hm. the final two being scott and cleo. at some point i need to like, properly write an analysis post about scott and cleo and the ways that they like... so the thing is that even since third life the two of them have always kind of fallen back and leaned on each other. widow's alliance to gaslight gatekeep girlboss to chosen soulmates to technically being on different teams from then on but were they really. to "we can't team up again we're too good" in secret life to "he's kind of like your bdubs" in that same series when cleo just sort of assumed they were on the same side anyway (by the way STILL an insane way to put that etho). to teaming up again this time to being the final two to laughing and having fun until the end until a zombie kills scott (like a zombie helped scott kill ren) until cleo doesn't have to be the one to make the final blow. to the "we always do this we always gravitate to each other".
the thing is that it's not so much that they're soulmates, exactly (it's kind of a defining thing about them that they aren't), or that they're one of those star-crossed pairs the life series keeps producing (they don't shape each other, not really). it's that they're both, in the end, always there. a stable pair, a lighthouse and a ship in a storm. the thing that makes them different from so many duos is that there isn't really conflict, not really; they know the shape of one another. their first alliance will often be someone else; their first alliance is also to each other, no matter what they say.
so of course they laughed as they fought in the end.
it was them. it was never really a fight in the first place.
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the thing about larys strong is that i think he's been lonely his entire life, lonelier than even he realised/admitted to himself. he craves connection, someone to see him for who he is. and that's what's been guiding most of his actions throught the entire time we've known him.
when he saw alicent being unheard and unseen, he tried to form a connection with her as he saw himself in her (through manipulations of course, but his intention there when saying "i could be your ally" were sincere). but she rejected him (by refusing to see him as a man, by being horrified at his true self (the harrenhal fire), etc) and thus he grew to resent her and want to control her/humiliate her like she "humiliated him", probably thinking it was enough because of the power she gave him.
but then viserys died and alicent's power died with him.
spoilers for season 2 of house of the dragon below the cut
i think his "love" for her... changed or was put on the back of his mind after 2x04, especially after he sees the moon tea and she's in pain. when he asks her about criston, his reaction to her words is as if he is confused, as if he's recalculating what he thought of her because he's seeing her in a whole new light.
and maybe he is seeing her truly for the first time ever.
he said "you and i are the same", was always listening in on her conversations to gather information, maybe even convincing himself by doing so that she truly was like him. but, i think that, when larys says "you have not been yourself" is his way of saying "who are you? are you who i've always thought you were or someone i do not know?" and has to change his view of her, of what he convienced himself he saw in her.
maybe he sees that he's been living in a lie made of his own words.
so, when the council scene happens, he pities her and rejects her idea, because it has no ground and she's grasping at straws. (i do think he does feel sorry for rejecting her but he also doesn't have enough solid ground with aemond as regent (his position in the small council is fairly new) and slighting aemond would cost him the power he has, so he stays quiet and looks away).
however, he also manages to drive a nail to alicole's coffin but he walks away without looking back at the mess it left.
they then don't share a scene at all for the rest of the season.
from then on all his scenes are with aegon, and we see a side of larys we haven't seen before.
ageon gave him power (of course larys manipulated aegon with the Hand comment) because of his "loyalty" following blood and cheese (i still believe larys "let it happen") and made him his master of whispers. he placed larys in the small council (when alicent never did in the 6 years she acted as regent) and gave him status outside of the dungeons. he "brought him [larys] out of the shadows" in a way.
the show has made a point to tell us, since episode one of season two, that larys has been looking at aegon the same way he used to look at alicent in season one, staring him down as if he could see what he's made of, constantly analysing and calculating how to best approach him.
he made small attempts at conversations and funny lines ("that castle is more crippled than me") as the whole alicent thing is going on.
and then the battle of rook's rest happened.
with aegon barely holding on, we have a scene where larys is honest, vulnerable, sincere maybe for the first time ever (yes there's manipulation, but also genuine compassion). he sees the struggles aegon will have to face because he lived them himself.
