#fedallah mobydick

[mossy-rainfrog]

[ID: A digital drawing of Ahab's boat crew on a whalehunt, headed by Fedallah, and oared by several other men. The perspective is right before the bow of the rowboat, in the splash of the water as Fedallah crouches, holding his harpoon, and looking ahead with a focused expression. Several men man the oars, one looking ahead just like Fedallah, and one looking back at Ahab in the back of the boat, who mans the steering and points ahead, crying out for a whale. Behind them, the Pequod can be seen at a distance over the blue ocean against a pink and purple sky.

Character designs: Fedallah is a lean, older Persian man dressed in Zoroastrian white with a wrap over his hair. He has a thin mustache and short beard. Ahab is a chubby middle-aged Persian man with short, curly hair, and wearing a maroon coat. There are three visible oarsmen: all three are younger Filipino men of varying hair lengths, facial hair styles, and skin tones. They are all wearing various shades of purple. End ID.]

CATEGORY TEN FEDALLAH MOMENT. I haven't posted nearly enough Fedallah art on here, so enjoy some boys on a whalehunt :) i love the colors of this one.

designs are, as always, borrowed from the lovely @pocketsizedquasar-3 :3

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

[ID: A series of Moby Dick themed Valentine’s cards. each has a drawing accompanied by some phrase and “To: / From:” fields. More detailed IDs in alt text for each.]

A day late but happy belated Valentine’s Day 🥰🥰🥰 normally i just repost my Moby Dick Valentines (or Whale-entines, if you will) that i made um. oh god. five years ago. jesus christ. anyway normally i just repost those, but a) those are on my old deleted blog (rip) and b) an upgrade / remaster w my current skills has been long overdue, so here that is, plus some new additions :) so have some new whalentines💖🥰 some cursed, some wholesome, some both. go forth and enjoy

some fun little notes for those interested:

“i’ll make you a pint of sperm richer — but he won’t” in ch 35 ‘the mast head,’ ishmael, referring to himself, warns ship captains to never hire any “romantic, melancholy, and absent-minded young men” (such as himself) (which, also, that’s a valentine in itself tbh. new tinder bio whomst) who spend their watches at the masthead daydreaming rather than looking for whales; they’ll “tow you round the world and never make you one pint of sperm the richer”

“there’s hogsheads of sperm ahead” Is actually a line said by starbuck (despite being the repressed little protestant loser he is /affectionate), in a completely normal context (re: the sperm whale oil they’re hunting). but in This context he’s a little 🧍 standing man emoji. 😌squirm little quakerman squirm

my tash is aroace and they & dag are in a lovely QPP 💖 we love platonic love!!

she moby in my dick until i sperm whale. that’s all

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

man. the most persistently irritating thing about daniel emond's "kill the whale" is how fucking GOOD it is at times.

every day I think about The Quarterdeck and how phenomenally it portrays that scene and the magnetism of agreeing to Ahab's quest even despite fear, and Dusk and the subplot of Starbuck falling in love with Ahab and being terrified of what that means, but ESPECIALLY Fedallah's introduction song where Fedallah is presented as a woman with agency, who looks the audience in the face and dares us to judge her for the life she has chosen.

Fedallah is presented as the captain's lover, the captain's party trick and pleasure, and owns the shitshow she lives in, and only chooses to reject that life once she tires of Ahab's fetishization and exotification of her, and then uses the very thing Ahab fetishizes so much (her prophecies) as a way to spell her own doom and drag Ahab down with her, freeing herself. The shivers I still feel when I hear Fedallah's triumphant crow of "come back here" as she sinks below the waves and Ahab watches in horror, knowing she is next.

that fucking ruled to a degree that shook me!!!!!!!!! and hearing Grace McLean and Amber Gray (and Danielle McKnight) duke it the fuck out through song was just genuinely magnificent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and then the narrative kicks you right in the throat by calling queequeg "q" for two hours straight and making his marriage to ishmael lowkey racist hate sex

