#her journey is so tragic
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am overcome with nostalgia and i must draw her
#lexa ... oh lexa#forgot how much i loved her hair!!! i have a thing for hair don't i.. sensing a pattern here#lexa#the 100#clexa#my art#illustration#sketch#lexa kom trikru#it feels wonderful to draw her with my like.. grown up evolved skills#i am having serious emotions about her and the show .. god she was tragic and beautiful and poetic#so painfully tender and young and burdened#i've yet to draw clarke .. i always found her more difficult!#who expected a saturnvs clexa 2k24 journey. not me
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One thing I really love about Marcille is that despite her deep fear of outliving her loved ones, she never, never let's it get in the way of her making bonds and getting close to people. She loves deeply and strongly and she doesn't try to supress that! She embraces it wholeheartedly! Her friends are so important to her and she's not ashamed or scared of it!
Actually, out of all the characters, I'd say Marcille is one of the ones who care the most about bonds of friendship. She's angry at Namari for leaving after Falin got eaten and holds that grudge up until Namari helps defeat the Undine (and therefore having 'proven' herself). She's shocked and upset when Chilchuck explains his policy of payment and that he's not really here bc of friendship. She puts a lot of focus on the party being a Group Of Friends rather than a team of hired hands dedicated to the specific role(s) they are paid for. Which of course makes sense since she joined the party to begin with because of her friend! To her, the party has always been 'Falin and her brothers' friend group' rather than a hired party. (A little reminder: Marcille was the most recent member when the story starts. She never met the previous members who left so the team of Laios, Falin, Chilchuck, Namari and 'Shuro' is what she's always known it as.)
When she becomes dungeon lord, the thing that manages to snap her out of the Winged Lions grasp is the earnest care and love her party is showing her. Literally 'power of friendship'ed their way through the Lions hold and gave her her clarity of mind back.
And!!!! At the end of the feast right before they're about to attempt to revive Falin again, she says!!! this!!!!
She's ready to accept that Falin might not come back, even after everything. The entire story she's been running away from death, from having to outlive her loved ones (in this case: Falin). But here she is, ready to let her stay dead if this last attempt doesn't work.
And it's not giving up. It's realizing that she did all she could, and that it's okay. Because she still got to meet and be friends with Falin. That time with her might be just a speck in the length of life Marcille will have to live still, but it still happened and that's what matters.
It's not about escaping death; it's about cherising the moments before it.
#there is something in here about how the 'tragic immortality' trope is done w/ her#in that the tragedy doesnt lie in the fact shes denying herself of bonds bc she knows theyre temporary#its the fact she refuses to and is 'setting herself up' for repeated losses#i have soooo many feelings about her whole deal#OH ALSO. i didnt mention it in the post itself bc its not the Point BUT#i love that despite her journey by all means being about accepting the losses she has and will experience#her goal hasnt changed#she still strives for a way to even out lifespans#her friends have promised to do all they can to live as long as is possible#just so she wont be alone for as long#in a way saying that her efforts werent in vain even if there isnt any direct results just yet. that it can be possible#ooough marcille. marcille. bbygirl i love u#marcille donato#dungeon meshi#delicious in dungeon#dungeon meshi spoilers#delicious in dungeon spoilers#dunmeshi spoilers#like so many spoilers#xander rambles
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i'm always fascinated by how brave lucrezia is in a patriarchal world dominated by male ambition and political maneuvering even though she's a political pawn herself! she's more courageous than her father and brothers combined. consistently standing up for herself, confronting her father (something that both cesare and juan could never do btw) and once she feels disrespected and her trust is broken it's over for them. considering she's no longer naive and sees through her father and cesare as the selfish coward he is who's all about ambition and power rather than love and loyalty (a lot of his true nature exposed like how he constantly sucked up to rodrigo, chose to kill juan instead of helping him to get rodrigo's attention and secure juan's position for himself etc) she was gutted knowing that the brother she trusted the most could have stopped rodrigo from mistreating her (such as allowing the humiliation of consummating her marriage in public or killing alfonso to get rid of naples since it is no longer needed) but he always chose not to...
the thing is she never takes shit from anyone and is capable enough to cut ties with those who betray her (like how she did so with juan after paolo's murder and even tried to murder him back for deeply hurting her) she also cut ties with cesare, someone she loved and trusted deeply after he let her down many times and putting his ambitions above her. she even tried to poison him for becoming tyrannical (like how he poisoned an entire city in the apocalypse script) and she pretty much was indifferent after he died which is incredibly tragic considering how intense their love was at the beginning of the show but it's a testament to her strength and self preservation, which is why she's my favorite character of all time.
