#hero and warrior motif

[imminent-danger-came]

had a character revelation so huge I had to lay down for floor time. Moon symbolism with MK. Yeah they’ve always been associated with gold and brightness but is the moon not simply a reflection of the sun, forever looking down at its reflection in the ocean??? Does it not wax and wane in an attempt to hide the darker parts of itself from people??? Is it not left behind by the sun everyday, not in a malicious way, it’s simply what has to be done for the day to move forward. I’m gonna be sick

The hero and the warrior were like the sun and the moon- *gets shot*

Anyways yeah! I think that's what I particularly like about the sun and the moon symbolism for the hero and the warrior. It's the cyclical nature of leaving and returning leaving and returning. Wukong is bright and powerful and he decides where his light is best needed, but in doing so leaves those he left behind in darkness. Yaddy-yadda 2x07. Like obviously MK's a warrior to Wukong, and at this point he has been associated with an eclipse (the moon covering up the sun):

I found a source that said "An eclipse was also an omen linked to natural disasters or deaths in the imperial family, it was a warning —for the Sun was the symbol of the Emperor according to traditional astrological theories" (link), which I think is very appropriate considering 2 Jade Emperors die not long after this scene.

You're also killing me with the mention of the moons reflection

[condenysada]

i always think about how mei and mk are depicted as this parallel to swk and macaque and it makes me so crazy thinking about how both mei and mk are the hero AND the warrior like it genuinely makes me feel a little manic

[astronicht]

Hi I hope this isn't presumptuous, but so, that post you made about Tolkien making the lads leave their weapons outside the hall and CS Lewis thinking the hall was gonna get burned down by a lady who also wanted to kill herself... what's the historical precedent for that? Is there a trope in medieval lit where people like... do that? I ask because uh. I am obsessed with Children of Hurin and there's a scene where that like, happens. And I'm obsessed with that scene, and would love to know if there's like, cultural/mythic context that would enrich my knowledge!

OH BOY, sorry I'm getting to this late, it's been uhhh a summer, but one, this is a very good question!! And two, yes there is absolutely precedent, particularly in early medieval literature, and high medieval literature set in the early medieval (circa 500-1100 AD) past. I'll let someone else debate how often people actually historically locked their enemies into a hall and burned them, but especially in Old Norse literature (and if Fellowship felt like it leaned a little more on Old English literature, Two Towers, where Eowyn appears, felt a little more Old Norse) this is common. Off the top of my head, you've got many Icelandic family feuds ending in burning the whole family in their hall, like Njal's Saga (Old Norse), Attila the Hun dramas (yeah he's a big guy in the burning halls circuit, but actually not in the way you might expect) like his cameos in Volsung Saga (Old Norse) and Nibelungelied (Middle High German), and my vague recollection of a few Irish and Welsh versions that no search engine is giving up for me right now.

This, predictably, got long and slightly off topic.

Disclaimer: As usual, I should say I come from an Old English-centric background, and Old English literature is actually notable among all its neighbors for not burning down too many halls. Second disclaimer, all links are not proper citations, they just go to wiki.

Hall-burning in literature is, to my understanding, part of the concerns of a few early medieval cultures in which revenge is not only expected but in many cases legally reinforced and codified, and one in which conflicts could spiral to engulf -- figuratively, or literally and in flames -- entire families. Many medieval Icelandic sagas are focused on this exact type of destruction of whole families or friendship/community units. Most relevant of these to Eowyn, Two Towers, and the vibes of Edoras (since alas I am only partway into RotK and can't speak to Children of Hurin yet!) is Volsung Saga, which is set on the Continent, not Iceland, and actually has to do with Attila the Hun. As mentioned before, an incredible amount of stuff turns out to have to do with Attila. We will come back to him!

So, on the particular post you're talking about, a few people iirc have replied pointing out that the hall in TT is clearly supposed to be based on a hall from Old English literature, namely the hall in Beowulf, which famously did not actually get burnt down. And that's all true! I was not posting with much nuance; I was mostly having a joke at the expense of CS Lewis. However, I was also referencing a very very common trope in Old Norse/early medieval stories, and I personally think JRR was as well (AND I think Beowulf was also very consciously referencing the exact same motif anyway) (no one has to agree with me, a tumblr blog, on any of these points).

The thing about the hall when our heroes approach is that the scariest damn thing in that hall is Eowyn. Certainly not every hall-burning story requires a woman with no other recourse to set the fire (in fact, the "warrior band approaches unknown hall which might have a grudge against them" is a trope that can get you killed in a pretty homosocial environment, as I guess Aragorn at least was aware, being a big reader). Still, the presence of a woman who is swiftly running out of options does fit what I'd consider one of the or perhaps The best known version of the early medieval burning hall trope: Gudrun, who shows up in at least a dozen different texts in both the Scandinavian and the German language traditions, including Volsung Saga, a text which itself often gets paraded around as the basis of lotr (which I'm sure it is, in that JRR appears to have simply and very fairly based lotr on every piece of early medieval vernacular literature I can think of).

In a portion of Gudrun's story (which of course changes a bit in each retelling), after her first marriage she is unhappily married to Atli, who is none other than our main man Attila the Hun. After Attila kills her brothers for reasons (in one version, her father), seeing no other way to take the necessary revenge and no other way out, she kills the two sons she had by him, serves them to Attila for dinner, has Attila killed, and then sets fire to the hall with everyone in it. After this, she attempts to drown herself.

The self-destruction of this act is a really important beat, and has only gotten more-so as a comparison to Eowyn the further I've read into RotK (currently, I'm at the houses of healing after merry and eowyn take on the witch king). It's a lot clearer in the book than the films, for me, that Eowyn going off to battle was not so a straightforward empowering and/or freeing move, despite allowing her some agency, but more the one path she saw as available to her with which to die with honor (which was pretty much exactly what Gudrun was facing as well). Like Gudrun, whose first husband was a great hero but has died, Eowyn's romantic choice is a hero who is presumed dead (sorry Aragorn they did Not believe in your ghost skills). In fact, in some versions Gudrun does put on armor and fight with her brothers before they're killed. She kills Attila with her own hand, with the help of another man who needs to avenge a blood feud against Attila.

So while Eowyn didn't get forced into marriage to Attila Wormtongue (with apologies to both historical Attila and that one historical skald also called Wormtongue who was reportedly hot) and burn the whole place down, she's still trapped, and like Gudrun chooses destruction alongside her household.

Reading her arc feels so much like watching Tolkien write a fix-it for Gudrun. What if she got this one little chance, and this one other little chance, and this one more -- tiny little shifts in the narrative that allow her to get out, and not through fire, and not through death.

Anyway, this got away from me. I hope it added some context to the Children of Hurin arson case! Thanks for the ask

[illegiblewords]

Almost current in Dawntrail, I make some references to plot stuff under the cut but this post isn't mainly about Dawntrail. This is an analytical rant. There are people who disagree with me that I adore/respect to bits who have done brilliant stuff from angles I wouldn't take. People shouldn’t stop doing what they’re inspired to do according to whether I like or dislike something. This post qualifies less with 'I think' and 'I believe' statements/is a little harsher because I'm venting though. Proceed at your discretion.

Features critical/darker discussions of Venat and Hermes with brief mentions of Zenos.

I really, genuinely think a lot of people are only getting pieces of what's going on in FFXIV.

The story still isn't black and white. Characters very, very often are not what they advertise themselves to be. Neither the cast nor fans are immune to misjudging.

Hermes is not as compassionate as he presents himself. There is an enormous discrepancy between what he professes and the choices he consistently makes, both with regard to other ancients and creations. I do believe he was genuinely miserable but he is basically Satan from Paradise Lost, who wonders why he alone was made unsatisfied with obedience and perfection. Who recognizes there is difference in himself compared to others but is conflicted about whether this is a defect or higher calling. Satan sees himself as inherently 'other' above all else and Hermes is just the same. The shared snake imagery isn't a coincidence either.

Everything I've seen points to Hermes being a narcissist who does not have instinctive empathy in a society where empathy is the most valuable quality a person can have. He strives to have more empathy than all other people without truly understanding what that means. It's why he projects his anger and hatred onto the wolf creation as it dies instead of offering it any kind of comfort. It's why he sends Meteion into space to suffer pain, death, and despair as a high empathy being who challenges all concepts of what it means to be alive… instead of presenting her to the Bureau of the Architect, where her very existence might instigate star-wide reform for how all other creations are handled. For his ego, he needed to be the only one with extensive knowledge of dynamis. He needed to be the only one with answers from on high regarding the nature of life. That was far more important than Meteion's wishes or well-being, and the creations he claims to love are expendable for this purpose. He frequently oscillates between seeing himself as beneath all other ancients and the sole, divinely powerful judge/jury/executioner of all living things. Like Satan from Paradise Lost he can't be grouped with those around him. He can't be just one of many ancients dealing with fears, doubts, despairs. He MUST be exceptional above all else. I'd argue the main reason he accepts the Warrior of Light at all is because we do not appear as a fellow ancient to him--he sees us as a familiar, and therefore inherently without equal authority and agency compared to him. When we are useful to his worldview he uses us and when we aren't we're disposable.

I've seen people claim that Hermes is just anxious and that's why he didn't submit Meteion. You don't opt for genocide and decree all of humanity as immoral and unworthy of mercy without even allowing your targets a voice to answer out of anxiety. You certainly don't do that while having specifically gone out of your way to avoid any steps that might have given room for more charitable judgments. Hermes opted to destroy everyone because it was what he wanted to do, but it didn't fit his self-image as a benevolent and empathetic person to do so. That's why he made a loophole via memory erasure.

Venat, further, is not a hero. She's gray at best and in all likelihood a pretty dark shade of it. Light motifs and crystal mommy themes do not change this. She not only decided, independently, that Hermes' genocide was an appropriate course without allowing anyone else room to discuss or address the issue--she actively denied everyone else knowledge of what happened or even basic information about dynamis (LET ALONE METEION'S LOCATION) so they could deal with the issue effectively. She passed judgment on the entire Convocation because of Hermes' appointment without once judging herself for withholding information on his true character. There is a reason Emet-Selch called her out for being immediately ready to see herself as a morally correct messiah of the star. He wasn't wrong to do so. And especially after Endwalker I think Venat grossly misunderstood not only what led to worlds self-destructing on a philosophical level (never mind Meteion's emotion amplification powers), I think she misread her own star and its people. Pursuit of purity and certainty was what led to the destruction of worlds. The total absence of pain is just one form that can take, but it isn't necessary for a world to be in perpetual agony to avoid that. Venat dismissed the despairs and struggles of her own fellow ancients because there was no room for them in the view she had of herself and her world. If she didn't see them they didn't exist, but even when she did see them they didn't count enough to sway her judgment. Venat had to be the most correct person and she didn't allow even as Hydaelyn the possibility of making mistakes or unwarranted cruelty to others. She is 1000% guilty of 'ancient hubris'.

