#faceless ones trilogy

[whimsylueur]

Sneak peak/Val sketch

[gackk]

Tiny tiny doodle of Billy-Ray because IM SORRY I CANT DRAW RIGHT NOW LIKE THE ART BLOCK IS KILLING ME RN

[nicstylus]

The Faceless Trilogy is done!

Masterpost || Next

[artbyblastweave]

I think about Star Wars a lot more than I post about Star Wars, and I've had some free time recently to type up some thoughts on Episode 7 that've been swirling around in my head for a couple of years. There were a few ideas and plot beats, and moments of apparent self-examination in Episode 7 which I thought were fairly compelling, even though they ultimately paid no dividends:

First was Finn’s character concept. “Star Wars as experienced from the perspective of a Stormtrooper undergoing a crisis of faith” is a rich hook; humanizing and giving a face to what's basically the platonic implementation of the faceless mook. Unfortunately, the potency of the arc was undercut by the pre-existing textual ambiguity as to what stormtroopers actually are. Star Wars extended canon has settled on the idea that each trilogy features an entirely novel cohort of white-clad mooks, each with a fundamentally different underlying dynamic. The clones and the First-Order forces are different flavors of slave army; in contrast, the stormtroopers are more frequently portrayed in the expanded universe as military careerists, stormtrooper being a thing you work up to rather than a gig for a fresh conscript. A slave-soldier who defects is a very different character from a military careerist who defects, and they invite different analysis. There's a bait-and-switch going on here, in that Finn gestures in the direction of the familiar OT stormtroopers but can't comment on or examine them because he's actually part of a novel dynamic invented for the new movies. And there's one final nail in the coffin here, signaled by the number of times I've had to invoke the expanded universe so far. When Finn debuted, the racists were of course, legion, but I also ran into a number of people who were sincerely confused as to why they'd recast Temuera Morrison. Going off the seven films that existed at the time, it wasn't unreasonable to read the prequel trilogy as an origin story for where the OT stormtroopers came from. Going only off the nine films that exist now, it still isn't unreasonable! It's muddied from so many different directions by their failure to establish the ground rules in the mainline films before they tried to put on subversive airs about it. I am still irritated by this.

Next up is how Han Solo was written. I actually liked the tack they took with him quite a bit. Because initially, right, his role in the movie is just to be Han Solo. He's back, and he hasn't changed! He's still kicking ass and taking names, he's still the lovable scoundrel you knew and loved from your childhood- and the principle cast members react to his presence with the same reverence the film's trying to invoke in the audience, they've grown up hearing the same stories about him. Except that episode 7, at least, is also very aware of the fact that if Han Solo is still recognizably the same guy thirty years on, it indicates that things have gone totally off the rails for him. We find out that the lovable rogue routine is the result of him backsliding, his happy ending blown up by massive personal tragedy rooted in communicative failures and (implicitly) his parental shortcomings. It feels deliberately in conversation with the nostalgic impulse driving the entire film- here's your childhood hero back just as you remember, here's what that stagnation costs. And it also feels like it's in conversation with what was a fairly common strain of Han Solo Take- the idea that Ep. 6 cuts off at a very convenient point, and that Han and Leia's fly-by-night wartime relationship wouldn't survive the rigors of domesticity. Obviously, that's not the only direction you can take with the character; the old EU basically threaded the needle of keeping Han recognizable without rolling back his character development gains. But it felt like they were actually committing to a direction, a direction that was aware of the space, and not a reflexively deferential and flattering one, which at the time I appreciated! The problem, of course, is that for it to really land, you need to have a really, really strong idea of what actually went down-of what Han's specific shortcomings and failures were. And given the game of ping-pong they proceeded to play with Kylo Ren's characterization, this turned out to be. Less than doable.

Kylo Ren is the third thing about Episode 7 that I liked. His character concept is basically an extended admission by the filmmakers that there's no way to top Vader as an antagonist. Instead, they lean into the opposite direction- they make him underwhelming on purpose. Someone who's chasing Vader's legacy in the same way any post-OT Star Wars villain is going to, pursuing Vader's aesthetic and the associated power without really understanding or undergoing the convoluted web of suffering and dysfunction that produced Vader. It's framed as a genuine twist that there's nothing particularly wrong with his face under that helmet. Whatever it takes to be Vader, he doesn't have it, and he knows that he doesn't have it, and the pursuit of it drives him to greater and greater acts of cartoonish villainy. The failure to one-up Vader is offloaded to the character instead of the writers, and it was genuinely interesting to watch. For one movie. The problem, of course, is that if the entire character archetype is "Vader, but less compelling," you can't try to give the bastard Vader's exact character arc. You can't retroactively bolt on a Vader-tier tragic backstory when you spent a whole movie signaling that whatever happened to him wasn't as compelling as what happened to Vader. You can't milk his angst for two more movies when it's the kind of angst on display in "Rocking the Suburbs" by Ben Folds!

There's a level on which I feel like Moff Gideon was a semi-successful implementation of Vader-Wannabe concept; he's the same kind of middling operator courting the Vader Aesthetic for clout, but he's doing it in the context of the imperial warlord era, where there's a lot of practical power available to anyone who can paint themselves to the Imperial Remnants as a plausible successor to Vader. Hand in Hand with this obvious politicking, Gideon is loathsome, which relieves the writers of the burden of having to plausibly redeem the guy; he's doing exactly what he needs to do and there'll never be a mandate to expand him beyond what his characterization can support. Unfortunately, the calculated and cynical nature of how he's emulating Vader precludes the immaturity and hero-worship elements on display with Kylo, which is unfortunate; the sincerity on display in Kylo's pursuit of authenticity is an important part of why he worked, to the extent that he worked at all, and it'd be worth unpacking in a better trilogy. As he stands Kylo is a clever idea, and that's all he is- he lacks the scaffolding to go from merely clever to actively good.

[myrsinemezzo]

You’re not a real Tolkien fan if you—

Ok, I’m gonna stop you right there (theoretical person I’m talking to). Because that is just a ridiculous take. I’ve seen a lot of posts in the past several months and especially lately about published and unpublished lore that are all about tearing each other down for supposedly not understanding Tolkien or TROP or just not doing fandom correctly because you don’t “know” enough, and that’s really just…sad.

Recognizing LOTR canon and Legendarium stuff makes for a rich (not a richer, necessarily) experience when watching Rings of Power since it informs what choices were made to be seen and heard onscreen. I know I had only read the trilogy and the Silmarillion way back in high school and a bit in undergrad and loved a lot of what ended up in the Peter Jackson movies before sighing, giving in, and watching TROP.

And yeah, I shrieked in delight when Halbrand said “call it…a gift” and when Isildur and Elendil showed up onscreen in season 1 to the point that my partner probably thought I was having some kind of attack, but that was it for me when it came to recognizing a lot of things. And I still managed to enjoy the show on its own terms and have things to contribute in fandom here and elsewhere if I wanted to.

I relied on people who became my friends here and on twitter who posted explanatory things of “see this detail from the various books? Cool, right?” and getting to say, “That is cool!” in return only made me enjoy the show even more in rewatches like they were easter egg offerings to the fandom.

The concept of you’re “only” a fan of the show or not a “real” Tolkien fan framed in such a negative way over the past several months creates a real barrier for participation and enjoyment of community from people either new to the fandom or those who don’t have the sheer time or the inclination to read 20 books and memorize every detail or even use the search function on ebooks they might or might not have to weigh in on things they like or dislike or get excited about or hope to see.

Instead we get debates that are less “Cool, right?” anymore and more “I’m right and you are lesser”. If I wanted that, I would go hang out on Reddit where that is what conversations revolve around and people shit on each other over the texts.

This is getting long (sorry) but where I do live for scholarship on Tolkien, it is not the be all end all. It does allow for a deeper understanding of content and the context of the content depending on the specialty of a given scholar, but you don’t have to read it to prove to some faceless person on the internet that you’re a Tolkien fan. I also love JRR and Christopher Tolkien and the trop showrunners and Peter Jackson as primary sources, but they are also not the be all end all of what constitutes a correct way to experience these works. That way lies stagnation and more of an idea that there is somehow only one true way to interpret texts and films and our beloved television adaptation through the lens of only what the creator possibly intended.

This is certainly not intended to be a callout post, I’m just waxing sad on my blog about fandom today. But hey! We can always change that narrative! So be well and welcome or mae govannen fellow fans and trop fam in the broadest of terms possible.

[the-far-bright-center]

Can’t stand seeing posts and comments that are like ‘I wish Star Wars were good’ or ‘if only Star Wars were good’ — um, excuse me, it IS good????

The Skywalker saga is a good story.

The six Lucas films form two trilogies that mirror and complement one another.

That’s it, that’s Star Wars.

If you don’t like the real Star Wars, and don’t think it’s worth anything, then what are you even doing in the fandom?

