#for remembering Dain as a hero

[reginrokkr]

◜The stars illuminate all mortal destinies, but few have eyes to perceive their meaning.◞

◜Fate is a cruel and perilous thing. It bodes only ill, lurking in dark places like the Chasm. To me, that place is the epitome of human misfortune. People died there, far from their homes. People with hopes and dreams, dutiful to the bitter end... Different motivations resulted in the same tragic conclusion. People ought to fear disaster unless they can learn to draw strength from their fear. Perhaps Yelan is just such a unique case, undeterred by fate’s cruel design there is no path she will not go down in the pursuit of secrets.◞

◜Even I myself do not relish the solitary life I lead. When others are fortunate enough to meet a companion for their journey, I sincerely wish them the very best. After all, to this day, I hold that people should be authors of their own fate. Both the crane ready to make peace with the past and the beast with a grudge to bear have the freedom to make their journey home.◞

𝐂𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐕. Dain, sir. If you're trying to tell us something, please blink twice. In all seriousness now, it speaks volumes that even Dain was searching for his own destiny when he lost everything, even his purpose to live when he has no other choice but to continue doing so because of the curse of immortality. Only to decide that fate is a cruel thing. Re-reading this, I can't help but think that he has two fights going on, both of them in benefit to humans.

One, against the Abyss Order whose actions will certainly put in danger other people's safety and the second one against fate itself, highly likely the Heavenly Principles even, to reject this world (perhaps the current order). It gets me even more intrigued the thought that he's relevant to the possibility of re-weaving all threads of fate and I keep thinking that this would be his last act of kindness for not only humans, but this world and the other creatures that live in it. Because it's clear that fate is arguably the most messed up thing, specially if it can be decided just out of whim by some gods who are questionable at the very least.

[wickedlittlecritta]

it's so funny to me that everyone complains about the daine/numair age gap and not alanna/george when george was like, 19/20 and alanna was ELEVEN when they met

tammy just has an age gap kink leave her alone

[dutybcrne]

Low key want the Khaenri’ahn palace to be called Heorot ngl

[zorilleerrant]

Currently

tagged by @batri-jopa

Favorite color: Green, any shade really. Partial to dark greens and blue greens, but I especially love an assortment of greens.

Last song: I've been making fun of Human - The Killers for a little bit, if that counts?

Last movie: Damn, it's been a while since I've seen a movie! I can't even remember....

Currently reading: I'm doing a full Tortall read! Currently in the middle of Daine's first book (I skipped to Kel's first, but I'm doing them in order again) and I got to say I just love this world <3 There are some things I would change but tbh not as many as I expected going back to books I read as a kid.

Currently watching: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Heroes, and Buffy + Angel (not all at the same time, generally)

Currently craving: hmmm. Grilled cheese, I think.

Tea or coffee? Tea. Jasmine.

Tagging: @wolfsbanesparks @im-not-buying-it-ether @confusedshades @elodieunderglass @hipipi and anyone who wants to do a tag game

[mermaidsirennikita]

because I see discourse about this again, I'd like to once again be brave and controversial and say that the issue with Sebastian St. Vincent having an (unbeknownst to him) secret baby revealed in Devil in Disguise is not that he has a secret baby at all... because let us be honest, no matter how careful he was, no man in the 1800s was getting as much ass as Sebastian St. Vincent pre-Evie without siring AT LEAST one kid (probably more lbr)

The issue is that Lisa Kleypas honestly wants me to believe that Sebastian (a man who, let us remember, KIDNAPPED HIS BEST FRIEND'S LADY LOVE BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANNA GET A JOB) would've been a good dad to his illegitimate child pre-Evie, which actually makes his entire arc of "becomes a real boy/learns how to be useful and have character" in Devil in Winter pointless because apparently his inner goodness would've just been triggered had he found out that some lady he was fucking got up the duff

Like, look into your heart and you know that AT BEST Sebastian would've been floating some child support that kid's way, and those checks would've bounced 75% of the time pre-Evie

And you know what??? I think he PROBABLY would've just told that lady to go convince her man that it was is baby, JUST LIKE my boy from Flowers from the Storm. OR he would've put him in some corner like Dain from Lord of Scoundrels (and Evie would've been like ARE YOU FUCKING FR ABOUT THIS just like Jessica in Lord of Scoundrels)

Oh but look both of the books I just referenced are considered historical romance classics even though the heroes do legitimately shitty things would you look at that huh

[goawaypopup]

Roddacember Day 18: Ripples

(A remastered rant from the depths of the Deltora Quest Discord server.)

There is a timeline out there where the quest failed because Queen Bee murdered the questers to death in her yard with her bees before they could explain.

She is a contact of the Resistance. Finding the Belt on Lief's body, complete with three gems in place, she'd pretty well know what was up. She doesn't strike me as the sort to cast off the task to anyone else, especially not with the burden of guilt for it.

The next-in-line is dead, but the resistance doesn't know that. The Belt has done what it never did in the series, swapping over to the next in line - Marilen? Or can it be anybody who shares Adin's line? Or does Marilen count as dead because she's currently a spooky ghost in the Valley of the Lost? Who knows. The resistance can figure that out and have their own Dain reveal on their own schedule after the Belt's complete.

