#greek prospero when

[ratnix]

From a fellow Greek to another, Γειά σου!

I am still learning haha. But I need your opinion, what do you think about Greek Prospero? I know he's Sicilian but he definitely has some Greek genes in him 😌

OMGGGG GREEK NEVERMORE FANS WE LOVE TO SEE IT 😌😌 ΓΕΙΑ ΣΟΥ ΦΙΛΑΡΆΚΙ ΔΙΔΜΙΦΜΔΙΦΜΔΙΦΙΣ

Hmmm Greek Prospero??? I never really thought about it before but given how Italian/Greek Sicily is, I wouldn't be surprised if he's got some Greek in him 😌 I just know he would eat the SHIT out of μελομακάρονα every Christmas 😌

[majosullivan]

Nevermore Dashboard Simulator 2

🔄 many-coloured-grass reblogged

🌷 many-coloured-grass Follow

I don’t care what any of you are saying, I just think it is weird that people are joking that Lenore and Annabel are secretly into each other when they have shown constant distant for each other?? Go take a walk through the academy grounds

🔮 sorcery-sorcery-sorcery Follow

the fun police right here is trying to put me in gay detenion but Lenore and Annabel are blocking the way because Lenore has pinned Annabel against the wall

🌷 many-coloured-grass Follow

THE DEVIL HAS A CLAIM ON YOUR SOUL

#WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? #THEY CLEARLY HATE EACH OTHER #WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE SAYING STUFF LIKE THIS?

8,689 notes

🎇 labyrinth-of-light Follow

[snapping out of remembering the horrific details about how I slowly suffocated under a black mass of slurry, not knowing if my siblings were alive or not, all because I smelt the scent of coal coming from the fire in the common room] oh I should have been at the club

13,477 notes

⚰️ were-all-dead-here Follow

906 notes

🔄 ghostlygal reblogged

🕯️ phantomwraith Follow

i can’t deal with this academy anymore! i mean i can, and i will, obviously. but i can't fucking do this anymore!

🖤 ghostlygal Follow

Area Man Who Has "Had Enough" Wakes Up Next Morning at 7:00 AM to Get Ready to Go to Class Again

7,347 notes

🌤️ serenest-skies Follow

I don’t know if it’s just the stress from the announcement that there’s only one new life, but I SWEAR I just saw Lenore drag Annabel Lee into a closet just now

#or I have started to lose my mind #with how today ended #that seems like a much more reasonable conclusion

29 notes

🔄 spookyxskeletons reblogged angelic-oddity

☀️ angelic-oddity Follow

God I wish I was that bell

☀️ angelic-oddity Follow

THIS WAS MEANT TO BE SAVED TO DRAFTS

☀️ angelic-oddity Follow

GUYS PLEASE STOP REBLOGING THIS, ISN’T MY SHAME ENOUGH?

☀️ angelic-oddity Follow

NO YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME

15,074 notes

🔄 fable-silence reblogged

🍁 fable-silence Follow

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭I HAVETO GO TO CLASS AGAIN😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰

🍁 fable-silence Follow

my greek chorus ^

4,832 notes

🎊 impishimpulses Follow

My roommate, who just manifested into an six foot tall ochimusha and consistently calls me dearest: All the creatures in this maze seem to desire nothing more than to suck dry any life we have remaining, i just don’t understand this academy

Me [heard “suck dry” and got so hard i got nauseous]: i think i hauve the devil in me

3,496 notes

🔄 ferocious-fiddle reblogged

🧟‍♂️ gutzngore Follow

The Deans are literally Tweedledum & Tweedledee coded because of their sinister symmetry. but whatever

🎻 ferocious-fiddle Follow

OP I know this is a joke, but just remember that if you go knocking on enough doors asking to see the devil, eventually he’ll answer.

6,660 notes

🩸 bloodstained-petals Follow

I’m never going to listen to anyone ever again that tries to give dating advice along the lines of ‘The worst thing that they can say is no :)’, bitch I just witnessed that Ada girl get insulted so throughly in public after she tried to flirt with Prospero that she literally manifested into some screeching rotten hag

#like be real with me right now

706 notes

🔄 spookyxskeletons reblogged

🪸 drenchedkelpie Follow

The whole experience with the rats in yesterday’s lesson felt like having to escape a ficious pack of bloodthirsty hunting dogs, and I was but a simple and unexpecting deer

🪸 drenchedkelpie Follow

WHAT THE SHIT

☠️ spookyxskeletons Follow

3,969 notes

🔄 floatinghoax reblogged

🌺 etherealdances Follow

Kill them with kindness? WRONG. Spectre attack 👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻

1,002 notes

🔄 deadgirlwalking reblogged namelessghoul

⚙️ the-greater-the-ass Follow

Call me Wall Street the way I. The way I just crashed onto the floor because of that fucking Hungry Ghost

⚙️ the-greater-the-ass Follow

Have y’all just. Ignored everything that has happened the past few years or are some of you just fucking with me?

🌹 blushedandbloomed Follow

Is this some kind of wide spread prank that people are doing? Me and my roommate were talking about what memories of our family we had recovered and I mentioned how badly my brother was affected by his conscription during the World War II, and my roommate just looked at me like I was speaking another language and asked me what war I was even talking about

⚙️ the-greater-the-ass Follow

I’m sorry, world war number

WHAT?

🃏 demonic-betting Follow

I’M SORRY, WORLD WARS???

🌹 blushedandbloomed Follow

🪲 goldbug1843 Follow

@blushedandbloomed you cannot just react like that without any explanation about what on earth you meant by World War II

🌹 blushedandbloomed Follow

I MEANT WORLD WAR II, AS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1ST SEPTEMBER 1939 - 2ND SEPTEMBER 1945. WHY ARE YOU GUYS REACTING LIKE THIS?

🌻 hyacinth-hair Follow

Unless you are the Oracle of Delphi, why the hell are you stating an end date for a war that’s still going on?

🌹 blushedandbloomed Follow

BECAUSE I’M NOT??? WHAT YEAR DO YOU THINK IT IS?

🌻 hyacinth-hair Follow

1942, WHAT YEAR DO YOU THINK IT IS?

🌹 blushedandbloomed Follow

1950. I WOULD LIKE TO THINK I WOULD KNOW THE YEAR THAT I DIED THANK YOU VERY MUCH

⚙️ the-greater-the-ass Follow

IT’S LITERALLY 1934???

🥀 wilted-rose Follow

🌃 eveningstar Follow

This is getting out of hand

🪵 premature-burial Follow

I DIED IN 1916, HOW ARE YOU GUYS SAYING THAT YOU WERE ALIVE AROUND TWENTY YEARS AFTER THAT WHEN I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF THE WAR THAT TOOK MY LIFE IS EVEN OVER?

💤 sleepyirene Follow

LOVELY ARE YOU TELLING US THAT YOU DIED DURING WORLD WAR I?

🪵 premature-burial Follow

THAT IS WHAT YOU ALL MEAN BY WORLD WAR I???

🐸 hop-frog Follow

🌟 celestialwhispers Follow

I must be having some kind of vivid dream because there is no way this is right. In the most recent memories I currently have, the coronation of Edward VII recently occurred, and now I’m seeing people claiming that they died 1910-1950?

🌬️ loss-of-breath Follow

HOLD ON, QUEEN VICTORIA IS DEAD?!

⚙️ the-greater-the-ass Follow

🌙 voyage-to-the-moon Follow

I am going to lose my marbles

🪓 namelessghoul Follow

WHAT FECKING YEAR IS IT

🪦 deadgirlwalking Follow

56,395 notes

[anumacy]

What’s your favorite Nevermore ship(s)? :)

Oh lord ok

1. White Raven

Basic I know but idk they're meant for each other I think like AAAA the colour palettes how they act the differences but the similarities

2. Berenice X Eulalie

I think they're really cute together, they're combo goes well. They'd probably sit on the patio with wine in hand

3. Duke X Pluto

Honestly when first reading I thought I'd rank Eulalie X Pluto more but how Pluto worried about Duke n everything and even pulled the trigger?? That was awesome n I think they're very cute together

4. Pluto X Eulalie

We've seen him blushing. C'mon. Sad cat boy n energetic crazy cat lady? Eulalie likes Greek mythology. Pluto's name is Roman.

5. Prospero X Garlic Bread

Leave me alone I'm not explaining this one

6. Dolly X Poppet

They're cute. I like they're dynamic. First thought they were sisters but that tension..? Nah that's something else. Scissors could cut through it.

7. Ada X Annabel

Idk man I think they're fun together. I would talk about it but I'm tryna not get flamed and burnt on a stick

8. Willtressor

Will deserves better tbh but yk ada n Monty together freak me out like no

9. Ada X Lenore

That ONE panel sold this small small small idea in the back of my brain

I think it's funny n stuff n yh it's cute ig

Tbh I wanna draw Ada X Lenore n Eulalie X Bee but hair kills my soul

[beaningeneralacceptance]

Talking about Nimbus secrets, this post is not spoiler free!!!

I'm not going to talk about the Sameria secret because that is explained by the NPC in Al Jahili and I have no interest in buried treasure. Also keep in mind that I have not seen anything on fandom.

Starting off with Claw Island... I did not expect to find a skeleton at the shore, and apparently there is an Eden Empire somewhere in the War Seas??? And a King Prospero??? I won't lie that my first thought when reading this was "Are we getting Jesus?" but now that I revisit it, it says something about a golden orchard and specifically capitalises the word "Apple". This reminds me of the Garden of Hesperides, where there were golden apple trees. However, the mention of Eden would lead to the assumption that the golden orchard is the garden of Eden. After a quick wiki trip, I found that the two gardens are similar in concept, so perhaps this Eden Empire will be a mix of the two. AO is based on Greek mythology, so we'll continue with the concept of the Garden of Hesperides for now. The golden apples were given as a gift from Gaia to Zeus and Hera at their wedding, so I believe that the Eden Empire (or part of it) could either be where the ruins of Mt Olympus are or at the other end of the world, as the myth says. What makes me believe that this is the "Golden Orchard" mentioned in the note is the fact that the king uses the apples to help his people and in Greek mythology, the golden apples of the garden were said to grant immortality to those who ate one. In contrast, in the Garden of Eden, humans weren't allowed to eat any of the fruit. However, there could be a twist in here, we barely know anything about Sameria afterall. The skeleton appears to have no clothes on it and based on materials, cotton can take 5 months to decompose, while wool could take up to 5 years. If the note is written on papyrus, then it's probably very old because papyrus is very rot-resistant. Oh and bodies decompose within 6 months, so this note could be very very old. (Also I don't have a clear image of the skeleton and what the thing on his head is, if you're able to provide an image, that would be wonderful).

