#feast and testimony

[xmo-rmon]

Two decades in the mormon church inform my work, but it was kicked off when I read about brigham young and his militia’s attempt to exterminate the Timpanogos people, and the fact that I had to go looking for this information to learn about it. The mormon church was built on mass murder, and I was out of the church for ten years before I even read the name of the people that were slaughtered.

Everyone should know this. Exmos, mormons, and nevermos alike. The church deserves the full weight of this. The Timpanogos people deserve their land back, they deserve every dollar that has gone into building lavish, white and delightsome temples and malls. But the church won’t even acknowledge that the violence happened, much less drop a single dollar on its victims.

So, in what small way one poor, disabled exmo can, I’m going to make them.

All my religious materials will be stolen from them and used to benefit the people they harmed in some way - no one who sees my art will do so without reading the name Timpanogos and what brigham young did. Any money I make from this effort will be donated to them.

I want to hold up a mirror to the church and invite members to consider why the reflection is frightening to them. I want to empower exmos, pimos, and anyone who opposes the church (and make them laugh). I want to embody the fact that Korihor represents a fantasy that will never come true: mormons never having to be asked to think about what they do or what they’re told again.

I’m Korihor unmuted, and I’m gonna fuck your shit up.

Read about/donate to the Timpanogos tribe, for whom brigham young sent out an “extermination order”

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[xmo-rmon]

Prev tags fuckin GET IT

I remembered that hymn yesterday and died a little. Sang it like every sunday in primary and it was so weird when the whole congregation sang it. I always thought it was kind of weirdly haunting and sad sounding and not in a good way, and not to mention “help me to understand his words before it grows too late” is so fucking ominous and creepy

Mormons be like "We're so sunny and friendly and peaceful and cute and non-threatening :)" and then also make the whole congregation including the children sing this shit

[catholicsaintquotes33ad]

Feast Day:

The Forty Holy Martyrs, Ora Pro Nobis

[meanqueens]

The Real Alicent Hightower

(or, a compilation of every passage in George R. R. Martin’s “Fire and Blood” pertaining to her character)

(unless i missed something, in which case please let me know and i can update this post!)

disclaimer: my goal was not to include every time her name was mentioned, but rather to highlight everything that could be indicative of her actual character (i.e. things that she did or were done to/said about her). for full contexts and details regarding other characters, i highly recommend reading F&B yourself.

Heirs of the Dragon—A Question of Succession

“Ser Otto brought his wife and children to court with him, and served King Jaehaerys faithfully for the years remaining to him. As the Old King’s strength and wits began to fail, he was oft confined to his bed. Ser Otto’s precocious fifteen-year-old daughter, Alicent, became his constant companion, fetching His Grace his meals, reading to him, helping him to bathe and dress himself. The Old King sometimes mistook her for one of his daughters, calling her by their names; near the end, he grew certain she was his daughter Saera, returned to him from beyond the narrow sea. In the year 103 AC King Jaehaerys I Targaryen died in his bed as Lady Alicent was reading to him from Septon Barth’s Unnatural History.” “Another woman had caught his eye. He announced his intention to wed Lady Alicent of House Hightower, the clever and lovely eighteen-year-old daughter of the King’s Hand, the girl who had read to King Jaehaerys as he lay dying. The Hightowers of Oldtown were an ancient and noble family, of impeccable lineage; there could be no possible objection to the king’s choice of bride. Even so, there were those who murmured that the Hand had risen above himself, that he had brought his daughter to court with this in mind. A few even cast doubt on Lady Alicent’s virtue, suggesting she had welcomed King Viserys into her bed even before Queen Aemma’s death. (These calumnies were never proved, though Mushroom repeats them in his Testimony and goes so far as to claim that reading was not the only service Lady Alicent performed for the Old King in his bedchamber.)”

“When King Viserys took Alicent Hightower to wife in 106 AC, House Velaryon was notable for its absence. Princess Rhaenyra poured for her stepmother at the feast, and Queen Alicent kissed her and named her “daughter.” The princess was amongst the women who disrobed the king and delivered him to the bedchamber of his bride.” "...mummers and singers heralded the birth of each new Targaryen princeling. Queen Alicent had soon proved to be as fertile as she was pretty. In 107 AC, she bore the king a healthy son, naming him Aegon, after the Conqueror. Two years later, she produced a daughter for the king, Helaena; in 110 AC, she bore him a second son, Aemond, who was said to be half the size of his elder brother, but twice as fierce." "“Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?” Queen Alicent asked one day at court. The amity between Her Grace and her stepdaughter had proved short-lived, for both Rhaenyra and Alicent aspired to be the first lady of the realm…and though the queen had given the king not one but two male heirs, Viserys had done nothing to change the order of succession." "Still, questions persisted, not the least from Queen Alicent herself. Loudest amongst her supporters was her father, Ser Otto Hightower, Hand of the King." "Even after Ser Otto had returned to Oldtown, a “queen’s party” still existed at court; a group of powerful lords friendly to Queen Alicent and supportive of the rights of her sons. Against them was pitted the “party of the princess.” King Viserys loved both his wife and daughter, and hated conflict and contention. He strove all his days to keep the peace between his women, and to please both with gifts and gold and honors."

"In 111 AC, a great tourney was held at King’s Landing on the fifth anniversary of the king’s marriage to Queen Alicent. At the opening feast, the queen wore a green gown, whilst the princess dressed dramatically in Targaryen red and black. Note was taken, and thereafter it became the custom to refer to “greens” and “blacks” when talking of the queen’s party and the party of the princess, respectively. In the tourney itself, the blacks had much the better of it when Ser Criston Cole, wearing Princess Rhaenyra’s favor, unhorsed all of the queen’s champions, including two of her cousins and her youngest brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower."

"Though [Daemon] treated Queen Alicent with all the courtesy due her station, there was no warmth between them, and men said that the prince was notably cool toward her children, especially his nephews, Aegon and Aemond, whose birth had pushed him still lower in the order of succession."

"...entertained [Rhaenyra] by making mock of the greens at court, the “lickspittles” fawning over Queen Alicent and her children."

"Others assert that it was at Queen Alicent’s urging that Viserys sent Daemon away."

"Queen Alicent had her own candidate: her eldest son, Prince Aegon, Rhaenyra’s half-brother. But Aegon was a boy, the princess ten years his elder. Moreover, the two half-siblings had never gotten on well. “All the more reason to bind them together in marriage,” the queen argued. Viserys did not agree. “The boy is Alicent’s own blood,” he told Lord Strong. “She wants him on the throne.”"

"(The princess always took care to refer to Queen Alicent’s sons as half-brothers, never as brothers.)"

"Denied Rhaenyra’s favor, Criston Cole turned to Queen Alicent instead. Wearing her token, the young Lord Commander of the Kingsguard defeated all challengers, fighting in a black fury."

"King Viserys was most wroth as well; a joyous celebration had become the occasion of grief and recrimination. It was said that Queen Alicent did not share his displeasure, however; soon after, she asked that Ser Criston Cole be made her personal protector. The coolness between the king’s wife and the king’s daughter was plain for all to see; even envoys from the Free Cities made note of it in letters sent back to Pentos, Braavos, and Old Volantis."

"The court was still rejoicing over the birth of the princess’s child when her stepmother, Queen Alicent, also went into labor, delivering Viserys his third son, Daeron…whose coloring, unlike that of Jace, testified to his dragon blood. By royal command, the infants Jacaerys Velaryon and Daeron Targaryen shared a wet nurse until weaned. It was Said that the king hoped to prevent any enmity between the two boys by raising them as milk brothers. If so, his hopes proved to be sadly forlorn."

"...King Viserys was delighted with him when the child was presented at court. These feelings were not shared by his queen. “Do keep trying,” Queen Alicent told Ser Laenor, according to Mushroom, “soon or late, you may get one who looks like you.” And the rivalry between the greens and blacks grew deeper, finally reaching the point where the queen and the princess could scarce suffer each other’s presence. Thereafter Queen Alicent kept to the Red Keep, whilst the princess spent her days on Dragonstone..."