Venat might be a more middling gray, in my view, depending on whether she'd been trying to shield as many people as possible from tempering with the traveler's ward only for most of the star to become tempered by Zodiark post-summoning. There are a lot of repeating phrases between Elidibus, post-Final Days ancients, and the lunar shades that I think point to mass tempering. Venat would have grounds for assuming people had homogenized views, prayers, and voices if the star was largely tempered. If they weren't, I think she becomes pretty sinister for how she deals with people's post-Final Days trauma. Her injustice toward the ancients in that case would just happen to be in a way that benefits the shards.

The Zodiark plan prevented life from going extinct. It was necessary. Zodiark's tempering and the subsequent sacrifice spiral were not deliberate I suspect, seeing as Zodirk was the first primal EVER. People have been consistently misreading the loporrit quote on this to try and argue that Zodiark didn't temper the Unsundered.

The line states that Venat used a different summoning technique to the one utilized by Ascians. Venat's technique specifically does not temper people. The Ascian method does. If Venat's technique was used to summon an entity of Zodiark's magnitude (whose power could not be resisted according to Emet-Selch) there might be a slight tug toward tempering despite the technique being much safer.

This is not saying Zodiark didn't temper anyone. It's specifically saying that despite Venat having a safe technique, Zodiark's summoning was on such a monumental scale that even Venat's technique would carry some risk.

Meanwhile, Lahabrea has been getting set up for years as someone who has been dehumanized, judged, isolated, and misunderstood. This has continued to increasing degrees through Dawntrail. It has been going on since A Realm Reborn. The sheer consistency of it is insane at this point. There is a HUGE gap between how Lahabrea emotes and what he's actually feeling. His choices reflect this and it is demonstrated firsthand in Pandaemonium.

No one seemed to think it was weird that Lahabrea was ready to commit a pseudo-suicide by killing Hephaistos. No one seemed to catch that the 'pseudo-suicide' in the lyrics to Scream referenced Lahabrea, as did the 'shadow left far behind' line. People contorted themselves into pretzels trying to say that Scream was not about him. Nevermind that Pandaemonium is the Lahabrea raid, in which all other characters were supporting cast to flesh out Lahabrea. It must be mainly about Hegemone and Agdistis! If not them, it must be mainly about Erichthonios!

The man's entire story is about being dehumanized, dismissed, invalidated, and excluded while suffering severe mental illness. It's kind of horrendous that fans are continuing to do this to him on a meta level.

Lahabrea has a long history of Abrahamic imagery. If the Warring Triad mirror the Unsundered, Sephirot as the Tree of Life maps to the Kabbalistic process of creation. The game explicitly and correctly references this in the attacks used. The lyrics to Fiend track for Lahabrea as does the association with Id issues, and there's symbolically significant overlap between muscular/multi-armed Sephirot (where multiple arms reference the boddisatva Guanyin, who uses those many arms to help those in need) to muscular/multi-armed Zodiark as Lahabrea's creation. And Zodiark being Lahabrea's creation is indicated in Akademia Anyder. People have been trying to attribute Zodiark to Hermes because Hermes hijacked him in EW and it drives me nuts.

Meanhwile, what did Pandaemonium do?

Paired the Tree of Life to The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There's a ton of snake, fruit, and mouth imagery in Pandaemonium. Athena is Eve offering Lahabrea as Adam knowledge of good and evil via the soul bonding. Lahabrea has been afraid of himself as an extremely powerful ancient (which I've analyzed before, tying to Emet-Selch too), particularly given he's in a position of power. He reflects the societal idea that someone with his aetherial strength and authority cannot afford to be selfish or he risks causing immeasurable harm to others. Result is that Lahabrea is absolutely terrified of being selfish in any capacity, even on a basic healthy level. Athena meanwhile is a purely selfish being. Like I believe is the case with Hermes (and am positive is the case with Zenos)--she does not have instinctive empathy. Athena deliberately psychologically violated her husband by forcing him to acknowledge understanding selfish desire through her perspective, then compounded it by exploiting his lack of self-confidence to say he was bound to be just like her for understanding such selfishness. She's not an authority on that, but Lahabrea sees himself as personally less than Athena and is not at that point equipped to argue on his own behalf.

Anyway. Abrahamic connections, Hegemone has the snake imagery. Agdistis has the tree and the fruit. Athena is Eve. The soul bonding is the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Hephaistos uses a ton of snake imagery too. Lahabrea is covered in symbolism both on a personal psychological level and tied to traditional symbolism via the hand of god acting upon the world, the eye of god watching the world. For savage, one arm is covered in eyes. This is his role as Lahabrea employing power for his people. The other arm, his personal desires/needs, is long and thin and malformed/not really functional. He covers his heart with a pair of wings for protection and reduces himself, weeping, to DNA because that's the only value he sees in himself. He'd rather be that than himself as a person because at least as DNA he's wanted for something. Lahabrea doesn't think anyone would ever give a shit about him on a personal level.

When Hephaistos is defeated, there's a reason Lahabrea is shaken when he states that Hephaistos' goal was never to raise himself high. That was what Athena wanted and what she told him he'd want. All Hephaistos wanted was his family back and to be loved. That was the moment Lahabrea had to introspect and realized Athena wasn't correct about his motives. Her declaring something about him didn't make it true.

Erichthonios is convinced he has a cruel and indifferent father for much of the raid. We see him twist neutral-to-kind gestures as malicious in front of us, as with Lahabrea allowing him to go to Pandaemonium as a child but insisting he know spells to protect himself. Erichthonios takes Lahabrea's insistence as believing he's not good enough instead of wanting him to be safe. We also see Erichthonios construe something that actually points to Lahabrea being depressed (giving himself no credit for completing the phoenix and advertising nothing only to be surprised by coworkers throwing him a celebration anyway) as him scorning Pandaemonium for not sharing the achievement with them. Erichthonios was taught to do this by Athena, and Athena likewise twists Lahabrea's self-image as a form of psychological abuse from the moment he approaches her in the soul bonding scene. She cites his status and accuses Lahabrea of thinking himself morally above others for descending to Pandaemonium and judging her. It never occurs to Athena that Lahabrea would try to stop her because he loves and wants to protect his son.

People are projecting their own personal beef with parents behaving poorly to assume Lahabrea is an uncaring father. He's not. He's extremely mentally ill and Erichthonios was groomed by an abusive mother while having no concept of what Lahabrea's mental illness would even look like... let alone how to deal with it.

Lahabrea explicitly thinks Erichthonios is better off with the false memory of a mother who abused him than having him present as a father because he considers himself so personally worthless. He can only see his presence as a detriment in his son's life. He is a short step from the kind of suicide people commit when they think other people would be happier and less burdened if they were dead. 'They might be sad for a while, but ultimately they'll be better off.'

I'm not even bringing out my citations right now. This isn't an Archon Thesis because I want my evidence properly assembled for that. But I recently saw someone try to frame the Convocation and Zodiark plan as uniformly awful, when the reality is doing nothing would have resulted in life going extinct. And if we're talking about zodiac signs mapping to Convocation members, there are more layers to it than 'Ascians = bad versions of the zodiac'.

Ex. The duality (two fish) and creativity associated with Pisces both apply to Lahabrea, but the emotionality does too. It isn't obvious at first but when you look it's there. Lahabrea has hidden strong emotions consistently through a variety of methods across the game. Sometimes it's reserve, sometimes it's aggression, sometimes it's hysteria. But when you look at the surrounding circumstances from his perspective, it makes perfect sense how and why he'd emote that way. It has never been safe for him to be emotionally vulnerable.

One of the earliest moments of 'villain laughter' from him we see is at Carteneau. His assistant waits quietly for him to finish. At that point Bahamut had been unleashed in yet another action that goes directly against Lahabrea's own morals, but is necessary to the Ardor. The sundered respond by invoking Lahabrea's phoenix as protection for humanity against a primal Lahabrea helped orchestrate. On some level people instinctively believe Lahabrea can and will protect them despite his failures, their own reincarnations, and thousands of years passing. It's ironic and horrible but this kind of irony has been happening to Lahabrea over and over again. If he doesn't laugh the dude's going to cry and (again) it isn't safe for him to do that.

(Also as the only Ascian to ever refer to Zodiark as 'master', Lahabrea is A) very tempered B) continuing a pattern of thought/behavior/worldbuilding where he puts his people first and himself dead last C) not talking about Athena. Lahabrea says in-game he had no earthly idea Athena was in the Heart of Sabik. I do think Heart of Sabik effected him by magnifying his desire to save his people and redeem himself in the face of survivor's guilt. It might have influenced his phrasing too. I have theories about what Lahabrea did at Praetorium but blowing it up was not 'the ultimate magic' by any means. I'm pretty sure he used it as a Themis and/or Zodiark backup drive, which Athena's presence at Anabaseios proves is possible anyway. He doesn't need to know about her to figure it out.

People have tried to say Athena is Lahabrea's god instead of Zodiark. Especially given the history of abuse and Lahabrea's own repeatedly shown priorities/actions, that take is pretty appalling imo. Completely dismisses how devoted he has always been to his people to destroy his will and identity altogether on a meta level.)

Even if we strip shit down to the most bare bones narrative form and ignore evidence--where motives and arcs are concerned 'oh Lahabrea has always been evil/uncaring/sociopathic/self-absorbed and stayed that way forever after' is bad storytelling. That would require a 'failure to change' arc as literal or spiritual death. That arc form ties to death because life requires accounting for/adapting to new experiences. If a character fails to do that (for better or worse) that character is stagnant and effectively not living. Such arcs require meticulously showing the process of rejecting experiences though. Zoraal Ja actually approaches the form a bit when we see him repeatedly taking nothing from the trials he undergoes, but his trajectory becomes 'change for the worse' after losing to his father's shade. None of the Unsundered are set up with that arc form, Lahabrea included. It wouldn't offer any insight, fit with what we know of the ancients and their values/society, or carry any emotional impact. Trying to go that route without setup is just bad storytelling and makes characters less believable. But yeah. Tl;dr I really, really wish people paid more attention and examined words vs actions vs surrounding circumstances vs motives.

[nightshademyn]

Ok I'm still going insane about the wisdom saga specifically god games so I'm gonna start yapping under the cut because I have A LOT to say

First off, as I said in a previous post, Apollo's verse really does feel like the first/tutorial boss. There's nothing really personal (?) about why he doesn't want Odysseus to be set free, and I'm pretty sure that's intentional with how much this saga took from video games. Also I love his voice because it's fucking Brandon McInnis and as someone who's in the middle of her first FE Engage run w/ male Alear, it was a fucking shock lmao (did not expect to see male alear's va here)

I have no real in depth thoughts when it comes to Hephaestus's verse other than it just scratches my brain the right way. Something about Mike Rivera's voice is just sooo good and there's something so sweet about Jorge getting both his parents as vocalists in his passion project. It makes me smile every time.

