#god knows no wrath like opinionated women

[dearest-lady-disdain]

the only monarch i will stan is amelia migonette thermopolis renaldi

[blues824]

Leona with a Hera!greek myth! s/o? 💪😶💅

Sure! I targeted towards a female reader, but no gender-specific pronouns were used. Reader is not Yuu

Leona Kingscholar 

Sure, you were absolutely breathtaking, but it was your aura that really drew him in. You exuded the air of royalty. You remember what he said about the women in his homeland? Yeah, you were definitely much scarier than any of them. 

The first time he saw you angry was when Ace and Deuce got you in trouble the first time with one of the professors. In front of your teacher, you were calm as could be, but Leona could tell that you were gritting your teeth.

Then, outside of the classroom, you demonstrated the true power of a vengeful divine being. The entire area was cast with a bright glow as you gave them a godly smack across their faces. It left a huge handprint for months.

The usually prideful and confident lion suddenly felt his ears flatten against his head in fear. You know when you spend some time outside and you suddenly go inside and you can’t see shit? Bro can’t see shit right now because of the bright light that emitted from you when you showed your divine wrath.

When you and Leona really got romantically involved, you both realized that you both get really jealous when the other is hanging around someone that isn’t yourselves. For example, if Leona is spending what you consider too much time in the Spelldrive club, you get insanely jealous.

No matter though, because unlike with Zeus, Leona actually cares about your thoughts and opinions. If you are feeling upset, he will have a conversation about it like a grown adult. If you are his significant other, he shows respect because you deserve it for catching his attention.

Now, you were the god/goddess of women and marriage, so now the Housewarden of Savanaclaw understands why the women in his homeland are so fierce. A little secret between you and me, by the way, is that Leona would never get into a relationship if he wasn’t sure that it would end up in something more in the future (i.e. marriage).

Your relationship with him ends up better than the one you were about to enter into with Zeus. It was more loving, more sarcastic, more fun, much healthier. Behind closed doors, you both are very affectionate with each other. Cuddling in the Prince’s bed, not caring about the class you were currently missing.

Maybe Leona was your Paris. He would always choose you to give the golden apple to.

[prickly-paprikash]

Don't you just hate it when one of the biggest grifters online decides to like a piece of media you like?

Gatekeeping is wrong. Forcing someone to like something in the specific way I interact and consume a piece of media is wrong. Art is meant to be viewed through a multitude of lenses, and each individual will have their own way of interpreting that creation. And that's good. That's fine. That's human.

But when an Anti-Woke Grifter who thinks alcoholism is a really cool personality trait and decides to brand everything about themselves as that; who has historically engaged and criticized films and shows and games and books in bad faith; who has put down women and POC's and Queer representation in media; who is one of the biggest dicks in the online space decides to actually pay attention to an art that is pretty much dipped, coated, laminated, and injected with fucking GAY, ANTI-PATRIARCHAL ENERGY—that's when I get mad.

For those not in the know, Critical Drinker has posted a review for Blue Eye Samurai, saying he likes it.

You know... Blue Eye Samurai?

The show that oozes Queer Wrath? Feminine Rage? Curb-Stomping Toxic Masculinity and the Patriarchy whenever and wherever it can? That Blue Eye Samurai?

See, he's done this before with Arcane.

He says he likes it. Him and his ilk say that, "Finally, the wokies have done something actually good!" and point to Vi and Jinx as strong female characters written well!

But they also say, dang, feels like all the men in that show are idiots and that they had to be dumbed down to make room for the rainbow-haired girlies brigade. Who have all remarked that Vi and Caitlyn's relationship is forced and being shoved down our throats because god forbid women like women!

I got sick of watching his Arcane review halfway, and this was before I knew what a douche Critical Sucker was.

So I ain't watching his Blue Eye Samurai review. Why?

His Glass Onion review was done in bad faith.

I didn't like She-Hulk, but that's because that show was a byproduct of abused VFX animators, creatively bankrupt executives, and writers desperately trying to manage a convoluted shared universe that continues to buckle under its own weight. Political Stinker over here thinks that it's pandering, stupid, feminist garbage. He is one of the biggest Anti-Feminist voices in Youtube.

Him and his incel brigade have an obsession over hating Captain Marvel and Brie Larson. These basement dwelling cucks rant and rave over a mediocre duology and an actress that just lives in their tiny heads rent-free.

He says that they are removing men from leading roles and roles of great importance!

So why would I want to listen to an inebriated libertarian's opinions on a show that has become the show for lesbians, trans mascs, and other lovely brands of gay and feminism that he oh so despises? He'll most likely praise the action and violence and shit like that, then probably say that Mizu and Taigen's homoerotic rivalry isn't gay actually. Or that Mizu and Akemi's narrative foils don't scream enemies-to-sapphics. Or that Mizu, WHO'S NAME MEANS WATER AND HER ENTIRE CHARACTER REVOLVES AROUND FLUIDITY ISN'T IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM FLUID IN HER GENDER AND SEXUALITY.

Fuck. I'm sorry. I don't even care if he doesn't say that. He's made so many disgusting, disparaging remarks about any piece of media that shows an inkling of progressive themes that what else am I supposed to expect?

If anyone watches it and sees this, lemme know. Watching an Anti-Woke bullshit video with just myself is just straight up wading through the desert without proper protection. No thanks.

Anyway watch Blue Eye Samurai again. Because I know you watched it. Watch it again. And again. And when you're done, watch Arcane. Watch She-Ra. Watch Dragon Prince. Castlevania. Watch anything "woke". Consume trans-positive shows. Make all the haters and even the ones who like it but have no ounce of media literacy irrelevant. Let them dry out and die, please.

[aru-loves-krishnaxarjuna]

behnchod, madarchod, baanki maagi,, bokachoda, you fucking hoe, rot in fucking hell, you brother fucker, motherfucker, gaandu, randi, saala, harami, bohot tez samajh ta hai apne aap ko? Bhosdika, bara, saale gaand choos tu apna, kindly f yourself

Tere krishna ne terko gaali dena sikhaya hai!?!! Where are hindu women's SANSKAAR??? Tum aurte khud ko mhan samjhte ho i guess u r bhramin that's why u have superiority complex. WhatsApp university se padhna chod or real world me aa jaa

Let's start with the biggest issue I have with scriptures in Hinduism and the casual misogynistic tone in the marriage department.

Ramacharitmanas 3.4.4 - "A woman who treats her husband with disrespect even though he is old, sick, dull-headed, *wrathful* or *most wretched*, she shall suffer various torments in hell (The abode of Yama)"

Vishnusmriti 24.41 -A damsel whose menses begin to appear (while she is living) at her father's house, before she has been betrothed to a man, has to be considered as a degraded woman: by taking her (without the consent of her kinsmen) a man commits no wrong.

Valmiki Ramayana 2/24/20 - - Ram said \*"As long as a woman is alive, her husband is her god and master to her"\*

Valmiki Ramayana 2/24/25 - "Even if a woman is interested in religious vows and fastings, in addition to being the best of the excellent; if she doesn't obey her husband, she will become ill-fated!!"

Matsya Purana 154.166 - "The husband even if poor, illiterate, and devood of fortune, is like a god to his wife."Mahabharata

Anushasana Parva 146.55 - Husband alone is the God for women

Srimad Bhagwatam 6/18/33-36 - "A husband is the supreme deity for the woman. The Supreme, Lord Vasudeva is situated in everyone's heart and is worshipped through the various names and forms of the demigods by fritive workers. Similarly, a husband represents the Lord as the object of worship for a woman. A wife should be chaste and obey all orders of her husband. She should very devoutly worship her husband as a representative of Vasudeva."

Sage Ashtavakra said:Women can never be their own mistresses. This is the opinion of the Creator himself, viz., that a woman never deserves to be independent. There is not a single woman in the three worlds that deserves to be regarded as the mistress of her own self. The father protects her while she is a maiden. The husband protects her while she is in youth. Sons protect her when she is aged. Women can never be independent as long as they live.

Oh ho! Now you are asking our SANSKAAR!? Ram sikhate hai ki maryada mein rehte kaise hai.

Krishna sikhate hai ki maryada mein rakhte kaise hai.