"According to Mushroom, this only served to deepen her resentment of her stepmother, Queen Alicent, who remained slender and graceful at half again her age. The sins of the fathers are oft visited on the sons, wise men have said; and so it is for the sins of mothers as well. The enmity between Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra was passed on to their sons, and the queen’s three boys, the Princes Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron, grew to be bitter rivals of their Velaryon nephews, resentful of them for having stolen what they regarded as their birthright: the Iron Throne itself."

"His father and mother would never allow him to go near Vhagar, Aemond knew, much less try to ride her. So he made certain they did not know..."

"...these courtesies did not appease their vengeful mothers. Queen Alicent demanded that one of Lucerys Velaryon’s eyes should be put out, for the eye he had cost Aemond. Princess Rhaenyra would have none of that, but insisted that Prince Aemond should be questioned “sharply”..."

"His Grace further commanded his wife and daughter to kiss and exchange vows of love and affection. But their false smiles and empty words deceived no one but the king."

"King Viserys further decreed that Queen Alicent and her sons would return with him to court, whilst Princess Rhaenyra confined herself to Dragonstone with her sons."

"...bringing the princess and her sons back to King’s Landing, where more conflict with the queen and her own brood would have been inevitable."

"In King’s Landing, however, Queen Alicent grew most wroth when she learned the babe had been named Aegon, taking that for a slight against her own son Aegon…which, according to The Testimony of Mushroom, it most certainly was."

"The princess and the queen were both commanded to attend, with all their children. In a show of amity, each woman wore the other’s color and many declarations of love were made, to the king’s great pleasure. Prince Daemon raised a cup to Ser Otto Hightower and thanked him for his leal service as Hand. Ser Otto in turn spoke of the prince’s courage, whilst Alicent’s children and Rhaenyra’s greeted one another with kisses and broke bread together at table. Or so the court chronicles record."

"Queen Alicent, however, insisted that the princess and her maester had mutilated His Grace unnecessarily. Had they not “meddled,” she claimed, Grand Maester Mellos would surely have saved the king’s fingers as well as his life. She urged the appointment of one Maester Alfador, presently in service at the Hightower. Viserys, beset from both sides, chose neither, reminding both the princess and the queen that the choice was not his to make."

The Dying of the Dragons—The Blacks and the Greens

"The servant ran to inform Queen Alicent, whose apartments were on the floor below the king’s. Septon Eustace, writing on these events some years later, points out that the manservant delivered his dire tidings directly to the queen, and her alone, without raising a general alarum. Eustace does not believe this was wholly fortuitous; the king’s death had been anticipated for some time, he argues, and Queen Alicent and her party, the so-called greens, had taken care to instruct all of Viserys’s guards and servants in what to do when the day came. (The dwarf Mushroom suggests a more sinister scenario, whereby Queen Alicent hurried King Viserys on his way with a pinch of poison in his hippocras. It must be noted that Mushroom was not in King’s Landing the night the king died, but rather on Dragonstone, in service with Princess Rhaenyra.) Queen Alicent went at once to the king’s bedchamber, accompanied by Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Once they had confirmed that Viserys was dead, Her Grace ordered his room sealed and placed under guard. The serving man who had found the king’s body was taken into custody, to make certain he did not spread the tale. Ser Criston returned to White Sword Tower and sent his brothers of the Kingsguard to summon the members of the king’s small council. It was the hour of the owl."

"The council convened in the queen’s apartments within Maegor’s Holdfast."

"Gathering in the queen’s chambers as the body of her lord husband grew cold above were Queen Alicent herself..."

"“Mayhaps Her Grace the queen would care to write the message, so as to soften these sad tidings with some words of condolence?”"

"“King,” insisted Queen Alicent. “The Iron Throne by rights must pass to His Grace’s eldest trueborn son.”"

"“My own head will be the first cut off, I do not doubt, but your queen, my daughter, will soon follow.” Queen Alicent echoed him. “Nor will they spare my children,” she declared. “Aegon and his brothers are the king’s trueborn sons, with a better claim to the throne than her brood of bastards. Daemon will find some pretext to put them all to death. Even Helaena and her little ones. One of these Strongs put out Aemond’s eye, never forget. He was a boy, aye, but the boy is the father to the man, and bastards are monstrous by nature.”"

"“Mayhaps the whore will die in childbirth,” Queen Alicent is reported to have said (according to Mushroom)."

"And so each of the conspirators slashed their palms and clasped hands with one another, swearing brotherhood. Queen Alicent alone amongst them was excused from the oath, on account of her womanhood. Dawn was breaking over the city before Queen Alicent dispatched the Kingsguard to bring her sons Aegon and Aemond to the council. (Prince Daeron, the youngest and gentlest of her children, was in Oldtown, serving as Lord Hightower’s squire.)"

"Ravens flew, but not to Dragonstone. They went instead to Oldtown, to Casterly Rock, to Riverrun, to Highgarden, and to many other lords and knights whom Queen Alicent had cause to think might be sympathetic to her son."

"“Then we must see that [Borros Baratheon] leads [the lesser storm lords] to our king,” Queen Alicent declared. Whereupon she sent for her second son."

"...Queen Alicent knew they could delay no longer. Prince Aegon had grown weary of secrecy. “Am I a king or no?” he demanded of his mother. “If I am king, then crown me.”"

"His mother, Queen Alicent, beloved of the smallfolk, placed her own crown upon the head of her daughter, Helaena, Aegon’s wife and sister. After kissing her cheeks, the mother knelt before the daughter, bowed her head, and said, “My Queen.”"

"...Queen Alicent had ordered Viserys’s crown locked away..."

"The princess shrieked curses all through her labor, calling down the wrath of the gods upon her half-brothers and their mother, the queen, and detailing the torments she would inflict upon them before she would let them die."

"[Rhaenyra's] first act as queen was to declare Ser Otto Hightower and Queen Alicent traitors and rebels."

"But when the two queens—his mother, Queen Alicent, and his wife, Queen Helaena— spoke in favor of Orwyle’s proposal, the truculent king gave way reluctantly. So Grand Maester Orwyle was dispatched across Blackwater Bay under a peace banner..."

The Dying of the Dragons—A Son for a Son

"Queen Alicent went pale when she heard what [Aemond] had done, crying, “Mother have mercy on us all.”"

"Unbeknownst to King Aegon, the Hand, or the Queen Dowager, [Daemon] had allies at court as well, even on the green council…"

"Instead they slipped into [Otto's] daughter’s chambers, one floor below. Queen Alicent had taken up residence there after the death of King Viserys, when her son Aegon moved into Maegor’s Holdfast with his own queen. Once inside, Cheese bound and gagged the Dowager Queen whilst Blood strangled her bedmaid. Then they settled down to wait, for they knew it was the custom of Queen Helaena to bring her children to see their grandmother every evening before bed."

"As they entered the apartments, Helaena was holding his little hand and calling out her mother’s name."

"Queen Alicent had commanded Larys Clubfoot to learn [Blood's] true name, so that she might bathe in the blood of his wife and children, but our sources do not say if this occurred."

"The king had no recourse but to take the boy from [Helaena] and give him over to their mother, the Dowager Queen Alicent, to raise as if he were her own."

The Dying of the Dragons—The Red Dragon and the Gold

"Though his mother, the Dowager Queen Alicent, spoke up in Ser Otto’s defense, His Grace turned a deaf ear to her pleading."

"...thousands left King’s Landing afterward, until the Dowager Queen Alicent ordered the city gates closed and barred."

"None was allowed to disturb [Aegon II's] rest, save his mother the Queen Dowager and his Hand, Ser Criston Cole."

"The Queen Dowager favored caution as well, urging her son to wait until his brother the king and his dragon, Sunfyre the Golden, were healed, so they might join the attack."

"...it fell to his mother, the Queen Dowager, to see to the city’s defenses. Queen Alicent rose to the challenge, closing the gates of castle and city, sending the gold cloaks to the walls, and dispatching riders on swift horses to find Prince Aemond and fetch him back. As well, she commanded Grand Maester Orwyle to send ravens to “all our leal lords,” summoning them to the defense of their true king."