OK OK HERE'S WHERE I START GOING INSANE. APHRODITE AND ARES. First off I swear you can hear the danger motif in the instrumentation WHICH MAKES SENSE because Aphrodite isn't going to be easily swayed and that poses a danger to everything Athena is trying to accomplish! It would also foreshadow that Ares is going to come in if Athena pushes Aphrodite to release him. SECOND! This is the longest segment and I wanna argue was the one that took the most effort out of Athena, and I'd like to think it's because of their history with the Trojan War. I'd like to think that Ares and Aphrodite are still holding a grudge from when Athena helped Diomedes almost kill them both during the Trojan War lmao. (Also Athena referring to Telemachus as her friend and Ares' insult towards Telemachus being what causes Athena to lock in is so sweet)

I love Hera's verse and I love how amicable she is towards Athena?? It makes sense to me that she's not quite as hostile as Aphrodite and Ares despite being the final "boss" before Zeus because to my knowledge in mythology Hera held no longs standing animosity towards Athena, probably because she's the child of Zeus and his first wife Metis and not the result of an affair. They were actually on the same side of the Trojan war. So it makes more sense to me that she's less antagonistic and more testing Athena. And I love that her verse starts with "So many heroes/So many tales" because Athena is the goddess that helps out most greek heroes. Off the top of my head outside of Odysseus there was also Perseus and Diomedes that she aided. Hera is testing Athena and asking her what makes Odysseus so special out of all the heroes Athena has mentored

AND FINALLY ZEUS!!!! THE OTHER BIT THAT MAKES ME INSANE! I wanna double back to make a comparison because in the beginning of God Games, it almost sounds to me like Athena is trying to find her rhythm, like she's choosing her words carefully to appeal to Zeus and get him to agree with her. And then once she's convinced the other gods, she returns to zeus with confidence and pride ("I've played your game and won/ Release him") DEMANDING THAT HE RELEASE ODYSSEUS! AND HOW? HOW DOES ZEUS RESPOND???? WITH THE SONG ABOUT PRIDE CRUMBLING AT HIS HANDS!! I firmly believe that's why Zeus struck Athena the second time she approached him. In his eyes, she was prideful and defiant and needed to be taught a lesson (and if the line "to make me feel shame" is any indicator, he probably did not like being called out for his propensity for affairs during Hera's verse). Also I might be going insane but the line "thunder, bring her through the wringer" IS SUNG IN THE FUCKING DANGER MOTIF SIGNALING THE DANGER ATHENA IS IN

The warrior of the mind motif returning first with a soft piano and then with a triumphant brass section (trumpets probably?) was also so good and what a way to end that song

I think that's all I had for now but I will probably come back with more to say because this musical is doing things to me

[great-hon-equal-to-pot-pie]

So I've been thinking about the "monkey-mind horse-will" philosophy and the way it perfectly applies to MK and Mei all day today SO I NEED TO GET IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM.

So I feel like it's extremely common knowledge that Wukong is an allegory for the mind in jttw and this allegory is still somewhat present in lmk, especially in aspects of MK's character. The whole concept of the fluid, ever changing thoughts in his mind. The whole "I try not to think about it", "I play dumb to lighten the mood". Him saying "There's nothing MINDless about me" in the season 4 finale. THE WHOLE THING WITH SMARTIE KID/BIG BRAIN BOY? These are just some examples off the top of my head there's definitely so much I've missed. But yes, MK has this as a very noticible motif of thoughts and mind rooted in his character.

Mei representing the will- or as I like to put it - the heart is less apparent, but hear me out. The whole "she acts before she thinks". The whole "she puts her family and friends first", and the "she's a protector" vibe of her character. She puts her HEART first. The contrast between this and MK is admittedly slight but still visible.

Monkies and horses have had other connections in eastern history too, I'm sure most jttw fans are familiar with keeping monkies in horse stables to wear off illnesses (Wukong's role as Bimawen is a reference to that :D), but besides the duo can also represent great success and fortune and have ties in the Chinese zodiac. So I feel chosing Mei specifically to be MK's bestie was done on purpose.

ARGH I don't know just the concept of MK and Mei being the "Brain and Heart" IS JUST TOO GOOD. The fact it isn't the regular route of "he's smart, she's sensitive" but a lot more subtle and nuanced is just taking over my brain. I love the whole "MK and Mei will become the Hero and the Warrior" theory but imagine that the finale message is that they are equal and there is no point in overshadowing one another (I like both versions of the theory, I'm fine with both Hero MK-Warrior Mei and Hero Mei-Warrior MK) because "mind and will" are both equally important. Like? How they're both capable of greatness and need each other's support. LIKE??

AAAA I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M GOING FOR

[that-ari-blogger]

Light In The Owl House

Across history, stories have correlated light with good and darkness with evil. This has probably stemmed from the primal fear of the dark and the unseen creatures that lurk in the night. But the concept has warped and changed over time, for better or for worse.

Enter the Owl House, which plays the whole light motif pretty straight. Or does it? The Intruder delves into the concept and lays out how the series will use the motif going forwards.

Let me explain.

So, this episode is about worldbuilding, specifically about explaining the magic system. You could go into the technicalities of this, Brandon Sanderson has three rules to use for writing magic that are mostly useable. But the owl house handwaves this and focuses on the thematic of it.

I believe that every element of a story has an effect on it, and you can usually tell this with the main elements of a story by asking a simple question. Why is it in the story? Why does Luz learn magic and not how to be a warrior or some other kind of hero? The magic here is vital for the symbolism and meaning it provides.

"Why do you want to learn magic so bad, anyway?" "I was a nobody back home. But becoming a witch is my chance to be someone. Do you know what it's like to have no one take you seriously?"

Magic is freedom to express yourself however you want, and this episode is about Luz learning to express herself in a way that is different, but just as valid as everyone else.

Anyway, why light? Well, let's examine how light is used in this episode, because it is very deliberate.

First up, there is the setting. Ten minutes in, the lights in the Owl House go dim, casting everything in shadows and shards of light. Everything is distorted or unclear.

Even the colour of the light factors in, when Eda is revealed, she is backlit by this sickly green light, recalling a stereotypical witch's cauldron to drive home the point about the curse.

But, Light comes up in other ways too. The lightning is a signifier of the storm outside, but that is warded off by a glowing shield, cast in a spell resembling a ball of light, showing how light both scares and protects.

Luz also uses the light on her phone to see. Light reveals, and if you didn't catch it, that's another theme here.

This episode keeps coming back to revelations. First impressions are never accurate. From the rain turning out to be dangerous, to the Snaggleback being so disappointing, to the label on the potion. This keeps coming up.

The episode is also full of people intentionally concealing things. Eda conceals her curse from the others and band aids keep getting used to conceal wounds. There is even a joke early on in which Eda pulls King's hat over his eyes, in reaction to which, he shout's "Ah! Darkness!" But here is the thing with these, nothing ever gets hidden fully. The band aids only add colour to injuries, they don't cover them entirely, and the Owl Beast Curse is an issue throughout the episode and for the rest of the series.

There is another source of light in this episode. And it's the Owl Beast's eyes. The creature is bathed in shadow for most of the episode, except for its eyes, which glow like beacons.

So, what conclusion does this lead to? What is the point of the light?

I have already mentioned in a different post how the Owl House examines naivety and willful ignorance, and I think this ties into that quite nicely. Light reveals, and shadow conceals. Shining a light on Eda allows her to open up about her curse and temporarily defeats the monster, where the shadows keep it hidden and terrifying.

Light also symbolizes magic, and Luz's determination. it signifies her succeeding in her own, unique way. And here's an interesting link to that. In their video Names In The Owl House: A Breakdown And Analysis, @idlescree presents the meaning of Luz's name.

"The name Luz translates to light in spanish... No-ceda can be taken informally to mean do not yield, or do not give in. Combined, the name Luz Noceda literally means Light, Do Not Give In."

The video linked is incredible, it goes into a ton of the names in the Owl House, so I highly recommend you check it out if you haven't already. But I would like to focus on this little segment.

If we have associated light with expression and uniqueness, as well as the revelation of the truth, Luz's name is an extension of this concept. The protagonist's name is the thesis of the story. Never stop being you, never stop seeking answers, never stop shining.

Previous - Next

[aspoonofsugar]

Weiss and Jaune = Knight + Queen

Mirror Help me Who am I?

Weiss and Jaune are strong foils (mirrors), who can be analyzed through a specific motif.

They are both Knights (masculine):

And Queens (feminine):

This is made clear also through their respective allusions:

1 -Weiss alludes to Snowhite and plays all the different characters of the story with a specific focus on the Princess and the Prince, which is highlighted since the White Trailer:

Weiss and her inner Prince (Animus), who is corrupted and possessed by her Father

Here, Weiss fights a giant armor, which symbolizes the power her father (the patriarchy) has above her. She is fighting both for her freedom and to get back a possessed part of herself (the Arma Gigas is literally a haunted armor). If she wants to escape Jacques, she has to be her own Prince. In other words, to be crowned queen, she needs to become a knight first.

2 -Jaune alludes to Jeanne d'Arc who was both a maid and a knight. Jaune's story is about him growing into both. He needs to accept his inner maiden to become a proper knight. This is made clear in the Jaunedice's arc (this mini arc really works as Jaune's trailer). There he grows not when he gives in to toxic masculinity, but when he stands up to it:

Jaune performing his first miracle and later on being guided by his Goddess (Anima), who is none other than Pyrrha

Jaune makes progress when he nurtures his most feminine side and shows vulnerability by apologizing and asking for Pyrrha's help. A real man has no fear to show he is also feminine.

In short, both Weiss and Jaune's stories deal with the integration of their feminine and masculine parts, so that they can be full-fledged individuals.

ANIMUS AND ANIMA

Integrating the feminine with the masculine is a psychological process, which is described by Carl Jung with the archetypes of animus and anima:

The animus is the masculine part of a woman

The anima is the feminine part of a man

Each person has naturally both, but society promotes specific gender values and drives people to repress traits culturally associated with the opposite gender. So, to fully be complete a person should integrate the negated parts.

This is the case for both Weiss and Jaune, who are initially trapped in fixed gender roles:

Weiss is the rich spoilt princess. She is forced to adhere to the social role Jacques has chosen for her. She is the Schnee Heiress, which means she should always be classy, perfect and elegant:

Weiss: I'm. Not. Perfect! Not yet...

Jaune is instead the loser boy, who wants to be a knight. He doesn't really fit his gender nor social role. He is a male, but is weak, geeky and odd. He has a legacy of warriors to honor, but can't fight. So, he feels he isn't enough:

Jaune: I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!

Basically they are both trapped in opposite ways. Weiss fits her legacy and stereotype so well people forget there is more to her. Jaune instead doesn't measure up to his ancestors nor to the classical male type, so everybody assumes he is bound to fail. This happens because Weiss and Jaune are victims in different ways of toxic masculinity:

As a girl, Weiss has to obey her father, to suppress her emotions and to be nothing, but beautiful. Think about how Jacques even weaponizes typical feminine traits Weiss has, like her talent at singing.