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

i was Instantly compelled i had to do this immediately

i’m including “really hates whales” in the “attracted to whales” category, as in a literal attraction as in being pulled towards/chasing/hunting them. gay as hell to be obsessed to the point of all consuming hatred and vengeance

ishmael is squarely in the middle because he is the most homosexual man alive (every single man he meets is described in extensive attractive detail) but also have you SEEN the way he talks abt whales. he’s obsessed and enamored. love him.

more explanation under the cut bc i took this shitpost way too seriously /lh but honestly this speaks for itself and is way funnier just as is. 👍

the rest in order: queequeg is very chill and normal about whales. he hunts them but has no particular animosity nor affection for them. he is very queer (my qq is bi but on this scale he’s in the Into Men category). starbuck would be very uncomfortable by this question and his placement on it but he’s definitely into men (he is also bisexual but he won’t admit it <3), but there’s a few moments where he gets a little weird about the whales sure. fedallah is primarily into men (ahab) but due to ahab’s pull to moby dick he’s also pulled in that direction. daggoo is gay and into men but maybe he’s also a big fan of whales idk. the pequod is obviously attracted to whales but she also needs men to make that attraction a reality. and also what’s gayer than a ship and her crew. ahab is A Gay Man who is unfortunately Extremely Attracted (in the most literal sense of that attractive or magnetic force/pull) to Moby Dick. stubb really loves killing whales and flask really really really hates whales (and so loves hunting and killing them). tashtego is aroace and would like to be left alone, thank you.

any of the nonwhite characters are basically my own characterization (heehoo comic) bc melville didn’t rly give them any

moby dick kinsey scale that arranges the characters on a spectrum of how attracted they are to other men versus how attracted they are to whales

[mobydickmusical]

This was from Dave’s Great Comet Instagram takeover, well over a year ago, yet I somehow only noticed it the other day?

“Far too self conscious to do video on the train. This is my reading today, doing research for Fedallah in Moby Dick. In the novel he is a bit of a caricature, a Middle Eastern magical demon, which does not feel so good to have in a contemporary adaptation. So trying to read up a bit, to be able to write him more realistically and empathetically.

(P.S. in the novel he is Zoroastrian, but making him Muslim seems a bit more relevant for a piece that is discussing multiculturalism in America today.)”

[mossy-rainfrog]

[Several drawings of Ahab, Starbuck, and Fedallah from Moby Dick reimagined as women. More detailed ID in ALT.]

hi everyone today i bring you. more women :)

a continuation of this last post, Ahab openly presents as a woman aboard her ship because she has enough job security at this point to do whatever she wants and her gender identity is essentially "call me sir, but beyond that who cares". Starbuck is still bigender as usual, so she initially went "undercover" as a man to get into the industry and then stuck with the disguise long term because she likes the way it feels to be Nathaniel. Meanwhile Fedallah is free balling tbh, she's under Ahab's protection on the Pequod and everyone's an asshole to her anyways so she truly could not give less of a fuck. All three use she/her, except for when Starbuck is undercover.

also *said through tears* ahab and fedallah are FRIENDS btw. they LOVE each other and she's FINE. melville when i GET you

also, side note because I don't think I ever mentioned it, but Starbuck is ID'd as "middle aged" in my art because (s)he is based on @pocketsizedquasar 's adaptation, where Starbuck's age has been interpreted to be around 40. <3 aging :)

anyways GIRLS! I've heard of them 👀

[mossy-rainfrog]