"Queen Alicent’s riders got no farther than the gates, where more gold cloaks took them into custody. Unbeknownst to Her Grace, the seven captains commanding the gates, chosen for their loyalty to King Aegon, had been imprisoned or murdered the moment Caraxes appeared in the sky above the Red Keep..."

"Upon seeing that resistance was hopeless, the Dowager Queen Alicent emerged from Maegor’s Holdfast with her father, Ser Otto Hightower..."

"...Queen Alicent attempted to treat with her stepdaughter. “Let us together summon a great council, as the Old King did in days of old,” said the Dowager Queen, “and lay the matter of succession before the lords of the realm.” But Queen Rhaenyra rejected the proposal with scorn. “Do you mistake me for Mushroom?” she asked. “We both know how this council would rule.” Then she bade her stepmother choose: yield or burn. Bowing her head in defeat, Queen Alicent surrendered the keys to the castle and ordered her knights and men-at-arms to lay down their swords. “The city is yours, Princess,” she is reported to have said, “but you will not hold it long. The rats play when the cat is gone, but my son Aemond will return with fire and blood.”"

"Not even the Dowager Queen seemed to know where [Aegon II, Jaehaera, Maelor, Willis Fell, Rickard Thorne] had gone..."

The Dying of the Dragons—Rhaenyra Triumphant

"Queen Alicent was fettered at wrist and ankle with golden chains, though her stepdaughter spared her life “for the sake of our father, who loved you once.” Her own father was less fortunate."

"The Sea Snake proposed to let the Faith take charge of Dowager Queen Alicent and Queen Helaena, so that they might spend the remainder of their lives in prayer and contemplation."

"Words of these plans soon reached the ears of the Dowager Queen, filling her with terror. Fearing for her sons, Queen Alicent went to the Iron Throne upon her knees, to plead for peace. This time the Queen in Chains put forth the notion that the realm might be divided; Rhaenyra would keep King’s Landing and the crownlands, the North, the Vale of Arryn, all the lands watered by the Trident, and the isles. To Aegon II would go the stormlands, the westerlands, and the Reach, to be ruled from Oldtown. Rhaenyra rejected her stepmother’s proposal with scorn. “Your sons might have had places of honor at my court if they had kept faith,” Her Grace declared, “but they sought to rob me of my birthright, and the blood of my sweet sons is on their hands.” “Bastard blood, shed at war,” Alicent replied. “My son’s sons were innocent boys, cruelly murdered. How many more must die to slake your thirst for vengeance?” The Dowager Queen’s words only fanned the fire of Rhaenyra’s wroth. “I will hear no more lies,” she warned. “Speak again of bastardy, and I will have your tongue out.” Or so the tale is told by Septon Eustace. Munkun says the same in his True Telling. Here again Mushroom differs. The dwarf would have us believe that Rhaenyra ordered her stepmother’s tongue torn out at once, rather than merely threatening this. It was only a word from Lady Misery that stayed her hand, the fool insists; the White Worm proposed another, crueler punishment. King Aegon’s wife and mother were taken in chains to a certain brothel, and there sold to any man who wished to have his pleasure of them. The price was high; a golden dragon for Queen Alicent, three dragons for Queen Helaena, who was younger and more beautiful. Yet Mushroom says there were many in the city who thought that cheap for carnal knowledge of a queen. “Let them remain there until they are with child,” Lady Misery is purported to have said. “They speak of bastards so freely, let them each have one for their very own.”"

"...word of battle and betrayal at Tumbleton had reached King’s Landing. It is said the Dowager Queen Alicent laughed when she heard. “All they have sowed, now shall they reap,” she promised."

The Dying of the Dragons—Rhaenyra Overthrown

"If Rhaenyra were intent on murder, surely it would have been the Dowager Queen Alicent flung down onto the spikes."

"When Dowager Queen Alicent was informed of her daughter’s passing, she rent her garments and pronounced a dire curse upon her rival."

"Both were on hand the next day to bear witness as Ser Perkin’s gangling squire Trystane mounted the Iron Throne. So too was the Queen Dowager, Alicent of House Hightower."

The Dying of the Dragons—The Short, Sad Reign of Aegon II

"And so the Clubfoot was dispatched across the river under a flag of truce, accompanied by Grand Maester Orwyle and the Dowager Queen Alicent."

"There Queen Alicent received the glad news that her grandaughter Jaehaera, the only surviving child of her son Aegon and daughter Helaena, had been delivered safely to Storm’s End by Ser Willis Fell of the Kingsguard. The Dowager Queen wept tears of joy. Betrayals and betrothals followed, until an accord was reached between Lord Borros, Lord Larys, and Queen Alicent, with Grand Maester Orwyle as witness."

"Queen Alicent agreed that her son King Aegon would make Lady Cassandra, Lord Borros’s eldest daughter, his new queen."

"“[Corlys Velaryon] is traitor thrice over,” Queen Alicent said. “Rhaenyra could never have taken King’s Landing but for him. His Grace my son will not have forgotten. I want him dead.”"

"...the golden dragon banner of King Aegon II raised in their stead. Queen Alicent herself emerged from the Red Keep to bid [Borros Baratheon] welcome, with Ser Perkin the Flea beside her."

"Queen Alicent proclaimed a curfew, making it unlawful to be on the city streets after dark."

"Behind the walls of the Red Keep, the Dowager Queen Alicent and Lord Larys Strong had offered the Sea Snake his freedom, a full pardon for his treasons, and a place on the king’s small council if he would bend his knee to Aegon II as his king and deliver them the swords and sails of Driftmark."

"Queen Alicent was outraged by Lord Velaryon’s “arrogance,” Munkun tells us, especially his demand that Queen Rhaenyra’s Aegon be named as heir to her own Aegon. She had suffered the loss of two of her three sons and her only daughter during the Dance, and could not bear the thought that any of her rival’s sons should live. Angrily, Her Grace reminded Lord Corlys that she had twice proposed terms of peace to Rhaenyra, only to have her overtures rejected with scorn. It fell to Lord Larys the Clubfoot to pour oil on the troubled waters, calming the queen with a quiet reminder of all they had discussed in Lord Baratheon’s tent, and persuading her to consent to the Sea Snake’s proposals. The next day Lord Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Snake, knelt before Queen Alicent as she sat upon the lower steps of the Iron Throne, as proxy for her son, and there pledged the king his loyalty and that of his house. Before the eyes of gods and men, the Queen Dowager granted him and his a royal pardon, and restored him to his old place on the small council, as admiral and master of ships."

"Urged on by his mother, the Queen Dowager Alicent, Aegon II was determined to exact vengeance upon those who had betrayed and deposed him."

"If the rebels could flaunt a dragon and the loyalists could not, Queen Alicent pointed out, smallfolk might see their foes as more legitimate."

"Queen Alicent had reluctantly agreed to the betrothal of her granddaughter to Rhaenyra’s son, but she had done so without the king’s consent. Aegon II had other ideas."

"When Queen Alicent demured, wondering aloud how Lord Corlys could possibly be won back after all that had been said that day, Lord Strong replied, “That task you may leave to me, Your Grace. His lordship will listen to me, I daresay.”"

"His mother entertained no such hope. “You fed [Aegon III's] mother to your dragon,” she reminded her son. “The boy saw it all.” The king turned to her desperately. “What would you have me do?” “You have hostages,” the Queen Dowager replied. “Cut off one of the boy’s ears and send it to Lord Tully. Warn them he will lose another part for every mile they advance.”"

"Queen Alicent was arrested on the serpentine steps as she made her way back to her chambers. Her captors wore the seahorse of House Velaryon upon their doublets, and though they slew the two men guarding her, they did no harm to the Dowager Queen herself, nor to her ladies. The Queen in Chains was chained again and taken to the dungeons, there to await the pleasure of the new king. By then the last of her sons was already dead."

Aftermath—The Hour of the Wolf

"Within the Red Keep, the Lads found the dead king’s body laid out upon a bier beneath the Iron Throne, with his mother, Queen Alicent, weeping beside it."

