#ideal-for-tributes

[agir1ukn0w]

hey suzanne, you probably aren’t reading this, but if you are I just wanted to ask if you could write a book about every victor of the hunger games, with descriptions of their lives, how they won, and what happened to them after that, because I am actually frothing at the mouth wanting to know more about mags flanagan and finnick odair and johanna mason and beetee latier and wiress and the morphlings and enobaria and chaff and even cashmere and gloss. I want to know everything about these people and how they survived such brutal circumstances, please pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseprettyplease can you write something like this for us suzanne???

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/pynkhues/780516569731186688/httpswwwtumblrcompynkhues780388832935870464?source=share

with the dress, I wonder if we might get Lestat clutching it in the aftermath of her death, before he's pulled away or whatever happens that he winds up in the tower. I do think we might see what Lestat really felt, if not during her death then right after. The stuff around the trial...I am so curious, man.

I've wondered that too, especially given Louis doesn't get her dress until he goes back to burn down the Theatres des Vampires. There's room in there as a result I think to have Lestat with it for a time, but Lestat's also such an insanely sentimental character, y'know? The show's exploring that in its own way already between New Orleans, and Nicki's music box, and maybe even the necklace he gives Claudia on her birthday in s1 given it's alluded to as having been his father's (I'll answer that ask in a sec, it's an older one, sorry!) - that I can't see him letting her dress go without someone taking it from him? But I guess that adds to the tragedy of the tower and the trial sequences that are going to be elaborated on next season!

Regardless, like I said in my last reply, it'll be so interesting to see how they play it.

[chiquilines]

Currently obsessed with her. What's better than a cocky man? A cocky woman next question

[20percentbug]

[quaddmgd]

67gb of 1440p60 Soul Reaver footage and no will to start working on it. Where are you, Heather of the olden days, that could spent 10 hours a day on video editing...

Starting Soul Reaver 2 soon (possibly tomorrow because it's one of my favorite games of all time - hard to resist the urge), so my HDDs will only get messier from here on out <3

[lullabyes22-blog]

"I think the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away."

Got a lot of Q's for this in my inbox. Figured I'd just address them here.

tw: mentions of suicide, suicidal ideation

Re: the ending of S2:

Jinx did not die.

She symbolically killed her old self, and with it, her last ties to the past that imprisoned her. She understood that for her sister to move on and live her life - be happy without guilt - she'd have to renounce the bonds that held them together.

Her talk with ghostly Silco was the 'sign-off' she'd been waiting for, ever his dutiful daughter. Throughout S2, she kept hoping he'd haunt her, and in doing so, offer some impetus given her aimlessness. Maybe just straight up boss her around, and tell her how she's supposed to exist now that he's no longer there to be a (subversive if loving) guiding hand.

But it was the promise of time (as represented by Ekko) healing old wounds, and the courage to feel, as she once had - a hopeful child with a hopeful future - that allowed Jinx to commit impetus to action.

Her blimp-ship in the climactic battle is a tribute to Isha - but also to the child in Jinx's own fractured psyche: Powder. She's letting both little girls have one last hurrah before she takes care of business - and cuts off the last oaths, duties and commitments that bind her to a past whose parameters she's outgrown.

Better still, she knows she's got the capacity to outgrow them.

That was the point of Jinx's arc with Isha, and why, no matter my misgivings on Isha's character herself, I found Jinx's trajectory towards a more nurturing and fun-loving figure more life-affirming and positive than the straightforward 'Daddy's Villain Goes Postal' shtick.

It's even why there's a minigame titled Jinx Fixes Everything. It's Jinx, struggling and stumbling, as she tries to rewrite her narrative, and finds in herself the capacity to do good.

To fix things that seem irreparably broken.

And to understand why she's reached this stage, we've got to let go of our tendency to project our own stuff onto Jinx (precious meow meow, unrepentant terrorist, manic pixie crazypants, edgy hot psycho) and acknowledge the purpose she plays in Arcane's thematic structure.

Jinx's character comes off as a death-seeker, and that's no shocker. She is hounded by terrible guilt and loss. She's got blood on her hands, and ghosts on her heels, and no matter what she does, she can't seem to be rid of them. Her inner mind's fractured, her mannerisms ooze pure chaos, and she seems a creature of pure feral impulse and no mercy.

That's the Jinx we're accustomed to seeing in S1 - except that's also both the front she's most likely to put on during that timeline, and the persona that is necessary for her to inhabit to survive, as Silco's daughter and his top enforcer.

Then Silco kicks the bucket, she symbolically fulfills his dream by shooting at the Council HQ, she accepts that she must inhabit this path of shadows and loneliness (as symbolized by her starkly decorated chair in the tea party scene), she accepts the fragmented push-and-pull between past and present, and...

And now what?

Silco's given her a semblance of direction for six years, and he's gone. Vi, the sister she'd hoped would return, and whom she'd hinged so many childishly idealized hopes on, is herself traumatized, and afraid of what her sister's become.

Jinx has her shadows and her loneliness. Jinx is traumatized. Jinx is suicidal.

But Jinx is still, whatever else, alive.

And all living things need connections.

That's why we as the audience enjoy her little found family dynamic with Isha and Sevika. It's Jinx, taking the first tentative steps to reach out to people beyond Silco and Vi, and realizing, wow, she enjoys the pay-off.

And all throughout S2, we see Jinx growing more and more comfortable in this newfound space - even jealously guarding it at the expense of Zaun's liberty, and Silco's wishes, because she can't bear to lose what she's found.

And what she finds empowers her enough that, when Warwick shows up, she's actually willing to reach out to Vi, and call upon their family connection, because Jinx is learning the value of bonds, not as baling hooks of guilt, but as buoys to carry her forward.

That's the story Jinx's relationships serve to tell in S2. Each one shapes the choice she makes in the finale. Until she learns to accept the past (Vi), to lay the monsters to rest (Silco and Vander/Warwick), forgive herself (Caitlyn) trust that time heals all wounds (Ekko), and hope for happier new beginning (Isha), she'll never trust herself enough to just seize the chance.