One of the problems is people just passively accepting everything Disney claims as ‘Star Wars’ to be, well, Star Wars. When it’s not. It’s fanfiction that no one is required to consider as canon. So those god-awful sequels that tried to erase the existing storyline and claim a bunch of OOC shit happened to the Original Trio? Not part of the actual story.

Another problem is that a lot of contemporary fans are unable to appreciate the Lucas saga simply for what it is, and instead like to claim they could have done it ‘better’. I realise that fandom in general is largely about building on or ‘fixing’ things in canon to be more to one’s liking, but that is a highly subjective practice, and one person’s ‘improvement’ might not be the same as another’s. The Disney-era perhaps gives the impression that this is just a big soulless franchise with faceless creators churning out ‘content’ that is up for grabs, when the original heart of the story adhered, more or less, to one single creator’s vision.

The jokey meme that ‘Star Wars sucks’ and the constant lamenting that ‘if only it were good’ gets rather old for those of us who legitimately LOVE the Lucas saga exactly as it is.

[raleighrador]

Torturing myself with ways Disney changed Star Wars - Strength, power, purity

Follow up to this https://www.tumblr.com/raleighrador/775298293951561728/torturing-myself-with-ways-disney-changed-star?source=share

Again, if you like Rey you might want to skip this.

Disney's treatment of strength, power, and purity is very different to Lucas. This is most evident in the treatment of the main Jedi/Force sensitive characters across the 3 trilogies.

I think the key theses of Lucas are: the Force can do a lot but it has clear limits; accepting those limits is key to being a "just" user of the Force; learning to use the Force takes a long time & any short cuts are both leading and lagging indicators of evil (ie want to short cut is of the dark side, and the dark side is the only element that provides short cuts).

This is evidenced "in text" in 2 basic ways: we get told this repeatedly through various explicit lines of dialogue across both the OT and the PT; and the world building and context very clearly explicates the notion of training, there is a special Jedi school, you need a master etc.

The entire plot of the PT is that a) Anakin is "too" powerful in a way that is somehow unnatural (or certainly worrying) b) he both progresses too fast AND continuously attempts to progress faster in a vicious feedback loop and c) refuses to accept that he cannot ever be strong enough to defeat death.

The OT set's Luke up to follow a pretty typical fantasy/action plot and he goes through various training and trials before he comes into his own, and his powers. Importantly, he learns the lesson his father did not - sometimes acceptance is the only answer. There is a point where strength no longer matters.

(and acceptance sometimes creates the opportunity for the universe to bend towards natural justice).

The ST just... totally overwrites all of this.

Rey starts hyper competent and scales from there. She faces no meaningful set backs. There are no real negative consequences for any of her choices or actions. She develops mastery of the Force and demonstrates a level of power & totally new abilities that exceed anything we see Anakin or Luke do.

What is especially frustrating is that we are so obviously SUPPOSED to read it that way.

Many people have written a lot about how you can actually reconcile all of this because actually the Force isn't about lifting rocks or whatever.

And sure fine.

The issue is that these are movies, movies by their nature rely on visual metaphors to express information about characters, themes, the universe etc. This is in many ways specifically essential to Star Wars.

Jedi use Blue swords and Sith use Red. Fascists wear faceless helmets, Rebels have faces.

The first time we are given any sense of "scale" to the Force is in ESB. Luke is tasked with lifting some rocks and fails. Of course he does! Floating things with your mind is impossible! And yet - holy cow - after some intense training he is actually doing it! He is straining and sweating but he does it!

And then Yoda asks him to lift the x-wing out the swamp. Can he do it? Maybe? Holy cow even Yoda is astonished - Luke seems on the brink of something even Yoda didn't expect!

But no, of course not. Yoda asks the impossible.

Except of course he doesn't. The last Grand Master of the Jedi Order, the being who (as people knew at the time) trained Obi-Wan (and as we later came to know, basically every Jedi for 1,000 years) then lifts the ship.

This is a clear piece of visual story telling. Lifting one rock is hard but doable, lifting a ship is really really hard and you need to be very strong and or experienced to do so.

Anyone who tells you that the lingering shot of Rey lifting hundreds of rocks so effortlessly that she can look around and laugh is not meant to be understood as "Rey > Luke" needs to also commit to the idea that Red lightsabers mean nothing.

Anyone who tells you it doesn't matter that Rey pulled Luke's x-wing out of the sea on Ach-To (vs Luke's inability to pull it out of the swamp on Dagobah) needs to commit to the idea that storm troopers wearing faceless skull masks means nothing.

The absolute pinnacle of this is of course Rey (and then Ben) learning to use the Force to heal life threatening wounds and even bring people back from the dead.

It goes beyond that though - and I think is most egregious in TFA.

We are consistently explicitly given the opportunity to make a direct comparison between Rey and Luke & Anakin, and then are hit over the head with the idea that Rey is better.

Even contrasting her with Kylo is interesting. Kylo has training, lots of it, and yet consistently loses to Rey (an uno reverse card mind reading and 2 different lightsaber tug o' wars the most obvious examples; the notable absence of Kylo ever using Force lightning vs Rey kinda just accidentally yolo-ing it).

What then does any of this mean?

As ever - nothing, just buy the Lego, stop wasting your time writing hundreds of words on Tumblr, please god stop clogging the timeline with this crap, look how cool the posters are).

But I persist.

The obvious (and what Disney seemed to be aiming at) meaning is that Rey IS better than Anakin or Luke or anyone else, Rey is in fact the actual real Chosen One.

Ok fine I guess but I hate it.

It also begs the question of "why"? Like what is the metaphysical logic?

Lucas very heavily centres personal agency in his metaphysics - yes, Anakin has the innate ability to be the chosen one, was foretold in prophecy, but it is always his choices that determine the triumph or defeat of the Light. He chooses wrong until the very end but it is always choice that matters.

Rey never chooses wrong. Maybe it's that simple but it begs the further question of why?

Anakin is given the most traumatic childhood imaginable and it never stops. He is damaged - physically and psychologically - and put into impossible circumstances and then he breaks.

Rey basically breezes through adversity. She never really seems to feel any loss, she is never really tempted by the dark side, and she certainly never gives into it. Even when she does give in to anger (and uses force lighting in TROS) it has no consequences, turns out Chewie is fine. She makes it through the entire sequel trilogy with no real loss - personal, physical, psychological, until the very end when we are meant to read Ben's death as meaningful (but given that the death happens AFTER the good guys have already one, it doesn't work as a narrative exchange).

The point about exchange is consistent - Luke and Anakin face real costs for their choices.

Beru and Owen die when Luke seeks adventure and pursues R2. Luke loses his hand (and innocence) when he chooses to confront Vader on Bespin. He almost loses his soul when he fights Vader on DS2 (and in choosing to forgo violence he suffers physical torture but achieves metaphysical victory).

Anakin loses his mother when he leaves Tatooine but gets to be a Jedi. He loses (part of) his soul when he chooses to kill the Tuskens but gets revenge. He loses his arm when he attacks Dooku. He loses his wife, his children, his limbs, his friends when he chooses the Dark, when he chooses power.

Rey chooses adventure and to go with BB-8 and loses... nothing she gains a saber and unlocks her Force abilities such that she uno reverse cards Kylo. She chooses to fight Kylo and she loses... Maybe Fin but he doesn't die, and she wins the duel. She chooses to confront Kylo and Snoke and she loses... what, exactly? Snoke dies and while she doesn't get Ben Solo back she still doesn't lose anything. She chooses to give in to anger and uses force lighting and accidentally... doesn't kill Chewie so actually it's fine.

The theme that does emerge is essentially one of purity. Rey is pure - pure of heart, pure of intention, not because of any choice or lived experience but because she just is. And that is why she makes all the right choices.

This is explicit in the finale - if Rey kills Palpatine out of impure intentions evil wins. But she kills him and evil loses - so she must have done it with a pure heart.

Anakin then doesn't fail to fulfil his destiny (until much later) because he made bad choices, he made bad choices because he is impure and it was never his destiny anyway.

Turns out Anakin never worked out the right way to murder someone.

Anakin's mistake was not seeking a short cut to power which was always bound to fail. His mistake was not refusing to accept that some things are beyond him, that death comes for us all, and that all we can do is embrace it.

Anakin's mistake was being impure, was reading the wrong books. Turns out, the Force could save Padmé, Anakin was just too weak/stupid/impure from the start to do so.

It not only recasts the entire 9 movies, it is also just really boring.

[theladyofbloodshed]

It's been an age since I read the series, but I do think Rhys was intended to be one of the villains for the trilogy:

SJM scrapped her original plan for ACOMAF and wrote the current one. ACOMAF is touted as a hades x persephone retelling but it isn't really that at all. On her second (?) visit she decides to stay.