The bees are very intelligent and very fast. They can follow directions and travel quickly and discreetly. Queen Bee may be more fragile than the previous heroes, but she doesn't even need to be there to get the last four gems. Luckily, Lief had a handy map to them too.

The Maze of the Beast would be pretty difficult to pull off, and might require some sort of human party. The hatch could be lifted by a human to let the bees in to search, and the Glus might not even sense them, let alone be able to take them out with its spit. If they could just have a way to actually locate the Amethyst, the stone is soft enough that they very well might be able to bore through it. There is a species of bee that does this with cliffsides!

The problem of finding it might call for some creative solutions. I guess there's no reason not to send a pack of bees down carrying the Belt? If they could lift Steven's cart they can certainly pull that off. Or, for a more fun route, capture a bunch of Grey Guards, tell them you'll pull them back up if they can find the Amethyst, and dump them in the Maze. Grey Guards are very self-serving, it'd work great. Probably fill the Glus up after a pod or two and leave the rest to tear the place up.

Gellick would probably require a strategy to actually kill him. The treasure cavern must have an opening to the air for him to breathe somewhere, and he probably can't spit poison quickly enough to take down an entire swarm of flying insects, but they couldn't really try to tear the gem from his forehead. He's probably at least somewhat poison-coated there, and no doubt he can reach there with his tongue.

Dreaming Spring water might work again here if Queen Bee learned of it, but my thought here is bees carrying Water Eaters - they're locally made, an easy size for a bee to carry, and will definitely cause immediate massive internal damage. And Lief could hold the emerald immediately after Gellick's death, suggesting bees could also.

The Shifting Sands are a bit of an unknown. They took a while to notice Lief, but the buzzing of a rival hive seems to me like something that would set them on guard immediately. And they're uniquely capable of wiping out swarms of small intruders.

I'm not entirely sure what would work best here - fortunately the bees are capable of trying multiple times. Perhaps the best strategy would simply be getting in and out as fast as possible, or doing a stealthy remove and replace like in the original, or something fun like dropping an entire carriage into the pyramid and escaping in the chaos.

There's also the opal's foresight to help out here, which I'm certain Queen Bee would be the sort to use frequently; being a Plains woman, and also just, the way she is.

I was going to delve into the plausibility of bees being able to open doors, but then I remembered the Valley of the Lost's animal-killing mist. That's pretty insurmountable. But this one is something that doesn't have an immediate physical risk.

We're finally going to have to send in the Resistance!

Doom did manage the test before, and even if he probably can't just play again, he can definitely tell others the answer. The question is whether he can be persuaded to help. To round off the theme, I'll propose bee torture for this.

And with that, we have a more or less clear path to Queen Bee of Deltora.

[highladyluck]

Season 2, Episode 8 Post-blog:

So I did not liveblog this episode since I had friends over to do a watch party, but here's everything I remembered that I wanted to talk about!

As far as I can tell, the two Seanchan sul'dam that got collared are not going to be found with the collar on them. (Not sure if Renna is dead or if Egwene chose to uncollar her, but either way she's not chained up in a basement with the collar on waiting to be discovered by her peers.) I was thinking at first that this had major implications for the rest of the Seanchan storyline. But really, it only has implications for Suroth, since in the books Suroth (and Alwhin, who is already her Voice in the show) sit on the information until Egeanin discovers it separately. Egeanin can still be the first Seanchan to know and do anything about it. I do think this lack of a dangling thread, Suroth's ship being blown up, and the way it's hard to get actors to come back seasons later make it more likely we've seen the last of Suroth. I would be happy to eat my words, though! Also, Egwene, Nyneave, and Elayne all know you can collar a sul'dam, and possibly Mat, Rand, and Perrin will soon as well if anyone remembers to communicate this information, so any one of them could spill the beans.

Major props to whoever hypothesized that Uno would be a Hero of the Horn; not sure if he's implied to be Gaidal Cain or not (possibly not? there was a blink-and-I-missed it moment of PDA between Birgitte and somebody but I am not sure if it was Uno or not).

I did not anticipate Mat making an ashandarai out of household objects and the dagger and I am EXTREMELY PROUD of him. Also proud of him for escaping traps! My boy is really coming into his own! I also really appreciate the classic blunder of doing the same thing to Mat again but worse- the Dark does not understand that my boy thrives when you do that. He solves his problems by escalating them in intensity or magnitude. You can only put him in a room with drugs once, if you put him in a room with drugs again he will use them in an unconventional manner to escape and also destroy his enemies.

Also props to whoever guessed that the Horn would trigger memories for Mat- I'm intrigued by where they are going with this. I hope it's not precluding the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, but given all the hanging foreshadowing, the makeshift ashandarai, and Lanfear yeeting Moiraine out of the waygate doorway, I don't really think they'd cut the Eelfinn. It's the Aelfinn that seem slightly less like a sure thing, and I'm going to be a little on edge until Mat gets the DotNM prophecy somehow. I don't think they'd cut the problematic fave; it's a juicy part, idk what Mat would even do if he weren't babysitting the Seanchan in the later plot, and they've been doing great with the 'you're wrong but I see where you're coming from' characters. But they've either cut or significantly changed the Moiraine/Thom relationship in the show, and the two relationships are kind of linked in my head for thematic reasons. I'm probably overthinking it though.

