#george crone

[thekimspoblog]

It's kind of morbid, but I love thinking about "The Widow Goodman". This late stage in Kim's life where with Jimmy gone, she's become cold and hardened. She accomplished most everything she wanted to in this short life of hers, but living the dream only taught her that you get nothing in this world unless you have the will to take it.

Some say she's gone mad (I mean Kim has always been unpredictable, but these days her pragmatism borders on callousness, and her supporters have begun to question her long-term vision), but either way it's so hard to confirm, because she's become so reclusive. She's practically an urban legend; every few years rumors circulate that she had died. But she's managed her resources well, and if you can argue your case passionately enough, you can seek her out, for protection or a favor.

[allgirlsareprincesses]

This week on #FollowingWillow

Livestream next week! 📆

Heroine's Journey

Mythic Lost Spouses

The Wyrm = Dark Side 🪱

Madmartigan was wrong!

Infantilizing the heroine (Elora & Rey)

Passing the Elixir 💎

Magical Girl Kit!

Graydon's Underworld Journey

Following Willow | Ch. 8 Children of the Wyrm

Enjoy the Season Finale of Following #Willow 👰⚡🪄🎆💀💔🛡️⚔️ with @allgirlsareprincesses

itunes

Spotify

All other Links:

[lowkeyed1]

great interview, definitely some info i haven't seen anywhere else... ----- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I don't think you could end the show without losing someone, but how did you decide it would be Graydon as opposed to Airk, Boorman, or anyone else who's life was in imminent danger?

JONATHAN KASDAN: There was some conversation about that. But we all felt that there was something beautifully tragic about Graydon, and as a character, he is our Dark Prince. We always called him the Dark Prince in our construction of the show. One of the questions we always had and hoped to keep alive to some extent throughout the season was, "Is he good or is he evil?" As the show progressed, he's pretty definitively good. His devotion to Elora was so pure, and the way he played those scenes was so lovely and tender. It felt like the thing that would most impel Elora into this final stage of her development was the loss of this completely devoted person. As is often the case with these decisions, and they're sometimes unpopular, sometimes you want the most devastating possible thing. And for her, he felt like that.

Now that Airk has come back to himself, is there any chance he and Elora would reconnect? Or is her heart fully with Graydon at this point?

She's not with either of them, frankly, at the moment. She's intent on taking a little break from the dating world entirely, and we'll see how she does with that. But conversely, Airk is not at all over her. In fact, she's only more attractive to him now that she's empress of the world and the most powerful sorcerer ever and has come into her power so fully. But I definitely think the bloom is off the rose for Elora.

If Elora hadn't changed her mind during that wedding ceremony, how bad would that have been for everyone else?

It would've been bad. One of the things that the movie set up that is a helpful bit of storytelling is this idea that this baby, they couldn't just like chuck her out the window and kill her, and that would be the end of it. There was something about her spirit that needed to be either extinguished or transported or moved in some way that made killing her not a good option, which is convenient as a storytelling device for the movie. They've got to get her back to the castle. She's going to be okay a little longer. But it's really helpful for us here in the series that there's something more at stake than simply, "Will she live or die?" There's something about her that is spirit. It's in line with George Lucas' philosophical, quasi-religious stuff about the Force. There's a great speech in Empire Strikes Back that I was just thinking about last night — that I'm sure my father wrote — which is that we're more than just this crude matter. We're celestial beings. There's something of Elora that is pure light, and it would've been really bad if he'd been able to suck that light out of her mouth.

Boorman gives his own reasoning for it, but why is Kit finally able to use the armor?

Kit's journey is about embracing responsibility. It's a very personal idea to me because I myself struggle with this very question of, "How much responsibility do I want to have? And family and who do I take responsibility for?" She's running away from that responsibility all season. In the end of the season, she finds herself moved by Elora and devoted to her, and above all the other characters, she is the one most equipped to protect her, spiritually and emotionally. Metaphorically, Elora represents the natural spirit of the world, and Kit represents our human role in that. She goes from being very selfish to very generous. It's that journey that makes her worthy of the armor.

We do see Willow and Elora defeat the Crone, but I take it, if you have your druthers that their fight is far from over?

Absolutely. It was always designed to be a three-act story. These things have to have a finite end to them. Because as a fan of these stories, I don't want to think that creators are just continuing it as long as they can to make a buck. It's nice in this day and age where there's an appetite from these streaming services for stories that do continue but aren't endless. This was very much designed and intended that this would be the first part of the story about Elora coming into her power, and then she would have to contend with darker forces beyond that.

They do end this with the charred remnants of Willow's staff and Elora's wand broken. How much is that going to be an obstacle to them? Will they need to repair those things?

You really hit on something with the staff question, and it's been something we've talked about a lot in the writer's room. It was a very intentional decision for Willow to sacrifice the conduit for his power to save Airk. We wanted him to give something up that was meaningful. It felt like a fun way to enter potentially future stories where he doesn't have that way of expressing the magic in himself and to have that be a challenge that he has to overcome.

Early in the show, we see Willow say a prophecy claims Elora Danan has to die. We saw her make it through this time, but should we still be worried about that?

Absolutely. The Crone is the Wyrm's agent. She's this talent agent, she goes out, she makes the deals, she tries to recruit the people. She's the producer, but she's not the talent herself. The Wyrm is the thing. And that dark force that presses against the light is still very much out there in the world to be contended with.

When we get to those final moments of the season, Graydon seems to be waking up on this battlefield that we've seen in Willow's nightmares. Is that accurate?

It's so accurate that the moment we finished shooting Warwick standing up in that battlefield, we were like, "Okay, get Warrick out of there, throw Tony in." We were racing the clock to do it. And Tony was in position not 10 seconds after Warwick had vacated it.

