#if the odyssey has no fans assume I’m dead

[soarinsugar-homerblog]

I am honored to keep my favorite book alive 🫡 I will not be wiped out by a TikTok musical.

The Cattle of Helios Hyperion and Skylla: The animalistic cry for survival (An Odyssey Analysis)

So it has been quite some time since the last time I wrote an analysis on the Odyssey and after I saw some posts by @soarinsugar-homerblog I decided it was about time I wrote one more! This time on the last and fateful moment of the lives of the crew; the sacred cattle of Helios.

Buckle up and bear with me the ride will be wild and long!

So what is the thing that truly shows the divinity of the animals? Was it their godly appearance? Was it the invisible to human eye servants that led them to their grazing spot? Or was it maybe their location and the protection of Helios for them? All of the above are right. However what if the reason behind it was even more profound, even more horrifying than what catches the eye? In my opinion THIS is the true reason and that gives off the most brutal scene in that part of the Odyssey, brutal enough for Odysseus to describe it so thoroughly:

The skin slowly crawled upon the spits and both the roasted and the raw meats would bellow loudly as if they were actual voices

(Translation by me)

Honestly only one word can describe it;

Grotesque!

The scene is nothing less but an absolute grotesque image in the eyes of Odysseus where the meat of the animals seems to gain life and his companions roasting and eating them while Odysseus watches in horror. His men are roasting the meat having a small feast. The scene seems to Odysseus even more horrifying by the fact that his men couldn't even offer a proper sacrifice to the gods (water instead of wine, leaves instead of barley etc).

However why is it so difficult to watch? Is it perhaps that the memories of war awaken inside him and he remembers the brutalities he both saw and caused? Possible but if I may, there is one scene that predates this one and is equally brutal as this specific image. Yet another image that Odysseus describes so thoroughly that might have made some stomachs turn at Homer's time; another scene that remained engraved in his mind forever. It is no other that the Skylla scene!

And Skylla from her cave grabbed out of my ship my strongest six men in arms and body strength and both me and my comrades as we looked up, we could see their arms and legs emerging as they waved them frenzily calling my name in screams till the last moment in their grieving heart

(Translation by me)

And do we think this was brutal enough? Then we must think again for next Odysseus gives us the most specific and absolutely horrendous description in regards to Skylla's feast.

And just like the fisherman upon the tall rock casts his rod with bait to lure the small fishes with food and throws out in the sea the horn of an ox and then he reels in the flopping fish ashore and when he has them, throws them upon the stone; in such a manner she devoured them at the entrance of her cave making screeching sounds and they were waving their arms towards me, struggling in that deadly battle and that was the most lamentable sight we all saw with our own eyes of all I have suffered upon my sea voyages.

(Translation by me)

So for those who still have the contents of their stomachs intact let me make it even more clear; Odysseus describes a wild scene in which a wild creature, no more than an animal, in a blink of an eye snatched six strong and vigorous men and devoured them at her doors without remorse or compassion, just pure animalistic feeding as his comrades flopped like fish caught by the fisherman on the shore while adrenaline kept them awake till the last moment their heart stopped beating! And Odysseus describes it in such a manner; so clear and savage that arguably tops even the grotesque descriptions he had on events like Polyphemus or the Laestrygonians! The ultimate horror scene

Now you might wonder why I correlate the two? I immediately shall tell you. What does the scene of Skylla have in common with the Cattle of Helios Hyperion? Odysseus witnesses someone devouring a prey that is still "alive" and making sound. It doesn't seem like a random choice that Homer decided to share with us that the pieces of meat were still "alive" in one way and I am not convinced that he added that information solely to show how divine the Cattle were neither to create a horror scene. Neither is a mere coincidence that the scene of Skylla is right before the island of Helios or the fact that Odysseus mentions how his men are still grieving the deaths they experienced lastly. I think is much deeper and much more profound than that. Odysseus is in horror at the scene and he has witnessed quite a few harsh situations in his life but this seem to take the cake when it comes to his comrades and doesn't seem to be the mere idea of a blasphemy either.

Odysseus witnesses his men act like Skylla as they devour the pieces of meat that still moo and make sound just like Skylla devoured their still crying and moving men!!!

At that moment of hunger and desperation his men lost the last bits of their humanity. They no longer felt guilt that something was making sound as if it was still alive as they roasted it and slowly devoured it. Their previous experiences and hunger broke them and made them lose the last bits of humanity they had. Not only they committed hubris by defying a God and eating his Cattle, not only didn't they have proper sacrifices to offer but also they didn't stop when they noticed the Cattle were still "alive" even when roasted and they didn't stop not even when they made sounds as if they are being tormented. They didn't care anymore.

They were reduced to the level of a beast in their desperation.

This was the moment when Odysseus knew they were beyond saving because THAT was their real crime: the descent to the mere survival mode; the very bit that separated humans from beast was gone with them. (And even then Odysseus tried to save them, see my other analysis here )

Because this seems to me the true reason why these two scenes were placed side by side. It seems like a combination between cause and effect and also a result of everything that led to that part (adventures, hunger etc) and I am surprised that we don't see more people talk about it. That was the moment where his men reduced from humanity to savagery because as Eurylochus said; there is nothing worse than dying of hunger. And ironically Odysseus seems to quote on that too as he speaks on the basic need of hunger when he is under disguise in his own palace; somehow seems like this moment rings in his mind forever.

Food for thought (pun intended). Let me know your thoughts to the comments and reblogs below!

[nalyra-dreaming]

I have a couple of questions if that’s alright? A couple fo things have been bugging me and I don’t know who else to ask. I feel like I’m going crazy because I keep seeing the idea what Armand is entirely to blame for anything misremembering/untruths that Louis has about Lestat. But, is there evidence of him putting false memories in Louis head? I know he’s edited stuff out but what did we explicitly see him change or are we assuming that and waiting for the reveal next series?

Secondly, how are the coven awake to burn Claudia and Madeline? And how is Louis awake to burn then back? Aren’t they all basically unable to resist the call of sleep when the sun’s up?

Thanks for all the work you do in this fandom of answering questions! It’s so amazing having fans like you around willing to discuss things.

Hey!

Glad you like! I'll try to explain my view on this :)

So. For the misremembering:

It's not that easy. To say it was "all" Armand, I mean. Obviously there's hints (and some proof). The "broadcasting" question (the salesman), Louis seemingly not remembering the fire (Daniel prompting via the Talamasca files). Louis quoting word for word what has been planted in his brain (episode 2x05). Louis remembering the fight at the trial... and what we saw in 1x05 then not matching - for example. Louis telling us of what he remembers happened at the trial... and then the trial script contradicting. Louis telling us of Claudia's turning... and then later admitting to himself that he was wrong. Because...

... there's also the odyssey of recollection. The fallacy of memory. These vampires do forget with time. Events blur, dates are hard to pin down. The dates in season one for example are off by a year- all of them.

In the books (and outside of them, by Anne's statement), it is later said that Louis... well, lied. Exaggerated. There's snide comments in-universe. Because he was being petty, and angry. Think the interview in San Francisco in the show. Those were direct IWTV book quotes(!). The show has heavily pulled up the memory aspect instead, and shifted (some of) the blame to Armand by making him "tinker" (as Assad called it) with Louis' mind and memories in an effort to not lay it all on Louis. This tinkering (in and by itself) also happens in the book, Armand makes Louis turn Madeleine there, for example. Brings down a "veil" between him and reality when they come for them before the trial, or later when they travel. Lies to him, tells him Lestat is dead.

I don't think Armand is to blame for everything. For me the scene with the misplaced photos was very interesting for example, because Armand's frustration there read as real to me - it was nothing he did.

But Armand does a lot. Before SF, before that suicide attempt, he ... lets Louis go on killing sprees, resigns himself to clean up after Louis. After that suicide attempt however (at some point after it, depending on whether some of or all of DM happened or not) that stops. Louis does not go off and kill anymore. Louis stays, more or less broken. I have called that the "Stepford Wives" phase, and I think that fits, because Armand is constantly readjusting Louis. And Louis is not relieved when Armand reveals himself in 1x07.

You can see the behavioral shifts in the show between the episodes, too. The missing diary pages of episode 1 that Louis wants to have? Never mentioned again. The fact that Louis was up during the day, and then suddenly has to sleep till sundown while Armand tells his little fanfic story of Lestat. The using the same words and phrases. Assad said that Armand is constantly spinning his web (his words) and so he constantly readjusts... not necessarily out of a malicious desire - no, ultimately he just clings to what he has.

So no, Armand is not to blame for everything. But I personally think the show might have given us a lot of hints already, I spoke about the "hair" aspects (and what Louis got "wrong") here. There's links to the "train scene" that is unlikely to have happened as told, as well as the "hotel scene" in there as well. Louis knowing he can invite Daniel to break through was only recently called "a lifeline"

Which brings us to another aspect, the intent of the tale. Because Louis wants to protect Claudia (as he should), and that also influences the way he tells the tale - of course. Makes some things seem inevitable, for example.

And, last but not least, I can only recommend reading this article by Linda Codega - who wrote about Armand being rather important in November 22 :)

I don't think we will get big reveals à la "Oceans Eleven" or something. I think the show will expect us to think for ourselves there... 😅 And there will be clues, lots of clues... little puzzle pieces, for us to put together.

As per your other question:

The show has softened the "death sleep" to ... let's say "coffin sleep".

Louis tells "us" about it when he goes to burn them down, that the vampire's world narrows down to the coffin when they lock themselves in (we see a bigger version of that when he and Armand go to bed in their darkened bedroom). And that is why he can - more or less - surprise them.

That is not quite book canon :) BUT! The movie also softened that up already, we had Claudia tippy-toe along the sunbeams to Louis there, for example.

And in the show the vampires obviously can be up when the sun has risen, even during midday.

AND, to be fair:

The show has (already) introduced Fareed Bhansali, the "vampire doctor". He is a character from the later books, and he... wanted to free the vampires from the death sleep.

And, tongue-in-cheek: Guess he did it^^.

[spuffyfit]

Honestly, speaking as both an abuse survivor and a survivor of SA, I'm torn. On the one hand, what Calypso (in Epic specifically) did was clearly sexual harassment. And that is not okay. But at the same time, the fandom's reaction to her and being so pick-and-choose about applying the original text to her compared to other characters makes me want to defend her.

If we are supposed to apply the original Odyssey to her character when analyzing Calypso in Epic, then we need to do so for the other characters for fairness. But if we did that, then all sympathy for Odysseus would go right out the window. Because, to be quite blunt, that Odysseus is a dick. Sometimes almost on par with Zeus himself. Epic Odysseus is a completely different character altogether. Same with a majority of other characters. If we're meant to apply the original text to everyone as we do Calypso, then this fandom would be an academic and fandom bloodbath.

Additionally, Jorge has been pretty consistent about making it clear when characters are actually committing, or plan to commit, SA in Epic. But apparently, for Calypso's segments specifically, he left things more open so fans could interpret things for themselves? No idea why that choice was made, but I think that's been a major detriment, both in terms of writing and in terms of fandom reactions. It would have been better if he'd been more clear about what went down on her isle. Whether or not that would make the fandom like her more or hate her more, I don't know. But sometimes there is a thing called being too vague, and I think that's the case here.

Also, I think I can see why so many people keep assuming she's cursed to stay on the island herself. The backstory and visuals given in the lyrics for Not Sorry for Loving You and the animatic from the stream (which I'm assuming is supposed to be the "canon" version of events?) seems to lean towards Jorge taking inspiration from the Percy Jackson mythos for her more than the classics. Which wouldn't be that out of the ordinary, considering all the anime and video game influences he's been open about incorporating into Epic.

Honestly, I think in this case, everything regarding the Calypso discourse is a result of some attempts of something in the writing that just didn't land as expected for a majority of people. Mix in what the other anon mentioned about misogynoir (because now that it's been pointed out to me, I'm starting to notice a lot of it in this fandom) and we're now stuck in a cycle of defending/not defending her and her actions.

Hello anon 2.0!

First, I’d like to clarify I’m also speaking as an Abuse and SA survivor! And in my rant, I don’t believe I was thinking all that rationally about things considering I was very heated / annoyed, but at first I also had mixed feelings about Calypso! However, since majority of the fandom was dead set on disliking her, I just kinda rolled w/ it because I didn’t really wanna fight half the fandom on my mixed feelings, but yes, you are so right! <3

[arkaniist]

I wrote 2.5k words about Tolkien, WWI, Le Morte d’Arthur, the Iliad and Odyssey, and more, all bundled happily in an essay about queer subtext in the Lord of the Rings revolving around the relationship between Sam and Frodo. I posted about this before, and someone asked me to post the essay, so here it is!

Homoerotic Subtext in the Lord of the Rings

In June of 1916, J. R. R. Tolkien shipped out from England to France to join his comrades on the Western Front. In July, he would participate in one of the bloodiest struggles of World War 1, the Battle of the Somme. Just a month later, he would be struck with Trench Fever, placing him in convalescence or behind a desk for the remainder of the war. Though his front-line experience was short, there is no denying the effect that the war and the loss of his closest friends had on Tolkien, nor the influence it had on his writing in the post-war years. Much has been written on that topic already. However, there is one aspect of Tolkien’s time in the service which is underexplored when it comes to the literary critique of his legendarium – of which the Lord of the Rings is but a piece – and that is his exposure to the widespread homoerotic attitudes which were a common undercurrent in the British armed forces during that time.

Homosexuality has always been an overlooked behavior on the front during wartime, even as it passed from common practice to taboo. One reason for this might be that people who are worried about being shot to death in a trench have other things to worry about besides who their mates might be kissing. Another might be that facing death brings a greater appreciation for love to the front of the mind, and it does not matter which gender that appreciation is directed towards. As a result, we find many examples in literature and letters of men expressing chaste but deep homoerotic love for other men. In The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussel writes that in WWI-era battlefield poetry, one could not fail to notice ‘the unique physical tenderness, the readiness to admire openly the bodily beauty of young men, the unapologetic recognition that men may be in love with each other.’ (303). “War poetry has the subversive tendency to be our age’s love poetry.” he quotes Richard Fein. In that case, we must examine war literature for the same sentiments.

Most common in officers towards their men, we find ‘something more like the “idealistic,” passionate but non-physical “crushes” which most of the officers had experienced at public school. … What inspired such passions was — as always — faunlike good looks, innocence, vulnerability, and “charm.” The object was mutual affection, protection, and admiration.’ (Fussel 295) This makes sense, as ‘the tradition in Victorian homosexuality and homoeroticism [is] that soldiers are especially attractive. What makes them so is their youth, their athleticism, their relative cleanliness, their uniforms, and their heroic readiness, like Adonis or St. Sebastian, for “sacrifice.”’ (Fussel 302) In the Lord of the Rings, we find Frodo described as ‘taller than some and fairer than most, and he has a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye.’ (Tolkien 163). At his coming-of-age birthday party, he inherits the great evil that is the One Ring from his great uncle; he is an unintentional sacrificial lamb. Later, when he volunteers to take the One Ring to Mt. Doom knowing that it is likely a one-way trip if he can even make it that far, we find in our protagonist a young, beautiful, self-sacrificing hero.

Fussel writes that ‘although the usual course of protective affection was from superior to subordinate, sometimes the direction was reversed, with men developing hero-worshipping crushes on their young officers.’ (297) Enter Frodo’s counterpart and co-protagonist, Samwise Gamgee. Tolkien wrote in a 1956 letter to a fan that “My ‘Samwise’ is indeed (as you note) largely a reflexion [sic] of the English soldier—grafted on the village-boys of early days, the memory of the privates and my batmen that I knew in the 1914 War, and recognized as so far superior to myself.” (Letter 187)

A batman, in military parlance, was a soldier who, as well as fighting, oversaw an officer’s kit, cooking, and cleaning. (Garth) However, Sam is so much more than Frodo’s servant, though they start the journey as master of the house and gardener. Sam shows an incredible dedication to Frodo that cannot be explained as mere class-based loyalty. Take this passage from Return of the King when the enemy has captured Frodo. The Hobbits are separated, and Sam is up against what seems like impossible odds – faced with the task of raiding an entire tower he assumes is filled with enemies, alone, armed only with a short sword. He does not even know where Frodo is or if he is still alive:

‘… Except for that little frightened rat, I do believe there’s nobody left alive in the place!’

And with that he stopped, brought up hard, as if he had hit his head against the stone wall. The full meaning of what he had said struck him like a blow. Nobody left alive! Whose had been that horrible dying shriek? ‘Frodo, Frodo! Master!’ he cried, half sobbing. ‘If they’ve killed you, what shall I do? Well, I’m coming at last, right to the top, to see what I must.’ (Tolkien 887)

… He cared no longer for Shagrat or Snaga or any other orc that was ever spawned. He longed only for his master, for one sight of his face or one touch of his hand. (Tolkien 889)

Besides demonstrating Sam’s willingness to face certain death rather than leave Frodo, this passage is a perfect illustration of another one of Tolkien’s literary inspirations besides the Great War. Tolkien was a scholar of European mythology, drawing inspiration for his legendarium from epic myths like the Old English Beowulf and the Finnish Kalevala. Read the following lines from Le Morte d’Arthur regarding King Arthur’s death:

Then Sir Bedivere cried: Ah my lord Arthur, what shall become of me, now ye go from me and leave me here alone among mine enemies? … And as soon as Sir Bedivere had lost the sight of the barge, he wept and wailed, and so took the forest… (Mallory, Book 21 ch. V.)