Listen you motherfucker. I don't need to be educated on this. You dare question our SANSKAAR? WE became like THIS to PROTECT OURSELVES. WE learnt SWEAR WORDS BECAUSE MEN STARTED TO USE THEM FIRST!!!

And women can never be independent, eh? Look around the fucking world will you, ot do you use braille to type?

First you make us like this and now question US? Atleast hum aurate apne aapko mahan sigma male to nhi smjh ti, na? Aurato ko tum log hamesha 'women ☕️' karte rehte ho, unko disrespect karte ho, rapists ko support karte ho, unke saath jo unyay hota hai usko supprt karte ho, and when we stand up for ourselves, us hindu women's SANSKAAR dissappeared!? THIS is the reason why women hate men now.

Tu Insta reels se sab kuchh learn karrna band karr aur apni aakhe charo taraf ghuma, bsdk.

We can be our own mistresses, and we will be our own mistresses. Idc what anyone thinks, i stand with my opinion. Agar teri Maa nahi hoti, to tu bhi janm nhi le pata gadhere.

You know Maa Kaali as well as Maa Adi Para Shakti, right? Did they need a man to fight? Or to protect them? They protected themselves, and fought demons, monsters just to protect their children. Yea ok i agree with the 'devoted to husband' part, but if her dignity comes in question, she WILL fight back!

[nectaric]

🌻 teehee

i've complained enough this morning so i'll just talk about something else i really wanna talk about and that's zeus and hera ok.

i've been thinking a lot about their dynamic, and in particular, how i envision hera. and i think the thing i've come to realize is that hera's anger towards the women zeus sleeps with (and their children) comes from one of two places. fear of being replaced, and disdain at being lied to.

zeus has a lot of children with other women, and i really don't think that is the inherent problem. hera desires his fidelity, but in my context (and in the context of much myth, that is), zeus' affairs were rarely born out of a very deep love. they were necessities. the world needed heroes, and the world needed gods, and as father of the gods he took it upon himself to do so. so i think there are a lot of children zeus has, and women he's taken to bed, whom hera has no issue with (i mean, the muses, athena, hermes even, though don't quote me on it, persephone, perseus, etc etc). she's not mad that zeus does this. it's how he does it, and who he chooses to do it with that really becomes the issue.

some of the biggest sufferers of hera's wrath are as follows: leto, heracles, dionysusn semele, echo, and io. there are others, but i'm going to focus on these ones.

leto was a titaness, and a powerful one. a close friend of hera's, too, i like to think. so when she and zeus have children together, hera is not angry that he did it, she's angry about who it was with - and, in fear that of all the women he took to bed, she might be the one who could replace her - or that her children might be able to outrank hera's children. the affair itself is not the issue - hera punishes leto because she is furious at the thought of being replaced, and does so in an attempt to put leto in her place.

heracles, is, again, a massive threat to hera and her children, should he attempt to do anything about it. dionysus and semele hera punishes because of how much zeus loved semele (in my opinion). she feared that semele might be the one woman zeus loved more than her, and she punishes all of them for it. dionysus, the product of their love, earns the same ire. echo is punished because of zeus' lies, as is io. she doesn't care that he did it. she cares that zeus tried to hide it and lie about it, and so unleashes her wrath.

none of this is to say that hera is necessarily justified or that their relationship is healthy. but i don't think its fair to say that hera is just vindictive and jealous either. i think she handles her husband's infidelity well most of the time, but draws the line at threats to her and her children, or secrecy in it.

it's why i like to think that in later years, their relationship becomes closer as zeus' need for producing offspring decreases, and as they become more open about it all. zeus is a little bit more free to follow his heart, so long as hera knows and feels secure that he will always come back to her and choose her. and if he fails to do so, she will put him back in his place.

[aikoiya]

I wanted your personal opinion on this, in this video (yes I’m aware I’ve sent this to you before) it was implied, or at least I took it this way. That ganondorf wasn’t always evil or at least he wasn’t a psycho murder. I know you’ve talked about ganons upbringing, and it seems that we both agree that ganondorf is a product of his environment. But I’m confused…in Totk if he wasn’t always evil why was he so easily taken over by greed after seeing the secrecy stones??

(We’re I’m getting this is the ganondorf Japanese ver of totk)

Ah, yes!

Do you mean this scene?

If so, then my theories aren't to say that TotK Ganon (whom I refer to as Wrath) wasn't evil, more so that he is, but he's thus because Kōme & Kotake raised him that way. Basically, pigeonholing him into the position of tyrant.

In my mind, he was raised to be a social darwinist amidst a warring country in a place that hosts a very harsh environment. Not to mention that he was also raised the only male in a society of all women, which is just a recipe for all kinds of mental health issues & developmental stunting.

In other words, everything around him was basically working against him & he responded thusly.

I think that growing up in constant conflict caused him to not know what to do with himself when Rauru came along & united Hyrule's peoples, thus bringing peace. He'd thrived on the warring life & I think that, in many ways, he was stuck in the past & wished to return to that time because, in his mind, everything made sense then.

Like, war? That made sense. Conflict? That also made sense.

Peace??? He has no idea how to live in a world of peace. Sees no inherent value in it.

Of course, I think this is the case for him on a subconscious level. Outwardly, he's a social darwinist, specifically the Struggler type. However, I don't think he's as sincere in his beliefs as he claims, because as shown in the game, he's a sore loser. And if he truly believed as he said he did, he'd have yielded upon realizing that he'd lost. Which, part of this could be influenced by narcissistic tendencies brought on by being born & raised as what amounts to a god-king in the Gerudo culture.

However, I also think that the stone & 10,000 years sealed away likely exacerbated his preexisting issues to the point where he was fine giving up everything in order to make everyone else miserable.

In a lot of ways, I think that the Dorfs, regardless of which iteration, are all extremely unhappy people & this results in them lashing out.

I think it's possible for him to be a good person, but he'd have to be raised by someone other than Kōme & Kotake.

However, even then, I think it's possible for him to be better, just not good per se.

Though, he'd need the influence of someone who was able to prove themselves to him. Someone able to meet him head on. Someone level-headed & honest. Someone who wouldn't be manipulated by him. Who can cut through the crap & speak directly to him.

They'd have to be able to pose their thoughts in such a way that it doesn't necessarily clash with his own beliefs, while still managing to give him a new perspective to contemplate.

[hollers-and-holmes]

Just wanted to say that you are on a ROLL with these unpopular opinions! I’ve never seen this much well-articulated, orthodox theology on my dash at the same time before!

So on that note:

🔥 on homosexuality?

😂 I’ve been waiting for this one to pop up. Thank you for the encouraging word and for promptly slapping me with a difficult topic! 🤣

🫙 First, to the text!

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened….they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1:18-21, 23, 26-28‬ ‭ESV‬‬ (emphasis added)

God makes it inescapably clear that homosexuality is sinful. Not only is it sinful, but its widespread accepted practice is a symptom of a culture that has collectively rebelled against God’s good authority and seeks to throw off His rule.

🫙 God is also inescapably clear that it is possible to be delivered from this, and that becoming a Christian means you no longer practice it.

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:9-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬ (emphasis added)

🫙 Much of the current discourse around homosexuality has to do with matters of identity. What Paul is saying here is that if the Lord Jesus claims you, you have a new identity and it’s no longer that of homosexual. You are in Christ. You are a new creation.

🫙 This does not necessarily mean immediate deliverance from the temptation of the former lusts. Sanctification is a process.

🫙 It does mean your opinion of those lusts has now changed. Becoming a Christian means you now love what God’s loves and hate what He hates.

🫙 Believing what He has said regarding sin of any sort—that it is what broke the world to a smoking ruin, that it desires to have you like a ravening wolf, that its wages is death and that for some of us that meant the unimaginably torturous murder of the innocent Lord of Glory in our place—is the first step to gaining victory over it. Our view of sin should not be softer than God’s.

🫙 If anyone happens to read this who does battle in this area, dear one, listen to me. Why do you spend your money on that which will not satisfy you? These cisterns are broken and they can hold no water. There is not life for you here. There is not healing for your ruptured heart. The sweetness of it is a poison sweetness and it will someday crumble to ash in your mouth. It will fester your wounds instead of repair them.