Jinx's culminating arc is not about death, much less self-erasure. It's about resurrection, and embracing the sublime chaos of a freed mind, and a lightened spirit. That's what she craves beyond simple death, and what her baptism by fire, blood and riverwater, has been about.

Each trial grinds her down into someone else. Someone new.

Someone closer to who she is meant to be, rather than who she's expected to be.

That's why she's so glad to make the sacrifice for Vi. She's not dying as an act of self-immolation. She's giving her sister - the one who's proven she'll never give up on her - the ultimate gift, and showing Vi that she deserves to live.

She needs Vi to live, so Jinx, the persona, can finally die.

"He (Silco) didn't make Jinx. You did."

She's basically saying, "I love you, I will always be with you, but you are no longer responsible for my actions. Please move forward with your life, and grant me the choice to do the same."

It's two sisters embracing everything they've meant to each other, acknowledging the pain weighing them down on both sides, and welcoming the new so they can each slough off old paradigms and live life as a whole person - or at least take steps to remembering what wholeness feels like.

That's the reason the show's final shots linger on the Hexgate tunnels, Jinx's monkey bomb, and the aircraft.

It's the show's way of reminding us that Jinx has ascended to a different version of her identity - one removed from the past that haunted her. It's Jinx, finally striking out alone, away from the sister whose memory she clung so desperately to, and who was, in turn, horrified by her hand in making Powder a monster (perceived guilt or real, fandom may debate ad nauseum) due to past mistakes and abandonment.

The ending of Arcane isn't tragic. It's deeply hopeful, and serves as a reminder that no matter how damaged you think you are, and no matter how monstrous the world finds you, there are still ways to come back to yourself - or to walk the path toward a new you.

Jinx is symbolized by crows. Jinx is shown with firelights emerging from her mouth. Jinx is depicted holding a torch like Janna ushering in the winds of change.

Thematically, Jinx is change.

And the best way she can embody that change is to write her story, and make it her own.

[bruisedboys]

I don't know if this would be something you're interested in but I'd really like to see a protective!finnick. Doesn't have to be related to the games, like reader doesn't need to be a tribute or a rebel but she can be! Up to you, but it'd be interesting to see that side of him

thank you for your request lovely! I challenged myself to write something actually in universe for once, so I hope you enjoy it! (set in catching fire)

finnick odair x fem!tribute!reader cw for reader fainting from the heat

“Be careful.”

Finnick’s big hand on your back, his torso not far behind. He points to a thick tree root in your path. You step over it easily, exasperated. This is maybe the fourth time in the past ten minutes he’s said those same two words.

“I am,” you say simply. You are. If not for your sake then for Finnick’s. If you were to get so much as a cut on your leg he’d lose his mind. “S’hard when you’re standing so close, though.”

Finnick makes a face at you over your shoulder. “Sorry. You’re precious cargo, y’know?”

Your face warms, which is not ideal. You’re already well on your way to becoming a human furnace — the jungle you’re surrounded by is sticky and overly warm. You’re definitely overheating though you won’t tell Finnick that, he’ll only get worse. The water back at the beach is sure to cool you down — you’ll hop in as soon as you get back.

“You’re hopeless,” you tell Finnick in the meantime.

Finnick grins. “For you, yeah.”

You roll your eyes and march on ahead. Slowly the jungle gets thinner and thinner until you’re emerging onto the beach and your makeshift camp. The sun beats down on the landscape, glinting off the ripples in the water and rolling off the white sand in waves. You’re struck suddenly by how agonisingly hot you feel. It was sickeningly warm in the jungle but this is somehow much worse, the heat like a knife, sharp, cruel, and enough to make you dizzy.

“Ah, the lovebirds are back,” Johanna drawls when she spots you and Finnick emerging from the deep green trees. “What took you so long?”

Finnick shrugs. “Oh, you know. Sight-seeing. Did you— hey, what’s wrong?”

You’ve grabbed a tree for support as your vision swims suddenly. Your head pounds, as if your brain is trying to punch it’s way out of your skull. The dizziness you’d felt as soon as you stepped into the sun builds until you’re swaying on your feet.

You try desperately to keep your eyes open but the sun glares at you until you’re forced to squeeze them shut. “I don’t feel very well. I think I’m…”

It’s all you get out before you collapse in half like a rag doll. Finnick shouts your name and surges forward to grab you. He slides an arm under your back while the other grabs at your waist, tight as a vice.

“What the hell?” Johanna says loudly, standing up fast. “Is she okay?”

“Get me some water, please,” Finnick says, strained. You’re clearly not okay. His heart pounds in his throat and threatens to choke him. Johanna runs off and Finnick pulls you into the shade of the trees, carefully lowering you into the sand on your back.

He kneels next to you, panic rising like bile in his throat. Your eyes are closed, your head heavy in his hands.

“Y/N,” he says, an edge of panic to his voice. Please wake up, he thinks. “Y/N, honey.“

You’re completely unresponsive. Thinking the worst, Finnick presses his fingers to your throat. Thankfully, he feels a steady pulse, though it doesn’t do much to calm his spiking worry, not when you’re still unconscious.

“Can you hear me?” He tries gently tapping your cheek but to no avail. He curses. “Johanna!” He yells out, past being polite. “Water, now.”

“It’s coming!” Johanna yells back from the shoreline, clearly as agitated as he is.

Finnick grits his teeth and takes your face in his hands, trying his best to be gentle when he’s so panic stricken. “Hey. Baby, come on. Wake up.”

When you don’t respond, he carefully lowers your head and swiftly slides his hands to your shoulders. He’s careful but firm as he shakes you. He doesn’t want to, doesn’t ever want to be rough with you, but he’s glad he’s done it because it works. Just as Johanna arrives with a seashell full of water, Peeta and Katniss hot on her heels, your breath catches. Then your eyelids flutter, and then your lips part.

“Finnick?”

Finnick releases a shuddering breath, his heartbeat a pounding drum in his ears. The relief in hearing your voice is akin to a spear being pulled out of his chest. “Yeah. Yeah, hey, I’ve got you. You can hear me, right?”