Alas, said Sir Bedivere, that was my lord King Arthur, that here lieth buried in this chapel. Then Sir Bedivere swooned; and when he awoke he prayed the hermit he might abide with him still there, to live with fasting and prayers. For from hence will I never go, said Sir Bedivere, by my will, but all the days of my life here to pray for my lord Arthur. (Mallory, Book 21 ch. VI.)

These Medieval warrior relationships themselves draw from an even older literary tradition, one with not so much covert homoerotism but overt homosexuality. Ancient homosexual pederastic relationships like that of Alexander and Hephaestion or Achilles and Patroclus form the model for many close male warrior literary relationships. Compare Achilles’ reaction to Patroclus’ death in the Iliad to that of Bedivere to Arthur’s and Sam to Frodo’s:

A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head, disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at full length, and tore his hair with his hands. … Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both Achilles’ hands as he lay groaning for Antilochus feared that Achilles might plunge a knife into his own throat. (Homer, Book XVIII)

Near-suicidal grief at the loss of the beloved is a common theme between the three of them. Achilles lives to avenge Patroclus, Bedivere lives to pray for Arthur’s soul, and Sam, as luck and Tolkien would have it, lives to save Frodo, who was not dead after all, though it was a close thing. Sam’s joy at finding Frodo alive is as poignant as his grief at having thought he lost him – unashamed physical affection and more tears follow the discovery of his master.

[Frodo] was naked, lying as if in a swoon on a heap of filthy rags: his arm was flung up, shielding his head, and across his side there ran an ugly whip-weal.

‘Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!’ cried Sam, tears almost blinding him. ‘It’s Sam, I’ve come!’ He half lifted his master and hugged him to his breast.

…

‘Well, you have now, Sam, dear Sam,’ said Frodo, and he lay back in Sam’s gentle arms, closing his eyes, like a child at rest when night-fears are driven away by some loved voice or hand.

Sam felt he could sit like that in endless happiness; but it was not allowed. It was not enough for him to find his master, he had still to try and save him. He kissed Frodo’s forehead. (Tolkien 889)

Tolkien’s earlier description of Sam as a combination of village boy and batman fits neatly with Fussel’s declaration that ‘to the degree that front-line homoeroticism was sentimental it can be seen to constitute another element of pastoral.’ (Fussel 300) In the Lord of the Rings, the Shire – Sam and Frodo’s home – represents the ultimate ideal of Pastoralism. In the Shire, Hobbits live community-focused rural lives with minimal conflict, drinking and feasting and partying, with little to no exposure to more advanced societies of the East. In that light, the entire quest of the Lord of the Rings can be seen as a removal from the Pastoral – the world becomes darker, less hospitable, and less natural the further East the Hobbits travel until they reach their end goal: a blighted, unnatural wasteland dominated by machinery.

As Frodo falls further and further under the sway of the One Ring, he forgets the Shire. He loses his connection to his pastoral home. Nevertheless, ever at his side is his loyal Sam, who recalls even in the darkest moments the comforts of home. Sam is Frodo’s link to the pastoral ideal when his suffering is the greatest. Sam’s yearning for the pastoral often comes up in the form of recalling Frodo as he was in the Shire. This is exemplified by the following passage near the end of their quest, just after the One Ring has been destroyed:

‘Well, this is the end, Sam Gamgee,’ said a voice by his side. And there was Frodo, pale and worn, and yet himself again; and in his eyes there was peace now, neither strain of will, nor madness, nor any fear. His burden was taken away. There was the dear master of the sweet days in the Shire.

‘Master!’ cried Sam, and fell upon his knees. In all that ruin of the world for the moment he felt only joy, great joy. The burden was gone. His master had been saved; he was himself again, he was free. (Tolkien 926)

While Sam represents and thus easily returns to an idyllic pastoral existence after the war, Frodo remains haunted by his experiences. Finally, we reach the real end of Frodo and Sam’s journey, the temporary separation before the eternal unification. Frodo and Sam go to see off Frodo’s uncle, and there Frodo reveals he will be passing into the West as well – a form of eternal life in Middle Earth, but one that is forever separate from the rest of the world:

‘Where are you going, Master?’ cried Sam, though at last he understood, what was happening.

‘To the Havens, Sam,’ said Frodo.

‘And I can’t come.’

‘No, Sam. Not yet anyway, not further than the Havens. Though you too were a Ring-bearer, if only for a little while. Your time may come. Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot be always torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do.’

‘But,’ said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, ‘I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.’

‘So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. But you are my heir: all that I had and might have had I leave to you. … You will … keep alive the memory of the age that is gone, so that people will remember the Great Danger and so love their beloved land all the more.’ (Tolkien 1006)

Here we see Frodo acknowledge that this separation splits Sam’s spirit – part of Sam goes to his home and family, but part always goes with Frodo. Frodo encourages him to live the rest of his life fully in the Shire, and when the time has come, he can reunite with Frodo in the ‘afterlife.’ Contrast this to Patroclus’ final request of Achilles in the Iliad:

“One prayer more will I make you, if you will grant it; let not my bones be laid apart from yours, Achilles, but with them; … let our bones lie in but a single urn, the two-handled golden vase given to you by your mother.” (Homer, Book XXIII)

Furthermore, the resolution in the Odyssey, as Odysseus reassures Achilles that his will was done:

Your mother brought us a golden vase to hold them—gift of Bacchus, and work of Vulcan himself; in this we mingled your bleached bones with those of Patroclus who had gone before you… (Homer, Book XXIV)

Return of the King ends with Sam riding home with a heavy heart to his family after watching Frodo’s ship depart to the West. Like the Iliad and Odyssey, we must read a bit further to determine what eventually happens with Frodo and Sam. The Lord of the Rings has a massive amount of supplementary material, including maps and family trees. In Appendix B, we find a chronology of the years before, during, and after the main novels. It reveals that at age 96, after the death of his wife, Samwise rides out to the Havens and passes over the Great Sea to unite with Frodo for the final time.

Queerness is often overlooked in serious examinations of literature, especially when the voices of cishet men dominate the discussion, as they do in Tolkien scholarship. Tolkien scholars have repeatedly dismissed the idea of homoeroticism in Tolkien’s works as silly fangirls making things gay for titillation, which erases queer voices and condemns queerness to the realm of the unrealistic and ahistorical.

I have been a fan of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit since I was queer child struggling with gender identity and sexual attraction. In sixth grade, I received my first copy of the Lord of the Rings, and I read it voraciously until the pages started to fall out. Although I did not fully recognize the homoerotic undertones back then, I still yearned for the deep, lasting, emotionally fulfilling, and life-changing same-sex relationships I saw in those books. Even 20 years later, as a queer adult, the idea that I might share something so intensely personal with my heroes is vitally important to me. J. R. R. Tolkien died in 1973. He was a devout Catholic who maintained a lasting friendship with a gay poet and spoke with great esteem of a novel about gay men written by a lesbian; one can hardly imagine what he might have said about the idea of queer subtext in his writing. But if I, a queer reader, recognize some essential part of myself in Sam or Frodo, if I see my bonds in their bond, is that not enough to warrant an entrance into the discussion and serious consideration? Whether you see their relationship as a purely platonic friendship or a great romance of the ages, Sam and Frodo are in love.

Works Cited

Fussel, Paul. The Great War and Modern Memory. Oxford University Press, 2013

Garth, John. “Sam Gamgee and Tolkien’s batmen.” 13 February 2013, [msg for link].

Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Samuel Butler. Project Gutenberg, 2000. [msg for link].

Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Samuel Butler. Project Gutenberg, 1999. [msg for link].

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d’Arthur, edited by Caxton, William, and Sir Edward Strachey. Project Gutenberg, 2014. [msg for link].

Tolkien, J. R. R. “Letter 187.” The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Tolkien, Christopher, and Humphrey Carpenter. Houghton Mifflin, 1981.

—. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollinsPublishers, 1994.

[aion-rsa]

The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Walking Dead article contains major spoilers.

Many of us thought this day would never come, but as all of The Walking Dead‘s characters know very well, everything that has a beginning has an end. Season 11 of AMC’s flagship zombie drama will be the show’s final run of episodes, but fortunately it’s an expanded season. Fans will get 24 more episodes, broken up into three parts, before the show — and a few of its characters — meets its end.

And it wouldn’t be a season of The Walking Dead without a few big deaths along the way. As we have in past seasons, we’ve made some predictions regarding who will bite the bullet in season 11. For the final time, here are the characters we think are on the chopping block and the ones we believe will live on to remember them after the credits roll on the series finale.

Keep track of all The Walking Dead season 11 deaths below:

DEAD

Roy (C. Thomas Howell)

Prediction: Dies

Result: Dead

Roy took an arrow to the face during a Reaper ambush.

Gage (Jackson Pace)

Prediction: Dies

Result: Dead

Gage stabbed himself in the chest twice, attempting to kill himself before being devoured by walkers in a train car. Zombie Gage was then put down with a shot to the head by Gabriel.

ALIVE

Pope (Ritchie Coster)

Prediction: Dies

I’ve never seen a guy more likely to die in the first half of a Walking Dead season than Pope, the leader of the show’s newest villains, the Reapers, who themselves strike me as filler villains for Maggie and Daryl while the real story at the Commonwealth develops. I assume the Reapers will be out of the picture by the time Alexandria needs to turn its attention to the much larger settlement in the second part of season 11.

Pamela Milton (Laila Robins)

Prediction: Dies

The Governor of the Commonwealth is poised to be the final season’s big bad. A bureaucrat hellbent on preserving the way things were before the zombie outbreak, Milton even established a caste system within her settlement to propagate class inequality. She represents everything that was wrong with the world before the fall of society and the complete anti-thesis of how the Alexandrians do things.

If you’ve read the comics, you know how Pamela’s story ends in Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s story, but the TV series is known for taking sharp left turns when you least expect it. One thing we know for sure is that the Alexandrians will have to reckon with Pamela’s rule before the series finale.

Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton)

Prediction: Dies

A Commonwealth acolyte and bookkeeper of the community, Lance is one of Milton’s chief personnel, helping her run the settlement’s government. He’s also seems like cannon fodder to me as things heat up between the Commonwealth and Alexandria, an early death that could spark a conflict between the two factions.

Mercer (Michael James Shaw)

Prediction: Lives

Mercer is loyal to the Commonwealth but there are more sides to him than his distinct orange military armor lets on. He’s one of the most interesting characters of the comic’s final storyline, and it would be a shame to lose him before we can see his story through.

Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari)

Prediction: Lives

Elijah made his debut in one of the most WTF moments of season 10 when he rescued Aaron and Alden from the Whisperers. For weeks after his reveal, people wondered who the man in the steal mask could be. When he returned in the final six episodes of season 10, the show just kind of moved on without fleshing him out, which is unfortunate since he looks so cool! I’m going to assume that the series is saving a big Elijah-focused episode for later in the season and that he’s too awesome to kill off. You don’t just introduce a blade expert in a steel mask for no reason!

Virgil (Kevin Carroll)

Prediction: Dies

Virgil has a lot to atone for after kidnapping and drugging Michonne in season 10. At the end of the season, we learn that he’s found a disoriented Connie in the woods. His redemption arc will likely include helping Connie survive on the walker-infested road back to Alexandria. Will that eventually involve a final sacrifice to save her?

Connie (Lauren Ridloff)

Prediction: Lives

Connie’s been through a hell of a lot in the past season. After surviving an explosion, a cave-in, and an entire walker horde, Connie’s made it out of Whisperer territory but is still a ways from home. Expect part of season 11’s story to be about Connie’s odyssey and ultimate reunion with her sister and Daryl.

Lydia (Cassady McClincy)

Prediction: Lives

Lydia was at the center of Alexandria’s conflict with the Whisperers for a season and a half. With Alpha and Beta defeated, and their faction all but obliterated, I have to wonder what Lydia has left to do on the show. That said, the writers have continued to find interesting ways to explore this character, and someone has to live on to lead the next generation of Alexandrians. I think Lydia is in it for the long haul.

Magna (Nadia Hilker)

Prediction: Dies

Magna was sidelined pretty quickly after her introduction. While a reunion with Yumiko seems like the logical direction for her story, The Walking Dead universe is a cruel one. She could be headed toward tragedy.

Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura)

Prediction: Lives

In season 11, Yumiko is inheriting a major storyline from the comics that likely means she’ll survive the final 24 episodes of the series. Of course, the TV show could always alter that storyline to bring a tragic end to Yumiko’s story.

Luke (Dan Fogler)

Prediction: Dies

It’s pretty wild that Luke has survived as long as he has. A man of the arts hardly has a place in the cruel world of this show, but he has clumsily persevered thus far. But if the writers are planning an especially bloody final season, I’d put Luke on the short list.

Kelly (Angel Theory)

Prediction: Lives

Kelly has been one of the best late additions to the show. It would suck for her to finally reunite with her sister only to meet an unexpected end.

Alden (Callan McAuliffe)

Prediction: Dies

Another candidate for the chopping block. I’m surprised he’s even made it this long.

King Ezekiel (Khary Payton)

Prediction: Lives

Yes, Ezekiel has thyroid cancer, and were he in Alexandria, that would mean his inevitable death. But the Commonwealth is a different ballgame, an advanced settlement in the comics that will likely have the doctors and surgical resources needed to save him. That is, if Ezekiel isn’t caught up in Milton’s caste system.

Jerry (Cooper Andrews)

Prediction: Dies

I love Jerry and don’t want to see the tank with a heart of gold go. But if the season needs an early death that pulls at the heart strings, Jerry is a prime candidate for a midseason casualty.

Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam)

Prediction: Lives

Gabriel has evolved so much since his debut in season 5, becoming one of Alexandria’s key leaders. He’s come so far and even survived longer than his comic book counterpart. I’d hate to see him go so close to the end. So I’m just going to say he lives.

Aaron (Ross Marquand)

Prediction: Lives

Aaron seemed destined to die seasons ago, too kind and trusting to survive this long. But here he is, still fighting and surviving. He’s lost the man he loves, his arm, and many friends — and it’s all hardened him into a war machine. It’d be a shame for him to die now.

Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos)

Prediction: Lives

In the comics, Rosita’s head ended up on a pike during the Whisperer war, but her TV counterpart has persevered. It’s difficult to predict where her story goes at this point, but since she survived her comic book death, I assume the show’s writers have something in mind for her in season 11.

Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt)

Prediction: Lives

Eugene has become an unlikely protagonist going into season 11. From a mulleted coward hiding behind his intelligence so that others protect him to the Alexandrian leading his people to the Commonwealth, Eugene is central to the plot of the final season, and I think that means he’s safe. Plus, Eugene is hilarious, and The Walking Dead can always use a little comedic relief.

Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming)

Prediction: Lives

Result: Lived

NO.

Rick Grimes Jr. (Antony Azor)

Prediction: Lives

Nah.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

Prediction: Lives

I think The Walking Dead is going to end with one last big death, one last sacrifice before the credits roll on the massive zombie drama. Like Rick in the comics, one of the major characters of the TV series will likely become the martyr who inspires change inside the Commonwealth’s walls. Negan would probably be on the short list for this big moment from the comics, a villain finally choosing to do the right thing for a cause bigger than himself, a fitting conclusion to his seasons-long redemption arc. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently teased that he was already having discussions with AMC about a potential Negan spinoff after The Walking Dead has concluded, which means the former Savior leader is safe…unless the Negan show is a prequel.

Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride)

Prediction: Lives

This one’s an easy one: Melissa McBride is getting her own spinoff that will follow her character after The Walking Dead series finale. That means she’s safe.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)

Prediction: Lives

Norman Reedus is joining McBride for that spinoff, so he’s safe, too. The actor even told us what the Daryl and Carol show will be about.

Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan)

Prediction: Dies

That leaves The Walking Dead with one logical choice to pick up Rick’s final storyline from the comic. It’s Maggie. It also makes a bit of sense from a logistical standpoint. Lauren Cohan has already left The Walking Dead universe once before to pursue other small and big screen projects. She’s back for the final 24 episodes of the series as a welcome legacy character but that doesn’t mean Cohan wants to stick around for longer than that. I assume Cohan’s returned to bring closure to her character, not to prepare for a spinoff.

Let us know your predictions for The Walking Dead season 11 in the comments!

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The post The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[alatismeni-theitsa]

The Children of Hades and Persephone

I received an ask about this so I thought I might concentrate some sources on a post here. Thanks to @coloricioso who guided me on this (and has done extensive research on the matter)!

Here is a big post from @coloricioso (Link) It is a post on Melinoe that is private for now (I think) so I will quote:

The first we must say is that Melinoe is an obsecure figure and the Orphic Hymn 71 is the sole literary testimony of her existence and the only other appearance of her name is found inscribed on a magical device (Athanassakis and Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, 195). The magical device is a tablet where she is called along with other chthonic deities like Persephone and Hecate.

There are some sources on her which I have no access to:  Études sur les Hymnes OrphiquesBy Anne-France Morand; Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft XV, 1978, pages 133-134.

Despite some people want to argue that Melinoe is Hades and Persephone’s daughter I don’t think we can agree on that, and even if we wanted to believe that, the Hymn 71 is not the best source to state Hades’ paternity.