But the Lord Jesus is King of the winecup and of the feasting table. Come and drink. Taste and see that He is good. That His ways lead to life, to sweet green meadows, to the sun warm on your face, to the perfect law of liberty. To salve and binding that will soothe and someday close your wounds forever. To a family of people who get it.

He is not offering you the shackles of a pleasureless life. He is offering to kick down the door of your cell.

[tulipisreading]

king of sloth by ana huang (kings of sin book 4)

⭐️: 5/5

🌶️: 3/5

🥵: 4.5/5

He'd never wanted anyone enough to chase them...until he met her.  Charming, easygoing, and rich beyond belief, Xavier Castillo has the world at his fingertips.  He also has no interest in taking over his family’s empire (much to his father’s chagrin), but that hasn’t stopped women from throwing themselves at him…unless the woman in question is his publicist. Nothing brings him more joy than riling her up, but when a tragedy forces them closer than ever, he must grapple with the uncertainty of his future—and the realization that the only person immune to his charms is the only one he truly wants.   *** Cool, intelligent, and ambitious, Sloane Kensington is a high-powered publicist who’s used to dealing with difficult clients.  However, none infuriate—or tempt—her more than a certain billionaire heir, with his stupid dimples and laid-back attitude. She may be forced to work with him, but she’ll never fall for him…no matter how fast he makes her heart beat or how thoughtful he is beneath his party persona. He’s her client, and that’s all he’ll ever be. Right?

First off, I ADORED this book. I adore this entire series, and can't wait for the next three. King of Wrath will always be my favourite, but this one surprised me with how much I loved it.

Sloane has been there since book one, and Xavier has cropped up a few times, mostly in book 3 if I remember right, and I couldn't goddamn wait to read their story. I was also surprised at how long it was at around 460 pages, the longest of the King of Sin series so far. It was well worth it though, as we get lots of both their family backgrounds, we get a lot of new characters, Sloane's background (which I was eating up oh my GOD) and a few other plot lines too. I particularly loved the emphasis on sisterly relationships, specifically how Sloane struggled with one sister and yet loved the other beyond belief, and how her friends are practically sisters to her as well. Often I think only difficult family relationships are shown in books, or sometimes the good ones are just glossed over, so I was glad Pen had a decent amount of page time. Xavier bonding with her also made my heart grow three times the size I think.

I also really enjoyed Xavier's family dynamics, though he definitely did not. His relationship with his father was really interesting, especially given how strained it was, but the loophole left in the will. I appreciate how Ana Huang wrote that part, the way we don't quite get all the answers, how like Xavier we have to just accept that it's happened, and we won't know why. In my opinion it really helped to immerse the reader in the story, because we're in the same boat as some of the characters. Xavier's growth as a character was one of my favourite things in the entire book as well, the way he went from coasting off his fathers money to wanting to make his own, to wanting to succeed by himself and wanting to be independent. Though I also loved how he admitted he likes the money, the allowance he gets from his father even as he tries to get away from his family. Like yeah, he didn't just suddenly turn entirely selfless and not care about the money.

That's something i always enjoy about the Kings of Sin series, because it's set amongst New York's elite essentially, all the characters are very comfortable with their wealth and have no issue spending it on what they want. There's no character that turns around and goes "I'm not like other people actually, I don't need anything apart from my tiny apartment and enough to pay the rent and bills :)" no they all like to be rich, and it's so much fucking fun to read about.

Sloane and Xavier's dynamic was absolutely perfect, no surprise there. Since it was Sloane's job to keep Xavier in line, I liked that she brought him down to earth a little bit, and that he brought her out of her shell a little. Another nice little touch was just that their dates weren't always out of this world. As I said they're all very comfortable with their wealth, but they went for dinner, they stayed at a hotel, they watched movies together, tried to bake etc etc. Though I love the other three books, Wrath had Dante renting out the entirety of the Botanical Gardens for Vivian for example, and Pride had Isabella taking Kai to an underground artists studio few people knew about. This was refreshing, having their first and arguably most perfect date be a movie night with snacks on a floor mattress.

I genuinely could not find many faults with this book. I'm sure there are some, and naturally there will be people out there who didn't like this one-but me? Fucking loved it. I loved it, I loved the first three, and I will love the next three. Also very excited to read The Striker, Ana Huang's new book based on Asher Donovan, the soccer/football player (???) mentioned a lot in this book due to Sloane being his publicist, but a few times in the Twisted series I think as well!

(Also, as expected, the smut was top notch 🤌🏻)

[official-zerg-fangirl]

how do you feel about kerrigan going super Saiyan in Legacy of the Void? what about the Amon plot in general?

(idk if you get notifications when a question is answered publicly, so @fall-warning hi, also THANKS FOR SENDING THIS. I LOVE ATTENTION I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY GIRL)

Oh, That Jean Grey ass Kerrigan transformation is half the reason my bio says "Starcraft 2 never happened, Metzen can suck my dick." *

*the other half is the Kerrinor Kiss, because on Official-zerg-fangirl, the running gag is I have an irrational hate for Raynor bcs I was one of Those middle school girls who would legit be jealous of a fictional character (I just didn't realize what i felt was jealousy bcs i didnt know i was gay)

I hate it! I HATE IT. IT SUCKS.

I am normally an extremely big fan of fire, and red, and phoenixes, and literal deities, and women being any or all of the above. But none of that should have been Kerrigan, and definitely not in the way it was handled. Fuck you, Blizzard. Fuck you for the insane bullshit happening behind the scenes, but also fuck you for what LotV did to my girl!

I refuse to play any part of LotV to this day! I don't fucking care! Sorry to the protoss stans, it's great that you got so much extra lore with Alarak or whatever, but absolutely FUCK what they did to my girl!

oh but I loved the amon plotline tho.

"m'am, why the fuck" it was validating it was powerful it is everything the character arc of the entire Zerg species was building up to and it turned Kerrigan into the antihero she was always meant to be, and LotV is probably great but that epilogue ruined it with a pointless second transformation.

[more deranged rambling below]

Look, Kerrigan's character arc in Brood War was top notch it was S tier it was great I wrote a literal essay about how I do sincerely believe Kerrigan in SC1 + Brood War had a heroic character arc, and I am of course correct, and the canon agrees, BUT WE WILL GET TO THAT,

now initially ofc i was like naw SC2 never happened. Obviously I've softened on that opinion (but saying it never happened is funny. so is acting like everyone is missing the point of Kerrigan except for me. this blog is the space where i get to play up an extremely cocky persona ok)

SC2's general insistence (at least that's my first impression) on treating her zergness like a boring corruption and "ooh Kerrigan was good before but she's evil now" bothers me. like they do this to her instead of, oh I don't know, she was abused and exploited as a child fucking soldier, she latched onto the guy who 'saved' her and was too wrapped up in the exhilaration of having someone who 'cared' about her that she couldn't recognize she was being used as literal fucking bait, and then he LEFT HER TO FUCKING GET EATEN BY ALIENS, and by the grace of fucking god, those aliens saw her value and potential in a way no one else ever could, they elevated her, made her stronger, gave her the means to break off the shackles implanted in her skull (remember the Amerigo mission???), and from that point on, all the anger she'd been harboring from all those years of abuse could run freely, so of fucking course she became impatient and vengeful!

Yes, Kerrigan was extremely destructive, spiteful, cruel,even! But you think someone who's only ever known violence and death and cruelty could ever be anything else? are we so naiive as to imagine a perfectly human Sarah Kerrigan would not become the Queen of Blades Her fatal flaw is wrath, you see how quick she is to anger when she fights Tassadar. To quote the man himself,

"So long as you continue to be so predictable, O Queen, I need not face you at all. You are your own worst enemy."

she is predictable because of her wrath. In her beginning as the Queen of Blades, she's too consumed by all her fury, by her newfound power that she can and will use to demolish everyone who's wronged her, and she hasn't yet learned the wisdom required to use said power. this is a flaw she overcomes in Brood War, wherein she delays her fury and rage to arrange a temporary alliance, to wait for just the right moment to have her vengeance and crush her enemies.

aaaaaand here's the Wings of Liberty campaign going like "Zerg turned her evil. yeah she's killing and infecting terrans bcs that's what zerg do. we need to redeem her by removing her zergyness."

like - no acknowledgement to the fact that the terrans are currently being commanded by the dude who used her and then fucking left her to die???? bro like of all people you'd think Raynor would understand why she's waging war on the Dominion HE'S LITERALLY DOING THE SAME THING, but Blizzard gonna Blizzard and the final boss is Kerrigan bcs Raynor's gotta work with the Dominion to neutralize the greater threat - which is somehow Kerrigan. Okay.