As a boy, Jaune has to conform to physical prowess and bravado. He has to be big, ripped and cool or else he is no-one. The idea he is not like the other boys is at the root of Jaune's insecurities.

At the same time, Weiss and Jaune are also incredibly immature and project outside the same gender roles they are trying to escape inside. Moreover, they do so specifically with each other:

Weiss: (mockingly) My hero.

This scene summarizes their whole early dynamic. On the one hand Weiss sees Jaune as the loser he is scared to be. She only sees his superficial bravado and misses who he is behind the mask. On the other hand Jaune is attracted to Weiss because he sees her as the perfect princess to his knight. So, he is drawn to the mask.

Even the reason Jaune initially falls for Weiss ties into this:

Weiss: Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!

Weiss here is mocking both Jaune and Ruby, two people she has misjudged and shows no respect for. She is being cold, superficial and rude. Still, Jaune falls for it and believes Weiss's words. He does because they describe Jaune as he wants to be perceived. So, he runs after Weiss and ignores Pyrrha.

In short, initially Weiss and Jaune can't see neither themselves nor others clearly. Luckily, this starts to change at Beacon.

ICE QUEEN AND VOMIT BOY

Sun: Ruby, Yang, Blake… Ice Queen.

Ruby: Look, I'm sorry! Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind.

Weiss and Jaune are given nicknames the moment they arrive at Beacon. This happens because they are both childish and self-centered, so they are called out by others. Specifically, their nicknames are light-hearted ways to criticize their perceived self-importance and the archetypes they are trying to emulate. Weiss is called an ice queen because she is acting as daddy's little princess. Jaune is instead jockingly named vomit boy because he tries too hard to look cool. They are still far away from who they want to become and their friends pick up on this. Luckily, giving them funny names is not all RWBY and JNPR do for Weiss and Jaune. Rather they help the two kids grow. In particular, Ice Queen and Vomit Boy develop in two different and complementary ways:

In volume 1 they learn to see who they are slightly better

In volume 2 they become able to see others with more clarity

Seeing One-Self

At the beginning of their stories Weiss and Jaune are running away from who they are:

I'm the loneliest of all.

Even when I told my parents I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?

Both have big families, but feel lonely and misunderstood. So, they hope they can have a fresh start at Beacon, but immediately meet unforeseen circumstances:

By this point Weiss and Jaune are pursuing a superficial dream of heroes and monsters. They figure their most perfected selves beside the "right" patner.

On the one hand Weiss wants Pyrrha to be the "knight" to her "princess":

Weiss: This will be perfect! The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class! Together we will be unstoppable!

She wants someone strong (body) that complements her intelligence (mind). She thinks that in this way she can't fail.

On the other hand Jaune wants Weiss to be the "princess" to his "knight":

Jaune: Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed! So, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?

He wants someone who is beautiful and looks frail, so he can protect her. He thinks in this way he can appear strong.

Both are wrong obviously. This is why they end up with respectively Ruby and Pyrrha as partners.

Weiss needs to realize what complements mind is not body, but heart. This is why she is paired with Ruby, who lacks physical strength, but has more than enough heart to guide Weiss. Throughout the initiation, Weiss herself has to act as a Knight by saving Ruby from the Nevermore. And later on, she needs to follow Ruby's plan (so Ruby's mind) to take down the Grimm and pass the trial.

Jaune needs to realize a real knight is not physically strong, but is wise (mind) and brave (heart). This is why he ends up with Pyrrha, who is both and challenges him in two different ways. She doesn't fit feminine stereotypes and sees Jaune's value not in his superficial traits, but rather in his willingness to help. Throughout the initiation, Jaune shows this by staying behind to lead others into kiling the Grimm.

So, Ruby and Pyrrha are the ones, who can help Weiss and Jaune grow the most. However, the 2 kids struggle to accept it and enter into a conflict with their respective partners in The Bagde and The Burden and Jaunedice. These 2 mini-arcs are interesting because they do not really add anything to the main plot. Rather, they are episodes which focus on Weiss and Jaune respectively. Once again our wannabe queen and wannabe knight act as perfect foils to each other.

On the one hand Weiss is powerful enough to kill Grimms on her own, but wants to be the Queen giving orders. On the other hand Jaune has gained the title of leader, but wants to be the competent Knight slaining monsters.

In short, they want what the other has and miss what they already are. Why is that so? Because deep down they dislike themselves and can't see they have the seeds for greatness within. They don't need to look outside, but should nurture the inside.

Luckily, they are helped by 2 mentor figures:

Port: So instead of fretting about what you don't have, savor what you do. Hone your skills, perfect every technique, and be not the best leader, but the best person you can be.

Ruby: Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you.

Port invites Weiss to grow as a person and Ruby reminds Jaune of his duties as a leader. So, Weiss and Jaune step up for the sake of their partners:

Weiss: Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have!

Jaune: Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again. Got it?

Weiss encourages Ruby to be a good leader and promises her she will be the best teammate ever. She even aknowledges she has always loved bunked beds and makes a small step in integrating with her inner child. Something necessary if she wants to blossom into an adult.

Jaune fights Cardin for Pyrrha's sake and decides to dedicate himself to his role of leader. At the same time, he accepts Pyrrha's help, so he shows vulnerability. In other words, he starts integrating with his feminine side. Something needed to become more mature.

So, by the end of their first semester at Beacon both Weiss and Jaune have come to understand themselves and their roles a little bit better. Still, they have yet a long way to go when it comes to the way they aknowledge others.

What better chance than a dance to work on it?

Seeing Others

When it comes to the dance, Weiss and Jaune find themselves in the same situation of the initiation ceremony. They are locked into "triangles":

Jaune wants to go to the dance with Weiss, who wants to go with Neptune

Pyrrha wants to go to the dance with Jaune, who wants to go with Weiss

They pursue the wrong partner and ignore another person's feelings. In this way they do to another what they lament it is done to them:

Weiss: All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name.

Jaune: It's Weiss… I'm completely head over heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented-- I mean have you heard her sing? I just wish she take me seriously, y'know?

On the one hand Weiss wants to be seen for who she is, not her name. And yet, she refuses to look earnestly at Jaune and doesn't even recognize his feelings as genuine (recognizing someone's feelings doesn't mean to reciprocate them by the way). On the other hand Jaune wants to be taken seriously, but the moment Pyrrha tries to open up to him, he reduces her feelings to a joke:

Jaune: Oh please, if you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress.

At the same time, both approach love superficially. Jaune has started to really like Weiss as a person, but he is still far from truly seeing the girl in all her complexity. Weiss is instead failing to recognize Jaune's good qualities and is attracted to Neptune's try hard persona:

Neptune: Haven. And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel.

The narrative makes it very clear Neptune is just a shallower, but better looking version of Jaune. He is a geek (like Jaune), but calls himself an intellectual. He flirts with every girl that breathes, waaaay more than Jaune does initially. And yet, he looks cooler, so Weiss is attracted by him.

This "double triangle" is solved positively in 2 different ways:

Weiss and Jaune start to display respectively more masculine and feminine traits

Weiss and Jaune learn to see others a little bit better

Weiss plays the part of the knight and invites Neptune to the dance:

Weiss: I know this is a little unorthodox, but… I wanted to ask you something. Would you… like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?

Jaune plays the part of the maiden and wears a dress to accept Pyrrha's late invite:

Pyrrha: I had no idea you were a dancer. Jaune: Yeah, well, these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters.

On a deeper level, Jaune confronts both Pyrrha (the ideal self he must aim to be) and Neptune (the past self he has outgrown).

Pyrrha: I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me.

He realizes he has hurt Pyrrha's feelings and has failed to see her the whole time. At the same time, he calls Neptune out on how he has treated Weiss's feelings:

Jaune: Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?

And finally, thanks to his ideal self (Pyrrha), he is able to give his past self (Neptune) a good advice:

Jaune: Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go.

In this way, Jaune shows he has grown more mature and crowns his evening by wearing a beautiful dress and proving he is a great dancer (differently from Neptune).

Weiss grows too. She accepts Neptune's apology and thanks to him, she is able to finally see Jaune for who he is:

Weiss: You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me? Neptune: You're looking at him. You got some good friends looking out for ya.

She might not reciprocate Jaune's feelings, but Jaune is still her friend and cares about her as a person, not as a trophy. This moment marks an improvement of Weiss's overall dynamic with Jaune and she starts to see him as a close one, even praising him occasionally:

Weiss: Well, he's certainly improved.

This is a top off for Weiss's growth as a less judgemental person. This process starts with Blake and her prejudice against Faunus and goes on with Jaune and her misjudgement of him.

All in all, Weiss and Jaune's months at Beacon are key for the kids' early development:

Weiss grows through Ruby and Blake

Jaune grows through Pyrrha and his team

They keep walking parallel paths and slowly start to aknowledge each other more. Weiss starts to see Jaune not as a loser, but as a person who is trying hard. Jaune start to see Weiss not as a damsel, but as a talented individual with wishes of her own. Similarly, their relationship with their inner selves improves, as well.

By the time of the Vytal Festival, both Weiss and Jaune are making small steps toward who they want to become.

The Vytal Festival: Unsure Knight and Clueless Maiden

Weiss and Jaune's tournament fights display their better qualities. On the one hand Weiss sacrifices herself for Yang. On the other hand Jaune is able to lead his team well. They are both more selfless with a better understanding of their roles in their teams.

This growth is marked by important moments outside the arena.

Weiss meets Winter, who inspires her to branch out a little. This is the catalyst for Weiss's transformation into a knight:

Jaune notices Pyrrha is off and tries to step into an adviser position. Basically, he tries to do what Pyrrha has done for him. He tries to guide her by symbolically playing a more supportive role. Moreover, he tries to help Pyrrha making sense of maidenhood:

Jaune: I guess… I'm just trying to say that… you've always been there for me… even when I didn't deserve it. And I can tell there's something on your mind, so… I don't know. How can I help?

Obviously, they are both still immature. Weiss is dependent on her father and can barely summon a tiny sword. Jaune is ignorant and isn't able to give Pyrrha the right advice. Still, they both try, even if they meet an unforeseen crisis. The Fall of Beacon.

Weiss manages to step in to protect Velvet. She acts as a real Knight in Shining Armor:

Jaune does his best to stand beside Pyrrha, even in her darkest moment:

Jaune: She's right. Whoever was on that microphone… they're the ones that did this. And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else.

Despite this, they both fail in the end. Weiss can't save Beacon and loses her new found home and family. Jaune can't save Pyrrha and loses the girl he loves. So, after so much development and growth Weiss and Jaune wake up to discover it still isn't enough. So, the finale pushes them back in the roles they have tried to escape so desperately.

Weiss is brought back under her father's thumb. Jaune is shoved into a locker, forced to fly away like a loser. Weiss is once again daddy's little princess, while Jaune is once again a wannabe knight, who couldn't save the girl.

SNOWHITE AND JEANNE

Ren: Well that embarrassment - that desire to go back and tell yourself not to be so stupid - that just proves you're not the same person you used to be. You're smarter, you're kinder, you're stronger, and you're not done growing yet. None of us are.