I call upon Melinoe, safron-cloacked nymph of the earth, to whom august Persephone gave birth by the mouth of the Kokytos, upon the sacred bed of Kronian Zeus. He lied to Plouton and through treachery mated with Persepone, whose skin when she was pregnant he mangled in anger. (Athanassakis, 1977 edition)

I call upon Melinoe, saffron-cloacked nymph of the earth, whom revered Persephone bore by the mouth of the Kokytos river upon the sacred bed of Kronian Zeus. In the guise of Plouton Zeus tricked Persephone and through wily plots bedded her; a two-bodied specter sprang forth from Persephone’s fury. –> no skin tearing mention. (Athanassakis, 2013)

Invoco a Melínoe, doncella infernal de azafranado peplo, a la que dio a luz, en la desembocadura del Cocito, la venerable Perséfone en el sagrado lecho del crónida Zeus. Engañó éste a Plutón y se unió a ella con perfidia falaz y en su furor desgarró la piel de dos colores de Perséfone, que empuja a los mortales a la locura con sus fantasmas aéreos... –> He tricked Plouton and mated Persephone and in his rage he teared Persephone’s double colored skin. (Miguel Periago Lorente, 1987, Editorial Gredos). (comment from this version translator: “this verse is not clear, specially when it comes to the double skin color (disomaton, literally double body).. GESNER says it’s due her realtion with both divinities. For one part, with Plouton, her abductor, gives her black color; for other, Zeus, her own father, givves her white color. About the skin tearing we must think it’s due erotic rage of the father with the daughter (…) Some wrongly assume that Melinoe is Hades and Persephone’s daughter.”.

And I was told by my Greek friends that the Greek texts they found,say it’s Zeus who tears Persephone’s flesh.

So… we have rape by trickery and skin tearing; we really don’t want to use Orphic Hymn 71 as a source to try to claim Hades’ paternity, not at all.

If we say “well, Zeus Kronion is Hades and not Zeus”, the Hymn would make no sense by speaking of tricks and everything if Hades was Persephone’s legitimate husband anyway. Some say “why didn’t Zeus just rape the unwilling Persephone and period? why bothering into changing himself into Hades’ shape?”, remember that most of the times Zeus and other gods use seduction instead of raping by force (see LEFKKOWITZ book on this) Just as Zeus changed himself into rain, snakes, swans,*** etc., turning himself into Hades would make the union easier because he could charm and seduce Persephone in that way (and here we coud speculate that Persephone would be willing to have sex if Hades came in because she loved him, and not only slept with him to fulfill wife’s duties or whatever).

(btw, someone in Tumblr said it’s Hades who tears Persephone’s skin out of anger-jealousy of her pregnancy; but I fail to see what source they used to state such thing; from the translations I have read, I understand it’s Zeus the one who does that).

Anyway, if anyone has more information on this Melinoe topic I would be super thankful! ***edit: as a-gnosis said, to deceive Alcmena Zeus changed himself into her husband shape!

______________________________________________________________

Here is another post from @coloricioso with @a-gnosis adding on the matter (Link). I will quote it as well in case it dissapears in the future:

Two things I’m a bit tired of reading around here in Tumblr and why:

1) “Hades was an infertile god because he was the god of death” : Hades is the god who RULES on the world of dead, and here, again, if you didn’t get it already….. HADES IS NOT DEATH. HADES IS NOT THE PERSONIFICATION OF DEATH. NO, no, and NOOOoO.  THANATOS = DEATH. Okay… Hades is the son of Cronus just like Zeus, Demeter and the other gods who were fertile. And Hades was not born as “the king of the dead realm” so is not possible that he was “infertile by nature” associated to his ruler role. The only logic that I could follow is that after living for aeons in a land that is portrayed as sterile (dark, sunless, full of shadows as Homer portrays it in the Odyssey and the Iliad) his body lost the hability to generate any offspring or something similar. But we also have the portrayal of Hades as a god of wealth, richness and fertility, so the “infertile god” imagery is not necessarily a “canon”.

2) “Hades and Persephone had cute children!!”: NO. No. and NO. Get over it, they did not. And here is something for you:

Zagreus: is the child of Persephone and ZEUS in orphic tradition.

Melinoe: is the child of Persephone and ZEUS again in orphic tradition.

And NO, none of the above is “oh but maybe they refer to Hades bcz Hades was called Zeus Chthonion” because in first myth we have Hera’s jealousy on Zagreus -and seriously, why would that happen if it was Hades’ child- and in second myth it is clearly stated that Zeus took Plouton(Hades)’s semblance to trick Persephone. So. no.

Makaria: the only source on her is the Suda Lexicon, that is an encyclopedic lexicon (a dictionary-encyclopedia thing). Makaria’s meaning is “blessedness”. What the Suda Lexicon tell us is this: [A way of referring to] death. [Makaria was] a daughter of Hades. And [there is] a proverb: “be gone into blessedness”, meaning into misery and utter destruction. Or “begone into blessedness” [is said] by euphemism. Since even the dead are called blessed ones. [Makaria was] also a daughter of Herakles, whom the Athenians buried with very expensive funeral rites when she had died on their behalf.[1]

It doesn’t say she was a daughter of “Hades and Persephone” together, it only says of Hades. And since Hades can be used to refer not only to the god, but also his realm, it is most than likely that as a personifcation of death, she is someone who belongs to the Underworld as Thanatos, Hypnos, Erinyes and other chthonian deities.

The Erinyes: the orphic hymns (69, To the Furies) say they are daughters of Zeus Khthonios and Persephone (Holy and pure, from Jove terrestrial [Zeus Khthonios] born and Proserpine [Phersephone], whom lovely locks adorn). This is orphic tradition, because the Erinyes are either Gaia’s or Nyx’ offspring according to “classic” sources (as Hesiod). We could also suppose that despite the “born”, Hades and Persephone are the parents of the Erinyes because they ruled on them and whenever someone wanted to curse and invoked, they had to ask it to Hades and Persephone.

The other source mentioned is Statius’s Thebaid that never says “Hades and Persephone”, neither says “Hades”. Also remember he is a roman poet, so is not greek ancient source. Thebaid, XII, 557:  Of their race and famous sires I speak not; they were men, renowned Theseus, and of the seed of men, born to the selfsame stars to the same human lot, the same food and drink as ye are; yet Creon denies them fire, and like the father of the Furies or the ferryman of Lethe’s stream debars them from the Stygian gate and keeps them hovering doubtfully between the worlds of heaven and hell.

SO…. THE CONCLUSION: if you are making Hades-Persephone fan art/fan fiction and you want to get inspired, sure, you can imagine that Macaria and Melinoe are Hades-Persephone’s little cute babies or whatever. But do not state or assume that Hades and Persephone were portrayed and worshipped by ancient greek/roman people as a couple that had tons of little babies because it did not happen. :) thank you.  

a-gnosis adds:

I agree. I don’t mind at all when people interpret Zagreus, Melinoe and Makaria as children of Hades and Persephone, but it gets a bit annoying when people believe it’s canon.

There is only one ancient source I know of which seems to suggest that Zagreus was Hades’ son. A fragment from Sisyphus, a lost play by Aeschylus: “Now [I came] to bid farewell to Zagreus and to his sire, the hospitaler.” (source: theoi.com) But since it’s only a fragment it’s hard to say anything for sure.

About Zagreus’ identification with Dionysos in the Orphic tradition… I’ve been reading Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets by Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnston, and they believe that this myth and cult was created in the early fifth or late sixth century BCE, inspired by the mystery cult at Eleusis. Dionysos’ role in the Orphic cult was to be a mediator between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Therefor he could not be the son of BOTH Hades and Persephone, because that would have made his link to the Underworld too strong:  "It would have jarred with other aspects of his mythic and cultic persona and diminished his appropiateness as a mediator between the two worlds, the very role that the new cult demanded from him. He needed a foot in each camp, and Zeus’ paternity ensured him of this".

_______________________________________________________________

coloricioso also told me that Zagreus is son of Zeus and Persephone. Makaria is only named in the Suda Lexicon and it only says "a daughter of Haides".

So the only deities who could be "daughters" to HxP are the Erinyes. Not Makaria-Melinoe-Zagreus as is repeated on Tumblr. Makaria = Hades (1 source only) Melinoe = Persephone x Zeus (1 source only) Zagreus = Persephone x Zeus (orphic cosmology, not panhellenic cult)

______________________________________________________________

I really appreciate coloricioso and a-gnosis and that’s why I wanted to keep their text on my own post. In case they leave Tumblr or delete the posts I would still like to have those sources somewhere in an archive. I hope that’s ok!

[karliesbuzzcut]

When art really speaks to you, pt. 2: probably just a coincidence but idk

Disclaimer: all these theories are rabbit holes on their own, so trying to explain them in a couple of paragraphs is, automatically, doing them a disservice. Especially since I’m only going to be primarily addressing the part of the theory that focuses on the artist communicating with their public through their work.

Since I’ve already dedicated paragraphs to the introduction in part 1, let’s just jump into it.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s fuckton of theories.

Let’s start with the daddy of all conspiracies. After all, not many can gloat about their reachings becoming a movie starring Tom Hanks.

The thing with Da Vinci’s conspiracies is that there are so many of them, and they range from “maybe this is also a painting made by Da Vinci but he wasn’t credited because of reasons” to ALIENS. Which, I think, shows how different our interpretations of art can be, and how much it depends on an already established worldview.

But the most interesting part isn’t the conclusions, but how people look for clues. For example, just like people say Taylor Swift is obsessed with numbers or oranges (depending who you ask, I guess), Da Vinci was supposedly a big fan of reflections. So, if you want to decode his paintings you must mirror them... and then move then a little bit... there you go, you’ve just found yourself an alien...! Or a daemon...! Or someone wearing a funny hat! And that’s totally what he wanted us to find, right? Why else would he had shown any sort of interest in reflections if he didn’t want us to reflect everything!!

Shakespeare is an illusion... kinda, but yeah.

Personally, I think Kaylors would love to dig into this one. Sure, it doesn’t have many lesbians playing political spies. But it does involve a lot of literature analysis. Just like Kaylors don’t think a heterosexual woman could’ve written Taylor’s songs; some people (referred as anti-Stratfordians, thank you very much) don’t think someone from a lower class could’ve written Shakespeare’s plays. 

Here’s the tea... the very cold tea: because Shakespeare was the son of a glover, anti-Stratfordians say he couldn’t have had the knowledge to write his plays. They, instead, come up with a list of “more suitable” writers that could’ve worked together. But they decided to keep their identities a secret because being a play writer, at that time, wasn’t respectable. Here, we will start noticing a trend with Conspiracy Theories: society, as a whole, can’t handle the truth, only a selected few. That’s where Francis Bacon comes in.

Francis Bacon was a very smart dude. He, also, worked for the state - giving him the credentials to be worthy of writing Shakespeare calibre plays. And also, also, he developed a method to conceal messages in the presentation of a text. To be able to do this, you would need to use two typefaces. Guess what has more than one typeface? Shakespeare’s plays.

I have to say - while I don’t believe either theory we have seen, they are somewhat understandable. We barely know anything about Shakespeare and Da Vinci beyond their work, so it’s normal that people are trying to figure out who they were; what did they believed in; where did they get all of their knowledge. We like theorising about the answers to these questions, knowing we’ll never get a confirmed truth. Not so the case with our next conspiracy...

Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper - someone had to be, right?

Now, allow me to fangirl all over this one. It combines my interests for conspiracy theories, true crime and pop-culture.

I’m assuming everyone here knows about Jack the Ripper: a serial killer who murdered at least 5 people (mainly prostitutes) in London, between the years 1888 and 1891. Well, someone looked at this and thought “you know what this murder-mystery is missing? Famous people”. Well, this theory says that the author of Alice in Wonderland did it He was the only celebrity living nearby at the time of the killings, so... 🤷‍♀️

This becomes a case of “I have already made up my mind about this issue, so I’m going to go ahead and search for proof that confirms it”. Authors and, now, internet sleuths went through his books, selected this random-ass excerpt from the nursery version of Alice and decided it was an anagram. And a crappy one at that. Supposedly, if you arrange the letters you get a detailed and gruesome confession. You, however, have to take away some letter and add others. Listen, I’m not an English major, but I’ve heard that’s cheating.

This theory also has that characteristic we mentioned: the “I don’t want to admit it out loud, so I’m going to come up with convoluted ways for my audience to figure it out” - which almost borders on psychotic behaviour. But at least it, somewhat, works with the serial killer narrative, you know? Not very much with Taylor, a woman who simply wants to chill with her girlfriend.

The moon landing was fake and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

I’m not going to dig into the moon landing conspiracy, this post is going to be long enough already. Just know that, when the USA government was planning to fake the whole thing, they had just watched ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and they were all like “that’s so cool! That’s how we want our fake moon landing to look!” So they contacted its director, Kubrick.

According to the theory, Kubrick felt really guilty afterwards but he couldn’t say anything about it because he signed an NDA? it would be dangerous, I guess. So he did the same thing Taylor would do decades later: he “spelled it out” for us on his work, under the excuse of “I didn’t explicitly said it, did I? My most intelligent and attractive fans just happened to figure it out for themselves”. 

The movie ‘The Shinning’ has been analysed to shreds. Think ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ music video, but 2 hours and 26 minutes instead. There are many theories about its underlying theme, but we’re only focusing on the moon landing one. The biggest piece of evidence, according to believers, comes from that famous scene in the hallway. Basically, the kid, Danny, is on the floor playing and wearing an Apollo 11 sweater. He stands up = the rocket launches. He walks to Room N.237. Which is almost an anagram for MOON - but actually, a perfect anagram for MORON - I didn’t come up with that joke, I’m just sharing it. Anyway. In the book, the room number is 217 but Kubrick changed it to 237 because there are 237,000 miles between the Earth and the Moon... except that’s not exactly true, but this is their Kissgate, you see? 

“Paul is Dead” aka “the granddaddy of Kaylor is Real”

Now, this is THE conspiracy theory. Kaylors would love to have the amount of evidence this theory has. Give them 50 years, they’ll get there. 

Our story starts in 1966, Paul McCartney dies in a car accident. The British Government panics, “this will drive our teenagers into a massive suicide!” So they cover it up. They find this guy who looks like Paul and hire him to replace the original. 

You might’ve only heard about those stores where pop-stars get their beards. But there’s also a branch that focuses on celebrity look-a-likes.

The rest of The Beatles went along with it (because that’s how these artists seem to operate, they’re always the victims of their circumstances) but they did not like it. So - you guessed it - they used their music, artwork, photo-shoots, etc. to communicate the truth. Faux-Paul might’ve felt a bit awkward about it, but he’s a nice chap and let the other guys work through their grief. 

Kaylors might have agreed on blue being the colour of breaks up and yellow is for Karlie-Sunshine; but the Paul-truthers concluded white is the colour of heaven, jeans are for gravediggers and black for morticians... oh! And not wearing shoes means you’re dead. Taylor being near a door symbolises her leaving the closet; Paul being near an open trunk symbolises him being in a coffin. Is the letter K, for Karlie, surrounding Taylor? Well, there’s a 28IF in the plaques of a car, for Paul being 28 IF he hadn’t died. People hear a phantasmagorical “she” in ‘Call It What You Want’; just like people heard “I buried Paul” in ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.

If you have never looked up this theory, I seriously recommend it. There are so many parallels with Kaylor. Here’s a 30 minute video, if you’re interested. It summarises the theory neatly while discussing the effects that these, seemingly innocent, conspiracies have on the way we absorb information.

Paul might be dead but 2pac is very much alive.

If I haven’t made it clear by now, I think it’s very deceptive to use a musician’s lyrics to back up your alternate version of events. As confessional as these verses can be, they’re still a form of art. Which, in terms of music lyrics, they need to follow certain parameters, as well as a desired sound. And, as many other forms of art, they might focus a bit more on transmitting a feeling, rather than an accurate portrayal of reality.

Why am I stopping to say all of this now? Well, because this specific theory relies a lot on Tupac’s lyrics.

A bit of context: In 1996, Tupac Shakur was shot 4 times while at a stoplight. He died from his injuries days later. While there are theories, to this day, no one knows who killed him. Unless you believe one of those theories, which claims no one did.

The believers of this theory cite Tupac’s lyrics to argue that he was explicitly telling his fans that he was going to fake his own death. Here are two examples:

I’ve been shot and murdered, can’t tell you how it happened word for word but best believe that n*****’ gonna get what they deserve. - Richie Rich’s N***** Done Change

I heard rumours that I died murdered in cold blood, traumatised pictures of me in my final states — you know mama cried. But that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted - Aint’ Hard 2 Find

Just like anti-Kaylors don’t necessarily oppose the idea of Taylor being gay; I bet the “antis” of this theory aren’t happy Tupac died and weren’t against his existence on the first place. It’s more of an argument about confusing your feelings with facts, just because they can be more comforting or exciting.

“Avril Lavigne is dead”... or “every artist you think is alive is, actually, dead and, the ones you think are dead, aren’t” I guess.

After everything we have seen, this one isn’t that interesting. The real Avril died in 2003, right after her first album. Her record label bought a new one. Proof? She says ‘dead’ in ‘My Happy Ending’, blah, blah. A poor man’s “Paul is Dead”.

I added it, mainly for the lulz, after the last entry, I needed them. But also because it all started with a blog. What’s hilarious is that the guy who created it admitted he only did it to show how gullible people are but, at that point, he had already convinced people about. The conspirators didn’t need him anymore. So they discarded him but not the Theory... which just reminds me a little too much of how TCG, HBH, Jennyboom &co. have been excommunicated from the Church of Kaylor.

