brenner Jr. tells us that about 10 months prior to Henry's first stay in HNL, a scientist from Project Rainbow escaped Brenner's lab carrying a container of a dangerous material, and ended up near the same Nevada cave system Henry disappeared into. We don't know how or when this material was collected, or what it was, but we know they found Henry's Captain Midnight spyglass next to a body (identity unspecified) with no trace of that dangerous material. We get no further detail about the Nevada Disappearance.

Anyway, someone opens a gate in the fall of 1956 and/or 1983 (my money's on it being directly linked to an El in 1983 either way). No matter who did it, though, someone opened a gate at both time points, showing us this 27 year link between the 2 dates, 2 key locations.

"Henry" goes missing in Nevada in 1956, and ends up involved with Dimension X...Which aligns with the choice of song surrounding this version of the Creel family while they move into their new home:

Coincidentally, 27 years in the future, so does Will, in Indiana. Their experiences are linked across those two spaces via that 27 year period.

We know that regardless of the gate in Nevada...Mothergate, at least, stays open until from fall 1956/1983 to fall 1957/1984. That covers exact time frame that the adjusted dates for both Henry's accident with the boy in Nevada and his accident with Mr. Newby fall in (as well as Will's time between his disappearance and his flaying).

The closer we get to Will's flaying in 1984, and the closer the Mindflayer gets to crossing through Mothergate, the more TFS Henry sounds like One (post-1979) while he's possessed in 1957, the more strangely he behaves in general (almost as though the Mindflayer is more enmeshed in his everyday life/closer to the surface), and the stronger the possession attempts seem to become overall. He begins giving nightmare visions to other people, namely tormenting Virginia with spiders and her past. He has his final and most powerful "Vecna" vision on the night of the attack on Mr. Newby.

Any kind of reciprocal gate irt Mothergate in the '50s would have gone unnoticed, since the papers in TFS indicate that HNL wasn't established until Brenner showed up to take Henry in.

Mothergate closes briefly, only for a gate to open in July 1958/1985 in the underground location of the future Starcourt Mall. This, in 1958, is during our unaccounted-for 20 months between the attack on Mr. Newby and the Creel murders. (Something rattles about this and the scene where Henry nearly makes full contact with the Mindflayer, when he has a handful of duplicate lines re: his 4.07 monologue self, but I don't have sufficient evidence to make that claim with any certainty.)

That gate closes, until Vecna opens gates in Hawkins in March of 1986, and El opens a Dimension X gate briefly and simultaneously in both Hawkins/Nevada in September of 1979 (September of 1952) and Hawkins/Nevada in March of 1986 (March of 1959) during NINA, concurrently...at least one of which may have gone unnoticed, since the Rainbow Room and the surrounding labs seems to have been abandoned entirely after 1979, and HNL as a whole has once again been abandoned after the events of 1984 ("unnoticed" and "abandoned", I say as if the building isn't still being surveilled by Brenner/Owens et. al...I just mean that the building isn't in use by the government at that point in time.)

We're shown the Shadow activating all the way in Russia due to one or multiple of these events. 27 years earlier, in March of 1959, the Mindflayer once again becomes active, per TFS's adjusted dates. Chaos ensues.

At this point, "Henry" starts swapping between sounding like his young self and sounding like his 4.07 Monologuing Adult self again, doing that kind of "I've seen the future" foreshadowing talk with Joyce that his visions did with him:

Here, he also sounds distinctly like ST3 flayed Billy, specifically in the way of the scene with El in the cabin when "Billy" outlines the Mindflayer's plans for her, her friends, and all of Hawkins while crying.

The rest is, well...history. Whatever fuckery went on, it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. After all, TFS is a "canon event", meaning it had to end the way it did.

Remember those thoughts I asked you to hold?

TFS being a "canon event" means it had to end with Henry in the lab alongside baby El...thus completing our loop, which starts again with the events of 1979/1952. A 27 year loop. TFS may be indicative of a time loop.

Hence:

Out of place dates from the 1970s start to bleed into the 1950s: - A town like Rachel, Nevada, which wasn't established until 1978, now exists circa 1952-1959 after El opens a gate to Dimension X circa 1979 in Nevada circa 1986 via NINA, which exists...about 40-50 miles from Rachel.

- An album like Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (November, 1971) or a song like "Chuck E's In Love" (April, 1979) gets referenced circa 1957-1959. - An article about a "younger, more handsome" alien clone of Elvis appears in a 1959 Weekly Watcher paper about the Creel murders, despite Elvis having been 24 at the time...making this an article more likely to have appeared in the '70s or later, likely sometime around Elvis' death in 1977.

2. The Shadow is always depicted as the fully formed Mindflayer circa 1956-1959, despite the shaping event happening in the 4 years between 1979-1983:

3. Henry has Vecna-type visions, despite being the only vision-giver we know of circa 1957-1959.

4. 6 different guys later in the HNL massacre: 2 with the original baby El, 2 with teen El via NINA, and 2 in an as-of-yet unseen product of NINA's Loop (see: the final scene of TFS).

All this laid out, some questions remain:

Why do Henry's visions show him the genuine, terrifying reality of his future?

Why are these visions generally lacking in coercion?

Why are Vecna chime sounds heard before the major supernatural events that deal with visions, even though we never actually see the clock? (They're heard before Virginia in the attic, before the attack on Mr. Newby, before the Creel murders, and in the basement when Henry monologues at Joyce while viewing the corpses of his family.)

Why don't these chimes play when the Mindflayer alone is present, e.g. when no visions occur? (See: Henry contacting the Mindflayer in the lab)

And we don't really get an answer to any of these. Not an easily spotted outright answer, anyway.

But what's really fascinating, which I mentioned just a second ago and takes me back to the top of this post, back to the "Stardust Spider" and Shadow Man, is the fact that despite occurring concurrently with the possession attempts...none of these visions contain an ultimatum. There's no "If you don't obey me, I'll hurt someone you love", no "I'm showing you what's going to happen if you don't obey me", nothing of the sort.

The closest we get to coercion is the bathroom vision, when Henry fights off a possession attempt in the school bathroom and ends up in a vision regarding Patty. When "Patty" starts to talk to him about his future, about how Henry's going to kill her and so many others, Henry says "you're not Patty...what are you?" Then he gets into a physical brawl with her, which is surprisingly well matched. Vision Patty encourages him during that fight, saying things like "That's it!", "We want the same thing!", and "We can have her!"

Those seem like pretty straightforward "the Mindflayer's encouraging Henry to kill" encouragements, right?

Yeah, at first glance. However...lets read that back right quick, but with Moral Objectivity Goggles on this time. Henry openly, verbally identifies that Vision Patty is "not her, not Patty", but is, in fact, something else. He does this multiple times before he lunges at "not Patty", and he is subsequently encouraged by not-Patty...who tells him they want the same thing. That's not suspicious at all. The motives here are definitely crystal clear and totally aren't conflicting in any way.

There's the straightforward surface aspect, and then something else piggybacking on it, complicating it. Hold that thought.

Other than that instance, the negative parts of Henry's visions are all just...information. They're showing him what will come to pass...almost like they're motivating him to fight the Mindflayer. Hold onto that thought too, it buddies with the previous one.

Henry's freaking out about Prancer because he's getting close with Patty, and he's worried he'll hurt her?

His vision informs him that he's going to kill more, that he's going to hurt things, that he's going to kill Patty if he stays around her and/or gives into the Mindflayer's desires. And then it happens. All of it. He kills more animals. He hurts things and people, the pets and lab animals, Mr. Newby, and Inmate 58361 being prime examples. He gives in to the Mindflayer's desire to kill and kills Virginia. He does, by the extent of his perception, kill Patty in the accident.

The same goes for his vision in the attic. Henry's up in the attic using his powers to find someone/snoop on them, fearful of opening himself up for a possession attempt?

The vision version of Patty's mother catches Henry and tells him she "wants to tell him a secret" while his body is being puppeted to attack Mr. Newby. The next time the curtain rises to show us the inside of Henry's mind, he's seeing himself as Vecna, strung up on the tentacles and strangling people with them...just like the end of Season 4. Once again, he's seeing the future that will come to pass...should he fail to fight the Mindflayer off.

We can tell it's a vision, not what's physically happening in reality, because: a) Henry's watching himself in the attic from the stage below. b) It's got the messed up red lighting c) They show us reality just moments before, not a tentacle in sight and without Henry on the stage there observing:

d) The ending of the vision doesn't match with reality:

At the end of this vision, Henry passes out both in the void and IRL, while the vision version of Henry remains crouching. That is a different guy, entirely separate from IRL/Void Henry. There is at least one other person in the visions who is not a product of the vision itself.

Remember those thoughts from a bit ago that I asked you to hold?

Well. This also happens to be the sequence where we not only get Vision-Patty repeating Henry's own words from just after Prancer's death ("It's not real. It's not real. It's a nightmare") back to him, a phrase IRL Patty has never heard, but we also get:

Visions Patty telling Henry how to fight and evade the possession, as if she knows what she's doing ("It's your dream, remember? Anything is possible").