The Mistral arc marks a metaphorical growth spurt for both Weiss and Jaune. This development manifests in the volume 5 climax, where their stories intersect:

This scene is a culmination of their respective developments and ties with both their allusions:

Snowhite dies, but is resurrected by the Prince

Jeanne D'Arc performs a mircacle and brings back a person from the death

So, it is clearly very important symbolically, but what does it mean for Weiss and Jaune's characters, specifically?

1- Weiss and Jaune overcome two fake Maidens

Vernal and Cinder are the two fake Maidens of the Mistral arc, as the opening of volume 5 suggests:

Vernal is set up as the Spring Maiden and Cinder is set up as Raven's biggest foe. And yet, neither of them lives up to expectations. On the one hand Vernal is just a red herring, while Cinder isn't Raven's true opponent, but Yang is.

At the same time, Vernal and Cinder are Weiss and Jaune's opponents during the Battle of Haven. Interestingly, they both challenge the kids about their true identities. Who are they really?

Vernal: Let's see what the Schnee name really means.

Cinder: Who are you again?

Vernal mocks Weiss by stating she is nothing outside her name and Cinder sneers at Jaune by telling him he is a nobody. These are Weiss and Jaune's biggest fears. Weiss is scared her only value is her Schnee name, whereas Jaune is terrified of being a loser. In short, both Vernal and Cinder attack Weiss and Jaune's egos and leave them shattered:

Vernal physically breaks Weiss's aura, while Cinder psychologically destroys Jaune by targeting Weiss, just like she did with Pyrrha. Vernal and Cinder's objective is really to reduce Weiss and Jaune to nobodies. And yet, they fail. That is because the self is not found in physical strength or power, but rather comes from inside:

Yang: You might be powerful, but that doesn't make you strong.

In this battle Vernal and Cinder really symbolize Weiss and Jaune's illusory sense of selves. Their ugly personas. This is why they are both fake. Fake maidens masked with strength and confidence. And yet, they are deep down made of lies.

Vernal derides Weiss because of her dependency on the Schnee Family. And yet, Vernal herself has dedicated her whole existence to the Branwen Tribe and even changed her name for Raven's sake. In other words, she has reduced herself to her Spring Maiden persona. She is the one, who is nothing more than a name. And a false one, to boot.

Cinder laughts at Jaune's wannabe hero performance, but a lucky strike by her opponent is enough to derail her. An inexperienced fighter like Jaune grazing her breaks Cinder's whole facade and shows the ugly psychological wounds she hides behind a mask.

This is why Vernal and Cinder defeat Weiss and Jaune, but ultimately fail and actually destroy each other. Vernal dies by Cinder's hand, despite how strong and smart she is. Cinder is unmasked by Raven and falls because of Vernal's final desperate attack, which ensures Cinder's defeat.

Weiss and Jaune instead are reborn thanks to each other. Weiss is physically saved by Jaune, whereas Jaune starts to psychologically heal through helping Weiss. Weiss unlocks a new summon, while Jaune discovers his semblance. In the end, Weiss and Jaune don't need to play by Vernal and Cinder's rules.

Weiss's strength doesn't lie in her individual skill, but in the relationships she has built with others. She doesn't have to survive on her own because she is full of loved ones ready to help her shine. And she can help them too.

Jaune is heroic not because he is a lonely warrior slaying villains, but because he is a good friend always ready to help. His value lies in his wish to protect others. Moreover, he can rely on them when he needs.

Weiss and Jaune's real selves are in their hearts, which are growing stronger. That is why they lose the physical fight, but win the spiritual one. They ultimately succeed, as Weiss's Queen Lancer is key to saving Haven and Jaune's Aura Amp is fundamental in saving Weiss. Weiss protects a Kingdom, while Jaune protects a girl.

2- Weiss and Jaune integrate with their animus/anima

Weiss and Jaune embrace their true selves by reconciling their masculine and feminine parts. Once again this process is conveyed through their allusions.

Our Snowhite dies and is reborn twice. The first time, Jacques (the Evil Queen) kills her psychologically by taking away her Heiress title and imprisoning her in her room (the glass coffin). Weiss is able to escape by developing her masculine side (the Knight).

She successfully draws energy from her animus (her inner Prince) and uses this new found resourcefulness to escape. She leaves behind her passiveness (feminine) and grows more active (masculine). This is why her summon symbolically breaks the window and immediately after Weiss makes the choice to leave.

The second time, Cinder (another Evil Queen) kills her physically, but Jaune (the Prince) saves her. As a result, Weiss wakes up and is crowned Queen.

Becoming Queen in fairy tales means you have reached self-actualization. So, Weiss has become her true self, which is a combination of feminine (queen) and masculine (lancer). The Queen Lancer then symbolizes Weiss reconciling with her anima (feminine part) by making it freer, more genuine and stronger through her animus (masculine part).

Our Jeanne performs a miracle and has a vision. He brings Weiss back from the death in Haven. By doing so he physically plays the part of the Knight in Shining Armor. Still, he succeeds by integrating his animus with his anima. As a matter of fact he lets go of fighting and killing (masculine) and takes up healing (feminine):

Later on, he needs spiritual guidance and finds it in his anima (Pyrrha). So, he has a symbolic "vision" of her in front of her statue:

Obviously, the woman is probably Pyrrha's mother, but it doesn't matter. The whole scene is framed up as aetherial and ambiguous because thematically Pyrrha's soul points Jaune toward the right path. So, Jaune is guided by his feminine side.

Weiss and Jaune's journey in Mistral leads them to face their fears and let go of their personas. By doing so, they succeed at integrating their animus and anima. The end result is that they grow up.

Weiss blooms into a Queen:

Weiss's royal dress is blue (melted ice) and has snowhite-like puff sleeves.

Jaune becomes a Knight:

Jaune's outfit keeps his red details and adds more gold to it.

Upon their arrival in Atlas, they are not Ice Queen and Vomit Boy anymore, but genuine articles.

QUEEN AND KNIGHT

Right now I’m just a bit surprised Cuz I feel just fine And I might just touch the sky

The sun is shining in the sky The birds are smiling so am i I’m kicking ass in every way Think this change is here to stay It’s feeling like a brand new day

In Atlas, our Queen and Knight live their best lives.

Weiss arrests her father and reconnects with her estranged family. She becomes the Queen of the Schnee family. Jaune instead supports everyone, meets the admiration of civilians and is in generally successful. He becomes a perfect Knight in Shining Armor.

Even when the situation gets dire they both maintain a mature attitude. They are not touched by the Divide and their major conflict lies rather with a family member (sibling):

Winter: You're not leaving me. I'm giving you a head start.

Ren: You cheated your way into Beacon!

Winter and Ren oppose Weiss and Jaune out of repression and frustration. And yet, Weiss and Jaune's reaction is of empathy and understandment:

Weiss: Don’t worry, they’re sisters. Sometimes sisters just have very different ideas about what’s right.

Jaune: We’re all under a lot of stress right now. I used to push people away too.

They never doubt their loved ones and when Winter and Ren come around there is no need for apologies. Weiss and Jaune simply welcome them back with warmth.

In short, our Queen and Knight are among the characters who have grown the most, so they often come up with solutions. For example, Jaune offers a way to overcome the Divide from a practical point of view:

Jaune: Okay. Okay… Then let’s go for both. Get Amity up and running and evacuate Mantle.

Weiss is instead the one to state the theme outloud before the climax:

Weiss: Trust is a risk

This development is precisely why they both get to shine in the final battle.

On the one hand Weiss holds it together while her team is in disarray after Yang's fall. Ruby is traumatized and caught up in a fight with Neo, while Blake temporally loses it. Weiss keeps on facing Cinder alone and does her best to protect Penny and the relic.

On the other hand Jaune keeps a level-head and manages to evacuate the civilians only to join the fray at the very end. He reads the situation correctly and kills Penny when there is no other choice.

Weiss and Jaune have grown into who they want to be in the beginning. This is why they are the last fighters standing. And yet, despite all their training and maturation, they still fail. They face an Evil Queen (Cinder) and are defeated when they are at their strongest. Weiss is a true Queen fighting for her home and Jaune is a true Knight fighting for the people. And yet, they are crushed and fall. Just like at Beacon.

Once again, Weiss fails to protect a Kingdom:

Once again, Jaune fails to protect a Maiden:

At the same time, they believe the other can somehow succeed, even if they don't:

Weiss: Maybe… Jaune and Winter were able to get them out, despite… everything… despite us…

Jaune: I don’t know where the others are, but… Weiss will give us time!

Weiss hopes Jaune and Winter (aka her ideal) save the relics. Jaune hopes Weiss can buy him and Penny time, like Pyrrha (aka his ideal).

In short, Weiss and Jaune grow into their ideal selves, but still lose. Not only that, but they keep on projecting their ideals on others. And yet, these others also fail. So, what to do? The only choice is to let go of unreachable perfect paragons.

FALLEN QUEEN AND RUSTED KNIGHT

Weiss: I am a citizen of a fallen Kingdom and an heir to nothing. I will not be defined by my name because I will be the one to define it. I am Weiss Schnee, and I am a Huntress!

NeoCat: You were never the brave knight either! Just more fairytale nonsense!

Weiss and Jaune's journey in the Ever After is about letting go of their Queen and Knight idealized self-images. In this way they can truly accept who they are. This is difficult at first because they are full of self-hate and regret:

Weiss: But it wasn't enough! We hatched a crazy plan that put a whole kingdom at risk, and we don't even know if we saved the Relics...

Jaune: I’m trying so hard to save them… I stopped them from becoming what they needed to be. I was being selfish because I… I wanted the rush of rescuing someone and I got that here.

Still, they both work through it in 2 ways.

They face their traumas again:

Weiss: I am so tired of leaving places in ashes…

Jaune: On that bridge… I was the only one that could do it! I was the ONLY ONE! And I… And now I have to live with that forever… In here or back home…

They change their dynamic with Ruby, who they put on a pedestal.

Specifically, Ruby becomes a paragon for both Weiss and Jaune during the Mistral arc. There, Weiss learns to be emotionally vulnerable with her partner. Jaune instead grows to admire Ruby's optimism and hopeful self.

So, after the fall of Atlas, both Weiss and Jaune go back to Ruby. Weiss lets out all her troubles, while Jaune dives after Crescent Rose and proudly gives it back.

However, Ruby is in no condition to play Weiss and Jaune's hero. This shows and it unnerves them, who grow progressively more irritated with Little Red:

Weiss: Hurry! People are counting on us!

Jaune: I know you may not care about protecting this village, but you could at least help your friends when they’re in danger.

Until Ruby herself snaps at the both of them. Interestingly, it is Weiss's demand that Ruby consoles Jaune, which sets her off. Moreover, throughout her monologue, Ruby calls Weiss out on her dependency on her:

Ruby: What about me? “No time”, right? “Gotta get home!” “Gotta help Jaune!” Gotta find someone who isn’t just going to screw everything up!