Beyonce and Jay Z are members of the sexy sexy Illuminati.

I did not save the best for last. But maybe I’m just biased because the Illuminati theory bores me to death. However, if you allow me a bit of social criticism... remember how the Shakespeare Conspiracy started because a bunch of classicist people didn’t believe a lower class citizen could write such good plays? I think this one has a bit of that. I’d bet my life that this one started when a bunch of white dudes got super uncomfortable by black people being so talented and earning their successful.

What this Conspiracy shows, too, is the amplifying effect the internet has had on the proliferation of such theories. Most of the conspiracies I’ve mentioned were huge... but how were you supposed to communicate your ideas and add to the old ones, before the internet? You could publish a book. Talk about it at parties. And, at some point, there were internet forums but, still, you can’t compare that to how widespread Social Media is nowadays. 

Today, we can watch someone ramble for 2 hours on YouTube about how Beyonce looks like a robot if you watch Single Ladies in reverse; read someone’s dissertation of ‘Apeshit’; or spend all night looking at those pictures where someone has drawn a red circle around anything that resembles a triangle. 

It might look like a lot of evidence but that’s only because there are a lot of people very attached to this theory. Wanting - for whatever reason - for it to be true (perhaps because it would confirm that their fears about the world were well founded). And all those dozens or hundredths of people were working together to form as many patterns as possible.

Unfortunately we are going to keep talking about the Illuminati in Part 3 but also about Taylor, so that should be nice. Because - to the surprise of absolutely no one - there’s a bunch of people who also think they understand Taylor better than the rest. That they have figured out her secret codes and her ultimate message. Only, not all of those theories involve lesbian supermodels, so they aren’t as popular on Tumblr.

[johnmurphysreddit]

Does b*b’s Instagram post cement that he’s dead and gone? Don’t think we’ll ever see him again

You’re really going to make me look at Bob’s instagram?  I thought we were friends. 

I looked and I’m saying probably.  For those who haven’t looked, it’s three pictures.  One is Funkos from 2001 a Space Odyssey (possibly just to push spoilers to the next photo), one looks like Bob in the Bardo costume but with a lot more blood, and one is Funkos of what I assume is Clarke and someone with weirdly beige hair that’s headlined “Bye Bye Bellamy”.  The text reads

Hopefully that is enough space to avoid spoilers. Ok. Well what a wild and life changing ride it has been. I am deeply grateful to all that have been involved in this production over 7 long years. I'd like to thank the Crew, Cast, Writers, Production office, Casting, Vancouver, CW and WB. And I want to thank the FANS that have gone along this journey with all of us. I have forged memories on and off set and at conventions that will burn brightly for the rest to my life. Farewell Bellamy, it's time for the big sleep, rest easy. You are finally free.

[loretranscripts]

Lore Episode 131: Sea of Change (Transcript) - 9th December, 2019

tw: none

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

They call it the Wild Coast. It’s a stretch of land on the eastern side of Africa, starting around the coastal city of Durban and ending 900 miles later at Cape Town, and as for as long as ships have been sailing there, there has been tragedy. They call it the Wild Coast because of the frequency of shipwrecks that have taken place over the years – the Santo Alberto in 1593, the Good Hope in 1685, and the Bonaventura a year after that. Even today, ships occasionally fall victim to the rocky coast and stormy waves, like the Greek cruise liner, the Oceanos, which went down in August of 1991. Thankfully, there were no casualties, but one ship wasn’t so lucky. The S. S. Waratah was also a passenger liner, built and launched in 1908, and measured over 500ft long with a weight of 10,000 tonnes. It was a big ship, and as a passenger liner, it was designed to hold a lot of people in relative luxury. On its fateful journey, there were over 200 passengers on board, as well as dozens of crew members who served them and operated the ship. In July of 1909, the Waratah approached the southern tip of Africa after a long journey from Australia, and it came within sight of the Wild Coast. It made a routine stop at Durban and then continued south with the new destination of Cape Town, but a storm caused ocean swells as high as 60ft, and in conditions like that few ships stand a chance. Somewhere on the way to Cape Town, the Waratah disappeared. There were no survivors.

Ships vanish. It’s one of the risks that humans accepted when they began to venture out into the dark, mysterious waters that separated them from the undiscovered. Because, if we’re honest, there are simply too many opportunities for tragedy on the open water, and sadly some ships don’t make it home. But if you read enough of the stories about lost ocean liners and missing schooners, you’ll start to notice an exception to the rule. Yes, sometimes ships vanish from sight, but every now and then, the unthinkable happens – they return. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

[2:52]

 Our love affair with the sea is thousands of years old. All you have to do is read the histories and mythology of ancient cultures and you’ll notice right away just how central the open water was to their world view. Homer’s Odyssey, written around the 8th century B.C., tells the tale of Odysseus and his decade of travels around the ancient world, and he does much of that travel by sea. Countless other ancient stories are connected to the ocean as well. 400 years after Homer, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded the Egyptian tale of a pharaoh named Necho II, who had lived and ruled two centuries earlier. Necho was said to have assembled an expedition that left Egypt through the Red Sea on the north-eastern corner and then slowly circumnavigated Africa. They arrived at the mouth of the Nile three years later. But sailing wasn’t a new thing, even back then. Most historians think that humans first jumped into small sailing ships, similar to catamarans, all the way back in 3000BC. They began their migration from the island of Taiwan and slowly spread out south and east. 1000 years later, they were firmly established in what is now Indonesia, and soon after that they spread as far as Vanuatu and Fiji. By the 10th century, they had reached more remote places of the Pacific like Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island, and some even made it all the way to the west coast of South America, now settling in what is now Chile. 4000 years of expansion, giving birth to dozens of culture, and all of it thanks to sailing.

Of course, it wasn’t always about migration. For many cultures, the ocean represented the unknown, and each of them had a deep desire to go out, to explore and discover and learn – oh, and to get rich, of course, because nothing kickstarts a new industry like the promise of massive wealth, does it? But as more and more ships set sail for uncharted lands or even simply became part of growing naval fleets and merchant routes, the odds that tragedy could strike began to rise. Most of what we know today about ancient sea-faring cultures was born from that tragedy, too, in the form of shipwrecks, and every year, it seems, older and older wrecks are being discovered. Just last year, in October of 2018, researchers announced the oldest yet, a 2,400-year-old Greek merchant vessel that was discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea. It’s so well preserved that researchers were able to recognise its design from images painted on ancient wine jars, which is crazy to think about. But of course, the shipwreck is real, and that means we can learn so much more about it than a wine jar could ever have taught us.

Shipwrecks were a tragic necessity in an age when humanity was spreading out and taking risks, so much so that shipping companies just sort of assumed they would lose some of their ships in the course of doing business. And that, of course, helped give rise to commercial insurance, where companies could hedge their bets and avoid going bankrupt when random chance got in the way of the bottom line. In London, many local sailors and ship owners would gather in a coffee house owned by a man named Edward Lloyd. By the late 1680s, he had so many customers who were connected to the shipping industry that he posted daily shipping news to keep them informed. But his café also became the place to buy insurance for ships, and even when all those insurance underwriters left the café and set up shop on their own, they remembered his influence by naming their group after him. Today, it’s still around, and known as Lloyds of London.

So many ships have sunk to the bottom of the ocean over the past few thousand years that we’ve even created stories about them, stories that hint at our regret and longing, at the loss we’ve suffered through, and the deepest desire of our hearts – namely, that those long-lost vessels might one day return. They even have a name – ghost ships – and folklore is filled with them. One example is a schooner known as the Young Teazer. It was active during the war of 1812 and worked as a privateer, a government approved pirate ship, in an effort to torment and hamper the British ships off the coast of Nova Scotia, and things went according to plan for a while – until June of 1813, that is. After an encounter with a British naval vessel, the crew of the Young Teazer found themselves trapped in Mahone Bay on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia. Fearing that his capture might lead to execution, one of the crewmen was said to have ignited the powder magazine below deck. The resulting explosion left 30 men dead and the ship nearly destroyed, while the survivors were all captured and thrown in prison by the British, but it also began a new chapter in the ship’s story. Over the past two centuries, stories have been whispered about a flaming ship that has appeared in Mahone Bay. Locals refer to it as “Teazer Light”, and even though many sceptics have pointed out that the sightings could be nothing more than the reflection of the full moon on the water, it hasn’t stopped folks from hoping for the alternative.

Another ghost ship found in folklore is also the most famous: The Flying Dutchman. As far as early modern ghost ships go, the Dutchman is one of the oldest, most likely dating back to the late 1600s. All of the sightings seem to repeat the same, frightening details, too – a mysterious ship, spotted off in the distance, glowing with an eerie luminescence and devoid of all human life. But these stories are all just legends, yarn that’s been spun on the wheel of fantasy, sometimes stitching together real events and people, but never fully true, and folklore is full of stories about ghosts for a very good reason. We like to think that, however dangerous the seas might be, that against all odds those lost ships might somehow come back. Amazingly, though, life has managed to imitate art. Over the last few centuries, some lost ships have pulled off the impossible, and in doing so they’ve put themselves into a whole new category – real ships that were once thought to be lost, only to return to the land of the living.

 They’d been expecting its arrival in Newport, Rhode Island, but it never sailed into the harbour. The SV Seabird was a merchant ship that had departed weeks earlier from Honduras, where it made regular trips. The ship’s captain, John Huxham, knew the route well and shouldn’t have had any trouble. But it’s never safe to assume, is it? When the ship was later found on nearby Easton’s Beach, it was clear it had experienced trouble, and when those that discovered it stepped on board, they entered into a mysterious scene. Coffee was boiling on the stove in the galley, a pair of pets were walking on the deck, but other than that the ship was completely and utterly empty. No crew were onboard. Most people think that Captain Huxham and the others must have exited the vessel while it was still a way off from shore. The missing lifeboat seemed to confirm that idea, and with a bit more time to investigate, there’s a good chance the authorities might have solved the riddle, but a week later they travelled back to the beach, only to discover that the ship was gone, and it was never seen again.

A century later, in 1884, another merchant ship was found drifting through the Atlantic. The SV Resolven was sighted just outside of Catalina Harbour on the east coast of Newfoundland. Like the Seabird, the Resolven was also missing its lifeboat and had been completely abandoned. The only sign of damage was a broken yard, that horizontal beam at the top of the mast that the sails hang from. The ship that found the Resolven was the HMS Mallard, and they did their best to put the pieces together. They’d sighted a tall iceberg in the region and assumed the Resolven had come a bit too close to it, which would explain the damage, but it wasn’t enough to justify abandoning ship, which struck them as odd. Even more mysterious were the signs of normal life inside the ship. All of the lanterns were still lit and below deck, the stove in the galley was hot with a fire still burning inside it, and most mysterious of all was the ship’s log, which contained records of all the activities onboard. The most recent item on the page had been written down just six hours prior to the Mallard’s arrival.

But if we’re going to talk about actual ships that have turned up empty, we simply can’t ignore one particular story, because it’s quite possibly the one that introduced the idea of ghost ships to American culture, giving us our own version of those old-world legends. The Amazon was built in 1860, first sliding into the water at the shipyard owned and operated by Joshua Dewis up in Nova Scotia. It was a wooden brigantine, a two-masted sailing ship, and it was of average size, measuring just shy of 100ft long. But life didn’t start out smooth for the Amazon. On the ship’s maiden voyage, which began in June of 1861, the captain became ill. Before they could even begin to transport their cargo across the Atlantic, the Amazon was forced to return to its home port, where the captain died a few days later. The next captain didn’t fair any better. Under the supervision of John Parker, the Amazon had a number of accidents, including crashing into a brig in the English Channel. Somehow, though, the ship survived. When Captain William Thompson took over command in 1863, he ushered in a period of peace for the ship and it travelled all over, performing the duties it had been designed to do. But four years later, in October of 1867, an ill wind blew the Amazon off course, where it ran aground at Cape Breton Island at the northern tip of Nova Scotia. The extensive damage led the crew to abandon ship, and four days later the wreckage was hauled off by a salvager.

But the Amazon wasn’t finished just yet. After being sold to a local businessman and restored to sailing condition, it was moved to New York City, where it became part of a merchant fleet owned by a man named James Winchester. Oh, and they changed the ship’s name, too. No longer would it be called the Amazon. Instead, it would be the Mary Celeste. The first job for the newly-restored ship was to carry a cargo of over 17,000 barrels of denatured alcohol, a type of ethanol that’s been coloured and made toxic to discourage consumption. The ship’s owners brought on a man named Benjamin Briggs as captain and allowed him to hire a crew of seven experienced sailors, and then they began to plan the route to Genoa on the north-western coast of Italy. Captain Briggs was so confident in his ship and crew that he brought his wife, Sarah, along, as well as his son Arthur and daughter Sophia. Together with the crew, they all settled in to the Mary Celeste, and left port on November 7th of 1872. It was the last time any of them were seen alive.

A week later, on November 15th, another ship left the same harbour in New York. The Dei Gratia was captained by a man named David Morehouse, and depending on the sources you accept as reliable, he was a casual acquaintance of Benjamin Briggs. Their destination was Gibraltar, located at the southern tip of Spain, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic, and it was route that placed them on roughly the same line as the Mary Celeste. A month later, on December 4th, the Dei Gratia was off the coast of Portugal, when someone spotted a ship about six miles away. As they drew closer to it, everyone could make out the name on its stern. It was the Mary Celeste. From a distance, they noticed a few key details – the sails were in poor condition, some of the deck hatches were wide open, and the lifeboat was missing. Morehouse ordered two of his crew to row over and investigate. They found the interior cabins to be wet and disorderly, as if a storm had blown through, and Captain Briggs’ sword was discovered beneath a bed. The ship’s compass was damaged, and the cargo hold was filled with about 3ft of water. It was chaos and disorder – but not entirely.

While the hold had taken on water, all of the valuable cargo was still onboard, ruling out pirates, and the ship’s kitchen was neat and orderly, too, with no signs that anyone rushed out unprepared. After searching the whole ship, nothing else alarming could be found. The crew and passengers had simply vanished. In the end, Morehouse decided to bring the ship with him to Gibraltar, where he might be able to earn a potion of its salvage price. It took another week, but eventually the Mary Celeste arrived in port, bringing its mysterious journey to an end. But at least one abandoned ship in the past managed to evade capture entirely. It slipped from their grasp and drifted away, leaving its owners wondering if they would ever see it again, and in doing so, they taught everyone involved a valuable lesson: the only thing more mysterious than a ghost ship is one that keeps coming back.

 When it comes to abandoned ships, few have drifted into the minds of sailors like the story of the SS Baychimo. It was a 1300-ton steamer built in 1914, and for many years it served in the merchant fleet of the Hudson Bay Company, but that’s not where it started out. It seems the Baychimo had actually been a German vessel for its first few months in the water, running the trade route between Germany and Sweden, where the company that operated it was located. But when World War I ended, part of Germany’s reparation agreement included making amends for the loss of ships suffered by other countries, and the Baychimo was given to the United Kingdom. It was there in western Scotland that the Hudson Bay Company took ownership, and because the Baychimo was equipped with a powerful steam engine and a thick, steel hull, it was assigned a route between Scotland and northern Canada, where it picked up animal pelts in exchange for goods that were unavailable to the Inuit communities who lived there.

It wasn’t always an easy trip, though. In 1928, the ship ran aground in Camden Bay in northern Alaska. Thankfully, it was undamaged and moved back into the water, keeping the Hudson Bay Company from losing the cargo. But when it comes to the constant barrage of dangers from the sea, it’s impossible to dodge all the bullets. Three years later, in October of 1931, the Baychimo got caught in heavy ice in the waters north of Alaska, bringing the massive steamer to a halt. The crew initially abandoned ship, but when the ice began to break up, they happily returned. A week later, though, it happened again, this time further out from land. To save the crew, the Hudson Bay Company sent an aeroplane out to rescue them. When the plane arrived, all 37 crew members exited the ship for the last time. Only 22 were able to fit on the aircraft, so the other 15 stayed between to wait for a second flight. A few days later, a powerful snow storm brought whiteout conditions, and when it was over, the ship was gone, sunk by the heavy ice, no doubt. But it hadn’t. A few days later, the ship was spotted in a new location, and the remaining crew were able to board it and remove the valuable cargo in case tragedy finally did catch up with it. And then they left, abandoning the Baychimo to the ice and harsh conditions and kicking off a string of sightings that earnt it a powerful reputation as an Alaskan ghost ship.

In March of 1932, a man named Leslie Melvin was guiding his dog sled team along the coast on his way back to the city of Nome in western Alaska. As he looked up from the sled at the scenery around him, his eye was drawn to the ocean, and he spotted something. It was the Baychimo, floating peacefully without power up the coast. Later that summer, a trading party spotted the ghost ship further north, off the coast of Wainwright, and they actually managed to board the vessel. When they discovered it was empty, though, they exited and went on their way. In March of 1933, a group of Athabaskans, part of the indigenous community in Alaska, also boarded the ghost ship, only to be trapped inside it for ten days while the winter storm cut them off from land. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like to be inside in the dark with all the unidentifiable sounds that come with being aboard a ship trapped in the ice and wind. As the months went on, more and more rumours spread out, trickling through each of the nearby Hudson Bay Company outposts like water through a network of pipes.