HOPPER T_T

Dain looked like a boy band member who fell off the stage and got trampled in the mosh pit.

Loved that Egwene got to face off against Ishamael! Loved Egwene all the time forever actually. I was also entertained that Egwene had like one semester of Magic College and used it to school the Seanchan on linking mechanics. She's right that the sul'dam don't know how to link properly and are weak little babies when it comes to channeling, and she should say it.

Nyneave and Elayne were great, as usual- very impressed with Elayne, who is finally living all her Battle Queen fantasies and is being very brave about how much they suck, actually. Nyneave is in for some self-loathing next season though, I'm afraid. I love that Rand and Elayne still get to have a meet-cute when she's treating his wounds. :P

I was very happy for Tumblr User Moghedien that we got to see Forsaken Moghedien. She's offputting and very gay, just like I imagined!

[chloristoflora]

Thoughts about 2x08 - What Was Meant To Be (show + book spoilers)

Okay, I have a lot to say about this episode. Let's start at the beginning. The bit with Ishamael and Lews Therin Telamon... I mean, we all thought the fragment would be about the Breaking, right? Instead of that, we just got LTT sealing Ishy. Not a big deal, just not what I expected, but of course I'd like to see the prologue of EotW in live action, eventually. Hopefully next season?

The opening is back and I don't really get why. There didn't seem to be any visible changes to it.

The build-up of the episode is done really well. The set-up of the war of the Whites against the Seanchan, the interaction between Moiraine and Lanfear, between Lanfear and Ishamael, Egwene as part of the defense in the tower, Perrin, Elayne and Nynaeve trying to reach her and Mat being handed the dagger.

I really liked Moiraine and Lan's bit, them forming a bond again. I liked the reunion between Mat and Perrin, and between Perrin and Dain. In fact, I think I really enjoyed Perrin's storyline and that hasn't happened until now. This felt like the first time we actually saw Perrin from the books. How Geofram Bornhald kills Hopper (most heartbreaking moment for me) and how Perrin is just in rage and takes revenge for his good boy... And then the moment that Dain realizes this, wow, this was good.

They handled Mat's blowing on the Horn well enough, I think. I don't think the Heroes of the Horn looked cringy. Uno being a Hero is a creative way to keep him in the story, but yeah, to me he wasn't established well enough in the series. The thing I liked the most was Mat remembering who he actually is (and using the Old Tongue), although not enough information was given to show-only watchers.

I don't like Rand's storyline. He kills Turak without using his sword. I mean, does Rand in the show even have sword skills? I've never seen him use a sword (and I don't think he will become a Blademaster in the show). Then he gets shot by Mat's dagger spear, after which Elayne heals him (this dagger is a literal artifact of Shadar Logoth and she is not thát good at healing..), while Egwene is protecting them against Ishy (like, how?). Eventually Rand is able to stab Ishamael with his sword, but it was a small moment.

What I mean is that there were too many players in that moment (Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, Mat), while there should only have been Rand and Ishamael, so it doesn't feel like it is special that Rand is the Dragon Reborn. Instead, Moiraine just makes a dragon for him (that felt sad) and it feels not earned or something. Maybe Ishy and Rand fighting in the sky would have been cringy or something, but then Ishamael's defeat would have marked him the Dragon. Now, he has done almost nothing.

Sorry, I really want to like this show. I do like it, I think, just less than before this episode. I want them to show the importance of the Dragon. I want prophecies and the key moments from the books, because I think they are vital to the story.

Now another wait of 2 years, in which I'm certainly going to reread WoT. And in season 3 we are going to see a lot more Forsaken (like Moghedien, liked her performance).

[roseapov]

I did the Bedtime Story quest!

Yesterday (28th August) and these are my overall thoughts on it! Not me calling it a goodnight story-

! Spoilers to the Bedtime Archon Quest under the cut !

So at the start it was all kinda confusing about this person living in memories? It really mixed up things for me BUT since that quest was out for months already I did knew the main "plot twist" of the quest so I haven't felt surprised.

I just kinda went through the quest without any noticeable excitement but it wasn't dissapointing either, just a calm game play through it.

Although there were some scenes that were never shown or talked about that positively surprised me! Just like this pic

And also, am I the only one but I think Dain's voice has somehow changed? I'm not sure tho... It just felt different

Never saw it anywhere before and that reminder of the abyss plan was really needed, I completely forgot about it.

And then there's the famous Caribert Alberich! Will you believe me that Wildest Dreams were playing quietly in the background when we entered his consciousness (?)

And let me tell you from the descriptions at the start (I knew it was about him all along) he seemed really really fine BUT the betrayal. Like wdym you messed with Dain's memories to help the Abyss get the eye and finish the Loom of Fate? Betrayal.

I even shot a few sour faces at that, I think this whole thing overshadowed his appeal, making me very conflicted about him, seeing him in a more passive negative light as of now. It'll prob pass tho, maybe?