#the woman that she is mwah#shoutout to holly for being phenomenal throughout the whole show#and the painful part is??? all those men from her family (cesare juan rodrigo) loved her deeply but they failed her so...#when you're in the tragic family competition and the borgias are your opponents#insane how her journey reflects not only her bravery...#but also the tragic consequences of living in a world where power often supersedes personal relationships!!#she suffered and endured too much while navigating the treacherous waters of her family's political ambitions...#lucrezia borgia#the borgias#holliday grainger#text post#tb text post
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oTL
HIMMEL AND FRIEREN WERE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER BUT BEING DOOMED IS THE FUCKING POINT OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP.
IT BEING BEAUTIFUL AND IT BEING IMPOSSIBLE ARE INTRINSICALLY INTERTWINED. FUCKING. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
#frimmel is THE definition of bittersweet omfg#frieren is such a demiromantic AND she's a time blind elf it was always gonna take forever for her to realize any feelings he was always#destined to be dead long before she'd figure it out but over the course of her figuring it out is ALSO REALIZING HE LOVED HER TOO#HE ALWAYS KNEW THEY WERE DOOMED BUT LEFT THE EVIDENCE BEHIND FOR WHEN SHE FIGURES HER OWN SHIT OUT. FUUUUUUCK#I'm on my hands and knees himmel is the biggest romantic ever and he's so cool because of it. frieren I love you but omg his patience#they need to be tragic to be as well written as they are. it's great and it hurts#frimmel#frieren x himmel#frieren beyond journey's end#sousou no frieren#tc posts#the m/f bait of all time
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there's an essay jumbled up in my brain about dunmeshi's beginning and how clever and deceptive it is as a sleight-of-hand trick that distracts the audience from the depth and scope of the worldbuilding and foreshadowing that's being set up the entire time by dangling zany characters and wacky dishes and biology fun facts in front of us, and how that serves to catch invested viewers off guard when those elements come to the forefront, but also how it works against it with other viewers wanting "more" and not seeing it because the plot bait isn't laid out up front
how people getting frustrated with the characters "not taking things seriously" is mirrored and refuted in the confrontation between Laios and Shuro. how the characters' attitudes aren't just a result of shallow low-stakes "comedy rules" where nothing matters, but are an extension of their personalities (Laios's nonstandard expression of emotions being offputting even to people he knows) and the world and social environment (adventurers being desensitized to death and injury because resurrection magic is commonplace). the way the party refers to "saving Falin" instead of "retrieving Falin's corpse," indicating that they still see her with full personhood, and how that phrasing leads to some readers/viewers believing that Falin is alive in the dragon's stomach, conscious of being slowly digested while the party carelessly fucks around "wasting time." how the weird tonal dissonance makes sense in-universe and yet is deliberately challenged more and more the deeper the party goes
all the character building and pieces of lore slowly weaving together the shape of the larger world, laying the groundwork for the major themes that will surface later. so much is right there in the "low-stakes" early episodes if you know what you're looking for (or pass the perception checks).
it can be so satisfying to see new viewers/readers pick up on the clues even in the earliest "simple" episodes, or notice new things and make connections yourself....and it can also be frustrating to see people dismiss oddities and dissonance as shallow or bad writing because they don't expect a "cooking anime" to have depth like that. why try to question and understand and peel back the layers when you don't expect there to be any layers?
why can't laios take things seriously for once?