The final battle really reminded me visually of the Harry Potter wand duels. How much of a visual reference point was that for you?

Huge. There's the promise of a lot of things in that final scene. But the big one for me is that in a character like Elora, much like Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, there is the potential for incredible good and incredible darkness. We wanted to complicate the meaning of that a little bit over the course of the season and not have such hard and fast concepts of good and evil. Particularly Star Wars has a very clear bad guys-good guys thing, and we've made it much more in our series about desires versus ideals and the conflict between those two forces within ourselves. Certainly, that conflict is alive in Elora. The temptation of what the Wyrm represents is powerful. Ellie communicates it in this almost ecstatic way that she plays out the battle with the Crone. It's terrifying and hard, but it's also clearly getting her off a little bit (laughs). We really wanted to play on that and unequivocally with that final scene, stay with the fact that the potential for something really bad is in her too. Something really rather destructive is in her too.

Should we interpret that final version of Elora that Graydon sees as her potential alternate path?

Yes. And as the clear statement of intention by the bad guy.

You said before you'd like to have Val Kilmer appear in a second season.

There's nothing I would like more. The world is unpredictable, but certainly the runway has been laid for him, and we'd love it.

But you did have Christian Slater as a guest star. Is there another 1980s heartthrob you'd love to have on the show?

I'm a huge Billy Zane fan. If I could find a way to use that man in Willow, I would be very pleased. He's under-appreciated, under-loved and brilliant. I'm not the only one who feels this way. He's done some great stuff lately. So I'm hopeful that he's someone we could use someday.

Hulu and Disney+ are a package deal, and with Reservation Dogs, there are now two Elora Danans in the Disney family. Is there some crossover potential there?

(Laughs) No, but we invited them all to the premiere. They weren't able to make it, but we are still fighting for an opportunity to have a coffee between our two Elora Danans. They need to sit and do a photo shoot together or something. It's too perfect. That show is unbelievably great. I would love to have Devery Jacobs guest star on the show. That would be a really fun idea.

Is there any news you could share on a potential season 2?

Only that I'm sitting in my office and continuing to plan and scheme. It's a strange time in the business. It's a transformative time for Disney. So, I couldn't tell you anything that felt certain, except that we're continuing to work on this with every intention of doing more.

Can you tease where you envision it going from here?

The events of the finale have to be dealt with in a meaningful way at the top of wherever the story goes and the implications of the trauma those events caused to our characters and where it lands each of them. I'd love to get these characters out of that desert. Beyond that, they're all looking at very clear conflicts that were deeply positioned in season 1. Specifically, with Jade, the question of her loyalties and where her politics are going to land her is at the forefront in our minds in terms of where that character can go and, and how she's torn between love and country a little bit. There's no shortage of directions that we'd love to explore, but at its core, it is about this conflict between this otherworldly entity and our heroes. And that's far from over.

[sepublic]

I’ve seen some people interpret the cycle of Screecher’s Reach as about the Sith Mother finding an apprentice, training and corrupting her, before eventually throwing her aside for someone newer and shinier. And while this is indeed fucked up, the cave carvings paint a different picture... Kudos to @tremendouskoalachild for this image;

We have the Ghost initially standing taller, bigger than the Sith Mother, who is short by comparison; Almost like a child... And the Sith are infamous for the Rule of Two, in which the apprentice overthrows the master before getting their own student, to begin anew; This is how the Sith are portrayed and elaborated upon in the Prequels, by George Lucas. Lucas was also the one who introduced the common Sith trait of blazing golden eyes, which Cartoon Saloon ran with as the universal depiction of the Sith, and thus something to really focus on and highlight.

My point is, I don’t think the tragedy is that the Sith Mother used and disposed of the Ghost; Rather, she was just like Daal... A child, probably lonely and scared and miserable, whom the Ghost took advantage of and trained. The Ghost harnessed the Sith Mother’s rage and fear until she became befitting of that title, and then as the Rule of Two goes, the Sith Mother overthrew her mentor. But instead of killing her, perhaps because she failed and/or didn’t see it worth the effort to finish off an opponent she clearly proved her superiority towards, the Sith Mother let her mentor survive in the cave.

The trajectory for Daal is to be an abandoned, disheveled crone like the Ghost; But not because of the Sith Mother, not directly at least. Rather, I think the story has set things up so the Sith Mother will take that pitiful place next, no thanks to Daal; And then Daal will recruit an apprentice, and they’ll reduce her to nothing. The Sith Mother is arguably a victim like Daal, just as doomed, just as self-destructive as all Sith are; She knows how the Rule of Two works, she did her part to play it, and she’s still going to keep doing it, eyes wide and ablaze and facing forward, without looking back.

There’s something terrifying about that cycle of abuse; The Sith Mother was no more a manipulative mastermind than her mentor the Ghost. And she’ll be just as much of a defeated, pitiful wretch, just as Daal will be just as much of a treacherous apprentice, an indoctrinating abuser; And so forth... Daal IS a victim. But the way things are headed, she’ll be just as much of a manipulative abuser as the Sith Mother, too, enticing another Daal to go through the same dark path while smiling and telling her she passed.

And that’s so much scarier than there just being one corrupting monster who has it all figured out, in my opinion; Even the Sith Mother isn’t safe, despite all she trampled on to get to this point. This whole path truly is for nothing, and when the Sith Mother is killed dying and screaming, it won’t be satisfying.

[maegorsbignaturals]

what are your thoughts on the faith of the seven?

This is one of those Asks that i genuinely tought i had answered but got severe wishplash when i found out that i did, in fact, not answered it.