Moving on, Shale Reef. It is such a wonderful place, easily my favourite, similar to the Jaws that could be easily defended. There are springs and pastures, and many, many pots. If Link were to find that place, he would be the happiest man alive. The secret reveals a storage place within one of the shale spires, presumably it's used more as a fridge due to the water inside it (a very impractical fridge but oh well) or a a place to hide treasure. Because of this and the fact that there are no ruins on the island, we can infer that there were no people living on Shale Reef but the island is frequented by people, evident by the backpack near one of the shores. This one must be a candidate for the building update.

Finally, there is Drakos Arch. My buddy and I had a blast exploring the whole island. Not just the secret. The whole thing is full of lore! You'd think it's just the dragon but nope! But we'll talk about the secret for now because I'm short on time. The secret is a cave in one of the hills, which has been boarded up. Inside, we find a small camp and many, many skeletons of an unknown pirate crew, one of which is a captain sitting in a pile of coins. A small detail is the captain's hat, which has a flower on it. Now what could have happened to them? As we can see on the wall near the entrance, they were keeping track of the time and next to it is a skeleton that faces away from the door, stabbed in the back. This indicates an ambush but the enemy who attacked them remains unknown.

[aardvaark]

the librarians "and the broken staff" (s2e2) watch through:

oh, we’re starting off right at the end of the last ep. also im guessing the titular broken staff means prospero’s broken staff, considering they didn’t actually catch him.

the way magic is always blue lightning

"i am the first of the fictionals" oh?? very interesting. and they said that fictionals come about when a story is sufficiently popular etc, but prospero entered the real world just after the play was first performed? and he is going against his narrative.

ezekiel always reading the security manual of every building lmaooo

hahaha baird actually was in macbeth in high school. sometimes not being a genius pays off too.

hmm but is this kid checking out shakespeare for normal reasons or is she gonna be important later? miranda in the tempest is older but like. artistic license.

rubix-cube-ing (triangulating) the library lol

"i thought it was me" aw jenkins :( the library doesn’t hate you.

why the FUCK do they keep the roman and greek artifacts (that would cause a fucked up magic explosion thingy if they touched) in the same room???

i love both frankenstein & alice in wonderland. i’m glad they didn’t make frankenstein’s "monster" like many modern portrayals, the novel character is so much more interesting.

aw baird & jacob have a little handshake thing? cute

is eve gonna go to the tree of knowledge? hm, i think something happened last time a woman named eve went there…

ooh cause if moriarty falls off a cliff!! well!! she shouldn’t have pointed that out, should’ve let him just jump and see what happens lol

script writers getting a chance to break out all the shakespeare they’ve probably had to study over the years haha

DID THEY SET THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE ON FIRE. tell me he was bluffing!!

oh yes good job! what DID he burn tho. seems like a problem.

[crimsonscloud]

have yet to work on the Chloe Meta more because i have other things to do but i'm thinking about it, so here's a few things i'm rotating in my mind:

chloe is an epithet of the greek goddess demeter and refers to the young, green foliage or shoots of plants. chloe's tattoo contains leaves, thorns and flowers.

max's vision of the storm at the lighthouse comes right after chloe curses the bay for "taking away everyone [she] ever loved" and this is then followed by a sudden snowfall. demeter is believed to have caused winter and famine when persephone left to be with hades.

the newspapers max can find talking about the animal deaths and other anomalies describe them as "inexplicable" and there's no apparent environmental explanation for them. what did this immediately make me think of? the forest fire in before the storm set by rachel, which is also described as mysterious.

off that, rose amber describes chloe as a "force of nature" when you talk to her in before the storm and says this could be why she and rachel get along so well. side eyeing that.

"this could be rachel's revenge... our revenge." do you see the prospero/prospera and ariel parallels here. because i'm seeing them.

in max's nightmare, the "ghost max" in the diner starts to tell max she's being stupid and that "someday chloe will destroy-" but gets cut off when chloe comes over to the booth. since she was just talking about her being toxic for max (getting her in trouble, forcing max to time travel to save her) the first interpretation is that that's what she means, i.e. chloe will destroy max through her own self destructive behaviors. but when i read back through the transcript for polarized and saw this bit i went eyes emoji at it because "ghost max" could have also been talking about the storm.

the storm and the associated anomalies persist in some way relating to chloe even in other timelines. max sees beached whales in the alternate timeline, where that chloe is still angry at the world, even if she's better at hiding it. watch her reaction if max refuses the choice she gives her. in the comics, waves!chloe builds a sculpture that is called "the storm" (this chloe also keeps getting flashes of deja vu from the dust timeline, so that's interesting). when i saw this panel i jumped. look at the symbolism in there. chloe builds "the storm". chloe builds the storm.

in general the devs of before the storm like to put a lot of focus on stating how destructive chloe is as a person. life is strange also loves to use the personality powers trope. this is definitely the case with max -- she questions her decisions, she's hesitant, she can be a little slow to action sometimes, so: time powers. for chloe, someone who the devs describe as "a wrecking ball" and being very brash, and someone who harbors a lot of resentment and anger (justified or not), wouldn't a destructive power like that (however you classify it) with such a connection to her emotions fit her?

[penhive]

Journal Dated September 15th 2023

Sun light clinked cheers through the slit of the wall. I am introducing porngasm (from porn and orgasm) and it’s a pleasure of watching porn. Also there is pornphoria (from porn and euphoria) and also porntasy (from porn and ecstasy). A kiss is the language of flowers. Another term that I have made is clitorotatics (from clitoris and tactics). I am reading Russell’s History of Western Philosophy and I am fascinated by the Greek culture that espoused orgiastic, drunken, bacchanalian revelry. The cult of ecstasy is so carnal and sensual. Their mental state is one of orgasmosophy (from orgasm and philosophy). I am still hooked on to travelogues and since I don’t have the resources and I am window travelling. I am longing for the nights of drunkenness and sex. Yes I am a creative beatnik. Do all the cherubs created in art match those whom God created? The highest form of awareness is realization. In order to write one must read books. But I don’t read books fully and it’s a habit that I should discard. Literature is a painting of words. Legend has to shift from the status of a celebrity to self-actualization.  I am longing to escape the cycle of being broke. My wallet has to become the Houdini of money. The prodigal life is interesting and challenging. I won’t like the prodigal son squander my resources but invest them wisely. Kafka marooned the mind into an abject depression. Flesh fornicates in sin and is carnal and earthly. Mutiny  is the angst with the cannon of optimism. A fart made a faaaaaaaaaaaaaatr sound. Grass smiled at me in Green happiness. I am a mix of Prometheus and Prospero. I would love to eat the colors of the sun.  I am living life to love it. My existential philosophy is life is the celebration of meaning. Pot, Booze and Sex are cravings for the flesh. There is nothing noble about me. Whoever gives me love I double it in return. I am sad that my teenage lover ditched me. I am a staunch Christian and yes I have messed up my life but God still loves me. I am honored to be loved by God. I wish I am winning windfall bonanzas. Let travel be a muse that gives my opportunity. My philosophy of sex is sexistianlism  (from sex and existentialism). I wish to visit all the art galleries of the world. Art has given me more experience than reading. Reading is Kafkaesque. Poetry is the rhythm of life. Let the muse be my writing companion. My son was reading the Bible passage where Jesus was baptized by John. What struck me was when Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and a dove descended upon Jesus and the heavenly voice uttered: this is my son whom I am well pleased. This phenomenon can be called as beatific aesthetics. There is a principals conference and I have begged my wife to take me. The reason is not my inclination to attend the conference but with the privacy, I can make love. I am a guy who did not have a honeymoon as when I was being married my father was fully in debt.

[talesofpassingtime]

Yet with what delightful and poignant accuracy does the poem describe the modern Greeks; it is a portrait of a nation which rings as clear today as when it was written. The loquacity, the shy cunning, the mendacity, the generosity, the cowardice and bravery, the almost comical inability of self-analysis. The unloving humor and the scolding. Nowhere is it possible to find a flaw.

— Lawrence Durrell, Prospero’s Cell

[akhenaten-imhotep]

Song inspirations

// So recently I’ve been listening to Kawir’s “Medea” from the album “Adrasteia”, which is a concept album about the greek personification of female revenge (Adrasteia being one of the facets of Nemesis.)

The track in question tells Euripide’s version of Medea’s tale. An english translation from the original modern greek by Dr. Ioulia Kolovou is below.

Link to the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNwd6aLHutY

So thanks to this song, a plotbunny has been hopping inside my head lately. I have been wondering how I could adapt this song to Akhenaten’s backstory. Now, it would be quite metaphorical thanks to her being a 40k OC. Dunno yet if this lore is temporary, but here it is. I am open to suggestions on how to improve it.

Analysis is under the cut for lenght and triggering content; ie. child murder and suicide-by-proxy.

(Image to not die ignored XD)

---

“Medea”

Medea, the daughter of Aietes, who cut up Apsyrtos And scattered his parts in the Black Sea Medea the witch, Medea, fratricide, poisoner. Medea abominable, Medea sorceress, Medea the enchantress, Medea of the black soul. The daughter of Hecate, in a dank cave In a distant land was joined in matrimony to the conceited Jason In Corinth she was crowned queen with a crown of blood. She gave Glauce gifts of death; she wiped out Mermeros and Pheres She who gifted them life, grants death as her final gift She cuts out their lives with a blood-dripping hand, tainting the fruit of her womb. Justice does not dwell in the eyes of mortals without you knowing what they are hiding in their hearts. You hate them at first sight even if they haven’t done you any wrong. Monstrous Medea, Medea the witch, Medea the enchantress, Medea of the black soul, Medea Murderess.

----

Medea, the daughter of Aietes, who cut up Apsyrtos And scattered his parts in the Black Sea Medea the witch, Medea, fratricide, poisoner. Medea abominable, Medea sorceress, Medea the enchantress, Medea of the black soul.