It just really rubbed me the wrong way. Can you tell that it rubbed me the wrong way?

but then it redeemed itself. Bcs the Amon plotline.

NO I AM NOT JOKING. FUCK YOU THE AMON PLOTLINE WAS GOOD.

"oh but it derails everything and now my simple slapfight between humans and two aliens has transformed into some sort of cosmic battle between good and evil" fuck no it doesn't it was foreshadowed back in Brood War did you forget Duran? the fuck you think that man was doing if NOT foreshadowing that some fucking hidden power beyond every race's leaders was controlling the situation specifically through the Zerg? Even BEFORE Brood War, the lore that the Zerg and Protoss were both created by the xel'naga and that the Zerg were specifically created with a mandate to assimilate the Protoss was right the fuck there. you know who said that shit? THE OVERMIND. Pay attention bro, Amon was there all along!

Could he have maybe been introduced in a less jarring way okay sure but he didn't derail shit, this WAS the rails, you just got too caught up in the surface level fighting to recognize what was happening!

also, the Amon plotline was (before that FUCKING EPILOGUE) so extremely validating to me, let me tell you a story about when i was playing HotS - no, even before HotS, whcih did a lot of good stuff, in fucking Wings of Liberty, a campaign I just spent a few paragraphs shitting on, it did one super good thing. it did the Zeratul missions. It did this shit:

oh I imagine a lot of Starcraft fans hated this cutscene bcs it was an out of nowhere messiah plotline delivered via literal exposition ghost, but, see, I'm smarter than your average Starcraft fan, I am a genius and I'm sexy, and I know my wife Kerrigan better than anyone, even the fucking Starcraft writers (suck my dick Metzen) and I see this cutscene at 7:33PM, April 29, 2021, and I ran into my friend's DMs and said "I FUCKING CALLED IT"

BECAUSE I WROTE A FANFIC (unfinished, novel-length, self-indulgent, OCxKerrigan, highly nsfw, no I haven't posted it anywhere I wanna finish it first I wanna perfect it).

AND IN THAT FANFIC I WROTE SOMETHING SO ABSOLUTELY DERANGED I FIGURED IT WAS JUST SELF INDULGENT ABSOLUTE SKEWERING OF THE CANON JUST TO RUN SHAMELESS ZERG APOLOGIA:

I wrote that the Overmind, before capturing Kerrigan at New Gettysburg, telepathically communicated with her, and very specifically said that her human psionic mind would resist control until the bitter end, that it would kill itself rather than accept forced subjugation into the zerg, and THUS he had to ask Kerrigan PERMISSION, that he couldn't and didn't want to strip her of her free will, and he specifically promised to her power, and purpose, and the potential to usurp his place as the leader of the Zerg, and he specifically welcomed that possibility-

and like that's stupid that's so fucking stupid, why would the zerg ever value free will why would the Overmind pursue to the ends of the earth a servant that he couldn't control, that he knew could and would one day usurp him? there's no way this is canon-compliant-

IT IS

AND NOT JUST CANON-COMPLIANT, IT'S FUCKING CANON. ACTUALLY LITERALLY CANON.

STRAIGHT FROM TASSADAR'S MOUTH, THE OVERMIND DID THAT SHIT. THE GODDAMN EYEMONSTER HAD PLANNED ALL ALONG FOR KERRIGAN TO HAVE FREE WILL AND THAT HE SPECIFICALLY VALUED HER FREEDOM.

The only reason I can't say I predicted the future is because I started writing this fic after WoL released, but I clearly had some sort of precognition I fucking knew I was on the wavelength my deranged apologia was canon I was right.

OH AND THIS AMON SHIT GIVES ME FULL JUSTIFICATION TO BE A GREATER APOLOGIST THAN I EVER COULD BEFORE. BEFORE IT WAS LIKE "c'mon the zerg aren't people, they're mindless demons of destruction" OHHH NO YOU DON'T MOTHERFUCKER! THEY ARE PEOPLE, THEY HAVE MINDS AND FEELINGS AND WILL AND THEY'RE BEING CONTROLLED BY THEIR CREATOR - NO, THEIR CORRUPTER, AGAINST THEIR BEST INTERESTS,

AND THE PRIMAL ZERG, THE PRIMAL ZERG! THEIR GLORIOUS PAST! ZERUS, THE GARDEN OF EDEN BEFORE AMON'S MEDDLING, WHERE THERE IS NO CONTROL AND NO DESOLATION, ONLY THE RULE OF THE HUNT! HERE, WE SHALL FORGE A VISION OF THE LIBERATED SWARM, REUNITE WITH OUR PAST TO FORGE A BETTER FUTURE, AND OH LET'S NOT EVEN TALK ABOUT THE PARALLELS BETWEEN WHAT AMON DID TO THE ZERG AND WHAT THE GHOST PROGRAM DID TO KERRIGAN,

BECAUSE THAT'S JUST IT, KERRIGAN IS THE SWARM, WHICH IS WHY SHE BELONGS IN THE SWARM.

SHE AND THE ZERG BOTH EXIST AS BEINGS OF INCREDIBLE POTENTIAL WHOSE FUTURES WERE STOLEN AND CORRUPTED FOR THE SAKE OF A HIGHER POWER'S TWISTED WAR GAME, TURNED INTO A LIVING WEAPON AND SET TOWARDS A CAUSE THEY DON'T BELIEVE IN, THEY ARE CHAINED AND THEY WILL ONLY ACHIEVE THEIR GREATEST SELVES ONCE THOSE CHAINS ARE BROKEN,

and this entire fucking theme of subjugation and of being transformed into a living weapon was in Brood War, too! That was what the UED did to the Zerg! This is why Kerrigan is the hero of Brood War, an entire species was enslaved and her, with her human mind, was the only hope anyone had of not submitting to Earth's slave army! Amon is simply the greater master who enslaves the zerg more subtly, with chains that are harder to break because they permeate across the hive mind link itself,

And by the fucking WAY, the revelations of that xel'naga relic, Zeratul's visions, the insight given by Zurvan of the primal Zerg, all bring such a delicious context to the entire wings of liberty campaign, and they make that campaign good and make everything I complained about earlier just an extra spicy flavoring and a dash of gray to our terran heroes, THEY MADE ME ACTUALLY LIKE RAYNOR???

bcs you know what, fine, perhaps Raynor does see the Queen of Blades as nothing but pure evil, perhaps he does choose to ally with the Dominion to destroy her, that is his human perspective, as someone who loved Kerrigan but knew her so briefly, all he can truly see is the Zerg as he understands them, the mindless living weapon, the infested terrans that beg for death as they seek to tear you limb from limb. We are imperfect, we aren't omniscient, perhaps I should forgive Raynor for his short-sightedness. He cannot concieve of harmony with the zerg because of what he has seen, so of course his dear friend is corrupted, infested, controlled, and he has to free her, and maybe he can make this deal with the devil. From his eyes, this is the best route he can take. He even knows he should not kill her, he knows what she's meant to be, and he has no idea how she'll go from the monster he sees now to the savior of Zeratul's prophecy, so he does what he thinks is best.

and as we see in HotS (and i think also LotV a bit?), Raynor's choice to use the relic was a mistake, it robs the zerg of their salvation and feeds so much energy into Amon's greedy maw... but also, it wasn't a mistake.