Vision Patty telling Henry she loves him as the last-ditch effort when his "good dream" memory of the real Patty fails to save him from the possession.

These are both things IRL Patty wouldn't know or think to say, since IRL Patty fully believed that Henry attacked her of his own volition out of malice, and she needed to be shown a drawing of the Mindflayer by Mr. Newby in order to abandon that belief.

IRL Patty's behavior is not the behavior of someone who a) knows the ins and outs of Henry's situation with the Mindflayer, and b) coached him through overcoming a possession attempt a little while earlier. It's just not.

Just like before, we're seeing contradictions and complications between vision-selves and IRL selves, along with a sense of piggybacking within possession attempts, wherein the vision serves as motivation for Henry to fight harder in resistance to the Mindflayer...while the Mindflayer is possessing him.

It's starting to become my favorite thing in the world: A pattern of behavior.

In summary:

Henry's are visions are visions of his future, and they're being shown to him by someone.

They are separate from, but piggybacking on, the Mindflayer's possession attempts.

The purpose of the visions isn't solely to torment Henry or coerce him into doing the Mindflayer's bidding. In fact, the content of the visions seems curated to make Henry fight harder in resistance to the Mindflayer.

So if, for example, Vision Patty ≠ IRL Patty, but she's acting against the Mindflayer's best interest/in support of Henry...then...

I think my answer to the questions of "who", "when", and "how" should be at least somewhat clear by this point:

Someone...from the future.

Specifically, someone from 1979-1986 who has access to the gates from the Dimension X side, someone with both vision-giving and time-related abilities who's directly connected to the Mindflayer/the Hive Mind, but who has a vested interest in countering the Mindflayer, saving Henry Creel, and trying to change the course of the future.

A traitor. A spy, if you will.

"A spy...from the future?"

[gestures at the Signs] Yeah, you heard me.

A spy from the future.

So, on that note: The point in this section wherein I ask you to hear me out.

I get the feeling TFS Henry is being told and/or shown what will come to pass in the future by himself...the Mindflayer.

And you're probably going "How do you figure that one, James? Isn't the Mindflayer a villainous force?"

I mean, yeah. Of course it is. However...

There are clearly multiple forces at play within the Mindflayer (hive mind!), and TFS shows us that Henry Creel wouldn't choose to be a villain.

Thus I think the visions in TFS are situations where, as in the 4.07 rabbit scene, things look really damning on first view. They play on our empathy using small, visibly-frightened, helpless victims and shocking, violent circumstances to guide us into making the assumption that everything about the situation is inherently malicious.

We're shown this poor little guy, "Henry". He's 14 years old, he clocks in at 5'5", he's skittish/scared of (ha) his own shadow, and he's geeky to the nth degree about comic books (just LOOK at that Captain Midnight salute? What an cute little nerd). He's immediately lovable. He's also, we find out rather abruptly, plagued by horrific visions and murderous fits of possession.

The immediate response is to go "He's being psionically tortured by some sick, sadistic son of a bitch who hungers for nothing but blood and control", just like Nancy and the ST fandom collectively did with Young Henry's rabbit scene...only to be proven wrong about Henry's intentions via TFS.

I mean, does anyone (anyone who's able to read this post, anyway 🤭) look at TFS Henry, filmed Young Henry, or even Orderly Henry and go "Yeah. He totally wanted what he got, and if he had the chance, he definitely wouldn't try to save himself from that fate"?

No.

TFS Shows us that "Henry" was a terrified, traumatized boy who wanted it all to stop. He's kind, brave, and stronger than he seems. We're also shown that he's capable of overcoming the Mindflayer to issue warnings to people he cared about (i.e. telling people to run, or prophesying dangers he'd seen via the visions). He was trying to survive with next to no help while causing as little harm as possible. He was a good kid, and he certainly wasn't evil.

So, all that said...I think that, via the Shadow's hive-mind capabilities, Henry's "fronting", in a manner of speaking, in order to show this version of himself the future. Probably as a warning, probably as motivation to fight the Mindflayer, and all with a nice side-dish of "here's how you fight this thing off so that my current future doesn't become our future" before someone else tapes over the figurative laptop camera.

[coughs, drops this Brenner-Mindflayer collage on the table in front of you, and then scurries away]

With that said, I'd like to loop all the way back to the top of this post: The "Shadow Man" may be Henry from the future. He's waiting up ahead to show his younger self the true outcome of his choices.

We all know how TFS ends, though. Hence:

[EPIC FAIL COMPILATION]

This brings me to my final "bear with me" point: The matter of the strange double-agent vibes from the UD in every season.

I'm not sure if anyone else outside the unholycule has noticed this, but in every season there's at least one instance of the UD just...offering up information.

"It does?"

Yup! Let me explain.

On first glance, we look at things like Nancy's vision and even El's vision with Billy in the cabin, and we go "Oh, it's because [insert "the bad guy's cruel/he wants to scare her/his hubris will be his downfall/all serial killers want to be known for their crimes" etc here]"...but maybe that's not the case.

For example: Vecna told Nancy his backstory, and then he immediately went

"Oh hey, so not only am I revealing my identity (Which may help you find out more about me via lab records later on, things like...maybe a list of my abilities, or my weaknesses, like the fact that I have a nut allegry. Allegedly.), but I'm also gonna give you a sneak peek of my apocalypse plans. For free. As a treat. Don't use these to prepare or anything. I'm totally not giving you a head start".

Terrifying, yes. A taunt and a threat on surface view, yes...but also showing his hand. "I want you to tell Eleven everything you see" Why. Why would he want that. He may be confident in his plans, arrogant, even...but he's not that stupid.

I'm serious, though. Check it out in comparison to Henrys visions of the future. The pattern is patterning:

We can track that back to El's cabin scene with Billy, wherein he tells her she shouldn't have looked for him, warns her that they all can see her, and that they're going to be coming after her...and he cries about it. That's vision Billy. That's someone else who piggybacked into El's mind from Billy's mind. That's not real Billy, just like how Billy in Max's vision wasn't the real Billy. The person giving El that vision warns her. Why on earth would he tell her that they can see her, that they're coming for her? That's sensitive information! It would be smarter to let her think she's safe and use that false sense of security to catch her off guard.

In fact, this pattern patterns so well that I'd like to argue this: Henry's TFS visions, Nancy's vision, and El's vision are all the same type of behavior displayed in NINA's chess scene, just in different contexts.

Henry ("Henry") gives some kind of scary prophetic information ("He and the others are going to attempt to kill you", "I would very much like to show you where I am going", "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"), and then we're left to question if it's a scare tactic, manipulative misinformation, or helpful inside information.

It's not that the Mindflayer or Vecna can't hide things from people (see: "Somewhere he didn't want me to see")...like, say, the fact that the Mindflayer is now able to see El, or that Vecna's planning to open 4 gates with his 4 kills.

It's always this miraculous "Huh! Weird info-dropping behavior from the UD's side. Shouldn't look that gift-horse in the mouth though. It's probably just a writing oversight or a shoehorned exposé, so really there's no need to question it." situation where it's just...information that's offered up with no real explanation.

Some of my favorite examples:

...and it's all topped off with Max's line:

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time".

That is to say...You're telling me:

The first message from the Upside Down isn't any of the messages that are concretely Will's, but instead it's the one that's a repetitive Henry line...and it's conveyed in a distinctly not-Will style? A message that saves Joyce, something that's definitely not in the UD's best interest given her tenacity in finding her boy...but is definitely coming from the UD nonetheless?

Will, who fell total prey to the Mindflayer in less than 3 days, was not only able to figure out how to defeat the Mindflayer, but was also strong enough to convey it in Morse code? The Mindflayer, who is able to keep secrets (see below), just...let that information slip?

El, who acknowledges that the Mindflayer is more than able to hide things from her, is suddenly released into Billy's memories and allowed to find the source unimpeded?

The Mindflayer, as Billy (Remember: not actually Billy, because Billy can't give visions or invade minds), is telling El that because he's able to see her now, she shouldn't have looked for him? The Mindflayer, which was supposedly building the Fleshflayer to track El down and kill her? Suddenly he's telling her she shouldn't have done the thing that allowed him to find her more easily?

Vecna's giving up all the information about himself and his plans before he's even gotten the 4th gate open, despite him being so secretive about it up until that point?

Henry's visions in TFS are going to scare him into resisting the Mindflayer, making it less likely that he's going to upgrade to killing humans, i.e. the very thing the Mindflayer wants him to do?

None of that makes any damn sense...until we hit this last point:

Orderly Henry is known for giving inside information about "Papa" to El with no clear motive other than getting her to leave the lab.

Now, if you know my page then you know Em's been talking about double meanings in phrasing recently (see: this post about "who"s and "what"s).