“I can hear you,” you say. You try to turn your head, searching for him even in your disoriented state, but Finnick holds you in place.

“Don’t move, sweet thing,” he tells you. Unable to look away from you until he knows you’re absolutely alright, Finnick puts his hand out for the water wordlessly. Johanna hands it to him quick as a flash. “Can you open your eyes?”

You can, though it takes you a little while, blinking sluggishly in the harsh light. Finnick’s quick to shade your face with one hand. Your eyes appear, glazed but beautiful as always.

“Good girl,” Finnick tells you, hand on your cheek. He’s still buzzing — the heat of the sudden onslaught of panic hasn’t dissipated just yet. He carefully strokes your hair away from your sweaty neck with the back of his hand. “I’m gonna cool you down, okay? Can I unzip you?”

You nod. “Yeah.”

Finnick unzips your suit halfway down your chest, taking care to angle his torso so the others don’t see anything they don’t have to. Slowly, he tips the water over your hot skin. It slides over the slopes of your shoulders and creeps down into your suit. It must feel good because you shudder and let out a small breath.

Finnick thumbs your collarbone, feeling overwhelmed with relief. His hands don’t leave you, afraid you’ll disappear again if he lets go. The panic ebbs slowly as he watches you come back to life, your eyes becoming clearer by the second.

“She’s okay?” Peeta speaks up after a long moment of silence.

Finnick nods. “She’s okay,” he assures. “It was the heat, I think.” He finally lets himself look away from you, if only to ask Peeta, “Could you get us some more water?”

“Yeah, of course.”

The other three all trail off, leaving you and Finnick on your own. You try to sit up as they leave but Finnick presses his hand to your chest, palm flat on your warm skin.

“Don’t,” he says. “You’ve gotta lay flat, sweetheart.”

You do as he says, looking bashful. “Sorry,” you say softly.

“Don’t be sorry. No more fainting though, okay?” He rubs your shoulder. “I know I’m really handsome, but you don’t have to be so drastic about it.”

You groan but it quickly morphs into a laugh. Finnick kisses your forehead and then holds your hand until Peeta returns with the water.

-

thank you for reading! please consider reblogging if u enjoyed 🤍

[jakubrozalski]

'Zygmunt and Zośka'

Ewka joined the "Zośka" battalion before the outbreak of the uprising, together with her beloved Tomasz. She met Tomek in the Grey Ranks two years ago, they participated in many reconnaissance and sabotage missions together.  They both welcomed information about the planned uprising with excitement and euphoria. Those moments seem so distant now... The uprising has been going on for a month now...  Tomek is gone. All she has left are memories of long walks by the Vistula and those short moments together when they felt free and happy, despite the horror surrounding them. Now, with a Colt M1911 in her hand, which she received from one of the "Cichociemny" fighting in the Old Town, she is waiting for the Germans assault, leaning on Zygmunt statue, her last sanctuary, last support. They will both fall today, the old king Zygmunt and brave Ewa from the Zośka battalion. -

Exactly 80 years ago, 1 August 1944 at 5:00 p.m. the Warsaw Uprising broke out. The Uprising was supposed to last a few days at most, but it did last sixty-three days and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Directly, of course, it was aimed to liberate Warsaw from the occupation of the falling German Reich, but indirectly and politically (as part of Operation 'Burza') was aimed against the USSR and Stalin's plans. This was also one of the reasons for its calamity and the help ( of the Red Army ) that never came. It was definitely too optimistic for the Polish underground resistance command to count on any help from Stalin, whose plans concerning Poland were known and who, as a vindictive and unforgiving person - in my personal opinion - certainly wanted to take revenge for the 1920 and his personal defeat.

There is no doubt, however, that it was an uprising of brave young women and men, full of high ideals, passion and dreams of a free homeland, who wanted to feel a little freedom, self-agency and relief, but also to take revenge after 5 years of terror and occupation. Very tragic and beautiful at the same time. It is to them that I wanted to pay tribute and honor their memory. 

I also observe with great concern and sadness what is happening in the world currently. Not even 100 years have passed since the apocalypse of WWII and the world is again full of divisions, tension, polarization, violence and hatred... For this reason I believe it is worth remembering and reminding about history, to try to stop it from repeating itself, over and over again...  Honor and glory to the heroes who fought for freedom and higher values ​​against evil. Work process: https://jrozalski.com/projects/QKmkRd

[seaemberthesecond]

I have such a visceral reaction to fandom acting like Kakashi was wrong, or worse, piteous for all the time he spent at the Memorial Stone. It genuinely makes me lose my mind and this take is EVERYWHERE.

Naruto (the story, not the boy. but also the boy) is about how love is never wrong. It's never wasted and it doesn't have to be deserved. To then turn around and paint Kakashi's love and devotion to Obito and Rin as stupid and shameful is ????

Rin and Obito represent two lives that were ended too soon, two children who died in a bloody war they should never have been in. Kakashi mourns them, and continues to mourn them years after their death (supposed, in Obito's case) because they were his friends and he loved them, they were his comrades that he fought a war with and they died because they were cannon fodder for an ever-churning war machine.

Kakashi's refusal to "let go" and "move on" is, I would argue, a radical act. It is an extension of his those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum ideology. In a world that treats children as expendable soldiers, cheap and replacable, Kakashi refuses to see his fallen comrades like that. He carries them with him because they weren't expendable. Not to him and not to the people who loved them. By going to the Memorial Stone, Kakashi keeps his teammates memory alive. By continuing to mourn them, he does not let them be forgotten, just another couple of names in a sea of dead. They were people, they had lives and dreams and hopes and now he is the only keeper of their memory. Even in death, he will not abandon his comrades.

And this choice is vindicated!! This is what gets me the most!! Not only is Kakashi keeping Obito and Rin's (and his father's!!) memory alive by passing on Obito and Sakumo's nindo what eventually leads to Naruto saving the world, but it is personally vindicated too!! because Obito comes back to their side!!! Kakashi's love and faith and devotion all these years were not misplaced!! Obito gets to die a hero a second time because Kakashi raised children who held to Obito's ideals and he was only able to do that because of how closely he held Obito and Rin's memory and sacrifice.