Akhenaten was the daughter of a king of Gaznir. After being cast out by her family for being a psyker, she was rescued by the XVth legion when they brought the world under compliance. The then-child had no qualms with throwing her loyalty to her old family and throwing her lot with the Thousand Sons, who would become her new family. Years down the line, Gaznir rises in rebellion agaisnt the Imperium, with her old birth-siblings being among the leaders. The Imperium, who doesn’t know about Akhenaten’s blood ties to them, sends the Thousand Sons to put down the rebellion. And once Akhenaten arrives to the planet she realizes her relatives are behind it. Yet she has no qualms about following Magnus’ orders to destroy the city in which they were, thus leading to their deaths.

The thousand sons were well known for their use of psychic powers/magic, which earned them the distrust of many.

In the song, the poisoner line refers to how Medea poisoned Glauce, who was the woman with whom Jason cheated on her. Considering how Magnus and the Thousand Sons threw their lot with Lorgar/ the Word Bearers and Horus / the Sons of Horus despite them being the ones responsible for the destruction of Prospero and the enslavement of its civilian population for turning them into rogue psykers during the Horus Heresy, they would symbolize Glauce.

If memory doesn’t fail me, they joined the traitor’s side out of desperation for they wished to find all of Magnus’ soul fragments. My knowledge of 30k lore is patchy, so I don’t know how far they were in the search before they said “fuck it we all”. As a result, I am unsure if Akhenaten ever knew of the reasons for the deal. But even if she knew, she would still find it unforgivable due to how the Legion protected and nurtured Prospero’s population. Considering chances are the Word Bearers and the Sons of Horus mistreated their rogue psykers, Akhenaten would interpret the legion’s actions as an approval of it.

I do know Akhenaten dropped the legion faster than a hot potato after she witnessed Ahriman sacrificing Hathor to summon a Lord of Change, so if she witnessed the rogue psyker’s abuse chances are it was after she left.

The reason why she abandoned the legion was because Hathor and Ahzek were her adoptive parents. And if Ahriman was capable of doing that to Hathor, then what would he do to her?

But perhaps a better reason would be their actions during the Siege of Terra. Conjuring daemons and using black magic to terrorize the planet. After all, Akhenaten fought for the Imperium, thus making her be in the receiving end of that.

Or maybe she turned agaisnt them because of all of the above.

EDIT: Damn, can’t believe I forgot about the First and Second Rubrics of Ahriman. And how thanks to the Second one, survivors from the First became randomly rubricc’ed. Yet another reason for her hate and anger towards the XVth.

To make matters worse, after learning of the first rubric she fell into a deep depression which led to her not getting out of bed for three months. And then she pulled a suicide by proxy via fighting an old thousand sons love who got chaos-spawned thanks to flesh change from a magical mishap. She survived the fight, but faced dire consecuences because of throwing magical precautions to the wind.

Her feelings towards Horemheb were mixed. On one side he was her first love, but after falling to Tzeentch he tried to swindle her.

-----

And as a revenge for the capture and enslavement of the prosperine, the corruption of half of the legions, the burning of Prospero, the Betrayal at Calth, various atrocities and the death of Sanguinius, Akhenaten under false pretenses gives poisoned gifts to members of the XVIth and XVIIth legions, resulting in their deaths.

The daughter of Hecate, in a dank cave In a distant land was joined in matrimony to the conceited Jason In Corinth she was crowned queen with a crown of blood. She gave Glauce gifts of death; she wiped out Mermeros and Pheres She who gifted them life, grants death as her final gift She cuts out their lives with a blood-dripping hand, tainting the fruit of her womb.

The first and second lines would refer to how she became Magnus’ gene-child once she got implanted with the XVth’s geneseed. Magnus’ main trait was his arrogance, which was one of the factors which led to the legion’s fall.

The “crowned queen with a crown of blood” line would be about how many years after the Great Scouring she killed a Son of Horus and took over his warband (but that’s a long story.)

We already know who Glauce is, but who would be Mermeros and Pheres? Thousand Sons who were created using Akhenaten’s geneseed.

(Considering Akhenaten belonged to the Order of the Jackal, and they were the ones in charge of selecting, transforming and raising the aspirants and neophytes into astartes, chances are Mermeros and Pheres were astartes in whose creation she was involved. Because they were made using her geneseed and she raised them, she considered herself their mother.

And they were lost in the warp during the Horus Heresy, being spat out many years later.)

Justice does not dwell in the eyes of mortals without you knowing what they are hiding in their hearts. You hate them at first sight even if they haven’t done you any wrong.

Akhenaten was beautiful, yet hid a lot of hate and anger in her heart. And she took it out on innocent people.

Monstrous Medea, Medea the witch, Medea the enchantress, Medea of the black soul, Medea Murderess.

Thanks to the crimes she commited, the people would call her Queen Abomination.

[zerogate]

The idea that our ordinary consciousness, our world, our life, is dreamlike has found expression in the writings of many spiritual traditions, as well as in poetry and philosophy. According to this metaphor, living is a kind of sleeping; dying is a kind of waking up. Shakespeare’s Prospero, in The Tempest, declared that “we are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” In many folk belief systems, death is regarded as akin to sleep. We speak euphemistically about “putting an animal to sleep,” and in Greek mythology Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death) were brother gods. Moreover, spiritual teachers counsel us that a close encounter with death can produce an experience of “awakening,” which can be a valuable shock propelling us to another level of awareness.

If the end of life is compared to awakening from a sleep, the beginning of life—birth—is often compared to falling into a sleep. In Wordsworth’s ode “Inti­mations of Immortality” we read:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar.

This parallels Gnostic doctrines of incarnation as a fall into matter, a descent into form; and parallels the notion, propounded by many philosophers and psychologists, that childhood conditioning produces a state of amnesia, a shutting down or reduction of the free and open, fluid awareness of the infant. Some Gnostics used the myth of Endymion as an image of our condition: he was a Greek youth who had been put into a permanent sleep by Zeus. Thus, according to these teachings, we live a kind of passive, static existence, in which vitality is minimized: and we are fascinated by the dreamlike images and fantasies of our inner worlds.

[...]

The old Germanic legend of Sleeping Beauty is an enchanting parable on this theme. The princess Beauty symbolizes the human psyche, and the wicked witch who curses the infant at birth represents the process of early conditioning, which brings about oblivious, unawakened consciousness. According to the story, the adolescent princess Beauty pricks her finger on the poisoned spindle, becom­ing subject to the sleep-producing spell. “Spinner” is also a German colloquial expression for someone with crazy ideas. Metaphorically speaking, this represents the notion that the developmental crises of adolescence trigger confused thinking that cause the personality to seek escape and relief in deep, forgetful “sleep."

The castle and its residents symbolize the body and its functions. The castle is lifeless: all the people in it, including Sleeping Beauty’s parents, the servants and cooks, are asleep. Personality and body consciousness are steeped in narcotic oblivion and remain that way until the Prince, who is the awakener, arrives, and every­ thing comes alive. The Prince is the royal self, the higher self, the one whose kiss or touch awakens us.

In the Gnostic text known as The Gospel of Truth, in a passage referred to as “the nightmare parable,” we find existence described as nightmare; “and everyone has acted as though asleep at the time when he was ignorant. And this is the way he has come to knowledge, as if he had awakened.” Those who remain unawakened are described as “creatures of oblivion.” Jacques Lacarriere, a modern writer on the Gnostics, states that for them, “sleep is to consciousness what weight is to the body: a state of death, inertia, a petrification of psychic forces... to awaken, to be alert, to keep vigil, these are the recurring themes in Gnostic texts.”

-- Ralph Metzner, Opening to Inner Light

[dinopopduck]

Ezekiel Only Being Unaffected By Certain Kinds of Magic

Let’s just start with me saying this isn’t exactly a new theory. It’s the demigod thing, and it’s a fairly popular one. If you haven’t heard of this headcannon, I put as much as I can find here. If you have, I found a bunch of new stuff that I haven’t seen anyone else mention, so reading this isn’t a complete waste of your time, I hope.

I tried to keep this from becoming wordy, but it got really long anyway, because there was a lot to talk about here.

Ezekiel being unaffected by magic is sort of an ongoing thing in the show. He is influenced by it much of the time, such as by Santa’s Hat, Pan’s Flute, Prospero’s spell, lycanthropy, etc. When it comes to the stuff he was seemingly completely immune to, there is one link that connects them all.

Apple of Discord: Everybody knows this one. The Apple is a Greek artifact, meant to turn you into the worst version of yourself, and Ezekiel was only one completely unaffected. It’s blamed on “he’s already the worst version of himself” or whatever.

Zeus Lightning Bolt: the episode where Ezekiel ends up decked out in Greek armor, and is sent to pick up Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, which was freaking out and zapping everywhere. He picks it up just fine, and he’s then able to hand it off to Flynn. It may have been purely because of the Greek armor he was wearing, but Flynn did not seem so sure about that working.

Cindy’s Love Potion: Ezekiel is able to be near the potion without becoming obsessed with Cindy. At first, it’s blamed on him being obsessed with himself, then later Jacob tells Ezekiel that he was already in love with Cindy. It was an obsession, not a love, potion you literally spent the episode proving that blah blah, he didn’t even recognize her at first blah blah, anyway, I have a better reason.

There are two Greek mentions in this episode. First, the potion project itself is called Project Aphrodite, a Greek goddess. Second, the sunflowers; when asked, Jenkins mentions how sunflowers are a Greek symbol of unrequited love. In addition, “love” potions may have originated in Greece, or at the very least, were common enough to have multiple sites claim that, lol. At the end of the season, where each librarian uses their gifts to turn Apep mortal, this greek potion is what Ezekiel ends up using.

See a pattern here? Everything that he was completely unaffected by was Greek in some way. So, he has an immunity to these kinds of artifacts, but why? I vote demigod.

Anyway, moving on.

Here’s some magic he could have been immune to, or could not have been. Its pretty debatable.

Fortuna: Technically a Roman Goddess, but the show does acknowledge how similar they are to Greek Gods. He may have been affected by the spell, but broke out of it pretty quick. Some think he may not been affected at all; slot machines aren’t exactly fair, especially in a casino that exists to cheat completely. As for Ezekiel getting so upset over losing, what he says, “Not the guy that loses, I’m the guy that wins” sounds very similar to what he was saying in Point of Salvation, but that’s a whole nother topic.

Alternately, he was affected and this point shouldn’t be here. I don’t know, I’m not the writers.