See, Kerrigan's temporary severance from the swarm frees her of the influence of Amon on her mind (though I am adamant that her actions have been PRIMARILY motivated by rage and vengeance and spite!), and when she sheds her humanity once more and properly returns to the Swarm, it is in the sacred birthplace of all Zerg, on the planet that obeys the law of nature, where hardship and violence are tools to produce an ever-greater self, and all that she has suffered will become her strength,

AND KERRIGAN ASCENDS - NO, EVOLVES - INTO HER PRIMAL SELF IN ORDER TO FULLY REALIZE THE OVERMIND'S PLOT OF LIBERATION. I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG AND SHE WAS A HERO, THANK YOU HEART OF THE FUCKING SWARM YOU REDEEMED SC2.

which just makes the fucking fire lady 'oh shes not zerg anymore she's xel'naga heehee' feel all the more bullshit???? Like, i thought it was bullshit before I knew anything abt HotS but now its SUPER bullshit, bcs primal kerrigan WAS her perfected self. She didn't NEED to become xel'naga. SHE IS ZERG! SHE IS THE QUEEN OF BLADES!

It's just so pointless. Nothing you could do to Kerrigan in this literal final hour of the entire Starcraft franchise could possibly be as thematically powerful as the Zerus arc, and you should've just continued those themes. leave Kerrigan's character arc concluded. Stop fucking with it. You had something amazing and you fumbled the bag at the literal last second. seriously, what the fuck? THAT'S how you end the series? What happened in the writers' room- other than the creepy misogynist bullshit we already know was happening, of course?

anyways yeah I hope that satisfied your curiosity. :D i don't wanna know how many words this was, I just know it took me like 2h to write. maybe more. I don't have a good sense of time. it's the autism.

[chaifootsteps]

Ahoy Chai, I’ve been cooking up my own little rewrite for Hazbin/Helluva for funzos and I wanted to get your opinion on some ideas I’ve got.

The rewrite is called ‘Charlie’s Sinners’ cuz I like the reference to Charlie’s Angels, but it’ll be changed in the future for a couple reasons

This rewrite will condense Hazbin and Helluva into one narrative, but the main focus will be on Hazbin. So the story will be Hazbin’s but Helluva characters will appear.

The setting will be on Earth, not in Hell. This is because viv hasn’t done anything really interesting with Hell in any of her work, her Hell just feels like a shittier Earth. Plus, while this will be a narrative that has religion as a theme, religion will not be the primary focus of the story. So characters will be inspired by, but NOT explicitly based on religious/demonic figures. One more thing, other religious concepts and figures besides Christian ones may be included as well, so the setting being in Christian Hell wouldn’t make sense. Of course, I’ll be doing my homework to accurately and respectfully represent these religions and their cultures, since viv cannot be fucked to do that either.  There will 7 main characters: Charlie, Vaggie, Angel, Alastor, Husk, Nifty, and Baxter. I specifically went with 7 characters because they’re meant to represent the 7 deadly sins in their personalities, interests, goals, etc. (Charlie=Pride, Vaggie=Wrath, Angel=Lust, Alastor=Gluttony, Husk=Sloth, Nifty=Envy, and Baxter=Greed) 

The big, overall theme of this rewrite will be how we as intelligent mammals can improve. Whether it be ourselves, our relationships, our jobs, our society, even our world, the big question is how can we be better people? Also, how do we maintain being better people? It’s similar to Hazbin’s theme of redemption, but more down to earth and personal methinks. Bojack is gonna be a big inspiration for this, though I’ll have to check out Morel Orel as I’ve heard that has religious themes and is very dark. 

Now while I haven’t redesigned any characters yet, I have been experimenting with body diversity in the characters because we all know how allergic viv is to such. For Charlie, I’ve made little change to her admittedly, mostly because she’s the most human of the main cast in the og Hazbin. Though having been inspired by other redesigns I may make her a little more plump since in my rewrite, Charlie is not royalty, but is still part of a powerful and weathly family and lives a luxurious yet sheltered lifestyle. For Vaggie, I intend for her to act as a foil for Charlie, so she’s short and stout, built like a cement brick because she’s lived a rough and tumble dog eat dog life. Tbh, I haven’t thought super hard how her physical appearance would tie into her story/personality/motifs yet, I just wanted a swole Vaggie because god’s gift to the earth is buff women. I also plan on giving her plenty of scarring, not only because wrath and violence, but so they could resemble the patterns of a moth’s wings.

For Angel, I’ve made them plus sized. This is because I’m keeping the spider motif with Angel, though much more subtle. Since tarantulas can be hairy/fuzzy, I liked the idea of Angel outwardly looking soft and cuddly, but inwardly holding some bite and venom that shines through their words and actions. My Angel is still a known sexual figure, though here they’re going to be a semi independent Onlyfans type model instead of an adult film star, so they’re very bottom heavy in comparison to Vaggie’s top heavy bulk and Charlie’s more evenly distributed body. Also they’re gonna have a fat ass cuz thorax, I just couldn’t show it super well from this angle. Angel is also gender fluid here, going by he/she/they pronouns

Finally is Alastor. He’ll be the only character in the main cast that’s keeping the spindly bodies viv is known for, though I’ve translated that into him having an uncomfortablely thin, almost emaciated body, based off Jack Skellington. This would also fit in with a deer motif, what with their long and thin limbs. I also liked the idea of a figure/representative of gluttony being anorexic in their physical appearance, like their so gluttonous that no matter how much they try to fill themselves up, they will always feel a terrible ache within themselves for more. All that so say Al is super thin, but he ain’t no glutton for food here, he just doesn’t take good care of himself. Currently, Alastor is the character that I’m both not changing that much but also radically departing from his og incarnation.

And that’s pretty much it for now. I’ll have Husk, Nifty, and Baxter sketched out soon, I’ve got classes atm so I can’t do that right now, but if I have piqued your tea interests I’d love to share more!

These are awesome ideas, and I love the sketches! They're a much needed breath of diverse body type air!

[aboutanancientenquiry]

Herodotus, the abductions of mythological women, and the cause of the Persian Wars

"To this point I have focused on the beginning and the end of Herodotus’ prologue. What lies between them is one of the most enigmatic and disputed passages in the Histories,51 a passage that traces the origins of the GrecoPersian wars to the abductions of familiar female figures from Greek mythology. Yet the perils of these familiar heroines are recounted in decidedly defamiliarising fashion. For the stories are thoroughly rationalised,52 so that no divine agents are involved in the intercontinental transportation of Io from Argos to Egypt, of Europa from Phoenicia to Crete, of Medea from Colchis to Iolcos, or of Helen from Sparta to Troy. Moreover, the stories are linked in causal relationships as two pairs of reciprocal abductions: Io and Europa on the one hand, Medea and Helen on the other.53 Finally, and to the disbelief of several modern scholars,54 Herodotus attributes these stories in their causal succession to non-Greek sources: to Persian logioi in the first instance, as amended in the second instance by Phoenicians who defend their national honour by insisting that Io was not kidnapped, but sailed away from parental wrath of her own volition after being impregnated by the ship’s captain (1.5.2). For his part, after recounting at some length these allegedly foreign versions of primeval Greek stories, Herodotus refuses to state an opinion about them, and begins his own account by fixing blame or responsibility (αἰτίη) upon a more recent figure whom he knows to have committed unjust acts against the Greeks, the Lydian king Croesus.