#mypost#i'm majorly out of practice for doing any real critical cohesive writing lol#trying to put this into coherent words has been such a mess so here's a vague gesture at my thought process about it#it's both my favorite and the most frustrating thing to see#because i've seen SO MANY people say they dropped the show after a couple eps thinking they know what it's about and where it's going#a cute but ultimately unsustainable gimmick#people for whom the characters and the food/biology infodumping weren't enough of a hook#but i wouldn't change anything about the structure to put a more obvious plot hook in the beginning#because it would give the game away TOO much#i LOVE how the audience has to acclimate to the characters' attitudes about death#only for our assumption that it's all normal and fine in this world to be thrown back in our faces#how we're left to notice the winged lion appearing in statues and carvings and coins and armor in the background#long long before it's ever brought up as a real entity by the plot#the history of the kingdom laid out in plain view but nevermind that. magic painting food!#i've seen the language around falin and her resurrection cause so much confusion#but of COURSE the characters involved wouldn't directly say 'we need to get her corpse to revive it'#bc pragmatically they already understand that as their goal. it doesn't need to be stated out loud; it's just how this process works.#but also they don't SEE her as an object. a dead body.#they need to 'save her before she's digested.' 'the spell couldn't reach her in the dragon's stomach.' 'hang in there falin'#death isn't real to them. not really. and so it doesn't quite feel real to the audience either#not until they find her skull and that realization slams home#like......i keep comparing it to gravity falls#which is episodic and goofy in the beginning but also has a much more obvious plot hook to keep people interested#(a main character entering a secret bunker indicating that he's lying about his ignorance of the town's mysteries)#the main characters in gravity falls are AWARE that there is a mystery to be solved and are trying to find more information#but i don't think that approach would work as well for dm!#laios's goals were never that lofty. not until they HAD to be because the situation demanded it of him#it's the characters trying to solve one personal problem and finding themselves entrenched in something vast and dramatic#that they weren't even fully AWARE of when they set out. and we the audience are on that journey with them!#it's SUCH a good structure i wouldn't trade it for anything. but also. tragic to see people give up and dismiss it so fast.
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🤡
#not being a hater but#just having midnight thoughts#about sokai and how it’s been handled#as someone not steeped in the lore of kh much at all#yet at least#I’ve heard all the excuses#nomura’s a bad romance writer#they’re just queerbaiting#and there was a time when I’d say that was true#but now I’m not convinced#I mean saying nomura is a bad writer is just… such a bad faith take#the guy’s got one of the most intricate stories out there#he’s made it clear that everything he does is very intentional#so it makes me wonder if sokai has such little development for a reason?#I think we can all agree that the lack of dev for kairi sucks#but perhaps nomura doesn’t want us to root for her and sora as endgame?#I’d love to see kairi have a self discovery journey of her own without sora tbh#probably not the first person to say that but it does make sense#I went from thinking soriku could never happen#to thinking like wow holy shit this could actually be a thing#within a weekend#aided by the famous riku is gay vid ofc#usually I could care less about canonicity but#soriku endgame actually#and if I’m wrong well…#I’m already a clown so it can’t get more delulu than that#tragic clowning#soriku#kingdom hearts
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Manga spoilers ahead
It just hit me now, is the manga taking a break for 3 weeks on purpose to be a poetic timing with the anime episode at the time, or is it pure coincidence ???
By three weeks from now in anime :
1st week we have Himmel and the sword of hero
2nd week Sein first appearance
3rd week we have the mirrored lotus story !!!! I repeat the mirrored lotus story!!!!
in the same week or the week after we'd have the upcoming manga chapter !!
so, you wanna tell me, we're gonna see Himmel's indirect confession of love to Frieren followed by Himmel realizing the impossibility of his dream of marrying Frieren yet again in whatever tragic and evil way the author had in store for us next chapter .. all at the same time or back-to-back !!!!
STOP BULLYING MY HIMMEL LIKE THAT !!! WHATEVER DID HE DO TO DESERVE THIS HELL !!!!! AUTHOR-SAN !!!!
are they torturing Himmel or are they torturing us ?? they're doing this on purpose, aren't they ?? or is this just our destiny to bear ??
I'm not okay at all ><
#sousou no frieren#frieren: beyond journey's end#frieren spoilers#himmel#frieren#I'm so not okay ....#is this the authors plan to get to people for denying that Himmel loved Frieren in the mirrored lotus story ??#and why must I see Himmel suffer like this ???#what ever did he do to deserve this ??#why crush him in such an evil tragic way ???#and you want me to remember how much he loved Frieren and confess to her in the anime#before you crush me him waking up and realizing him marrying Frieren is impossible and never gonna happen EVER#why are you doing this ???#I can't deal with this .....#I waited for the ring episode which felt like ages#for you to let me watch it with that painful knowledge followed by the manga chapter ....#I hate you so much .... why make him suffer this much ....#asdbwhdcbweubcwjbroch
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Dorothy being assaulted at 17 and then trapped in a marriage for the next 38 years really makes the queer subtext heartbreaking rather than funny. It also adds a whole lot to how barbed she gets when they discuss her sex life and how vanilla it is or how little sex she had, no wonder it would be a sore subject (and no wonder its consistent that she had very little sex with Stan in her marriage and said she didn't enjoy it when they did).