So, with that in mind, I'd like you to chew on this:

"He's been telling us his plan this whole time." vs "He's been telling us His plan this whole time."

By which I mean: "He's been telling us some other man's plan this whole time."

[Mike voice] Superspy.

As a parting thought, I made it all into a nice, neat set of collages:

Not to mention this final, parting bit:

[llamagirl28]

A song I really think about when playing BOC is "Never Love an Anchor" by the crane wives. It's SUCH a good song, and it applies well when we look at Arthur as a character, specifically how he views and treats Mordred.

At the beginning of the song, the opening lines "On some level, I think I always understood/That these hands of mine were clumsy, not clever" is such an Arthur thing to feel. Also applies to how Arthur handled the Mordred situation- his absence in Mordred's life, his adherence to Merlin's and Lance's stance on Mordred, his own conflicting feelings over his only child and their twisted conception.

He always claims that it was for the best, evident in the chapter 3 pov where we first meet him. Yet, over the course of the first few chapters, he realizes that he harmed more than he helped. He handled it the best he could given the circumstances (well, the best he thought he could) but ultimately, nothing went right. Arthur realizes, at first subconsciously, and then consciously, with full force. His handling of Mordred (or rather, Merlin's handling of Mordred, since iirc Merlin kind of influenced his thoughts about whatever presence he should have in Mordred's life) was clumsy.

The next few lines "And I tried to do the best that I could/ But try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to hold you" also cements this dynamic. Arthur is torn up inside about his avoidance of Mordred. He desperately wants to be a dad, but at the same time, is deeply ashamed of Mordred. Combined with the unacknowledged trauma of his r*pe..yeah, the line hits. He's trying his best, but he's held back by the shame and guilt of that night. It's present whether you have a good relationship or not, but far more evident if you are no contact with him.

Next stanza. "It's a secret I keep tucked inside my chest/ With this heart of mine that's guilty, not remorseful". Secret referring here to him being the father of Mordred, and up until chapter 4, how morgana r*ped him. Pretty easy to see the connection there. Though the line "with this heart of mine..." doesn't quite easily fit, since he is remorseful over abandoning Mordred, though I think it applies more to villainous mordreds/ those who act more like morgana than arthur. In the patreon side story featuring Alina (uhm, spoiler beware) there are a few options that remind Arthur of Morgana- when you smile like her, act sardonic, etc. He makes a point to say "every inch morgana's child" or something like that. He actively connects Mordred more with Morgana than with him in these instances. With these types of Mordred's, the line applies twofold- he is guilty of abandoning them, and remorseful...yet he sees Morgana so incredibly clearly in them, and he is wary. He remembers the prophecy, and, while not entirely sticking by it, still keeps it at the forefront of his thoughts in a way.

"There is love that doesn't have a place to rest/But it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulders" pretty easy to see the connection. The love Arthur has for Mordred is mixed with wariness, shame, and guilt, and mars whatever caring he has for them. Combined with how he rarely sees Mordred, it's hard for him to express that love, especially if you don't have contact with him. (Can you tell my Mordred's relationship with Arthur yet, lol). It's expressed, instead, to Gawain, up until chapter 3 and, probably if you choose not to communicate w him at all, way past chapter 3. He showers Gawain with love because he can't do the same to Mordred, but if he was able to, he would have done it with Mordred as well. He would've been a great dad, if only Morgana hadn't...yeah.

"On some level, I think I always understood /That a ship could never really love an anchor/So, I did the only thing that I could/And severed the rope to set you sailing from my harbor" is an interesting lyric. There's a surface level meaning, but also a more conflicting one. If we apply it to Arthur it's him saying "hey, i couldn't be anything you needed me to be when you were growing up, and so i had to separate myself from you for both our sakes." It might not have been the right choice, but according to everyone around him, it was necessary, especially when you factor in the prophecy.

But. Ships need anchors, to ground them and keep them stable. Without an anchor, a ship will float adrift at sea, never to come to shore and go home. "A ship could never really love an anchor" seems more like his own guilt clouding his judgement when you have a bad relationship with him. "Of course Mordred could never truly love me. I'm an anchor and they're a ship." But ships need anchors Arthur. Mordred is bullied ruthlessly, Mordred has to deal with so many terrible things. Arthur could have been of use, could have been their anchor during this dark time. But he wasn't, because of past trauma and a prophecy hanging over his head.

A lyric that I heavily associate with a distant Chapter 4 Arthur is "There are times when I still wonder about you/ You are someone I have loved, but never known". Mordred has expressed a desire to keep Arthur out of their life, and Arthur respects that. He lives with his chosen family in Camelot, and does his everyday routines. But Mordred still invades his mind, especially around their birthday. "There are times when I still wonder about you" can basically go for the whole arthur pov in chapter 4, really, when he's thinking about Mordred's birthday. Also all the times early on in the story when he talks about wondering what Mordred was like. I for the life of me cannot remember since I've only done a route where I had a good relationship with Arthur like, once, but a scene like this doesn't really happen in chapter 4 for those playthroughs. No internal angsting over Mordred's b-day and their distance, no snake carving, no sadness over not being in contact with mordred. In the playthroughs where you have contact with him, he loves and knows you. In the playthroughs where u can barely stand him, he loves you, but he doesn't know you. He's never gotten the chance to know your hobbies, or your favorite colors, or whether you like your lessons or not. Mordred is sort of a question mark for him, an enigma between a nightmare and a dream.

"And you'll never see the reasons I had/ For keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you" goes more for pre-chapter 4 Mordred's, though it can work with Mordred's post chapter 4. Mordred doesn't know why Arthur doesn't speak to them, and as a result doesn't know the truth of their conception. They chalk it up to Arthur being a coward (at least in my run), a man so shackled to a sorcerer's prophecy that he can't look at Mordred truly as a child. Arthur is pretty sure Mordred is unaware of how they were truly made (after all, Morgana will never say she was wrong without any incentive) but he did think Mordred knew the prophecy. Now that he knows Mordred had no idea about it, he realizes Mordred has no base at all for why Arthur has no contact with him.

In some of the earlier asks, there were a few au questions. Two of them live in my brain rent free: an ask about what would have happened to Mordred had Morgana died during childbirth, and how would Arthur reach out to Mordred if he could still have children. Both of them indicate that Arthur would have been kind of a trash dad. In the one where Morgana dies, Arthur is forced to kind of take custody of Mordred, though he gives them over to Merlin to be a sorcerers apprentice. He's just as absent as he is early on in the game, only reaching out in later years, and more in an uncle fashion than in a father fashion. In the ask where he's able to have more kids, he seems to be a good dad to them, but in regards to Mordred, he only waits until they're in Camelot to attempt any type of reconciliation with them, and it seems as though he'd rather not have a relationship.

If Arthur was in Mordred's life in the early years, as a teen dad with sexual trauma, he would not have been good. He would have been distant and hesitant, and probably would have given them more daddy issues than they already can have in game. I think it's something mentioned by Acolon- love must be freely given, not forced.

"I am selfish, I am broken, I am cruel/ I am all the things they might have said to you" is peak Arthur Sad Hours. It's also, however, a very apt statement. These are things said to Mordred by well...everybody. They're viewed as a monster, evil through the sole purpose of being born to the wrong woman. The latter line connects what they say about Mordred to Arthur, acknowledging both the blood ties that bond them together, as well as saying that even though everyone thinks he's the hottest thing since sliced bread, he's a person too! He's not some saint whose kind and benevolent to everyone; he makes mistakes, he makes bad choices and can be (unknowingly) cruel to others, and in regards to the prophecy, is selfish under the guise of being selfless. He's not a perfect uwu will never do anything wrong EVER boy...he's just a person.

"Do you ever think of me and my two hands?/And wonder why they never soothed your fevers?/And wonder why they never tied your shoes?/And wonder why they never held you gently?" very easily brings to mind a scene of Arthur watching Kay or Lance play with their kids and wish he could do that with Mordred. Arthur, despite everything, does desperately wish to be a father, but he can't because of a curse and a prophecy, respectively. He can't (pardon my language) bring someone into this world because Morgana got rid of that ability, and he can't reach out to Mordred bc 1)trauma 2)prophecy and 3) he very much conforms to what other people want from him, even if it goes against his own wishes.

"And wonder why they never had the chance to lose you?" drives all of these ideas home. He never had the chance to be a proper father early in Mordred's life, and depending on ur playthrough, still doesn't have that chance. It's inhabited by Accolon (for now) and while he thinks that was the better option, he still yearns for that chance. He never had the chance to bond with them, to watch Mordred take their first steps and lose their baby teeth. He never got to read books to Mordred when they were sleepy, and never got to make absolutely horrid dad jokes while they grown in embarrassment. And he will never get to watch Mordred grow old (at least, in this point in the story). He'll never see them through the awkward stages of puberty, watch them rebel and yell at their parents some emo crap before going off to sulk. If you have a bad relationship with him, you only see him once more before you go to Camelot to join the Round Table, at Gareth's wedding. In the bad relationship route, this line is potent because nothing is fixed; their relationship is stilted. He will never get to see them in the Older Years, while in good relationship playthroughs, he can.