What can we say about the relationship between this extraordinary sequence and the Greek poetic tradition? As far as content is concerned, Antony Raubitschek, believing that the stories of Io, Europa, Medea, and Helen were best known to Herodotus from Greek tragedy, ventured to identify a single play as the true source of the ‘foreign’ traditions in 1.1–5— namely, the Phoinissai of Phrynichos.55 The assumed co-existence in this play of Persian imperial counselors and a chorus of Phoenician women56 creates a context in which competing national perceptions of Greek mythological material might be aired. This speculative but ingenious suggestion was recently revived by Stephanie West, who thinks it more credible that Herodotus was indebted to a Greek poetic source claiming to reproduce foreign traditions than that ‘Persians with a smattering of Hellenic culture defamiliariz[ed] Greek legend either for their own amusement or, more seriously, by way of addressing problems of war-guilt in the aftermath of Xerxes’ invasion.’57 However, there are other passages in the Histories in which Persians are represented as citing Greek mythology for the sake of persuading Hellenic audiences. At 6.97.2 a herald sent by Datis assures the frightened Delians that they need not flee from the Persian fleet: as the birthplace of two gods (sc. Apollo and Artemis), their island is sacrosanct. In a matter of greater military and political weight, Herodotus reports a story told throughout Greece (7.150.1), according to which Xerxes’ herald invoked local myth as a means of dissuading the Argives from joining the Greek resistance, citing the Persians’ descent from Perses, son of the Argive hero Perseus.58 As Fowler has seen, this episode is especially telling, since its currency throughout Greece demonstrates a general Hellenic belief, right or wrong, that (some) Persians knew (some) Greek myths.59 In view of these and other passages that reflect Greek belief in Persian knowledge of Greek myth,60 I share Fowler’s willingness to accept Herodotus’ representation of Persians (and Phoenicians) as knowing rationalised versions of Greek myths, and therefore consider Raubitschek’s hypothesis unnecessary. At the same time, it seems entirely likely that the raw narrative material of the prologue—i.e., the abductions of Io, Europa, Medea, and Helen—was best known to Herodotus’ audience through authoritative poetic performances; and that the climactic mention of Paris, Helen, and the Trojan War will have called to mind the epic tradition above all.60"

From the article of Charles C. Chiasson "Herodotus' Prologue and the Greek Poetic Tradition", Histos 6 (2012), 114-143

[greekbros]

people be like: we want complex characters in greek mythology!

Yet they can't handle Zeus or any other character who acts morally grey :)

(you have no idea)

(this post will be as much of an analysis on the issue as it is also a pieces of writing advice. It's all mostly opinions)

(the problem is that a good chunk of people are in the mindset of modern-day moral standards.)

(Although it is a good thing to recognize problematic behavior, reevaluated and in the long run try to reconcile with that behavior.)

(it's also good to recognize what is considered by our standards incorrect behavior, however that's not usually the case in reality.)

(how mythology reflects reality is a more complex thing than most people take it for. Of course it's going to be weird sounding to hear that "oh the king of God's cheated on his wife several times and turned into animals while having sex with those women" completely out of context is extremely weird I'll be at even morally dubious.)

(but there's something we need to consider, not only these figures are a reflection of certain standards, morals, and realities of that setting, but they were also representations of what not to do. For starters, we don't 100% know what most of the context of mythology really is because it could have been lost to time due to its oral traditional nature)

(this is something that people don't take into consideration or just outright ignores because it's mentally easier to assume something on the basis of modern lenses.)

(the truth of the reality is that people want something to entertain them but they don't want something that challenges them.)

(it's completely fine to be happy with your own story and fiction and even go as far as to writing a different story in the way that you want it to be, but I do find it extremely problematic regardless if it's Greek mythology or any other cultural folklore that people deliberately misinterpret or villainize the characters without having a proper understanding of not only the cultural context behind those characters motives but not understanding that these are supposed to be the reflections of a society we will never be able to understand let alone recreate accurately)

(the truth of the matter is a lot of things prior to a retelling or something a little more complex that wasn't made for the masses but for a certain audience often times have complex and challenging things)

(in fact the situation could be due to the modern expectations of what is morally good or even what the audience wants to be morally good.)

(I don't think in any part of the original mythology Zeus's antics were played for laughs. Some of them had serious consequences. Hera obviously having completely good reasons to react. But there were other moments in Hera perspective where it was clear she too acted just as reckless as Zeus. There's also there dynamic)

(being a goddess of marriage, it would be a failure on her part to divorce him, yet it would also be an absolute failure on Zeus's part to not fully uphold their marriage properly. In the context of mythology, Zeus is enacting his urges as a man, not a god or a king. Meanwhile, Hera enacts one of women's most iconic follies....wrath. yes women are angry, they can be angry and most often should be allowed to be angry.)

(at first it sounds like a battle of the sexes, but the truth is...well....both can switch roles and in a sense from a writing perspective.... nothing would change.)

(Both characters are flawed, and it would be completely pointless to use gender in this context, because there are other characters in mythology who have done the same things but do not get the same blame.)

(we do not feel sorry for the Kings and husbands of women Zeus have had relations with and we CAN NOT forget the equally spiteful female characters in mythology as well.)

(I like to understand mythology in the same way that anyone can understand a more complex story, from the beginning of Greek mythology, the gods and titans have always been a bit spicy personality wise. That also goes for how they created humanity and what purpose did humanity serve to them. The reality is humanity was created within their image and also essentially to serve the gods in a certain sense in terms of the Prometheus myth. As the story hits on the topics of human nature, behavior and how the gods had chosen each of these traits for humanity.. it's kind of clear that it's not that we should be judging them as supreme beings but we should be understanding that they are probably not meant to be understood to begin with.)

(like ....do you hear any of the humans in this story do some of the silly shit the gods do? Not really.)

(The Gods are just weird, they can do some things we can't, buuuuut they do have their rules. Literally, the Theoi from my understanding is comparable to the Bible in terms of the type of stories it conveys along with the morals. And I believe there are some aspects of the Olympians that do contain their own rules. I think a notable one is that there should never be child sacrifices as per the myth of lycaon.)

(but most people would never dive as deep as I personally would do, if I do not understand what it's going on in a story, I just go and look for that information for myself and do my own research. The unfortunate nature of mass media and wanting to make a story for the masses, especially during modern times... Is that people want to be entertained but have the expectation to not be constantly challenged with opinions or views that they don't personally like or accept.)

(just to avoid a slippery slope thought here, this usually just applies to moral complexity of characters in the context of cultures and periods that are too far away for us to properly form a social opinion on and have very little records of. )

(By no means am I mentioning World war II we are going to ignore that because it's clear what happened there happened and there is enough documentation of the moral atrocities that had happened)

(the issue with mass media consumption is that often times at least to at least three branching issues. Either the mass in question starts to form their own homogeneous assumptions about the past in an incorrect way, either the producer of said media itself is perpetrating an incorrect or falsified image of the past for profit, or as what I've noticed some cases happen, there is an ongoing Miss interpretation of the source material due to a lack of historical context, cultural understanding or in many cases just a complete lack of context clues.

(the issue of edutainment comes to mind, the idea of entertaining the masses while educating them is a balancing act that most of the time backfires due to how much the producer wants to make profit rather than leaving an important message. Sometimes the concept of moral ambiguity is lost within that process)

(but what people nowadays tend to do is treat modern Media or retellings of anything as a sort of "one size fits all" plot or in some cases that I have personally noticed, a custom order fanfiction.)

(It's upsetting because in truth there is room to make mythological characters like Zeus and others to have their good qualities while simultaneously having morally dubious alignments.)

(The truth is that every single one of these characters in any single mythology for that matter is complex because they all represent a role in life.)

(and life is complicated, I don't want to be cheesy about it but that's the reality)

(my apologies for the really long answer is just as it's one of the things I like to discuss because it's not even a nuance take, this is a type of analysis that requires a lot of consideration and a bird's eye view from what's going on not only with these retellings but with media in general)

(of course there are some retellings that are actually pretty entertaining and there are some that put an interesting perspective onto the mythology itself, but to take those good retellings as a perfect representation of the mythology or the end all to that interpretation is a very dangerous thing to do)

(literally this week I watched a Hercules movie that released last year and it was like the worst possible adaptation of the Heracles myth I have ever had The misfortune to watch. If the movie decided to rename every single character to just generic Greek names, it actually would have been an entertaining film. But because I personally know how that mythological story goes and then I see how many things they've decided to butcher for the sake of entertainment, really drives a nail in my head)

(yet there are interpretations that actually you're pretty unique, and this is going to sound controversial, but Dwayne The Rock Johnson's version of Hercules was the most interesting out of my weird opinions here, mostly because it is a movie that perfectly depicts how a grounded situation could become a legendary story)

(so long story short with that terrible take, it is literally "what if Hercules was real and if he was how did he pull it off" movie)

(the problem is that I think people are not ready to properly take the conversation of moral ambiguity and mythology and a mature sense let alone an academic one)

(by no means am I yelling at anyone to not enjoy any of this media, in fact it's because of this media that people tend to become interested in this type of topic of mythology. I just wish the idea of looking past the retelling and being curious enough to know what the accurate information is was more commonplace amongst enjoyers of mythology rather than a source of criticism)

[demoncatapologist]

Invel and any other spriggan for the character ask :0

Thanks for the ask!!!!! Sorry it took a while, had to let my brain figure out how to use words y'know

Invel:

Favourite thing about them: his potential to be such an interesting villain!!!! I am not running off much, but from what I know of, he is a cunning general who stops at nothing to achieve his goals, and his loyalty to Zeref have this kind of illusion of depth into it. Normally I am not too emotionally invested in this character archetype, but I am Invested after his utter loyalty to someone who just does not really care that much about him (and he knows it)

Least favourite thing about them: that goddamn fight in chapter 499.