Libris Fabula: He was a little bit affected, just far less than the others, as he acted pretty much the same. He did get a barely noticeable clothing change, became luckier than normal, and was just able to cast a spell for some reason? Speaking out that spell, it froze the guy, and a certain Greek God does have the ability to put people to sleep. Not really the same thing, but worth thinking about. Maybe. More on that later.

Most people think he was immune, but he could have just been similar enough to the character he was portraying that he didn’t need to change a whole lot.

These ones are barely worth mentioning, because have other reasonable (though I guess your definition of reasonable may be different from mine) explanations, but you could see them as magic immunity as well:

Silver Screen: Ezekiel gets into character the least, while Cassandra and Jacob are out singing and calling people by their character names. Maybe less affected, maybe just a spoilsport. Probably the last one.

Point of Salvation: Was the only one able to remember previous loops. Since they were in a video game, it’s explained that since he was the first through the door, he became the player while everyone else became NPCs. I mean, sure.

Christmas Thief: Saint of Thieves only used his truth telly power on Ezekiel’s mother, not him. Ezekiel did not feel obligated to say anything. Could just be that the guy wasn’t talking to Ezekiel. Or, earlier in that episode Ezekiel tells his mother he doesn’t steal anymore (at least for anything other than the Library, I assume, cause he still kinda does) and therefor that made him immune to the spell, since it only works on thieves.

Image of an Image: Both Cassandra and Ezekiel got their pictures taken, and Cassandra was the only one affected by the transfer spell. However, Ezekiel wasn’t one of the “chosen ones” because he snuck in, and jumped in front of the camera while Eve (one of the “chosen ones”, who was later able to be affected) turned away. Either that, or he just didn’t have time to feel the effect, since his picture was taken after Cassandra’s, and Eve’s was placed in manually.

That’s all the possible instances of magic immunity I could think of.

Next, we have some other stuff that is relevant to this point, but wasn’t necessarily artifact/magic immunity.

Prophecy Cube: Created by the Oracle of Delphi, who is from Greek mythology. This isn’t about whether Ezekiel was affected by something, as he was still able to use the prophecy glass/get stuck in the cube. Rather, it’s about the Zeus Challenge in the cube. They probably would have died in there, but luckily, Ezekiel had just happened to steal, and keep on him, the exact thing they needed to get through– a bunch of golden coins, and a prophecy that ensures at least one coin can’t be destroyed. Luck? Prophecy? Divine Intervention? Plot convenience? Okay its probably the last one but STILL

Also, Ezekiel getting pissed at Zeus.

Zeus’s Bolt (again?): There is a promo image I think for season 4? that has each of the Librarians holding their tools. Jacob had his axe, Cassandra had a notebook, Flynn had Excalibur, all normal, except for Eve and Ezekiel. Eve had this big staff thing I didn’t recognize, and Ezekiel had Zeus’ Bolt for some reason?

Lightning, just, in general: If there is wild electricity in an episode, Ezekiel is probably around.

Examples:

City of Light: Gets shocked and knocked backwards into Jacob by a very electrified fence, gets up right afterwards and is fine.

Broken Staff: The Zeus Bolt thing, you get it.

Image of an Image: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob. Jacob was not really fine. He lived, though.

Point of Salvation: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob part 2 Electric Boogaloo, but this time on purpose. He was not fine. He died. But don’t worry, he lived.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Mentioned a little bit above, Ezekiel, Jacob, and a student get stuck in the Zeus Challenge, and Ezekiel uses some coins he just so happened to steal recently. Throwing them on tiles shows whether or not lightning will strike if it was stepped on. Seriously, why is it ALWAYS Jacob?

The Dark Secret: Ezekiel is the one sent to wrap a cord around a lightning rod constantly being struck by lighting. “Why am I bloody doing this”, he asks? I mean, Zeus probably isn’t going to kill his descendent(?), right?

Werewolves: Have you heard of the Lycaon of Arcadia? It’s a Greek myth. Basically, this dude named Lycaon wants to test how smart and all-knowing Zeus is. To do so, he kills his own son, cooks him, and serves him to Zeus to see if he notices, ya know, no biggie. Zeus was like “wtf man” and brings the son back to life, and turns Lycaon into, you guessed it, a wolf. So, Zeus creates a werewolf of sorts, maybe one of the firsts. In Fangs of Death, Ezekiel just so happens to be the one (main) character to be turned into werewolf. So, if he was a descendant of Zeus, imagine how big of a “fuck you” that was to the god. That all being said, Ezekiel was turned by an Egyptian god, so that might not have been intentional. Also, they may have just been avoiding turning Jacob, because there is already a werewolf named Jacob and they didn't want another Twilight reference in that episode.

Family/Name: Ezekiel is adopted, and his adoptive mother mentions how she took him in off the streets. Because of that, we don’t know who his birth parents are, and whether or not he, or anyone else, knows is unknown. Soooo, we can take some creative liberties as to who his parents might have been.

As for his name, it carries some religious connotations. It should be remembered though, the meanings I’m talking about here are Biblical, not Greek, so again, might mean nothing for this argument. “Ezekiel” is “God’s Strength” or “God will Strengthen”. Jones might also be something like “God is gracious” or “God has favored”, thought different sites say different things. However, I’m pretty sure the name Jones came from his adoptive mother, and apparently Jones is a common last name in Australia. His first name is more relevant, because all of his siblings have themed names; Mercy, Charity, and Honor. So, either his mom named him differently because she knew something we don’t, or he already had the name before she adopted him. Either way, this probably means absolutely nothing. But what are we here for? To analyze a dead show like an English teacher analyzes the color of curtains in an 100 year old text. If it wasn’t for all the other stuff, I probably wouldn’t think about this too much.

Okay. So Greek stuff, lightning, and Zeus himself come up a LOT when it comes to this guy. So is Ezekiel the son of Zeus? Possibly, but a more popular theory is that he’s Zeus’ grandson. Because Zeus’ son just so happens to be Hermes; god of things such as luck, travel, money, trade, and most importantly, thieves. Oh, and animal husbandry/shepherds and sleep, I don’t know how much those apply but I will try.

Time for some comparisons, honestly most of these don’t even need to be explained so I’ll keep it short-ish, cause this shit has gotten way too long already.

Luck: Ezekiel, especially in the first season, likes to rely on luck, and tends to be very lucky in general. Examples where this is mentioned include Fables of Doom and Apple of Discord. “Smarter to be lucky then lucky to be smart!”

Travel: We can assume that he ended up traveling in his previous job (that being heists all over the world) fairly often, even before the Library. Becoming a Librarian with a teleporting door increased that of course.

Money: Steals very high-value items to sell. Also apparently likes to take money from his coworker’s wallets. And probably everyone else’s.

Trade: The aforementioned high-value pieces he steals are traded/sold for money. In Christmas Thief, we find out he kept none of the money or items, giving it away to others who needed it. That kinda fits this category, I think.

Thieves: I really don’t need to explain this. Unless you haven’t seen the show.

Animal Husbandry/Shepherds?: Basically the care of animals. Um, well he doesn’t keep cows or anything, but he has a tendency to “adopt” magical creatures that need help. Stumpy, Nessie Jr., maybe Frankenstein’s Monster as well?

Sleep: I mentioned earlier how Ezekiel froze a guy (not really in an icy way, just couldn’t move) by hitting him with his coin. Hermes is able to send people to sleep with his Caduceus (the snake wand thing). Yeah, it’s not really the same thing, though you could consider being frozen a kind of sleep. He could have just been lucky enough to find a magical coin, and lucky enough to figure out how to use it at the exact right time without even knowing what it did. It’s a stretch either way, really, and was never explained in the episode at all. Yeah, I can't find anything else that fits.

Hermes is considered to be a thief and trickster, and a lot of the things he is god of are Ezekiel’s main occupations. With all those similarities to Hermes, frequent events related to lightning and Zeus related things, and immunity to Greek artifacts, we can conclude that he is perhaps the son of Hermes, taking after his father in abilities and getting visits from grandpa.

Alternatively, his somehow IS Hermes, but I doubt that. He’d probably be way more powerful. He was also able to see the future with Prophecy Glass, which Jenkins claims is impossible for immortals to do (although in that case he was talking about a Prophecy Cube, but close enough). It’s more likely that he is a demigod.

Okay, that is all I can think of that is relevant. I binged the series about two months ago, and have been thinking about this theory. I went ahead and re-watched the episodes that I mentioned in more detail, as well as parts of others that I remebered. The reason I bring this up is because I may have missed things. I did not rewatch a majority of the episodes, more that I looked at a list of episodes on wikipedia and tried to remember what happened in them, watching clips and episodes if I needed to.

The show was cancelled, so we’ll probably never get a confirmation as to who Ezekiels’ birth parents were, and as such, you can’t prove me wrong! That being said, if I got any facts incorrect in this, please tell me so I can fix it. I’m not well versed on Greek Mythology, in fact I know basically nothing, and did the research as I went along. So again, there could be more. This is just what I found in like, less than a day of searching.

Join me next time on “How is Cassandra magical, where’d she get it from? Also, were we ever gonna meet her parents?” And “In the first episode of season 3, Jacob is just able to hit a heavy punching bag of its chain, across the room, at bullet speed, just because of a shift of his wrist, and later in that episode do the same thing to Apep, and it’s just…never addressed or spoken about again? Like wtf man?”

I'm probably not doing that

If you managed to get through all of this, thank you, and I hope this wasn’t too painful to read.

[persimmontrees]

Duciel, like many countries, has its own series of small traditions connected to the meaning of colors, items, and more.

Duciel is not unique in using the color black to signify grief and mourning. Traditionally, the family is meant to wear black for a full month after the death of a loved one. They are not to attend any celebrations, however they may attend Mass.

Although not exclusive to members of the Crown, purple represents royalty. At any royally-sanctioned event, the Monarch must wear the color. Other members of royalty and guests of the event are forbidden from wearing the color.

When attending Mass or any other Church event, the congregation is expected to wear the color of the Virgin Mary. Recently, it has also become acceptable to wear white. It is also expected that one will dress in humble means, although wealthier members seem to be ignoring this rule. Women are expected to cover their hair. Should they not, we are not to allow them to enter the Church.

Pearls carry an immense value in Duciel. I suspect this is because of a tradition dating back to the days of Orienonisi, however I am unable to find sources explicitly explaining their importance. What I do know is that by the time the Ancient Greeks first began traveling to the island, the natives were noted to seemingly worship pearls.