Yep, that's part of the reason why I think that queer subtext is so insightful!
A queer reading of Dorothy is not necessary to understand the gravity of what happened to her, to be fair. Stan is very clearly depicted as a bad lover in general and an especially inattentive lover to her -- take eg what she says of him in S1E22 Job Hunting:
"It took three seconds. I wasn't sure that we had done anything, actually… until nine months later, when the baby came. Then I figured out that we had."
Which... doesn't seem like a great experience. Add onto it the fact that a) this is a recollection of her first time, b) she was coerced into performing the act either via emotional manipulation or alcohol/substances (as well detailed in this post by @eeblouissant), and c) her situation didn't improve at all during her marriage; if anything it got worse, since Stan was always out cheating on her -- no wonder she has a bad relationship with sex! Actually, I've said before that I think she has a remarkably open and healthy attitude towards sex, all things considered.
Thinking of Dorothy as queer (especially as a repressed lesbian) makes it all even more tragic, though. I think it's very likely, considering that she's a Catholic of Italian origin, that she hadn't even realized she liked women by the time she got involved with Stan -- I myself reached that conclusion in my early 20s! However, by that time Dorothy was already married and a mother; can you imagine how painful the mere idea would have been, for her? Of course she'd never even consider it while still married to Stan, and she'd have a hard time coming to terms with it after her divorce. It adds a thick layer of suppression and self-sacrifice to her whole story that I think is very thematically appropriate for her character (and that personally destroys me lmao. I cannot think about it for too long or I'll cry my heart out).
I think her whole experience with Stan also justifies her enthusiasm for some of her lovers in the show, even in a queer reading. I mean -- after all that, her standards must be on the floor! The bar is so low, she's dancing the lambada with the devil! Even a modicum of attention to her needs would blow her mind, I think -- even if it didn't come from her preferred gender, and especially if she wasn't ready to confront the truth about her sexuality yet. A lifetime of suppression isn't easy to get over -- she'd probably blame her bad experience with sex during her marriage on Stan alone (instead of considering that maybe she'd rather not be with a man at all).
Sorry, anon -- you probably weren't expecting a ramble in response, haha! But yeah, you make a great point; reading Dorothy as queer adds even more depth to her character and greatly enhances the tragedy of her story.
(Just for the record -- I've never thought the queer reading of Dorothy was funny! Maybe I'm reading this wrong, I just wanted to clarify.)
#sometimes it hits me again that this poor woman had stan as her first and only lover for 38 years of her life and i just. good god.#i'd just like to give her a hug. is that too much to ask for?#still in s1e22 she also says that she didn't come during that first time (or after) bc 'it always seemed to happen before I was in the room#and i just... like it's played for laughs but that's such a tragic comment to me...#im not going to talk about all the hung ups she likely has about self-pleasure too but she MUST have some bc once again. italian catholic#honestly her love&sex life until she met the girls was just a nightmare.#i wonder how she felt being friends with jean. seeing her love women openly like that. did she wish she could be like her?#was she jealous and didn't know why? did she think 'oh i wish *i* was a lesbian so i could date girls instead of being stuck with stan'?#agh i just. i keep adding thoughts but the more i think about it the more tragic it becomes to me#this is also why ending the show with her in a relationship with (at least) one of the other girls would have worked so well!!!#her character arc is one of self-recognition and self-love. it's a journey towards happiness and self-expression#and that's already a queer narrative at its core#but imagine her going from 38 years with *stan* to openly understanding her sexuality and finding love when she didn't think it possible?#i mean -- the finale does this too and that's why it works well. it's a good finale!#but imagine how much *better* it would have been with a woman!! with (one of) her girls at that!!#with dorothy finally able to be free about herself!!!#AGH i love her SO MUCH!!!!#(i feel like ending the show with a queer relationship between the girls would have worked very well for blanche and/or rose too#but that's a whole other topic)#anyway thank you for the ask op! you're absolutely right!!#the golden girls#dorothy zbornak#ask
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thinking about little molly finch, the baby on a boat that tugged a house across the ocean