Favourite line: "I am he who brings winter's wrath to all." That's a raw introduction, Iike it.

BrOTP: Him with the rest of the Spriggans really, that man needs friends. I am currently having thoughts about Invel and Bloodman being "gods damn the sun" buddies (with Invel's albinism and how Bloodman finds sunlight irritating in general. Can't blame them, the sun is overrated.). Also I love to think that Invel's True Ice Kamui probably has Bloodman's influence on it, with the ice being "from the underworld" and all. We are robbed of the Spriggans influencing each other's magics.

OTP: currently I am pretty meh about most Invel ships at the moment, but I like Ajeel/Invel and Gray/Natsu/Invel (thanks to Qbert).

NOTP: I headcanon him as a gay man so ships between him and female characters is just a no for me, especially with the way that they are just there for the sake of a het ship. Because apparently everyone has to end up in a heterosexual relationship. /s

Unpopular opinion: I think Invel should have died after the fight with Gray. Or he is able to move on from Zeref at the end, but that is a lot harder to pull off in what is preferrably the main series. I think the way that he ended up in prison at the end is meant to be kind of hollow, but man it feels frustrating for him to end just like... that.

Random headcanon: He can turn himself into a massive blizzard!

Song I associate with them: Saint Bernard by Lincoln!!!!!!! It gives immaculate Invel vibes, at least according to my interpretation of him being miserable under all of this

Favourite picture of them:

This one!! He looks so pretty here :)

Irene:

Favourite thing about them: she's so terrible I love her. Keep girlbossing <333 her introduction is so cool and man her relationship with Erza is so nice we stan evil women

Least favourite thing about them: Her outfit. Can you give her sth that is not just a fancy bikini please

Favourite line: "I am you... and you are me." Omnious. I love that.

BrOTP: Okay but I like to think of her as the vodka aunt to the rest of the Spriggans. I like to think that she looks at God Serena like a lizard doing funny lizard things. Also Irene and August inflicting fruit on fruit violence on each other my beloved.

OTP: I don't really see her as someone who would be interested in a relationship tbh. I enjoy Annarene and Irene/Selene though. Ancient traumatized lesbians my beloved

NOTP: I don't really feel that strongly about most Irene ships so I don't have a least favourite ship I guess?

Unpopular opinion: Pretty sure a good chunk of people agrees with me on this, but the way that Irene was brought back in 100 Year Quest was... weird. I mean, we get to see more of her and she gets a sorta happier ending, but why? Despite being the creator of dragon slayer magic, she barely does anything with a plot about dragons! Also why is she just benelovent now? Also the way... she reincarnated in Edolas? No. Just no. Why.

Random headcanon: Irene experiences the urge to sunbathe even after being turned back into a human again. Her sunbathing chair is carved out of the rock where it originally stood, and the staff knows better not to disturb her when she is out there.

Song I associate with them: I dunno why but I think of Bloody Mary by Lady Gaga for some reason. Basic, I know.

Favourite picture of them: OKAY SHE MAY BE IN THE FAR BACK BUT WE ALL KNOW THIS IS THE BIGGEST GODDAMN POWER MOVE I HAVE EVER SEEN

(Bonus: found this concept sketch of Irene, and needless to say, we were fucking robbed)

[duckymomospawn]

Godly Fun Facts

Persephone

Photo credit to Owlcation

Who/what do they do

Persephone (aka Kore, Cora, Proserpina, etc.) is the Olympian Goddess of the spring, love, ghosts, fertility, reincarnation, growth, the underworld, and more. She is also the wife of Hades, the God of the underworld.

2. Myth(s)

Myth #1

A famous myth of Persephone is her fight with Aphrodite (goddess of pleasure, fertility, beauty, and more) over the beautiful mortal Adonis (a young hunter who later became the God of fertility, vegetation, desire, beauty, and more.). While searching for prey, Adonis’ beauty was noticed by the Goddess Aphrodite, who was playing with Eros (aka Cupid. The God of carnal love.). Eros was sharpening his arrows when Aphrodite praised the beauty of Adonis, which made Eros jealous. To confront him, Aphrodite hugged Eros and told him he would always be the most beautiful to her. The arrows that Eros sharpened pierced Aphrodite, who fell in love with Adonis at first sight. On a spring day, Persephone wandered into the woods to find the now couple, Aphrodite and Adonis, cuddled up. Little did she know, Eros was pulling another prank of his and shot the spring goddess with one of his arrows, making her fall in love with Adonis. Going on another one of his hunts, Adonis was stopped by Aphrodite. She feared that his dangerous lifestyle would cause him to get hurt or, even worse, his death. Ares (God of war, the spirit of battle, courage, and more) was a previous lover of Aphrodite and was jealous of her new fascination with Adonis. On his hunt, Adonis stumbled upon a wild bore filled with bloodlust. Filled with the need to kill, Adonis injured the bore, but the bore, who was Ares, ended up killing Adonis. Aphrodite rushed to Adonis to find him dead and used his blood to create red flowers called Adonis before burying him. As Aphrodite wept at the loss, Persephone rejoiced at the opportunity to be with Adonis in the underworld. Once in the underworld, Persephone pursued Adonis and developed a relationship. Not able to stand being apart from her love anymore, Aphrodite went to the underworld to bring Adonis back to the land of the living. Hades (God of the underworld, riches, and more) did not appreciate the love Goddess stomping into his domain and demanding to bring a soul from the underworld back to life. She left with the promise that she would take away love from all couples. Zeus (the God of the sky and chief Greek deity) and Hera’s (Goddess of marriage, women, and family.) marriage was growing unbearable due to the lack of love in it. Zeus met with Persephone and Aphrodite to discuss what needs to happen next. Just like Zeus did with Demeter (Goddess of harvest, agriculture, food, and the fertility of the earth. Mother to Persephone), He suggested that Adonis spends ⅓ of the year in the underworld, ⅓ on the surface with Aphrodite and ⅓ to with whatever he pleased with. During spring, Adonis is with Aphrodite; in the summer, when she leaves, Persephone is on the surface to help her mother, Demeter, with the harvest. In the summer, Persephone can be with Adonis in the waking land. The myth of Adonis explains why sometimes winter stays longer; it is Persephone trying to keep with Adonis more, and why summer tends to linger for longer; Aphrodite is trying to have more time with Adonis.

Myth #2

Another myth of Persephone is less about the loving and affectionate side of Persephone but a more wrathful one. One of the many versions of the fatal tale of the Naiad nymph called Minthe. Minthe is the daughter of the river god Cocytus (which is also the name of one out of five rivers in the underworld) who resided in the underworld. Minthe is a gorgeous nymph who was with Hades before he abducted Persephone to bring him into the underworld to be his wife. Feeling replaced by Hades, Minthe claimed that she was more beautiful than Persephone and that Hades would soon grow tired of her and return to her when he did. When Minthe's opinion reached Persephone's ears, she transformed Minthe in the garden mint. This explains why mint is considered to be a sacred plant of Hades.

3. Influence on today's society

While Persephone's significance in the modern world may not be as apparent as it once was, it still holds great importance. Her existence serves as a symbol of the intricate cycle of life and death. Initially, she embodies the essence of a spring Goddess, bringing life and happiness as she causes flowers to bloom. However, she later transitions into the queen of the underworld, representing the journey of souls from life to death. This transition is not a one-time event but rather an ongoing process. Eventually, Persephone emerges from the underworld, bringing life and joy back to the world after the winter season. She embodies the continuous and unavoidable cycle that we all must experience.