This was a nice scene and yes he does look good

And I haven't expected the sibling to call us by the og name, especially having the whole conversation with it, so sad they don't remember a thing now, photo with and without the UID

AND NOW DAINSLEIF TALK

GJNDODBGUOGRWIHOWEIONEFNIABEGROUHFIWEDN

OH MY GOD???? IT'S SO OEFSVHIBFIQDPJH

MANHWA MALE LEAD, A ROMANCE NOVEL HERO, THE LOVE INTEREST!!!

I still think about the fanart about Dain and Lumine where instead of fighting he goes into her arms and just rests instead of fighting and let me tell you, Dainsleif's love can heal me, their moments are just so!!!! gerfhiwnfjrbwrhi

But I have to admit, when he told us to go and then he saw Lumine i went like "bitch?" audibly at the screen LMAO

Also the power of them 6? The 5 sinners? Always interesting no matter how much time passes

[triviareads]

I just started The Gilded Age for Bertha and George and probably watch for them and gowns, beautiful gowns. Anyways any book rec where MC is obsessed with FC ? ( Like also my good boy Anthony B).

Yup! Like Anthony steals Kate's caps in the book and insistently sniffs her whenever she's around in the show, here are some obsessed hero recs.

Historical Recs:

The following Lisa Kleypas heroes:

Derek Craven from Dreaming of You: Immediate obsession, he steals Sara's glasses to keep as a token, has sex with a prostitute who he pretends is her even after he told her to leave him (the self-loathing with this one is real).

Kev Merripen from Seduce Me at Sunrise: Kev's one love/obsession since he was a boy was always Win, but he stayed away "for her own good" because he feels like his love would destroy her (both metaphorically and literally. as in his dick would.). It's hypothesized he'd poison himself if Win died during one of her childhood illnesses. He also has this insane(ly gorgeous) speech that he delivers very grimly(!) about his love for her.

McKenna from Again the Magic: He haaaaates that he's obsessed with Aline after everything that went down when they were separated, but literally the whole plot is that he hasn't gotten over her to the point where he wants *revenge* like a decade later, and that revenge mostly consists of him debauching her at various locations in Stony Cross Park.

Westcliff from It Happened One Autumn: He'd probably hate that he's included on this list because he prides himself on being a *rational* man, but when a rational man jumps his love interest multiple times even as he's apologizing for whatever's come over him, hea obsessed in my books.

Crispin from Duke of Depravity by Scarlett Scott: Man spends much of the book chasing after Jacinda, his sisters' governess, like a DOG, falls asleep on her tits after calling them "the finest bubbies in christendom", and repeatedly steals her fichus and smells them while jacking off.

Harrison from The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden: The obsession takes a little longer to develop but once Harrison is gone, he's GONE. He has a fixation with her hands to the point where her flipping pages of a book makes him hard and he warns his friend off looking at her hands.

Dain from Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase: Another hero who hates how gone he is for the heroine but he literally can't get Jessica out of his mind to the point where he's shoving her against a lamp post (?) on a street and making out with her because he literally cannot control himself. I'm pretty sure he also has ptsd Eton hazing flashbacks solely because of her voice.

Lockwood from The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe: So Lockwood is a little more quietly obsessed with Nellie but what's notable is that the obsession on his end carries over three books before he finally makes his move. He's also very much the instigator of their affair.

Contemporary Recs:

Salvatore from The Don by Katrina Jackson: I remember Salvatore being literally so obsessed with Shay and it deffo gets more intense because she's pregnant with his child and there's a mafia plot going on.

Maxim from the All the King's Men duology by Kennedy Ryan: Obsessed, GONE for Lennix right off the bat, and you don't super expect the level of possessiveness (at least I didn't because he's a liberal and all enlightened and whatnot lolol) but it's there and it's honestly very hot. Listen, that tracker he secretly hid in her bracelet (?) paid off, ok.

Mateo from Lush Money by Angelina M. Lopez: Another hero who hates how obsessed he is from Roxanne especially since he's using her for money and she's using him for a baby but it's there and it's great.

Fausto from Mafia Mistress by Mila Finelli: Obsessed with Frankie to the point where he abandons the original plan of getting her engaged to his son and sleeps with her instead. Will also gift body parts of enemies as grovel gifts.

Enzo from Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli: I just think mafia romances in general are a great vehicle for writing super obsessed, mildly crazy heroes and Enzo is such a great example of that because he wants to break Gia at first (the way Fausto did to him) by kidnapping her and putting her in his yacht cage, but instead man's like, fully chasing her across his yacht and jumping her at every opportunity.

Sevastyan from The Professional by Kresley Cole: This one has a bit of a forbidden obsession aspect; Sevastyan is supposed to deliver Natalie to her mafiya dad in Russia, who is also his boss, but literally watches her masturbate (yes he was stalking her but it was the job) before kidnapping her out of a bathtub, chases her in a Nebraskan cornfield, and has sex with her even before their plane touches down.

Andrew from Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: Obsessed with Jiya since they were kids and his fantasies took on a particular flavor, he stays celibate for a number of years because he can't get it up with anyone but her after a certain point. He's also a service top so her wish is literally his command.

James from Rough Rhythm by Tessa Bailey: Shocking that Tessa Bailey uses to write shit like this buuuut James is Lita's band manager and after an initial (rough) sexual encounter when she was homeless and 18, she became a part of the band and James was the one who got her on birth control and kept all guys away from her (to the point of beating up a few??) until they finally have sex again a few years later.