"The realm’s new rulers found themselves divided on the question of what to do with the Dowager Queen Alicent, but elsewise all seemed in accord, and good fellowship reigned…for the best part of a fortnight."

"...men placed wagers on how long the Clubfoot, the Sea Snake, the Flea, and the Dowager Queen would keep their heads."

"The men who had seized the Queen Dowager upon the serpentine steps had worn the seahorse badge of House Velaryon..."

"Queen Alicent’s captors had slain her guards and were thus condemned to death..."

Under the Regents—The Hooded Hand

"And the more observant made note of another absence. The Dowager Queen was nowhere to be seen, though as Jaehaera’s grandmother, Alicent Hightower ought to have been present."

"A more immediate problem was posed by the Dowager Queen, who refused to reconcile herself to the new king. The murder of the last of her sons had turned Alicent’s heart into a stone. None of the regents wished to see her put to death, some from compassion, others for fear that such an execution might rekindle the flames of war. Yet she could not be allowed to take part in the life of the court as before. She was too apt to rain down curses on the king, or snatch a dagger from some unwary guardsman. Alicent could not even be trusted in the company of the little queen; when last allowed to share a meal with Her Grace, she had told Jaehaera to cut her husband’s throat whilst he was sleeping, which set the child to screaming. Ser Tyland felt he had no choice but to confine the Queen Dowager to her own apartments in Maegor’s Holdfast; a gentle imprisonment, but imprisonment nonetheless."

"One death may have been a mercy. The Dowager Queen Alicent of House Hightower, second wife of King Viserys I and mother to his sons, Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron, and his daughter Helaena, died on the same night as Lord Westerling, after confessing her sins to her septa. She had outlived all of her children and spent the last year of her life confined to her apartments, with no company but her septa, the serving girls who brought her food, and the guards outside her door. Books were given her, and needles and thread, but her guards said Alicent spent more time weeping than reading or sewing. One day she ripped all her clothing into pieces. By the end of the year she had taken to talking to herself, and had come to have a deep aversion to the color green. In her last days the Queen Dowager seemed to become more lucid. “I want to see my sons again,” she told her septa, “and Helaena, my sweet girl, oh…and King Jaehaerys. I will read to him, as I did when I was little. He used to say I had a lovely voice.” (Strangely, in her final hours Queen Alicent spoke often of the Old King, but never of her husband, King Viserys.) The Stranger came for her on a rainy night, at the hour of the wolf."

[ghelgheli]

The epoch of hysteria between 1656 and 1658 found its catalyst in the spontaneous, detailed testimony of someone who I solely re-member here with her chosen name, la Estanpa. Once a linda niña (pretty girl), the now seventy-year-old mestiza found herself apprehended by court magistrates for suspected sodomy in 1656. After initially denying the accusations, an elderly and fatigued Estanpa relented, admitting to having dressed ‘like a woman’ since she was seven and committed the nefarious sin for ‘more than forty years’. Encapsulated within her testimony and larger trial are glimmers of an underground trans feminine world in seventeenth-century Mexico City, of which Estanpa served as a pillar. Coinciding with Catholic feast days, Estanpa and her friends organised parties at changing secret locations, ranging from the secluded countryside to individuals’ homes in the neighbourhoods of San Juan de la Penitencia or San Pablo. Facilitated by trans feminine hostesses, these lively parties consisted of illicit dancing, singing, drinking chocolate and of course inevitable quarrelling over guapos (what they affectionately called the men who loved them), with whom they would eventually retire into rooms for sex. For elders like Estanpa, these parties were also an opportunity to recall ‘the deeds and the conquests of their far-away youth, their lost beauty, and old-time pleasures’.In each other’s company, this cohort referred to one another as niñas (girls), each taking on feminine names following the same convention as ‘la Estanpa’, a title said to have originated from a ‘very graceful lady’. What is certain is that the trans feminine figure held a distinct and explicitly threatening place in the Spanish colonial imaginary. Within underground Mexican subculture, these individuals shared myriad cultural signifiers – in naming practices, celebration of holidays and their habitation in the same neighbourhoods and sometimes homes – that suggest they also established deep-rooted community networks. Perhaps most importantly, despite coordinated and unrelenting legal suppression, trans feminine people would continue to exist and resist across colonial New Spain.

Jamey Jesperson, Trans Misogyny in the Colonial Archive: Re-membering Trans Feminine Life and Death in New Spain, 1604–1821 [doi]

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Reference: Symbolism of Food

We need food to live, so it comes as no surprise that we have accorded many ingredients with "magical powers".

Indeed, some of the things we eat every day carry both constituent elements and meanings which go far beyond mere nutrition.

Below is a list of some foods, real and mythical, which have become symbols in themselves.

AMBROSIA

For the Greeks, ambrosia was the food of the Gods.

Given that it conferred immortality, the deities on Mount Olympus guarded it jealously.

As well as ensuring eternal life, ambrosia could be used as an ointment that could heal any wound.

However, for a mortal, eating ambrosia was a big mistake.

Example: The story of Tantalus. He was invited to eat with the Gods, and so, presuming that he was accepted as one of them, he ate ambrosia. In the tradition of all good dinner party guests, he decided to return the favor and invited the Gods round to his place. Deciding somewhat sycophantically that they should feast upon all the good things that they had given him, he served up the flesh of his own children, and was banished to Hades.

CHOCOLATE

Long before the Western discovery of the Americas, the natives of Brazil, Mexico, the West Indies, and South America used the seeds of the chocolate tree to make a stimulating drink. These bean-like seeds were cacahuatl, or cocoa.

Primarily symbolic of love, chocolate is a sensual food with aphrodisiac properties that are due, in part, to association.

However, its melting point is the same temperature as blood, a very satisfying sensation.

The botanical name of the plant gives a clue as to its sacred status. Theobroma cacao means “food of the Gods,” from the Greek “Theo,” meaning God and “Broma,” meaning food.

The beans were so highly valued that the Mayans used them as currency.

Possibly the world’s first chocoholic, their ruler Montezuma was completely addicted to the beans.

He drank them infused in cold water with no seasoning. He served this sacred drink in goblets of beaten gold, and at the coronation of Montezuma II in 1502 a concoction of chocolate and psilocybin mushrooms was served to the guests. This must have been a heady mixture.

Cortés cultivated the plant primarily because of its reputation as an aphrodisiac; this secret was divulged by one of the nineteen young women given to him by Montezuma as a tribute. Perhaps the 2000 chocolate trees that he consequently planted were testimony to the efficacy of the beans in keeping the ladies satisfied.

By 1550, chocolate factories were operating in Lisbon, Genoa, Marseilles, and other European cities. The recipes became more and more refined.

Catherine de Medici slowed down the progress of chocolate for a while because it was so good that she wanted it all to herself.

However, although the Church tried to ban many of the foodstuffs that had been discovered in the New World, especially those that were considered as stimulants, their advice was largely ignored and it is possible that this disapproval increased the popularity of this illicit substance.

Neither Catherine nor all the forces of the Church could stop the world becoming chocolate coated.

Today, the form of chocolate has changed so much that Montezuma would probably find it unrecognizable, both in taste and form. However, it is still unrivalled as a token and symbol of love.

HONEY

Legislation decrees that all packaged food carry a “best before” date, but this seems to be particularly unnecessary in the case of honey, since jars of the stuff found in the tombs of Egyptian kings of several thousand years ago has proved to be perfectly edible even now.

It could well be because honey is so long lasting, and because it is used as a preservative, that it is a symbol of immortality and is used in funerary rites.

The bees that make the honey have their place in the realms of magical creatures accorded with supernatural powers, but more of that in the Fauna section.

The Promised Land is said to “flow with milk and honey” as being the very best that the Gods can offer.

The sweetness of honey is believed to confer gifts of learning and poetry.

We’ll never know if the story that Pythagoras existed on honey alone is true, but the fact that the rumor exists is in accord with his God-like status.

As well as being edible and fermentable, honey has healing and antiseptic qualities, and a dollop of honey smeared onto a wound will soon draw out any impurities and speed the healing process.