Sooo many of the Crane Wives songs are boc coded, tbh. Tongues and Teeth is THE morgana song, and The Moon Will Sing fit remorseful villain mordred's extremely well! I might do another one of these analysis's some time in the future, cause this was pretty fun. I might be off base on some points, so feel free to tell me if I got anything wrong. Now if you'll excuse me it's currently 4am, so I will be off to get some much needed sleep. Have a good one Llama!

It's a very good and thorough analysis! Thank you for sharing 💕 I'd be delighted to hear more, if and whenever you feel like doing another one.

And now I should go listen to the song itself. I only know a couple Crane Wives songs, which I love - Curses and Tongues and Teeth, and I do agree with the latter being very Morgana coded.

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

this song reminds me of uty

idk how many of y'all remember/know of brother bear 2, but "it will be me" reminds me of this entire game. I'll explain why

*** If you hear a voice in the middle of the night Sayin' it'll be alright It will be me

I just imagine that this would be something Clover would say to Ceroba to reassure her, watching a child die and all (plus, add the guilt of what she had done to Kanako and it feels unbearble). I can mentally picture her lying in her bed in her old home at night and thinking of the day of Clover's sacrifice, crying to herself. But then she remembers that Clover wanted this; they wanted her to be happy again and start over, and Ceroba would smile instead

*** If you feel a hand guiding you along When the path seems wrong It will be me

This message would be for Martlet. The lyrics reminded me of this quote of hers:

Even though she willingly left the royal guard and apologized for being scatterbrained, I feel like Marts would still need more time to gain confidence in her own judgement. And whenever she would feel insecure, she would remember to follow her heart (and not superficial benefits like she used to) just like Clover did. It would bring her comfort

*** There is no mountain that I can't climb For you I'd swim through the rivers of time As you go your way and I go mine A light will shine And it will be me

Clover climbing Mt. Ebott, and, post pacifist, finding small ways to reach out to their friends even after their body is gone. As you go your way and I go mine especially hits hard. Basically the others are going to a new life and a bright future (light), while Clover goes towards death (darkness). And the "light" is their soul, "them"

*** If there is a key that goes to your heart A special part It will be me

How special Clover made Star feel (not like a "nobody" but like an actual sheriff), and how he saw them as the child he never had (based on my hc but it feels pretty canon). These lines can also be talking about the impact Clover had on everyone, but I had to include Clover's impact on Starlo, just like I did their impact on every other main character (minus Axis, sorry buddy, not enough stanzas)

*** If you need a friend Call out to the wind To hold you again It will be me

The first line reminded me of Dalv right off the bat. He'd sure as hell miss his first friend, the one who got him out of his comfort zone

*** Oh how the world seems so unfair Creating a love that can not be shared As you go your way and I go mine A light will shine And it will be me

*** Past the ever after there's a place for two In your tears of laughter I'll be there for you

Clover's message to everyone to keep being happy, to smile and laugh and stick together even after their passing, because that's where Clover will be

*** In the sun and the moon In the land and the sea Look all around you It will be me

Once monsters finally reach the surface and Clover's wish is fulfilled. Enough said

*** There is no mountain that I can't climb For you I'd swim through the rivers of time As you go your way and I go mine A light will shine And it will be me It will be me It will be me...

(nothing I didn't explain already in these last lines, but seriously, I'm making myself bawl again)

[nicksbestie]

I had a brilliant idea for cal the other day but I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask but since you said you needed more cal reqs I got you !!

cal writes a song he's super excited about but nervous to share w the guys so he shares it with you and you encourage him to bring it to the guys bc obviously it's amazing

Moodswings

word count : 1102

warnings : mentions of anxiety

enjoy!

<3

Songwriting is hard.

Writing the song itself is already a challenge, and it only gets harder when you have to gain the approval of other people before you can release it, and then you have the stress and pressure of wondering if other people will like it enough to listen to it, and promote it. It’s a long process that’s incredibly difficult on your mind, especially if you’re writing something vulnerable. And when you’re working with a band and other producers, that’s at least three approving opinions you have to gain. So, it’s pretty nerve wracking to present an idea. 

These were the thoughts going through Calum’s mind as he stared down at the paper he’d been scribbling on for the past few hours, trying to put something together that he would like. All of the other guys had already worked on something amazing, Luke had written one of their singles, “Take My Hand”, Michael had come up with a gut wrenchingly sad but beautiful melody for “Emotions”, and Ashton was in the process of working on “Tears!”. Calum felt like he had to come up with something to match their level of intelligence, and for the first time in a while, he was doubting his lyrical ability. 

Of course, nobody else in the room doubted him. They all knew that Calum had a wonderful mind, and whatever he wanted to produce, it would be great. But they also knew that he got into his own head, way too much sometimes, and it caused a lot of that creative process to grind its gears and get stuck for a while until it came back. And that could last hours, days, weeks, or months for him. They weren’t on a time crunch with this album, but they could tell that Calum felt pressured to push something out at the same speed that they were, and neither of them wanted that to happen. If he pushed himself to get something out quickly, the quality of it wouldn’t be where he wanted it to be, and he wouldn’t be happy with it overall. 

The studio session felt successful for everyone, except Cal. He felt that everyone else had been productive, but he hadn’t. He had helped write on some of the other songs, but nothing really big on his own, and that felt like a major setback for him. Everyone walked out of the studio feeling great except for him, but he attempted to not let it show. However, when he got home to you, he dropped the facade and just wallowed in his feelings for a bit. You weren’t an idiot, walking over to sit next to him on the couch, gently hugging him but not pushing him to talk. 

“If you want to talk about it, I’m here. If not, I’m still here. I love you, and whatever it is, will be okay.”

He softly smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. You could tell it was forced, and softly frowned until he relaxed the mask. He sighed, seeing that you didn’t believe him. Of course, he didn’t expect you to, knowing that you knew him too well, but he gave it a feeble shot anyways. 

“I just feel disappointed in myself.” 

You had a gentle look of sympathy on your face, understanding the feeling all too well.

“Why’s that?” 

He lifted and dropped his shoulders, another sigh escaping his lips as he leaned more into your touch. 

“Everyone else got so much done today, amazing lyrics, really. And I couldn’t get anything good down except a few stanzas. Nothing good enough to present to the rest of them. Nowhere close.”

You hummed, having been with Calum long enough to know the double meaning behind his words. 

“You couldn't get anything done that you liked? Or anything done that you thought everyone else would like? There’s a difference, love.” 

He glared at you, but there was no heat behind it. He knew you’d see straight through his words, understanding and reading between the lines. He knew he’d been caught, but he still acted like he had to think about it before replying. 

“Nothing that I thought everyone else would like. I liked it, though.” 

You smiled, a soft laugh, no cruelty in it, echoing through the room. 

“That’s what I thought, babe. You do this a lot, you psych yourself out, and your lyrical ability is amazing. You believe so lowly in yourself, and I can’t believe it sometimes, because you are so talented. Would you like to show me what you have written?” 

He had a gentle look on his face, not a smile, but not a grimace. He knew it was entirely his choice to show you, you’d never pressure him, and he did want to share it, he was just nervous. So, he pushed those feelings down, and pulled up a photograph of the paper he’d written. You zoomed in, reading the first paragraph words written in Cal’s handwriting. 

I can tell by the look in your eyes

That you don't wanna fight on a Friday night

Livin' my life, lookin' from the outside

I hope you don't mind that I ruined our time

I can tell by the look in your eyes

That you just wanna get on a one-way flight

'Cause you don't ever trust this mind of mine

You're watchin' me lie when I say that I'm fine

Without you

I don't even know myself (Know myself)

Through bloodshot eyes, the sky is fallin'

And I just wanna fuckin' push you away, away (Push you away)

Without you

You looked up at Calum, stopping after the second paragraph, the chorus. He was watching you with nervous eyes. 

“Babe, this is amazing. I see no reason that anyone would ever say this isn’t good. You should absolutely show this to the guys if you love it, okay? I fully believe they’ll love it too.” 

His eyes were showing hope, but his face looked like he didn’t want to believe you. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes.” 

You were sure, and Calum trusted you with his whole heart. The next studio day, he took your advice, having added another verse, and let the rest of the band see what he’d come up with. And just like you’d said, they loved it. Luke helped him write the bridge, and Ashton tweaked a few things, but Calum got the majority of the writing credits, and it was automatically decided to be on the album bonus tracks, track number fifteen. Everyone was so proud of his writing, and he, finally, believed it as well.