I mean, in retrospective it is fine ??? Mr RR Martin made a great work when trying to show a Catholic/Christian religion without really saying they are catholics/christians. Like, i really liked how he managed the whole faith of the seven as seven-in-one, paralleling the holy trinity of this religions. I liked how the choice of High Septon it is really close to how a new pope is chosen and you know, we even got a pseud-holy war and our own joanne of arc (jeyne poore). But it could have been SO MUCH BETTER. From the top of my head i can think of one way to making it more richer, like, if we wanted to make more and more clear the differences between Smallfolk and nobles i would had putted how poor fellows and septas are the ones who take care of the smallfolk (more like the frays and nuns did in the middle ages) while the Maesters are the only ones to take care of the health of the nobles, and that is weird that a Maester looks after someone poor. I would made more congregations of septas and poor fellows, like the Sisters of the maid, the daughters of the mother, the appretiences of the crone or something like that. ANDDD OF COURSE, ADD SAINTS OH MY GOD GEORGE WHY YOU DIDN'T ADDED SAINTS IT WOULD HAD SLAYED SO HARD TO HAVE A HOLY HELAENA HOLY NAERYS HOLY BAELOR WHY DIDN'T YOU ADDED SAINTS GEORGEEEE??????¡¡?¡?¡?¡??!!!!1111

[debbeh]

can u give me a guide to the six idiots :33 like maybe with a picture of them n their names n who they play in the Big Three shows :33 pwetty peesse :33

UM YES!?

ok, you saw me earlier trying to format all the images so it's gonna be mostly my (ehhhh) descriptions of the characters and you gotta guess what they look like 😈

Ben Willbond

Yonderland:

Elder Vex (above): the one who says Deb-beh and has the coziest looking outfit I NEED IT RN PLZ and the Tom Cardy- esque hair and earring

Nick: the stick. Grumpy all the time cuz he's a stick >:(. Is also a portal between dimensions but whatevs

Horrible Histories

Mike Peabody :historical news reporter that wishes he were anywhere but here rn

King Henry, Alexander the Great: SkINy MaNdRiA, excellent hair, sniffed a guy

Ghosts

The captain: AKA James, makes a lotta noises, if you ever hear me going weeeahhhhhuuuueeeaaaaaahhhh, I'm referencing him, the gay one<3

Martha Howe-Douglas!

Yonderland!!

Debbie.

Debbie's evil twin sister (bossy boobs)

I just googled it: Rita, the Negatus simp AKA us, the demon that looks like how female animals are protrayed in Barbie movies

Horrible Histories!!!

Boudica (look up the song, it's rlly good), Cleopatra, every female historical figure

Pirate lady....<33333

Ghosts!

Lady Button (present day): Old disgruntled lady that pouts all the time and falls out of windows

Lady Button (flashback)

Mathew Baynton!!!

Yonderland!!!

Oracle: weird blue blob guy, Nigel, Darling

Nanny la roo: NUM NUMS!!!! - nanny that is also a kangaroo

Admiral Anous: Voldemort mf I hate him bc he hates Negatus>:(

Elder Choop: Croissant hair mf, says, "IDK WHY DON'T WE ASK UR MUM??"

Le Fox: French

THE BIRRDDDDD: AKA Thomas Payne, Batman but cooler

Oh yeah, and Elf: the elf shaped one, full name: Grintallin Gobscrew Crotell Fashanu F’naw Goplatz Holla-Holla, has multiple wives apparently and is in debt to the mob

Horible Histories (look all of them up, they are all hot)

Dick Turpin: play the song >:333, shot not one but two men dead!

D.I. Bones: the whakkus bonkkused

King Charles II: absolute party-er

Ghosts

Thomas Thorne, shot, dead! Absolute poetic simp for Allison, drowned himself in the lake ;( -cannot drown-

Jim Howik!!!

Yonderland

Elder Pressley: looks like Elvis, eats christmas tree ornaments

Crone: A sLaPper *wink wink*, has apparently gotten with everyone, goes eeeerrrrrrrrrrr all the time- sounds like a doorhinge, she is amazing

Neil: lhe most normal of the demons probably

Horrible Histories

A SHOUTY MAN!!! :does all the infomercials, will try to sell you piss

King George VI (above) : "oh yesss, dad's dead, I'm king..."

King Richard III: a sweet little guy<3 -according to the song, get's attacked by whasp

Ghosts

Pat Butcher: Greatest DJ in the AAARRREEEEEUHHHHH, killed by a child, AKA Pete in the American version

Larry Rickard

Yonderland

Detective Mounteback: very dumb detective with very large hat

Elder Ho Tan: trans Icon, doesn't like loud noises, absolute baby<3

Sue: above, the lady with the gun from the episode I showed you

Horrible Histories

Bob Hale: weather report, needs a hellicopter and a nice cup of tea, basically Bill Wurtz

Lol knight with shit on head, Aztec guy, George III friend who slays so hard; "ConGRatu-VerY-LaTiOns your... *MAgEsTy*"

Ghosts

Humphrey: keeps getting left on roofs and shelves, does NOT know French smh

Robin: 5,000 yo ghosts, once saw a cool butterfly, KNOWS FRENCH! Got stuck by lightning and now he can turn on lights

and finally... the moment you've been waiting for...

Simon Farnaby!!!

Yonderland!!!

Negatus<333: Silly guy try to take over Yonderland but is just a lil guy, has an evil lair, uses The Font of Orris (cauldron thing that lets you see everything) as a hot tub, get's bullied by all the other overlords, wears pjs with houses on them.