At the end of the day, I think people criticize Kakashi for paying "too much" tribute to the dead because they think it made him a bad teacher or because he "lived in the past," and I just don't think either of those things is true but I guess that's for another day.

But yeah, to conclude, tl:dr, Kakashi's visits to the memorial stone are emblematic of his commitment to honouring his teammates and keeping their memory alive, a choice that is ultimately vindicated by the narrative and to paint it as pathetic/short-sighted/unwarranted goes against the themes of the show. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[dolljunk]

Here are my two Create A Monster Bee girls, one I customised back in 2022 as amemento of my time in the UK and the other being one to actually fit in my Monster High collection.I did my first one as both a tribute to my 2022 Summer holiday but also as a homage to a Bee doll I painted and sold over a decade ago (which one of my Twitter friends actualy has now) so xhe's definitemy my softer style with a bit of an anime influence to her.My reroot and restyled CAM Bee is because I wanted one that better fit the rest of my collection which is aimed to be my ideal Monster High collection which has a blend of factory made dolls and customs that fit that aesthetic.I really love the CAM Bee so I'm happy I have one that works for my greater MH collection...

[effieotto]

one of the tricks of the arena in the Quell being the forcefield showed just how it was all planed for Haymitch. They weren’t expecting Peeta to jump on and volunteer…it was always meant to be him. Katniss and Haymitch, the mockingjay and the example -both of the minds who had the guts to defy the Capitol. Both the sparks who almost burned the nation down with black berries and forcefields…

Snow had thought that, by killing every single person Haymitch had ever loved in his life, he had finaly been able to put a leash around his neck. And still, despite all his efforts, twenty years after he pulled his trick with the axe and won the 50th edition of the Hunger Games, Haymitch still had the guts to challenge the president one more time by creating the whole star-crossing-lovers approach with Katniss and Peeta, knowing the girl would never follow through Snows expectations, knowing all too well the sparks in her eyes and the damage it could cause-If the mockingjay did everything she did, it was because her mentor had allowed it- and Snow was very familiar with how hunting dogs like Haymitch Abernathy and Katniss Everdeen could not be disciplined….how dangerous it was to let someone with such strong ideals to walk around safely and sound, corrupting the minds of future tributes. He knew the only way out of it was getting rid of them, both of them- he had left the example alive once, and he would not make the same mistake again

the mockingjay doesn’t exist without her mentor

[blasphemousclaw]

I’ve been seeing a lot of people argue that Radahn would never agree to Miquella’s plans because he loves the Golden Order and would never want to replace it… but I think there are some nuances about the current state of the Golden Order that call that assumption into question?

The first thing to know about Radahn is that he’s defined by his idealization of Godfrey and his reign as Elden Lord. His lion armor is an explicit tribute to him, and he tries to emulate the “Lord of the Battlefield’s” martial prowess and heroic, honorable nature. When looking at the iconography associated with Radahn, it is always directly tied to Godfrey alone.

But Godfrey isn’t here anymore, he was banished… and the current state of the Golden Order is now extremely culturally different than it had been under his rule. The crucible and those associated with it gradually became less and less accepted, and more and more “disdained as an impurity as civilization advanced.” Godfrey’s crucible knights used to be heroes, and it’s even implied that they were the very face of the colosseums’ ritual combat… the Ritual Sword Talisman is “patterned after swords used in ritual combat held to honor the Erdtree,” and it’s the exact same design as Crucible Knight Ordovis’s sword:

so there’s this connection between the colosseums under Godfrey’s reign and the crucible.

But, in the present day, both the crucible knights and the colosseums have fallen by the wayside: “In time, the strength shown by these knights, and even their appearance, was seen as chaotic and deserving of scorn,” and regarding ritual combat, “the practice had died out by the age of King Consort Radagon.”

We do in fact see these hallmarks of Godfrey’s reign in association with Radahn as well — from Freyja’s backstory, we know that Radahn first met her by watching her fight as a gladiator at the colosseum (probably the one in Caelid!). And there’s a boss fight at Redmane castle with a Crucible Knight and a (red-haired!) Leonine Misbegotten! It’s also worth nothing that Godfrey, his crucible knights, and Consort Radahn all share the same earth-stomp move! Another interesting point is that Godfrey is associated with lions (Beast-Regent Serosh), and of course Radahn wears lion armor inspired by this, but there is also a Lion Guardian enemy at Redmane castle that has horns:

the old crucible society of the Hornsent revered the horned lion above all…

and Radahn, the “Lord of the Battlefield’s lion,” gains horns after being resurrected in Mohg’s body… literally becoming a horned lion!

I think it means something that Radahn is associated again and again with these symbols of the OLD Golden Order and the crucible… the time when Godfrey ruled, the crucible still flourished, and glorious combat reigned supreme. Yes, Radahn is absolutely defined by nostalgia and trying to recapture the glory of an old age… but I think this is actually a reason for him to OPPOSE the current Order, because now all the things he loved and admired about it are GONE! Indeed, there’s no evidence that Radahn made any attempt to preserve the current Order during the Shattering, and Morgott considers him to be a “willful traitor” with the rest of his siblings!

Does this mean that I think Radahn planned to be where he is with Miquella at the end of the dlc? Not necessarily, and I personally am really skeptical that where he ended up was entirely of his own choosing… I just think that the logic of assuming Radahn would want to preserve the Order in its current state is flawed, because the differences between Godfrey’s reign and Radagon’s reign are quite significant!

[emeraldrush]

Reading Sunrise On The Reaping and learning about Louella, Maysilee, Wyatt, Ampert, and overall Haymitch's games made me so confused.

Why I couldn't remember he teaming up with a young girl? Katniss had to mention it in Catching Fire while they were watching his games, right? Tributes from 12 always teaming up with 11?