There was a July, 1934 sighting by a team of scientific explorers, as well as multiple reports in September of 1935 from further up north. It was clear that the Baychimo had not gone away for good, and it was out there, haunting the shores and waiting for someone to capture it. The last time the ship was boarded was in November of 1939, eight years after it had first disappeared. A captain by the name of Hugh Polson brought his whole crew onboard, hoping to either be able to get the ship running again, or at least tow it to port, where it could be salvaged for its valuable materials. But the longer they stayed on the ship, the more ominous and oppressive it felt. When the ice began to build up around them, they panicked and headed back to their own vessel, leaving the ghost ship to fend for itself. No one boarded the Baychimo ever again.

 The idea of ghost ships is one that we’ve held onto for a very long time, whether it’s the ancient tales of ships like the Caleuche of Chiloé Island or the Flying Dutchman of Europe, or newer ones such as the Valencia of Vancouver Island and the Governor Parr, near Nova Scotia. It seems no matter what we do, we can’t escape the stories. Ghost ships, it seems, are here to stay, and they’ve become one of the most popular bits of folklore too, drifting their way into film, television and books over the past couple of centuries. We see glimpses of those legends in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, an epic poem from 1798 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and The Pirates of the Caribbean films have their own interpretation. It’s impossible to say how long we’ve been telling their stories, but it’s clear that we’ll never really stop. The Mary Celeste has had quite an impact all on its own, too. Since the events surrounding its abandonment in 1872, whispered versions of the story have spread all throughout pop culture. It’s been subject of multiple films, novels and television episodes. It’s even appeared in the British sci-fi series Doctor Who.

Ghost ships have proven themselves to be a thing that simply won’t go away. They may drift off into the fog for a little while, but eventually, when we least expect it, they will make their return, appearing in some new context or location. And no legend backs up that dependability like the SS Baychimo. The ship was spotted off and on over the years that followed its abandonment, making the first eight years of its story something of a mystery, and that’s how it went, decade after decade, until one final sighting was reported in 1969, almost 40 years after the original crew had been rescued. After that, the authorities lost track of the ship once more, and to this day no one is quite sure where it might be. Perhaps the ice finally won, and its resting on the ocean floor, or maybe it’s just drifting a bit too far outside normal shipping routes to be spotted. In our modern world of satellite imagery and commercial air travel, one would think it would be easy to find, but so far, we’ve had no luck. Like many of the ghost ships found in folklore, the Baychimo had come to represent equal parts hope and despair. It shows us just how much is possible when it comes to abandoned ships and their longevity, making it clear that not all that is lost is gone forever. But it also reminds us that real life can sometimes be a bit more frustrating than we’d like. Just because we want the answers, doesn’t mean we’ll always get them.

Tales of ghostly ships that never seem to go away are one of the most attractive and popular stories for lovers of the strange and the unusual, and I hope you enjoyed your voyage onboard many of the better-known ones today. But there’s one more story that doesn’t get told enough, and it adds a new twist to a classic legend. I’ll tell you all about it right after this short sponsor break.

[Sponsor break from The Great Courses Plus, Audible and Squarespace]

The Ellen Austin was a three-mast schooner. It slid off the shipyard and into the cold Atlantic waters, way back in 1854 under the ownership of one Captain Tucker. Back then, Maine was the place to be if you wanted timber for building, and it had been for centuries. Prior to the Revolutionary War, there was a constant flow of resources headed back to England, but now, local ship builders up on the coast of Maine were getting rich making new vessels for wealthy owners, and the Tuckers were one such group. I could tell you about how large the ship was, how it was over 200ft long and weighed in at 1800 tons, and I could tell you how it was sold a few years later, in 1857, but the most important thing to know about the Ellen Austin is that it was very good at making the trip between London and America. Actually, 1857 really wasn’t a good year for the crew of that ship. In February of that year, a report was published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that claimed the current captain, William Garrick, had been using violence to abuse and control his men. It seemed he had a temper and tended to take his anger out on anyone near him.

A few months later, in July of 1857, the ship left Liverpool full of passengers and began headed towards New York City. But along the way, a wave of smallpox broke out on the ship, and it had to be quarantined so that the sick could be taken care of. Five months later, it happened again. The Ellen Austin didn’t just travel to New York City, though. In the late 1860s, it was making trips to San Francisco, although after a number of accidents that involved running into other ships, it was eventually repaired and brought back to the east coast. Through most of the 1870s, it was back to that standard London-New York route. And then something changed in December of 1880. The ship had been sold to new owners some time that year, and had been sent on a journey further south, toward Florida and the Caribbean, which is where something rather strange happened to them. Off in the distance, they spotted another ship, but it wasn’t moving. The captain at the time was a bright fellow who was very aware that pirates often used tactics like this to their advantage – pretend the ship was empty, wait for another ship to come closer, and then pounce. So, instead of approaching the mysterious vessel, they lowered their sails and set a watch on it.

After two days of vigilant observation, the captain of the Ellen Austin decided that it was safe to approach. Once on board, they discovered that the vessel had, in fact, been abandoned. The cargo was still intact and safe, and there seemed to be a full supply of food rations, but if the former crew had left because of some emergency, there didn’t seem to be any sign of it onboard. They were just… gone. So, the captain assigned a small party of his crew to get the ship ready to sail, and then the pair of vessels left the area together, headed for London to cash in on their newly salvaged prize. Only, the weather had other ideas. A storm blew in three days later and the two ships became separated. Looking back, we now know that it was a large hurricane that was headed towards the southern portion of the United States, but to the crew of the Ellen Austin, it was just frustration. They had lost sight of the other ship.

The captain ordered the ship to turn around and search the area. It took them days, but finally they spotted the missing ship off in the distance. Relieved that they would be reunited with their prize and the fellow crew members who were operating it, they sailed toward it. But even from a distance, things didn’t look right. The captain of the Ellen Austin hailed the other ship, hoping his men had safely weathered the storm, but surprisingly, no one replied. So, they approached the lifeless vessel and boarded it, guns drawn in case of pirates. What they found, though, defied explanation. Everything seemed just as they had found it days earlier. The valuable cargo was still in the hold, safe and sound, the store of food was still untouched, and the beds all seemed to have been unused. And yet nowhere on the ship could they find any sign of the small crew they had transferred over. The men were gone.

Over the years, new details have been added to this story. Some claim that the captain ordered a second team to pilot the ship home, only to have fog separate them again, resulting in yet another lost crew, but that story comes to use from a naval officer who wrote about it in the 1930s, and there doesn’t seem to be much proof of it outside of that. Still, it’s a fantastic tale that takes the notion of a ghost ship and turns it around in a way that defies explanation, and it also reminds us of just how unpredictable and mysterious life on the open sea really can be. We humans love the predictable, we love consistency and dependability and being able to count on life going a certain way. We build our sense of security and safety around the notion that everything will be okay. But once we set our oars in the ocean or raise our sails and travel to distant lands over treacherous waves, it becomes clear that we’ve stepped into a whole new world that is outside of our control. We might fight it or try and plan against it, but in the end, we are completely at its mercy, because we can never be fully prepared for a sea of change.

[Closing statements]

[amphitritie]

MYTHOLOGY MASTERPOST

In response to an ask, I’ve compiled this masterpost of mythology resources. It’s by no means comprehensive, as myth is an extremely broad subject, and I’ve mainly focused on Greco-Roman mythology. I’ve tried to include a range of websites alongside books and original sources, so you can get by without spending anything. The upside to Classics being a kinda dusty subject is you can find so many texts online for free!

THE ESSENTIALS

If you’re just starting to get interested in mythology then it can be pretty daunting & it’s hard to know where to start. So, to help, here’s some recommendations for websites/texts that lay out the information without assuming any previous knowledge

theoi.com is an absolutely brilliant resource for anyone interested in mythology. It is stunningly comprehensive, with information on every god, goddess, nymph, monster and hero appearing in Greek mythology! Every entry has so much well researched information about the god and stories they appear in, and even includes excerpts from the original sources.

There are, of course, countless books dedicated to telling, or retelling, myths, and everyone seems to have their favourite. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton is a popular one, and is really good at telling the stories without dumbing them down, and I really like the way Hamilton writes too. It also has some bonus Norse mythology at the end! 

Alternatively, Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths is also really good, and very comprehensive, although fairly hefty at about 800 pages. 

Stephen Fry recently released his own retelling of the myths, entitled Mythos, which I really need to get around to reading. It’s a bit of a random selection of myths, but includes quite a few of the LGBT ones from what I’ve seen. You can also pick up an audiobook of him reading it – if you grew up listening to him narrate the Harry Potter books, I would definitely recommend this.

INTERMEDIATE

If you enjoyed those, and want to learn more about ancient mythology, I would really recommend then starting to delve into the original source material.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a pretty good place to start. It’s a collection of over 250 stories from creation to Julius Caesar, all linked by the theme of transformation, but it’s fairly easy to dip in and out of – think of it kind of like a short story anthology. Here is the entire work online for free, and I also found another site here which is Dryden’s translation - a little more old fashioned but closer to the poetic style, so it just depends what you prefer. If you wanted to buy

Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca is another great ancient compendium of myths. It covers the gods taking over from the titans, Hercules’ labours, and finishes at the Trojan War. Which brings me to…

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. With 24 books each, Homer’s epic poems can look pretty intimidating. But I would really, really recommend reading them. There are a myriad of different translations, which I will get into later, but to start off I would suggest either Fagles or Lattimore. I found full texts of both online, here and here although I'm not sure what translations they are.

EXTRA RECOMMENDATIONS

At this point I got a bit carried away. If you’re scrolling through this thinking you’ve already read a lot of these, here’s some extras.

I love the Homeric Hymns. Anddd I found a website here which has all the hymns – and displays with the original Ancient Greek and English translation side by side, which is really handy if you, like me, are attempting to learn Ancient Greece.

If you feel like you’re used to all the weirdness of Greek myths, boy have I got news for you. Ancient Egyptian myths make Pasiphae look tame. Try reading a very serious story about a god jizzing into a rival god’s salad in order to become king. If that sounds interesting: get help! Just kidding, read this book: The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Richard Wilkinson. It’s very comprehensive, and also has lots of fantastic illustrations.

If you want an original source to read for the Egyptian myths, I’d suggest The Egyptian Book of the Dead, translated by Raymond Faulkner and Ogden Goelet

Kevin Crossley-Holland’s The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings is another good introductory book to another set of myths, this time Norse. He’s a novelist in his own right (anyone else read The Seeing Stone?) and this comes across clearly in the ways he tells the stories.

TRANSLATIONS

Please bear in mind that there are lots of different translations of ancient texts. I am not an authority in which one is best, and there isn’t a simple answer in any case, but I made my above suggestions based on either what I’ve personally read, or a translation I’ve heard good things about. That said, if you are interested in translation theory pls send me a message and we can yell about it together then here’s a few more recommendations.

Above, I recommended Lattimore or Fagles as a good starting point for Homer. If you don’t know which to pick, as a very broad generalisation Lattimore’s is more like poetry, and Fagles’ reads more like prose. (I may get people who disagree. Everyone has an opinion on translations.) Lattimore stuck to the original daxylyctic hexameter of the Ancient Greek text and, perhaps most impressively, stuck to the same line count as Homer. Fagles is more readable, but perhaps loses something in this. I honestly haven’t decided which I prefer yet. But for a first read of Homer, I would definitelty recommend one of these two – it just depends whether you are reading more for the poetry or for the story.* Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of the Iliad is also very popular, although it’s far looser a translation than the above two. This makes it kind of easier to read, but I personally think it’s a bit too loose to be perfectly honest.

Alexander Pope’s translation is a much earlier translation, published in 1720, and the language shows. However his translation is brilliant at conveying the drama and grandeur of Homer’s work.

There was a lot of excitement on Tumblr at announcement of Emily Wilson becoming the first woman to translate Homer’s Odyssey into English. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (and I want to so badd) but from the excerpts I’ve seen and all the interviews and articles I’ve read it looks absolutely stunning. Please read this.

There is a super handy Wikipedia page which shows the first few lines of the Iliad/Odyssey as translated by every English translator ever. It makes for super interesting reading, but can also help you choose one to read that appeals to you!

For other texts: I’m currently studying The Aeneid using David West’s translation, Medea and Hippolytus as translated by Edith Hall, and Bernard Knox’s translation of Oedipus the King and Antigone. I’ve been enjoying all of these. If you’ve been following me a while, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Anne Carson. She translated Sappho, and some tragedies as well. Her translations focus more on conveying the poetry or feelings behind the words rather than an exact translation of the words themselves, which makes for electrifying reading if you’re used to perhaps more staid translations. Antigonick was a particular favourite of mine, probably because I knew the play so well so I was able to really appreciate the changes and decisions she made, although it was more an intepretation than a translation. This difference, as brilliant as it is, is why I would, however, suggest you read other translations first before attempting Carson.

I hope this was helpful! A second masterpost focusing on more general Classics resources will be coming soon.

[missolitude]

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey Review

I don’t usually do game reviews but I’ve recently finished playing Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and I was urged to publish my thoughts and opinions about it. First off, this is the first and only game of the Franchise that I picked up, the main reason for that being that I’m primarily interested in well written RPGs and Odyssey promised what I look for in games: Choices and consequences, multiple endings, a well written story, romances and deep connections with other characters.

In my opinion the game fell flat on all of these criteria, and I will attempt to be as objective as I possibly can but my review of it will ultimately be less than favorable. If you are a fan of the game and have enjoyed it, I am happy for you, but if you are looking for an opinion that will bolster yours, you will not find it here. Also, there will be spoilers for the main story as well as side quests so if you haven’t finished the game, stop reading. You have been warned.

Graphics are great and the world is huge, but ultimately without substance

First of all, let’s start with the few positives. As someone who is mostly focused on a game’s substance, graphics are not what matters most to me, but they are admittedly the game’s strength. The game looks good and the graphics are great, the world is massive, there are endless locations to explore by either foot, horse or boat, and if you are a completionist like me, you will easily get 200+ hours of playtime out of the game. However, and this is where the negatives start already, the game seems to favor quantity over quality.

Once the novelty of the game wears off you will be quick to notice that the landscape is repetitive, and few of it is actually noteworthy or unique. Once you know one island, one temple, one military fort, you know them all. There are entire islands with just one single location on it that can be explored, the rest is lifeless and without substance. None of the citizens in cities or on the streets can be interacted with, nor will they react to you, unless you count some disgruntled huffs and cursing if you run them over with your horse. All of them can be killed without consequences to the story, the bounty you get can be paid off with just one button click and a couple of hours in you have so much money that this minor sum barely seems a noteworthy sacrifice.

Of course, don’t count the many times when you will be attacked by a lion or a boar or a wolf in close proximity to a random side quest NPC and accidentally kill the quest giver or the random person you need to make a delivery to and need to reload an earlier save, since all weapon attacks (it doesn’t matter if you use an Axe or a Spear or Daggers) are automatically AoE (even more so when using fire damage) and you will hit whoever stands close to you and unless you always use your bow in these kinds of situations, there is no safe way for you to make sure not to hit friendlies.

The majority of side quests are fillers and devoid of meaning or content, designed to get you out into the world. Kill a couple of Athenian soldiers, come back, get your reward, kill a couple of Spartan soldiers, come back, get your reward, destroy a couple of War Supplies, come back, get your reward, kill a couple of bandits and destroy some ships, get the stolen money/ring/whatever personal item from xyz, come back, get your reward, repeat ad infinitum. The quest dialogue becomes so repetitive that after a while you will be tempted to kill the quest giver and whoever you chose as your protagonist, not your target. ”I took care of them, everrry last one.” ....Please spare me.

Many world areas are level locked and you will need to grind if you want to explore them all, which means at some point you will experience these tedious, meaningless side quests and wish there was an easy way out or a short cut, and it exists in the form of an experience booster that can be acquired via microtransactions and you will wonder if the game was intentionally designed that way.

As a mercenary that will do jobs just for money you will work for both Athenians and Spartans in their war efforts, and the way in which quests are designed makes it even more obvious that it ultimately doesn’t matter which side you take. Areas will either be governed by Athenians or Spartans and you can weaken their defenses by destroying war supplies, killing soldiers and assassinating their leader. This unlocks a conquest battle in which you can choose to fight for either side. This is completely pointless from a story and character point of view, even more so when you consider that you can sabotage one side just to defend them in battle. Where’s the sense in that?

Your protagonist will mindlessly go along with it and seems to be completely unaware of the irony and idiocy, so either they are oblivious, spineless or generally without own motvations or agenda. Yes you get some experience and loot for conquest battles but other than that this game mechanic is utterly pointless. You could conquer the entire game world for one faction and it wouldn’t change the outcome of the story, the political climate, or how people react to you, you won’t be locked out of quests, nothing changes. It’s just a way for you the pass the time whilst nothing of substance was accomplished and to distract you from the fact that it is altogether meaningless and without consequences, as is the majority of the game.

There are only a couple of instances when you can influence minor parts of the story. Don’t let that fool you, there is only one ending, you can only change minor variables within that outcome. You have a say in how many family members will survive your journey. Sometimes you can decide where someone of importance dies, and that will influence whether you will be able to unveil and kill all of the Cultists that are responsible for destroying your family. One decision makes it possible for you to spare a Cultist who was blackmailed and actually wants to leave the cult, at which point he will give you the necessary information you need to unmask another Cultist. (Which is nonsensical - he has the proof you need on him, you should get it when you search his body regardless, period. His free will in that matter should be completely irrelevant.) At one point you can decide to let a couple of plague victims live and if you do the rest of the island will, unsurprisingly, become infected and the population dies. But these are the only actual choices with consequences the game will give you.