like with alicent in the weirdwood, he tried to form a connection with aegon. but where alicent "rejected" his true self, aegon instead listened to what larys was saying, saw the truth in it and raged, which made larys feel seen and heard, beyond manipulation and twisted words, probably for the first time in his life
larys, for all his talk that love is a downfall, craves connection, the desire to not be alone in the world. he does feel love.
and whereas alicent rejected his love and was disgusted by his true self, aegon welcomed his help, invited his advice, and embraced his aid to become stronger
i think larys will be loyal to him as long as aegon allows his love and it does not fester into resentment, like his love for alicent did
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The fact that Essek storms off "in a huff" and is literally brought to tears when he sees Caleb mourning Molly...there's just so many interesting implications for shadowidomauk there.
It's the fact that Essek saw Caleb kiss Molly on the forehead the way he kissed him--saw Caleb repeat these familiar phrases in battle to Lucien that he once used to comfort Essek. Essek learning Caleb's love language, and seeing it reflected in how he treats Mollymauk.
It's Essek seeing Caleb at his lowest, at his most desperate and hopeless--how very wrong it feels to see him like this, how painful it is to watch him fall apart over losing Mollymauk. "Caleb Widogast, have you ever accepted defeat?"
Because of all things, it is Molly's death that leaves Caleb more brokenhearted than Essek's ever seen him, the only time he's ever truly admitted to knowing defeat--"Maybe today. For the first time." The way Caleb came all this way and tried so desperately to save him, and it still wasn't enough. He poured his whole heart and soul into that ritual, and it just wasn't enough.
Essek being moved by the Nein's own grief, choked up and crying for this person that he never even met. Insisting over and over, "It's not fair--it's not fair...We've just all come so far. It's not fair." And it's the moment that Caleb kisses Molly on the forehead and says his goodbyes that really breaks Essek's heart, the passion and gutting loss of Caleb's own grief that sends Essek storming off and fighting back tears.
Do you think...Essek ever tells Kingsley what happened that day? How hard Caleb tried to save him--how much it shattered him when Tealeaf was still lying dead in his arms? Do you think he ever told King about the forehead kiss and how tender Caleb was with him--how he must surely love him? Do you think Essek admits that even he was crushed when Tealeaf didn't wake, that he never knew him before, but still mourned him all the same?
Do you think he ever quietly tells Kingsley that he's happy he came back, how much it means to him--especially for Caleb's sake--
Do you think Kingsley ever kisses either of the wizards on the forehead and everything just. Kinda falls into place for Essek--
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One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.
I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.
Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.
What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.
Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.
And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.
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Okay I do tend to ignore some of the lore surrounding Zagreus, but I have to admit I am seeing a particular appeal in the versions where Zagreus, after being torn apart, is put together often by Apollo. To me, it's such a good opportunity to explore what death looks like for a god.
I don't mean physical death, of course. Greek gods are deathless, so Zagreus cannot truly die - it makes sense to me. So I like to entertain the idea that he will live, but never be quite the same ever again after being put back together. He's no longer the beloved god he used to be. His remains were given away to be buried. Almost everyone believes his story has ended, that he's gone. But he lives on, like the unsatisfied ghost of a dead mortal. He mostly spends his time in Delphi, in and around Apollo's temple where he was supposed to be buried.
His heart had been taken away and used to birth another being who will ascend to godhood. He is a part of Dionysus now; but also, not really. He almost envies Dionysus for the life he gets to live. But this new god has the same heart as his, and so he will also suffer like Zagreus did. He will also lose himself and feel scattered. Zagreus can only hope that when that happens, Dionysus can be put back together in a way that doesn't make him feel hollow.
Growing up, Dionysus often wondered if he was born cursed, because how else can the nightmares that frequent him be explained? Sometimes during the winter revelries at Delphi, he feels his heart wanting to leap out of his body when he dances around Apollo's temple. He thinks it is just the ecstasy of the festival but when he wakes up in a cold sweat after a long night of celebration on mount Parnassus, he can swear that he was being watched in his sleep.
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