Rhys very much is the villain in book one but the end scene when they talk and the bond snaps was a different tone entirely - which makes me think it was a last minute edit to set up the new sequel

There are no mentions to Illyrians in ACOTAR - despite later finding out they did serve alongside Amarantha and were executed for it - the attor is the only one described as having leathery wings

There are also no mentions to Darkbringers who did also serve

Why would they serve Rhys if they hate him? It's explained as them being SO evil that they revel in Amarantha's punishment, but they would still need to follow his orders so it makes no sense that they would listen to him when they could bypass Rhys and bend the knee to her

It is retconned that with his single drop of leftover magic, he is able to shield Velaris and remove Amren, Mor, Cassian and Azriel from the memories of every single person in Prythian - which includes Mor's family, every Illyrian, the Vanserras, and Tamlin (in book 2, Tamlin and Lucien comfirm they know Cass & Az, Eris was engaged to Mor, Lucien calls Amren a scary story they tell children, the CoN apparently knows about Velaris) If Rhys wasn't the originally intended villain then...

Why does the king of Hybern who trained Amarantha - she uses his book of spells - do nothing for fifty years? The Suriel states that a hundred years earlier he sends spies to Prythian but Amarantha betrays him and traps the high lords and he then just chills

Why does he wait until the high lords are back to full strength to start a war to take over Prythian? He had fifty years to take over prythian when all of the high lords except one were trapped - but what? He was too scared of Amarantha? He needed an extra 8 months to launch his war?

Amarantha is his student so it stands to reason that he is stronger than her and could quite easily take over her coup with the army that was seemingly ready to go at any time. There's even a part in acotar where one creature questions the attor over whether amarantha thinks she's above the king. It's also stated that her revenge on jurian cost him the war because she didn't march with her section of the army, but he's benevolent enough to let her rule for 50 years

Hybern is made out to be this ghoulish country where they're all evil (just like Illyria and the Hewn City) with no variance amongst the people; they're all warriors too, clearly no children or farmers or smiths or matronly women. They're all nameless and faceless cannon fodder. There is no concern for the state of post-war Hybern or who rules in the king's stead, for the orphans and windows. It is underdeveloped as is the nameless king who is foolish enough to try and take over prythian only *after* its high lords have all had their power restored and are fortifying their courts

[high-voltage-rat]

Actually I'm still thinking about it. Another interesting way in which RvB is anti-war is the way that the Director fills the role of a villain and antagonist (especially in the Recollections trilogy, where he's a faceless villain we never see but is responsible for everything that happens).

In his memos to the Chairman, the Director emphasizes his sense of duty and obligation to the military- he becomes irate for the first time when he feels that it's being implied that he was derelict in his duty... or that the work he did out of that duty is being criticized for being against the military's interests. He also talks about Allison's death in a way I find... interesting.

"You see; I never had the chance to serve in battle. Nor did fate provide me the opportunity to sacrifice myself for humanity as it did for so many others in the Great War. Someone extremely dear to me was lost very early in my life. My mind has always plagued me with the question: If the choice had been placed in my hands, could I have saved her? [...] But, given the events of these past few weeks, I feel confident that had I been given the chance, I would have made those sacrifices myself... Had I only the chance."

The idea of sacrifice is central to the way he talks about his wife's loss, to the way he talks about the war in general. He talks of sacrifice with a sense of veneration- that it's something he aspires to do, that he longs for. There's a few ways we can interpret "I would have made those sacrifices myself"...

-That in Allison's place, he thinks he would have laid down his life too.

-That if given the chance, he would have given his life to save hers.

But most interestingly...

-That he would have sacrificed Allison's life for the continued survival of humanity, if that was what duty called for.

...And personally, I think all 3 are true.

In most war media, the Director's perspective on sacrifice is very common. Sacrifice is glorious and heroic- to die in battle is an honour- and it's the only way to ensure the group you serve survives. This is a tool of propaganda- nobody wants to go to war just for the sake of it, you have to give them a reason that the risk of dying or being permanently disabled isn't just acceptable, but desirable. Beyond that, most people don't want to do things they think are immoral- you have to convince them it's important, a necessary lesser evil. You teach them to sacrifice their morals, too.

The way they train soldiers to follow orders and to kill, is to convince them that they, and the people around them, and the people they care about, will all die if they don't. It's drilled into your head from day one. It's the way they ensure their commanding officers won't shy away from sending their men off to die. The message is constant- sacrifice is your duty, and duty ensures your people's survival.

In the Director's eyes, the damage Project Freelancer caused was his sacrifice. He never got the opportunity to sacrifice himself during the war- so he sacrificed others, as military brass do. The Freelancers- including his daughter. The countless sim troopers. Any people he considered "collateral damage" on missions. And when the opportunity to do so presented itself, he sacrificed a copy of himself- Alpha- and he sacrificed a copy of Allison- Tex.

The very thing that derailed his life- the loss of his wife- he made it happen again. He put her copy in dangerous situations, let her exist in the position of constant repeated failure, created the circumstances that would eventually lead to her death. He put their daughter in deadly situations that nearly killed her repeatedly, provided her with impossible expectations leading to self-destructive behaviours in the name of duty, implanted her with two AI knowing they could cause her permanent harm. He was confident he "would have made those sacrifices himself" because he did.

The Director is the embodiment of the military war machine. As an antagonist, he is a warning against buying into the glorification of sacrifice. He's a condemnation of the idea that one should be willing to do anything to win a war- that duty to the military is the thing that ensures survival... All the messages that are pushed to ensure recruitment and obedience of soldiers.

He's a reminder that swallowing the propaganda leads to you doing terrible things... and in the end, you're a broken man left mourning the losses that you suffered even as you repeated them, convinced that it was all necessary.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Some Shall Break by Ellie Marney

"Emma gives Kristin her other hand, because she's right, they're still girls. But she isn't sure what that signifies anymore, except that girls are the ones who always end up victimized, abused, tortured, dead. What the advantages of manicured nails might be in those circumstances, she really can't imagine."

Year Read: 2024

Rating: 4/5

Thoughts: I liked this a little more than None Shall Sleep, I think because I was vibing more with the murder case. The similarities to the killer Emma escaped are eerie and personal, and it makes the novel that much more frightening. It's a little slow to take off, wallowing a bit in changing locations and police politics, but once it starts digging into the current murder case, I was hooked. I also cannot, for the life of me, tell a single cop character in this novel apart. There are half a dozen named and described, and they all just run together into one faceless mass.

On the other hand, the main characters are delightful as always. I've always enjoyed the slowburn of Travis and Emma's bond (a hint of romance but nothing too off-putting for non-romance readers), and Emma's trauma gets a spotlight here as the current case brings up old memories of Huxton. I also really liked seeing more of Kristin in this book. She reminds me of Luna Lovegood (sweet, blonde, underestimated, a little spacey) if she happened to have a serial killer for a brother.

I feel a little bad because I know these books are primarily about the survivors, not the murderers--and Marney goes to great lengths to portray Emma's trauma realistically--but I am never as riveted as when Simon Gutmunsson is on the page. He's teenage Hannibal Lecter stealing the show, commanding attention, and generally sending chills down my spine. I'm a sucker for a great fictional serial killer, and he's easily one of my favorites for YA horror. I loved the ending of this book; it's tense and terrifying, and I'm so excited the series will be rounded out as a trilogy.

[nagarashi]

Always resented the way Logan was treated in Fable 3, didn't you?

Long post ahead...

Fable 3 has always been an example of controversy, at least I used to stumble upon it all the time. Some branded it a disgrace, while others said it wasn't that bad because of the potential it had, which unfortunately was never realized.

I've always been on the side of the second. Just recently I settled on a marathon and went through the entire trilogy. Just like the first time I was "burned out" from that missed potential. In particular I am always saddened by the king - Logan.

For me, Logan is pretty much the only character I really feel sorry for and care about in Fable 3. Yeah, even Walter I feel pretty cold towards.... but that's partly because I'm on the King's side from the beginning of the game, even though they try hard to turn me against him (which is what turns me away from the other characters). And it's the reason I really dislike the Hero (Princess in my case), she's blind, infantile and driven, she doesn't think with her head (probably like all the Heroes in the fable).

The game does our brother one hell of an injustice. I felt it especially strongly when I finally played Fable 2 after many years. The faceless queen (in my case Sparrow Woman) mentioned in Fable 3 suddenly took on a face for me and became something important... I know what she was like and what her life was like. And I'm sure she would have loved Logan, because she was deprived of parental love early on, and didn't want brother and sister to be against each other, because she lost her sister, her only sibling, at a young age.

Logan was the firstborn son of Sparrow and as the firstborn, the eldest, all expectations were to be placed on him, everything was to be left for him... What does the game tell us?

The game does, however, show and give the impression that Logan was some sort of outcast in the family. And for some reason, the Guild seal was supposed to go to the youngest. You say she's a hero? What was her Heroic talent until she got a gauntlet to use magic? Broke sword in training? I may be biased, but I have a feeling Logan has broken more than one sword in training as well.... But for some reason, all the excitement goes to the youngest one.