And she lashes out against Jaune's hero complex:

Ruby: I’m sorry, is this a bad time? Are we supposed to be mourning Jaune’s make-believe friends?!

She pintpoints both their flaws and then runs away. It is Ruby's outburst, though, which wakes up Weiss and Jaune.

Weiss finally realizes Ruby's pain and empathizes with her. Her words clearly have an impact on Jaune too:

Weiss: Ruby has always been the one to get us through the hard times. We say things like “We believe in you”, “We can count on you”. I know we mean well, but…

They both let go of their idealization of Ruby, which in turns helps them with their own struggles:

Weiss: I think you’re asking too much of yourself. We’ve been telling ourselves that failing means we’re no good. But I can guarantee even the best Huntsmen in history… they’ve all lost. But they were still incredibly brave… and good.

In front of a genial ruby, Weiss and Jaune manage to move forward through each other.

Jaune is spiritually guided and shown empathy by Weiss. Weiss instead starts healing psychologically by helping Jaune. In a sense, this is a parallel and an inversion of their shared moment in volume 5. There Jaune finds himself strong enough to cure Weiss. Here Weiss finds herself wise enough to teach Jaune. Both are in a self-hate spiral, but then realize they are better than they think by saving the other. At the same time, this moment also calls back Jaune's "vision" in Lost. There Jaune is shown the way by a Pyrrha stand-in. Here Weiss steps into the role of spiritual adviser.

After spending the whole volume looking for someone to guide her, Weiss discovers she can be the guide. After spending the whole volume wanting to be the hero, Jaune realizes he is the one that needed help the whole time.

They both learn the main theme of the volume:

Jaune: Maybe that Cat was right… Maybe I just needed to accept it. It’s not a place you go.

They reach acceptance of who they are. Both their good traits and their negative traits. They accept they did their best, but also that they lost. And once they do, they become able to better accept others, as well:

Jaune: I think I get it. This is how we got here, or… why the Tree brought us here. Acceptance.

Weiss: We've done everything we can. Now it's up to Ruby. Whatever happens next… we have to welcome that.

Not only do they let go of their idealized self-images, but of Ruby's too. This is why they are ready to welcome her, no matter what. Strengths and limits, alike.

Thanks to their inner development, they both get to make another step into self-actualization. This growth is shown symbolically in the finale . Weiss is finally able to summon a full Nevermore, which combines all her previous glyphs (so it is symbolic of the self). Jaune accepts Alyx's hand and goes back to his real self through her (he goes from iron to mercury). These are glimpses of who Weiss and Jaune are going to finally become.

SOPHIA AND HERMES

Curious Cat: Looking at you, wise huntress.

Alyx: Maybe it’s time for a change, to be the kind of man you always wanted to be.

So, who are Weiss and Jaune going to be at the end of their journey? It is still too soon to say, but I would not be surprised if they were to become Sophia and Hermes to each other.

Who are Hermes and Sophia? They are the embodyments of a perfected animus and a perfected anima. In short, by the end of their psychological development, a woman should integrate with Hermes and a man should integrate with Sophia. Personally I think (wish) Weiss is stepping in the role of Sophia for Jaune, while Jaune is stepping in the role of Hermes for Weiss. Volume 9 might have given symbolic hints of this.

Weiss is directly associated with wisdom, which is what Sophia means.

Jaune goes from iron to mercury through Alyx and Mercury is just another way to call Hermes. Moreover, one of the symbols of Hermes in alchemy is a stag and well... Juniper resembles one.

Now, this final integration can be romantic (my preference) or platonic/individualistic (if they chicken out). What is sure is that it's going to happen, one way or another. It is just the cherry on top on a animus/anima story.

Snowhite and the Animus

Snowhite is the story of a child growing up. The first step in self-actualization is to stop identifying with the Mother, so the mirror image changes. This transformation generates an inner conflict. On the one hand there is the side who wants to grow up (Snowhite), on the other hand there is the side who doesn't wanna change (the Evil Queen). It is only by conquering the Evil Queen (the shadow), that Snowhite can truly become herself.

And how does she do it? She succeeds through an integration with her animus (masculine side):

The King is absent and doesn't help Snowhite

The Hunter appears and helps Snowhite

The Dwarves give Snowhite a home

The Prince saves Snowhite

As you can see, Snowhite's story is full of male characters and each new one is more helpful than the one before. This is because all these characters are representations of Snowhite's interiority and of her strenghtening animus. It is initially possessed, but then it progressively blooms until it saves the protagonist.

Now, this is just Weiss's story in a nutshell:

Willow is absent and Weiss's animus is possessed (The Arma Gigas she fights in the White Trailer)

Winter helps her and inspires Weiss to pursue her career as a Huntress (After her visit Weiss summons a part of her Knight)

Team RWBY welcomes Weiss and become her adoptive home and family (Weiss becomes herself through them)

Only the Prince is missing and it will probably be Jaune (he already is in volume 5). Wait, aren't all these characters women? Yes, they are because Weiss's fairy tale is all genderbent except her. So, why should Weiss's Prince be Jaune? Because in his case, he is the genderbent one :P

Jaune can be Weiss's Prince (again platonically or romantically) only if he fully blooms into Jeanne first. He can't be a real Knight, if he doesn't become a Maiden.

The Four Stages of Anima

Jaune's journey through the anima is well conveyed through 4 stages, which stand for archetypical female figures. Each one represents a different level of maturity:

Eve is the mother - The boy has no romantic attachment and sees the woman as a source of protection and nourishment

Helen is the seductress - The boy feels romantic attraction and sees the woman as a talented individual, but pays no attention to her spiritual or inner life

Mary is the virgin - The boy fells mature love and sees the woman as a paragon of virtue, but pays no attention to her negative traits

Sophia is wisdom - The boy is ready for a relationship with a woman as an equal partner and sees the feminine as a source of wisdom with no need to objectify the woman anymore

This scale describes Jaune's relationship with the feminine perfectly:

Eve is Pyrrha - she nurtures and protects him as a mentor and Jaune feels initially no attraction to her

Weiss is Helen - she is Jaune's first crush and he grows enough to see her as a talented person, but can't understand her inner world

Mary is Pyrrha - she becomes Jaune's guide and the embodyment of heroism and virtue

Only Sophia is missing and I think she will be Weiss. In general, though, these phases describe Jaune's general approach to women and how it changes. He arrives at Beacon looking for a girlfriend because that is what a man should do, which in itself is a very childish behavior. Then he grows to see the girls around him as powerful individuals, but he can't go behind the surface. This is true for Weiss, but also for Pyrrha, whose struggles he ignores. After her death, Pyrrha becomes an ideal, but she isn't the only one. For example, Jaune believes Weiss and Ruby can save Pyrrha from Cinder and later on he keeps idealizing them. In volume 9, he learns to let go of his idealization and to see others as their own people. He is stepping into Sophia (wisdom).

MIRROR MIRROR

I looked in the mirror And I gotta say It’s been a long long time Since I felt this way

Weiss and Jaune go through perfect mirror journeys, which are about recognizing others to see their own selves and vice versa. This is why Weiss's mirror mirror motif works so well for them.

They don't know who they are (mirror tell me who am I?)

They realize they dislike their current selves (mirror tell me who is the loneliest of all? I am the loneliest of all)

They work to change (mirror I'll tell you something, I might change it all)

They overcome their narcisism rooted in self-loathing (I'm shattering the mirror that keps me split in pieces)

Now that they can see who they are better, the next step is to probably see others more clearly. This is the secondary theme of the volume, after all: empathy.

Ruby breaks Summer's pedestal and as a result she can see herself better. In turn, this makes her able to look at others in a new light:

Weiss and Jaune do the same. They break Ruby's pedestal and show empathy and forgiveness for themselves and her. Still, this is framed as just the beginning. The theme of empathy is probably gonna be explored in later volumes. This is true for both Ruby's arc and Weiss and Jaune's stories.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the next mirror mirror song is a conversation not with the mirror, but with another person? A person that is a mirror, but not because stuck inside it like Weiss in the beginning. A person, who is a mirror because every person can be a mirror of another if looked at with empathy. And this is what beating the mirror really means. Not to look at ourselves through it, but to look at ourselves through others. And to accept them. And to accept us.

[bestworstcase]

speaking of summer i don’t see a lot of people drawing the lines between summer and maria but it gives me much to chew on because. how does a legend just disappear? you never showed your face. most of us came to accept you were probably dead. you shouldn’t want to be like me, i’m nothing but a disappointment

(all this to say i would not be surprised if we see summer wearing a mask like the grimm reaper)

:)

"during his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters…" how does a legend just disappear?

no matter where or how he lived, her presence was always felt (he had to destroy salem, ruby says). how could such powerful bloodlines be so rare? (salem, ruby says).

it’s like.

the witch in the woods among beasts and monsters / the warrior in the woods swept away by monsters. how does a legend disappear? (when you finish a story, ozpin writes in the afterward, turn the page and start a new one. or of course you may always read this one again.)

& then summer: the pages are torn and there’s no final chapter.

& then salem: truth will rise/revealed by mirrored eyes.

it’s like—maria wasn’t a legend; the grimm reaper was the legend she created to hide herself, to keep her powers a secret. but!

TOCK: Well, that’s a fancy trick now, innit? ’Fraid it comes with a price, though, love. MARIA: I don’t think you realize who I am. TOCK: Course I do. You’re the Grimm Reaper, and these are the last sixty seconds of your life.

tock hunts down the grimm reaper, by following the light, and then kills her. the grimm reaper was a silver-eyed warrior. shatter the mask, cut out the eyes, and the legend dies. maria lives on to haunt her own story; most came to accept the grimm reaper was probably dead, but maria still lived, and no longer hid her face.

who was maria calavera, really? what was left behind, under that mask?

salem lives, but the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone. this is a circular story…

"i’m nothing but a disappointment." and "it's... comforting, seeing that your generation seems up to the task of inheriting this world. i'm just sorry i didn't do more to leave it in better shape."

& summer: "and all the times i swore that it would be okay/now i’m nothing but a liar and you’re thrown into the fray"

"a huntress is supposed to fight to the bitter end, but after i lost my eyes, i only ever looked after myself. […] i was afraid to fight."

& qrow, on what summer would have done if she’d learnt the truth: "pressed on, i think."

& salem: "and so we must… press on."