[ID: A traditionally drawn and digitally colored drawing of Fedallah, Starbuck, and Ahab genderbent as women and wearing out-of-era outfits. Fedallah is a lean older middle-aged Persian woman with a light mustache, wearing a Zoroastrian headscarf, a white button down shirt with a black fashion harness belted over her torso. She wears black pants with four brass buttons on each side. She is smiling coyly and standing with her hip slightly cocked. Starbuck is a thin and buff middle aged white woman with short, wavy hair, freckles, and a light mustache. She is wearing a small jean vest over dress pants. The vest shows her stomach, which has a lightly visible happy trail, and the wrappings of a chest binder beneath. Starbuck is standing rigidly with her arms behind her back, looking off neutrally to the side. Ahab is a fat and buff older middle-aged Persian woman with curly graying hair in a bun, and scars over her face and body, including a lightning scar over the left side of her face. She is wearing a tight black dress with a deep v-neck that ties back behind her neck. She is standing with a neutral expression and holding a harpoon in one hand as she looks at the other two women.

Next there are three photos of the live performers: Danielle McKnight, a thin Black woman with shoulder-length curly hair wearing the same outfit as Fedallah without the headscarf, Courtney Basset, a thin white woman with chest-length straight auburn hair wearing the same outfit as Starbuck, and Grace McLean, a thin white woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing the same outfit as Ahab. Danielle sings into a mic with a hand extended, looking sternly down over at Ahab. Courtney sings with a smile, holding her mic to her chest. Grace is not singing, and is combing back her hair with both hands, eyes closed. End ID.]

been having what the kids call an Extremely Normal Time about the concept album Kill The Whale* lately so I decided to draw my butch/genderbent designs of the characters in the outfits their album counterparts wear in the live show. im so fukcign gay 😀👍

*For any who don't know, Kill The Whale is a concept musical album based on MobyDick that genderbends much of the crew! There's a love triangle between Starbuck, Ahab, and Fedallah (with some incredible nuances about Fedallah being exotified/fetishized for her prophecies and then her later taking back control of herself). It is very wlw and fascinatingly composed. However comma there are also Extensive Critiques on this as an adaptation of MD (particularly in reference to racebending and really altering character narratives) so. proceed with awareness! i will be saying more later lol

EDIT: Thank you so much to the folks who caught that I had Danielle's name wrong!!!! I owe you my life!!!! 🙏

[mossy-rainfrog]

[ID in ALT]

Doodles in order: Butch Ahab with her hair down, my Nautolan Star Wars OC in a cool outfit, Dev Patel from Monkey Man, Ahab Starbucks, Crimson Peak ghosts and John Malevolent, Butch Ahab again, my oc Serena and some Fedallah and Ahab being cute, a little fun tattoo I drew on my hand, the dragon pit scene from Incarceron that makes me insane, and a self-portrait doodle of me getting compression gloves

so I've been having an averagely understimulating time at my new job lately. over 50 pages of a sketchbook have been filled in 2 months. 😀👍I am not going insane! I have more theme-specific sketch hauls of these so those will be coming soon! I have. so much art.

Anyways did you know that compression gloves can help with faulty hand circulation so that you don't feel like you're dying as badly??? life is so beautiful????

[mossy-rainfrog]

[ID: Four traditional pen drawings involving characters from Moby Dick. The first shows Fedallah staring darkly out into space with a thought bubble, showing a photograph of Bingus the cat. The second drawing shows Ishmael drawing Queequeg in a sketchbook as Queequeg reclines in front of him, chin in his hands, and smiles as Ishmael laughs. Text on the art reads: "lazy day - drawing his husband". The next drawing is of an autism creature, with Fedallah's harpoon and Zoroastrian skull cap. The fourth drawing shows Ahab and Fedallah walking together. Fedallah has a brace on his knee in view, side by side with Ahab's peg leg. Text on the art reads: "disabled besties".