Honey is said to be an aphrodisiac and to encourage fertility and virility, wealth and abundance, and is a symbol of the Sun, partly because of the flowers from which it is made but also because of its color.

MEAD

Like honey, mead also carries the gift of immortality.

The Celts believed it was the favored drink of the Gods in the Otherworld.

It is a sacred drink in Africa, too, where it is believed that drinking the stuff will make you more knowledgeable.

It is very simple to make—it’s simply honey mixed with water and allowed to ferment—and this process of fermentation is akin to a magical process in itself, which is akin to transmutation in alchemy.

MILK

Given that milk is the first food, it’s not surprising that it is associated with many stories of the Creation, and is a symbol of divinity.

Amrita, or soma, the absolute nectar of life for Hindus and the equivalent of ambrosia, was created as a cosmic sea of milk was churned.

The curds that were created by this epic stirring formed the Earth, the Universe, and the stars.

Along with honey, there is an abundance of milk in the Promised Land, and Indian myths tell of a magical milk tree in Heaven.

Because of its color and its association with the feminine, milk is a symbol of the Moon.

The main food source for milk for us human beings (once we’re weaned) is the cow.

The cow is sacred in India because during times of famine it made far more sense to keep the animal alive for its milk rather than slaughter and eat it purely for its meat, so all parts of the cow are accorded sacred status and are ruled over by one or other of the Gods or Goddesses.

In the hidden symbolic language of alchemy, the Philosopher’s Stone is sometimes called the Virgin’s Milk.

NECTAR

Nectar is often referred to as ambrosia, but has secrets of its own to tell.

Flowers create it, and its scent attracts the bees, which then transform the nectar into honey.

Seemingly insignificant, nectar is nevertheless a very magical ingredient, created from flowers, sunshine, and bees working together in a collective consciousness known as the “hive mind” in an environment which itself is constructed from one of the key shapes in sacred geometry, the hexagon.

SOMA

Like the Greek Olympians, the Indian deities had a type of food, like ambrosia, that ensured their immortality.

This was soma, or amrita. Whereas dire consequences befell any mortal that dared to partake of ambrosia, the Indian Gods were more generous with their soma, and any mortal that ate it was immediately given immortality and access to Heaven.

The ancient Indian Vedic scriptures, the Ramayana, tell the story of Rama, an epic hero, the perfect man:

Rama was born after his father was visited by an angel.

This angel brought with him some magical food.

Eating this soma meant that Rama’s father was able to sire offspring that were the human incarnations of the God, Vishnu.

WINE

The symbolic meanings of wine are generally attached to the red variety; it seems that a nice dry white or a sweet rosé carries no hidden mystery.

The red color means that wine is often linked to blood, particularly since the wine is the “blood” of the grape.

Because it looks like blood, wine is often used in rituals where blood would otherwise be called for, and because ceremonial wine is often drunk from a shared chalice, it is seen, like bread, as a unifying principle.

Wine is male, and bread is female.

As a partner to bread in the ritual of the Eucharist, the consecrated wine is transformed into the blood of the Christ, a reminder of both sacrifice and immortal life, and it’s this transformative power that accords wine with much of its mystique.

When the water is turned into wine in the story of the Marriage at Cana, what is really being shown here is the transformation of the mundane into the magical, the Earthly into the Heavenly.

It is this magical process of fermentation at work that explains why wine is associated with Bacchus/Dionysus, and the intoxicating power of wine is symbolic of divine possession.

The phrase, “In vino veritas” links wine to the truth and is a reminder that those intoxicated by perhaps a little too much of that nice claret will be more likely to speak the truth than most, which can be good or bad, depending on the circumstances.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Genesius of Rome

3rd century

Feast Day August 25

Patronage: actors, comedians, dancers, musicians

Saint Genesius of Rome��s life story comes from Christian tradition and is affirmed in “The Acts of the Martyrs.” Genesius wrote and acted in a play mocking Christianity to please the emperor Diocletian. He rehearsed for the role by studying Christianity. During the play, God’s grace overcame him and he had an instantaneous conversion while reciting the act of faith. (the Apostles Creed) So instead of mocking the faith, he gave testimony affirming it. Diocletian was enraged and sent Genesius to be tortured and then beheaded.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[sgiandubh]

Ferragosto

Mussolini turned this day into a pagan, working class Festivus of discounted train tickets, allowing many Italians to see, touch and experience the seaside for the first time in their lives. A study in effective populism, inspired by his all-devouring obsession for the Empire and especially for Augustus, the cunning and austere first Roman emperor.

But for the crushing majority of people, the Ferragosto remained what it always was - the Feast of the Assumption, celebrating what many consider to be a motherly, permanent presence in their daily and spiritual lives.

The Great Intercessor. She understands everything, forgives everything and brings immediate solace. Mary's lesson is one of Supreme Empathy, allowing for a personal dialogue. Many people, all over the world, can bear testimony to this. Count me among these people.

Some of the kindest people in this community celebrate their name day today. @mariaae and @pamalissou come to mind and I am sure I either am ignorant or forgetful of some more - happy name day to each and every one of you!

[thevelaryons]

SEAWHORES

A certain interesting detail when it comes to Velaryon men is that many of them are noted to be sexually promiscuous, or so the histories claim.

CORLYS

He is described as carrying on a secret affair for several years:

In his Testimony, the fool puts forth the notion that “the little mice” had been sired not by the Sea Snake’s son, but by the Sea Snake himself. Lord Corlys did not share Ser Laenor’s erotic predispositions, he points out, and the Hull shipyards were like unto a second home to him, whereas his son visited them less frequently. Princess Rhaenys, his wife, had the fiery temperament of many Targaryens, Mushroom says, and would not have taken kindly to her lord husband fathering bastards on a girl half her age, and a shipwright’s daughter besides. Therefore his lordship had prudently ended his “shipyard trysts” with Mouse after Alyn’s birth, commanding her to keep her boys far from court.

— Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons

LAENOR

Regarding Laenor, it's worth mentioning that he had a harem (though Joffrey Lonmouth was clearly the most favoured one out of the pretty boys whose company Laenor enjoyed):

Laenor Velaryon was now nineteen years of age, yet had never shown any interest in women. Instead he surrounded himself with handsome squires of his own age, and was said to prefer their company.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

Then there is Laenor's confrontation with his lover turned killer, Qarl Correy. Laenor was said to be courting someone else behind Qarl's back. According to the eye witness accounts from Spicetown, Qarl was seen angrily arguing with Laenor before their confrontation turned violent:

Septon Eustace provides us with the killer’s name and declares jealousy the motive for the slaying; Laenor Velaryon had grown weary of Ser Qarl’s companionship and had grown enamored of a new favorite, a handsome young squire of six-and-ten.

— Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon

JACAERYS

Rumour has it Jace had an affair during his trip to Winterfell. Whether it's true or false though is open to debate:

His account introduces a young maiden, or “wolf girl” as he dubs her, with the name of Sara Snow. So smitten was Prince Jacaerys with this creature, a bastard daughter of the late Lord Rickon Stark, that he lay with her of a night.

— Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons

That's not the only rumour surrounding Jace. His trip to the Vale also circulated rumours concerning Jeyne Arryn:

Mushroom tells us that this famous maiden was in truth a highborn harlot with a voracious appetite for men, and gives us a salacious tale of how she offered Prince Jacaerys the allegiance of the Vale only if he could bring her to her climax with his tongue.

— Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons

ALYN

Speaking of rumours, Alyn certainly has his share of them:

Lord Alyn required fresh water and provisions for his ships, whilst Princess Aliandra required services of a more intimate nature. Bastard Born would have us believe that he provided them, Hard as Oak that he did not.

— Fire & Blood, Under the Regents

When he did, the “Queen” was so delighted with him that he sent two of his wives to Oakenfist’s bedchamber that night. “Give them sons,” Racallio commanded. “I want sons as brave and strong as you.” Our sources are at odds as to whether or not Lord Alyn did as he was bid.

— Fire & Blood, Under the Regents

A woman known only as Rue, who may or may not have been a septa, and may or may not have become one of his lordship’s paramours.