(waves vaguely also in

summer rose as the mask ruby wears and her ghost in the mirror.)

there’s this motif of like

a mask is a legend. a fairytale is a mask. a hero is not a person, a hero is a story. legends and fairytales scattered in time/maidens and kingdoms wrapped up in a lie—this is the end/here’s where you’ll die—the pages are torn and there’s no final chapter—you were born to hypnotize them all—truth will rise/revealed by mirrored eyes. in this story about taking off masks…

well.

you never showed your face.

everything we know about summer rose suggests that no one ever really knew her; the legend, the silver-eyed warrior, the paragon. the mask. and… then she found salem, and the legend died, the story ended, but the pages are torn and truth will rise revealed by mirrored eyes. you know?

it’s akin to what the narrative does with the maidens in that to become a maiden is a terrible burden and an inescapable duty… unless you’re cinder fall, and then it’s an act of self-liberation, a choice, a way to defy her destiny. right. a silver-eyed warrior is a legend destined to live and die fighting grimm… unless you’re summer rose, who chose to reach out and clasp the hand the grimm held out to her. you were born to hypnotize them all / truth will rise, revealed by mirrored eyes. insofar as she killed summer rose, salem killed the legend; she tore off the mask.

there are perhaps practical reasons for summer to don a mask at beacon, if disguising her identity is important for salem’s plans, so i wouldn’t be surprised if she’s introduced to us in the present wearing like, a beowolf mask to cover her face. but i’d bet on it coming off the instant salem enters the scene, too.

[princesssarisa]

I'm now reading another of Heidi Ann Heiner's fairy tale collections. Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the World. Since I enjoyed Cinderella Tales from Around the World so much, I couldn't resist opening another of Heiner's books.

The first part of the book is devoted to the different international versions of Sleeping Beauty, the second part to the different versions of Snow White. This is followed by other tales of "sleeping beauties" that don't fit nearly into either category.

We start with the medieval Sleeping Beauty prototype tales from the 13th and 14th centuries.

*The earliest known prototype of the Sleeping Beauty story is the Norse and Germanic legend of Brynhild (a.k.a. Brunhild, Brunhilda, Brünnhilde, or other variations). This legend first appears in the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and the Volsunga Saga from 13th century Iceland. It also appears in the German Nibelungenlied (although that version doesn't include the enchanted sleep), and its most famous modern adaptation is in Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The figure of Brynhild also inspired the Marvel superheroine Valkyrie.

**The Sleeping Beauty-like portion of the legend is this. The beautiful and strong-willed Brynhild is one of the valkyries, the warrior maiden servants (and in some versions daughters) of Odin (or Woden, Wotan, etc.) who preside over battlefields and bring the souls of fallen heroes to Valhalla. But Brynhild disobeys Odin by saving (or trying to save) the life of a warrior who was marked for death. (The man's identity, why he was meant to die, why she defends him, and whether she succeeds in saving him or not varies between versions.) As punishment, Odin banishes her to the mortal realm, pricks her with a "sleep thorn," and places her in a castle (or just on a rock) surrounded by a ring of fire, condemning her to sleep until a man brave enough to venture through the flames arrives to wake her and become her husband. (In some versions, she has attendants and servants who all sleep along with her.) Many years later, the fearless hero Sigurd, or Siegfried, succeeds in passing unharmed through the flames and wakes Brynhild by cutting off her valkyrie armor (or in later retellings influenced by Sleeping Beauty, with a kiss). The couple doesn't live happily ever after, however: their further adventures and eventual tragic fates are a story for another day.

**Even though it's a well-known fact that in "the original Sleeping Beauty stories," the prince (or his counterpart) impregnates the sleeping heroine and she wakes after she gives birth, no such thing happens in this earliest proto-version. If we assume that this really is the Western world's first tale of a heroine in an enchanted sleep, then it seems as if that sordid detail was a later addition.

*Next in Heiner's book come several medieval French Sleeping Beauty tales, mostly from Arthurian romances. These are the tales where we first see the motif of the heroine's love interest raping her in her sleep and fathering a child. Since few of them have ever been translated into modern English, the book simply summarizes them instead of printing them in full.

**The best-known of these stories, which most resembles Sleeping Beauty as we know it today, is the tale of Troylus and Zellandine from Le Roman de Perceforest, an Arthurian romance from 14th or 15th century France. In this tale, a knight named Troylus loves a princess named Zellandine. Then he learns that while spinning, Zellandine has suddenly fallen into a deep sleep, from which no one can wake her. With the help of a spirit named Zephir and the goddess Venus, Troylus enters the tower where she lies and, at Venus's urging, he takes her virginity. Nine months later, Zellandine gives birth to a son, and when the baby sucks on her finger, she wakes. Zellandine's aunt now arrives, and reveals the whole backstory, which only she knew. When Zellandine was born, the goddesses Lucina, Themis, and Venus came to bless her. As was customary, a meal was set out for the three goddesses, but then the room was left empty so they could enter, dine, and give their blessings unseen; but the aunt hid behind the door and overheard them. Themis received a second-rate dinner knife compared to those of the other two, so she cursed the princess to someday catch a splinter of flax in her finger while spinning, fall into a deep sleep, and never awaken. But Venus altered the curse so that it could be broken and promised to ensure that it would be. When the baby sucked Zellandine's finger, he sucked out the splinter of flax. Eventually, Zellandine and Troylus reunite, marry, and become ancestors of Sir Lancelot.

***This tale provides some answers for questions that the traditional Sleeping Beauty raises. In the familiar tale, the king, the queen, and their court know about the curse, so why do they keep it a secret from the princess? Yes, they avoid upsetting her by doing so, but the end result is that when she finally sees a spindle, she doesn't know to beware of it. Why not warn her? And why is there a random old woman in the castle, spinning with presumably the kingdom's one spindle that wasn't destroyed, and why, despite living in the castle does she not know about the curse? (It's no wonder that most adaptations make her the fairy who cursed the princess in disguise.) Yet in this earlier version, there are no such questions: no one except the eavesdropping aunt knows about the curse, because it was cast in private, so no one can take precautions against it. Another standout details is the fact that Zellandine's sleep doesn't last for many years, and that the man who wakes her already loved her before she fell asleep. Disney didn't create those twists after all!

**The other medieval French Sleeping Beauty tales are Pandragus and Libanor (where Princess Libanor's enchanted sleep only lasts one night, just long enough for Pandragus to impregnate her), Brother of Joy and Sister of Pleasure (where the princess isn't asleep, but dead – yet somehow the prince still impregnates her – and is revived by an herb that a bird carries to her), and Blandin de Cornoalha (a knight who, refreshingly, doesn't impregnate the sleeping maiden Brianda, but breaks her spell by bringing a white hawk to her side).

*All of these early Sleeping Beauty tales are just one part of bigger poetic sagas. Maybe this explains why Sleeping Beauty is fairly light on plot compared to other famous fairy tales (i.e. we're told what's going to happen, and then it does happen, and it all seems inevitable from the start). Of course one argument is that it's a symbolic tale: symbolic of a young girl's coming-of-age, as the princess's childhood ends when she falls asleep and her adulthood begins when she wakes, and/or symbolic of the seasons, with the princess as a Persephone-like figure whose sleep represents winter and whose awakening represents spring. That's all valid. But maybe another reason for the flimsy plot is that the earliest versions of the tale were never meant to stand alone. They were just episodes in much longer and more complex narratives.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @adarkrainbow, @themousefromfantasyland

[imminent-danger-came]

was the peach being a metaphor in 1x06 foreshadowing...

You're damn right it was.

I've talked about it before in this post, but it's clear to me that MK only wanted the peach of immortality in 1x06 to become more like Wukong—or rather, to become more powerful/immortal like Wukong ("I just wanted to be good enough...like you" from 1x09 anyone? Tbh most s1 episodes are centered around MK wanting to be good/strong enough soooooo). The peach is a source of power/immortality, something both MK and Wukong have reached for at the expense of others:

Macaque: "No that's YOU! You're the one always running off! Looking for more power, more sources of immortality—you're the one who wouldn't quit while were were ahead!"

But, at the same time....the peach is a symbol of Wukong and Macaque's friendship:

The same way it was in 1x06 for Mei and MK:

The only reason either of them ever wanted power was to be strong enough for the people they cared about after all. The peach was a metaphor, and they "really wanted that peach"—it was a metaphor for really wanting friendship, and also really wanting power. Wanting their cake and eating it too.

I appreciated that the second time Wukong gives Macaque a peach, it's a "downgrade"—just a regular popsicle, versus a peach of immortality. Like being together is finally enough for Wukong, and it'll be enough to pull them through. (Which is something Macaque thought from the beginning: "Together there was nothing that could stop the two of them, either in the celestial realms or on earth" [2x07]).

Bonus detail:

MK in 2x07 attempted to bring his friends bags of peach chips. So. Whatever.

[katyspersonal]

Micheal zaki describing Messmer and calls him a hero in the interviews then show him committing multi war crimes in the trailer was so funny ngl. i wonder if he actually meant to describe messmer in that way or he was goofing around by saying that he will not be a villain

Yeah, this is a little strange given what we were shown! I double-checked and it doesn't seem like an error EITHER!

Taken from here ( x )! Now, if you check the original Japanese script of that interview ( x ), you can find this exact question:

英雄 DOES mean a hero! Like, the brave warrior doing great dids kind of thing, or a superhero, or like opposition to a 'villain'!

Granted, Miyazaki also considered Fauxsefka (character from Bloodborne) a hero! She is a researcher, "saving" people by turning them into cosmic Kin so they physically can't become beasts! I can definitely see his logic here and even agree with it, but it is worth to mention that it is unethical and many people consider her evil. We could assume that Miyazaki has a really unique perspective on what makes a hero!

This question in particular though refers to 'atmosphere' of brave battles. Like... by that logic, battling dragons and giants was ALSO "heroic tale", so Miyazaki could refer simply to Messmer as a demigod with war motif, rather than morality of his actions!

We can't know whether Miyazaki means the perceived grandeur of bringing war, that was a "good" thing in myths inspiring Elden Ring, or it is his particular vision of heroism at act! What and who Messmer was burning could have been "evil" life forms that Marika defied, to better OR worse. Messmer's war might go Fishing Hamlet route of concealing a horrible unjustified cruel massacre.. OR it could be a bit like burning of Old Yharnam but if beasthood was no one's fault and Just Happened!

[bonefall]

BB!Goosefeather

[ID: Goosefeather from Warrior Cats in the Better Bones AU. He is a round, wolflike cat with tiny, unreadable, deep blue eyes. In the second image he's caught in a vision, signified by swirling eyes and a nosebleed]

I've always had a very different take on Goosefeather than the wider fandom. In particular, his final scene with Bluefur at the end of Bluestar's Prophecy has always FASCINATED me. She's mourning the loss of her kits, and Goose comes up, almost as if he's going to comfort her like anyone else...

But his tune is very different from the rest of the Clan. He reminds her that the kits were not part of fate, and ergo, her own choice. This screed has this intriguing taste of bitterness, and it immediately made Goose one of my favorite WC characters.

Was that resentment? Smug satisfaction? What was behind those words, Goosefeather?

Did you know that the raid you sent your sister on was going to kill her? Did the herbs even need to be destroyed? What if the only vision he'd received was that Moonflower had to die?

It's one thing if he's just, you know, plagued by visions that will come no matter what, and he's Sad About It. I do love the Cassandra type characters in fiction, but... the idea that he's DEDICATED to the prophecies that haunt him, that it's both a curse and a commitment, a damnation and a destiny... it gives me... gOOSEBUMPS HEYOO

AND SO! Better Bones Goosefeather is a situational antagonist in nearly every story he's in. He believes firmly that to defy fate only creates worse outcomes, that you have to kill a mouse to have a meal. More than just following the 'will of StarClan,' he believes that a prophecy is more than just a warning. To him, they are instructions.