[self-spaghettification]

Ok, might as well throw my two cents on this poem (what hasn’t been said already)

Gnash your teeth, O Dragon Fierce!/Night's not far away/In the sky that watchful eye/Does weep and stare and pierce

Night being “not far away” is in of itself extremely foreboding and we’ve got a lot of other concerning uses of night, like “stars all swallowed up” by the corrupted sun forge in After Darkness, in the Bookery how the banthers only came out at night, 6x03 being called Moonless Night, etc.

“While one may say it ends with a sunrise, another will insist it ends at nightfall. ” (swallowed sun) (falling stars) / Karim's "the rising sun is now a falling star” from here

This stanza to me read as about Sol Regem.

We also have the “watchful eye” in the sky which reminds me of how Sol’s eyes are potentially being healed?

Tho- I also like the possibility that the eye is the weeping moon and it connects strongly with the poster that we’ve just received (ON THE SAME DAY.) and The hopeless dragon could also be Luna, and it reflects her power being siphoned and her death.

Currently thinking about how the poem could refer to both the past and present simultaneously, especially if it’s from the perspective from Aaravos who loves writing multiple layers into what he says (at least, looking at the reflections)

Sol Regem&Janai vs Luna&Aditi.

Anyway.

There’s a lot of grief and hopeless tone throughout the entire poem and it is not looking good at this point in the season considering 6x03 poem at least started out hopeful then veered towards doomed, 6x07 poem started out doomed. Love that for this season. Love that

BUT it does veer towards hopeful territory right at the end. Similar to a line from one of Aaravos’s reflections: “The long, dark night had finally passed—for the sun must always rise, mustn’t it?.”

Eight in a line, O Chosen Mine!/Ready for a war/Endlessly burning—/Hopelessly yearning—!/That love will triumph once more!

I saw speculation that 8 could be the number of key characters could be chess or the number of sources who knows, it could definitely makes a strong point for the pawn motif/aaravos pov, but who knows. I’m not gonna worry about that .

Endlessly burning is something I associate strongly with Aaravos—and we see him burning up things, like candles, how he killed Khessa, and the matching burn in the map at the start of the show that divides Xadia and the human kingdoms.

Simultaneously endless burning is also associated with the sun, and the Sunfire plotline as it is with the passions of humanity and how they burn themselves out like they’re their own candles of dark magic.

Hopelessly yearning is also interesting—because we once again see (narrative of) war and love contrasted and if this is from Aaravos’s perspective, he’s low key once again taunting.

Y’know how people say hopeless romantic-> it’s like there’s no hope for you, you’re done for. It reminds me of how he teases Ezran—he sees it as naivety, and it once again ties into a hopeless tone, but in a different sense, as hopeless romantic and hopelessly yearning have a better connotation than hopelessness overall.

Final note is if it’s red wedding. (First letters of each stanza backwards) RED? and either sol+karim and/or aaravos crashes the wedding I’ll be happy for the rest of the year thank you (for angsts sake)

Regardless of my hopes or speculation, though it definitely seems that this is going to be the episode where all the tensions come to fruition, and the SUNFIRE Civil War begins or comes to a climax if anything. Which Also makes me think the rest of the episodes leading up to this focus more heavily on the other characters and plot lines.👀

On a sidenote, I think it’s really funny that Devon signed her name is Devonius Ghiel and it’s the first thing that stuck out to me here 

[lichen-punk]

1, 3, 9, 20, 25, 27, 28, 39, 45, 47 SORRY THIS IS SO MANY LOLL

o my goodness ok im putting a cut here for everyone's sanity cause all these questions got me excited

Do you have a favorite place near you to “touch grass”?

theres a little woodsy park near my house just within easy walking distance which is easy to get into regardless of time of day or night and has an incredible hill where you can sit under an oak tree in the tall grass and watch the sun or the moon come up or set depending on time of day and year and i love love love it one of the only good things about my town i go up there for my Rituals And Things gkjhsf

3. If you could see any extinct species in the wild, what would it be?

im a sucker for megafauna id love to see an irish elk or an aurochs or a woolly mammoth that would be so so cool

9. Do you have a favorite nature photo you’ve ever taken?

here's some of the best photos ive ever taken in my life, and then some pictures from the hike back to the cabin when we realized the sun was setting sooner than we thought it would and it was about to get WAY too cold for how we were dressed

20. What’s your favorite poem or song lyric about nature?

definitely a gerard manley hopkins!!! he's my fave poet ever and half his work is about nature. i'm torn between two, tho: i think my favorite of all time, really my favorite poem entirely, is the windhover (ive been trying to copy and paste it here without ruining the formatting but it is not working alas so you must google it sorry), but the last stanza of another of my favorites of his poems, inversnaid, is also just. fucking killer

What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

25. What’s your favorite plant to grow yourself?

i unfortunately live in a terrible spot to grow stuff, the yard of my family's little house is like. straight dry clay and entirely shady, so my thumb has never gotten even the barest hint of green to it. one day id like to grow wheat or corn or some such tho

27. What’s your favorite outdoor activity?

honestly????? i love to just Sit And Observe. i used to love love love swimming in creeks and lakes and things, but obv i havent swum in anything for a very long time. hopefully i will again one dayy im also a big big fan of a fire for singing around. and to be honest shakespeare doesnt feel right unless its performed somewhere outdoors and beautiful now

28. What’s your favorite local animal you see all the time but still love?

ALL OF THEMMMMMM we get raccoons and possums and squirrels and mule deer and black tailed deer and crows and ravens and pigeons and rats and mice and apparently frogs i learned recently and newts and theyre all my best friends and i get so excited when i see them

39. What ecosystem do you consider your “home” ecosystem?

absolutely all american pacific northwest shit i love a temperate rainforest with redwoods and doug firs and such and then the deciduous layer underneath all ferns and moss and little creeks and then the harsh cliffs down to the beach all cold and foggy and windy. that's where i Belong easy peasy. i do also associate the more aggressively californian Beige Grassy Hills With Lonely Scrappy Little Coast Live Oaks or Valley Oaks On Top type biome with home and growing up, but its always been a little too harsh and dry and sunny for me here.

45. What is your favorite wildflower?

o god thats hard i love wildflowers. im a sucker for daisies, obv, and i love forget-me-nots and california poppies and indian paintbrush and columbine and and and

47. What is your favorite species of tree?

o no thats hard too!!!!! ummm probably oak trees, especially white oaks like the valley oak or the oregon white oak, especially the really big old wise looking ones, but i also adore sequoioideae and other conifers, unsurprisingly, and rowans and apple trees among others hold personal spiritual significance, and theres this specific kind of maple or sweetgum idk what it is but they grew outside the theatre i grew up in so they always make me nostalgic. OH and i LOVE the smell of california bay laurel thats the Good Summertime Smell for me

[llondonfog]

Hey! I'm not certain how into poetry you are, but there's this poem called Being Boring by Wendy Cope I really want to recommend because it's just got such satisfied domestic Lilia vibes of being so proud of having a quiet little life that I thought you would appreciate

"Someone to stay home with was all my desire And, now that I've found a safe mooring, I've just one ambition in life: I aspire To go on and on being boring."

oh.

i think you summed up perfectly why i find myself getting so emotional over the contrast of lilia's war-torn and grief-stricken past to his relatively peaceful and gentle present— with the context we've been given of how much he's suffered and struggled, it's that much more of a poignant ache to realize how fiercely proud he is of this precious little life he's carved out with malleus and silver.

to go from being a general in the heights of a vicious war, losing your closest loved ones as casualties far before their time, nearly losing their son, his last connection to them, and then being so cruelly slandered after saving malleus...how much like a dream it must feel to wake up every day and know that the world is a relatively peaceful place. humans and fae live in relative harmony, the son of his dearest friends is alive and well and thriving among all manners of people who broaden his horizons daily, and one of, if not the closest person to his heart, is the son of his greatest enemy who he loves as his own blood. how much like a dream to wake up every day and have the greatest choice be what video game to play late into the night with a new friend, to watch the newest generation laugh and coexist with each other in friendly rivalry. what a reward, for a life long-lived in the shadows of agony.

coming back to that poem, i was bowled over by that last stanza— it isn't a surprise that i made the connection immediately to silver being his mooring, his anchor to peace. learning how to love the child of his enemy, receiving the unconditional love of this child in return... he's been reborn, shedding the identities of general vanrouge, the prince's guardian, lilia the unwanted and lowly bat fae... he's toto, silver's beloved papa, this child's true love. and how funny to think, at the end of his long and storied life, he couldn't imagine wanting to aspire to be anything more but this— he can't imagine what could bring higher ambition than seeing the light sparkle in silver's shining eyes when lilia freely spends his dwindling magic on bringing the stars to dance upon the ceiling of their humble home.

(as an added bonus, i was listening to this song while answering and it got me straight in my emotions along with that poem, thinking especially about the new year being lilia's birthday aaaaa)

[cricketnationrise]

5pm, Balmoral, King James, change by Taylor Swift please?

interestingly, this will be my first movie-verse piece. (this is why i love the ficlet fests i always get a huge range of prompts).