— Fire & Blood, Under the Regents

“She was the fairest treasure of the Maidenvault. Lord Oakenfist the great admiral lost his heart to her, though he was married to another.”

— A Feast for Crows, Jaime I

LUCERYS (the Admiral)

Although we don't get any direct quote about his private affairs, it seems to be implied that Aurane is his bastard son alongside his trueborn son, Monford. Well Lucerys can't have pulled that bastard out of a bed of kelp. Clearly he fucks too.

[accio-victuuri]

xiao zhan - sina tv weibo update

Walking down the streets and alleys, encountering Xiao Zhan’s plaza is like encountering an unexpected surprise. Fans have unlocked new check-in poses one after another with endless creativity, and each photo is full of stories and warmth. This is not only a visual feast, but also a testimony to the deep emotions between Xiao Zhan and his fans.

[xmo-rmon]

The way that mormons talk drives me absolutely fucking mad. Every word is a delicate lacy curtain draped over a huge pile of shit. Carefully chosen to make sure their ugliest beliefs and intentions are hidden behind gentle and flowery language that circles itself for so long, anyone who is not paying attention might lose their point entirely.

What's stuck in my head right now is how their website says "brigham young said things that would be considered racist today", because there is so much refusal to take responsibility baked into those words.

1 - It is a deliberate decision to mention that he said things and not that he did things, which is far more important. If he just spouted hatred to the congregation, that would be bad enough. But he also murdered so many people. He literally sent out the mormon militia - a fucked up concept in itself - to, in his own words, exterminate the Timpanogos tribe. He sold their women and children into slavery after making them watch the heads of their men rot. But there's not enough flowers in the world to make that look cute, so the mormons just conveniently don't mention it.

2 - This does not in any way indicate that the general stance of the church is that brigham young was wrong to say these things. There is so much barely concealed meaning to unpack. It's not that it would be racist today, it is that it would be considered racist today. We're not going to actually own up to our second president's horrific racism, we're just going to acknowledge that you think it's racist. We will conveniently avoid directly saying our feelings about it, because people would stop thinking we were cute if they knew we literally have to agree with everything every prophet has said and done or the concept of the "one true church" falls apart.

3 - The term "racist" wasn't coined til around the 1920's I think, so it's a helpful technicality to go "it wouldn't have been called racist back then because there was no word for it". But amazingly, things exist before we find succinct words for them - what would inspire us to come up with those words at all? The things that defined racism came long before the word. And that definition, prejudice and hatred and harm toward other races, is something he openly and proudly practiced. Are you going to say that we can't retroactively call anything a spear if it was made before we called it what we do today? The past does not become meaningless when the words for that meaning changes.

"brigham young said things that would be considered racist today" is the most cowardly limp-dicked empty imitation of an acknowledgement. It's just saying "we know that you wouldn't like what he said". Great! We know that too! We also know how you feel about it so you might as well find a spine and admit it!

[kikikihermommy]

lamb to the slaughter

iii: a martyr’s soapbox

Timeline: [1980s] F13-III Content: 18+, possessive, canon typical events / violence, Jason isn’t an idiot, religion references Type: jason voorhees x f!reader | pc: pinterest | x-posted to ao3

cw/ body horror, blood, abuse

“I think I liked you better when you didn’t talk to me, Ralph.”

Were the first and final words you uttered to the unpleasant man. 

Your chest heaved under the statement, rattling your frame down to its core. A feverish sweat brewed down your chest, eyes yearning for the relief a small civilization embraced you in. 

But Ralph just offered you a crooked grin. Once again, you never questioned his odd displacement of where the forest kissed the town, but you always pondered it—

 it was as if he were awaiting your return. 

The man was a martyr, and Jason a ruthless fallen angel among beings. Mercy is for the weak and doubtful, which Ralph was not shown, sacrificed for both a blasphemous tongue and curiosity. 

God had told Ralph to warn the masses, and so did the alcohol. The bottle must have had a stronger grip than the duty to serve his God and people. 

Somewhere within a short timeframe, you had inherited Ralph’s testimony of good faith. You saw it with your own eyes after all. 

It was now your duty to warn the campers, but their visit would become permanent, merging as one with the lands that Jason both roamed and inhabited.  

The bodies piled up so high, you needed wings to stay above it. 

—wings you would never be granted, both forfeited and traded for the similar chains that Jason wore. You had already bit his bait, awaiting to be pulled down and reduced to the same fiery depths he was promised on Friday the 13th. 

It was clear Jason Voorhees had been quite busy at work the past couple days— his burlap sack and poor farmers getup had been retired, only to be swapped in favor of a hockey mask, trousers, and a green button-up. 

The beast in question was turned away from you, tending to an especially difficult victim, limbs and body being hacked up beyond identification, reduced to meat and a gorey mess. 

In the best case scenario, the boy would be identified by the remnants of blood-spilled fabric covering his torso, but would ultimately result in dental records. 

Squelching and crunching filled the room upon every triumphal machete strike, exerting his seemingly endless energy with satisfaction— it was an easy day's work anyway. 

Your face resembled that of a famine induced foal; both sickly and pale. The once beautiful cabin with cherry oak floors, now converted into a sick representation of hell, nearly mocking you in your savior efforts. 

The strong smell of iron and corpses stung your nostrils, paying homage to your eyes that bounced around his newly decorated room. 

It wasn’t often Jason was taken by surprise, his senses were comparable to a hungry hawk feasting on rodents, being granted gluttonous amounts for his effort and skill. 

Similar to the sound of a mouse, your shoes creaked against the hardwood as your weight shifted from foot to foot. 

And that’s all it took for the brute to stop hacking up the unfortunate body. 

In one coordinated motion he rose and turned towards you, nearly doubling in size. 

—You? 

The one he had spared dare return?

Jason’s daunting steps sang against the bloody floor, both carefully and causally stepping over the decomposing bodies that separated his path from you. The machete he now wielded glistened towards you, leaking a sinful red. 

You awaited your judgment as he stood before you, a fit of rage or your impending death brewing within the one eye that confined you— A part of you almost preferred the hacking machete to fill the void of the soulless room. 

Yet he just stared, 

Your little doe eyes would soon morph into the same vessel that portrayed his short childhood— scared, helpless, and pathetic. 

A stray dog would often visit his childhood home, and linger for dinner scraps the young boy so kindly shared. 

Like Jason, the stray was a deformed runt. It’s shaggy gray hair matted with clumps of mud and foliage. 

Despite the fleas and stench, the boy loved him. 

Deformities always came with isolation and ridicule, Mommy kept him safe and tucked away from the evils of society. 

Jason had assumed the same rules applied to his new best friend, and that all Mommy’s hid away their special children. 

While Pamela didn’t mind the new companion, Elias found it infuriating. 

First clinging to his mother like a parasite, now this inmasculine bullshit?! Elias took it upon himself to set his son straight— it was for his own damn good. 

With one weathered hand on the back of Jason’s collar, the other gestured towards the mutt.  

Kill!

Often barking in two word sentences, Elias figured it was all the little monster could understand. 

Kill, son!

That had been the first time he had referred to Jason as an equal— nonetheless his own son, instead of the usual ‘thing’, ‘it’, or ‘monster’. 

Despite his fathers newfound praise, Jason crumbled under the previous commandment, fleeing the scene in a sea of tears. Like Jason’s victims, there was no escape. Mommy wasn’t here to protect him nor his new friend. 

Elias’ husky cackle carried through the acres as little Jason sobbed. He withstood any comfort and merely granted his son a shovel.   

The tears you cried would resemble his own, an abnormally large hand, hot with adrenaline and fiery passion would wipe them away. 

Jason’s unusual gesture would leave a smear of crimson on your cheek, uniting violence and woe.  

His machete blade staggered from your neck, leaving a small flesh wound and Jason scornful. A storm began brewing within, his muscles tensing and contracting as the memory forcefully resurfaced. 

The sorrow behind the mask was ill fitted, his jaw clenching and pulsing. A new fight was on the horizon line, an inner war to desperately regain the monotone engine that automatically drove Jason. 