Elder Flowers!!!: Long hair and lack of shirt, vegetarian hippie of the group, wants his clothes to be veGONE, "all you need is love, brothers... oh, and food"

Horrible Histories

Emperor Caligula: the wakkus bonkkus guy

Marcus Licinius Crassus: Knockoff Bassline Junkie song

Ghosts:

Jullian!!!: Died conducting an affair with his secretary!!!, is eternally sorta drunk, does the hand thing, only ghost that can interact with stuff, makes silly EEERREREEEEE noise when he's trying to move something, his name is Trevor in the American version, sad when there's no porn on da TV ;(, has no pants BTW

Thanks for coming to my TEDTALK!!!

Lemme know if I missed anything!

[ignitecreativity]

a feast for crows written by george r.r. martin. prompts.

"we were born from the sea, and to the sea, we all return."

"you have drowned and returned to us. what is dead can never die."

"the music floated up the winding tower steps, found me in my bath, supped with me at dusk, and stole into my bedchamber even when i latched the shutters tight."

"the slender pillars looked like fingerbones, and the blue veins in the white marble brought to mind the veins in an old crone's legs."

"i am the sword in the darkness."

"i have dreamed the same dream, of the red comet in the sky."

"words are wind. they cannot hurt you. let them wash over you."

"i'm going to fight with lance and sword and morningstar."

"the night is dark and full of terrors."

"it feels like i'm flying."

"in the wolf dreams, i am swift and strong, running down my prey with my pack at my heels."

"the path of faith is a crooked one."

"i can smell the sea through the open window."

"suffering is everywhere...and grief, and death."

"i prefer you dappled in sunlight, with water beading on your skin."

"you've become a ghost of what you are."

"your words do little to soothe my fears."

"a dark angel walks through life beside us. when our sins and sufferings grow too great to be borne, an angel takes us by the hand to the nightlands, where the stars burn ever bright."

"that is nymeria's star, burning bright. it reminds me of you. she burned as bright as any man."

"the chanting filled the woods like pious thunder."

"listen to the waves."

"you are chasing after something you cannot catch."

"the woods are so beautiful in autumn."

"it is time you put your burdens down, but i will suffer no slights to mine honor or your person."

"the waterfall in the eyrie murmurs in the spring."

[giulliadella]

Oh that's fun!

Are there any lore details about dragons that you especially like?

Well, my favorite piece of lore about Balkan dragons is that there are three distinct types: zmaj/zmej, aždaja/lamja and ala/hala. All of them spit fire, but each is slightly different from the other.

Zmaj is usually the "good" dragon. They were said to be protectors of cities and their people. However, zmaj would most often steal princesses and maidens in fairytales, then he's usually a villain. Zmaj is almost always male, but it cane be female, then it's called "zmajica". They are said to take appearance similar to a snake, a rooster or a ram. They can turn into a human and in that form are said to be irresistibly beautiful. One of our most prominent mythical heroes Relja Krilatica (literally "winged Relja") was said to be a zmaj.

Aždaja is your typical European dragon: a giant monster with lizard body and large bat-like wings that spits fire. It's usually female, when it's male it's called "ažder". This type of dragon is almost always evil: it usually demands human sacrifices, terrorizes villages and acts most animal-like. Sometimes it was three, seven, nine or even twelve heads. It usually lives near lakes, caves or wells where it guards the treasure. In some fairytales, aždaja isn't evil and can be helpful to main character, but only if the character is female. There are no fairytales that I know of where aždaja helps a male hero. The dragon that St George had slain belonged to this type.

Ala is the most unique of these. Her name can be used as a synonym for "dragon", but it can also be used as a personal name. This is because Ala was actually a pagan goddess of unknown origins that was turned into a monster with the arrival of Christianity. Ala looks like a giant winged serpent, sometimes with a horse's head, but with large mouth and teeth like those of a dog. Sometimes she has huge breasts as well. It was believed that she controls weather, causes sun and moon eclipses, floods, plagues and droughts. Some people worshiped her as their protector, whilst others believed that she was just an insatiable monster. Ala is completely gender-fluid, since she's a shapeshifter. Depending on a story she can be treated as a male, female or both. One form she commonly takes is that of "Black Arab", an incredibly powerful mythical warrior. In this form, she is only vaguely human, often towering everyone in size and having teeth "long and sharp like stakes". She sometimes takes a form of both the Arab and the man eating black mare that he rides on. Ala can also take a form of a gorgeous warrior girl that tries to seduce Prince Marko (Balkan Hercules basically). She sometimes transforms into a bull, a broomstick or a crone. In one story she transforms into a river in an attempt to drown the main hero. Ala can also possess both people and corpses, as well as animals and objects. Only "sixers" - people born with 6 fingers on their hands and feet can see her true form when she's possessing someone. Similarly to aždaja, she often guards lakes and wells. Ala can be a helpful ally, a passionate lover, but also an extremely cruel and ruthless being of destruction and chaos.

I hope you enjoyed this =D

[pluckysidekick]

Nancy Drew Season 4 Trailer Part 5

OK, I took a break from my insanely detailed and speculative look into the trailer, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 here, but I’m back with more. I’ve been focused on the final full chapter of The Space Between - I’m still determined to get it out before the premiere (JUST 😅).

The next shot is this lovely one of Nancy encountering a crone in Icarus Hall with George looking at something else. Is this a ‘standalone mystery’ ghost, or is it tied to the Icarans we get next in the trailer? The ghost of a Hudson ancestor perhaps?

GIF courtesy of NancyDrewGifs

Now while we haven’t seen George’s full wardrobe look in any behind the scenes photos (although I think it’s the result of her Wheezie from Dragon Tales look), we DID see it in the anti-cyber bullying spot she was in along with Tunji, Maddison, and Riley.

I’ll get back to what this means for which episode this scene is from in a moment. But first, here’s why Kennedy is the ultimate scream queen:

GIF courtesy of NancyDrewGifs

Note Kennedy’s gorgeous top - now where have we seen it before?