Speaking of magic, it used to be used without any gauntlets, does that mean that it weakens the blood of Heroes? That would be... logical. That's where Reaver and his still strong bloodline would come in handy, lol.

Back to Logan. Not only was the seal not for him, but for some reason, even in the Sanctuary, the note from his mother was left for Jasper, not him. What?!

There's a strong and unpleasant feeling of ignoring the fact that Logan even exists. Why does he deserve to be ignored? From a game perspective, I understand that it demonizes our brother, but from a logical perspective, I don't see how it's justified, at least not when it comes to things involving family.

That and the way everyone hates him only made me get more attached to him.... and the fact that he's the closest thing we have to family. You can't just walk away from that fact, giving in to calls for a stupid revolution without even trying to talk to your brother before doing so. Was the princess angry with him? That anger is some kind of unfunny joke. She didn't care about her brother, why should she care about some random dudes she's being asked to execute?

The game shows that even the sister didn't care about Logan. She doesn't notice the changes in him (which by the way even Elliot notices, in my case) and doesn't even try to talk to him to find out what's going on.

And as if that wasn't enough, when we get to a certain point and find out the truth of what's going on with our brother, why he's changed so much, instead of talking to him in person, for some reason we let Walter take him away and have a trial where all those bloodthirsty critters from our allies come out when they wish Logan dead (except Page, surprisingly, I don't like her, but she shows a lot of common sense at the trial).

On top of all that, Logan has seen with his own eyes what Crawler can do, he saw the deaths of all his men when they faced the Darkness for the first time and subsequently experienced the horror that Crawler is capable of, and we have seen what he can do through our example and Walter's. He brings out the deepest nightmares.... Now imagine facing the death of your home, your people, your family, the one person you care about. And then with the knowledge of all this you come back and try to tell people the terrible truth, but they just think you are crazy, you are powerless to convince them. But the sheep have to be saved from the wolves, no matter how stupid they are.

Logan obviously has severe PTSD after the incident, recurring nightmares and obsessive thoughts of what will happen if he fails? Thoughts that he MUST succeed no matter what. Wouldn't that drive you crazy?

It makes everyone think you're a monster and hate you..... Imagine what it's like to live under that kind of constant pressure every day? And then your dearest person, your flesh and blood, goes against you... It's like the last drop to break the stone already broken by despair and depression.

I don't know how Logan can be executed at the end of the trial. Personally, I've never done it, although I watched that scene on youtube for the sake of interest. It's just horrible in my opinion... It's so soulless. I love playing Fable as an evil character, but even by my standards this is just too much... Logan's execution isn't evil or even justice as the crowd screams, it's murder besides being very vile, even for me.

I really dislike that at the end, when he leaves, we aren't given a chance to stop him. He will always be a brother to Hero and they will always need each other. Anyway, after everything that's happened, I wish Logan was by my side so he could finally have peace and love instead of hate and despise. I don't want him to wander the world and die in an unmarked grave somewhere.

P.S: I always liked the moment at the trial, when all those who were crying the whole game, what victims of Logan's cruelty they were, immediately turned into a pack of vicious dogs, as soon as they felt the power and opportunity to grab Logan's throat with no punishment, literally siccing you on your own brother.

P.S.S: Screw Teresa, I hate you for what you did to Sparrow and her kids.

[nicstylus]

I thought it was called the obsidian trilogy?

I think thats the most widely used name, yes.

I've also seen the Creed Trilogy, the Darkly Trilogy, the Roarhaven Trilogy, and I tossed around maybe using the End Trilogy.

I chose to dub it the Zealot Trilogy because to me it makes the most sense, and it actually applies to all three books where most of the other names leave a book out. While previously Derek did a nice job of keeping all the trilogies relevant as three books, this trilogy falls flat. Seasons of War has almost nothing to do with the last two books, and while DoA and UtE sort of flow into each other well, they're both just so all over the place and have so many random plotlines crammed into each other.. its just a lot.

Now, here's why "The Zealot Trilogy" works:

The Zealot Trilogy fits because while all three books deal with wildly different religious fanatics from each other, they all focus on some sort of group of wacked-out followers of SOMETHING.

- Major Spoilers of Seasons of War, Dead or Alive and Until the End -

Seasons of War focuses on the after (and current) affects of the Necromancers and their Death Bringer; in this case Lord Vile.

Main Zealots in question: the Necromancers The Necromancer Order not only turned what remained of the world into draugr, but also killed themselves in order to gain the sheer power Lord Vile showcased by being a dead thing controlling death magic. Bonus points for taking place in Mevolent's Universe; where everyone or almost everyone worships the Faceless Ones, and China Sorrows clearly delving back into the Church of the Faceless

Dead or Alive focuses on Damocles Creed and his activation wave to find the Child of the Faceless.

Main Zealots in question: Church of the Faceless Half the book also takes place in the future where Malice IS the Child of the Faceless, in an altered world where the Faceless Ones returned and almost everyone (left) worships them and/or Malice herself. You could also argue that Cadaver Cain, as a... disciple?? of the Viddu De is a zealot, but that's a whole other discussion. Bonus points for the introduction of a whole new race of gods, and the creation of Obsidian who accidently gains his own cult following in the next book.

Until the End- while being a Frankenstein of... everything really- "focuses" on:

Valkyrie being the Mother and the Child of the Faceless Ones and going through a zealot arc of her own.

Creed and the Faceless Church worshiping the Faceless Ones that have now actually returned, along with Valkyrie herself.

Obsidian and Darquesse, who both have their own cults/followings

Main Zealots in question: Church of the Faceless, Cult of Obsidian Bonus points:

Gog Magog

Mortals dealing with the Shalgoth crawling up from the earth by starting cults

Flanery and his party

"Order of the Ancients" and "Soldiers of Magic" sound like cults to me

Darquesse becoming the universe and the Plague Doctors taking over the Dark Cathedral with the Blessings of Darquesse

All in all, most of the other names for the trilogy tend to leave a book out, but Zealots encompass all! Hooray... An argument against this name is that zealots appear (and are relevant/the main problem) in MOST of the SP Books- so you could really call any of them the Zealot Trilogy- but we have better names for those trilogies :]

If you care, here's why I don't think the other trilogy names work as well:

Obsidian Trilogy:

While this could refer to both the Obsidian Blade AND Obsidian himself, none of the books in this trilogy have those being the main focus until the last few chapters. The Blade is only ever present in SOW, where it breaks as soon as it's used. Obsidian isn't created until the very end of Dead or Alive, and theres maybe three mentions of the Blade itself until it consumes Auger. Obsidian isn't relevant until the the second half of Until the End, as he spends the entire book being a background character and only really thought about during Omen's chapters. Book that's mainly left out: Dead or Alive

Creed Trilogy:

Out of all the other options, this one seems the most fitting to me. While he's mentioned in earlier books, Creed only becomes a relevant adversary when he becomes Supreme Mage, which happens at the very end of Seasons of War. He's the main antagonist of Dead or Alive, and still pretty relevant in most of Until the End. However like I said, he only really shows up at the end of Seasons of War and all he does is force Mevolent into statis forever a long time. Book that's mainly left out: Seasons of War

Roarhaven Trilogy:

This one gets second place for 'most fitting.' I like it, and the argument is that most of what happens in this trilogy is directly relevant to Roarhaven, or it takes place IN Roarhaven;

Mevolent invades Roarhaven at the end of SOW, and Creed takes over as Supreme Mage, which sets up the next two books

Dead or Alive almost entirely takes place in Roarhaven (Present AND Future,) and Creed and Cadaver use the streets of Roarhaven itself to activate their respective goals

Until the End also mostly takes place in Roarhaven, and it's also the last location to EXIST lol

However this one, like "the Darkly Trilogy," falls short because MOST of the books after LSODM take place in/near Roarhaven, or at least have Roarhaven as a main location. Plus, the main plotline of SOW doesn't even take place in our universe, much less Roarhaven itself. Book that's mostly left out: Seasons of War

Darkly Trilogy:

This one is a good catch all... but I just think it's sort of lazy. I'd make the argument that they're relevant in all six of the books, since Omen/Sebastian's POV literally takes up half of the story and Auger is... there. BUT we call the KOTW, LSODM, DOTL trilogy the Darquesse Trilogy, and she first 'appears' in book 4 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess they're more relevant for the last three as Omen is actually being productive on a world-saving scale for this trilogy: obtaining the Obsidian blade and running around with Crepuscular. Auger completes his prophecy in SOW, then becomes Obsidian in DoA and is a major factor for the plot events in UtE. So I can see it, I just think it's lazy and there's better options. Third place. Book that's mainly left out: Dead or Alive

End Trilogy:

Yeah this one is just bad, esp since it's NOT the final trilogy what with AMFOM, AHFOH and ASFOS xD "End" obviously refers to Until the End, and I guess it could be argued that they ended a future in DoA, and the livability of Mevolent's universe in SOW, (or the end of the King of the Darklands/Darkly Prophecy I guess?) But if we're going that route I could think of something that 'ended' in every book- phase 1 and 2- so this one is even lazier than the Darkly Trilogy. Last place. Book that's mainly left out: Dead or Alive

[merlinfromberlin]

Just came back from finally, finally, finally getting to watch Transformers: One with my roommate.