who grew up hearing bedtime stories based on tales from her family’s old country, of shapeshifters and seamonsters, and the story of the night the sea rose up around them and dragged that boat down to bottom of the sea bed
who could see that giant house and boat at low tide at night
who drew a picture of a princess in a castle at the bottom of the sea besieged by a sea monster
and died sure it was coming after her
#what remains of edith finch#wroef#molly finch#i do think that edie would have sensationalised and told molly all about that ill-fated journey to america#i think she told it like a big and tragic adventure so often and so vividly that molly sometimes felt like she could remember being there#even though she was less than a year old at the time#and i think the first generation of finches but especially molly were brought up on the same stories and myths that edie would have been#and somewhere in that little child mind molly sewed the two tales together#it wasn’t a storm that killed her grandpa but a sea monster#and there were sea monsters out there creatures in the sea that people just hadn’t found yet#and the night she ate poison and slowly died her thoughts latched on to that and dreamt of the night the boat sank#from the monster’s point of view. and became convinced it was going to try to eat all of the finches starting with her#eh idk ignore me i’m just having Thoughts
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@heartofstanding tagged me in this meme months ago and unfortunately it took me this long to get to it because I had a mild crisis over how long it's been since I've read a novel, let alone one that I loved 😅 so this is nine of my favourite novels (not books, because if I included manga/short stories/comics/etc this would be giant)
0The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Oscar Wilde// Pyrrhus-- Mark Merlis//The Scarecrow--Ronald Hugh Morrieson//Unnatural History--Kate Osman//Tunnels of Blood--Darren Shan//The Coffin Dancer--Jeffery Deaver//Hero--Perry Moore//Frankenstein--Mary Shelley//One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-- Ken Kasey
#TPODG I feel like is obvious. But a genuinely hilarious book that is also poignant and tragic and so /so/ compelling#The more work you put into it the more you get out of it and I get so sad every time I see people#not wanting to look deeper than what's beyond the surface#Pyrrhus gets the extremely high honour of Greek Myth Retelling That is Actually Good#it's less about the Trojan War and more about the journey there set in the 1980s gay scene#the cursed spot that gets Philoctetes abandoned is an effective allegory right until the moment it isn't an allegory at all#and you should see the gut punch coming but somehow you don't#The Scarecrow is my Token Kiwi Representation and it's also the one that got me into the genre I now write almost exclusively#reading it feels like watching a cheesy low budget slasher that accidentally says some really interesting things about sexism and misogyny#(I say accidentally because it is the 20s and my tutor very loudly hated this book for being sexist)#(and I both totally agree and disagree because Prue is the prototypical final girl and needs an adaptation that does her justice)#Also the story of this novel's publication is freaking hilarious and why I will only write under a pseudonym because I would be next#Unnatural History is an exact blueprint of what I love about sci-fi done well in the way we've only very recently started to see on screen#and I hate that the show of Doctor Who rarely if ever reaches this level#Tunnels of Blood is my favourite of the Darren Shan Saga but really is just a stand in for the entire series#yes it's a kids series but it's a kid series that got me into horror and surrealism#and delivers the most effective and heartbreaking plot twist that not even Hannibal pulled off as well#The Coffin Dancer is just some damn good crime fiction and I wish Jeffery Deaver wasn't so slept on#(yes I know The Bone Collector got an adaptation but The Bone Collector isn't even in the top ten of the Lincoln Rhyme series)#unfortunately Deaver's strongest point is his use of point of view#but he still manages to get the twist to be shocking (and Coffin Dancer is the best example of it) in a way that other media fails at#Hero is about a gay disabled teen with superpowers and somehow tumblr does not know about it#It is such a fun riff on superheroes while also being genuinely sweet and touching and sad#It was meant to get a tv show but the writer passed so it got stuck in production hell :(#Frankenstein is Frankenstein. It's just good on like every level. Victor is my problematic fave. I will take no criticism.#I am however on my knees hoping the Guillermo Del Toro adaptation finally gets it right#one flew over the cuckoo's nest means so much to me but no one ever talks about it beyond the Ratched and Mcmurphy stuff#who are the least interesting characters to me. And I find the debate about the sexism ignores that the novel is about the structural abuse#of the mentally ill
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they could be great. or terrible.