In this classic of course - and this one. Her hair is the same as well. I suspect this might be the same top too:

So we have Kennedy facing the ghost in the same wardrobe as these two soon-to-be-classic Nace scenes.

Next we get to THE SPIDER (SKIP DOWN NOW IF YOU MUST). @NancyDrewGIFS on Twitter has gotten so much detail in these trailer scenes, you can actually see there are three people in the Historical Society scene - Nick on the left being trampled (hopefully not too badly), Bess in the middle, and someone else in white behind Nick:

GIF courtesy of NancyDrewGifs

The next scene has Maddison in the white top from the public service announcement:

Love the glimpse of Carson here too!

We actually got a glimpse of this white top before in BTS - it was hanging in the closet when Maddison posted from her trailer about starting Episode 7 filming.

It’s also from the same timeframe as the “team meeting” the cast had (out of costume) at the beginning of Episode 7 filming. There was also a shot of 2 stand-ins on the HS porch in the same blog post - they look like George and either Ace or Ryan’s stand-in. Could they be entering the scene of the giant spider’s path?

We also got a BTS photo of what looked like Game Night in Icarus Hall from the same setting as the Nancy and Ace shot in IH above.

The BTS pics and the filming of the promo spot timeframe point to all three of the scenes from the trailer being in Episode 7. So do we get the giant spider (I have zero ideas about this particular monster other than ugh), ghost encounter, Game Night, and Nancy and Ace suffering/hung over from a curse breaking gone wrong all in one episode?

I may be wrong and the scenes span over more than one episode, e.g. if Nancy and Ace get knocked out/die a little, it’s possible they don’t change clothes. But pacing wise I totally believe all of this could happen in one episode, esp. in S4 where they seem to be pulling out all the stops.

I’m good with it all, cannot wait to see it all unfold!!

[ailendolin]

Six Idiots Headcanon Masterlist

BBC Ghosts - General

Ghost power headcanons

Ghosts meets Buzzfeed Unsolved

Daley can see ghosts and meets his dad again

The ghosts watching Night at the Museum

Mike can see the ghosts instead of Alison

Francis sold Thomas's body to anatomists after his death

Halloween's effect on the ghosts and the livings

Bone Suite

BBC Ghosts - Ghost-specific

Norne and the matter of appearances

Nigel's family

Thomas's family & the time right after his death

Robin stops befriending ghosts for a while & Robin and Mary

Pat died hungry & Pat knows about the Captain's pillow talk

Kitty's death & Alison painting a picture of the two of them

Julian and the beagle & Rachel and the beagle

Fanny knows how to lead in a dance & Dante became a ghost

Humphrey and the little things in life & Humphrey and Sophie

Mary had children but they died young & Mary and Robin

Thomas loves hugs and Robin gives him one

Mary & Kitty watch the clouds

Humphrey plays with Barclay's dogs

Thomas gives Isabelle a rose without thorns

Thomas once looked up to Francis

Kitty's father read her bedtime stories

Pat teaches the Captain some knots

Eleanor loves birds

Eleanor shows Kitty the perfect hiding place

Francis is more a Thorne than Thomas is

Fanny doesn't know how to connect to people

The Captain was married once

Alison finds the rose Thomas once gave to Isabelle

The Captain once visited Havers's family while on leave

Alison used to dream of being an artist

Humphrey & Sophie once had a baby daughter

Julian and Robin consider the nook their safe space

George gave Dante to Fanny

Julian and Fanny bond over the difficulties of loving their children

Fanny and Humphrey talk after her affair with his body

George allowed Fanny to have so many pets for a reason

Humphrey can sometimes feel his body like a phantom limb

Julian and Mike's friendship if Mike could see ghosts

Kitty used to catch glimpses of Mary and Annie when she was a child

Sophie tries to fix her marriage

Julian/Robin Soulmate AU

Julian/Cap Coffee Shop AU

Instead of running away, Sophie stays

The Plague Ghosts have a pet ghost rat

Thomas/Nigel Bookshop AU

Thomas needing glasses

Thomas hides himself away in the safe to cry

Thomas & Pat and hugs

Thomas/Nigel and PDA

Thomas/Julian and sleeping habits and nightmares

Thomas/Nigel being soft and tender

Thomas would love The Lord of the Rings

Yonderland

The Youngers' names

Vex is the son of an Overlord & Irk killing someone was an accident

Choop once had a fling with the Crone & Debbie's kids love Grandpa Choop

Ho-Tan and the meaning of gifts & Ho-Tan never admits she's sick

Ho-Tan was the main caretaker of her younger siblings

Ho-Tan learning and practicing her scribing skills

Debbie brings her family to Yonderland & Debbie takes in Boo

Flowers is allergic to pollen & the beginnings of his friendship with Ho-Tan

Pressley used to be in the military & drinks to forget

Negatus adopts a dog & continues to play Santa for Ben and Hayley

The Elders find out Vex is the son of an Evil Overlord

Voltari has trouble sleeping. Being near Dissectus helps.

Vex finds a way to keep the rabbits.

Ho-Tan passes her seat on the Council on to her son.