[reginrokkr]

So I've been rudely woken up and I can't seem to go back to sleep easily again, so I'll be channeling that into an opinion post over a leak concerning Khaenri'ah that made me silently scream in my pillow until this melatonin gummy kicks me back to bed!

If this leak is to have any credence, apparently there was a revolt against the Vinster King —Irmin— for the shit he was meaning to unfold that was described in a couple of ways such as: rocking the foundations of the world and tearing the veil of sin. These point out towards one action which is "breaking the seal of the Irminsul Maze", whatever that is supposed to mean. In any case, I'm not surprised in the slightest that Irminsul is related to this as Teyvat's Axis Mundi, the one tree that feeds the rest of the world with the elements throughout its Ley Lines and a myriad of things more such as being a barrier from the Abyss, carry souls and record the memories of the world. My personal belief with the little information we have so far on this topic is that whatever Irmin wanted to do is to remove whatever protective barrier Irminsul has against the Abyss to throw everything into it, as it's suggested in the statuettes that represent his figure.

To elaborate a little bit more into the rebellion before jumping at the meaty stuff to me, this rebellion not only overthrew King Irmin but the entire imperial court in itself, which does line up with the General Marshal Anfortas taking over as a temporary regent until a different one is chosen. Now, what confuses me about this is if this was the precursor for the cataclysm to take place in Khaenri'ah or if it was a previous disaster. Given Dain's choice of word, it was as if the destruction happened when the gods descended and that it was destroyed by them, so it's possible that even though King Irmin was indisposed and no royal members had any business in the monarchy any longer, that these events may have happened concurrently while the Alberich regent was present. For my little theorycrafting heart and what I do remember having theorized in the past, I was elated to find out about the rebellion as I wondered about the possibility of something like that occurring in Khaenri'ah inspired by the Princess Mina books.

Moving on with what King Irmin wanted to do and what it wound up provoking, what continues is pretty much what Dain had explained in 「Bedtime story」 with a bit more of details. As he said, the five who carried the hopes and dreams of Khaenri'ah that would later be called sinners are described as heroes, and the five of them and Dain were supposed to stop him from rocking the foundations of the world. He doesn't give more details about this, but what follows is that not only they couldn't prevent the disaster that would unfold as a consequence of the king's actions, but that apparently, the five heroes' actions contributed to the cataclysm, the destruction of Khaenri'ah and they didn't raise a finger to do anything about it. Apparently, Khaenri'ah was wiped out in a single night for all of this. As a result, the five heroes, the people who carried Khaenri'ah's hopes and dreams would be deemed as sinners and feared by the people.

Something that confuses me about this whole thing is that it's possible that what Dain described as the five of them succumbing to the Abyss and dividing among them this world-shattering power may have happened during their attempt at stopping the Vinster King, which is... odd to me. Mainly because we know that Rhinedottir has been creating these abyssal beasts as far back in time as the Crimson Moon dynasty, the wolves were used as weapons by a part of the army named beastmaster knights until this fell into disuse and automatons started to be used instead. Moreover, there is something odd about the notion that at least two souls (Durin and Elynas'), who were already pre-existing into some other plane of existence, were given a body that ultimately had the abyss nasties. And this was provoked by Gold herself, however she always gave form to what would be monsters later despite the pure souls of at least these two beasts. Surtalogi is known for being the creator of the Foul Legacy, alternatively translated as a technique of extreme evil and his moral compass seems to be questioning to be kind if we think back at what Skirk described about the Narwhal and what Surtalogi's actions with it were, uncaring of the consequences they would lead. The other one we have a bit of information about is Vedrfolnir, a Visionary and the one who inspired Chlothar to create the Abyss Order (probably as a means for the Loom of Fate creation, as Chlothar was already yapping about it before an even bigger tragedy struck Caribert).

All of these evidences point to me that at least three out of the five sinners were already suspicious and yet they were deemed heroes up until that point close to the cataclysm, which is the main point of my confusion. But knowing that part of the populace was also obsessed with the Abyss, it's also possible that, if they had already shared among them the power of the abyss or flirted with it and did questionable things in the past, that these were accepted by those people until it exploded in their face and struck fear in them due to what it can do. This would line up with what Chlothar described as Lumine being Khaenri'ah's hope, the one who was meant to bring prosperity to them because she was viewed as the embodiment of the Abyss, once again nodding towards the collective obsession part of the people had towards it. If maybe this happened a little earlier than the cataclysm did or some people were already fearful of the "heroes" for reasons (all of this is still very obscure for a lack of details) and after having endured the fall of a maddened king, it's little wonder that they would revere Lumine so highly as to make her their princess. Once again, to those who were still obsessed with the Abyss despite what was boiling / caused to Khaenri'ah.