It was like Mandala effect, my brain trying to correct my memories, I even made up some dialogues (yes, I remember Katniss saying something like: "I see Haymitch carrying a little girl's dead body, hopeless, just like I was next to Rue. He couldn't save her either, so he just held her until she left this world").

And then I read the final chapters, and Haymitch explained how the Capitol and Snow (probably even Plutarch) controlled the narrative. They told a very different story from what actually happened, blatantly lying and leaving out crucial details, like the New Comers, Ampert being Beetee's son, Mags and Wiress involvement in the Games as District 12's mentors, the whole rebel plan and then everything made perfect sense!

We know all we know about the other 73 Hunger Games thanks to Katniss' knowledge, and she obtained said knowledge by just watching what the Capitol, what Snow, wanted her to watch. And then that made me wonder:

HOW MANY OTHER STORIES THEY MANIPULATED, CONFECTIONATED FOR THEIR OWN POLITICAL AGENDA? Annie's? Finnick's? Johanna's? Cashmere's? They were just kids, how many rebel plans they frustrated? What was their truth?

Suzanne did a brilliant job showing how media controls the narrative and make it look effortless, how we, in this time and age, are fed by this gigantic corporative monster who gives us exactly what we need to know in order to adopt an ideal mindset that allows them to control the whole fucked up system.

And idk, maybe it's the sleep depravation but I think she is the actual mastermind and we should all TALK ABOUT IT.

[sizeofyoursoul]

Anne Rice's Personal Fancasts for The Vampire Chronicles

(Important Disclaimer: I gathered this together as a curiosity, not as a comment on any past, current, or future actors playing these characters, and if you feel the need to use any of this to make anything other than positive comments on any past, current, or future actors playing any of these characters, I don't agree with you and I don't endorse it, and I hope Lestat comes and yells at you about it in your dreams)

Looking for her thoughts on a few things from her novels, I stumbled upon the weird fact that Anne Rice has a huge digital footprint of which actors she at some point had as her own mental image or ideal casting of her characters. I've collected as much as I could, and so, for fun, here they are! Unless otherwise specified, these were all posted on Facebook between 2009 and 2018.

Lestat

General Comments:

He is a "man", not a "boy"

He's a "big guy, quite tall and strong" (she emphasized this a lot)

He should be a guy in his late 20's so the actor doesn't change too much and can play a 250 year old immortal

He could be played by an unknown

He should not have dark hair or a five o'clock shadow

He should be good looking, because "Lestat's beauty is part of him, part of his self-assurance, his arrogance, his confidence and his seductive power"

First actor she thought looked like Lestat: a young Rutgar Hauer

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Chris Hemsworth (Mentioned at least x 3, said when she watched movies with him she could only see him as Lestat)

Richard Armitage (Mentioned at least x 3)

Anson Mount (Mentioned at least x 2)

Stephen Amell (Mentioned at least x 2)

Charlie Hunnam

Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ

Leonardo Dicaprio (late 90's, mentioned at least x 2)

Actors She Responded Positively to Being Suggested

Travis Fimmel

Harry Lloyd

Wes Bently (2000, was apparently considered for Queen of the Damned)

Louis

General Comments

Mentioned the idea of Louis and Nicholas being played by the same actor

Originally inspired by actor Alain Delon

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Matt Bomer (Mentioned at least x 7, mentioned a lot outside of fancasting, she was really in love with Matt Bomer)

Richard Armitage

Hugh Dancy

Marius

General Comments

"At least 40"

She did not care if he wasn't blonde (see her suggestions below for why)

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Matthew MacFayden (Mentioned a least x 7 but I eventually stopped counting)

Gary Oldman (late 90's)

Actors She Responded Positively to Being Suggested

Paul Bettany

Armand

General Comments

Has to be someone in his 20's (also specified 25 or 30), a "baby faced man, a boyish man"

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Simon Woods (Mentioned at least x 2)

Johnny Depp (Late 90's)

Gabrielle

General Comments

Past 40, closer to 50

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Cher (Mentioned at least x 2, was a suggestion for Louis in the 80's when the idea of gender swapping the character was in the mix for IWTV)

Judy Davis (late 90's)

Eva Green

Actors She Responded Positively to Being Suggested

Claire Danes

Evan Rachel Wood

Kirsten Dunst

Akasha

General Comments

Should be played by a black actress in tribute to Aaliyah's performance in Queen of the Damned being such an entry point for black fans of the series

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Lupita Nyong'o

Tiana Benjamin

Memnoch

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Russell Crowe

Pandora

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Eva Green

David Talbot

General Comments

Should be British

Actors She Specifically Suggested

Jeremy Irons

Anthony Hopkins

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

The thing about the new hunger games book is that it could be a Haymitch centric story or it could be otherwise and I trust Collins either way, but looking at her themes (propaganda and control) I think there's a lot of room for a story that is definitely about the Capitol, the creation of these specific games, the control and propaganda and power. These are special games, twice as many children stolen as usual, and they should be won by one of the low number districts as usual, powerful, semi-Capitol districts. Everything is poised and planned for.

Except one tribute keeps poking through. He refuses to kill, that's alright, a lot of them don't have the guts. He travels away from the centre, and by all rights should be killed by the arena but he's clever, he works out the poison, the vicious animals, he escapes it all.

Well, never mind, there's 48 tributes and far more interesting things going on than some twelve kid. Until there's 40 tributes, then 30, than 20. President Snow holds watch parties and celebrations, the Capitol bets on winners and losers, tossing around money like it's worthless.

The twelve boy who should be dead has an alliance with a twelve girl until she leaves, not wanting to kill him. She still screams for him when she's killed. He still runs back to hold her hand as she dies.

A sweet gesture. Makes people invested. Still, might not be ideal to show, don't want to humanize them that much, so it's cut. Easy. The games are all under control and only show what Snow wants them to show. The people are happy or content or afraid, but they're all watching exactly what they should be watching.