Dissectus/Voltari Flower Shop AU

Alvin comes to Vex for advice

Vex finds Ho-Tan crying

Irk surprises Ho-Tan on a difficult day

How Voltari and Dissectus met

Edith and Sue deal with Lynn getting hurt

Negatus's childhood and relationship with his parents

Choop & Sepal and Choop being hurt

How Bradley and Mojo met

Bill (2015)

Ian once made a cake for Gabriel she couldn't eat

Gabriel/Ian Soulmate AU

Ian is friends with a cat

Horrible Histories

Milton comforts Mike after a call from Mike's father

[screamingforyears]

IN A MINUTE:

A NEW MUSIC ROUND_UP…

“VEGAS YEARS” is the latest single from @cronesband’s forthcoming LP titled ‘Human Error’ (9/11) & it finds the Prince George, BC-based quintet of Nathan Kelly (vocals/guitar), Britt Meierhofer (vocals), Chris Dibbens (bass/vox), Calvin Hilde (keys/guitar) & Landon Hilde (drums) avantly grooving across 5 ½ mins of vibed-out PsychRock.

@drugchurch are here w/ “CHOW,” the second single from their forthcoming LP titled ‘Prude’ (10/4 @purenoiserecs) & it finds the veteran Albany-based outfit once again proving that old adage of “nothing ever works” across a punchy 2:47 clip of indie-tinged & Alt-driven PostHardcoringPunk.

“NO ONE ELSE” is the official lead single from @elias.ronnenfelt’s forthcoming solo debut LP titled ‘Heavy Glory’ (10/25 @eschoescho) & it finds the @iceage frontman vivaciously ramshackling his way across a sub-4 min slice of breezily strummed & charmingly crooned EksperimentalRock.

@fashion.club.la are here w/ “FORGET,” the official lead single from their forthcoming LP titled ‘A Love You Cannot Shake’ (10/25 @felte_label) & it finds Pascal Stevenson’s LA-based project linking up w/ @perfumegenius while conversely “trying to love a version of myself that I’ve spent so long trying to distance from” across 3+ mins of slow-burning ArtPop.

“HEAVEN” is a choice cut from @knitting_band’s latest LP titled ‘Some Kind of Heaven’ ( @mintrecords) & it finds the Montreal-based quartet of Mischa Dempsey, Sarah Harris, Piper Curtis & Andy Mulcair waxing upon “the idea of perceiving yourself as having “bad luck,” & how ultimately it can limit you from really understanding yourself” across 4+ grunge_poppin & indie_rocking mins.

[saints-who-never-existed]

For the book asks, 6, 8 and 19 ♥️

6. What books have you read in the last month?

This month so far I've started reading, and hugely enjoying Space Crone, a collection of short stories, essays, and other writings from Ursula K. Le Guin.

My favourite so far, funnily enough, is Sur, about a group of South American women and their slightly surreal journey to the South Pole (which they beat Roald Amundsen to by a whole two years!).

-

"We are old women now, with old husbands, and grown children, and grandchildren who might someday like to read about the Expedition. Even if they are rather ashamed of having such a crazy grandmother, they may enjoy sharing in the secret. But they must not let Mr Amundsen know! He would be terribly embarrassed and disappointed. There is no need for him or anyone else outside the family to know. We left no footprints, even."

8. What is the first book you remember reading yourself?

Ooh, not sure I could pinpoint just one!

Jacqueline Wilson was surely at least one of the authors I loved earliest (as is the case for many many British lasses of a certain age!).

Harry Potter came early as well and I always have fond memories of Roald Dahl too - George's Marvellous Medicine, The Twits, and James & the Giant Peach were some of the first I remember reading and loving.

19. Most disliked popular books?

I've already answered this one here, my friend. I hope that'll suffice! :)

[libertyeveningsun]

"How Do I Say Goodbye" Dean Lewis "So how do I say goodbye / To someone who's been with me for my whole damn life?"

This reflects Kit's fear of losing her brother. I used it for an edit of the Immemorial City scene where Kit was trying to save Airk from his possession by the Crone, but her entire journey was her fighting to get to her brother before it was too late

"You Give Love A Bad Name" Bon Jovi "Shot through the heart / And you're to blame / Darlin', you give love a bad name"

This is for my favourite idiots to lovers, inspired by Jade's "Well you're certainly the expert at breaking my heart" in the Wildwood. The lovable dumbasses spent half the season breaking each other's hearts every episode before they finally admitted their feelings for each other. I started making an edit for it, but gave up pretty much right after the intro 🤷

"Careless Whisper" George Michael 🎵🎵🎵🎵

You know the sexy saxophone solo that starts the song? That's it, that's the explanation. I created a little Jade wooing Kit shitpost with this song because the intro is so seductive and let's be honest we all thought Jade was seducing Kit into a kiss on that Shattered Sea sleigh thingy (and we were all tricked! I can't believe we had to wait another 7 minutes for the legendary sunset making out scene)

[stromuprisahat]

... whereupon the king commanded the bridge [of Maegor’s Holdfast] to be raised, the portcullis lowered, and the gates barred. The castle-within-the-castle stood secure. And so it would remain for eighteen days. ... In the days that followed, Munkun made several further appeals, assuring Aegon and Viserys that all that had been done was lawful, Ser Marston went from pleas to threats to bargaining, and Septon Bernard was brought forth to pray loudly for the Crone to light the king’s way back to wisdom, all to no avail. These efforts drew little or no response from the boy king beyond a sullen stubborn silence. His Grace was roused to anger only once, when his master-at-arms, Ser Gareth Long, took his turn attempting to convince the king to yield. “And if I will not, who will you punish, ser?” King Aegon shouted down at him. “You may beat poor Gaemon’s bones, but you will get no more blood from him.”