Lastly, on to the part that I feel like connects to Dain even more directly is the part of the Irminsul Maze and... maybe or maybe not the link to one of the titles he holds: Bough Keeper. As if I wasn't elated enough at the even stronger confirmation of his connection with Irminsul, this sealed the deal for me even further. Because what was insinuated was that whatever the five sinners did either backfired terribly and later on they didn't care at all or they themselves snapped and made things worse when they were meant to stop King Irmin. While Dain's actions are obscured, I can't help but be excited at the notion that he tried to do something about Irminsul (either because of his already established connection with it at the time or the newly founded connection after that moment, it's unclear) and that unfortunately it wasn't enough to prevent the disaster nevertheless. Thinking about how irrational Lumine sounded in blaming Dain for failing to protect Khaenri'ah (while, comically enough, being part of Vedrfolnir's project with the Abyss Order and the Loom of Fate and one of the sinners), maybe this could be the reason why she blames him. That maybe he could do something about it, but for xyz reasons he couldn't. Still unfair to pin the blame for the kingdom's destruction on him in my opinion, but at least this would shed some light into this matter. Moreover, if all of this is the way it is (which again, it'd make sense with the shame some Khaenri'ahns seem to bear in other countries to the point of preferring to be seen as evil and not the heroes they were for protecting them, despite the mentality that was present in Khaenri'ah about other nations), it's quite comforting that Dain was seen in such a good light by Halfdan for one, that his last orders and maybe even what he had taught the Black Serpent Knights was kept into their hearts and made them be so honorable as they've been for the past 500 years in other countries. Even though he, ultimately, failed to prevent the disaster in Khaenri'ah / protect it at the end of the day. But I suppose that whenever this happened, those who weren't crazed by the Abyss still appreciated him for his efforts and for at least trying.

[killldeer]

what was meant to be liveblog

lotta yelling and caps in this one. consider yourself warned

- alright let’s see how well i can take notes while probably also geeking tf out

- the jolt of fear when I read “3000 years ago” that we were abt to see the eotw prologue oh my god

- WAIT UH OH

- this is so insane

- CINEMATIC INTRODUCTION JUMPSCARE FUCK YES

- dain’s armor 😍

- dain in silver and geofram in matching gold,,, father son armor set

- hello beach waygate from all of the promos <3

- i love how explicitly lanfear reveals layers of her Schemes to ishamael. like obviously this is a visual medium so it’s kind of necessary, but natasha o’keefe delivers it in such a delicious teasing way

- OH SO WE’RE GOING FULL FANTASY CATHOLIC CULT HUH. like what are the little holy water swingy things called. i can’t believe the whitecloaks just have these things.

- watching the whitecloaks and seanchan kill each other with unbridled glee and a bowl of popcorn

- NOOOO NOT CHARACTERS WITH PERSONAL AND CULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS TO THEIR HAIR GETTING IT CHOPPED OFF AS A PUNISHMENT THAT��S THE TROPE I’M SENSITIVE ABOUT

- “I know who kills [rand], and what he uses to do it”. I mean yeah but like. you don’t have to rub it in

- HM. DIDN’T LIKE THAT TRANSITION

- angry nynaeve. ANGRY NYNAEVE.

- “i’m not gonna touch it :)” sigh. this is the face of a man who is probably going to touch it

- moiraine and lan re-bonding forehead touch event leaves 8 dead 29 injured

- oh boy it’s Ingtar Reveal Time methinks??

- turak posturing himself to get into a Proper Blademaster Duel and rand just immediately killing the entire squad with saidin bullets. THAT’s how you fucking deal w the seanchan baby

- the tension of egwene being forced to channel to kill but also knowing that she’s doing it against the whitecloaks who tortured her is so thick i could cut it with a knife. ooouuughh

- suroth’s fucking azula lookin ass

- mat baby boy you can do it. i believe in you buddy

- ARE YOU MAKING A FUCKING SPEAR

- MATRIM CAUTHON I LOVE YOU SO MUCH IT HURTS

- haha holy shit. holy shit. they’re gonna do the Sul’dam Can Channel reveal with egwene and renna.

- “Pick up your weapons! Fight with us! Send these slavers back where they came from!” Heartbreaking; The Worst Man You Know Just Made A Good Point

- mat perrin reunion 🥹

- KICK HER FUCKING ASS EGWENE

- “you abandoned [egwene]. you made her a killer.” oh fuck OFF man c’mon. please please do not let this be the jumpstart for rand’s Weird About Women spiral please

- THE HORN OF BLOODY VALERE BABY

- I like that it looks so goofy and futuristic. it’s even got a mysterious little shimmer effect. I of course love the aesthetic of it being a funny little French horn as much as the next books fan, but lbr this is much more the speed of the age of legends ppl

- oh god. oh god i did get so caught up in the plot that i forgot the reason hopper spends most of this series in tel’aran’rhiod.

- hopper’s last sending being him soaring into the sky :,(

- kill geofram bornhald. kill geofram bornhald. kill geofram bornhald.

- YEAHHHH

- CMON BABY BLOW THE HORN

- THE GRAVE! IS NO BAR!! TO MY CALL!!!!

- “I… I remember.”

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

- ohhh man the SCORE. the fact that it sounds kinda like a “regular” fantasy score is so fun

- UNO IS FUCKING HERE

- birgitte!! hi!!!!!!!!

- DOVIE’ANDI SE TOVYA SAGAIN

- HOLY FUCKING SHIT

- I would like to submit to the record. for posterity’s sake. that the above notes for this scene were written only after i rewatched it for the third time. because the first two times I watched it I was literally in tears almost the entire time. like as soon as i started to see the heroes of the horn materializing behind him I was gone. just pointing at the screen sobbing “that’s my fucking boy!”