These days, they lack any sort of religious significance. They instead indicate status and wealth, and are possessed typically only by those in the higher classes. Any member of the lower classes lucky enough to own a single pearl are wise to keep it hidden from anyone outside their own household.

Brother Prospero LaFitte, personal notes for a future work

1510

[princesssarisa]

I’ve been looking at the blog Jo Writes Stuff.

One of its main features is a litmus test for Strong Female Characters. Based on a series of 10 questions, the webmistress Jo has analyzed whether various fictional female characters are genuine “strong female characters” or not. Her general standard is that 8/10 points or higher equals a Strong Female Character, 7.5/10 points or lower fails the test.

Just for fun, and particularly because so many iconic female characters fail the test (Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy Gale, Juliet Capulet, Catherine Earnshaw, Princess Leia, and even Elizabeth Bennet, if only because her role revolves “too much” around her love life), I thought I’d apply the test to several iconic, highly respected male protagonists. Particularly to tragic heroes, because I suspected that a double standard was at play, with some of the same weaknesses that make certain female characters fail the test considered compelling tragic flaws in male characters.

For the all-important question of whether or not they reflect stereotypes about gender, I thought to myself “If this male character were a woman, would she reflect negative stereotypes?” For the question of “How does this character relate to other women?” I thought of the characters’ relationships with other men and thought of what the implications would be if these friendships, family bonds or rivalries were between women instead.

Analyzing Shakespeare’s heroes, I found that the one who scores highest on the test is Prospero: 9/10. No wonder Julie Taymor decided to turn him into a woman! If he were one, he’d definitely be a Strong Female Character. King Lear also passes, with 8.5/10.

But Hamlet? 7/10 – if he were a woman, she’d be lambasted by feminists for her cowardliness and inaction. Macbeth? 6/10 – too influenced by his Lady. Benedick? Also 6/10 – his plot is too romance-centric. Othello? Just 5/10. Romeo? Also 5/10, lower than the score given to Juliet!

Les Misérables’ Jean Valjean passes with a solid 8/10, the same score given to Queen Elsa and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although his pathetic inferiority complex and eventual dying of grief when he loses his daughter would earn some feminist wrath if he were a woman. But Sophocles’ Oedipus, the quintessential tragic hero of ancient Greek theatre? Just 5.5/10 – if he were a woman, she’d lose all too many Strong Female Character points for being tragically unable to fight her fate. Ebenezer Scrooge? 7/10 – much too passive. Heathcliff? 5.5/10, lower than Cathy’s score – a woman like him would be much too stereotypically petty, manipulative, obsessed with her love interest and antagonistic to other women.

I think this Strong Female Character litmus test is a good one and I think I’ll apply it to the female characters I create. But I also think it’s worth remembering that just because a character – female, male, or non-binary – doesn’t fit certain definitions of a “strong” character doesn’t inherently mean they’re not a good character. I also think we should be wary of applying double standards to characters based on gender. Women shouldn’t be held to a higher standard of inner strength and achievement than men are, or vice-versa.

[elizabethan-memes]

Coriolanus, Henry VIII and Macbeth

MACBETH: Who is the most villainous Shakespeare character?

I A G O

IAGOIAGOIAGOIAGO

No contest. I mean in terms of body count, Titus is probably #1, but if I were Titus Andronicus’ lawyer I’d definitely be entering an insanity plea. Guy’s lost so many sons at this point he’s gone off the deep end. Iago is dangerously sane and dangerously competent. All the other villains experience some kind of regret, even if it’s selfish regret like ‘I shouldn’t have done that because of how badly it’s worked out for me.’ Even Richard III feels some kind of disgust and self-loathing at the end “is there a murderer here? Yes! Me...”. Unlike Richard who plays to people’s greed and can be deceived when they seem to go along with him, Iago preys upon the worst primal tribalistic impulses “black ram tupping your white ewe”. And at the end he’s like “I bet you want me to express regret and remorse and explain why i did it all? no i won’t so go fuck yourself”

CORIOLANUS: Which gay pairing has the most evidence? (Conversely, which pairing do you wish had evidence?)

Achilles and Patroclus in Troilus and Cressida because you can’t outgay The Codifiers of Gay(TM). Prospero/Ariel kind of counts as a queer if not a gay ship because Ariel technically doesn’t have a gender, really, being a spirit. I played a female Prospero to a female Ariel when I was a teenager and there was lots of tender yearning placed on “Dearly, my delicate Ariel” (answer to “Do you love me, master? No?”) Also when Ariel is freed and goes skipping off, I made Prospero reach out a hand and inhale as if about to call out to Ariel, say something more, but stopping. You could read Prospero/Ariel as more paternal though “that’s my kind master!” “That’s my brave spirit!”, but honestly Prospero confides in Ariel at the end with a vulnerability that seems more intimate than parent/child. The BBC Shakespeare Coriolanus is very homoerotic, with no sense of personal space, and given that Shakespeare lovers frequently kill each other out of jealousy, and given that Coriolanus gets stabbed for returning to his wife, I can’t help but see an anger at betrayal that’s as much sexual as honour-based.

I wish there was more evidence for Rosalind/Celia, like them getting together. It’s a big deal to defy your family and choose exile, especially if you’re a girly sheltered princess type. I don’t think you’d do that just for a very very close friend. That’s life-partner commitment.

HENRY VIII: What is your favorite non-Shakespeare play and why?

Written at the same time or set in the same era or favourite play in general?

I love Jew of Malta and Dr Faustus. Marlowe is just a very readable playwright. I like Greek tragedy, especially the Oedipus plays. Antigone is one of my all-time favourite female characters. I regularly reread Lustgarten’s The Secret Theatre. Oscar Wilde’s plays I love. I loved the play Queen Anne which I got to see at the RSC when it was a relatively new and unknown play *dons hipster glasses* I liked it before it was cool. I just love female characters and female relationships and tragic heroines and villains and tragedies in general, so plays that have all that plus great dialogue are right up my street. 

[lgbtqiahistoricalromance]

LGBTQIA+ Historical Romance Novels...International Locations

Historical romance novels tend to center on a few locations, despite the large mass that is our globe. Here’s a list of romances that don’t take place in England or New England.

Beautiful One: An LGBT Historical Romance by Kerry Adrienne - Ancient Greece

In Athens, the Great Dionysia festival rouses citizens with wine, song, theater, and debauchery. Politics and scandal paint deep shadows across the portrait of the city, and wolves in sheep’s clothing roam the streets and the stage.   Shy Kallistos faces Sophocles in the theater competition, play for play against the celebrated master. Success beckons like a siren’s song, but the dark allure and smoldering desire for a new acquaintance rouse feelings Kallistos never imagined he’d feel. Alexios spent many cold nights singing to the sheep and stars before traveling to Athens to help Sophocles. He longs to feel the breath of audience applause on his face and will do anything to become a famous actor. Now, losing his heart to the competition forces him to make difficult choices that may jeopardize his lifelong dreams. Of Minotaur masks and men…where is life truly lived? On the stage or in the heart? This book was first published in 2013. It has been significantly revised to release here.

Rebellion by Naomi Aoki - China

1899, political tensions are rising with the emergence of the Boxer Movement in Northern China, straining ties between the Chinese Imperial Government and the Eight Nations with stakes in the country. As a Captain in the Royal Marines, Alfred Cartwright is deployed to Shanghai, where he discovers more than he’d dared to dream of – Love. Not even the struggles with language or the fear of reprisals if their relationship is found out, can stop Alfred from falling for the Chinese man he encounters. But as the ant-foreigner sentiment of the Boxer Movement grows in strength, their relationship will be put to the test.Where do Alfred’s loyalties lie? With the man he loves or his country, as they stand opposite each other on a battlefield neither can escape.

Shadowrunners by Alex Assan - Fantasy Chicago-style

“A thread all about my queer noir webcomic Shadowrunners.com ; historical fantasy comic where the alcohol prohibition in the 1920s is instead a prohibition of COLOUR! 🎷🍸💚 via @alexassanart on Twitter”

A thousand years ago, the last colour in the world faded to grey. Now, after the great archaeological discovery of Queen Sorizahana’s shade-stocked tomb, it stands ready to enter the world again. Ironwell City will become the birthplace of the burgeoning colour industry, where colour is pumped out of factories, poured into perfumed bottles and sold at exorbitant prices to those wealthy enough to afford the luxury.

At least, that’s the plan according to the Five Financiers of the Sorizahana excavation.

One part Prohibition fantasy, one part Robin Hood, and a whole lot of epic heist, Shaderunners follows a group of ragtag bootleggers and bohemians who band together in an effort to steal colour from the wealthy echelons of Ironwell’s high society. Among them: a philosopher, a puppeteer, a gutter rat, an opera singer, a naval officer and a hopeless romantic. Together, they run The Glass Dial, former watch shop and future night club, where all the house drinks run red.

Speak easy, pal, ‘cause the road to ruin is paved with good intentions.

Labyrinth by Alex Beecroft - Ancient Knossos (Beautiful origin story of a myth, with a nonbinary MC.)

- Kikeru, the child of a priestess at the sacred temple of Knossos in ancient Crete, believes that the goddesses are laughing at him. They expect him to choose whether he is a man or a woman, when he’s both. They expect him to choose whether to be a husband to a wife, or a celibate priestess in the temple, when all he wants to do is invent things and be with the person he loves. Unfortunately, that person is Rusa, the handsome ship owner who is most decidedly a man and therefore off-limits no matter what he chooses. And did he mention that the goddesses also expect him to avert war with the Greeks? The Greeks have an army. Kikeru has his mother, Maja, who is pressuring him to give her grandchildren; Jadikira, Rusa’s pregnant daughter; and superstitious Rusa, who is terrified of what the goddesses will think of him being in love with one of their chosen ones. It’s a tall order to save Crete from conquest, win his love, and keep both halves of himself. Luckily, at least the daemons are on his side. 

The Crimson Outlaw by Alex Beecroft - 18th century Transylvania (High adventure, with not a single vampire.)