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

The king soon developed a strong antipathy for his new master-at-arms as well. Ser Gareth Long was a skilled swordsman but a stern taskmaster, renowned at Starpike for his harshness toward the boys he instructed. Those who did not meet his standards were made to go for days without sleep, doused in tubs of iced water, had their heads shaved, and were oft beaten. None of these punishments were available to Ser Gareth in his new position. Though Aegon was a sullen student who displayed little interest in swordplay or the arts of war, his royal person was inviolate. Whenever Ser Gareth spoke to him too loudly or too harshly, the king would simply throw down his sword and shield and walk away. Aegon seemed to have only one companion he cared about. Gaemon Palehair, his six-year-old cupbearer and food taster, not only shared all of the king’s meals, but oft accompanied him to the yard, as Ser Gareth did not fail to note. As a bastard born of a whore, Gaemon counted for little in the court, so when Ser Gareth asked Lord Peake to make the lad the king’s whipping boy, the Hand was pleased to do so. Thereafter any misbehavior, laziness, or truculence on King Aegon’s part resulted in punishment for his friend. Gaemon’s blood and Gaemon’s tears reached the king as none of Gareth Long’s words ever had, and His Grace’s improvement was soon marked by every man who watched him in the castle yard, but the king’s mislike of his teacher only deepened.

Gods! Aegon really did have a shitty childhood, didn't he?!

[blackbutlercharacterpoll2023]

The following is the lineup for the polls by date, made using a random number generator. New characters introduced in chapter 199 will automatically be added to the end of the roster.

April 19th - April 26th

Chlaus

Rian Stoker

Lord Ackroyd's son

FOL Orphanage staff

Timber

Claude Faustus

Tanaka

Conny

Emily

Baldroy / Bard / Baldo

Finnian / Finny

Sharpe Hanks

Mabel

Burnett

April 20th - April 27th

Soma's elephant

Beast

Sophie Smith

Theodore

Finny's hat

Funtom Corporation's unicorn suit

Karl Woodley

Oscar

Chris Heathfield

Sieglinde Sullivan

Fred Abberline

Stella Rose

Charles Phipps

the orphan that called Sebastian an old guy

April 21st - April 28th

Nick

Joanne Harcourt

Purple House dorm master

Agni / Arshad Satyendra Iyer

Yana Toboso

Grete Hilbard

the Mad Dog of Venice

Abbie

Johnny

Mina

Rachel Phantomhive

Charles Phipps's chicken

Haku

Sascha

April 22nd - April 29th

Jumbo

Mrs. Mayell

Goethe

the Rowdy Count

Georg von Siemens

Margaret Connor

Al

Cedric Brandel

Mathilda Simmons

Wendy

Sam / Old Man Sam

Grelle Sutcliff

Ellery Nixon

Eric Slingby

April 23rd - April 30th

Edward Midford

Luka Macken

Queen Victoria

Lord Ackroyd

Layla

the other children in the lab Finny was kept in

Betty

Reaper trainees

Green House dorm master

Vincent Phantomhive

Drossel Keinz

Kelvin

Lawrence Bluewer's sisters

Charles Grey

April 24th - May 1st

Margaret Turner

Akashi

Snake

Edgar Redmond

Derrick Arden

Ronald Knox

Aurora Society member

Bloodbath Johnny

Wilde

Soma Asman Kadar

Claude's birds

Sebastian's silverware

Chef Rickman

Susannah Connor

April 25th - May 2nd

Susan

Artie

Damian

John Brown

Saneatsu Nekoma

Peter

Lawrence Anderson / Pops

Chef Wollest

Chris Heathfield's maids

demon Crow

Nina's assistants

Ludger

Prince Albert puppet

Miranda

April 26th - May 3rd

Blavat Sky

Vicar Rathbone

Julius Pitt

walking stick shopkeeper

Grimsby Keane

Ciel's horse

Edward V

Jay the Undertaker

Gregory Violet

Canterbury

Jeremy Rathbone

Doctor

the cat from the live action movie

Henry Barrymore

April 27th - May 4th

Lawrence Bluewer

Prince Albert

Higham

the Panzer

the train kidnapper

Donne

Heinrich

Chef Lach

Dagger

Doll / Freckles

Sam's grandson

Bitter Rabbit

Japanese man with a katana

"Ciel" Phantomhive / Our Ciel / O!Ciel

April 28th - May 5th

Mey-Rin

Undertaker's mourning lockets

Webster

Purple House prefect from Vincent's year

Patrick the Grey Wizard

Diedrich

Johann Agares

Bronte

Carter

Othello

the cultists

Baldroy Jr.

John Brown's horse

Sphere Music Hall staff

April 29th - May 6th

Jackknife Haywood

Nina Hopkins

William's death scythe

Angela Blanc

Wolfram Gelzer

McDowell

Ronald's lawnmower

Arthur Randall

Aleister Chamber / Viscount of Druitt

Keats

Annie

Terry

Hao

Maria

April 30th - May 7th

Irene Diaz

Polaris

beggar boy that Soma gives a necklace to, mother, and baby brother

kenpo master

Red House dorm master

Ran-Mao

Shiori Genpou

Cedric K. Ros

Lau

Clayton

William T. Spears

Patrick Phelps

Japanese woman with a lunchbox

Oliver

May 1st - May 8th

Arthur Conan Doyle

the bear

Grelle's chainsaw

Trancy / Former Head Trancy

Richard

Aristocrat of Evil with the scarred face

the archeologist

Joker

Jan

the cats Sebastian rescues from the rain

Hilde Dickhaut

Rin

Cloudia Phantomhive

"Deer"

May 2nd - May 9th

King's Bear prostitutes

McMillan

"Her"

Undertaker's death scythe

Daniel

Ginny

Sieglinde Sullivan's father

Charles Bennett Sato

demon Ciel

Ada

Arnold Trancy

Ciel Phantomhive bizarre doll / Real Ciel / R!Ciel

Arihito Genpou

Thomas Wallis

May 3rd - May 10th

Chef Tarpin

Queen Victoria (Season 1)