I focused more on the first stanza of the song, especially And it's a sad picture, the final blow hits you / Somebody else gets what you wanted again for this ficlet, because the rest of it feels more like Henry than his grandfather to me. I hope you like it, and thank you for all your enthusiastic comments in my inbox, they brighten my day! 💜🦗

want your own ficlet? followers can submit their own here using these guidelines through January 31, 2024.

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

5:00pm, balmoral

The world outside the windows of his private den is dark. 

Not the streetlight-reflected dark of nights at Buckingham, no. Balmoral has always been remote enough to see a bevy of stars on a clear summer night. Tonight though, the Scottish weather seems to be mockingly imitating James’ mood. A violent summer storm had risen up shortly after he’d arrived on the property this morning, dumping rain and harsh winds battering the stone fortress he’d retreated to. Tonight, the stars will be out of sight, and even the moon likely to be hidden away by dark clouds. The howling wind had finally died down a few hours ago, gentling to the occasional rustle of wet leaves.

His den is only lit by the dying fire.

James stares into it, unseeing, and lets his mind race. A log finally gives up its structural integrity, collapsing into embers at the bottom of the grate with a shower of sparks. He’s too lost in his thoughts to stoke the flames up in reaction. The grandfather clock in the corner chimes five in the evening and James finishes the last dregs of his drink with a heavy sigh. The empty bottles on his bar cart mock him just as much as the full ashtray at his side.

The staff will be laying the table for dinner right about now, but James is far past eating, his mind still stuck on yesterday’s events. The news reports play in his head in an unceasing loop; he wishes he had the energy to find another pack of cigarettes, to refill his drink—anything to drown out the echoes.

“The Prince of England’s Hearts embraced his own today…”

“...a revolution for this country…”

“No member of the Royal family has ever been publicly out, but Prince Henry…”

“...Royal glass closet shattered today when His Royal Highness, Prince Henry stepped onto Buckingham’s balcony, hand in hand with First Son, Alexander Claremont-Diaz…”

“...leak that prompted protests in support of Prince Henry all of last week…”

“...Prince Henry’s appearance with the First Son today sparked celebrations in the streets across the whole United Kingdom.”

The voices of the news anchors swirl and layer over each other in his head until he can’t separate individual words any longer. James hunches in his leather chair, elbows on his knees, and grips his forehead between his hands, hard, in a futile attempt to make it stop. The pressure allows the noise to recede to a murmur, like someone listening to the radio in the next room.

It’s enough to let him breathe again, to take stock of himself, but once he starts, he wishes he hadn’t. Because now, all he can think about is the look on Henry’s face when he and the American had come back inside yesterday afternoon, flush from both the sunlight and their joyous reception.

Henry didn’t even look at him full-on, but a glimpse of his profile had been enough to knock the breath from James’ lungs with an agonizing jealousy. He himself had never felt even a fraction of what he’d seen on his grandson’s face:

Pride.  A fundamentally uncaring air for anything other than the boy at his side.  And a blinding, aching, incandescent—

Happiness.

[manawari]

Girl, girl, we assumed "Wildest Dreams" to be Jinhae's anthem, but what about other ships? 👀 Any thoughts on which songs would fit them?

Hey! Do you know there's another song that can be Jinhae's anthem? Not Letting Go — You caught me at the end of all my rope. Show me all the light I'd never known. And I'm not letting, not letting go. Every wall I built for years you broke. Black and white world, you're a whole rainbow. And I'm not letting, not letting go~

And for other ships? Hmm, I have some ideas—

Choibaek:

"Strawberries And Cigarettes" by Troye Sivan → this is just a personal choice of mine. Particularly because of the "cigarettes" part which is associated with Jong-in a lot. And also, part of this song is a fic I will never get to write 😅. Plus, it's the whole ✨ vibe ✨ — Yoon-ho smelling strawberries and cigarettes in his suit after being in a car alone with Jong-in to release some pent up stress from work. Them realizing that they're more than just rivals, yet don't know how to act on it until they almost kiss, leaving Yoon-ho pray to give his heart a holiday. Plus, I'm a firm believer of Choibaek pining over each other intensely:>

"Taste" by Stray Kids → I BLAME STORM ON THIS ONE. She posted a video for the Solo Leveling Boyband AU, and since then, I can't imagine Choibaek having the same tension as this song has. Jong-in is literally a fire mage, don't you think he can make anything he touches hot?

"Don't let me love you" by Stray Kids → Storm sent me this when we were brainrotting about the Choibaek exes AU. I can imagine both Jong-in and Yoon-ho being in denial of their feelings because they're still stuck in the mindset of their rivalry and how much they hate each other.

Minlee:

"Enchanted" by Taylor Swift → this is technically my go-to Minlee anthem. Minlee is what I call "beautiful what-if" — two souls with shattered pasts had been brought together and healers who learned to heal each other. Romance between hunters is amazing and cool and breathtaking, but a romance between healers? It's like you're stepping into a shrine and you hear a distant echo of someone singing. I forever live with the fact that both Ju-hee and Byung-gyu will feel "enchanted" of meeting each other — can you imagine meeting someone who mirrors your soul and understands the pain you've gone through? Someone who won't let you break down again? Someone who won't make you worry?

Woozhi:

"Taste" by Stray Kids → need me to elaborate?

"Midnight Rain" by Taylor Swift → ZHIGANG IS SUNSHINE JIN-CHUL IS MIDNIGHT RAIN—

Sungyoo:

I can't remember a lot of songs that share the same vibe as Jin-ho and Jin-ah. Though, I imagine songs that are similar to "Paper Rings" — cute, sweet, fit for youthful romances like Jin-ah and Jin-ho.

Sungpark:

"Betelgeuse" by Yuuri → I'm not going to place the entire translated lyrics, otherwise the post would be too long than it should haha! Anyways, one of the stanzas that fit Ill-hwan and Kyung-hye: "we found each other, pulled towards each other, under the same sky. When we shine, we'll do it together, so we promised. Far and away, a never-ending Betelgeuse. Magic that connects one to another." — I don't think this needs to be elaborated either:')

Heeseok:

Yes. I can't get enough of this couple now! The more I think of Eun-seok, the more canon he feels. He's not some forgotten SL character to me anymore. Pairing him with Hee-jin just came out of the blue, but it's not like I'll be sorry when they already stole my heart from brainrots!

"Can't Stop Loving You" by Toya Takase (ft. Emi Noda) → fun fact: this is the song I used for inspiration in my 1st Heeseok fic under the same title. It gives me the idea that regardless of whatever Eun-seok is, Hee-jin can't bring herself to stop loving him, especially when he's still that cute gentle and kind hunter in spite of his flaws. You might not understand the whole lyrics, but you can feel the main point of the song, as well in the title:).

[luniviravosshipper]

Over Analyzing and Theorizing Things About Captian Skall

I’m not sure how I feel about making this my first post on this blog (since I haven’t finished setting it up), but I just had too many thoughts on this to not share them. Also, this is going to be a bit of a ramble because it’s late at night and I’m tired so I’m not putting too much effort into making it structurally sound. I’m really just brain dumping my thoughts here.

So firstly, I want to point out Captain Skall’s character introduction because I find it intriguing.

At the very beginning of the poem, it states that she “did scrawl a journey by river and sea”. Scrawl means to write something rapidly and carelessly so that could imply that she was hastily mapping out her plan of travel. It also says that as she began to travel and claim “her legend” she “called herself free”. I wonder if it’s trying to suggest that perhaps she was running away from something. Especially if you take into consideration the middle line, “from the isles without name”.

On the map of Xadia and the Human Kingdoms, there’s the Independent Isles that appear in the bottom left hand corner. Could this maybe be where it’s saying she comes from? If so, I can’t help but to speculate what exactly she was trying to run away from there if she was because we know so little about it. It’s also interesting because as we read on through the rest of the poem, it seems like the themes of freedom and adventure are pretty evident throughout it. I wonder what that says about what we’ll learn about her character in the future.

“Past the uneven towers” is undoubtedly referencing Katolis.

And I’m guessing that the part about the fields is referencing Duren, mainly because they’re known for their farming.

I feel like the last part of this stanza may actually have a deeper meaning to it. The verse’s focus on her not wanting to settle in Duren might be intentional. And I have one idea of why the writers might have included it.

According to TDP wiki, Duren used to have a queen that was considered to be cruel because she banished a lot of people north and she was eventually overthrown by those who banished her.

North of Duren is Skall’s Hook. And we do not know what happened to the queen after she was overthrown.

I’m not sure of it. But it may be possible that she was either this queen or at least associated with her. I mean, again, I’m not set on that idea, but I just think it’s a possibility to consider especially as we read on.

The next part reveals she hungered for glory instead of bread and so she continued on her journey north. This again seems to imply her longing for adventure and freedom. But her not hungering the bread of Duren could be important in itself too. Bread can sometimes be symbolic in writing. Bread is oftentimes associated with things like prosperity, abundance, inner fulfillment, and generosity. And it also notes of how bountiful the supply of Duren was. So I wonder what it could be saying in terms of symbolism. Did she find something in Duren that might have provided her with these things but she refused to accept them into her life? Who knows?