Overall, it was an absolute blast. :D I had so much fun and am seriously considering going to watch it again next week.

Loved Bee so much, honestly, maybe my favourite blorbo in the movie (which was to be expected).

I can also confirm that I'm still a disgusting Optimus-is-Bee's-dad-truther. Even if that means I have to headcanon him as sounding younger than he did in the movie.

Spoilery-thoughts below the cut for everyone who hasn't seen the movie yet.

However, I have a few not so savory feelings about the double standard regarding Autobots and Decepticons committing acts of violence in the movie. It kind of took me out of the story a few times.

Like, we see Orion (rightfully!) talking down D-16 from killing Starscream. And then, not even five minutes later, Orion rips apart one of Sentinel's soldiers. It's never adressed. It's never condemned. Like. What?

And it's not the only thing, the movie is kinda hypocritical about it:

D-16 trying to kill Starscream (bad)

Orion ripping apart one of Sentinel's soldiers (good, bad-ass)

Orion, D-16, B-127 & Elita-1 fighting back against Sentinel's soldiers (good)

B-127 accidentally - and then not so accidentally - killing Sentinel's soldiers (good, funny)

B-127 destroying the broadcasting office and scaring the reporters (kinda bad, but also funny)

Megatron ripping apart Sentinel (bad)

(That's probably not every scene with violence but it's the ones I remember best)

I don't say that I disagree with the movie regarding it's portrayal of Megatron's violence. Optimus was right to try and stop Megatron both times. I'm also not saying that Sentinel Prime's execution and Starscream's attempted execution are the same as Sentinel's soldiers being killed in battle/self-defence. I'm also not saying that the miners/High Guard/our little troop were wrong to fight back.

However, there is a definite bias in this movie when it comes to framing violence.

I mean, we see both Orion and Megatron tear a guy in half, but only one of those instances is condemned. The other one is glossed over/celebrated as a bad-ass battle move.

Furthermore, violence is only ever framed as something objectable if it's committed against named characters. I don't think that it's random that Autobots only ever fight Sentinel's unnamed, faceless soldiers. Similar to the Vehicons in TFP, they are implied to be clones simply by their identical designs - which, somehow, makes violence against them acceptable.

I'm really disappointed that this movie falls into the popular action movie tropes of "As long as it's the good guys committing violence it's okay and you don't have to worry about it." and "You should only feel empathy for Storm Troopers when we tell you to - aka when we give them a face."

Now, other, more minor things:

I squelad when I first saw Jazz! :D I was so happy for him to be there because I had no clue that he would be in the movie. He's become one of my favourite characters these past few months so I was really, really happy for him to be there. ^^

Cybertron was also absolutely beautiful. The movie, in general, was very very pretty.

I am also a big fan that, this time, most of the Autobots started out as cog-less miners and Iacon's underclass (not all of them - Chromia, for example, would be an exception).

Most of the Autobots being basically middle-caste while a lot of the Decepticons started out as miners and lower-caste bots is one of the few things that irks me about TFP.

Love that the main threat of this movie (trilogy?) are the Quintessons. I literally didn't even know that they existed until I watched Cyberverse in July and I got so excited about seeing them! So glad I managed to avoid having that part spoiled. ^^

Also, so sorry to the guy who spoke B-127, but I got jumpscared every time I heard his voice. Bee behaved so much younger than he sounded. Which probably makes sense considering that he was stuck with only three dolls for company for Primus knows how long.

Won't stop me from headcanoning stuff, though.

Edit: I thought about this some more since yesterday in the evening and I think that was mainly a mixture of headcanons and projection speaking. You can read him as young, you don't have to. Isolation is f'ed up.

[average-mako-enjoyer]

Mass Effect asks: 5, 7, and 23

Oooh, that's interesting, thank you!

From the Mass Effect Fandom ask.

5. Most interesting mission in each part of the trilogy and why?There are so many good missions that it's really hard to pick favorites, to be honest.

In ME1 it's probably the Thorian mission on Feros. It's just so much fun! I love the space horror genre, and I love how this mission pays homage to its most popular tropes. And the location is one of my favorites as well. The endless road, the local sun shining through the ruins… Honestly, I just want to stand on the side of the road and look at the horizon. It's insanely beautiful. And of course, punching people is fun sometimes.

In ME2 it's Project Overlord. So many interesting locations! Absolutely insane satellite dish part. Heartbreaking story. Space horror. It has everything.

In ME3… I really can't choose between the second Citadel mission (Shepard is finally reunited with our favorite Virmire Survivor!; Garrus' scene at C-Sec HQ; those fucking Cerberus assassins kicking my ass; the carnage and the horror of it all), Tuchanka (can you not love Tuchanka???) and Thessia (the Asari Lt. sacrificing herself and her squadron, the Prothean reveal, the way Shepard reacts to this mission…). All of the missions in ME3 are so memorable that I can't really pick just one.

7. Most heartbreaking moment in each part of the triology and why? Earthborn is my favorite background for Shepard for several reasons, but I think Colonists get the best background mission. I Remember Me is gut-wrenching.

In ME2 it's Overlord reveal, and I don't think that needs any explanation.

The entirety of ME3. lol But if I'm serious, it's Shepard sitting with dying Anderson.

23. Least favorite non-companion character and why? Kai Leng. To create such a flat and uninteresting character is an achievement in itself. Nothing about him works. I love how the Shut Up Leng mod just changes him to a random faceless assassin with no dialogue, and it works perfectly.

[theforbiddeneden]

2024 Kerrang - Sleep Token: “Our identity is represented through the art itself” - Translated ENG TO PTBR

Millions of listeners. Sold-out arenas. No identity. Sleep Token’s unstoppable rise has been breathtaking to behold, doing it all on their terms, giving the briefest of glimpses into the multiverse they’ve created. Ahead of their biggest-ever headline show at Wembley Arena, we search through past interactions for the meaning behind the mystery and find real beauty in anonymity…

December 15, 2023Words:David McLaughlinPhotos:Andy Ford

If you’ve come here looking for answers, welcome to the club. The questions you’re posing might offer more useful insights. When we asked our own, in the end, we were left with even more questions. All of this has very much been by design.

Contrary to popularly held misconceptions, Sleep Token have done more than one press interview in their seven-year rise through the alternative ranks. They’ve communicated to the wider world through Kerrang! twice, in fact – in their early days via their enigmatic, faceless leader Vessel, and again through an unnamed ‘Servant’, each time leaving behind brief but tantalising breadcrumb trails that offered intrigue and suspense.

“The true identities behind Sleep Token are immaterial and ultimately irrelevant,” Vessel boldly decreed in our profile piece introducing them in 2018. “Our identity is represented through the art itself.”

“It matters not who they are,” the Servant doubled down at the band’s behest in our follow-up Q&A (admittedly, it was more ‘Q’ than ‘A’, but still…) accompanying the printed review of their 2019 debut album, Sundowning. “It matters not what they say.”

The key takeaways from those teaser dispatches only reaffirmed and repeated the messages they left now-K! Editor Luke Morton with at the conclusion of his earlier 2017 communiqué. That “nothing lasts forever”, and giving one simple instruction: “Worship.”

Since then, worship is exactly what’s gone down. Across a trilogy of albums that’s included 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb and culminated in this May’s Take Me Back To Eden, they’ve transformed themselves from the status of eyebrow-raising cult proposition to a genuine scene phenomenon. How big the anonymous collective could become is a compelling unknown.

At the time of going to press, they have amassed more than 2.3million monthly listeners on Spotify, a rapid and impressive increase on the not-exactly-shabby quarter-million mark they hovered around at the tail-end of 2022. On May 31, when they announced they’d be playing a headline date at London’s OVO Arena Wembley on December 16, the event sold out in just 10 minutes, such was fan fervour for tickets. To borrow an old phrase, there’s something happening here, but what it is ain’t exactly clear.

——————————————————————————————————

Milhões de ouvintes. Arenas esgotadas. Nenhuma identidade.

A ascensão imparável do Sleep Token tem sido de tirar o fôlego, feita totalmente nos próprios termos da banda, oferecendo apenas os vislumbres mais breves do multiverso que criaram. Às vésperas do maior show solo de sua carreira, na Wembley Arena, mergulhamos nas interações passadas em busca do significado por trás do mistério — e encontramos uma beleza real na anonimidade...

Se você veio aqui em busca de respostas, bem-vindo ao clube. As perguntas que você está fazendo talvez ofereçam mais insights úteis. Quando fizemos as nossas, no fim, ficamos com ainda mais perguntas. Tudo isso foi muito bem planejado.