Character designs: Fedallah is a thin, Persian man with a dark beard and mustache, wearing a long shirt and white Zoroastrian skull cap. Ishmael is a thin, white man with short hair and sideburns. Queequeg is a muscular Māori person with tattoos on his face, and a curly topknot on his hair. Ahab is a chubby, Persian man with short, curly hair, a beard, and a scar across his face. He has a pegleg, and wears a long coat. End ID.]

part 1 of all the mobydick themed doodles ive been doin at my new job for the past month in between trainings and call work :3 god i love fedallah. btw.

designs as always are from the delightful @pocketsizedquasar and their magnificent comic btw!!! go check them out always mwah mwah mwah

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

oh, fedallah

(various fedallah-centric doodles. IDs in alt text)

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

Have been too busy to post this friday and yesterday but IT’S FEDALLAH TIME!!!!!!! THIS WEEK’S PAGE WAS FEDALLAH TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

copying over today’s blog post from the comic site, because i think it’s important! under a cut because u know how i ramble when it comes to these guys 💖:

God I have so so many thoughts about Fedallah. Before everything else, it’s VERY important that you know that he is my Favorite Fucking Guy and I Love him So Fucking Much and he Means SO fucking much to me. But anyway! I’m going to copy a lot of my thoughts here over from the notes of a fic chapter of mine where I talk about Fedallah: There are, of course, many, many issues with the way Melville portrays Fedallah in the book. He is a horrifically racist and Orientalist stereotype. Just one of these issues is the fact that Fedallah is given a number of conflicting, racist, and caricaturized racial/cultural markers. The descriptor he most often gets is “Parsee,” so we at least know that much about him. Throughout the book, he’s also described as having "swart" (dark) skin and being an "eboness" (another racist way to describe dark/Black skin), but he is also lumped into descriptors of his "tiger-yellow crew," wears a "rumpled Chinese jacket," wears a "glistening white plaited turban, the living hair braided and coiled round and round upon his head," is accompanied by a crew of Filipino oarsmen, and has an Arabic name. The only thing we know for certain about him is the only consistent descriptor he gets: Parsee.

“Parsee” loosely means Persian, and is largely associated particularly with Zoroastrians. Today, the word "Parsi" specifically describes the group of Zoroastrians in India who are descended from Zoroastrians who fled Persia starting a couple centuries after Muslim rule in Persia (there are other nuances and names used to describe different groups of Indian Zoroastrians, who migrated throughout the centuries since then, but this is just a large summary). Persians in India (and elsewhere) had long been referred to as "Parsees" before this, and so this group picked up that moniker over history. In the early modern period (aka starting the 16th century), though, there are also several examples of European travellers and writers in general using "Parsee" to refer to Zoroastrians still in Iran as well -- the term was used to denote Zoroastrians generally, whether referring to the group in Iran or in India. In the Western consciousness of the time, as far as I can tell, "Parsee" just means "Zoroastrian."

So all that in mind, Fedallah could plausibly be either a Zoroastrian from Persia, or from India. I personally have chosen to make him Persian for a few reasons, a) because i'm persian <3 b) because I am far more familiar with Persian history broadly, and am extensively researched in Persian Zoroastrian history (…i did get really autistically special interested in this. like. more than 1200+ pages of research i’ve read glsdfdklsfja) c) i think there can be Some argument made that Melville thinks of "Parsee" as "Persian" specifically. He refers to "Persian fire worshippers" in Ch 42 and 86 (which, Zoroastrians are not 'fire worshippers;’ this is a common Orientalist stereotype and misconception both within and outside of Iran/India which Zoroastrians today are STILL fighting — but it IS what Melville would have thought/read/been told they were). Melville has Ahab say the following in Ch 199 The Candles: “Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee...", which ties into some of the WEIRD stuff Melville seems to have going on with Fedallah and Ahab and the implication that Fedallah is Corrupting Ahab or pulling Ahab into Fedallah's sinful/devilish desires…etc etc. (Which, also, sidebar, Ahab calls himself Persian here! “I as Persian”!!! really weird and interesting!! no I don’t think Melville necessarily is actually writing Ahab as a Persian Person (that’s what I’m doing); I think he’s being weird and racist and Orientalist about Ahab being figuratively ~~persian~~ aka mystical and strange and demonic and whatever else, but still really interesting!!) There is a very particular and horrible kind of Orientalism going on here that I don't Reaaaaally have the desire to get into right now. 