Also, sort of an interesting detail here. The writer’s specify that it’s autumn which comes before winter and she’s heading north where it’s cold. Story wise, they could also be using this to indicate a shift in her story where things take a dark turn when she leaves Duren, again, playing into that idea that she might have left something in Duren that she shouldn’t have.

Now, a lot could be interpreted from this next section and I don’t even know where to start because I have so many ideas of what it could mean. But I’ll attempt to.

It states how she goes on her journey “forgoing a man who’d have made her his bride”, as in she was either running away from a man who proposed to her or is traveling to him to decline him. (The wording here is weird because I don’t know if it’s trying to say she’s traveling away or towards the man.)

Her avoidance of this marriage could be seen as another sign of her valuing her independence over what might be best for her (as it is later on revealed in the poem that she does in fact love the man).

But I think what the bigger question here is who is this man and what is the context of this proposal?

If she’s traveling away from the man, I think the interpretation that she is running away from some sort of arranged marriage as I’ve seen some people suggest makes the most sense here. I think that’d also be very fitting with the theory that she might be the cruel queen of Duren. On the other hand though, if she’s traveling towards the man… I mean, there’s not much else that we know of that's north besides the Frozen Sea, Skall’s Hook, and the Star Scraper. And I can’t really imagine who would really be in that direction.

Unless, of course, it was Aaravos.

Aaron Ehasz stated a long time ago that there was a very important person to Aaravos and that their name would appear on the TDP map. It seems very possible that Skall was the person he was referring to.

Although, I don’t really favor this interpretation of the text. It’s not because I don’t think it’d make sense for her to be the person that Ehasz talked about, but because I’m not sure about Aaravos being the one to propose to her. He could still very much have a connection to her but that doesn’t mean this poem is necessarily talking about him. We know so little about Aaravos as a character or as a Startouch elf and so we have no idea why he would be interested in pursuing her. Still, that doesn’t exempt him from being considered a possible suitor of hers. We'll just have to find out more on this later.

I don’t really know what this part is talking about because we don’t really have an idea of what Skall’s hook actually is yet. Maybe that’s where she attempted to confront Aaravos? But I’m guessing there’s more that she did there as well. If we’re following the theory that she might have been connected to the cruel queen of Duren, maybe she traveled to Skall’s Hook to save the people there that the queen banished.

This seems to be further emphasizing Skall’s longing for travel and exploration, but at this point it seems like it’s trying to portray it as almost like a form of greed. Skall continues to look for more ways to leave an influence on the world when she already did and only ends up getting stuck in the Frozen Sea because she can’t settle for what she already has.

At the very end of it all, she ends up dying there as she contemplates her true feelings for the man and how she wished she could confess them to him.

I want to point out how it states that “she found peace” in her last days there. I think that’s interesting for the writers to note of since the ending of the poem basically suggests that she froze to death and I wouldn’t typically consider that to be a peaceful way of dying. What makes this most odd though is that there’s no comma to indicate a separation in different clauses here. So like instead of saying “and while she found peace, she wished that…” it says “and while she found peace she wished that…” Considering the implied themes of her character, I think this might be saying that as she was dying she was finally given some time to reflect on her life and she began to see things with more clarity. That could be why she finds her last days so peaceful, not because of how she died, but because she finally developed understanding of herself and her faults. I don’t know, maybe I’m way overthinking this. I just find it interesting how they punctuated this sentence since it implies she might have actually found peace while contemplating her feelings for the man instead of finding pain in realizing those feelings, which could say some things. Also, this entire ending really just puts into question why she was going to forgo the man in the first place.

Now, for some other thoughts I have too that don’t necessarily come from the poem directly.

I don’t know when Captain Skall lived specifically, but there’s a couple of other characters that I have a feeling might be associated with her besides Aaravos and the cruel queen of Duren.

Sir Phineas Krist and Delilah Giehl were travelers together and it could be possible that at some point they bumped into each other or even traveled together. The only thing that really makes me doubt this is that they lived during the era of Sol Regem and Captain Skall most likely had to live afterwards. But they were also the writers and publishers of the Lost Secrets of Xadia book which had the excerpt about Aaravos in it that came from the show, so they could just be connected by their shared association with Aaravos.

She might have some connection with Kim’dael too.

Okay, so this inspired by another theory I’m developing based off of Captain Skall and where she’s from. I saw someone on the TDP discord talk about this and I really like the idea so I’m going to share some of mine based off theirs.

Moonshadow elves had a significant role in helping banish the humans to the west. It could be possible that a lot of them got trapped in between the west and the east in the process of this. In fact, it’s even confirmed that some did get stuck on the west side of the continent.

What if some of these elves, perhaps unable to return to the Moonshadow forest and were too fearful of the humans to interact with them, decided to settle on the Independent Isles?

I mean, that does look suspiciously moon shaped if you asked me. It could be hinting to something.

What if Esmeralda felt trapped there by the other Moonshadow elves and wanted to escape from them? That could explain a lot about her need for freedom seen throughout the poem. She could have been a human who was supposed to be exported by the elves but got trapped with them on these isles and was forced to retreat in order to guarantee her safety. Or, alternatively, she could have been a Moonshadow elf herself who didn’t agree with the other elves’s distaste towards humans. (I’d imagine that if she was one she was able to travel the human kingdoms by disguising herself via the use of illusions.)

Now, here’s where her connection to Kim’dael comes in.

Kim’dael and the Order of the Bloodmon reigned during the era of Luna Tenebris. From what I understand, the humans were banished from the east at the beginning of her era. She reigned for 700 years, roughly 300 years before the current timeline of the show.

We have no idea what’s on these isles or what’s happening on them now besides the possibility of Moonshadow elves being located there. 700 years is a long time, like it’s practically the amount of time the human kingdoms existed for, and a lot of events could have taken place during the reign of the Order of the Bloodmoon. And let’s not forget, we know very little about Kim’dael’s origin story. She could have very much had an association with Skall as a Moonshadow elf. What if Kim’dael even came from these Isles like Skall did? I don’t know, this feels like a lot that I’m throwing out there, but overall I think we should consider some of these things. I'll probably make another post elaborating on this theory later.

She also might have had a run in with Akiyu. This isn’t really based off of anything, I just feel like we haven’t seen all of Akiyu yet. She’s probably more involved in Aaravos’s imprisonment and backstory than we have so far learned about, especially since apparently all information on her has vanished in Xadia like all information on Aaravos did. I know that Skall was traveling in the west and Akiyu could have been very far east where the Tidebound Archipelago is at the time she was traveling, but she was traveling by water and we don’t really know much about Akiyu’s backstory so… maybe they met? I don’t know, this might be a bit of a stretch. You might have to just ignore this part lol.

Anyways, that’s all my thoughts for now. I might add onto this more later, but I think that’s essentially all I have to say right now regarding Captain Skall and what we might find out about her.

[darkmagicmirror]

I've been thinking about @spicyviren 's post about Claudia preventing the sun from rising (and they made a more in-depth post today as well, which is also very good!), so last night I got curious and Googled mythology and eclipses because what if the eclipse actually happens and it's not just Viren's dream? And we know TDP likes mythological references. So...

This is so fascinating because of the "I swallowed her" comment Aaravos makes in Janai's dream.

A demon (or dragon, or-- (etc)) is eating the sun?

(*Personally, I don't think Janai's dream is necessarily accurate for telling us what happened -- but Aditi getting "eaten" by someone especially a dragon wouldn't surprise me.)

And speaking of "swallowing"...

And some of the other mythological explanations mentioned in the article I linked are also really interesting:

(The highlighting was done by Google, so it's not necessarily more important.)

And canon material, especially the Ripples short specifically, reflects a few themes here:

Abandonment - the humans are essentially abandoned by the stars (and the sun is a star): "It cannot be, wept others. The stars would not betray us!" - after the "star" falls from the sky and changes the land.

Crisis/existential threat - "With its impact came a long and terrible night: The earth bled! The seas churned! The sun and moon hid for weeks behind the sky’s screaming storm!" (Also bolded for emphasis because the sun hiding? The fact the moon does too is interesting, but the sun specifically is called out later: "And when the long, dark night had finally passed—for the sun must always rise, mustn’t it?" VERY interesting considering the sunrise mentions in S5.)

Eclipse as an act of creation - though much of the story talks about the calamity, there's also how "[the stars] had rejoiced to look down upon their newborn sea."

The Sun and Moon coupling and creating more stars - this is more of a stretch, but the Sun and Moon did get hidden together, and the Sea (of the Castout) serving as a mirror of the stars... like they're duplicating the stars, though only in image.

Mischievous acts - I personally think Aaravos is mischievous, so hmm.