(More info below the cut!)

In Bluestar's Flowers, he receives a vision of Moonflower dying in a WindClan raid. He knew she had to die, and so, he got her killed. This is not revealed until near the end of the book.

At the same time, he will occasionally (and uncharacteristically, Featherwhisker will note) help Bluemoon escape being caught when she sneaks out to meet up with the Forget-me-Not friend group.

Bluemoon's kits are children of prophecy... or, one of them is.

Mosslight is fated to become a grand hero, and overthrow the horrible tyrant, Thistlestar.

Goosefeather will ensure the propagation of both sides of this prophecy. Thistleclaw must become leader. Mosskit must be born.

But, in the end, Bluemoon's love is stronger than destiny. She will NEVER let Thistleclaw become leader, she will NEVER let him command innocent people like Rosetail and Thrushpelt into early graves, and she will NEVER let him brutalize the Clans of her friends.

Goosefeather thought it was a checkmate when she was in the nursery with the three kittens, clearly ineligible for deputyship after accusation of having halfclan kittens (Thistleclaw's questioning violating the Queen's Rights) and his personal endorsement of him for deputy.

he was WRONG

Bluemoon brought them to RiverClan, the hero of destiny dying in the process, cinching the deputyship by a hair's length.

With great tragedy, with great cost, with great sacrifice, Bluestar WON.

The thread of prophecy was severed so hard that Goosefeather never received another vision ever again. Nothing would be the same again, he was living in a new world and a new time.

He lived the last of these days quietly, reflecting on his life, his actions, considering... if all those times where he'd Done What Had To Be Done, if it was for nothing.

Goosefeather is allowed a peaceful death, unburdened by the buzzing curse of prophecy, slipping into his sleep in a doomed timeline that yet persists.

DESIGN STUFF

I need these visions to look painful. I want to drive it home that these are hurting him. So I gave him nosebleeds.

He's committed to the thing that hurts most, because he can't imagine another way

symbolism

His family carries a wolf motif, this is very important because I said so. Awoo, even.

You can see how Goosefeather's big fat tummy is present in his relatives, Sorreltail and Dovewing.

He reminds me of Winnie the Pooh but as an evil wizard. He's got a haunted plushie kind of vibe.

like a teddy ruxpin, even

And lastly this is unrelated to everything, but when I was designing Skywatcher I kept thinking about the two of them having a wizard battle. I just think that is very funny and it is a thought I am now sharing with all of you. <3

[ID: Wizard battle meme]

Skywatcher and Goosefeather at Bingo Night after the Skypelt/Silverpelt reunification in BB!AVoS

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Propaganda:

For Shadowpeach: "ok so, we all know from that one tumblr post that yaoi is two blokes doing fuckall and yuri is when there’s themes and shit? well these two (shadowpeach) have So Much Themes. they were super close friends for years and years (both immortal) before their epic breakup scene (wukong was trapped under a mountain and macaque refused to free him) (he wasn’t entirely in the wrong but that’s another story) (also wukong killed macaque there was that, that did happen) (its complicated)

from the Moment we see these two, all we know about them is that they’re the most divorced ever. as time goes on, we see the complexities in their relationship, and they introduce a lot of the overarching themes and motifs of the show (hero and warrior pairs, peaches being a symbol of their relationship, etc). also they’re both girls to me

tmnt theme song voice toxic codependent yuri!"

"theyre So So gay divorced and have an incredibly complicated and toxic relationship. also according to that one tumblr post yaoi is when theres two blokes doing fuckall and yuri is when theres themes and shit, and these two have So So So many themes and shit. theyve got motifs out the wazoo. peaches are a motif of their relationship and in the very end of the s4 finale wukong hands macaque a half-melted peach flavored (and shaped) popsicle. this is yuri to me"

"They used to be semi-immortal bff's, but then they fell apart and literally one of them died(bc of the other), then he revived, then got semi-consumed by revenge™ and tried to kill each other for a while, but they are cool now and they gave the sweetest little smiles when they finally talked- *fangirls* ok ok, look at it this way: it's a royalty au but it's canon."

"Well, they are toxic doomed yuri vibes, in my.most opinion. But also their designs are pretty gender I think.. mostly wukongs imo. And ik eyelashes aren't inherently feminine but theyre both some of the few(if not only) male characters in the show with visible eyelashes. Also if it counts, out of the relationships that I've seen compared to theirs, most are canonical sapphic relationships from other cartoons (catradora and bubbline notably)"

For Arthur and Linus: "THEY ARE SOO YURI!! OLD MAN YURI!!! LIKE!!! JUST LOOK AT THEM!!! THEYRE SO ADORABLE"

"A warm, loving caretaker of magical children who are orphans falls in love with the fat neurotic caseworker and changes his life for the better."

For Thoschei: "i. why great

They are each other's narrative foils. They are archenemies. They were childhood friends. They might not have been married, but they are divorced. They call themselves best enemies. They are the "i can fix them"/"i can make them worse" duo. They've proposed to each other (to rule/travel across the universe together), but each declined the offer from the other. They've kissed. They've killed each other. They've killed for each other (the first to do so was the Doctor who is the protagonist and the hero, but this fact was revealed in an audio drama, not in the TV show). The universe's too small for both of them. "The cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about" is a real quote from one of the episodes from the 1980s. They are war criminals. The Master commits atrocities to attract the Doctor's attention and admits it. They are not able to get rid of each other for good, nor they really want to. One of the showrunners literally spent the BBC's money to make his E2L I Can't Decide fanvid for them and make it a part of an episode.

ii. why guy:

They'd been in male bodies for more than 40 years…

iii. why yuri

…until one of them regenerated into a woman. After some time, the other did so too. Sadly, they haven't interacted in their female bodies on screen, but the fandom makes do with fan content.

in conclusion: this is The guy yuri if i've ever seen one"

[napswithwolfie]

LU Pokemon AU

I came across fever-project's pokemon au and enjoyed it so much they got me excited to try building my own team for the lads!

So here we go!!!

Time 🐥Sky Warriors Twilight Wild Legend Hyrule Four Wind

Team descriptions below the cut 👋👀

First up Sky

🐥Moltres: Crimson has to be included! I debated between Moltres and Charizard, you know, with Charizard being the og favorite of Gen1, featuring  in every pokemon game, often with a new form. But Moltres won out— it just felt weird for Crimson not to be a bird, plus fire/sun motifs.

🐥Altaria: Ah, the joys of an afternoon nap. Sky enters through the fog wall... Perishes*

🐥Zacian, the Crowned Sword: Behold, the hero of Howlrule! (Disclaimer: Not my joke, totally swiped from the brilliant Alternatemind and their fic Ranch Days. Do yourself a favor and give it a read—it's pure, light-hearted wholesomeness.) And doesn't the fairy type just feel right for the hero of courage?

🐥Dragonite: I love the duality between mother hen Sky and gale force battle Sky. Perfectly fits Dragonite's personality

🐥Sirfetch'd: Say hello to Skyloft's honorary sky knight! When I realized its shiny form was gold, well, it was a must have

🐥Mew: Now, I had quite the dilemma—Mew or Mewtwo? Since Sky is technically the first of the reincarnations. But really mew is just cuter

🔴 Partner Pokémon: Just like in the anime, each trainer has that one special Pokémon who sticks by their side outside their pokeball. And for Sky, it's gotta be Moltres. I mean, how could it *not* be Crimson?

⚪ Smaller Team: There are 9 of these lads. That's waaaay too many mons at one time, so I went ahead and trimmed the teams down to three choices.

Here we go: Moltres, Altaria, Zacian

---

So how did I do??? Had a lot of fun picking out mons for the whole chain

Next up Time

[petedavidsonscock]

i want to talk about the sun/moon motif in in other lands. let’s go let’s do it.

luke is a blonde guy with tan skin. his last name contains the word “sun.” serene is inhumanly pale with dark hair. the two of them have a unique warrior bond and swore never to ride into battle without the other. luke is the sun and serene is the moon; simple enough, right?

wrong.

let’s switch gears and look at elliot’s dad’s description of elka. “‘she was the first thing i saw when i walked into a room … whatever she said was brilliant and startling … she was like that, a constant bright surprise … she was never what i expected. i was even surprised when she left’” (page 128 in my ebook).

the scene is so sad, primarily because of what his dad next says to elliot: “‘you’re not like her. … nobody will ever love you enough to stay.’”

this is heartbreaking for two reasons. first, because what the hell kind of parent says that to their own child. but second, because elliot is like elka. he is brilliant, startling, surprising, and very bright. he’s not to everybody’s taste—we know that—but elka here is being described by someone who was (is still?) in love with her. i have no doubt that serene or luke would consider elliot’s dad’s words a pretty solid description of elliot.

(elliot’s character mirrors elka’s in other ways too. obviously, they are both able to travel to the borderlands; both experience more ambivalence than most real-world recruits seem to about whether or not to stay. they have similar senses of humor [i think? hard to tell if elka is joking around but it seems like she’s less than fully serious] and are abrupt and spiky. elliot likes elka, gets her. they have the same color hair. and both of them ultimately leave elliot’s dad and go to the borderlands.)

the parallels between elliot and elka are numerous and crucial to understanding the text, which allows us to pretty safely analyze the only real description we get of elka as applying to elliot as well. and what else is true of that description? it’s super sun-coded!

elka is (was) obvious, unignorable: a source of brightness, light, and warmth. just like the night that follows each day, her abandonment is framed as inevitable and unstoppable.

(note that the same is true of elliot! the dialogue here is “‘You know what day it is. You know what’s coming.’” / “‘I know that you’re going’” [876 in my ebook]. elliot’s leaving is also expected, unsurprising; a given.)

in conclusion, elka is the sun, elliot is elka, and therefore elliot is the sun. but then… who is the moon? let’s look at our options.

luke is not all that sun-like, but he’s also not much of a moon archetype. he hates crowds, hates being the center of attention. he’s shy, which i guess could be moon-coded? but he isn’t very mysterious about it, which to me is key to the moon part of the dynamic.

serene, as mentioned, is a better candidate, except that she and elliot don’t make a pair; elliot is wrong about their being fated for each other, just as he was wrong about luke being a perfect golden hero. serene gets her own sun, too: golden-hair-scented-like-summer. perfect sun motif.

as for luke and elliot… i don’t know. i’m not really that into the whole moon/sun dynamic as a general trope, so i’m not that invested, but i think you could pretty convincingly argue that luke is in fact the moon to elliot’s sun.

anyway that’s the post. elliot is the sun, serene is the moon but not elliot’s moon (this i think contributes to why elliot was so sure they would end up together: on some level he was aware of the tropes at play), luke seems like he’s the sun but is either the moon or possibly, like, some sort of cloud formation, and golden is the sun to serene’s moon. okay bye.