- “I’m not sure I’ll be able to channel when I get there.” hey so why are we not letting nynaeve channel at all now!! how is she not furious about at least some aspect of the situation she is currently in??? i’m not even the biggest nynaeve stan but this one is even pissing me off

- egwene holding her shield alone against ishamael ohhhh my god

- well at least we still get the “rand meets elayne while she’s patching him up” meetcute or whatever

- the gang’s all here :)

- hm the big fiery dragon seems a little goofy. not sure what exactly i’m feeling about it

- YOU. MOGHEDIEN.

- the show shares my moggy pronunciation

- moghedien looks like a teen lesbian. I mean this in a tone of utmost praise. look at those crazy bangs and long dark skirt and huge chunky boots that still only take her up to Lanfear Tits Height

- “Light help you, rand al’thor.” lanfear seems aware of this but she’s literally gonna need that luck as much as he does if she’s gonna survive the average Daily Forsaken Squabbles without killing someone

[tenebriism]

I actually have a possible reason for why Kaeya knows about Dainsleif- remember when Kaeya found out about Diluc being the Darknight Hero by fading to the background and observing everything nonetheless waiting for Diluc, Traveler, and Paimon to think they were in the clear before revealing himself in Angel's Share (Diluc's own tavern)? I imagine he might have done the same thing every time Dainsleif visited Angel's Share (this includes the quest where we FIRST met Dainsleif and had a chat with him concerning our POV about Teyvat in itself). Imagine what other information Kaeya might've learned about Dain while the latter had interacted with Charles (or maybe Diluc) or had his Death After Noon!

G.IMPACT SPOILERS FOLLOWING, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

// I could definitely see this being true! Kaeya may not be the best liar, but he definitely excels at getting information and tucking it away for an advantageous use another day. While Dainsleif is extremely secretive about a lot of things when people who aren't directly involved are around, I'm certain Kaeya, in his silent investigations, has picked up on some tidbits from Dainsleif that the Twilight Sword THOUGHT were being shared only amongst himself and the Traveler.

. . . or, maybe he knew Kaeya was there and let loose a bit more on purpose, because Dainsleif is extremely observant and cautious himself. ;) We won't know until M/hyo is merciful enough to say so.

It's obvious that they've been watching each other for some time now, undeniably, and I very much look forward to their future interactions, because this absolutely won't be the last time we see a Kaeya and Dainsleif interaction. They're interwoven into the plot TOGETHER now, and for me, that's extremely exciting. Only a matter of time until a certain Alchemist is, too. ;)

[calico-cows]

aha now my reblogs work! Ok so this is SO hard to choose

Bonus characters:

The rest of Les Amis, especially Joly, Feuilly, and Courfeyrac

Nick Nelson and Tori Springs (Heartstopper)

The rest of the Crows

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian)

The entire Dragon Prince cast. Every character is amazing and I love them.

The Seven from Heroes of Olympus, plus Grover, Blackjack, Tyson, Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Reyna Ramirez Arellano (I hope I’m remembering that right), and Queen Sally Jackson ofc

Glory, Tsunami, and Qibli (Wings of Fire) (gotta pay homage to my younger self)

Carlos deVil, Jay, Harry Hook, Uma, and Doug (they were so mean to him) (Disney Descendants)

Biana Vacker and Dex Diznee (the only sane ones in that whole series) (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Greta and Minette (The Tea Dragon Society) (definitely my comfort book :))

Keladry of Mindelan and Daine Sarasri! (Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books) (I adore most of the characters, I’m still mad at King Jonathan though)

this got pretty long and I’m still trying to think of media and characters I like. Enjoy lol

Thanks @clove-pinks for tagging me!

Rules: "Make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. see which character is everyone’s favourite!”

Also quite tough for me to narrow down to a "top five" but I have endeavoured a selection of five I love 🫡

Notes:

I could have EASILY made this all lm characters (or really, difficultly could've-- hard to even narrow down that much) but moth boy! He's very special to me. I love how he believes in so much, especially in humanity.

Really debated whether I'd put Mulder or Scully here. They're both characters of all time and they kinda come as a set. Ended up choosing Scully because the dynamic of her skepticism AND her religion is so interesting to me.

he's so me frfr

I love how quietly heroic and brave Sam is!! Each time I reread I find myself more and more fond of him.

what can I say about her? Kira's character is so layered and soso interesting morally. Her arc is centered around violence and religion and it's always really interesting when the show touches on those points, and yet also she is allowed to have character and a personality outside of it.