Ao contrário do que muitos pensam, o Sleep Token já concedeu mais de uma entrevista à imprensa durante seus sete anos de ascensão na cena alternativa. Eles se comunicaram com o mundo exterior por meio da Kerrang! duas vezes, na verdade — nos primeiros dias, por meio de seu enigmático e sem rosto líder, Vessel, e novamente por meio de um ‘Servo’ não identificado. Em ambas as ocasiões, deixaram para trás pistas breves, porém instigantes, que despertaram curiosidade e suspense.

“As verdadeiras identidades por trás do Sleep Token são imateriais e, em última análise, irrelevantes,” declarou Vessel com ousadia em nosso perfil de apresentação da banda, em 2018. “Nossa identidade é representada através da própria arte.”

“Não importa quem eles são,” reforçou o Servo em nome da banda em nossa sessão de perguntas e respostas (admitidamente, mais “perguntas” do que “respostas”, mas ainda assim...) que acompanhou a resenha impressa do álbum de estreia deles, Sundowning, em 2019. “Não importa o que eles dizem.”

As principais mensagens dessas breves comunicações apenas reafirmaram e repetiram o que deixaram com Luke Morton — agora editor da Kerrang! — ao final de seu contato anterior, em 2017: que “nada dura para sempre”, e com uma simples instrução: “Adore.”

Desde então, foi exatamente isso que aconteceu. Ao longo de uma trilogia de álbuns — incluindo This Place Will Become Your Tomb (2021) e culminando com Take Me Back To Eden (maio de 2023) — eles deixaram de ser apenas uma curiosidade cult para se tornarem um verdadeiro fenômeno da cena. Quão grande o coletivo anônimo pode se tornar é uma incógnita fascinante.

No momento do fechamento da matéria, eles haviam acumulado mais de 2,3 milhões de ouvintes mensais no Spotify, um aumento rápido e impressionante em relação aos cerca de 250 mil com que flertavam no final de 2022. Em 31 de maio, quando anunciaram que fariam um show principal na OVO Arena Wembley, em Londres, no dia 16 de dezembro, o evento se esgotou em apenas 10 minutos, tamanha era a euforia dos fãs por ingressos. Para citar uma velha frase: “Há algo acontecendo aqui, mas não está exatamente claro o que é.”

To their credit, Sleep Token have orchestrated all of it beautifully. In their parlance, they don’t play gigs; they play Rituals. Those in attendance, they consider their Congregation, devoted and primed to bow down and pay tribute. Onstage, Vessel stands barefoot, cloaked and masked, with any exposed skin daubed in charcoal to conceal his identity. The rest of the band remain equally incognito, distinguished only by the Runic marks on their masks and their Roman numerals: II (drummer), III (bassist), and IV (guitarist). Flanking the musicians with disquieting stillness are three hooded backing vocalists.

When it’s working in concert with the rustic staging, lights and music, the effect is akin to one of Ari Aster’s folk-horror fever dreams. Under all that garb, nobody knows who anyone is. And that anonymity appears to be entirely the point.

“Art has become entangled with identity,” Vessel explained in his initial communications with us. “The aim with Sleep Token is to provide something people can engage with and relate to without being obstructed by the identity of its creator. Our aesthetic is there to fill the void left by that absence.”

There’s also a hefty dose of baked-in lore to sort through, should you so desire. As legend has it, Vessel was anointed in a dream by an ancient deity called Sleep, who promised “glory and magnificence” for his servitude, loyalty and carrying out of Sleep’s bidding. Each of the band’s songs are but offerings to this deity, detailing their stormy relationship and the power dynamics at play between them.

The cryptic words of the band’s old bio offered some colour and context to this central thematic tension.

“This being once held great power,” it read, “bestowing ancient civilisations with the gift of dreams, and the curse of nightmares. Even today, though faded from prominence, ‘Sleep’ yet lurks in the subconscious minds of man, woman and child alike. Fragments of beauty, horror, anguish, pain, happiness, joy, anger, disgust and fear coalesce to create expansive, emotionally textured music that simultaneously embodies the darkest, and the brightest abstract thoughts. He has seen them. He has felt them. He is everywhere.”

The real-world origins of the band remain shrouded in just as much mystery. As if to muddy the waters further, the music defies easy categorisation, wilfully ranging in tone and shape across a sphere of alternative sounds. One minute there’s a super-technical, djent-like assault on the senses; the next it descends into sparse and delicate balladry, with glossy touches of modern R&B and pop sensibilities in between.

——————————————————————————————————

Para seu crédito, o Sleep Token orquestrou tudo isso de forma brilhante. Em sua própria linguagem, eles não fazem shows; eles realizam Rituais. Aqueles que assistem são considerados sua Congregação, devotos e prontos para se curvar e prestar tributo. No palco, Vessel se apresenta descalço, encapuzado e mascarado, com toda a pele exposta coberta de carvão para ocultar sua identidade. O restante da banda permanece igualmente incógnito, sendo distinguidos apenas pelos símbolos rúnicos nas máscaras e seus números romanos: II (baterista), III (baixista) e IV (guitarrista). Ao lado dos músicos, com uma inquietante quietude, ficam três backing vocals encapuzados.

Quando tudo isso se junta ao cenário rústico, à iluminação e à música, o efeito é comparável a um dos pesadelos folclóricos febris de Ari Aster. Por baixo de todos esses trajes, ninguém sabe quem é quem. E essa anonimidade parece ser exatamente o ponto central.

“A arte se entrelaçou com a identidade,” explicou Vessel em sua primeira comunicação conosco. “O objetivo com o Sleep Token é oferecer algo com o qual as pessoas possam se envolver e se relacionar sem que a identidade de seu criador seja um obstáculo. Nossa estética está aí para preencher o vazio deixado por essa ausência.”

Há também uma boa dose de lore embutido, caso você deseje se aprofundar. Reza a lenda que Vessel foi ungido em um sonho por uma divindade antiga chamada Sleep, que prometeu “glória e magnificência” em troca de sua servidão, lealdade e dedicação em cumprir os desejos da entidade. Cada música da banda seria, portanto, uma oferenda a essa divindade, descrevendo o relacionamento tempestuoso entre eles e as dinâmicas de poder envolvidas.

As palavras enigmáticas da antiga biografia da banda ofereciam um pouco de cor e contexto para essa tensão temática central:

“Esse ser outrora detinha grande poder,” dizia o texto, “concedendo às civilizações antigas o dom dos sonhos — e a maldição dos pesadelos. Mesmo hoje, embora tenha desaparecido da proeminência, ‘Sleep’ ainda espreita nas mentes subconscientes de homens, mulheres e crianças. Fragmentos de beleza, horror, angústia, dor, felicidade, alegria, raiva, nojo e medo se fundem para criar uma música expansiva e emocionalmente rica, que simultaneamente incorpora os pensamentos abstratos mais sombrios e mais luminosos. Ele os viu. Ele os sentiu. Ele está em toda parte.”

As origens reais da banda permanecem envoltas em igual mistério. E para confundir ainda mais, a música do grupo desafia qualquer categorização fácil, transitando deliberadamente entre diversos tons e estilos dentro do espectro alternativo. Em um momento, há um ataque supersofisticado no estilo djent aos sentidos; no outro, a música mergulha em baladas delicadas e esparsas, com toques polidos de R&B moderno e sensibilidades do pop no meio disso tudo.

That level of invention and mystique has caught the music-loving public’s imagination and sparked wild theories about the identity of those responsible, as well as the possible meanings behind it all. The undeniable talent and creativity fuelling the endeavour has led many to believe that it must be the work of an already established and accomplished artist.

Bastille’s Dan Smith has been considered a potential candidate. There’s some left-field speculation about people like Sam Smith, James Arthur or Hozier possibly being involved. Wannabe online sleuths have noted some stylistic similarities between Vessel’s vocals and those of Don Broco’s Rob Damiani, further highlighting how the two appear to never be booked for live duties at the same time.

The band’s hyper-engaged online communities have debunked most suggestions thus far, only adding to the mystery that surrounds their rise to prominence. In the social media-driven age of TMI oversharing, it’s an impressive feat to have kept things so tightly under wraps all this time.

To that end, rule one of the band’s official Reddit page states that “revealing the real names or providing information that leads to identifying members is strictly forbidden”. That’s a mark of “respect and gratitude” according to user PersimmonOwn2478.

“Vessel has given all of us a gift,” they explain. “Through this magic music that makes us feel. To go against their wishes, to discuss the people behind the masks, or to sully a sincere wish for anonymity, would be a disgrace. “In giving of himself, his past traumas, his emotions that gave birth to a beautiful catalogue of music,” they summarise. “He asks of us just one thing: to focus on the message behind the music.”