The rest are pseudo choices and the game will only make you want to believe that your decisions matter. Starting with what horse you choose - which is a non-choice. No matter which horse you pick, all of them will be called Phobos, and once you get Horse skins/designs as quest rewards or in form of microtransactions, its exterior will change anyway. Shake Markos’ hand or hug him? A non-choice. You will meet him later on and he won’t even reference it. Whatever you tell Phoibe at whichever point of the story? No consequences whatsoever, what happens to her is unavoidable. Let a couple of thugs go or kill them? A non-choice. Maybe they will make a brief appearance later on at which point you will kill them and that will be the last you ever heard of it. Kill a Cultist or save the baby? A non-choice. If you decide to save the baby the mother won’t even thank you and you get another side quest to then kill the Cultist. If you decide to pursue the Cultist (an old unarmed woman), she runs into a cave, past a pack of hungry wolves - there’s no way she could have survived the encounter, with or without you there.

What happens in the main story will remain unchanged. You will bring down the cult and destroy its Pyramid artifact, you will restore your Spear and with it your legacy, you will retrieve artifacts to seal Atlantis and you will find out who your real father is. All in all the story was disappointing and unoriginal and predictable. The few twists that there are are hardly surprising, most characters seem shallow and lifeless, the way certain scenes are written is just atrocious. Just to give one example: When you first meet your sibling after believing that they are dead your entire life they will not even blink an eye and tell you to leave and you just... go? You don’t ask questions, you are not surprised, you don’t argue, you just leave. Pretty realistic, right? After which your sibling will mindlessly beat another Cultist to death... yeah.

The dialogue is often flat, awkward and inconsistent, to the point where it constantly breaks your immersion. Quest givers will not acknowledge when you have already fulfilled their quest, or already know certain things they reveal to you, your protagonist will contradict themselves and often even within a couple of minutes. During Barnaba’s conversations at the Olympic games I played Kassandra as someone who doesn’t believe that the Gods have any sway over her destiny, and she made fun of God worship and said with a certain aggression that the Gods shouldn’t dare try to meddle with her life. In the next sentence she suggests to make an offering to Zeus. Split personality much?

There is also a huge disconnect between what you know as a player and what your character knows. You will unveil a Cultist via the menu mechanics and Kassandra will act surprised when they reveal who they are. The game will constantly spoiler itself and the pacing is all over the place. Your sibling is not the true leader of the Cult - if this should have been a surprise they shouldn’t have given me a Cult network that makes this clear from the start. At some point your mother will urge you to find out who your real father is - which I did, since I was curious if she had any unique dialogue about him and I just assumed that this was the game’s hint that I would get the most out of the game if I did his storyline now.

Turns out the storyline of who your real father is and what his true purpose is (and yours) will act as a sequel to the main story, and I had still about 40% of the main story left at this point. It felt like a huge spoiler (the irony, I know) and it made the actual ending of the main quest seem like an afterthought. I also was disappointed that you couldn’t decide what to do with the Cult’s Pyramid artifact - this could have been meaningful for a change but I suppose the game didn’t want to risk having possibilities in case they wanted to reference the ending in a sequel. Disheartening, to say the least.

The dalliances (I refuse to call them romances) with other characters mostly feel awkward, flat, superficial and cheesy. For the most part the game fails at conveying any deep connections or emotions and the majority of characters feel like a momentary fuck buddy - jump into bed with them and forget about them a minute later. Daphnae gets an honorable mention: you get the chance at deepening your relationship with her over the course of the game and you will have an actual decision that decides her fate in the end and the outcome might pull at your heartstrings. There aren’t any deeper consequences to that decision and no matter what you do, you will never see Daphnae again, but it is more than I expected and more than you get with other flings.

And of course there is Alkibiades. He was a pleasant surprise on every level, he is well written, complex, multi-faceted, dorky, flirtatious and intriguing. When you first meet him you think he’s a drunken hedonist at best and a perverse sex addict at worst. When you meet him again later, you begin to think he might be shady. But when you do more quests for him your perception on him will be challenged and you realize  there might be more to him than than meets the eye. You will meet him several times during the course of the game and each time adds something to his character and your connection with him feels genuine and meaningful.

I also loved the chemistry with Brasidas and I had high hopes for a meaningful relationship with his character but the game failed to do anything with it. I also romanced Kyra and her character was well-developed but the culmination felt forced and too dramatic. I would have understood that Thaletas, Kyra’s lover, wanted me dead had I not cultivated our relationship and even retrieved his father’s helmet from the bottom of the sea, but I have. I did the questlines for both Kyra and Thaletas and it didn’t matter. Thaletas forced my hand after finding out that Kyra chose me over him. I merely wanted to defeat him in combat but the game didn’t give me that choice, I had to kill him and Kyra hated my guts after that. I wasn’t angry at her for hating me, I was angry at the game for denying me choices. This could have been handled in any number of ways. You could have urged Kyra to communicate her desires to Thaletas. You could have chosen to talk to Thaletas yourself and be upfront with him about your intentions. You could have made this poly, we are in Ancient Greece after all. I’m all for drama and passion but this could have been handled with some semblance of intelligence and foresight and well, communication. That is an option in relationships, you know? It should have been an option here, and up to the player whether they take it or not.

As a last point I will mention the atrocious Greek accents. Many people have already said how forced they sound and they do, but nobody has ever questioned why they are even there in the first place. These people are in Ancient Greece, they speak in their mother tongue and English is merely the fantasy equivalent of that. People do not speak English with an accent in their home land. And don’t give me any weak excuses à la “that’s just how the animus translates” or “all Assassin’s Creed games had accents this is just the way it is” or “this is just to make the game sound more exotic” - no, no, no. It was a design choice and in my opinion it was a terrible one. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad with a more mellow and natural accent but it felt so forced and stilted it made listening to the NPCs unbearable most of the time, and it constantly broke my immersion. Look, if you want to make a game more exotic record it in Greek with Greek voice actors and add English subtitles. Or just leave certain names and designations and terms in Ancient Greek if you must, but having English spoken in a strong Greek accent makes no sense whatsoever.

All in all the game was pretty to look at and it certainly has potential and worthwhile ideas but they are poorly executed. Most of all, the substance was lacking. I felt like all of my actions ultimately didn’t matter, I found myself questioning my protagonist’s motivations and with that, my own. Why was I so intent on finding my family when not even my protagonist seemed to be overly concerned with their fate? That is especially true for the first half of the game. At no point did I ever feel like I could influence the story, or flesh out my character’s personality, or roleplay. Most of the time you only have two dialogue options, none of which ultimately matter. This feels especially unnatural when trying to have philosophic discussions with Sokrates. You often were caged between two extreme answers and there was no sensible middle option that would have seemed much more appropriate.

None of this would have been so terrible if this game would sell itself as it is, a combat focused open world game with a basically linear story. However the game was advertised as a game with choices, romances, consequences, and there were barely any to speak of. What infuriated me most was this deception. Yes of course you have certain choices - do they influence the world around you or the story? Mostly they don’t. Do you have multiple endings? No you don’t. You merely change certain variables within it. Is it an RPG? No, it certainly is not. I can only judge this game as it presented itself and it failed to deliver on its promises.

[sullivanrandomness]

@riverdalerandomness​ tagged me in this like a month ago, during my Tumblr hiatus! I have no idea who has already done this, so I won’t tag anyone...if you’d like to do it, please go ahead!

favorite game from the last 5 years? ‒ Fallout 4. But I buy so few games on release so I’m actually not sure when a lot of the games I love came out. I know FO4 was 2015 though and it was one of the few I bought on release day. 

most nostalgic game?   ‒ Definitely SIms 2! Still play as often as I can!

game that deserves a sequel?  ‒ LA Noire. I would love to see more in that world!

game that deserves a remaster?  ‒ Bully. It’s so much fun but the graphics are pretty dated now.

favorite game series?  ‒ Probably the Sims. Even the weaker games - 3 and 4 - are still enjoyable to me, much as they need improvement. 

favorite genre? ‒ open world RPG/adventures

least favorite genre?  ‒ I’m turned off by anything with a military or space setting. I'm not a fan of real-time strategy either.

favorite song from a game? ‒ Jingle Jangle Jingle from Fallout New Vegas. Or if you mean score, the menu music from Fallout 3. 

favorite character from a game? ‒ Vaas from Far Cry 3. 

favorite ship from a game? ‒ I don’t really do much shipping! It never occurs to me to wish two characters who are not already together were a couple. 

favorite voice actor from a game? ‒ Ashly Burch - Chloe in Life is Strange

favorite cutscene? ‒ Probably the ending of Bioshock Infinite

favorite boss?  ‒ I never really know what’s considered a boss! I find it super-satisfying to kill Malyn Varen in Skyrim though, because I haaaaate those dremora he has with all the fire spells. I love it when they’re all dead!

first console?  ‒ Playstation 2

current console or consoles?  ‒ None

console you want?  ‒ None. My PS2 experience taught me that I am not a console person. I hate playing with a controller.

place from a game that you’d like to visit?  ‒ Honestly? I would like to visit some of my favourite bloggers’ Sim hoods. I see lot tours and everything and I always want to get right in there and get an even closer look at all the details!

place from a game that you’d like to live in?  ‒ My custom hood, Sullivan, in TS2

ridiculous crossover that would never happen but would be super fun?  ‒ I would love to see my sims in an ultra-realistic city world - maybe something like San Francisco in Watch Dogs 2, or Chicago from the first game. 

book that would make a good game?  ‒ Uh...probably no books I tend to read! They’re not especially action-packed reads. I’m reading Pride and Prejudice right now, for example.

show/movie that would make a good game? ‒  Games based on TV shows are usually kind of rubbish, with The Walking Dead being a notable exception. I’m honestly not sure I want to see any of my shows sullied by a terrible game! Assuming it would actually be a decent game, the idea of a game of The Good Place is intriguing to me. 

games you want to play?  ‒ A LOT! I have 41 games on my Steam wishlist. But just to start with, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Origins and Life is Strange 2. 

have you gotten 100% completion in a game?  ‒ Yes but only once or twice. I tend to restart a lot. 

have you cried over a game?  ‒ I don’t think so. Oh, maybe when Lee dies in The Walking Dead? I think I cried then, because I loved him and Clementine so much. 

what power-up or ability would you want in real life?  ‒ Motherlode!

@retromaisie also tagged me into something about a week ago! I intend to do that tag too, maybe later on this weekend. :) 

[deanssweetheart23]

Somewhere Only We Know

Title: Somewhere Only We Know: Autumn Leaves (Part 1)

Summary: Dean Winchester doesn’t believe in love. He doesn’t believe that he deserves to be loved, doesn’t believe he deserves the happiness of it after everything he’s done. And then she waltzes into his life. The girl that brings with her colors and life and feelings he never thought he’d experience. The girl with the scars that match his. Is the one year he gets to spend with her enough to change his life forever? Or will it break him beyond repair?

Author: deanssweetheart23

Characters: Dean Winchester x reader, Sam Winchester, Marty Blye (OMC)

Word count: 3928

Warnings: Fluff. Angst. Mentions of blood and violence. References to death, grief and loss. Language. Sexist remarks (and Dean being his amazing self). 

Author’s Notes: This is my submission for @@thing-you-do-with-that-thing‘s  Seasons of Love Challenge (Colors of Fall) and for @dancing-the-hellfire-rumba ’s 250 Writing Challenge. Ladies, thank you both so much for letting me participate and allowing me to combine your prompts, I fell in love with this and I hope you like it as much.

Special thank you to twin @ravengirl94 for always finding time to help me.

My prompts were a secret gif that has been inserted into the fic below and Dive by Ed Sheeran (which is one of the most amazing songs ever and screams Dean’s name, tbh). 

This will be a mini-series of four parts. (Every new part will be posted seasonally). 

Without further ado. Enjoy <3

Dean doesn’t really like autumn.

He knows most people do, knows that they love the flutters of color and the crispy breeze kisses, the valleys and the leaves and the scarlet of the sky, but he’s never able to fully appreciate them, to feel the magic of it all in his bones and his heart in the way other people do.

Autumn is not a time of magic for Dean.

It’s not painted in colors of change and new beginnings. Everything he sees in the curved pumpkins and the rays of cold sunshine, everything he can see, reminds him of his mother’s smile and the way her arms wrapped around his little frame and of the embers, those warm, bright embers of fire that swallowed up his entire childhood.

So, when a possible shapeshifter case takes him and his brother to Denver, one of the best cities for fall travel, according to the local newspaper, he rolls his eyes and grumbles under his breath until his brother points out that he looks like a petulant child.

And when he realizes that he’s bound to spend an hour of his life in that horrible coffee shop with the extravagant lantern pumpkins and the autumn themed menu because his brother is meeting a friend from Stanford, he’s crestfallen.

Letting out a loud sigh, Dean clears his mind and goes over his newspaper for what feels like the hundredth time that day, trying to find something, anything that he’d be able to link to their case.

He has no such luck.

With a roll of his eyes, he takes a look at the miserable fall themed wreaths that hang from the walls, and, reaches for the menu. Everything in there, every single thing, is pumpkin flavored.

God. 

He hates autumn.

Maybe he could just-

“I’m sorry.” Someone shouts, voice unexpectedly soft as a blast of cold wind dances through the open door and reaches him, scraping at his skin. “Crap, I’m so sorry.”

Dean looks up, bemused, only to find one of the most fascinating girls he’s ever seen standing right in front of him.

She’s beautiful, even in that tacky black and orange workwear that seems to be the coffee shop’s signature sign, and, despite her disheveled and flustered state, the warmth she radiates, the way she way just stands there and demands attention, makes it impossible for him to take his eyes off her.

“I tried calling but my battery’s dead and the traffic was-”

“This is the third time you’re late this week, Y/N.” A man –her boss, Dean assumes, says, lips screwed into a scowl.

“I know. I just-”

“The only reason I agreed to this was because Josh vouched for you. But if this keeps happening, I can’t-”

“It won’t.” Y/N states firmly, jutting her chin, though he can swear her voice wavers a little bit. “This will never happen again. I promise.”

The man takes a long look at her then, so cold and calculative that manages to make even Dean want to crawl out of his own skin, and sighs, scarfing down the chocolate biscuit he’s been holding.

“It better not. I’ve said this already and I’ll say it again. Your brains don’t matter here, Y/N.”

Y/N nods, sternly, hands clenched by her sides until they’re white-knuckled.

“And drop one of those buttons.” He smirks, waving at her shirt. “You’re a waitress, not a nun.”

“I-”

And maybe he shouldn’t have said anything, maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but her flushed cheeks and her narrowed eyes are enough to make his blood boil.

So, he raises his hand and-

“Excuse me,” he says, pointing to the empty table in front of him, “can I get a cup of coffee here?”

Mr. Jackass nods in his direction and smiles, a pained, plastic smile Dean would absolutely love to punch off his face, then throws Y/N a crisp white apron.

“Drop the button.” He mutters again, jabbing a finger warningly at her.

Y/N waits for one, two, three seconds before her boss disappears into the kitchen, then turns on her heels to approach him, fidgeting with a chain that’s hanging from her neck.

She clears her throat, quietly.

“I, uh,” she smiles, a half smile that’s nervous and bashful, “thank you about that. I-”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, kid.” He cuts her off softly, glancing towards the kitchen. “He’s a bit of a dick, ain’t he?”

She chuckles, hasty and fuzzy and just a tad nervous.

“Honestly? He’s,” she turns around to make sure no one is listening, then leans a bit closer, “yeah. But I got bills to pay and he pays me, so…”

“Hey, you don’t have to explain anything to me.” Eyes that lock onto hers. “I get it.”

She nods, but she’s still a little timid, still acts like what had just happened is somehow her fault and Dean wants to do something to change that, wants her to know that no ass has the right to talk to her like that, no matter who he thinks he is.

He can’t.

Her forehead puckers.

“Uh, coffee.” She says, the words rolling out of her tongue as if she’s never spoken them before. “You wanted me to get you coffee.”

He chuckles a bit under his breath, and huffs out an awkward yeah, scratching the back of his neck, something sheepish.

“Black sounds nice.”

She grins, a lazy grin that’s braver than ever before, and bites her bottom lip.

“What, you’re not a fan of pumpkin spice?”

“Do I look like I’m a fan of pumpkin spice?”

A snort.

Amusement dancing in her eyes.

“Black coffee it is.” She writes something down on her notepad. “Anything else I can get ya?”

“Actually,” he licks his lips, glancing at the menu in front of him, “I noticed you got pies?”

“Yeah, ‘bout that,” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “I’m not supposed to say this, but you don’t –you don’t really want to try those pies.” She scrunches her nose up. “They’re, uh, terrible.”

He lets out a laugh, breathy and loose.

“You don’t believe me?”

“No, I just,” he rubs at his scruff, “I really love pie.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t try this one. Don’t let us ruin it for you.”

A smirk tugs at the corner of his lips.

“I appreciate the concern. But. Nothing can ruin pie for me, sweetheart.”

“Well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Romeo.” She says, and her eyes smile at him, sparkling and honest and sunny.

Maybe autumn isn’t so bad after all.

The pie really is that bad.

It’s dry and tasteless and even though Dean has spent most of his life eating at out-of-street diners and shady looking restaurants, he’s pretty sure he’s never tried something so horrible before.