It was uncharacteristic—

Nearly taboo for the psychopath. 

Your coughing from the attack would stir him back to reality, to finish you off once for all. 

From the bloodbath you laid, your reaction would unknowingly determine your life. 

The fear and dignity you wore washed away with colossal reapproaching steps.  

“That’s enough now, Jason,”

[gothhabiba]

More fun with Lazy Researcher Telephone leading to the circulation of completely false information:

A 1764 court document (re-discovered by Gwendolin Mildo Hall) is currently believed to be the oldest reference to gumbo (as in the okra-and-meat stew, not okra itself). Shane K. Bernard said in 2011 that Hall had mentioned the document in a lecture, but she presumably didn't give detailed information, since he ended up e-mailing her to get the actual citation.

She pointed him to the Louisiana Historical Center, who sent him a copy of the document in question, which he posted a small snippet from. You don't have to contact the LHC to get the full document--it's been digitised (look towards the bottom right of page 4/21 for the reference to "un gombeau"), along with other documents pertaining to the same court case.

That lecture wasn't the only place where Hall had elaborated. Earlier, in 2005, Hall had published Slavery and African Ethnicities in the Americas: Restoring the Links, which contains a passage talking about Comba / Julia, the woman whose testimony contains the reference to "gombeau" (Bernard didn't mention this book). She describes what led to the 1764 court proceedings--fugitive slave Louis dit Foy "had organized a cooperative network among slaves, runaways, thieves, seamstresses, and street vendors" and the group 'stole' food for their social gatherings. Hall says of two women who were members of this group:

Comba and Louison, both Mandingo women in their fifties, were vendors selling cakes and other goods along the streets of New Orleans. They maintained an active social life, organized feasts where they ate and drank very well, cooked gumbo filé and rice, roasted turkeys and chickens, barbecued pigs and fish, smoked tobacco and drank rum. (Slavery and African Ethnicities, University of North Carolina Press, 2005, p. 99)

Hall cites as the source of her information "Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana, May 6 and May 10, 1768, contract between Evan Jones of Pensacola and Durand Brothers; declaration by Captain Peter Hill. Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana, 1768.05.10.02, Louisiana Historical Center, New Orleans" (FN 36, p. 187).

It is unclear from Hall's text whether "gumbo filé" is specifically named or described in these court documents (if it is, I have not yet found it--and it also seems strange that Hall wouldn't have pointed Bernard to that location), or what other reason Hall might have for asserting this. It may just be an assumption of her's. As written, it sounds like the "gombeau" mentioned isn't even sure to be modern "gumbo" (as Bernard points out, a dish of stewed okra with butter was called "gumbo" at this time and later). Hall's research interests do not centre around food.

From this point, someone must have found Bernard's reference to this court document, and also found the paraphrasing of the case proceedings in Hall's book. They must have mentioned the court document without quoting or citing it; and they must have quoted the passage from Hall that I quoted above, also without citing it, and made it seem as though the Hall passage was in the court document. Whoever this unforgiveable bumbling can be traced back to, whether him or someone else, Lolis Eric Elie at least recreated it. In 2005, he wrote in a letter to the New York Times:

The first known printed reference to gumbo was made in reference to food eaten not by French immigrants, but by African maroons who had escaped slavery in Louisiana. This passage, from a 1764 court document, was uncovered by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, author of "Africans in Colonial Louisiana": "Comba and Louison, both Mandingo women in their 50's [sic], were vendors selling cakes and other goods along the streets of New Orleans. They maintained an active social life, organized feasts where they ate and drank very well, cooked gumbo filé and rice, roasted turkeys and chickens, barbecued pigs and fish, smoked tobacco and drank rum."

And then someone must have read that letter and believed Elie that that paragraph of Hall's was in the 1764 court document (it doesn't exactly sound like the kind of language I would expect to have been written as a summary of court proceedings in 1764, but I suppose they didn't think to check...)

So now, as a result of all of this jumbling of assumptions with evidence, and unwillingness to track down actual primary sources (even when someone has already digitised and quoted and translated them for you!), you have people confidently asserting that "gumbo filé" was specifically mentioned for the first time in 1764.

For example, Jonathan Olivier, writing for The Bitter Southerner in 2021, writes:

Looking back further at the historical record, there is more evidence of distinctions between types of gumbo. The first recorded mention of gumbo is from a 1764 court document involving escaped enslaved Africans, found by historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall [...]. “Comba and Louison, both Mandingo women in their 50s [sic], were vendors selling cakes and other goods along the streets of New Orleans. They maintained an active social life, organized feasts where they ate and drank very well, cooked gumbo filé and rice, roasted turkeys and chickens, barbecued pigs and fish, smoked tobacco and drank rum.” The entire term “gumbo filé” is mentioned, a deliberate effort to highlight a soup thickened with powdered sassafras, not okra.

Yes, Olivier, the term "gumbo filé" was mentioned... by Gwendolin Hall in 2005, not by Comba in 1764! What a mess! What an absolute disgrace of a mess. Lmao.

[mcx7demonbros]

The Royal Cult

Demons believe the source of their power to be from the Three-Legged Crow, so they worship It, though not all demons are religious devoted to the demonic bird.

However, the Three-Legged Crow’s not the only god the demons serve. Demon Kings who have passed away and have been deified are also worshipped by their successors and the nobles.

Deified Demon Kings are considered to have reach the pinnacle of “demonic virtues” and are role models for their successors.

Below is the process of the deification of a deceased Demon King. Take notice that that the process only begins after the said Demon King has passed away, so that during the evaluation, the demons can assured of his “demonic virtues”. As people would mock the deification if a Demon King is deified during his life but then he fails to live up to his divinity or messes up badly.

After a Demon King passes away, the Royal Butler will be tasked with gathering all the documents, works, words & deeds of the late King and submit them all to the House of Lords.

Once the House of Lords receive all the documents, works, words & deeds related to the late King, the Secretary of the House of Lords will write a summary of the late King’s reign, based on all the submitted papers.

At the funeral, the summary will be read out-loud for all to hear. After which, the summary will be put inside the coffin, to be buried with the late King.

After the funeral, the House of Lords will scrutinize every bit of documents related to the late King, to see if he deserves to be deified. This step is very important and the House of Lords doesn’t want any mistake to be made as everyone’s reputation will be damage if they don’t do this step carefully.

Aside from the grieving Royal Family, those who are close with the late King, including the Avatars and the Royal Butler, will be brought to the House of Lords to testify the late King’s virtue. All secrets have to be made known to the august House of Lords.

After collecting the testimonies, the House of Lords will enter debate session.

After the debate session, the House of Lords will vote on the deification case. The case is passed if it is supported by two-thirds of the House of Lords. If necessary, the House of Lords can repeat step 6 & 7, but only 3 debate sessions and 3 voting sessions maximum allowed.

If the case is passed, the House of Lords will submit it to the new King. The case can’t go forward without the new King’s approval.

If the new King approves the deification case, it’s transferred to the ministers of the Three-Legged Crow God, who will choose the day to officially proclaim the late King a god to all demons.

The deification ceremony.

List of deified Demon Kings known to us

The First Demon King

Demon King Gardonus (Feast day: 6th day before the Ides of May / the 10th of May)

The God of War - the Demon King before Diavolo’s grandfather

Diavolo’s Grandfather

Inspiration: Roman Imperial Cult

[justahumblememefarmer]

Ultimate Doctor Who Poll Round 2 - Matchup 18

Episode Summaries under the cut

23: The Doctor's Wife - Season 6, Episode 4: After receiving a message from another Time Lord, the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to a sentient asteroid outside the universe. When they land the TARDIS malfunctions and they are approached by some strange people that live on the asteroid. As the Doctor investigates, he finds that the asteroid has lured many Time Lords there to eat their TARDIS's. He finds that one strange woman has had the TARDIS consciousness implanted inside her, so that the asteroid can feast off the remaining Artron energy. The Doctor reveals that the Time Lords are gone, as are their TARDIS's so no more will be coming.