#star stumbles#cdrama#a journey to love#noble consort chu is right in saying they’re too alike to get along well#they have the same ambition and the same domineering and manipulative tendencies (intentions while doing so aside)#and pride.#mutual looking down on one another#though i guess chu yue doesn’t know he’s the marquis??? even though he gave her his royal name (the li which is the imperial name)#anyways. they could be reluctant marriage of convenience to political allies to lovers#i can see the vision. know she’s supposed to have a tragic story with shisan based on the trailer though#ep10
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okay so the estranged married couple in my Goudge novel did NOT get back together, he DIED off-page without being reconciled to his wife whom he had not seen in years and Charles is NOT going to suffer for not being faithful to Lucy, it is totally treated as a matter of course and instead of any reckoning with that Lucy has now been unfaithful to him??? with one of his friends!?? and most loyal supporters ???? !!???!??? what is GOING on akksksksjsjejejekek
#now she is going to have a baby#I am going to SCREAM#it is so funny and so Goudge#I have discovered her weakness. and it is historical novels#anyway like. Lucy’s affair was very loving#she was basically exhausted and abandoned and he was ill and sick and tragic and they just were kind of swept up together#and then not strong enough to be strong#which is very real#and human#but I am still shaken at Goudge not letting anything about this book go the way I wanted#she’s at her best when she is really focusing in on a love story and two people on real moral and emotional journeys#and that is not what is going on because of the stupid historical background. or it IS but it’s all happening very fast because of politics#anyway it’s. I. Wkkskwjejejejejejejejjeejjejejejejejejejejhe.#she keeps BLINDSIDING ME#elizabeth goudge#the child from the sea
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So, I finished it. I'm done with Hannibal...but to be honest, guys, I don't think it's done with me. I sincerely feel changed after binging that show. Like, I don't even know if I want to talk or rant about it, but I feel like I have to ruminate on it. I mean, fuck. I've never been so torn while watching a show. Even knowing the end, when I started, I wanted to see it make sense, and very early on, it did.
Hannibal & Will are like any leads of tragic romances of literature, though crueler and more unforgivable than most pairings. They're marked from their introduction, sworn to another within a moment. There is no end while they both live, yet the end would be false and unsatisfying if one survived the other. It's impossible to fathom that frayed thread of fate snapping with finality through one lonely death. They had to go out together.
Will knew it from the moment he proposed they fake Hannibal's escape; it was going to end with the two of them, and he was willing, ready, even eager to surrender himself to dying with Hannibal.
I think the only thing that terrified Will more than Hannibal getting away to haunt his mind, was the fear of what it would feel like to kill Hannibal and have to continue being haunted by him still. The loneliness of it would break his mind. Hannibal had been in there too long; he always knew the best times to move and work around Will, and the perfect moments to hook his claws in whenever Will wanted to shake him loose.
Hannibal showed it clear as day when he surrendered after Will said goodbye. 'I won't let you let me go.'
Hannibal carved out his own wing in Will's memory palace. By the time of the events of Red Dragon, Will's realized that he'll never escape Hannibal, and by the finale, he accepts that he won't survive him either.
#will x hannibal#hannigram#hannibal#i'll never feel normal again. There aren't enough words in existence to summarize the complex & passionate journey of these two characters#that last moment before Will threw them over felt like the embodiment of the emotions people try to evoke when talking about romeo & juliet#tragic & flawed starcrossed lovers. brought to their ends by their own hands.led by drives of cruelty or understanding. deception or truth.#I had it pegged.S3's finale is the amalgamation & consummation of their bond.They slay the Red Dragon.Will lets himself be held & freefalls#committing murder together like that was sex from hannibal's perspective. killing is intimacy & he shares that gift with no one#and i can't be mad when it means alana and margot get to run away with their son.#i did see the end tag. but it's vague enough with no sight of hannibal. so i choose to believe Dr. BDM lost her mind & prepared her own leg
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Finally waving goodbye to the dotc crew úwù
#moving right along with my chronological reread#despite dotc Being Like That (tm) i had a really good time with it#The characters all sort of sucked in their own ways but most of the time they were interestingly terrible and fun to yell at#definitely my biggest complaint was the treatment of every female character in the arc#so many of them boiled down to [male character]'s wife that will probably be fridged#i think my least favorite was Violet Dawn who seemed to have a troubled past and a dead mate who she was still mourning#until the whole love at first sight thing with Thunder immediately threw all that out never to speak of it again#and Moth Flight's Vision has me really hoping that the 'final boss' of warriors is going to be Star Clan#bc wtf why did they do that to her???#'Yes vulnerable teen mom you are the only hope the clans have to understand MEDICINE and RELIGION no your clan will not help you#with your 4 babies who's father is already dead due to a pretty traumatizing accident you witnessed first hand'#the end of that book was so jarring and tragic which sucks bc i don't think that's how it was meant to be read#I'm excited to finally experience these novelas though!! i liked the two I've read so far and Cloudstar's Journey is going well too#i was a little shocked at how big the timeskip was but I'm not complaining lmao#I'm also stoked to finally read some of the ses i missed
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In the past I've shared other people's musings about the different interpretations of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Namely, why Orpheus looks back at Eurydice, even though he knows it means he'll lose her forever. So many people seem to think they've found the one true explanation of the myth. But to me, the beauty of myths is that they have many possible meanings.