Someone who knows a thing or two about the power of a mask is Corey Taylor, who counts himself among the band’s ever-growing legion of devotees. On his recent visit to the UK, we tried to pin him down on what it is he digs about them so much.

“I love how there’s nothing but the music and what they want to put out there,” the Slipknot frontman says of the band’s unique allure. “I love that people are so into that, too. I mean, I know how fucking hard it is to keep that up. There’s definitely something to be said about the mystique. But if the music wasn’t amazing, it wouldn’t be as cool. The thing that inspires me the most is watching people really come into their own.”

That’s putting it mildly. Earlier this year, Take Me Back To Eden’s lead single Chokehold became a viral sensation, with fans uploading their reactions and interpretations to TikTok. Lorna Shore singer Will Ramos recorded an a cappella cover and raved about the band on his YouTube channel. During his headline performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London in March, American Idol star Chris Daughtry performed an acoustic take of his own. They join Ihsahn from Norwegian black metal legends Emperor, The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, Loathe’s Kadeem France and Architects’ Sam Carter, who’ve all been vocal about their adoration in the past.

With a clutch of show-stealing festival gigs under their cloaks, including Reading & Leeds, an upcoming sell-out U.S. tour, and that crowning headliner in the capital to look forward to, it’s hard to see anyone having a better 2023 than Sleep Token.

How the hell did they pull all this off?

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Esse nível de invenção e mistério capturou a imaginação do público amante da música e gerou teorias malucas sobre a identidade dos responsáveis, bem como sobre os possíveis significados por trás de tudo. O talento inegável e a criatividade que impulsionam esse projeto levaram muitos a acreditar que ele só pode ser obra de um artista já estabelecido e experiente.

Dan Smith, do Bastille, já foi considerado um possível candidato. Especulações mais ousadas mencionam nomes como Sam Smith, James Arthur ou Hozier como possíveis envolvidos. Detetives amadores na internet notaram algumas semelhanças estilísticas entre os vocais de Vessel e os de Rob Damiani, do Don Broco, especialmente considerando que os dois aparentemente nunca estão escalados para apresentações ao vivo ao mesmo tempo.

As comunidades online hiperengajadas da banda já desmentiram a maioria dessas sugestões, o que só aumenta o mistério em torno de sua ascensão. Na era das redes sociais e do compartilhamento excessivo de informações, é uma façanha impressionante manter tudo tão bem escondido por tanto tempo.

Nesse sentido, a regra número um do Reddit oficial da banda diz que “revelar nomes reais ou fornecer informações que levem à identificação dos membros é estritamente proibido”. Segundo o usuário PersimmonOwn2478, isso é um sinal de “respeito e gratidão”.

“Vessel nos deu um presente,” ele explica. “Através dessa música mágica que nos faz sentir. Ir contra os desejos dele, discutir quem está por trás das máscaras ou manchar esse desejo sincero por anonimato seria uma desonra.” “Ao se doar, com seus traumas do passado e emoções que deram origem a um lindo catálogo musical,” ele resume, “ele nos pede apenas uma coisa: que foquemos na mensagem por trás da música.”

Alguém que entende bem o poder de uma máscara é Corey Taylor, que se conta entre a legião cada vez maior de devotos da banda. Em sua recente visita ao Reino Unido, tentamos descobrir o que ele mais gosta no Sleep Token.

“Adoro o fato de que não existe nada além da música e do que eles escolhem mostrar,” diz o vocalista do Slipknot sobre o apelo único da banda. “Adoro ver que as pessoas estão realmente envolvidas com isso também. Quero dizer, eu sei o quão incrivelmente difícil é manter isso. O mistério com certeza tem seu valor. Mas se a música não fosse incrível, nada disso seria tão legal. O que mais me inspira é ver as pessoas encontrando sua verdadeira identidade.”

E isso é até dizer pouco. No começo deste ano, o single principal de Take Me Back To Eden, “Chokehold”, se tornou um fenômeno viral, com fãs postando suas reações e interpretações no TikTok. O vocalista do Lorna Shore, Will Ramos, gravou uma versão a cappella e elogiou a banda em seu canal no YouTube. Durante sua apresentação no Royal Albert Hall, em março, a estrela do American Idol, Chris Daughtry, fez sua própria versão acústica da música. Eles se juntam a nomes como Ihsahn, da lendária banda norueguesa Emperor, Justin Hawkins, do The Darkness, Kadeem France, do Loathe, e Sam Carter, do Architects — todos já declararam seu amor pelo Sleep Token publicamente.

Com uma sequência de apresentações arrebatadoras em festivais como Reading & Leeds, uma turnê esgotada nos EUA a caminho, e aquele show consagrador em Londres para fechar o ano, é difícil imaginar alguém tendo um 2023 melhor do que o Sleep Token.

Como diabos eles conseguiram tudo isso?

Just how far down the rabbit hole are you willing to go? What you put in might determine how rewarding you find the experience. It’s entirely possible to simply appreciate the talent, enjoy the spectacle and find entertainment in the mix of theatrics and musical ambition. There’s a reading of much of the material that sees it as a classic framing device for navigating challenging real-life relationships. It might all be as simple as a metaphor for sex and break-ups.

If you’d prefer, there’s a whole Sleep Token universe to immerse yourself in, so rich and dense is the fantastical narrative realm they’ve created across their lyrics, artwork and associated iconography. Spiritually, the effect is similar to the mythological world-building of J.R.R. Tolkien or Frank Herbert, set to music.

That’s what’s drawn Scarlett Heselwood in. One of the band’s most active followers on Discord (where her handle is ‘Sundowner’), she has created a comprehensive, labour-of-love guide to the band, on which she’s been working for four-and-a-half years and counting. In her 32-page, 15,000-word-plus document she details her personal interpretation of their output, which in tandem with a three-and-a-half-hour playlist that works as a chronological discography mirroring her timeline of events, she dives into everything from quantum entanglement to Mesopotamian religion. It’s all part of her quest to bring coherence and understanding to what she interprets as toxicity and drama between Sleep and Vessel.

It doesn’t claim to be authoritative. In fact, with the release of Take Me Back To Eden dropping new clues and shedding fresh light on some earlier events in the trilogy, so much remains open to alternative interpretation. Rather than being right, this is precisely the point of the exercise. Hers is but one of many possible takes. You’re invited to offer yours, too.

“The intention is to take your own personal meaning from the songs,” Scarlett writes in her guide, by way of disclaimer, to ward off anyone mistaking her passion for anything other than just that. “The thing is that a huge part of the point with Sleep Token is to be wrong, and to explore what your personal feelings are with regards to each song. Being incorrect doesn’t make the work any less valid. This is why we have never been given a concrete answer on anything.”

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Quão fundo na toca do coelho você está disposto a ir? O que você investe pode determinar o quão recompensadora será a experiência. É totalmente possível simplesmente apreciar o talento, curtir o espetáculo e se entreter com a mistura de teatralidade e ambição musical. Há uma leitura possível de muito do material que o enxerga como uma clássica estrutura narrativa para lidar com relacionamentos difíceis da vida real. Pode ser algo tão simples quanto uma metáfora para sexo e términos amorosos.

Se preferir, existe um universo inteiro do Sleep Token no qual você pode se aprofundar, tamanha é a riqueza e densidade do reino fantástico criado por eles através de suas letras, artes e iconografia associada. Espiritualmente, o efeito é semelhante à construção mitológica de mundos feita por autores como J.R.R. Tolkien ou Frank Herbert — só que com trilha sonora.

Foi exatamente isso que atraiu Scarlett Heselwood. Uma das seguidoras mais ativas da banda no Discord (onde usa o nome ‘Sundowner’), ela criou um guia abrangente e feito com muito carinho sobre a banda, no qual trabalha há mais de quatro anos e meio — e contando. Em seu documento de 32 páginas e mais de 15 mil palavras, ela detalha sua interpretação pessoal sobre a obra do grupo. Junto com uma playlist de três horas e meia que funciona como uma discografia cronológica espelhando sua linha do tempo dos eventos, ela mergulha em temas que vão desde emaranhamento quântico até religião mesopotâmica. Tudo isso faz parte de sua busca para trazer coerência e compreensão ao que ela interpreta como uma relação tóxica e dramática entre Sleep e Vessel.

Ela não alega estar com a verdade absoluta. Na verdade, com o lançamento de Take Me Back To Eden trazendo novas pistas e lançando uma nova luz sobre eventos anteriores da trilogia, ainda há muito espaço para outras interpretações. Mais do que estar certa, esse é precisamente o objetivo do exercício. A interpretação dela é apenas uma entre muitas possíveis. E você também é convidado a compartilhar a sua.

“A intenção é tirar um significado pessoal das músicas,” escreve Scarlett em seu guia, como um tipo de aviso para evitar que alguém confunda sua paixão com qualquer pretensão de autoridade. “A questão é que uma grande parte do ponto do Sleep Token é estar errado, e explorar quais são seus sentimentos pessoais em relação a cada música. Estar incorreto não torna a obra menos válida. É por isso que nunca nos foi dada uma resposta concreta sobre nada.”