Hmm 3/5 on the list... I think I like characters with interesting relationships to religion and belief hahaha

I'll go ahead and tag @lobsterground, @snek-of-eden, @enlitment, @calico-cows, and @floofyhobbit but also 1. no pressure 2. sorry if you already did this and I didn't see for whatever reason

[daybreakrising]

okay, finished acts III and IV today. thoughts under the cut

i've already touched on my thoughts regarding act III: boring filler, dull af, too many 'walk, cutscene, walk, cutscene, walk-' elements, not enough actual story or useful information, hate hate hate c//itlali: she just fckn annoys me and her voice is grating AF bc 90% of her dialogue is either yelled/shrieked or the tone of it is just obnoxious and harsh to listen to-

act IV, thankfully, was much better. it is so good to see actual consequence happening on a large scale when we're dealing with war. i//nazuma should have been like this. that entire section of going place to place to fight back the abyss and seeing corpses of people and saurians scattered everywhere was exactly what it should have been like, and i'm glad they went there. war is brutal and it was nice to have that shown in game beyond "oh this one npc we met for five minutes is dead" (rip teppei)

i did really enjoy that entire section too - yes, it was a little repetitive but that's to be expected given the context of what we were doing, and there were some unique elements here and there with the npcs we interact with etc so it wasn't too stale for me by the end like endless combat stuff would usually be. the map slowly getting covered with purple fog and the markers slowly changing to "come here and you'll die" really added an element of threat and danger. & it was so weird but also so great to be working alongside f.atui npcs too lskdbgkfjnh love those reluctant allies-

my one complaint about it was that you couldn't pause. normally, when a quest has that restriction / is going to take a long time, the game tells you this and suggests you make sure you have enough time to complete it. now, unless i missed it somehow, for some reason this part of the quest didn't have that - and i ended up having to rush through some dialogue scenes because i had to go out and couldn't pause the fucking quest without risking restarting shit. i know there were a few "door of resurrection activated" pop up messages throughout so presumably it saved it in stages so you wouldn't have to do the whole thing from scratch if you did have to quit the game, but.... would have been nice to have the warning. (again, i might have missed it, but i don't remember seeing anything like the usual pop-up message on screen from previous quests involving a similar mechanic).

capitano lore? great. i gotta admit, the reveal of his identity (to an extent, as we still don't know everything-) was a tad disappointing for me, just bc i've seen so many really cool and interesting theories over the months/years, and the truth just... felt a bit eh in comparison, BUT still very interesting to know - and made me squint a lil at a certain mr boughkeeper (tell me your secrets, dain-). very interested to find out more after these reveals (also, rip to my menogias au that i never got to use-)

the last two 'heroes' were pretty obvious from the start, considering the tribes and the characters we've been introduced to. still undecided on how i feel about o//roron as a whole but his weird soul deal is definitely curious. c//hasca.... eh. i don't dislike her, but i also don't exactly like her. i don't really have any feelings regarding her, strong or otherwise. and tbh.... i'm so tired of the 'power gets awakened when loved one dies' trope, especially when said character is already the 'tragic backstory' kind. loved the consequence of war, hate how that one in particular was used. (at least we now know why she got the unique npc/potential 4* design but no visible vision-)

some nice world lore reveals in this act too - of course, honourable mention to the visual confirmation of the fake sky deal. very interested to see where that goes from here. and the cinematic cutscenes, as always, were fire (pun intended).

and now... we wait until 5-point-fucking-3 for more. hyv, you better be cooking something real fckn good-

[sotwk]

You remember this scene where Dain Ironfoot simultaneously insults and threatens Thranduil on the battlefield, and it looks like the Elvenking is straight up glowing?

I'm not sure if this was an intentional cinematic choice on the part of The Hobbit filmmakers. But because I tend to overthink things, I came up with a few interpretations of this ethereal portrayal. Here are the HC theories I came up with:

Why does King Thranduil glow?

The glow is a natural aspect of him being an elf-lord born in the First Age. By the year of the Battle of Five Armies, he is about 6,500 years old. He is one of the most formidable beings left residing on Middle-earth. Although his background was never detailed as extensively as those of the other Third Age rulers, his kingship, longevity, and lineage as a Sindarin lord arguably places him on par with Celeborn and Elrond. (I would gladly debate anyone on this!) It seems logical that Thranduil would appear ethereal to lesser, mortal beings and probably literally does "glow" in their eyes.

The glow may be the raw power of his fëa (soul) radiating through and manifesting in his hröa (body). Does Thranduil have special "magical" powers in the ways Galadriel or Elrond do? I definitely concede that he is nowhere in the same league as Galadriel, who was born in Valinor and saw the light of the Two Trees. But I believe Thranduil is not without his own set of gifts that set him apart and above the people he rules over. The most likely gift would be exceptional skills in battle, which he then passed on to his son(s). He may also possess an extraordinary resistance to evil influence, which can explain why he tolerated having Sauron (the Necromancer) and his minions dwell in his lands for so long without falling into darkness.

He glows in the presence of evil, perhaps in the same way Arwen appeared bathed in light when Frodo saw her while he was poisoned and fading into shadow, or the way Sting was magicked by Noldorin smiths to glow whenever orcs were near. This may sound silly, but Thranduil is a sworn enemy of evil creatures, so his very being and essence could react in a challenging manner when confronted with said enemy.

He glows in repressed anger or emotion. It's just a non-verbal, outward manifestation of his fury at Dain's threats and insults. Thranduil is excellent at keeping his composure on the battlefield, but this does not mean his rage would not express itself in other ways.

Whatever theory makes most sense to you, we can all just agree that Thranduil must have been both glorious and terrifying to behold in battle, reminiscent of the legendary heroes of the First Age.

Looking for more Thranduil content?

Introduction to SotWK

My Headcanon Masterlist 

My Fanfiction Masterlist

Thank you for your support and interest!