The fact that Persephone takes on the role of the underworld's queen signifies that in order to be reborn, one must endure darkness. She can be compared to a fruit, going through the stages of sprouting, bearing fruit, and eventually departing. Additionally, Persephone symbolizes the deep love between a mother and child, showcasing the lengths one would go to for the other. Persephone's influence is more widespread than we may realize, as it represents the cycle that we must inevitably complete.

4. Sources

5. TimeStamp

This post was created on Saturday, January 20th, 2024, at 8:46 pm.

This post was updated on Sunday, January 21st, 2024, at 9:12pm.

[wolint]

STUBBORNNESS!

STUBBORNNESS

Exodus 8:19

 

Why are you so stubborn? Where does this stubbornness come from? Does it sound familiar? Stubbornness is a trait that the Bible directly addresses. The book of Proverbs emphasizes humility and warns against being “wise in our own eyes.” God dislikes pride and stiff necks, urging us to avoid boasting about ourselves and instead remain humble and attentive. Other verses also highlight the consequences of stubbornness, such as storing up wrath for the day of God’s judgment in Romans 2:5. Overall, the Bible encourages openness to correction and a willingness to follow God’s guidance, rather than obstinacy.

Stubbornness! Even after everything, Pharaoh’s heart remained hard and stubborn! God detests bullheadedness or stubbornness of the heart. We often exhibit extra stubbornness in certain areas of life. How stubborn are you about the truths you don’t want to face and the things you don’t want to do?

We stubbornly reject a truth, instruction, a command, or even a person for our reasons that change nothing. A hard and stubborn heart is not conducive to a victorious walk with God because He does not condone stubbornness. As Romans 2:5 says, a hard and impenitent heart stores up wrath for us on the day when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. We need a soft and repentant heart to avoid God’s wrath.

Stubbornness comes from pride that thinks our way is best and always right, so we refuse to concede to others’ opinions and reasoning, just as Pharaoh did with Moses and his God. Stubbornness does not respect the other person’s opinion.

Are you like Pharaoh, refusing to listen to God’s voice and instructions? When we see God’s hand at work but refuse to believe Him, we’re stubbornly resisting the truth. A little stubbornness here and there creates a permanent hardness of heart, as we see in Exodus 9:12. Again, Pharaoh refused to listen, so God made him even more stubborn. Habitually refusing to give way to God may cause Him to give up on us. Then what would we do without God? According to Proverbs 29:1, stubbornness can lead to destruction.

When we know what God expects and wants from us but refuse to do it, we are rebelling against Him and not yielding to His way. Refusing to honour Him is stubbornness according to His leading, as seen in Psalm 81:11-12.

The Israelites exhibited stubbornness on many levels that the Lord was often fed up with them. For instance, in 2 Kings 17, we see them taken into another exile because of their stubborn refusal to acknowledge God as God due to foolish pride. Verse 14 says it all, “they would not listen, but were stubborn.”

There was a running theme of stiff-neckedness in the Old Testament, a trait that was also exhibited in the New Testament, judging from Stephen’s accusation in Acts 7:51. Just as so many of us today are still resisting God, His word, and spirit out of stubbornness.

So many have stubbornly refused the existence of God even in the face of overwhelming evidence. They persistently reject God and His ways because of stubbornness. These people, Jesus calls stubborn faithless people in Matthew 17:17 and fools according to Psalm 14:1. We stubbornly hold on to our convictions and beliefs that are contrary to that of God because we refuse to believe some of the dictates of the Bible that do not please us.

The Lord even knows how stubborn we can be, as declared in Isaiah 48:4. He wants us, as He did them, to listen to Him, yet we don’t, according to Isaiah 46:12.

Let’s not be likened to those in Jeremiah 5:23 but rather be the ones with the circumcised hearts of Jeremiah 4:4 without stubbornness.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I come before you today with a humble heart. I acknowledge that stubbornness has been a barrier in my life, preventing me from fully embracing your will and purpose. Teach me, O Lord, to be flexible and adaptable in my thoughts and actions in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Shalom

WOMEN OF LIGHT INT’L PRAYER MIN.

[puck-the-devil]

mr-crawleigh

Oh. Dear. A time a human has actually... I'd have to think. I suppose I'm disappointed when a human I've come to appreciate for their morals does something like carelessly litter. If you are kind to other humans and animals but you don't care about the environment they live in, you're being rather short-sighted, aren't you? After all, we are affected by our environment.

But actually hurt...

Well, I've occasionally taken it upon myself to perform a seduction attempt when I'm the appropriate man for the job. I must say I rather enjoy some aspects of it, but I have to cut it short at a certain point with most women or I risk creating offspring, and I do not want to take on that responsibility.

However, this wasn't one.

I was testing a village priest who'd led a comfortable life with very little actual temptation after he'd taken orders. He had not succumbed to greed (a sovereign dropped by the poorbox), gluttony or sloth (free wine for priests), or envy (hearing of an old, less intelligent friend in a better position).

He was in the habit of dropping by my wine shop for a cup in the evenings to help him settle for bed, and we got to chatting while we drank together. I sought to drive him first to Pride by asking his opinion on any number of theological topics, and then to Wrath or even Despair by questioning God. However, he handled each heresy I offered with tact and grace, speaking only of kindness and love whenever I challenged him.

Eventually, I decided to test him by revealing to him that I was a demon. As a priest, it would be a very difficult realization to process. Would he act as he knew the Church would have it, and try to banish me from the village? Would he be tempted to ask me for powers or favors beyond mortal ken? Or, as I hoped, would he stay firm to what seemed his nature and try to, perhaps, talk me into renouncing Satan and all His works? Some have tried over the years, and I generally enjoy losing the argument on purpose.

He did none of these things. Instead, he stripped off his collar and knelt before me, saying that he knew all along my friendship had been a plot to seduce him. And he was quite willing to be seduced.

I was genuinely taken aback that my friendly overtures had been considered so tawdry. I had been there to tempt him, true, but I had really begun to enjoy his company; he had a rather subtle, dry wit that I don't think many in the village appreciated. He was always gentle, even to flies, and seemed to see the Divine in everything. I had frankly drawn out the testing process in a manner that would allow me to get to know him better, and perhaps do more good than harm in his life while I did so. I hadn't wanted him to fail, and had honestly been considering striking Lust off altogether because of his polite indifference to the flirtations of the village's ladies.

So I was at first dismayed that I'd so badly failed in my attempt at friendship, and then hurt that he'd assume it had all been to get him in the sack. I'd rather hoped I'd meant more to him than that.

Well, I told him to get up, kissed him on the forehead, and told him that a priest ought not to consort in such a way with demons. Then I suggested that he go talk to the village blacksmith, who had also been making rather obvious eyes at him and seemed like a kind if somewhat sarcastic chap.

I watched invisibly, and was pleased to discover that the priest did the proper thing and brought him a bottle of my wine when he went to buy a horseshoe "to hang up to keep the demons out." And a cake when he went back to buy nails he'd forgotten, and then flowers when he went back for a new hammer head that had broken (yes! "Broken"!) when he was nailing up the horseshoe...

They never did get around to actually putting it up, in the end. Just as well. I was the only demon in that village, anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hmm...that's quite the story. Thank you for telling it. So...was it that your attempts to be friendly didn't go over as you'd hoped? That you possibly might have cared for him more than he did you? That he succumbed to the sin of lust even when you didn't mean to tempt him with it? If you felt hurt that you'd failed at attempting friendship and that he'd assumed it had been to get him to sleep with you, why didn't you just tell him so? I understand you hoped you'd meant more to him than that, but what if he wanted to sleep with you *because* you meant more to him than you thought? And did *he* mean more to *you* than just a subject to be tested like all the others? You certainly seemed to have some admiring and fond ideas of him by the way you described him. And I assumed you cared about him to some degree since, even though you say he hurt you, you still pointed him in the direction of someone you seemed to think he could be happy with. I'm surprised he simply accepted your comment that a priest should not consort in such a way with demons, especially if he thought you were there to tempt him. I might have thought he'd have asked more questions before going on his way and moving forward with his life. May I ask how long you knew him?

@mr-crawleigh If you look under the passenger seat of your car, there’s a tin of cookies for Puck. Remember to be cautious with the fae, and polite.

After all, I could not save you if it became necessary.