He still stops by that coffee shop the next day though, and when she notices and throws a surprised glance his way, he smiles his most charming smile and says that cherry pie might be better.

Again, he’s wrong.

The pie is just as awful –if not worse, and Sam’s grumbling about how they should have just skipped breakfast would have probably driven him up the damn wall, if it weren’t for the way Y/N beams at him every time she catches him staring.

“Yeah, no,” Sam pulls him out of his thoughts as he shuts his book closed, hazel eyes locking with his, “the Odyssey is not better than this.”

“Not bet –dude, that thing doesn’t even have a plot.”

A pointed look.

Fingers pushing off the hair from his face.

“It does. It’s just a bit elusive.”

“Well,” Y/N cuts in, prompting Dean to smirk when he sees her in front of his table, her apron hastily tied around her waist, “that’s one way to put it.”

Sam looks up, brows furrowed into quite an offended scowl, but she only grins, a grin that would have been devilish if it weren’t for that childish spark in her eyes.

“Coffee for my knight in the shining flannel,” she gloats, sliding the white mug towards him, “and a smoothie for his friend with the terrible taste in books.”

Dean snorts.

Sam shots him a pointed look, and juts his chin, just a tad offended.

“Right.” He rolls up his sleeves, ignoring his brother’s monstrously self-satisfied grin. “Can I ask why do you think this is terrible?”

“Uh,” she rocks back and forth on her heels, nose scrunched up in the cutest of ways, “because of the made-up words? Or the run-on sentences? Or. How about the mere length of that thing?”

“It’s experimental.”

“It’s bullshit.” She objects, eliciting a soft chuckle from Dean. “Slaughterhouse Five is experimental. Mrs. Dalloway is experimental. Finnegan’s Wake? That’s just a load of crap people pretend to love because it makes them sound more intellectual.”

Sam straightens then, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips and Dean knows, right in that moment, that there’s not a person in the world Y/N wouldn’t be able to win over.

“Sounds like you’ve got pretty strong views about it.”

“Oh, Sunflower has pretty strong views about pretty much everything.”

Dean blinks in surprise at the voice, but when he opens his eyes again he hears Y/N’s rosy laugh and watches as she throws her head back in amusement, and something heavy settles over his stomach.

Peering over his shoulder, he sees a guy in his early thirties smiling at Y/N lovingly, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket.

The man is tall, with blonde hair almost as long as Sam’s and blue eyes, face dusted with facial hair and laughing lines.

Y/N smiles at him, a smile that’s etched with love and intimacy, a profound intimacy he knows he’ll never have with her.

His hand drops to his side.

“Marty, what are you-”

“You left your jacket at my house this morning.” The man explains with a soft laugh and reaches over to envelop Y/N in his arms, lips landing on her forehead in a sweet kiss.

Of course.

“And when you told me your boss wouldn’t be coming in today, I figured I’d stop by to give it back.”

“And get free coffee in return.”

Marty chuckles, rich and delighted and adoring.

“And get free coffee in return.” He agrees, brushing some hair off her face.

And even though Dean knows that it’s insane, even though he knows nothing would have happened between them because he wouldn’t let it, wouldn’t allow himself to have her for a quick roll within the sheets and then let her go, it still hurts a little that she’s with someone else, still makes his jaw clench when he notices the way she touches him, fingers sliding over her skin like he’s the most precious thing in the world.

He swallows, hard.

She doesn’t notice.

“Well, then,” she mumbles, corner of her mouth turning up in a half-smile, “let’s go settle your payment.”

Marty nods, and wraps an arm around her waist, and she turns to Dean and smiles, a smile that mends and breaks him at the same time.

“Be right back.”

Three seconds pass and Dean can already feel his brother’s eyes burning holes on him, can already see that annoying, knowing smirk of his floating across his features.

“Shut up, Sam.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Sa, complains, heat still in his eyes.

Dean sighs and glances at the counter just in time to see Y/N laughing at something Marty has said, head buried into his chest while he kisses her hair.

She looks happy.

Somehow, it doesn’t seem enough.

It isn’t until that same night that Sam brings Y/N up again.

Dean has been trying not to think about her too much, has been trying to remind himself that she has a boyfriend that loves her and kisses her forehead and lets her stay the night, but she still finds ways to slip through the cracks of his mind.

And.

His brother won’t shut up about her.

“For fuck’s sake, Sam” Dean groans, slamming the refrigerator’s door shut, “I’m trying to work here.”

Sam smirks, delighted and just a bit brash.

“And?”

“And your stupid questions won’t let me.”

“Dude, I only asked if Y/N’s boyfriend was there yesterday, too.”

“Yeah,” Dean snorts and spreads his hands, forearms on the table, “three times.”

“Because you won’t tell me.”

“Because I don’t know.”

The youngest Winchester chuckles, brows arched slightly.

“Right. Because you didn’t spend the entire day ogling her.”

Dean opens his mouth then because he’s so done, so absolutely done that he’s ready to give Sam a piece of his mind, when a sound catches his attention.

His eyes drift to the police scanner they keep in the room.

He doesn’t know why, but his stomach churns.

2-7

Can you head to 1624 Market St Ste 226? Caller reports being trapped, possible dead body. Fire is on the way.

1624 Market St Ste 226

1624 Market St Ste 226

1624 Market St Ste 226

The coffee shop’s address flashes before Dean’s eyes as the dispatcher’s voice rings loudly into his mind.

Everything around him begins to move in slow motion.

His chest hurts.

“Dean-”

“Don’t even say it.” Dean growls, the muscles in his back going rigid. “They’re okay. They got to be okay.”

He reaches for his gun and grabs a silver knife on his way out, mind drifting to the shapeshifter, to how every single victim killed had been murdered so close to that coffee shop, to how her boss missed work the day after one of the attacks.

He swears under his breath.

He’s going to kill that son of a bitch.

Dean doesn’t remember the last time he’s seen so much blood.

He’s a hunter, he’s been a hunter ever since he was a kid, and yet, he doesn’t even remember the last time the blood was literally everywhere, spluttered across walls and tables, staining the floor in disturbing patterns that killed any expectations he might have had.

The room’s dark and he can feel it, can feel the death that’s lingering upon it, and is ready to abandon all hope when he sees Sam pointing towards the kitchen, gun raised.

She’s tied on a chair, clothes almost shredded and coated with blood, cuts and scratches littering her skin.

She’s alive.

Sam takes her rag off and Dean braces himself, gets ready to tell her that it’ll be okay, that that monster’s dead and will never hurt her again, gets ready to find a way to explain how her life will never be the same, but the sound she makes, the way she almost chocks on dry air, ruins him.

“He’s got him.” Y/N wails hysterically, fighting against her restrains. “John –I’ve never seen him like that before. He tried to… Marty… Please, you have to help Marty. I can’t-”

“Y/N, hey,” Sam coos, cupping her face with his hands, “hey, you got to breathe for me. Where is he?”

But Dean already knows, so he heads for the small room in the back and doesn’t stop until he finds him on the floor, a man lying in a pool of his own blood.

The blue of his eyes is fading now, nothing like the vibrant color he’s seen that same morning, and his skin’s pale, lifeless.

“Marty,” he says, sliding to his knees next to him. “Marty, can you hear me?”

The man blinks.

“Y/N,” he rasps out, words low and slurred and laced with blood, “Y/N-”

“I’m here. I’m right here.” Y/N croaks as she limps towards them, Sam shouldering some of her weight.

She crouches down on the ground next to him and cradles him in her arms.

“Y/N.” Ragged breath. “I saved you.”

A whimper escapes her.

“Yeah. Yeah, baby, you did.”

“I-”

“Sssh, don’t speak,” she runs her fingers through his hair, soft and tender like she’s trying to help him fall asleep. “I got you now. I got you.”

“Well,” he breathes, reaching out for her hand, “I always knew I was gonna die next to you.”

“Don’t say that.” She puts pressure on the open wound on his neck. “You’re gonna be okay, you hear me?”

“Don’t cry, Sunflower.” He dabs away some tears. “I don’t like it when you cry.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Mars.”

“Can you…” His words come out slower now, pained, breathless whispers that scratch the air between them before cutting into her skin. “Can you sing our song?”

Dean doesn’t think he’s ever heard anyone make a more broken sound than the one Y/N makes in that moment, but she nods and smooths a hand over his face.

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away

Wild, wild horses we’ll ride them someday

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away

Wild, wild horses we’ll ride them someday

Marty’s breaths come out shorter as she sings, and when he tries to sing along, she hushes him and cradles his face into her chest, whispering soothing words and empty promises, her saltiness blending with his blood. A bitter mix.

She doesn’t let go.

Instead, she sobs as his tears wet her skin, sobs as the blood starts to drip from his mouth and he can’t speak anymore.

And when he takes his last breath and is left empty and breathless and cold, a dead weight in her arms, she cries harder, sobs until she can’t breathe anymore, there on the floor, just a red mess of limbs and heartache.

And Dean knows.

The sound will haunt him forever.

He sees her again two days later.

She’s standing in the middle of a small park just a few blocks away from her house, braced against one of the tree trunks while golden leaves dance under the autumn sun.

The air’s chilly, the light breeze dusted with the blooming scent of orange trees, the red cape she’s wearing swaying along with it and, for a second, Dean’s back at that coffee shop, back at that night that he’d failed everyone, that he’d failed her, and she’s laying, on the floor, just a crumbled-up piece of paper with Marty’s lifeless body in her arms.

And he guesses he should be used to this by now, used to seeing innocent people die and lose loved ones, used to that hollowness that loss brings along with it, but he’s not.

He clears his throat, quietly.

“Hey,”

A broken, half-smile.

“Hi,” she turns around to face him, eyes red and lashes wet, “I, uh,” she wraps the cape tighter around herself, “thank you for coming. I know I should have called earlier but-”

“Don’t worry about it,” he shakes it off, head dipped as he shoves his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. “M’ just glad you took me up on that offer.”

She nods, the furrow between her brows hitching.

“I had to. I never,” deep breath, “I never got to say thank you.”

He laughs, despite himself, but it’s bitter and broken and sad.

“Good. Don’t.”

“Dean-”

“I couldn’t save him, Y/N.” He says, harsher than he intended to. “Marty’s dead and that’s on me.”

“No, it’s not. You,” she pauses, reaches out and lets her fingers wrap around his clothed arm gently. It’s a strangely intimate move, one that catches him off guard, but the pressure around his skin is pleasant and needed and reassuring, and he doesn’t dare pull away.

“You saved my life. And Marty’s death, it hurts, but I don’t blame you. I could never blame you.”

“Kid-”

“You’re a good man, Dean.”

“You barely know me.”

“I know enough.” She retorts, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You hunt monsters for a living and expect nothing in return. That sounds pretty noble to me.”

A small smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

“You never lose an arguments, do you?”

She huffs out air through her nose, not quite a laugh.

“Yeah,” she smiles, a smile as fragile as spur sugar. “Marty used to say that it was because of my eyes. They can make people do just about anything.”

It comes out in a soft whisper, quiet and low, like she can’t actually believe it’s true, but Dean knows it is, because he can feel it every time she looks at him, can feel it in the way she could rob him blind with those big Y/E/C orbs of hers and he still wouldn’t complain.  

He chuckles, a low, gruff chuckle, and runs a hand over the back of his neck.

“How long had you two been together?”

She knits her brows a bit at the question and squints at him, as if she doesn’t quite understand what he’s saying, then shakes her head and lets out a soft chuckle.

“Oh, no. It wasn’t –it wasn’t like that.” She wraps her arms around her small frame and gnaws on her bottom lip, seemingly thinking about something.

“Marty was my best friend. I, uh,” she rubs at her forehead, “I lost my mum when I was five so, my dad had to work crazy hours to raise me and Marty’s mum… She helped a lot. We grew really close and he just ended up being family, you know?”

“Yeah,” Dean whispers, running a hand over his face, “yeah, I do.” He hesitates for a second. Then. “How is his mum holding up?”

“No, she doesn’t… She died six years ago.” Y/N says, voice wavering just a little bit. “Four weeks after my father, actually. And his dad was never really a dad, so… All Marty and I had was each other.”

And she says it with her eyes cast downwards, says it with a shrug, but Dean’s stomach churns and plummets and his heart aches, because he knows what it’s like to lose the only person you have in the world, knows what it’s like to be left alone, how it breaks you and leaves you hollow and numb. 

She doesn’t deserve this.

God, she doesn’t deserve this at all.

He doesn’t say anything.

Words wouldn’t have been enough anyway.

Instead, he reaches out for her, slow and a bit reluctant, and lets her meet him half way, then takes her soft, small hand in his and squeezes, a silent, wordless reassurance that someone is there, that someone will always be there for her.

“Well,” he clears his throat, “now you got us, too. So, if you ever need anything, I’m one phone call away.”

She chuckles.

“Like I said,” she intertwines their fingers together, “you’re a good man, Dean Winchester.”

He smiles, a soft, sad smile that melts his rough edges and breaks down his walls and when she leans in to kiss him goodbye on the cheek, he realizes that no one, absolutely no one, had ever made his heart beat faster with a single brush of her lips against his skin.

And he prays to God he’ll see her again…

A/N: This was a bit of a slow burn, but the ride is so worth it, you guys, you’ll see...

Forever Tags: @ravengirl94 @jpadjackles @supernatural-jackles @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @trexrambling @percywinchester27 @winchestersnco @hannahindie @emilywritesaboutdean @escabell @kathaswings @thevioletthourr @dancing-the-hellfire-rumba @ultrafandomcat @impala-dreamer @imagining-supernatural @tiny-friggin-human @pickupthatamulet @keepcalmandcarryondean @atwistoffate @atari-writes @becs-bunker @becominglionhearted @wordstothewisereaders @sgarrett49 @myrabbitholetoneverland @iwriteaboutdean @spngeronimo @ruprecht0420 @polina-93 @mandilion76 @juanitadiann @atc74 @captainemwinchester @mogaruke @imissyoualittlemoreeveryday @wellthatsrandomkek @jayankles @winchesters-flannels @akshi8278 @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @a-glass-of-orange-juice @ravenangel33 @holahellohialoha @tardis-full-of-fallen-angels @dancingalone21 @torn-and-frayed @blushingdean @castianityislife02 @sinistersaltqueen @easelweasel @carryonmyswansong @emoryhemsworth @superapplepie @princess-of-erebor1992 @bebravekeeponfighting @carryonmywaywardcaptain @sebastianshoe @stellaa33  @pillow223 @kleinkariertebetrachter @there-must-be-a-lock @samisimportant @jessilliam-caronday

Somewhere Only We Know Tags: @girliciousdreams @zeldalyfe @cherryblossom292 @winchestergirl607 @flormolero @chicagolove88 

Cross out tags don’t work for me, I’m sorry!

[sciencespies]

Mysterious Metal Monolith Appears in Remote Utah Desert and Has Authorities Stumped

https://sciencespies.com/humans/mysterious-metal-monolith-appears-in-remote-utah-desert-and-has-authorities-stumped/

Mysterious Metal Monolith Appears in Remote Utah Desert and Has Authorities Stumped

Who embedded a large metal monolith in the remote Utah desert? 

State wildlife officials are scratching their heads after discovering a bizarre 10-foot-tall (3 meters) installation in Red Rock Country in southeastern Utah.

The shiny silver rectangle sits in the center of the dead end of one of the many shallow rock ravines that scour this desert region. Its discovery had wildlife officials feeling as if they’d been dropped into an episode of “Ancient Aliens”. 

“OK, the intrepid explorers go down to investigate the, uh, alien life-form,” one chuckles as he takes a video of his companions hiking to the monolith on November 18. 

The monolith failed to immediately do anything mystical, though officials noted with surprise that someone had taken the trouble to cut into the hard-packed earth to install the monument. There was no indication of who had left the monolith, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.

(Utah Department of Public Safety)

A biologist from the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau was the first to spot the weird structure. A small team from the bureau was flying over the red desert doing a count of bighorn sheep when the researcher noticed something shiny.

“He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!'” helicopter pilot Bret Hutchings told KSL TV, “And I was like, ‘What.’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!'”

The team landed nearby and went to investigate, speculating wildly and joking that if anyone disappeared, the rest of them would have to make a run for it. A closer investigation revealed nothing but a metal rectangle between 10 and 12 feet (3 to 3.6 m) tall.

(Utah Department of Public Safety)

“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big (2001: A Space Odyssey) fan,” Hutchings told KSL TV. 

The monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey is a mysterious rectangle that seems to trigger rapid evolutionary or societal leaps in human history.

It must be said, however, that the monoliths in the Arthur C. Clarke novels that inspired the movie always have dimensions in a ratio of 1:4:9, which doesn’t appear true for the Utah monolith (its width and depth appear to be the same length).

And the movie monolith is dark-colored and non-reflective. If someone was inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey to plant the monument, they did so with minimal attention to detail.

“That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying,” Hutchings said. 

The Department of Public Safety is keeping the location of the monument confidential, out of concern that people going to look for it might get stranded in the remote location and need rescuing.

There’s no stopping the internet though; several Reddit threads devoted to the monument claim to have narrowed down a search location already. The entire region is remote and has very few roads, raising questions about how whoever installed the monument got it into the canyon.

In photographs posted by the Department of Public Safety, the monolith appears to be made of metal sheeting held together by screws, suggesting it might be fairly lightweight. 