Until the twelve boy wins. He wins by using the arena, a trick, a twist to it. And the games are trapped in their own making, you see, because the Capitol can't get rid of him. Everyone knows he's the victor because everyone saw. Everything about Haymitch was wrong, everything about his victory was a kick in the teeth to the Capitol. He was a District Twelve victor who won by refusing to play the game properly on a year that was meant to show the Capitol's power. He was out of their control and it hurt them, we know it hurt them, they killed every single person he loved because of it. Haymitch isn't the center of the story, he's the flaw in the perfect code. He takes the control of the Capitol and he bruises it. 24 years later it's broken by another twelve child who held the hand of her friend while she as dying.

[serpentface]

Here's the most current map (which will inevitably subject to change within a month or two), one showing elevation, one showing territorial divisions, and one showing major cultural groups.

Notes for the territorial map

'province' refers to directly ruled land beholden to Imperial Wardi laws and protections, divided into provinces. Most of these territories were established during the formation of the state, while some are under recent and direct occupation (most significantly the two off-shore islands and the western Cholemdinae lands that hold most of the Yellowtail trade route).

'tributary' refers to lands whose societies have been subjugated (by military force or intimidation) into agreement to economic tribute, and retain full self-governance and non-occupation in return for annual payments of goods, precious materials, crafts, and crops.

'functionally independent' refers to territories that are deemed Imperial Wardi land under vague ideals that all lands south of the Viper and west of the Sons of Creation are God's sacred soil for Its first people, but aren't actually under any form of occupation or tributary status whatsoever.

'treaty-independence' is the 1 nation in this claimed territory that is recognized specifically as sovereign and not subject to encroachment or tribute pay (by Ephenni provincial doctrine rather than law)

'disputed borderlands' are the edges of the provincial land borders, which are not well established or protected.

Almost all borders depicted are heavily approximate, both in the context of this map being very rough and also just in-universe.

EXTENSIVE NOTES FOR THE CULTURAL MAP UNDER THE CUT

Note that most of this map does not indicate literal boundaries or borders, and rather serves as approximation of dominant (sub)cultures throughout this region.

So anyway here's an overview of most of the peoples native to this region.

WARDI:

Wardi as an ethnonym is complicated, as it does not refer to people with recent common heritage but rather a collection of peoples who assimilated/were assimilated into a shared cultural identity, language, and religion. Almost all groups (not necessarily individuals) considered Wardi have predominantly proto-Wardi ancestry, though the majority also have at least Some proto-Finnic ancestry (stemming from a major migration event 1500 years BP).

Proto-Wardi is a broad descriptor of the peoples who had ancestry in this land stemming from the very initial human settlements in the late paleolithic, and by 1500 years BP shared a language family/some very basic cultural elements. They derive predominantly from waves of land migrants from the northeast who dispersed around the 'tail' of the Viper seaway, though their genetic makeup likely stems from at least a few distinct prehistoric human movements into the region. 'Proto-Wardi' does not exclusively describe ancestors of the contemporary Wardi groups, and includes other ethnic groups with ancestry here prior to proto-Finnic migration (Cholemdinae and the North Wardi peoples).

Most contemporary Wardi groups derive from societies along the western-southern coasts and river systems that agriculturalized and at least partially urbanized within the past two millennia. These were characterized by mixed subsistence systems- settled agriculture along the riverways and nomadic pastoralism of cattle and horses in the grasslands and scrub, with one supporting the other. Most eventually organized into structures of hereditary monarchy at the societal level, while others formed smaller chiefdoms (monarchies usually retained characteristics of the latter, with a monarch supported by localized chiefdoms whose members formed an aristocratic class).

Assimilation into a singular identity was originally external under two periods of Imperial Burri occupation, most significantly the first (in which basically the entire region save for much of the Highlands and the innermost grasslands was directly occupied). The word 'Wardi' itself was a Burri exonym first externally applied to the western-southern peoples who were organized into monarchies and practiced settled agriculture. The name was taken from the Wardinae people, who at the time were allied with the Ephenni and ruled much of the south. (The term 'Wardi' would have originally translated to 'good land' in reference to rivers, 'Wardinae' would have meant something along the lines of 'people of the river land' to distinguish from Cholemdinae 'people of the wide land').

No two nations at this time would have considered themselves the Same people, and some labeled 'Wardi' could not even be classed as 'proto-Wardi' in origin (the population of present-day Erub stems predominantly from proto-Finnic migrants who adopted settled agriculture and urbanization; Lobera was an entire Wogan kingdom). But with endemic monarchies toppled and the land being restructured into one province under which native inhabitants all occupied a sub-citizen class, many cultural distinctions were partially reduced over about 400 cumulative years of direct occupation.

This period also marked the beginning and spread of the Faith of the Seven Faced God, which originated as syncretic semi-adoption of Imperial Burri state religion mixed with older practices, and would develop on its own until it became a unifying element associated with the applied 'Wardi' identity.

The completion of this identity unification came in the birth of Imperial Wardin ~270-230 years ago, stemming from another alliance between the then-kingdoms Ephennos and Wardinnos that enveloped their neighbors during a period of post-occupation upheaval. With most already sharing (variants of) the same religion and having Some sense of shared identity, 'Wardi' as a self-applied name for the people of this state came to completion in the years that followed.

Cultural divisions don't disappear overnight (or even over centuries), and Wardi identity is heavily multipolar in ways that roughly resemble ethnic/state boundaries prior to Imperial Wardin existing as an entity. There are also notable subcultural divides between 'urban' and 'rural' Wardi populations, given the significant distances between the heavily populated coastal/river areas where most urbanization/agriculture happens, and the more sparsely inhabited plains that surround them. (It gets said that if you ride a day straight out into the grassland, the people you find don't know who the current Usoma is. You ride another day out, and the people there don't even know there IS an Usoma. (This is an exaggeration, but the spirit of things has truth to it)).

The map indicates VERY rough divisions of the most significant Wardi subcultures (not counting rural/urban divides).