One side note on the second-to-last point: if Viren learns the Star arcanum, which is very rarely understood, could that, too, be analogous to creating another star?

Anyway this all implies that perhaps a similar eclipse occurred before, when Aaravos had fallen and the Sea of the Castout was created? And we know how the Rise Again short story, which is about her pseudo-resurrection of her pet cat, correlated to S4 opening with Claudia having brought her father back to life, sort of in a repeating history sense. Aaravos's Patience story foreshadowed the fact that all he could do in S4 is wait and bide his time. Ripples could foreshadow S5 being that first "touch" that sets off greater change... and, like with the resurrection, perhaps history repeating itself, in a sense, with a potential upcoming eclipse?

And another interesting line: "The sky opened its maw and spat from its black jaws a tiny star."

It's not exactly black, but I know some people say the ridges here look like teeth...

Also, even though Sol is referring to his blindness, these lines about the Sun "never [rising] again" and an "eternal night" fit into similar themes to the eclipse and the Ripples short.

Also, just going back to the abandonment theme of the eclipse really quick--

The Midnight Star poem also talks about the stars abandoning humanity. "Elarion, unworthy whelp, / Wept as the stars turned black the sky, / They donned their masks / They turned their backs / And left Elarion to die."

(I have more to break down about that entire stanza in another post; I just want to point out the bolded parts for now.)

Now, most of these are references to the past... so what about now?

If I were to guess on how the same themes I compared to the Ripples story might apply to "current" series events...

Abandonment - Claudia feeling abandoned by Aaravos (as mentioned in the Lost Child short)? Or, alternately, Aaravos feeling abandoned (by either Claudia, after she had to flee from the battle, and/or Viren, after his rejection)?

Crisis/existential threat - IMO the biggest threat is Karim potentially joining up with Sol Regem right now. Though some would say Aaravos being close to being freed could be the threat/crisis here. But I'm an Aaravos apologist, so I am not part of that group LOL

Eclipse as an act of creation - Claudia regenerates her missing leg, perhaps?

The Sun and Moon coupling and creating more stars - Viren Star arcanum?

Mischievous acts - Aaravos again.

All of this to say-- I don't think the eclipse is just for show/because it looks cool, but if we consider the mythological beliefs surrounding eclipses, it ties in significantly to the story.

Also I leave you with a few last bits from the article that just remind me of TDP things:

"In many cultures, the darkening of the sun meant the gods were very, very angry with humanity, and about to inflict some punishment. Often, that meant that in order to appease them, you had to kill someone."

That reminds me of the stars seeming to punish humanity for daring to use magic... which is also when Aaravos gets cast down?

"The Greeks thought an eclipse meant that the gods were about to rain punishment down on a king, so in the days before an eclipse, they would choose prisoners or peasants to stand in as the king in the hopes that they’d get the eclipse punishment and the real king would be saved. Once the eclipse was over, the substitute king was executed."

This is so far off, but it reminds me of Harrow anyway? Mostly with the soulfang serpent idea of switching Harrow with someone else. Interesting.

"For the Inuits, the sun and moon weren’t a married couple but brother and sister. At the beginning of the world they quarreled, and the sun goddess Malina walked away from her brother, the moon god Anningan. Anningan continued to chase after her, and whenever he caught up to her, there was an eclipse."

Which reminds me of the line in Strangers, the short from Soren's perspective, where "Claudia had appeared and he’d done it again, a little boy chasing after his sister..."

A lot of it is probably coincidence, but it's still really interesting!

[callipraxia]

An Irregular Interlude

I wanted to make some, like, vaguely intelligent-sounding further commentary on the bits of the Hirsch interview that I found especially interesting today...but my brain is completely fried after work and I can't do word stuff all that well. Certainly not up to the standard I'd like, anyway. So instead, you're going to, if so inclined, get to see the interview-inspired scenes from Weirdmageddon: The Musical! that my brain spontaneously produced while I was trying to come up with actual commentary....

"He’s like- he’s like [handwave] “Ford’s gonna- Ford’s gonna be back. Ohh, [air quotes] we had such a big fight, Ford’s sooo mad at me,” oh, you know, “our will-they-won’t-they-take-over-the-universe relationship, like, he’s gonna- he’s gonna march off in a huff, and he’ll be back, ‘cause we’re- is Ford gonna find anyone else in the multiverse that strokes his ego as well as me?” Is there anybody else in the universe that’s gonna make Ford feel as important as Bill? No, of course not, Ford needs validation, and so Bill knows Ford’s gonna be back eventually. 

This quote set me on a loopy train of thought that I found amusing in a warped way, and it only makes sense if, for whatever reason, you're familiar with a piece of musical theater about a pair of historical murderers, but...if you do, by some chance, know of the song "Everybody Wants Richard” from Stephen Dolginoff’s Thrill Me, it...probably isn't hard to see how I read the above interview quote and instead of intelligent thoughts, I instead promptly pictured Bill singing some weird parody version called "Everybody Wants Stanford." For those unfamiliar with it, here's some actual lyrics from the original song:

"Tell me, who can you have conversations with - share your twisted observations with? Who else has a roughly similar view, if not me? You've played around with lots of losers who ended up as cheats and users, but who's been on the sidelines waiting for you, if not me?

Oh, I've come to find, everybody wants Richard, but they don't know your mind the way that I do. I see straight through anyone who needs Richard, they make me sick, they're good for just a kick, they won't stick the way that I do!

When you cut off all our contact, how it hurt! But I know you like to make me feel like dirt. But now you're back, and you know I'm beside you, your oldest, closest friend...

*skip a bunch to the end of the song*

"The others are wrong, they don't have a clue, or know the real you. Yes, everybody wants Richard - but not the way that I do! Admit that you've missed me, too!"

Now just imagine Bill's grating voice singing that, and with the camera cutting to a captive Stan and Fiddleford at "lots of losers," possibly with Bill attempting to literally kick one of them after declaring they make him sick. Also possibly with Ford objecting that "uh - that's what you like to do to me - " at the bit about "I know you like to make me feel like dirt," while Bill just blatantly ignores him in favor of continuing to attempt to manipulate him in rhyme. Where the original singer merely comes off as desperate when he complains that "they won't stick the way that I do," though, that becomes a borderline threat when you imagine it's Bill saying it, and then whole thing falls apart and the original lines stop making any sense in this context when the titular Richard, who thinks he is the Bill in his messed up relationship, anyway, replies to that last line I quoted in the italicized portion:

"I've only missed the worship."

...Yeah, very Bill-like line, that one. Not sure anyone else in the show could really pull that one off. Makes no sense for Ford to reply to...literally anything Bill could say that I can think of with that one, at least unless we're in an AU where Bill had at one point in the past given him power, anyway. But now, if you were, say, really tired, and start turning different stanzas into some kind of weird song battle (a bit like Epic Rap Battles of History, but with song parodies instead of raps) for Ford's loyalties in the Fearamid between Bill and Fiddleford, though....this time I did situation-ify the lyrics, so forgive me where the rhymes don't quite work:

*bridge music plays, then the camera cuts to Fiddleford:*

" - yeeer, when y'threw me out the lab, that did hurt! But I know you likes t'make me feel like dirt." *Ford looks like he wants to object to that line again, but then thinks the better of it and just intently stares at his shoes* “But now you're back! and you know I'm beside you, your oldest, closest friend - who's sick of being lied to!

Tell me, who's 'is demon that was your priority? I've got word on good authority! How can you assume - " *spits tobacco contemptuously in Bill's direction* - "that thingummajiggy's worthy of...bein' friends with you? It ain't me! As fer secrets - you've got plenty others -" *glances sideways at Stan, who looks deeply unamused* " - I hadn't prev'losly known that you even had no brothers - but who else ever tried so hard to please you? Only me! Oh, dag blast! everybody wants Stanford, but they don't know your past the way that I do...

...and God knows why I think you're so appealing, or why you had to be so double-crossing, double-dealing! But...it's been so long - not sure why I’m sayin’ this inna song - but point is, that pointy idjit is wrong, he ain't gotta clue, I know the real you...

*camera cuts to Stan, apparently under the impression he might contribute a verse. Stan starts speaking normally instead, completely deadpan:*

"...yep, you're on your own, bro, this is freaking weird, I'm out, I have and I want absolutely nothing to do with this - "

*Stan is seized by whatever force has somehow made this mess into really bad musical theater in the murky corridors of Calli's sleep-deprived brain, only he's getting his lyrics from a completely different song, one originally sung by Iago from the Aladdin trilogy:*

" - I've had it! I hate to be dramatic, but it's time for me to fly the coop! Terrific! Fine! I'm drawing the line, before I end up looking like a dupe! I was a fool to bring you onto this show - now I'm cutting ya loose, pal, have fun with these bozos!" *jerks thumb in the direction of Fiddleford and Bill, who both look indignant.* "Hasta la vista, c'est la vie, hope all goes well! I'm looking out for me..."

...I really, really, really need some sleep.