- Love is the greatest outlaw of all. Vali Florescu, heir to a powerful local boyar, flees his father’s cruelty to seek his fortune in the untamed Carpathian forests. There he expects to fight ferocious bandits and woo fair maidens to prove himself worthy of returning to depose his tyrannical father. But when he is ambushed by Mihai Roscat, the fearsome Crimson Outlaw, he discovers that he’s surprisingly happy to be captured and debauched instead. Mihai, once an honoured knight, has long sought revenge against Vali’s father, Wadim, who killed his lord and forced him into a life of banditry. Expecting his hostage to be a resentful, spoiled brat, Mihai is unprepared for the boy to switch loyalties, saving the lives of villagers and of Mihai himself during one of Wadim’s raids. Mihai is equally unprepared for the attraction between them to deepen into love. Vali soon learns that life outside the castle is not the fairy tale he thought, and happy endings must be earned. To free themselves and their people from Wadim’s oppression, Vali and Mihai must forge their love into the spear-point of a revolution and fight for a better world for all.

Side Note...Alex Beecroft also has a collection of novels that take place in the Caribbean.

The Celestial by Barry Brennessel - 19th century California

- Love was the last thing Todd Webster Morgan expected to find while searching for gold in 1870s California. But that was before he met Lao Jian. Hardened beyond his nineteen years, Todd Webster Morgan is determined to find gold high in the Sierra Nevadas. But his dream is violently upended. Complicating matters even more, he meets a young Chinese immigrant named Lao Jian, whose own dreams of finding gold have been quashed by violence. But life back in Sacramento isn't any easier. Todd's mother struggles to make ends meet. His invalid uncle becomes increasing angry and violent. Todd seeks employment with little success. Meanwhile his friendship with Lao Jian turns to love. But their relationship is strained as anti-Chinese sentiment grows. Todd vows not to lose Lao Jian. The couple must risk everything to make a life for themselves. A life that requires facing fear and prejudice head on.

Provoked by Joanna Chambers (Enlightened Book One) and Beguiled (Book Two) - Scotland

- Tormented by his forbidden desires for other men and the painful memories of the childhood friend he once loved, lawyer David Lauriston tries to maintain a celibate existence while he forges his reputation in Edinburgh’s privileged legal world. But then, into his repressed and orderly life, bursts Lord Murdo Balfour. Cynical, hedonistic and utterly unapologetic, Murdo could not be less like David. And as appalled as David is by Murdo’s unrepentant self-interest, he cannot resist the man’s sway. Murdo tempts and provokes David in equal measure, forcing him to acknowledge his physical desires. But Murdo is not the only man distracting David from his work. Euan MacLennan, the brother of a convicted radical David once represented, approaches David to beg him for help. Euan is searching for the government agent who sent his brother to Australia on a convict ship, and other radicals to the gallows. Despite knowing it may damage his career, David cannot turn Euan away. As their search progresses, it begins to look as though the trail may lead to none other than Lord Murdo Balfour, and David has to wonder whether it’s possible Murdo could be more than he seems. Is he really just a bored aristocrat, amusing himself at David’s expense, or could he be the agent provocateur responsible for the fate of Peter MacLennan and the other radicals?

Peony Lanterns by Patricia Correll - Japan

Mitsu has been Shiro’s personal servant and best friend since they were both six years old, and he’s been in love with him for nearly that long. While Shiro takes lovers of both sexes, the gulf between their social classes is so vast that Mitsu has never spoken his feelings aloud. When Shiro meets the beautiful Lady Keiko, he’s instantly infatuated. His affection soon turns to obsession, and Mitsu resigns himself to a life of unrequited love. But as Mitsu looks deeper into Keiko and her motives, he realizes that Shiro is in grave danger. He will need all his courage-- and some help from a master of the occult-- to save the life of the man he loves.

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett (f/f!!!) - Milan

With Miranda in Milan, debut author Katharine Duckett reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers and building a queer love story that lifts off the page in whirlwinds of feeling.

After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts.

With only Dorothea, her sole companion and confidant to aid her, Miranda must cut through the mystery and find the truth about her father, her mother, and herself.

Muffled Drum by Erastes

Bohemia, 1866 They met in a port-side tavern, their lust-filled moments stolen from days of marching and madness. After eighteen months, Captain Rudolph von Ratzlaff and First Lieutenant Mathias Hofmann have decided to run away from everything they hold dear. Resigning their commissions is social suicide, but there's no other choice. Someone will eventually see Rudolph's partiality toward Mathias. Now their plans have gone horribly awry... When Mathias goes to Rudolph's tent after their last battle, his lover looks at him without a hint of recognition. Mathias can hardly believe the man he knew is gone. He wants to fill in so many of Rudolph's missing memories, but the doctor says a shock could result in permanent damage. The pain of seeing Rudolph on a daily basis, when Rudolph doesn't remember their love, is excruciating. Now Mathias must decide whether he wants to fight for the man he loves or forget him completely...

Brought Forth by Josie Finch - Virginia

Henry Merrill escaped the abusive family from his childhood and has built a life as the kindhearted handyman for the small town of Ashford in the 1880’s. Henry has every intention of living his life alone, serving the town he considers home. But an angel named Cory-Elle has other plans for Henry. With a soul that needs to be brought to earth, Cory-Elle gives Henry the opportunity to raise the family he never imagined he would have. Dr. Lawrence Turner has a bad reputation in Ashford for attending to poor patients who cannot pay him and for being the only physician the town has ever seen make house calls to the local brothel. So when a young man claiming an angel has made him pregnant arrives in his office, Dr. Turner is not surprised. Despite his disbelief, Lawrence has few things to lose in tending to Henry—though Lawrence never counted on his heart being one of those things. With the help of the doctor’s assistant Ben Lockhart and a saloon woman named Lily Mae Pepperidge, Henry and Lawrence must challenge everything they thought they knew about faith and family. Together they encounter pain, joy, sorrow, and pleasure. But among it all, they discover love. Standalone. HEA. Mpreg (Male Pregnancy) is a primary theme. Print version is coming soon.

The Last Concubine by Catt Ford - Japan

When Princess Lan’xiu’s brother delivers her under duress into General Hüi Wei’s harem as a political offering, her only question is how soon her secret will be discovered. She is under no illusions: when the general discovers she is actually a he, death is his only future—though he doesn’t plan to make it easy. Lan’xiu has dressed as a woman all his life, but he is no damsel in distress. He can swing a sword with the best of them.

General Hüi Wei has everything a man could want: power, wealth, success on the battlefield, and a harem of concubines. At first, he regards Lan’xiu with suspicion, but he finds himself strangely drawn to her. When he discovers the beautiful young woman is actually a man, his first reaction is to draw his sword. Rather than waste such beauty, he decides to enjoy the spirited Lan’xiu’s submission—and ignites a passion and desire deeper than anything he’s felt with other wives. But court intrigue, political ambitions, and the general's doubts may be too much for their love to overcome.

A Timeless Dreams title: While reaction to same-sex relationships throughout time and across cultures has not always been positive, these stories celebrate M/M love in a manner that may address, minimize, or ignore historical stigma.

Flying Fish by Sedonia Guillone - 18th century Japan (Book One of the Sword and Silk trilogy)

- In eighteenth century Japan, during the golden age of samurai and of the Kabuki theater, young actors known as “flying fish” traveled the countryside, performing for audiences by day and giving their bodies to their samurai patrons at night. Genji Sakura is one such flying fish, yet he dreams of finding the man he can give his heart to and leave the loneliness of his itinerant life behind. Though he loves theater, he doesn’t love every part of his profession, especially some of the patrons. So when a handsome ronin comes upon him stealing some solitude for a bath in a hot spring and their encounter turns passionate, Genji’s surprised and delighted. Daisuke Minamoto’s past fills his life with a bitterness that grips his soul and makes him dangerous. Yet passion takes him when he spies on a graceful young man bathing naked in a hot spring. He has always loved women, but he can’t deny the call of his heart. After an afternoon of sexual bliss, his heart and soul are tormented and torn. Keeping this miraculous lover will require giving up the one thing that has kept him alive for years: his hatred for the lord who murdered his wife. If he loves another, how will he go on and who will he become?

Well Met in Molos by J Hepburn (trans MC!) - Fantasy Middle East

Zerris is a man of many talents: thieving, procuring, and more, peddling his trades in a city at the edge of the empire and between two cultures. He has a built a life and sterling reputation through guile, cunning, and constant vigilance in hiding what and who he is. Then a cocky stranger barrels through all his careful planning, and a contract goes horribly wrong. As he struggles to recover his plans and save his name, Zerris instead finds his world collapsing, until all that’s left is the first true friend he’d ever had.

Novae Comic by Kaiju - 17th century France http://www.novaecomic.com/

Novae chronicles the adventures of Sulvain, a sweet tempered necromancer and Raziol, a passionate 17th century astronomer. While studying the stars together, a connection forms between them and their relationship blooms. However, when the body of a fellow astronomer is found on the steps of the Academy of Sciences, their lives are entangled in ways they could never foresee.

Japanese Love by Rei Kimura - Edo period Japan through 21st century

- Can a Japanese samurai of impeccable lineage in Edo period Japan get away with being gay? Can he break all the rules of society and get away with it? It all started when an aging samurai took an eccentric interest in a teenage peasant boy who had the unusual gift of writing and one day he brought his son, Lord Okimoto to the peasant’s house. The eyes of the samurai’s son and the teenage peasant met and spawned a forbidden love affair which broke all the rules of Japan’s Edo period society and a feudal class so sharply defined that it could cut like a knife. Four centuries later, an ancestor of Lord Okimoto finds a diary written by his peasant lover unfolding the anguished tale of a forbidden life went wrong, leaving behind a trail of destroyed lives, broken dreams and a few deaths. The spirit of the gay samurai who put duty and obligations above his poignant love travels one whole circle to arrive to the 21st century in a final twist to this intriguing story of how two young men dared to break all the rules in conservative unforgiving 18th century Japan.

Nomad’s Dreams by August Li - Fantasy Middle East

Two men, each with a hidden destiny. Can they defeat a web of deceit and dark magic to ensure their fates intertwine?

Bedouin Isra al-Grayjaab’s dreams lead him to Janan, an amnesiac beggar on the street of Qena—one who steals his heart and starts him on a seemingly hopeless quest. With only their wits, Isra’s knowledge of the desert’s secrets, and the aid of a mercurial djinn, they must recover Janan’s past. But neither can predict his true identity or the lengths others will go to see that his mind remains broken and his true power out of his reach.

In a sweeping romantic adventure that takes them across the Eastern Desert to the modern streets of Cairo and on to the luxurious Red Sea Coast, Janan and Isra seek a truth that will either bring them into each other’s arms or tear them apart forever.