CHOLEMDINAE

This refers to a group with predominantly proto-Wardi ancestry that did not practice settled agriculture and never assimilated into Wardi identity at a cultural (rather than individual/community) level. This group has broadly retained individual identity and practices a religion that branched off before the progenitors of the Faith of the Seven Faced God, which venerates God who is the sun and a myriad of spirits of animals, plants, crops, land, waterways, and weather). The Cholemdinae spoken language is very closely related to Wardi and is mostly mutually comprehensible.

Cholemdinae society is organized into houses, which are networks of allied clans governed by the patriarch of a leading clan. Housefathers are hereditary, though the status of the leading clan depends on wealth in livestock and the faith and support of their dependents, so may shift with time. Marriage usually only occurs within a single house, and is the bedrock for maintaining lasting clan ties.

Their ancestral land is wide swaths of grassland and scrub surrounding the major Yellowtail and Brilla river systems, where they subsist primarily as nomadic pastoralists of cattle, horses, and khait, supplementing intake with hunting and foraging. In the contemporary, they are split into two major groups, one that is seasonally settled (migrating between permanent settlements along rivers and in deep grassland on a seasonal basis) and one that is khait-nomadic and forms no permanent settlements (instead following annual migratory routes). These two divisions of subsistence are not quite separate cultures, and both would acknowledge one another as a brother people.

Most do not practice intensive agriculture due to their movement patterns, and instead otherwise modify the land (particularly maintaining savanna along riverways via controlled burns, and damming/diverting rivers to create wetlands) to cluster reliable sources of edible plants/crops and habitat for game animals.

This map does not convey the scope of khait-nomadic Cholemdinae lands and only shows areas in which they are the majority ethnicity, as annual migratory routes take many clans well into Wardi provincial territory or North Wardi land, if not further east past the map's borders.

[The Wardinae tribe that is ancestral to most of the South Wardi demographic were originally Cholemdinae that split in establishing permanent settlements along the Brilla river and practicing intensive agriculture.]

CHENAHYEIGI

This population does not have a collective endonym, with the most common exonyms being 'Hill Tribes' and 'Highlanders'. Chenahyeigi instead describes a spoken language that is shared by most inhabitants of the Highlands region in the northwest, who comprise related peoples with shared cultural elements distinct from their neighbors.

The majority of Chenahyeigi peoples descend from proto-Finnic migrants who originally inhabited the (once larger) island chains to the southeast of mainland Finnerich. Their dispersal occurred as a wholesale movement of peoples over a period of about two centuries, fleeing to rising sea levels, conflict with mainland proto-Finns, plague, and famine. Upon arrival, some settled the offshore islands, some moved along the coasts to the northeast and ultimately merged with proto-Wardi populations they encountered, some moved to the southeast and were driven into the western Highlands in conflict with powerful agriculturalist proto-Wardi nations, and some dispersed into and through the Highlands directly and ultimately displaced or absorbed the sparse populations of proto-Wardi pastoralists who lived there.

The initial migrants were already comprised of at least a few separate peoples, the stark geographical divides of their land further fragmented this population into discrete groups seen today.

Each group represented on the map represents the largest form of cultural division, the word for which translates to 'People' as a proper noun. These are allied collections of tribes who share the same dialects, close cultural identity, and regular trade connection, and usually occupy contiguous lands, but do not have centralized leadership (each being separately governed by their own current ruling clan's patriarch). Peoples are prone to fragmenting and shifting membership over the centuries. Tribes represent networks of clans that are closely affiliated via marriage and kinship, are based upon discrete cultural identity, and have strong territorial aspects to their identity (though territory shifts with time). Personal identity is based around the ancestral line, then the clan, then the tribe, and only extends to the People at most. Separate Peoples usually are not allied and are often in territorial conflict.

All groups share the language (though not all dialects are mutually intelligible) and baseline cultural practices, and most share very similar societal organizations and subsistence methods. They are at least seasonally settled (most form permanent villages at low elevation), practice low-mid intensity agriculture, and are heavily reliant on seasonal transhumance of cattle and horses. Very little of their lands can be considered 'urbanized' outside of villages large enough to be labeled a town (with the chief exception of the heavily populated and low elevation Yellowtail River valley, which hosts a small city).

Most Chenahyeigi speaking groups retain a significant degree of separate cultural identity and language from surrounding groups in large part due to geographic isolation. They have not been altogether unimpacted, having adopted many minor cultural practices from their neighbors and some major ones (the biggest and most obvious is in a cattle-associated agricultural deity being named Od and having dredged up fertile earth from the sea during creation, as well as animistic facets of the worldview (to an even greater extent than any recent proto-Wardi groups, ascribing discrete spirits to even manmade objects). The core religious practices of most Chenahyeigi peoples differ otherwise, acknowledging a small pantheon of creator gods and being entirely centered upon ancestor veneration.

The islander Chenahyeigi groups are notable as an exception to much of this description, as many of them have existed in complete geographic isolation from their mainland cousins (much less Wardi groups) and have developed independently in the millennia since their settlement. Their languages are in the same family but not mutually comprehensible with mainland dialects, and islander Peoples largely have different religious practices, with most lacking both ancestor worship and animistic elements (except where they have emerged independently) and instead centering on veneration of pantheons. Their subsistence methods also differ depending on conditions, ranging from similar patterns of mixed agriculture-pastoralism, to pure settled agriculture, to predominantly hunting/fishing and foraging.

These represent the biggest swaths of land and peoples that are neither directly occupied by Imperial Wardin nor subjugated as tributaries to it (with a big exception being the Yellowtail River Valley People being a major tributary, and the Lleniwir island being under direct occupation as a fortified base). This is in large part due to the upland geography being too hostile and the potential yield of favored tributary goods being too low to be deemed worthy of the effort and maintenance of attempted subjugation.

Notably, the West Rivers People and the province of Ephennos have an explicit border treaty that has been upheld for two centuries, owing to their moment of cultural brotherhood while under Imperial Burri occupation and their joint efforts in restoring sovereignty. The two regions still maintain amicable trade connections. On the cynical end, the respected boundaries still mostly come down to the land and its resources not being deemed 'worth it', the West Rivers peoples having a very developed and well-known warrior culture, and Imperial Wardin having recently failed miserably in a war of subjugation against mounted archers utilizing guerilla tactics on difficult terrain.