So I thought I would share a list of every interpretation I know, from every serious adaptation of the story and every analysis I've ever heard or read, of why Orpheus looks back.
One interpretation – advocated by Monteverdi's opera, for example – is that the backward glance represents excessive passion and a fatal lack of self-control. Orpheus loves Eurydice to such excess that he tries to defy the laws of nature by bringing her back from the dead, yet that very same passion dooms his quest fo fail, because he can't resist the temptation to look back at her.
He can also be seen as succumbing to that classic "tragic flaw" of hubris, excessive pride. Because his music and his love conquer the Underworld, it might be that he makes the mistake of thinking he's entirely above divine law, and fatally allows himself to break the one rule that Hades and Persephone set for him.
Then there are the versions where his flaw is his lack of faith, because he looks back out of doubt that Eurydice is really there. I think there are three possible interpretations of this scenario, which can each work alone or else co-exist with each other. From what I've read about Hadestown, it sounds as if it combines all three.
In one interpretation, he doubts Hades and Persephone's promise. Will they really give Eurydice back to him, or is it all a cruel trick? In this case, the message seems to be a warning to trust in the gods; if you doubt their blessings, you might lose them.
Another perspective is that he doubts Eurydice. Does she love him enough to follow him? In this case, the warning is that romantic love can't survive unless the lovers trust each other. I'm thinking of Moulin Rouge!, which is ostensibly based on the Orpheus myth, and which uses Christian's jealousy as its equivalent of Orpheus's fatal doubt and explicitly states "Where there is no trust, there is no love."
The third variation is that he doubts himself. Could his music really have the power to sway the Underworld? The message in this version would be that self-doubt can sabotage all our best efforts.
But all of the above interpretations revolve around the concept that Orpheus looks back because of a tragic flaw, which wasn't necessarily the view of Virgil, the earliest known recorder of the myth. Virgil wrote that Orpheus's backward glance was "A pardonable offense, if the spirits knew how to pardon."
In some versions, when the upper world comes into Orpheus's view, he thinks his journey is over. In this moment, he's so ecstatic and so eager to finally see Eurydice that he unthinkingly turns around an instant too soon, either just before he reaches the threshold or when he's already crossed it but Eurydice is still a few steps behind him. In this scenario, it isn't a personal flaw that makes him look back, but just a moment of passion-fueled carelessness, and the fact that it costs him Eurydice shows the pitilessness of the Underworld.
In other versions, concern for Eurydice makes him look back. Sometimes he looks back because the upward path is steep and rocky, and Eurydice is still limping from her snakebite, so he knows she must be struggling, in some versions he even hears her stumble, and he finally can't resist turning around to help her. Or more cruelly, in other versions – for example, in Gluck's opera – Eurydice doesn't know that Orpheus is forbidden to look back at her, and Orpheus is also forbidden to tell her. So she's distraught that her husband seems to be coldly ignoring her and begs him to look at her until he can't bear her anguish anymore.
These versions highlight the harshness of the Underworld's law, and Orpheus's failure to comply with it seems natural and even inevitable. The message here seems to be that death is pitiless and irreversible: a demigod hero might come close to conquering it, but through little or no fault of his own, he's bound to fail in the end.
Another interpretation I've read is that Orpheus's backward glance represents the nature of grief. We can't help but look back on our memories of our dead loved ones, even though it means feeling the pain of loss all over again.