According to the Department of Public Safety, the Bureau of Land Management will determine if any further investigation is needed. 

Desert environments have always attracted outsider artists, such as Frank Van Zant, who built a hostel and home out of scrap materials in the desert in Nevada, or Leonard Knight, whose “Salvation Mountain” southeast of Los Angeles was featured in the movie Into the Wild. But the federal government looks poorly on projects done without permission. 

“It is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” DPS noted on its website.

This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.

#Humans

[aion-rsa]

The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies

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This Walking Dead article contains major spoilers.

Many of us thought this day would never come, but as all of The Walking Dead‘s characters know very well, everything that has a beginning has an end. Season 11 of AMC’s flagship zombie drama will be the show’s final run of episodes, but fortunately it’s an expanded season. Fans will get 24 more episodes, broken up into three parts, before the show — and a few of its characters — meets its end.

And it wouldn’t be a season of The Walking Dead without a few big deaths along the way. As we have in past seasons, we’ve made some predictions regarding who will bite the bullet in season 11. For the final time, here are the characters we think are on the chopping block and the ones we believe will live on to remember them after the credits roll on the series finale.

Keep track of all The Walking Dead season 11 deaths below:

Pope (Ritchie Coster)

Prediction: Dies

I’ve never seen a guy more likely to die in the first half of a Walking Dead season than Pope, the leader of the show’s newest villains, the Reapers, who themselves strike me as filler villains for Maggie and Daryl while the real story at the Commonwealth develops. I assume the Reapers will be out of the picture by the time Alexandria needs to turn its attention to the much larger settlement in the second part of season 11.

Pamela Milton (Laila Robins)

Prediction: Dies

The Governor of the Commonwealth is poised to be the final season’s big bad. A bureaucrat hellbent on preserving the way things were before the zombie outbreak, Milton even established a caste system within her settlement to propagate class inequality. She represents everything that was wrong with the world before the fall of society and the complete anti-thesis of how the Alexandrians do things.

If you’ve read the comics, you know how Pamela’s story ends in Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s story, but the TV series is known for taking sharp left turns when you least expect it. One thing we know for sure is that the Alexandrians will have to reckon with Pamela’s rule before the series finale.

Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton)

Prediction: Dies

A Commonwealth acolyte and bookkeeper of the community, Lance is one of Milton’s chief personnel, helping her run the settlement’s government. He’s also seems like cannon fodder to me as things heat up between the Commonwealth and Alexandria, an early death that could spark a conflict between the two factions.

Mercer (Michael James Shaw)

Prediction: Lives

Mercer is loyal to the Commonwealth but there are more sides to him than his distinct orange military armor lets on. He’s one of the most interesting characters of the comic’s final storyline, and it would be a shame to lose him before we can see his story through.

Virgil (Kevin Carroll)

Prediction: Dies

Virgil has a lot to atone for after kidnapping and drugging Michonne in season 10. At the end of the season, we learn that he’s found a disoriented Connie in the woods. His redemption arc will likely include helping Connie survive on the walker-infested road back to Alexandria. Will that eventually involve a final sacrifice to save her?

Connie (Lauren Ridloff)

Prediction: Lives

Connie’s been through a hell of a lot in the past season. After surviving an explosion, a cave-in, and an entire walker horde, Connie’s made it out of Whisperer territory but is still a ways from home. Expect part of season 11’s story to be about Connie’s odyssey and ultimate reunion with her sister and Daryl.

Lydia (Cassady McClincy)

Prediction: Lives

Lydia was at the center of Alexandria’s conflict with the Whisperers for a season and a half. With Alpha and Beta defeated, and their faction all but obliterated, I have to wonder what Lydia has left to do on the show. That said, the writers have continued to find interesting ways to explore this character, and someone has to live on to lead the next generation of Alexandrians. I think Lydia is in it for the long haul.

Magna (Nadia Hilker)

Prediction: Dies

Magna was sidelined pretty quickly after her introduction. While a reunion with Yumiko seems like the logical direction for her story, The Walking Dead universe is a cruel one. She could be headed toward tragedy.

Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura)

Prediction: Lives

In season 11, Yumiko is inheriting a major storyline from the comics that likely means she’ll survive the final 24 episodes of the series. Of course, the TV show could always alter that storyline to bring a tragic end to Yumiko’s story.

Luke (Dan Fogler)

Prediction: Dies

It’s pretty wild that Luke has survived as long as he has. A man of the arts hardly has a place in the cruel world of this show, but he has clumsily persevered thus far. But if the writers are planning an especially bloody final season, I’d put Luke on the short list.

Kelly (Angel Theory)

Prediction: Lives

Kelly has been one of the best late additions to the show. It would suck for her to finally reunite with her sister only to meet an unexpected end.

Alden (Callan McAuliffe)

Prediction: Dies

Another candidate for the chopping block. I’m surprised he’s even made it this long.

King Ezekiel (Khary Payton)

Prediction: Lives

Yes, Ezekiel has thyroid cancer, and were he in Alexandria, that would mean his inevitable death. But the Commonwealth is a different ballgame, an advanced settlement in the comics that will likely have the doctors and surgical resources needed to save him. That is, if Ezekiel isn’t caught up in Milton’s caste system.

Jerry (Cooper Andrews)

Prediction: Dies

I love Jerry and don’t want to see the tank with a heart of gold go. But if the season needs an early death that pulls at the heart strings, Jerry is a prime candidate for a midseason casualty.

Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam)

Prediction: Lives

Gabriel has evolved so much since his debut in season 5, becoming one of Alexandria’s key leaders. He’s come so far and even survived longer than his comic book counterpart. I’d hate to see him go so close to the end. So I’m just going to say he lives.

Aaron (Ross Marquand)

Prediction: Lives

Aaron seemed destined to die seasons ago, too kind and trusting to survive this long. But here he is, still fighting and surviving. He’s lost the man he loves, his arm, and many friends — and it’s all hardened him into a war machine. It’d be a shame for him to die now.

Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos)

Prediction: Lives

In the comics, Rosita’s head ended up on a pike during the Whisperer war, but her TV counterpart has persevered. It’s difficult to predict where her story goes at this point, but since she survived her comic book death, I assume the show’s writers have something in mind for her in season 11.

Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt)

Prediction: Lives

Eugene has become an unlikely protagonist going into season 11. From a mulleted coward hiding behind his intelligence so that others protect him to the Alexandrian leading his people to the Commonwealth, Eugene is central to the plot of the final season, and I think that means he’s safe. Plus, Eugene is hilarious, and The Walking Dead can always use a little comedic relief.

Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming)

Prediction: Lives

Result: Lived

NO.

Rick Grimes Jr. (Antony Azor)

Prediction: Lives

Nah.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

Prediction: Lives

I think The Walking Dead is going to end with one last big death, one last sacrifice before the credits roll on the massive zombie drama. Like Rick in the comics, one of the major characters of the TV series will likely become the martyr who inspires change inside the Commonwealth’s walls. Negan would probably be on the short list for this big moment from the comics, a villain finally choosing to do the right thing for a cause bigger than himself, a fitting conclusion to his seasons-long redemption arc. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan recently teased that he was already having discussions with AMC about a potential Negan spinoff after The Walking Dead has concluded, which means the former Savior leader is safe…unless the Negan show is a prequel.

Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride)

Prediction: Lives

This one’s an easy one: Melissa McBride is getting her own spinoff that will follow her character after The Walking Dead series finale. That means she’s safe.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)

Prediction: Lives

Norman Reedus is joining McBride for that spinoff, so he’s safe, too. The actor even told us what the Daryl and Carol show will be about.

Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan)

Prediction: Dies

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

That leaves The Walking Dead with one logical choice to pick up Rick’s final storyline from the comic. It’s Maggie. It also makes a bit of sense from a logistical standpoint. Lauren Cohan has already left The Walking Dead universe once before to pursue other small and big screen projects. She’s back for the final 24 episodes of the series as a welcome legacy character but that doesn’t mean Cohan wants to stick around for longer than that. I assume Cohan’s returned to bring closure to her character, not to prepare for a spinoff.

Let us know your predictions for The Walking Dead season 11 in the comments!

The post The Walking Dead Season 11: Who Lives and Who Dies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[aurimeanswind]

VIDEO GAMES—Sunday Chats (10-29-17)

There are a lot of video games, and I haven’t done questions in a minute, so those too. Let’s get to it!

ExtraLife 2017

I wanted to throw a PSA in here that Irrational Passions, my “conglomerate” is throwing together our big special ExtraLife show for 2017 on November 11th, starting at 12pm Eastern Time, and we’ll be playing video games and live streaming them for 24 hours from then. It’ll be live over on twitch.tv/IrrationalPassions and myself and Roger Pokorny threw together a little announcement video, since a TON of guests will be there with us! You should check it out!

That’s really it for stuff I wanted to get out of the way, not games and questions!

What’s on Tap

Two things, that are not games, that I want to mention.

Stranger Things Season 2 is out now on Netflix and I have watched all nine episodes of it. It’s very excellent, and you should take the time to watch the series. It’s fun, and funny, and tense, and has a lot of great relationships between characters.

And actually, above all the amazing things to come out this week in the media world, my favorite, hands down is the new cover album from Ninja Sex Party, featuring Tupperware Remix Party (TWRP). It’s called Under the Covers Vol 2 and it’s legitimately incredible. Easily my album of the year, and I’m listening to it right now while writing this. Dan Avidan’s voice is perfect.

That is all on that front.

The Evil Within 2

So I finished The Evil Within 2! It’s great, very fun, very well made, very polished, and has some excellent mechanics.

I think the weakest aspect of the game really is the story, and specifically in that the performances of the characters. There is just not any one really well done character save for the two major villains of the game.

I actually rolled right into New Game Plus right after finishing it too, and that’s been fun since you just get so much extra points and parts to upgrade your guns and abilities, so you turn into a powerhouse pretty quickly. 

It reminds me a lot of Dead Space 2 weirdly enough, just not quite as excellent. Regardless, it’s still a really excellent game and worth a look, especially if you at all liked the first.

Super Mario Odyssey

Joy.

This game is just purely joyous, and unabashedly so. It just takes delight in its own mechanics and creativity.

It’s just a massive breath of fresh air, in a similar way to how Zelda was, but in a totally different way as well. 

Nintendo has laid out some stellar stuff this year, and Mario is no exception. While Mario has never held the same special place as Nintendo’s other properties for me, this one channels all the best parts of Mario and his lineage and brings that glee to light. It’s excellent, and I’m sure you didn’t need me to tell you that.

Questions!

Look for my Tweet with the hashtag #SundayChats that I shoot out Sunday afternoons. Respond with your question, and I’ll answer it here on Sunday Chats!

Okay, but I mean is this—

Um... Okay. Yeah dude. You do you. Glad you got a Switch and the Mario and stuff...

But really, a lot of playing Mario for me has been falling back in love with the Nintendo Switch as a platform. I’m curious what you think of it Logan! Glad you seem to be enjoying yourself!

No. For sure not. I also didn’t really love their E3 showing, so who knows. I think Sony is gonna have some cool stuff to show, but I think the “Second half of E3″, if that is gonna be anywhere outside of E3, is going to be at PSX, especially after The Last of Us 2 drop last year. With Uncharted fully done now, we know Naughty Dog is likely all hands on deck with Last of Us Part 2. I cannot wait, with that in mind, even though it’s likely still 2019. But I think PSX will see the reveal of Sucker Punch’s next game, so I don’t know what that leaves for Paris Games week.

This is a great question! It’s hard to pin down, and I’m honored to say some of my favorite things I’ve read this year have been on IrrationalPassions.com. But outside of that, I wanna give a shoutout to Jason Schreier’s unveil of what went on with EA and Visceral, from this very week.

It’ll be in the Checklist section, but it’s kind of the first of these big exposés I’ve sat down and read all the way through in one sitting, and it was phenomenal. It really opened my eyes to the different kinds of struggles that studios can run into that I had no perception of at all. It’s a fantastic read, and an even better story.

I mean, yes. And no.

Taking into account that I know you, and I know you don’t really like 3D games and games of that ilk, of course, yeah I get it. Taking those big ones out, games like SteamWorld Dig 2, Stardew Valley, HiveSwap, Shantae, and more can’t carry a year like the heavy hitters in the 3D space. But I think you have to take that step back and look at the wider "games” as a whole. 

To use me as an example, I don’t like Wolfenstein nor do I plan on playing the new one, or Battlefront 2, or Call of Duty World War 2, those are the big games that don’t click with me, but that doesn't mean those games can’t be incredible, and just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean they’re not great or incredible, but my appreciation of them will be different. But that’s my critic’s perspective.

I think that’s okay, but I’d encourage you to keep trying those games you typically don’t like and search for something in them that you can find and enjoy. I’ll try the betas for Battlefront 2 and CoDWW2 and try and try and look for something I like even if I can’t find it, because I’d rather waste my time looking for the good then take the easy road of assuming the bad.

But eh. That’s just me being a goody two shoes as always.

Yeah, it does! I would love to see that extend out to Bandai Namco! Getting games like Dark Souls, and the upcoming Code Vein on Switch would be excellent. But more over, I think they’d be shrewd, and quiet, like the Bethesda team up. Bandai Namco isn’t the biggest publisher, not even top three, but it covers another niche of games that Nintendo can draw to its platform. Those kinds of players maybe are to chopped on what system they play on, just how enjoyable that experience is. Going the obscure route has worked so well for them, and I think this could work to.

Plus I really want a Dark Souls remaster/re-release with some new features/better frame rate, and it being on Switch may be even better.

Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, and Samus Aran. 

We’d have tea and crumpets, and discuss cute color combinations and space ships, because I think all four of us would have some broad, sweeping opinions on all of the above.

Another good one, a bit more serious, is Nathan Drake, Marcus Fenix, and... Well, Samus Aran again.

Can I just have a date dinner with Samus Aran?

It’s been crazy weird dude. I wish the world wasn’t in as rough shape as it was :/

Uhg.

Fuck.

This is a great question Miranda, but god fuck all of this.

Okay.

A wolf.

And hear me out, because the wolf would probably kill me a lot slower.

But the same shit with Octopi that is with spiders, which I hate. Octopi got too many legs, and I just don’t wanna fuck with it. And it’d be all slimy. And I know both would ultimately kill me, because Octopi do NOT fuck around, but I can like, imagine the Wolf is a cute fucking doggo and be slightly less sad about it.

Also like, then I’d get to see a wolf, which I’ve always wanted to see, and I never want to see the sea-spider for as long as I live.

He is a v. v. handsome boy Cameron and you should be proud.

I’d say at least two customs, and one robo.

Because I know me.

I’m not selfish.

Save some Robot for the other kids.

I think it’s definitely up there. I love it for sure. I love that it’s doing something different on Netflix, and blending this weird nostalgia and referential material into a really cohesive and well made original thing with its own ideas and things to say.

And these latest season has a ton of Ghostbusters so I’m a fan.

This is so rad! For folks curious, here is the referenced article:

https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/28/16563612/destiny-2-deaf-clan-leviaithan-raid-calus

I just love this shit. I hadn’t seen it, but it shows the tenacity and ingenuity of players from all walks of life. What I’d really like to see, and it’d be hard to set up, but having all six players on six screens in the same room so the Shadow Realm folks  didn’t need to say anything, and the ones outside could just look and know. It’d be super rad, and we may be able to do this at ExtraLife, but we’ll see.

I love making new and original solutions to problems, and just like I said with the whole jargon-discussion when we played the raid, this is this team making their own jargon for the raid.

The Checklist

The Collapse of Visceral’s Ambitious Star Wars Game - Jason Schreier - Kotaku - https://kotaku.com/the-collapse-of-viscerals-ambitious-star-wars-game-1819916152

This is the first one of these I’ve actually really read, at least since Klepek’s last one I would have read. And it was fascinating. I have so many thoughts and feelings on this piece, and I know Schreier has a book out about them, and did one for Mass Effect earlier this year, but this is the first one I’ve ever really sat down and read. And it’s phenomenal. And eye opening.

Orc Slavery Made me Quit Shadow of War - Matthew Gault - Motherboard - https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bjve9q/middle-earth-shadow-of-war-orc-slavery-lord-of-the-rings

This is so, so, sooooo good. I haven’t really read anything on Motherboard before, but being a close sibling to Waypoint, which has skyrocketed to my favorite video game site on the internet this week, I will tune in more after this. Shoutout to OK Beast Podcast episode 65 for bringing this up and reading an excerpt from this. It really hooked me.

Inside the Sexual Misconduct Allegations Rocking NEOGaf - Patrick Klepek - Waypoint - https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/qv384d/inside-the-sexual-misconduct-allegations-rocking-neogafs-last-48-hoursd

This is a weird story for sure. And I wish i could talk to Patrick about it. It’s invasive, but it’s also incredibly well reported, and I think clears up a lot of the misconceptions in the situation. There are no biases in Patrick’s writing. It’s really excellent, and help me get a grasp of what went on on Gaf. And I appreciate it.

Whew, good to get in the swing of things again. I’ll say, we are two weeks out from ExtraLife, and I am going to assume there will not be a Sunday Chats that day. Sorry in advance, but I will try to get my “Alex-Asks-A-Question” style Sunday Chats done like normal next week.

But it’s been a fucking crazy month, and I am so happy to see all the hard work I put in this month come to fruition, and the next big thing is that ExtraLife extravaganza. I hope to see you all watching.

But until then

keep it real.