The Farmer’s Daughter by by Robbi McCoy - Hollywood

A butch hobo meets a beautiful girl on a farm while roadtripping in the 1940's. Years later they find each other again in glamorous 1950's Hollywood, but now the farm girl is an aspiring actress. This story has every bit of a happy ending as the couple end up together for something like the next fifty years, but I can't stress enough that this one has trigger warnings (pasted from my Goodreads review: If you are triggered by family abuse/"corrective rape" of a lesbian or of bad guys dying in various realistically violent ways, check out my other book reviews for alternate recommendations instead.)

By The Currawong’s Call by Welton B. Marsland - Australia

- A small town, a new arrival, and a love that is as undeniable as it is unlawful…

Victoria, Australia, 1891 Anglican priest Matthew Ottenshaw receives his first posting in tiny Dinbratten, two days’ ride from his Melbourne home. Determined to honour his calling as best he can, he throws himself into the footy mad, two–pub town, navigating the dusty streets, learning the gossip, and striking up a friendship with Jonah Parks, the resident police sergeant and local bona fide hero.

A police officer and a priest often find themselves needed at the same place, and Jonah and Matthew’s friendship deepens quickly, as they set about their business of protecting the bodies and souls of Dinbratten’s residents. When a bushfire threatens the town, and Matthew’s inexperience with fire endangers the church buildings, Jonah comes to the rescue, and a reckless kiss in the midst of the chaos takes their friendship to forbidden.

Neither Matthew nor Jonah can go back to the way things were before, but continuing their relationship puts everything at risk: their jobs, their friends, even their lives. In the outback town of Dinbratten where everyone knows everything about everyone else, how can they ever expect to keep a secret this explosive?

The Liberators of Willow Run by Marianne K Martin (f/f WWII)

It’s 1943 and the world is at war.

Hope for victory rests on the wings of America’s Liberator, the B-24 bomber. And, with more than nine million Americans on the front lines, there is only one way for the assembly plants to produce enough planes to meet the demand—and that is to recruit women by the thousands into the work force.

Audrey Draper is committed to the war effort, and beyond that, to finding her own personal and financial independence. And she is not alone. Ruth Evans also chooses to seek employment. As a waitress living on her own, she not only searches for freedom, but also a way to fulfill an important promise. And then there’s young Amelia, a fifteen-year-old rape victim who is being forced to return to a dark and dangerous home. Audrey, Ruth, and a handful of these newly independent women must risk everything they have fought so hard to achieve to give one of their own a fighting chance to survive. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world, these women capture the spirit of the times through their determination, ingenuity, and enduring courage.

Interested in more f/f WWII novels? Try these…

Tournament of Shadows by SA Meade - Bukhara (Uzbekistan- being fought over by the British and Russian Empire during 19th century)

In 1842, Captain Gabriel O'Riordan of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars is sent on a mission to Bukhara. His task—to try to free two of his compatriots from the clutches of a mentally unstable Emir. On his way, he encounters Valentin Yakolev, an officer in the Russian Army, who is also on a mission—to persuade the Emir that an alliance with Russia would be in his best interests. Gabriel, disguised as a holy man, is not happy to be the object of Yakolev's intense scrutiny. After all, he's working for the opposing team in the Great Game being played between their two nations. When Gabriel realises that his mission is little more than a forlorn hope, a game he has no chance of winning, he's desperate enough to turn to Valentin to help and offer him anything in return. What he doesn't expect is to have his plans to return to Calcutta scuppered by events. Instead, he and Valentin flee north, fighting off bandits, their desire for each other and the hardship of desert travel. Their travails bring them closer together until a secret from Valentin's past tears them apart. Can they set the past behind them and move on together?

Battle Scars series by Charlene Newcomb - Jersulem

March 1190. Brimming with the spirit of youth, the idealistic Henry de Grey joins King Richard’s army ready to fight for God’s glory on the battlefield. But after he bloodies his sword and witnesses the slaughter of innocents, he struggles to justify the violent acts he’s committed. Through months of brutal marches and political bickering, Henry finds comfort in the fearless resolve of a brash veteran. But when his feelings of friendship grow into something more, he must put his old convictions through the gauntlet. Stephan I’Aigle would follow the king anywhere, even into the heart of enemy territory. He takes Henry under his wing, but fears his growing attachment and burning passion could make him lose his fighting edge. Will opening up his heart destroy the knights’ friendship, or leave them both completely defenseless in the heat of battle? Men of the Cross is medieval historical fiction with elements of an m/m romance. If you like journeys of self-discovery, vivid historical details, and slow-burn chemistry, then you’ll love this tale of the knights who served the Lionheart.

Song of the Spring Moon Waning by EE Ottoman - China

Upon waking up one morning, Wen Yu is surprised to find a note asking him to return the song thrush given into his care while the owner was sick. The only problem is that Wen Yu was never given a song thrush. Though he has no time for distractions from his studies for the palace examination, Wen Yu goes in search of the unknown Liu Yi who left him the note. What he finds is a beautiful imperial eunuch, a talking tortoise, and a collection of mysterious moon poems that force Wen Yu to question what path in life he is truly meant to be walking …

Alaskan Bride by Jordan Redhawk - 19th century Alaska (f/f)

- Finding a husband after the American Civil War isn’t easy. When twenty-two-year-old Bostonian Clara Stapleton discovers the address of a likely bachelor in the wilds of the Alaskan bush, she throws caution to the wind and sends him a letter. Soon she’s on the adventure of her life, leaving the comfort and stability of a well-to-do family for a man she’s never met and a life of uncertainty. Callie Glass isn’t happy with her brother Jasper’s proposal to a mail-order bride, though she knows it’s not her call. And when a tragic accident takes Jasper Glass’s life, Callie doesn’t hesitate to call off the wedding in a letter to Clara. Callie is soon surprised to find a strange woman settling into her cabin, a stranger who had never received news of Jasper’s demise. While Callie insists that the other woman should return home, Clara digs in her heels. If Callie can live without a man in this isolated land, why can’t she? Both headstrong women struggle in the ashes of their dashed hopes and dreams, slowly coming together to forge an alliance for which neither is prepared.

Nova Praetorian by NR Walker - Ancient Rome

Quintus Furius Varus is one of the best lanistas in Rome. Tall and strong in build, fearsome in manner, and sharp of wit, he trains the best gladiators bound for the arenas of Rome. When Senator Servius Augendus seeks personal guards, he attends the Ludus Varus for purchase of the very best. He puts to Quintus an offer he cannot refuse, and Quintus finds himself in Neapolis, contracted as a trainer of guards instead of gladiators.

Kaeso Agorix was taken from his homelands of Iberia and delivered to Rome as a slave. Bought by a senator to be trained as a guard, his fate is handed to the man who would train him. Absent free will, Kaeso knows his life is no longer his own, though he soon realises the gods have favoured him when he learns his new master has a kind heart.

Quintus and Kaeso forge a bond that far exceeds the collar at Kaeso’s neck, and together they discover the senator’s move for promotion has an ulterior motive. Thrown into a world of politics and conspiracy, of keeping enemies close, they move against time to save Rome before traitors and the gods themselves see to their end.

And in doing so, see the dawn of the nova praetorian—the new guard—rise.

A Land So Wild by Alyssa Warkentin - 19th century Arctic (This one is a can be a difficult read, but so worth it. The amount of research put into it, boggles the mind--I know, because I majored in some of this in uni.)

- In 1845, the HMS Vanguard, under the command of Captain William Caulderson, departed England on a voyage of discovery to find a Northwest Passage through the perilous arctic waters separating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It was never heard from again. Five years later, Captain David Maxwell of the Serapis sets sail to attempt to recover the Vanguard and determine the fate of his former commander. Naturalist Embleton Hall is running from demons of his own. He doesn’t expect to find himself drawn to Captain Maxwell--but the two men form a bond that will become essential to their survival. Together, they'll brave the elements on a long and harrowing voyage to discover the fate of the lost ship Vanguard. But they'll also learn that some secrets are best left frozen in ice.

A Little Sin by Sionnach Wintergreen - East Texas

Sheriff Avery O’Rourke has tried to obey his strict Christian faith and lead a “normal” life. In 1923 in a rural East Texas town, “normal” means heterosexual. A cholera outbreak has made Avery a young widower, so he is married to his job. When a murder investigation forces him to confront his truth, will he finally be able to accept being gay?

Veterinarian Garland Sands has returned from Europe to take over his father’s practice. Struggling with shellshock (PTSD) and heartbroken by the suicide of his French lover, he resigns himself to a quiet, solitary life as a country vet. But the murder of the town doctor brings the sheriff to Garland’s doorstep looking for help with the investigation. Seeing Avery awakens dormant feelings. Can he love a man who hates what he is?

This isn’t the lavish 1920s of The Great Gatsby. This is the flip side of that coin—rural East Texas. No electricity. No indoor plumbing. No flappers. In 1923, the timber barons have left and racism, homophobia, and sexism thrive.

A Little Sin is a realistic mystery with unlikely heroes and a timeless romance between lovers caught in a world where their love is forbidden. This book contains steamy sex scenes and is intended for adults only.

The Winter Triangle by Nikki Woolfolk - 19th century Virginia

- In the town of Stubborn, West Virginia, 1880, happily single Cassandra Holloway has decided to come out to her father, Walter, on the eve of Valentine’s Day. Before she can reveal being a woman of “two spirits,” her well-intentioned but offspring-obsessed father has set her up on another blind date with someone named Morgan. When Cassandra attempts to cancel the date, she is faced with a first. She must choose between a beautiful, deaf astronomy professor at the local university or the professor’s handsome sign-language interpreter—both named Morgan. With a comedy-filled evening that Cassandra’s cupid-playing father could not have planned, she must make a choice as the sun rises on Valentine’s Day. Which Morgan will be her Valentine?

*LGBTQIA+ Historical Romance Novels w/Cowboys, Ranchers, and People of the Frontier and Old West (Includes Fantasy, Steampunk, and Horror offerings this time.)

LGBTQIA Historical Romances with Pirates, Sailors, Highwayman, Smugglers, and Thieves

[plunder-heaven-and-devour-god]

im gonna go full english lit under the cut

I saw measure for measure??? with my local Shakespeare in the Park about  month and a half ago and im mcfucking obsessed with it. So much so that ive tried to find every clip of every film, every show, rehearsal, production, that i can to compare how scenes played out. I even listened to a harvard lecture about it, i’m that far gone. I BOUGHT. A SHIRT. I bought the book with additional notes and discussions because this play is fascinating.