Then there's the interpretation that Orpheus chooses his memory of Eurydice, represented by the backward glance, rather than a future with a living Eurydice. "The poet's choice," as Portrait of a Lady on Fire puts it. In this reading, Orpheus looks back because he realizes he would rather preserve his memory of their youthful, blissful love, just as it was when she died, than face a future of growing older, the difficulties of married life, and the possibility that their love will fade. That's the slightly more sympathetic version. In the version that makes Orpheus more egotistical, he prefers the idealized memory to the real woman because the memory is entirely his possession, in a way that a living wife with her own will could never be, and will never distract him from his music, but can only inspire it.
Then there are the modern feminist interpretations, also alluded to in Portrait of a Lady on Fire but seen in several female-authored adaptations of the myth too, where Eurydice provokes Orpheus into looking back because she wants to stay in the Underworld. The viewpoint kinder to Orpheus is that Eurydice also wants to preserve their love just as it was, youthful, passionate, and blissful, rather than subject it to the ravages of time and the hardships of life. The variation less sympathetic to Orpheus is that Euyridice was at peace in death, in some versions she drank from the river Lethe and doesn't even remember Orpheus, his attempt to take her back is selfish, and she prefers to be her own free woman than be bound to him forever and literally only live for his sake.
With that interpretation in mind, I'm surprised I've never read yet another variation. I can imagine a version where, as Orpheus walks up the path toward the living world, he realizes he's being selfish: Eurydice was happy and at peace in the Elysian Fields, she doesn't even remember him because she drank from Lethe, and she's only following him now because Hades and Persephone have forced her to do so. So he finally looks back out of selfless love, to let her go. Maybe I should write this retelling myself.
Are any of these interpretations – or any others – the "true" or "definitive" reason why Orpheus looks back? I don't think so at all. The fact that they all exist and can all ring true says something valuable about the nature of mythology.
#mythology#greek mythology#orpheus#eurydice#orpheus and eurydice#analysis#interpretations#adaptations#long
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Talents -DC X DP prompt
The public is aware that each of the Wayne children are creatively gifted. It was almost expected. Richard Grayson was the acrobatic of course and no one was surprised but highly praised. So many parents began putting their children in gymnastics after seeing Dick's performances.
Jason Todd took up writing and published his own books at the age of 13. Poetry, anthologies, and historical fiction were the genres he favored. His books still remain on the best-seller's list, especially after his death. His poetry book "Blackouts" is an emotional journey of everyday tragedies and miracles of life. People would often quote lines from his poems after tragic events.
Tim Drake was more elusive. No one knew what he did until his name came up under a national photography award. His album called "The Shades of Gotham" was a contract between parties of the wealthy and the impoverished citizens of Gotham.
Cassandra Cain kept to herself constantly. No one knew what she did for years. People assumed that Bruce Wayne stopped forcing his kids to perform and others argued that she just didn't have any talents to showcase. All wrong of course. Cassandra posted one of her recent projects online which proved she was very talented. It was a beautiful scarf she was making for the winter. Cassandra was gifted with a talent for textiles. She knitted, weaved, and sowed many of the clothes she was seen wearing. It was no secret that some of the clothes the Waynes wore could not be found anywhere else but people assumed they had a tailor to make custom designs but no one knew it was Cassandra.
Damian Wayne did not lag behind his siblings as she quickly showed off his artistic talents. He's still young so he hasn't gone as far as opening his first gallery but one of his paintings has already been put in a museum. Some call it nepotism but art is subjective. The other Waynes disagree since they have hung every art piece Damian makes in their offices and home right next to Tim's photos.
Duke Thomas isn't one to show off too much. But he does go all out in his hobbies. He secretly takes after Jason in writing poetry and has been inspired by "Blackout" since he first learned to read. Duck related to it deeply. But along the way, he learned a different way to express himself. Kids on the streets of Gotham learned a bit of breakdancing and Duke was no exception. Duke is an accomplished dancer and has gotten a few competitions under his belt now.
Now that there is a new member of the Wayne family the public is waiting to find out what Danny Nightingale's talent is. Everyone knew that Waynes were creative but honestly, no one expected this. A play was announced at Monarch Theater and none other then Danny's names was on the ticket as the star.
#dc x dp#dpxdc#dc x dp prompt#dp x dc prompt#danny fenton#danny phantom#batman#batfam#tim drake#dick grayson#jason todd#cassandra cain#duke thomas#damian wayne#dc robin#robin
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