The asteroid then transfers it's consciousness to the TARDIS shell with Amy and Rory inside, where it messes with them for it's amusement. The Doctor and the TARDIS delight in the chance to talk, but she begins to die. They try to reconstruct a TARDIS console from the bits of broken TARDIS's scattered around. They send Amy and Rory instructions to an old console room where they can lower the TARDIS shields, allowing the Doctor and TARDIS to land aboard.

The asteroid threatens to kill them, but the Doctor says that it needs them alive to tell them how to get back to their universe. He shares that the asteroid must delete 30% of TARDIS rooms to generate enough thrust. It deletes the console room they are in, but the safeguards teleport living things in deleted rooms to the main console room. Once back inside there, the TARDIS is able to escape her human body and reenter the TARDIS shell, destroying the asteroid's consciousness, and using her last moments of being able to talk to finally say "Hello" to the Doctor.

106: Twice Upon a Time - Season 10 Christmas Special: The Doctor, refusing to regenerate, is taken by the TARDIS to meet his first incarnation, who is also conflicted about regenerating. They encounter a Captain from World War I being hunted by a group called Testimony. Testimony offers to return the Doctor's deceased companion, Bill, to him in exchange for the captain. The Doctor takes her and escapes with Bill, the Captain, and his younger self.

To learn more about Testimony, the Doctor travels to a huge galactic database, run by a Dalek the Doctor had encountered before. In the database, he learns that Testimony extracts people from their timelines at the moment of their death and archive their memories. The Bill that's with them is an avatar created from her memories.

Realizing that there is no evil to fight, the Doctor returns everybody to their timelines, returning the Captain to the Christmas Armistice, allowing him to live. The First Doctor returns to his TARDIS to regenerate. The Twelfth Doctor's memories of Clara are restored and he is bid farewell by avatars of her, Nardole, and Bill before reentering his TARDIS to regenerate into the Thirteenth Doctor.

[richmond-rex]

Did Henry Tudor meet Elizabeth of Edward IV of England and York in house of york?

Hello, I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking if Henry Tudor ever met Edward IV and Elizabeth of York whilst Edward was still king? It's impossible to know, but there might actually be a possibility that Henry met Edward IV (less likely he met Elizabeth imo). To be clear, this is a personal theory based on some of the testimonies given for Henry and Elizabeth's marriage dispensation in 1486.

William, earl of Nottingham (64 years old): 'says that he has known the aforesaid prince Henry well for twenty years and more, and the said lady Elizabeth for sixteen years' => That means he knew Henry since at least 1466, and Elizabeth since 1470/1.

Sir Richard Croft (54 years old): 'says and answers that he has known king Henry well for twenty years, and the said lady Elizabeth for sixteen years' => Again, that means he knew Henry since at least 1466 and Elizabeth since 1470/1.

Sir William Tyler (43 years old): 'says that he has known prince Henry [now king] well for twenty years, and the lady Elizabeth for twelve years' => That means he knew Henry since at least 1466 and Elizabeth since 1470/1.

Those two dates are relevant to the Yorkist establishment (hold this thought). I think it's possible those three men first met Elizabeth of York as she fled with her mother and siblings in 1470 to the Tower and then to Westminster Abbey, or they might have met her in 1471 when Edward IV returned and rescued his family from sanctuary. I don't know exactly what kind of ceremonies were held after Edward's triumph over the Lancastrians but it's possible Elizabeth was present on those occasions.

Some of the other witnesses said they knew Henry for sixteen/fifteen years as well — specifically Christopher Urswyck (Margaret Beaufort's confessor) and Sir William Knyvett. It would make the most sense for the majority of people to say they knew Henry since 1470/1, considering Henry Tudor came to London during the readeption of his uncle Henry VI, and would have met the courtiers at that time. But those three people* — the Earl of Nottingham, Sir Richard Croft and Sir William Tyler — said they knew Henry at least since 1466. What was Henry Tudor doing in 1466?

At that time Henry was a 9 year-old in the custody of William Herbert, an important representative of the Yorkist king in Wales described as 'King Edward's master-lock'. It's possible William Berkeley (later Earl of Nottingham), Sir Richard Croft and William Tyler all knew Henry from visiting the Herberts in Rhaglan Castle**, though it's impossible to say if they had any degree of personal friendship with the Herberts. In 1466 there was however an event that was of importance for both the Herberts and Edward IV.

In that year William Herbert married his eldest son and heir to Mary Woodville, the king's sister (in-law) in a ceremony that took place in Windsor Castle, one of the king's residences. It was apparently such a great event a Welsh poet later praised it in one of his poems dedicated to Willaim Herbert:

The foremost king of Britain and its realm / Gave his sister to him / He held a great wedding-feast in Windsor / For this man, in his royalty / A generous feast for our lord who is of our tongue, / May he be seen again as a prince!

This is pure speculation but I ask myself: is it possible William Herbert took his whole family to Windsor, including his ward Henry Tudor, for his son's wedding feast? If so, many Yorkist partisans such as the Earl of Nottingham and Sir Richard Croft would have had the opportunity to meet Henry on that occasion — in turn, Henry would have had the opportunity to at least see King Edward. Of course there's no way to really know that whilst no concrete evidence comes up, but it's fascinating to think Henry might have seen/know Edward IV.

This isn't taking into account, for example, the possibility that Edward IV might have visited William Herbert at Raglan in one of his travels, to which Henry would have seen him as well. A royal visit to Raglan is the only way I can think of that Henry might have seen Elizabeth of York, as she was only merely a few months-old at the time of her aunt's wedding in Windsor, and would not have attended the ceremony. Furthermore, if Henry and Elizabeth had been present on the same occasion/wedding the three witnesses above would have given the same number of years for knowing them both***, which was not the case.

However, I think a royal visit from Edward IV to Raglan is less likely, given it was not documented anywhere, not even in Welsh poetry, and William Herbert was enough of a patron to have this visit documented in that way. So all in all, I think it's very unlikely Henry Tudor ever met Elizabeth of York before 1485, though I think there's a slight chance that he have met Edward IV in 1466. Again, this is all pure speculation, though.

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* It's important to notice that all three were Yorkist partisans: Sir Richard Croft fought at Mortimer’s Cross, Towton and Tewkesbury on Edward IV's side — he and his brother were tutored with or were the one who tutored Edward whilst Earl of March and his brother Edmund in Ludlow*. Apparently the letter Edward and Edmund jointly wrote to their father Richard of York complained about Sir Richard Croft and his brother. The Crofts were neighbours of the Mortimers, which then encompassed Richard of York and his sons. The Battle of Mortimer's Cross took place on Croft soil. Sir Richard's wife Eleanor ran the household of Edward Prince of Wales, Edward IV's son, and his younger brother (also called Richard Croft) was one of Edward's tutors in Ludlow. Henry VII later made Sir Richard Croft his treasurer, and also made him Prince Arthur’s steward in Ludlow later on.

William Berkeley was created Baron Berkeley by Edward IV and became one of his privy councillors in 1482/3. He might have been the same William Berkeley, knight of the Body, who was attainted in Richard III’s Parliament and joined Henry in exile. It would be weird for the act in Parliament not to mention his title, though, since he was created Earl of Nottingham two days after Richard III was declared king. Either William Earl of Nottingham or this other William Berkeley, knight of the Body, hosted Margaret of York when she visited England in 1480.

** It would be really awkward if William Berkeley (later Earl of Nottingham) was intimate enough to visit the Herberts, considering he killed in battle William Herbert's son-in-law, Thomas Talbot, 2nd Baron/Viscount Lisle (Margaret Herbert's husband) after Lisle challenged him to a trial of arms over the Berkeley lands in 1470. Lisle had been Herbert's ward in the same way Henry Tudor had been. His wife Margaret Herbert miscarried a boy shortly after his death. I believe this is the dowager Viscountess of Lisle that Henry granted a financial settlement in 1492.

*** For example, Sir William Knyvett said he knew Elizabeth of York from the day of her birth 🥺 (and had known Henry for fifteen years, that is, since 1470/1 the Readeption years).