WHY AM I OBSESSED?!

All readings through different lenses are there in full force, fully supported, living side beside with one another. And professors, actors, directors, scholars etc, all seem to congregate on the fact that not one reading is more valid than the other. Theyre so well balanced without ever really given moral answers but merely presented, almost like the Jacobean meaning of the “glass” both a mirror to predict the future and reflect on oneself. And in a post elizabethan age where puritans were outlawing plays and putting stricter holds on licentiousess this play is so close to upsetting the dominant religious force.

And the READINGS! ARE ALL! SO GOOD! There is historicist reading (king James I), Folkloric, Religious, SadoMasochist, Psychosexual, Moral, Feminist, and Capitalistic readings. THEY ALL EXIST SIDE BY SIDE.

And the staging of the play determines how many of these a production can pull together. I think that is why I wanted to see as many scenes are possible. 

I think just the way Angelo and Isabella are played will determine which main reading the play tackles. 

I’ve seen some versions of the interview scenes that are truly horrific acts of sexual violence that made me watch between my fingers. In this the feminist reading can come into full force, the full underline of Angelo as a sexual predator is made prevalent. And the line “and with an outstretched throat i will tell the world what man thou art, Angelo” being present that strong feminist reading IS ALWAYS THERE. (DID I MENTION I LOVE ISABELLA FLAWS AND ALL). The idea that Isabellas voice is the most crucial device in the play is FLOORING.  

The Duke being a nearly godly figure who knows all and manipulates all, Angelo as his emissary becomes like an angel in the process of self corruption, from the inhumane ice he is so dubbed to warmed by the sins he so condemns. And Isabella defending the thing she so hates because it is her brother who commits the sin is the defense of someone who does not truly believe her brother is just. Mercy as justice. To wield power and to use it for mercy is so profound, and she is the only one who carries her ethos through like this to the end ofthe play. I’m not a theologist but so far this is the reading of theologists into the matter.

The version I saw in person he practically throws himself at her feet and it becomes an interplay of the psychosexual and moral. His knees buckle under her touch, it becomes the interaction of repressed sexuality channeled into both law and religion. In the Stratford production Isabella wipes her brow with water out of disgust or heat, no one is sure. it’s left ambivalent. In the one I saw Angelo was made almost comedic and sympathetic, which made ISabellas mercy still feel like an axe coming down upon his head. 

And then characters like Barnadine just using comedy, the genre of the gods as the greeks called it, to dimish law, to put it to shame. To put the godly/playwright Duke in his place.

The folkloric bed switch (which is folklore yes but Im not totally comfortable calling it consensual even tho Angelo is a sexual predator you can bring modern sensibilities to the reading), is indicative of oral traditions that predate shakespeare. The idea that every character must do in this play the thing they most loathe to do.

Claudio fears death so he must die, Isabella must have sex to save a life when she has sworn herself to chastity. Then they both sort of hurt each other, Claudio by asking her to yield herself up to this non consensual sexual coercion of upmost grossness, and isabella by telling him to be happy he will die because there is nothing so painful as being alive (ISABELLA HES AN EXPECTING FATHER). He asks her to do the thing she loathes most in a fit of desperation because the man who loves life must die. And Isabella the woman who “would wear these keen whips as rubies” would have have done anything but sex, tells her brother that living isnt worth it. ITS INTENSE. LIKE WOW.

It’s absolutely no surprise that Isabella and Angelo are my favourite characters in the play. This awful sexual coercion (the degree of violence is dependant on staging which is like holy shit WTF), lives side by side with the fact that they are the two only people whose language, diction, beats, and intelligence matches each other. They both have the same fervor for their moral divisions and hierarchies. The idea of strict testing of morals and faith is in the text. Isabella wishes for harsher, more challenging, and harrowing tests of faith. You can argue as to why, I personally think its for the strengthening of faith and connection to the divine. Meanwhile Angelo is the one setting restrictions for hundreds of thousands of vienna, setting those on other people to strengthen the connection to a higher moral fibre, and I think in some respects faith as well but thats my interpretation. 

Where others live their vices without restrictions, these two set limits for either themselves and/or others to be something more. They are in the way that motif of the “glass” The mirror. In that sense they reflect each other, but they also become each others foil. Which is why I do think a case can be made for the parallels with the psycho sexual and the SadoMasochist readings. Restraints for rewards, the repression on both their parts is there.

I’m not saying that negates the strong feminist reading or in anyway shape or form validates the absolute horror of the coerced sex/rape. I just say that they exist side by side with each other. They are equals in text/language/fervour AND YET they are not because he holds every power over her and her brother. He wants to restrict others where he cannot restrict himself, and Isabella restricts herself in part because she lives in a Vienna full of vice. She has a control over her own self that he proves not to have. And HE has a control over the world of the play that she cant. 

AND YET. SHE IS MARRIED TO THE DUKE. SHE MARRIES INTO PROMINENCE. I don’t love the idea that she does not become a nun, her original want, and is instead coopted by the shitty duke (i am not pro duke sorry). The only upside at the end of the play is that Isabella can, in some measure, have political sway over the masses. Meanwhile Angelos fall and forgiveness put him into a marriage where his vice of coercive sex becomes consummation of a sleeping marriage. IT FEELS LIKE they sort of mirror each other the whole way through the play. ITS WEIRD BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH SEXUAL AND POLITICAL INEQUALITY TO THEM. ITs a play full of contradictions which I LOVE BECAUSE IT IS NOT SIMPLE NOT BECAUSE IT IS RIGHT. I do think there is a case to be made that Isabella unwillingly comes face to face with sexuality, his and hers, and its not on terms she wants, but it happens. And you see her struggling to maintain the authority over her own autonomy. But then she has to contemplate sex for herself, “to give up her boy into saucy sweetness, licentiousness, the filthy vices”. What does ISabella do when she comes face to face with her own sexual needs, whatever she may be? We have productions in the Stratford archives from 50 years ago that make an ambiguous case that the meeting of morality and sex might actually do something for her? I DON’T KNOW. The readings keep coming. There is a possiblity for a strong Ace reading for her which no one really touches on. 

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

This play has my favourite sexual innuendo. When theyre like “WHAT DID CLAUDIO DO?”

“Her?”

“no! What did he do to get taken away by the provost”

“HIS GIRLFRIEND.” 

(god and isnt it nuts that the first man on the scaffold for unlawful fornication IS IN A CONSENSUAL LOVING RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND, A BOND AND CRIME THAT THE LAW (ANGELO) HAVE DEEMED IMMORAL. YET THE LAW (ANGELO) WOULD HAVE IT PARDONNED BY A NON CONSENSUAL SEX FOR EXECUTION PARDON. THE MASK OF MORALITY OF ANGELO. JFC HES SO FUCKED, like hes AWFUL, because he ends up sending claudio to death after he thinks hes had sex with isabella. LIKE WHAT A PIECE OF SHIT ND YET STILL WEARS THE LAW AS HIS MASK AFTER THE ANGEL HAS FALLEN. ITS COMPLEX AND I LOVE IT)

God and just…the sex jokes, the black comedy of barnadine right next to the high shooting morals of angelo, isabella, and mariana (another complex af character. The 1976 version certainly makes a psychosexual explanation out of that, which im not sure i enjoy. Again the psychosexual has its limits in a play about sexual coercion and rape)

AND THE FACT THAT MERCY IS WHAT SETS YOU FREE, LIKE PROSPERO FORGIVING HIS ENEMIES, ISABELLA FORGIVING ANGELO IS A HERCULEAN FEAT, IT FEELS CLOSE TO GODLINESS IDK MAN. AND I UNDERSTAND WHY SHE TELLS HER BROTHER NO I WONT SLEEP WITH HIM FOR YOUR LIFE BECAUSE ITS RAPE, BUT THEN IS LIKE BE GLAD BEING ALIVE IS SHITTY ANYWAYS. Im like? ISABELLA? WHAT?! ISabella does not know about herself that she can be desired because GOD DOES IT TAKE HER A WHILE TO UNDERSTAND ANGELOS MEANING, and yet shes got such a force for words. I find it hard to think being married to the duke that she wont have some power. 

And the exchange of Angelo and Isabella in the second interview.

-His moral stance on unlawful fornication starts with abortive language, the harsh restrictions but DEVOLVES INTO THE SEXUAL WITH THE INTELLECTUAL DICTION, It becomes a mirror of himself until he is explicit of what he wants from her. (OH GOD TRULY HE GIVES ME NAUSEOUS AND YET THE ONE IN THE PLAY I SAW HE WAS ENTHRALLING I HATE THE RANGE OF THINGS ANGELO CAN MAKE ME FEEL). His mask of morality is slowly removed

-ISABELLA must argue on behalf of her brother, believing in restrictions of the kid angelo speaks of, they believe in restraining oneself to achieve a higher form of being, and yet has to straight up defend something she hates because she loves her brother. And ANGELO CAN SEE IT. I WISH THERE WAS AN AFTERMATH WHERE WE SEE HER USING HER INTELLECT AND WORDS FOR HER ENDS. 

I truly think the second interview scene is one of the best exchanges Billy Shakes wrote. Because it ENDS LIKE THAT. GOD the david tennant one is chilling, the oregon shakespeare festival one is fucked. The 1976 which is the most psychosexual was so intensely disturbing that the Angelo got applause for it. IDK What that means and im too scared to ask. Idk how the RSC managed because youtbe doesnt show me that. The Repurcussion theatre was the most varied array of contradictions for angelo instead of just corrupt judge. It literally is all the shakespeare villains that do the most heinous things that Im like THATS MY FAVE. Iago was just RACISM/Sociopath and fifteen year old me was like YES HIM. I mean Richard III is bad but hes fun. ANGELO AT THE BEST IS A SEXUAL PREDATOR AND YET IM STILL LIKE WOW HOW COMPLEX ALSO THE ACTOR WAS SO GOOD LOOKING AND PLAYING UP THE BDSM BOTTOM ANGLE I WAS GONE. 

And the Isabellas go from wilting lily, to some sort of quiet and reserved girl, and the one i saw was literally “she is tiny but fierce” like her voice was really forceful and i thought it was amazing. 

THIS PLAY IS FUCKED WHEN IT COMES TO THESE READINGS LIVING SIDE BY SIDE BUT BOY IS THIS INTERESTING. 

if you made it this far wow holy shit. thanks for coming to my ted talk.