But point being, I think you could make the textual argument that Melville sees "Parsee" Fedallah as specifically one of the Persian "Fire-worshippers" (Zoroastrians) that he continually references. Melville was a well-read individual, and there was by the time of Moby Dick an already long history of Western (particularly European) scholars being ~fascinated~ by the mysterious “fire worshippers” of ancient Persia; there is a LOT of contemporaneous writing about the Zoroastrians (both Indian and Persian), in the way that much of the “Orient” and its religions were ~fascinating~ to Europeans. (again, I must stress, 'fire-worshipper' is considered a wildly offensive and derogatory way to refer to Zoroastrians, and it has been used as a pejorative towards them by their oppressors in Persia and in the West alike for centuries. it is inaccurate and offensive.) 

But! All that being said, I do think it would also be very fair for someone to choose to make Fedallah an Indian Zoroastrian if they wished! Both would make sense. But my Fedallah is Persian.

I am NOT myself religiously Zoroastrian (I am not at all religious), though I am Persian, and so much of the religion’s practices have still featured in my life. & I consider myself largely aligned with many of Zarathustra's/Zartosht's ideas (something I am still exploring for myself in my personal life). Any errors or missteps in portraying him respectfully are my own.  Separately from all this, I am working on writing out a story centered on Fedallah's backstory in general -- his upbringing, how he came to receive an Arabic/Muslim name, how he came to leave Persia, how he met Ahab, etc.

Regardless, Fedallah is (as I have yelled about.. SO MUCH…) deeply, deeply important to me. It is important to me that he gets treated with love and kindness and care, and the respect he deserves. He matters to me and the story I’ve made for him makes me ache. I love him so so very much. This is by no means an exhaustive discussion of all of the complicated factors involved here; if I have glossed over some things it's because I'm trying to prevent this from being longer than it already is. This is just a VERY brief overview of some of the things that have been important to me to consider with respect to Fedallah. I love and adore him so much. 

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

Chapters: 4/16

Words: 1,525 (in this chapter)

Fandom: Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Captain Ahab/Starbuck (Moby Dick), Starbuck/Mary Starbuck (Moby Dick), Captain Ahab & Starbuck (Moby Dick), Captain Ahab & Fedallah (Moby Dick), Starbuck & Fedallah (Moby Dick)

Characters: Captain Ahab (Moby Dick), Starbuck (Moby Dick), Mary Starbuck (Moby Dick), Fedallah (Moby Dick), Stubb (Moby Dick), Other Character Tags to Be Added

Additional Tags: Eventual Romance, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Genderqueer Character, Character Study, Trans Character, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Genderswap, Butch Captain Ahab, Butch Starbuck, Butch Characters, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, lots of wound tending, author is disabled and trans

Summary: What would change about Moby-Dick if the major driving forces of the narrative were women?

How much does this single factor radically alter their choices, their relationships, and their eventual end? What would it take for the women of Starbuck and Ahab to stand in the same places as their male counterparts in the novel? Do they go undercover as men to attain power? How do they feel about that? Why is this the power they seek? Is that power enough to save them?

Or, Moby Dick, reimagined through the lens of Captain Ahab and First Mate Starbuck as butch women.

—

Some weeks later. Now, getting her legs beneath her once again, Ahab ventures to visit the stowaway crew she brought on board for the purpose of later providing her an extra crew to chase down Moby-Dick.

