#in the cold light of day

[agonyalley]

[christmasxmas]

[serpentface]

The pylidaigh, a type of vampiric snow ghost, as imagined in folklore in and around the Highlands.

This is a ghost believed to come into being when a person dies in the snow and their body is not found before their soul (still trapped without its funeral rites) 'freezes' inside of it. The body then reanimates into a pylidaigh's twisted form. It looks like someone who slowly died of starvation, just a thin layer of flesh over bones. Its skin is as white as the snow itself, so pale it can blend seamlessly into a blizzard. Most of its body appears subtly stretched and lanky, save for its exceptionally unsubtle long, skinny arms, which drag on the ground behind it when it walks. After a big meal of blood, its belly swells like the abdomen of a tick.

A pylidaigh can only tread across snow and ice, and so doorways and windows are best kept clear of snowfall during the winter in order to prevent it from reaching inside. It mostly comes out to hunt during blizzards when there is little that can prevent it from catching its victims.

In spite of its fragile appearance, a pylidaigh is supernaturally strong, and can run at great speeds when it wants to. No mortal weapons can pierce its body, nor can any bonds known to craftsmen hold it in place. It is usually said that chains forged like iron but made out of ice can bind a pylidaigh and render it immobile, but this smithing technique remains tragically elusive to the average joe.

This ghost is either cast as a wildly dangerous but tragic figure, or one that is more simply malicious. In either case, it is described as experiencing nothing but bitter cold. It shivers endlessly. It retains distant memories of what it was to be alive, and it is motivated by a futile desperation to experience the feeling of warmth again.

In more sympathetic framings, it is described as using its freaky gibbon arms to capture its victims and pull them into an embrace, rather innocently trying to warm itself against their body. This inevitably fails, and the embrace becomes a bone crushing squeeze. When that too fails to warm the ghost, it rips out the person's throat and drinks their blood until the victim is as cold and drained as the pylidaigh itself.

In other cases, this more pitiable narrative of a ghost seeking warmth with no comprehension of its actions is discarded in favor of making it purely monstrous. Here it is a type of vampire with an insatiable thirst, practically a physical manifestation of the worst of winter itself. Some tales acknowledge both variants, suggesting a pylidaigh's violent attempts to warm itself may be initially devoid of malice, but turns into an act of furious jealousy of the warmth of the living after years of suffering.

The only (more or less) surefire method to permanently kill a roaming pylidaigh involves trapping it with fire. They are attracted to any source of heat, and will attempt to warm themselves with the flames (if not tempted away by a juicy living human body). The fire itself cannot kill them (as the sheer cold of their body is more powerful even than flame) but they can be trapped if kept near the fire long enough for the snow it depends upon to melt. This does not kill the pylidaigh either. The monster will remain in stuck in place (and potentially become a threat again if it snows more) for the duration of the winter. Only when the spring comes and all the snow melts does it revert into a normal human carcass (though mysteriously invulnerable to decay), at which point it can be cremated.

Pylidaigh in the wilds also revert to a human corpse during the snowless seasons, but will roam again each following winter unless it is burnt in the interim. It is of critical importance that any human corpse found in high mountain pasture is cremated- not only out of respect for the poor soul trapped as an earthbound ghost, but to prevent the threat of the possible dormant pylidaigh emerging next winter.

[an-established-butt-dent]

Solas and Inquisitor Lavellan

[letsbesharkfriends]

this is giving pretty man and his weird pet kind of vibes

[livesinfantasyland]

There's just something about Will Shaw- beaten black and blue that gets me EVERY TIME!

[beyondthefold]

HENRY CAVILL as WILL The Cold Light of Day (2012) | dir. Mabrouk El Mechri

[umathurwin]

ummmm. um

[agonyalley]

[nordicchristmas]

80 days left until Christmas is here ❄️

[christmasxmas]

[julialametta]

last winter / Rekawinkel / Austria / ©Julia Lametta

[abirddogmoment]

Today was the first day that we've had enough daylight to take a real walk after work without me leaving early.

Here's to more daylight every day from here until the end of the year 💛

[kinghenryviii-i-am]

Henry in The Cold Light of Day

Posted by dailyhcavill

[valiantpoisonart]

For @justthatamount’s request with nem and nomi!

[squash3d-c3phalopod3]

I told myself I wouldn't make something for 413, but.....Davepeta.

Zoomins + Ramble below cut!

So, some of you may be wondering why June is there. Well, 1) it's her birthday, and 2) I personally headcannon that when Davepeta eventually met June, they ended up bonding.

Eventually, Davepeta helped June figure out she was a girl, and a few days before the (dubiously canon) Rosemary wedding, June ended up coming out as trans to the rest of their friend group!

I don't have a great timeline after that, but i imagine it causes quite a few revelations, which i've considered writing about if i ever feel like it.