NORTH WARDI

This is, again, an exonym that refers to multiple peoples who have no collective endonym, and exist in distinctly separate societies. These groups descend from a complete cultural merger of proto-Finnic and proto-Wardi populations, and have developed relatively discretely from most of the contemporary Wardi population since then. Most speak dialects of Hnaimale as a first language, which derives from both of their ancestral language families but shows more Wardi influence.

Most 'north Wardi' groups are have a historical practice of clan-based Houses somewhat similar to that of the Cholemdinae, but have very different political organizations and subsistence methods. Most practice a mixture of settled agriculture and pastoralism, and the Llema depend heavily upon fishing. The Atig Weryanni, Hundinae, and Wermani peoples are organized into monarchist states, the Llema and Brunai are organized in smaller House chiefdoms.

Most Atig Weryanni have adopted variants of the Faith of the Seven Faced God, while (outside of individual/house-level conversions) the Hundinae, Llema, Brunai, and Wermani mostly practice related monotheist-animist faiths centered around a deified sky (with the latter of the four also having core practices of ancestor veneration).

This group includes the only current tributaries to Imperial Wardin that are monarchist states. The tributary dynamic allows for retained self-governance and no direct occupation in return for supplying annual tribute (mostly crops and livestock, along with precious materials, clothing, pelts, etc). Surrender to this tributary status is generally submitted to as a better option than full conquering and occupation (if not outright destruction), but this condition is still an act of subjugation that creates profound social and economic hardship. Among the monarchists, this has been seen in deepened social stratification and upheaval, and all groups are in intensified resource conflicts with their (mostly also tributary) neighbors. The Llema are the only one of the five that are not a tributary, but have still been victimized by this system via the Brunai and Wermani increasingly encroaching on their lands in response to their own economic hardships.

The Sons of Creation crater lake that was historically sacred to many Wardi peoples and is currently sacred to the Faith of the Seven Faced God is Also sacred to the Atig Weryanni and Hundinae peoples (and Cholemdinae, AND some Wogan peoples to the east), and is currently under the direct provincial control of Imperial Wardin, with a temple and shrine built along its shores. This site has been a center of conflict for centuries, and has been particularly potent in the Imperial Wardi era. This came to a head recently (13 years ago) in an event where a party of Hundinae warriors raided the temple, killed its guards, priests, and pilgrims, threw the sacred meteor-iron icon of God into the lake to be consumed, and set up positions in the highly defensible geography. The men put up a considerable fight in the following two day standoff against Wardi forces but were vastly outnumbered, and those that were not killed in combat were captured for ritual execution. The reprisal was exceptionally brutal. A small army led by three of the elite Wardi warrior orders was dispatched into Hundinae land to siege the capital hillfort unless the king Asawani (deemed responsible, whether this is true or not is unknown) surrendered himself, and to raze and slaughter any villages along the way. Asawani ultimately gave himself up rather than face a sacking, and was brought back to the crater lake to be executed in retribution and the re-consecrating of the shrine. His body was never returned to his people. The consequences of this massacre are still unfolding.

JAZAIT

This refers to the elowey inhabitants of the Elumuqi island chain. They descend from a settlement event that occurred ~3000-2500 years ago, during which a wave of seafaring elowey groups spread across the White Sea. Other related groups from this settlement event are known to have reached parts of the Wardi mainland's coast during this period, but were ultimately driven out or eradicated in resource conflict with the proto-Wardi over the next several centuries.

Jazait themselves likely replaced one of the relicts from the Cairn-Builder proto-Wardi culture (a widespread and ancient group whose very last remnants went extinct in the Highlands about 1600 years BP). This would have been in the form of conflict, as both groups had similar subsistence methods and would be in very intense competition for resources. The Jazaiti migrants ultimately won out and have remained the sole inhabitants of these islands since that time.

Jazait society is deeply decentralized and built upon clan systems with strong territorial boundaries. Some of the smaller islands are entirely inhabited by a singular clan. Clans are very large networks of affiliated families that are maintained by marriage-based matrilineal kinship, and most marriages only occur within the same clan. Each clan is led by a singular clanmother, but ultimately governed by all the mothers (sole reproductive female per family unit) of each family in cooperation.

Jazaiti religion centers around two deities, a solar/sky Mother and a lunar/sea/land Father (the latter being her husbands, as a three-as-one deity). The Jazait are their firstborn children, and the Mother is a collective clanmother to all their people. The mothers in a clan are responsible for spiritual leadership and direct intercession with the gods, while other members of the community maintain household shrines and perform crepuscular prayers with prayer beads. Jazaiti religion does not share historical tendencies for animal worship or animism with their mainland neighbors, but recognizes the existence of ghosts and sea demons, and honors certain animals (particularly the tuna) as special gifts from the gods.

The Jazaiti people recognize their collective as a single people, but the de-centralized makeup of their society lends towards strong cultural and linguistic differences between (and sometimes within) each island. Separate clans are not necessarily in allegiance and often compete for resources. Jazait society does not have a distinct warrior culture, but violent conflicts are not uncommon due to limited land area and variability of good fishing grounds. This has been further exacerbated by subsistence issues derived from conflicts with Imperial Wardi groups over fishing territory, two of the Elumuqi islands being placed under direct occupation for their strategic position near the coast, and many clans being placed into tributary status in return for being 'allowed' to fish in their waters.

Jazait society has developed in isolation from nearby Wardi groups for the majority of their history, with both mostly avoiding each other save for small scale conflicts at sea (which would have been occasional, as few proto-Wardi groups were seafaring save for near-shore fishing stints). Most close interaction has been in very recent history (past 400ish years), with a clanless Jazaiti diaspora growing on the mainland (in large part as a matter of searching for work in response to aforementioned subsistence pressures). Many of these communities have developed a distinct syncretic partial adoption of the Faith of the Seven Faced God wherein the Wardi god Od is recognized as the Mother and Father in full interplay as one, some individuals have fully converted, and many retain their own practices.