Lau's ladies

Fennian

Harold West Jeb

Nicholas

Professor Sullivan / village crone

Anne Drewanz

CGI horses / driver

Margaret Connor's father

Ciel Phantomhive child / R!Ciel child

Jane

Paula

Wordsworth

May 4th - May 11th

Maurice Cole

Alexis Leon Midford

bizarre dolls

the turnspit dog

the "werewolves"

O!Ciel's land renters

priest

Pluto

Sebastian the dog

Red House prefect from Vincent's year

the Sebastian Roomba

bizarre doll horses

Baldroy's cow

Undertaker

May 5th - May 12th

Hanae Wakatsuki

the iceberg

Alan Humphries

Ash Landers

Thompson

Snake's unnamed snakes

Milly

Munemitsu Aoki

Alois Trancy / Jim Macken

Elizabeth Midford / Lizzy

Aurora Society purified water seller

Drossel's dolls

the timetable guy

Herman Greenhill

May 6th - May 13th

Azzurro Vanel

William's pigeons

Joanna

Reaper managers

Dove

Countess Trancy and her baby

German countryman

Scotland Yard officers

Haku's henchman

Lorraine McDowell

demon "pet" (the xenomorph)

Hannah Annafellows

Angelina Dalles / Madam Red / Aunt An

Pitt

May 7th - May 14th

Vincent Phantomhive's staff

Paul Jones

Francis Midford

Sebastian Michaelis

Cheslock

Phantomhive family ring

James

Edward Abberline

Baron Ridley

Sebastian's owl

[innervoiceartblog]

There are hidden Pagan teachings in many of the fairy tales and I'll tell you what to look for hidden in Hansel and Gretel...

In it we see the Pagan cycle of the seasons: Hansel represents the youthful grain god known in Slavic lore as Jarillo, Lado or Kresnik, accompanied by Gretel, the maiden of spring who is the Slavic goddess known as Jarilla, Lada or Vesna. These deities were twin siblings and in their maturity become divine spouses.

To recognize the Pagan symbols of the seasons we need to look back at least 6,000 to 8,000 years. The original herding cultures had only two seasons running from May 1st/ May 5th (the Slavic St. George’s Day, Jurjevo, or Beltaine) to the end of October/beginning of November (Dzady or Samhain.) Later it divided into three seasons starting February 2nd, to the Summer Solstice and then end of October/ beginning of November (this is when the concept of the triple goddess and triple god developed, as a seasonal representation of Maiden, Mother, Crone, but very little is remembered today of the triple god.) Eventually settling out into the modern four seasons divided at the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. This means that the concept of the “new year” started in the spring on May 1st/ May 5th, then became perceived as February 2nd, then on the Spring Equinox (March 15th) and eventually settled on the Winter Solstice, until the Romans moved it a few days to January 1st. This gives us a strange similarity of many springtime traditions to winter solstice traditions/ New Year celebrations. For now we’ll just focus on the springtime god and goddess represented by Hansel and Gretel.

These two siblings were sent forth because in the privation of winter they had no more food to eat in the house. Their father leads them into the forest and they build a large fire “as high as a little hill” where they fall asleep and their father leaves them. This is the Bel fires lit in the spring and alternately the Koliada or Yule fire of the Solstice. In the Russian variation, we can see the triple goddess, where the young Hansel and Gretel are sent by their mother to their old “grandmother” who lives in the forest. This elderly woman is the ancient goddess of winter, known in Slavic lands by the name of Baba Jaga, Morana or Mara.

The symbolism of the bread crumbs to try to lead the children back home connect to the grain god and the last “crumbs” from winter. When they are finally lost with no bread to guide them back, in some variations, the children are led by a “snow white” bird to the witch’s gingerbread house which the youths begin to eat. Understand that all birds, but especially white birds, were known to be messengers of the Goddess, while the honey-sweetened gingerbread represents the sacrificial food of the season offered to the deities. In some variations when the witch asks who is nibbling on her house, Gretel answers, “The wind, the wind.” This makes more sense when you know that the Spring Goddess’s name of Vesna, means “breeze,” as in the breezes that bring springtime. Eventually, the old witch catches the children, Hansel is put in a cage and Gretel must slave away doing chores. The girl eventually destroys the old witch by tricking her and shoving her into the oven.

The oven as a symbol of transformation is seen going back to the Baden culture dating around 3000 BCE. On my trip to Zagreb, Croatia, in the museum I observed small votive pottery sculptures of ovens that were found in temples and burials around the Slavic lands. Why ovens? This sacred image from five thousand years ago holds the transformative property of transmuting grain into life-nurturing bread. It is the same seasonal cycle that is mentioned in John Barleycorn and other Pagan songs, “Corn and grain, corn and grain, all that dies will rise again.” By “killing” the old witch of winter, Gretel releases young Hansel from his cage and the siblings carry off the witch’s “treasure” bringing the prosperity of spring! In some variations of the tale, they are led back home by a white duck (symbol of the Goddess) and in a Romanian version, the boy gets turns into a cuckoo, a bird that symbolizes the return of spring.

Gingerbread’s earliest variation was made with honey. This important ingredient is sacred to the God and Goddess going back to hunter-gatherer times. Honey cookies were made for the Winter Solstice in the round shape of the sun (and the spring holidays too, but that’s a whole ‘nother essay!) Later oriental spices were added and it became what is known as gingerbread, but the honey was the most important ingredient. The names reflecting this treat’s ancient origins would start with med (meaning honey), such as medenjaci in Croatia and medenjaki in Slovenia. The Czech and Slovak variation of pernik, or pierniczki in Poland, and pryaniki in Russia come from variations on pryany which means “spicy.”

(copyright 2018 Patricia Robin Woodruff)