[mossy-rainfrog]

[ID: A digital drawing of several Moby Dick characters in a simple, silly style, wearing Halloween costumes. Starbuck wears a full-length purple witch dress complete with a matching hat and broom. Fedallah wears an angel costume with a long dress, wings, and a halo. Ahab and Pip have matching silly whale costumes, worn like carboard box costumes around their torsos with their arms as flippers. Ahab makes a cat smirk and strikes a pose and Pip laughs. Text around the image reads: "happy (late) Halloween!!!" The background is a purple-to-orange gradient. End ID.]

im gay and this is over a week late. sorry. happy late hallween :3 featuring the results of a couple of the polls I did on instagram. I have feelings for these characters

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

THE CHASE, UNRAVELED Chapter 12: عزیزم Chapters: 12/13 Relationships: Captain Ahab/Starbuck (Moby Dick), Captain Ahab & Pip (Moby Dick), Captain Ahab & Fedallah (Moby Dick), Captain Ahab/Fedallah (Moby Dick), Characters: Captain Ahab (Moby Dick), Starbuck (Moby Dick), Pip (Moby Dick), Fedallah (Moby Dick), Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, except not really - one person dies…

Summary: Tomorrow morning, the sun will dawn upon the White Whale’s inexorable spout, his hump like a snow-hill, and for the next three days Ahab will chase that haunted whale across the horizon till one of them spouts black blood, and all will collapse, and the great shroud of the sea will roll on as it rolled five thousand years ago. This is how it goes. But perhaps not this time. Perhaps…

Or: Ahab, choosing to live.

--------

GAY BROWN PEOPLE. GAY BROWN PEOPLE. THAT'S ALL.

[mossy-rainfrog]

hello everyone, I made a series of doodles to put inside of my copy of MobyDick and I would like to share them :3 pls enjoy:

[ID: Two traditional drawings. Ahab shows off his new pegleg with a flourish. Ishmael infodumps about whales to a fond Queequeg. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

New Leg Goofin is for chapters 108-9, when Ahab gets fitted with his new leg! it's right before a super devastating chapter so i needed to make myself laugh lmao

Wikipedia Page About Every Whale is for the whole goddamn book, honestly, but I chose to put it at the beginning of ch.32, Cetology, where Ishmael really does try to explain every whale ever

[ID: A comic of Stubb and Flask bursting into Ahab's quarters, thinking the Captain is in danger, only to find Ahab and Fedallah playing a game of cards. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

This gem belongs to p.344 where Stubb wonders if Fedallah means to kidnap Ahab, which was such a baffling ridiculous concept that I couldn't help but make fun of it. literally Ahab snuck this man on board bro, what the fuck is fedallah going to do to him. they're playing uno. shut up

[ID: Two drawings, with the first showing Pip after being cast away, haunted and alone on the deck of the Pequod. The other shows Ishmael and Queequeg homoerotically grasping hands while processing whale spermaceti. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

this goes out to chapters 93-95, because the UNREAL whiplash from "a child was just abandoned at sea" to "hey let's be horny about whale oil" is still the most insane transition of all time. Ishmael, what the fuck

[ID: A simply doodled meme diagram for how to greet a fellow amputee. The "wrong" answer shows Captains Ahab and Boomer shaking hands, while the "right" answers show Ahab in a handstand and then kicking his leg up high, both times to cross his prosthetic with Boomer's. End ID.] [More detailed ID in ALT.]

this goes out to p. 454. every interaction between these two absolutely delighted me but my mental image for the specific line about them "crossing ivory limbs" got. very silly.

[ID: A small comic of Ahab asking the Harpooners to give him blood to temper his harpoon in. They stare back at him with varying expressions of confused, uncomfortable disbelief. End ID.]

the last one, for p.504. yknow that feel when your boss just walks up and asks you to bleed on his custom made harpoon??? yeah uh. normal workday things

anyways thank you for reading, I had a delightful time making these and am so very fond of them all, so yea :3

credit as always for the designs goes to the darling @pocketsizedquasar , as well as credit for pricelessly annotating my copy of MD and thus getting me to actually read it, love youuuu💙💙

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

trying to make a playlist for a character with a very specific vibe is so humbling. it’s like sorry my entire music library cannot match this person actually i need to go find 30 new playlists of never before heard indie bands to accurately portray them. actually. or i will combust. and then it takes 7 years