Those thoughts echo what Vessel said in his first interview in Kerrang! and speaks to a key reason so many people have latched onto this band in almost obsessive fashion. Vessel’s anonymity allows the congregation to project onto him, receiving Sleep’s message in their own unique ways. He is but a conduit, and the power of that space for personal reflection cannot be underestimated.

“There exists a considerable body of art that explores the deeper recesses of the human mind. Sleep Token serve as a means to explore this on an individual basis,” he stated. “The music is a representation of one individual’s deepest and most fundamental emotions and desires. This is what people connect to, as they see themselves in this individual, and the music becomes about them.”

Our past interaction with the Servant is called to mind on this point, too.

“‘Vessel’ is no name,” they explained. “It is merely a descriptive term, one that may indeed be applied to us all. He is no different, in this regard. The entity is the music. There is nothing further to discover. The gathering of Followers only further exemplifies the truth, that the identity of the creators matters not to those who believe.”

That’s certainly borne out by the devotion these online communities have shown since those early days. Such is the forensic level of analysis involved, their most dedicated Followers even picked up on visual clues to work out the title of the collective’s latest album, way before its release.

There are extensive threads dedicated to cataloguing and dissecting Sleep Token lore. Fans post images of their homemade costumes, the artwork this music has inspired them to create, their custom memes and tattoos, and share personal stories about how the band have helped them process and deal with real-world issues. The community that has huddled around Sleep Token’s success seems to communicate with uncommon levels of respect and empathy, valuing inclusivity and lifting one another up.

Masks in music are nothing new. Artists like Hollywood Undead, Ghost and, of course, Slipknot have all worn them and built rabid fanbases off the back of their distinct brands of mystique. But not since the runaway success of twenty one pilots has a band’s following appeared so immersed in every detail of what they do. Sleep Token seem to inspire something similarly devotional. Worship, even. Those who go all the way down that rabbit hole tend to unearth all kinds of fulfilment and reward.

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Esses pensamentos ecoam o que Vessel disse em sua primeira entrevista à Kerrang! e apontam uma das principais razões pelas quais tantas pessoas se apegaram à banda de forma quase obsessiva. O anonimato de Vessel permite que a congregação projete nele seus próprios sentimentos, recebendo a mensagem do Sleep Token de maneiras únicas. Ele é apenas um condutor — e o poder desse espaço para reflexão pessoal não deve ser subestimado.

“Existe um vasto corpo de arte que explora os recantos mais profundos da mente humana. O Sleep Token serve como um meio de explorar isso de forma individual,” ele declarou. “A música é uma representação das emoções e desejos mais profundos e fundamentais de um indivíduo. É isso que conecta as pessoas — pois elas se veem nesse indivíduo, e a música passa a ser sobre elas.”

Nosso contato anterior com o Servant também vem à tona nesse ponto:

“‘Vessel’ não é um nome,” explicou ele. “É apenas um termo descritivo, que pode, de fato, ser aplicado a todos nós. Nesse sentido, ele não é diferente. A entidade é a música. Não há nada além disso para ser descoberto. O agrupamento de seguidores apenas reforça a verdade: a identidade dos criadores não importa para aqueles que acreditam.”

E isso é claramente confirmado pela devoção que essas comunidades online demonstram desde os primeiros dias. O nível de análise é tão forense que os seguidores mais dedicados conseguiram decifrar pistas visuais e descobrir o nome do último álbum da banda muito antes de seu lançamento.

Existem extensas discussões dedicadas a catalogar e dissecar o “lore” do Sleep Token. Fãs postam imagens de fantasias feitas em casa, artes inspiradas pela música, memes personalizados, tatuagens — e compartilham histórias pessoais sobre como a banda os ajudou a enfrentar e processar questões da vida real. A comunidade que se formou em torno do sucesso do Sleep Token parece se comunicar com níveis incomuns de respeito e empatia, valorizando a inclusão e se apoiando mutuamente.

Máscaras na música não são novidade. Artistas como Hollywood Undead, Ghost e, claro, Slipknot já usaram esse recurso e construíram bases de fãs intensas a partir de suas respectivas marcas de mistério. Mas, desde o sucesso explosivo do twenty one pilots, nenhuma banda pareceu ter um público tão imerso em cada detalhe do que faz. O Sleep Token parece inspirar algo igualmente devocional. Adoração, até. Aqueles que mergulham completamente nessa jornada geralmente descobrem recompensas e realizações profundas.

Given the unexpected growth spurt Sleep Token have experienced so far, it would be a fool’s errand to put a limit on when that might level out. It has taken years for this recent surge in interest to coalesce in a moment, but a moment they are most definitely having. What comes next may even be mightier still. Perhaps we’d best leave it to The Great Big Mouth, Corey Taylor, for some parting wisdom. He’s kind of an authority on this stuff, all things considered.

“Sleep Token can be the next generation,” he states in no uncertain terms of their long-term potential. “What they’re accomplishing right now is fantastic. Selling out Wembley in, like, what, 10 minutes? That’s crazy.”

It’s a bold proclamation but you’d expect nothing less. Good luck arguing otherwise. And just as the success of his own band once blew the doors down for others to follow in their footsteps, he’s seeing equally good omens in what’s happening here, too.

“Anytime somebody in our genre is blowing up, it’s great for everybody,” he asserts. “Screw the competition, man. If we don’t walk together, we’re just going to be tripping each other up before we hit the fucking finish line.”

The future will take care of itself. The glory and magnificence Sleep vowed to bestow on Vessel seem to have arrived. Enjoy it. After all, nothing lasts forever.

Sleep Token play London’s OVO Arena Wembley on December 16. This article originally appeared in the autumn 2023 issue of the magazine.

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Dado o crescimento inesperado que o Sleep Token vem experimentando até agora, seria perda de tempo tentar prever quando isso vai se estabilizar. Foram necessários anos para que esse recente aumento de interesse se cristalizasse neste momento — mas, sem dúvida, é um momento que eles estão vivendo. E o que vem a seguir pode ser ainda maior. Talvez seja melhor deixar algumas palavras finais para o grande Corey Taylor. Afinal, ele entende do assunto.

“O Sleep Token pode ser a próxima geração”, ele afirma sem rodeios sobre o potencial a longo prazo da banda. “O que eles estão conquistando agora é fantástico. Vender todos os ingressos do Wembley em, sei lá, 10 minutos? Isso é insano.”

É uma afirmação ousada, mas nada menos do que o esperado vindo dele. Boa sorte tentando argumentar o contrário. Assim como o sucesso de sua própria banda abriu portas para muitos que vieram depois, ele também enxerga bons presságios no que está acontecendo agora.

“Quando alguém do nosso gênero estoura, é bom pra todo mundo”, ele declara. “Que se dane a competição, cara. Se a gente não caminhar junto, só vai acabar tropeçando um no outro antes de cruzar a porra da linha de chegada.”

O futuro cuidará de si mesmo. A glória e a grandiosidade que o Sleep Token prometeu entregar a Vessel parecem ter chegado. Aproveite. Afinal, nada dura para sempre.

O Sleep Token se apresenta na OVO Arena Wembley, em Londres, no dia 16 de dezembro. Este artigo foi publicado originalmente na edição de outono de 2023 da revista.

CR:

Magazine, Kerrang Portuguese translation theforbiddeneden Transcription English Version from theforbiddeneden

[like-sands-of-time]

I wonder if the star wars writers understand why we like characters like Anakin and Ben more than Luke and Leia..

They've spent nine movies now telling us that the rigidity of the Jedi/sith set up is the root of all their problems, how balance is crucial, how people aren't entirely one or the other, they're some ratio of both light and dark.

Deciding that Ben didn't get a chance to live after he finally sheds the last of his shame and fear and embraces himself is kinda silly no? The whole set up of the fight with palp was kinda silly no? Rey suddenly can't kill one very bad guy when she can whoosh whoosh a hundred faceless stormtroopers because then she might be haunted by/inherit some ghost dude??? Even though she ends up killing him anyway and isn't the sith reincarnated or something? What actually was the point of that fight? What was the point of Ben dying at that moment?

They spent the past couple movies talking about these supposed visions both Ben and Rey had about their futures together, so were they not visions, just dreams? Or did the writers just sort of give up on the concept of follow through? I thought the whole point of their COLLECTIVE journeys in this trilogy was overcoming their pasts and obstacles and then returning balance to the galaxy hand in hand? They did a whole thing about hands for three movies that was clearly important was it not?

But he dies, in her arms, after giving his entire life force to her, and she just moves on? Keep it chugging along? The other half of her is dead and she's gonna what? Be on the committee to restore peace to the galaxy? She's just gonna keep living, with a new love interest or whatever else they imagine? Like, realistically what is it they imagine comes next? That's not a happy or hopeful ending